home ; peter parker

chapter twenty-two

Tuesday

The previous day had been pretty chill, but there was still something strange going on that Peter was kept in the dark about.
But now it was Tuesday, and Peter had convinced Tony and Pepper to let him go to school.

So there he was, grumbling about the fact that he had to wake up at 5:30 AM—an hour earlier than when he lived with May, due to the commute to school—and that he was tired. Though, he got past that pretty quickly as the excitement coursed through him while he threw his clothes on and combed down his hair.
He entered the kitchen with a smile, greeting Tony and Pepper—which, to his surprise, were awake.
     "Hey, kid," Tony smiled tiredly, wiping his eyes and gulping down some coffee.
     "Mr Stark? Why are you up so early?"

     And maybe it was his tired state that made him say this, but Peter still felt his heart lurch when the man replied with:
     "Gotta make sure my kid's all set for school," he mumbled, and Pepper smiled at him fondly, not bothering to correct him. Peter was failing to suppress a smile.
"We made you eggs and bacon, as well as orange juice," Pepper added, gesturing to the plate on the kitchen island.
"Thanks guys," Peter said sincerely. "For real."
"Of course," Tony responded, taking another sip of his coffee as Pepper rolled her eyes.

As Peter sat down to start eating, Pepper bent down and whispered in his ear,
"Between you and me, I did most of the work."
Peter grinned at her, swallowing a bite of eggs.
"Thanks Mom," he said mindlessly, before realizing he'd screwed up. "Uh- I mean, Mrs. Stark."
'Oh my God,' Peter thought, looking away with the reddest face ever. 'This is way worse than calling a teacher 'mom''.
Either Pepper didn't hear him, or she pretended not to—the latter was more likely.

He devoured his breakfast quickly, wanting to escape the awkward situation he'd created. He thanked Tony and Pepper for breakfast once again, and brushed his teeth as a mix of excitement and anxiousness only grew. He bid his goodbyes to the Starks and slid into the backseat. His new bodyguard, a tall man who didn't say much, accompanied him, taking the passenger's seat.
"Hey, Happy!" He greeted cheerfully before putting in his earbuds, not expecting a reply. Happy just kind of looked at him in the rear view mirror as his greeting, and started driving.

     When the car pulled up, Peter's confidence went out the window. He took one glance at the school and died a little inside. He checked the time, which was 7:30 AM, and sighed. He had five minutes until the first bell rang. He clicked on Ned's contact and began calling him, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and exiting the car. The bodyguard, who Peter still didn't know the name of, followed behind him.
"Hey, dude! What's up? Wait... Don't tell me you're skipping..." Ned said. Peter laughed, shaking his head—though Ned couldn't see him.
"I'm outside the school, where are you?"
"I'm getting out of the car now, turn around."
Peter whipped around and grinned, meeting his friend's eyes. Peter hung up the call and they excitedly rushed to each other.
"It's so good to actually see you," Peter said, hugging Ned.
"I know, right?" They pulled away from the hug and Ned glanced at the tall dude standing behind Peter. "Who's that?" He whispered.
"Mr Stark gave me a bodyguard," Peter rolled his eyes.
"He's gonna be so bored in your classes," Ned laughed. "I feel bad for him."
"Same. Let's go to class before we're marked tardy."

     Walking down the hallway was a strange experience. Never in his life had Peter had so much attention. Though, this wasn't exactly the good kind of attention.
     There wasn't a single person not talking about what happened to Peter.

     "Oh my God, that's the kid who got kidnapped!"
     "I know! I can't believe he's back to school, I would've taken the year off."

     "Hey isn't that the guy who was kidnapped for information on Tony Stark?"
     "Yeah, I think it's his personal intern."
     "I know, it was all over the news!"

     The fact that he had a bodyguard trailing him definitely made it worse.
     He caught strings of conversations, especially with his enhanced hearing, but he tried to shut it out. He didn't want to listen to how they pitied him.

     When he arrived to his class—after a short stop to his locker—, his teacher greeted him with a sympathetic smile.
     "Peter, let me know if there's anything I can do to make you feel more comfortable, okay? If you're uncomfortable you can just leave, you don't have to ask."
     "Thank you," Peter replied sincerely. He wasn't sure if the principal had told his teachers to say that or if it was just her being nice, but he still appreciated it.
     Peter's bodyguard took a seat in the back of the class, emotionless as ever. 'Jeez,' Peter thought, 'is he a robot?'

Class went smoothly, and Flash barely looked at him—again, probably due to the fact that he had a bodyguard with him. He and Ned got to work in partners, which was nice.

Peter and Ned walked to their next class together, bodyguard in tow. They didn't go unnoticed by the clusters of kids walking down the hall.
     Once again, he tuned out the students and focused on the ground in front of him. When he turned into his class—promptly bumping into someone and quickly apologizing—, it was nearly empty. There were a few students who glanced over their shoulder, and most of them did a double take.
     "Uh— I sit here," Peter told the guard, placing his backpack on his chair. "This class isn't as full, so you can sit here." He pulled out a chair next to him and the bodyguard silently sat, surveying the room. Peter glanced to his other side, where Ned was sitting, and they exchanged an uncomfortable look. The bodyguard was... Weird. He'd hoped for one who was a little more... I don't know, friendly? Talkative? The man was very intimidating.

School carried on, and finally, lunch arrived.
Thankfully, the bodyguard didn't sit at his table. He stood against a wall, looking out into the sea of high schoolers.
"Everyone's looking at me," Peter said, biting into his sandwich to hide his discomfort.
"They've been staring at you. The whole day," MJ commented.
Peter just sagged his shoulders in response, tapping his foot anxiously.
"How long is this gonna go on for?" Ned leaned in to ask, eyeing the bodyguard.
Peter swallowed. "I don't know. As long as Mr. and Mrs. Stark think it's necessary."
"At least he doesn't follow you into the bathroom," Ned offered.
"Yeah," Peter gave smile in return.
The whole situation was pretty glum, but at least he had good friends to help him through it.

And then the lights went out, and a voice came over the speaker.
"Peter Parker to the office," came a monotone voice, followed by someone else giggling.
The voice didn't belong to the principal, but it was certainly familiar...

Oh...

Oh no.

author's note;
heya guys! sorry i left you on a cliffhanger haha :)
how are you all doing? 🥺