Still Peter Parker (One Shots)

No Running

Peter was having a horrendous week. Not only were finals less than a week away, but also the whole 'secret identity' thing... well, that was no longer secret.

The day started off normally... well kinda...

Peter tapped his fingers on his leg to the music that was blasting in his eardrums. He nodded his head to the beat and hummed along. When the subway screeched to a grinding halt at his stop he rushed out with the business class of New York City. He usually was getting ready for school around this time, but today was Bring Your Kid To Work Day. And since Peter tended to attract trouble, he really didn't want to be around a bunch of vulnerable and sick people at the hospital. He didn't want them to get hurt because he seems to bring trouble with him no matter where he is.

So instead, somehow, Tony Stark told Peter to come into the tower and shadow him for the day. It wasn't like Peter had never been in the tower, in fact, he even had an internship with Mr Stark. But the thing was that he tended to stay in the labs tinkering with things with the other interns, or helping Mr Stark with the Iron Man suit. But today would be different. It was the unveiling of a new Stark Earbuds. Not only did it give incredible sound cancelling, but also has a feature that utilises AI, so that if the computer runs a chance that there is a danger, the music will automatically lessen in volume/turn off to allow the consumer time to react to whatever was coming. An example would be wearing the earbuds while crossing the street, the AI encrypted inside will scan the oncoming cars and their speed, and if it finds that one car isn't slowing down it will turn down the music and start a low beeping noise to alert the listener of the danger.

It also had some other cool features, but Mr Stark refused to tell him more than that until the unveiling.

If Peter was to shadow Tony today, that meant he would basically be on stage with him, or even talking to executives or investors. That was something Peter wasn't the fondest of.

The day went by incredibly quickly, and before Peter knew it, the unveiling was in a few minutes. Shadowing Mr Stark was very mellow so far, nothing really had happened besides a new intern spilling coffee on Peter's shirt when he tripped in a spout of 'ohmygoditstonystark' or something along the lines of that.

Of course, whenever a day seems uneventful, Hell just has to be unleashed.

So when Mr Stark and Peter walked onto stage to show off the new product, the earbuds started to let off a beeping noise, the sound they give off when danger is heading this way. That, of course, made everyone a bit on edge, but before any comments could be made, the ceiling shook and fell.

Mr Stark called his suits, but they weren't going to get there fast enough. So Peter did what he had to do. He activated the web shooters (of which he kept attached on his wrists just in case) and trapped all the falling debris from crushing the journalists and news reporters.

He had used his web shooters. To save journalists. And news reporters, who just happened to be streaming the event live on their websites.

Peter was screwed. Royally.

Little to say, since then his life has been hectic. Not only was his cell phone blowing up with texts and calls (how'd they get his number?), but life at school had felt... well fake.

People who never used to give him a second glance were now asking him questions about the Avengers, cuddling up to him, basically kissing his ass. Even Flash was acting as if they were best friends!

Thank god he still had Ned and MJ, those two, who had already known, stayed with him and fought off the insane fangirls ("we love you Peter!!" "Spiderman is the best!!"), and even ignored all of the bribes from the media for comments on who he was.

Peter didn't deserve them.

They were truly the best friends a web-slinging hero could ever ask for.

Peter stared at his school from the safety of the tinted-windowed car and sighed. He wasn't ready for the craziness and swarming that would surround him as soon as he stepped out of the car.

Happy, from the front seat, gave the kid a semi-pitiful look before gesturing towards his high school building. "You'll do fine, kid. Regular school days end in a few days, and your two friends are here." Happy half-assed gestured to where Ned and MJ were standing by the building, both sipping on an iced coffee and an extra in hand for him.

"Any more tidbits of wisdom you can offer?" Peter asked as he started to swing his bag on.

Happy tapped his hands on the steering wheel, "Just know that the world doesn't deserve you. Stay with those you know who do, and don't let those who want to use you close. You're a good kid Peter, and it sucks that the world found out who you are, but you did the right thing- not letting those people die, giving up your privacy, livelihood for a couple of media personnel who are like vultures at your doorstep."

Happy just stared at the kids who were starting to take interest in the car they were sitting in. "There's no outrunning this. But, Peter, you're more than just Spider-Man, you're also Peter Parker. Don't let them take that away from you."

With those surprisingly helpful and heartfelt words from the ironically named Happy, Peter opened the door and walked out into the crowd.

Happy was right, there wasn't any way to run away from this. Plus, he was Peter fucking Parker, he runs from nothing.