( CHAPTER TWELVE ! )

( OBVIOUS LIES AND UNEXPECTED TRUTHS )

°

Things were alright for awhile.

After all, ignorance was a bliss and Colin had chose to let go of his worries for awhile. Peter did not need a babysitter, perhaps he just needed a friend who just worried like any normal person and did not go around having odd theories about that said friend's life. And maybe, Colin also needed Peter to be his friend, he liked his company (more than he would like to admit.)

There was no secret boyfriend and Peter seemed alright, sure, he did look tired on a regular basis. But that was a part of being a student and Peter was a great one, it was natural for him to work hard.

Colin did not look for signs for awhile.

Instead, he had the most organized period of his life.

He loved the familiar routine of his life now, hang out with Sammy and Flash during the day, have lunch with Michelle from some time to time, grab coffee with Gwen and study dates with Peter. He even started being friendly with Ned and Aamir. Ned more than Aamir since he enjoyed how Ned seem to be an awkward mess and a confident teenager at the same time, he liked his humor and dorkiness. Aamir on the other hand, looked at him a little weird sometimes and asked intimate question ("Are you alright, Colin?"), the boy was too sweet and emphatic. Colin felt nervous around him a little.

Also, he was scared of his sister, Aura, who had this deadly glare fixed on Colin most of the time. Appearantly, his actions did have consecounces and the girl was not over the fact that Colin had punched her brother that one time months ago. He wasn't sure what exactly but there was something about her, maybe her confidence or piercing eyes- Colin did not want to mess.

The peaceful times came to end a little too soon and a little too fast.

"Have you heard about that robbery?" Sam said he seemed interested in the current state of their hometown.

"Yes, of course! I heard that Spider-Man was a bit late to the scene but I'm sure he will get them soon!"

Colin smiled a little at Flash's enthusiasm but hid it behind a coughbi before speaking up. "

.

It all started with caos that had started in Queens.

At that time, it all seemed irrelevant to Colin- the way his life seemed to go downhill did not have any direct connection to the things that were happening around his home. Well, he just didn't have all the knowledge to see the bigger picture.

For starters, his dad was extremely busy, due to the rise in the criminal activities in the neighbourhood. (Okay, his dad was a lousy cop but still had somw work to do.) He was also in a rather cheery mood despite the work though, which ment Colin's home life wasn't so bad.

He just started to worry about Cory since robberies and burglars had increased, soon he was back to walking his little brother home despite his protests.

Spider-Man seemed to be more active than ever as well, which was a nice thing Colin guessed. It just made his headache increase when Flash kept on talking about how amazing the superhero was.

"Did you hear about the robbery at the bakery?" Sam asked, he seemed rather interested in the subject. Maybe Flash's obsession was rubbing off on them.

"Yeah! Appearantly Spider-Man was a bit late to the scene, next time he will catch them for sure," Flash stated with confidance.

Colin smiled at his almost childish belief in the hero but hid it behind a cough before speaking up. "It rather odd that a bakery is robbed, right? How much money could they have?"

"Yeah, I know!" Sam chimed in, maybe that's why he was interested in the case. "Have you seen the Geller siblings? Especially Aura was looking pretty on edge and pissed of this morning."

"What do the Geller's have to do with the robbery?" Colin asked in confusion.

Flash stared at Colin for a moment, almost glaring at him. "The bakery belongs to the Gellers. Seriously, Aamir is the best friend of your best friend, how don't you know it?"

"Peter is not my best friend," Colin stated rather defensively but he was feeling a bit nervous at the mention of his name. He knew his friends were not a fan of Petee and he felt a little uncomfortable when his name came up in conversation. "Are you jealous Flash?" Colin taunted to change the topic anf of course it worked when Flash started ranting about Colin's so called obsession with Peter Parker which led him into ranting about Colin in general.

It was an usual day so far, bickering with Flash and Sam, until it was time to return to their classes and until Sam pulled him aside with a serious looking scowl on his face.

"I've PE class with Parker," Sam said once Flash was gone to his class.

"Ugh, okay? What do-"

"I know you care about the idiot so I'm letting you know. He had bruises on his arms and chest- it looked bad," Sam started and the geniune worry on his face startled Colin. "It can be nothing of course but I noticed similiar stuff a few times. I thought you should know."

Colin nodded slowly and he couldn't helo the way his face fell, all the previous anxiety rushing back to him. He had been right, there was something horribly wrong going on with Peter.

"Hey, don't freak out," Sam spoke again. He touched his arm, squeezing lightly in a reassuring way. "I'm sure he is fine. You know how clumsy he is, its probably nothing."

Colin smiled at his friend, feeling overwhelmed by the kindness of his actions. Sam Smythe knew how to surprise people. "Yeah, its probably nothing."

Colin doubted that.
.

He was back to worrying about stuff that was not under his control in no time.

Weird stuff was happening around Queens, which was not Colin's responsibilty. Yet, he was practically glued to his brother now with worry, he was going to go to his classes if that was possible. Cory was not amused.

He was, in a strange way, worried about Aamir Geller and his sister, they had been looking more and more on edge each day. The boy used to smile too much that his calm exterior was scaring Colin. Aura was scaring Colin in general.

And of fucking course, he was back to worrying about Peter once again. They had been barely spending time together for the past few weeks and Peter had stopped making excuses. He was straight up ignoring Colin most of the tims claiming to be busy which, okay, maybe broke his heart a little.

It was easier to look for an exterior reason for Peter's behaviour than thinking the boy was finally realizing how boring Colin was or something.

When he suggested it, Gwen had simply laughed at that giving one of her mature looks where she acted like Colin was her younger sibling. I doubt it has anything to do with his lack of interest in you, Colin.

After talking to Gwen, he had felt a little more at ease, its all in my head, he repeated to himself. Yet, he just couldn't stop it as he continued to see Ned and Aamir spending time without Peter, the boy was constantly absent nowadays.

That brought him back to his list, it was time to seek out Michelle.

Colin was undoubtly nervous to open up to Michelle and he didn't know why. She was just so... authentically herself that he feared that maybe she would find his worries irrelevant and dumb.

However, she did not laugh at his face when he talked about Peter, on the contrary, her face hardned.

"I don't think you're making it all up," she stated. "I've noticed things. You know how I usually notice those little things. Something is going and it involves Aura too."

Mark Colin as confused and even more confused.

Therefore what he did next was not exactly planned (which was not like him, he liked planning most of the time).

He sat on Peter's bed and watched the clock, thinking how weird it was going to be if Peter did not come home and Colin had to explain things to May. She had been so kind to him when he showed up announced, claiming that he had a study session planned with Peter. And Peter was not even at home and he had claimed to be in the library which was a total lie. Colin had to ramble some stuff about Peter always mixing up the meeting hours.

Hence, he was waiting for Peter to return, awkwardly sitting on his bed, tapping his feet in an anxious way.

He was waiting so focused that he almost jumped to his feet when Peter barged in with a black eye and split lip, blood was smeered on his jaw that made Colin feel sick.

"Peter?! Are you okay-"

"What are you doing here-"

Peter closed the door and threw his back pack on the ground and Colin rushed to him, holding his face in his hands in a gentle way.

Colin tried to look into his eyes with frantic movements and what he saw in Peter's soft brown eyes confused him even further. Peter was panicking, was he afraid of Colin?

"What happened? We should go to a hospital."

"No!" Peter answered quickly. "I'll be fine. I've been... mugged, I'm okay now."

There was a pause after that. Colin didn't let go for a moment, trying to process it all. "Your bag is still here," he muttered. After that he stopped holding Peter and took a few steps back.

"I, ugh, they stole my-"

Lies. Peter was a terriblw liar and all he dis was trying to lie to Colin.

And suddenly it was too much.

He couldn't remember the last time he cried, not that he was too manly or brave but he was so scared to let it all out and face the things that kept him up at night. It was all coming rushing towards him, his pent up worries and anxieties and it was so sudden that he didn't even realize that his defensive scowl was gone from his face and it was replaced by something raw and open. Something he didn't let himself be a lot.

"Colin?" Peter almost whispered in shock and Colin couldn't blame the boy for being taken aback from Colin's change of attidute. Probably to consult him, Peter took a step forward and instictively he took a step back, his eyes were burning with the unshed tears that were making his vision blurry.

"I can't do this anymore," the words started floathing from him. His usual filter was out the window and later, he could blame it to the sleepless night he had but at that moment he was far too gone to care. "I'm loosing my freaking mind over here. It was too much to worry about Cory all the time and now you- and with Cory I trust myself to protect him but you lie to me and you show up to school with bruises and you don't sleep... I don't know what to do here Pete. Please- just tell me you're okay and I'm imagining things because I'd rather accept that I'm halucinating things than you being in an abusive relationship so Please Peter-"

He was pleading for something but at that moment he was not sure for what exactly. As he raised his gaze to meet with Peter's, he saw the unshed tears on his eyes and the broken expression wrecked Colin a bit. His hands were shaking and he touched his face absendmindly, to feel the wetness on his cheeks, it didn't surprised him just an odd sensation. He wiped his cheeks with his long sleeves but he couldn't stop himself from crying nor he could continue speaking.

"No, Colin... I'm okay, no one is abusing me I- It's just-"

Colin started crying harder at Peter's clear attempt at lying to the point his shoulders were shaking and a sob escaped his lips. The vulnarable sounds he let out was forign to his ears. He could remember now, the last time he broke down and cried like this was when his sister had left.

Peter stepped closer and hesitantly, so gently, held Colin by his shoulders, steading him with strong hands. "I swear! I'm okay," Peter began and he exhaled a shaky breath before embracing Colin in his arms. Without giving himself the time to freak out about the situation Colin hugged back, feeling the tension in Peter's muscles as he cluched hard. His fingers had a tight grip on Peter's shirt and he was resting his head on the crook of his neck, his tears was staining the boy's shirt. Peter let him have his moment as he hugged him a bit tighter, waiting for the shake of Colin's sobs to die down.

They stayed like that for awhile and Peter waited until Colin wasn't shaking anymore to tell the truth.

"I'm Spider-Man."

Colin's heart skipped a beat.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

LOOK AT THE VIDEO ON THIS CHAPTE ROMG THIS BOOK HAS A TRAILER NOW!! thanks to one and only stilinskithrills    she is so kind and ugh, i am still gushing over this. also check her out, she has amazing stories. thank you so much once more <3

the basic idea for this book was: peter gets cuts and bruises all the time and even though he heals faster than normal, it does not mean he heals instantly and completely, someone must notice. finally, we are having the fall out of that.

i hope you enjoyed it and this concludes part 1!! get ready for a part 2 where i write stuff that is unrelated to the canon lol look out for that robbery and geller siblings, they are going to have more part in part 2!

let me know what you think please <3