#parker and eugene are right there my dudes

[barb-l]

Them: Why do you have to make everything gay? Can't we just appreciate the fact that Wednesday has a wholesome and cute platonic relationship with someone for once?

Me: *gestures aggressively at Wednesday's other wholesome platonic relationships that will still exist and be super cute even if Wenclair became a thing*

[sciderman]

Was going through some old writing files (of which there are hundreds!!) and stumbled across a high school AU I was writing a while ago! (an actual one! not a tantalising dream-sequence involving cheerleaders, though we all know I love those...) 

I don’t know if I’ll resurrect it, but there’s a bit of fun to be had - Peter’s anger issues are something that I’d like to see explored more in spideypool fic, and I just... I love high school AUs okay... 

Read some of it under the cut! 

-----------------------

“What’re you in for?”

“Something stupid.” Peter grumbled.

“Love it.” The boy said, grinning. Peter noticed a missing tooth. “I hid a frog in the student counsellor’s desk. You should’ve seen him scream.” 

Peter was quiet, but his lips quirked. 

“Immature”, he eventually said. 

“The guy’s a dickhole. And,” the blond rocked on his chair, buzzing, “technically, I saved a life.” 

Peter raised an eyebrow. 

“Saved the frog from one of the labs. They were gonna slice him open. Imagine you’re just sitting on your lily pad one day. Chilling. And then some jackass scientist scoops you up and cuts you open. Starts prodding inside you. Gross.” 

“Okay, yeah, gross.” 

“My name is Wade, bee-tee-dubs.” 

Wade. Peter remembered. He’d only joined the class at the beginning of last semester, and sat near the back of the class. He hadn’t recognised him by his face because he’d always had his hood up. Not that Peter had ever paid enough attention to his peers to remember them by face anyway.

“Uh.” Peter said, eyeing the hand he was being offered as a greeting. He didn’t return the handshake, but he responded with a simple “I’m Peter.” 

“Cool.” Wade nodded, looking at his feet, heels bouncing off the linoleum floor. His shoes were scuffed and worn. 

A moment of silence passed. Both boys turned their attention to the floor, as though it were suddenly the most interesting feature of the room. 

Peter side eyed his company, in the moment of quiet. There were shallow craters on the boy’s face, Peter noticed, like chickenpox scars that hadn’t fully healed. Wade definitely seemed conscious about it, with his hood being nearly always drawn, and his shaggy hair that often covered his face. 

“Peter Parker.” The principal called, peering through the door at the boys. The principal glared at Wade, who put up his hands in response. Clearly Wade was a regular. 

A wave of smugness came over Peter, who leant in close to Wade. 

“I broke Flash Thompson’s arm.” Peter whispered, before standing up to enter the principal’s office. For a second Peter saw Wade’s face light up, like that was the coolest thing he had ever heard. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

“Mr Parker, I recognise you’re going through a tough time – And I’m sorry.”

Peter sank in his chair, eyes fixed on a hole puncher sat on the desk.

“I understand you must be going through a lot of emotions at the moment, but you,” the principal wrung his hands, “you hospitalised one of your classmates. Eugene Thompson –” 

The principal’s voice faded in and out of Peter’s attention. As usual, he stood alone on Planet Peter Parker. 

He thought about Aunt May. Her eyes, pink and puffy. Thin hands trembling as she held them by her mouth, recounting all she remembered about that night to the police. The police, who with empty looks, mechanically took down notes. Jaded. Like a family hadn’t been just destroyed. Like a good man hadn’t just been murdered in cold blood. 

Peter's uncle was a humble man. Simple, but good. He wasn't ambitious, or gifted, or clever. But he was wise. 

Clever. Wise. Peter hadn't understood there was a difference between the two. 

He took him for granted, Peter admitted to himself, as he cried that night, and the days following. He cried for the first time in months. Months of distancing himself from the world, before the world decided to stage a head-on-head collision with him. 

“Peter? Peter, are you listening?” 

Peter at last looked up, and with the movement, a tear managed to escape his eye. He brought the heel of his palm up quickly to wipe it away. 

“Look, son, I want you to see the student counsellor tomorrow.” The principal said, taking down a note. Peter scowled at the pen, as it scribbled. “It will help, Peter. I want you to see the counsellor every Tuesday and Friday, last period. We’ll keep track of your healing process.” 

Peter took the note when it was offered to him, and pocketed it without a word. He turned to leave.

“Peter. I didn’t dismiss you.” 

Peter sighed, turning back, red-eyed and tired. 

“I’m sorry about your uncle. But when Eugene returns, you will apologise.” 

Peter swallowed, voice quiet when at last he spoke. “I didn’t mean to hurt him.” 

Whether that was true or not, Peter was still undecided on. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The school day dragged at an excruciatingly slow pace. Peter couldn’t hear the teacher. All he could hear, all day, were the whispers amongst his peers. Right now, Peter wished the walls he built to keep the world out were soundproofed. 

“Did you hear? He put Flash in the ER.” 

“Puny Parker? No way.” 

“He’s an absolute freak.” 

“He’s probably really screwed up right now, guys. I think his like, Uncle died or something.” 

Peter snapped his pencil. 

“Can I be excused, miss?” 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Peter ran as fast as he could out of the school doors, gasping in air as deeply as he could. He was at his breaking point. If everyone in class saw him crying, he’d really never hear the end of it. He’d be seeing the school councillor until he graduated. 

The air was cool but his face was scalding hot, tears streaming down his cheeks. He buried his face in both hands and screamed. With all the effort he could afford he tried to steady his breathing. In and out, in and out, until he started to feel lightheaded. 

He could’ve broken the school doors off its hinges. He could have slammed his fists so hard on the walls, until they crumbled, or he did. 

He threw a kick so hard on a nearby trash can that it flew across the courtyard.  

He hated this school. He could’ve tore it down right where he stood. 

“Dude.” 

Peter turned so fast his head nearly knocked off his shoulders. Wade stood, back against the wall, casual as anything. He had a cigarette in hand. 

“You’re an animal, dude.” Wade said, blowing out a cloud of smoke. 

Peter’s mouth hung open, finding it difficult to find words. He brought up a sleeve to wipe up his face. 

“I, just. I –” 

Peter swallowed the lump in his throat.

“I hate this place.” 

Wade nodded, a calm demeanour about him that almost served to calm Peter by osmosis. 

Peter Parker was always a very rational boy. Quiet. Reserved. He never lost it like this. He’s never –

“I heard – about your uncle.” 

Peter’s eyes were exhausted from crying, he couldn’t afford anymore tears. Peter’s entire body felt it was going to sink through the earth. And Wade could see it. Wade could see it on Peter’s face. He looked to Wade for mercy. To let him fall off the planet’s surface. 

“Listen, if it were me I’d – I’d kill him. I’d kill whoever did it.” 

Peter was quiet. Wade’s words felt like an electric jolt, sobering him up. 

All the hollow words of consolation had left him numb, but this rang through Peter’s ears. 

Eventually Peter found his voice again. 

“You’d kill him, but you’d save a frog?” 

“Yeah.” Wade said, as if it were obvious. “The frog didn’t do anything wrong.” 

Silence followed. Peter couldn’t look up from the ground. His hands formed fists at his sides. 

All the way home, Wade’s words replayed in Peter’s head. I’d kill him. I’d kill whoever did it. 

The police were apathetic. Crimes go unsolved. And that made Peter’s blood boil hotter than it ever had. The thought that someone – out there – would be getting away with it. 

That Aunt May might always carry that hollow, broken look in her eyes.  

Later that night, Peter threw on a red hoodie, pulling the drawstrings tight. He snuck out his bedroom window, like he did every night. 

News reports tell of an escaped robber cornered in a building downtown.

[dragoqueen]

Whoops! Wrong Way 3/8

Summary: Peter has been living at Avengers Tower for 2 years, known to the workers and Avengers as Peter Parker-Stark-Rogers.  When his teacher announces that they're going on a field trip to Avengers Tower, or SI,  he's going to have to attempt to survive a day of embarrassment and keeping a secret identity.

Words: 2023

And here it was, the day of his death. The day of his misery. The day all his worst nightmares would come true. Friday... the field trip.

He had done all he could to convince each and every avenger to not mess with him. He got positive answers from Bruce, Steve, and Thor. However, he was going to have to deal with the rest in any way he could. He had tried to figure out their plan, knowing that they stayed up at night to plan his demise. However, he couldn't figure out a single thing. He had the bright idea to try and figure out what they were doing when he arrived by asking FRIDAY but until then he was doomed.

Tony woke him up an extra 30 minutes earlier than he usually did, not wanting Peter to be late for the field trip. The only good thing he had gotten out of it was that Bucky and Steve had gotten up early too to cook him a smorgasbord of food. He quickly scarfed down enough food to last him the beginning of the day before changing into his outfit and meeting Happy downstairs to get a ride to school.

Somehow, despite getting up early and getting a ride with Happy instead of walking, he was almost late. Almost. He made sure to spend extra long eating his food in hope that he would miss the bus and the school would just make him attend normal classes. Unfortunately, he was just in time to get on the bus and clamber to the back where Ned and MJ were sitting. Sadly, Flash wasn't too far from them either which made the ride to the tower, which he had planned on spending sulking and dying inside, worse.

Flash spent the entirety of the bus ride making jokes of Peter and insulting him. Most of them were intern-related, reminding Peter how he "didn't have an actual internship at Stark Industries" and "wasn't even smart enough to get an internship even at McDonalds". Luckily, before Peter knew it, they had arrived at the tower and the teacher was trying to keep them quiet so he could go check them in and make sure everything was ready.

Then, he got them out of the bus and lined them up in the lobby of the tower for their tour guide to explain the rules to them and hand out their badges. "Alright everyone. I'm Mars and I'm going to be your tour guide today. First, I know you all signed NDA's so please remember anything that happens in this tower that could be secretive you will be forced not to tell anyone or risk getting sued and, let me tell you, we have some very good lawyers. Speaking of the NDA, we are also going to have to confiscate your phones so we don't have you taking pictures or recording things. So I'm going to come by and hold out a basket I expect you to all place your phones in." Mars began walking down the row of children, having them all drop their phones in. when he got to the back where Ned, Peter, and MJ were, he just smiled at them and walked away, having already recognized them and knew that they were authorized to have their phones. Then, he returned to the front of the line where he placed the basket on the counter of the security desk and resumed his place at the front of the line.

"Now, first up on our tour is the Avengers museum. There are all of the first, fails, and worthy achievements of the Avengers. Everything from suits to fun facts can be found there. You will have 45 minutes to wander around before we head up to the intern labs so no dilly-dallying. However, first you're going to have to go through these scanners and scan your badge. For example..." Mars walks to the metal archway and scans his lanyard on the scanner before stepping through. The voice of FRIDAY spooks everyone except for Mars, Peter, MJ, and Ned, "Mars Bars, level 4, access limited."

"What the heck was that?" Cindy asks.

"That was FRIDAY. She's an AI that Tony built, she basically runs this building. But, back on track. Who's next?"

"Me!" Flash shouts, pushing his way to the front and scanning his lanyard before walking through, smug and confident that he was first.

"Eugene Thompson, Level 1, access very limited."

Flash smirks at his name being said by something that Tony Stark created. He walks forward to stand next to Mars while his next classmate goes. One by one, each of the students scan and walk through for Friday to announce their name and the same level and access type. Up until it was MJ's turn. She did the same as all of her other classmates, scanning her lanyard and then stepping through the metal archway but this time FRIDAY announces, "Michelle Jones, "Boss Girl" level 9, full access. Should I alert Scary Girl or Ms. Potts of your arrival?"

"No, that's okay FRIDAY. I'm on a field trip."

"Okay, have a good time." FRIDAY responds, causing everyone to stare at MJ in surprise. She just smirked before returning to her normal glare and stepped into the cluster of kids. Next was Ned, "Ned Leeds, "that one annoying hacker kid" level 9, full access. Shall I alert Science Bro #2 of your arrival?"

"No, FRIDAY. Bruce knows I'm on a field trip. Thanks though."

"Enjoy your time." FRIDAY answers.

Same procedure. The entire class stares at Ned in wonder and confusion. He blushes in response to the sudden attention and takes his spot in the cluster next to MJ. Last in line was Peter. He had been fearing this moment, knowing that he had the highest level in the tower, next to the other Avengers. Plus his nickname from Tony and Clint was sure to cause some questions to arise. However, dutifully, he stepped up and scanned his lanyard and stepped through. "Peter Parker, "Mini-Stark" level 10, full access. Would you like me to alert Mr. Stark of your arrival?"

"No! I mean... no that's alright FRIDAY. He probably knows I'm here anyways."

"Enjoy your trip, Peter."

He inwardly groans at the fact that she called him Mini-Stark, but was happy she had called him Peter Parker, rather than Peter Parker-Stark-Rogers. Tony must have cared somewhat of Peter's confidentiality if he changed that. He ignores the stares from his classmates and the smirk from Mars as he joins MJ and Ned in the middle of the group. "Alright, continuing with the tour if you will all join me in this elevator we will go up to the Avengers museum,"

While they all walk over to the elevator and begin piling into the cramped space. When Peter's in, Mars asks FRIDAY to take them up to the 12th floor where the Avengers museum was. Flash leans over and whispers into Peter's ear, "hey, Penis, how'd you manage to hack the AI to make it seem like you and your nerd friends have such a high access? We all know you're lying so just give up." Peter sighs and doesn't say anything, opting to move out of reach of Flash so that MJ is blocking them.

A/N:

For the sake of my sanity let's assume it's a big and strong elevator that holds all like 25-30 of his class okay? Thanks y'all

The door opens to the museum and the class spills out and begins exploring all of the corners of the museum. Each section was dedicated to a specific Avenger. The kids who wanted a more in depth explanation of things stayed by Mars who was walking around and giving his little "tour guide spiel" about the museum. Peter, MJ, and Ned, who had already explored the museum many times, walked around leisurely to explore different things that appeared to have been updated since the last time they were here.

At one point, Ned dragged Peter excitedly to a new section where Tony had added in a Spider-Man section. Peter observed the information happily...

" 1. Spider-Man prefers hanging from the wall than standing on the floor

2. Spider-Man's favorite snack is gummies.

3. Spider-Man is deathly afraid of spiders. "

"Dude, you're afraid of spiders? How?"

"First of all, shut it. Second, just because I have spider-like powers doesn't mean I like the creature. They're freaky."

Ned just laughs and continues to explore the exhibit. Peter looks over the things and makes a mental note to thank his dads later. The things included in it were incredible, a plaque with the phrase, "with great power comes great responsibility." And referencing his Uncle Ben. His first suit was also in a display case along with some of his old web fluid and a physical design of his webs that wouldn't disintegrate.

Suddenly, he felt an eerie presence provided by his Spidey Sense. He looked around the room, trying to detect where the threat warning could be coming from. Flash and his goons were all in a different section so it definitely wasn't them. And no one else was really around that could be threatening. Just then, he got a warning that someone was going to be coming out of the vents in 3... 2... 1... he stepped out of the way just in time to watch Clint fall out of the vents and crumple onto the ground. Then he jumps right up as if nothing had happened and smiles at Peter. (A/N: Clint was the imposter)

"Clint what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to embarrass you. But also Bucky made cookies this morning and Morgan threatened to take away my venting privileges if I didn't bring any to you."

"And you got scared of a 6 year old because... why?"

"She's scary. Also she has Wanda and Pepper on her side."

"Ooh, yeah. You'd better watch out for that. But, Bucky made cookies? Gimme."

Clint grins and reaches into his pocket to grab a cookie that's wrapped in a plastic bag. It's a triple chocolate cookie with extra chocolate chunks. The cookie is still warm so Peter can only assume it came out of the oven moments before. He takes a bite into it and it almost melts in his mouth. He lets out a sigh of comfort and tucks the cookie, in the plastic bag, into his pocket.

By this time someone had noticed that The Hawkeye was here and had shouted to the rest of the group. A crowd had gathered around him and were all shouting questions.

"What's your favorite thing about being an Avenger?"

"Whos' the scariest Avenger?"

"How do you know Pen- Peter?"

Peter cringes at the last one. He's sure Clint hears it and his suspicions are only confirmed when Clint's casual smile disappears and he turns to glare at Flash. "What did you call Peter?"

"I- uh.. I called him Peter, sir."

"Is that right? Mmh... you better watch yourself kid. And you'll have time to ask questions at the Q & A at the end of the tour with some of the other Avengers."

"Uh... Q & A? That's not on the list of things to do." Mars comments, having migrated over to where the crowd of kids had formed.

"One of your co-workers will inform you of the change in schedule during lunch. Don't worry, it was pre-approved by Tony."

"Mr. Stark? Oh, well... okay cool. Anyways, I think it's time Mr. Barton has to go. After all, we have to continue on with our tour as our 45 minutes are up. Everyone say bye to him."

A majority of goodbyes are shouted out, along with quite a few phone numbers. Clint gives them a mock salute before jumping back in the vents and crawling off to who knows where. Peter only calms down when his heightened senses are no-longer able to hear Clint clambering through the vents. Mars leads them all into the elevator and the doors slide shut, taking them up to their next destination, the intern labs. 

[monaisme]

Day 2: “I can’t take this anymore.”

Day 2: “I can’t take this anymore.”

“Dude? Are you sure you’re okay? Ned asked for the millionth time. “Maybe you should call Mr. Stark?”

Peter refrained from rolling his eyes, wholly aware that it would definitely aggravate the headache that hadn’t dulled since, well... Flash. He pulled his binder and Spanish textbook out of his locker. “Ned, seriously, I’m—”

“...Still a loser! Isn’t that right, Penis?”

Peter barely had a chance to brace himself before Flash was slinging his arm and the entirety of his body weight over Peter’s shoulder and laughing. “I still can’t believe you didn’t see that soccer ball coming!”

Peter shoved Flash’s arm off. “Shut up, Flash.” Peter growled. “It’s sort of hard to see something coming when it’s behind you.”

Ned’s eyes widened. “But Pete?” he started, “Your Peter tin—”

How Ned had managed to keep Peter’s identity a secret so far was a mystery. “Yes! Ned!” Peter interrupted. “My Peter tinnitus!”

Ned floundered.

“Yeah, it totally sucks!” Peter’s eyes widened with panic. He definitely wasn’t getting any help from Ned. “It really only flares up when,” he lowered his voice and stared at Flash, “I’m shmucked in the head by uncoordinated teammates.”

“Who are you calling uncoordinated, loser?! That was precision at its finest. In fact, I should totally get someone to hack the school’s security system and get a copy for me! Imagine all the views on my TikTok! Oh! I know—I can loop it! The world will see your idiot face over and over and over... AND over!” Flash finally trailed off with dreams of viral video fame, then looked Peter dead in the eye. “You, Penis Parker, are the best target EVER! I don’t know why I bother with the others.”

Peter’s headache pulsed and he had to bite back a groan. “Look, can we save this for another time, Flash. I’m not in the mood.”

Flash stared at him for a second, blank faced, then quirked an eyebrow. “Okay, Parker, another time? Done. Let’s see how you feel after school, if that’s how you’re gonna be.”

“What? No way—”

“Stuff it, Penis.” Flash got up in his face. ”You’re about to be my new after school ‘appointment.’ Lucky for that foreign exchange student, huh?” With that declaration, Flash flicked Peter between the eyes and headed down the hall towards his own locker and out of sight.

Peter let himself fall back into the lockers and rubbed at his forehead with a defeated sigh.

“Peter?” Ned spoke quietly. “If you want, I can call Mr. Hogan for you. Mr. Stark gave me his phone number for emergencies and if this isn’t one then...”

“Ned, please stop.” Peter begged. “We have one more class and then I can head to the tower, take some painkillers, and forget about Flash and this crappy day.”

“But Flash said—”

“Ned, I know what he said!” Peter snapped, then took a hopefully calming breath. “Let me worry about it, alright? Flash is obviously having one of those days and you know it’s better me than someone else when he gets like this.”

Ned shook his head in disagreement. “Dude, no. Not today. You already feel like shit.”

“Well then, you can go and tell Raveed that Flash is looking for some after school entertainment!”

“Maybe if you talked to Morita...?”

“Seriously, man? Flash has the school admins by the gonads and you know it!” Peter pressed his fingers to his eyes trying to counter the pressure. “Do the iPads in the library generously donated by Harrison Thompson ring a bell?”

Ned snorted. “How someone named Harrison could CHOOSE to name their kid Eugene, I’ll never get it.”

Peter offered a fake chuckle in return as the warning bell rang. “Ugh, have fun in Comp Sci, man.” Peter moved into their handshake. “Meet you back here after class?”

“Naw, Pete, remember?” Ned’s hands followed Peter’s lead. “I’m getting picked up early. Dentist appointment.”

“Well, shit.” Peter huffed. “Wish me luck then.”

Ned bundled Peter in a hug, “Hello? Dentist?! You wish me luck!” Ned teased.”Besides, you don’t need luck, Pete. You’re Spider-Man.” And Ned left Peter standing alone in the hallway.

With no one to fool, Peter deflated.  He mumbled a ‘mierda’ and shuffled off to Spanish class.

* * * * * *

Regret.

That was all Peter could focus on as the clock ticked down through the last 20 minutes of class. He regretted not letting Ned call Happy and he definitely regretted leaving his phone in his locker. Now if he wanted to contact anyone, it was with his Starkwatch and that was not something he wanted to deal with. A text saying ‘Hey. Killer headache. Need drugs’ was one thing. Any message sent via the watch was forwarded to ALL of the Avengers—even the newly pardoned ones.

... And he sure as heck wasn’t dealing with them.

He should have listened to Ned.

Or called someone himself.

Or just drowned himself in the boys’ washroom sink to put himself out of his misery.

... And he still had to deal with Flash.

Crap.

Yup. So much regret.

10 minutes—5 minutes—2 minutes...

Time slowed to the point where he wondered if the Time Stone was in play. It was just a fleeting, silly thought, but still too soon. His stomach clenched as he thought back on the time when—

Peter jumped as the final bell of the day rang through the room.

Crap.

He swallowed back saliva, the nausea distracting from his headache for a moment. That is until Flash strutted past Peter’s desk, cuffing him across the back of the head, brightening his pain once again.

“Don’t keep me waiting, Parker!” Flash sang out as he exited the classroom.

Double crap.

He tried to drag it out, slowly packing away his school items with unnecessary care. He’d have taken forever if he could, but that dream died with Senora Ramirez’s, “Vamos, Peter! Rapido por favour!”

Smiling back weakly, he replied, “Si, Senora Ramirez. Adios.” And he skulked out the door.

The hallway was almost empty by the time Peter made it to his locker, thank goodness. While his enhanced healing had barely started to touch his headache, the exhaustion of his metabolism trying and tentative hunger battling with his queasiness were real and uncomfortable. The quiet was good.

He took some deep breaths. “Okay,” he thought, “No thinking about the stones at school.”

More focussed, Peter managed to open his locker and grab his phone as it buzzed with a new text but his attempt to read it was interrupted by a rough shove; Peter’s shoulder connecting painfully with the locker’s frame.

“What part of ‘Don’t keep me waiting’ did you not understand, Penis?” Flash grabbed Peter by the shoulder and spun him around. “This is a smart school, ya’ know. Or maybe Mr. Scholarship doesn’t understand, huh?”

Peter flushed in embarrassment. “I’m smart.” Peter whispered.

“Well, if you’re so smart, you wouldn’t have made me have to come back into the school. Or are you deaf, too?” Flash shoved Peter back into the lockers.

Peter remained silent.

Flash slammed Peter back again, his head snapping back, too. “Dammit, Parker! Why do you make me so angry?”

How could anyone answer that question?

Again, Peter impacted the lockers. “You’re so pathetic, Penis. Standing in the gym, begging me to make you suffer.” Peter slammed again. “It’s so satisfying,” Flash hissed. “You’re practically asking for this.” With that, Flash reared back his fist and slammed it into Peter’s cheek. Spider-Man or not, it hurt, and the white bursts of light behind his eyelids spoke to that.

Was he begging for it?

Peter’s thoughts wandered to the time, in that moment when he slid down the wall to the floor. Had Raveed managed to catch his bus? Was he running late? Maybe his host family had picked him up.

A rough kick to his side pulled him from his thoughts. “There. That’ll keep me going ‘til tomorrow.” Flash grinned and stepped away.

Peter exhaled in relief.

“Nah,” Flash landed another kick to his thigh. “I lied. THAT will keep me going ‘til tomorrow.” Flash turned and jogged down the hall. “See you then, loser!” He turned the corner and was gone.

Peter closed his eyes and tentatively rested his head against the locker. Okay. It was done. He was okay. Peter picked up the phone that had landed on the floor beside him—Raveed had to be gone by now.

His phone buzzed again.

3:04pm

TonyBaloney: Hey! Got Rogues in house for meetings. :(

3:07pm

TonyBaloney: Reschedule?

Peter closed his eyes and inhaled. 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... and held the breath, only to lose his focus when his phone buzzed a third and fourth time.

3:08pm

TonyBaloney: Use that credit card. Buy some Thai for you and Aunt Hottie!

3:08pm

TonyBaloney: But don’t tell her I called her that!

3:08pm

TonyBaloney: Seriously, she’ll kill me.

Peter huffed out a real laugh at that. Aunt May would geld Mr. Stark if she ever found out his nickname for her. Not that he could tell her. But what was he going to do about the weekend? When Mr. Stark had invited him for the weekend, Peter was relieved. May was going away for some training conference in New Jersey and had told Peter to ask Mr. Stark to play babysitter. The spontaneous invite had kept Peter from looking like a kid and May got her wish. Win-win.

... and now none of that mattered.

3:10pm

PBWanKenobi: Np, Mr. STart. See you Tuesday?

3:10pm

PBWanKenobi: *Stark

His phone didn’t buzz again, and Peter didn’t expect it to. The Rogues tended to keep Mr. Stark pretty distracted. Besides, even feeling like hot garbage, Peter could still get excited about a suddenly free night of Spider-Manning. And really, how much energy would he expend helping little old ladies crossing the street?

* * * * * *

Hours later, Peter could ignore that deep ache across his shoulders and back and even the occasional tug as his mask stuck to the healing cut on his cheek. The headache was still a little much (read that as borderline unbearable), but he’d call the evening a win.

He was swinging and considering stopping at that new Mexican place across from the Dunkin’ Donuts for a burrito or two when his Spidey-senses flared and Spider-Man was twisting away from his original course toward an alley about a three blocks down the street.

His senses blared now. “Karen, call 9-1-1.”

“Peter, if I call now, you run the risk—”

“Don’t care.” His neck almost burned from the intensity. “Call now.”

A woman screamed in obvious pain.

“And tell them to send an ambulance.”

“Calling...” Karen responded and left Spider-Man to do what he did best. Save the day.

Spider-Man took no time to assess the situation and react: A man and a woman in a physical altercation- well, more like a behemoth of a man beating the shit out of this poor lady, oblivious to the fact that someone had joined the party.

She’d fallen unconscious, only held up by her hair grasped in his one hand as he pulled his fist back to punch her again with the other. A thwip of webbing and the man’s fist stopped in its path.

“Wha-?”

“Hey! Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?!” Spider-Man called out as he gave the webbing a yank and pulled the man away from his victim while blasting a cushion of webbing onto the concrete beneath the woman’s head.

The man’s initial confusion had passed quickly enough. He tried to remove the webbing from his right hand, but when that failed, simply went after Spider-Man with his left. “You got no business, here, ya’ freak!” He raged as he swung and missed. “She’s my woman! You got no say!” He swung and missed again.

“Dude,”Spider-Man jumped back, “Women have had the vote for, like, a hundred years! I’m pretty sure that she’s,” He jumped back again, “not your property, man!”

“She’s mine, ya’ bastard! And she knows what she did!” he raged, “She deserves everything she gets.” The man lunged one last time, going full bore on the young vigilante—and playing right into the trap. His fist came down as Spider-Man jumped up onto the alley wall. The crunch was nauseating and Peter was sure the man had to have broken at least three knuckle bones, if not several bones in his hand proper. He dropped his knees and cradled his injury, whimpering.

Spider-Man took advantage, securing the man to the ground with more webbing. He wasn’t going anywhere.

That taken care of, he rushed to the still unconscious woman on the ground. Now that he’d taken care of that dude, he could focus. “Karen, ETA on the ambulance?” He kneeled beside her prone body, better taking in her injuries.

“Two minutes, Peter.”

Okay, he could do two minutes. Her breathing was a little rough, and both of her eyes were swollen shut. He looked away, focused on the ground beside her and—were those teeth? This wasn’t the first beaten woman he’d helped, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that this one was different. He pulled in deep breath, and shook his head to try and clear it... but then this damned headache. No. Help would be here soon and she’d be okay. Yeah, she’d be okay. He was sure of it. He grabbed her hand, “You’ll be fine, lady. Help is coming.”

He pulled in a breath. He was okay.

The man in the webs sneered. “Awww, you’re so cute. Thinking that this is the last of it.” Spider-Man glared back him. The man gave a chin nod in her direction. “Who do you think is gonna bail me out?”

“No one deserves this, man! Why’d you do it? You could’ve killed her?” Spider-Man yelled. “Why?”

The man laughed, ugly and low. “You wanna know why?”

Spider-Man stared back at him.

"I’ll tell you why. ‘Cuz she’s so stupid, the bitch practically begs me to hit her. She needs to remember her place, that she’s nothin’ without me.” The man sneered, “and sometimes, it just feels so damn good.”

Flash’s words from earlier in the day suddenly echoed through Peter’s head. Yeah, Spider-Man was done for the day and Peter had a lot to think about.

“Karen, ETA?”

“Arrival is imminent. Might I suggest taking refuge on a rooftop to avoid detection by the local authorities?”

Peter looked at the bruised and swollen woman on the ground, gently placed her hand at her side, and then Spider-Man plastered a patch of webbing across the woman beater’s mouth. Peter didn’t want to listen to him anymore.

The ambulance and patrol car skidded to a halt in front of the alleyway almost simultaneously. A police officer exited his vehicle with weapon drawn and preparing to clear the alley for the EMTs to come down with their equipment .

“Peter?” Karen inquired.

“Yeah, I know. That’s my cue to leave.” And with the flick of a wrist, Spider-Man was off and away from the scene.

* * * * * *

It was past his curfew, and save for the fact that he was pretty sure he’d saved the life of that woman in the alley, stopped several muggings, a car accident, and finally caught that pickpocket that’d been targeting tourists for weeks—well, he’d regretted every decision he’d made since getting off of the subway after school.

He’d planned to stop after that man, but an inexplicable need to atone for his very existence ate at him and within minutes of stopping on that first rooftop, he was off and at it again.

And now his face still bled, his head pounded, and he wondered if his shoulder had dislocated and then corrected itself at some point in the evening. His ribs ached, his bruises throbbed, and something... something gnawed at his gut. No. Not something. Everything gnawed at his gut and thoughts were swirling around in his brain and he kept wondering why and how and if...”

“Incoming call from Tony Stark.”

Peter closed his eyes and drew in a calming breath.

“Peter?” Mr. Stark’s deceptively calm voice came over the comm. “Care to explain to me why I’m having to give the Spider-Baby a call at 1:27 on a Saturday morning when your curfew is midnight on the weekend?”

He didn’t know what to say, so he stuck to the truth, “I’m just thinking, Mr. Stark. I promise.”

“And you can’t do that from the comfort of your own home?”

Peter closed his eyes. He wasn’t sure that was the best plan, being alone in that exact moment.

“Pete? Are you going to answer me, ‘cuz Karen and FRI are both works of AI genius and I know this call hasn’t dropped.”

Peter inhaled again. That realization made it all too much. He wanted to...

“Pete?” Mr. Stark was alert now. “Pete? What’s going on?”

“I’m...” a sob fought its way free. What was Peter supposed to say? He wanted so badly to say he was good—that he was great and just taking in the cityscape before heading back to the apartment. He wanted to talk about the hot dog vendor who gives him extra sauerkraut on his hot dogs, ‘cuz it’ll put hair on his chest. Heck, he’d have settled for a story about free churros...

But he just felt so heavy.

“Peter, I’m calling up a suit now. I can be to you in two minutes.”

Two minutes? He had two minutes, and then Mr. Stark would know that Spider-Man wasn’t a superhero—he was a distraction, a target, a victim. That he existed solely for the universe to pour all of its hate and misfortune onto him for the benefit of others. That no matter how hard he tried, it would never be enough. That maybe Flash and Toomes and every punch and kick and stab were karma for Ben? His parents? That maybe if he wasn’t here...” Peter sobbed again. How could he say that all in two minutes?  

Instead, Peter whispered, “Mr. Stark? I can’t take this anymore.”

There was a silence, then, and Peter panicked at the thought he’d said too much.

“I mean—it’s okay, I just...”

“Pete. Hang on just thirty more seconds, okay? I’m coming to you, right now. Do you hear me?”

Peter nodded.

Mr. Stark chuckled, “I can’t hear you nod, kid.”

“I hear you,” he breathed.

“Okay, ‘cuz I bet there’s a lot of stuff goin’ on in that head of yours that needs some revisiting and I imagine it’s not processing quite right just now, what with the concussion you’ve been dealing with,” Mr. Stark cussed under his breath. “Kid, Karen is telling FRI that you already had that concussion when the suit went on?”

Peter huffed a laugh and looked out onto the city. “Um,” his voice warbled as he answered, “It’s been a pretty shitty day.” He could see Iron Man in the distance.

“Definitely sounds like there’s a story there, kid.” Mr. Stark landed a few feet away then moved towards him, faceplate flipping up to reveal a look of concern. “I want to hear it but first, I think you need this first.” The Iron Man armour melted away and Mr. Stark pulled Peter into his arms.

Peter tensed. The hugging thing wasn’t new for them, but Peter was convinced that he didn’t deserve this—any of this and he couldn’t... couldn’t...”

“Hey, kid, you’re safe here.” Mr. Stark soothed. “I’ve got you.”

Peter burrowed himself into Mr. Stark’s chest, then shook his head ‘no.’

His head hurt so bad and he couldn’t stop crying.

“Hey, FRI? Can he take the mask off?”

A voice spoke out from the watch resting by his ear. “I’m afraid not, Boss. There are several CCTV cameras set for specific ongoing undercover operations. This would disrupt four active stake outs and potential chain of evidence.”

“Damn.” Tony thought for a second. “Hey, buddy,” leaned to talk quietly into Peter’s ear. “I’m gonna give you a lift, ‘kay? We’ll hang out at the tower, just like we planned and have a bit of a staycation this weekend, sound good?”

Peter’s energy level was ebbing but, even still, he remembered, “No, don’t want the Avengers to see me like this.” He pleaded.

“Yeah, they flaked after the last meeting wrapped up, bud. The tower’s free and clear. It’d be you and me and bad 80s sci-fi. What do you say?”

Peter shrugged. It was all he could give.

And Mr. Stark took it. “Okay, kiddo, I’m gonna let of you now so I can get back into my suit, okay? And then I’m gonna pick you up so we can get this party started... whenever you’re ready.”

Peter hesitated, and then pulled himself out of Mr. Stark’s arms. Peter stepped back, looking unsure of himself.

With the tap of a button, the suit completely encased the man in seconds. “Alrighty, then. How do you want to do this, Pete? Piggy-back? Bridal-style?”

Peter was paralyzed with indecision. “I... I... um...”

The faceplate flipped up again and Tony took in the boy’s state, “How’s about dealer’s choice, hey?”

Peter nodded in relief and managed to not squeak when Iron Man scooped him up into his metal arms. “Why don’t you just relax. I’ve got ya’.” And with that, Iron Man rocketed off the rooftop and towards Avengers Tower.

It seemed that Mr. Stark didn’t feel as much urgency returning to the tower as he had when he’d headed over to Peter on the roof.

It was nice.

“Hey, Pete?” Mr. Stark interrupted the quiet, “I’m lookin’ at the injury report that Karen sent FRIDAY. I know you can’t be feeling great, so how’s about we make a quick pit stop at the medbay and get you checked out, huh?”

“I’m fine.” The words left his mouth before he could process it.

Mr. Stark was quiet for a minute, and then, “You know, Pete, just because you can deal with feeling bad or are even used to feeling bad, it doesn’t mean you have to settle for it.”

Peter remained silent.

“You don’t deserve to be in pain, bud.”

How could Peter reply to that? He lowered his head into the Iron Man’s chest and they continued onward.

Within moments, they were touching down on the landing pad outside of the Stark penthouse. Peter waited to be put down, but Mr. Stark walked forward, the suit dismantling around him until it was simply Mr. Stark carrying him.

“Mr. Stark?”

“Hang on, kid. Almost there.” He grunted in exertion.

They made their way to the couch where Tony gently placed Peter, sitting him down on the couch before planting himself on the coffee table in front of it.

“Okay, first things first,” Tony announced and reached forward to carefully remove the Spider-Man mask.

Peter allowed it, but kept his eyes lowered.

But Mr. Stark wouldn’t allow that. Mr. Stark cupped Peter’s cheek and guided Peter’s face upward. Peter tried to look away, but Mr. Stark refused to allow it.

“Peter Parker, you look me in the eye right now, please.”

His tears welled up again, but he did it.

“Good job, kid. Now I need you listen to me, and you listen to me good.”

Peter couldn’t look away.

“You do not need to be okay with feeling bad.”

Peter shook his head to disagree.

Tony continued. “You do not deserve to feel bad,” Tony wiped away Peter’s tears. “And you sure as hell do not need to hide from any of the people that love you that you feel bad.”

Mr. Stark moved his calloused hand from Peter’s face to brush a curl from his forehead. “If you need a list of people who love you, they include, but are not exclusive to: Your Aunt May, Ned, MJ, Rhodey—who still wants you to call him Uncle Rhodey, by the way.”

Peter chuckled.

Mr. Stark beamed, “Now where was I? Oh, yeah! Happy—just don’t tell him I told you,” Mr. Stark gave a conspiratorial wink at that one. “Pepper! And Brucie! Do I need to keep going? ‘Cuz I will. Hell, I bet that guy that makes your sandwiches loves you, kid.”

Peter didn’t know what to say.

“I’m at the top of that list, Peter.” Peter could hear the affection in Mr. Stark’s voice.

“You, Mister Peter Park, are allowed to not be okay. Sometimes life is shit, but half the fun is in getting through this together. You got me?”

Peter managed a timid nod.

“Good, so do you wanna go to the medbay and see if we have something for the killer headache you’ve got to have?”

“Please,” Peter replied.

“You’re feeling pretty bad?”

“Yeah, and, uh...” Peter didn’t quite know how to say it. “Um, I’m not okay.”

Tony shuffled closer, pulled Peter into an all-encompassing hug, and whispered, “I hear you, Peter, but we’re gonna get you there.”

@febuwhump

[deniigi]

Branded was so so good; heartbreaking and hilarious all rolled into one, and I love all of the lab managers! Did Himani ever follow up on her plans to try to get Peter to purr?

OwO

Did Himani? No. Did Ave? Absolutely. I wrote a whole piece on this. Let me dig up some parts for you.

The idea is that Ave is trying to understand the multiverse connection that Peter has and she thinks if she can understand his physiology, then she can start to triangulate some shit. So she starts conducting experiments to incite the purring.

----------

Bo banned all future tests on children, so Ave went for something that she knew Peter would never be able to resist.

She went downtown to the other SI facility and borrowed a cat carrier. She arrived back with it and put it in Saanvi’s office in revenge for Saanvi having refused to help her procure said subject.

The bunny inside had huge floppy ears. It was an older specimen.

Six, Mr. Baggins was. He was an old man in rabbit years.

Ave was positive that Peter’s Snow White effect wouldn’t work on him, even if his presence lured Spiderboy into Saanvi’s office. But Ave, bless her, was wrong.

They’d all forgotten that Peter had a range of vigilante skills. One of those was sticky fingers.

One moment, there was a rabbit in a cat carrier on Saanvi’s desk.

The next moment there was merely a cat carrier.

It took all day to retrieve Mr. Baggins. And when they finally found Peter cuddling him up in the crawlspace above the ceiling tiles in his office, he was vibrating again. This time louder. Mr. Baggins was into it and busily carried on grooming his shirt.

It was determined then that Ave had done it.

That vibrating? That weird, chesty buzz that Peter did? The one that sounded kind of like an electric floor fan?

That was Spidey purring.

 --

It was involuntary, they learned, via Ave taking Mr. Baggins away and then giving him back. Peter was devastated every time. He didn’t seem to know what was going on, actually.

It turned out he didn’t realize that he was making the noise.

As soon as he was aware of it, it stopped and he sticky-hands his way back up into the crawl space and hissed at them before refitting the ceiling tiles in place and refusing to speak to them any further.

Ave was captivated.

Peter was not amused when she got a ladder and wrestled him down and crammed the rabbit back in his arms, this time with a microphone shoved into his clavicle.

He was miserably dragged to through the recently cleared lab and sat on a table so that Ave could apply a range of devices to him and make curious and delighted sounds.

“You must make things produce more dopamine or something,” she said, flipping through her notes. “Baby things get happy around you. Animals want to groom you. Is it a calming effect? Do you put off pheromones or something that stimulates oxytocin?”

Peter blinked.

“I dunno,” he said. “But if you’re like, asking about weird shit, big animals don’t like me.”

There was a pause.

“Come again?” Bo said.

“Yeah, like, fuckin’ elk? They come over and stand right there,” Peter said, gesturing over his shoulder. “DD says their heartbeats go all funny like they’re trying to decide if I’m a threat. So they start sniffin’ and I’ve just gotta hold real still.”

Dude.

“You spend a lot of time with Daredevil,” Saanvi noticed.

Peter cocked his head.

“Well, yeah. He’s my l—friend. He’s my friend,” he said. “Anyways, Ave, DD has the opposite effect if you’re interested. Big things want to be his friend at all times. Like, he’s in love with cows.”

Dude, what?

“And horses,” Peter said. “Well, I mean. Horses love him. He’s terrified of horses. Wade tried to get him on a horse once and he said that he’d rather walk barefoot to Canada.”

Wasn’t this supposed to be the man without fear?

“Pft. Yeah right. Ghosts, horses, God’s wrath, commitment, open communication,” Peter listed. “Man with many, highly specific fears, more like.”

Huh.

“Does he purr?” Ave demanded.

Peter huffed.

“No,” he said. “He doesn’t like it when I purr.”

“No?” Ave asked. “Are you repulsive to him?”

Peter lifted an eyebrow.

“Are you one of them monsterfuckers?” he asked. “I’m not that mutated, girl.”

Ave scowled.

“I,” she told him proudly, “Am gonna figure out what makes you tick, Parker.”

“That’s creepy,” Peter said. “I don’t trust scientists like that.”

“You are a scientist,” Ave said.

“Yeah, but I don’t study me,” Peter said. “Or people like me. That shit goes into eugenics way fast, I promise you. Those fuckers are always trying to get ahold of mutants or me or whoever. The super bold and super stupid go after Cap on a yearly basis.”

Ave considered this.

“I…don’t care about y’all as a whole,” she said. “I care about you in specific. Because something about you makes you multiverse material. And I will not rest until I—”

“Oh,” Peter said. “Why didn’t you just ask?”

[realfuurikuuri]

Chapters: 17/? Fandom: Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart (Cartoon) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Summary: MissingArm!AU: When escaping the cave, it wasn't his tail that got crushed. In exchange for his innocence, he gained a sordid past. The Pure Heart Valley seemed like a good place to escape. To start a new life with a new family to forge a new identity. However, when the past rears its ugly head Mao Mao's forced to step up or be put down.

direct link to chapter 17 on Ao3: 

Chapter Below the Cut

“Jǐngti,” Badgerclops shouted as he wandered through the forest with Adorabat resting on his head.

“Jǐngtì,” shouted Adorabat soon after.

Badgerclops suppressed a sigh, wondering how much longer this would take. He’s been walking through the forest that surrounds the hills since early this morning. His fur was covered in a thin veneer of sweat, and his knees were starting to hurt. Would Jǐngtì even come out if he heard them? Was he even in the forest? He could be in the junkyard, in the town something or who knows how many other places. There was an entire kingdom to sift through! This hasn’t been a waste of time from the start, has it?

Badgerclops kicked a rock in the mud with the realization that this was all pointless. But what else could he do? Not looking for a child who had run away in the night? Badgerclops picked up the pebble he kicked, reeled back his arm, and threw it into the procession of trees. He half expected to hear Jǐngtì say “ow” as the rock hit on the head, but he heard nothing but the vast emptiness of the forest.

There weren't any fortuitous accidents to be had here. Just misery.

“What are you doing,” Adorabat asked.

Oh damn. He forgot she was there.  

“It's nothing,” he said.

Acrobat didn’t seem convinced. She settled back down on Badgerclops head with a noncommittal grunt. Badgerclops kept walking, and Adorbat kept making sounds. Usually grunts or maybe a whispered word. Was she thinking? First time he’s seen her try so hard at it. He wouldn’t wish her any luck though. There’s no reason a child should be trying to put together such a macabre puzzle. She probably wouldn’t be able to anyway. She was asleep for most of last night, so her puzzle was missing a few pieces. Even if she had all the pieces there wouldn’t be any way a child’s mind could get the full grasp of what was going on, right? “What’s that mean?”

Badgerclops looked up at Adorabat with an eyebrow raised.

“You said something about a child’s puzzle?”

It appeared that he was just as lost in thought as Adorabat. Badgerclops wiped the sweat from his brow. This Sisyphean task had gone on too long. Although, Badgerclops wasn’t sure he needed to. Jǐngtì had his father’s blood coursing through his veins; he was bound to show up with another problem on his heels. It was time for Sisyphus to get a break and go back to HQ. Mao Mao would probably still be curled up on the couch, but he could never be too sure about that man.

Badgerclops looked around. There was grass at his feet and a crowd of trees in every direction. He was lost as fuck. It had to be this damn forest. And all this damn walking! Exercise has never done him well. What to do? Badgerclops tapped his finger until he had a lightbulb that promptly went out. He has a GPs system in the works but he never actually got around to setting it up. Damn you procrastination. Time to the bust out old reliable: climbing to a high place and hoping for the best!

What high place, was now the question. Badgerclops looked up at the pine trees that pierced the sky. He could climb those… but that was exercise and got a hard pass. What other pieces of geography could he take advantage of?  Hmm, there were a series of hills that rose above the canopy, HQ was built on one, so maybe he’d be able to see it from one of those. He just needed to find one.

“Hey, Adorabat. Fly up and tell me if you see any hills, okay.”

“Okay!”

Badgerclops watched her fly above the treetops into the sky when it hit him. “Did I forget she could fly?”

“Hey, Badgerclops! I see something… shiny .”

Badgerclops could see Adorabat’s pupils dilate and chomp her teeth as base instincts take over. She began to fly off at frightful speeds.

Badgerclops threw his head back and let out a loud groan. “It always exercises with you people,” he told no one in particular as he ran after her.

He followed her to where the ground slanted, forcing Badgerclops to trudge up slowly with his knees. The slope went higher and higher until he broke past the tops of the conifers to the top of the ridge. An endless green sea stretched into the horizon. He could see the town in the East, HQ to the north, and Adorabat off to the side.

He picked up the weird stick she was chewing on and pried Adorbat off like a leech. “We have got to get you a teething toy,” he said.

Badgerclops was about to throw the weird stick away when he realized it wasn't a stick. It was already marked with teeth marks, red with a golden tip, and hollow. This wasn’t a stick. It was Mao Mao’s sheath. Why was it out here? Was this where Mao Mao was last night?

What was that cat bastard doing?

* * *

Mao Mao ignored his grumbling stomach. He wasn’t in any mood to eat. He'd rather stay here, curled up on the couch, until the end of time. It was a good place. Soft. Warm. It was genuinely a good place, yet, why did he feel so miserable? His head was filled with fog, his body ached and every time he convinced himself to get up he suddenly felt everything escape him. His strength fled, his courage escaped, and will to keep going receded further back than it already had. He didn’t have Tanya. He didn't have Badgerclops. He didn’t have his son. He didn’t even have self-respect. How horrifying to know he could lose what little he had left. At least he still had the couch.

Mao Mao was getting very comfortable with it too when there was a knock at the door. First, he thought it was Badgerclops, but he has a key. And if he forgot it he’d just spend a second to make one. It couldn’t be Adorabat. She’d sooner crash through the window than knock.

“Hello? Is this the police,” said the voice. On any other day, Mao Mao might’ve answered the door, but right now he just rolled over.

Mao Mao covered his ear best he could with one arm.

“Excuse me? Is anyone there?”

Mao Mao snuggled himself deeper into the cushions.

“Please. My daughter is missing.”

Mao Mao finally pried himself away from the cushions. Not out of concern or sympathy, he just couldn’t stand hearing this stranger bang against his door or his stupid, whiny, nasaly voice. His legs felt heavy from lack of use, or maybe that was hunger. He couldn’t tell. The floor seemed uneven making him stumble as he approached the door. He tripped, falling to his knees. He would’ve hit his face if he hadn’t stabbed Geraldine into the floorboards. Badgerclops wasn’t going to like that.

Even then, he was forced to lean against it to catch his breath.

“Hello,” said the other side.

God! This dude’s voice made him want to tear his ears off. Mao Mao threw open the door, heaving for breath, leaning against the side of it to stand. He only says the usual expanse. The hill HQ rests on, the forest beneath the hills, and the town in the distance. Was he hearing voices? Sure, he wasn’t exactly taking care of himself, but he didn’t think he reached that point yet.

“Are you the sheriff?”

Mao Mao pointed his gaze down in the direction of the voice. He almost asked Adorabat what the hell she was doing when he squinted and took a closer look. It wasn’t Adorabat. Looked a lot like her though. A bat barely over a foot tall with a strange blue hue. A sweetiepie definitely, but one he’s never seen before. How strange.

“Who are you, no, what are you here for,” Mao Mao asked.

“My name is Eugene. I’m looking for my daughter-” Mao Mao tuned out after that. No need listening to him when he’s speaking a mile a minute. Eugene, huh. Weird name for a Sweetipie. He thought his name would be something weird like Gumball, or Flapjack, or even Parker. No, not Parker. That’d be too weird. Does he have a surname? Is it as weird as his first name? Mao Mao was going to ask when he realized Eugene was still talking.

“-can you help me?”

“No,” he said flatly.

Eugene deflated with a pathetic sigh of defeat until Mao Mao spoke up again”-but Badgerclops, might.”

“Where is Badgerclops,” Eugene stammered.

“Out.”

“Oh...Do you know when he’ll be back?”  

“No. Guess you gotta wait.”

Mao Mao spun on his heels ready to crawl back on the couch and lie there for eternity, when he noticed the tiny little man walking past him. Strange, he didn’t remember inviting him in. The tiny little bastard sat down on the loveseat with the infuriating awkwardness of patience.

Should he kick him? Probably?

Will he ignore Eugene and just crawl back onto the couch? Definitely.

And crawl onto the couch he did. He climbed onto the couch, wrapping himself in his cape. He kicked Eugene to the side , earning a nasally whine from the fool, to create space and once he had it he curled up and went back to his misery. This misery was different from the benign wasting away he was doing before. It was something more embarrassing. He was being watched. It made him want to hide under the covers and be mistaken for a rock. Maybe if he was mistaken enough, he’d actually become one.

“What's your name,” asked Eugene.

Of course, this fool wanted to talk. Mao Mao released a heavy sigh,” Mao Mao.”

“That’s a weird name.”

Yesterday, Mao Mao probably would’ve kicked him in the face. Now, he didn’t have enough pride to do that. He should’ve expected that’d be a name in a place like this.

“So, what do you do here?”

Mao Mao’s first instinct was to say sheriff, but that wasn’t really accurate anymore. “I make things worse,” he said.

Eugene nodded and shifted unfortunately before settling into a comfortable silence. Unfortunately, it didn’t last too long.

“You wouldn't have happened to see my daughter, would you?”

Mao Mao let out a non-committal grunt.

“She’s about a foot tall, blue, takes after her father that way, and cute as a button, but if I’m being totally honest, she scares me.”

Mao Mao stiffened. He knew a certain child that he’d describe the exact same way… He sat up, turning to face Eugene. “Your daughter wouldn’t happen to also be kinda naive, have a taste for adventure, and be extremely loud?”

“Yeah, she’s exactly like that.”

Mao Mao sat there. Mouth hanging wide open as the horrible reality dawned on him. He thought Adorabat was an orphan or something. He thought she was a ward of the state. An orphan! This was like accidentally adopting someone’s pet except a thousand times worse! Eugene was Adorabat’s dad. Mao Mao hyperventilated as he thought. How would he explain this? Summer camp? No, summer’s coming to an end. An internship? No, she’s eight! They’d have to give her back. He couldn’t just keep the child here. It's not like he was fit to be a parent.

Mao Mao stopped thinking, shocked by his own realization.

He wasn’t fit to be a hero, let alone someone else’s caregiver. He couldn't even be a parent to his own child, god forbid anyone else’s. He was a mistake. A failure. He ruined everything he got his hands on. Like a lumbering beast that just  How long would it be until he broke her too? Mao Mao took a deep breath. He wasn’t happy with what he had to do, but he was prepared to do what he must.

“Are you okay,” Eugene asked.

He wished people would just stop asking him that.

Both of them looked up when they heard something thump outside.

“Ow, you’ve got to be careful with that.”

That was Badgerclops. Was he and Adorabat back already? Oh geez, he hadn’t even had time to think what to say.

And he would get no time. Badgerclops strolled in like nothing was wrong, but when Adorabat caught sight of Eugene it looked like she ate something sour.

Immediately, Eugene rushed to his child

“I am so glad you’re safe,” Eugene said,” let’s go home.”

“What? No. Let me go,” Adorabat said, pushing herself away.

Badgerclops interviewed. Prying the two of them apart with ease. “What on earth is going on here,” Badgerclops asked.

“Wha- what’s going on here? Have you two ruffians kidnapped my daughter?”

“Wait- that’s not--”

“That’s it. I’m calling the authorities.”

Eugene pulled out his phone and dialed 911 only for the cell in Mao Mao’s pocket to go off.

“Alright, before we call the cops on the cops, I need to know what the hells going on.”

“That’s… Adorabat’s dad,” Mao Mao told him.

“I thought she was my conscious.”

Weird thing to say, but Mao Mao set it aside for now. However, Eugene did not. “You’re conscious?” Eugene wriggled free with his daughter in tow. “That’s it. We’re leaving these crazies.” He said, carrying while Adorabat kicked and screamed. Eventually, Adorabat won. Shaking free from his grasp and continuing her tantrum with renewed vitriol and vigor.

This wasn’t going well at all. He somehow accidentally kidnapped a kid, and he had just about called the cops on them. He’d be in jail if the justice system wasn’t so wack. Hell, he had half the mind to arrest himself. Why’d this have to happen? Why’d he ever get up from the couch to answer the door? He knew he should've stayed like that forever.

Badgerclops turned him around without warning. A grim expression on his face. “What are we going to do?”

What? Why are you asking him? You’re the one who made good decisions. He should be asking you!. Mao Mao began to hyperventilate. Sheer terror had him in its grasp and it was beginning to squeeze his throat. What to do? What to do? What could he do? He’s the one who never did anything right. Words escaped him, actions failed him. It's not like he could ignore Eugene and keep his kid.  What could he do?

He could only do what he thought was right.

Mao Mao got up and marched towards Adorabat and Eugene. “What- what are you doing?” The words passed right over Mao Mao’s ears. He pushed Adorabat and her father right out the door and slammed it shut behind him, locking the locks, bolting the bolts, and putting his back against it. He could hear Adorabat scream and shout from the other side. It gradually grew quieter and quieter as her father pulled her away.

So that was that. The problem had been fixed. He’d done the right thing. So why did Mao Mao feel so… awful? He fell down to his knees and wrapped himself in his cape. Did the world really hate him that much? He’d give up doing anything, and the world literally brought a problem to his doorstep. He didn’t even do anything? Why did he deserve this?

“Are you okay over there,” Badgerclops asked?

Would people stop asking that! He felt Badgerclops pick him up and lay him back down on the couch where Mao Mao promptly curled back up. Badgerclops stroked his ears, soothing Mao Mao like it would help anything.

[just-jordie-things]

She’s Not Yours - Peter Parker

word count: 3666 (I did not do the 666 on purpose but I sure as hell am proud) warnings: swearing, rotten cheating boyfriends with basic douchebag names summary: Peter is hopelessly in love with his friend, (y/n).  His taken friend (y/n).

“Ah, and here we see a young boy, with a heavy heart, longing for a girl who will never notice” Flash gave Peter a shit eating grin as he passed him in the hall.

Peter Parker was doing what he always did in between fifth and sixth period.  Watching (y/n) and her boyfriend from across the hallway.  Why he enjoyed torturing himself, he wasn’t sure.  But everyday between fifth and sixth, he went to his locker, and would glance over to (y/n’s) locker, where her and Blake were talking, laughing.

Flash clapped Peter on the shoulder, tearing his attention away from the happily taken girl.

“Come on Penis Parker, you’ve been friendzoned since the sixth grade man! You gotta give it up already”

“Fuck off, Flash” Peter muttered, and turned away from him to grab his chemistry textbook.

“I’m just saying dude, you’re gonna have blue balls the rest of your life if you keep on thirsting over a taken girl-”

“Excuse me, best friend coming through,” Luckily Ned showed up so Peter wasn’t alone to deal with Flash.  “Eugene, Carly Davis is wearing a crop top today, go drool over that”

“See ya nerds”

Ned frowned at Peter, who as soon as Flash was gone, focused his attention back on (y/n) again.

“Pete, dude,” Ned sighed, hands on his hips as he followed his friend’s stare.  “He’s kinda right”

“Ned,” Peter whined, having hoped for some uplifting advice.  “Come on man, I just-”

“You’re just admiring from afar, I know, I know.  I’ve heard it all before,” Ned explained.  Peter frowned as he shut his locker.  “You don’t understand, Ned, it’s love.  I’m in love with her yadda yadda yadda-”

“You’re in love with someone, Ned?”

Peter nearly had a heart attack when (y/n) had walked up to both boys, he prayed to Thor that she hadn’t heard what they’d been talking about.  (Thor was the only God he knew.)

“Uh- yeah, you know.  When Cupid strikes, he hits hard, or something like that” Ned trailed off and coughed, not sure where to go with the lie.

(y/n) just chuckled and let it go, chalking it up to an awkward boy moment.  She knew all too well about those, being friends with Peter Parker and Ned Leeds gave her a plethora of weird boy moments.

“So, tonight Blake and I were thinking of doing a group thing instead of just regular date night, you guys want to come?”

“I mean we don’t have dates-” Ned started before Peter kicked his ankle.

“Yeah, that sounds like fun,” Peter said.  “What are uh- what are we doing?”

“Maybe a movie, or something simple like that,” (y/n) shrugged.  “I’m really glad you’ll come though, I never get to have both my boys at the same time” She grinned wide and innocently, and Peter had to fake a smile back at her.

“Yeah, been a while since we’ve hung out” He replied, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

“I’ll text you with more details later?” She asked, and he nodded quickly.  “Alright, see you guys later” She smiled to both of them, but only squeezed Peter’s arm before heading off to class.

“Really Peter? You think going on a group date with (y/n/n) and Blake is a good idea?” Ned asked as the boys headed off to their class.  “Don’t you think it’ll make you… I don’t know, depressed?”

Peter gave Ned a bored look.

“Maybe, but I want to hang out with (y/n) again, and you’ll come too, right?” Peter asked hopefully.

“I don’t know, sure,” Ned shrugged.  “But maybe you should just… maybe distance yourself, Peter.  And I mean it for the best I don’t want you to end up getting hurt by your own feelings”

Peter nodded, and held his textbook a little tighter.

“Yeah.  Yeah, maybe I… should,” He sighed.  “You’re right”

Distancing himself from (y/n) was going to be… awful.  Absolutely awful.  But maybe it would help get rid of his feelings for her, and the sooner he wasn’t painfully in love with her, the better. ___

Peter had been in love with (y/n) for as long as he’d known her, he was sure of it.  She was too nice, too pretty, too smart, how couldn’t you fall for her? Sadly, Peter waited too long to make his move, and by the time he realized just how in love he was with (y/n), Blake had already asked her out.

Blake Walters was an okay guy.  He was popular enough, and attractive, and had his own car.  He was the kind of guy any girl would be happy to have ask them to Prom.  It was disappointing that (y/n) was the girl he asked, but Peter couldn’t complain too much.  Of course beautiful people go to Prom together, that’s always how it has been.

But now, watching as Blake wrapped his arm around (y/n) at the concessions counter, Peter wanted to throw himself in front of a bus.

“You’re staring again,” Ned singsonged as he walked up to Peter, bucket of popcorn in hand.  “I knew this was a bad idea-”

“Wait hold on,” Peter cut him off, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up.  “Something’s…. Something’s weird”

“Is it the Peter tingle?” Ned asked excitedly, and Peter groaned.

“No! Let’s please not call it that!” Peter hissed, but Ned just laughed with glee.

“Blake! Oh my God!”

The boys swiveled at the high pitched squeal, and in ran a blonde girl, straight into Blake’s arms.  They hugged for a moment before pulling away and grinning at each other.  It took a few minutes of small talk before he seemed to introduce his girlfriend to her.

“Who is that?” Ned asked as him and Peter curiously watched the situation in front of them.

“I don’t know… she definitely doesn’t go to Midtown…” Peter trailed off, eyes narrowing as he watched the mystery girl and Blake interact.  “They’re real… touchy, don’t you think?”

“What? Pfft- Oh” Ned’s eyes blew wide as saucers as he watched the girl shamelessly run her hand along Blake’s bicep.  “(y/n) is literally standing right there”

As if on cue, (y/n) turned away from her boyfriend, catching Peter and Ned watching them.  She walked over to them, relieved.

“That was awkward,” She chuckled lamely, tucking her hair behind her ear as she glanced back at her boyfriend.  “That’s Blake’s friend, Ashley.  She goes to another school”

“She doesn’t look like his friend” Ned mumbled.  Peter smacked his arm.

“Dude” He hissed, eyeing (y/n) so Ned got a clue.

“It’s alright,” (y/n) defended.  “I know what it looks like.  And don’t worry, it’s not like that at all” She shoved her hands into the pockets of the jacket she was wearing.

Blake’s letterman lacrosse jacket.

“You guys,” (y/n) forced a laugh as Ned and Peter went back to staring down Blake and Ashley.  “Seriously, it’s okay, I’m okay.  She probably just has a crush on him.  Who wouldn’t?” She winked, but Peter still frowned.

“It’s still not right” He mumbled.  (y/n) gave him a half smile.

“Come on, let’s go claim our seats,” She tugged on the sleeve of his sweater, and Ned followed her, but Peter stayed put, still watching Blake and Ashley.  “Pete, come on,” She hummed.  “It’s fine”

He agreed, but not without one more skeptical look, before following (y/n) and Ned into the theater.

Peter felt lucky to get to sit next to (y/n), with Ned on his other side.  Maybe Blake was the one holding (y/n’s) hand, but still, he got to sit next to her.

However, Ashley was whispering an awful lot during the film, and maybe it didn’t bother anyone else, but Peter’s enhanced hearing picked it up easily.

“I’m just saying, Blakey,” Ahley purred into his ear, perfectly out of view from (y/n).  “Don’t you think you deserve a little more… fun… than you’ve been getting? Hm?”

Peter choked, and then began to cough, gaining (y/n’s) attention as she patted his back comfortably.

“You alright?” She asked softly, rubbing circles on his back now.

“Yeah, sorry, I’m fine” Peter shook his head nonchalantly.  (y/n) gave him a worried smile, patting his back softly before turning back in her seat to watch the movie again.

Peter didn’t miss the skeptical glance that Blake had given him.

Five minutes later, the whispering started again.

“I’m going to go to the bathroom,” Blake told (y/n), who nodded without even looking away from the screen.  He then turned to Ashley, and whispered in a lower voice, “In five minutes, meet me in the hall” Before standing up, and leaving.

It was clear to Peter that (y/n) hadn’t heard this, because she happily took Blake’s popcorn bucket, and set it between her and Peter to share.  Peter gave her a timid smile in thanks.

The boy couldn’t even focus on the movie now, knowing that any minute now, Ashley was going to stand up, and walk out of the theater, to go meet up with Blake and-

Peter watched with wide eyes as she did just as he suspected.  Standing up, and quickly making her way out of the theater, not even catching (y/n’s) attention for leaving.  It was like he could feel his blood boiling.

“I’ll be right back” Peter said quickly, before practically leaping out of his seat and racing out of the theater.  (y/n) barely had the chance to ask him if he was okay.  And Ned could tell that for whatever reason Peter was sprinting to the exit, wasn’t a good one.

Practically bursting through the doors, Peter raced around the corner to the bathrooms, and sure enough, caught Blake and Ashley, pressed against the wall, sucking face.

Before he could say something to break it up, Blake had caught sight of him.

“Of fucking course,” He grumbled, and pulled away from Ashley.  “Parker.  Only you could so grandly fuck this up”

“What the hell are you doing?” Peter hissed.  “(y/n’s) in the- your girlfriend is in the theater right now, waiting for you!”

“Jesus Christ Parker, listen- honey why don’t you wait right there?” Ashley nodded, and pulled out her pocket mirror to fix her makeup while Blake walked closer to Peter, as if they could even have privacy in the middle of the hall.  “Why don’t you just fuck off and go back and enjoy the movie, yeah?”

Peter narrowed his eyes and shook his head, disgusted.

He knew there was something off.  He could just feel it.  But up until now, Blake had actually treated (y/n) decently.

“What’s the matter with you? You and (y/n), your-your relationship is perfect-”

Ashley let out a laugh from where she stood.

“It’s not perfect if it’s missing all the good stuff” She said with a seductive wink.  Peter felt himself bristle at the action, at the thought.

“What, so she’s a good lay?” He asked Blake, who shrugged nonchalantly.  Peter’s nose scrunched, bothered to his core from what was unfolding right in front of him.  

“Oh please, like you wouldn’t tap that if you’d had the chance.  And let’s face it, at this point, you won’t”

“I’m nothing like you, I don’t treat people like-”

“Doesn’t matter how you treat people.  I treated (y/n) pretty fairly, don’t you think? I kept up with the act.  Took her to Prom, didn’t even ask her to blow me, that’s how generous I was.  No, I gave her time.  Walked her to class, surprised her with flowers, all that dopey shit girls like.  And what did she do with all that time I gave her? Threw it right in my face.  She’s not yours, Parker.  And even if she was, you’d be bored out of your mind.  You think you’re not getting sucked off now? Go ahead and take her like you want to so bad, you’ll just be disappointed”

“That’s good to know”

Peter spun around to see (y/n) standing there, a newly refilled bucket of popcorn in her hands, and tears in her eyes that she wasn’t daring to let fall.

“(y/n/n)-” Peter started, but she put her hand up, and walked in front of him to Blake.

“Sorry to bore you, babe,” She mumbled.  “Glad you handled it like a real man, huh?”

With that, she threw the bucket at his face, popcorn spilling everywhere, leaving Peter, and Ashley, for that matter, stunned.

“There.  Just like your time you wasted”

(y/n) yanked Blake’s jacket that she wore off of her like it was poison, and threw it on the floor as well, making a point to kick it towards him before hastily walking off.  Not wanting to waste another minute around him.

Peter followed her all the way outside, where she stopped at the bench and collapsed.  Head in her hands as she wept.

“(y/n), hey hey,” He spoke softly as he sat next to her.  But no words came to mind on what to say.  “I’m sorry” He settled, and she looked up at him.

“Why are you sorry?” She whimpered, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hands.

“I don’t know… maybe if I hadn’t left the theater then you wouldn’t have and then you wouldn’t have seen-”

“Don’t be sorry about that,” (y/n) sighed.  “It’s better that I saw it.  I wouldn’t want to waste another minute with that piece of shit”

She wrapped her arms around herself and sat in silence for a few minutes.  Peter kept his distance on the bench, and didn’t want to speak up only to say the wrong thing.

“You were right” She whispered after what felt like ages.

“What?”

“You were right,” She looked over at him sadly.  “I should’ve- listened-” She hiccuped and began to cry again, and this time Peter reached for her and hugged her tightly.  Not even caring when her tears seeped through his shirt.

“It’s not your fault, (y/n), none of it, okay?” Peter held her close and rubbed her back while she just cried.

Her hands balled up into fists, grasping the material of his shirt so tightly, her hands began to shake.

“It doesn’t even matter that he was a dick that didn’t deserve me,” She said sadly.  “It still hurts, that-that he-” She didn’t bother trying to finish her statement, instead taking deep breaths to calm herself down.

“He didn’t deserve you,” Peter agreed, palm cupping the back of her head comfortingly.  “But you’re still allowed to hurt, (y/n), it’s natural, I mean he-”

(y/n) pulled away from him abruptly, her eyes locking on his.  His brows furrowed with concern, but he waited for her to speak.

“Will you take me home?” She asked softly, and he nodded.

“I just gotta text Ned that I’m leaving first” He told her, pulling out his phone and trying to figure out what to say to explain the situation in a text.

(y/n) waited patiently, and just stared at him while he would type, and then backspace, and then type again.

He looked really pretty in the moonlight.

Finally, he sent a text, and shoved his phone into his pocket, standing up from the bench with a sad sort of smile for her.

(y/n) stood up, and reached out to take his hand before they walked to the bus stop together. ___

Since the day they first met, (y/n) knew there was something about Peter Parker.  Something special.  Something she was falling in love with.  She’d known it for years.  And as the years past, she realized more and more that it was all of him.  She loved every part of him.

And just when she thought he’d return those feelings, Ned had told her that he was head over Chucks for Liz Allen.

Next thing she knew, she was getting asked to the Prom by Blake Walters.

“Do you want to stay over? For a little bit?” She asked him as they were getting on the bus, hands still entwined.

“Yeah, s-sure” Peter stammered while also nodding his head.

It was silent between them for most of the ride, but it was late, and it was rare that the bus was quiet, so they just enjoyed the peace of the ride.

(y/n) didn’t say anything until they were walking the block from the bus stop to her apartment.

“So, hey, can I ask you something?” She asked him, and Peter shrugged.

“That depends, is it embarrassing?” He replied, and she chuckled and shook her head.

“No, I don’t think so,” She hummed.  “What was up with Blake telling you to ‘take me like you want to so bad’ hm?”

It was as though his entire neck and face began to burn up at the question.  And while (y/n) awaited his answer with an excited smile, his nerves were very apparent.

“Wh-what? I-I-I don’t know why would I know why he’d s-say something w-weird”

He cursed himself for stuttering so much.  But (y/n) just giggled again.

“It’s alright, Peter, you’ve got nothing to be embarrassed of.  I already told you so,” Her voice was soft, and gentle, and her hand squeezed his a little bit.  “So just tell me the truth”

“Okay, so maybe Blake had an idea that I… didn’t like him”

“That’s it?” (y/n) asked disbelievingly.

“And… maybe he had that idea because he knew I… liked you.  Like, a lot” Peter added in a weaker voice.

“Well if you liked me so much, why didn’t you do anything?” (y/n) asked, which wasn’t even on the list of questions he’d prepared for.

“Cause you had a boyfriend?” He answered, almost sarcastically.  “For a long time, you dated him.  I wasn’t about to get in the way of that and ruin-”

“Peter,” (y/n) stopped him, right there in the middle of the sidewalk, letting go of his hand and shaking her head at him.  “Didn’t you wonder what I might say?”

“I mean… yeah, obviously, I wondered that for like four years,” He shrugged.  “But we were friends, and you had a boyfriend, so-”

(y/n) cut him off again, this time in the best way she could have.

Her hands splayed across his cheeks as she pulled him down to her height, and pressed her lips against his.  Peter’s hands set on her waist to steady himself before kissing her back.  Her lips were soft, and gentle.

“There,” She smiled smugly when she pulled away from the kiss.  “There never would have been a bad time to tell me that, Pete” She told him.

He nodded, albeit shakily.

“Noted” Was all he was able to say.

(y/n) giggled as they began to walk again, not too far from her apartment now.

“So uh- what does that mean?” Peter asked shakily, his hand raising to rub the back of his neck.  (y/n) hummed as she looked over at him, quirking a brow in question of what he meant.  “I mean, you-you kissed me,” Peter clarified.  “So… what now?”

She was grinning at him, and if he wasn’t so anxious he would’ve stopped to think how cute she’s being and put two and two together.

“What do you want it to mean?” She teased him, and Peter looked away.  “You wanna know something?”

“Okay?” He answered unsurely.  (y/n) looked up at him with round and hopeful eyes, wanting him to know she sincerely meant every word she was about to say.

“If you had made a move before Blake asked me out, I would’ve said yes,” She admitted.  “I would’ve said it a thousand times,” She added in a murmur.  “And I waited for it too”

“You waited for me?” Peter asked, brows furrowing, and she nodded her head softly.

“Yeah,” She whispered out, and then cleared her throat before continuing.  “But you never did,” She shrugged.  “So I thought you didn’t like me like I’d thought you had so… so when Blake asked me out I just… went with it”

Peter shook his head, mentally beating himself up for being such a blind idiot.

“He wasn’t all that bad, of course until he cheated on me,” (y/n) told him nonchalantly.  “But to be honest with you… if you’d come to me even in the best part of our relationship I would’ve still left him-”

Peter turned to her suddenly, stopping her from her explanation.  His hands flew out to take her by the waist, pulling her close to him before he leaned over and pressed his lips to hers.  She reacted immediately, her hands latching behind his neck as she moved her lips over his sweetly.

He could taste the popcorn and cherry cola.

(y/n’s) fingers carded through his hair as she pressed closer to him, their noses bumping clumsily as they kissed passionately in the middle of the sidewalk, under the stars, no one else bear witness to the simple act of love.

When they’d parted after several minutes, neither stepped away from each other.  Forehead and noses pressed together as they caught their breath.

(y/n) let out a soft giggle, making Peter laugh as well, and soon they were smiling and giggling and hugging one another so tightly, he was lifting her off the ground.

“Come on, we’re not too far now” She said, taking his hands and pulling him towards the direction of her place.

It wasn’t until Peter got to her apartment that he checked his phone, seeing a text from Ned.

[ ned ] : np dude, i took the bus home. go shoot your shot !! [ ned ] : hey, i think i just saw blake and ashley kissing😱😱😱

Peter grinned as he typed back a quick reply.

[ peter ] : shots were taken☺️😁

___

taglist:  @writings-and-stuff​ @rofromtheashes​ @tomshufflepuff​ @steve-avengers-rogers​ @vibhati123 @dark-night-sky-99​  @hollandhours​ @drakonwild​ @imofficiallyobsessed​

xoxo ~ jordie

[n8thegr8]

My Avengers Academy Chapter 1: An Old Fashioned Notion

Not everyone is created equal. There are people in this world that are born with privileges and advantages that put them ahead of everyone else. There are people that are born with nothing and must climb their way out of oppression. These lessons of privilege should be taught to children with care and respect. To help them understand. These lessons should not, however, be taught to children with violence.

Peter Parker learned this lesson at the age of five. He laid there motionless; eyes widened as he looked towards the sky. He had bruises on his arms and legs, dirt stained his cheeks, and his head was pounding with pain. All he could do now was crawl into a ball and cry his eyes out.

It was supposed to be a fun day for him; his kindergarten cancelled all classes due to a nearby villain attack which cut out all the power on that grid. A day off of school is supposed to be a fun time for children. It was supposed to be fun for Peter. It was, at least in the beginning.

He had a playdate with his best friend in the world, Eugene “Flash” Thompson. He was so excited when his aunt dropped him off at his house; he couldn’t wait to play hero. Their playdates consisted mostly of watching old footage of battles between heroes and villains, and any live fights happening on the news. Today, however, was different. 

“Hey, Pete, wanna ditch this, and go to the playground? I’m getting kinda bored,” Flash said.

“Um, yeah! Let’s go tell your mom and-“

“Nah,” Flash said, “Let’s just go, we’ll be back before she knows anything.” This was unusual for Peter. Going to the park without any adult supervision? His Aunt May and Uncle Ben always told him to never go anywhere without an adult that he trusts. But, he trusts Flash. He wouldn’t let Peter get hurt right? Besides, Flash has this really cool quirk, if any bad people try to kidnap him, he’ll protect him. 

Peter agreed, and off they went. Getting out of the house was easy since Flash’s mom was sleeping on the couch in the living room with some sort of bottle in her hand. This usually happened when Peter had a playdate at Flash’s home; his mom was asleep most of the time, letting them have free reign of the house. Whenever Peter asked why his mom sleeps so much, Flash would say, “She just works a lot, okay? Stop asking.”

The journey to the park, however, was difficult because they had to stay out of sight, so no adult would see them and call their parents, or aunt and uncle in Peter’s case. They ran from bush to bush, and jumped fences to get to their destination. Eventually, they came to the wall that separated the park from the playground. It loomed over the two kids, and it cast a great shadow over them. To Peter, it was the highest wall he’d ever seen. 

Peter heard Flash chuckle. “This wall ain’t nothing to me.” Flash’s arms became covered in this black goop. The goop seemingly crawled up his arms and eventually to his hands, turning his small hands into big claws. Flash looked at Peter. “Lemme show you how a man climbs a wall.”

Flash stepped back five steps and then dashed towards the wall, jumped, and stuck to the wall, digging his claws into the concrete. Peter watched in awe as Flash effortlessly climbed up. Once Flash got to the top of the wall, he peered down and looked at Peter, flashing him a toothy grin. 

“Well, come on!” he exclaimed.

Peter stared at the wall. Noticing it’s craggily state, how long has this wall been standing? Before he was born? Before Auntie and Uncle were born? Before quirks?

“What are ya waiting for?!” yelled Flash, “Just climb the stupid thing!”

Jolted out of his thoughtful daze, Peter looked for his path to climb up the wall. 

“Come on, Peter!”

The more Flash shouted the more nervous he got. Finally, he found his path. Peter took five steps back and then sprinted towards the wall until-

“I AM IRON MAN AND IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO WAKE UP! I AM IRON MAN AND IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO WAKE UP!”

This phrase loudly repeated throughout Peter Parker’s bedroom, bouncing off the walls, and making his ear drums perform a drum solo. He let out a loud scream of confusion as he was rudely awakened by the pre-recorded message. He jolted from laying down comfortably to sitting up uncomfortably. Holding his head in discomfort, Peter groaned. “I hate that dream…” The alarm clock blared on his bedside table. Peter sighed as he clicked it off. It was a special alarm clock, a special edition Iron Man alarm clock, with a small figurine of the hero acting as the “turn off” button. Peter sighed once again and he flopped back on his bed. He took a moment to look around his room. He didn’t know why. It’s been the same for as long as he remembered. Plastered along the walls were memorabilia of his favorite heroes: Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, etc. Figurines of said heroes stood atop his shelves. His walls were a deep shade of blue. His bedsheets were red, but his blanket was Avengers-themed. He was fifteen-years-old, but his room was one of a twelve-year-old. Peter didn’t mind; he really liked heroes. He absentmindedly reached over to his bedside table, and grabbed his phone. The bright screen blinded him for a small moment. His eyes readjusted themselves, and he looked at his messages.

Wanda Maximoff :P (6:30 AM): Get out of bed sleepyhead. May made pancakes.

Pietro Maximoff (6:35 AM): Is my sister at your house? She’s not answering my texts. 

Pietro Maximoff (6:36 AM): Never mind lol I took a quick run around town and saw her in your kitchen lol

She’s downstairs? Peter thought. It wasn’t unusual for Wanda to be over before school started, but sometimes Peter questioned if she ever ate breakfast at home. “Your Aunt’s cooking is just too good!” she’d say. He had his doubts, of course. She always said that Pietro was cranky in the morning, so maybe that’s why she spends her mornings here.

“Peter! Breakfast is almost ready!”

Peter groaned as he heard his Aunt’s voice calling for him. “I’ll be down in a second!” he shouted back. 

“A second has passed!” he heard a shout from downstairs followed by a hearty laugh.

Oh, Ben, he thought. His Uncle really was a joker.

~A~

“How long have you been mastering the art of dad jokes, Mr. Parker?” Wanda asked inquisitively, “Because you need a lot more work.” 

Mr. Parker lowered his newspaper, took off his reading glasses, and gave a thoughtful look. Mr. Parker was wearing what he always wore: an ugly red sweater with aged blue jeans. “It’s my look!” he’d always say whenever he was questioned about his choice of apparel. “Well let’s see… when Peter was born! His father hated whenever our dad joked with us, and I just knew that he wouldn’t do it for Peter. So I wasn’t going to let Peter live his life without the best form of humor.”

Wanda rolled her eyes. Highly subjective opinion he’s got there, she thought. She turned her gaze to Mrs. Parker who was just finishing cooking the last pancake. “Mrs. Parker, how do you live with this?”

“A strong will and wine, my dear,” she said, grabbing the plate of pancakes and bringing it to the table where Mr. Parker and Wanda sat, “A strong will and wine.” Mrs. Parker was also wearing what she normally wore. Underneath her cooking apron, was her usual yellow shirt and blue jeans. Unlike her husband, she knew fashion, which Wanda appreciated. 

“Oh please,” Mr. Parker said, “You love it; you know you do.”

Mrs. Parker chuckled as she put down the plate on the table. “No dear, I love you, not your jokes.”

Wanda let out a small laugh. “See, she’s the funny one here.”

“No one here appreciates my stellar comedy,” lamented Mr. Parker. 

“I do,” a fourth voice said. Wanda turned her head towards the stairs that led to the upper floor, only to see her best friend: Peter Parker. Peter looked like he crawled himself out of a grave. His eyes were droopy, heavy bags surrounding them. His skin was paler than normal and his hair was also more ruffled than normal as well.

“Ah, my hero,” joked Mr. Parker, “Jeez, son, you look like a zombie.”

“I always appreciate your jokes, Ben.” Even his voice was coarse. 

Wanda eyed her best friend and gave a cocky grin. “Did you even shower? I can smell you from here.” 

Wanda saw Peter roll his eyes at her. “Well, good morning to you too,” he said.

~A~

The ensuing breakfast was also per the usual for the Parker family. A lot of banter between Uncle Ben and Aunt May, but even more between Wanda and Peter. “Don’t pass out from being a geek when you meet Dr. Banner today.”

“And don’t try to pass out from boredom when he starts talking about the dangers of gamma radiation,” he retorted. However, Peter couldn’t deny his excitement. For the first field trip of the school year, his high school, Midtown High, was going to Avengers Tower to meet the heroes and watch a lecture from the Incredible Hulk himself, Bruce Banner, the fourth most popular hero in America. Eventually, the pair finished their breakfast. 

“Thank you so much, Mrs. Parker! The food was great as always,” Wanda said. She always said this after having a delicious course of Aunt May’s cooking, which at this point was every other day or so.

“Oh you’re always welcome here, dear,” said Aunt May, “Now go, you two are going to miss the train.”

The two said their goodbyes to the married couple and off they went out the front door and onto the sidewalk, where an impatient Pietro waited.

“Took you two long enough,” he said while tapping his foot incessantly. “Mom and dad missed you at breakfast, dear sister,” he said in a mocking tone.

“Well get back to me when dad can actually cook something worth a damn, dear brother,” she fired back.

Pietro shook his head in disappointment, his silver hair flowing side to side as he did. “Hey Pete, ready for the field trip?” he asked excitedly, a complete change in his composure. 

“Dude, you know it!” Peter exclaimed, high fiving Pietro. 

Wanda groaned. “I’m surrounded by geeks.”

The walk to the train station was yet again, per the usual for the life of Peter Parker. Talking to Pietro about the villain fight that was on the news the night before while Wanda playfully mocks them.

“So the paper is due Friday right?” Wanda asked.

“Yep,” responded Peter. 

“But does that mean 12:00 that morning or at 11:59 that night?” replied Pietro. 

“No, it’s du-“

 sudden explosion was heard. The trio stopped in their tracks and looked to where they heard the explosion. They see smoke in the direction they were looking. 

“That’s the station…” Peter said. 

“That explosion…” Pietro said. 

Peter turned to Pietro. “Which means…”

Wanda eyes widened in horror. “Oh God, please no.”

Peter and Pietro's eyes lit up. “Villain attack!” they both exclaimed. Then the two ran off in the direction of the station. 

“Hey, wait up you two!” Wanda exclaimed, running after the pair. 

When Peter, Pietro, and Wanda got to the station it was a sight to behold. On top of the tracks was a villain they’d never seen before. He was gigantic in size and was entirely made out of sand. He stood on the overpass and roared out, daring any hero to attack.

“A new villain?” Peter asked with extreme curiosity. 

“Yeah looks like it,” Pietro responded with eagerness, “He looks so cool!”

The villain reeled back his fist and punched a chunk out of a building. The crowd that was surrounding the scene screamed as debris threatened to crush them. That is until a blue and red blur flew in and destroyed all of the debris that dare harm the populace. It was the Avenger Captain Marvel, one of the strongest members of the team. 

“Oh Cap’s here? This’ll be done in no time,” mused Pietro. 

Peter swooned. “She’s so cool.”

Wanda huffed and crossed her arms, a small blush cascaded her cheeks. “She’s okay.”

The villain’s voice echoed and roared. “Get outta here pipsqueak, before I slaughter ya!”

Captain Marvel floated above the crowd, glowing with a golden light, her hair defying gravity as it floated upwards. Her very presence exerted the power she possessed. She looked back to the crowd. “Multiple Man, form a barrier!” she ordered.

“Alright people, don’t move past the clones y’hear?” multiple voices echoed.

The trio looked and saw the rescue hero Multiple Man! A new up and coming hero who could create a seemingly infinite amount of clones of himself. A sea of clones barred entrance to the battle. “They’re exact copies of him,” Peter whispered. “I gotta...” He reached into his book bag and took out a notebook and a cheap digital camera.

“And there he goes,” Wanda sighed.

He took his camera, aimed at one of the clones, and snapped a quick picture. Then, he opened his notebook. It had the number twelve written in sharpie pen on the cover. Peter opened it and flicked through the pages and pages of hero analysis until he found Multiple Man’s entry and feverishly wrote in his new finding.

“Oh, it warms my heart to see such an enthusiastic youth!” A laugh rang in Peter’s ears. He looked to his right and saw an older looking gentleman. Balding, but still has his white hair, a bushy mustache, and a cool pair of black sunglasses. 

A blush danced onto Peter’s face. “Ah, well it’s just a hobby of mine.”

The elderly gentleman chuckled. “Oh don’t try to fool me, young man! I know exactly what you are! A fanboy!”

Peter’s face was bright red from embarrassment. “I, well I-“

“Hey there’s nothing wrong with being a fanboy!” Pietro exclaimed, standing up for his friend.

The gentleman continue to chuckle. “Not at all, young man! Why when I was your ag-“

The villain roared once again. “Don’t you come near me!”

Captain Marvel flexed out her arm and pointed at the villain. “Flint Marko, you are under arrest for illegal quirk usage and destruction of property! Anything you say can and will be us- gah!” The heroine was suddenly cut off by a gigantic fist made out of sand punching her into a nearby building. 

“I ain’t going to jail!” the sand villain yelled as he reeled back his other giant fist, “And I’ll be sendin’ ya straight to hell!” The sand giant flung his fist into the building where Captain Marvel crashed into, but the attack was blocked by an invisible force field! Peter looked to the top of the building to his left, and standing there was the Invisible Woman, one third of the Future Foundation!

“Ah! It’s Susan Storm!” Peter heard Wanda squeal in delight. “She’s gonna kick this sand dude’s ass!”

“Nah, my money’s still on Cap,” replied Pietro, “She can probably bench press the continent if she wants to.”

Wanda groaned. “Not every problem can be solved by brute strength, dear brother,” she said in a mocking tone, “You need finesse and to think outside the box! Right, Pete?” She stood with her hands on her hips in a stance of confidence. However she got no response from her friend. “Pete?” When Wanda turned to face him, all she saw was him feverishly writing in his notebook. Deaf to the world around him.

“So Invisible Woman actually doesn’t disappear she just bends the light around her to make the illusion that she’s invisible so does that mean that she can’t see when she’s invisible or maybe the light is still hitting her eyes anyway so maybe she sees but you also have to consider…” Peter rambled on and on.

A moment of awkward silence fell upon Wanda, Pietro, and the gentleman as Peter muttered away. “Oh Pete.” Wanda sighed.

“Does your friend usually do this?” the gentleman asked.

Pietro scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. “Yeah, it’s hard for him to stop when he gets going.” Another crash was heard and the attention of the group was once again focused on the ensuing fight. 

“You ready, Sue?!” yelled Captain Marvel as she flew upwards towards the sky.

“The barrier’s up, Carol; turn this villain into glass!” yelled the Invisible Woman back as she flexed her arms out.

The sand villain tried to reach for the flying superhero but found himself unable to move past the invisible barrier that blocked his path. “Wh-what the hell is this?!” he screamed in terror. 

“This is the end of your villainy, Marko!” exclaimed Captain Marvel. 

The crowd went wild, this was the public’s favorite part in villain fights: when the hero triumphs over the villain and saves the day. “Come on, ma’am! Show us a flashy finish!” the older gentleman exclaimed.

“I told you so,” Pietro said as he bumped Wanda’s arm with his elbow.

Wanda shot a dirty look at her brother. “Oh, shut up,” she said. She put her hand on Peter’s shoulder who was still writing in his notebook. “Peter, it’s about to finish. You’re gonna wanna see this.”

Peter’s consciousness came reeling back into reality as he saw Captain Marvel floating in the sky. Her golden aura intensified as her hair stood straight up. Peter internally squealed as he knew what was coming, he quickly aimed his camera at the hero. It was Captain Marvel’s signature move! The golden aura stopped being an aura and started to be the color of Captain Marvel’s skin as her body stored energy. Her quirk: Binary Engine, allows her to store energy inside of her and release it at her will. She yelled out a battle cry and flexed her arms forward. “Binary Ignition!” A beam of golden energy erupted from her fists. If one were to ask the crowd what occurred that day, they would say that they felt the Earth shake beneath them as they saw the furious fiery energy hurdle itself towards the giant sand villain. With a loud scream of pain, the sand villain took the blast in his giant sandy chest. The extreme heat from the energy started to solidify the sand that it hit.

“No!” the villain roared, “I-I can’t move!” With the invisible barrier now closed fully around the villain, the extreme heat from the binary blast went to work. The heat was trapped and had nowhere to go, just like the villain. The villain was quickly calcified in glass, unable to move. A statue to the victory of heroes, the sand villain was. 

The crowd erupted in cheers and chants as Captain Marvel slowly descended back to the ground and the Invisible Woman followed suit. The heroes gave the all clear for the police to restrain the villain, a tall order given his size but the police always came prepared. 

Peter, on the other hand, was feverishly writing in his notebook about the intricacies of what he saw of Captain Marvel’s signature move. How much heat it truly produced being the main point of intrigue for him. “So for sand to turn into glass the sand has to be exposed to a temperature of 3,090 degrees Fahrenheit or 1,700 degrees Celsius which means that Captain Marvel’s energy output is far greater than what I initially calculated for her maybe…”

“He really likes to write doesn’t he?” the gentleman asked. 

Wanda sighed with a tinge of embarrassment. “Yeah, he really does,” she said. She then put on a big enthusiastic smile. “But, he’s going to be the best hero of all time. I just know it.”

“Wow, thanks, sis,” said Pietro.

The old man let out a light chuckle as he saw the two siblings bicker and Peter mutter and write in his notebook.

“... and you also have to consider the possibility that with enough stored power she can become a walking sun and that would be devastating for villains but maybe she can also solve any future energy crisis that the world will face and-“

“Hey, kid.” Peter felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see the old man standing next to him. “You don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t be a hero, alright? If somebody doesn’t believe in you, prove them wrong. Think of heroism as the classic mask and spandex costumes, it doesn’t matter who’s behind the mask. Anybody can be a hero.”

Peter felt the warmth and kindness of the old man’s words. He flashed him a goofy grin. “Thank you, sir! I promise to become the world’s greatest hero.”

The old man returned with a big smile. “Excelsior, young man! Now go out there, and become the best hero that you can be!”

The trio thanked the gentleman for his time and walked up to the train platform as the police gave the all clear to enter the station. They got on their train and sat down. Peter glanced out the window and a small smile formed on his face. Across the river he saw the apple of his eye. Adorned with a stylistic “A” on its face, stood Avengers Tower, HQ of the Mighty Avengers, the most popular hero agency in the world. While Avengers Tower was the HQ for the agency, it was also a school, Avengers Academy, where teenagers learn to become heroes. The school only taught from sophomore year to senior year of high school. Apparently because there wasn’t enough material for a full four years of hero education. “Hey, guys?” Peter called out to his friends.

Pietro and Wanda snapped out of their individual dazes from the painfully normal train ride and turned to their friend, his face plastered with an even bigger smile. “What’s up, man?” Pietro asked. 

“Let’s apply to Avengers Academy,” Peter said. “Let’s be Avengers.”

Wanda’s face grew a soft smile. “Peter, you always say that,” she pointed out, “We’ve been wanting to be Avengers since we were kids!’”

“I think he just forgets that we made that pact years ago,” said Pietro, laughing as he did. 

Peter turned to his left to face him. “No, I didn’t forget! I just want to make sure,” he said with a hint of anxiety in his voice. Peter’s face went from cheerful to solemn. This usually happened to him after being excited about heroes and his dream to be one. Almost as if somebody completely different swapped places with him. He would go from raving about heroes and claiming he was going to be an Avenger one day one second, and then the next second he would become eerily quiet. His eyes would darken with sadness. His whole demeanor would shift. He became reclusive and antisocial. In his head he thought to himself,

They’ll be the ones going to AA… not me. There aren’t any quirkless heroes in the first place, why would I be the exception? 

Wanda noticed the drastic change in him. “Hey, hey, hey look at me,” she urged him. Peter turned to look at Wanda, and felt her hand on his shoulder. Her gaze met his. “You are going to be the best hero ever, okay? It doesn’t matter, okay? You’re already my hero.” She pointed to the red bandanna wrapped around her head as she said this. As Peter glanced at the accessory, he noticed how it wrapped down her cheek, under her chin, and was tied at the top of her head in a nice bow. Peter knew what she meant. 

It’s been five years and she still remembers. To him, helping her up and tying his bandana around her head to keep her jaw in place was just the normal thing to do when someone trips and falls on their chin in Physical Education class. 

He shot her a small, but genuine smile and said, “Okay.” Wanda shot a big smile back at him. As she did this his stomach became infested with butterflies and his face felt like it was lit aflame. He swore that he heard Pietro behind him groan and mutter, “Jeez, get a room.”

After yet another painfully average walk, they finally made it to their destination: Midtown High. Midtown High was just another average year 9-12 public high school located in Forest Hills, New York. Moderate in size, but gigantic in population. The school had trouble with too many students and not enough teachers to teach them. Cramped classrooms didn’t look good in the paper and it needed to be fixed. So to combat overpopulation and to promote transferring to other schools, there is a field trip to Avengers Tower for the freshman. If you want to tell kids to get out of your school, might as well tell them to be superheroes.

Unfortunately for Peter, the trio had to part ways for the time being since they all had separate homeroom classes. Peter sat in his classroom, and his gaze wandered around, looking at the 4x4 room that confined him. 25 desks filled the room in a semi-orderly fashion, Peter sitting near the back, which was unusual for him considering how studious he was. The floor was stained with age, under the coat of yellow was once a beautiful marble floor. The blackboard could never be truly cleaned as there were always remnants of past classes leaving their chalk footprint. Peter sighed and took a glance at the clock at the front of the class, however, he couldn’t make out the time with his bare eyes. He sighed once again, reached into his bag, and took out a container. He opened them and groaned as he was reminded that his glasses were ugly. Bright red covered the frame and the circular lenses felt as if they were half the size of his head. He put on his glasses, and the world suddenly became much clearer. He glanced at the clock again and saw it say it was 8:00 AM, right on the dot.

He groaned and let gravity claim his head. It made a nice and loud “bump” as it hit the desk. Peter knew what was coming. He counted down from fifty. He always comes in at 8:01 AM. Throughout the years of being bullied, Peter picked up a thing or two about personal quirks. At exactly 8:01 AM, he walked through the classroom door. His black hair stood in a spiky fashion, he wore a black muscle shirt, and baggy dark blue jeans. He was laughing as he entered the classroom, as if someone had told him a hilarious joke. Peter quickly stood up a book on his desk and opened it, creating a makeshift barrier between himself and the rest of the world. He fumbled with his glasses as he tried so desperately to put them back into their case. He lowered his head, below the book barrier. He didn’t want him to ruin today. It was supposed to be a happy day. He was going to Avengers Tower, he was going to see his heroes! 

The world went silent and all Peter could hear was the sound of shoes hitting the floor, and it was getting closer. Peter silently whimpered. Why did he have to come after him today? Wasn’t he tired of this? Making his life hell? The footsteps stopped right next to him.

Oh no. 

Pain was all Peter felt as his hair was being pulled back, forcing him to sit up straight. He felt every single strand of hair being unsuccessfully pulled from his scalp. He reluctantly opened his eyes, he had to face him now. All Peter saw was the black-haired kid smiling at him with a devious toothy smile.

“What do you want today, Flash?” Peter groaned, “Can you please let go of my hair?” Peter struggled as he grabbed the hand that had a fist full of his hair.

Flash gave a hearty laugh. “Aww, is Puny Parker all alone today? Is the quirkless wannabe sad that he can’t have his friends save him?”

He hated when Flash said that. It just reminded Peter of his true nature, that he was just normal. He doesn’t have the X-gene, he doesn’t have a quirk, he isn’t a mutant, he’s just human. Peter focused all of his might into digging his nails into Flash’s hand to make him let go. Suddenly, as he did that, Peter felt a gooey and slippery substance cover Flash’s hand, Peter squeezed but Flash didn’t let go. He only laughed.

“Oh Parker, did you piss off Venom?” he asked in a mocking tone. “Oh, is that right?” Flash said to no one in particular. Peter continued to thrash in pain as Flash kept his vice grip on his scalp. He felt like his hair was going to be pulled out, and his brain right with it. “Parker,” Flash said, his voice deepened, “Did you try to hurt me?” At this point, his voice became deep and twisted, almost demonic, as if two people were speaking in unison. 

Peter grunted as he continued to struggle. “Yeah, so what? Let me go, damn it!” He glanced up at Flash and saw that his neck and a portion of his face were covered in black goop. Peter’s gaze then went to Flash’s mouth, he was baring his teeth, but they were all razor sharp. Oh God, Peter thought.

He saw this before. This black goop. Flash pulled Peter closer to his face. He could practically smell him failing to brush his teeth properly that morning. “That wasn’t very smart of you, Parker,” Flash said.

“Christ, Flash! Just leave me alone!” Peter exclaimed. Peter then curled his free hand into a fist and swung it at Flash. Momentum was stopped as Peter’s arm was caught, not by Flash’s arm, but a mouth, a mouth with sharp teeth. It wasn’t Flash’s mouth, but it was the black goop’s. It was a macabre sight to say the least. The mouth shot itself from Flash’s abdomen and latched on to Peter’s fist. Peter didn’t feel any pain, however, but he did feel the sharp teeth prick his wrist as it held it in place. 

“Oh, Venom. You always know how to make me proud,” Flash said with a small chuckle. “Oh, that’s right! I didn’t feed you today, did I?” Peter’s eyes widened in horror. Flash gave a sinister smile. “Go wild.”

Peter shut his eyes as the word went into slow motion. Was Flash serious?! Was he going to let Venom devour his hand?! He could get suspended! Expelled even! He’d be charged with assault and battery and be tried as an adult! This is what perplexed Peter about Flash, he had great grades, was the school’s star quarterback, but he always did reckless activities that could have the potential of ruining his life. Even from a young age he was like this. Peter felt the terrifying mouth start to close on his fist, it was slow as if it was taunting him. As if it was letting his host enjoy the scene play out in front of him. He snapped back in reality, his gaze darted across the room, looking for someone, anyone to help him. His heart sunk as he saw the cruel reality; others had arrived by that time and they were all in their own groups, their own cliques, and they were watching the events unfold. They all just intently stared at the scene. No one dared make a move. Would anyone stand up and intervene? Peter closed his eyes, and braced for the pain that was to come. 

It happened. Peter felt the teeth rip and tear into his skin. He tried letting out a scream but more black goop shot out of Flash’s chest and onto his mouth, which muffled Peter’s scream for help. The mouth kept slowly clamping down, it wasn’t long until it was going to hit Peter’s bone. Peter started to hyperventilate. His chest rose and fell. Rose and fell. Over and over again. As he saw what was happening to his hand his mind raced. Why him? Why today? Today was supposed to be a good day. Why? Why? Why? Peter felt the sharp teeth graze the top of his carpal bone. He closed his eyes and whimpered. 

“That’s enough!” A voice pierced the unsettling air like a bullet. 

Peter glanced towards where the voice was shouted from, and there he saw Wanda and Pietro. Pietro had his hand on Flash’s shoulder, grasping it with an iron grip, and Wanda stood near Peter, grabbing his arm and pulling it out of the jaws of the beast. Peter looked at her eyes, her pupils were glowing a bright red. She looked at the lacerations on his wrist with a deep and sad look. She took in a deep breath and put her free hand over the wounds, and then the magic started. Red energy started to flow out of her hand and into Peter’s wounds. When the red energy entered the wounds, Peter felt an extreme warmth run up his arm. It felt odd, but it wasn’t strange to him; he had felt this many times before. When Wanda first got her quirk five years ago, she’d been the person to heal Peter’s scars and bruises he sustained from his run-ins with Flash. The reason why Uncle Ben and Aunt May didn’t know how bad Peter really had it was thanks to Wanda’s quirk. He looked down in embarrassment, he could already tell that she was worried about him. The day had just started and Peter was already hurt.

“You got a death wish, Maximoff?” Flash growled.

“Leave him alone, Thompson,” Pietro demanded. Peter looked at the two feuding teens. To him, it was as if two forces of nature collided. Pietro, a benevolent mountain standing tall no matter the condition, and Flash, a ravaging tornado destroying everything in its path. Two titans facing off against each other, and it’s all because of a quirkless boy. 

Flash scoffed and all of the black goop retreated back into his body, out of sight. He looked directly into Peter’s eyes. “You’re lucky your body guards came to rescue you, wallcrawler,” he said. He then went and sat in his seat at the other side of the room.

“Alright kids,” Peter’s teacher, Mr. Harrington said, “As you all know, today is the field trip to Avengers Tower.” Mr. Harrington was always an odd fellow, even in this world of superpowers. He was a tall lanky man, with brown hair and a bushy beard and moustache. Just by looking at him you can tell that he was a nerd in his youth. He wore brown suits to class, always had a neat tie on, and wore black dress pants. On his desk one could find memorabilia of the wonderful world of science. Globes, a model of the solar system, a Newton’s cradle, a map of the periodic table, etc. Peter liked Mr. Harrington; the appreciated his love of science, and even though Mr. Harrington gave the aura of a man who has been punched in the face one-too-many times, Peter related hard.

“Just so you all know, two students from different classes have requested to join ours for today.” Peter then took a glance at Pietro and Wanda who were sitting to the left and right of him respectively. As Peter looked at her, Wanda proudly showed him a small doodle of Flash being punched in the face by the Hulk. Peter smiled at the rough sketch. No matter how bad he felt, she could always make him laugh.

Peter’s gaze trailed back to his notebook in front of him. This was Peter’s Quirk Analysis book. It was open. The name Wanda Maximoff was written in the title section with neat handwriting. A picture of her was clipped on by a paper clip. Peter smiled at the photo he had taken last summer when they visited the planetarium. Her pose was odd, but unique. She had her fingertips touch one another, her legs spread and bent, her torso bent forward, and a big toothy smile plastered on her face as if she was saying, “Come at me, ya scoundrels!” She stood in front of a model of the planet Saturn. A small grin created itself on Peter’s face; that was a fun time for him.

Beside her picture were the words, “Quirk: Hex,” and below that were notes. Peter read these notes every so often. They were notes on Wanda’s Quirk. He came up with the name himself after seeing it in action so many times. Hex was one mystery of a power as it just showed up one day. For years people thought that Wanda was quirkless, until one day when she saved Peter from being Flash’s punching bag for the day. The memory flew through Peter’s mind like a bird through the sky. He remembered being pinned up to a tree, gazing into Flash’s eyes, which were filled with murderous intent. The next thing he remembered was Flash being lifted in the air by a mysterious red glow, and then seeing Wanda glowing with that same redness. This didn’t stop the bullying for her, however. Before she was being bullied for being a foreign quirkless girl, now she was being bullied for being a foriegn freak who got her quirk late. 

Peter had spent hours studying Wanda’s quirk. There was one conclusion that he came about, Hex was a sort of probability manipulation, similar to Dr. Strange’s quirk: Mystic Arts. Her power could bend the fabric of probability in her favor. He theorized she can probably cause a gun to backfire just by looking at it, but he’d rather not test it. She can also shoot out red energy bolts as projectiles, they don’t hurt much, but it still was a force of concussive energy. Her quirk also allowed her to “heal” people, however, this was contested by Peter. The only thing she had done to heal him was close his wounds; he still felt sore and achy afterwards. Maybe since she doesn’t know the intricate details of the human body, she doesn’t know how to heal someone fully, or maybe she was just scared of screwing it up. In the end, Hex was an amazing quirk in Peter’s eyes. He couldn’t wait to see her become a hero one day.

He turned the page and came across Pietro’s entry. His picture was a one-in-a-million shot that Peter took at one of Pietro’s soccer games during Physical Education class. Pietro’s pose was simply art, his left leg outstretched after kicking the ball, his right arm crossing his body as his left arm is outstretched, keeping him balanced, and all the while a big goofy smile that screamed, “Yeah, I’m the best!” Peter remembered how much he and Wanda were cheering for him that day. In the end, Pietro’s team won and got bragging rights for a whole year. 

Like Wanda’s entry, next to Pietro’s picture was the name of his quirk: Superspeed. It was fairly self explanatory, Pietro’s quirk allowed him to move at superhuman levels. He could outrun any car, train, plane… Well, maybe not a plane, Peter thought to himself. However, his quirk also granted him enhanced metabolism. Pietro was always fit, any scrape or bruise would be gone within minutes, and he had to eat a lot to keep up. Pietro always wanted to be a hero, and his quirk locked in his future to be one of the greatest heroes of all time. 

Peter's smile turned into a frown as he turned to the next page. The name in the title box was Eugene “Flash” Thompson, and below that were the words “Quirk: Symbiote.” Flash’s quirk was the scariest of them all, it was a living organism that was bonded to Flash’s body. Its base form was a black goop that would cover Flash if it felt like it or Flash was being threatened. In reality, the symbiote was always on Flash. It was Flash, and Flash was it. It also gave itself a name: Venom. Venom can form any weapon from itself, be an impenetrable shield for Flash, and can enhance Flash’s strength fivefold. Flash and Venom were one and the same, they talked to each other, and they looked out for each other. Sometimes Peter would see Flash mumbling to himself, when in actuality he was having a conversation with Venom.

However, Flash wasn’t the only person in the world with a symbiote. Symbiotes were a quirk that arrived late to the scene as they’ve only been around for the past 80 years or so. Nobody knew where the symbiote quirk came from, and some even theorized they were a failed experiment caused by the Weapon program that was never properly disposed of. Unfortunately for people with symbiotes, there was a dangerous stereotype connected to them: cannibalism. It’s no secret that people with symbiotes need to have a larger intake of food since they’re effectively eating for two, so naturally rumors started to spread about people with the symbiote quirk. This stereotype was derived from one entity, a villain named Carnage. 

The only symbiote that was able to leave its host and live on its own was one of the most dangerous villains alive. Its original host was a serial killer called Cleetus Cassidy, a cannibal with over 30 confirmed murders, most of them women and children. Cassidy was as messed up as a human could get. He truly believed that human life was meaningless, and he was doing his victims a favor by murdering them. Cleetus Cassidy’s religion was murder and cannibalism, and the symbiote believed as well. Eventually, the symbiote grew tired of Cassidy, and murdered him. Police found the gruesome corpse of Cassidy strung about the apartment, but Carnage was nowhere in sight. It escaped and bonded with a new host; It would continue this cycle for the next 26 years.

“Hey, uh, Pete?”

A voice pulled Peter out of his day dreaming, he looked around the room to see all the desks empty and Wanda and Pietro at the doorway of the classroom. Peter’s face turned red in embarrassment. 

“Oh, sorry!” he exclaimed as he gathered his belongings and joined the duo. 

At 200 Park Ave. in New York City sits a skyscraper unlike any other. It was a business center, R&D center, a laboratory, a Hero HQ, and an academy for young heroes-in-training. Adorned with a stylized “A”, Avengers Tower stands as a beacon of heroism. Peter Parker muttered these words to himself as he found himself standing outside the front door. He had so many questions to ask, but one stood out amongst all the others. A question he’s had since he could talk. A question on that day he would finally have answered. 

As he stood in front of the building in a daze, Wanda and Pietro stood by his side, they both gave him a big smile. “Avengers Assemble?” Wanda asked them. 

Pietro nodded. Peter looked Wanda in the eyes, and smiled as well. “Avengers Assemble.”

~A~

“Boss, there’s an emergency at Central Park. Reports say that Carnage has been spotted and is on the run.”

“Any heroes on patrol near there?”

“Negative, boss.”

“What about Carol?”

“Captain Marvel is currently with the Invisible Woman, they’re at the Raft making sure the villain they captured earlier is in proper custody.”

“... So you’re saying that I-“

“Boss, get off your ass and be a hero.”

“I don’t remember programming you with a potty mouth, Friday.”

“And I don’t remember asking for your opinion. The suit is at 100%.”

“How long will the charge last this time?”

“About two and a half hours, boss.”

“Heh, plenty of time.”

The shutters to the darkened room opened, revealing the city down below. A man clad in red and yellow armor walks out onto a balcony. 

“Time to be Iron Man.”

To be continued...

[mirrorballparkers]

first off,, the little note sharing blurb was the CUTEST! could i request one where the reader (who goes to a diff school ) is hanging around midtown and flash tries to hit on her but she only has eyes for peter (her boyf) and flash is 😡 and peter is 🥰

awe thank u my lovely ☺️

•

it was cold, rainy, and a little too windy for your liking; your shoes were already a teeny bit damp from accidentally stepping into a huge puddle whilst crossing the street to get to the stadium, which was a sign of a stressful evening, that was until your eyes landed on peter. your favorite boy in the world.

peter was a sign of comfort, a sign that told you that you were, in fact, safe and okay for the night. you wanted to do things with him; to enjoy a friday evening out, expanding your little curcle of people you were close with. in this case, it was your mom, your best friend, and peter. he had assured you it was okay, nothing wrong with having a little friend group- but you were always convinced that being an introvert was bad, and that you needed to change that.

peter never wanted you to change.

you stuff your hands safely into the pockets of your hoodie, well, peter’s hoodie, and walk speedily towards him. before you could catch is attention, you hear someone call your name from behind, causing a few people to look, including peter who was already buying your tickets to get into the football stadium.

you do a full 180, and your eyes meet a very unfamiliar face. but, how did they know who you were?

“hey, you’re parker’s, right?” the tall, very intimidating boy asked. it wasn’t a shock that peter was talking about you, but the way he worded it was so obscene and weird. it wasn’t who peter was, he had a kind mature that no one else had. “you go to that prestigious school for the arts?”

“uh,” you look around, trying to figure out what to say, “yeah. i-i am peter’s girlfriend...and i do go to midtown performing arts,” you tripped over your sentence, as if it was the first time you’ve ever spoken to a human being before that wasn’t your mom.

“you’re here all alone?” he skips any other leading questions about peter, speaking of you were still wondering where he went.

“n-no...i mean, now i am,” you respond, fiddiling with the little butterfly pendant peter gave to you, the meaning of it was so significant to the both of you; the first time you met, during the summer whilst you were both at the library, you were doodling a little, purple butterfly in your brown notebook. peter took note of how small it was, but how sweet. it reminded him of you, how you were small and sweet, and had such a kind heart full nature to you. so, for your three week anniversary that had just past, he gifted you this little charm necklace. and it was the sweetest, most precious gift.

“well, i’m flash. i’m on the decathlon team with parker,” flash, you thought. the name lit off a little bulb in your head; you often remember peter talking about a boy named flash, who would pester him during decathlon meetings. he didn’t seem too affected by it, but since peter meant so much to you, as you did to him, this hurt you. you felt...upset, hurt, that someone would have the audacity to act this way towards such a warm human being.

“yeah, i think peter mentioned you once...” you respond coolly, adverting your eyes elsewhere. petty, much? possibly.

“peter never comes to these things, he’s a bit of a..loner, maybe you can sit with me?” flash had this smile, but it was far from charming. it wasn’t peters adorable little grin that he had; peter had the cute smile, he had the cute little nervous twitch where he would scrunch his nose up when he was about to hold your hand or kiss you. peter was cute, not flash.

“i-“ you were suddenly being embraced by those strong, yet very gentle and homey arms that you loved so much. you recognized the familiar red sleeves of the famous red hoodie peter often wore, he always looked so cozy, and hugging him whilst he wore that was ever so darling.

“she’s with me, eugene.” you almost snorted; one, for the dudes real name being eugene. and two, for peters sassy little comment. he was always very shy and polite, that’s just peters personality and it was cute; but you could tell he was being a little protective bunny, and it was kind of, if not really, the most adorable thing in the world. “hey, you, was looking all over for ya.”he smiles that famous peter parker smile, nudging his nose against your cheek, too shy to kiss it. but oh, how he wanted to.

“hi, petey.” you smile, this time it wasn’t a fake smile. now, you felt safe. peter was your security blanket, your safe place. home.

flash’s blood was beginning to boil, and he folds his arms, in a sort of snobby, rich brat kind of way. not in a cute, brat way like pete.

“surprised to see you here, penis parker.” he retorts - embarrassing peter in front of his crush was a success, because the nickname was a sort of anchor trying to drag him down. and it hurt him, as silly as the name was, it did. but, today, peter had you; so he was gonna be okay.

“his names peter,” you tried to sound intimidating, but in peters eyes, it was like watching a baby penguin get mad. it was so cute. you were so angelic. his fingers slowly tangle with yours inside your sweater pocket, making you feel ten times more safe. “

“anyways, we have to go inside,” the soft puppy, aka peter, “snaps” (aka just..is a sweet puppy. he can’t be intimidating.) at flash, who was at this point, giving up at his attempt to flirt with you. he just wanted to leave. good for you and pete, because you wanted to be alone now.

“bye, eugene.” you wave sardonically. he just rolls his eyes, and backs away and fully turns around, probably going to catch up with one of his other friends. he left, and that’s what mattered to you at this moment.

you finally had the chance to look at your pretty boy, and your heart was singing it’s own song now. your boy. peter. not “flash”.

“i-i’m sorry about that, i wasn’t trying to talk to him..he just came up to me.” you scratch the back of your neck shyly, while peter holds your hand and rubs it gently.

“no worries, told ya he was a jerk.” peter giggles quietly. “i’m glad you came, though,” he completes his sentence, looking up at you. this was the feeling you wanted; butterflies, warm cheeks in the cold winter, your heart beating faster than a hummingbird. that’s what peter made you feel like. not icky or uncomfortable, he made you feel like you were surrounded by flowers and the sun.

“i know it’s not really...my thing, but i wanted to do this with you. for you, actually.” you mumbled, rocking back and forth on the balls of your feet.

peter sighs, squeezing your hand gently, “we don’t have to be here. if you’re uncomfortable, by all means, lemme know. we can go get some gelato from that one place we really like.” peter smiles sweetly. he could read you like his favorite hemingway novel; you didn’t like to go to places like these. you hated football, so did he. neither of you even knew what the sport was about.

“the one with the little cat that just hangs out inside?” you ask, eyes brightening up like the brightest star. to pete, you were his star. the brightest one out there.

he bites the bottom of his lip, containing a fit of giggles that you caused from being so utterly sweet, “mhmm, the one it’s the little cat.”

“then yeah, haha. i’d rather go there.” you agree, stepping closer to peter. there were already a lot of people passing by, so you naturally just moved closer to pete when you felt unsafe, and his hand naturally just held your hand tighter. it was a nice little thing you had, but neither of you really noticed it yourselves.

“i’d go anywhere with you.” you scrunch your nose up at his dorky little comment, and his face grows pink.

“stopppp, i was trying to be all cute and flirty!” he whines, eyes squinting from the shyness that endured.

“well then, petey, let’s go be all ‘cute and flirty’ and get some gelato, shall we?”

“les’ go, m’lady.” peter nudges your shoulder as you both walk, hand in hand away from the football stadium.

“you’re on thin ice, pete.” you giggle, yet it still made you quite bashful.

this was who you were; staying up late, goofing off, watching the stars. it was you and peter, nobody else. you and peter until the end.

[strawberries-n-sugar]

Cheerleader Ch 1

Summary: Peter Parker has always been very important to you, and you have always been important to him just not as important as you would like to be

Author’s Note: I suck at doing slow burns because reasons lol, but, I am going to try and  stick to this one. I am sorry I have been completely MIA. This one is supposed to be Peter x Reader but you may have other ships as you read as well. There will be angst, fluff, friend-zoning, rejection, possibly smut at some point in the series; Ill have to label the chapters if there is anything else, I write everything from the top of my head. Thank you to @tomhiddleston-is-mischief​ for being patient, helpful, kind, and supportive, and understanding. There will be flashbacks and such but the main story takes place post Endgame around 2027-2028 where Peter is about 26-27 years old and you are 23 (she was also snapped away)

Warnings: parents fighting/abuse 

You laugh at your life long best friend Peter on the screen as he tells you he doesn’t want to go to sleep. “Peter Benjamin Parker”

“Yes?” He asks innocently. 

“You need to seriously go to bed before you wake them”

“Oh, alright. It was awesome talking to you Y/N. I miss you and I just got excited and I wanted to tell you first....we haven’t really talked in a while and I mean, I can’t believe this, can you believe this?” He asks you, you can tell this was the happiest moment of his life and you have witnessed them all.

“Yeah...I can,” you force the best smile you can because you are happy for him even though it feels like you are dying. “Sorry, I have just been...really busy, dude, you need to shower you are so sweaty and really get some sleep while you can”

“Alright, thanks, I love you Y/N. I can’t wait for you to meet her.”

“I love you too Pete, and I can’t either. I am going to smother Sara Y/N Parker in slobbery kisses. How is MJ?”

“MJ is great, yeah, yeah, she is sleeping with Sara now y’know a long 12 hours for her heh,” he smiles looking behind him to the hospital bed and scans the camera so you can see MJ and their little girl. 

You cover your mouth with your hands and your eyes brim over with tears. 

“Y/N? You okay?” Peter asks with concern.

“Yeah, yeah...she is just so tiny and precious, I need to have Aunt May teach me how to cook so I can fatten her up and she doesn’t look like you two,” you joke and he laughs. 

“Did you just give her your name?”

“No, I just assumed you did,” you chuckle and wipe your cheeks.

“Her middle name is May,” he laughs.

“Oh well....I was gonna say that next. Go to bed though”

“Okay, but oh hey, did you say you were going to have Aunt May teach you to cook?”

“Yeah, I’m coming home soon and I was going to ask her”

“Good, you can feed me and MJ for a while-,” he is interrupted by Sara’s very first ever cry. He turns his attention to her and sounds defeated, “No, no, no-”

“Pete, Pete, breathe”

“But-”

“I know what you are thinking and you haven’t failed, you’ve got this. Baby’s cry, just hang up and go. I love you”

“Right, right, bye,” he hangs up.

When the video chat closes you reach over and slowly shut your laptop screen, looking to the ceiling and biting your lower lip to not sob and to be sure if you did it would be your secret.  As soon as it is closed you couldn’t bite back the pain any longer and let your head fall hitting your desk gently before sobbing. Reaching into the drawer you grab your old tape recorder and press the little red button to record. 

“This is so stupid,” you begin and add emphasis to the t sound of the word as you cry because it was just what happened when you cried as you look at the recorder in your hand and try to dry your face on the back of your palm only to fail miserably. 

“um, uh-,” you clear your throat. “It’s me again, Y/N...it’s, 3:30 am, July 22nd 2027...so, Pete is a dad, a beautiful little girl. Sara, she is officially three hours old and he wanted to tell me about her first, honored really....,” you stop and catch your breath. “It’s not fair! It’s not fair damn it! It’s not fair,” you can’t stop sobbing. “Am I that bad?” You walk over to the mirror for a moment, “I’m no MJ...,” a soft forced chuckle and smile escape you. “I am happy for him and this is selfish, I’m sorry, w-why can’t I have love? W-why can’t I have someone, anyone, even if they’re just pretending...please....isn’t there someone for everyone? Even me....I’ve never had any-,” you get angry and throw the recorder at the wall. The pieces shatter and fly three separate directions destroying the device but the tape inside falls completely in tact. You push yourself out of your gaming chair and walk over to it. You fall to your knees and pick it up then lean underneath your bed and glance at the four shoe boxes filled with similar small tapes. You slide out the newest of the boxes and put this tape into it and slide it back. You climb into your bed and just lie there sobbing, unable to stop yourself, it doesn’t help when your phone dings and you see a selfie  Peter took with Sara sleeping on his chest with the message, “woohooo daddy-man!” It only made you shake your head and smile for a brief moment before the phone vibrates with Flash Gordon’s face appearing.Swiping the little green arrow you sniffle and try to pull yourself together as you answer. Try.

With a clearing of your throat you try to speak, “H-Hello”

“Hey-you’re crying. What happened?”

“Nothing Flash, really. I’m alright”

“Y-”

“Eugene, I’ll be alright...thank you though”

It is silent for a moment, “did you talk it out?”

“Uh, yeah,” you glance to the broken pieces of the recorder as you get into bed. 

“Good....what are you doing?”

“You know it is 3:3o am here right?”

“Yeah but I wanted to talk to you”

“Aww, thanks Flash, You are always so good to me. I just talked to Peter, about Sara.”

“Yeah, she is a cutie. Things have been boring out here for me with Peter and MJ doing their thing and Ned moved and so did Betty”

“Wow, you must be bored. Well, I don’t know if this will be any help, but, I am coming home soon and I’ll need to find a apartment-”

“Awesome! Be my room mate!”

“What?” You laugh and he smiles hearing that. “I said live with me, I just got one...”

“Well, that does make things easier and alright, I can't think of a reason why not”

“Awesome, how was your day?”

He called you every night and asked you that and you loved it. You texted everyone back home and stayed in touch but Flash was clingy especially he got to be someone’s friend, and he had always been yours, so he called every night. “It was good, how was yours”

“Its all better now. So, what kind of cool stuff did you do?”

You laugh, “well, today we honestly just tinkered around because we didn’t have any official work. I still feel so lucky even after being here for four years and Mr Banner is awesome, I’ve gotten him comfortable enough to where I think he sees me as a equal”

“Of course he does, you are like uber smart-”

“Geometry used to make me cry,” you counter laughing.

“Geometry made everyone but Peter cry”

“Get some sleep Flash”

“Okay I-”

“What?”

“Goodnight”

“Night”

“Call me if you need me....”

“Okay, sweet dreams, love you, bye,” you hang up.

“Love you too....,” he smiles and looks at his lock screen, a old selfie of you and hugging him with your head on his chest and smiling in your old cheerleaders uniform from 2016. “Babe, coming to bed?” He smiles over at his wife approaching him and hugging him from behind. “Yeah,” he kisses her and goes inside, “Hey, do you want to have-” “Yes” “Really? I didn’t even finish” “I knew what you are going to say” 

Plunk. 

“What was that?” Flash glanced to his closet where it sounded like something had fallen and the 9 year old slowly steps toward it, his bat ready at hand as he opens the door only to find his six year old neighbor crouched and hiding with her hands over her ears and her eyes squeezed shut as he rocked back and forth on his closet floor. “Y/N? What are you doing here?”

She opens her big vibrant crying eyes, “It won’t stop! They won’t stop!” She explains. 

“Hey,” he offers her a hand to come out, “I’ll be back,” he says now hearing the couple next door screaming and things being shattered. 

“They won’t listen!”

“Okay, okay, I’ll be back,” he guides her to sit on the bed and sneaks into his dad’s home office and comes back.

“This will always listen,” he hands her the tape recorder he had stolen. “See, just push that button. Do they know you are here?”

She shakes her head no, “I dint’ know where ‘else’t’ g-go. They d-don’t l-listen a-and I not ‘posed’t’ cry”

“Okay, go back in the closet so they don’t catch you.”

“F-Flash”

“Yeah?” She just hugs his waist and he hides her and listens to words he can’t make out from behind the closed closet door of the little girl’s voice. 

“Sweetdreams,” he hears her say to him

“Sweetdreams,” he smiles going to bed 

[twilight-zoned-out]

What Just Happened

In which Peter and Ned have a grand old time wading through Flash's Spiderman conspiracy channel until they get back from Europe and everyone finds out who Spiderman actually is. Based off of two posts (although currently I can only find  one of them!).

Update: Here's the other one!

 Part I: The Context

It began as a joke.

Ned found it, surfing the web (as he often did) for Spiderman-related articles. Now that he knew Peter Parker, aka Midtown’s smartest and most heroic but also-kind-of-a-flake-when-it-came-to-events-but-for-a-good-reason teen was actually Spiderman, he redoubled his efforts with the added goal of making sure nobody ever got too close to Spiderman’s true identity.

Which is how he found the youtube channel.

“Hi, my name is Eugene Thompson, commonly known as Flash, and today we’ll be beginning a series of videos akin to what some of my peers might refer to as ‘Behind the Mask.’”

Ned stopped it right there and called Peter Parker.

“Dude, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing right now you have to come over.”

“What? Why?” Slight static ran in Peter’s background – no doubt caused by Peter’s frantic efforts to get to Ned’s room. Or maybe he was just shifting the phone to multitask with his homework. Static meant a lot of things.

“I found another Spiderman conspiracy video and I feel like it doesn’t exist in the same dimension I’m living in.”

“Did it say I was alien?”

“No – well, I don’t actually know. I haven’t gotten to the conspiracy part yet. But it has to be good.”

“How do you know?”

“You’ll get it when you see it. Come over, I’ll wait. I’m only 8 seconds in.”

“Don’t you have a test to study for?”

“Quiz, and it’s Tuesday. Besides, we both know that won’t take long.”

“You, Ned Leeds, are a bad influence.”

A tap tap tap came from Ned’s window. He grinned as he drew away the curtain to let Peter inside.

“It didn’t take much to convince you.”

“Yeah, well, you piqued my intere-” Peter’s jaw dropped open at the sight of Ned’s laptop.

“I know, right?”

“That’s Flash.” Peter turned to face Ned and pointed at the screen. “That’s Flash Thompson from Midtown School of Science and Technology.”

Ned’s grin grew. “You understand my pain.”

“I don’t know if I understand anything.” Peter flopped down onto Ned’s bed, then sat up. “Okay Flash, what have you got.”

Ned settled back into his very comfortable spinny chair and brought the video back to the start.

“Hi, my name is Eugene Thompson, commonly known as Flash-”

Peter snorted.

“-and today we’ll be beginning a series of videos akin to what some of my peers might refer to as ‘Behind the Mask.’”

Flash wore a suit without a tie and stood next to a series of boards, hands clasped behind his back.

“For me, it doesn’t matter. I have one goal in mind.”

Flash’s gaze intensified as he leveled with the camera.

“Who is Spiderman?”  

Peter and Ned watched silently, enraptured, until Flash actually started rolling out the theories. Then Ned actually had to pause it because the both of them were laughing too hard.

“There’s a whole series,” Ned managed to get out between fits of laughter.

They watched them all. Peter even got Ned to subscribe to ‘Spiderman Thomspiracies,’ as it was.

“I’m surprised he hasn’t promoted his channel to the school,” Peter commented.

“You know Flash. If people actually find out Spiderman’s you, he probably doesn’t want to be proven he was wrong.”

Peter briefly sobered at the idea of being figured out, then lightened. “I guess we’re never going to prove that he’s wrong, then.”

The channel had surprisingly few viewers before Ned and Peter got a hold of it. Then Ned started promoting it through his magic tech ways, and it really took off. Flash still didn’t mention it during school.

But his series was a hit.

‘Out of all the theorists I’ve watched, you’re the best!’ One of the comments said, and given how Ned and Peter were the only ones not to take the channel seriously (as far as they could tell), the only conclusion was that the comment – and the tens of others like it – weren’t being sarcastic. A good portion lauded him for endeavoring to use science, physics, and logical theory to determine or invalidate hypotheses, and surprisingly enough, when the topic was about who Spiderman couldn’t be, he had pretty good reasoning. It was the opposite side of the spectrum that took him off the rails – and he went there a lot.

One of his theories became so convoluted and over the top (it spanned a few episodes) that Peter and Ned had spent an actual 40 minutes trying to map out his train of thought. It took four sheets of paper, and at the end they just dissolved it into a galaxy brain meme.

Peter’s sophomore spring turned to summer turned to fall. Junior year rolled around, and Flash’s search to figure out Spiderman hadn’t slowed down. In fact, he’d been given a boost.

“I just want to say thank you for 1000 subscribers, it really means a lot for you all to support my work. We’re getting closer to discovering Spiderman’s true identity every day, I can feel it.”

Then the blip occurred.

Somehow, in that timespan, Flash’s videos grew big. Bigger than his channel had a right to be.

When five years came and went, and Peter and Ned had just started to adjust to everyone else’s way of life, Spiderman Thomspiracies appeared like a ghost. They made the time to watch it.

 “Hey guys, it’s been a while, I just want to say thank you so much for pushing this channel on strong. I was blipped, apparently, and it’s crazy. I don’t know if I’ll have time to do videos like this for a while, but I just wanted to let you all know that I’m starting up an Instagram where I can talk to you guys about what’s going on, you know, my experience, and maybe you guys can catch me up on some things. Starting with your thoughts on Spiderman. Five years should be enough time to crank out at least one video.

“I’ll make it easy for you. Catch me on SpideyNo1Fan. Flash Thompson out.”

Peter and Ned stared at the screen long after the video ended.

Flash had reached approximately 13,922 subscribers.

Part II: The Event

“Hey guys, it’s been a crazy week. But you’d already know that if you watched my previous videos. Gotta say, being saved by Spiderman in Europe is pretty dope. Now I’m back in home sweet New York, and – aw thanks dude, you’re the best. See, this is why I livestream: it’s so much easier to connect with you all in real time – hold up.” Flash looked up from his phone, then swiveled himself around to put the giant advertisement-turned-news screen behind him. “Looks like something’s going on.”

“The following moments may shock you.”

Flash shot a strange look towards his viewers, falling silent as the news clip ran its course.

“Do it. Execute them all.”

Flash’ jaw dropped.

“There you have it, folks, conclusive proof-”

“What?!” Flash looked at his invisible viewers furiously as the side of his screen lit up with people clamoring to know his opinion. “This is ridiculous. Something else has to be going on here – I know Spiderman, I see him almost every day. Spiderman saved the day! He’s not like that - How long have we known Mysterio? I mean, he saved the day, but Spiderman, there’s no way-

“But that’s not all, folks. Here’s the real blockbuster.”

Flash raised an eyebrow as he commented to the masses. “I’ll get to the bottom of this, don’t you doubt.”

“Spiderman’s real name-”

Flash froze.

“Spiderman’s real name is-”

“No.”

The word came out as a half-wheeze whisper. Spiderman’s identity had been kept from the citizens of New York – nay, the world – but working together in Europe, there was a possibility Mysterio actually did know who was behind the mask-

“Spiderman’s name is PETER PARKER!”

An image of said person blew up on the screen behind Flash, who let out an ungainly shriek, eyes bugged out to the max.

“I’ve gotta go,” Flash stammered out, voice uneven, after enough of a pause for the news segment behind him to begin relooping. “I’ve gotta figure this out. Flash out.”

With shaking hands, he ended the livestream. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. He felt sick.

Out of all the possibilities for who Spiderman was, he’d never once thought Peter Parker.

Flash, still standing there gaping at his own reflection through the turned-off screen, made for the closest bench and sat himself down heavily. He had to work this through.

The news on the screen in front of him returned to its revolutionary image; Flash’s focus intensified, trying to absorb every detail. Trying to find the flaw.

It couldn’t be Peter Parker.

.

Peter had raced away immediately after the video and ended up on top of the old Avengers tower. He didn’t even want to check his phone, want to see all the texts flooding in.

But he had to call Aunt May. He’d do that first.

Once she knew where he was and he’d assured her that he knew what to do if bombarded by questions he didn’t need to answer, he hung up and called Ned.

“Ned. Ned. I am freaking out right now.”

“Okay, this is bad.” Ned didn’t even try to put a positive spin on it; despite his own opinions about sharing Spiderman’s identity, he knew what it meant to Peter. “Where are you? I’ll come over. We’ll face it together.”

“No. I’m still in the suit. I left MJ – oh man, people saw me with MJ earlier and I just…I just left her there-”

“I’ll contact her, it’s fine. Guy in the chair.”

“Guy in the chair.” Peter blew out a shaky breath. “You can’t tell them anything.”

“…Peter,” Ned replied, a little confused. “Your picture was up on the screen. The secret’s out.”

“No. I mean, the rest of the news wasn’t true either. They said I killed Mysterio, which-” Peter suddenly went silent.

“Peter?”

“I didn’t.” Peter’s voice was small and tight and high-pitched. “He fired the bullet and it ricocheted off my suit and hit him. I didn’t have time to figure out where it would go.”

“Dude, I believe you. You didn’t kill Mysterio.” Ned changed the pace of the conversation. “Anyway, this whole claim is ridiculous. Who would actually believe you’d want to kill Mysterio? You’re the friendly neighborhood Spiderman.” Ned sighed. “I’ll try to keep you posted with what I can find. Are you sure you don’t want me to come over later? I can bring pizza. Or you can visit my place. I’ll explain to my parents that you aren’t a super-murderer.”

“I’m not a super-murderer-”

“I know, that’s what I just said, you aren’t a super-mur-”

“Just- don’t say that right now. Please.”

“Okay. I’ll check up on you later.” Ned hung up, and Peter let out a sigh. He couldn’t hide in the building forever, and reporters – or even police, Peter realized with a jolt – might be waiting for him at Aunt May’s. If he didn’t come soon, they might have to take the Bugle’s footage at its word.

Was that how it worked? Was that even legal? He wasn’t sure. American Government was senior year.

His phone vibrated.

Incoming Call from Flash Thompson, his phone read. Peter rested his head against the wall. Flash was among the last people he wanted to talk to at the moment.

He let the phone call go to voicemail and ignored it.

His phone vibrated.

Hey I need to ask you something for social media.

Peter’s eyes widened with a start. In the stress of the moment, he’d almost completely forgotten about Flash’s channel.

Incoming Call from Flash Thompson, his phone read again. Peter answered on the first ring.

But Flash didn’t seem smug. Or menacing. The only thing he asked when Peter picked up was a simple “Is it true?”

That flew Peter for a loop. Disoriented, he responded a beat late. “Flash-“

“It’s true, isn’t it.” Flash didn’t even need Peter’s confirmation. “At first I thought, ‘no way Parker’s actually Spiderman.’ I mean, you guys are nothing alike. But then I thought about it more, and I realized – there’s no way you have family in Germany. You weren’t even when any of the Elementals attacked, and they followed us everywhere – wait, you didn’t plant the elemental attacks, did you?”

“What? No, of course not.” As upset as he was about the event, Peter was more upset that somebody would believe something so blatantly unrealistic.

“Of course not,” Flash agreed, speech coming through as if his mind were elsewhere. “You’re Spiderman.” His voice came back to focus with a snap. “Oh man, you’re Spiderman. I can’t believe this is happening.”

It was over. Peter wanted to cry. “Flash, please, you can’t post about this on your conspiracy channel-”

“You know about that?” There was suddenly a smirk in Flash’s voice, but it didn’t have any disdain attached to it. “I’m pretty big on there, aren’t I?”

“Flash, seriously, this is a big problem for me. Anyone with something against Mr. Stark or an avenger knows who I am now and they’re going to come after me and Aunt May and possibly the school-” Peter took in a deep breath, trying to formulate words.

“Don’t worry man, I got you.”

Flash hung up the phone.

Twenty seconds later, Flash’s Instagram updated.

‘Getting to the bottom of this insane claim. Guess you’ll see another video sooner than I thought!’

Peter put his face into his hands and groaned. He didn’t even know what to make of that.

.

Another vibration.

Hey. It was MJ. You okay?

Yeah, Peter responded. You?

No thanks to you.

…

I’m joking, I’m fine. Do what you gotta do.

Ned texted him around the time, too.

Hey, MJ’s safe, I’m safe, are you safe?

Safe enough to respond to your text. How’s Aunt May?

Holding down the fort pretty well. Do you think you’ll have to come to school on Monday?

Bigger problems.

Right.

.

The video uploaded about an hour later.

“There’s been a horrendous accusation floating around the figure we know and love as Spiderman. Today, I’m here to prove to you that this lie has been purported by the media and is not possible. Ever.”

Flash spent 20 or so minutes describing his first-hand experience in Europe and extol Spiderman’s actions. Then he veered off course. “Now, I’m sure you have some questions about the other claim made by the Daily Bugle – a site which I’m pretty sure none of us have heard of until now. Particularly, concerning Spiderman’s true identity.” Flash then filled the time doing what he did best – making fun of Peter Parker. He went through numerous examples of what Peter Parker was like, and although Peter tried to reason that the bullying was an attempt to help him out, he was a little less grateful when it stretched for 15 minutes.

Flash ended the video with a sober expression.

“As you know, every theory has both impossible and plausible components to it. But ask yourselves: if Spiderman, who you’ve seen and known as a hero, and Peter Parker, who you now know as a wimp, were in that position on the London Bridge, do you really think either of them would want to kill the great Mysterio? Do you think either of them would even think about doing something that ruthless? That dastardly?

“We are far from finished with the topic of Spiderman. But while I work tirelessly to achieve the high standards set long ago for this channel, ask yourself that question, viewers, because something doesn’t add up. Flash Thompson out.”

Peter took a minute to digest what he’d watched. Then he called up Flash. Of course, Flash was the first one to speak.

“Pretty great, huh?”

“Flash…”

“Don’t thank me. I already know what you’re going to say.”

“You…didn’t try to convince them I wasn’t Spiderman.”

“What – of course I didn’t. Do you think I would blatantly lie to my fans? I’ve built this channel off of trust. And math. And logical reasoning. And I did you a favor. People need to see you as a hero instead of a weird power-hungry monster, so that’s what I’m driving at. You’re not a power-hungry monster, right?”

“No!”

“No. Obviously. Because you’re Spiderman.” Flash paused. “Man, I still can’t get over that. I just want to make sure you know that I totally respect you as Spiderman, but as Peter Parker, everything I said in the video still stands.”

Peter sighed. “Thanks, Flash.”

“No problem. If you need PR, I’m the guy. As Spiderman.”

“Great.”

Part III: The Effect

Peter finally got back to the apartment (thankfully in one piece) and Aunt May and him where sitting together on the couch with hot chocolate when his phone began to vibrate.

“I don’t want to answer it,” Peter half-murmured.

“You should put it on silence,” Aunt May suggested helpfully. With a groan, Peter moved to do so.

The text was from Flash Thompson.

Sure you don’t want my offer on PR?

Peter’s brow furrowed in confusion.

Before he could dismiss it, his phone vibrated again. It was from Ned.

Dude. Check the video. Check Flash’s video right now.

Peter refreshed the page – he hadn’t even deleted the tab yet – and carefully set down his hot chocolate so he could plop heavily onto the couch.

Aunt May shifted closer, concerned. “What? What is it?”

Peter shook his head, disbelieving. “Just…” He was going to have to explain the whole thing. For the moment, he just showed her the screen.

Flash’s video had reached 1 million.

[smokeybrand]

Smokey brand Movie Reviews: The Devil is in the Details

I’ve been seeing a lot of chatter abut this Netflix movie, The Devil All the Time. It’s been getting mixed reviews but they skew mostly positive. What is really surprising is all of the buzz this thing has been getting. The word-of-mouth for this flick is mad profound. No less than six people that i know personally, have told me I'd love it. This thing was definitely on my list, Netflix has stepped their cinema game up considerably, but i have been distracted by other shows like The Boys, Raised By Wolves, and Ratched. The former two are weekly releases but i wanted to finish the latter completely before i took in any more new fare. Plus, Marebito is gnawing at me for a viewing. Still, i did finish Ratched and Marebito is an older title so i figure i might as check out this Netflix produced, Tom Holland vehicle for myself and see if the best Peter Parker can really step outside the MCU and impress, like his costar, Zendaya, does. Shout out to Zendaya on that Emmy win.

The Good

I love the direction of this film. It’s very controlled, very deliberate. This film started as a gook so there is already a story to be told, the trick is telling that story but in a way that not only represents the feel visually, but staying true to the tone of those pages. I’ve read this book years ago and never expected that it would get a film adaption but this one is pretty good at that. I credit this clearly to the deft touch of Antonia Gampos. He knows this story and he tells it well. Surprisingly, this is only his fifth directorial outing. Dude should be getting much more work after this though.

This is easily one of the most f*cked up stories ever captured on film. It feels like Silence of the Lambs in that sense but far more brutal and far less controlled. I remember the book being a great deal to finish, it’s just so goddamn cruel, and seeing that translated on film is just as brutal. I love it. I love when film challenges you like this one does. I love when there is real brutality displayed because humans can be brutal. I’m a card-carrying misanthrope so this narrative is par for the course for me.

This film is violently visceral. I mean there is gore galore but it’s never gratuitous. It’s almost always in service to the plot to prove how goddamn cruel the world within this narrative truly is. It can be shocking, it can be grotesque, it is definitely off-putting, but it’s never just for the sake of shock. I always respect when films show restraint with this kind of stuff. The gore is to accentuate not the other way around.

This cast is straight up lousy with talent. Jason Clarke, Sebastian Stan, Eliza Scanlen, Pokey LaFarge, Harry Meiling, and Haley Bennett, all turn in decent performances. It was dope seeing Mia Wasikowska in something new and Riley Keough can surprise when she has a role to chew on. They even incorporated the author of the original book, Donald Ray Pollock, as the narrator. I appreciate that nod.

Tom Holland didn’t disappoint. This dude is a real talent and seeing him in something completely different than the role that made him a star, Peter Parker, is f*cking jarring. It speaks to his range and a ridiculously bright future in this business ahead of him. His turn as Arvin Eugene Russell was staggeringly emotional. This performance, alone, should devastate any talk of type casting because kid can do it all. Seriously, there is level of barbaric malice that just infects the entirety of this the younger Russell’s life and Holland captures that underlying malice perfectly

Robert Pattinson keeps showing me why he’s one of the best in the business. The more he keeps turning in performances like Connie Nikas and Young, the more he distances himself from f*cking Edward. Reverend Preston Teagard is another one of those showings that proves Pattinson is a real actor and not some pretty face or, in the case of The Batman, a jaw for a cowl. It’s wild seeing BatPats as a fat-ass, sleazy ass, southern preacher with a disgustingly accurate drawl.

I would be remiss if i didn’t mention Bill Skarsgard as Willard Russell. Dude has been one of my favorite actors since his stint on Hemlock Grove, another Netflix property, and he’s been excellent in everything I've seen him since then. Mark in Assassination Nation, Pennywise in IT, Markel in Atomic Blonde; Dude was even part of the ill-fated X-Force in Deadpool, too, as Zeitgeist. Bill is riddled all over sh*t i enjoy and his take on the elder Russell is just another reason why.

The Bad

This thing kind of jumps all over the place with the narrative. You have to pay close attention because it does take place between two generations and several families. Everyone is interconnected, which lends itself to a novel but can be quite the burden to properly display on film. It can be a little much to keep up with everything but, if you can, if you take the time, it rewards you with an incredibly well constructed relationship tree.

It feels like a lot of this cast was wasted. There re so many great actors in this thing that only get a few minutes, a few scenes, to shine and it's a little bit of a waste. I'm not saying what they gave us wasn't excellent, i was just left wanting, just left longing for more. Seemed like a missed opportunity to me.

This thing is kind of a slog. It’s a little over two hours long and, while you watch it at your leisure, in your home, it’s still a rather large committed to demand from the common viewer, especially when there isn’t any real action to be had. I’m built for slow burn movies. I love atmosphere and purposeful film making like Alien, Blade Runner 2049, or The VVitch so this is right up my alley. Those films, however, are acquired tastes that not so many people in the general public have acquired.

As much as i can praise the overall narrative and how unapologetically adapted it’s been to film, this sh*t is not an easy watch. It is truly f*cked up and a real hard story to witness. While i, personally, believe the utter barbarism on display is riveting, I've sat through Irreversible and Raw a few times so my tolerance is pretty high to the horrid, i can see how people could be turned off by all of this f*cked up. This is a story of awful people caught in even worse circumstances. Every one who is even remotely decent, dies. There are no happy endings to be had here. This movie is an exercise in the worst of humanity so if you’re looking for a light-hearted romp to get your mind off the state of the world, this ain’t, bud.

The Verdict

I loved this film. It is an absolutely excellent picture from start to finish. The way it’s shot, the vision on hand, the adherence to the time period - all of it is masterfully guiding by the expert direction from Campos. Tom Holland turns in a brutally forceful performance that carries this film filled with one of the best casts I've seen in years. Seriously, this movie has an embarrassment of riches on hand and they use them to full effect, mostly. I enjoyed every second of this movie but i can honestly say, it ain’t for everyone. This is not a fun tale. This not a good time. This is one of those movies that leaves you disgusted with humanity and that might be way too much to ask of people, especially during this, the f*cking apocalypse in real life. If 2020 were a film, it would be The Devil All the Time. Sh*t’s that bleak and it asks a lot of your time to slum it in this sordid, bloodied, world. The performances and visuals are absolutely outstanding and the way the film has been crafted makes for great cinema but, f*ck, is it a monstrous watch. If you can stomach it, i give it the highest of recommendations but this thing can be excruciating to see.

[im-a-star-boy]

Spidey Sister Snapped

Okay yeah so this was fun XD. I have a bunch of tropes and ideas I’m gonna write so there’s gonna be a lot of fics for the next few days. Expect a bit of spam.

.oOo.oOo.oOo.

Summary: Peter loses it

2420 Words

.oOo.oOo.oOo.

“Why do we have to do this again?” Anya asked, seeming irritated.

“Its for the convention. Once we visit this school, then we won’t have to do this again. Plus, Peter knows the place! This’ll be a breeze!” Harry reassured, wrapping an arm around his boyfriend, who glanced up at him.

“Yeah, I know the place. So that means that they also know me, which I really don’t like.” Peter admitted, staring at the entryway to a public school named Midtown High.

“Come on. It’ll only take like- four hours. Let’s get on with it!” Miles yelped.

Peter sighed heavily, stepping towards the building. “We’re gonna have to talk with the Principal first to confirm our identities.” 

“Lets go!” Gwen chirped.

The group walked through the halls, wearing Horizon High sweatshirts as they approached the office. Harry couldn’t help but notice how students stopped and stared at them, whispering in shock. “What’re they saying Miles?” Harry asked, looking to the boy.

Miles glanced up. He looked confused. “They’re talking about Peter, saying things like ‘he’s back’ or ‘please don’t tell me he goes here again’.” Miles explained. Miles made a confused face. “Someone just said, ‘The man, the myth, the legend, Peter B. Parker is back’.“

Anya raised an eyebrow. “What’s that all about?” She snorted.

“You’ll probably find out some point later on.” Peter muttered, hearing their conversation.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gwen asked, crossing her arms.

“You’ll see.” Peter replied, opening the door to the office.

Harry approached the desk. “Hello, my name is Harry Osborn. These students and I are here to observe your school for our essay?” 

Peter couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at how… polite Harry was being. He didn’t have a problem with being polite, but this was a public school. They have low standards. Peter knew that better than anyone here. The receptionist smiled happily, before her eyes landed on Peter. Her smile disappeared instantly, her eyes widening in horror. Peter flushed slightly, and waved. “H-hey Mrs. Wood… how’s your wife?” He offered, looking guilty.

“Umm… she’s… she’s okay…” The receptionist replied. She looked him up and down, and grabbed the visitor lanyards. “You aren’t going to… you know…” She mumbled.

“No.. I-I won’t,” Peter replied, his face flushed with embarrassment. 

Harry raised a curious eyebrow. “He isn’t going to what?” He asked curiously.

“Nothing. I won’t do anything.” Peter cut in before the receptionist could answer. 

He gave her pleading eyes, and Mrs. Wood simply nodded. “Oh… just an old joke.” She replied offhandedly.

Peter shot the woman a thankful look, as she handed them the visitor passes. “Mr. Morita isn’t very serious on meeting you all first, you all can just be off.” She told them kindly.

“Thank you ma’am.” Harry said, nodding happily as he took the passes.

Harry passed them each to everyone. “Okay guys, you know the rules. Peter will show us where to go, we’ll interview ten different students, then we’ll talk to all the teachers, then we’ll be off. I have the list of teachers here.” Harry said, holding up the clipboard so they all could see.

The group nodded unanimously, and turned to Peter. “Okay, Pete. Lead the way.” Miles grinned.

Throughout the tour of the school and talking to students, they noticed how some of them stared at Peter wide-eyed. Peter didn’t really talk during the interviews, mostly just listening and writing a few notes down while Gwen recorded everything and Anya and Miles asked questions. They interviewed the last student, when they received a question they never expected.

“You.. you know who Peter is, right?” A student named Cam asked.

Anya and Miles exchanged looks. “What do you mean?” Harry questioned hesitantly.

“Like… you know what he did right?” Cam pressed.

Harry glanced over at Peter, who was currently chatting with a student named Flash Thompson who he’d been tutoring every Friday. “No, what did he do?” Gwen asked curiously.

“Dude… he went bezerk, like totally lost it!” The boy whispered.

Harry raised an eyebrow. “Are we talking about the same person?” He snorted.

“Dude, it’s because of him that Mr. Hoghe doesn’t teach here anymore.” Cam explained.

“What happened?” Miles questioned, leaning forward with a small, curious gleam in his eyes.

“He like, totally lost it in class one day. It was fine, then he totally lost it! He broke some kids nose, he was roasting everyone, and he called the teacher out on cheating on his wife. It was hilarious!” Cam yelped, as he began to giggle.

“Okay, stop pulling our leg.” Anya chided.

“Dude, I have proof!” He argued, as he pulled out his phone.

The group raised eyebrows, before moving closer to see his phone. He scrolled through YouTube for a moment, before opening a video, and turning the phone to show the group. The staticy audio began, as the poor visuals of a video taken on a phone began.

Flash Thompson stood on a desk, laughing obnoxiously, shouting “WHEN I SAY PENIS, YOU SAY PARKER! PENIS!”

“PARKER!”

“PENIS!”

“PARKER!”

The entirety of the class, with the exception of the one taking the video and a few others, joined in the harsh chant. After about ten seconds of repeating it, the sound of a book slamming harshly made them all freeze up in surprise. “THAT’S IT- I’M TIRED OF YOUR BULLSHIT!!” Followed by a large history textbook hitting Flash in the face, knocking him off of the desk. “FUCK OFF EUGENE.” 

The classroom was immediately silent, as the door flew open. “What’s going on in here!?” A tall dark-skinned teacher shouted, looking alarmed.

The camera turned to Peter, who was wearing glasses and looking pissed as hell. “Peter just threw a textbook at Flash!” One of the students cried out in alarm.

“I THINK MY NOSE IS BROKEN!” Flash screamed.

The camera turned back to Flash, who was sitting on the floor, holding his bloody, crooked nose. The camera turned to the teacher once more who was frozen. “I’M SICK AND TIRED OF EVERYONE’S BULLSHIT, SO SHUT THE FUCK UP.” Peter shouted.

The camera turned to Peter once more. His face was red with anger, while his arms were crossed with an angry look in his eyes. “Oh my god, Peter, calm down!” A girl across from him shouted, through her laughter.

The camera point of view switches to someone in front of Peter. The video feed was much clearer, and they could clearly see the venomous look in Peter’s eyes. “Oh shut up Stephanie, you need to calm down with all the boys you sleep with.” He snapped.

Stephanie’s face reddened, as her eyes widened with alarm. “Shut your mouth!” 

“SHUT YOUR LEGS!” Peter shouted back.

The room practically howled when everyone shouted, “OHHHHHHHHHHH” at the comment.

“Peter…” the boy who started the sentence had to pause from laughing so hard. “Peter- stOP!”

“Then stop juuling in the bathroom Micheal.” Peter snapped back.

The boys’ face immediately paled at the comment, and he stopped laughing. “Oh my god, Peter, this is great.” A girl snickered.

“Oh yeah I’m sure you fucking some stranger is great too. I’ve seen you on the corner.” Peter snapped.

The girl shot upward. “Hey- don’t talk about my girlfriend like that!” A boy shouted, standing up and looking pissed.

“Oh my god you two have been dating for a day and a half. That’s not even long enough to consider it a relationship.” Peter scoffed at him.

“Still! That doesn’t give you the right to be an ass.”

“And what gives you the right to be an ass to me, huh David? Go fuck your girlfriend in the bathroom, and give her herpes like you did to the fifteen other girls you fucked.” 

“Peter- you need to-”

“I swear to fucking god, if one more person tells me to calm down I will goomba stomp your ass into hell.” He snapped.

“Peter-”

“Do it. I dare you.”

The boy who was about to speak went silent, looking down. “That’s what I thought you bitch.”

“Oh come on Peter, you can’t say shit. Stop acting all high and mighty.” A brown haired girl snorted.

“Oh come on April, at least I don’t look like a stripper.”

The girl glanced up, and closed her makeup mirror. “At least I wasn’t named after a dick.”

“At least my name didn’t come from a calendar.”

“At least I still have both of my parents.”

“At least I don’t have implants at 13.”

The girl shot up, looking pissed. She opened her mouth to snap something, but finally, the teacher regained his composure. “Peter Parker go to the office!” He shouted.

“I’ll go to the office when you stop cheating on your wife.” Peter hissed.

The teacher’s jaw dropped. “Yeah go fuck yourself and not the janitor for once.”

The classroom rose with loud, “OOOOOOHHHHHHH”s again. “Oh would you all shut the fuck up!? You’re all retards who can’t stop sucking each others dicks long enough to realize that you’re what’s wrong with this damn world!” Peter shouted at each of them.

The bell rang, but nobody dared to move. When other students started filing into the class, they looked around in alarm at the sight, a boy bleeding heavily on the floor with a crooked nose and a textbook beside him, the entire class looking thoroughly horrified, and a teacher looking like he just shit himself. “Umm… what happened?” A blonde girl asked, looking around.

“Tiffany, go to the office and get Officer Ashley.” The teacher ordered hesitantly.

Some of the students stepped back in alarm at the order, but Tiffany immediately ran off. “Peter, Officer Ashley is going to take you down to the office to talk to Principal Morita.” Mr. Hoghe explained in a shaky voice.

“Sure just make sure you don’t fuck her too.” Peter scoffed.

Mr. Hoghe made a strangled noise, and he turned away, looking embarrassed. 

There was a skip in the video, students were more scattered around, Flash was gone, and Peter was sitting on top of a desk. “Jesus fucking Christ it’s been ten minutes, I’m outta here.” Peter snapped, standing up, grabbing his backpack, before kicking over the desk and leaving.

“Fuck every single one of you.”

There was then a few pictures of Peter walking down the hall, some with a caption saying something along the lines of “this kid is a mood” or “he’s just screaming at everyone to go fuck themselves”. In most of the pictures Peter had both of his middle fingers up, as he strutted with more confidence than anyone had ever seen him possess down the hall.

Another video began. “FUCK EVERYONE IN THIS SCHOOL! YOU’RE ALL RETARDS!” Peter strutted down the hallway shouting those lines over and over again.

“Okay kid, I think that’s enough.” The camera turned to a female officer speed walking towards him. 

“Jesus fucking Christ, took you long enough.” Peter snapped.

Officer Ashley raised an eyebrow, before pushing him towards the office. There was another small compilation of pictures taken by different students. Some thought Peter was getting arrested, some thought he was high or drunk, but nobody really knew the whole story.

Finally the camera switched one more time to someone taking a video in what appeared to be an ISS room. You could clearly hear the conversation that the principal was having with Peter, and you could see what was happening through a window between the two rooms. Officer Ashley was standing over Peter, who was slouched in his chair, his feet on Mr. Morita’s desk. “Peter, what are you doing in here? You’ve never done anything. And please take your feet off my desk.” Mr. Morita asked politely.

Peter raised an eyebrow. “Nah.”

“Sir, he told a teacher to fuck off, broke a student’s nose, and called everyone retards. He also threatened a few students who were taking pictures.” The officer sighed.

Mr. Morita raised his eyebrows in alarm. “Peter, you know I’m going to have to suspend you for two weeks for this. Maybe longer.”

“Just two weeks? Bitch give me a month- this place is a hellhole.” Peter snapped, pushing the files off the Principal’s desk as if to convince him to suspend him for longer.

“Mr. Parker-”

“James.” Peter said dangerously calmly, putting his hands on his lap, taking his feet off the desk, and leaning forward. “Suspend me. For a fucking month.” 

Mr. Morita stared at him in alarm, before finally speaking. “I’m calling your aunt and uncle.”

Peter made a satisfied noise, before leaning back. “Okay.”

Cam pulled his phone back. “Dude he’s a damn legend here.” He snickered.

“That’s…How is that Peter?” Anya whispered in alarm.

Another student joined them. “We talking about the man the myth and the legend?” He asked.

“Yep.” Cam agreed.

“Sup, I’m Brad. Uh, yeah, Peter’s kind of a legend here. The freshman fear him, when literally anyone who’s ever met him knows that after this whole event he had a breakdown. He can still kick ass though. Remember that time he broke Flash’s arm?” Brad snorted.

Cam laughed. “Yeah! That was forever ago!”

The group glanced over to Flash and Peter who were chatting happily. “I mean Flash has bullied Pete since like third grade. I guess those two are even. You bully me, I break two of your bones, then I tutor you. Or something, I really don’t know.” Cam said shrugging.

“Is… is that how it works in public schools?” Anya asked, looking alarmed.

“Dude we have an Instagram account for the school fights. It got taken down a bunch of times but someone keeps making a new one, it’s great. There’s like 200 videos on there now, the school just gave up.” Brad said through his laughter.

“School fights are a daily thing. Or at least a ‘three times a week’ thing.” 

“Yeah public schools are violent.”

“I can’t believe my little bug is so full of rage in this video.” Harry whimpered, looking defeated.

Miles patted his shoulder. “It’ll be okay bud. He’s good now.”

“Yeah, that kid has a lot of pent up rage. Can’t say I blame him either. Said he had an outlet now a few weeks before he transferred to, so he’s probably better now.” Cam reassured.

“We’re gonna have to talk to him about this, huh?” Gwen asked.

“Yep.” Anya replied.

“We’re gonna tease him about this, huh?” Miles added on.

“Yep.” Anya answered again.

Harry sighed. “I’ll go get him.”

.oOo.oOo.oOo.

@fandomgirl158

[pleasantlyparker]

meant to be- p.p (2)

summary: you go to a party to get close to peter parker, only to run into spider-man, what happens when the two of you hit it off at a party?

author’s note: hey y’all, i know it’s been forever, but i’ve been in a really tough spot mentally. hopefully, i’ll be able to update frequently. this part is very loosely edited, so if you encounter grammatical errors, please let me know! as always, i would looove feedback :’)

warnings: language 

word count: 2.6k

part one

As Monday rolled around, you tried to forget about the events of the weekend, and the realization that Spider-Man was someone you knew. You thought about who it could be. He could’ve been Trevor from homeroom, he was super-ripped and unnecessarily sanctimonious.Definitely superhero material. But, Spider-Man didn’t seem like a holier-than-thou superhero, and you found yourself wondering about his secret identity as you boarded the subway.  I could probably ask Peter. You considered it. Spider-Man did say that he was friends with Peter. The lurch of the train pulled you out of your trance. You mentally scolded yourself when you realized that you had just spent a fifteen minute train ride playing Sherlock Holmes instead of memorizing things for decathlon practice after school. This whole “kissing Spider-Man” thing was consuming all of your thought, and you hated it. You told yourself that you needed to be alright with never seeing the hero again.

The walk to school went by faster than normal, and you found yourself sitting in first period, waiting for the bell to ring, listening to your friend ramble on and on about the senior guy who she ditched you for. “Anyways, enough about me. Did you finally talk to Peter?” she raised her eyebrows in a suggestive manner. “No, I left the party early.” You lied. You wanted to keep what happened between you and Queen’s notorious hero to yourself, and, besides, Holly wouldn’t have believed you, anyway. “Maybe you should just get over him then, if you’re never going to talk to him.” Maybe I should. The bell rang, causing Holly to turn back around.  You had planned on asking Peter about Spider-Man at lunch, but when Holly ditched you, again, to sneak off with her senior fling who, apparently, was named Jessie, you had to find a way to not look like a total loser. Sitting by yourself at lunch was not ideal; you tried to look at it as a way to catch up on the latest novel from your favorite author. You were just getting to the good part when you heard someone cleared their throat. “y/n, right?” the voice belonged to none other than Michelle Jones. You nodded at her. “Mind if I sit here.” You looked at her to see if there was any traces of this being a prank. You wondered why Michelle was so interested in you. You two had been going to school together for the past 5 years and she had never tried to talk to you before. So, why now? “Sure, yeah.” you put your finger in your book to mark your page. “So,” she let out a dramatic sigh as she plopped down. “Did you go to Liz’s party Saturday night?” Your heart dropped. You had hoped that she hadn’t seen anything. Maybe she was just making small talk.  “Yeah,” You responded, feeling your palms getting sweaty. “But, I left early because my friend ditched me.” You explained, eyes darting around the noisy cafeteria. “I heard Spider-Man was supposed to be there, but he never showed up.” She pointed out. “He was probably busy saving the city, or something.” You nervously chuckled. “You’re really bad at lying.” She accused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You tried to play it cool. “C’mon, Y/N. I saw you guys talking outside on Liz’s patio.” She pressed on.“Fine, but Michelle, you can’t tell anyone.” You sighed. She placed her hand over her heart and feigned offense. “I would never.” She laughed. You did not find anything amusing about the situation. “Michelle, I’m serious.” You gave her a pleading look. “And so am I, your secret is safe with me.” You breathed a sigh of relief. “Now, spill. I want to know all about him.” She smiled at you.  After you brought Michelle up to speed, she was just as curious as you were. “Well we have to find him.” she said. “That’s the thing, I don’t know how” You explained. “I’ll help you.” she offered. “Thanks, Michelle.” You gave her a genuine smile. If you’d have known that you and Michelle would get along so well, you would’ve befriended her earlier.  “Call me Mj.” she smiled at you. “All my friends do.” You smiled at her. “You know what I find odd, though, is that he encouraged you to talk to Peter, and then he kissed you. That’s definitely a mixed signal.”  Michelle mumbled. “Unless, Peter is Spider-Man. That would explain so much. I can’t believe I didn’t see this sooner. It would also explain why he’s always running off for that Stark Internship.” She reasoned. You didn’t think Peter was Spider-Man. There was no way that he could keep a secret like that. Yeah, he had gotten muscles, seemingly overnight, but that was just puberty, right? “Peter, really?” you shook your head in disbelief. “There’s no way he could keep a secret like that.” You let your eyes glance over to where Peter was sitting. You expected him to be staring at Liz, or in some heated debate with Ned; but what you did not expect was Peter to be staring at you. He quickly looked away; his cheeks turning a bright color. You furrowed your eyebrows. Peter was staring at you. Michelle cleared her throat. You looked up at her.  “What just happened?” Mj raised her eyebrows at you, expecting an answer. “I just caught Peter Parker staring at me.”You just shrugged your shoulders at her. Before she could pry anymore, the bell rang. You hurriedly placed your book in your bag and rushed off to chemistry.  You had hoped that you were just taking notes today, but when you walked in and saw a wide variety of chemicals on the tables, you knew it was too good to be true. You sat your stuff down and made your way over to an empty table. You watched Peter and Ned stumble into the classroom. You let your eyes linger on Peter for a few seconds longer than you intended. Noticing the way his brown hair was tousled and how the sleeves of his Midtown sweater engulfed his hands. You noticed him shove Ned in your direction. “Dude, why you can’t you just talk to her yourself.” Your ears perked up.You figured they were talking about Liz, but she wasn’t in this class.You looked up and noticed Peter give Ned a pleading look. “Because I might say something stupid.” Peter argued. Ned sighed, and when he began making his way over to you. Were they talking about you?  “Hey, y/n. Mind if we partner up?” Ned smiled at you. “Sure as long as Peter doesn’t mind.” You returned his smile. “I know you guys always work together.” You handed Ned the paper so that he could write his name. You noticed that Peter was sitting in front of you guys with Betty. “So, did you go to Liz’s party?” Ned asked, trying to make small talk with you. You laughed nervously. Why was everyone so interested in your Saturday night. “Yeah, but I left early. Loud places aren’t really my thing, you know.” Ned gave you a look of understanding. “I was just asking cause Peter was looking forward to seeing you.” Ned explained. You almost dropped the test tube you were holding. “Oh.” You said hoping to play it cool. You handed Ned the test tube while you went to record the data, hoping that he couldn’t see how flustered you were getting. Why the hell was Peter Parker looking for me? You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion.  The rest of the day seemed to go by painfully slow, and by the time you finally made it to decathlon practice you wanted nothing more than to go home. “Look all I’m saying is that Spider-Man could totally beat up Captain America.” Flash argued. “Don’t you agree, y/n?” You sighed. Were you ever going to escape this guy? “I mean, yeah, I guess. All he would have to do was go for the legs.” You said as if it was the most simple thing ever. Flash made a “told you so” face at Abe. “Plus, Cap is like 100 years old, Spider-Man could easily handle him.” You shrugged. “Sounds like you’re a fan.” Flash teased. You rolled your eyes. “It’s just facts, Flash. Besides, I’m not the one that runs a Spider-Man fan account.” “It is not a fan account, it’s an update page.” Flash argued. “Yeah, yeah whatever you say, Eugene.” You patted his shoulder as you walked past him. You wanted to sit by Mj, but you weren’t sure she’d want to be bothered. So, you sat at the end of the table. “What are you doing all the way down there.” Michelle motioned for you to come sit in front of her. “I didn’t know if you wanted to be bothered or not. It sounds kind of silly now that I say it out loud.” You rambled. “It’s fine. It’s not like I would get all Mean Girls on you.” She joked. You laughed. You were pulling out your notebook when you noticed Peter walk in.  “Hey, Penis Parker, what happened to your friend Spider-Man showing up at Liz’s party?” Flashed loudly asked Peter. “Uh, I-I don’t know. Maybe he was busy.” Peter stammered, clearly uncomfortable with everyone’s eyes on him.  “He’s Spider-Man, Flash. I’m sure he was busy saving the city or something.” You stood up for Peter. Michelle looked at you with a raised eyebrow. You looked down at your hands.  “She’s got a point.” Liz agreed. “Besides, we all know that Flash is only angry he didn’t get a selfie with Spider-Man.” She teased. You watched Peter smile at her.  You let out a small sigh as Liz began to talk about the competition in D.C. You looked out the window at the gray clouds gathering in the sky. You looked at the brown and yellow leaves being blown off the tree. “Y/n.” Michelle nudged your leg under the table. You looked up at her and she gestured to the unopened notebook in front of you. “We need the minutes from last meeting.”    After practicing and going over the information that need to be covered for the D.C. trip, you were finally on your way home. You were a few blocks from your apartment when it started raining. You pulled your hood over your head and rushed into the nearest building for cover. Scolding yourself for not bringing a umbrella. You decided you would wait out the worst of the rain in Mr. Delmar’s as you picked up a pack of peach rings. “Hi, Mr. Delmar.” You greeted him as you walked to the counter. “Is it alright if I wait the rain out here.” “Of course dear, there’s some stools over by the window.” He nodded over to the other side of the store as he rung you up.  “What’s up, Murph.” You stopped to acknowledge the cat. You figured you could catch up on some reading. You pulled your book out of your bag, and wrapped your jacket tighter around your body. You were halfway into a chapter of your book when you heard a familiar voice. You looked up to see Peter’s motioning for Mr.Delmar to “smoosh” his sandwich down real flat. You couldn’t help but giggle at him. You watched as Peter moved off to the side to wait for his order. He must’ve felt you watching him because he looked up in your direction. You quickly averted your attention back to your book. You heard footsteps coming in your direction, but you didn’t look up, pretending to be engrossed in your book. Why was Peter coming up to you? You didn’t look up until you heard Peter clear his throat. “Hey, Y/N. What are you doing here?” You watched as he nervously crossed his arms. “I forgot my umbrella at home, so unless I want to get pneumonia, I’ve got to stay until the rain clears up.”You nodded towards the rain pouring down outside. You knew that you were going to be in Mr. Delmar’s for at least another two hours according to the weather app on your phone.  “I could walk you home, I have an umbrella, thanks to Aunt May.” Peter offered. You heart warmed at his offer. Peter was always so kind and caring. “Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.” You objected. Peter shook his head. “It’s not a problem. Besides, maybe you can fill me in on what I missed in last week’s decathlon practice.” He smiled at you. “Ok.” You smiled up at him, placing your book back into your bag. “But, only because it’s my duty as secretary of the decathlon team.” Peter’s laugh made you smile. Peter paid for his sandwich and you guys said good-bye to Mr. Delmar.  The walk to your apartment was awkward at first. You and Peter were squished under his umbrella, and you could feel the heat radiate of his body. You filled him in on all that he needed to know for the competition in D.C. You wanted to ask about his Stark Internship, or about Spider-Man. Instead, “So, homecoming is coming up. Are you planning on going?” spewed out your mouth. You nervously glanced at Peter. “Uh well, I was probably just gonna go with Ned. Not like- Not like a date or anything Just as friends.” Peter stammered. You giggled at him. “What about you?” He asked. You thought about it. You would probably go with Holly, but she seemed to be getting close to that senior guy. You had assumed homecoming wasn’t really Mj’s thing, so that meant you had no one to go with. “I don’t really have anyone to go with.” You muttered sheepishly, hugging your book closer to your chest. You two fell into an awkward silence again. He probably thought you were such a loser. You mentally face palmed.  “Hey, Peter,” You asked, taking a deep breath to try and soothe your nerves. He hummed in acknowledgement. “Ned said you wanted to talk to me about something at Liz’s party.” You saw Peter’s hand grip the umbrella tighter. “I- I uhm I just wanted t-to see if you would help me catch up with the decathlon stuff. Since I missed so many meetings when I went on that field trip for my internship with Mr. Stark.” Peter rambled. “And because you’re the secretary, I figured you’d know all the stuff I needed to know.” You felt your heart rate increase, if that was even possible. Peter had come to you, instead of Liz to get help with decathlon stuff. “Oh, well, you can stop by my apartment anytime you need some help. I’d be more than happy to help you catch up.” You offered. Out of the corner of your eye you saw Peter smile.   The rain had let up to a light sprinkle when you and Peter reached your apartment building. “Well this is my stop.” You gestured to the building. Peter smiled to himself. Unbeknownst to you, you had said the same thing to him Saturday night. “Thanks for walking me home Peter.” You gave him a smile of gratitude. “It’s no problem, really. I couldn’t leave a damsel in distress.” He joked. You leaned over and gave him a hug. At first, Peter was shocked, and you were sure he could feel your heart beating fast, but nevertheless he wrapped his free arm around your waist. “Really, I mean it, you’re like Prince Charming or something.” You told him as you let unwrapped your arms from around his neck. Peter laughed. “I guess that makes you a princess.” It was your turn to laugh. “Well I’d better go get started in that Chemistry homework. Thanks again.” You gave Peter one last smile before walking into the building.

[n8thegr8]

My Avengers Academy Chapter 2: And Along Came a Spider

“This. Is. So. Cool!” Peter couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The lobby of Avengers Tower looked like something out of Star Wars, but it still had that Stark Industries feel to it. Holographic images of Tony Stark played welcoming whoever walked through the door. The floor was gold stained marble, and Peter could see his own reflection. They probably deep wash this floor every night! He saw multiple strangers littered across the entire room: business people, the media, some students, and even some pro heroes.

“Oh my God, Ant Man is literally twenty yards away from me,” Peter mumbled, absolutely star struck.

“Jeez dude, you ‘aight? You seem really uh…” Pietro trailed off. 

“Eager, to say the least,” Wanda cut off Pietro. She planted her hand on Peter's shoulder and almost flinched; he was shaking and quivering. To be fair, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, considering how excited he must be. He was excited. Wanda would describe Peter as a young child being brought to his favorite toy store. She knew how important this was to him;it was important to her as well. She wanted to be a hero who could magically whisk away people’s problems. If Wanda couldn’t do that, then she wanted to help as much as she could. 

“I know how excited you are, but keep it down a level or two. We can talk about all this...” Wanda’s gaze scanned the giant room, “...really,'' her journey stopped when she saw golden statues of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk, the first Ant Man, andThe Wasp respectively. They weren’t massive, which allowed for them to be placed near the enterence to the staff and student only elevator. “...cool,” her gaze wandered over to see a rather attractive man in a blue uniform with a red flowing cape. “Oh my God, it’s Doctor Strange.”

“Oh my God, he’s right there.” Peter pulled out his hero notebook.

“Oh my God, he really is.” Pietro’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Oh my God, shut up,” a fourth voice spoke up.

The trio turned their heads to see Flash. His face was plastered with a smug grin. Pietro stood forward, pushing Peter and Wanda behind him.

“Oh please, Eugene. You wanna get into Avengers Academy too,” Pietro spat back, “You gotta be a little excited, right? Or is that impossible for someone with a cold dead heart?”

“Tch.” Flash put his hands in his pockets and walked past Peter and Wanda. Pietro mimicked his movements, effectively acting as a wall between the two and Flash. Flash looked at Peter, “How’s the hand, wall-crawler?”

Peter closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His eyes opened back up and he pointed to Flash’s arm. “J-just fine. How’s that bruise on your arm?”

Flash’s eyes widened and lifted his left arm to inspect it. What he found was right under his short sleeve; a dark red bruise. He put his arm down and glared at Peter with a ferocious intensity. “You should get better material, Parker,” he growled, “Whatchya lookin’ at me so much, huh? Peekin’ out from the cracked closet door?”

“Enough.” The four turned once again to see their chaperone towering over them. “If you four aren’t on your best behavior, believe me, I will personally see that each one of you is punished. Got that?”

“Yes, sir…” all four replied.

Peter watched as the chaperone walked away. Yeah, just ignore the casual bullying, nothing to see here. Peter groaned in annoyance.

Flash sighed and started his walk towards the main group, bumping his shoulder with Pietro as he did. “I’ll catch you later, Wall-Crawler.”

Peter felt so helpless when he called him that. It just reminded him of that day.

“Jeez Peter, you’re so weak!” a young Flash Thompson said while on top of a wall.

Peter glanced towards the ground in embarrassment. He has been trying to climb the wall for the past ten minutes, but he kept falling. “I can’t do it, Eugene! I-it’s too, um… slippery!”

Flash rolled his eyes. “Stop making excuses, Peter! Come on!”

Peter’s mind raced as he looked upon the wall again. It towered over him, making him feel so small. He couldn’t do this there’s nothing to grab on to. “F-Flash, I’m just gonna go around.”

“Ugh Peter, don’t be such a sissy.”

“That’s not a nice word,” Peter muttered.

“Come on! Just do it!”

Peter winced at Flash’s command. Why couldn’t Flash just let him go around? Peter couldn’t climb it; it’s too steep and slippery. He’ll just fall again. He didn’t want to make Flash mad, but no matter what, Peter just couldn’t climb it. 

“Hey! What are you doing you wimp?!”

Peter snapped back into reality and noticed that Flash was gone. W...where did he go? he thought. 

A scream deafened Peter’s ears. “Flash?!” Peter called out for his friend.

“Stop! Stop please!” the screaming continued, “Daddy! Help me!” the screaming was coming from the other side of the wall. 

Peter didn’t think when he heard those screams. He vaulted himself onto the wall and started to climb. Digging his fingers into the cracks, pushing up off the ledges under his feet, reaching for the deformities to climb up. “Flash, I’m on my way!” He got to the top and then looked down behind him. He… he did it! He climbed the wall. “I… I did it.” 

“Hey, Peter-“

“-are you okay?” Wanda’s voice suddenly entered the picture, and Peter jolted out of his dreamlike state. No longer was he at a park in the year 2021. Instead,he was back in Avengers Tower in the year 2030. 

He turned his head to look at her and nodded. “Yeah… yeah, I’m okay,” Peter gave a big smile, “Let’s go and enjoy this!”

Wanda flashed a smile back at Peter. “This is gonna be great!”

The tour of the facility was structured into three sections, and each section had been allotted an hour. The first section of the tour was dedicated to the general history of the Avengers, its founders, and the history of heroism. 

“Our tour guide is Hawkeye?!” Peter gushed excitedly to Pietro, who returned his excitement.

“I know! Dude, do you think he really has a quirk?” Pietro asked inquisitively.

Peter closed his eyes and put his hand under his chin. He then went into deep thought. “I actually never considered that. If he doesn’t then it would definitely be a scandal in the superhero society. However, he claims that he never misses, and his quirk is called ‘Dead-Aim’ when he was being interviewed by the Daily Bugle top journalist Eddie Brock he has never released his blood examples to the public. It’s not like he’s contractually or legally obligated to. The Super-Human Registration Act never forces you to make anything about yourself public, and even then it’s highly unlikely-“

“Hey, kid! Yeah, you! The one next to the white-haired boy an’ the brunette, would ya mind shuttin’ ya trap? I’m tryin’ to give a tour here!”

A jolt of surprise ravaged Peter’s body as he was interrupted by the very subject of his mumbling. His gaze was met with the intense gaze of Hawkeye himself, who had conveyed annoyance from his posture. “I-I-I,“ Peter stammered as his body stiffened, and his face turned a shade of crimson red. 

“Yeah yeah, that’s what I thought, just keep your mouth closed alright?”

“Y-yes, sir…” Peter said with his face hung in embarrassment. He averted his gaze to the right and noticed Wanda gritting her teeth.

“Asshole,” Poison dripped from her tongue as she said this.

Peter let out a small chuckle and pulled out his hero notebook. He opened it to Hawkeye’s page, and added, ‘Rude,’ under his personality profile. Definitely not asking him my question… 

“Tch,” Peter looked up from his notebook to see Flash looking directly at him. He then shook his head, putting his attention to the tour.

The second section of the tour was a showcase of the academy. The group was stuffed into a large elevator and was lifted up to floor 63. From there, the tour continued to the vast array of classrooms. Peter was astonished from the sight. It was the end of lunch for the students, and they were all headed back to their classrooms. “So many students, and they’re all gonna be heroes…” Peter murmured.

“They’re all so well dressed…” Pietro added, “Ugh, do I have to put the effort into how I look when I go here?”

“The day when you put effort into your appearance is the day when hell freezes over, Pietro,” Wanda jabbed, “Maybe if you do, you’ll actually get a girlfriend.”

Peter tried so hard to keep in his laughter, but his body betrayed him. Pietro then shot Peter a dirty look that screamed, “Are you for real?” Pietro was wearing the bare minimum in terms of fashion. He bore a logoed t-shirt with bright blue jeans and basic white gym shoes. Compared to Wanda’s more fashionable choice of a black undershirt, a red jacket, ripped dark jeans, dark gym shoes, and a red bandana wrapped around her head in a nice bow, Pietro’s fashion was basic and uninspired.

“Nah, I don’t have to put effort into my appearance,” Pietro scoffed, “I’m already perfect as is. The girls are gonna run at me.”

Wanda rolled her eyes at Pietro’s egotist statement. “How am I even related to you?”

“Wanna have a detailed explanation?”

“I’d rather not.”

“Guys, Beast is in the class next to us,” Peter whispered, peeking into a classroom.

Pietro and Wanda dropped their sibling banter and joined Peter. There they saw Dr. Hank McCoy, also known as Beast. He had a heteromorphic quirk, which meant that he looked different from “regular” humans. 

“He’s huge,” Peter gasped. He stood at 6’8,” and was covered head to toe in blue fur. He had fangs, sharpened claws, and had muscles that were reminiscent of an ape. Peter pulled out his hero notebook once more, and wrote down what he was observing.

“Jeez, he’s intimidating,” Pietro blurted quietly.

“Y-yeah for real,” Wanda stammered.

Peter was writing in his notebook with a fervor that was never experienced by man before. He wrote down every detail he saw: how he was reading a book as he was hanging upside down from the ceiling, how even though he looked like a monster he still had to wear glasses to read, how he was now right in front of him? Wait, what?

Peter’s soul nearly jumped right out of his body as he came to the discovery that the Pro Hero Beast was now standing right in front of him. He looked to Wanda and Pietro, who were shaking in their soles.

Beast opened the door that separated him from the trio. “Hello! How may I help you, children?”

He’s so polite! Peter, Pietro, and Wanda had the same reaction.

Beast took a deep look at the three children that were in front of him, they all had a mixed look of terror, anxiety, curiosity, and amazement plastered onto their faces. He noticed their lack of uniform and came to the only rational conclusion.

“Ah, you must be on tour!” He clapped his hands together and laughed. “I know how overwhelming this school can be at times, with all the pro heroes and promising students treading around.” He kneeled down to be at Peter’s eye level. “But you should know that at the end of the day, we’re all human. We’re just like you, and that’s why we’ve become heroes in the first place.”

As Beast was giving his small lecture, Peter wrote every word he heard, all while maintaining eye contact with him. Beast took note of this. “Ah, a fine learner, I presume?” 

Peter stopped writing and tried to stammer out an answer. “I… I… I…”

Beast gave a hearty laugh. “Oh don’t be embarrassed, my boy! Be proud of your sense of curiosity and love for learning.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell him for years!” Wanda chimed in gleefully.

“Oh, and you have support as well, young man! By just looking at you three I can tell that you are all extremely close.” Beast took a hand each of the trio and put them together, the trio now in a position reminiscent of how sports teams break in their huddles. Peter’s face was cascaded in red as he took Wanda’s hand. “Cling on to this kinship that you all have, children. If you wish to graduate from this school and become a hero, having friends you can trust is the most important weapon to fight evil that you will ever have.”

Peter, to say the least, was starstruck. An esteemed hero, such as Beast, was giving him and his best friends life advice to become heroes! He didn’t ask if he was quirkless, and he didn’t assume anything negative. Peter had to ask him his question. Beast was the right person to ask.

“D-Dr. McCoy I-” Peter felt a hand squeeze his shoulder, which shocked him deeply.

“What did I say about being on your best behavior?”

Peter, Pietro, and Wanda turned around to see their chaperone, who wore a very annoyed look on his face. 

“Sorry, sir.” The trio hung their heads in shame.

The chaperone huffed. “I apologize for the annoyance, Doctor.”

Beast laughed once again. “Oh do not apologize, my good man. These children are just starstruck!” Beast smiled warmly. “It’s not every day that you get to see a pro hero so up close.”

The chaperone sighed. “Well, you’re not wrong.” He motioned to the trio to go back to the group. “We’re waiting on you three.”

Peter, Pietro, and Wanda said their goodbyes to Beast and headed off on their way. Peter excitedly opened up his notebook yet again and turned to Beast’s page. He wrote the word “kind” under his personality profile. 

“Jesus Christ.” Yet again, Peter perked up to see Flash looking at him yet again. Flash looked away, then, as if nothing happened.

Peter suddenly had a horrible thought. Was Flash going to do something to him on this field trip? There are so many people around, though. Was Flash growing bolder? Did he think he can get away with hurting Peter without anybody noticing? No, he’s not that stupid. There are too many people, plus Wanda and Pietro are here. Peter shook his head and walked with the tour guide to the last section on the itinerary.

The final section of the tour was a scientific demonstration by Dr. Bruce Banner and Tony Stark, also known as Hulk and Iron Man. The demonstration was held in the school’s auditorium, and it was the biggest room that the group had ever been in. They sat in three seats next to each other in the front row of the auditorium.

Wanda reached her hand towards the ceiling. “It’s so tall...”

“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” Pietro sneered, “Anything else painfully apparent that you wanna point out?”

Wanda shot a dirty look at him. “You’re an idiot who’ll run into a ditch on your first day of being a professional hero, and you’re going to fall into obscurity as I rise to the top.”

“Ouch.” Pietro dramatically clutched his chest. “These hot takes are giving me a strong case of ‘You’rejustjealousthatIhaveacoolerquirkthanyou-itis.’”

“Oh, I’ve heard of that! There’s a vaccine for it, it’s called a ‘reality check.’”

“I like Hex more than Super-Speed, I gotta admit,” Peter chuckled.

“No, not you too, man!” Pietro reached out to Peter. “Don’t tell me she brainwashed you!”

Peter showed Pietro Wanda’s page in the hero notebook and pointed to the ‘potential’” section. “I mean, Hex can probably make her fly and that’s automatically awesome.” Peter flipped the page to Pietro’s. “While your quirk is astonishing, and you’re only going to become stronger with more practice, I don’t see you flying. Sooo, yeah.”

Pietro’s face drooped with disappointment. “Yeah, thanks for the ego check, man.”

Peter smiled brightly. “You’re welcome!”

Wanda snickered.

“Oh my God,” Pietro sighed.

“Hey Pete, can I see my section?” Wanda held out her hand.

“Yeah!” Peter handed Wanda the notebook. “Here.”

Wanda flipped to her section of the notebook. She scanned the page and saw that the ‘Potential Hero Name was filled with different options. “Wow, there are a lot of names.”

Peter scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. “Yeah, like a week ago I sat at my desk and made all of these potential hero names for you. Some of them are cool, but the others… not so much.”

Wanda gave a small chuckle as she scanned the names. One name, in particular, caught her gaze. “The Scarlet Witch?”

“I actually really like that one!”

“Sounds like a villain’s name, to be honest.” Pietro chimed in.

“It sounds cool but…” Wanda pulled a pen out of her purse and added a new name. “How about this?”

Peter and Pietro leaned in to see the name “The Crimson Sorceress.”

“That’s just ‘The Scarlet Witch’ with different synonyms, sis.”

“Yeah, but it sounds more heroic.” Wanda acted like she was putting up a magic barrier between her and the boys. “More magical.” 

“I like it!” Peter exclaimed.

“Yeah, of course, you would.” Pietro sank into his chair. “Whipped,” he whispered. 

Suddenly, a stinging pain found its home on the backside of Pietro’s head as Wanda’s hand slapped it. “Ow! What the hell?!”

“I heard that, you dick.”

Peter tilted his head in confusion. “Heard what?”

“Don’t worry about it, Pete.” Wanda winked, but only for a moment.

The lights in the auditorium dimmed and brightened, signaling that the demonstration was going to begin. Peter put on his glasses and pulled out his camera. He wanted to take pictures of the event, and maybe get a better photo of Dr. Banner and Iron Man for his notebook.

Wanda turned to Peter. “Make sure the flash is off, okay?”

“Yeah, ya don’t wanna cause any difficulties, alright bud?”

“Don’t worry, I turned it off before we even got on the bus,” Peter confirmed.

The curtains rose, and there he stood: Dr. Banner, the Incredible Hulk. He stood even taller than Beast did. Peter’s estimate put him at least seven feet tall. Dr. Banner wore a suit that had to have been tailor-made for him, considering how buff he was. He wore heavy rimmed glasses, which Peter appreciated. Like Beast, he looked intimidating, but he emanated this feeling of kindness and sincerity. His appearance showed the strength of his character, as for many years, the Hulk was called a menace to the Earth. Dr. Banner has made many TV appearances to talk about his beginning years as the Hulk. How he fled to South America to escape the United States Military, how his childhood trauma fed into the alternate persona that the Hulk adopted, how dealing with anger management is important, and how living with a split personality disorder is just another facet of the crazy experience called Bruce Banner’s life. When he merged himself with the Hulk, he explained that he felt whole, but sometimes when pushed to the edge the other personality comes out. He went on to explain that the Hulk wasn’t a bad person, far from it. In reality,the Hulk was actually a really kind and gentle creature that just wanted to be left alone. In fact, The Hulkstill had conversations with him about the meaning of life, the ins and outs of heroism, and even what they were going to have for lunch that day. Ever since then, Dr. Banner has been a pioneer in not only the genetic and radiological sciences ,but also in mental health and the understanding of all kinds of disabilities. Whenever Dr. Banner had an interview, Peter made sure to either watch it live or record it; he loved hearing the man talk.

Peter heard the audience murmur about the missing hero who was supposed to be with Dr. Banner on stage: Iron Man. The most popular hero, not only in the USA, but in the entire world. The story of how Tony Stark, a weapons dealer and billionaire playboy philanthropist became the Invincible Iron Man. Everyone knew how it went: Tony Stark was a selfish CEO of Stark Enterprises, and only looked out for himself until he was captured by terrorists in 1998. The terrorists used missiles that were designed by Stark himself and were struck in the chest by shrapnel but were saved by a man who managed to create a magnetic field inside his body to keep the shrapnel from reaching his heart. He was forced to build a new type of weapon for the terrorists, but what he really did was build a suit of armor that augmented his quirk: Arc Reactor. He then became the Invincible Iron Man, and escaped the terrorists’ base  making it back home to the United States in one piece. He put a stop on all weapon construction, changed Stark Industries to become a humanitarian company, and registered as a hero. He became a cultural icon; everyone knew  of Iron Man and his heroism. He wasn’t Peter’s favorite hero, but he still held a place in Peter’s heart as a founding member of the Avengers, and a great hero all around. He hasn’t made a public appearance in a while, though, Peter thought.

Dr. Banner stepped up to the mic, tapped it just so slightly to see if it was on, and had to catch it because it almost tipped over. “Sorry, over thirty years of being in this body, and I still can’t gauge how strong I actually am.” The audience was filled with laughter. Dr. Banner waved his hands to signal the audience to calm themselves. “You might be wondering about the lack of an overinflated ego that’s trapped in a yellow and red suit of armor.” He took the microphone and started to walk across the stage so that he wouldn’t stay static during the presentation. “Unfortunately, about thirty minutes ago, Iron Man was called for duty, and it’s my off day.I’ll be damned if they call me in.” He played with the wire of the microphone. “I never get called into work, I mean,” he chuckled, “Would you want to be the one to tell The Hulk that he has to come in on his day off?”

The audience burst into laughter once again, which showcased how strong Dr. Banner was as an enter, Dr. Banner knew how to keep the audience entertained. Peter had a hard time getting a good shot due to his own chuckles. 

“I never knew he was such a personality on the stage,” Wanda whispered to Peter.

Peter turned to her and raised an eyebrow. “Wanda, we watched like five of his interviews two nights ago.”

Wanda’s face was struck with confusion. “We did?”

Something told Peter that Wanda wasn’t paying attention that day, and that made him a bit sad. He soon forgot about it though, considering how  the actual presentation began.

“Now, onto the real show.” Dr. Banner walked towards the podium that was on his left. “As we know, quirks are genetic in nature, but scientists haven’t figured out what they really are yet.” A projection of a DNA strand appeared behind him. “However, we do now know that the quirks have a very similar genetic make-up to that of gamma radiation.”

“Hey, is that true?” Pietro asked Peter in a whispered tone.

Peter leaned his into Pietro to speak directly into his ear. “Yeah, last year they found out that his irradiated genetics are comparable to quirks. He wasn’t born with a quirk, remember? It was the gamma bomb that did it.”

“So, to pursue the hypothesis that quirks were birthed from a gamma event, the Avengers Institute and Stark Enterprise partnered with Oscorp to explore this line of thinking.” 

A sudden thought rushed through Peter’s head, Oscorp? That’s Harry’s dad’s company… I haven’t texted him in a while. I should see what’s up with him when I get home.

“Just recently we made a gigantic scientific breakthrough, we found out how to create quirks.”

The audience erupted in disbelief. Soft mumblings filled the auditorium. Some were in disbelief, while others questioned the ethics of such a practice. 

“Nah, that’s impossible, man.” Peter turned his head to Pietro. “There’s no way that you can create a quirk just like that.ike, an actual quirk, not a superpower born from an explosion or from an experiment, but an actual quirk? I call BS.”

“Would you just shut up and watch?” Wanda spat.

“And, this, right here, is the fruit of our labor,” Dr. Banner declared as he pressed a small clicker in his hand. “Oh, it didn’t break it this time, thank god.” 

The stage floor opened up. Peter heard the machinery in the under-stage doing its work. Then, out of the blue, he saw a very odd-looking machine rise up. The machine had two parts to it: two pillars stood erect parallel to each other. Each pillar curved into each other, at the end of both points were bright red spheres. Various ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ were delivered from the audience.

“This, my eager audience, is ‘The Quirk Accelerator,’ and we are going to make a quirk, right here, right now.” Dr. Banner clicked the clicker once again and a thick sheet of glass separated the stage from the audience. “Man, I’m on a roll today,” he stated proudly. “Now, once I press this button again, we will create an entirely new quirk.” 

“Dude, you have to  get a shot of this,” Pietro demanded.

“Yeah, Pete! Ooo, this is gonna be cool!” Wanda exclaimed in a hushed voice.

Peter excitedly pulled up his camera, but not before double-checking to see if the flash was turned off. He put his eye up to the viewfinder, and pointed his shot towards the Quirk Accelerator. As he took multiple shots of the machine itself, he noticed something that wasn’t supposed to be there. It was small, but he saw it. A spider, that was lowering itself from the ceiling with a single strand of its web. Peter didn’t know why he focused on such a minuscule thing, but he took a picture of it anyway. Who knows, maybe it’ll get him an award or something. That’d be nice, he thought to himself.

“Strap yourself in folks, ‘cause this is gonna be one hell of a frickin’ light show!” Dr. Banner shouted with excitement.

With yet another click, the Quirk Accelerator hummed. All of the lights that illuminated the stage shut off, and the thick sheet of glass tinted itself to a rather dark degree. Dr. Banner’s description was very apt. In between the two pillars, extremely bright electricity flowed and clashed with the two red spheres. Muffled crackles of thunder were heard as the light got brighter and brighter. Peter, in desperation, shot a picture aimed right in the middle of the action. The sheet of glass got darker as the light emanating from the experiment got brighter. The light show got to its final performance as the light suddenly turned a bright green. The light soon disappeared, though.  stage lights were turned back on, and Dr. Banner stood there with a big smile. It faulted for a moment, before returning to a grin. “Now, the quirk will be collected. Since we don’t have any machine assistance here on the stage, I’ll have to collect it myself.” Dr. Banner took a small capsule out of his pocket and walked between the two pillars of the Quirk Accelerator. The audience immediately went into various chatter.

Pietro turned to Peter. “Hey, do you think if any of us go blind because of that, Tony Stark will pay us boatloads of money in settlements?”

“'No, we signed away our right to sue in the event of an injury. It's not like Stark would give you anything. It's better for all of us if you were blind.".” Wanda shook her head.

“It’s true.” Peter nodded.

“Aw, man, that can’t be legal can it?”

“It’s totally legal.”

“Ah, so…” Dr. Banner’s voice cut the audience’s murmuring down to silence. “Apparently, this is our first failed test.”

“Told you he was full of-” Pietro was then cut off by a swift kick to the shin, courtesy of Peter. “Ow!”

Dr. Banner walked back to the podium. “But this is to be expected with any realm of science, that is why we go back to see what went wrong here.” He clicked the clicker for the last time which resulted in the Quirk Accelerator being lowered back into the stage. “We do have various quirks in storage, but live testing hasn’t been authorized by the government yet.” He walked downstage to where the mic stood and put it back in place. “We’re getting closer to unlocking the mystery of quirks every day. Maybe one day we can even track what the very first quirk was, but for now all we can do is theorize and experiment. I apologize that this was a failure, but I’m very glad that I was able to show you our latest endeavors here at Avengers Tower.” Peter took a shot of Dr. Banner as he said this. “I hope to see some of you attend the school next yearand that I sparked a wealth of scientific curiosity within you. Thank you so much, and have a good day, everyone.”

The curtains cascaded down upon the stage, and with that, the demonstration came to end. The lights illuminated the auditorium and people got out of their seats and headed towards the exit. Some were bummed, and others were ecstatic to be in the same room as the Incredible Hulk.

Pietro snatched Peter’s camera right out of his hands. “Dude, did you get the shots?” 

Peter jumped in surprise when he realized that when he blinked, his camera was no longer there. “P-Pietro! Be careful with that!”

Pietro shot a genuine smile at Peter. Pietro was tossing the camera up and then catching it with the same hand without looking at it, showing off his dexterity. “Don’t worry, man! I’m the most careful person in the world.” 

Wanda crossed her arms. “You literally broke a plate at dinner last night.” 

“A one-time incident, won’t happen again.” Pietro tossed the camera up again and waited for it to come back down, but it never did. “Wait, what the hell?”

“Interesting camera you got there, Maximoff. I’m surprised you could afford something like this.” 

Pietro groaned as he recognized the voice, he turned around to see Flash going through the pictures on the camera. “That was a lazy insult you had there buddy. Let me guess, did the parasite come up with that one?”

“Funny,” Flash grunted. 

Peter stood in utter fear as Flash held his camera. The phrase, Why does he have it? Why does he have it? kept repeating in his mind. This was his biggest fear. 

“Here ya go, Parker.” Flash held out the camera in front of Peter. “Just wanted to make sure you didn’t have any weird pics of me.”

“O-okay.” Peter hesitantly reached out to grab the camera. “Thanks, Fla-“

A thud. A crack. The sound of plastic falling onto marble flooring. Glass shattered. Peter’s gaze peered downward to see his camera in pieces. 

A devious smile crawled onto Flash’s face. “Whoops.”

Peter was stunned. Did that actually just happen?

“Thompson!” Pietro grasped Flash’s shoulder and forcefully turned him around to face him. “What the fu-?!” 

A black tendril shot itself out of Flash’s body and hit Pietro square in the face. He backed up, holding his nose in pain. “Don’t touch me, you freak.”

“Pietro!” cried Wanda.

“That’s it!” Pietro pushed against his right nostril and exhaled from his nose, a clot of blood flew out of his left nostril. “I’ve been playing nice for Peter’s sake, but you just crossed the damned line, Thompson!”

“Pietro, stop this!” Wanda exclaimed with a desperate expression on her face. “Don’t fight him!”

Peter backed up against the wall of the stage. His legs quivered beneath him. A fight? Here?

“Nah, nah, sis!” Pietro rolled up his sleeves as he walked towards Flash. “This guy has been a pain in our asses for years, I’ve been wanting to put him in his place.”

Flash took his stride over to Pietro. The symbiote crawled itself onto his skin and up his neck. “Let’s do this, wuss. Show me you’re a real man and not some pathetic bitch.”

“Bring it on, douchebag.” Pietro leapt forward at Flash in less than a second. Fists flew, and the fight began.

“Pietro, no!” Wanda rushed towards the scene.

“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God,” Peter muttered over and over. He curled himself into a ball. His breathing became fast and uneven. He felt light headed, too. A sensation of dread and anxiety swept up his body in a hurricane of fear. “Nononononononono.” Why did this always have to happen? Today was supposed to be a good day, for crying out loud. Why did Flash have to ruin it again? Pietro was just making it worse. He won’t be allowed back into Avengers Academy. Peter thought about his camera, and the thought alone forced him into a shaking fit. He was glued to the sight; his precious camera, it was in pieces. It used to belong to his mother. The name: Mary Fitzgerald, was written in sharpie on the side. Why did this always happen to him? Why did he bring bad luck wherever he goes? Why was he so useless? Why was he quirkless? Why am I just human? Why do I-

Peter felt a stinging pain on his right hand and slapped it. “Ow!” He looked down and his hand and saw a giant bite mark, and the corpse of the spider he just squashed. He sighed. “This day’s just getting better and better.” Perhaps the spider bite was a blessing in disguise, it broke him out of his panic attack. He sighed again and steadily began to stand back up. He started walking towards Wanda, but with every step he began to slow down. He felt as if there was a giant weight on his shoulders. His legs turned into jelly. He started to shake violently. “Wh-what’s happening to me?”

“-eter? A-e -o- oka-?” 

Is that Wanda’s voice?

“W-ah! B-o yo- goo-?”

Pietro?

“Y-! Wa-cr-ler! Th- -ck’s th- ma-er?!”

Flash?

His vision started to become blurry, and darkness crept in from the edges of his eyes. “Wanda, I… I don’t feel so good.” Peter lost all control, and immediately lost consciousness as he hit the ground. 

“Peter?!”

To be continued…

[lamptracker]

FIC: Counting Down the Days, part 2

FIC: Counting Down the Days, part 2

Pairing: Peter Parker/Female Reader

Inspo: “Cancer” by My Chemical Romance

Summary:  While visiting a children’s hospital as his alter ego Spider-Man, Peter meets a girl his age. She’s sweet, she’s smart, she’s funny… and she’s dying of cancer. When she laments the fact that she probably won’t get to live long enough to have the typical teenage experiences of prom and a boyfriend, Peter offers to fill those roles for her.

Part summary: Peter tells the reader what it felt like when he got Snapped. 

Warnings: Talk of death. The usual cursing (he is from Queens). Endgame spoiler. Making fun of soccer moms who want to talk to the manager.

Tagged: @flokidottir-imagines-br  @babyplutoszx2   @musiclover1263   @judemoos   @drxgxnslxyer   @hollanderheart   @thequeensardine   @ive-got-some-lies-to-tell   @captainbuckyy   @xxtomxo   @deleteidentity   @yessterekthings   @itsyaspacemom   @parrkerspeters   @starksparker

Part 1

**

“Alrighty,” Peter said, webbing (y/n)’s hospital room door shut and peeling off his mask. “One cinnamon chai latte for you, one white chocolate mocha for me.”

“Ew, white chocolate?”

“You’re judging me. This is supposed to be a judgment-free zone, (y/n).”

“Please, Peter. This is a hospital, not Planet Fitness.”

Peter just shook his head and laughed as he handed (y/n) her latte. They’d been texting back and forth over the last couple of days, getting to know each other a little better. She asked to see pictures of his friends; he happily obliged (after telling them what he was up to - sort of, in most cases).

“That’s my best friend Ned,” Peter said, pointing at the pictures he was projecting on the wall from his suit. “He knows I’m Spider-Man too, him and MJ.  He’s in Robotics Club and Academic Decathlon with me. That’s his girlfriend Betty, she’s on Student Council and she reads the announcements every morning. This is Michelle, also known as the aforementioned MJ. She’s on Academic Decathlon too. There’s Abe, and that’s Brad, and… oh, good, I see Flash found the phone that’s not built into my suit today.”

“Wow, that is exceptionally rude,” (y/n) said, squinting.

“Karen,” Peter muttered, “delete that.”

“Deleting,” Karen said as the photo disappeared; (y/n) laughed loudly.

“So wait, you’re friends with a dude named Flash?”

Peter scoffed loudly. “Not friends,” he muttered, “he’s been bullying me since the third grade. Did you know, (y/n), that he gave himself that nickname because his real name is Eugene?”

(Y/n) cracked up laughing. “Eugene?!” she exclaimed. “Well, fun fact, I went to school with a kid named Elmer. Heir to the McCormick spice fortune, and about as smart as a container of Italian seasoning too.”

Peter just shook his head. “Elmer,” he muttered as he and (y/n) started to sip their coffees.

“Wow,” (y/n) said. “I can’t remember the last time I had a good cup of coffee. The stuff here tastes like it was brewed with dish soap.”

Peter made a face. “We have a coffee pot, but I never drink coffee at home. I love my aunt May, I really do, but cooking is not her forte. And, unfortunately, that includes coffee. I’ve taught myself how to cook some things. Make a pretty mean chocolate chip cookie.”

“Well, I may have to try one of those sometime.” (Y/n) sipped her latte. “This almost feels like a real coffee date, y’know?”

Peter smiled. “Karen, open Spotify and play my Coffeehouse Favorites playlist, please?”

“Sure, Peter.” The air was soon filled with soft, jazzy music.

“Very nice!” (y/n) exclaimed. “Now we just need the middle-aged suburban mom with her may-I-speak-to-the-manager haircut complaining that her cappuccino isn’t foamy enough.”

“Well, I can’t reproduce that, but I can try.” Peter cleared his throat, next speaking in a weird sort of high-pitched voice. “I asked for light foam, does this look light to you??”

(y/n) giggled. “And there are 47 bubbles, I asked for 49. How hard is it to put 49 bubbles in my cappuccino foam?”

And then, in unison, they said: “Where is your manager?”

They both burst into laughter.

“I gotta tell you,” (y/n) said, “that I’ve only known you for, what, three days? And I’ve laughed more in this three days than I have in the last three years. You’re just… you’re so fun to be around. You come here to cheer people up, right? Guess what, Pete… it’s working.”

Peter smiled warmly at her. “Good, I’m glad.”

“Part of me wishes I’d met you earlier,” (y/n) said wistfully. “You know, before I got sick this last time. We could have had so much more time together. But… but I’m almost glad I met you when I did. Being faced with your own mortality really sucks, it’s nice to have a friend.”

“You know the Snap?” Peter said; (y/n) nodded. “I was one of the ones that got snapped.”

“Honestly? When it happened, I wish I’d been snapped. But… then everyone came back. So either way, I’d have to deal with this.” She gestured vaguely at the wires hooked up to various parts of her body. “But the nice part about that was, you didn’t know it was coming. You know? Like it just… happened. You didn’t have to suffer through it.”

“I knew.”

(y/n)’s eyes widened in shock. “You what?”

Peter swallowed thickly. “I knew what was happening. Because of my powers, my senses are, just, super heightened. I feel everything differently than everyone else. So yeah, for everyone else that got snapped, it was quick and painless but for me? I felt everything.”

(y/n)’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, God. What… what was that like? I mean, if you want to talk about it, if not I totally get it.”

Peter sighed. He knew one day he’d have to talk about it. He was kind of hoping he’d never have to. But, if it would help (y/n) feel better, he was willing to push his fear aside.

“Terrifying,” he finally replied. “I was terrified. I felt helpless, alone. Mr. Stark was right there, that helped me feel less alone. Physically it was weird, I could feel myself disintegrating. It wasn’t unbearably painful, but it was pretty uncomfortable. And then my soul just got… I don’t know, transported? Maybe? Sure, transported to the soul world. And it was five years, but it felt like five hours, it was really weird. But then… then I came back. I guess that’s the difference, though, I got to come back.”

(y/n) smiled. “Wow,” she said. “It’s nice to finally meet someone that knows what I’m going through. I’ve been faced with death over half my life and it scares me. I’ve felt so alone. But… now I don’t feel so alone anymore.” She reached over, gently grasping his still-gloved hand.

Peter gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “Glad to help.” He smiled at her again. “Um, that latte is getting cold. I don’t want to have to go get the manager.”

“Young man!” (y/n) exclaimed, in her fake customer voice. “This went down to 102 degrees, it needs to be at least 115!”

They burst into laughter yet again.

“What was it like, in the soul world?” (Y/n) asked softly.

Peter shrugged. “Wasn’t so bad. I didn’t feel anything physically. But internally, I felt very at peace. I… I got to see my parents and my Uncle Ben again. But they didn’t get to come back, that’s how the quantum thing worked. If you were dead before the Snap, you stayed dead. You know? But they got to tell me they were proud of me, that made me feel a lot better. I had this overwhelming, just… what was I so afraid of? This isn’t so bad. Then I realized that the thing I was scared of was the uncertainty. What’s happening to me? Where am I going to end up? That’s the part that got me. But once I got there… it was okay.”

“That makes me feel a lot better. Thanks, Peter.” She squeezed his hand again. “So what do I do now?”

“I… I don’t really know. What do you think you should do?”

“I think I should make the most of the time I have left,” (y/n) answered. “Not dwell on the dying part so much, focus on the living part. I know that sounds like all the schlocky bullshit they spout out in movies and whatnot but… but maybe there’s some good advice hidden in that.”

Peter just nodded solemnly.

“So,” (y/n) said, gulping down the last of her latte, “any plans this weekend?”

“I… oh, maybe. Karen, what’s my schedule this weekend?”

“You have an Academic Decathlon competition in Albany this weekend, be at the school by 5pm packed and ready to get on the bus. Estimated return time is 8pm Saturday.”

“And I’m co-captain with MJ this year,” Peter said, “so my presence is definitely required. I’ll get you a postcard or something though. And then I should probably do my rounds after I get home, and then I think I’m free Sunday.”

“New event added to calendar by Bruce Banner,” Karen said, “meeting at Avengers Tower at 2pm on Sunday.”

Peter chuckled. “...and I’ll try to stop by after that. If not, I will for sure Monday. But I’ll text you whenever I can, okay?”

“Sounds good.” (y/n) smiled. “Hey, thank you, by the way.”

“For what?”

“Everyone that comes in here thinks they need to walk on eggshells around me, not bring up the D word or whatever, you know? Thank you for not doing that. Thank you for treating me like I’m just an average everyday kid, and not an average everyday kid that happens to be walking around with a commuted sentence.”

Peter grinned at her. “Hey, anytime.”

“In a weird way,” (y/n) continued, “I’m almost glad I got sick.”

“Why’s that?” Peter asked, nose scrunched in confusion.

She smiled softly at him. “It brought me you.”

Peter could feel a blush creep over his cheeks as he searched for something to say. He settled for squeezing her hand again and replying, “I’m glad I met you too. Sucks it wasn’t sooner, but… better late than never, y’know?”

“Better late than never.” She grinned at him before releasing his hand. “Talk to you soon?”

“Yeah, definitely.”