Peter walks into the classroom for Decathalon pratice and sees two empty seats. Ned and Michelle are out sick and the only ones who showed up are Betty, Brad, and Flash. This is going to end terribly, Peter thinks to himself and sits down in a seat.
Since Mr. Harrington won't show up either, Betty takes the place of being the leader. "Alright, we are missing a few," she points out. "We can just do some indenpentant pratice for the time being." She leaves to take her seat next to Ned's.
Peter pulls out his notebook and begins working. He finishes it in only ten minutes.
"Pete, you done already?" Betty asks and looks over his work.
"Yeah, I studied them last night." Peter responds.
Flash moves over next to Peter. "Parkerster, what's number seven?"
"Flash, no." Betty interjects.
"It's the last one, though." Flash argues.
She sighs and gives in, "It's C, now give it to me." She waits for Flash to fill in the answer to take the paper.
Now that everyone has finished the assignment, they decide to talk about random things. Betty starts it off about her weekened at the animal shelter.
"I told myself that I wasn't going to adopt a kitten," she states. "I did it anyways, and her name is Sneaky because she's sneaky as hell."
~~~
Half an hour into the meeting, Brad starts to get cocky. "Peter, I heard that you're not a virgin."
"That's none of your buisness." Peter fights back slightly.
"And you were like 8 at the time--"
"I was raped, actually," Peter reveals to him. The whole room was quiet except the sounds of pencils hitting the desk. "Meaning, I said no and he did it anyway."
Flash pretends not to notice the tension happening but knows what's about to happen.
"Why don't you visit him," Brad says bluntly. "What's his name? Skip, it's Skip, Right? Poor little einstein--"
"Shut the fuck up, Brad." A new voice jumps into the conversation as Peter storms out of the classroom.
"What?" Brad asks.
"I said that you need to shut up," Flash states. "You think that rape jokes are funny, dude? Guess what, it's not. He has done nothing to you."
"You bully him."
"And I'm the only one who's allowed to. I wouldn't push as far as family struggles like that."
Betty sends a text to Michelle.
Betty: Dude, you won't believe what's happening!
MJ: What's up?
Betty: Brad started making jokes about Peter being raped, and Flash is going the hell off.
MJ: Don't worry, I'll make sure he pays for it.
Betty: Please do. Peter ran out of the room.
Flash slaps Brad across the face and runs out of the room.
Flash walks into the restroom and sees a small figure sitting against the wall. The other boy's face is burried into his hands.
"Pete?" He asks and walks closer to him.
"I'm fine," Peter says, his voice hoarse. "I'm always fine."
"That's a bullshit excuse."
"You've been hanging with MJ too much."
Peter stands up and goes to the sink to clean his face.
"I thought it was a rumor at first, so I asked Ned," Flash reveals. "He said that it was true."
"I don't talk about it much," Peter says as he dries his face with a paper towel. "I nearly killed myself over it a year ago. May told the school it was a family deal, but that wasn't the case."
"I'm sorry."
"It's fine, it's not your fault."
Flash sighs and chuckles sadly. "I'm jealous of how you get good grades all the time with no effort. You have an internship with Tony Stark for crying out loud."
"It's great," Peter chuckles. "Sometimes, it gets too much--life, I mean."
The bully nods. "I get it. I don't hate you, I just want to be you."
"No, no you don't. I'm some orphan kid. May never adopted me, it's just a guardian thing. I saw my uncle die on a sidewalk, I'm Spid-" Peter snaps his mouth shut. He sees Flash turn to him in shock.
"You're Spider-Man." Flash whispers.
Peter nods. "Yeah. Don't tell anyone though, for your safety."
"I get it."
Peter's sleeve rise up shows a white scar on his wrist. Flash notices it and turns away.
"I don't do it anymore," Peter tells him. "It's fine."
The other boy nods.
~
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"So, you wanna meet Tony Stark?"
"WHAT?!"