A/N: I'm still unsure what I'm going to do with the original villain character but I can promise there will be appearances from an assortment of lesser-acknowledged villains, particularly the lame ones, basically so I can feel a little better about my crappy writing.

And I'll try to update this as much as possible. I got another background extra gig that lasts about six months; the consistency of which is currently unknown.


"Wait, what?!" Peter's eyes widened and he took Jackson by the hand, leading him into the stacks. "Jacks— You've never told anyone?"

Jackson shook his head, burying his face in Peter's shoulder. He hadn't cried this much in a long time. Maybe it was holding onto that secret for six years, combined with the mysterious lack of emotions he exhibited when his moms died. Either way, he was outright sobbing into Peter's shirt.

Peter wasn't quite sure how to react. The only time he'd really had to console someone in this state was Aunt May when Uncle Ben died, which he still blamed himself for. But this—the complete absence of self-control—this was probably the worst shape he'd—and he guessed anyone—had ever seen Jackson. He wrapped his arms around his middle, holding onto him gently but firmly.

A few minutes passed, and Jackson let up, eyes still swimming with tears and cheeks streaked. "'m sorry, Pete," he mumbled, wiping his nose. "Guess now you know. I'm a fucking psychological wreck. I bottle everything up and eventually it comes out like this." He sighed. "I never told anyone because... I mean, seriously, who's going to believe the troubled kid? He was so fucking charming and had everyone under it. Even me. Shit, at ten years old, I kind of hated everyone already."

FLASHBACK

Jackson had been separated from Peter and Harry, something he suspected Harry of deliberately doing, in order to keep him away from Peter. There was no point in telling anyone. He was older; therefore, it was instantly his fault. Everyone was all over the place, so he wandered into the viewing room and slumped into one of the seats.

"Hey, Trutnev." The brunet looked up at the older male, who sat beside him. It was their inside joke. When Skip realized the 10-year-old's mysterious prowess in nuclear physics, he joked that the boy would end up building something useful but deadly. "You alright?"

"Hey, Skip." The teenager was the only person Jackson felt like understood him. It had been kind of weird between them lately though. Jackson knew there was something off about what Skip did with him but the guy was the only friend he had, and he didn't want to lose him. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just— lonely. No one wants to hang out with me."

Skip put his arm around Jackson's shoulder. "Well, you got me. And I'm on a break from chaperoning so we can hang out." A small smirk crossed his face when the kid leaned into his touch. "I know I ask every time but you don't— tell anyone about this, right?"

He shook his head. "Never. It's between us."

"Good. Come with me." Jackson obediently followed Skip into one of the nearby bathrooms and the teenager locked the door.

END FLASHBACK

Sitting up against the stacks, Jackson looked at Peter. "When I moved on to junior high, he made me swear I wouldn't tell anyone. And I never did. Until today."

Peter bent down beside him. "You have to tell someone." Jackson was shaking his head. "Jacks, you have to—"

"No. I don't, and I can't anyway. It was six years ago. Who's going to believe me?"

Peter opened his mouth to protest but Harry was suddenly standing on the other side of Jackson, who groaned when he saw him. "Oh God, what do you want? I don't need you standing there and judging me while I feel like shit."

"You and Cameron aren't really a thing, are you?" Harry shot Jackson a dirty look before focusing on Peter.

"What a fucking genius!" Jackson scoffed, getting to his feet. "No, Miranda Priestly, they're not. I used my cousin—who was all too willing, I might add—to cover for me and Peter being together. Because, despite what you seem to believe, you do not own Peter and he is free to go out with whoever he wants. That includes me."

Peter noticed how Harry was trying to control his temper, and stepped between him and Jackson. "I didn't tell you because you'd get mad and try to rip me apart from him. We can be friends but you can't start fights with Jackson every time you see him, even if he tries to piss you off." He gave Jackson a look, to which the boy only shrugged. "Can you two please make peace?"

Jackson sighed overdramatically. "Fine. For you, hot stuff." He held out his hand to Harry. "C'mon, man. We're not kids anymore. Can we just start over?" The blond only looked down at him. "I'm not exactly a fan of you either. I already had enough problems at ten years old without an eight-year-old picking on me too." After a moment, he rolled his eyes. "I won't insult you... as much."

Harry looked over at Peter, who nodded in encouragement. He took Jackson's hand and shook it firmly. "Truce."

"Was that so—" Jackson started to sass but he caught Peter's look. "I mean, thank you."


"Focus." Joel concentrated on his intended location. He'd been having trouble with moving from place to place with the Sling Ring but he was slowly getting the hang of it. "Go." The man circled his right hand and stepped into the apartment, the portal closing behind him.

Jackson shuffled into the kitchen and dropped his bowl of food; Peter's webbing appeared from below to catch it. "Gods, dude! Trying to kill me with a heart attack? Fuck."

"Good to see you too." Joel smirked and picked up the bowl. "Nice web fluid, Spider—" He froze, glancing between the webbing and back up at the couch, where Peter had hastily put on the mask. "You know Spider-Man?" He looked at his stepbrother, who seemed to shrink a little.

"Yeah, about that—" Jackson looked guilty. "Um, Spidey, this is my brother. Stepbrother. Whatever. Either way, he's basically my big brother. Joel, this is Spider-Man."

Joel held out his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Wait a minute, he knows who you are?" He rounded on Jackson, who sighed.

"Look, he knows who I am. I know who he is." He sat beside Spider-Man. "I ever tell you about how Joel and I almost died because someone knew what we are?" Peter shook his head. "Well, we did because a certain someone can't keep it in his pants." Giving his brother a look, he nodded. "He can keep a secret. Relax. Besides," he put his arm around Peter, "we're sorta dating."

"You and Spider-Man?" Joel quirked an eyebrow. "Seriously? Spidey, you can do better." He ducked to avoid a fireball aimed at his head.

Jackson was pouting. "I don't see you with a non-toxic relationship, asshole."

"I am actually excelling in my training, thank you." He opened a new portal, stepping back into Kamar-Taj. "Gentlemen."

When the portal closed, Jackson made a face and pressed Peter's chest plate, opening the mask. "Now you see what I had to grow up with. When he's not being a moderately decent role model, he's a fucking prick. Not nearly as bad as— You know what I mean." He promised Peter he'd stop insulting Harry.

"I like him." Jackson was giving him that look. "I'm not leaving you, if that's what you're thinking."

"I'm easily jealous. Don't flirt with anyone, please." He buried his face in Peter's neck.

"You should see me flirt sometime."


"FRIDAY, give me a status update on the kid." Tony looked up from another upgrade. He hadn't heard much from Peter over the past couple weeks. He suspected that Shanley had something to do with it. A screen pulled up from Peter's suit cam to show them making out. "Put it away!"

Pepper entered the lab and laid a tray beside her fiancé. "Playing overprotective dad again?" She briefly saw the footage. "They're kids. Just let them be together. I don't think Jackson's going to let anyone or anything harm a hair on Peter's head." She'd been the one who occasionally comforted the young mutant whenever Tony shouted at him. "People can change, remember?"

Tony opened his mouth to reply but was simply handed a coffee. He sunk into his chair and ran back more suit cam before pausing at Peter holding onto Jackson. "What?" He muttered to himself and played the audio. Pepper was about to chew him out for listening in when she heard the admission.

"They can't find out you heard any of this, you do understand that, right?" They looked at each other, and Tony felt his heart tug slightly. He'd been hard on Jackson but maybe this was one of the contributing factors to why he was so desperate to be accepted.

"Then what do we do?"


Jackson sat beside Harry in the quad after school one afternoon. Peter had to go to his Stark internship, which he'd already disclosed to Jackson was basically being Spider-Man. He and Harry had never really been alone without some amount of back-and-forth. "So... um, are you as big a nerd as Pete?" The blond glanced over.

"Like you wouldn't believe. That's actually how we started hanging out. He and Ned told me that I'm the biggest Star Wars nerd they've ever met." Jackson shrugged.

"Jackson, I'm..." Harry didn't know how to apologize for all the time he spent making Jackson's life a living hell.

"It's fine. Let's just never talk about it again. We're cool." A part of him wasn't quite able to let go but a bigger part said to forgive and forget, and move on. After a moment, he sighed. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have provoked you so much."

Harry put an arm around him. "I've never seen Peter so happy the way he is around you. I'm—" He cleared his throat. "I'm glad he has you."

It felt weird having his former bully being so nice to him, especially since he was just beating him up a week earlier. "Well, if you want, I can help you find someone." He half considered setting Harry up with Joel but the seven-year age difference was already enough not to, yet they were so much alike. Then again...

"You'd do that for me?" He wasn't sure how to bring up what Jackson could do. It was an endless curiosity.

"Let me guess, your dad would be on your ass if you dated someone who's not, y'know, someone of status?" Harry nodded. "There's one person I know who matches your personality— That's not an insult, by the way. Do you have any problem with him being nineteen?"


"Why the last-minute call, Mr. Stark?" Peter watched his mentor silently pace back and forth for the past ten minutes. "Big bad? Rogue good guy? Is it because Jackson and I—?" He stopped; he wasn't aware if Tony knew about them being together. "I— I really like him."

Tony was having a conflict, whether or not to tell Peter that he knew what Jackson had confessed. Obviously, it wasn't meant to be heard by anyone but Peter. "Kid." He sat down beside him. "I'm not even upset about you going behind my back to hang out with Jackson." Peter felt his cheeks redden slightly. "If something's going on, you know you can always come talk to me, right?"

What Jackson told him ate away at Peter; how he could hold onto something like that and never tell anyone. But if Peter broke that trust, Jackson may as well never forgive him. It wasn't his place anyway. "I know."

He knew he wasn't going to get anything out of him right now so Tony left it alone. "Got you a suit upgrade." Peter lit up instantly.


Chaz looked down at Jackson and over at Harry. "What makes you think I'm into guys, squirt?"

Jackson rolled his eyes. "Really? Still in denial? Gods, you can't keep playing the dumb jock card. I know you're smarter than that."

"Is this some kind of mut—" Jackson punched him hard in the shoulder. "What the hell?"

"Shut up. This is why I don't tell you things." The smaller of the bunch turned to Harry. "Sorry, dude. I thought he was less of an ass but, as always, guess I was wrong."

"Why are you trying to set me up anyway? You don't owe me any favors, Jacks."

Jackson gave Chaz a look. "Dude, just because I'm being nice to you for once doesn't mean I owe you. You've been pretty cool to me since the accident—"

"That's because I finally realized how cool my little cuz is." Chaz ruffled his hair.

"Took you long enough, treating me like shit most of our lives. Point is, I want you to be happy. I hate watching you get all mopey at family gatherings, without someone to hang out with. This isn't really getting you a boyfriend. More of a friend."

Harry stepped up and offered his hand to Chaz. "Want to come back to my place and hang out? We'll order in and watch something?"

Chaz seemed a little hesitant but accepted the gesture. "Sounds like a plan." His other hand messed up Jackson's hair again. "Thanks, squirt."

As they left, Jackson stood there. "Why do I feel like I'll be hearing all about this tomorrow? The things I do to make people happy." He vanished.