Peter's first memory is of a woman holding him tight.
His eyes were wet and he had a tight grip on her itchy cardigan. A man's voice grumbled in the background, but Peter could only focus on some sort of soothing lullaby the woman was humming.
The melody is lost on him now and he doesn't remember what the man was irritated over.
All he knows is that the woman is his mother. The man, his father.
He doesn't know what they did for work. What they liked to eat, or what their favorite music was.
All that matters is that, one day, they didn't come home.
Peter was left in the husk of the dirty apartment for days. Yet another hazy memory, filled with confusion, fear, and paranoia.
He remembers huddling in the tattered blanket, flinching at every sound- whether it was the skittering sound of a mouse in the walls, the yells of the neighbors next door, or the distant echoes of gunshots.
He knows his Uncle found him three days later, hiding under the plastic fold up table, armed with a steak knife.
Uncle picked him up and carried him home, to a similar apartment- equally as run down.
Aunt May and Uncle Ben became important figures in his life. They taught him, fed him, clothed him, even sent him to school once they got the proper paperwork.
They can't afford the school supplies like books, paper, pencils. That's fine- no one else can, either. Even if they could, Peter would get beat up by the bigger kids and robbed.
He's a wimp, short with thin arms and knobby joints. But he wishes he's bigger, taller, stronger, because if he is, he would never get beat up and he could keep his stuff.
He gets picked on, even when he has nothing, just because the other kids can. He gets pushed, smacked, and kicked all the time. The adults don't care, unless one of the kids has a shank. Besides, he's not the only kid who gets shoved around, either.
He doesn't smile when Dave - who smacked Peter yesterday- gets socked in the face by Clive, who's the biggest kid in the third grade. Peter doesn't smile or even look, because then Dave will punch him in the face for laughing at him. Getting punched in the face is the worst, and only annoying brats get that treatment.
So Peter carefully doesn't share his grades, especially in science class. He likes learning, but if any of them find out that he's any good, they'll punch him in the face for being smarter, then steal his homework and punch him again if he doesn't give it to them. He saw that happen with Sasha, a girl who has nice handwriting and is good at math.
Everyone has to bring food from home, because kids got caught stealing too often.
Those kids got beat up, because now no one can eat good food. If anyone brings anything other than something lame like a salad or an apple, it'll get snatched. So Peter convinces Aunt May that he just really likes celery and makes do without peanut butter.
"Listen," Uncle Ben says, "if you steal something nice, never use it or wear it. Sell it immediately."
He says it so often it may as well be his catchphrase. Along with "Just don't get caught."
Peter strives to live by his uncle's words.
Afterall, Uncle Ben has lived in the slums of Gotham for far longer than Peter has.
So when Katie comes in with a pair of new stolen shoes and some bigger kid takes them -only to find their feet are too big- Peter snatches them when no one was looking. He scampers off to sell them to a pawn shop after school and returns home with an extra twenty dollars.
Uncle Ben congratulates him and then tells Peter that he needs to work on his haggling skills.
Aunt May takes the money and buys more cans of soup and they have a nice dinner.
Peter goes to school the next day nervous. He knows no one saw him- they would have beat him up then, not wait till today- but that didn't help the itching feeling crawling across his neck, down his spine, infecting his stomach. But no one hits him in the morning. No one singles him out at lunch. And no one trips him down the concrete stairs when he leaves to go home.
Life goes on and Peter knows he's lucky.
He doesn't have parents -but neither do half his class- and the ones who took him in don't fight. He's not in the foster system. He gets a meal on the table every night - whether that's a can of beans or soup or, if he's really lucky, a home cooked meal from Aunt May. Their neighbors aren't murderers or sex offenders. That he knows of.
But life is hard and the year passes and he goes from third grade to fourth grade.
Clive is no longer the biggest, that lead goes to Scharlet, who jumped up in height over the summer. Clive is actually in the middle of the pack, now. But he doesn't get picked on any more than anyone else, even though he's punched everyone at least three times last year.
People in school learn not to hold grudges. Whoever's in charge, don't stay there, and they understand that. And people who are the weakest understand that. Because chances are, eventually the positions will switch and the weaker will become strong, and the strong, weak. And then it will change again. If anyone has any 'grudges' over anything, it's dealt with on the spot.
In fourth grade, everyone is a resource. Holding a grudge means burning a bridge to a potential meal or an ally later on.
In fourth grade, kids start grouping up. They copy the example adults set for them. Before, it was a bit of a free-for-all. But in fourth grade, loyalties get established.
Peter was never really friendly with anyone in the previous grades, so it's harder for him. No one knows he's smart or a good thief, because he'd much rather go under the radar than get targeted. But now he needs to show off he was useful or he'll be a loner without backup. That's the worse thing to be because then everyone knows they can pick on him without anyone else picking on them.
But he also doesn't trust anyone enough to open up to them. Maybe Edward? He's a bigger kid, but he never beat up Peter. Maybe Flash? He's also big, and he only sometimes beat up Peter. Maybe Michelle? She was a little creepy, smart, and scared people.
(He asked them later. Edward told him to never call him that again, cause he goes by 'Ned.' Flash didn't care, until Peter showed him his grades. Michelle said the same thing as Ed- Ned- except she threatened to break his knees if he didn't call her 'MJ.')
In fourth grade, kids have already accepted that they'll end up just like their parents - in small time gangs, or even henchmen for one of Batman's rogues.
They don't believe there are any other options. So they start early.
Peter likes to think he's different from the other kids. He's good at science, he doesn't want to cause anyone trouble- least of all Batman, who he hears breaks knees when he's angry, and any form of henchmen cause trouble for him.
But even Uncle Ben, a regular worker, does pick-pocketing on the side.
So when the teacher asks them what they want to be when they grow up, he writes down 'engineer,' and it's not even a lie, unlike how Patty wrote 'chemist' when she really meant 'drug manufacturer.' Everyone knows drug labs are the source of Gotham's slums' economy. Peter knows that Patty's science grades aren't good enough for her to become a 'chemist.'
Peter became a little bold with the idea that he had backup - friends - and Patty heard him mumble the insult under his breath.
And suddenly he's in a face off against Patty's buddies during recess. Flash is there, because he has to protect his steadily increasing homework grades. MJ is there because 'she wants to find out how breaking a nose feels.' Ned is there because... Because. Peter doesn't really understand why Ned is there.
It's a face down, and it'll prove that Peter's group aren't pushovers, something very important to prove in fourth grade.
No one knows who won, even though everyone was watching. There isn't really a winner, if everyone gets beat up.
Peter goes home covered in bruises, a black eye and a split lip. But he's grinning because Ned, MJ and even Flash were all there.
Aunt May worries over him. She didn't grow up in Gotham, so she wasn't used to all the violence. Peter had no idea how she met Uncle Ben, but they loved each other so it didn't really matter.
Uncle Ben, meanwhile, looks at him with a knowing glint in his eyes and wrapped Peter's knuckles.
"You gotta find people who won't ever snitch on you for anything." Uncle Ben advised him.
"Not even to Batman?" Everyone snitched to Batman.
"Not even to Batman."
Peter doesn't think he'll ever find someone who won't snitch to the Dark Knight, but he thinks he might be safe from at least the teachers with Flash, MJ, and Ned.
. . .
Fourth grade ends with a big skirmish, because they can't get in trouble on the last day. It's a lot of fun, even with the pain of bruises and split lips. With the chaos of the brawl, Peter managed to sneak around and snag a few things that look valuable.
Peter shares his loot with Flash, MJ, and Ned because they covered his back in the fight.
They all want to hang out over the Summer. The main problem is that their parents/guardians are either jerks, busy, or absent to watch them. So they can't meet up at each other's houses.
They all agree to meet near the public library. No one ever goes there, because it's just plain books. Any computer stuff is ancient and therefore useless. And the books are just as useless to make money off of because who's going to buy free books? And the people who do go to the library are flat broke, so they aren't good targets for thieves.
All in all? A perfect place for a quartet of kids to hang out in.
(Flash doesn't agree, but he's a blockhead who hates anything to do with books and is outvoted three to one.)
Peter looks up at the gothic window covers, made of black metal and full of spikes. There's a small book image on the glass. The walls have a few filled in holes from random gang fights. Peter exhales and swings the door open with a rattling creak that says the hinges hadn't been oiled sense the day it was built.
The library is a relatively small building. But it's stuffed full with shelves full of books. It's disorganized and messy and a bit of a labyrinth. The books for entertainment aren't anything special and the rest of the books are either dusty textbooks or old newspapers.
A dinky rusted bell weakly announces his presence, like the hinges didn't already. Peter spots Ned in the entrance of one of the aisles.
His head pops up and his eyes dart around anxiously. Ned's gaze falls on Peter and he visibly calms down. He waves and Peter walks over to him. Peter glances over to where the librarian is supposed to be, but she's leaned back in her chair with a book on her nose. Clearly sleeping on the job.
"Hey, Peter," Ned whispers, glancing over to the sleeping librarian. He's holding a book with a worn cover.
"Hey, Ned. What'cha reading?"
"Oh," Ned glances down at the tattered spine. "It's called 'Star Wars.' I heard my Pa talk about it once."
"Is it any good?"
Ned shrugs. "I haven't started reading it-"
They hear a thump and freeze. Peter's head swivels around until he discovers the source. The librarian's book fell from her nose. She's still passed out. They relax.
"-yet." Ned continues slowly. "I'm trying to find the first book."
"Good luck with that. Libraries never have a complete series."
Peter and Ned both jump and whirl around.
MJ is standing further in the aisle, concealed by the shadows of the bookcases and the overall bad lighting. She smiles, but it's more of a smirk.
"You can't do that to me," Ned shudders.
"Don't be a wuss." She walks closer, casually yanking a book from the shelf. She hands it to Ned, revealing that the book is the first in the series.
Peter eyes her warily. MJ is always unpredictable. That was pretty cool, though.
"It's a cult classic," MJ explains. "It got overshadowed by Star Trek when it first came out, though." She wrinkles her nose. "They don't even have that much in common, other than the fact they're both set in space."
Peter perks up. "It's set in space?"
Peter doesn't know a lot about space, other than how big it is and if anyone went into it without the proper equipment they would definitely die. Unless they're Superman or something, because apparently aliens are immune to freezing to death and don't need air. The concept that a story is set in space is interesting to him.
"It's called Star Wars." MJ raises an eyebrow "What did you expect?"
Peter flushes and doesn't respond, knowing there is no right answer other than 'Sorry, I'm dumb.' And he's not about to admit that, since he's supposed to be smart. If he's not smart, why else would they keep him around? He's good at sneaking around but...
The front door creaks open, and in comes Flash. He stomps his way over with a huff.
"Why'd we have to meet up at a stupid library, anyway?" He loudly complains.
"Quiet down!" Ned shushes, glancing over at the sleeping librarian.
MJ rolls her eyes. "You just hate anything that has to do with books. It's not like we're making you read."
Yeah. Peter calms down. They definitely need him for stealth stuff. Ned and Flash can't sneak around to save their life. MJ? Maybe. She's unpredictable, like he said.
"C'mon, I have the perfect spot." MJ leads them into the disorganized labyrinth of shelves. It's dark and dusty, and Ned and Flash both sneeze a total of twenty eight times.
"Hey, MJ?" Ned whispers. "You're not secretly a murderer, are you? 'Cause if you're trying to lead us away so they won't hear us when we die, I don't think anyone is going to find our bodies."
Peter looks over at him, horrified. "Dude."
Flash laughs at their fear.
MJ shrugs, because she enjoys sowing chaos.
They make it to a secluded nook that seems a little cleaner and has a cozier atmosphere. It has a few cushions on the floor and a lamp with a light bulb that flickers every now and then. There aren't any windows near, which makes Peter relax because that means there isn't anyone who can spy on them.
They hang out for most of the day. Ned starts reading the Star Wars book. Flash complains about the dust. MJ spouts trivia that Peter really doesn't need to know.
Peter relaxes in the company of people he thinks he can trust.