Peter sighed as he rested his chin onto his tucked knees. He sat still as the wind brushed past him, making him shiver a bit. Suddenly, a droplet dribbled down his nose, so he instinctively looked up at the sky. More rain began to lightly drizzle down, getting heavier by the minute. Peter slipped his mask back on and leapt off the edge of the building, aiming his web shooters at places to grapple from. He swung through the city, finding his way back to his apartment and slipping through the open window. He rounded on the window once he had softly landed inside, and cautiously shut it. He couldn't make too much noise, or his aunt would wake up and come in. He peeled off his suit and slipped on some pajamas, yawning as he slowly turned his head to look at his clock.
4:32 AM
'Yikes...' he thought, wondering if he could stay up at school the next day. 'I stayed up too late patrolling... What if I fall asleep during class?' He thought while running his hands through his hair. 'Aunt May will kill me if my grades start dropping! I have to stay awake tomorrow, I'll just... have some coffee!' He nodded to himself and slipped under his bedsheets. He shifted and turned until he finally relaxed and closed his eyes. Sleep washed over him quickly, though he awoke in what seemed like only two minutes later.
***
"Get up," a woman growled, frightening Peter. He sat up in confusion and rubbed at his blurry eyes, attempting to wipe the sleep from them. Why was Aunt May waking him up? He nodded to her and she turned, walking out the door. Peter quickly got up and looked over at the clock.
7:15 AM
'Crap!' He thought, rushing to get dressed. 'I must've slept through my fifteen alarms!' He internally groaned, making sure not to do it aloud. May wouldn't be too happy with him complaining. Last time... Well, it doesn't matter. 'It's never happening again, I learned from my mistakes,' He promised himself as he threw on a sweatshirt. He grabbed his book bag and slung it over his shoulder, rushing out the door. He didn't have breakfast. He was used to it. May wouldn't feed him, she said it was too expensive and that she was 'trying all she could' to get him some food. He didn't believe her, especially when she occasionally left him at home alone to 'grab a drink with her friends.' How could she afford expensive wine when she couldn't afford to give Peter a small breakfast and no more than a granola bar at dinner? He sighed as he popped his headphones in, waiting for the next bus. It was scheduled to come in 10 minutes, though even that was too much. He waited, scrolling through his phone, when suddenly he got a text message.
'Hey, Kid'
Peter's heart leapt. 'Mr Stark?! What if he has a mission for me?!' He thought excitedly, though he calmed himself down, not wanting to hype himself up for a disappointment.
'Hi Mr Stark!! Do you need me for anything...?' He typed, starting to wonder if he was in trouble.
'Maybe... maybe he doesn't want me to intern for him anymore... maybe he just thinks I'm too childish, and he's going to take the suit away because I'm too immature for it.' But before he could overthink it too much, the bus pulled to a stop in front of him, and the doors opened to welcome him to grumpy faces glancing at him before looking back at their phones. Peter stepped up and made his way to the back, where the only open seats were. He sat down, since all the poles were taken too. 'Why would you want to stand when you could sit?' He wondered, though dropped the thought quickly when his phone buzzed. He turned it back on and opened it, looking at Tony's reply.
'Just wondering if you wanted to come to the tower today.'
Peter's heart leapt again, and his eyes widened. 'Wow that would be awesome!' He thought.
'Also why are you answering your phone? Shouldn't you be at school?'
Peter bit his lip, nervously wondering if he could get away with lying over text. 'But... I don't want to lie to Mr Stark...' He thought, conflicted.
'I'm almost there, just slept through my alarm that's all.' He replied, deciding he shouldn't lie.
'Didn't you tell me when you were rambling once that you had like 10 alarms set?'
'15' Peter corrected subconsciously. 'I mean, I usually do. I must've accidentally turned them off on accident.' He winced at the lie, but thankfully Mr Stark couldn't see him. Peter's a terrible liar.
'Uh huh. Anyways, back to my question. Do you want to come over to the tower today? You can still come Friday too.'
'I'll ask Aunt May right now!' He started to feel dreadful. 'What if she doesn't let me go, just for the soul purpose of making me miserable?'
'Can I go to the tower after school today?' He texted Aunt May.
'You'd just get in the way of his work.'
Peter frowned, though he scolded himself. He should've been used to this by now.
'Mr Stark invited me.' Peter replied hesitantly. Maybe she would change her mind so it didn't look suspicious that he was declining most social activities, since she'd been keeping him home for most of the parties he was invited to. Not that he was invited to that many.
'Whatever, brat. If you don't go you can have some of my scraps for dinner, but if you do go then it'll be much worse than usual punishment.'
Peter sighed.
'Okay.' He replied simply, then switched back to text Mr Stark.
'Aunt May says it's fine!' He replied, masking his nervousness with a cheery text.
'Great kid, see you then.'
The bus stopped and Peter looked up. He rushed down the stairs and bolted into the school building. He was currently missing the first 15 minutes of his first period. He quietly opened the door, and slipped to his seat. The teacher made eye contact and narrowed her eyes that were glinting with hostility.
***
The bell rung, and Peter shoved his books into his backpack, hoping to get out of the class before the teacher-
"Mr Parker, could you please come here for a moment?"
"Yes Ma'am," He said dreadfully, turning around.
"Could you explain to me why you were late?" She raised a strict eyebrow.
"I-I slept in," He replied honestly, though looking at the floor because of how intimidating she was.
"Likely story. Don't let it happen again, or it's an automatic detention. Understood?" She crosses her arms.
"Yes Ma'am," He replied again and walked out of the class. Once he was out the door, he bolted to his next class, and continued his day.
***
"Hey, Penis!" Flash Thompson strutted up to him, interrupting him as he was carrying his lunch tray back to his seat. Peter spotted Ned look over at him, confused, and then understanding. Ned got up to come defend him, but Peter shook his head. Ned visibly sighed and sat back down, watching them with his eyes narrowed in hatred at Flash. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" Flash snarled, and Peter shifted his gaze back to him.
"Flash I'm just trying to go to my seat, can you please move?" Peter asked politely, though he was getting ticked off. His day hadn't started out that great, so he just wanted to get some lunch.
"What's all this food for?" Flash ignored him and picked up a french fry from his tray. Peter twitched in annoyance as Flash continued. "I thought you were starving yourself. Here, I'll help," He snarled, and then flipped Peter's tray to the side. "You're welcome." He smirked, and then turned back to his seat. Peter just sighed and looked up as Ned rushed over, bending down to help him clean up the mess on the floor.
"Why didn't you let me help you?" He asked, scooping up all the loose fries and putting them on the tray.
"Well, you know what Flash always says to you. I can handle it but it hurts me to see him pick on you too," Peter said, cleaning up the rest of his food. Luckily his drink hadn't been opened, so they only had to pick things up rather than having to go get paper towels.
"Why do you deal with him when you have, well, you know!" He exclaimed, referring to Peter's Spider-Man persona. They stood and threw the food on the tray away.
"Ned I've told you, I can't bring myself to hurt him," Peter replied, though Ned opened his mouth to speak. "You know that he'd find someone else to pick on, so I might as well let him do it to me, rather than him picking on some random kid," Peter cut him off and crossed his arms.
"I know but..." Ned trailed off, not finding an argument.
Then the bell rang.
"See ya later Ned!" Peter called and walked out of the cafeteria and on to his next class.
***
At last, the final bell rang, and Peter gathered his books. He raced out of the classroom and headed for his locker. He started twisting the knob, hitting the numbers to his combination. He opened it and put some of the books that he didn't need into the locker, and slung his backpack over his shoulder. He felt his spider senses tingle slightly and with a sigh he awaited the cause of it. An arm reached out and grabbed his shoulder, twisting him around to face the one and only Flash Thompson. He wasn't surprised to be honest, just tired of him.
"Haven't you played with me enough today?" He asked with an eye roll.
"Shut up or I'll punch you," Flash growled and shoved a paper at his chest. 'Well that was straight forward.' Peter thought.
"What's this?" He looked at the paper Flash had shoved at him.
"My math homework. Do it," Flash turned and stalked off with his friends. Peter sighed and folded it, putting it in his pocket and walking out the door. He was about to put his headphones in when he noticed a shiny black car parked near the school. Peter furrowed his eyebrows, but the window went down and a man with bright sunglasses motioned for him to get in.
"Mr Stark!" His eyes widened and he remembered that he was going to the tower today. He rushed over and quickly opened the door and slid in the backseat. "I almost forgot!" He said sheepishly and clipped on his seatbelt.
"You're fine kid," Tony waved his hand as if to dismiss it. As the car started and they left the school, a thought occurred to Peter. 'Shouldn't Mr Stark be at the tower? Doesn't he have a meeting or something before I come over?'
"Mr Stark... Shouldn't you be at the tower right now?" Peter shifted curiously.
"What, not happy to see me?" The man joked, but Peter became mortified.
"Oh no Mr Stark of course I'm happy to see you! I-I just meant that-that well, I t-thought you'd be in a meeting or s-something!" Peter explained quickly.
"Relax kiddo, I'm just teasing. But yeah I'm kinda skipping a meeting right now so..." he turned to look at Peter and pressed a finger to his lips. "Shhh don't tell anyone." He chuckled lightheartedly and turned back to face the road.
"O-oh." Peter nervously laughed, not sure what to reply with. Then, Peter's phone vibrated and he drew it out of his pocket. It was Aunt May.
'Have fun at the tower.'
Peter just turned it off shakily and slid it back into his pocket. He turned to look out the window so the world could see how scared he was, but Mr Stark couldn't.
-authors note-
hi :D <3