Doesn't Need Fixing

What to Expect:
— A longer chapter than normal (about 2600 words)
— Slight bullying
— Feathers AU (read to learn more about that~)
— Tony doesn't know Peter's Spider-Man, but Peter has an internship at Stark Tower
— ⚠️ Swearing ⚠️

— — —

Pain shot up Peter's side. Flash's hand pushed his shoulder up against the lockers, the feathers behind his ears displayed proudly.

"How'd the weekend go for ya, huh? Spend time with your good buddy Stark?"

Peter flinched back and bit his lip. A sharp retort wouldn't do much here. On the other hand, a kick to the groin would do the trick...

But he didn't. He just stood there, quivering, shaking, in submission.

"Ha! That's what I thought," Flash sneered, "Don't feel like lying anymore, eh?" With a snicker, Flash grabbed at the feathers on the back of Peter's neck and started plucking them one by one. Not enough to notice they were gone, but enough to hurt like a bitch.

Flash sneered as he watched Peter's jet black feathers fall to the floor. Slamming Peter against the locker again, Flash finally took his leave.

Peter stood, shaking, for a minute. He leaned down and began to collect the feathers Flash had ripped out, rubbing the back of his neck as he did so. He could just imagine the bruise. Though, he thought, growling in pain, they already seem to be growing back in. What really hurt wasn't getting them plucked, it was when the grew back. Tearing his skin, bleeding, breaking... Only to have them plucked again the next day.

"Damn," he muttered as he finally left the school, "Tony's gonna notice this at some point."

Peter tapped his foot on the sidewalk outside the school. Playing with the feathers around his wrist, he watched for the sleek black car he knew was coming.

Peter jumped at the blare of a car horn. "Cm'on Kid, let's go!"

Peter's eyes widened. Skittering down the sidewalk, he glanced through the open window of a silver car and saw Tony Stark in the driver's seat. "What, not excited to see me?"

"No!" Peter jumped, "Just..." he motioned vaguely with one hand while opening the car door, "surprised." Peter slid into the seat beside Tony and the car door shut behind him with a bang.

The car started moving and Peter reached for his homework. "So," Tony smiled, "How was your day?"

"Good. Um, Mr. Stark?"

"Yeah kid?"

"My feathers are caught in the door."

Tony stopped the car, grateful they weren't quite out of the school parking lot yet. Peter quickly opened and shut the door again, pulling his elbow feathers inside in between motions.

"Your ankle feathers aren't caught too, are they?"

Peter moved his legs a bit before responding with a joyful, "nope!"

Tony laughed and Peter started to dig through his bookbag again. Chemistry, chemistry, chem... Blinking, Peter pulled a stack of papers from the bag.

Name: Peter Parker
Grade: 9th [[The author doesn't actually know, bear with me here]]
- Stark Industries -
- Intern Test -

Peter had forgotten about this! The school had made them take the test on career day so they could see how hard it was to be a top scientist. That's how he got his internship with Tony—Apparently they do look at practice tests.

Tony glanced over and pulled the papers from Peter's hand, taking a quick look at them. Peter was glad Friday could drive.

"I remember this," Tony commented, "Pep and I made this test years ago. Are they still using these? Should probably update them." Tony tossed the packet back at Peter, the teen catching it and shoving it back in his pack.

"Yeah," Peter said absentmindedly, flipping through his folders for his homework, "it was pretty easy."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Easy, huh? In that case, why don't you make a new test."

Peter shook his head. "I couldn't do that! I'd probably make it too easy..."

"Nope! I think you'd do great making a test like that," Tony snapped his fingers, letting the sound echo through the car, "And now, it's your assignment."

"What?"

"I'm your boss. I can assign you any project I want, no?"

Peter started messing with the feathers around his wrist. "I mean—yeah. You can but I don't know... I probably won't do a good job."

"Kid," Tony made eye contact with Peter, holding it while he spoke, "I have no doubt that you'll do a great job."

Peter laughed nervously. "Thanks Mr. Stark."

"Don't call me that. Makes me sound old." Tony sighed. "I've told you that a million times by now."

A smirk formed on Peter's face. "Alright, Goldie, no more Mr. Stark."

Tony frowned at the mention of his unique feather color. "That's worse. Go back to Mr. Stark."

"Too late, G-old Man."

"Peteerrrr," Tony whined, "cut it out."

"Sorry, Golden Boy," Peter snickered, "But I think the name's stuck."

— — —

Peter scratched at the back of his neck. It had only been a few hours, but his feathers had grown back and now they were itchy as fuck.

"Pete? What's up kid?" Shit. He noticed.

Play dumb, Peter. "Uhh, nothing."

"Mmhmm, right, okay." Tony rolled back his chair and stood up, walking over to Peter and taking a look at his neck. His eyes widened.

"Pete," Tony ran his fingers through Peter's neck feathers, wincing back at the red spots where the new ones had grown in, "why were your feathers plucked?"

Peter mumbled something under his breath.

"Pete," Tony tried again.

"It's nothing."

"You tell me, or I find out."

Peter sighed. "It's just this asshole at school. Eugene Thompson. It's not a big deal."

"Kid, plucking feathers hurts like hell. This," Tony gestured to Peter's neck, "Isn't okay."

"I know, I know..." Peter leaned back in his chair, "but I'm dealing with him, okay?"

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose before sighing. "Fine. But if you keep coming back with plucked feathers, I'm doing something, alright?"

Peter nodded rapidly. "Thank you Mr. Stark."

"Kid, for the last time, call me Tony."

— — —

Peter winced as he rolled over in bed. His eyes fluttered open and his gaze moved to his alarm clock. Only 3:30? Thats not enough sleep...

A sharp pain struck his back as he tried to roll over again, causing him to leap from the bed. Breathing heavily, Peter considered that maybe he should have gone to the hospital when he got stabbed. He immediately brushed that idea off, because if he went to the hospital every time he got injured people would definitely figure out that he was Spider-Man.

Peter curled up back in his bed, careful not to lay on his back. He'd sleep it off—with his powers the wound should be gone by tomorrow night.

And so slowly, Peter drifted back to sleep.

— — —

"What the FUCK."

Okay, so, that shouldn't be happening.

Peter stared in the bathroom mirror. He had to be seeing things. Hallucinating. Yep! He's so tired that he's hallucinating. Thats what this is. Because this isn't possible.

"Peter, why are you—" May sleepily opened the bathroom door, trailing off once she saw Peter. "shouting... what the fuck."

Peter slowly lifted his hand to touch the wings sprouting from his back. Jet black feathers. Hesitantly, he tried to spread the—his—wings...

"Holy shit."

May's eyes widened. "What—"

"I don't know."

Silence. They sat there, staring, for who knows how long.

Then Peter's phone buzzed.

Running to grab it, Peter saw a message from Ned.

—
My Bestest Friend Ever:
Where are you!?? School started 10 minutes ago??
—

SHIT. Glancing at the clock, Peter saw that he had, in fact, missed part of First Period.

—
:Peter
Stuff happened

My Bestest Friend Ever:
You better not have gotten shot again.

:Peter
Stabbed, but not my focus at the moment.

My Bestest Friend Ever:
Then why aren't you here!?
—

Peter debated telling Ned. He absolutely trusted Ned. He just... wasn't sure what to say. You can't just grow wings overnight! Or, apparently, you can. Still, he'd never heard of anyone having wings before.

With a sigh, Peter sent Ned another text.

—
:Peter
I grew wings.
—

Peter set his phone down after that and the reality of the situation started to set in.

He had wings. Huge, hulk-sized, jet black wings.

Walking back to the bathroom, Peter stared at his wings in the mirror. He tried spreading them out again.

Now that he had a chance to study them, he noticed they were about five feet in length, meaning a wingspan of ten feet. [[Wings would have to be big to lift human body weight]]

Peter stared at himself for a while longer. Wings. What the fuck.

"Peter," May set a hand on his shoulder, "maybe you should talk to Stark about this."

"You're a genius." Peter ran back to his phone, ignoring the messages from Ned and calling Tony.

He picked up on the first ring. "Hey Kid, what's up?"

"So, you have golden feathers right? And probably know a lot about weird-feather-mutations?"

"..."

"Tony?"

"Kid, what happened?"

Peter toyed with the feathers behind his neck and bit his lip. "Oh nothing... well, not nothing. It's hard to explain. Can you just have Happy come and get me so I can show you?"

Tony was silent for a moment. "Yeah. He's on his way."

"Thank you! Oh, and make sure he takes one of the bigger cars."

Peter could almost see Tony's raised eyebrow. "O-kay."

"Thanks again!"

— — —

Tony paced the room, glancing at Peter every now and then. "Peter-"

"So do you know what this is? I figured that since you had a weird feather thing you'd have looked into stuff. As a scientist, you did your research, right?" Peter rambled, quieting once he saw Tony's face.

"Pete." Tony sighed and sat down in a chair, studying the teen's wings. "I dye my feathers."

"Wh- what?"

Tony looked away, his eyes unable to meet Peter's. "I dye my feather gold. Naturally, they're grey but..." tony reached up to play with the feathers behind his ears. "This looks better. So I dyed them."

"So you lied to everyone?"

Tony hung his head.

"You lied... okay. Okay I can get through this. I'll just have to do the testing myself. Yeah. Yeah that'll work." Peter's heart sped up, his head pounding. "I'll just have to test stuff. Yeah. It's basic science."

"Pete," Tony's hands shook and he got to his feet, "Peter calm down bud—"

"I- I can do this. Fuck what am I gonna do about school? I don't wanna show up like this. Flash'll pluck my feathers—"

Tony wrapped his arms around Peter, humming steadily. "Peter, calm down bud. Calm down. Count with me, okay?"

Peter nodded and Tony started counting, Peter joining in.

"8... 9... 10... 11..."

Slowly, Peter managed to calm down. He almost fell, but Tony managed to catch him. Surprisingly light, especially with those wings. Peter let out a snore, and Tony laughed quietly. Carrying the teen bridal-style, Tony headed to the elevator.

"Friday, Floor 100." The elevator rose, dinging as the doors opened. Tony smiled and headed over to the sofa, laying Peter out across it. Sliding a pillow under the boy's head, Tony smiled. He's adorable.

Tony headed to the kitchen and opened a cabinet. Pulling out a box of hot cocoa packets, he glanced back at Peter.

He knew he'd do whatever he could to help this pure child.

— — —

"Sorry Pete, but you have to go to school."

Peter hung his head. "I know. I just—" he sighed, gesturing towards his wings. "I want to fix this."

Tony stepped forward and put a hand on the teen's shoulder. "Don't worry Pete, we will. But for now you're going to school. Skipping isn't good."

Peter wrapped his arms around his mentor. "I know."

Tony could feel the boy shaking in his grasp. "Pete," he pulled the boy closer, "I'll drive you today, alright?"

Peter nodded. He let Tony drag him to the car before they drove to May's to pick up his school stuff. They'd spent all of yesterday trying to work out the mysteries Peter's wings held, but with no luck.

The car revved and Peter spread his wings as much as he could in the back seat of Tony's car. Some feathers fell to the ground and Peter made a mental note to pick them up later.

"So," Tony started, "how's the test coming along?"

"What?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "The intern test? I thought I told you to get on that."

Peter played with the feathers on his wrist. "Slipped my mind."

Tony laughed a bit, smile rising to his mouth. "More focused on the wings?"

Peter nodded.

"Well, how bout I try to get a scientist who specializes in biology to help us?"

Peter froze. "Uhh, nope! I'm good."

An eyebrow was raised in his direction. "Can I ask why not?"

Don't say Spider Powers, don't say spider powers...

"Spider Powers."

Shit.

"What?"

"Uhh, nothing! Nothing, I said nothing."

"Really?" Tony turned around and Friday took the wheel [[Go on. Get the meme out of your systems]]. "Because it sounded like you said 'Spider Powers', and the only person I know of with Spider Powers is Spider-Man."

Peter swallowed thickly. Sweat dripped down the back of his neck, falling in between his feathers and making them itch.

"Meaning..." he knows, he knows, he knows... "you must be Spider-Man's kid."

What.

"I mean, there's no way you're actually Spider-Man. Too young," Tony scoffed, "but I wouldn't worry too much about the scientist I wanna bring in. I mean, he's Bruce Banner."

Peter couldn't believe that Tony could be so oblivious. But regardless, he took the opportunity.

"Yep, definitely Spider-Man's son. I love my dad," Peter smiled, "And I would LOVE to meet Bruce Banner! I've read all his books and they're the best!"

Tony laughed and Friday announced that they'd arrived at the school. "Well Kid," Tony said, "Ready to go in?"

"Not really, but it's not like I have a choice."

Tony shrugged. "Sorry kiddo."

"Bye Tones. See you later!" Peter clambered out of the car, knocking his wings against the door several times before he managed to actually make it out.

Tony laughed as he drove off. So, he lied to the kid again. But really, with that panicked look he couldn't just sit there.

He'd be sure to make updates for the spider-suit though. That kid was reckless.

— — —

Ned's eyes were like saucers. "Holy shit."

Peter rolled his eyes. "I told you I have wings."

"Well—yeah—but like," Ned reached out before jerking his arm away. "Can I touch them?" Peter nodded and Ned ran his fingers through the jet black feathers. "Soft..." he murmured.

"BUT they're so big? Why? Why'd you grow them? Did it hurt?" Ned gasped. "Can you fly?!"

Peter laughed. "I don't know much about them. They're kind-of annoying. Tony and I are working on fixing them at the moment."

Ned squinted and tilted his head. "Fixing?"

"Yeah," Peter stretched out one wing, looking at it with a frown. "I'm not entirely sure why I have them. I don't need them. Besides, my life's a mess already, I don't need the extra stress of wings."

"Peter," Ned said stroking the wings again, "this doesn't need fixing. This is awesome! It's like, the coolest thing ever! And you can fly. Probably. You should test that. Flying would be awesome."

Peter blinked as Ned rambled on. Doesn't need fixing? This... mess. This absolute mess doesn't need fixing?

Peter could feel Ned stroking his wings again and he honestly felt like he could purr.

Peter could learn to live with this.

— — —

(A/N)
Word Count: 2593
Written: January 9th, 2020

Holy SHIIITAKE MUSHROOMS

I can't believe how LONG that chapter was! In comparison to other chapters in this book, this is a HuLk SiZeD cHaPtEr

Okay then. So I call this the 'Feather AU'

Basically, the characters grow feathers based on how many lives they've saved...and how many they've ended.

The feathers start out pure white and turn grey then black. They grow in this order:
- Elbows
- Behind the Ears
- Neck
- Ankles
- Wrists

So, how does everyone has feathers? Not everyone has killed/saved someone, right?

Well, the 'feathers' take the butterfly effect into account. Lets say a kid makes a friend on the playground. If they hadn't been friends, the friend might have grown up to commit suicide. This is considered saving a life.

Counter example, push a kid on the playground. The kid goes home and never makes that friend. The friend grows up with no friends and commits suicide. That's a death, a life ended.

Also note, the more feathers you have/the darker your feather get, the more lives you have to save/end before you can grow more feathers/darken your feathers.

That should about cover it? The feathers thing is something I took from my Paracosm lol. It's the magic system I use for a species of fairy called 'Serpents' (basically look like Eastern Dragons) and the system itself was altered for this but is originally highly based off whatever the Korean magical fighting Mangas like Tales of Demons and Gods or Star Martial God Technique use. I think those are both Korean. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyway, that's the BASICS of this AU.

A few other notes:

I have been on a ROLL writing chapters for this! When I wrote this chapter, I had the like, 5 chapters saved up to post not including this one.

So that's good.

Also, would you like to see more chapters like this?

What kind of chapters would you like to see? Pop over to the 'Suggestions' chapter and tell me!

Anywayyyy don't forget to vote and comment and HAVE A NICE DAY!