Peter and Flash’s relationship was… complicated.
Flash wasn’t out at school yet, so no one there knew about their relationship (other than Ned and MJ). Flash’s goons were still making Peter’s life hell, but Flash was getting them to back off somewhat.
It was okay. It didn’t bother Peter.
Until they found out.
____________
Peter flinched as someone slammed their fist against the locker next to his, mere inches from his face. He closed his locker and turned around to see Flash’s band of goons cornering him, Flash standing behind them with a mournful expression. Peter braced himself as a fist slammed into his stomach.
He doubled over, dropping his books in the process. Everyone was laughing around him, he didn’t dare look up, letting his gaze rest on the floor as he collected himself.
“Awww you gunna cry about it, penis?” Peter chuckled.
“‘S that all you got? I thought you’d be stronger. Pretty pathetic if you ask-” Peter choked as a boot landed a hit on his stomach again, followed by a punch to the jaw.
Thomas, the self proclaimed ‘leader’ of the group crouched down and pulled peter’s hair so he was looking at him. He chuckled lowly.
“You’re calling me pathetic? You’re not serious, right?” He paused, turning his gaze up to the rest of the group.
He stood up again, “Hey, Flash. You gunna get in on this?” There was a sick tone to his voice, Peter couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not.
Peter could tell Flash refused, his gaze still resting on the floor, “Why not? I thought you hated this guy. It’s like you’re against us all of a sudden. You pitying this faggot?”
Peter flinched, and he knew the leader could see it, he curled more in on himself.
“Come on, you gotta hate him by now. He’s such a fucking pansy, walking around school like he owns the place. He needs to learn where he stands,” He walked over to Peter yet again, crouching down, “Cause you’re just a pathetic little shit. No wonder your whole family died, I would too if i was related to you-”
“Stop!” The taunts stopped as Thomas turned to see Flash standing a few feet away from him, inside the circle the group had created in the hallway. Peter looked up, too, tears streaming down his face, from the pain or the cruel words, Flash didn’t know.
“What did you say?” There was a sneer in Thomas’s voice, seemingly towering over flash where he stood, even though their height difference was scarce.
“I said stop. I’ll do it.” Thomas looked taken aback, as he processed Flash’s words.
“Oh yeah? You’re gunna hit this fucking fag? You’re gonna do that, huh?” He taunted, moving closer to Peter.
“Okay, just back off,” Thomas lifted his hands in a ‘surrender’ gesture, moving away from the teenager, still on the floor.
Flash moved towards Peter, crouching down and lifting his head so they made eye contact. Flash’s eyes betrayed his expression. Peter saw all the guilt he possessed, he knew Flash didn’t want to do this, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.
Flash faltered as Thomas spoke up once again, “Go on, put him in his place. You know what to do, you’ve been doing it for years for fuck’s-”
Flash held up a hand, silencing Thomas. His expression didn’t falter when Peter flinched, and Peter didn’t know if that was good or bad.
Flash leaned down to whisper in Peter’s ear, still loud enough for the others to hear.
“You’re so fucking pathetic, Parker. You know that, don’t you. No one wants to even get close to you, sared you’ll infect them with your fucking disiease.” He spat, tears were still streaming down Peter’s face, “Your family had to die to get away from you. ‘Cause you’re a disgusting fucking faggot”
Peter flinched at the last word, looking up as Flash stood up. He looked towards Thomas before lowering his gaze back to his boyfriend.
Peter didn’t even see the slap coming, as it jolted his head to the side, his body following.
He lay there on the floor for a while, listening to the sniggers of ‘pathetic’ and ‘weak’ as they retreated, before he stood up. He slowly collected his discarded books from the floor, realising it was more than half way through fourth period.
As he walked out the school gates, he pulled out his phone, dialing the number that’s burned into his memory, tears fogging up his view of the screen.
“Hey pete, what’s up? Shouldn’t you be in school?” at the sound of his mentor’s voice, Peter started sobbing, the past half hour’s events catching up to him, “Kid? What’s wrong?”
“Can you come pick me up?” Peter managed to choke out.
_____________
Tony didn’t let Flash into the tower at first, but when he saw the distraught teenager, he knew he should hear his side of the story, he could barely make out the words Peter sobbed out on their way back from the school.
Obviously, when Tony saw his kid covered in developing bruises, sobbing his heart out, he was ready to kill someone. Peter could barely get an explanation out, but from what Tony could make out, Flash was the cause of it. It had only been a year since Tony had taken Peter in, a few months since Peter told him he had a boyfriend, and Tony hadn’t been happy when he found out it was Flash Thompson of all people.
And there he stood, in the middle of the penthouse, Flash Thompson standing in front of him, tears still running down his face, trying to explain what happened.
“I didn’t want to but- but i knew that they’d hurt peter anway. If I- If i did it myself, I- he wouldn’t be hurt as bad.”
“And that’s an excuse for hurting my kid? You think that’s okay?” Tony was seething.
“No Sir! I know there’s no excuse for what i did- what i said, but i just wanted to apologise… To Peter,” Tony took a breath, trying to get his thoughts in order.
This guy hurt his kid, he couldn’t let him see him. But that wasn’t for him to decide, was it?
“Okay kid, I’ll go geth Peter. You stay here, okay?” Flash nodded hurriedly, wiping his tears off his face, seemingly trying to make himself look slightly more put together.
Tony walked down the hall towards Peter’s room, cracking the door open slightly and identifying the bundle of blankets on the bed as the teenager.
“Hey, kiddo. You okay?” Peter looked up at him, squinting through the light and nodding his head slightly.
“Do you wanna come out from under there?” Peter nodded and sat up, wincing slightly before swinging his feet over the side of the bed. Tony walked over to him, sitting down next to him and greeting him with a side hug.
Tony spotted the bag of peas on Peter’s nightstand and sighed, “you know you’re supposed to keep those on your eye, kiddo.”
“Melted” Peter answered simply, evidently not up to talking, Tony nodded.
“Flash is here, he said he wanted to apologise.” Peter’s eyes snapped up to Tony’s.
“He’s here?”
“Yeah, Pete, he’s just down the hall. Do you want me to-” Tony watched, startled, as Peter ran out of the room, before getting up and following him down the hall.
He entered the room to see the two teenagers hugging, Peter sobbing into the other’s chest, and silent tears falling down Flash’s cheeks.
“It’s okay, I’m okay…” Flash was murmuring, rocking them both slightly.
“I thought they were gonna hurt you” Peter sobbed.
“Me? They would’ve hurt you worse. Fuck, i hurt you-”
“It’s okay, Flash, I’m okay,” Peter cut him off, turning his head up to look into Flash’s eyes.
Flash gasped, bringing a hand up to cup his boyfriend’s jaw, “You’re bruised-”
“I’m okay-”
“No you’re not, i let them hurt you-”
“You didn’t let them-”
“I didn’t want them to hurt you more-”
“Flash, i know-”
“No you don’t.” Peter’s mouth snapped shut, worry gleaming in his eyes, “I said those things- horrible things to you. It took you months to believe i wasn’t going to hurt you again but i did-” Peter opened his mouth to interject but flash met his eyes, let him see the guilt shining in them, “They were going to beat you, Peter. They were going to hurt you and i tried to stop them but i just hurt you more-”
“They were going to hurt you if you didn’t, I couldn’t let that happen,”
Peter buried his head in Flash’s chest again, “They hurt me more than you did- no, listen to me- Yeah, you said some bad things but i know you didn’t mean them, you would never say those things to me. You know I trust you.”
Flash nodded, planting a kiss on Peter’s hairline, burying his head in the mop of curls he loved so dearly.
“Now can we please watch star wars, you’re not cancelling our weekly movie night for this.”