Bug boy || Peter Parker

Thirty

Tate missed his lesson. When he left Peter, he immediately veered right instead of left and locked himself in the disabled toilet. There was only one and it locked better than the stalls in the boy's toilets. It also had a fold down chair that he collapsed on as soon as the door was closed. He leant his cane against the wall and dropped his bag to the floor, legs aching but he knew that the pain was more to do with his vulnerable emotional stare messing with his pain tolerance. Tears were dripping silent down his face and he rubbed them away with toilet paper. His suspicions were true. Peter didn't need him anymore. Tate was nothing more than a hanger on with nothing to offer but his tech and his shitty legs. Not for the first time, he cursed himself for getting injured. It was just so hard.

He waited for the class to finish before texting the his friends. He avoided the big group chat as that had Ned, MJ (she had been added the day before on the drive back from DC) and Peter. He didn't want to deal with them right now. Instead, he just texted his friends. It wasn't long before he heard knocking on the door. "Tate", Callum's voice called. "It's us. What happened? Are you okay?"

Tate glanced over his reflection in the mirror. His face was flushed in patchy places from crying and his eyes were red. He splashed water from the tap over his skin and dried it off on his tshirt before unlocking the door. Callum entered first but the faces of Jason, Charley and Abe were peering around over his shoulders. Tate forced a slight smile at them. "Hi guys".

"What are you doing hiding in the disabled toilets?" Jason voiced as they all filled in. The room was big enough for them to all stand around. Abe relocked the door behind them and they leaned on the wall. None of them missing redness in Tate's eyes. Callum crossed over and pulled Tate into a hug.

"Aww what's the matter Baby Stark?" Tate buried his head into Callum's shoulder with a sniff as he thought over what to say to explain his emotional state. Only Callum knew about Spider-Man and he wasn't about to go and blurt out Peter's secret despite knowing that his other friends were trustworthy. Callum patted his back but Tate pulled away.

"Your hair is itchy", he huffed as he rubbed at his eyes. Callum rolled his eyes ad flicked it over his shoulder.

"No distractions. Spill", he pointed one blue nail at him.

Tate pouted. He turned his gaze to the floor, voice small. "Peter kinda rejected me".

"What?" Jason blurted.

"Alright let me at him", Abe barked furiously as he began rolling up his sleeves. "I'm gonna kick his white boy ass". He turned to the door but Charley caught him by the arm and tugged the smaller boy back. Tate felt his lips twitch at the mental image of Abe going up against Spider-Man. That would be funny.

"So you confessed?" Charley asked softly.

Tate ran a worn hand through his hair. "Not really. He messed with some tech I was supposed to be helping him on as part of his internship. Well he messed with it, changed a few things and didn't tell me. So when I confronted him about it he basically told me that I was holding him back and that he didn't need my help anymore". Tate let out a dry laugh. "He made it pretty clear that he didn't want me. Not as a friend and not romantically. He has feelings for Liz anyway".

"Fuck", Charley sighed. Tate nodded miserably.

"Congrats on finally getting together by the way", he added. The two other boys' lips were still red from their kissing session.

Callum beamed. 'Thanks. We're going on a date tomorrow after the sleepover". He and Charley shared a smile. Tate, Jason and Abe all rolled their eyes. (Less than a hour in and everyone already knew that they were going to be one of those sickeningly lovey couples. Gross).

"Yeah yeah, you're happy. Let's focus on baby Stark for now", Jason huffed. "I'm sorry Parker was a dick Bro. I honestly didn't think that he would be so harsh".

"A lot of it was my fault", Tate shrugged in self-deprecation. "I was probably being too overbearing. Too nosey and restrictive. He's been really stressed lately".

"Tate. Dude. That does not give him the right to make you feel horrible like this. This is all on him. You hold no blame", Charley reassured. Tate sniffed and nodded.

"Come on Baby Stark", Callum shook his shoulders lightly. "Let's ditch school and go back to yours for our sleepover and get you some ice cream".

"And watch lots of tv", Jason added as he picked up Tate's bag.

"What episode were we up to on Bones?" Abe asked as he unlocked the door and they all filled out.

"Season five ep six", Charley reminded. "Oh! Did your guys hear the latest gossip about captain America? Well there's rumours that he was seen in Singapore with scarlet witch. People think that they went rogue because they were having some weird kinky affair with Bucky Barnes". Tate burst out laughing as he let his friends lead him out of school. Their presence and chatter a protective bubble.

——

Peter sighed as he leaned back in the creaky plastic chair. It was uncomfortably hard as usual, which didn't make him feel better. Frustration was bubbling in his chest and maybe a little guilt there too. He just wanted to stop those vulture guys so that mr Stark would see that he was worthy of being an avenger. He just wanted to prove that he wasn't a kid and that he could do more. Yet his mouth tasted sour. The words he had shoved at Tate in a mixture of frustration and anger left a wedge of guilt within all the frustration. He had been to mean, too harsh. Tate hadn't deserved that. The boy was nothing but supportive of Peter. But everything was so frustrating. Peter liked Liz. He'd had a crush on her for almost a year now. He liked her. Then there was Tate, who gave him bandaids and laughed at his puns. Who called him Petey boy and taught him how to throw a punch. A boy who was so smart yet hid it under anime T-shirt's and his cool boy persona. He liked Liz, didn't he?

On the screen at the front of the room, Captain America sat down and smiled at the camera. His classic American golden boy smile. "So. You got detention. You screwed up. You know what you did was wrong. The question is, how are you going to make things right?" Peter rolled his eyes at the rhetoric that somehow hit slightly too close. He glanced around at the few other students in the room. MJ was sitting a desk away from his right doodling in a little sketch book.

Peter frowned at her. "Do you even have detention?"

She barely glanced up at him. "Nope".

"Then why are you even here?"

"I like sketching people in crisis". She held up the book and Peter saw a drawing of their coach's face. He sniggered slightly. MJ snorted and set it back down. There was a second of silence where Peter seriously considered grabbing his bag and walking out before she spoke up again. "So what did you say to Tate?"

"What?" Peter frowned. He hadn't even realised that MJ and Tate were friendly. When had that happened?

"Tate Doe", MJ rolled her eyes. "Asian skater boy? You two seemed real friendly last week. So what happened? I assume you're not coming to the sleepover tonight".

Peter opened and closed his mouth a few times before pulling out his phone. The group chat that had everyone in it was suspiciously silent. The latest notification was that MJ had been added as a member. The date was two days ago, the same day as the incident at the Washington monument. It was weird that the chat was so silent. Peter hadn't ever seen it this silent. "What sleep over?" He asked instead. The realisation that none of them were talking to him finally hitting him.

MJ whistled lowly. "So something did go down. Oof Parker. Who messed up? Was it you or him?" She arched and eyebrow with eager judgment waiting on her face as she stared at him. Peter shook his head, the guilt cutting into his stomach. His chair squeaked against the floor as he stood up suddenly, one hand swinging his bag over his shoulder.

"That's pretty shady Parker!" MJ pointed out as he stormed past her.

"Hey get back here", Coach muttered half heartedly from his desk up front. He glanced around. "What are you doing here? You don't even have detention".

MJ held up her sketch book. "Look it's you", she sniggered.

Unedited

MJ is Queen.