“Penis Parker!”
Peter sighed heavily as he heard Flash’s voice from behind him. He hung his head inside of his locker, tightly gripping the door to stop himself from lashing out. He surprises himself everyday by the fact he hasn’t knocked Flash’s teeth in yet.
“Hey, I’m talking to you!” His grip tightened, balancing on the edge of superhuman strength.
“Not in the mood today, Flash.”
“Yeah? And what are you going to do about it?” Peter gently shut his locker and turned to face him. Calmly, he leveled Flash’s predatory look, quirking an eyebrow.
“I don’t know, Flash, what am I going to do about it?”
“Oh, feeling brave today? You won’t be when I break your goddamn nose, Parker.” Flash suddenly swung his fist, and Peter moved quickly. He grabbed the fist and twisted Flash around, pressing his back against Peter’s front. He held him in a headlock just tight enough to keep Flash there. He could feel the eyes of their peers on them, but he ignored them, just like they usually did him.
“I’m only going to say this once, so you better listen,” Peter spoke into Flash’s ear, and his tone was level yet sharp, demanding attention. “Every time you knocked into me? I let you do that. Every time you shoved me into lockers? I let you do that. Every time you pushed me down the stairs? I let you do that. Every time you nearly hit me with your car? I let you do that. Every time you broke my nose? I let you do that. You got all your confidence from overpowering me, yes? You felt power every time I was scared, right? Well, I’m here to tell you that that fear was just an act. You have never held any power over me, Flash.”
“Mr. Parker! Let Flash go!” Mr. Harrington interrupted from across the hall, but Peter didn’t bother to look over at him.
“I will, once he understands that he’s not going to push me around anymore. You got that Flash?” Peter tightened his hold, just a little, and Flash quickly nodded.
“Y-yeah. Yes! I got you, man!” Peter let him go and watched him stumble away from him.
“Detention, Mr. Parker.” He turned to look Harrington up and down.
“No,” he defied, crossing his arms.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Flash has done the same thing - worse things, actually, and not once has he stepped foot in detention for it. Why, because he has rich parents?”
“Stop lying-”
“Oh? Lying? Well, just hold on a minute.” Peter swung his backpack around and dug out his laptop.
“Mr. Parker. That is enough!” Peter ignored him, logging in and opening files.
“Yes, this is a good one.” He turned his computer around so the screen was visible to Harrington, who by now had crossed the hallway and was standing in front of him. Peter clicked play on the security footage, and pointed at the screen.
“Now, here’s me, and there’s Flash. Oh! There’s you, and you’re watching this. There goes my nose, and there’s you walking away. Let’s see another one, shall we?” Peter clicked an arrow key, and the next video popped up.
“This is-”
“Flash pinning me to the wall, you’re absolutely right. And here’s you, exiting your classroom, seeing this, and ignoring it. Look at you, walking away. Would you like to see another one?” Peter looked Harrington in the eyes. The teacher steeled himself, going for a different angle.
“I’m afraid I will have to report this, Mr. Parker. Not only have you threatened another student, but you have clearly taken these videos from our security footage without permission.”
“I wouldn’t have done that if I felt safe here, now would I?” Peter exited out of the video, and started scrolling to show several other videos saved. “These are all videos with you in them, Mr. Harrington, and I am inclined to believe it will go wonderfully for me if you go to administration.” Harrington gulped, and Peter saw that look in his eyes, knew the cogs in his head were rapidly turning, searching for a way around this.
“And before you even think about it,” Peter backed out of the folder into another one, showing other folders, all starting with “Ms” or “Mr” or “Mrs”, “It wouldn’t go very well for other teachers either.” Peter had dashed Harrington’s hopes of getting out of this, and right then, both of them knew that they were all trapped like flies in Peter’s web, and there was nothing any of them could do about it.
“So,” Peter stated, shutting his laptop. “No detention. Are we clear?”
“Crystal.” Peter’s stony look disappeared and his body untensed, cheery attitude coming back with a smile.
“Good. I’ll see you in class Mr. Harrington!” Peter walked past Harrington with a jaunty wave, leaving him and the rest of the hallway to chew on the past few minutes.
“Peter, I think you would make a wonderful lawyer or businessman,” Ned told him at lunch.
“Or a political figure,” MJ continued and Peter grinned.
“If I had the time, MJ.”
She shrugged. “That’s fair.”
“Matt, I think I want to sue my school.”
“Peter, you can’t just sue them for no reason.”
“What about staff letting another student physically and verbally harass me for, mm, say, two nearly three years?”
“Did you finally stand up to Flash?”
“Hell yeah I did.” Matt held up his hand for a high-five, which Peter gladly indulged him in.