Chapter Text
“Have you lost your mind?” J. Jonah Jameson spat out and shook his head. How could the principal come to him with such a stupid matter? “Are you saying I’m unprofessional? Do you really think I would take my emotions out on a student?”
Principal Wilson raised an eyebrow. He didn’t seem to believe JJJ. Typical! Everyone saw Jameson as the enemy. If there would be a trial, he wouldn’t stand a chance against that Parker kid. Of course, since this was a public school, JJJ wouldn’t have to worry about parents taking conflicts to court. Still, he knew: This was a witch hunt!
Wilson sighed. With an irritating calmness he said: “Listen, Mr. Jameson. I don’t mean to upset you and there’s no need to raise your voice. I was simply wondering how it's possible that you are the only teacher that seems to have a problem with Peter Parker. Everyone else finds him… well… exceptionally awkward but well-behaved.”
“Well-behaved!” JJJ scoffed. “That’s just what he wants you to think. The boy has been disrupting class on a regular basis. He’s always finding new ways to bother me! I mean, he brought a CAT into class. You can’t tell me that is well-behaved! A CAT!!”
Jameson knew kids like Parker. Back in his school days there had been this boy called Trevor Jackson. All the teachers had thought him the perfect student but Jackson and his friends’s favorite pastime had been to bully JJJ. Of course, nobody believed him. Jackson had the best grades, the sweetest frigging smile and, to top it all off, his parents were friends with the principal. Everyone just knew how sweet and perfect Trevor Jackson was.
JJJ had needed a moment to see it, but Parker was just the same. And nobody else would ever see it. Of course not! But JJJ saw! He saw and he let that kid know everyday that he knew what Parker was capable of. Someone had to!
The principal took a deep breath and shook his head. “Alright, Mr. Jameson. You’re clearly too upset. I say we talk about this another day. And I really hope you will remember then that you are the grown-up in this conflict.” Wilson stood up and left.
JJJ sat at his desk, fuming about his boss. Why could nobody – nobody except him – see the truth?
Sam closed the classroom door behind him and tried to calm down. Having a choleric person at a school kept proving a problem. But what could you do?
“You really showed him, huh?”
A dark and raspy voice emerged from behind Sam. He turned around.
“Bucky?”
The dark-haired bad boy with a heart of gold (at least according to some weird, soft voice in Sam’s head) was leaning casually against the wall to JJJ’s classroom. The man gave Sam a small smile, which seemed to be very unpleasant for Bucky, because his smile looked borderline painful. But still, Sam took what he got. Seeing him now, he chose to forget that he called Bucky an asshole in his mind only moments ago. He had kind eyes. He couldn’t be that bad.
“What are you doing here?” Sam asked, and softly dragged him away from the classroom.
Bucky furrowed his brow, which was a surprise, because Sam had assumed his brow had already been furrowed.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. Alpine made a run for it again.” He pointed to the classroom door. “Nice guy.”
Sam nodded. He was at a loss for words. It looked like Bucky could talk after all. So why did he only start now? Sam decided to just ask him.
Bucky’s brow was now the furrowest. “I didn’t have to say anything to you,” he stated as if that was totally normal and Sam was being the weird one here.
“YOU are being the weird one!” Sam muttered, but then calmed himself. It was not like him to get agitated by something so small.
Unfortunately, Bucky seemed to have heard him. “Sorry, I am what?”
“Nothing”, Sam said quickly, looking at the floor. “So uh. Yeah. Your cat. I can help you look for it, if you want to?” It was a reflex. Sam didn’t even know if he wanted to spend more time with this rude… rude yet pretty… but mostly rude man! Alas, Bucky already nodded in agreement. So this was happening now. Slowly, they started walking down the corridor.
“Uh,” Sam started ingeniously. “So why does your cat keep running away?”
“Free spirit, I guess,” Bucky answered with no emotion whatsoever. What was his deal?
“Does it… like you?”
Bucky gave him a deadly glare and Sam wished he hadn’t said anything. “Of course she likes me! She just likes running off more!” His walk got faster and he fell into some kind of strut. Sam might have really pissed him off with that question.
“Uh, sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
“It’s fine.”
It obviously wasn’t fine. Now Sam felt inclined to lighten the mood. He was probably overdoing it, but he didn’t care. So he needed everyone to like him, even broody guys he might despise. So what?
“Well, I for one don’t know why she would run away!” Sam started. Bucky’s strut slowed down a bit. He gave Sam a small look, signaling he listened, then concentrated on his still cat-less surroundings again. “Personally I wouldn’t run away” – oh no – “from this.” – Oh dear. Was Sam flirting? He didn’t even want to, it just happened. He hadn’t noticed until it was too late.
Bucky, thankfully, hadn’t noticed at all. “What do you mean? From what?”
“Uh.” Look at that, Sam had a new catchphrase. “Uhm.” He really had to think of something. Something not flirty. “The, uh, human lifestyle… I guess?”
Bucky hummed doubtfully.
“I mean, not eating mice. That must be worth staying with someone like you, right?”
Bucky stopped and looked at Sam. “I really don’t know if you are joking or just being mean, Sam.” He held Sam’s gaze for some time, then wordlessly turned around and kept looking for the cat.
Sam had the certain feeling he just destroyed what little he had with Bucky by playing unintentional mind games. He wanted to say something to make it better, but couldn’t think of anything because his brain kept replaying the way Bucky had just said his name.
“So that teacher of yours…” Bucky started and Sam took what little he got without hesitation.
“Yeah, he’s… something. He seems to have some personal feud with a student – a nice boy actually. Now I have to deal with it and watch out for the kid. My teacher doesn’t really listen to anyone but I can’t fire him either. It’s not like he would easily get another job at his age…”
Bucky hummed again. “That’s nice. Not everyone can get an early pension and just live in a fancy retirement home on that alone.” It sounded like he talked about someone specific but Sam didn’t dare to ask.
“What’s your job, by the way?” Sam asked instead.
“Mattress tester,” Bucky said.
Sam wasn’t sure if that was a joke. Bucky probably noticed, because he started to explain.
“Basically I sleep and get money for it. It’s weirdly well paid. I know it sounds like a joke. There’s this huge facility where I work and they, the mattress scientist, as they call themselves, let me sleep on all kinds of mattresses. From time to time they wake me up and I have to give my rating. I’ve been doing this for ages. They call me the mattress soldier.”
Sam could just stare at him, while Bucky explained. Then the mattress soldier turned to him and grinned.
“Okay they don’t call me that, but otherwise it’s true.”
Sam chuckled. “A dream job, you could say.”
“Hm yeah, I could but I wouldn’t. That’s a horrible joke.”
Now Sam had to laugh for real. “Okay, sorry for trying, man.”
“You should be, Sam!”
And there it was again: Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam.
Suddenly they heard voices. It was unusual, since it was evening by now and the school mostly deserted.
“No, I swear I get it. The flat is just too small for a cat. I get that, May! I don’t want one anyway, it’s fine.”
Sam recognized Parker’s voice at the same time as the kid and his aunt came around the corner.
“Oh, hello again!” May said with a bright smile, solely reserved for Bucky.
Sam wasn’t sure why, but he suddenly felt a strong dislike for the aunt.
“Oh, hey Mr. Wilson, sir. Uh! Principle!” Parker greeted him eloquently. “I forgot my books in Mr. Jameson’s classroom. But we only realized it halfway home!” He smiled apologetically, as if he had just broken some rules.
Sam hoped JJJ had already left before the kid would come into his classroom but then again May was with him so it was probably JJJ who had to worry.
“Meow!”
Alpine appeared behind Peter’s legs, purring excitedly. With little jumps, accompanied by a few purrs for each one, she made her way to Bucky, who picked her up immediately.
“There she is!” Sam grinned.
Parker looked at Bucky with another apologetic smile.
“Oh, so that’s your cat”, he said. “Sorry, I fed her like once and now she keeps following me.”
Bucky nodded and then glared at his cat. With the voice of a disappointed parent he said: “How could you be this disloyal to me, Alpine?”
“Well, I can’t imagine why anyone would cheat on some hunk like you!” May chimed in without a beat but with a wink. God, that woman was on a mission! Could anyone stop her? Peter Parker certainly tried.
“Ugh, Aunt May, oh god! No, May, stop. That’s… Stop.”
She gave Bucky her widest, most charming smile. “See you around, then.” And then she and Parker left. You could hear her nephew’s whispered reprimands getting quieter and quieter as they took off.
Sam HATED May. That woman… That… That self-obsessed minx! The world didn’t belong to her! And that especially meant dark and handsome strangers with a heart of gold and a cat of white color. Sam turned to Bucky.
“Did you enjoy that?” He asked him, trying to sound casual and playful, probably failing, though, because the question itself gave him away.
Bucky smiled a genuine smile. “I did,” he said.
Sam couldn’t believe it. He actually fell for that… That aunt of… of some problematic kid she couldn’t even raise properly.
“Yeah I really liked it,” said Bucky. “Because it made you jealous.” He chuckled, giving Sam a knowing look.
Sam felt his face heating up. How did Bucky realize? How did he realize before SAM did?
“Jealous??” Sam asked far too loudly.
“Yeah,” Bucky laughed. Alpine meowed happily, probably agreeing with her owner. What a dream team! “So, do you want to give me your number?”