Chapter Text
Mondays.
The epitome of evil.
Mondays were Peter’s worst days, similar to so many others, but Peter couldn’t put into words how much he hated Mondays.
Mondays were not only the day that school began again for the new week, but it was also Peter’s longest day. Peter had school from 8-3, and afterwards, he had decathlon practice until 5. After decathlon practice, Peter had patrol (if May asks, he’s at Ned’s at this time).
Not to mention that Peter’s especially tired on Mondays due to Saturday and Sunday, Peter’s favorite days, which are the days that Peter spends the weekend at the Avengers Tower. Peter’s weekend generally consists of a mixture of training, lab work with Mr. Stark and occasionally Dr. Banner, and lounging around with the Avengers.
The events of the weekend always left Peter tired on his Monday return to school, however, he always felt like it was worth it. Because who would turn down hanging out with the Avengers? Not Peter, that’s who!
But on this particular Monday, Peter felt an even deeper hatred for the day. He couldn’t tell why, because he was in a fantastic mood yesterday and before he went to bed. Peter shrugged internally, figuring he was just having an off day.
“Peter!” Jumping out of his reverie at the sound of his best friend’s voice, Peter spun around with a huge smile planted on his face.
“Ned! How’s it going?” Peter asked as Ned approached him with a smile to equal his.
“Great! My mom took me out yesterday to buy more hats to build my confidence. I just think that hats are the best added accessory to any wardrobe, don’t you think? And best part, everyone can pull them off!”
The two young boys walked side to side through the bustling hallway as they headed to class.
Peter smiled softly at his friend’s antics. “Yeah, they’re great. You’ll have to show me next time I come over!”
“And when are you coming over next? I know you come over everyday,” Ned said with air-quotes. “But when can you really? My parents miss you, man!”
Peter twinged slightly with guilt. Being a superhero, student, teammate, mentee, nephew, and friend all at once was not easy to balance. But he knew that his friend was important too, and he had to make time for him soon.
“Sorry! It’s just super hectic, but I promise to come over sometime in these next few weeks alright?” Peter said apologetically, but Ned was never one to get upset or hold grudges, smiling and nodding happily.
Before they could really continue their conversation, they made it to the doorway of their classroom and headed to their seats, preparing for class to begin.
Once school was over, Peter wanted nothing more than to head home and take a nice, long nap.
But unfortunately, he had decathlon practice straight after and he knew that if he came in late one more time, MJ would rip his head off. Probably literally.
“You’re on time for once, Parker,” MJ mentioned right as he walked in the room, and Peter could hear Flash snicker under his breath and mumble something. Ignoring him completely, Peter went over to his spot next to Ned, and usually, Abe.
But this time, a person Peter didn’t recognize was in his place, talking animatedly with Cindy on his right.
Peter merely nodded and offered MJ a slight smile, to which she turned away from, but there remained a slight upward turn of her lips as she did so.
“Hey, what happened to Abe?” Peter whispered over to Ned, who opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by MJ’s surprisingly loud voice.
“Alright, nerds. Glad you all could make it to practice on time,” Her gaze lingered a little longer on Peter who gave a sheepish smile. “As you might’ve noticed, Abe did not grace us with his wonderful presence,” The nonchalant sarcasm that seemed permanently instilled in MJ’s voice laid emphasis on the world ‘wonderful’, “And that is because he had some family emergency that made him leave the state. In his place, we got new kid Skip Westcott filling in.”
The name sent a jolt throughout Peter’s body, and Peter felt the low hymn of his spider senses reacting, but Peter had no idea why. The name sounded... familiar, but he couldn’t place his finger on it.
MJ gestured over to the boy sitting on Peter’s right, and Skip flashed everyone a smile and wave.
“Hey, guys. Thanks for having me and thanks, MJ, was it? For welcoming this new kid in.” His tone held a whole lot of charm and charisma, and Peter could see that all the girls (excluding MJ) were swooning over him.
Peter could only see the side profile of Skip’s face for most of the practice, and each time he got a look, it was fleeting because Peter didn’t want to seem creepy by staring at the guy for too long.
But something about this Skip dude struck a nerve in Peter. And that bothered him, because Peter was never one to judge anyone before he knew them, but it didn’t help that his Spidey-senses were slightly on alert when it came to him.
What Peter got out of that practice with Skip part of the team was the Skip was a, very charming and confident but not in a Flash sort of way, b, very intelligent and eloquent by the way he answered MJ’s questions, and c, very good with girls. Peter could’ve sworn that he made MJ smile slightly, and that was a huge accomplishment for anyone, much less a new kid that she just met.
At the end of the practice when MJ dismissed them, Peter accidentally knocked Skip’s water bottle down.
His spider senses screamed at him to catch it before it hit the ground, but Peter, not wanting to raise any suspicions, let it fall before picking it up.
“Sorry about that!” He apologized, handing over the bottle to Skip, who he was able to see fully for the first time.
Again, something in Peter twinged, and he felt his senses get slightly more kicked up a notch but he still couldn’t figure out why.
For a moment, everything was still, because the smile that Skip had on his face immediately dropped out of shock when he caught sight of Peter’s face, but returned when Peter only gave him a confused look.
“That’s alright, buddy. Peter, right? Good to see you,” Skip clicked his tongue at him and smiled at Ned, who was now standing beside Peter, before turning around and heading out with his new group of fans, Cindy and Flash.
Peter remained standing, his eyebrows furrowed, because his voice sounded so familiar. Everything about him seemed so familiar all of a sudden, but he still couldn’t place where he came from.
And for some reason, Peter was unnerved by the way Skip first looked at him, and how he told Peter “good to see you” rather than “nice to meet you.”
Don’t people only really say “good to see you” when they’ve seen that person at least once before?
“Hey, you good?” His best friends voice once again shook him out of his thoughts, and Peter nodded.
“Yeah, I’m alright.”
Ned gave Peter a look that said ‘I don’t believe you,’ but he dropped it anyway and the two headed out for the day.
‘Hey, kid. How was your day? Clint couldn’t shut up today about how you beat him at Mario-Kart yesterday because you “cheated.” I think you hurt the poor old man’s heart.’
Peter’s phone pinged, and he read the message from his mentor and quite possibly his favorite person on earth, alongside Aunt May and Ned.
It had become an everyday occurrence for Peter and Tony to text each other everyday if they’re not able to physically see each other that day, and to just update each other on what was happening.
Peter would never tell Tony (because Tony always got somewhat flustered when Peter was being “cheesy”) but those texts are what Peter looked forward to the most everyday.
Something in Peter itched to tell Mr. Stark about his peculiar experience today, but ultimately decided not to, because he was sure it was nothing. Like he told himself earlier in the day, he’s probably just having an off day.
He kept up the conversation with his mentor until Mr. Stark realized that it was past 12:00AM and forced Peter to stop texting him and go to sleep, to which Peter appeased him by saying he would, when in reality Peter knew he wouldn’t be able to get much sleep.
He couldn’t help his mind from wandering to Skip. Thinking about him made Peter feel queasy, and thus frustrated, because Peter couldn’t for the life of him figure out what it is that made Skip seem so threatening to him.
Groaning and throwing his head deep into his pillow, Peter tried to block those thoughts out of his head and go to sleep.
An uneasy sleep came to Peter within a few hours, and he drifted off to sleep, dreaming about unwanted touches and charming voices, before completely forgetting about it when he woke the next morning.