Kid, tell me what happened: The Sequel

Heavy Heart, Heavy Head

Peter Rogers knows pain just as well as he knows the back of his own hand, or the skyline of the famous city that never sleeps, or the way his Papa never fails to smile whenever he sees him. Just as well as Peter knows the feelings of hurt, failure, and the evil feeling of vulnerability. 

All things the boy was feeling at the moment because people just loved to ruin his day and manage to utter just the right words out of their mouth to make him feel like the shittiest person on the planet. The number one person on that list just so happened to be New York’s biggest bully, Eugene “Flash” Thompson. 

Peter let out a watery hiccup as he buried his weary head in his shaking arms and did his best to muffle the shaky sounds that spilled out of quivering lips. The muffling sound only made Peter’s heart crack more, and the next thing he knew, he was sobbing into his trembling arms. 

You might be wondering just what Flash Thompson did to our poor, valiant hero?

It all started right from the morning. Peter woke up from a nightmare and bolted upright in his bed with a scream on the verge of tearing from his lips. The sudden movement also happened to wake up his papa, Steve Rogers. A groggy Steve Rogers immediately went into a fatherly switch and bolted upright at the idea that Peter wasn’t okay. 

Sensing the boy’s distraught, the elder wrapped his strong arms around his son,  whispering soft reassurances into the boy’s ear, letting him know that he was loved and okay. The former guided the latter back down into his arms and rubbed soft circles on his back to guide him back to a peaceful sleep. He whispered as Peter’s eyes threatened to fall shut, “Rest up bear, Papa’s right here and will always be here to protect you okay? So you just shut your eyes and go to sleep, how’s that sound?” 

The sleepy child nodded as he buried his sweat-slicked head into the crook of his Papa’s neck, and right over his heartbeat. The place that he would be safest most. 

And then, when Steve did wake him up for school, the two had realized that they both overslept and that school would start in about ten minutes. Hence, the rush frenzy that Peter reluctantly went through as he got himself ready for school whilst at the same time wishing that he could be snuggled under his covers without a care in the world. 

And of course, walking into class mid-lecture had all eyes on him and Flash, of course, had to snicker, “Oooo, the penis is late!!!” Were it not for Flash’s crude remark, he probably wouldn’t have gotten a warning of detention.

Already feeling miserable from the nightmare, way too early in the morning rush, and now this, Peter sank into his seat as his teacher droned on and on about Chi Squares and calculations. All things that seemed ridiculously easy and twice as boring.  And if that wasn’t already enough, Flash continued to send crumpled paper balls towards the back of his head, whispering about how pathetic, stupid, and ugly he was. And that was only during the first period of the day. 

It also happened to be Thursday, Peter’s longest day in school, partially because his classes ended at 3:45, but as well as he had Flash in every single class that he had. And to make matters worse, his Spanish teacher, God bless her soul, had no idea of what Flash had been doing to Peter for years and moved Flash to sit right behind him. He sighed as he let his hands fall into his arms, praying that the day would be over already. 

Peter felt like he was stuck in a time loop, unable to pay attention to what his teachers were saying, instead, helplessly subjected to all of Flash’s crude commentary about how ugly, dumb, lonely, and worthless of a person Peter was. And it didn’t help that Peter did lower than he expected on his Spanish quiz. Well, he still did pretty well, a ninety, but he was hoping for a number closer to a hundred. And of course, Flash had to say something.