Spiders and Seas

Chapter 2: School Brings Change

A/N: Welcome to Chapter 2 -- More Worldbuilding (kind of). Thanks to everyone who's been reading my story so far! Also, note that this is my last reserve chapter, so update wait times are likely to increase quite a bit. Sorry :(   (Also, don't judge the song (or me) by the name, its by a male artist & is actually really good!)

Disclaimer: I am not Disney, and as such don't own either of these things. Please don't sue me Mr. Mouse

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As he walked through the doors, Peter was extraordinarily excited. The year was going to go amazing - he could already tell. As he looked around, he saw that none of his friends had arrived yet, but that there was a boy sitting alone. The boy looked unfamiliar to Peter -he was pretty sure that no one at school last year had curly black hair- so he guessed that he was new. Peter remembered what it was like to be new and without friends, and decided to sit by the new kid (at least until Peter's friends arrived).

As soon as he sat down, Peter knew that there was something different about the boy. For one, no one had eyes like that - somewhere between green and blue, always changing, and a touch overwhelming. It reminded Peter of when Tony would take him to the beach in Malibu. The boy had eyes like the sea. Another factor that contributed to Peter's snap analysis was the fact that the boy didn't say anything when Peter sat down. He just waved at him then went back to staring at the space in front of him. This silence continued in fact as Peter asked questions - the boy responding with shrugs or head shakes. At one point,when Peter had asked for his name, the boy did something that Peter vaguely recognised as sign language, but Clint wore his hearing aids most of the time, and Peter had never picked up on what any of it meant. Eventually Peter said bye, and went to sit by his friends and talk to them instead. He felt bad, but he didn't really know how to interact with someone who didn't talk. Maybe he'd ask Clint to help him learn sign language.

As he walked to class, he saw that the boy avoided everyone - squinting at each desk before going up to the teacher. He didn't say anything to her - just moved his hands around again, but she seemed to get the message and directed him to his seat - a seat right next to Peter, as it turned out. Looking at the desk, Peter was finally able to see what the boy's name was - Perseus. He had no idea why someone would name their kid that, but still, it was nice to be able to have an actual name for him.

Not too long after that, class started and Peter was taken in by what the teacher said - he noticed that Perseus still refused to talk, but that was the only strange thing he noticed. (He may have gotten too caught up with playing with his friends to see the way that Perseus looked at them with sad eyes or the way that some of the bigger kids picked on him, but Peter was eight and hadn't seen his friends all summer. Some mistakes are not sins.)

By the time he was going home, Peter had almost forgotten about the strange new boy - almost. He remembered while he was telling Tony about how one of his friends - Alec Benjamin- had already lost his voice. "Dad, we have a new kid! He doesn't talk but he seems nice still. His name is Perseus, which is really weird, but really cool at the same time. I can't talk to him though, because I have no idea what he's saying ever. Do you think Uncle Clint will help me learn sign language?"

"Woah. Yeah, I think Clint will help you learn some sign language - but it will take a while okay?"

Peter fought the disappointment that rose up in him at the realization that he wouldn't be able to talk to Perseus right away. Still, he figured that it was better than nothing. He'd just find another way to communicate in the meantime. Just then, a thought popped into his head and he grabbed a piece of paper, a pen, and a bunch of colored pencils (in case Perseus wanted to color with him).

He was absolutely determined to make Perseus his friends by the end of the month. (It would take a little while longer, but Peter has no way to know of all of the barriers he would have to get past first.)

Percy's first day at school, meanwhile, went precisely how he thought it would - with 2 notable exceptions.

First, he had been approached for friendship twice. The first time it was by a quiet but happy boy named Peter, who Percy had actually wanted to be friends with. (Peter left once he realized Percy wouldn't talk. Watching the way Peter played with his friends was almost enough to make Percy want to talk - almost.) The second time it was by an older, more popular from what Percy could see on his first day - which was a surprising amount. (His dismal grades were not for a lack of awareness.) The boy was quite tall, and strong - nothing like Percy - but that didn't seem to mean much here. (Or anywhere, Percy was small and scrawny but all of the bullies thought he had some kind of potential. Percy didn't see it, and once the kids realized his whole "not talking" thing was more than a way to get out of talking in class, and to students he disliked they stopped seeing it too. The longest he had lasted without drawing a bully's ire was two days. He lasted about two hours this time.

The other unexpected thing was that his teacher knew sign language. Percy had learned it back when he first stopped speaking two years ago - it had worried his mother, but she had been determined to find a way to communicate with her son - so they had learned how to sign together. Gabe had never bothered to learn, and Percy hadn't really wanted to - but he could never say no to his mamei. Regardless, other than her he hadn't been able to properly communicate with someone in quite some time. So, when his teacher understood his asking for help finding his desk he was thrilled.

(If that was the highlight of his week, no one needed to know. No one really cared to know either.)

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Peter was practically bouncing as he got ready for school the next day. He was excited that he had found a way to communicate with Percy, and that he'd get to see his friends and show them the new game Clint had taught him. (It required no talking - something essential to Peter's plan to make Percy his new best friend.)

His bag was packed quickly, as there hadn't been much to take out the night before, and he was ready to go within 15 minutes. (Well, almost ready to go. He had forgotten about breakfast, and that took him another 15 minutes.) He got to school in a similar scene to the previous day - with one noticeable exception: Perseus was nowhere to be seen. In fact, Perseus didn't show up until they had been in class for an hour. More than that, he had a large bruise on one side of his face- swelling his eye shut and turning the skin all manners of purple, yellow, and blue. It made Peter suspicious in a little kid way - he recognised that there was something wrong, but it wasn't anything that was going to make him tell someone. (He wanted to ask Percy, but he was too awkward to bring it up - and he didn't know if Percy would answer.)

So, instead Peter acted like everything was normal (In his defence, not only was he quite young, Percy also acted like everything was normal - concerning in its own right, to be sure, but not to an eight-year old.) and played with his friends. He tried to get Percy to play with them as well, showing the notepad and colored pencils he had brought, but the boy turned a bright red at the suggestion of writing what he wanted to say and ran away before Peter got the chance to ask him about the game. (Peter and his friends still played it however - and it was as fun as he thought it was going to be.)

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Percy's day was better than he had expected - other than the sudden outburst from Gabe in the morning it was a fairly peaceful day. He did run away from the only person who seemed to want him around, but, in his defence, he didn't want to have to attempt writing through whatever it was that made letters swim for him. (Besides, getting close to people was dangerous - you never knew what they were going to do.)

Not much happened really, but in Percy's experience, that was likely for the best.