Chapter Text
Matt sat in the classroom where his new guardian had left him. He sat behind the desk and pretended not to feel the cold gaze of the annoyed teacher who would much rather be in the teacher's room and drink a third coffee than have to sit in the classroom with the new blind kid.
Matt had gotten moved to another home. He had misbehaved and ran away so the orphanage moved him to another household where they hoped he would behave. They also put him in some fancy school for smart kids since their biological son already went there.
Matt had moved several homes, but he never stayed long since he always ran away or the parents found him too high maintenance. The longest he stayed was with Stick, who adopted him after half a year to make his training more efficient. When Stick left, Matt found out Stick had lost his guardianship a year before he left Matt,
since he rarely sent Matt to school, and they both practically disappeared for almost a year.
This was the first time he lived outside of Hell’s Kitchen. The orphanage thought it was better for him. He always ran off to Fogwell’s gym or his dad’s old apartment, so moving him outside Hell’s Kitchen was something they found logical so that he wouldn’t be able to go back.
He hated it. He hated Queens. He hated the people. Hated his foster parents. Hated this school. Hated the kid that Mr and Mrs Johnsson has. He hated everything.
He grabbed the table's leg and pressed it hard to avoid making his hands bleed from pressing his nails into his palm.
Matt’s lack of attention got him surprised when a teenager being pushed into the door and busted it open as kids laughed and screamed in the hallway. Matt flinched at the volume but kept an eye on the situation.
The kid who had pushed the other boy, his heart was racing. He seemed excited but also nervous or scared to get in trouble.
“Hey! The hell’s going on!” Mr Armet yelled and the kids laughing ran away, trading high fives and giggling.
The kid who got pushed into the door was being helped up by what Matt assumed were his friends. They mumbled some normal words between them, checking if the boy was alright and insulting another kid, probably the one who pushed the boy.
Mr Armet scoffed and waved the other kids off, “Alright sit the hell down, I’ll be back,” he said before walking out into the hallway.
The boy turned to Matt and turned to his friends, “A new student?” he half whispered.
“Let’s hope it’s not another asshole,” the girl scoffed before walking towards a seat in the back, the two boys following close behind her.
Matt rolled his eyes behind his shades and tried to focus on some other sound in the distance.
“Should we try to talk to him?” said the other boy, looking at his friends who both made some non-verbal cue. The boy who got pushed through the door then stood, the other boy following behind him but the girl staying seated.
“Hi, I’m-I’m Peter,” the boy who got pushed said, stuttering slightly through his nervousness. Matt turned his head to face them slightly, not bothering to even try and make it look like he was looking at them.
“And I’m Ned,” the other boy said, also sounding just as nervous.
Matt stared for a second, considering if he should tell them his name. He didn’t want friends, he didn't need friends.
“Matt,” he said, simple and short. Enough to make them back off but not seem like a total asshole.
The girl in the back snorted. “Ah, hi Matt,” Peter said, sounding even more nervous. Matt turned away from the boys, and they stood there for a second, fiddling and stepping in place nervously. Before waddling away like penguins when they finally got the hint.
“Yeah, no, seems like an asshole to me,” the girl scoffed as they came back defeated. That was when Matt noticed it, too late so it was embarrassing.
There was something wrong with Peter. Matt heard his muscles move as he pulled his chair out and heard a well-trained man. No, not man, he was a goddamn ox, what was wrong with him. This was not the type of muscle a teenager could achieve. This was not something a man at his peak could dream of achieving.
He was freakishly strong with muscles so trained that Matt was sure he could punch through a wall without breaking a sweat.
For the first time in years, Matt was terrified. He had not been scared of anything physical since Stick, he knew what to expect, he knew exactly what was coming.
But this was a nerdy nervous kid who had the muscle to lift an elephant. A teenager with an inhuman amount of strength.
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The new student was unsettling, to say the least. He wore sunglasses, hiding his eyes, making it hard to read any sort of emotion on his face. He was unsettlingly quiet and seemed sure of himself and collected. He held himself in a way that didn’t seem threatening but Peter knew it pretty well. He wasn’t relaxed, he just wanted everyone to think he was. Peter had seen it many times of people like Natasha Romanoff of all people.
His spider-sense went off and pointed straight to the new boy, Matt. He was suddenly sitting straighter – Peter did not know that was possible with his seemingly perfect posture – and was tilting his head to the side as his hand held onto the side of his desk. He was ready to run, or ready to fight. Peter didn’t know but he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
MJ seemed to notice his newly frozen state as she nudged him with her knuckles and gave him a worrying look. ‘Everything good’ the mouthed. Peter swallowed and looked around the room before nodding slightly. MJ gave him yet another questioning look but turned back to her book.
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Mr Armet came back after a few minutes and students quickly came in after him. He introduced Matt to the class before starting the lesson. Afterwards, he asked both Peter and Matt to stay, Matt tensed before noticing Peter's nervousness and fear as well. Was he scared of Matt too? Ironic.
“Well, Peter as you know, Matt is new, and all of your classes align, so Mrs Marlow asked me, to ask you, to show Matt around the first few days to get him accustomed and make him feel comfortable in the school,” Mr Armet explained.
Matt felt the opposite of comfortable.
“A-ah, yeah, sure, of course,” Peter stuttered, scratching his neck.
“Great,” Mr Armit said and shooed them out of the classroom, where Ned and their mysterious girl-friend, were standing, waiting for Peter to come out. Matt quickly unfolded his cane and walked off into the mostly empty halls.
“Hey! Matt, uh- I was supposed to show you around, remember?” Peter yelled after him.
“I’ll be fine on my own,” Matt practically snarled back, putting more edge to his voice than he meant to. But he walked off, cane swinging from side to side, leaving Peter and his friends behind to let Peter’s friend, who was a girl, call him an asshole for the third time of the day.
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Peter waited inside the classroom for the next class to start. Matt still hadn't shown up, and most other students were already present. Peter didn’t want Matt wandering the halls and getting detention on his first day.
Peter stood and walked up to Mrs Tensh's desk at the front. He fiddled slightly with the wristband that his web shooters formed. “Hey, the new student, uh- Matt, I think he might’ve gotten lost, since he’s not here, he’s blind, I was wondering if I could go look for him?”
Mrs Tensh grumbled something and gave him a hall pass and Peter walked out into the empty halls just as the bell rang. The last few students were out in the halls rushing to get to their classes.
He turned to walk in the same direction that he had seen Matt walk after their last lesson. He was fiddling with his lame science T-shirt, and he didn’t know what to tell him when he found Matt. He found the boy intimidating and didn’t know how to express himself in a way that would make him seem even slightly clear.
Peter soon heard a light tapping against tile flooring and looked to his left to see the men's restroom.
He took a breath before opening the door and peeking inside the restroom. There he saw Matt, in all his intimidating glory, tapping his cane quickly and sharply against the tile floor.
He tilted his head upwards, probably hearing the door, close behind Peter.
“Hey, Matt.” Peter started. Matt’s black shades made Peter feel stared at more than a normal set of eyes ever could. “It’s- It’s, uh, Peter,” he clarified and held onto his wrist to stop himself from fiddling even more.
“I know,” Matt responded curtly. His mouth twisted into a frown. Peter took note of his fists closing.
Peter swallowed, “We- we, uh, have the same lesson,” Peter clasped his hands together and rubbed each finger individually in his other hand. “You didn’t show. Mr Armet said I should make sure you make it to your lessons… so I’m here” Peter finished, trying to put in a small smile at the end.
“I don’t need your help, I’m not staying for long,” Matt said, anger evident in his voice as he turned away from Peter. Seeing him from the side, Peter could see a glimpse of red eyes. Was he crying?
Peter tried taking another deep breath but felt it getting caught in his throat, “We-well, that doesn’t matter, if you’re not staying long we should make sure your time here is enjoyable, I wouldn’t want you to leave Midtown Tech and spread a bad word,” Peter tried to joke, but Matt just let out an annoyed huff.
“Why do you care anyway? Just tell your teacher that I went away on my own accord, and you won't get in trouble.” Matt suggested as he turned back to face Peter.
“I don’t care about Mr Armet, I care about you, and you’re obviously sad about something, and I can't just leave you here. I don’t know what happened, and I probably can’t help, but I want to try,” Peter said, suddenly feeling his self-assurance come back.
Matt turned to face the ground and ground his jaw,
His expression faded and he turned back to Peter looking composed. “Whatever, I don’t need your reassurance. Here, take me to the fucking lesson and leave me alone afterwards. Ok?”
Peter took a breath but complied, and he took Matt back to the lesson. Not another word was shared between them.
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Matt hated this school. He hated how Peter wanted to help him, it was none of his fucking business, so why couldn’t he just leave Matt the fuck alone.
Matt had learned, by now he’d be an idiot if he hadn’t learned that nobody wanted to do something kind without it benefiting them.
His dad didn’t lose the match because Matt wanted him to win. He won the fight because he didn’t want to die a loser. He didn’t want to live a loser and die a loser and end up with a legacy of his loser son. Because that was what Matt was, to everyone except Stick, a loser blind kid, who wouldn’t accomplish shit in life because he is oh so sad and pitiful.
Stick helped Matt. He trained Matt to be strong and trained him to control his senses. But he wanted Matt for his war, he wanted Matt to be his strong soldier. Matt was ready to give him a soldier and more. But Stick didn’t want more, more didn’t benefit him. Stick left him because it didn’t benefit him. And anything that didn’t benefit him wasn’t worth his time.
Sister Maggie stopped coming to comfort him in his nightmares because that didn’t benefit her. Waking up at night to comfort one kid just to be tired in the mornings, too tired to take care of the other kids. And when she noticed that Matt stopped screaming when she didn’t show, then it didn’t matter.
And now Peter was trying to make it seem like he just wanted to help. But fuck that, Matt didn’t need help. The loser blind kid would continue being a disappointment until they put him back where he belonged.
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Matt stood in the cafeteria staring for a second. Having his hands wrapped around his cane, not knowing where to go. The cafeteria was loud. Too many people, too many sounds, too many smells of too much food with so little taste, mixed with teenage sweat.
“Hey, Matt, come on,” Peter said and Matt followed because he wasn’t sure what to do.
He got food in his hands, and Peter was telling him to follow them again and he did, he followed their voices as they talked. They sat down and Matt stayed standing. He hated feeling vulnerable, and any school cafeteria was enough to push him over a line.
He usually skipped lunch altogether, but Peter was insistent and Ned seemed to like the idea of adding another person to their little trio.
The girl – Matt still hadn’t learned her name – seemed wary of him but didn’t say a word.
“Sit down Matt, there's an empty spot next to me, do you need help getting there?” Peter asked. But Matt took a step forward, feeling the space for obstacles before setting his food down, and then sitting down himself.
He bit his cheek and rested his hands in his lap. He knew his demeanour had changed from what it had been the entire day. But focusing in a place with so much sound, so many smells and the vibrations through the ground and everything he held.
It seemed like Peter and his friends quickly noticed. “Hey Matt, you okay?” Peter asked, placing a hand on Matt’s shoulder. Matt quickly grabbed Peter's wrist and pushed it off his shoulder as he also pushed himself away from the spot he was sitting in. “Oh, sorry,” Peter said, taking his hands away from Matt, “ are you alright?”
Matt nodded, before finding his voice, “Yeah I’m alright,” he said slowly, “sorry, It's really loud in here.” Matt quickly regretted admitting it. Fucking idiot, he swore at himself.
“Oh,” Ned said slowly, “we can leave if you want? We can always eat lunch somewhere else,” Ned offered.
Matt let out a hum in response before actually speaking, “No, it's alright, you guys can stay,” he stood up and unfolded his cane.
He noticed how they all stood up and grabbed their lunch trays to follow him. “If it’s alright with you we’d like to follow you,” the girl said.
Matt took a breath and felt the sting at his eyes, “Do as you wish,” he said before walking off, quickly noting how the three followed close behind him, Peter holding his lunch tray in his other hand.
Matt walked to a staircase in a hallway where there seemed to be little to no people and sat down. The other three also sat down one step below him. He huffed out a breath.
“Here,” Peter said and held out his lunch to him. Matt tilted his head questioningly at the other boy. Peter seemed to realise his mistake and said: “I’m holding out your tray to you.”
“You brought it?” Matt acted somewhat surprised as he grabbed the tray.
“Yeah man, you can’t skip out on lunch, how else will you have energy for the day?” Ned said, somewhat begrudgingly eating his food.
Matt smelled the food before setting the tray down beside him, “I ate breakfast,” he quickly said before remembering his manners, “thank you, Peter.”
The girl chuckled, “Even the blind kid can see how disgusting the food is.”
“I can smell it,” Matt said, wrinkling his nose.
She scoffed, “fair enough.”
“So Matt, where did you go to school before this?” Peter asked, turning to Matt.
“In Hell’s Kitchen,” Matt said slowly.
“Oh, why? That's a bit far. Did you move?” He followed up. Matt stayed quiet for a second. He didn’t need to tell this kid his entire fucking backstory.
“Yeah. You could say,” Matt said simply.
Peter had no chance to converse further as Matt’s phone rang. He stood up and grabbed his phone as he walked down the stairs to get some distance from him and the others to answer the call that was from Mrs Johnsson.
“Was that a flip phone?” He heard the girl ask from the stairs. He simply turned away from them to have his phone call.
“Hi, Matt!” she greeted enthusiastically. Out of all the “moms” he has had, she seemed to be the most enthusiastic to have a bond with him, but it was too late for that. “How’s the new school?” She asked.
“It is alright Mrs Johnsson,” he answered.
“Oh please Matt, we had this conversation earlier today, call me Anna.” she chuckled, “have you made friends? Is everyone treating you right? Have you heard from Micheal? He’s treating you right, right?” she asked so many questions at once. It made Matt’s heart ache with the wish for a hug, but also made him want to get as far away from her as possible.
“I am sitting with some people, we’re eating lunch, and everything's been fine, I have not heard from Micheal, I haven't talked to him yet.” Matt tried to make quick work of her questions.
“Alright, that’s good. Remember to meet Micheal outside the school right after your last lesson so you can head home together.”
“Yes, I remember.” He felt his watch, “I have to go now Mrs Johnsson, I will see you later today.”
“It’s Anna, I’ll see you!” He hung up.
He turned to the others and headed back to them as they were talking about their English teacher.
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Matt walked out of class in a hurry, to get to the main entrance and exit so he could quickly get home, knowing that Micheal was waiting for him.
“Hey Matt, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Peter said as he saw Matt standing outside.
He walked down the stairs, cane slowly guiding him and he heard Micheal approach him from behind, unsure whether or not to touch his shoulder as his hand hung awkwardly in the air, finally he spoke, “Hey, uh, Matt, It’s Micheal, let’s walk home.” Matt hummed in response and Micheal tapped Matt’s arm hesitantly with his elbow, and Matt took it. “So you made friends? Peter, that’s his name right?” he asked, trying to make conversation.
“Yes,” Matt answered shortly. He had been trying to shut down any conversation that Micheal had tried before. He just wanted to get home so he could finally be alone but Micheal seemed insistent on making conversation even though they have nothing in common. Matt knew he wasn’t staying long, no matter how he behaved, so there were no points in attachments.
He knew Micheal wasn’t a shy guy. At least he didn’t act shy in school and he seemed rather hyperactive at home. But getting along with Matt seemed to be the end of the line as he stumbled on his words and came dry on topics when speaking to him.
After Matt shot down a few more attempts at a conversation they walked in silence, Matt could already hear Anna on a phone call with her work friends in the kitchen a few blocks away and he was longing to sit alone in his room.
Suddenly he heard wind swishing in ways that it usually didn’t, as well as people's heads turning and amazed gasps of admiration.
“Spider-Man,” Micheal said in awe, looking at Spider-Man as he swung between the apartment buildings.
Matt had a small smile creep onto his face.
“You like Spider-Man?” Micheal asked excitedly.
“He is,” Matt paused, cutting himself off and changing his answer, “Yeah, yeah he’s cool,” he said instead, hiding his smile a little.
“Right! Like, imagine having superpowers! Being able to do all that stuff that he does, swinging around in the city, being strong and saving people,” Micheal grinned and Matt kept a fond smile on his lips. Micheal seemed to notice because he continued talking about Spider-Man and the Avengers and all their villains and what they looked like the entire way home. Only to continue talking once at home until dinner time. Matt didn’t answer or talk but sat there with a content smile as Micheal spoke. Promising to himself that this wasn’t an attachment, a sacrifice of his free time if anything.
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Matt sat in his bed, listening as Spider-Man fought petty criminals in the streets and alleyways. Hearing the victims thanking him for helping them before he swings away to help yet another person.
But Matt didn’t only hear the good parts. God, he wishes he did. He could hear all the victims who Spider-Man couldn’t the victims that were out past the time that Spider-Man was. Spider-Man retreated inside every night at around 2.30 AM, which meant that any crime after that was left to the police that didn’t have Spider-Man’s amazing abilities and couldn’t appear at a crime exactly when they were needed.
Matt could hear a woman backed into an alley, as a man went against her wishes in the foulest ways. How she screamed and begged for him to stop, for somebody to help her. He heard everything, even as he tried to focus his senses on something else, Annes and Micheal's heartbeats, the sound of water dripping in the sink. But his attention always snapped back to the woman and her attacker.
He listened as the man let her go and went home, satisfied, as she called the police and struggled through a police report, crying her eyes out. He heard the police give her an empty promise of finding the man. And he listened to her walk all the way home only to collapse crying on the bathroom floor.
Matt’s tears had joined hers long before she made it home and he couldn't manage to fall asleep until only an hour before he had to wake up again for school.
Multiple people asked if he was all right throughout the day. Ms Johnsson and Micheal throughout the morning, asking how he slept and if he would be alright in school or if he was feeling ill.
Ned, Peter and MJ –as he learned she was named – asked him how he slept along with some comments about how he looked like shit. He didn’t interact with the trio throughout the day. He avoided Peter like the plague during lunch and only tolerated him during breaks so that he could get to his classes.
As fast as the bell rang, Matt stood up and almost ran to the door. He speed-walked towards the main entrance to be as fast home without seeming suspicious to his peers by not using his cane, even though he barely was at the moment. He had to go home and get ready, he was going to fix it.
He was out the doors when a hand grabbed his wrist, pulling him back a bit. Instinctively he turned around punching the person straight in the face. Before quickly realising it was Peter. “Shit,” he exclaimed.
“Peter!” Ned yelled as he ran up to the boy.
“It’s alright I’m alright,” Peter said as he held his nose. Matt could practically feel MJ’s glare on him as she helped Peter for a second.
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Micheal came up behind him. “Hey, Matt are you alright?” he asked, putting a hand on Matt’s shoulder. Matt swallowed thickly before turning around and walking down the stairs. Micheal quickly followed after him.
Peter held his nose as it ached. It could give off the illusion of a well-placed punch and if it was anyone else, their nose would’ve been broken. But Peter would probably only have a bruise for only a day.
“What the fuck is wrong with him,” MJ grumbled as she checked that Peter was alright.
“He didn’t know it was me, it’s fine, it was my fault,” Peter says and MJ cups his face.
“No, he shouldn’t just punch people. He has no right.” MJ said sternly.
“Still-” Peter tried before MJ cut him off with a stern glare. He sighed fondly. He hugged her before turning to Ned and doing their usual handshake. “I have to have time with patrol before the dinner, but I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” he said with a smile before jogging away.
As fast as Peter was out of sight of the school he slid into an alleyway to change into his suit. He webbed his backpack onto the side of the apartment building before sitting to perch on the side of the building. Some civilians down on the street had already noticed him along with a small boy who waved excitedly. Peter gave him a small wave before leaping the roof, doing a flip before shooting a web out and swinging out into the city.
With everything Peter did as Spider-Man, swinging around the large city of New York, between the apartments and up skyscrapers, watching as people turned to look at him in awe as he felt the thrill of going through the air as quickly as a bird soaring through the sky. Even surrounded by large concrete buildings and polluted air, he felt free.
He saw Avengers tower in the distance, “K.A.R.E.N, what time is it?” he asked the AI.
“14.35, Peter,” the AI answered. Peter had an hour and a half before he had to be at the tower, so he would have time to patrol. Swinging down again, he saw Matt walking with an older kid – just like he had yesterday. He recognized the older boy as Micheal who was a grade above him and Matt, he was pretty popular in his age group, he had run up to Matt when Matt had punched him, it was obvious they knew each other.
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Matt walked next to Micheal awkwardly once again, holding onto his elbow as they walked. “Are your knuckles alright?” he asked, trying to glance at Matt’s knuckles. Matt showed them.
“Are they bleeding?” He asked, voice smaller than he intended as he showed Micheal his knuckles. They felt warm and Matt could smell the slight copper so he knew that the skin was a bit cracked.
“Yeah, a bit, you got to hide that from mom, or she’ll freak,” Micheal commented. Matt grumbled a bit as he stuffed his hand in his pocket.
Matt noticed as people looked up, once again seeing Spider-Man swing by, it seemed like he had a routine of going out around this time. His routine had changed from when he was out in the summer break, his starting point had also changed, did Spider-Man go to school?
Matt ignored his thoughts, a teenager shouldn’t go out and fight in the streets. He thought of his plans and closed his mouth tightly. It was different for him.
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Peter landed on the helicopter pad of the Avengers tower and half-jogged inside. F.R.I.D.A.Y immediately told him that the Avengers were waiting for him in the common area and that he should change quickly. He did as the AI said before taking the elevator down to where the Avengers were waiting for him.
When the doors opened, he saw Steve, Sam and Bucky in front of the TV, watching some nature documentary. Clint sat on an armchair next to the couch and was fiddling with his phone. Nat was watching over Tony and Bruce as they were cooking in the kitchen, Peter remembered how Tony had mentioned he would cook for once.
“Hey, Pete,” Clint said as he waved towards Peter without even looking at him.
“Peter!” Tony exclaimed, walking towards him, revealing what was hiding behind the kitchen counter. He was wearing a ridiculous Iron Man apron. He got several “hey’s” and “hi’s” from all of the Avengers as Tony patted him on the back and brought him to the giant kitchen. “We waited Peter, we even started making dessert,” Tony grinned. Peter then saw Bruce, deflated, wearing a matching Hulk apron and a mess all around the kitchen.
Peter glanced at the serving form that was covered with a cloth. He then looked at Tony, then Bruce, and finally Natasha. “Is it edible?” He asked slowly, shifting his gaze to the wonderful chefs.
“It should be,” Tony said, hands resting on his hips with a big smile on his face. Peter then turned to the more reasonable in the room.
“It’s not poisonous,” Natasha answered slowly. She then paused to think before saying, “You’ll survive,” she then gave a dangerous grin.
“Alright enough of that!” Tony said, clapping and throwing his apron dramatically behind him, “alright boys!” he yelled, “It’s time to feast!” he announced and the others got up to sit down at the dinner table, Peter joining them, sitting next to Clint and the empty spot that would probably host Tony.
Tony walked up to the table holding the serving form proudly in his hands. “Alright guys, it's time for the Stark family recipe, I got to learn this from my mother,” Peter saw that Tony noticed how Bucky looked down when he said that and pressed his lips into a thin line before continuing. “Here is the Stark,” he placed the form onto the table and ripped off the cloth, “pasta gratin!”
It was silent for a second before Clint spoke up beside him, “It looks… fine.” he commented.
“Are you sure it's not radioactive?” Sam asked Natasha who simply gave a thumbs up.
“Let’s be good friends and eat the food that Tony and Bruce have spent precious time making,” Steve spoke up, forever the golden heart.
They each grabbed their portions. Tony looked proud of his non-robot creation and waited for the first person to eat his precious food. Peter and Steve almost immediately put the food in their mouths to not show that – at least Peter was – slightly scared for the food to be even slightly dangerous.
Taking one for the team he thought. But it was a pleasant surprise to notice how the food was not terrible. It was pretty good. He smiled and gave a thumbs-up to Tony and everyone started to enjoy their food.
“How has school been, the first two days?” Bruce asked, a small smile on his lips.
“It’s been as good as school can be, really, we got a new student, I’ve been told to help him around the school for a while.”
“A while?” Bucky asked at the same time as Nat said: “Why a while? Can’t he manage on his own after a few days?”
“No, he’s blind, I’m gonna help him as long as he needs it. Though he doesn’t seem keen on the idea,” Peter gave a small chuckle and almost went up to touch his nose bridge when he noticed that the spies in the room were all looking at him with suspicious eyes. Nat’s eyes widened.
“You’ve been punched. Did he punch you?” she asked, a bit of anger slipping into her voice.
“What!?” Tony exclaimed, grabbing Peter’s face in his hands and checking his face. Gasping when he noticed the bruise slowly fading away, “you’ve been punched! And hard! You don't bruise easy!” Tony said. Standing from his chair, slamming his hands against the table dramatically. “F.R.I.D.A.Y! Pull up all documents you can get your hands on about a blind kid who recently started at Midtown High recently!”
“Hey! No! F.R.I.D.A.Y don’t do that!” Peter retorted.
“Override!” Tony grumbled.
Steve sighed before standing up. “Let’s at least hear the kid out before pulling up the poor boy's life records,” Steve said, being the rare voice of reason in the group. F.R.I.D.A.Y shut down the hologram and the group turned to listen to Peter.
“Well he seemed off the entire day, and he had already made it clear the day before that he didn’t want friends, and that I should stay away from him-” Peter started before Tony interrupted him.
“First red flag, not liking Peter is a crime.”
Peter continued, “But I still pushed on even though he seemed very tired the whole day, so when we were leaving school, I grabbed him by the wrist and he turned around and punched me, which he did seem surprised by, and he didn’t know it was me, I shouldn’t have grabbed him,” Peter explained.
“He shouldn’t have punched you,” Nat said.
“Also don’t you have like super healing, how hard did he punch to bruise you?” Clint said.
“Peter, imagine it was someone else who he had punched. Like your friend, Ned, he might’ve broken his nose, or even knocked him out,” Sam said, “do you realise how this isn’t good?”
Peter nodded. “But that doesn’t mean you’re going to get to dig through his records,” Peter said, pointing at Tony. Before considering for a second and also pointing at Natasha.
“Peter, we just have to make sure this is safe. Imagine if he’s dangerous.” Steve said, losing his crown as the main man of reason.
“He’s not dangerous, I don’t know what you’re saying,” Peter crossed his arms, “He’s blind, as much as it pains me to say this, what harm can he do? It was a lucky shot, hell, if he tries again, he might miss. He can’t see, and he is probably just a normal guy.”
“You don't know that Peter, he might not even be blind, imagine if he has been lying to you, you can’t read his mind, and you don't know his motives,” Bucky said, crossing his arms just like Peter just did.
Peter grumbled to himself, “Whatever do what you want,” he finally said, and the Avengers immediately threw themselves on the couch to read a teenager's records. Sam then gained the crown as the main man of reason as he sat down to watch TV instead, insisting that he didn’t need to know Matt’s life story. Peter took the privilege to clean the dishes and noticed how Bruce joined him.
“I don’t care for snooping, not like they will take me on any mission anyway,” Bruce said with a slightly sullen smile. Bruce and Sam now shared the crown.
“No this is just depressing,” Clint groaned. Peter and Bruce looked over and saw the entire team just looking depressed.
“I don't want to know what you guys found, because honestly, I’d like to earn his trust and learn about him, so I’m going to leave, see you guys,” Peter said as he stepped into the elevator.
The rest of the Avengers turned to Bruce, who stood there, confused and lost at what to do. “This kid's life is hella depressing man,” Clint said breaking the silence.
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Matt heard Spider-Man in the distance as he went inside. It was earlier than usual and Matt couldn’t stand it anymore. He had barely been out saving people tonight. He was just gone and all the screams were right there, acting as if they were invited to Matt’s eardrums.
He could still hear the woman, he could hear the man, getting drunk in a bar with some friend. When the woman was crying in her bed. So much more crime was happening. Even the silent crime was thundering in his ears.
Spider-Man was nowhere to be seen. The victims screaming his name or praying for him to arrive were met with no answer. Matt couldn’t stand the fact that Spider-Man had gone to sleep, oblivious to the screams. He could hear it all and he felt how he couldn’t keep still anymore.
He sprung out of bed and grabbed what he had prepared putting on a black hoodie and black cargo pants and he took Micheal's old winter boots. He prepared a mask that would cover the upper half of his face but leave the tip of his nose and mouth revealed so that he could use his senses.
He wrapped his hands like his father used to do. Like he had been taught by Stick when he wanted to cram in as many fighting styles in Matt’s head as possible. Matt snuck his way out of his window and up the fire escape and up to the roof.
He stood at the edge of the roof. Curling his fists. He tied his makeshift mask around his eyes before pulling his hood up.
Time to get to work.