Peter & Bucky Are Pals

Chapter 14

“Let’s trade. I’ll be you and you be me. I always wondered what it’s like to be white.”

“Probably pretty different,” Peter said, considering. “I guess I never really thought about it. White privilege right there.”

Ned laughed. “Yeah, man. Our country’s messed up.”

“Super messed up,” Peter agreed. He looked up at the clock as they entered room 117; they were ten minutes early. Ned took the desk next to Peter, which was usually empty.

“Where did you move from?” Peter asked.

“Warwick, Rhode Island. It’s the second biggest city in the state, but it’s -like- nothing compared to New York. This place is huge.”

“Did you like it there?”

“It was alright,” Ned said, shrugging. “Some kids were kind of dicks.”

Peter winced. “This place might not be much improvement, then.”

“Nah, it’s better already. I’ve got you, assuming you want to be my friend, which I probably shouldn’t… but hey! Live life on the edge, am I right?”

“You want to be my friend?” Peter asked, eyes widening.

“Yeah! You seem cool, and you helped me out back there.”

“You can totally be my friend!” Peter definitely didn’t squeak..

“Aw, really? Thanks, dude!” Ned grinned. “Peter and Ned. Oh man, my parents can suck it. They didn’t think I’d make any friends.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it was pretty realistic of them, to be honest.”

“I suck at making friends too,” Peter said.

“Do your parents give you crap about it?”

Peter looked down at his desk, pausing for a moment and debating his response. “No, not really,” he finally said. Which was true. Pepper and Tony didn’t bother him about having friends, and they were his adoptive parents.

“Mine want me to have better social skills, or whatever, so I can get a good job when I’m older. I keep trying to tell them, you don’t need social skills if you have a job in computer programming.”

“That’s true,” Peter said. “I mean, most of the people I live with don’t have social skills, and they’re functioning adults. Sort of.”

“The people you live with?” Ned asked curiously. Well, it was sort of inevitable, Peter thought.

“I -um- my parents died when I was little, and then my uncle and my… my aunt died, so now I live with my adoptive parents and their friends. It’s like a really big family.”

“Oh, dude, I’m really sorry,” said Ned. “Are you the only kid in your house?”

“Technically, yeah. But some of them… like Clint, Pepper sent him to etiquette class because he’s got the manners of a six-year-old. That was funny. And Bucky’s current obsession is legos.”