The Tiniest Stark

A Little Turned Around

Peter rummaged through his backpack past all the textbooks for the one thing that every single day he was itching to get his hands on. May would have been in total distress if she knew Peter had skipped school but he'd woken up late already and didn't see much sense in going anyway. If anyone really got on his case or if Aunt May went back to complain about his behavior to Mr. Stark he had a good excuse anyway. If the world figured out that Spider-Man only showed up ever outside of high school hours then some super evil mastermind would eventually put two and two together, right? Not that Peter had any big nemesis or ever even faced solo someone really bad, but man wouldn't that be cool?

Peter frowned, was it bad to want a nemesis? Likely but all the super cool Avengers had them...

Ignoring that Peter slid on his suit in the ally near the school. Ever since May discovered his secret she tried to keep tabs on him and even though Peter was pretty sure May would never really be able to tell where he started his day as Spider-Man afterschool he was never too careful.

The day had been pretty slow so far but he'd managed to stop a mild car accident, help somebody figure out the subways, and teach a young child how to open their bike lock. The whole superhero thing was a lot more flashy for someone like Tony Stark that was for sure. However, as Peter jumped up onto a nearby building he was able to see just perfectly Midtown high where hundreds of students were piling out the front doors. Peter smiled knowing that he should but wasn't among them. It was such a small victory but the small rebellious action gave him a tiny thrill.

Swinging closer to the school grounds Peter scanned the crowd of kids leaving for any of his friends, specifically Ned if he could get to him without being seen. Ned had left several voicemails in the morning and even a dozen or so texts about how Peter get back to him. Like May, Peter knew that Ned worried for him as Spider-Man even if he wouldn't admit it to Peter. The problem with replying though was that Peter had learned a valuable lesson today about swinging and texting having the gist be, 'Don't do it'. His phone was shattered somewhere in the ally a few blocks from his apartment after Peter had smacked straight into a wall. It was a shame really if Peter's online drivers' ed had mentioned that not only should you not be on your phone while driving but also not when swinging this whole situation could have just been avoided.

Further inspection of the crowd left Peter more puzzled than anything though. Among all the classmates there was one girl walking straight into a back ally and by her stance and posture, he was pretty sure she had no clue what could possibly be lurking in there. Slowly swinging down, Peter landed squarely behind the girl. He'd never seen her before but Midtown was a big school so it wasn't a huge surprise. As soon as his feet touched the ground the girl spun around the most alarmed and wide eyes. Peter found himself laughing a little at her bewilderment but tried to cover it up with a cough rather unsuccessfully. She, however, didn't seem to have any of that humor, in fact, she looked ready to hit him on the head over and over. "Landing behind a girl in a dark ally really wasn't my brightest move, was it?" he joked and maybe it was just his eyes playing tricks on him but a small part of the girl seemed to relax, a very small part.

"You think?" She snapped waving her hands up in the air in front of her face.

"That's all my fault, my bad," Peter mumbled sticking his hand out into a handshake for no reason other than pure amusement. The girl reached out as if she would shake it but instead she gripped it hard and without Peter having time to react she twisted his hand up using his own weight against him to make him slump down to the floor. Peter yelped recovering in just a few seconds but she looked like it was her turn to laugh. Something about the laugh and smile struck something in him and he couldn't bring himself to be mad or even make a funny comment. Her smile was wide in those few seconds and he couldn't help but feel that he'd seen it before somewhere else or maybe in someone else but before he could really tell it was gone.