Friends are the Family you Choose
The only family Peter had left was Aunt May. After both his parents died, she and Uncle Ben took him in without a doubt and raised him as their own son. But then Peter lost Ben, and May was the one thing he had left to keep him grounded. Except for,
"Hey, Ned!" Peter shouted, seeing his friend already inside the Lego Store. Ned waved him over and they decided what set they wanted to get. Ned was like a brother to him, the brother he never had. That's why when the common mugger shot at Ned on their way home that Sunday, Peter took the hit and swiftly knocked out the guy with swift a kick to the jaw. Clutching his bicep, Peter groaned in pain. Ned was by his side in an instant and calling Tony.
"Peter, PETER! Are you ok, are you dying. Oh my god you're gonna die and it will be all my fault! Please don't die Peter" Ned's word were tumbling out of his mouth and before he knew it, Happy was helping Peter to the car and Ned was left alone with the lego set.
Peter, being the trooper that he was, showed up to school the next day anyway. It was a warm day, one that nobody could survive in a long sleeve shirt. So he wore a T-Shirt, one that not only showed off his muscles but also his bandaged arm. With Peter relying heavily on his left arm, Ned tried to help him when he could. Carrying his books, bodyguarding him from shoves(against Peter's will), and bringing his lunch over. But the one thing Ned couldn't protect him from, was Flash.
"Penis Parker! What's up dude, did you get a little boo boo on your arm?" The snarky comment was followed by a punch to the bandage. Normally, Peter could just brush brush off a little hit to his arm, but when you have a gunshot wound it becomes a bit difficult to take. And when I say a bit, I mean a lot. Ned couldn't do anything but watch his friend double over in pain.
"Aw damn, this almost hurts more than that one time I was stabbed." Peter blurted out, not realizing until too late that he said it out loud.
Flash's eyes widened and the whole class went silent. Peter held his arm and groaned annoyedly as a small red patch started forming. Peter decided that he already screwed up once, how would the second time make a difference?
"Dammit Flash, you just HAD to re-open the wound, didn't cha? Ya know the medics spent a good 20 minutes stitching it up and told me to not over exert my arm. Technically I didn't, you did." Peter's tone of annoyance brought up a few giggles from their audience.
"I-I, I thought it was just a bruise or something!" Flash stammered, trying to regain his cool.
"Who the hell has to tightly wrap up a bruise? Unless it's like, super serious, in which case it wouldn't be very funny to punch anyway." The pain was starting to show in Peter's voice. Suddenly, the teacher walked in, not even looking up from his lesson plan. He sat down and hushed the already silent class. When he realized nobody was talking, he looked up from his book to see Peter on the ground and Flash standing above him.
"Mr. Parker, Mr. Thompson, see me after class." His monotone voice was bored and tired, as usual. Peter suffered through the dull class, waiting for his chance to escape to the bathroom to change the bandage. Ned only observed how his friend put his head down the whole class, and all he could do was take notes for him too.
Thanks to Peter's super healing, his little 'boo boo' had completely healed. But, if he showed up to class the next day with a perfectly fine arm, it would look suspicious. So he pretended to still have an injured arm. As always in math class, Peter was working with Michelle on a project. They had quickly become good friends and Peter hoped someday maybe something more. He was grateful that she had snaked her way into his basically non-existent friend group.
So, when the attacker bursted into his class and threatened Michelle, he had to act. In a few quick motions, Peter had ran up to the guy, kicked the gun out of his hand, and grabbed Michelle to get her to safety. Without his weapon, John decided to get physical and threw a punch at Peter. Peter blocked and returned with a hit to the gut. John stepped back and when the police showed up in the class a minute later, he didn't put up a fight.
"Peter where did you learn to fight like that?" One girl in his class asked.
"Yeah, it was kinda hot." Another said.
Soon he was swarmed by the girls in his class, who had just realized how muscular he was. Michelle could tell he was not enjoying the attention, so she pulled him out of the class using the excuse that he should see the nurse. Students were being dismissed for the day anyway after all the commotion.
"Are you spiderman?" Michelle asked as they walked down the empty hallway.
His silence and guilty look gave her the answer
Having these people he considered his family meant that he had to protect them. It could be from a robbery to an alien invasion. Sacrificing his time and energy to making sure they're ok. Including never mentioning his panic attacks and recurring nightmares.
No matter what, he would die before he let them get hurt.