Learn to Fly

Chapter 8

Peter was screwed. He had to leave for his internship in 5 minutes and had just taken a ruler to the face. He couldn't let her beat Mark though, he was only trying to get Robert a bandage. The cut above his eyebrow was bleeding lightly and quickly turning black and blue. The problem was that they would know this wasn't from bullies or Spidermanning because it was the weekend and Tony had joined him on his patrol last night. Peter was screwed. He just pulled his hoodie over his face and hoped no one would question it. Of course, he was met in the elevator with Loki. They had actually grown really close since Peter first met him in snek form, and developed almost a brotherly bond.

"Peter, why is your hood over your face?" Loki asked. Hesitantly, Peter removed his hood. Loki seemed taken aback by the injury. It had puffed up and taken on a slightly grayish hue. "Take us to the medbay, now. And alert the Starks of Peter's injury," Loki called to Friday. Peter sulked quietly, but followed Loki into the medbay. Mr. Stark burst through the door not a second later, looking like he ran up the 3 flights of stairs.

"Pete, who did this to you?" Tony asked as he tilted Peter's head back to look at the deep cut. Stephen portalled into the medbay immediately after and began inspecting the cut as well.

"I'm fine Mr. Stark," was Peter's response. "Bullshit," Loki piped up. Peter tried again.

"I... got mugged?" Peter said but it came out as more of a question. Tony only gave him a sassy look, while Stephen wiped the blood off his head.

"It appears he was hit by a sharp, metal edge," Loki said, walking over.

Mr. Stark nodded and said, "Thank you, Loki." Loki smiled and replied, "Anytime," before vanishing in a flash of green. Mr. Stark whipped around to face Peter, who instinctively flinched back. When spoke however, his voice was soft.

"Peter, are you being abused?" Peter looked desperately between Tony and Stephen before hanging his head in shame. The broken look in his eyes was enough to tell Tony and Stephen everything. "Pete, kid, there's been something Stephen and I have been wanting to talk to you about for a while now. We just didn't know how to tell you."

"We want to adopt you, Peter." Stephen finished. Peter looked up at them with shock in his eyes.

"You mean it?" He whispered. They nodded, and Peter pulled both of them in for a bone-crushing hug. Peter would deny it later, but he cried a little. Mr. Stark would also deny it, but so did he.

30 minutes later, Peter was standing in front of the orphanage with his bag in his hands. Miss. Binsh was being hauled off by the police while she screamed profanities. In sync, all of the kids older than 13 gave her the middle finger. Peter was completely euphoric. He got adopted!! He actually got adopted!! "Ready to go, kid?" Mr. Stark asked, flashing him his signature cocky smile. Peter nodded and the smile would not leave his face.

When they walked into the common room, Scott was the first to greet Peter. "Hey bug-bro! Why are you so excited?" The room turned to look at Peter, who only smiled wider.

"I just got adopted!" He said, putting his arms around Tony and Stephen. All the Avengers awed at the scene. "Wait," Peter said, turning to face the two, "What do I call you now?" "Whatever you want," Tony replied.

"Can I call you Dad?" Peter said to Tony, "And can I call you Dr. Dad?" Peter said, facing Stephen.

"That sounds wonderful!" Tony exclaimed.

"Can I be Uncle Clint?"

"And Uncle Scott?"

"And Aunt Wanda?"

"And Uncle Bruce?"

"And Uncle Loki? Don't look at me like that Thor," Everyone laughed at the last comment. "Yep!" Peter piped up, "We're all just one big dysfunctional family!" The room laughed.

"Wait, wait, wait. What will Steve be?" Someone piped up.

"Grandpa." Tony responded, and everyone laughed again. Peter wouldn't trade this family for the world.

The next day at school, he met up with Ned and MJ and he still couldn't stop smiling. "Seriously, loser, you're never this happy. Spill." MJ told him.

"Okay, okay, but it's kinda a long story." He said, and pulled Ned and MJ into an empty classroom. "So, about 2 months ago, May kicked me out. She, uh, found out. Anyways, for like three weeks the AVENGERS would find me during patrol! They were all like 'Come with us, we need your identity' and I was all like 'Nah, I'm good'. Anyways they caught me, and Mr. Stark gave me an internship! But Aunt May was killed in a car crash. I was pretty sad, but I mean, I lived on the streets for a month because of her. Anyways, I went to this shitty orphanage for a while, but yesterday, MR. STARK AND DR. STRANGE ADOPTED ME!!!" His friends were silent for awhile, and this freaked Peter out. "Are you ok guys?"

"Am I ok? My best friend is an Avenger! And he was adopted by Avengers!!" Peter hugged his best friend, and then turned to MJ nervously. Randomly, she slapped him. Not enough to hurt, just enough to surprise him. "That was for not telling us you were homeless," she said, and then pulled him into a hug and kissed him on the cheek, "and that was for the wonderful news. Good job, loser,"

"Thanks MJ," Peter said, "Let's go to class." He link arms with Ned and MJ, and together they went to their class. Peter knew he had the best friends he could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Can I go patrolling tonight?" Peter asked his new parents. They looked at each other, and Tony said,

"Sure, Pete. Go check your bed though, I got you something."

"Yes!! Thanks Dad!" Peter called as he sprinted out of the room. Tony got up and started doing a happy dance.

"Friday, did you save that? He called me dad!!" Stephen only laughed at his husband's antics.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Woohoooo!!" Peter screamed as he swung through New York in his new suit. It had so many features. As Peter swung around, he realized he made it all the way across town in record time. He landed on a rooftop to catch his breath. Then, he realized that he wasn't alone on the rooftop. There was a kid, probably Peters age, standing on the edge of the roof. "Hey, bud," Peter said, "Why don't we get down from here?" The boy turned, and Peter's eyes widened slightly when he saw who it was.

"Please, Spiderman," Flash begged. "I want out. I can't take it anymore." Peter's mind was utterly confused, but he turned flash around and sat with him on the edge of the building. "Talk it out with me, buddy. There's no problem too big to fix."

Flash scoffed. "My parents, well, there's no nice way to put this. They abuse me. For this," he said, and poked one of his wings out of his shirt. The tips were white, but black was spreading from the center out. "I screwed up. Badly. I made friends with the wrong people. They pick on kids for no reason, especially Peter. For awhile I could take it out on other people, but now it just feels so wrong. T-thats why they turned black, I think. I just don't want to do this anymore. You know?" Peter sighed. "Believe me, I know. More than you think. But there is always something you can do. Try to be kind. Apologize to the kids that got picked on. Distance yourself from your friends. As for your parents, is there anywhere else you could go? You may not like it, but you kinda need to call the cops on them. If you like I could leave an anonymous tip?" Flash thought it over, then nodded.

"Thanks, Spiderman. I'm not going to lie, I thought you'd leave once you saw my wings," Peter almost laughed.

"Are you kidding?" He stuck his own wing tip out. Flash smiled, and hesitantly gave Peter a hug.

"Thank you," he whispered, and went back down the stairs towards the ground floor. Peter smiled. Just knowing that he helped one more person keep going was all the reward in the world.

When Peter entered school the next morning, he saw Flash fiddling nervously by Peter's locker. He tried to seem like he didn't know what Flash was doing there.

"Parker! Can I talk to you for a second?" MJ wanted to throw her book at him, but Ned made her stop. Peter went into the empty classroom with Flash. "Listen, uh, I wanted to apologize. For everything. You don't deserve to be bullied, and I never really wanted to do it in the first place. Can we be cool?" Peter knew Flash was trying his hardest.

"Sure, Flash. I know you mean it." Flash smiled. "Cool! See you around Peter." Peter was happy. For once in his life, everything was going well, and he wanted to keep it that way.