Things Are Changing
This morning, Peter had a lot on his mind.
How he should come out. When he should come out. If he should come out. Flash standing up for him after coming out as his secret identity. The particularly bad wave of dysphoria that seemed to be consuming him at the moment.
Sometimes, it seemed like being trans was all that he was, even though he knows that isn't true.
He's a person. He has a life outside of that. He's a kid. He goes to school. He goes to his classes (mostly), he does his homework, and he has the typical teenage angst, and no matter how small that number is, he has friends. Plus, one of those friends has recently become his boyfriend.
He's also the actual, literal, Spider-Man. He helps people and tries to fight crime as a hobby.
So while his life is absolutely not one hundred percent being trans, on a small scale, it can sure as hell feel like it sometimes.
So as he has this battle in his head, he tries to push it away by doing something else. Like getting ready for school.
But getting ready for school also comes with the thoughts as to when he was going to come out.
But then again, most problems can be solved with some coffee and a big sweater.
As he grabs the sweater and starts down the stairs, he thinks to himself.
Sweaters are great. Everyone wears sweaters. They are genderless. They’re comfortable, and mostly covers up what's underneath them, whether it be curves, or the lack thereof.
Aka, sweaters are a great comfort when dysphoria comes to get you.
After he makes himself some coffee, he heads back up the stairs to finish getting dressed.
As he walks through the school doors, he sees none other than Flash Thompson. He immediately tenses up when he sees him heading his way.
But then, he doesn't yell anything at him, he doesn't shove him up against a locker, and he doesn't use his words as personalized weapons. He just sort of, stands there awkwardly.
Peter looks up at him. Waiting for something to happen. But nothing does.
Instead, Flash just looks sorry and puts his hand out.
“Hey Parker, i know i've been a giant dick ever since i've known you, but i want to. Uh. Y’know. Apologise.”
Peter kind of just stared at him for a moment.
“Um. Alright.”
Then he shook his hand. After that, Flash just walked away.
Peter thinks that can count as one of the weirdest encounters he's ever had with someone.
But hey, weird doesn't mean bad. And he's definitely having a good streak so far, despite the dysphoria.
While he's talking to MJ later at lunch, he spits out his drink.
“Youve been smiling a lot all day. Most of the day. You don't usually do that. It's usually just sprinkled in there. Whats got you so upbeat?”
“What? I'm not allowed to just smile every once in awhile?”
MJ deadpanned. “You know what i mean Parker. Answer my question.”
“Alright, alright! Gees, so serious all of a sudden.”
MJ gave him another look.
“Okay. So. It turns out my unrequited crush turned out not to be so unrequited.”
“Oh my god! Paula! That's amazing! What's their name!”
“His name is Johnny. Ugh. I've spent so long convincing myself he could never like me back. I can't believe this happened. We were fighting, and then we weren't, and then we were kissing.”
“Wow, that's like, straight out of a rom-com.”
Peter was about to say something along the lines of ‘more like gay out of a rom-com’ until he realized. He bit down on his tongue to stop before it came tumbling out of his mouth.
Luckily, she didn't notice.
“Wait, Johnny, as in that creep from gym class?”
“Oh my god. No. He doesn't go here.”
“Then where does he go? Can I meet him? I need to make sure he knows what's coming to him if he hurts you.”
She made a dramatic motion of punching her hand.
He thought about the hilarity of her finding out he was talking about Johnny Storm.
“I don't know if you can meet him. He usually has a really busy schedule.” Not technically a lie. He does normally have things to do, but that doesn't mean he always does them.
“Alright. Well, if he ever can, make sure to mention it.”
And just like that, they went back to normal conversation.