Rollercoaster - Peter Parker

02. Observing

Michelle Jones was always observant of Peter Parker way before they became friends. She noticed when he ditched stereotypical girl colors and started wearing more androgynous or masculine clothing and the colors associated with that look.

MJ, as she preferred to be called, became Ned and Peter's friend more through force than usual ways of becoming friends. She knew it wasn't normal, because she knew that she wasn't normal by society's standards. And, she liked it that way. She embraced her weirdness.

She sat herself down abruptly at prepubescent Ned and Peter's lunch table with a book in hand, and the arrangement stuck. None of them questioned it, and throughout the rest of middle school and the years of high school, they all remained sitting together.

Being naturally observant, MJ immediately accepted Peter's wishes to be known as Peter in the seventh grade and on. He was quite surprised at this, but she assured him by the end of their awkward conversations that she would call him Peter and use him/he pronouns from that point on.

The negative attitudes other students had towards Peter increased as he started to become more himself. As he bought only masculine clothing and informed teachers and students in his classes of his new name, the criticism only got worse.

Ned and MJ both expected this. MJ, being more distant to Peter, comforted him through kind phrases and compliments while Ned comforted the boy the most.

Peter tried to hide his feelings through the hard times with the critics and questionings and not to mention his uncle's devastating death.

When he came out as bisexual then as trans the summer before ninth grade, everything became increasingly more violent. His aunt and uncle, who raised him from when he was small, were called multiple times to Peter's school as a result of endless bullying.

During the year of ninth grade, when Peter was the age of fourteen, a burglar snuck into the Parker's household. Ben Parker, Peter's uncle, came home from work late, surprising the criminal which caused the masked thief to shoot Ben.

Peter and his Aunt May grieved for a long time over Ben's death, forming a closer relationship as they did. Around this time in his life, Peter began to realize his powers that he would eventually use to fight the evil around the area he lived in New York City.

May and Ben, being huge LGBT advocates, were both accepting of Peter's decision to start the process of transitioning to male. On Peter's fifteenth birthday, the June of his freshmen year, May surprised him with a vial of testosterone and syringe which was a confirmation that he was able to start transitioning. She wished Ben was there to see the happiness in Peter's eyes and how his smile widened.

But, May was thankful Ben wasn't able to go through the heartbreak she had endured when she heard Peter was getting bullied again towards the end of his freshmen year.

Flash Thompson was the bully. Everyone knew it, and it wasn't like he was trying to hide it. He and his posse of loser freshmen bullied Peter by yelling out countless transphobic phrases to him and occasionally calling Peter by his deadname. Other kids chose to get violent and physically attack Peter around school property.

Overall, Peter's beginning of his tenth grade year had been smooth sailing with the occasional Penis Parker remark.

But, when Peter started paying more attention to the older boy Caden Young, Michelle knew Flash would jump at this opportunity to harass Peter thoroughly.

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"Did you guys see Parker make an idiot out of himself at lunch today?" Flash and his group howled with laughter on Michelle's bus ride home. "Or, should I say herself."