Always Silent, Peter Darling

Chapter 7

A few hours had passed since Peter and Mr. Stark talked, Peter was kinda glad the man reminded him of the B he needed to bring up. He had been working on the extra credit he had to painstakingly convince the teacher he needed, she kept telling him his grade was already one of the best in her class but he wasn't going to take no for an answer, he needed to get it up to an A within the next two weeks.

He looked over the three writing assignment for the eighth time reading through every word carefully, making sure all the spelling was correct and the punctuation was where it needed to be. The past seven times he checked he found mistakes, they were minor but still, he couldn't afford them. This time everything seemed to be in place but he had to check one more time just to make sure.

Finally satisfied with his writing he leaned back in his chair letting out a long sigh as he closed his textbook keeping the pages of his work nestled within it. He'd type them up tomorrow during lunch in the library.

Glancing over at Mr. Stark, who was currently leaned over the same workbench as before. The man still had music playing but this time Peter couldn't recognize the song, it was definitely classic rock. He felt guilty for making the billionaire turn down his music, Peter even felt a little guilty for working on homework instead of the prototype Mr. Stark was encouraging him to work on. Peter tapped his pencil for a moment before he started packing his things up, he even put the blueprints back in the box and put it back under the table to keep it out of the way.

It was probably best he left a little early, he'd start patrols early and wouldn't be at risk of wasting Mr. Stark's workshop space.

Peter stepped away from the workbench then glanced back over at Mr. Stark. May still wanted to talk with him, but he didn't want the man anywhere near Aunt May. What if she managed to turn him against Peter just like everyone else. Despite how horrible she acted towards Peter she had a strange charm she could turn on when dealing with other people. He remembered once when he was nine he almost told his teacher the truth about everything, the man was already suspicious of something and when he arranged a meeting with May to confront her about it, but she somehow flipped everything around.

"I can't believe Peter would suggest something like that" She looked genuinely hurt. "I'm sorry sir he's just troubled, ever since... he watched his uncle die" She choked up at the recollection and tears welled in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry Ms. Parker. I hadn't realized... how did his uncle pass?" the teacher asked cautiously.

"There was a fire... In our old apartment" She sniffed then burst into tears "I'm so sorry, just the thought of Peter watching Ben-..." She hunched over crying and the teacher started comforting her.

The next week was hell at school and home.

Peter looked towards the elevator doors then at Mr. Stark. He could just not mention anything, but if May found out he was working in Mr. Stark's lab it wouldn't be good if she realized Peter never mentioned her wanting to meet up. Peter could feel his chest tighten at the conflict of the decision, he somehow found himself walking towards Mr. Stark anyways.

Peter hesitated at first but once he was close enough he reached out to Mr. Stark and lightly tapped the man on the shoulder. Stark looked up immediately and spun around on his chair to face Peter.

"What's up, kid?" He asked crossing his arms in a relaxed position.

Already having the question typed up Peter pressed enter. <My Aunt wanted to talk to you about me working in your lab>

"Really? What for?" He asked. Stark had taken his earpiece out when he started working, he wish he didn't especially after finding out the kid had a poker face to rival his own.