[OPEN] 5 Times Peter Parker Looked Like He Needed Help + 1 Time He Should Have Needed It

[madeupnames]

who: Peter Parker and You!
what: Just some prompts.
when: Before July 20th, when he'll be way less sad about [mumbles about Infinity War].
where: See prompts for locations.
warnings: A picture of heights, and some blood from a hand boo-boo. And bullies. Lots of embarrassing Peter stuff I'm sure.



1. Assholes

[Peter Parker ducks his head as he's surrounded in an alleyway between school and the community housing, caught off guard by some local school bullies who seem more eager to torment the too-happy new kid with the terrible social cues. He's playing it safe for now, because if he is anything other than ordinary people might connect dots he doesn't really want connected. They're blabbering like all brainless assholes tend to:

"Nice sweater. Your grandma dress you up before you ran off?"

"Oh man, check out the fucked up shoes."

"Hey, this shortcut has a tollbooth now, Parker."

"I know he's got a tap card on him; shouldn't be telling people in class about that, fucking idiot."

Peter keeps his back to the wall, hands on his backpack straps.]

... Cut it out, guys. Leave me alone.

[He isn't scared — more like worried that he'll have to take a punch or something to keep his cover, because then it'll give them incentive to bother him more. Man, he's starting to miss Flash right about now; the guy was a grade-A dick, but at least he stuck to less physical means of assholery.

Peter's not sure if he's the only one these guys torment; he's betting he isn't.

Spider-Man could've handled this by now, he thinks miserably.]

2. Converse shoes

[Peter Parker presses his face to the shop window, eyeing a new pair of converse-adjacent shoes with almost sparkling eyes. He's wearing two mitchmatched shoes right now — a tennis shoe he got for half-off a few weeks ago and his even older nike sneaker. They're the same color, so obviously it's entirely unnoticable.

You see... he'd have his other sneaker if he didn't accidentally lose it when he kicked it off mid-Spider-Man change. He was in a panic to hurry and help someone dangerously close to where the groundtrams passed by and didn't know his own strength; the nike shoe is probably halfway across the dang city by now.

Nobody to blame but himself, here.

But...!! He's trying really hard not to give in to temptation, because he has to use the cash on his card to buy Bucky Barnes a new pair of shoes after he barfed pancakes on them.

A guy can dream though, right?]

3. Hand Cut

[Picture this: you walk through the community housing, to get to the elevator.

You push the button, and the doors open.

And Peter Parker is standing there casually, on his way down, his whole left hand wrapped up in bloody paper towels.]

Okay, this looks bad, but I swear it's not.

4. Insomnia

[Sometimes the city is just too damn loud. But, like, he's done with Spider-Manning for the night, so people don't think he's a total freak who never sleeps — that leaves him bored and overstimulated by the lights and sounds below. And sometimes it's a little more than that, swirling thoughts about what had happened back home, or something he didn't do quite right last week as Spider-Man, or the cult thing. So he goes up to the community housing rooftops and sits with his feeting hanging out between the railings.

He blows out a sigh.

Then posts a picture, because why not? If he's bored, maybe he can just... talk. Talking helps.]



Look at this view, it's pretty cool. City life is wild down there...!

Really puts a lot into perspective I guess? Insert philosophy essay here?

Also, does anyone know where grumpy uncomfortably scraggly Bucky lives?

I got him some shoes.

5. Attacked By The Local Chatterbox

["Aren't you the sweetest thing? I just wanna eat you up!" It's someone with a weirdly Southern accent, but he's pretty sure she's not Southern because she's not from Earth — she's from some other galaxy where everyone is twice the height of a human and all muscles, so much so they're practically bulging off her arms, under a totally lovely sundress. She'd just arrived to Riverview, and he was giving her directions, but now he's seeing this was a grave mistake.

She pinches his cheeks as she towers over him by a good five feet, and he squirms.]

P-please, Miss—

["Oh, bless your soul. You humans are just the cutest. How old are you now? Four or five? Where's your mother at, you little thing, you?" He sputters in surprise.]

I'm not five! I'm fifteen!

[Fifteen?! By golly, that's old enough to dress yourself in human years, right?!"

S a v e m e.]

+1. Getting Hit By a Car

[Peter Parker is crossing the street, most of the city sleeping now.

Maybe he's hanging out with you, someone he knows pretty well; maybe heading off to get some late-night dinner, because he's always starved, man. Or maybe he's on his own, just casually making his way back to the community housing, and you happen to be there. Maybe he's even stopping the truck that would hit you, if he didn't intervene with his own body.

Either way, a vehicle runs a light — and is flying at Peter and his fellow person so quickly, his Spider senses almost don't read it in time. But when they do, his body jerks into action; he puts both arms out in defense, and the car slams into him at full force.

The hood gets dented, and the truck jerks to a very abrupt stop. The man in the car is cursing and holding his bleeding nose from where he'd hit it on the steering wheel, and Peter Parker is peeling his hands from the indentions they've left on the metal.

... Ummmm.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm.

... Shoot.]

Comments

1

[wingedman]

[Sam's actually alerted to the trouble by some restless pigeons trying to eat from a dumpster - honestly, you're just trying to get some day-old bagels and these noisy nestlings have to cause trouble - and, being Sam, pokes his head into the alley.

Oh, for fuck's sake.

The thing about Sam is that, while he might not be Thor or Steve, he is a trained veteran from military special forces, and flying the way he does requires a lot of working out. So, yeah, he's short, but more than muscular enough to scare off some dumbass teenagers. But he starts out with a bright, cheerful smile. It's not like he's going to beat teenagers up.]

You guys don't have some kinda football practice to be at? Or drama club?

[madeupnames]

[The four teenagers heads whip as they look at Sam, Peter's joining them. It's clearly already putting some of the water on their fire, so to speak, and they all take a step away from their target (which is nice, because it was getting kind of annoying and claustrophobic, here). They seem way less excited about dealing with an adult and not someone who seems less confident, more weak — but the brave (and stupidly smug) one of the group seems up to the task while the others back up a little.

"Yeah, yeah, we're his bodyguards," the guy says, putting a hand on Peter's shoulder and sounding blatantly sarcastic. "We're taking him to robotics class. Isn't that right, Parker? You just love causing messes."

"Maybe getting him some decent clothes," one mumbles, unimpressed.

Peter looks at the ground, brow furrowed and the tips of his ears slightly redder, and nudges off the hand sharply.]

They've got — football, yeah.

Wouldn't want those thick skulls to go to waste.

[The hand he nudged off makes an annoyed fist.

But it was nice to say that, so it's cool.]

[wingedman]

You know, I could go on about the psychological reasons behind teenage bullying. One of you is probably doing it because you want attention from your parents, positive or negative. One is doing it because of a cycle of toxic masculinity perpetuated by your father or other prominent, possibly including abuse of varying sorts, and pushing smaller kids around allows you to feel like you have control over something in your life. Someone's doing it for peer pressure and/or to feel cool. And, honestly, one of you is just a dick.

[Sam's still smiling at them, arms at his side in a nice, open, neutral posture.]

I mean, you're all dicks, but it's important to consider the underlying causes that drive you to do this, because for some of you, this might be the impetus you need to realize that you're taking your aggression out on the wrong person and get help.

Also, at least one of you is only making fun of his clothes while knowing that you're in almost as dire straits as Peter is, financially speaking. Just pointing that out.

[Is Sam psychoanalyzing these guys? You damn well bet he is.]

[madeupnames]

I'm not in dire straights!

[And yet not a single person in the area either believes that or listens to Peter for a second. The two boys in the back seem to at least be unsettled by the psychology lesson and glance away, and the third nudges the head honcho's arm, mumbling, "We should probably go, man. He could be a teacher or some shitty law enforcement type."

The One That Is Just a Dick scowls and turns to leave after a moment — but likes to have the last word, so he gives Peter a shove with one hand to remind him of what the brick wall behind him feels like. He watches them wander off, one of them slapping the side of the dumpster as they go and hollering, "Don't forget to clean up your place again, dumpster boy!"

... Fair enough. He digs in the trash sometimes. It's habit at this point.

He glances back at Sam, smiling thinly and tucking his hands in his pockets.]

I coulda' handled that. I had it totally under control.

[wingedman]

The ironic thing is that at least one of 'em will end up being one of those shitty law enforcement types. Probably whichever one isn't able to shake bullying.

[Yeah, The One That Is Just a Dick, he's looking at you.]

They were about to throw you in that dumpster, and that really would've put the pigeons off their bagels.

[One pigeon lands on the corner of said dumpster and gives an affirmative coo.]

[madeupnames]

[He motions to the dumpster like Sam might've offended the thing.]

Hey, being thrown in the dumpster isn't all negative.

I really do like looking for stuff in them, if it's the right kinda' trash.

And I'm pretty sure you catapulted me out of an airport window once, so you know. I can take it whatever a couple of bullies dish out, no sweat.

[wingedman]

-okay, to be fair, I didn't know you were, like, twelve.

[Sam. Sam pls. How did you not know]

And it's more about the emotional consequences of bullying than the physical. Besides, they probably have other victims who aren't, you know, spider-y.

[madeupnames]

I was fifteen. I am fifteen.

[It hadn't been that long since Germany, for him. Fun.]

I'll, um. I'll start patrolling this spot on my on-time...

Make sure they're at least not messing with anyone else.

[wingedman]

You're a very small fifteen.

[Sam gives him a suspicious look, like he doesn't believe what Peter's saying. The way his voice gets squeaky when he's excited or nervous doesn't help, either.]

Do you ever sleep, Parker?

[madeupnames]

I'm pretty sure I do. I think that's a basic requirement for human life.

[He says so very conversationally, like he's not being a lil' shit.]

[wingedman]

Unless you're Tony Stark, anyway.

[Actually, like half the people he dates knows suck at the whole sleeping thing. He's pretty sure Stephen actually uses magic to get by, or at least being Stephen. Anyway, guess what, you have triggered Sam's Mom Instincts.]

I'm sure you got a lot of time for sleep between school and your extra-curricular activities. [Sam gives him a flat, unimpressed look.] Is that some kind of spider-power, too, or is that just being a teenager?

[To be fair, he loved sleep when he was a teenager. He still loves sleep. Why does he have such abnormal friends?]

[madeupnames]

[a huff]

I do sleep! I do, alright? It's not that hard, you just lay your head on a pillow and you konk out.

I just... [He slips his hands into his pockets.] I like to keep busy. And I gotta have a certain amount of time out there as Spider-Man, or I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway.

[wingedman]

[Do spiders sleep? Sam wonders to himself, and he makes a note to google it later.]

You know, later on in life, you're gonna look back on your teenage years and think longingly of all the time you could've spent sleeping instead of shooting your web everywhere.

[Spoken like a guy who's about to turn 40.]

Especially if you ever befriend a super-soldier who thinks before dawn is the best time to go running. Never do that, by the way.

[madeupnames]

[He smiles a little, at least now completely distracted from the bullies.]

Hey, I'm just living day to day at this point, so I'm happy if I get to —

How old are you, again?

[He grins like a LITTLE SHIT.]

[wingedman]

You might wanna think about your source of sandwiches before you ask questions like that, kid.

[LOOK HOW MENACING HE IS ...okay not very menacing.]

[madeupnames]

Right, right, what'd I say? I didn't say anything.

[Not menacing at all, but he won't endanger the amount of sandwiches he gets.]

I'd never wanna miss out on a samwich.