Bruised But Not Broken - Irondad/spiderson

The Day Before

Sitting on the roof at sunset will forever be my favourite spot. It's so calming. Meeting new people can be scary, hence the one friend. My heart always starts beating really fast and I never know where to look.. or say. Then the cruelty comes of people not understanding, being patient. Normally people just skip to being judgemental, and that hurts. So I like my small party of two, me and Ned. We have been friends since we were 10. I'd just moved to a new school and no one had shown any interest in talking to me, except Ned. His kind soul offered me a friendship I wouldn't replace for anything. We look out for each other. 

But on Tuesday, I need to make myself known. I can do this. I head back inside, changing out of my spider suit. A few hours of sleep and Monday rolls around. 

"Aunt May", I called down the hall while turning my alarm off.

 "Aunt May! Can you sign the paper on the bench? I need it today!" I yelled across the small apartment. 

"Hmm, sure, Pete, what is it?" she responds in a sleepy voice.

 "Just an excursion permission trip; they need to be in today; the excursion is tomorrow", I replied. 

"ohhh, Petey, that's so exciting. Where are you going!" May asked, coming to my doorway as I put my shirt on.

 "Stark Industries! I might even get to see Mr Stark. Isn't that crazy, Aunt May?" May nodded in response with a big smile. Whenever I'm happy, she's happy.

Unfortunately, my happy mood changed after Lunch. Flash, as usual, started torturing me again. Today, he decided to bring a lighter into the homeroom and try to set my shirt on fire behind me. Fortunately, Ned was here and swapped seats with me, but that wouldn't stop the inevitable. After homeroom, Ned and I met at my locker to talk about tomorrow.

 "Dude, I'm so excited for tomorrow. Do you think we will see Tony Stark or an Avenger?" Ned questioned

"I seriously doubt they would have time for a school group, Ned", I laughed. "Yeah, you're right.. I'll save you a seat on the bus tomorrow!" Ned shouted as he walked away down the quiet hall. 

I turned my head back to my locker, but as soon as my body twisted, I was shoved up against the locker and lifted by my shirt, met with Flash's eyes.

 "First, your family killed themselves from embarrassment, having a son like you, Penis Parker. Now your hopes and dreams of working in SI will be crushed tomorrow," he laughed as he let my body slide to the floor. 'I'm doomed', Peter thought.

 There is no way I can make it through tomorrow alive. Walking back home in the cold streets creates cold sores on the bottom of my feet. I need some new socks, but I just can't waste the money on socks when I could pay for food that May can eat. I walk through the front door to the smell of a delicious home-cooked meal. May hardly ever gets to cook, but when she does, it's incredible. Laid out on the table was freshly baked lasagna and garlic bread to the side. I was already drooling at the thought of a home-cooked meal, but to actually have one. 

"May! how could we afford this!" I say in absolute awe as I sit at the table and start putting food on my plate. This food will give me much more energy, and my ribs might even finish healing from the other day.

 "Oh, Mrs Carter across the hall had some leftover ingredients from her family visiting and offered them over. I just had to pick up the mince and the butter." May simply replied. 

"Remind me to thank her later. This is delicious Aunt May," I say while stuffing my mouth full of garlic bread. 

As I prepared for bed, the looming thought of tomorrow and what Flash had planned started haunting my head. Usually, I would go out on patrol, but something tells me I will need all my energy for tomorrow. Instead, I get into bed and turn in for the night, but I just can't get to sleep. Thoughts of Flash and what he has done to me in the past keep running through my mind. Before I got my 'powers', it was a lot worse. Either way, I can't fight back. My Spidey sense always warns me before he hits me, but what's the use when I can't fight back? Uncle Ben always said, 'Peter, With great power comes great responsibility.' This means no matter how much I want to fight back, I can only use my powers when I really need them, and besides, I can heal pretty fast as long as I have some food in my system... 

Walking up to the school, I can see my class lining up at a bus and boarding in a cramped yet orderly fashion. Ned was already on the bus waving frantically to be through the window where I could also see Mj, a window behind, staring out the window with an unfazed look. Of course, Flash and his 'crew' have taken over the back of the bus. Mr Harrington is bouncing around nervously. I can tell he worked hard to organise this, so hard that if Flash were to mess around with me, he would not bring it to light and let it slide just so he could have a good reputation. This is not good for me; no one can protect me or stop the oncoming harassment. This was not going to be fun. Stepping onto the bus instantly, I get a headache. The sound of 30 screaming teenagers fills my ears as I sit next to Ned. 

"I really hope we see an avenger!" Ned bounced in his seat excitedly. "Yeah, that would be pretty awesome but don't get your hopes up", I laugh back.