Chapter Text
The sound of Peter's alarm blaring was not a welcome sound. He kept his face buried in his raggy pillow and reached out an arm, blindly slapping it around on his nightstand until it landed on the snooze button, silencing the obnoxious noise.
Peter turned his head to the side, looking at the bright red numbers displayed on the clock, reading 6:40 in the morning. He felt his heart sinking with dread and couldn’t stop the frown pulling at his lips and sting behind his eyes.
There was a reason for Peter's feelings, of course. So much had happened over the summer that led to this very moment in his life. It started with an argument between Peter and his Uncle Ben, leading to Peter running away and Ben coming to look for him, which resulted in one robber running into the wrong person and panicking, doing the first thing they thought to do which was pull the trigger and run.
Ben was murdered all because of him and he carried that guilt with him.
Now Peter was halfway across the city, living with some stranger he was supposed to call his foster father when the man was nothing of the sort, attending his first day at a new school where he didn’t know anybody. So it made sense why he was miserable.
Peter sat up in the bed that felt like a literal rock, the mattress hard and covered in different coloured stains that Peter didn’t want to figure out were. He was allowed to bring some of his stuff from his and Ben's apartment, he had mainly just grabbed his clothes, a few pictures of Ben, Peter, and Bens ex, May, his star wars action figures, a few posters, some books, and his old laptop.
His foster father, David, was a drunk grubby older man who only took Peter for the money that he would be given. He didn’t give a single shit about the boy and if Peter ever stepped out of line he learned that David wasn’t opposed to laying his hands on him, violently, the bruises on his arms were proof of that.
Peter stood and stretched his arms over his head, feeling his shirt lift a bit to expose his stomach which gave a prolonged growl. David also didn’t care about feeding Peter, only ever making dinner for himself the nights that he wasn’t passed out drunk on the couch. Peter would have to shuffle through the fridge until he found something to feed himself but having to ask permission from David if he was allowed whatever he’d picked.
Last night Peter had just made some canned soup that tasted like it was a few months past its expiry date.
Peter crouched down and pulled out the bin of clothes under his bed, picking out a pair of jeans and a red oversized sweatshirt. After getting changed he cracked open the door, peaking out to see if David was out there. Once he saw that David was passed out on the couch he slipped down the hall and into the bathroom to use the toilet and brush his teeth and hair.
Peter slipped back into his room and packed his school books into his backpack. Hoisting it over his shoulder and closing his door quietly behind him before he tiptoed to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and winced when he heard David grumble in his sleep, the beer bottle slipping out of his hand and luckily landing on the cushion beside him.
The teen grabbed an apple and made his way to the door, making quick work of putting his shoes on and leaving, closing the door behind him and walking down the few steps and onto the sidewalk.
Peter took a deep breath of the fresh air that wasn’t poisoned with the smell of cigarettes, unlike the house. Pulling out his phone he smiled at seeing that Ned had messaged him as well as Gwen, wishing him good luck on his first day at the new school and telling him they missed him.
He also saw that MJ had messaged him, leaving a simple ‘don't get beat up on the first day nerd’.
Peter chuckled and responded with a thumbs-up emoji.
The walk to school wasn’t too long, about 30 minutes at least. He walked across the football field, making sure to stick to the edge, not wanting to be tackled by any jocks whether it was on purpose or accident.
Peter kept his head down and focused on the music playing through his headphones, only taking them out when he got to the entrance of the school. The halls were crowded with excited and or miserable kids, some excited to be back in school and others wishing to be anywhere else.
The sixteen-year-old took in his unfamiliar surroundings, the lockers were painted beige and the walls were white. Peter thought that it didn’t look that far off from what he imagined a prison looked like. While Peter was distracted taking everything in he suddenly felt something in front of him and promptly tripped over it, landing on his knees with a wince and holding his hands out to stop himself from face planting.
Peter looked up to see who had tripped him and saw a boy with messy light brown hair and whiskey eyes walking away while looking back at him. He wore a muscle shirt that showed off his defined muscles that definitely did not make Peter jealous. Peter also noticed that he had a scar that stretched from his forehead and down putting a slit in his brow, down his cheek, and ending at the corner of his mouth, he wore a grin on his face and was laughing only to stop when he saw Peter's face.
He seemed to give Peter a once over and shook his head, turning and blending into the crowd. Peter looked around to see that no one paid attention to him or bothered to help, instead, stepping around him. Peter pushed himself up to his feet and wiped off his hands.
That was an odd experience.
Peter looked at the timetable he was given and saw that his first class was English. By the time that the bell rang announcing class starting Peter was panicking, running through the halls and searching for his class frantically. The halls were empty by the time he found his class and he paused outside the classroom door, taking a moment to catch his breath before grabbing the handle and pushing open the door.
The teacher who had been in the middle of talking to the class stopped and turned to look at Peter, his mouth open and ready to scold him for being late to class only to stop when he saw who it was.
“Ah, Mr. Parker. I assume you got lost? I’ll give you a free pass this time since it’s your first day.” The man welcomes and urges Peter over.
Peter walked over to the man and stood at his side, his hands fiddling with the hem of his sweatshirt, keeping his eyes down not wanting to see everyone staring at him.
“Everyone, this is Peter, he’s a new student here at Midtown so I expect you to all give him a warm welcome. Everybody say hi,” he introduced and there were bored mumbles of greeting, some kinder than others but most lacking any sort of warmness that the teacher had been talking about.
Peter looked over the class and gave an awkward wave. He felt his heart stutter when his eyes locked with familiar brown ones, the boy who’d tripped him in the hallway raised a brow that looked far from friendly when he saw Peter looking at him.
Peter’s cheeks flushed and he looked away quickly.
“Parker, you'll be sitting next to Mister Wilson over there for tomorrow,” He pointed over to where the guy who had tripped him was sitting and Peter felt his heart squeeze in fear at being sat next to the brute. “But for today can I please have a volunteer to give Peter a tour around the school?” he hummed and looked over the class, one hand shot up and Peter looked over to see a brunette wearing shades with coloured lenses on, his feet were kicked up onto the desk comfortably.
“Mister Stark, thank you, take your shoes off the desk please and go show Mister Parker around. Don’t worry about missing any work since today we’re just going to get to do some getting to know each other activities.” The teacher nodded in thanks and the Stark kid stood up, popping his gum as he walked over to Peter.
“You got it, 'teach,” he smirked and clapped a hand on Peter's shoulder, giving him a grin and turning him to push him out the door. Peter looked back to see that Wilson was staring at him intently, his eyes boring into Peters and it made him shiver as he walked out of the classroom.
Stark closed the classroom door behind him and turned to Peter letting out an exaggerated sigh. He took off his glasses and clipped them onto the collar of his shirt, giving Peter a once over. He was taller than Peter by a few inches but not by much.
“Thank god, I was worried that I was going to have to do that cheesy introducing yourself to other kids who don't give a crap who you are activity. Seriously, we’re sixteen. Why are they still making us do that?” he groaned and began walking down the hall, Peter was quick to catch up to him. The boy turned to him and raised a brow.
“Oh yeah, I’m Tony by the way.”
“I’m P-”
“Peter, yeah, I know. The teacher introduced you to the class, remember?” Tony smirked in amusement, watching as Peter flushed and looked down at his shoes.
“R-Right, yeah, sorry.” he stuttered, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. Tony suddenly huffed out a laugh which made Peter look up. Tony was looking at him in bewilderment.
“Jeez, kid. How have you not been beaten up yet? You’re literally every bully's target, we’re gonna have to work on that.” he chuckled. And Peter frowned, ignoring how Tony called him ‘kid’ even when they were the same age.
“Well I was tripped this morning so does that count?” Peter offered with a sheepish laugh. Tony raised a brow
“Oh yeah? By who? Did you see?” He questioned.
“Yeah, it was the Wilson guy,” Peter said and frowned when Tony winced, hissing as if he had been burnt.
“Yikes, you don't want to make yourself that guy's target, I’m surprised he only tripped you and didn’t just skip straight to the beat down.” Tony whistled. “Listen, there are two people in this school that you should stay clear of. Number one is Wade Wilson, he is unpredictable and coo coo, there are rumours of how he got that gnarly scar but no one knows the real story, rumour is that he got it in juvie.” Tony said dramatically and that did nothing to calm Peter’s nerves, he stared at Tony with wide eyes and Tony laughed.
“I did say rumour right? No one knows so don’t believe everything people tell you. Anyway, the second person you should avoid is Flash Thompson. He's as dumb as a rock but he's strong and mean, so avoid him as best as you can. You’re his exact type that he likes to bully and beat the living shit out of. And you don’t even have to do anything, if he so much as lays eyes on you then you’re doomed so good luck, kiddo.” He explained and Peter’s jaw dropped a bit, his steps faltering.
“Well that's… comforting?” he choked and Tony chuckled.
The rest of the period was Tony showing him around the school, showing him the main places such as the gym, office, library, etc. He brought Peter to the office to help him get a locker assigned to him, just as they finished that the bell rang signalling the next class.
“Well, it was nice meeting ya, Pete. Remember what I said,” he saluted Peter and blended into the crowded halls. Peter sighed and made his way to the locker that he was assigned, putting his backpack inside and grabbing the books for his next class.
—
The next class flew by and it was lunch now. Peter was able to remember the way Tony showed him to the Cafeteria. He grabbed the apple and a book from his backpack before making his way to the cafeteria.
His stomach was rumbling by the time he got to the cafeteria and he winced at the feeling of hollowness. He hadn’t eaten breakfast and he was starving, the hunger had gone away while he was distracted with his classes.
Luckily David had managed to get him a card that students would use when they couldn’t afford their lunches. David could afford Peter’s lunches, he just didn’t bother to feed him and thought it’d be easier if he got Peter the card that gave him a select choice of food in the cafeteria.
Peter waited in the line at the counter, a tray in his hand and the card in his other hand and the book tucked under his arm. He walked up to the lunch lady and held out the card for her to scan, she gave him a judgmental look that made Peter want to curl into himself and hide.
She filled his tray and called ‘next’. Peter looked around the cafeteria until he found a corner with an empty table and made his way over, keeping his eyes down and shrinking into himself to not draw any attention.
He sat down at the table and opened his book to where he had the bookmark. Peter read for a bit and picked at his food, taking a few bites out of his apple. Suddenly he felt something hit the back of his head and froze. He waited, another thing hit his head and landed on the table, he saw that it was a crumpled up paper.
He risked looking behind him to see who was trying to get his attention. When he turned around he saw a table full of people looking at him, and Tony holding another crumpled-up paper, hand poised to throw it at him. He saw Peter look over and smirked, waving him over.
Peter hesitated but closed his book, marking which page he was on, and grabbing his tray. He walked over to the table and stood in front of it, wanting to squirm under the many eyes that were on him as he approached.
“Hiya, Pete. Come sit with us!” he greeted and patted the bench beside him. Peter smiled and sat down beside Tony, the boy slinging an arm over his shoulder and pulling him close.
“Everyone, this is Peter. He’s a newbie here.” Tony introduced Peter to everyone and they all smiled and waved, Peter felt himself relax at that.
“Hi, newbie. Welcome to Midtown High, the school of freaks.” one of the boys said. A girl with reddish-brown hair beside him slapped his arm with a playful smile.
“Sam, his name is Peter, not newbie.” she scolded playfully with a slight hint of an accent in her voice, before turning to look at Peter, reaching her hand across the table for him to shake. “Hi, Peter! I’m Wanda and this is Pietro, my twin.” She introduced herself and the other boy to her left. Peter smiled and shook her hand, waving at Pietro who nodded his head in greeting.
Everyone introduced themselves, there was Tony who seemed to be the ‘leader’ of the group, Sam who was the jokester, Wanda who was soft and sweet, Pietro who was also a jokester though not as much as Sam, Natasha who Peter recognized was in his period 2 class, Bucky who seemed very quiet and observant, and Scott who was very energetic and funny.
Peter got comfortable around his new friends and listened to them all tease each other and bicker playfully. Sam seemed to love tormenting Bucky who would glare at him and joke back every once in a while.
Peter let himself get distracted and looked around the cafeteria, his eyes landed on that Wilson guy who was sitting at a table with a guy who had longer blonde hair and glasses. Wade was sitting on the table, his eyes glued onto Peter as he bit into his apple, when their eyes met Peter felt his heart skyrocket and he quickly averted them.
“So, Peter,” Natasha spoke, her voice smooth. “Seen any hot guys or girls yet? It’s okay, you can say me.” she teased and Peter’s face went red, Natasha was very pretty but Peter leaned more toward guys but he wasn’t about to tell her that. He hated that Wilson’s face popped up in his mind at the question, he quickly shook the image away.
“U-Uh, yeah I guess I have.” he chuckled and Sam whistled.
“I knew it, the kid is totally crushing on me.” Sam winked and Peter sputtered, Tony laughed and clapped him on the back.
“Stop that before you kill the poor boy,” Tony scolded and Sam grinned.
Lunch continued like that, Peter could feel Wilsons eyes boring into the back of his head and had to fight not to peek over to see whether he was imagining it or the guy was really looking at him. Peter wondered if he was planning out a way to catch Peter off guard so he could beat him up later. Peter shuddered at the thought.
The bell rang and students stood up, making their way out of the cafeteria and to their next classes. Peter kept his eyes glued in front of him so he wouldn’t be tempted to glance Wilsons way as he followed his friends out of the cafeteria.
They all ended up separating to go to their classes, sadly no one had Science with Peter which left him alone until the last period that he knew he shared a class with Scott and Wanda.
Peter found the next class with less of a struggle since Tony had shown him the Science section of the school early in the tour. Peter was early and there were only a few students inside already. He picked a spot at the back corner of the class.
Peter sat down and opened up his binder, writing down the teacher's name that was written on the board so that he wouldn’t forget because god knows he sucks at remembering names. He was surprised he managed to remember most of the ‘Avengers’ name’s as Tony likes to call their group.
Peter had his eyes focused on his paper as he doodled when suddenly he heard the thump of books being dropped onto the desk next to him, he jumped in his seat and peaked up to see that Wilson was sitting himself down in the seat right beside him, spreading and stretching out his long legs under the small desk.
Peter's breath caught in his throat and he stared at Wilson, shooting his eyes back to his paper when Wilson looked at him, catching him staring. Peter gulped silently and rolled his sleeves up a bit so it wouldn’t smudge his writing that he forced himself to continue so he wouldn’t be tempted to look at Wilson who was definitely staring at him now and ohmygodimgonnafreakout.
“Hello class, my name is Mr. Chase as you can see I’ve written it on the chalkboard for you to remember.” The teacher began talking and Peter let out the breath he’d been holding, still tense since apparently the ‘most dangerous kid in the school’ was sitting right next to him.
“Since today is the first day back we aren’t going to be doing any work, instead we’re gonna do a get to know your classmates activity- and before you all start groaning and complaining I’ll let you know that this will be graded, yes I said that so that you would have to participate, now pass the papers down and work on it with the person beside you.” Mr. Chase said unamused when people began to complain. Students took a paper from the pile and passed it down to the next person until it reached Wilson and Peter.
Peter took a sheet and handed the last one to Wilson, keeping his eyes downcast. Wilson took the last paper with a quirked brow, noticing how Peter wouldn’t look at him.
“You can look at me, y’know? I won't bite, unless you ask nicely of course.” Wilson spoke and Peter felt a chill go down his spine at both the boy's voice and what he said.
“R-Right,” Peter hesitated but forced himself to lift his eyes and look at Wade who was looking at him unamused.
“ Wow, you are a special kind of nerd aren’t you sweet cheeks?” he smirked and Peter flushed at the pet name.
“Thanks?” Peter squeaked and Wade let out a chuckle that Peter definitely did not feel his heart flutter a bit at.
“Peter, right?” he hummed and Peter nodded. “Petey it is then,” he murmured as he scribbled down the nickname on the blank that said to write down your partner's name. Peter wrote down Wilson on his. “You can call me Wade, y’know? Wilson seems too formal.” Wils- Wade mumbled and Peter froze, he erased the name and rewrote it.
He could feel Wade's eyes on him and peaked over to see that a small frown was pulling at the bully’s lips, his eyes locked onto Peter’s arms. Peter looked down at his arms to see that where he’d rolled up his sleeves was exposing the fading bruises David had left on him a few nights ago when he’d forgotten to do the dishes.
Peter quickly but smoothly pulled his sleeves down to his wrists, covering the marks that Wade had openly been looking at. He glanced up at Wade and the older boy looked away, realizing he’d been caught looking, his frown growing as he looked back at his paper. He cleared his throat and began reading off the questions.
“Winter, Autumn, Spring, or Summer?” he questioned and Peter took a moment to think.
“Autumn because it's not too cold or too hot. And the colours are pretty.” Peter said thoughtfully and Wade hummed in agreement, circling autumn lazily while Peter actually wrote out autumn on the line under the question.
“When’s your birthday?” Peter read off the next question.
“November 22nd, you baby boy?”
“August 10th,” Peter mumbled, ignoring the nickname because it was really confusing him. First this guy trips him in the hallway and now he's calling him pet names?
“Well this is an odd question, are there any movie actors you just can’t stand?” Wade read off the question and Peter thought.
“No, not really. I can’t think of anyone. What about you?”
“Ryan Reynolds.” Wade answered, deadpan.
“Who?”
“Don’t worry about it.” Wade brushed him off and Peter shrugged, reading the next question.
“How many people are in your family and who are they to you?”
“One, foster father.” Wade answered.
“Same.” Peter murmured and wrote down Wade's answer. He could feel Wade’s eyes on him before he turned to write down the answer.
“Favourite movie franchise?”
“Star Wars,” Peter answered a little excitedly.
“Shut up!” Peter jumped when Wade exclaimed.
“H-Huh?” He stuttered, eyes wide fearfully.
“Same!” Wade smiled and Peter let out a nervous breath, laughing sheepishly. He gave himself a second to take in Wade’s smile, it looked good on him.
“Favorite subject in school?”
“Fitness.” Wade answered and Peter couldn’t stop his eyes from flicking over to Wade's exposed arms, that answer made sense.
“Science,” Peter answered and Wade chuckled, mumbling ‘nerd’ under his breath.
They continued to read off the questions until finally the bell rang, Peter was surprised at how fast time flew by and he stood up from his desk, Wade doing the same. Peter realized then just how tall Wade was. He had almost a foot on him and he seemed to find that amusing because he looked down at Peter and smirked.
“See ya, short stuff.” he hummed as he ruffled his hair and walked up to the front of the class, handing his paper to the teacher and leaving Peter behind dumbfounded without a second glance. To say Peter was confused was an understatement.