Ned and Michelle weren’t in the same class on AP Physics with Ms. Warren as Parker, which meant that the teen was almost always glued to either his laptop or a notepad.
Flash couldn’t grasp it. The nerd was watching YouTube, sketching something or writing chemistry equations, or hell, even falling asleep sometimes! And then Ms. Warren would call him out on that, asking a question, and he would answer right. Every single time. While Flash paid attention and was making notes of everything the teacher said, and he would still get it wrong. It was just unfair is what it was! And Ms. Warren would even smile slightly, saying that Peter is right, instead of giving him detention for falling asleep.
So, Flash made a plan to get the other teen in trouble. He figured that if he snitched at Parker, the teacher couldn’t just brush it off, it would settle a bad example - as if she was saying that it’s okay to fall asleep in class anytime you want.
Flash knew it was a jerk move, he knew he was an asshole and that he should just mind his own business because, unfortunately - Peter is a good guy, but they are right when they say that the bullied often becomes a bully. And being bullied at home by his own father - Flash doesn’t really know how to not take it out on easy targets at school. He needs to prove to himself that he’s not a crying baby, that he’s not completely without control, and that he’s not powerless. He’s saying stuff he doesn’t mean before he can even think about it, and even though he wanted to be friends with Peter once, he screwed it up, so now it’s too late and he just settled on bullying the guy.
When Flash notices the absence of the student who usually sits next to Parker, he decides to take that sit himself. To keep an eye on Peter and tell on him as soon as he falls asleep. Parker only gives him a confused look when he realizes that Flash is sitting down there instead of a row ahead at his customary place, but other than that everything’s fine. Then, Ms. Warren comes into the classroom seconds before the bell rings and she starts the period by taking attendance.
Except today Parker doesn’t seem to be sleepy. As if the universe was doing it on purpose, just to spite Flash. Peter is glued to his notepad, writing there furiously and simply ignoring their teacher. Whatever it is that he’s solving and that he called “W-F v5.02” is extracurricular. Flash sees some wide chemistry equations that they for sure didn’t have in class and he doesn’t even understand most of them. He suppresses a groan then and just focuses on what Ms. Warren is saying.
It’s about twenty minutes or so later when Flash notices that Parker… kind of froze. He’s not writing in his notepad anymore, but he’s also not taking notes of what their teacher is saying. The teen holds still a pen in his right hand and his eyes seem to be not focused, but stuck on an empty piece of the school desk. When Flash looks closer he sees that Peter’s hands are trembling and if he’s not mistaken they’re also sweating. And it seems almost as if Peter was… scared?
“Parker.” Flash whispers, trying to gain his classmate’s attention, but it doesn’t do anything. He grabs his own pen then and pokes the boy in the arm with it, but Peter only tenses at that and now his entire body seems to shiver. “Parker.” he tries again, now louder because the guy is freaking him out a little, but it still doesn’t get his attention.
Flash looks up and sees that their teacher is busy writing something on the whiteboard. “Ms. Warren, I think something’s wrong with Peter.” he calls when he notices that the boy struggles to catch a breath.
“What do you mean?” Ms. Warren reacts quickly, turning around and looking at two of her students. The rest of the class follows her lead and does the same.
“I don’t know.” answers quickly Flash, almost defensively, as their teacher starts walking closer to them. “He’s just-” he starts to try and explain, but a human-sounding female voice interrupts him.
“Peter is suffering a panic attack.” sounds a reply from the teen’s watch. The one that looks oddly expensive and doesn’t match Parker’s casual clothes. The one that Flash teased him about. “His hands are shaking and sweating. He is experiencing cold and hot flashes, heart palpitations, and hyperventilation. It is likely he is also feeling dizziness.” the female voice explains and Flash thinks that in a second he will panic himself.
“Parker.” the boy tries again, and again without any response.
Ms. Warren stops by their desk and reaches her hand to Peter’s shoulder.
“Refrain from touching Peter, at least at the moment, please.” the watch lady speaks again, startling the woman if the way her hand jumped is anything to go by. “Also, don’t crowd him.”
“What do we do, then?” the teacher asks, taking a small step back to give Peter space. She looks at the watch as she asks the question, though her facial expression looks like she’s not sure if the device will answer.
“You need to gain his attention and assure him the attack will pass and he is not dying.” dying?! oh god, Flash didn’t sign up for that.
“Peter.” Ms. Warren calls her student’s name. When it doesn’t work, she waves her hand in front of his face, but not too close, and his eyes move. “Peter, look at me.” she says, and the teen frantically looks around, turning his head left and right. A moment ago his eyes were unmoving, but now his gaze is falling on everything as if he was searching for something he doesn’t even know what looks like. “Peter, you’re having a panic attack.” the teacher adds, but she’s clearly out of her field here and she’s worried.
“M-makes sense.” Parker says, not looking around anymore but nodding. His voice is very high-pitched, and he seems exhausted as if he just ran the full length of a football field. “I- I can’t-” he tries to say but interrupts himself by desperately trying to catch a deep breath.
“Peter!” Flash snaps, and his classmate looks at him with wide eyes. “You can.” he says. “You can breathe. Just calm down and try to breathe.” the distressed teenager closes his eyes and nods. “Slow, long breath.” Flash adds, hoping he’s right and it’s the right way to breathe during a panic attack.
“Peter, hold your breath to the count of three.” the watch lady speaks up again, saying that right after Parker took a deep breath and the fact that she somehow knew that is sick. “1 - 2 - 3.” she counts. “Exhale slowly through your mouth.”
Peter breaths like that for a moment longer and then he speaks. “Thanks Karen, I’m good now.” his voice doesn’t sound too convincing.
“You still have increased heart rate and trembling hands, but you just need a few more minutes.” the watch - Karen? - responds.
“I’m sorry- for interrupting like that, Ms. Warren.” Parker says quickly, turning to the woman who looks calmer now but still a bit shaken by what just happened. The entire class probably is. And god knows what Parker is apologizing for. As if that was his fault.
“Peter, no need to apologize. It’s alright. I’m happy you’re okay now.” the teacher smiles slightly. “But I will send you to the nurse’s office, at least for the rest of this period.”
“You really don’t have to. I’m used to this, but I’m okay now.” I’m used to this?? Flash will smack the idiot in the head if he won’t go to the nurse and at least lie down to rest. How can you go through a panic attack like that and then pretend as if nothing happened and go back to AP Physics?
“Peter, your attack lasted approximately fourteen minutes. Your body is exhausted and needs to rest.” Karen joins the discussion. Clearly, she’s carrying all of Parker’s brain cells for the day. And also, fourteen minutes. How long was he just sitting there frozen with heart palpitations before Flash even noticed that something’s wrong?
Not too willingly, but Parker nods his head then, clearly not in the mood to fight both his teacher and his watch. He seems to also be coming down from the attack, and when he notices all students looking at him, he gets… embarrassed? uncomfortable? That makes him actually want to leave the classroom.
“Flash, please go with him.” Ms. Warren says in the teen’s direction as Peter tries to stand steady on his legs. Now - if asked, Flash will deny it, but it actually makes him feel safer to escort Parker to the nurse’s office. Flash read and heard about panic attacks before, sure, but it was the first time that someone sitting so close to him was suffering from one and that he witnessed it. And he had to help! Sure, maybe Karen did most of the work, but it still stressed him out. And the fact that the attack lasted fourteen minutes and Peter was usedtoit? It’s just scary. “Peter, take your backpack just in case, Mrs. Lawson will decide whether you should go home.”
Flash helps Parker with throwing his stuff in his backpack to do it faster because the teen obviously can feel the looks of their classmates’ on him and it makes him uncomfortable.
They leave the classroom with the sound of Parker quickly saying “Thank you, and I’m sorry.” and then closing the door before the teacher can once again explain to him that there’s nothing to be sorry for.
They walk through the hall slowly, because Peter looks more exhausted now that the panic attack actually has time to pass and the situation settles. The watch lady also said something about dizziness and Flash doesn’t want Parker to collapse on the floor and lose consciousness or something. He’s had enough for the day.
“Thank you, Flash.” mutters quietly Peter, but it sounds louder anyway, seeing as the hall is empty. The teen seems embarrassed, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Yeah, sure.” awkwardly shrugs Flash, and they stay quiet for the rest of their little trip to the nurse.
When they knock on the door and come into the office, Mrs. Lawson is already waiting for them, telling them that Ms. Warren gave her a heads up. She tells Flash to take the side chair and guides Peter to sit down on the recovery couch with laminate construction which she hides behind the medical curtain to give him privacy while she examines him. Flash can hear the woman asking some questions and tries to tune it out, and then, before he knows it, Mrs. Lawson is done. So she most likely checked things like Parker’s blood pressure, his heart rate and just stuff like that, Flash is out of his comfort zone here, he’s got close to zero knowledge about medicine.
“Thank you.” sounds Peter’s small voice as the nurse opens the curtains that separated two students.
Flash can see Parker sitting on the recovery couch, and as the nurse walks out he brings his legs up on the paper covering foam padding, resting his chin on his knees and wrapping his hands around his legs, hugging them to his chest. He still seems spooked.
“Oh, it’s nothing honey.” the nurse smiles reassuringly at the small ball of a teenager. “I’m going to go to the office and call your emergency contact to pick you up, okay?” Peter just nods, which is a contrast to how he’s been fighting before, saying that he doesn’t need to rest even for at least the time of the physics period. “You keep him company, alright?” Mrs. Lawson asks, looking at Flash and he nods quickly.
When the woman leaves, the room is quiet. Parker is still curled up on himself, but with closed eyes now. Flash feels like the guy wants to ignore him and it makes him talk before he can even think about it.
“I’m sorry.” he speaks up, surprising himself as well as Peter, who opens his eyes and looks at him, tilting his head to the right. “For picking up on you. I said all this stuff that I… didn’t even mean. I was an asshole and I know that you won’t just forgive me, but I am sorry.” he continues.
He thought that he was bullying Peter to take out on him all that anger his father caused him, to make himself feel better, but it’s bullshit. He realizes now, that bullying Peter makes him feel even worse. The teen doesn’t deserve that. And he’s having panic attacks on a daily basis? Just how many did Flash cause him?
“I forgive you.” Peter smiles slightly, looking into his eyes, and now Flash is the one surprised. “If you promise to not bully anyone again.” even now, when he’s off the hook, Parker worries that someone else would be hurt.
“I promise.” he can do this, so the words fly from Flash’s mouth in an instant. But then… “Why would you forgive me so quickly?” he frowns.
“Because you genuinely regret it.” Peter shrugs. How does he see it though? “And you really helped me today.”
They don’t fall quiet after that. Flash notices that distracting Parker with conversation is actually helping him. He’s still holding his arms around his legs, while his back is leaning against the wall, but the tension he had in his arms is gone and he doesn’t look scared anymore.
When Mrs. Lawson comes back, Flash only looks up at her for a moment, engaged in an argument with Peter whether Columbia or MIT is a better university, but he sees that the woman has a bit confused expression on her face.
“Did my Aunt pick up? She works in an Emergency Room so sometimes she can’t.” Peter looks at the nurse.
“No, uh, but your second emergency contact is coming to get you.” the woman answers and Parker seems lost for a moment. Like maybe he didn’t know he had a second emergency number? Because from what Flash knows it’s just the teen and his Aunt. Peter seems to be too tired to think about it too long though, so he just shrugs to himself, and lies his chin back on his knees.
This time, with the adult in the room, the two students don’t go back to their little argument. At first Flash thinks that Mrs. Lawson will tell him that now that she’s back, he should go back to his class, but she just sits down at her desk and starts writing something on the computer, so he doesn’t ask about that. The room fills with silence but oddly, it doesn’t feel awkward.
There’s hurried knocking on the door, right before they fly open. Mrs. Lawson didn’t even have time to yell for the person to please, come in, but a man is stepping inside regardless.
The guy is wearing an expensive three-piece suit, and when Flash looks up at his face, the man takes off his sunglasses. And that face is familiar. Really familiar. It’s Tony Freaking Stark.
“Pete?” he calls out as he walks up to the recovery couch where Parker is sitting. He sounds worried and- okay, what? Tony Stark in the nurse's office at Midtown? Picking up a student? Being Parker’s emergencycontact? “Hey, kiddo.” the man continues ignoring the nurse as he sits down next to Peter and looks at him closely, lying a hand at the teen’s arm.
“Hi.” the boy smiles.
“What happened?” Tony Stark scans Peter with his eyes as if he really had a scanner there.
“Ugh, it’s nothing-“
“Peter had a panic attack.” Mrs. Lawson speaks up, gaining Tony Stark’s attention.
“I think it was a big one.” adds Flash as soon as he manages to close his mouth from the shock. If Parker is going to pretend it was nothing, he is going to snitch on him, sorry. “His watch lady said it was 14 minutes or something.”
“Karen?” asks in the air Tony Stark, while Peter rolls his eyes.
“Indeed, Mr. Stark. Peter’s attack lasted approximately fourteen minutes. However, it took over a dozen additional minutes for him to actually get his breathing and heart rate under control.” Karen answers.
“But I’m good now.” cuts in Peter.
“Yes, you always are, cucciolo.” Mr. Stark sends the teen a look. “Excuse me while the adults are talking.” he gestures between himself and Mrs. Lawson while Peter rolls his eyes once again.
Flash is about fifty percent sure this is some weird dream at this point. Maybe this time it was him who fell asleep in class? He just stares at Tony Stark and his protective arm around Parker’s shoulders while the man listens to the school nurse.
“Alright.” the man nods when Mrs. Lawson finishes explaining her medical opinion, and he reaches with his left hand to grab Peter’s backpack. “I got a question, though.” he adds, throwing it over his shoulder.
“Yes?”
“Pete has panic attacks, yes, and sometimes also anxiety attacks.” the engineer explains, and he rubs the teen’s arm while he leans into the man. What’s the difference between panic and anxiety attacks? Flash will have to google it. “Should we get a doctor’s note and deliver it to his teachers? In case of this happening in class again?”
“That would be great, yes. Peter can just give the note to me and I will take care of this.” the nurse smiles and Flash is impressed that it apparently doesn’t freak her out that IronMan is sitting on a recovery couch right in front of her.
“Alright, thank you, Mrs. Lawson.” the billionaire nods and stands up, fixing the backpack on his shoulder with his left hand, while the right one he holds out to the woman standing two feet away from him.
“No problem.” the woman shakes his hand.
“Alright kiddo, let’s get out of here. I got a visitor’s badge and signed you out, the whole deal.” Stark’s voice sounds gentle as he turns to look at Peter.
“Impressive.”
“Right?”
The teen stands up and slowly walks over to the superhero. As soon as he gets there, the man pulls him into a side hug, looking warily as if Parker was about to collapse any second. He looks better now though, his legs are steady and his hands aren’t trembling. He just seems to still be tired, but Flash remembers once watching a few minutes of the YouTube video where anxiety was discussed and he knows that attacks can make you feel like you just ran a marathon.
“What do we say, kid?” Tony asks Peter and nods his head to Mrs. Lawson.
“Thank you and goodbye.” the teen says to the woman, but looking a bit embarrassed by Stark’s antics. Embarrassed by Iron Man. Someone smack Flash in the head, please, just not too hard.
The school nurse chuckles. “Oh, he already thanked me. But like I said, it’s nothing. Just take it easy, and let your body rest.”
Flash walks out of the nurse’s office together with Peter and Tony Stark. They have to get to the car waiting for them in front of the school and he needs to get back to his classroom.
God, he made fun of Peter for lying about having Stark Internship, and now here he is - watching The Tony Stark sign Peter out from school. (Talk about karma.) It’s more than just an Internship though, it’s obvious to him. But it’s not his business, maybe one day he’ll actually talk with Peter and the boy will explain it to him. If not, guess he deserved it. He can bet that Ned and MJ know what’s going on.
“Thanks again, dude.” Peter says to him, stopping for a moment and smiling slightly.
“Anytime.” Flash smiles back.
“Yeah, we appreciate it.” Stark nods his head in his direction and he kinda wants to ask for a selfie and autograph, but judging by the way the man is still holding a protective arm around Parker’s shoulders, he decides against it.
So, he just nods back and walks away, hoping that someone will give him their notes on what he missed in Physics.