Going Through Changes -> Peter Parker

6.

 "Why aren't you shivering yet?" Peter asked quietly after a short, slow walk of depressed silence through the empty park. "I'm fine. I don't get cold that easy.", Liam answered beside him. "And that's not the real question you wanted to ask.", he continued, watching Peter from the side closely. He could feel the other boy's heavy thinking and could perfectly imagine what it was all about. But he wanted to give the boy a chance to phrase it, that at least one of them was heard. "I'll never gonna be an avenger, am I ?" Peter sighed subdued, letting his shoulders hand down in sadness. Liam also sighed, a rush of sympathy for the other boy warming his heart. He grabbed Peter's hand and gently squeezed it as the only way he could think of to comfort the other teen. "Maybe, one day, you going to be one. But till then, you're not too bad as a  solo superhero either.", he said, then dropped the hand again as the suit material felt strange underneath his soft skin, and he could feel the other teen tense due to the body contact.  Peter rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, not looking at the other. He never held someone's hand and certainly not that of a boy and wasn't exactly sure what to think about how natural the action had been to Liam. 

"So you think it will be ok again between Mr.Stark and me?" he quickly talked up again, partly to distract. "It's not not ok. He's just an asshole sometimes. But he cares about you." Liam shrugged, crossing his arms in front of his chest rubbing his elbows. He was still dripping lake water with every step but didn't care much. He was still not freezing, but the sensation of the wet fabric of his shirt against his skin was starting to annoy him. "You're a Stark, huh?" Peter asked even quieter, so it was almost a whisper. "You could say so.", Liam confirmed, looking down at his black converse, his voice dripping bitterness. "How is it to be the son of an avenger?" Peter wanted to know, brown eyes glimmering with curiosity as he stared at the other teenager. Liam let out a small chuckle. "Adopted son. And it sucks most of the time." He looked up, grinning at the younger: "After all, he's sending me to school to discipline me." "School isn't that bad.", Peter reassured, putting on his mask while the two entered a neighborhood. "Never went to school." Liam shrugged again. "Never needed to. " Peter tilted his head to the side, fascinated by how much but yet so little the other boy was telling him about himself. "You're a weird teenager.", He concluded.  "That we have in common, darling, "Liam laughed while looking fondly at the younger boy.

 "You know, if you gonna attend midtown, I could show you around.", Peter suggested choosing to ignore the nickname after all that had just happened."Nah, I don't think the odds are high for that." Liam was now searching for his pack of smokes in his jeans pockets. It wasn't a surprise to him that they were as soaked as the rest of him. He grabbed for his silvery lighter and began trying to dry a single cigarette to the point it was ignitable while Peter was tilting his head again. "Why not?" Liam shot Peter an amused glance while working on his smoke, a light smile on his lips. "Cause you're cute and Stark no longer wants me near cute guys.". Peter just hummed, blushing underneath his mask, hoping Liam wouldn't notice. Liam was the first to give him compliments like that, and he wasn't sure how to handle them. So he stayed quiet, risking a glance towards the other from time to time. 

Meanwhile, Liam had achieved an acceptable level of dryness of the tobacco and lit the cigarette between his lips. He coughed when the smoke entered his lungs, covering it in a weird, muddy sensation causing the teen to throw  the cancer stick by side just seconds later. "Bullshit.", he mumbled. That had been the last pack of his favorite cigarettes, and getting a new one was going to be complicated as hardly any store was selling them. 

Suddenly, Peter stopped hot in his tracks, causing the other to do the same and look at the Spider-Man questioningly. Peter just started to walk again, entering a yard and crouching down to inspect something. He had spotted a piece of one of the mysterious weapons that got lost during the fight. He carefully flipped it over with his fingertips. "Whoa."; he awed as it glowed in deep purple.  "That's interesting.", Liam exclaimed, going down on his knees beside Peter to get a closer look at the object. "Never thought I would ever get that close to one of Ultron's inventions again." Peter shot him an impressed look. "You met Ultron?" "The bastard almost got me killed.", the older stated as if it would be the most normal thing on earth. "That's so cool!" Peter said in awe. Liam rolled his eyes. "Cool isn't the right word for that.", Liam winced as he thought about the stinging pain. Before  Peter could reply, his phone started ringing. "Hey, man, what's up? I'm on my way back.", he answered Ned's call. Liam watched as Peter listened to his best friend, getting noticeable sadder while listening. "What's up?" he mouthed. Peter just raised the phone from his ear, putting it on speaker. 

"Penis! Parker! Penis! Parker!" the party crowd cheered, again and again, lead on by Flash Thompson himself, which was like a knife to Peter's heart. He had hoped for this night to be the night his peers finally accepted him into their circle and quit the hurtful nicknames and jokes on his behalf. Spider-man could have done that for him. As an equalizer for all the trouble, he had to go through for being a superhero.  But now it was too late. He would continue to be the weirdo without confidence that was so easy to pick on by the following day. " Sorry, Peter, I guess we're still losers. I'll see you in school.", Ned said. Peter returned the goodbye, then hung up. "Flash Thomson is still making school suck.", Peter sighed emphatically. "What a dick, "Liam commented dryly. He hated how sad the other boy had become. He didn't deserve this. "It's ok. I'm used to it." Peter shrugged. "You shouldn't be.", Liam stated, looking at him sternly. "It's ok.", Peter repeated, carefully grabbing the energy core into his palm. "I should get going. My aunt is probably waiting for me. See you around?", he looked at the older teen, thankful about the mask hiding him fighting back the tears. "Yeah, sure." Liam nodded, eyeing the boy funnily. He knew something was off, but before he could ask, Peter shot a web at the nearest lamp post and swang away into the night.

 Liam frowned, looking after the other boy. He had ended up liking the boy more than expected. And he felt sorry for him. Tony was letting him down precisely as he did with him. Peter was left entirely alone with the burden he hadn't chosen for himself. He needed someone to look after him—someone to talk to. And to be honest, Liam had enjoyed having another teenage hero around as well. Maybe they could hang out more, even become friends. And it wouldn't hurt to continue to investigate a little more on the side. Together it was more likely that the spider-boy would survive the mission. And Liam would have something to do while serving his time in the useless prison called school. If Tony chooses to change the game, Liam would simply adjust his tactic.