Potato Guns and Web Slingers

Chapter 21

Flash's POV

Something weird is going on. And if I think about it, something weird has been going on for a couple of years now. I guess I was just so focused on resenting Peter to even notice.

I think it started back when his uncle died back in 9th grade. He just started acting... weird and suspicious. For a few weeks after his uncle's death, he was kinda snappy, but that was understandable. But his whole demeanor changed after about a month of his uncle's death. He started to be more like himself but also he quit band and robotics, two things he enjoyed very much. He used to put up a little resistance when I would tease him, but after whatever happened happened, he did nothing. He took it. And that made me resent him even more. And then he claimed he got an internship from the Tony Stark. Of course no one believed him until recently.

And then sophomore year he started using his internship as an excuse for everything. And then there was the D.C. trip. I always felt something was off. He insisted he couldn't go and then all the sudden he could. And then he disappeared. And we got stuck in that elevator and SpiderMan came to rescue us. Why was he there in D.C? That was something that bothered the entire Decathlon team.

Now it kinda made more sense. Maybe Peter saw that we were stuck in the elevator and he called Spider-Man cause he knew him through the internship. Which we thought was a lie, but then Harley provided evidence. But how did he get there so quickly?

And then at Homecoming, he bailed on Liz and Spider-Man knew my name and crashed my car. And then it turned out Spider-Man defeated Liz's father, who was a criminal. I then, again, didn't think that much of it.

And then there was this summer. Peter, again, disappeared, but had an excuse. But it almost seemed like those monsters followed us. And Spider-Man was also everywhere we went. I thought back to it probably just being Peter who called him. But then there was that dude with the jet that said Spider-Man told him to get us to safety because those drone things were coming after us.

I then had the idea that maybe Spider-Man went to school where we did. And me being my nosy self, decided to start keeping tabs on Peter, because something was up. Of course, I still didn't believe he was an intern for Stark. But there was something that connected Peter to all of this.

But then, there was the fight that happened at the school with Spider-Man and Shocker. My first thought was how did Spider-Man get there so fast. Harley was still in the gym as we ran out, and so was Peter. But, Harley's whole demeanor changed when he came out. I mean, he seemed distant from Peter the entire day but this was different. He seemed angry but also hurt. He kept his distance from Peter— who came out a few moments after Harley— the rest of the time until our parents picked us up. Harley wouldn't even make eye contact with him. Something happened in that gym between those two, but I couldn't figure out what. MJ and Ned seemed to know though, as it was written on their faces.

And then that night, there was Spider-Man on the news, and well, we still don't know what happened. All we know is that Spider-Man hasn't been seen since. I refuse to believe that he is dead. But... wait.

Peter was not at school until yesterday.

Harley's excuse for Peter being gone did not line up with what his Aunt said.

Could Peter be...? No. There is no way. Right?

...Right?

Peter's POV

During Decathlon practice, I kept catching Flash just staring at me. Well, pretty much the entire day. Especially during gym. I had to be extra careful to be as weak as I could act.