"Hey Peter." Called a familiar voice. Peter turned to see his friend Harry jogging up to him, doing his best not to spill the food that sat atop his lunch tray. "Where have you been buddy? Oh hey, your glasses are back." Harry commented, the sudden reappearance of the spectacles catching his attention.
"Ya, the contacts were starting to bug me." Peter lied.
"Alight. Anyway, I didn't see you at lunch yesterday." Harry accepted as he shifted the tray in his hands.
"Right, sorry about that. I've been showing Wade around. He's a new student Mr. Warren asked me to help out." Peter explained.
"Oh no, that's you." Harry asked dejectedly. Before Peter could enquire about what exactly his friend meant, an arm suddenly flung itself around his shoulders.
"Peter! How you doin?" Wade started but interrupted before the brunette could even respond. The taller let out a long, excited gasp, hands coming up to cup either side of his scarred face. "You're wearing your glasses! I knew you'd look adorable in them." He said as he gently pinched the brunette's cheek.
"Adorable? Peter's not a girl." Harry attempted to defend, obviously taken off guard by the taller man's appearance.
"I know that. Would be pretty damn sad if he was with this flat chest of his." Wade said with a pat on Peters chest. Peter open his mouth with the intent of trying to defuse the rising tension but like usual he couldn't find a strong enough voice to speak against anyone.
"Then why are you calling him things like adorable, what are you, gay?" Harry fought.
"Pan actually." Wade retorted, getting a little heated himself. "Jeez people, there's more sexualities than just straight and gay."
"You're what?"
"I'm pan. It means I'll cook you food but I'm far to hot to touch." Wade said jokingly with a chuckle at his own words.
"What?"
"It's short for pansexual. It means someone who doesn't care what someone's gender, or gender identity is. They'll date someone no matter what they are." Peter explained to his confused friend who didn't look very pleased at the explanation.
"Aww, your such the smart little cookie Petey." Wade joked. Harry's mouth hung open as if wanting to say something but nothing was able to come out before a voice came over the speaker system of the school.
"Wade Wilson, please report to the principal's office. We have some more forms we need you to fill out." Wade let out a frustrated groan.
"God damn, more papers? I'm attending a school not signing my life away. Or I guess I am, stupid school. Anyway I gotta head off, I'll see you around Peter, and you too Mr. Uneducated."
"H-hey!" Harry stammered but it was too late as Wade disappeared through the crowd of students, not that he really had anything to say. Once gone Harry quickly turned to his friend. "What a dick."
"I don't think so. He just... doesn't follow social norms, or boundaries really." Peter defended, trying to push back his humoured smile for his hurt friends sake.
"So he's just a freak, great." Harry said with an exaggerated eye roll. "Either way I think you should stay away from him. There's already a ton of bad rumours floating around about him. Do you really want to be picked on more than you already are?" Harry asked but received no verbal response. Instead Peter simply lowered his head as if in something akin to shame and worry.
Peter couldn't disagree with Harry, at least on the bullying point.
"I'll try." Peter offered. Of course he didn't want to draw more negative attention than he already had as the school star student academic wise. He also knew, in the dark corner of his mind, that if he hung out with Wade the man was probably going to drag out some things he was trying to get over. It would probably be best to keep his distance from the older.
WMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW
"Alright my boy. I'm sorry to say but it's time to be heading home." Mr. Warren said as he slipped the freshly graded papers into a desk drawer to be handed out the following day.
"Already?" Peter ask, lifting his head from his project and looked up at the clock behind the teacher to see that it was just before four.
"Yes. Unfortunately I have a nieces birthday party to get to so we'll have to wrap this up early. Though I see no reason for you to be here in the first place, you have no need for the extra credit." Mr. Warren said as he gathered his belongings. "Not that I'm complaining. I'm always glad to see a young man excel in something other then slacking off but shouldn't you be out with friends? You could always do this project at home."
"I can't actually." Peter corrected as he hastily wrote down a few last notes. "After my uncle passed away, Aunt May and I have barely been scraping by so any experiment costing more then 5 bucks are out of the question."
"I see." The older said dishearteningly, not having intended to bring up such unfortunate circumstances, but Peter remained unaffected, at least outwardly.
"Besides, there's not really anything for me to do outside of experiments." The brunette stated plainly, successfully hiding his dissatisfaction with his social life. All he really had was Harry but they have been drifting apart the last couple weeks seeing as Peter was more of an introvert where as Harry was becoming quite the social butterfly.
Then there was Wade but that was... complicated.
"It's fine though. I really like testing out theories." The teen said this far more honesty.
"I can see that." Mr. Warren said, a bit of pep returning to his voice. "Say, have you considered joining a scientific field of work after you finish your schooling?" The conversation carried on that general subject. Secondary education, scholarships, internships, different fields. It didn't end until Mr. Warren had to rush off to his nieces birthday party, leaving Peter to walk home.
He didn't go alone however as when the brunette was just leaving school grounds, something unsettling caught his eye. From behind the garbage bin of the neighbouring building shuffled a figure. The first thought that came to Peter's mind was that it was probably a homeless man using the bin for shelter, but then he noticed how the person held his arm where a large circular patch of something red had formed.
"Are you okay!" Peter shouted before really thinking through his action. The figures head raised in his direction and then a familiar pare of shining blue eye's met with Peter's hazel ones. "Wade!?"
"Hey Petey." The older greeted, far to cheery for a man that was apparently bleeding from the arm.
"Oh my god, what happened to you?" The brunette asked as he raced over to the injured man. He didn't have any medical training but he wanted to help any way he could, even if all that meant was calling an ambulance.
"Turns out those jock guys remembered me. I tell ya, those boys need to work on their pent up- Oww!" Wade interrupted himself as he jerked his arm back after having it grabbed by the younger. "Gentle geez, I'm fragile." Wade scolded, his underline humorous tone still present.
"I need to take a look. We might need to take you to the hospital."
"No!" Wade suddenly shouted, causing Peter to jump back. "I'm sorry." He apologized just as suddenly, expression growing remorseful at the fright he gave the brunette. "Let's just say I'm on thin ice as it is." He said, hanging his head to avoid Peters gaze. "But don't worry, I'm fine see." He lifted his arm in example, holding down a hiss of pain as he did so. "Just a flesh wound." He said with a chuckle but was instantly shut up by the large doe eyes that looked up at him. Wade fell quiet for once as he got a bit lost in pools of hazel that where fogged over with slight hurt but sparkled with honest concern. "Your really worried about me?" Wade eventually asked, his bright grin drifting into a small smile.
"Of course I am." Peter said as he carefully reached out and pulled the olders wounded arm closer.
"Thank you." Wade more muttered then spoke as the younger turned his attention to the injury, pulling the cut fabric around it up and away so he could get a better look.
"Thank god." Peter said with a sigh. "It's not as bad as I thought. Doctor Parker says that you probably just need to wash it out and rest and you'll be fine. But check with an actual doctor just to be-" The brunette fell quiet however as he looked up to find Wade watching him intently, a small grin and gentle eyes focused solely on Peter. "W-wade?"
"Hu?" The older quickly snapped out of his trance, goofy smile coming back. "Right, clean, sleep, checkup, got it. Thanks Doctor Parker." Though Peter was tempted to ask, he decided it would be for the best to play along.
"You welcome. And I'm expecting you to check in with me within the next couple days, just so I can make sure everything is healing up properly."
"Sir, yes sir." Wade said with a little salute of his uninjured arm.
"Good. Well I... guess I should head home." Peter decided, not sure what else he could or wanted to do.
"Alrighty, see you around then." Wade said but contradicting himself as after Peter took only a couple steps, Wade called out to him. "Actually, you mind if I... walk with you?" He asked.
"Umm." Peter thought to himself, a little thrown off by how sincere the older sounded. "Sure."
And it's the start, of something new. It feels so right, to be here with you... I'm I showing my age to much?