Parker VI: Not Peter Weaver

Parker had forgotten how much he missed real school. He didn't care if it got him branded a nerd; he actually looked forward to going to class and doing his homework. Learning had lost some of its luster in the wake of Ben and then May's death, but now it had returned in full force. Beyond that, he loved getting to see MJ every day at school. Their only class in common was precalculus, but they always walked to lunch together afterwards and ate at their usual table, just the two of them. Parker hadn't dared try and make new friends yet. Sure, he talked to the people he sat near in his classes, but he hadn't gotten to know any of them well enough to consider them friends. It didn't really bother him. He was content with his daily lunch dates with MJ, and after school he could text or call his friends from Gravesen if he wanted company. Sometimes, Tony even invited him over to his place and they worked in his father's basement lab or watched movies. By the end of September, Parker had gotten him to watch all the Star Wars movies. Tony insisted he'd seen them before, but it must have been a long time ago or he wasn't paying attention because he didn't remember anything.

"I'm going to be late coming home from school on Wednesdays too now," Parker announced at dinner on Friday night.

"Yeah, why is that?"

"I joined Quizbowl." The second and third week of school had brought with them announcements from countless school clubs inviting freshmen to join. Parker had already started robotics, which met on Tuesdays, and had leapt at the opportunity to join a club which would allow him to learn even more. The best part: MJ was doing it too.

"That sounds great," Alex said. "I was never smart enough for these types of clubs myself, but I'm so glad you're getting involved at school."

"What kind of things did you do in high school?"

"I was in marching band," Alex explained.

"What instrument did you play?"

"Clarinet."

"Do you still play?"

"Absolutely not. I dismantled the darn thing for the last time at our last competition senior year and never touched it again."

"Yikes. Glad I decided not to join band."

"A lot of people really love it, but I was not one of those people."

"Was there anything you did that you actually did enjoy?" Parker asked.

"Yes. We had a club for crafting. Most of the people knit or crocheted, but I brought my sewing. It was great because I got commissioned by people to sew their buttons back on or hem their pants and could make a little money. And when there was no actual work to be done, I just made things for fun."

"That sounds awesome. Like robotics, but more practical." Parker loved working with his hands, but he succeeded most with circuit boards and wires, not needles and thread. Natasha was learning how to knit, though. She'd sent pictures of some of her latest projects to the group chat and she clearly excelled at it.

"Hey, robotics is about as practical as it gets," Russell pointed out.

~0~

Parker attended his first Quizbowl practice the following Wednesday. He and MJ met at her locker after school and headed to the classroom where the club met. Looking around, Parker saw a few upperclassmen he recognized from the hallways in addition to the one kid who seemed to be in every one of his classes. He and MJ sat at neighboring desks and listened to the other students' chatter before the team's coach arrived to start the meeting.

"Welcome everyone to the first Quizbowl meeting," he began. "I'm so glad you're here and I look forward to working with you this year. My name is Mr. Harrington." Parker had never met this teacher before, but his name would be easy enough to remember since it was the same as his old case worker's. He told the group a little bit about himself and how the club functioned, then asked everyone to go around and introduce themselves. Some of the kids were clearly upperclassmen and just eager to get on with practicing, other nervous freshmen like himself. As they went around the room, Parker tried to internalize all their names.

Abe. Cindy. Charles. Sally. Liz. And Flash. That was the kid he kept seeing around in all his classes. Parker hoped he was nice because it seemed inevitable that they'd be spending a lot of time together.

"Alright. Let's get started with just some all-around questions. Liz, Abe, go ahead and grab the bells."

Parker watched as two of the upperclassmen opened a cabinet on the side of the classroom and pulled out a box. They passed each student a bell exactly like those on the desks of hotels. Mr. Harrington sat at a table at the front of the room with a big book and cracked it open to a random page.

"What fruit was originally named the Chinese gooseberry?"

Liz's bell rang. "Kiwi."

"Correct. What part of the human body is called the atlas?"

This time it was Abe to ring in. "The first vertebrae."

"Excellent. Identify the author of this quote: 'Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.'

Parker almost startled as the bell sounded from right next to him. MJ had rung in. "Kipling."

"Correct. What's your name again?"

"MJ," she said sheepishly.

"Glad to have you with us, MJ. Now, parts of which existing European countries once were included in the nation known as Flanders?"

The kid called Flash slammed his bell so hard Parker feared it would break. "France and Switzerland."

"I'm sorry that is incorrect."

Parker thought it rather ironic that his name—what must have been a nickname because no self-respecting parent would ever call their child that—suggested speed when that was evidently his weakness. Cindy rang in after him and got the correct answer: France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. As the meeting continued, Parker realized that he needed to work on his game. He knew the answers to only some of the questions, and he was never fast enough to ring in first when he did know. If he wanted to do well at this, he'd have to study up and hone his reflexes.

That weekend, he made his first set of flashcards, which just so happened to be literature themed. If asked, Parker would insist he chose that topic because it appeared to be a weaker subject among his teammates. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it was clearly MJ's favorite topic.

He grabbed a fresh packet of index cards from the office supply desk in their kitchen and started writing, going through a list of the most famous novels in history and scribbling the titles on one side and the authors on another. Parker kept going until he ran out of index cards, and then he started studying them at least every other day. He'd look at the title of the book and try to name the author. If he got it wrong, he slid the card to the back of the stack, and if he got it right he removed it, continuing until no cards remained in his hands. Then he'd do it again. By the next meeting, he was ready to show off, hoping a literature question would pop up in Mr. Harrington's book.

Parker waited the entire meeting, but the first twenty minutes of questions were all science, math, and history. Finally, just as he was getting frustrated enough to consider quitting, Mr. Harrington asked, "What classic gothic novel by Mary Shelley was subtitled 'the Modern Prometheus?'"

Nobody else in the group seemed to know, so it didn't matter how quickly Parker rang his bell. "Frankenstein," he answered with one hundred percent confidence. He'd included the subtitle on his flashcard, and the author's name had given it away.

"That's right."

MJ nudged him in the side, "Nice job."

Parker tried very hard not to blush. He failed, of course. Then, Mr. Harrington moved on to the next question and he slipped back into the zone. It soon became evident that the kid Flash was incredibly overhasty with his answers, often ringing in first yet getting the answer wrong. The upperclassmen were clearly frustrated with him.

Their team captain, a junior named Liz, possessed an almost frightening competence. Parker had been intimidated by her from day one, but MJ had no such qualms. He did, however, learn one frightening fact about her, which increased both his fear and his admiration of her. It wasn't a conversation he was supposed to overhear, but he'd arrived early to Quizbowl practice and she was there talking to Cindy.

"I feel bad that I haven't visited him, but at the same time, does he really deserve it?" Liz said. Neither of them noticed that Parker had walked in, so he kept quiet and let them keep talking.

"I guess not. Has he asked you to visit him?"

"Yeah. Last time my mom went she came back saying that he'd asked to see me, but I said I didn't want to go."

"Then don't go."

"I just don't want him to think I'm afraid of him."

"Are you?"

Liz paused. "Maybe. I mean, he did shoot up a hospital. He almost killed someone."

"Oh yeah, my cousin's friends were there when that happened," MJ cut in. Parker hadn't even noticed she walked in, and he certainly hadn't expected her to just interject in someone else's conversation like that. Liz and Cindy both turned to her in surprise.

"They were there?" Liz asked. MJ nodded. "I'm sorry, that must have been terrifying."

MJ shrugged, then pulled out a book and started reading like they hadn't just talked about a hospital shooting. Parker shivered at the memory of that incident. He'd made a fool of himself in front of all his friends, completely losing any sense of sanity to the worst panic attack he'd ever experienced. The sound of gunshots just set him off like a trigger being pulled. Even the memory of it now unsettled him to the point where he didn't participate in the meeting at all. If he ever faced a similar incident in the future, Parker didn't know how he would react. He hadn't had any panic attacks at all since the NG-tube incident back at Gravesen, and he certainly didn't miss them. Hopefully, with those events so far behind him and the many coping strategies he'd learned from Dr. Wilson, he'd never have to suffer through one again.

~0~

Parker knew the 'trial run' of his adoption was almost up, that papers would be signed and it would become official within the next few weeks. He was beyond excited to legally join the Weaver family, however he couldn't stop ruminating over one sticking point. If they changed his last name to Weaver, where would Parker go? The nickname started with Carol; she'd called pretty much everybody by their last name, and then the arrival of Peter Quill just perpetuated it to everyone else. Parker grew to love it, this reminder of the family he came from—and still belonged to, in his heart, if not on paper. All his teachers at school, his dads, and even MJ called him Parker. Only Ned still used the name Peter. He had nothing against his given name, the one that his parents had lovingly chosen for him, but he didn't want to lose the Parker part of himself forever.

He broached the topic to his dads one night after dinner. "When my adoption gets finalized, are they going to legally change my name?"

"Yes," Alex said. "Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course. I want to be a Weaver more than anything. It's just…I don't want to lose my family's last name. And, uh…Peter Weaver just sounds kinda weird. Too many long E sounds."

They exchanged a knowing glance, as if they'd seen this conversation coming. Daddell looked at him and asked, "So what do you want to do?"

He hadn't expected to be asked this up front, but Parker already knew the answer. "I…would it be possible that, while we're at it, we change my first name to Parker?"

"I think we can make that work."

Parker grinned wider than he thought was possible. But he grinned even wider than that when they finalized the paperwork and he officially became Parker Benjamin Weaver.

Peter Parker had always loved his name. It had so many things going for it. It was easy to pronounce, so teachers—even substitutes—never said it wrong. The double P at the beginning made it fun to say, and the –er at the end gave it an almost-rhyme that he thought sounded pretty cool. Plus, there was the extra loving ruffle of his hair when his dad read him Pete the Cat, Peter Rabbit, or Peter Pan books before bed. Sometimes he liked to pretend the stories were about him, that he led all these adventures himself. Then there was his middle name, Benjamin, after his Uncle Ben. He liked having something special in common with a man he idolized more than any other, except his father. Finally, his last name. Parker tied him to the rest of his family, grouped him in with Mom, Dad, Aunt May, and Uncle Ben. Exactly where he wanted to be.

Parker Weaver loved his name too, possibly even more because of the journey that had led him to it. While he'd lost the alliteration, he maintained the double -er and the almost-rhyme at the end that he loved so much. Plus, there was the extra loving ruffle of his hair when his dads showed him their signatures at the bottom of the page confirming his new status as their son. His middle name, given to him by his father to honor the brother he'd loved so dearly, stayed exactly where it belonged. Finally, his last name. Weaver tied him to Alex and Russell, the family which had welcomed him into its arms and held him tightly when he needed it most. Exactly where he wanted to be.

I love this chapter so much. And to clarify: I know in Homecoming, he's a part of Academic Decathlon, but I looked into it and what they're actually shown doing at practice and competition in the movie is much closer to Quizbowl, which is something I was actually a part of in high school. But we had actual buzzers that lit up, not just hotel-desk-style bells :)