liar liar ⦚ spider-man

ACT II, SCENE VIII * Oh Ms Believer

Germany was a blur for Peter Parker.

The beat down, the conversations, the first real fight awe all blended into a single moment in Peter's head. He lay on his back in his hotel room, binder off and hoodie on. He'd done his t shot for the week, and was slowly coming to terms with what the suit adaptations meant.

Someone told Tony Stark that he, Peter Parker/Spider-Man, was transgender.

It also meant that Tony accepted him.

The built in binder that caused Peter no pain in the several hours he wore it must've had origins from somewhere and the only person on the planet that knew both secrets was...

But Peter had desperately blocked that possibility from his mind. Sure, it would make him feel less shitty about the Derek Incident, but it also meant that Karter had betrayed him in the worst form. Accidental kissing when their relationship was uncertain, Peter could forgive (which deep down led Peter to realise how twisted their relationship was becoming) but outing him to his childhood icon and possible mentor? That was, in Peter's eyes, unforgivable.

He shoved the possibility aside, but a nagging of his brain asked if it was true. Elizabeth, sweet Elizabeth, was in hospital and didn't know about either secret, but she worked with Tony...

Karter goes with Elizabeth to work sometimes, Peter thought. He mentally screamed, hating that whatever train of thought lead him to that outcome. He sat up and put his hands in his head, tugging slightly at his hair to try and push away the intrusive thoughts that plagued his mind.

There's only one way to find out, a seemingly darker side of Peter said, call him. Rational. That's what he needed. A rational call to Karter to make sure that Karter hadn't outed him. But what was he supposed to say? 'Hey Karter, did you by any chance happen to tell Tony Stark I was Spider-Man and transgender? Because if you did, I'm breaking up with you.'

Peter had no time to rehearse, he realised, as his phone was already in his hand and ringing, although he didn't remember picking it up. It rang for a few seconds, before the tone stopped and was replaced by a soft greeting.

"Hey, baby boy." Karter said. Peter would usually blush at the nickname, but he didn't feel like it had any meaning that day. "How's Germany?" Peter recalled the brief message he'd sent Karter explaining the situation, and Karter had been more understanding than he could ever had imagined.

"Germany is," Peter hesitated, looking for the right word. "Alright, I guess." Karter laughed softly, and went to say something else, but Peter cut him off. "Did you tell Tony the new suit needed a binder?"

Silence.

On Peter's side, there was just silence. But on Karter's side, there was wide eyes, dropped jaw, a knife of panic in his stomach, and horrible thoughts of betray and regret and guilt. Peter took the silence as a yes, and his heart and resolve crumbled.

"I thought I could trust you." Peter said, hurt obvious in his shaking voice. The knife residing in Karter's stomach twisted, and he tried to apologise profusely, but no words came out of his mouth. "That's funny. You have nothing to say, but could tell Tony Stark what - sure, most people at school know - what I wanted to tell. Being transgender, or gay, or asexual isn't a choice. Coming out is a choice. I get to choose when, where, to who, and how. It is not up to you to force me out when it suits you. I don't care what the circumstances were, you should've held your tongue. And from now on, keep my name out of your mouth, Bailey."

Karter snapped.

"I guess that's funny too." He said, slightly venomously. "Because you couldn't seem to keep Derek out of yours." Peter bit his tongue at that comment, and Karter scoffed. "What, you were happy scolding me a minute ago, what happened? Cat got your tongue?"

"You knew?" Peter asked in disbelief. Karter shouldn't have known. "When were you planning on telling me?" Karter scoffed again.

"Honestly?" Karter answered, his time remaining the same. "I wasn't. Derek came and told me all about it afterwards and apologised profusely. He told me he initiated it, but slipped up because he told me you kissed back. I thought, God, if I could just wait to confront him I'd get my Peter back. Obviously not." Peter was furious. Not at Karter, or at his words, but at life. So, he snapped too.

"How do I know you didn't do the same?" Peter shot back, causing Karter to scoff a third time, starting to annoy Peter. "How many of those ready made pieces of paper with your name on it did you make, huh? How many texted back?"

"Oh, don't act so high and mighty." Karter shouted. "You were basically drooling on me, like some fan girl." And with those words, Karter cemented their break up.

"Girl. Huh." Peter said, after a minute or so of silence. "You're no different to Flash. Or your piece of shit friends. Michelle was right about you, I should've listened. Don't call me again." Peter hung up before Karter could respond, blocking and deleting his number as if he was on autopilot. Then, he crumbled back onto the bed, curled up into a ball, and sobbed into his pillow until Tony got back.

Wow, two updates in two days? Who am I?

So I decided to go with the skipping Civil War idea. There will be a chapter when Peter reminisces on Germany, and it'll be pretty long to compensate (I started writing it, he's just arrived at the hotel and it's already almost two thousand words long, is that too extra?)

Question:
Do you think Peter over reacted, or was his response justified? Was he in the wrong? Did their two wrongs even each other out? Drop your ideas in the comments.

- N A N C Y