Tricks

Nine

"Ugh, I think the cheese to the nachos expired by five years ago." Ned said, making a face as he sat down next to Peter. Who was pulling out a packaged lunch that his dad ordered for him every day.

"Yeah, well, I have extra for you also." Peter laughed pulling out an extra container of some fancy pasta that his dad is fond of and handed it to Ned.

Ned threw a hand over his chest as he let out a gasp. "You know I love you, right? You treat me well." Peter grinned and laughed at his friend's antics.

The cafeteria seemed to be buzzing, it was Thursday but, also it was spirit week. The school had a big football game on Friday that everyone seemed to be excited about. Peter himself didn't really understand sports. And Ned wasn't going, to the pre-teen didn't feel the need to bring the topic up.

Ned opened his mouth up to say something but was cut off by a louder voice. "Hey Stark, Neddy!" Flash shouted, sitting down next to Peter with a smirk on his face.

"What do you want Flash?" Peter sighed. The twelve-year-old didn't see why Flash seemed to pick on them every day. Didn't he have better things to do?

"Aww, don't be like that Stark! Ain't I your old pal? Ooh, did I ruin a lunch date? I'm sorry buddy." Flash mocked, with his eyes wide.

Ned raised an eyebrow, "Really? That's your best bit? You need to watch more comedy central on Sundays."
Flash scoffed, "Are like you two are even better. What do you do all day? Stalk some Avengers Twitter?"

"I feel attacked. He just saw right through me." Ned said to Peter as he shook his head in disbelief. Which caused Peter to laugh and Flash to glare at the duo.

"Whatever dweebs, I don't even know why I bother with you. Charity cases." Flash growled, getting up from his seat. "I don't know why Tony Stark bothers with you."

Peter's heart stops at that. "What do you mean?" Peter questioned, with his heart in his throat. His vision going shaky with a dark thought in his stomach.

"Tony Stark gets a lot of bad rep, wouldn't be surprised if he only adopted you to get rid of it. He does have a lot of money, he could've paid people off. Bet he never had to work a moment in his life. Just another rich man playing God for the poor. So stupid." Flash jeered.

Peter felt something consume him. It was like a blanket of red hot rage settling inside of his heart. The pre-teen blacked out, noise coming to a soft hum in the back of his ears as he closed his eyes.

"The fuck Stark." Flash groaned out, a hand covering his now bloody nose.

The brown haired boy looked at the scene in front of him. Flash on the ground with a hint of fear in his eyes. Peter backtracked when feeling that his knuckles were numb and bruised up. In black and blue marks.

One of the teachers roughly grabbed at Peter's arm and started to pull him out of the cafeteria. "You're going to the principal's young man!"

—————–––——

Tony Stark stormed down the halls of the middle school looking furious. Besides him was Stephen Strange, not in his usual attire and instead in a black hoodie with green sweatpants. Both men looked equally upset about the phone call from the school saying, that Peter had gotten into a fight.

Strange grabbed a hold of Tony's elbow before the man could pass the nurse offices. Tony shot the man a questionable look and looked to where Stephen was pointing at.

Peter was sitting down on one of the medical beds holding an ice pack against his knuckles.
"Go and talk to him, I'll deal with the principal." Tony nudged the taller make and walked off.

Strange sighed and pushed open the door before he could change his mind. At the sound of the door opening, Peter's head snapped up.

"What are you doing here?" Peter questioned, upon seeing one of his father's allies instead of his dad. "I'm so sorry! That sounded so rude! I didn't mean it that way."

Stephen laughed and shook his head, "It's fine Peter. You wouldn't be the first person to not be happy to see me." Strange took a chair and dragged it over to where Peter was before sitting in it. "Are you feeling okay?" The older male questioned.

Peter shrugged and stared at the tile floor. "Are you mad at me too?" The pre-teen asked in a soft tone.

"Not for the reason you think." Strange responded. "I don't care that you got into a fight. I'm disappointed because you hit someone. You've could've done some real damage. We don't know the amount of strength you have. Peter, you have to be responsible with the things you can do. Your power can be apart of you, or it can control you."

"I'm sorry, I just-" Peter rubbed his eyes not wanting to cry in front of his mentor. "Flash was talking bad about dad, and I just wanted him to stop."

"Pete, people are going to talk bad about me with it without you around. It's part of being a public figure. But you can't go around punching people who don't like me." Tony spoke as he entered the room.

His sunglasses tucked into his shirt with his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall.
"I'm sorry." Peter ducked his head in shame.

Tony sighed and walked over to his son, "It's fine bud. Want to go get some ice cream? You're suspended for a week so you'll just be moping on the couch I guess." He joked.

Peter laughed and nodded his head.

7 Year's By: Lukas Graham