Hi! Holy shit! (sorry for swearing) I cannot believe that I have 4.2k reads!!!!! That's actually insane! Thank you so much to everyone reading and commenting and voting I actually love you so much! Sorry I've been so inactive lately, I just had a lack of motivation to do anything including leaving my bed. But it's New Year so I'm gonna be writing. At least, it'll be New year by the time you see this.
TW: violence (?)
Anyway
Enjoy! ❤️❤️❤️
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Paper stars. Peter loved them. He sat in social studies, cutting a sheet of paper since he didn't have any of the patterned paper, and then folding the stars. He had practically perfected it.
Ned thought it was a little strange at first, but eventually made him a paper cup to put the paper stars in. He hid the paper stars, in the paper cup, in his jacket pocket. He would wait for around 5 minutes for Happy to pick him up, and he would discreetly slip more paper stars into his pockets.
It was becoming an issue. He was struggling more and more to focus in social studies, and soon his pockets couldn't hold anymore stars. He dumped them out on his desk and prayed no one would enter his room and notice them.
He started bringing home strips of paper and after school, he would sit and fold the paper.
Suddenly, he got bored one day, and was only half zoned in. He was upset with Flash for picking on Ned the previous week.
So he folded paper stars.
When there was about 20 minutes left of his lunch break, he began launching them at Flash.
Flash never saw it coming. Peter was smart enough to throw them so they would hit him from different angles.
Flash at first looked a little miffed that he was getting hit with paper stars and couldn't find out who was doing it. Then they started hitting him from above. He would look up every 30 seconds after a paper star would land on his head. At this point, he was looking pissed.
Peter smirked, knowing that Flash was going to snap soon, and look crazy when he did so.
But then, one of Flash's friends pointed at Peter. Peter immediately zoned back in and realized what he had been doing. Now Flash was looking at Peter, looking angry, while talking to his friend.
"Dammit," Peter muttered.
MJ looked at him. "Did you expect differently? You've been throwing paper stars at him for the last 15 minutes," she reasoned in her usual monotone voice before turning back to her book.
Ned was hiding a smile and was cutting up more paper to hand to Peter. Peter turned to look at Ned with shock evident in his features.
"You were encouraging this!" He exclaimed, betrayal clear as day in his voice.
Ned laughed and just slid more paper to him.
"I'm so dead!"
-Time skip!!!!!! What shall this one be named?-
After their last class, Peter rushed outside, hoping that Happy was there early.
Spoiler alert: He wasn't.
He felt the buzzing of his phone in his pocket and saw a text from Happy. He knew it couldn't be good since Happy never texted him.
Happy
Sorry, I'm busy
Steve and Bucky will pick you up
Peter sighed putting his phone back in his pocket. He knew Steve and Bucky would take forever to pick him up. They always do.
He went over to the concrete stairs in defeat. Maybe Flash wouldn't see him there. If Flash did happen to see him, there wouldn't be anyone for Steve and Bucky to pick up.
He zoned out, staring at the railing, wondering where he went wrong. He absentmindedly began picking at his nails.
"PARKER!"
Peter snapped back into focus. Crap. Flash found him.
"Yeah, so what would you think of a sorry?" Peter suggested, desperately trying to diffuse the situation.
Flash ignored him. Probably didn't want the apology.
"I can throw in a ukulele! And a song!"
Flash shoved Peter to the bottom of the stairs.
"Ouch"
Flash began kicking him in the ribs before moving onto the shoulders and arms. Peter could tell he was going to be bruised very horribly. He brought up his arms to cover his face out of instinct.
This went on for almost 20 minutes and Peter could hardly move without his ribs screaming in protest.
Just because he was Spider-Man didn't mean it didn't hurt.
Just because he was Spider-Man didn't mean he couldn't fight back.
Obviously Peter would be gentle while fighting so that he doesn't kill Flash. He doesn't need that on his record.
He kicked his foot out, causing Flash to start to lose his balance and begin to topple over. While Flash was regaining his balance, Peter got up and wiped some dust off his arms.
Flash was quick to throw a punch, aiming for Peters face. Peter threw his arms up to shield his face.
In retaliation Peter quickly jabbed Flash in the stomach with his elbow. Gods that hurt Peter thought. Flash clutched his stomach being dramatic.
"Stupid Parker, bet your parents took the plane down themselves just so that they wouldn't have to see you again!"
Peter looked at Flash in annoyance. Unfortunately he was used to this. He swung his foot towards Flashes kneecaps in a sideways motion. Suddenly Peter was above Flash.
Peter was still going light so that he wasn't charged with murder or whatever, but he was going leave a couple bruises.
He didn't know how he was doing this with the amount of pain he was in.
Of course, Steve and Bucky found him at the worst possible time.
"Hey! Stop!" Steve shouted running over. He was not expecting to see Peter beating up another kid. He grabbed Peter and pulled him away.
Bucky was busy checking over Flash, unaware that Flash bullied Peter. Flash stared in awe before eventually running off as he noticed his ride. Convenient.
"What the hell were you doing?" Bucky nearly shouted. Peter could feel anger building up in his chest but he kept his mouth shut tight.
"Let's go back to the car," Steve sounded just as angrier but he kept his voice quiet.
Peter spent the drive ignoring them scolding him and fighting back tears.
----- Time skippppp ---------
(I just realized that this strayed away from paper stars but it'll get back to paper stars at some point)
Peter kept blinking and taking deeper breathes. He was trying so hard to completely get rid of whatever emotions were fighting in his chest and throat.
"Peter, what the hell were you doing? Beating up another kid?" Tony questioned, holding back anger.
Peter felt his throat begin to close and his face heat up.
The rest of the Avengers had gathered around out of curiosity.
Natasha gave Peter a confused look.
Suddenly Peter was very interested in his shoes. Were they always that dirty? He should probably clean them. Was that mark always there? Or was it new? He blinked rapidly, holding back a river of tears.
For once Clint kept his mouth shut, sensing the seriousness of the situation.
Loki shut his book and looked up with a spark of interest in his eye. This was new.
Peter looked up with a blank expression. It was eerie how expressionless he looked. Almost like a robot.
"Sorry for what I did. I won't do it again," Peter said in an uncharacteristically monotone voice. Like he was reciting lines from a script.
"Go to your room. I don't know how to deal with you right now," Tony sighed.
Peter went back to staring at the floor as he trudged along to his room. Not one of them asked for his side of the story. He knew what it looked like. He quickly pulled out phone and texted MJ and Ned what happened.
MJ
I'm on my way over
Peter froze. Not good.
Ned
Dude that's so unfair
I'm going with MJ!
Shit. He was screwed.
Unsurprisingly he heard a knock on the door. He quickly shoved his phone under his pillow, figuring someone was going to take it away.
"Mhm?"
"Can I come in?" Natasha asked quietly.
"We!" Loki corrected.
"Yeah, sure," Peter mumbled.
"Look, I know you wouldn't do that, so do you want to tell me what really happened?"
"Everyone already knows what happened. I beat up someone else and I won't do it again. I'm sorry," Peter used nearly the same expressionless voice, except this time, if you listened close enough you could hear as his voice changed pitch and it quavered. His throat was getting tight and it was getting harder to hold back tears.
Natasha sighed. "I taught you how to lie, Peter. Don't tell me you believed I wouldn't catch you lying."
Loki did some movement with his hands, but Peter didn't think anything of it.
"Now, now, do you want to tell us the truth spiderling?" Loki inquired.
"Yes." The words flowed out before Peter had a chance to even think of what to say.
"Go on," Natasha raised her eyebrow, staring at him intently.
"Well, I was sitting at my lunch table, making paper stars and I got super distracted. Flash started annoying me, so I just ignored him. I guess I must've zoned out cause next thing I know, I've accidentally started throwing them at him. He didn't realize it was me until our lunch was over. He wasn't happy, and I was going to avoid him and get into a car as soon as possible. Then Happy texted, telling me that he wasn't going to be able to pick me up, but Steve and Bucky were. I knew I was screwed, because they always take forever! I tried hiding on the stairs, hoping that Flash had forgotten-" Peter cut off, unsure as to why he was telling them this. He knew he should tell them the truth but he didn't want them to know that he was being bullied.
Loki gave him a look and for some reason he felt compelled to continue his story.
"Flash hadn't forgotten. He noticed me and thought I was trying to avoid him, which was right! Then he was mad and I was trying to diffuse the situation. But because I'm Spider-Man, I can't fight back! So I let him use me as his personal punching bag for the next 20 minutes. But just because I'm Spider-Man doesn't mean that it didn't hurt, and it became clear that he wasn't stopping, so I started to gently fight back," Peter sighed, deciding that he was done with his story.
He regretted ever coming home, or existing when he saw the looks on Natasha's and Loki's faces.
Then he realized that they were for Flash, and he regretted it so much more.
Clint fell down from the vents, looking startled that he had fallen, and what he had just heard.
"You're being bullied!?"
Peters eyes widened and he was about to come up with some lie when he heard angry shouting coming from the living room.
He quickly snatched his paper stars and sprinted towards the living room to see MJ screaming at the Avengers, telling them to smarten up and learn not to jump to conclusions.
They all looked like startled owls.
"Well? Do you have anything to say?!" MJ asked furiously.
When none of them answered MJ seemed to calm down a little.
"Then close your mouths, you look like fish!" MJ scolded.
Not many of them caught it, but Peter heard MJ mutter, "Idiots, how could they possibly be the ones we rely on to save the planet. I'm gonna learn how to make those paper stars just to torment them!"
Peter grinned when he saw MJ and discreetly handed her the bag of paper stars.
Forgetting all his worries, with a plan forming in his head, Peter cheerfully said, "Have fun!"
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The end!
I really hope you enjoyed that one, I tried to make it longer to sorta make up for my absence. Anyway my life is complete because I made it so that Taylor Swift would say "Are you ready for it...?" right before it hit midnight and the beat would drop as soon as it was midnight!
I'm super proud of everyone for making it through another year and I hope that 2024 is awesome for everyone! Remember to eat, drink and sleep enough! Take care of yourself, you are needed and you are loved.
I love you!
Bye!
-Author
(2024-01-01)