|| Peter Parker Protection Project ||

Bullies ||

"Hey Peter." Bucky said softly.

I tried to sit up, to pretend like everything was fine and that I hadn't just been beaten within an inch of my life. But the pain of all my injuries added together was too much and I slumped back to the ground. Bucky put a friendly but firm hand on my chest to keep me lying down.

"Don't try to get up." he said. "You're hurt pretty bad."

I coughed violently.

"Why are you here?" I asked, my voice hoarse from the choking.

"I was in the neighborhood," he said lightly. I gave him a look. He sighed.

"Okay, fine, I wasn't. I heard Tony say that you cancelled a meeting with him because you had Decathlon practice, but I happen to know that you quit Decathlon two months ago. I knew you wouldn't lie to Tony without a good reason, so came to make sure everything was okay. Obviously, it's a good thing I did."

"It's no big deal." I lied. "I had those guys on the ropes." A fond light appeared in Bucky's eyes.

"Uh huh, sure you did." He said. But then he grew more serious. He tenderly reached his metal arm behind my shoulders and put his other arm under my knees, preparing to pick me up in bridal style. I protested, of course, insisting that I could stand on my own. But when I tried to put weight om my dislocated ankle and shattered knee, I fell back on the ground with a cry of agony. With my face burning from embarrassment and throbbing from being hit repeatedly, I consented to Bucky carrying me across the parking lot to the car he had driven from the Compound in. He buckled me in the front seat like I was a two year old.

I didn't realize how cold I was until he turned on the heat full blast. After all, I had been outside for a almost an hour in mid December with no coat on, lying on the cold, hard ground and getting my face punched in. I shivered violently and tried to move closer to the vents, my broken ribs shifted. I leaned against the back of the seat and blinked, trying to get the little stars out of my eyes. Bucky glanced at me with eyes drowning in concern and care.

"You okay, Pete?" He asked.

I smiled, but it looked more like a grimace.

"I'm great", I hissed through clenced teeth. Bucky kept his gaze on the road, but his hands tightened around the steering wheel.

"Who were those bastards?" He demanded. His face looked like he wanted to grab a shotgun, hunt them down, and murder them slowly and painful. I shrugged and immedialy regretted it as it jostled my broken collarbone.

"Just a couple of kids that go at my school." I said. I glanced at him and he looked ready to explode with rage.

"Please don't kill them." I said, only half joking. He shook his head and let out a shaky breath, then without warning hit his hand several till on the dashboard. Luckily it was his right hand or else the car would have been destroyed.

"Why did you let them do this to you?" He exclaimed. "You're Spiderman, you could have easily protected yourself."

"Yeah, I could have." I agreed. I offered No further explanation, suddenly embarrassed by the whole situation.

Bucky looked at me expectantly.

"Well?" He said. "Why didn't you?"

I wanted to shrug again but luckily remembered about my collarbone, so I settled for staring out the Windows instead. I was quiet for a long time.

"Ned Leeds is my best friend." I said. I don't know why I started with that, but it sounded right. Bucky obviously wasn't expecting that, but he didn't say anything. I knew he understood about best friends. He had also met Ned a couple times, and they got along pretty well.

I continued. "If anything ever happened to him, I don't know what I'd do. I have to keep him safe, no matter what it costs me."

A light of sudden realization appeared in Bucky's face, and I knew he understood.

"So, those guys..." He said. "Those guys threatened Ned?"

"Yeah. They beat him up one day, and they said they would keep doing it. I couldn't let that happen, Bucky."

"So you offered yourself instead." He said in a matter-of-fact tone. I could tell he was still angry but holding it back for my sake.

"Yeah." I looked down at my broken hands.

"How long has this been going on?"

"A while."

"Peter." Bucky only said my name, but I knew he wanted a more exakt answer. I didn't want to tell him, but I did anyway. I couldn't lie to Bucky.

"Since like the first week of school." I mumbled.

The car sreeched to a halt and I had to put my hands on the dashboard to stop myself from flying forward. All my injuries screamed at me, and I hissed in pain, especially at having to use my hands.

"FOUR MONTHS?!" Bucky yelled. "This has been going on for four months and you didn't tell anyone? Does your aunt even know?"

"No, no one does." I said, desperately trying to defend my position.

Bucky was quiet for a minute, then he started driving again.

"Not even Ned?"

"No." I whispered. I could see the Avenger's Compound in front of us now, where all the other Avengers were probably waiting. Not for me specifically, but there was no way they wouldn't hear about this. I groaned.

Immediately Bucky stopped the car and went into full panic mode.

"What's wrong?" He asked. "Does it hurt somewhere? Are you bleeding? Should I get Tony to fly you the rest of the way?"

I pushed away his hands which were running over my abdomen trying to see if I was bleeding anywhere.

"No, I'm fine, Grandpa Creepo," I said. "Geez. I'm just not looking forward to what everyone else is going to say about this."

Bucky looked at me with soft eyes, like I was a teddy bear or something.

"You're a good person, Peter," he said. "They'll understand that you were just trying to protect your friend."

We shared a small smile. Then I took a breath, as deep as I could without hurting my ribs, and put on a brave face.

"Okay." I said. "Let's go."

---

I'm back from the dead lol