Going Through Changes -> Peter Parker

10.

 What felt like just minutes later, after a brief but glorious dream of being an avenger and fighting at Captain America's side, he woke to Ned calling his name. "Peter, get up! We're already late for school!" Instantly Peter was wide awake, jumping up and searching for a clean shirt to wear while coping up his jeans from the floor."Where's Liam?" Peter asked after a quick look around. "Don't know. He was already gone.", Ned answered, adjusting the fresh clothes he put on in a hurry. Peter somehow managed to find a clean shirt on top of the pile of clothes squeezed into his closet and quickly changed into it while Ned grabbed their backpacks. "Bye, May!", Peter called passing the kitchen on their way to leave the apartment. 

A few minutes later, the two boys emerged from the apartment building, Ned heavily panting when Peter suddenly stopped in his track. A sleek black car, probably insanely expensive, was parked directly in front of the apartment building, the window on the passenger side rolled down, giving a full view of a grinning Liam behind the wheel, sporting a pair of his trademark sunglasses. "Get in, Ladies, we're late.", he stated while nodding at the passenger door. Peter, dumbstruck at the sight of the beautiful car, which model he'd already seen with Tony Stark, needed a second to get himself together.He had completely forgotten that with being Tony Stark's son, also came money and ridiculously expensive gadgets. And somehow, Peter had never associated Liam with a car.  Ned, on the other hand, practically bounced to the bag door and climbed in, a joyful wheeze coming from his lips: "This is awesome!" He wiggled on his seat, enjoying the warmth of the seat heating and the comfortable fabric underneath his butt. To him, it was only natural to take the backseat that left Peter to ride upfront.   "I didn't know you had a car.", Peter mumbled while getting into the passenger seat, which embraced him with the luxurious softness of its leather. Suddenly he understood what Ned had meant. It simply felt a lot nicer than the subway. "I hardly use it. It's too flashy.", Liam answered shrugging, before starting the engine as soon as the door closed behind Peter. "But after last night, I wasn't in the mood to deal with pubic transportation. There's a bag of scones beside you, by the way, Ned."  The rustling of a paper bag was audible as Ned happily fished one of the baked goods out. He didn't even bother to offer some to Peter, already knowing his best friend would decline. The other boy was just too busy eyeing the oldest teen out of the corners of his eye, trying to figure out what else he hadn't noticed about him.

"Whatcha looking at?" Liam scolded the gaping Flash Thompson while rounding the car to join a still thrilled Ned and an embarrassed Peter a few steps ahead. "Penis Parker got a rich bitch now.", Flash hollered under the supporting laughs of his friends, his venomous glance focusing on Peter. Liam rolled his eyes in annoyance. From all people he ever encountered, Flash made it pretty high up on his list of least favorite persons, regardless of only knowing him for a short period of time. Peter beside him grew red in the face, wishing internally to disappear on the spot, so he didn't have to deal with his longtime bully. "Please ignore him.", he whispered to the older boy. " I try to.", Liam answered through gritted teeth while watching Flash making rude hand gestures towards Peter. "Oh? No smart remark?" he now mocked Liam directly, who had to fight the urge to punch the mean grin off the other boy's face. A snarl left the young agent's lips, ready to fire back, but his gaze landed on Peter. The younger boy looked up at him with pleading eyes, begging him just to let it go. And looking into those wide doe eyes, Liam could not disappoint them. So he swallowed his anger, rolled his eyes again, and responded with a "Not in the mood, Thompson." before heading towards the building, Peter fell in track next to him while Ned followed behind. "Thank you.", the Parker boy said quietly while awkwardly adjusting the strap of his messenger bag on his shoulder. "Anything for you, darling."; Liam answered with a half-hearted smile, making Peter blush and look around for Ned suspiciously, afraid his best friend witnessed the nickname. But Ned was busy munching on his last breakfast scone and hadn't been listening, so Peter relaxed again. Something about that didn't sit right with Liam. 

" So, you got Decathlon today?" he asked to change the topic, not wanting to deal with the rejection at the moment. Peter nodded, observing the other boy type in the code for the locker next to his own. "That's not your locker!" he pointed out, but Liam just grinned. "It actually is. Switched with the dude it used to belong to." "Why would you do that? Your classes are all the way across the school.", Peter wondered further while sorting his stuff by class. "Remember.." Liam purred, squeezing anything but his physics book into the small space the locker provided. "I'm just here for you, Pete." Peter rolled his eyes at that, but his cheeks were burning again from the kind of attention the other boy gave him, which made Liam chuckle softly. "Besides that, I like the view.", he decided to add, making Peter go from pink to scarlet red. "You're unbelievable.", he managed to mutter out before quickly busing himself with the search for his favorite pen. "I know, I'm awesome.", the older winked, pleased with the way Peter reacted to his flirting. "See ya later, Pete." And with a confident bounce in his steps, the older boy left, totally aware of the Parker boy watching, shaking his head in disbelief.

The two of them saw each other at Lunch again. Peter was chewing on a very blend fry while his attention was on Liz, who was currently pushing a strand of hair behind her ears while smiling like an angel. His peaceful observation was rudely interrupted when Liam plopped down in front of him, blocking his view. "Guess who just joined the Decathlon Team." he grinned. "What?" Peter inquired, his eyes wide in disbelief. "Mr.Harrison saw my faked grades and ask me if I could imagine myself on the decathlon team.", the boy shrugged and bit into a picture-perfect apple he'd brought along. "That's awesome!" Ned exclaimed, thrilled to have another friend on the team. And besides that, the odds of Flash really bothering them around Liam lowered drastically. "But Washington! I said I couldn't go because of the Stark internship.", Peter stammered. The older boy just shrugged again. "And I said I applied for leave. Relax. Nothing is going to happen to your disguise. Besides that, to explain our connection with an internship was your idea." "So you're going to Washington?" Ned know asked. Peter beside him rolled his eyes in defeat. "Don't know yet.", the agent answered truthfully before taking another bite."But I thought it would be nice to do something just for the heck of it instead of doing it for anyone else." "That makes sense." Ned nodded, understanding where the other boy was coming from. "It does.", Peter agreed, realizing what this little thing meant to Liam. "Nice to have you on the team.", he added meekly in a soft voice that made Liam smile at him fondly: "I'm looking forward to it." 

"Congratulations didn't take you for the smart type.", a girl commented, looking up from her sketchbook she was doodling on. Ned and Peter turned simultaneously towards her, the Parker boy sporting an annoyed look on his face, as usual when confronted with her. But before he could say something, Liam tilted his head, eyeing her. " You're Michelle Jones, right?" he asked as if he knew everything about her. He probably did, Peter thought. He watched suspiciously as Michelle returned the stare, as calm and collected as the agent. She wasn't intimidated by him, and somehow he knew the older boy took a liking to that. "I'm calling you MJ." Liam decided after a while, the wide grin returning to his lips, the kind no one could resist. So MJ just had to smile back, which meant for her the corners of her mouth shifted upwards. Peter was sure this was the closest to an actual smile he'd ever seen on her. "You're weird, dude.", the girl chuckled. "Thank you, likewise.", Liam answered with one of his signature winks. "Did he just befriend Michelle?" Ned whispered to Peter. "I think he did.", was the baffled response.

 "Liz Allan is watching you, weirdo.", MJ said, then returned her gaze to her sketchbook, looking bored again. Liam turned around, immediately spotting the pretty girl, who waved at him as soon as she got his attention. He waved back, then made himself comfortable in his chair again while facing Peter, who looked shocked, completely overwhelmed by all that suddenly happened around them. He wasn't used to be visible to other students other than Flash. But Liz smiled at him as she caught him looking over, causing his brain to go mushy for a second. "Liz smiled at me.", he stuttered. "Yes, she did." Liam shrugged but eyed the other boy strangely as he turned pink.
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