Quentin punched the wall. Again and again and again. His hand hurt like a bitch but he needed to let steam off before he went down there and killed this kid. He froze.
He would get revenge. He would make sure this little asshat would never hurt any other kid again.
Just the image of seeing Peter being shoved into that wall and getting punched in the face made his blood boil. Peter was stronger than that fucker. Peter was faster, stronger and better but he didn't fight back.
Quentin tried to calm himself. He knew Peter would be pissed because Quentin went behind Peter's back to find this out, so Peter didn't need to know about this. Peter hated having his privacy invaded, even if it was for safety reason.
With a dark expression, Quentin went to work. Peter didn't need to know about this.
But it was his duty as an older brother to protect his baby brother, and get his hands dirty if he had to.
It didn't take long for him to find out everything about the little shits life. He was one of these kids who posted everything on social media. Everything.
Quentin needed to remind himself to be patient. Even though he hated the thought of Peter still being bullied, he needed time for his revenge. And he took this time.
For weeks he did nothing to the kid. Instead, watching him become an obsession. He soon knew the ins and outs of his life. When no one beside some butler who he easily outsmarted was home he installed microphones in the house of the teen.
And then he waited. His plan worked so well, it was too good to be true. The kid talked about all of these illegal things they did like it was nothing.
And Quentin recorded every single one. Every. single. one. After 9 weeks he had about 32 recordings about Flash talking about drinking alcohol, he was underage, about 14 recordings of him saying he smoked weed, 3 recordings of him saying he took heroin, and so on and so on.
But Quentin wasn't satisfied. In the end, all of these were just... words. There was no real proof he took these drugs. He needed more. So he continued. And then it happened.
Flash made a stream while driving. One screen recording and done. It got even better. While obviously running a red light, he bragged about a hit and run he was just in. He allegedly hit a biker with his car and then took off. He joked and laughed about it, unaware that Quentin was screen recording it all.
Smiling he looked at the proof he already had. It was becoming like an obsession. He wanted more. More. And he got it. A party. Seems innocent enough...
Well if it wasn't for the lifestream he made. Quentin knew about the party from Peter and knew he would get some really good footage. After all, such an idiot would literally lifestream taking heavy drugs. Oh, it was a feast.
In disbelieve Quentin shook his head as he watched this stupid person film himself smoking weed, drinking booze, disappearing out of view and returning with white stuff on his nose, selling drugs to other underage people and even on stream paying a prostitute with the words: "Take my money bitch." He then stopped after heading up to a room with her.
With a large grin on his face, Quentin gave every recording the fitting name of what crime he was committing. He leaned back and looked at the almost 200 recordings. Snippets from streams, just voice recordings, videos individually taken, even some pictures. Was the time ready to strike?
Maybe he should wait for a little longer... Peter already told Quentin, even if he didn't know the consequences, that he had seen that little bitch cheat during tests.
If he could get Flash to somehow admit that, he would probably not be allowed to stay in the school anyways.
But how would he pull this one up? By now Quentin knew that kid. He was maybe stupid, but proud. He would never admit in a stream or even to a friend that he cheated during a test.
Quentin rubbed his head. He thought about the problem for a while and came to the conclusion that he would need a picture or a recording of Flash cheating during an exam. 5 minutes later his plan was ready.
It was during patrol that Quentin dared to ask. He felt bad for using Peter like this without his knowledge, but it was necessary. Well, he wasn't exactly using Peter but still.
"Hey Peter, when is your next test?" Peter thought for a moment and then remembered: "Next Friday! Physics." He began rambling but Quentin wasn't listening anymore. He was plotting.
"Quentin, what is going on with you?" startled Quentin looked at Peter and asked unsure: "What are you talking about?"
Peter gave him a 'Stop fuckin with me' look and Quentin sighed. "Peter, it is just... There is something that is pressuring me right now, but there is nothing you can do about it. Soon it will all be over." Peter nodded slowly. To Quentin's surprise, he didn't seem worried or anything. He seemed pissed.
"And what is wrong with you?" He asked calmly and Peter glared at him. Quentin's heart stopped. The only time he ever was on the receiving end of this glare was when Phantom (there will be a story about him, don't worry, he is not important to this story) made Peter think that Quentin was a traitor.
The hero didn't hold back: "What is wrong with me? Let me think... My best friend, no, my brother lies to me, hides stuff from me and acts weird around me for weeks. You are not being honest! You know I hate when people don't tell me stuff because I am 'too young' or because I am 'just a kid'. I am 18 for fuck's sake! So please, you don't trust me because I am 'just a kid', that is fine. Everyone does that, I am used to it, but please, then don't tell me that I am your equal because I am obviously not!"
Quentin tried to interject but Peter stepped back. "Don't bother, I am leaving. Don't contact me until you have figured out whether I am your sidekick or your brother." He jumped off the building and was gone. Quentin let his head drop. "Fuck."
He knew how insecure Peter was. The Avengers treated him like he was in elementary school and Quentin knew that he hated it. He should've talked to Peter. He shouldn't have acted on his own like that. But how was he going to fix this? He wouldn't drop his plan now, that was for sure. But what if Peters trust would already be broken beyond repair when he was done? "Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!"
Quentin massages his head. Everything was ready. Now, all that needed to happen was for the kids to come in and start their test. Sure, it was risky of him to steal a shield drone disguised as a fly and hide in the classroom but it was his best shot at getting footage of that son of a bitch cheating. It was all he needed.
Then everything would be ready and he would put is footage on three sticks. One to the police department, one to the school principal and one to Flashs parents. Then he could finally talk to Peter and explain everything to him. He sighed, It killed him. He hadn't talked to Peter since that night.
He had tried. he had tried to come up to Spider-Man during patrol but he couldn't. He felt guilty. Peter WAS his brother. His baby brother. And he had to protect his baby brother. It was his duty. He couldn't protect his old family so he had to protect his new one. He wouldn't let that kid hurt Peter anymore. It was unnegotiable. He couldn't.
And yes, maybe he should've talked to his baby brother before acting, but Peter was too good. Too... forgiving. Quentin was forgiving, he was good, ... But he needed to be the demon Peter doesn't yet have inside himself to keep Peter save.
Quentin didn't need to wait any longer. The students came in and settled in for the test. Everyone took their stuff out and Quentin quickly spotted both Peter and Flash. Peter looked like he hadn't slept a lot. It broke Quentin's heart that he knew that he might be a reason for it. Not the, a reason.
He shook his head. Flash. The tests were handed out a soon after he saw the stupid kid carefully take out his phone. Peter started the fly and began looking for the perfect spot while not getting crushed by some student who didn't like flys. After a few seconds, he found it and filmed this stupid naive brat cheating, not only in a normal test but apparently this was a really important test for the school year.
Enjoying every second of it, Quentin filmed the boy cheating and eventually decided it was enough and flew the fly back to his house. He copied the footage, shortened it to the important stuff. He put it into the folder and sunk into his chair. He had done it. It was done. This kid was done. Now he just needed to talk to Peter and clear everything up. Then he would be done, his mission fulfilled.
"So now you want to talk to me?" The angry teen snapped and Quentin admitted: "I was an ass, I'm sorry. You are right, I did hide something from you, but I am done now and I will show it to you, alright?" Peter hesitated, but he was a curious boy. He wanted to know what Quentin was hiding.
So he agreed. "Give me 5 minutes." Quentin sighed relieved and said his goodbyes before hanging up. He sighed. Peter was going to hate him. Quentin massaged his temple and sighed.
As Peter promised, 5 minutes later he jumped through the open window. Quentin looked up and smiled fondly. "Hey, Peter." He greeted him and threw a monster at the kid. Without thinking he caught it and after short hesitation he opened it. "Thanks." Quentin smiled and sighed at the same time. "C' mon, I have to show you something."
Quentin led Peter into his office and murmured: "This is what I have been working on for the last weeks... I hope you are not mad, but I understand if you are. I am sorry for keeping this from you, but I am not sorry for doing it." Quentin stated and Peter sat down.
The file was already open. The folder was called: "Eugene Thompson". Peter froze but kept reading. There were several other folders in it. "Taking Drugs", "Admitting Committing Crimes", "Cheating in an important exam" and stuff like that. "Quentin, what the fuck is this?" He clicked on one of the videos and Quentin scratched his neck.
"I think you know what it is, Peter. You're smart." Peter, eyes still locked to the screen, murmured: "This is enough to destroy his life!" Quentin nodded. "That's the point." Peter jumped to his feet. "Why are you doing this? He hasn't done anything to you!" "Yes, of course, he has! He hurt you! And he WILL pay for it. I'm sorry Peter, but I have heard about enough suicides through bullying to hate him with every cell in my body."
Peter stopped. He knew Quentin was right. A part of being Spider-Man was sadly finding people who jumped off buildings or even seeing it and not being able to help. He knew a lot of them were kids, he knew how bullying affected kids. "You don't understand." Quentin shook his head: "You're right. I don't. I understand you are not using your powers against him, but not even in the slightest putting up a fight? I don't get it."
Peter closed his eyes. He managed to hide his bully from the Avengers, but Quentin had figured it out. Yes, Peter appreciated the worry, it made him realize how but he was loved by his friend. But Quentin was going too far. It wasn't that bad. "Quentin. If I fight back, he will find a new victim. Someone who can't deal with it. Someone who doesn't have super healing. As long as FLash picks on me, he doesn't pick on anyone else."
Quentin nodded in understanding. "I understand. But I will make sure he won't ever get to pick on anyone again. These recordings will be sent to the police and the school. He will get into a public school if he doesn't go to juvie, and that's it. You won't see him again."
Peter shook his head. "Flash is a dick, but this is too far. You can't do this. You will destroy your life." Quentin's eyes hardened. "And bullies deserve nothing less."
"Please Quentin, for me." Quentin gave Peter a soft smile and nodded. "Yes, I am doing this for you. I'm sorry, but I have lost family before due to my inability to act. I won't lose it again." Peters expression was stoic as he threatened: "Go through with this and you will."
Pain. it was the only thing Quentin felt. He loved Peter. Peter was his brother, the thing in this world that kept him going. Rationally, he had known this was risky, that Peter hated stuff like this and was too good for this world. But still. It hurt to know he would lose his brother if he wanted to protect him.
"Peter, I love you. You are family and I would die for you. I would do anything for you... If that means losing you but knowing you are a little safer, I will take that." Peter starred at Quentin. "I... You would rather take my bully down than listen to me? I..." He took a deep breath and stated: "I stand with what I said, you do this, this is the last you've heard from me as a friend."
Quentin didn't bother to hide his pain and the tears in his eyes and answered with a sad voice: "I'm sorry, but I will do this. I can't just do nothing if I know there is something wrong with you." Peter closed his eyes. Quentin saw tears in the boy's eyes and he knew the hero was serious. Peter would never forgive him that he not only went behind Peter's back but also intervened with Peters life even though he KNEW how sensitive Peter was in that area.
Suddenly everything happened fast. Without being able to prepare and completely caught off guard, Quentin was sent to the ground with a strike from his baby brother. He laid on the ground and his head HURT. It wasn't just a bit, but full on a knockout. Quentin tried to clear his thoughts, but he was just... Gone. He tried fighting it, but the kid was strong. And despite his own super strength, his body eventually gave up and he lost conciousnes.
Peter stared down at Quentin. He loved him, yes. He was family by everything but blood and Peter would take a bullet for him. But he felt betrayed. Quentin was the one person he could always come to and let steam off when he was annoyed with the Avengers. He was the one person he trusted with everything in his life, without any limits he could talk about everything with Quentin.
Everything but one thing. Flash. And now Peter knew why he had a feeling that Quentin didn't need to know about these things. He was normally super chill.
Peter remembered when Quentin had found him drunk because Peter wanted to test his limits. And Quentin just laughed and took him home. He was just told that now that he knew his limits, he should not overstep them. Quentin didn't even tell May or Tony.
Peter remembered when he educated Quentin on memes and vines and they did all of these crazy stunts, like backflipping off the Empire State building, or webbing Peter to a car and being dragged by it on wheelies. Quentin was like a brother, friend, father, and therapist all in one. And now Peter was about to lose all of this over Flash.
He was torn out of his thoughts when Quentin, who was struggeling to get up, finally dropped to the floor and stayed down. For a moment fear struck Peters body. Peter was strong enough to kill a human with a simple slap, he was strong enough to crush a human skull without breaking a sweat.
What if he hit Quentin too hard? Peter dropped to the ground and wth as little force as he could he carefully checked to see if there was blood of anything, but he seemed mostly ok.
The teenager stood up and walked to the computer. Without hesitating, he deleted every little bit of the evidence Quentin had. Every. Little. Bit. He was close to just destroying the Computer to make sure, but he trusted himself enough to delete everything. When he was done he looked down to Quentin and he realized that there were tears on the man's cheeks.
He had to turn away. It hurt. But he had to go through with this. He couldn't trust Quentin anymore... not anymore. But he still loved him, so he picked Quentin gently up and laid him into his bed. Then he opened Word on his Computer and wrote a quick massage, that Quentin should not try to contact him anymore if it wasn't about the safety of the city.
On his way out Peter saw the framed picture of them he gave him on christmas. Now he couldn't stop the tears as he carefully flipped the prame over, so the picture was laying face down. He stood in the window and looked back. His heart ached and he was worried about Quentin, but he had betrayed his trust. And he couldn't trust him again... Not anymore. Not now, not ever.
Ned looked at his friend with a concerned expression. "Peter, you look like hell."
The boy looked tired, sad and hurt. He obviously had cried and Ned had known Peter for so long, he knew immediately something had happened. Peter gave him a sad look and murmured: "It-... It's nothing." Ned was about to reply when MJ suddenly appeared out of nowhere."You already heard about it?"
Peter looked at her and suddenly seemed a bit more awake. "Flash." MJ replied, looking as bored as ever. Peter froze. What had Quentin done? "No, what- What about him?" He rambeled and MJ responded: "Apperently the police was at his house and arrested him. I don't know why though."
Peter froze. "Yesterday?" He asked and MJ nodded. While Ned started to spekulate Peter was lost in thought. He thought he deleted everything. He should've destroyed the computer. This was his fault.
He was like a robot, just walking to class and sitting down. What went wrong? When the teacher started talking, Peter didn't pay attention at first, until he noticed what she was talking about.
"I want to address the rumors flying around and make some stuff clear. Flash will not be returning to class, he was suspended for... various reasons. So, we won't see him again." Peter couldn't help and asked: "Is it true that he was arrested?" The teacher seemed to debate with herself for a while before responding: "Yes, he was arrested yesterday evening. He is at home now, but I doubt his life will go on the way it was."
"Do you think he will be going to juvie?" Ned asked the teacher frowned. "Do you know anything why he should?" Ned shook his head and explained rushed: "I mean, he was arrested, so it makes sense that he did something, right?"
For a moment there was silence and everybody looked at the teacher. She sighed and stated: "I want to make something clear. Flash was arrested and is on trouble for his own mistakes. I know some of you may have made similar mistakes, but let Flash be an example. I am not allowed to talk about it, but I think we all know to some extend why Flash is not here anymore. He threw away his future for... fun. Don't make the same mistakes, okay kids?" Everybody stayed quiet but some kids nodded.
Peter was unsatisfied. He needed to know where he went wrong. The moment class was over that day Peter bolted. He ran outside and was about to change somewhere to get to his house quickly, but then he was Quentin in civilian clothes. He froze. Anger filled him. He ran towards the taller man and without hesitation, threw the first punch.
Quentin learned from the day before and was more prepared for it, so he dodged Peter's fist and jumped back. "Peter, let me-..." Peter tried to hit him again. This time, Quentin caught his fist. Peter may be stronger than Quentin, but Quentin had the experience from fighting a lot longer than Peter.
"What did you do?" Peter roared and Quentin felt his heart break. Peter hated him. "Peter, I only did what I-..." "Don't you lie to me." Peter had tears in his eyes. "Don't you dare lie to me. Just tell me, what. did. you. do?"
Quentin closed his eyes in pain and whispered: "Peter when you came yesterday... I had already transfered the data to USB sticks and send them to the police station, Flashs parents and the school. I knew you would react the way you did... So I made sure it would work." Only now Peter saw the brouisng on Quentin's cheek which had a really not healthy color.
"You went behind my back, you lied to me, you did what you know I hated!" Peter growled. "Peter, I-..." "NO! Do you realize what you have done? You destroyed a kids life! You destroyed my trust in you! I hate you!"
The furious boy turned around and wanted to leave when Quentin grabbed his shoulder. "Peter, you are a hero! Busting people who sell and take drugs or commit crimes are your jobs! I just did what we do every day anyway!" Peter knew Quentin was right in this case but he spun around and pushed his finger into Quentin's torso. "That is NOT the point, and you know it! The point is, that you broke my trust! Maybe you did the right thing, this doesn't change anything! I will never trust you again, Beck."
Peter stormed off and left Quentin behind.
Quentin silently let his tears roll. He saved his brother from a bully and in return he lost the tiny bit of family he still had left. He lost everything. He was alone. There was no one he cared for, no one who cared about him. He could die and the first person to notice it would probably be Fury when he didn't answer his phone and was needed for a mission. Quentin smiled. He fulfilled his duty. He protected his brother. This was all that counted. Peter was all that counted in his life. And now he had lost him.