Bruised But Not Broken - Irondad/spiderson

The Day Before

Sitting on the roof at sunset will always be my favourite place.

It is quiet up here. The city hums below, distant and manageable. I can breathe without worrying about where to stand or what to say. Meeting new people has never come easily to me. My heart always races, my hands go clammy, and I never know where to look. Or what to say. Or when to stop talking.

Eventually, people lose patience.

They stop trying to understand and start judging instead. That hurts more than I ever expected it to.

So I keep my circle small. A party of two. Me and Ned.

We have been friends since we were ten. I had just moved schools, and no one wanted anything to do with the quiet new kid who talked too much about science. Except Ned. He offered me friendship as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

I would not trade that for anything.

But on Tuesday, I have to make myself known.

I can do this.

I climb back inside and change out of my Spider suit. A few hours of sleep later, Monday arrives.

"Aunt May," I call down the hall as I shut my alarm off.
"Aunt May, can you sign the paper on the bench? I need it today."

"Mmm, sure, Pete," she answers sleepily. "What is it?"

"It's just an excursion permission slip. They need it today. The excursion's tomorrow."

She appears in my doorway as I pull on my shirt, hair messy, eyes still half closed.

"Oh, Petey, that's exciting. Where are you going?"

"Stark Industries," I say. "I might even get to see Mr Stark. Isn't that crazy?"

She smiles immediately. Whenever I am excited, she is too.

My good mood does not last past lunch.

Flash finds me in homeroom like he always does. Today, he brings a lighter. He flicks it on behind me, heat brushing the fabric of my shirt.

My stomach drops.

Before I can react, Ned switches seats with me. He pretends it is nothing. Flash only smirks. This does not stop anything. It just delays it.

After homeroom, Ned and I meet at my locker.

"Dude, tomorrow is going to be awesome," he says. "Do you think we'll see Tony Stark? Or an Avenger?"

"I seriously doubt they would have time for a school group," I say, laughing quietly.

"Yeah, you're probably right," he sighs. "I'll save you a seat on the bus tomorrow."

He waves and disappears down the hall.

I turn back to my locker.

Hands slam me into the metal before I can react. My feet leave the ground as Flash grabs my shirt and lifts me easily, his face inches from mine.

"First, your family kills themselves out of embarrassment," he sneers. "Now your dreams of working at Stark Industries are going to get crushed."

He laughs and lets go.

I hit the floor hard.

For a moment, I cannot breathe.

I am doomed.

There is no way I make it through tomorrow alive.

The walk home is long and cold. The holes in my socks leave my feet burning and numb at the same time. Cold sores sting along my heels. I need new socks.

I do not buy them.

That money can go toward food. For May.

When I open the apartment door, the smell hits me instantly. Warm. Rich. Real food.

Lasagna sits on the table, steam still rising, garlic bread laid out beside it.

I freeze.

"May," I say quietly. "How could we afford this?"

"Oh," she says easily. "Mrs Carter had some leftover ingredients after her family visited. I just picked up the mince and butter."

I sit down and serve myself before I can stop thinking about it. My ribs ache as I eat. I can feel the energy sinking back into my body almost immediately.

"This is amazing," I say, mouth full. "Please remind me to thank her."

That night, I skipped patrol.

Something tells me I will need all my strength tomorrow.

I lie in bed, staring at the ceiling. Sleep does not come. Flash's voice replays in my head. The lighter. The laughter. The way no one ever steps in.

Before I had powers, it was worse.

Now it is just complicated.

My spider sense always warns me before he hits me. But what is the point if I cannot fight back? Uncle Ben's voice lives in my head.

With great power comes great responsibility.

That means restraint. It means taking the hit. It means surviving.

As long as I eat.

The next morning, buses line the street outside the school.

Students crowd around, loud and restless. Ned is already inside, waving wildly through the window. A row back, MJ stares out the glass, unreadable as ever.

Flash and his friends have claimed the back.

Mr Harrington paces nervously, clipboard clutched in his hands. I can tell how hard he worked to organise this. I also know what that means.

If Flash hurts me today, it will not be addressed.

I step onto the bus.

The noise slams into me instantly. Thirty voices shouting at once. My head throbs as I sit beside Ned.

"I really hope we see an Avenger," he says, bouncing in his seat.

"Yeah," I say quietly. "That would be pretty awesome."