Peter's grades are falling and he's failing his tests. He lost the title of "class topper" a long time ago, now he's struggling with keeping up with his new classes. Sure, he gets a whole lot of support from Mr. Stark, but that just gives him more reasons for hating himself for what's happening.

Peter had always been a bright kid. Some teased him with nicknames- nerd, son of Einstein, math god, physics wizard etc etc.

He was even titled "Class topper" in his middle school years.

So then why was he struggling now?

He finally got the option to choose the subjects he liked and that would help him with his career and he couldn't be happier. Studying subjects you're forced and despise from the bottom of your heart isn't exactly an ideal situation.

He loved physics, math... usual subjects kids his type would like, and he was happier than ever when he was assigned classes for the subjects he actually wanted to study and not have to study.

"I chose this, then why is it so hard?"

His problems began when he entered the new academic year, his previous year was a blast, he'd managed to get a perfect score in almost every exam, and he thought he could do that this year too.

But boy was he wrong.

Initially, when he started studying, the chapters seemed fairly easy, a few laws, proofs, problems, it got a bit hard here and there but it wasn't that hard.

He thought it would be like his previous year, he would understand everything the teacher taught, become a star pupil in their class, study at his own pace and score well on his exams. So he let half the year fly by thinking just that.

He faced problems, he couldn't solve questions related to the concept sometimes but that happens to everyone and "it probably won't even be tested" he told himself.

So then the exams came by, and he went in there, confident that he would know everything, got stuck at a few places while solving questions but no big deal, right?

30%

That was how much he had scored after the exams, he went from a perfect score of 100 to a 30 faster than he could swing through New York City.

Mr. Stark, through his vast resources and connections, inevitably found out and he was not pleased to see the kid's grades drop so low in a matter of few months.

He was disappointed, but also worried about the kid's future and his studies, so he hired tutors and professors to teach the kid in hopes that he would be able to bring his grades back up.

And Peter tried, he really did, he tried to understand the tuition teachers, practiced plenty, took tests after tests and everything seemed to finally look up-

60%

The grade on his mock finals, the last exams before his finals.

He didn- couldn't understand where he went wrong.

Though he suspected it might have been the fact that he had realized really late what a huge mistake he had made choosing the subjects he chose.

And that it was too late to change anything.

So now he was in the bathroom, crying his eyes out, not sure of his outcome and scared for his life. Cursing himself, wishing he were literally anywhere else where he wouldn't have to face these problems.

He didn't have much time before his finals, and he certainly didn't have the courage to tell Mr. Stark that despite all his investments, he had disappointed him. Again.

He couldn't tell him, he would take away his suit, for good, and that was the only thing keeping him sane right now, his Spider-man duties, the only thing that gave him happiness, cause he had lost every other source of it.

He used to love exams, cause he knew he would ace them. It had been a source of happiness and pride for him. He would come home and show his report card to May and she would pat him on the head, say "good job" and if the situation presented itself, they would go get ice- cream and celebrate.

And after Mr. Stark had come to know him, it was even better, not that May's words of affirmation weren't enough, but the kid finally had someone similar to father figure he could make proud. The look of pride on Tony's face when his kid performed well was worth the world, and despite Peter's insistence:

"Mr. Stark, I really don't need a new laptop, my current one works just fine-"

"Ah- ah- ah, no excuses, you've earned this besides, I've seen your laptop, the only thing keeping it together is duct tape and your stubbornness at refusing gifts"

"It's not that bad"

"Oh really?"

"Ok, maybe it is, but seriously Mr. Stark I really don't need a new device-"

"It's a gift, an award for your achievements, and you don't decline gifts"

"I- alright Mr. Stark, just this once"

"One of many"

"MR. STARK!"

He would get him multiple gifts and celebrate his kid's achievements so much, they would even have movie nights and lab days after, talking about things they both liked and generally have fun.

What he wouldn't give to experience those moments again.

Because now, his exams had become a barrier in his happiness, sucking the joy out of his life, a thing he dreaded and resented miserably.

And he knew he was past ever looking up to Tony as a "father- figure", he wouldn't be surprised if the man straight up blocked him out of his life. He was a busy person, and Peter was pretty sure a kid with low grades would not be a priority to him.

And that scared him.

Because he admired Mr. Stark, looked up to him, followed him, wanted to do everything he could to impress him.

But now, a few stupid scores were here to decide his future with the man he was so comfortable with.

As much as he wanted to blame his marks for everything that was happening, he knew he couldn't. It was his fault after all, he thought he could do everything with no help, he thought he could ace his papers and make everyone proud.

And honesty, he didn't even deserve Mr. Stark, no, the man really should block him out of his life.

He wasn't meant to be in it.

He didn't deserve to be in it.

And then he stayed there, in the bathroom, crying harder, not sure on what to do or how to break the bad news, cause he didn't need his spidey sense to tell him of the outcome.

And he wasn't ready to face it...

A/N: So Peter's a student, a good one too for that matter, and I haven't really read any fanfics yet portraying his life as a student. So I thought I would try writing about it, it's not the best, but it's something.

Also, I do not mean in any way that exam results define your character or tell you your worth, if you get a bad grade, learn from your mistakes, see how you can overcome them and try not to repeat them again. Don't stress yourself for the mistakes you made, you can't change them, the best thing you can do is learn from them. Don't think you don't deserve good things just because you didn't score well, it happens to the best of people.

I just wanted to write Peter's POV of entering a new academic year and his struggles throughout, this his view of himself.

Hope you enjoyed this one-shot and I'll see you in the next one.

Lydian out!