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Everyone is silent as they watch Peter walk into the science classroom.
Peter doesn't seem to notice them, too caught up in his own world to. But they notice him.
They notice the tears trailing down his cheeks, the redness of his eyes, the puffy face, the dark circles under his eyes. They notice it all.
Everyone knows who Peter really is, they all know what he went through. And honestly, they feel so bad for him. Worse than one might suspect they would.
It's not like they're stepping on eggshells around him but . . . in a way they kind of are. Only to make sure not to trigger him. They haven't talked about it with one another, it's sort of an unspoken thing. Don't trigger the boy that helped save the world.
And then Ned and MJ create a Discord server.
Everyone seems to get the message at the same time, the teacher not even noticing the way all their phones beep and buzz at the same time.
They all accept the invite, reading what MJ and Ned have already written.
HELPING SPIDER-MAN
└➤ CHAT
MJ
we all don't know what happened when peter went up to space. but, it couldn't have been good.
Ned
this server is for helping peter after everything that happened. alright?
Betty
sounds good! :)
Abe
of course.
Cindy
yup.
MJ
ty. and thx to everyone else that has already started adding more ppl to this server.
Ned
flash? u in?
Flash
fine. but only for spider-man. not for penis.
__________________
"Not all old movies are bad." Betty reasons with Abe, hands on her hips. "Look at Grease, Breakfast At Tiffany's, etcetera."
Abe rolls his eyes. "There are so many other horrible movies."
Peter pulls at his hoodies sleeves, trying the best he can to follow this conversation without getting lost in his own thoughts. He quickly wiped at his nose with a sniff, his gaze shifting from Abe and then back to Betty, awaiting her response.
"Like what?" Betty cocks an eyebrow.
"Footloose, for one." Abe fires back.
Exactly like Footloose. Is it still the greatest movie in history?
It never was.
Don't encourage this, alright?
Okay.
Peters breath catches in his throat, not going unnoticed by the other two students.
Swallowing, Peter can only seem to hear how loud his heart beat is and feel how hot it seems to be in the classroom. His hands shake as they pull his hood down and brush his hair back.
He's trapped in his own mind, the classroom around him starting to swirl and blend into a big clump of colours and shapes.
But, soon, he's brought back to reality.
There's a warm hand on his shoulder, he knows that much. There's also faraway voices speaking to him, trying to get him to really hear them.
"Peter." Betty's voice echos in Peter's head. "You're in the science classroom. You're alright."
"I'm sorry." Abe's voice says now more clear than before. "Are you okay?"
Peter sucks in a breath, reaching up to wipe the water from his face. Now, he's finally able to focus on what's around him. Well, more than before at least.
He clears his throat while pulling his hood back up. Offering a curt nod, Peter races from the room, not even asking for permission from the teacher.
Abe and Betty immediately pull out their phones.
HELPING SPIDER-MAN
└➤ TRIGGERS
Betty
don't mention the movie footloose around peter.
Abe
he almost had a panic attack.
MJ
got it
.
Ned
it's just a silly movie
Flash
ya, that movie sucksssss👏
__________________
HELPING SPIDER-MAN
└➤ TRIGGERS
MJ
so far what's on the list?
Betty
footloose
titan
iron man (aka tony stark)
dust
space
the blip
Betty looks up from her phone, over at the bathroom door.
Peter had just ran in there followed by Ned and Abe. Unfortunately MJ isn't in their history class and doesn't know what's going on right now.
It wasn't the worst panic attack but at the same time it wasn't great. No one had even noticed him beginning to panic before it was too late and he was racing out of the class.
Sighing, Betty returns to the chat.
HELPING SPIDER-MAN
└➤ TRIGGERS
Betty
don't mention anything about the other avengers.
└➤ CHAT
MJ
what happened?
Betty
he hasn't seen them since what happened. he doesn't want to be reminded of them.
MJ
ok. thx.
__________________
HELPING SPIDER-MAN
└➤ CHAT
Betty
where's peter?
MJ
he's in my class.
he said he didn't feel well. but he showed up anyway.
Cindy
is it bc of what happened yesterday?
Ned
probably, may says he wasn't himself the rest of the night.
Sally
let's just try not talking about movies anymore, a lot of them seem to set him off.
MJ
good idea.
"Who are you messaging?" Peter practically whispers, half heartedly trying to look over MJ's shoulder.
"No one." She smiles tightly, shutting her phone off. "Do you feel better now?"
"Yeah." Peter sniffles, rubbing at his tired eyes. "I took some medicine."
"Doesn't regular medicine not work with your fast metabolism?" MJ questions.
"Well, Tony figured it out for me." Peter says this before he even realizes that he's speaking.
Once he's done, his eyes widen and he immediately jumps from his seat and races out the class door. By now all the teachers know what's up and just let him leave.
Today their teacher hasn't even shown up.
They soon realizes why when a substitute teacher walks into the room, immediately going to write his name up on the board.
Peter -- who had returned by now -- watches with the rest of the class as the man prepares for his lesson. It doesn't take him too long, though the class has already started discussing other things -- things that don't fall on Peter's trigger list.
"Hello, I'm Mr. Greene!" The substitute teacher smiles and claps his hands together excitedly. This loud gesture catches everyone's attention. "Today we're gonna learn about Titan!"
The whole class is silent as they all slowly look over at Peter. They try to do it nonchalantly but it doesn't work out so well. Which they don't care about when they see the tears in Peter's eyes.
Everything happens so fast.
Everyone jumps from their chairs and starts yelling at the teacher, all of them clearly furious with the mention of Titan. Peter is surprised, wiping his tears away before standing up as well to see what's going on.
"Why would you say that?"
"Are you dumb?!"
"We don't want to learn about Titan!"
"You should just leave!"
All different shouts are yelled out and Peter can't help but smile. Because he knows why they're doing this. He really does. He sees it on all of their faces.
They're doing this because . . . .
If Spider-Man is going to protect New York, the least they can do is try to protect Spider-Man.