Peter didn’t even know what kind of luck he’d had, being in the family he was and then actually getting bit by a radioactive spider at 15 years old, turning himself into a kind of superhuman just like his pops. Anyway, in their lives, this might’ve all been planned by a secret organization after all. But who knew?
Telling pops and dad had been a lot of fun; they firstly hadn’t believed a word he’d said, and who were they to blame?
After Peter had proved to the two superheroes that he indeed was able to climb walls, lift tons of weight and sense danger ahead, the discussion was on the table.
Tony suggested they build him a suit together where Peter could firstly learn a lot and secondly adjust his needs right the way he wanted to so that he could fight along with the team efficiently.
Pops harshly disagreed with letting Peter join the Avengers. It would be way too dangerous, he was still a little kid (at that, Peter frowned), and he had school to do on top of all that.
It took Tony and Peter almost a month of persuasion, tantrums and even a few fake tears on Peter’s side to convince Pops that this would do the kid well.
Finally, Pops agreed that Peter could take care of the small Manhattan criminals, as long as he stayed on top of his school work and wouldn’t have an exam the next day. This gave Peter a minimum of three nights per week to patrol (at Midtown, there were no more than four exams a week), and he loved that.
It had been a few months of Peter doing this, and he loved fighting the little guys, loved every second of patrol and being appreciated for his actions not only by people he knew but also the people of his hometown.
Friday had access to the school exam software, and the boy’s suit was locked away if there was an exam the next day. Every night when Peter got home, he had to bring the suit down to dad’s lab so he would stow it away.
There was really no way around this system, and Peter found it quite okay.
The one day that he did mind though, was a Thursday in April. Pops and dad were out of town for a week, a very rare occurrence, and Peter had enjoyed patrolling out a bit later every night because for one, there were no exams Monday thru Thursday and Bruce cut him some slack about when he’d have to bring the suit back.
That Thursday, Peter’s calculus class got back their exams from the week before, and Peter noticed moods dropping when his classmates received their results. His worry was made redundant when the teacher dropped the paper in front of him and smiled at the boy, who looked down to find out he’d scored 95%. Nice.
The teacher went back to the front of the class and cleared his throat, then started by saying how he was really disappointed in the little effort the kids seemed to have put in, shooting Peter a little glare from the side. He went on to say that the average grade they’d scored was less than disappointing at 55% and that they would have a new chance to score better the next day.
Peter was glad the man hadn’t mentioned his good grade in this, not wanting to draw attention to himself. On his way out of the class, his teacher stopped him to tell him that he would take the test and they’d just count the better grade he’d score.
The teenager didn’t think about the exam the next day anymore until lunch. Ned had tutoring to do, so Peter sat outside with his girlfriend MJ, eating their lunch while sitting in the shade of a tree, completely to themselves.
“I uh,” MJ started and opened her eyes. She was lying on the grass with her head in Peter’s lap. “Had another one last night,” the girl admitted and looked away.
Peter stopped stroking her hair. She was referring to the anxiety episodes she’d been suffering from for a bit. “Why didn’t you call me? I thought we talked about this,” the boy sighed and looked the girl in the eyes.
“I didn’t want to bother you,” MJ told him honestly but somehow this made Peter a bit mad.
“Why would that bother me? It bothers me that you didn’t call,” Peter huffed out. MJ knew fair well that Peter would always make the time to come over when she felt that way, but yesterday had been different. What had caused the anxiety was literally the fact that she did call him every time she had one. She was scared of bothering Peter to the point it got too much for him to handle, and where he would just break up with her.
Tears filled her eyes. “I’m sorry Pete it’s just… I’m worried,” she said and sat up, turning around so she could face her boyfriend.
“About what? That’s exactly why you need to come and talk to me, so I can help you through this.”
“No… It’s not- hm…” MJ took in a shaky breath. “I don’t know where the anxiety comes from really. But uhh… I’m worried if you have to come over all the time it might be too much for you, for us,” she said and a few tears made their way down her soft cheeks, bringing moisture to Peter’s own eyes. He had never seen his girlfriend cry, really. He’d known MJ for almost two years, and the only times he saw tears in her eyes or on her cheeks, had been during said anxiety attacks.
“Hey,” Peter said softly, trying to hide his annoyance and anger. He was not mad that MJ was crying, he was glad actually, knowing she wasn’t lying. He was annoyed about the fact that she hadn’t called, and that she was worried about putting too much on him. It made him feel like an asshole, MJ thinking he would leave her for something she couldn’t control. “Don’t you ever worry about this drifting us apart, if anything, it will just bring us closer. I want to take care of you, I’m both your boyfriend and a superhero,” he smirked and winked at her.
Peter got home a bit later that afternoon. The talk he’d had with MJ was still nagging at him a lot. On top of that, he’d gotten into a big argument with Ned about the future of SpaceX and Tesla, and how ethical their choices were, this soon turning into personal attacks towards each other.
Shortly said, Peter was annoyed big time, and he needed some fresh air. He made his way down to the lab and found the cage his suit was in locked, shining red instead of the usual white light.
The suit though wasn’t in there. “Friday, show me what happened after I left the lab yesterday,” Peter said and leaned against a table when a hologram showed him that after he’d brought the suit back, Natasha had entered, successfully completely distracting Bruce from ever putting it back in the cage.
Peter remembered the exam he had to take the next morning and figured it was his lucky day because he definitely needed to patrol tonight.
He was about to take off his clothes when Natasha entered the lab. “A little bird told me you might be down here,” she said with a smirk.
“Hi Aunt Natasha,” Peter said and smiled at his aunt.
“What exactly do you think you’re doing?” The red-haired lady asked him and walked closer.
“I’m going on patrol? I need some fresh air,” Peter stated.
“Friday says you have an exam tomorrow,” Natasha said and stepped even closer, taking the suit from Peter’s hand.
“Oh yeah, but that’s just a repetition exam, I already have a 95,” Peter explained and his aunt frowned.
“Sorry kid, rules are rules,” she said and Peter silently watched her walk past him and lock the suit back into the cage.
“C’ mon Tash, this is in no way fair,” Peter whined, his overflow of emotions from the entire day taking over.
“I know, but you need to respect the rules,” she said with sympathy in her voice, having clearly noticed how worked up her nephew was.
Peter started to argue, saying how it practically wasn’t even an exam for him, how desperately he needed it tonight, how unfair she was being and a lot more, unpretty words. By the end of his rant, Peter’s eyes were filled with angry and frustrated tears.
“Peter. I don’t get why you just won’t listen to your dads. There’s tons of stuff you can do here. There’s just no patrol tonight, and that’s the end of it.”
“Because that’s how I am, a fucking asshole who never considers others’ feelings. I only look after myself!” Peter exclaimed and ran out of the lab, tears falling down his cheeks. He surely did not want Natasha to see him cry, although he knew that she probably knew, obviously showing it to her was definitely worse.
In the elevator, Peter pondered on what to do that night if not patrol, and he decided to have a calorie fest with lots of ice-cream and chips. Junk food was stowed away in the common room, and so Peter told Friday to take him there and helplessly tried to calm himself down on the short elevator ride. There was no use in it though, by the time he arrived tears were still falling from his eyes, the events of the day catching up with him.
To his great luck of the day, Bucky was preparing himself a milkshake in the kitchen when he walked in. “Hey kid,” the man said without looking up, knowing exactly that those frantic steps could not be from anyone else than his nephew.
Peter didn’t say a word, wiping his face but there was no use, he was just too emotional. Bucky looked up when he heard the boy sniffle.
His features softened once he saw the boy’s face. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
“I-“ Peter started. “Natasha won’t let me go on patrol,” he said and noticed Bucky’s features twist in confusion, obviously wondering why Peter was crying about that.
“Okay-“
“It’s MJ, actually,” Peter said and walked around the counter to the side his uncle was on.
“Oh, she have another one?”
The boy nodded in response, wiping his face and finally calming down a little. Bucky had actually been there the first time MJ had had one in front of Peter.
They’d been at the tower in his room, and Steve knew that Bucky was the first priority to call because his dad had been out of town.
The ex Winter Soldier had talked the girl through it, using the 5 4 3 2 1 method and talked her very, very calm and just held Peter’s girlfriend as she shook and tears streamed down her face, gasping for breath. Peter had stood a bit away from the scene, softly crying from worry although he knew that Bucky had this.
“It’s just… I want her to call me when she needs me,” Peter said, his eyes still burning but his cheeks finally dry. “And she thinks if she needs me too much I’ll break up with her,” he said with a dry sob, and Bucky took a step closer. “It’s just ridiculous, I’m out there saving the people of New York and she thinks I’d drop her for needing me,” Peter sighed and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“Oh Peter,” Bucky said and closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms around his nephew, who struggled a bit at first but then finally leaned in. “You’re lucky you ran into me, I know exactly how you’re feeling,” the man stated and after finishing mixing the bananas and almond milk gave him half of it and sat him down on the couch to explain how he got through this complex with Steve when they were younger.