Work Text:
Newt Scamander hurried through the airport, thankfully passing the security guards without having to have his bag checked this time. He glanced around, feeling out of place in his blue trench coat. Outside, the city was louder than he remembered from last time he was in America, but this was Queens.
Newt had heard about a strange red and blue humanoid creature that swung around this area and wanted to find it a better home.
A chirping sound came from his collar, and a small leafy head poked out.
“Don’t worry Pickett, we’re almost near where the creature was spotted last night.”
Pickett retreated back into the warmth of his coat. Newt couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle. He kept walking for a while, taking in the buildings and stores. He walked past a sandwich shop called Delmar’s and glanced inside. He was too busy looking and didn’t see the man walking towards him. They accidentally smashed into each other and Newt made a little ‘Oof’ sound.
“Sorry!” Newt called after him. The man just huffed in annoyance, muttering something along the lines of ‘stupid Brits.’ As he walked away, Newt didn’t notice Pickett scampering after him.
<><><><><><><><><><>
Peter Parker sighed happily as he entered the best sandwich shop in Queens, no, America, no, the world.
“Hey, Mr Delmar!”
“Hey, Peter!” The store owner greeted.
Grabbing his gummy worms and his sandwich with extra pickles, smooshed down flat, Peter slid a five dollar note across the counter.
“How’s your aunt?”
Peter gave him a look. Delmar laughed and held is hands up in mock retreat. Peter waved and turned around, walking a way from the counter.
“Thanks, Mr Delmar! See ya!” He called as he left. He exited the shop and was about to start to walk to the alley he got changed in, when he spotted what looked like a strange stick insect running after a man in a navy blue trench coat. The poor thing was almost getting trampled by the people walking past.
Peter walked over to it and knelt down beside it.
“Hey, little guy, you need some help?” He asked gently. The strange creature looked at him, seemingly thinking to itself, before jumping onto his hand and crawling into the collar of his jumper.
“Wow, okay. Where do you need to go bud?” Peter glanced up in the direction of where the man in the trench had disappeared into the crowd. “Is that who you were with before?” He whispered. The little green creature gave a small adorable nod.
Weaving his way through the crowded streets, Peter hurried after the man.
“Excuse me! Sorry! Sir! Sir! ” He called, but the man didn’t hear him. They rounded a corner and ducked into an alleyway. Peter went after him and entered the alley.
Before Peter could speak, the man took out a strange stick and disappeared into thin air.
“What the hell?” Peter muttered. “Maybe he knows Mr Doctor Strange?” He looked down at the little green guy, whose leaves were drooping sadly.
“No, it’s okay, bud. We’ll find him.” Peter wasn’t exactly sure how, but he had to get the little guy home.
<><><><><><><><><><>
Newt was panicking. How could he have not noticed Pickett’s absence! And he’d apparated! Pickett could be anywhere right now! He could have been stepped on or someone could have found him and done something bad to him! The city was much too dangerous for a little Bowtruckle like him.
Tightening his grip on his worn leather suitcase, Newt began his search.
He started by retracing his steps, hoping to find Pickett on a plant nearby, but the longer he took, the further Pickett could be. He went back into the alley that he’d apparated from, hoping that the little guy had just fallen off there.
“Bugger!” Newt hissed when he didn’t find anything. A memory jumped into his head.
He walked past a sandwich shop called Delmar’s and glanced inside. He was too busy looking and didn’t see the man walking towards him. They accidentally smashed into each other and Newt made a little ‘Oof’ sound.
“Sorry, terribly sorry!” Newt called after him. The man just huffed in annoyance, muttering something along the lines of ‘stupid Brits.’
Newt hurried in the direction of the sandwich shop, earning himself some weird looks from others on the path.
“Excuse me!” Newt skidded to a halt outside the shop, looking in all directions for any kind of sign that Pickett was there. He found none.
Where are you?
<><><><><><><><><><>
Peter didn’t know what to do. He had to find the guy that took care of the cute Groot-looking creature.
This must be what Mr Stark felt like trying to figure out who I was. He thought to himself.
That gave him an idea. Mr Stark said that he used security camera footage and a mixture of other things to find him, so Peter could do the same. He turned to his little green friend.
“Hey, bud! I’ve got an idea on how to find your caretaker.”
He hurried back to his apartment. May was on a shift at the hospital, so he didn’t have to hide Groot-but-not-Groot.
Peter realised that he actually didn’t know the creatures name.
“Hey, what’s your name? I feel bad for calling you buddy and little green guy in my head.” The creature stuck its tongue out at him, blowing a raspberry. “Sorry!” He thought for a moment. “But could you maybe give me a clue?” He asked.
The creature mimed… something with its hands. It repeated the action when Peter didn’t seem to understand. It kind of resembled… picking a lock?
“Picking a lock?” Peter asked. They chittered happily, repeating the action.
“So, Pick? Picking? Picky?” Peter suggested, completely confused. He kept listing names, the creature getting more and more frustrated, until…
“Pickett?”
The creature shot up in excitement.
“Woah, okay, I guess that one’s correct then, huh?” Peter laughed as he arrived at his apartment. He opened his laptop that Mr Stark had gotten him after he saw his old one. “I’m Peter.”
A plan was forming in his mind. He could get Karen to in facial recognition once they found they guy Pickett was looking for and try and find him that way. He settled down on his bed. “Alright, Pickett, let’s get cracking.”
(Time skip)
Peter had made ramen noodles to watch the footage with. He didn’t really know what Pickett was meant to eat, so he offered him different things. The little guy seemed to enjoy he ramen and those crickets May had gotten to ‘be more healthy, Peter! We can’t live off takeout!’. So, Peter had set aside some of the noodles and sprinkled the crickets on top.
They watched the footage outside of Delmars carefully, wrapped up in blankets together on Peter’s bed. They sat there, the light from the computer screen illuminating their faces. After a few hours, they saw Peter enter the sandwich shop.
“Alright bud, we’re almost at the bit where your guy walks past.”
As a man dressed in a navy blue trench coat walked by and bumped into a large man, Pickett jumped out of the blankets.
“Is that your guy?” Peter asked, pointing to the blonde man. Pickett nodded vigorously, the leaves sprouting from his head bobbing up and down.
“Karen, could you please run facial recognition on the blonde man in the blue trench?” He asked.
“Of course, Peter.” The AI responded.
It was dark outside and Peter didn’t want to take Pickett Spider-Manning. Peter cooed softly when he nuzzled his cheek and smacked his lips.
“Are you tired, bud?” He gently paused the security tape and shut the laptop. He felt sleep softly tugging on him as well. He could find the guy tomorrow, when he could do it properly.
Peter carefully pulled the blanket further over Pickett, making sure he was warm, before drifting off to sleep.
(Let’s do the time skip again)
Peter awoke to a soft tap on his cheek.
“Hm?” He opened his eyes to see Pickett walking on his face. “So it wasn’t a dream?” He whispered.
Carefully placing his friend on his bedside table, Peter got out of bed. He winced at the sound his bones made from the movement.
He grabbed their bowls from last night and headed into the kitchen. He started humming a tune as he washed them in the sink.
“… you’re the one that I want! You are the one I want! Ooh ooh ooh! The one I need, oh yes indeed…”
He finished up, placing the bowls back in the cupboard. Re entering his room, Peter opened up his laptop.
“Alright, let’s see what Karen found last night.”
According to Karen, the man’s name was Newt Scamander and he had been spotted on a camera just a few blocks away. Pickett bounced in excitement beside him.
“If we wanna catch up with him we gotta go now.” Peter told him, for once glad that he’d slept in his jeans and t-shirt.
They left the apartment in a hurry, weaving through crowds of people on the busy streets to get to their destination.
After about ten minutes of walking, Peter got a glimpse of Mr Scamander’s face. He sped up his already fast walking.
“Excuse me! Sorry!“ the teen continued to weave through the crowds. When he got a little bit closer to the man, he started to call out his name.
“Hey! Mr Scamander! Sir!” When his calls weren’t heard, Peter huffed and sped around groups of people walking on the path. After a few minutes of chasing after the man, he ducked into an alley, Peter close behind.
As Mr Scamander pulled out the weird stick again, Peter called out.
“ Wait ! Mr Scamander!” The man paused, tucking the stick away.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” His voice had a thick British accent on it.
“Uh, Peter Parker, Sir. I uh think you’ve lost something?” He replied as Pickett climbed onto his hair.
“Merlin’s beard! Pickett! How’d you find him?”
“He was about to be trampled outside of Delmars, so I helped him out.” Peter shrugged. He held his hand out, Pickett running towards Mr Scamander. “There you go, buddy.”
“Well, thank you very much. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to him.” He smiled as Pickett climbed onto his jacket.
“Alright, I’m sorry, but I have to go, and please call me Newt.” Mr Scamand- no, Newt grinned. Peter nodded.
The man waved goodbye and left the alleyway. Peter felt kind of sad seeing Pickett go, but happy that he’d found Newt.
He hurried back to his apartment. He hadn’t patrolled last night, so he would make up for it today. He got changed into his suit and then jumped out the window, shooting a web as he went.
He stopped a couple of muggings, helped an elderly lady take her groceries up the stairs (she bought him a churro after), and stopped a small ATM robbery. He was just finishing his churro when he heard a familiar voice coming from a nearby alley.
“Is that him up there? Fascinating!”
Was that… Newt? Peter turned his head to see Newt Scamander climbing up the fire escape.
“Um, can I help you with something?”
He swore he heard the man say something about how he could talk and how intelligent he was.
“Yes, hello. I have come here to help you. New York is a terrible home for a creature like yourself.”
Peter made a face under the mask. “Um, sir, I’m not a creature. I’m a person.”
“Are you a wizard?” Newt asked, head tilting to the side.
“Uh, no, but we will be coming back to that. I’m a normal person.”
“Then how are you doing all this wall crawling stuff?” Newt didn’t seem to be realising that super soldiers existed. “And don’t I know your voice from somewhere?”
It was at that moment Pickett decided to peek his head out of Newt’s coat. He must’ve recognised Peter’s voice because he jumped down, ran across the roof, and climbed up onto the teen’s shoulder. It was then that the pieces seemed to click into place for Newt.
“Peter?” His British accent echoed across the rooftop.
“Crap!” Peter whispered. “Yeah, that’s me.”
Newt paused for a moment. “How are you doing this if you’re not a wizard?” He’d already spilled the beans, he could ask some questions and then obliviate him afterwards.
“I got bitten by a radioactive spider.”
Newt made an ‘oh’ sound. Peter continued.
“So, what’s this wizard thing? Cause I know a wizard that lives around here.”
Newt froze. Maybe the muggle could be trusted? If Peter had already kept this other wizard under wraps, surely he wouldn’t tell any other muggles about himself. Plus, he seemed so innocent that Newt was sure he wouldn’t want to expose the wizarding community to the muggles. In that moment, Newt decided that Peter Parker could be trusted with one of the biggest secrets in the world.
“Yes, I’m just like him.” He said, before calling Pickett back. The Bowtruckle reluctantly waved goodbye to Peter and ran back to Newt. Once he was firmly settled in his coat, he would not be falling off this time, Newt took out his wand.
“I’ll see you around, Peter.”
The boy grinned underneath the mask. “Goodbye, Newt!”
And with that, they apparated, leaving Peter alone again on the rooftop.