Archive of Our Own ^beta

Standing in front of the school didn’t quite feel real yet.  Of course, Peter had already been there for a meeting with the principal and for a few preliminary meetings with all his teachers so they could give him some of the backlog to help him catch up.  Though, he’d mostly be taking a few online classes to make up for what he missed, which shouldn’t be too hard but the interface the college used for online classes was absolutely atrocious.   He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to put up with it for a full semester without just making them a new interface himself.

Peter was suddenly knocked out of his musings by somebody running up to him from behind.

“Peter!  You’re finally back!” Ned exclaimed.

Peter smiled and nodded, ringing his hands up to sign to Ned, “You would not believe how much paperwork I needed to do to come back.  But Principal Morita was very accommodating after he found out who was sponsoring me.”

“Well, at least Flash can’t complain about you being here on his dad’s money from the scholarship that apparently isn’t meant for ‘ useless failures who only got in because the school needed a charity case ,’” Ned answered, making his voice high and reedy for the last part.

Peter laughed in response, tension he didn’t know he was even holding onto melting away.  He had almost forgotten how nice it felt to be normal for once.

“Look who’s come crawling back!” a familiar voice called out behind them, and suddenly Peter’s happiness shattered.  However, he refused to turn around and just leaned closer to Ned.

“Let’s get to class,” he whispered, words still feeling weird in his mouth.  His speech therapist told him that it might be difficult to get used to speaking after all that time avoiding it completely, but Peter was determined to learn again.  Though, it wasn’t like he needed to since Ned already knew sign language and Mr. St- Tony was learning pretty fast.  Just the thought that he got to call the Tony Stark by his first name still seemed surreal.

Ned just nodded and they both started walking towards the entrance, deciding not to let Flash ruin their day.

Unfortunately, he was very determined to do just that, and Peter let out a gasp of surprise as somebody grabbed his backpack and pulled him backwards.

“Oh, so now you think you’re too good for me, hmm?” was whispered into his ear, the feeling of Flash that close to him making his skin crawl.  Peter immediately pulled out of his grip and turned around, his eyes going wide.

“Aw, come on Puny Parker, we’re all friends here, right?  I just want to make sure you don’t get lost on your first day back.  It would be a real tragedy if you ended up somewhere you weren’t supposed to and they had to expel you already,” Flash taunted.

“Wow, Flash, didn’t know you knew big words like ‘tragedy;’ most first graders don’t,” Ned replied, his tone dry.

Flash’s face immediately went red and he clenched his fists, “Already back to playing with the fag, Leeds?  Looks like you really don’t know what’s good for you, and after I was so nice to you.  Maybe you’re one of them too, huh?”

“So what if I was?  Scared you’re infected now that you’ve hung out with me?” Ned taunted back.

Flash opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off by the bell.

“Boys!  Hurry up to class!” the teacher standing at the entrance called out, her foot tapping impatiently.

“Don’t think this is over!” Flash said as he glared at Peter but he turned towards the door and stalked away.

“You too!  C’mon!” the teacher called again when Peter and Ned didn’t start walking towards the school.  

- 🕸️ 🕸️ 🕸️ -

“-arker!  Parker!” Peter heard as he was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts, jumping a little as he realized that there was a teacher right in his face.

“Is my lesson boring you?” she asked, tapping her fingers on his desk.  Peter quickly shook his head no, leaning back in his seat to get further away from her.  He vaguely recognized her from the meetings he’d had with but her name evaded him.  It was just on the tip of his tongue and he was sure it started with an e but he couldn’t remember anything else.

“Well, then you’ll have no problem going up to the board and solving the problem up there?” she said as she handed him the marker in her hand.

Peter nodded and walked up to the board.  He was glad that he had at least been zoning out in one of his easier classes.  On the board was written, “Given that a >1, what is the value of x ?” with an equation below it.

Peter was honestly glad to see such an easy problem, and he was able to simplify the right side to a2 over a3/2 which gave him the answer of x = ½.  He handed the marker back to the teacher and went back to his seat.

“W-well that’s just review so of course you would get it!” the teacher spluttered, her face turning red.  She didn’t wait for Peter to reply before she turned back towards the board and wrote another equation, moving on with her lesson, and Peter went back to staring at the wall.

- 🕸️ 🕸️ 🕸️ -

Peter was pulling his chemistry textbook down from the shelf in his locker when somebody came up behind him and bumped him hard enough to make him lose his balance.  The cruel laugh that followed let him know exactly who it was that had pushed him over.  He turned around with a sigh to see Flash’s familiar face.

“It’s been one day, Flash, can’t you just leave me alone?” he said, his tone quiet and even.

“Oh, well, take a look at that, he does speak!” the boy replied.

“I can do a lot more than speak,” Peter grumbled.  He hadn’t meant for Flash to overheard it, but he had promised himself he’d stop putting up with Flash once he got back.  It was actually one of the things his therapist had encouraged, though she’d recommended that he’d go to a teacher when Flash started acting up.  Though, there was just something so grating about having to deal with the other teen again that he felt he was close to just snapping on him.

“Was that a threat?  Does Puny Parker think now’s the time to finally grow some balls?” Flash drawled, his voice sickly sweet and condescending.

“Maybe he did, and maybe he’s tired of dealing with you all the time,” Peter quipped, his eyes narrowing as he saw Flash shift to bring his arm back in a swing.  Peter easily shifted to the right and Flash’s fist hit the metal of the locker, leaving a bit of a dent.

“Oh, so you think you’re so high and mighty now, huh?  You’re still a fucking charity case, even if someone else is paying for you now!  I don’t care how you possibly convinced the Tony Stark to pay for you but he’s wasting his fucking time with someone like you!” Flash growled, his chest heaving a little faster and his eyes wild, clearly trying to provoke Peter into action.

Peter flinched but easily dodged another hastily (and quite poorly, in his opinion) thrown punch.  Though, he could see people starting to crowd around them, more than one phone recording, and the voices of everyone speculating started to mix and confuse him, his super hearing going into overdrive with all the sounds around him.

“Did he say Tony Stark?”

“Is this about the internship?”

“I heard that Flash didn’t make it in, kinda glad he finally got told no.”

“Yeah, he’s kinda an asshole, maybe he’ll finally get what he deserves!”

“Oh, was that supposed to be a secret?  Oops, silly me!  Maybe you just don’t want everyone to figure out that the only way a loser like you could get in was by getting on your knees!” Flash continued to taunt, trying to corner Peter against the lockers, but he just kept dodging to the side.

“God, can you not stand still for one fucking second?” Flash yelled as Peter slipped around him, now no longer having his back towards the lockers but towards the crowd.  The chants of “Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!” crowding him from all sides and making him feel trapped.  Flash turned around to throw another punch but before Peter could dodge somebody stepped between them.  Peter vaguely recognized him as the person the school hired to deal with all the delinquents.

“Boys!  There is no fighting at this school!” the principal exclaimed, running down the hall towards them.  “And the rest of you, there is no recording of fights allowed!  I want every single one of you to delete that footage, and if I see it anywhere online I will personally find out who posted it!  And we will be having an assembly about this, this is not proper behavior for a school of our caliber!”

Peter leaned down to pick up his chemistry book, which had fallen in the commotion, though he made sure to keep the security officer between himself and Flash.

“And, you, boys, will be coming with me to my office with me and your parents will be called!” Principal Morita yelled, clearly flustered with the whole situation.

Peter just nodded and started to walk behind the man but Flash let out an indignant breath.

“This isn’t fair!  I didn’t even do anything, he was the one that started it!” Flash insisted, and Peter was used to hearing that, since it was usually what Flash said when he got in trouble.  Peter just sighed and got ready for the principal to agree with him and let Flash go.  That’s how it had always gone in the past, and at the very most Flash’s father made another donation to the school and nothing went on the record.  Though, Flash usually didn’t go this far in his bullying.  He usually saw physical alterations as beneath him, which Peter was definitely grateful for because it meant he didn’t have to deal with more bruises.

In all his musing, Peter didn’t even notice that Principal Morita had already replied to Flash, and though he hadn’t been paying attention to what he said, Flash’s indignant squawk pulled him back into the conversation.

“What do you mean this will be on my record!?  Do you know who my father is?” Flash cried.

“Look, Eugene, we can discuss this more in my office.  We will be going over the security footage together and once your parents arrive we will go over a suitable punishment,” the principal replied with a sigh.

Flash huffed in indignation but allowed himself to be led to the principal’s office with Peter at his side.  They were sat down next to each other, facing a scowling Principal Morita.

“Now, I am going to hear both sides of the story before I take a look at the security footage so I don’t care what either of you say about the other lying, I will find out the truth .  This institution has a strict no fighting policy and I will not stand for students of such caliber falling into bad habits,” the man said sternly.  “Peter, if you would please start.”

Peter nodded and lifted his hands to sign.  He was just too tired to try to speak, even though he knew for a fact nobody in the room would understand him if he didn’t.  That would be their problem.

After a second, Mr. Morita held up his hand, “Right… you’re, um, guardian did warn me about your… issues.  I’ll just deal with you later.  Eugene?”

“Mr. Morita!  I was just walking to class and then he attacked me!  It’s not safe for him to be back, he’s not normal!  I mean, he can’t even speak! ” Flash insisted, crocodile tears welling up in his eyes.

Mr. Morita sighed and nodded, “Well, my secretary has informed me that your parents will be arriving in a few minutes so until they get there I want you both to think about what you’ve done.”

Nobody spoke after that, and Peter was left sitting in science with Flash glaring at him and the principal looking at his monitor.  In truth, he knew he probably took it a bit too far when he provoked the fight, but it had just felt like something had snapped at seeing Flash again.  He’d spent so long being scared of the boy and getting harassed that today was just the straw that broke the camel's back.  Peter just hoped this wouldn’t affect his education even further, since it would be terrible if he had to push back his graduation date for this.

Mr. Thompson was the first to arrive, just a few minutes later.  He was on the phone with somebody and he seemed quite terse.  He finished the phone call and went into the office with a scowl on his face.

“May I speak with you in private, Mr. Morita?” he requested.

“Oh, of course!  Peter, Eugene, wait outside for a second please,” Principal Morita answered.  He stood up to shake Mr. Thompson’s hand and both of the high school students left the room.  The secretary just glanced up at them and kept typing away at her computer.  Mr. Morita drew the blinds to the windows of his office, effectively cutting off anyone from knowing what the two men were talking about.

Or, well, anyone with normal senses.  Peter could still hear them just fine.

“Mr. Morita, I heard that the school has been hoping to expand their library lately,” Mr. Thompson started.

“Yes, well, we do want to provide the best level of education possible to our students!” the man replied, and Peter could hear his heartbeat speed up.

Peter heard some writing sounds but he wasn’t sure what was happening, since both men stayed silent for a moment.  There was a rustling of paper before anyone spoke again.

“I trust that I will not be hearing about this again, correct?” Mr. Thompson inquired.

“Of course not, I’ll take care of it,” the principal replied, just as Mr. Thompson opened the door.

“Have a good day, Mr. Morita,” Flash’s dad said, his tone flat, before he pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number.  As he walked out of the office, Peter could hear the person on the other side answering.

“Come back in, Peter.  Eugene, you’re father and I have spoken about a suitable punishment for you and you may go back to class.  I hope I won’t be seeing you here again,” Mr. Morita said, holding the door for Peter.

Peter walked back into the principal's office and noticed that there was a new piece of paper on the man’s desk.  Mr. Morita put it away quickly but from what he had seen, it was a very generous check made out to the school.

The two sat in silence for a while, until Tony burst into the room.

“Hey, kiddo, are you okay?” the man immediately asked.  Peter nodded as Mr. Morita started to talk.

“Mr. Stark, please, allow me to explain the situation to you.  Your… ward was caught in an altercation with another student.  I was hoping to go over the security footage with you before we decide on a suitable punishment,” he said, his tone even and diplomatic.

“That doesn’t sound like my Peter, but show me what you have,” Tony replied, taking the seat next to Peter, a concerned frown wrinkling his face.

The actual viewing of the footage was silent, considering the cameras didn’t have audio and nobody spoke until it was over, but Mr. Morita’s anxiety was clear.  The footage clearly showed that Peter hadn’t thrown a single punch and yet he’d already agreed to let Flash off by accepting the money from Mr. Thompson so if Tony insisted on the other student being punished then there wasn’t anything he could do.

“Mr. Morita, I think it’s pretty clear that my son didn’t actually do anything wrong so I think we should send him back to class.  Though, I do want to speak to you about making sure that boy is not left unsupervised with Peter ever again,” Tony spoke up after the video was over.  His usual joking manner suddenly a lot more serious.

Mr. Morita nodded and turned to Peter, “Have my secretary write you a note and you can go back to class.”

Peter smiled and got up, swinging his backpack over one shoulder and heading out.  The woman at the desk already had a note ready for him and passed it to him without even looking up.  Peter smiled at her anyway, and headed out.  However, he didn’t head directly to class.  Instead, he walked into a little alcove near the office and focused on listening to the conversation between the principal and Tony.

“I understand, sir, but this was his first infraction and we cannot expel him for this.  However, I can see about making a few changes in the schedule so they are not in the same classes,” Mr. Morita insisted.

“I guess that’s fine.  I’ll see you at the PTA meeting,” Tony replied.  As Peter heard the door close, there was a vibrating in his pocket.  He pulled his phone out to see that the aforementioned man had texted him.

ik ur out there | 11:38 ✓✓

u need to get better at spying, kid | 11:38 ✓✓

get to class b4 u actually have smth to get in trouble 4 | 11:39 ✓✓

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Peter set his tray down and sat down next to Ned.  Out of the corner of his eye he could see Flash glaring at him, but the other teen stayed away from him, which was enough for Peter.

“Heard there was a fight this morning, you wouldn’t know anything about that, huh?” Ned asked.  “Something to do with Flash, maybe?”

“I think he’ll leave the both of us alone for a while,” Peter signed back, before taking a bite of his burger.

“I’m glad,” Ned replied.  “You seem a lot happier now.”

Peter flushed and swallowed his bite.  “Yeah… yeah, I am,” he said quietly.