Chapter 2
Peter walks away from his door and to the edge of his bed. He sits down and just stares at the wall for a few seconds before grabbing his backpack from the floor. The rain has slowed slightly, though the glass of his window is still foggy around the edges and the sky is a dark gray. He grabs his biology notes and textbook and starts on his homework for the weekend.
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Peter yawns and leans back in his chair, raising his arms over his head and stretching out. He looks out his window and realizes that he must have been working much longer than he had thought as the sky is already dark. He glances at his phone for the time and sees that it’s already 6:00. May should be getting home soon, so he decides to go sit in the living room to greet her when she comes home. His stomach squeezes when he sees that John is still sitting in his chair. He tries to ignore it as he walks past John and sits on the couch. John works as a mechanic at a garage in Queens. They are closed on weekends so he usually spends them at the apartment with Peter, which Peter isn’t particularly fond of. He used to love having Ned over all the time on weekends to build different Lego models and watch sci-fi movies. Now, Peter never invites Ned over. He doesn’t want to ask John. He had tried in the past, but John had gotten upset that Peter had asked. He doesn’t even see Ned much outside of school now. John didn’t like it when Peter went out. He never outright said that, but whenever Peter asks he always complains about how Peter spends too much time out, or how he would have to drive him places, even though Peter said he was fine with walking or taking the subway. And even when Peter was able to hang out with Ned John would text almost every ten minutes asking where he was, what he was doing, and who he was with. Whenever Peter would go over to Ned’s house he would receive a text from John soon after arriving that he was coming to pick him up, cutting his time with Ned short. So eventually, he just stopped going out. Which was fine with him really, he could go out if he wanted to, but he just doesn’t want to much, that’s all.
“Hey Pete,” John’s voice calls him out from his thoughts.
“Hey.”
“What were you doing in your room today,” John turns to face him as he asks.
“Homework, I have a test in biology Tuesday,” Peter responds.
“You were studying that whole time? Really? Why didn’t you come to hang out with me at all? I was here all alone all day.” For some reason that just makes Peter angry. He was working all day and even if he wasn’t he wouldn’t want to spend time with John. Whenever he does, it normally ends with him being yelled at and sue him for not enjoying it.
“Sorry, I just have to make sure I know all of the content for the test, it’s on this whole unit,” Peter lets a little bit of annoyance slip into his tone and regrets it immediately.
“Excuse me? I really don’t appreciate the tone you have. Is that really anyway to talk to me?” John’s voice quickly turns to yelling as he continues, “Do you really think I deserve that kind of disrespect when all I am trying to do is have a conversation with you. You have no right to talk to me like that Peter. I don’t know what is going on with you for you to act like this but it is unacceptable. I will not tolerate this kind of behaviour from you,” John keeps on talking but Peter can barely register it.
When this first started, Peter would listen to each and every word John had to say to him when he got like this. Peter would get angry sometimes, and stand up for himself. He couldn’t comprehend why John would react with such anger towards him when it clearly didn’t match the situation at hand. After a few times, though, Peter learned that trying to defend himself only gave John fuel. A couple of times in the past Peter even started to cry. He felt so terrible, John would make a huge deal out of the littlest things, blowing every thing Peter did way out of proportion. He really tried not to cry, but sometimes he just couldn’t stop himself. John never cared if he started to cry. It was almost as if he didn’t even notice. When he cried, John never stopped yelling or even acknowledged the tears. Peter has since learned that the best thing to do is detach himself from the conversation. He still listens, but he is numb to the insults and anger. He doesn’t really know how to explain it, but he does it every time John gets like this.
John stops yelling and looks at Peter expectantly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that,” Peter states.
“Yeah, you really shouldn’t have. It was rude and I don’t deserve that from you of all people. I mean, what were you thinking? What gave you the right to speak like that to me? What did I do to deserve that? Nothing. You just decided that you didn’t care about anyone else. You should really learn that you’re not the only person on this planet that matters. You have to learn not to be so rude and disrespectful, because if you don’t you’re not going to have any friends. They will all leave you because of how selfish and rude you are. Do you want to lose all of your friends? Because if you don’t change this attitude you will. Nobody will want to be friends with you if you’re like this. Do you understand?” John’s voice has lowered from an ear aching scream to only raised, but it’s still angry. Peter doesn’t know if that will ever change.
“I’m sorry,” Peter says again.
“Good.” John turns back to the tv and ignores Peter until they hear keys unlock the front door ten minutes later.
“Hey guys, I’m home,” May calls from the entrance.
“Hey Aunt May,” Peter says quietly.
“Hey May, how was work?” John calls from his seat, turning around with a smile to face May.
“It was good. Really busy. How was your day,” she calls out to both Peter and John.
John responds first, “It was good, me and Pete were just watching tv together.”
“Oh that’s nice guys. I was thinking about making pasta for dinner, how does that sound?”
“Lovely,” John responds. Peter gets up from his seat and says that he’s going to his room before walking down the hall. He hears May call back, “okay,” and then continue talking with John.
He gets to his room and flops on his bed. He tries to block out their conversation but even for someone without super hearing it would be hard. The walls in this apartment are super thin. When he can’t take the sound of John’s voice anymore he puts on his suit, courtesy of Tony, and slips out his window into the cool night air.