Chapter Six: Oh, The Joys of High School (AKA, Flash Is Still Afraid of Cats)
*TIME SKIP: 3 MONTHS*
Hiro knew it was kind of sad, but he was bored. He had an entire house to himself most of the day with a telly and half a dozen books to boot, but he'd never been one to sit still. Heck, he'd joined the Quidditch team straightaway in first year, not to mention that whole thing with the troll… and the Philosopher's Stone… Merlin, he was a pants rule-follower. But that was beside the point.
The point was that Hiro was bored out of his bloody mind. And yes, he enjoyed the television and books after years of deprivation, but he wanted to go out and do something in this big world. However, what even he couldn't understand was why he thought that the "next great adventure," as some people would put in, would come from sneaking into Peter's backpack. Maybe that whole thing about cats liking bags and boxes had some merit.
Either way, now he was in there, slightly scrunched up with an extra raincoat as a cushion, on the bus to the Midtown School of Science and Technology, which was a fancy name for the high school in Midtown. He'd nudged the zipper up enough to open barely an eyehole and Peter hadn't noticed him yet, instead sitting with a whole seat to himself, but still placing his backpack roughly on his lap and cornering himself by the window. Hiro kept alternately hearing or feeling the boy's feet or fingers tapping and his leg bouncing, unable to sit still for the short time between his bus stop and the school.
Finally, the screech and hiss of the air brakes and then the door opened, letting a stampede of high schoolers out to the courtyard where they met up with friends and streamed inside. Though he had tucked his head back down, he could hear boys shouting and bumping, girls chittering like squirrels, as his ears swiveled and brushed the top of the pack. A little wave of melancholy brushed against his fur, but was quickly tamped down when he remembered whose backpack he was in. Then he had to shove a purr back inside.
The noise increased as his ride entered through the door, down the hallway, and the creak of a locker door followed the clatter of a lock when the student opened it with what sounded like some difficulty. But when the bag met the floor of the locker and the zipper began to open, Hiro started panickily searching for somewhere to hide. The inside of an organized backpack, however, doesn't have many places to hide and even less to search out in the few seconds before the zipper met the other side of the pack.
With nowhere to go, Hiro resorted to reluctantly meeting Peter's brown eyes and mewing in the cutest way possible while hoping to whatever higher power was out there that he wouldn't be kicked out – or worse, shut up in the locker all day. That'd be like chaining a hippogriff to a one-foot rope! Sorry, Buckbeak…
He watched with some amusement as the teen's eyebrows met his hairline enthusiastically and he blinked a couple times before leaning over hastily. "Hiro!" he hissed, though not literally, the kit thought absently, it'd be fun to meet another parselmouth. "What are you doing here?! How'd you even get in there?!" The statement confused him for a second before he remembered that the bag had actually been fully zipped before he decided to nose around inside. Oops.
"Never mind, never mind," the boy dismissed. "I can't bring you to class, I'm definitely not letting you run around or go outside… ah…" He glanced for a moment at the inside of the locker where he'd meanwhile hung his coat, cleverly using part of it as cover. "Yeah, not the locker. You know how many rules you are making me break?!" Hiro let out a little breath he hadn't known he was holding at that idea while Peter continued his raspy whisper-rant. Too similar to the cupboard. "More than usual! And that's a lot… u – wait. Wait! Empty classroom!"
Before he knew what was happening, he was enclosed again in the small, dark space, but it wasn't so bad. It smelled like Peter, and he knew that was slightly creepy, yet it made him feel safe. It helped that the sides were soft and not too solid like his old "room" back with the Dursleys. Then he was blinking in the fluorescent lighting of a classroom that was, as promised, empty of students, teachers, and everything except some extra desks and a shelf. Callused, strong hands wrapped around him easily, lifting him and placing him on the nearest desk. Peter hunched down and looked straight at him, all serious. "Do. Not. Leave."
Peter zipped out the door, shutting it behind him, and speed-walked down the hallway at an impressive speed, from what Hiro could hear. The cat peaked around, not seeing it as a boring, empty classroom, but an obstacle course. He smirked. Today was going to be fun.
Six hours later, he was exhausted and had perched on the highest bookshelf, waiting for the clock to hit whichever minute would cause the bell to ring. When it did, he was half asleep and let out a loud yowl. Thankfully, Peter wasn't around to witness that. Muffled laughter sounded from the doorway beside his seat. Spoke – well, thought – too soon.
"Hi-ro? I know you're in here," he singsonged ridiculously. "Get down from wherever you are." Sulking just a bit, he slunk down and glared, though it was soft, at his friend. "You big baby." Hiro bristled a bit more, clawing his way up the boy's pack and settling in his hair like a furry hat. Against his will, he began purring. With his eyes closed and curled up in a fuzzy ball, the only way he could tell that Peter had started walking was the bouncing stride and the padding of sneakers on the cheap carpet flooring. It stayed quiet until they were a few meters from the door, almost home free.
A voice echoed through the hallway, accompanying heavy footsteps. "Hey," Flash drawled, "Puny Parker! Nice hat, you find it in your aunt's room?" Hiro's eyes snapped open and the silent purring halted, making the blonde think for all the world that the "hat" had suddenly grown eyeballs. "Ack!" The kit sat up properly, never once losing his balance, and chuffed, fixing his emerald eyes on the upright Neanderthal and narrowing them. He wasn't sure if Flash remembered him from the alley – though Peter had kept up the joke that the boy was afraid of kittens – but he was going to remember this time for the rest of his life if he tried anything.
"Ha, looks like Parker found himself a friend at last! And what a good match. Both scrawny little Dumpster weaklings that ne – get it off, get it off, get it off!" The ensuing chaos, courtesy of Hiro, caused Flash to once again try to pull a black cat off his face while screaming bloody murder with Peter trying and failing not to laugh in the background. The brunet subtly signaled for Hiro to quit trying to disembowel the rain jacket and they left quickly while his back was turned, out the door and around the corner, the teenager perhaps moving a little faster than the average human. Once he deemed them safe, Peter set the cat down, who looked at him proudly while chuffing, and burst into chuckles again.
"Oh, that was great!" he gasped around his humor. "I swear, are you going to do that every time? I think Flash is already scarred for life!" Hiro's only reply was to continue looking overly pleased with himself, thinking of the fun he could have with the poor high schooler, though he thought of it without the "poor" part. He jolted himself out of the daydreams, hopping up from the ground to a recycling unit, back up to nest in the brown locks of the boy's hair. "But, really. If you ever sneak out again, I will lock you in the laundry room." Peter swore he felt the kit gulp in dread before starting to purr once more.
I thoroughly enjoyed writing this chapter, though I got stuck a couple times, which I hope wasn't too obvious. A lot of this was written off-and-on through the course of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday at school, which can make for some bumpy writing. But I think it turned out decent, right?
Anyways, I love writing Flash when he's getting what he deserves. Unless it's one of those sad things where Flash's dad is abusive. Then I'm sad. But not in this 'verse. In this AU, all my bad guys are just really bad: Moldy-Shorts, Flash, Loki – oops, SPOILER ALERT!
Lucky (probably did the spoiler on purpose… but you'll never know, mwahaha!)
To hitomi-tama: I believe I mentioned it in the beginning A/N, but I'm not sure if I had mentioned it elsewhere. Who knows. But you're welcome, and thanks for continuing to read!
To mckertis: I wasn't exactly sure how to interpret/take this… so here's a (not-so) brief explanation that may or may not be referring to your review! Yeah, Flash and his crew have kind of turned out to be all-around jerks, that was on purpose. Hiro's distraction… I'm not really sure where that came from since I never plan my stories out too far in advance. Chapter Five basically started with me saying "I need to fit Peter's coming out in here somewhere" and my brain took off. And they're teenagers. So, they're acting like teenagers. Poor Peter is just trying to figure everything out and he has enhanced senses, so sometimes he overhears things he's not meant to overhear. Other than that, IDK. I'm relatively new to all this and have no experience with romance. Sorry if none of this pertains to your review, as I said, I wasn't really sure how to take it. I'm probably just overthinking it… again. Sorry.
To Vladimir Mithrander: Sorry for the confusion! Yes, this is the last book's final battle. I just warped canon around and made him fourteen. In my weird 'verse he goes to school at around 10-ish and all the crazy from the books is compacted into 4-ish years instead of 6-ish years. So poor Harry really never catches a break. And no, he's not losing his magic; as was briefly explained towards the end of Chapter Two, he knows wandless magic. My version of Harry is a little bit of a prodigy and I've been screwing with canon a lot because I'm lazy and don't want to have to write an original solution to that problem. Hopefully that explains that, and you keep reading. =)