"You were the guy? The one in the homemade suit?" Peter couldn't believe it. He never would have figured it out, and he was supposed to be smart.
Jackson nodded. "What I don't understand is how it took me this long to realize that was you. Maybe it was those dorky glasses." He grinned and Peter punched him in the shoulder. "Hey!"
FLASHBACK
Jackson had just come off his side job. A thirteen-year-old shouldn't have this kind of job, and if Joel ever found out, he would kill him. But he donned his handmade suit and went patrolling. He was still learning how to control his abilities, and using them for good was better than nothing.
"Leave me alone!" He couldn't place the voice but he knew that tone all too well. Some poor kid was getting harassed, and Jackson sure as shit wasn't going to sit back and let it happen. He appeared before the group of boys—all of whom had to be at least a couple years older than himself—and looked down at their victim, a boy who couldn't be any older than twelve, with black thick-rimmed glasses.
He cracked his knuckles and put his hands up. "Touch him again and I'll make sure none of you get the female experience. I promise." His hands lit up in flames and the guys ran off. With a smirk, he extinguished and sat down beside the boy. "You alright?"
"Wh—who are you?"
"Some call me a freak, a weirdo but I prefer J— I mean, Captain Awesome." He was more of a dork at that age, and he thought his powers made him cool. "No, wait, scratch that one."
END FLASHBACK
"I remember Captain Awesome." Peter couldn't help the smirk playing on his lips. The look on Jackson's face was priceless. "You should use the name now."
"Okay, y'know what?" Jackson was about to really let him have it when he felt a familiar (and unwelcome) presence. "Great. What do you want? I don't need you standing there and judging me."
"You and Cameron aren't really a thing, are you?" Harry gave Jackson a dirty look before focusing on Peter.
"What a fucking genius!" Jackson scoffed. "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 whomever 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 aggravate you." 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 rolled his eyes.
"First of all, it's not really your concern who I associate with." Jackson sighed. "But yes. 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 looked slightly guilty.
"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 have never seen you with a non-toxic relationship, asshole."
"I am excelling in my training, thank you for asking." 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, 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. 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 it.
"See? Even before they really became friends. Work on the suit."
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, of status?" Harry nodded. "There's one person I know who matches your personality— That is 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."
He sat down beside him. "Peter. I'm not upset about you going behind my back to hang out with Jackson." Peter felt his cheeks redden slightly. "If something's going on at school... or at home, you know you can always come talk to me, right?"
"I know." Peter wasn't sure how to respond.
"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 bro."
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.
