The End Game | MCU FanFiction

Chapter 18

Another punch in the face, another wave of pain.

Michelle closed her eyes, as more tears fell down, wetting her gray Brooklyn sweater, as a slight breeze flew across her tearstained face. A moment of silence fell, followed by a loud cracking noise. Michelle got shivers hearing the horrible noise, and slowly opened one eye, to see where it came from. As she looked around, she saw that Flash and Charles were gone. She turned her head to her right and saw them hanging on the wall, webs keeping them in place.

Before she could think about what happened, a hand reached out to her. She grabbed it without second thoughts and pulled herself up.

As she was on her feet again, she brushed herself off and looked back up to be greeted by a familiar red mask.

"Hey."

"What the hell was that," Peter ripped the mask off his head, a worried look on his face, while looking at Michelle's half-ripped off clothes.

"Ask them," Michelle looked over at the two boys, still hanging on the wall, webs covering their faces. "Or don't, I'll try to explain later."

She tried to compose herself, taking a deep breath. Peter was about to ask if she was okay, but didn't get the chance to as Michelle threw herself into his arms, her face in his neck.

He didn't think twice, and wrapped his arms around her waist, keeping her safe. Michelle's breathing started to take ease, and she slowly started to calm down, still not letting go of Peter. And finally, she felt safe.

--

"So, when are you going to tell me?" Peter had been waiting for answers from Michelle, but didn't get any. She just wanted to forget what happened, but if he would continue like this, she couldn't.

"Okay," Michelle tossed her phone on her desk, and sat down on her bed. "But it stays between us. I don't want the others to go after them."

"But they should," Peter also tossed his phone on the desk, and sat down next to Michelle eyeing the bruises and cuts on her face. "I mean, come on. They went after you, they were trying to break you, Michelle. I can't just let that go and pretend like they didn't, and you know that. They hurt you, and you want me to pretend like I don't care? I'm sorry, I can do a lot of things, but that's something I'm incapable of."

"Since when do you actually care about me?" Michelle narrowed her eyes, giving the boy a kind of disgusted look as he searched for a first aid kit. He stopped at the comment, looking back at her with soft eyes.

"I've always cared about you, Michelle." He said softly. "You were just too insecure to think someone actually did. I've cared about you since we were in first grade. You just didn't see it."

Michelle's eyes widened at the words she had just heard. Of all the people, Peter was the last one that would say such a thing to her. At least, that's what she thought. Peter was actually the one who cared the most about her, but never showed it. Or maybe, she just never saw. Even though she was very observant.

"I-I didn't know.." Michelle faced the ground, as her cheeks turned red out of embarrassment.

"Well, I do care. So please, tell me what the hell they did that for, because I need to know now." Peter seemed to have found the first aid kit and knelt down in front of her, looking into her dark blue eyes while cleaning her bruises the best he could.

"Okay," Michelle started, shivering at the thought of what just happened, but reassured by the soft touch of Peter, cleaning her cuts with a soft hand. "So when Flash and Charles joined the school, I told one of my old friends I had a crush on Charles," Peter raised an eyebrow, not stopping with cleaning her wounds. He felt a feeling creep up in his stomach. Was that, jealousy? 

"With emphasis on had," Michelle continued, "and I guess someone overheard us and told him, because they started to bully me. It wasn't so bad at first. You know, name calling and stuff. It went away after a while, I thought they had just gotten tired of me." Michelle flinched as Peter dabbed a bit too hard.

"Sorry," he muttered, being gentler. He motioned her to continue.

"But then they started waiting for me after school, when no one could see it. They started beating me up. Subtle, the ribs and stuff. Never the face, that would be too obvious. I managed to make them mad with a nasty comment once, and they went too far. Teachers finally found out, even though they denied everything."

Michelle swore she could hear 'cowards' coming from Peter, but she wasn't sure, so she just continued. She was well aware of Peter taking care of her bruises and cuts, and it encouraged her to keep going.

"When Flash got suspended for bullying me, they found out that he had been bullying Lauren Raise so far she almost-" Michelle stopped for a second, thinking about how they couldn't feel bad at all for what they did to so many girls. It disgusted her, to think someone could do so many things and still not feel bad. "And Charles for impregnating Naomi Cooper, I lost all my interest, and they couldn't have that, for whatever reason. So they went after me, but failed, and now they-"

"Succeeded." a new voice sounded from behind.

It was a dark voice, one they vaguely recognized, but neither one of them could put a finger on it. Even though the voice had merely said one word, it was enough to send shivers down their spines. Peter wondered why his spidey senses hadn't warned him of a threat. The voice sounded evil, but human. The kids looked back seeing Bucky stand in the doorway.

Only, he wasn't Bucky.