Author's Notes: l aways liked it when authors explain what their story is going to be like in the beginning, so I'll do that. Peter Parker a fifteen year old Freshman. He attends public school. His aunt and uncle are police officers, and in their thirties-forties.
Tony Stark says he's Iron Man in 2008. This story takes place in an MCU where mutants exist, and before Tony has become Iron Man. When Peter becomes Spider-Man, he'll be the world's first true modern superhero...in a world that hates mutants. This story is grounded in reality and will focus on the real crime aspect of being a teenage vigilante in a dangerous city, so don't expect him to be dealing with Maximum Carnage and Clones and all tha right away. This story is trying to be realistic and grounded in reality.
This will cover Peter's Origin Story and first year in High School. If I ever make a sequel, it will be called Great Responsibility and cover the rest of his high School years until he graduates in 2012...right around the time a certain super powered team up takes place.
I can promise that this is not just a rehash of the origin story. While many familar faces are supporting characters, many have been changed, and many newer ones will play a role in this origin story.
If you have ANY questions, feel free to ask or PM me.
"Peter?" Ben called from the kitchen. "You ready to go?"
"Give me a minute!" Peter called back, looking at himself in his bedroom mirror.
Glasses? Check. Neatly combed hair? Check. Dorky clothes? Check. A tall, skinny, lanky body? Acne? Checkeroni and frickin' cheese.
He sighed.
Might look as dorky as always, but at least I look clean and well dressed. He thought. Besides, I need to look my best for the OsCorp field trip. Be dressed for success and the job you want and all that.
He inspected and scrutinized his clothes. Mainly at his tie, which he was starting to regret putting on.
Too bad "success" looks like a complete and total nerd. And dork. And dweeb. God, Flash is going to have a field trip with me today. Literally AND figuratively. He thought with a frown, before smiling at his unintentional word play.
Wow, look at me, being clever. You should do standup comedy. You'd put Chris Rock and Kevin Hart out of business in three seconds flat. Granted, they're both probably the same person-wait, is that racist? Gosh darn it to heck Peter, what did we say about being racist!
He could practically hear Gwen saying that last sentence. Gwen was a sweet girl and one of his closest friends, but she was...a bit too nice and naïve. She was 15 and refused to swear.
They went to a public high school.
Had Gwen's mother not been the Principal and father not a police captain, she would practically be an outcast. Then again, she was something Peter was not: A popular, friendly, attractive girl.
He was trying to fix that last part, obviously.
Gwen's probably going to look well dressed today, but I bet Flash isn't going to harass her. Heck, I bet not even Liz is going to harass her.
Ah, Liz Allan. Afro-latina. Girlfriend of Flash Thompson. Cheer Captain. To be honest, she was also a huge bitch, but that wasn't important.
Quit thinking about people that may or may not harass you. Peter thought to himself angrily. Come on, focus! You've got friends. You've got Harry, you've got Gwen, and you've got-
He looked put his window at his neighbor's house. He saw Mary Jane's dad, a tall, toned, well dressed, handsome man with a dark, well trimmed beard exit his house, his daughter following behind him.
His beautiful daughter. Peter knew he was probably being biased because of how lamely hard he was crushing on his neighbor (Mary Jane, not her dad. But hey, if he had to pick a guy...) but still.
You've got Mary Jane.
Somehow, even his own inner thoughts sounded hopless lovesick. God, he couldn't stop staring at her. Not even being self aware of how weird he was being stopped him.
Beautiful, red hair. Beautiful blue eyes. (The fact they were hidden behind her glasses didn't change a thing) Beautiful... beautiful frickin' everything
Mary Jane saw Peter stalking-err, looking at them from his window, and she smiled and waved at him. Peter did his best not to die as he smiled and waved back. His heart was fluttering. His stomach was fluttering. His head was fluttering. His frickin' everything was fluttering.
Gah, it's not fair. He lamented. Why did she have to wind up looking like a supermodel at age fifteen?
Mary Jane's father looked back and forth between Peter and Mary Jane, smirked, entered his car with his daughter, and drove away to school.
And there they go. He thought. Off into the sunset...in the morning. Hmm, that kind of fell apart-
"Peter!" His uncle called from downstairs. "Mary Jane and Herman have already left, are you still getting ready? You have school you know! Just letting you know in case you forgot!"
Peter quickly left his room, rapidly closing the gap between him and his uncle within a minute. "We have school today? On a Friday?" Peter asked with a grin. "I knew there was a reason why I decided to wake up at six in the morning, eat breakfast, wash up, do my hair, and put my dress clothes today!"
Ben rolled his eyes. "You have that OsCorp field trip today, to. I know how much you've been looking forward to it. It's all you've been talking about for the last month."
Peter pfted in denial. "It has not." He denied half heartedly.
"You're right." Ben conceded, a wide smile appearing on his face as horror appeared on Peter's. "You've also been talking a lot about Mary Jane-"
"Walked right into that one." Peter muttered, his cheeks beginning to redden in embarrassment.
"You did." His uncle said with a snicker. "But anyway, I know you don't like it when me and May tease you about it, so I'll drop it."
Peter's aunt and uncle were very well aware of Peter's crush on Mary Jane. Mainly because he had told them about it.
Nah, that couldn't possibly be it.
Usually they were supportive and offered advice, but every once in awhile they teased him relentlessly about it. You know, to keep him on guard and alert and on his toes and all that. They were police officers, after all.
"Speaking of May," Peter began. "Where is she?"
"Getting ready." Ben said casually with a shrug. "You know how she is with her hair."
Even as an NYPD New York Police Department Officer, May still somehow got away with having well done hair that took far long to prepare.
Women, amirite?
"But anyway," Ben continued. "Today's comics were great." He handed Peter the day's edition of The Daily Bugle.
"Let me guess..." Peter began. "Your favorite comic strip was Captain America and the Howling Commandos"?
Ben smirked back in response. "You know it." He confirmed.
Captain America was one of Ben Parker's role models. And Ben Parker was one of Peter Parker's role models. Therefore, Captain America was one of Peter Parker's role models. It was simple math, really.
"My father, your grandfather, god rest his soul, used to tell me and your father, my brother Richard and I, stories of Captain America, because they had fought alongside each other in World War Two. And those stories...they inspired us, your father and I. Our worldview. Our morality. I decided to stick to my dream of becoming a police officer, and that's where I met your Aunt. It sounds strange, I'll admit, but Captain America has been a huge influence on my life and yours."
That was what Ben had explained when Peter had asked why Ben loved Captain America so much.
And besides, a skinny, scrawny weakling from Brooklyn with a good heart being turned into a superhuman, into the world's greatest hero, with the power of science, and battling the world's ultimate evils during World War Two? What could you possibly not love about that?
And every once in awhile, a name would be mentioned. "Parker." The name of one of the supporting characters, of one of the Howling Commandos. The name of the grandfather Peter never knew.
So yeah, all in all, he liked reading Captain America and the Howling Commandos.
"How are the two most important men in my life doing?" May asked sweetly, suddenly (And apparently) materializing out of thin air.
Ben "Aww-ed" lovingly at May's comment, and Peter groaned. May had said that wholesome, lovey-dovey comment awhile back, and Peter thought it sounded cheesy and lame, and voiced those thoughts out loud.
In revenge, May had made sure to not only say that line as often as possible (Preferably with Peter's friends around, so she could maximize how much she embarrassed him) and amplified the sweetness, cheesiness, and lovey-doveyness of the comment as much as humanly possible.
Not because she was being malicious or anything, no, not at all. She did it because, as May often explained, "I can't help how much I love you two!"
But you know what? It made Peter's heart feel warm and it made him smile and be happy, and it practically made his uncle melt into a state and being of pure, wholesome, happiness, so Peter had long since given up complaining and decided to embrace May's comment(s) in all of it's cheesy, wholesome, lovey-dovey glory.
"Hey Peter," May said to her nephew as she gave her husband a quick kiss on his cheek, her well done reddish-brown hair temporarily obscuring Ben's face. "You've got a field trip today, right?"
"A field trip?" Peter asked, trying (And failing) to do his best to hide down a smile. "Nope. I have no idea what you're talking about."
May rolled her eyes. "Peter..." she began. "I will tease you about Mary Jane, don't tempt me." She half-heartedly threatened, (Not so) menacingly waving a finger at her nephew.
"Oooooh, you mean the OsCorp field trip?" Peter asked, his smile having escaped hiding, now fully occupying his face. "You mean to that boring old place? The multi-billion dollar business that Harry's dad runs, MJ's dad works at, and is my dream job? You mean that field trip?"
"Wait a minute... Harry's father, Norman Osborn...runs OsCorp?" May asked, pretending to be amazed by this "new" information. "No way!"
"I still find it strange that Harry goes to Midtown." Ben commented, still laughing a little at the back and forth between Peter and May. "The son of a billionaire CEO attending a public school? It sounds as exhausting as it does intriguing. Speaking of which...is Harry excited for the trip?" Ben asked. "I'd assumed he would be, and I'm sure you'd know, what with you two being best friends and all."
"Well I mean..." Peter began. "Harry sometimes doesn't like how..." he tried to find the right words to sound as neutral as possible. "Overbearing"-Yeah, that was a good word. "OsCorp and his dad can be. It's, you know, a lot of pressure. It makes him nervous."
And a bit insecure.
Really insecure.
Harry was one of Peter's best, closest, and only friends...but the guy really had some issues he needed to work out, mainly with his dad. Especially with his dad. Harry had a habit of venting and complaining about the never ending father-and-son-Osborn drama. To be honest, it was getting old, but it's not like Peter was going to do anything about it.
"Huh." Ben said. "Well I do suppose that's understandable, even if it was unexpected."
Usually, Harry acted like his usual suave, confident self. He was an attractive rich kid with good looks, good hair, and good leather jackets that were probably worth far more than everything the Parkers owned, their house included, put together. Imagining Harry Osborn as insecure sounded foreign, even to Peter, but it was true.
But Aunt May and Uncle Ben didn't need to know that.
"And what about Herman?" Ben asked. "He's going to be the tour guide for your field trip, right?"
"Yep." Peter quickly replied. "MJ's been bragging about it all week."
"We can talk about OsCorp and the field trip all we want, but it won't matter if we don't take Peter to school and he misses it." May said, pointing at her wrist (Even though she didn't have a watch) to indicate that, you know, they were on a schedule.
"Besides, the station'll chew us out if we're late." She continued. "Can you imagine Thompson getting after us for arriving later than him?"
You see, Ben was more of the Help-old-ladies-cross-the-street kind of guy, while Thompson... was the guns-down-criminals-in-a-shootout kind of guy. Ben and May didn't like Thompson, and he didn't like them back. He was also the father of Flash, who he also didn't like, and vice versa. Back when Peter and Flash used to be friends, Peter had been to the Thompson house and well...he never went back.
Probably the reason why Flash is such an asshole to me.
Flash's sister was really nice, though, he missed her.
I wonder how Jessica's doing now-
"As nice of a conversation this was, your aunt's right." Ben said, looking at his nephew.
"As usual." May said with a snicker.
Ben rolled his eyes, but in a loving way. "Anyway, you ready to go Peter? Got all your supplies and the camera for the yearbook?"
"Got all my supplies, and the school doesn't trust freshman enough to take the cameras home." Peter answered. "They'll give me the camera before we leave to OsCorp."
"Excellent!" Ben said, clapping his hands together. "Now that we've got that out of the way, and if there's nothing else to do..."
"Ben, the only things we have left to do is either actually leave, or procrastinate leaving." May deadpanned.
"That is a wonderful point you brought up." Ben said. "And it has helped me come to the conclusion that we need to leave already!"
And so the Parkers all went into the police car parked in the garage, May in the driver's seat, Ben in the passenger's, and Peter in the back.
God, this never gets old.
He had lost count of how many times he had been in this car, but it had never lost it's wonder. He knew Gwen would agree with him, she loved riding in her father's car on her way to school.
Still, Peter did feel slightly out of place. Ben and May had already been in their police officer uniform's, and Peter was just...sitting in the back of a police car wearing a dorky getup with a tie. His aunt and uncle were so wonderful and cool and badass and oddly attractive and fit for their age and he was just...
He was just Peter Parker.
"Something on your mind, Peter?" Ben asked his nephew as May drove them out of their driveway.
"Just nervous, is all." Peter lied.
"About what?" May asked, briefly glancing at Peter with the rearview mirror.
"Just...I don't know." Peter admitted. "I'm just worried I'm trying a bit too much. I mean, I'm wearing a tie and a dress suit and pants and being dropped off by my police officer parents-"
"Parents?" Ben asked.
"You practically are anyway." Peter said casually with a wave of his hand. "I mean, so far my day has been great, and I know the OsCorp field trip is going to be great, but I'm just, you know, nervous that...I don't know, that something is going to go wrong. That people will make fun of me or-"
"Is that what this is about, Peter?" May asked. "About bullying?"
"No!" Peter quickly denied, much to his aunt and uncle's suspicions. "I mean, maybe I'm trying too hard with my clothes."
"Peter, you look great. And fashionable." Ben complimented. "Who cares what other people think? You chose to wear that without us telling you to, so clearly you don't care that much about being judged."
That's technically not true, but I get what you're saying.
"Look Peter..." his uncle started, and Peter could already tell Ben was about to give him life advice.
"No matter what other people say, me and your aunt will love you no matter what. You have close friends that care about you very much. And you're a Straight A Student with a practically guaranteed future career at OsCorp..." he and May shared a very brief look.
"Wait wait, I saw that little look you two gave each other." Peter said. "What was that about?"
Guaranteed future career at OsCorp? Did they just imply that...no, I'm just overthinking things. As usual.
"Well...let's just say it's a surprise." May said cryptically, a smirk appearing on her face.
Ben and May were very honest, open, and communicative people. They didn't do surprises. Well, occasionally they did, but in those rare cases, those surprises were always pleasant.
"What kind of surprise?" Peter asked, leaning forward in his seat.
"The-potential-scholarship-and-future-job-opportunity-at-Oscorp kind of surprise." Ben said quickly, smiling wide all the while.
"What!?" Peter asked in shock.
Okay, I'm definitely NOT complaining about this, having a job opportunity and scholarship already available is AMAZING, and it'll help Ben and May not get bankrupted into oblivion trying to get me through College...but still, this is unbelievable!
"Hard work pays off Peter." Ben said vaguely, still smiling. "You keep it up, and you'll have your entire life set for you before you finish High School."
Peter's good mood was back.
How the hell am I supposed to care about Flash or Liz bothering me when THIS just happened? He thought happily.
Peter felt... comfortable. At ease. At peace. Maybe it was his aunt and uncle. Maybe it was the cop car. Maybe it was the vague good news he has been given, but Peter's entire attitude had changed. And that's why he didn't hesitate to say what he said next.
"You know...I think this is the day that could change my life forever." Peter said, a soft smile on his face.
"That is a wonderful attitude, Peter!" Ben said with touching, genuine sincerity. "As long as you keep up that type of attitude, it doesn't matter what happens today, good or bad. Remember that. At the end of the day, you're Peter Parker, and that's all that matters."
And for once, Peter believed that wasn't a bad thing.
"Whelp...here we are." May said as the car came to a halt in front of Midtown High.
"Remember, have fun, but not too much fun!" Ben said cheerily as Peter was already leaving the car. "Just kidding, have all the fun you want!"
Peter rolled his eyes, as most teenagers did when offered unconditional love, but couldn't help but smile. "Don't worry Ben, I will." He reassured them, having already turned around to walk towards Midtown High.
I think I see my friends in the distance-
"YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO SAY I LOVE YOU!"
Ben's voice boomed from that...Peter didn't even know what that was called in the cop car. It was that radio walkie talkie thing connected by a wire to the car and you spoke into it and your voice boomed from... somewhere in the car.
But Peter didn't have time to worry about the details of what Ben was currently using to embarrass Peter to death. He could see May laughing in her seat, he could hear it. He could also hear the laughter behind him. Thankfully, he didn't recognize any malicious laughter belonging to two certain people.
"Dad! Err-Ben!" Peter exclaimed, embarrassed.
That's twice today I've called him dad.
Ben put the walkie talkie speaker down and looked at Ben with a quizzical look and mouthed "Dad?" Behind him, May did the same.
Ben had used the speakers to troll Peter into saying "I love you" before. They usually ended the same way, with a bit of banter before an embarrassed Peter gave in to Ben's horrible demands, and then his friends trolled him for that.
But this time? This time, he wanted to do something different.
"Yeah." Peter nodded at Ben and May with a soft smile. "I love you, Dad."
Based on the smile that appeared on Ben's face, he had melted the poor guy's heart. And May's, judging by how she was going "Awww."
Peter turned around and walked away from the police car, a smile on his face. He really...he really felt happy. Content. Satisfied. And now he saw his friends up ahead, and he really felt content. He was comfortable, and felt his nervousness slip away.
Well, until he saw Mary Jane walking up to him. Now his nervousness was back. Stupid nervousness.
"If my dad trolled me like that..." Mary Jane said with a laugh. She mockingly shivered. "I'd probably die on the spot. Reminds me too much of my mom."
Mary Jane didn't like her mother. Then again, Mary Jane's mother was in prison, but that was obviously unrelated.
"I wish my dad could do that." Gwen said, materializing out of thin air and startling Peter and Mary Jane with her sweet, bubbly voice. She sounded disappointed. "Hey Peter, can you get your uncle to do that for me?"
"What, pressure you into saying that you love him in a public place in front of your classmates?" He asked casually, doing his best not to smirk. "Sure, he'd totally be down for that."
Mary Jane snorted, then giggled. It was a sweet, melodic sound that made Peter's everything flutter and do back flips.
Fuck me, I need to make her laugh more.
"Walked right into that one." Gwen muttered. "I just...I don't know. Your dad-"
"Uncle." Peter corrected.
"Same thing." Gwen said dismissively with a wave of her hand.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, my Dad and Uncle, who are the same person, is going to the OsCorp tour guide." Mary Jane suddenly said.
Peter and Gwen gave her very strange looks.
"You uh, you want to reword that sentence MJ?" Peter asked, holding back a laugh.
"Anyway!" Gwen said suddenly, before Mary Jane could say anything. "Ben is so nice and happy and cheery and all that, like me, and I kind of wish..."
Ben and Gwen's father were close friends, and while Gwen loved her dad, she also very much admired Ben Parker, who was practically an...uncle to her.
"Your dad is fine, Gwen." Peter reassured. "He loves you, you love him, that's all that matters, right? Just be glad that you, actually, you know, have both parents."
And now there was an awkward silence.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Wonderful.
"Well now I feel bad." Gwen muttered.
"Don't be!" Mary Jane said suddenly, wrapping an arm around the shorter blonde. "Come on Gwen. it's way too early in the morning to get sad over stuff like this. Come on, let's go find Harry and dick around-"
"Language!" Gwen chided. She wasn't a fan of those terrible, dreadful, bad language words.
"Fuck around." Mary Jane stated in a bold power move that made Peter raise an eyebrow and Gwen cringe, as if she was hearing nails being dragged across a chalkboard. "And maybe we can like, find your mom and get her to say she loves you or something."
"Come on MJ." Gwen said, rolling her eyes. "She's the Principal, she can't just-"
"Wait, your mom's the Principal?" Mary Jane asked, her eyes widening in mock disbelief. "Wow, I had no idea!"
Gwen giggled. It was cute. Not as fucking angelic as Mary Jane's, but you know, it was still up there. In second place.
"Besides, if you want to get cheered up, the fact that you even have a mom beats out, like, all of us." Mary Jane said, already dragging away Gwen to find their usual table, where Harry would be. Hopefully.
Mary Jane was true. Her mom was in prison, Harry's mom was...actually, Peter didn't even know. Harry never talked about her. Ever. For all he knew she could be alive and was never brought up, or was just...not in the picture. Peter personally preferred he theory that Harry Osborn was created by God or the Universe or whatever out of pure spite to rant about Norman Osborn. It sounded rude, but when Peter told Harry that, Harry found it hilarious.
But Harry still didn't reveal anything about his mother.
"You don't have to put yourself and everyone down to make me happy, you know." Gwen said to Mary Jane, wiggling out of the redhead's grasp.
"True." Mary Jane said. "Buuuut...I've run out of things to say!"
"Peter Parker!" Harry Osborn said dramatically, standing up from his seat at their table and clapping his hands together. "Has he chosen to grace us mortals with his presence?" Harry asked, somehow declaring it at the same time. He walked right past Mary Jane and Gwen without so much as a glance, quickly closing the gap between him and Peter.
"Peter, I was starting to get worried!" Harry said. "You were like, three minutes late! Peter Parker not arriving on time? Being the last of us to arrive?! I swear, for a solid three minutes I thought the world was going to end!"
A smile on Peter's face, he turned to Harry, his best friend (Male best friend anyway), and said "Yeah yeah, knock it off Harry, as if I would miss the OsCorp field trip-"
"I knew it!" Harry interrupted, a triumphant grin on his face as he suddenly snapped and pointed his fingers. "I fucking knew that would be the first thing you said today!"
Still maintaining eye contact (And a shit eating smirk on his face) Harry opened his palm in front of Mary Jane, who muttered "God damn it", took a dollar out of his pocket, and placed it in Harry's hand.
"You're the richest kid in school, you don't even need that dollar." She muttered.
"Yeah, but now I'm one dollar richer, and you are dollar poorer." Harry smirked.
Mary Jane sighed. "God damn it Harry."
"Language!" Gwen chided.
Harry sighed happily. "You guys are great."
Peter felt inclined to agree.
Not much longer later, the quartet found their way to their usual table. Class wouldn't be starting for awhile, and they were all going to leave on the field trip soon anyway.
"So uh, MJ..." Peter began, doing his best to maintain eye contact, not have a heart attack, amd to not fucking look down. "Do you have any idea what's going to happen on the field trip? Your dad say anything?"
Peter had tried asking Harry the same thing awhile back, but Harry refused to learn anything about what would happen on the field trip, and repeatedly downplayed it and called it lame. He did the same thing to countless other classmates. He really didn't like being overshadowed by his father's legacy.
"Eh, not much to be honest." Mary Jane said casually, flipping her hair in a majestic way that made Peter's heart do a similar flip. "Just that OsCorp wanted to show off with a wow factor." She placed emphasis on the last two words, and even added air quotes for dramatic effect.
"So like the flashy, cool kind of technology?" Peter guessed.
"Probably." Mary Jane shrugged. Even that made Peter's heart leap. God, it was unfair, the amount of power she had over him. It was also kind of sad. And lame.
Peter ignored how sad and lame he was being, and the only way he could stop being sad and lame is if he stopped staring at Mary Jane's beautiful, perfect face. The fact that she was wearing glasses did nothing to detract from her unfair and unnecessary amount of beauty.
He was thankfully given in an opportunity to focus on Gwen as she began to speak. So stopped looking at Mary Jane to...stare at Gwen. Gwen Stacy. AKA, another incredibly attractive girl he was somehow friends with.
Would MJ and Gwen even pay attention to me if the three of us weren't neighbors?
"Oooh, maybe your dad could put in a good word for us, get us internships at OsCorp!" Gwen suggested, incredibly excited at the mere thought of being offered at internship OsCorp.
Wait a minute, didn't Gwen want to be a police officer?
"Nepotism much?" Harry snarked, and immediately realized his mistake as his three friends turned towards him.
"Your dad's the freakin' CEO of OsCorp!"
"Your dad is Norman Osborn!"
"You're probably going to get control of OsCorp when you're older-"
"All right all right!" Harry said defensively. "I get it! Sheesh!
Is it just me, or does "Sheesh" sound like Sean Connery trying to say "Cease"? ...This is why you have only have three friends, Peter.
"An internship at OsCorp?" Mary Jane asked out loud. "I mean, Peter would be all over that-"
"I would."
"But me? Definitely not. Heck, I don't even think Harry likes OsCorp-"
"I don't."
"Exactly!" Mary Jane continued, snapping her fingers and pointing it at Harry. "But I mean... you?" She was looking at Gwen. "I thought you wanted to be a police officer, like you know, your dad, or Peter's parents-"
"Aunt and uncle." Peter corrected.
"Same thing." Mary Jane said dismissively.
"Well I mean..." Gwen began. "I do want to be a police officer!"
Peter had to stifle a laugh every time Gwen said she wanted to be a police officer. Granted, she was the most athletic of her friends, but she was also the shortest. She was far too nice, naive, intelligent, and beautiful to be a police officer when she could become the world's hottest scientist instead.
But Gwen had a dream of being a police officer since Peter had known her (Which was basically all of their childhood) and she had no intentions of giving up on it.
"It's just that, I like science and technology!" Gwen explained. "Just because I'm trying to become a police officer doesn't mean I can't have an internship anywhere else!"
"Well I mean, that's fine." Mary Jane said. "You and Peter can just work for Harry at OsCorp and cure cancer or whatever and I'll just..."
"Be a supermodel?" Peter suggested.
And then he realized what he said.
Ohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuck-
"Aww, that's sweet of you Peter." Mary Jane said, smiling softly. Her face was a similar color to her hair. Peter's face was also a similar color to her hair. "But I'm not that pretty-"
"You are." Peter, Harry, and Gwen deadpanned at the same time.
"Huh." Said Mary Jane, now deep in thought. "Thanks guys."
And now there was an awkward silence.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...so what else should we talk about-"
Peter's icebreaker was interrupted as a football flew through the air and crashed into his face, knocking his glasses off a face as he "Oofed" in agony. Peter may have been essentially blind without his glasses, but he could already tell who threw the football based on the vicious laughter.
"Flash!" Mary Jane said. "You could have hurt Peter! Or broke his glasses! What the hell?!"
Harry grabbed the ball and threw it at Flash, who caught it with one hand without so much as looking at it.
"But I didn't." Flash said casually, but Peter still couldn't see him. "If I wanted him to be hurt, he'd be hurt." He said dismissively.
"Just let it go, MJ." Peter muttered.
It's not worth the trouble. He thought bitterly. He didn't want to give Flash more ammunition to use against him. Sure, Mary Jane, Gwen, and Harry could protect him when he was around them, but he wasn't around them all the time. And then Flash and Liz would corner him, and they would...well, they liked to bond over a shared mutual hobby of theirs: Bullying Peter Parker.
Well it's not bullying. Peter denied to himself. Just...teens being teens. Nothing to make a fuss about.
That's what he told himself, anyway.
"Not until you apologize!" Gwen demanded, pointing a finger at Flash and folding her arms, doing her best to seem menacing. She wasn't succeeding, because Flash was at least eight inches taller than her, at least eighty pounds heavier than her, and a year older her.
"Fine, fine." Flash said, rolling his eyes. He extended his hand towards Peter.
Mary Jane handed Peter his glasses back. They had a small scratch on them, but nothing too serious. Besides, what was he going to do, get mad at Flash? The would just make things worse.
Peter shook Flash's hand, and felt it being crushed in his grip. Flash was an All-Star American Football Player. Somehow the Quarterback of Midtown High. He was tall, fit, leaned and toned, and handsome, and he wore that signature letterman jacket and smirk on his face.
He was everything Peter Parker was not.
"We good now?" Flash asked, still smirking as he looked directly into Peter's eyes, who did his best not to wince in pain. He just meekly nodded and said "Yeah, we're fine" in a quiet tone.
"You didn't even apologize!" Harry, Gwen, and Mary Jane pointed out, and Flash raised an eyebrow at their synchronized accusations, releasing his grip on Peter's hand, who took a few seconds to massage it.
"Oh come on, it wasn't even that bad." Flash dismissed with a wave of his hand. "Just a little accident."
"Then why were you laughing?" Gwen asked, doing her best to stand tall and be the righteous defender of the downtrodden.
She shifted the roles with Harry and Mary Jane every other day, depending on who waned to make themselves feel better by standing up for Peter.
Not like it ever worked in stopping Flash for long.
"It was funny accident!" Flash tried to rationalize, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"What, like your birth?" Peter suddenly snarked. He heard Harry and Mary Jane laugh, and Gwen gasp.
But he didn't hear Flash's reaction, but he did see it. But for a few brief seconds, he saw murderous anger appear in his eyes as he scowled at Peter.
And then it was gone, replaced with that fucking smirk.
"Whoa now!" Flash said with a laugh. "Look at you, being a smartass! Guess you finally grew a spine. What, is that supposed to make up for you not having any parents?"
He heard Gwen gasp yet again, but he didn't particularly care, because he was just so angry.
Stupid Flash, always picking on him. It was always him. Why couldn't Flash bother anybody else? Why did he have to go out of his way to harass Peter every. Single. DAY.
Without thinking, Peter grabbed a milk carton from Harry's breakfast tray and threw it at Flash. But Flash Thompson didn't become a star athlete by having poor reflexes, so he easily dodged the impromptu lactose missile.
His girlfriend, Liz Allan, however, did not.
"What the hell?!" Liz screamed. Peter hadn't noticed, but Liz had apparently followed Flash, probably to bond as a couple by helping him make fun of Peter. And now she had a milk carton thrown at her, a milk carton hitting her, and a milk carton ruining her clothes.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" She screeched, the sound making everyone within a five mile radius wince. Still dripping, she looked, no, glared at Peter with murderous, hateful rage, very similar to Flash. And she was seething.
There's a saying: "If looks could kill." It was very applicable to this scenario. If there was a visual dictionary for figurative language, the look(s) Liz and Flash were giving would absolutely belong to the previously mentioned saying.
"You know, normally I'd beat the shit out of you myself." Liz hissed through gritted teeth. "But I'll let Flash be a gentleman and do it for me."
Flash himself was also seething. "You can be a little smartass know-it-all to me all you want, but you do not," he hissed. "Fuck with my girlfriend."
"What, the only one allowed to treat your girlfriend like shit is you?" Peter asked.
I'm already dead anyway. Might as well make things worse.
Flash laughed. "Oh, Parker...I'm gonna enjoy this."
Flash grabbed Peter's tie and pulled him forward, now their faces were inches away from each other...and oh shit Flash is grabbing be my shirt and picking me up OH SHIT-
Peter was lifted out of his chair and thrown onto the ground below. Once again, he let out an "Oof" of agony.
"Come on, Parker." Flash said, grabbing Peter by the shirt and lifting him onto his feet before shoving him to the ground again. "Quit being a little bitch! At least give put up a fight, this is kinda boring."
"All right jackass." Harry said, standing up and grabbing Flash's arm. "That's enough of OH SHIT-" His heroic stand was interrupted by Flash beasily breaking out of Harry's grip and shoving him into the ground with one hand. Flash snickered as Harry hit the ground with an "Oof" of agony.
"He almost went down faster than you." Flash remarked, closing the distance between him and Peter. "Not as fast as Liz goes down on me though-"
"Flash!" Liz yelled, but Flash ignored her and kept smirking, but in the few seconds he was distracted, Gwen and Mary Jane stepped between him and Peter.
"Aww, so nice of you two to defend your little pet." Flash said mockingly. "I'd call them your girlfriends," he looked at Peter. "But we know you're not that lucky, Parker."
Well, you're definitely right about that
"Maybe Osborn though-"
"Come on, Flash." Gwen said, sounding disappointed. "I know you're better than this."
"Why do you two and Osborn even keep him around?" Flash asked. "As your tutor? Come on, just ditch this loser, all he's doing is dragging you down."
A sad, self hating part of Peter knew that was true.
"Flash?" Mary Jane said. "Shut. The fuck. UP!"
She swung her fist into Flash's face before he could react, and to her credit, it actually caught him off guard and knocked him back a few feet.
But it didn't hurt him.
"That felt good, Red..." Flash said with a wide, toothy grin grin. "Next time, hit harder."
The smile on Flash's face was...god, it was ugly. Disturbing. It made Peter uncomfortable.
He saw Liz slap Mary Jane. He saw Liz slap Mary Jane very hard. The redhead fell to the ground, her glasses falling onto the floor. Then Liz grabbed Mary Jane by the hair, pulled on it, which made Mary Jane scream, and threw her onto the floor.
"Mary Jane!" Gwen yelled in worry, covering her mouth with her hands.
"Cat fight!" Flash proclaimed excitedly.
"Fucking Christ." Peter heard Harry mutter as he helped Peter to his feet. "What the hell are we supposed to-"
"I WILL TELL MY MOTHER ABOUT THIS!" Gwen suddenly threatened, catching the attention of Liz, who had just punched Mary Jane across the face.
"How fucking brave of you." Liz hissed, venom in her voice. She began to march towards Gwen, who had a nervous look on her face as she began to step backwards. Unfortunately, Liz caught up to Gwen very quickly. She was much taller than Gwen.
"Whore." Liz quite literally spat, her saliva hitting a startled and humiliated Gwen in the face.
Liz turned away from Liz and began to walk towards her boyfriend. "Come on Flash, let's get out of here." She said angrily, grabbing onto his letterman. "And give me your fucking jacket."
"If you want my clothes of that bad, all you gotta do is ask nicely." Flash snickered.
"Shut the fuck up." Liz spat angrily, voiced laced with frustration and agitation barely kept in check. Peter could see Flash being scowling for just a few seconds... before the scowl disappeared and was replaced by his usual smirk.
"All right, all right, chill the hell out." Flash said, taking his jacket off and wrapping it around Liz. "Come on, let's get out of here."
And just like that, they were gone.
Peter offered Mary Jane's glasses back to her. She smiled and accepted them wordlessly.
"You know, I never thought I'd say this..." Harry began. But I'm actually looking forward to the OsCorp field trip."
Peter felt inclined to agree.
"I fucking hate them." The redhead muttered, glaring at Flash and Liz, who were walking away without a care in the world. Without any consequences.
As usual.
"That's why I don't make things worse." Peter said quietly.
"Do you remember when they used to be our friends?" Gwen asked, sadness in her voice as she cleaned Liz's spit off her face. She looked like she was about to cry. "They used to be so sweet."
"Yeah." Peter admitted. It was all he could do.
"Have they always been like that?" Harry asked. "I knew you guys didn't like each other, but this feud seems worse than I thought."
"Wow, that's some some fuckin' wonderful insight, Harry." Mary Jane deadpanned. "What gave it away? Were you too busy throwing footballs and getting shoved to the ground to help?"
"Hey, don't blame this on me." Harry said defensively. "Blame it on them, they came to harass Peter for whatever reason-"
"What, this is my fault now?" Peter asked angrily. "I can't fight back against them!"
"ENOUGH!" Gwen suddenly yelled, stopping the argument and getting her friend's attention. "We're all still friends, we can't let them tear us apart like this!" She reasoned. And somehow, her friends calmed down. Gwen seemed proud of herself.
"Now all of you say you're sorry!" She demanded.
Peter, Harry, and Mary Jane mumbled and grumbled their apologies. Gwen seemed happy with it.
She did not, however, seem happy with herself.
"Remember the days when we were all friends?" Gwen asked out loud, sitting down.
"No." Harry deadpanned.
"Shut up Harry." Mary Jane muttered.
"I just..." Gwen continued, ignoring her friend's feud. "Everyone's changing and fighting and I'm just..." she sighed. Peter could see that her eyes were watery. "I'm still the same, nice, naive, stupid girl hiding behind her parents." She sniffled.
"Gwen..." Mary Jane said, sitting down next to the sad blonde. "We all make mistakes, okay? We've all got our little flaws." She said, doing her best to sound sincere. Usually Gwen was the one thar gave pep talks.
"And there's nothing wrong with that. As long as it helps you realize what was wrong about you before, and helps you become a better person, that's what matters, right?"
Once upon a time, Mary Jane's father was watching over Peter, Mary Jane, and Gwen (Something he had done pretty often, their parents were at work a lot) during a game they were playing with Mary Jane, they had accidentally broken a lamp.
Instead of punishing them, Mary Jane's father had given them a lesson: As long as they were sorry, realized what they did was wrong, realized why it was wrong, and never did it again, it would be the only lesson they needed. But he did warn them that if it happened again, there would be consequences.
Then again, Mary Jane's father had once been a petty criminal who spent time in jail, so he probably knew that better than most people.
"Thanks MJ." Gwen said, sniffling as she smiled. "You're a great friend."
Mary Jane rested her head on Gwen's shoulder. "I know."
"Well this is nice." Harry muttered, before looking at Peter. "You okay, Peter?"
No, I'm not Harry. Flash and Liz bully me everyday, and now they're going to start bullying you guys to, and we can't do anything about it.
But he couldn't say that out loud, now could he?
"Yeah, I'm fine." Peter answered dismissively.
"Look, Peter..." Harry put a hand on his shoulder. "We're all here for you, you know that, right? We're not just gonna let them push us around. We'll talk to Gwen's mom, and if they come after us again, they're going to have to take on all of us." He said reassuringly. "This is all a team effort, oaky? We're all friends. And we're not going to give up on each other."
He noticed Mary Jane and Gwen were now paying attention to Peter and Harry and nodding along.
"It gets better before it gets worse..." Mary Jane muttered. "But yeah, Harry's right."
"What was that?" Harry said, smirking. "I didn't hear the last part you said."
Mary Jane rolled her eyes and ignored Harry. "Team effort, right?"
"Hell yeah we're a team!" Gwen suddenly declared.
"Language!" All three of her friends chided lazily.
Gwen giggled. "Anyway, we've gotta like, do a group friendship thing now."
"What, like a group hug?" Peter asked. "I'm down for that."
"I'm not." Harry deadpanned.
"Same." Mary Jane agreed. "Sorry Gwen, but group hugs are lame."
Gwen made a disappointed "Aww" as Harry snickered to himself. Peter felt himself smile as Gwen began to ramble on about doing something to prove their friendship as Harry and Mary Jane offered their own (Usually sarcastic) input.
And maybe Peter did feel a little left out. But he didn't care. Because he knew his friends did care about him. He remembered what his uncle had told him earlier that morning. That he had loved ones and friends that cared about him.
And realizing that made him feel at peace.
"All right, what if we just like, make friendship bracelets?" Peter asked, getting a laugh out of his friends.
Maybe being Peter Parker wasn't so bad after all.
Author's Notes: I know the fundamentals of comic Peter Parker. The guy had no friends in High School except his aunt and uncle. Flash and others made him the butt of their jokes, but it's not like they beat the shit out of him everyday. Seriously, when he got super powers, he didn't care about anyone else, and it made his uncle's death sadder. It was practically a super villain origin story. Peter only really interacts with Flash, Liz, and Betty Brant before he goes to College, where he met MJ, Gwen, and Harry. But I don't want to write a friendless Peter Parker for four years. Maybe one day I'll make a comics accurate Spider-Man story...but that day is not today.
So what's my spin on Peter Parker? He's a smart kid, looks similar to Andrew Garfield, but he's very insecure about himself. He has friends and a loving family and support base, but Peter kind of has some insecurities and self esteem issues because he's harassed by Flash and Liz, and he kind of feels outshined by his friends because theyre much more popular and attractive than him. And Flash and Liz don't his head in the toilet everyday, but they do harass him on the daily. They make him uncomfortable. They agitate him, but he can't do anything about it. I think that's the most realistic modern take on bullying aside from cliche cyber bullying, but Peter probably doesn't even have social media, so he's immune to that.
This Peter is very relaxed, pretty grounded and down to earth and hopefully relatable. He also has friends, and there's nothing wrong with giving Peter Parker childhood friends. Peter just happens to have very few, and doesn't interact with many other people outside of then. He's pretty quiet, but he's not a complete social dunce. Those are the basics, and...yeah.
Let know what you guys think. Love the story? Hate it? Got any questions? Seriously, ask away, I'll be more than happy to answer.
