Chapter Twenty-One
Peter's hands were sweating and he wondered if Karen wasn't sending him off on a suicide mission encouraging him to stand up to Scott, but Karen was right he had to stand up to him. Besides Peter was stronger that Scott, if he wanted too he could beat his ass so why was he so scared? Maybe it was because he didn't want to ruin May's first happy relationship that she had, had since she had lost Ben (which of course had been Peter's fault too.) Or maybe it was because Peter didn't want to expose himself. He had a feeling that Scott would be the type of person to spread Peter's newfound strength everywhere resulting in him probably being kept inside like some lab animal and experimented on.
Aunt May had the night shift at the hospital which meant that it was just Peter and Scott for the evening. As soon as they had become engaged Scott had slowly started moving things in, in the Parkers' already cramped apartment. At this time Scott was usually drinking a beer while watching TV while Peter was locked away pretending to do homework while at the same thing not getting anything done.
Peter took a deep breath as he exited his room and saw Scott in his usual position in front of the TV. Peter shifted uncomfortably as he forced himself to say, "Scott, can I talk to you?"
Scott turned off the TV feeling annoyed. "What is it Peter? I'm watching the game."
"I want you to leave," he blurted out. "I want you to take your stuff out of our apartment and leave May alone. I don't want you in our apartment anymore."
Scott let out a humorless laugh and stood up, Peter suddenly felt very small. He was a lot taller than he remembered. "Is that so?" he grabbed Peter by the collar of his shirt. "And what gives you permission to talk to me like that, you little runt?"
Peter tried to keep his voice from shaking. "You've hurt me, you've hurt me a lot of times and I don't like it. If you don't leave I will tell May what you've done to me, all the beatings and your threats and she won't like it believe me." His lower lip wobbled. "I am giving you a chance to leave without anyone finding out-"
Scott let Peter fall to the floor and Peter winced as he hit his head. He tried to get up, but Scott placed his foot on his chest. "Listen up, Parker you don't get to tell what to do not now, not ever. So get this through your stupid head I will marry your aunt and when people ask, you will tell them you are delighted to finally have a male role model in your life."
Peter gritted his teeth as he grasped Scott's boot. He already had male role models in his life. He definitely didn't need Scott. Peter used his strength to push Scott's boot off from his chest as he threw him to the floor.
Peter swallowed feeling relief that he had actually fought back while Scott stared at him in disbelief. "You will leave, Scott you can threaten me anymore."
"Oh, yeah kid?" Scott grunted as he stood up and stared at him. "Aren't you the hero letting me leave scotch free? Well I have some news for you kid, I don't give up that easily and I am going to marry May." He picked up Peter by the collar again. "And don't pull that innocent act with me. I know that you are also hiding something."
"I am not hiding anything." Peter grunted. His mind carefully going back to what he had done over the past few months that Scott could be angry about. Ditching work? Going on patrol? Hiding his intake of pills?
"Oh, yeah," Scott gave a humorless laugh. "I'm not stupid, Parker I know that you have something up your sleeve. All the sneaking around, the coming home late with your precious Avengers, and now this brutal strength that you just showed me. Pretty strong for such a scrawny kid. So unless you want General Ross to come in and wonder if Tony Stark is experimenting on a high schooler I would keep my mouth shut. Ross locked down the Avengers once, I am sure that he is eager to do it again."
Peter stared at him with wide disbelief. Scott hadn't found out about Spiderman, but somehow this was much worse. The Avenger had gone trough so much already. They couldn't get dragged in again or worse because of Peter.
Peter opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. Scott used that opportunity to punch him across the face as hard as he could, Peter could swear that he heard something snap. Peter groaned as he curled on the floor. Scott pressed his shoe against Peter's chest. "Next time you threaten me, Kid it's going to be much worse. Think about that."
Since May had worked the night shift she was still sleeping the next morning while Scott had left to talk to the realtor about selling his apartment. Peter was grateful that it was Saturday so that he didn't have to explain his bruised cheek and eye to everyone at school.
Peter pressed the bag of frozen peas carefully on his eye and winced. He suddenly remembered that Flash was coming in around noon to work on their History project. Peter winced when he saw his expression in the mirror. His bruising was no longer purple, but it was a dark pink. He hoped that Flash was shallow enough to not notice his new face.
He opened one of his drawers and picked up an old concealer that him and Ned had used last year for an old Halloween costume. He carefully dabbed some and Peter was pleased with the results. He didn't think he had made it worse.
Peter heard the doorbell ring and then he went to open it. He was surprised when Flash suddenly stormed in carrying a large backpack and his I-Pad. "Why do you have all of this stuff?"
"What do you think? For research." Flash almost sounded offended as he pulled out old books as well as documents that he had printed out. "I stopped by the library and did you hear? Our sweet teacher decided to have a history fair and the principal will judge our projects so it can't suck, Parker."
Flash suddenly stopped ranting and looked up from the kitchen table where he had started spreading the books and papers around. "What happened to your face, Parker? It's all bruised, I can see it even under that cheap makeup."
"I fell while getting out of the bathtub," Peter gave a shaky laugh as he looked at the floor, cursing himself for being such a terrible liar. "And you know how fair I am. I bruise easily."
"You got bruises that bad?" Flash didn't look convinced. He opened the freezer and pulled out a bag of frozen carrots and handed it to him. "You've been getting into a lot of weird accidents and you've been acting more squirrely that you normally are. Is anything else going on?"
Peter shook his head as he pressed the bag of carrots on his eye. "Nope, let's just finish this project." For the next hour they poured over the books and documents that Flash had brought out, but Flash hadn't stopped staring at him, much to Peter's annoyance. "Will you stop staring at me, or are you trying to ask me out to the prom?"
"As if you would be so lucky," Flash quipped as he cocked his head to the side. "Hey, Parker May is not doing anything weird to you right-you know for falling asleep in class and your grades dropping? You've really been weird for a while even more than your usual self."
Peter gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes at him. "May has been great, I told you I'm a klutz. I'll have her look at my eye when she wakes up. Just drop it, you want to get an A don't you?"
Flash didn't say anything for a few minutes. "I won't be able to get you anymore of those pain pills, just so you know."
"I know," Peter replied not looking up and thinking back to the pills that he had stored, the ones that Dr. Strange had given him. He still had half a bottle hidden in his sock drawer and he might need to sneak in and take some to get through this meeting. "I don't need them anymore."
-End of Chapter Twenty-One-
