CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
( "LET ME GO!" )
JOURNEY BLASTED THROUGH NICK'S earphones as he walked through the school hallway to get to lunch. Exhausted and hungry and frustrated, he really didn't want to interact with much of anyone at the moment, so he resorted to listening to music during the entirety of the period before lunch as the substitute teacher gave out a work sheet for the class to do. He didn't understand much of anything of it, much like he stood nothing of the pop quiz in first period and the test he had forgotten about in second period, so by the time he turned it in when class ended Nick was pretty positive he got nearly half, if that, correct. Not to mention he left his backpack at home like the dumbass he is so he couldn't turn in any homework. He also quit tennis. He was missing meetings and practices anyway, but still the coach wasn't too happy, so he had disappointing yet another adult on his conscience. Add all of that together, plus his lack of sleep caused by various reasons – homework, procrastination, but mainly restless nights – and Nick wanted to be left alone.
Still, at spotting Ned in the lunch line by himself, Nick went up to him quickly, silently standing near Peter's best friend, the two smiling at each other. They haven't really talked – a greeting or two here and there every once in a while – since the break up, but Nick was hoping they could get back to talking regularly again. He missed the boy spamming his phone with memes every chance he got.
Nick sighed and pushed some curls off of his forehead – his hair was getting too long, and as of right now he wouldn't mind cutting it all off – and then glanced to Ned who had gently nudged him. Nick raised an eyebrow as Ned pointed behind him, trying to warn him of someone, but just as Nick took one earphone out an arm from behind wrapped around his waist and easily picked him up. Nick let out a yell of surprise, and one hand grabbed onto the arm while the other tried to pull down his shirt that had ridden up but it wouldn't budge from under the guy's arm. Nick huffed and turned his head to see Monty Grier smiling at him cheekily, the supposed to be senior having no trouble in grabbing a lunch tray while holding him. It wasn't unusual for Monty to just pick Nick up out of the blue – it wasn't hard for Monty, either, with Nick being as short and small as he was – and it usually happened when the older boy wanted to have an important conversation with Nick.
Nick rolled his eyes and looked back to Ned. "Ned, can you get my lunch for me?" He asked, knowing Monty wasn't about to put him down anytime soon.
Ned, trying not to bust out laughing or embarrass himself in front of one of the popular football players, quickly nodded. "Y- Yeah! Of course."
"What do you want, Monty?" Nick then asked, sounding exasperated, and rested his arms over Monty's, gently kicking Ned with his foot until the boy turned around with a questioning look. Nick smiled innocently, acting as if he hadn't done anything. Ned just stuck out his tongue at Nick. So, their friendship wasn't ruined. That's good.
"Oh, nothing," Monty sighed, clear to Nick that it definitely was something. "Just that I heard from some gossipy birds that you quit tennis."
Nick rolled his eyes. "I wasn't even taking it seriously."
"But it's good on your school record!" Monty told him, and Nick barely noticed how Ned nodded silently in agreement.
With a sigh, Nick took the other earphone out, holding it in his hand, making Journey's song "Light" come to an abrupt stop. "Look, my grades are going downhill anyway," he explained. "I rarely went to meetings and practices. It was only a matter of time before Coach and the school kicked me off, so I went ahead and did it."
Monty frowned. "That's concerning," talking more specifically about the grades.
Nick clenched his jaw and regretted saying anything about his grades. He quickly started trying to get away but Monty just tightened his arm and lifted him up as Nick started to slip from his grasp. "Can you just let me go so we can talk about this later?"
"Nope."
Nick groaned. "Ned, talk some sense into him!"
Ned shrugged. "I don't know what you want me to say. Monty's got a point, Nick. Playing more than one sport does look good on your school record, and quitting maybe isn't the best but it's better than getting kicked off."
"See, Monty? Not concerning!"
"Oh, I wasn't done. If your grades aren't well then, yeah, that can be concerning."
"Ha!"
"Fuck you both."
The three boys got quiet as for the few moments where the lunch ladies put food on their trays. They gave Nick and Monty weird, reprimanding yet judgmental looks but they ignored them and finished going through the lunch line.
"Peter actually quit band and robotics," Ned went on to say, the words directed at Nick, before Monty could go on about not liking Nick quitting tennis.
Nick frowned. "What, why?"
Ned shrugged. "Something about his Stark Internship. It takes up a lot of his free time."
Monty hummed and loosened his grip around Nick's waist as they stopped walking, and let Nick slide down to where he was standing again. The younger of the two fixed his shirt that had ridden up nearly all the way and side glared at the older boy as he stepped away to get his lunch from Ned. Monty ignored the glare. "An internship can't that that much time of your free time. Can it?" He wondered.
Now, Nick knew that the Stark Internship was actually just Peter dressed in a skin tight suit as he swung around Queens as Spider-Man, but neither of the two boys in front of him knew that. So, he just shrugged along with Ned who was just taking Peter's word for it. Nick then noticed Shawn Parker walking into the cafeteria, and he quickly looked back at Ned. "Does Shawn know Peter quit those things?" He asked.
Ned shrugged once again. "Dunno," he said honestly. "They're close again, but not like they used to be. The Stark Internship keeps him busy, neither of us see him often."
"Are you two becoming friends again?" Marty asked, a hint of excitement in his voice.
"Uh-"
"We're trying to get them to d- be friends... Yeah, friends again. You could say that."
Eyes wide, Nick turned his head and looked at Ned with a look that said 'seriously?' because he wasn't being very subtle. "Dude," he whispered.
Monty chuckled at their interaction. "Well, that's good to hear; maybe them being friends again will get Nick to get back to being so grumpy all the time."
Nick and Ned both forced a laugh for different reasons. Nick's was on the softer side, hesitantly agreeing, because he knew getting back with Peter wouldn't make him suddenly happy all the time. Ned's forced laugh was louder as if he was forcefully trying to make Monty see that he thought that as well despite it being a complete joke.
"Alright, well, see you guys around. You're coming to the football game tomorrow night, yeah?" Monty asked Nick before he walked off. "You gotta come support me and Rich!"
"Uh... Yeah! Yeah, sure."
"Awesome. See ya!"
"See ya."
"...Was my fake laugh too much?"
"A little bit."
"Dammit."
+++
Nick couldn't have been more excited when school let out for the day. He was ready to go home and do nothing as he procrastinated some more, avoiding the topic of possibly going to therapy when his dad's around because he didn't know how to bring it up and just outright not mentioning anything to his mom yet for the same exact reason. But then Olivia wanted him to walk to her mom's bakery with her and, well, Olivia was a hard person to say no to, especially when he's being bribed with a free blueberry muffin. So they walked together, conversing about different things every once in a while, but for the most part it was silent. At one point Olivia started talking about a recent show she's been into – something called Skam – all because a gif set on tumblr of a guy who looked eerily similar to their Marty. The show's Norwegian and has to be watched with subtitles but she doesn't mind, and told him that the first two seasons were out and that the third season was currently being released with clips and social media updates daily.
"So, it's just about teenagers in high school?" Nick asked as they continued to walk.
Olivia hummed and nodded. "Basically, yeah." She then paused. "There's a gay lead this season, if that persuades you to watch it even more. I know there aren't many shows where the main character is gay, so..." She trailed off and shrugged.
Nick nearly halted in his steps but quickly recovered. At first, he thought he was imagining things, like he had misheard his friend. But it quickly clicked that he heard correctly, and he tried to not smile too big. "Really?"
Olivia smiled; he might've hid his excitement on his face but not in his voice. "Yeah! Oh, you should stay the night tonight so we can binge watch the first season together!"
He started to protest but she was quick to plead, linking her arm with his and giving him her best puppy dog eyes. Nick had good enough reasons to say no. It was a school night; he had no idea if his dad would be happy about it; they had homework to do. But, as stated earlier, Nick has trouble saying no to Olivia. So he gave in rather quickly with a resigned sigh yet there was the tiniest of smiles on his lips. The blonde squealed in excitement and instantly ran, forcing Nick to run with her since their arms were linked together. She soon slowed down, though. Foot traffic was getting heavier in that area and she didn't want to accidentally shove anyone, so they slowed to a walk, Olivia started to go on about how cheerleading was going and Nick just listened. Well, he kinda listened. The first part, he had zoned out as he walked, occasionally nodding and humming so he wouldn't seem rude, and the last half Nick paid full attention, listening to the story of a few cheerleaders getting in a heated her amusing argument.
"...Coach had her get between them before it got physical," Olivia explained. "Emily was pissed – like, so mad, the vein in her forehead was showing."
"Emily Bennet?"
"Yup."
Nick hummed. "No wonder she looked ready to kill in French class today," he muttered.
Olivia gave a small chuckle. "It was chaotic... Speaking of French," she paused and looked at Nick, smirking. "They do say it's the language of love."
"Oh, my God," he groaned and gently shoved her away from him, making the short blonde laugh as she caught herself and went back to walking beside him. "I'm not going to butcher French in front of Peter. I can only say 'Je suis Nick' and random foods."
"You told me you've literally aced every test so far, you are so lying."
Nick glanced at her and rolled his eyes. "Vous êtes...ennuyeux." He then smiled at Olivia who just looked at him in utter confusion. "But you're right, I guess, I'm not bad at French."
Olivia gaped at him. "Did you just insult me?"
"Je ne sais pas." He smirked and innocently shrugged.
"Nick."
Nick amusedly smiled. "Yeah?" When he finally looked at her again, though, the smile fell; Olivia had stopped walking, and fear and worry was seen on her face. He quickly became confused and walked to stand in front of her since he had walked away from her a bit. "Liv, what's wrong?"
Her eyes flickered over Nick's shoulder and then to his face for a short second before going back to look over his shoulder, and Olivia motioned vaguely behind him to where a crime scene was taped off, an ambulance there along with two police cars. Neither of them had noticed it at first. They were too busy talking. "Is... Is that your uncle?" She asked hesitantly.
He frowned and turned around to look at the crime scene. His eyes traveled to the caution tape and then the two police officers questioning some witnesses. Then he saw the body bag, and his uncle – alive, but the paramedics around him were clearly worried about something – on a stretcher being rolled into the ambulance. Without hesitating, Nick ran to the crime scene and shoved a few pedestrians out the way. He was about to duck under the yellow tape but one of the police officers blocked him.
"Kid, you can't go in there," he said, "it's a crime scene."
Nick shook his head and pulled himself away from the police officer and tried to go under the tape again, this time the man doing his best to push Nick back. "Stop- Stop! That's my uncle!" He shouted and tried to get out of the officer's grasp. "Let me go, I need to see him!"
"I'm sorry, you can't go in there. They're taking him to the hospital, okay? You can meet him there."
Nick started to protest again and to rush into the crime scene to get to his uncle before the ambulance drove off, but instead he nearly fell forward as the officer suddenly let go of him. Nick caught himself and went to duck under the tape but this time he stopped willingly at hearing an all too familiar fake deep voice.
"Whoa there, Officer, no need to point the gun at me."
Nick spun around, nearly giving himself whiplash, and stared wide eyed at Spider-Man, Olivia having an awestruck look on her face a few or so feet behind the vigilante. He then looked at the officer who had a gun pointed at Spider-Man. Looks like the police force still weren't too happy with the vigilante.
"I'm just here to get, uh, the hysterical kid."
If Nick wasn't so worried about Ryan Berry, the teen would have said something back to Spider-Man, but this time he just rolled his eyes and ignored the comment for now. He wasn't hysterical. He was scared for his uncle's life.
The officer looked at Nick. "You know him?" He asked, skeptical.
"We're acquaintances," Nick responded, "...of sorts. And put the gun down, he's a good guy. He saved Captain Stacy and all of New York back in March. Remember?"
The officer seemed to think for a moment before he started to lower the gun and nodded. "Alright," he muttered.
Nick barely nodded his head too, and inched away from the police officer and to Spider-Man, uncertain on what exactly he should be doing. The ambulance was driving away then, and Nick moved to run after it – what that would do, he didn't know, he just wanted to see if his uncle was okay – but Spider-Man grabbed his wrist before he could, and pulled him away from the scene. Nick only took a few steps before trying to get out of the hero's grip, but the slightly taller boy tightened his grasp – not too tight, though, just to where Nick couldn't get away – and the eyes of the mask got the slightest bit smaller as he pulled Nick closer to him.
"You're not chasing down that ambulance, Nick," Peter told him, voice quiet but back to normal, wavering a bit, shaken up a bit as well.
Nick wanted to glare at Peter but didn't have the heart to, especially once realizing the reason why he was there in the first place. "Can you tell me what happened?"
Peter shook his head. "Later," he quickly said when seeing that Nick was about to say something along lines of 'why the fuck not'. "I promise, okay? I want to talk to you about something, anyway." He then looked over his shoulder to Olivia who was getting off of the phone, the blonde now rushing to them both. Peter cleared his throat and stepped away from Nick, dropping his wrist. "Do you two need anything?" He asked, voice back to how it had been with the police officer, and he put his hands on his hips as he puffed out his chest.
Nick just stared. Peter wanted to talk to him; it was either a good thing or a bad thing, and he had no idea which one it was more likely to be.
Olivia shook her head. "My mom's coming to pick us up, she's dating his uncle. Um, thanks though, Spider-Man."
He smiled under the mask. "No problem. Now, I gotta go. Hope your uncle makes a good recovery."
Nick nodded. And then, Spider-Man was swinging away and Olivia was hugging her friend, the teenagers shook up from what had happened with Ryan Berry and the short conversation with Queen's own hero.
***
A/N— I would say this is a filler but it's kinda not, what with Nick quitting tennis & Ryan getting hurt which ties into Homecoming. So yeah. Also, hopefully those few French phrases are right, or at least close to it; I went off of what I remember from high school French class & a little of google translate. And if you need translations —
Je suis Nick = I am Nick
Vous êtes...ennuyeux. = You are...annoying.
Je ne sais pa. = I don't know.
That's all, really, I don't have much to say. Hopefully you enjoyed the chapter!! xx