Parker XIII: Intervention

Sophomore year at Midtown turned out to be the best year of Parker's life, which was quite a feat considering how great his freshman year had been. He had his best friend and his girlfriend by his side, and they made a formidable Quizbowl team. They had a study party almost every weekend, and by the time the most important tournaments of the year rolled around they could compete ferociously with Liz, Abe, and Cindy at practice.

They even qualified for Nationals.

Ned and Parker spent far longer than acceptable admiring their yellow Midtown blazers. The format at this level dictated that their team must contain a mix of upper and lowerclassmen, and the players would alternate through the different rounds. Naturally, the six best players in the club were selected: Liz, Abe, Cindy, MJ, Parker, and Ned. Flash got placed as first alternate. He was beyond pissed, and it took a lot of willpower for Parker not to openly smirk at him for failing to achieve what he wanted. But Parker was determined not to give Flash the satisfaction of stooping to his level. Besides, after the Tony incident he was much tamer.

The bus ride to Washington D.C. was long, but not as boring as he'd feared. Parker sat next to MJ and Ned got the seat in across the aisle from them to himself. With so few kids going, there was no need to crowd on the bus. "Hey is there any chance we'll get there early?" MJ asked Mr. Harrington after he took attendance. "I want to get in some light protesting beforehand."

"Protesting is patriotic!" Mr. Harrington declared. "I can't promise anything with D.C. traffic, but we'll see."

They brought the bells along for the ride, and Liz quizzed them almost the entire drive down. By the time they arrived at their hotel, Parker's brain and buzzer finger felt adequately exercised. Unfortunately, they didn't arrive early enough for MJ to protest anything, but just before Parker and Ned turned off the lights to go to sleep, Liz knocked on their door in a swimsuit and invited them along to the hotel's pool because, "A rebellious group activity the day before competition is good for morale."

Fortunately for Parker, Daddell had insisted he pack a swim suit just in case a situation exactly like this arose. Ned's parents had been similarly prepared. They quickly got changed and raced downstairs with the rest of the giggling team members. Even MJ joined in, though she sat beside the pool reading a book instead of swimming. Parker jokingly threatened to splash her, but of course he didn't actually do it. He didn't know how MJ would react if he soaked her book, and he was content to continue not knowing.

It felt amazing, to be such an integral part of something. Looking around at all his teammates, Parker sensed a camaraderie almost as strong as that he'd found at Gravesen. His friends here might not know his most painful secrets like his Gravesen friends did, but they didn't need to. They respected Parker for who he was now, not everything that happened to him before. That bond only grew stronger the following day, when MJ answered the final question correctly and sent them to victory over every other team in the country.

Parker didn't think he could smile any bigger, and then she offered the trophy to him to hold up alongside her. MJ wasn't generally an overenthusiastic person—that was the major "opposites attract" feature of their relationship—but Parker could see the joy in her face. The only thing detracting from the happiness of the moment was knowing that it was Liz, Abe, and Cindy's last competition. Parker would miss them, but he could think of no better way for them to conclude their final season.

Parker didn't want the school year to end, he was having so much fun, but at least he had one major thing to look forward to that summer: New York Comic Con. Dad enlisted his help on making their costumes. They'd invited both Ned and MJ to join in, but MJ politely declined, claiming that she wanted Parker and Ned to enjoy this in full nerd mode. They obtained black suit jackets and made fake heads and instruments to go as the famous cantina band from a New Hope. It was one of the most fun experiences Parker had ever had. Strangers came up to them to compliment their costumes, and he got to see everyone else's. He and Ned spent the whole time pointing out the coolest ones to each other.

The best part was how constant his life had become. Parker could rely on his parents, his friends, and his girlfriend to be there for them, and his fears about losing them started to gradually wane over time. He suspected, and Dr. Wilson corroborated, that they might never go away completely, but he could learn to prosper in spite of them. The last thing Parker expected to change and throw him for a loop was another argument, but in October of his junior year, he learned of one brewing among his Gravesen friends.

Bruce explained the situation to Parker and Tony over a group FaceTime. Parker listened to his account of everything Bruce had learned from his cousin, each word causing the sick churning in his gut to worsen. There hadn't been in-fighting within their friend group since…since he caused it. At least that time Parker understood why they fought. He knew Steve would stop at nothing to protect his friends, including denouncing authority, but this just didn't make sense.

"Why aren't they speaking to each other?" Tony asked.

"I don't know. Steve won't talk to Jen about it. I can only assume it's really bad."

"So what do you need us to do?" Parker asked. There had to be a reason he'd informed them of the situation.

"I think you need to talk to them. Jen barely knows Steve, so it makes sense that he won't confess to her. But I think you two stand a chance of getting them to air this out to dry," Bruce explained.

"This sounds like it's probably between them," Tony said. "What if they won't talk to us either?"

"Then I don't know. But if anyone can do it, you can."

"Okay." Parker looked at Tony. "You take Steve and I take Bucky?"

"Sounds good."

Parker had never been part of an intervention like this before. He hadn't fought in the last battle, so to speak, nor had he helped rebuild bridges afterwards. All he'd done was incite the conflict and apologize for inciting it afterwards. This was new territory for him. Still, he owed it to Steve and Bucky to help fix this. He texted Bucky, "Can we talk?" and waited. The older boy got back to him an hour later.

"Yeah. What's up?"

"Bruce told me what's going on with you and Steve and I want to help."

Suddenly, his phone rang. Bucky clearly didn't think this could be done over text. "Bruce told you? How does he know anything?"

"He said his cousin's been talking to Steve."

"His cousin? Who's that?"

"Someone named Jen."

"Jen—Jennifer Walters?!"

"I don't know, maybe."

"That's the girl he's been chatting it up with at lunch every day. Timmy even heard they went out yesterday," Bucky rambled.

"That's not the point. What is going on between you two? Why aren't you speaking?"

"It's complicated."

"Bucky, I will not stand here and let you brush this off. Tony's talking to Steve and you'd better believe we will not stop until whatever this is is resolved," Parker practically growled. Where the anger came from, he didn't really know, but he couldn't stop it.

"Alright, fine. Steve started ignoring me after I told him I wasn't going to homecoming this year."

"Go on."

"He wouldn't answer my texts and he avoided me at school for an entire week."

"Do you know why?"

"He said we never should have become friends because he's sick," Bucky said. Parker could hear the despair creeping into his voice. He couldn't imagine how it must've felt to be Bucky in that situation, hearing his dying best friend say that. But he also knew Steve well enough to understand why he did such a thing. His motivation was always pure, even if his execution ended up causing more harm than good.

"So I did something I probably shouldn't have," Bucky continued sheepishly.

"Yeah?"

"I sent him a text that I knew he couldn't ignore. I…I told him my cancer was back."

"Bucky!" Up until that moment, Parker had seen Bucky only as the victim in this situation, but that completely turned that opinion on its head. That was possibly the only thing he could've done to make the situation worse.

"I know! But it was the only thing I could think to do to get his attention. I just needed to talk to him, and he wouldn't let me."

"So now he's mad at you?"

"Uh-huh."

"Oh boy." This was far worse than Parker ever imagined. Steve was actually dying, and pushed his best friend away probably out of some misguided sense of nobility, and in a flailing attempt to get him back Bucky had done the only thing he thought would work. It was a mess. "You need to apologize."

"He won't accept my apology," Bucky grumbled.

"Then you make him." Parker summoned a sternness he hadn't know he even possessed. Because if they didn't resolve this before it was too late…Parker shuddered at the prospect. "Because you know what's going to happen if you don't?" Parker had hesitated to tell May about his struggles after Ben's death, and because of that she hadn't been able to help him before she died too. If he'd gotten hold of himself sooner, things might not have escalated as much as they had. "If you don't fix this, and he dies? You're going to live with that guilt for the rest of your fucking life."

Bucky fell silent. Parker rarely used such language, but in this situation he felt it was warranted. He had the chance to spur Bucky to make the right decision, so he pulled out all the stops. Under no circumstances would he allow this quarrel to continue, and he knew Tony approached his conversation with Steve with the same attitude.

"Okay," Bucky said meekly. "But if he doesn't come around?"

"He will," Parker vowed.