Fluff, angst & everything in between | Spider-man One-shots

I wish you were my... (Uncle Ben)

TW: non-graphic mentions and implications of abuse 

Flash never liked Peter Parker. Scrawny, weak asthmatic Peter Parker. He couldn't say why. Maybe it was the fact that even though he lost his parents, he still could be smiling and laughing, just so optimistic every day. Maybe it was the fact that he had an Aunt and Uncle who loved him so much, and genuinely so. Not just for pictures or meetings. Maybe it was the fact that Peter remained so happy through it all even when Flash was bullying him. It angered him more and more how Parker just kept getting back up again and again. It made Flash want to find his breaking point. To prove he was human. To prove he wasn't any better than the rest of them.

Truth be told, Flash was jealous.

Every day when he got home and his parents weren't there (they were never there) and the house felt so lonely and quiet with all of it's expensive things. It had none of the cosy decorations and pictures Flash had seen at the Parker residence when he went over for a school project. His Aunt had been so nice to him, gave him cookies (though they were slightly burnt it was the thought that counted) and the way Peter leaned into May when she was near and the way he also looked up at Ben to make sure he was there, had just pulled at Flash's heart and had him longing for something he had never known. 

He hadn't liked that feeling of needing something or someone. And so he turned it to anger and used it to fuel his insults at Peter. For being so perfect all the time. For having an Aunt that loved him and would never (beat him...).

And then Peter didn't show up for a few days.

And when he did, the light was dulled from his eyes. And Flash felt guilty for having a thrill of satisfaction go through him. Peter wasn't happy all the time. He wasn't perfect.

That feeling lasted only until he learned why.

Uncle Ben was gone. It hit Flash harder than he expected.

The Uncle Ben who drove him home after the he and Peter worked on the school project. Who took him aside and asked (in a quiet tone so the other's wouldn't overhear) where he was getting those bruises and to call him if he needed help. Told him that he didn't deserve it. The kind of man who looked at him and seemed to understand him. After all, he'd overheard Peter telling MJ and Ned once that Uncle Ben's parents were physically abusive to him growing up. 

So of course he would recognize the signs. 

And it hurt, because sometimes after his father got violent, he would stare at the (second) piece of paper with Peter's Uncle Ben's number on it and wonder. What if he called him? 

But he couldn't. Because he had gotten in his dad's way after he had a stressful day and he deserved it. 

But he couldn't bring himself to get rid of the paper, instead he put it into his phone even though he already had it memorized by heart.

It was comforting, knowing someone had his back, even if he knew he would never take advantage of it. 

----

That time he came over wasn't the first time he had met Peter's Uncle Ben though.

He first met him when he was seven years old, sitting on the sidewalk outside of a fancy dinner, in the pouring rain, right where his tipsy (read: drunk) parents had left him.

Uncle Ben had been passing by, and had seen him. Not see him in the way most people did as they passed him by that night, eyes flicking over him and then flicking away just as fast -not wanting to get caught up in whatever problem he was in. 

But Uncle Ben was different. He caught his eye and knelt beside him and asked him in a quiet voice if he was ok. And Flash with tears streaming down his face (not that you could tell because of the rain) and snot running from his nose, nodded. And so the kind elderly man shrugged off his jacket and draped it around him, taking a tissue and wiping his nose. Then asking him his name and where his parents were. Listened to him, when he said his named was Flash and his parents left, and no he didn't know their phone numbers... really listened to him (when was the last time anybody had actually listened to him? Not just pretended to, like the nanny's his parents had hired to watch him).