The Boy Who Couldn't Leave

Chapter 17

3rd Person POV

The next morning, Peter woke to the sound of his alarm. He turned it off, but instead of climbing out of bed, he turned around and resolved to stare at the ceiling. Ugh another day.

He promised himself to just take things one day at a time before he clamored out of bed and into the shower. 

Once he was ready for the day, Peter made his way to the kitchen, only to come face to face with Pepper and Tony, smiling and cooking breakfast together. 

Ugh. He mumbled, rolling his eyes "good morning" before sitting at the island in the middle of the room. 

Tony looked up and smiled "Morning, kid."

Pepper sweetly replied "Good morning, honey. How did you sleep?"

Peter simply shrugged "Okay."

Tony tried to continue on. "You ready for school?" Another shrug. 

Pepper placed a plate of food in front of him and asked "What's been going on at school? How are your friends?"

Peter adopted a nonchalant look and said "It's fine. They're fine."

Pepper was about to stay something else when a chime came from his phone "Happy's here. Gotta go!"

He didn't wait for any acknowledgment and just dashed into the elevator as it was opening to reveal the shocked and confused driver.

When the doors closed again, Peter let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Kid, you alright?" Peter turned to look at the man next to him and said "It's fine. I'm just not in the mood today."

Happy looked confused but said "Well I'm sure once you see your friends, you'll feel better."

Yeah, his friends might be able to lift his mood a little. This brightened him up a little. Happy easily drove Peter to Midtown High before driving off. 

Peter stood  outside the building, not making a move to go in. Soon enough, Ned and MJ approached him, standing besides him in silence.

After a while though, Ned asked "You okay Peter?"

He knew he was in a bad way when he didn't even notice Flash walk up to them and ask "Why not?"

Peter shrugged and looked over the city distractedly "Everything is just so effed up right now. It's too much."

He went on to explain the events of the previous night. "And now they're just acting like everything is normal and they're ignoring how obviously unhappy I am. Pepper is just choosing to live in ignorance. I'm pretty sure she sees the problem as clearly as I do. I just feel like I'm suffocating!"

Flash blew out a breath "I didn't know that's how you ended up with him Peter. I'm sorry it's all so....messed up."

Peter appreciated what Flash was doing, but nothing could be done at this point. They had to wait it out.

MJ must've been reading his mind because she said "You guys wanna get out of here?"

Peter's eyes widened desperately "More than anything! I'm so sick of him dictating my life and telling me what to do. But where can we go?"

The teens kinda just dawdled around as the other students went into the building when the bell rang. 

Ned said "Pete. I think I have an idea, but you may not like it...."

Peter looked at him curiously. "What is it, Ned?"

"Well, you remember that one summer we joked about getting matching tattoos?" Ned replied cautiously.