It was three weeks ago when Peter had confronted Danny at school, scuffing his shoes lightly as he stood next to the blonde's locker. "Danny," He began, biting his lip, "I need your advice," Peter admitted, clearing his throat.
"Help is in the eye of the one who needs it most'." Danny quoted, slipping his books into his locker as they day wound to an end.
"In that case, consider my eyes full. Listen, you're the wisest guy I know, so I'm going to be frank with you. Well, Peter with you." Danny rolled his eyes at the terrible joke even as he smiled softly. Sure, they weren't always funny, but at least Peter seemed a bit calmer when he made the odd comments.
"What issue are you facing, Peter?" The teens asked calmly, turning to look at the brunette.
"I think. . . ." He cleared his throat, and Danny saw the boy's aura spike harshly around him.
"This is serious," The blonde stated, blinking a few times.
"Yeah, it is, hence me trying to tell you." Peter wrung his hands nervously before sighing. "Okay. I can do this. I'm a big kid; I saved Manhattan just last week." Looking Danny in the eyes, Peter seemed to finally have his resolve before his voice came out in the smallest of squeaks, "I think I like Sam."
Danny gave a small shrug, "Even though you two bicker, Sam is a likable person, as well as a good friend to many."
Parker lifted his hands and shook his head, groaning, "No, no, not that kind of like, like, 'like' like."
The pacifist raised an eyebrow, but nodded, "That is rather unexpected, but as they say, 'Opposites attract'."
"No. No no no this isn't something that you can just say 'As they say'-," He used a mockingly calm voice at this, "-and then go about your day. I like a boy, and if that's not just weird enough, it's Sam. He hates me. I don't know what happened, we always tease each other and I was fine with that until I started to get a bit more overprotective of him on missions, and. . . I want to be his friend."
"Or more?" Danny queried innocently, causing Peter to color harshly.
"Yes," He mumbled, trying to get his face to stop burning, "or more."
"Well, he'd notice of you suddenly just stopped joking with him, so I suppose the best method would be to slowly take it out of your guys' conversations, until eventually you two simply just talk instead of fight. Or, make your fighting seem more like a jest, therefore he won't feel the need to get defensive." Danny rested a hand on Peter's shoulder. "Just be yourself, and eventually you will see the correct path to take."
-0-0-
"What." Luke deadpanned, blinking as Ava tried to keep her jaw from falling to the floor. "He. . . Likes Sam? He likes the boy that nearly just got him killed?"
"Leave it to Parker," The girl of the group scoffed, feeling the familiar blaze of annoyance and anger start in her stomach.
"I'd be surprised if he'd even talk to him now," Luke admitted, shrugging. "Whatever he said must have been bad if he could throw Parker off his game."
Danny simply shook his head. "As surprising as it may seem," He sighed, "I don't think Peter will hold this against Sam. But whatever was said, it must have been fairly harsh to elicit ignorance in Peter."
"Well then, we'll find out," Ava decided.
"What, you're going to just ask him?" Rolling his eyes, Luke crossed his arms. "That kind of seems like a bad idea."
"Who said anything about asking?" She pointed out, walking back into Peter's current room with enough force in her step to deter anyone that would have tried to get in her way. Bypassing Peter, she walked right to the source of the problems. "What exactly did you say to get him so defensive? As much of an idiot as he is, he's not stupid, so would could you have said?" Placing a hand on either arm rest of Sam's chair, the girl squared him in, glaring. "Tell me, now." She snarled, feeling the sisterly part of her relationship with Peter flare severely.
Sam sank into his chair, suddenly looking afraid for his life. "I. . I. . . "
"Answer the question. What. Did. You. Say," She snapped, her eyes narrowing.
And so he explained. He offered up every detail, and he knew almost every word of what had been said. By the time he was finished, Ava looked even more angry, Danny looked almost ashamed at the situation, and Luke looked disappointed.
"You. . ." Luke let out a sigh, shaking his head. "Sam, why would you?"
"We were arguing, he called me lame," He defended weakly, feeling his shoulders begin to collapse under the weight of guilt and self-loathing. Danny practically watched as the last bit of resolve drained out of the defender.
"Oh, he called you lame? So you tell the one who has a bad enough self-esteem as it is that he's unloved? Remember the "Spiderman in Black" that got him so upset? It was because he felt like he wouldn't be enough, and your stupid comment didn't help. Look where it got him. This just proves," She gestured at the bed, and as if on cue, Peter shifted lightly with a small wince, "that you are an idiot, Sam Alexander."
"Why are you getting so defensive about this? You get annoyed with him too, why should it matter?" Sam was desperately looking for some way that he didn't seem like a total monster, but was coming up empty handed. So, instead, he took the route that he always did: Anger. "You can't all judge me for an accident, alright? You've all messed up plenty of times before."
"I'm leaving before I break you," She scoffed, grabbing the wrists of both Danny and Luke. "Come on." Hauling the two other boys out of the room, both of whom were sporting wide eyes, Ava made sure to leave both of the other boys alone.
Sam sat back down, letting his head fall to rest on the bed directly next to Peter's hand, "I've messed up, haven't I?"
((And, another chapter down ^-^ I should add now that this story will stay at a T rating, for anyone who was wondering. I hope you like it, and don't forget to R&R!))