The first day of school was insanely draining for Peter. He wanted to enjoy Ned and MJs company, but everything about the old patterns of his life before his summer from hell, just made him both sad and irrationally angry.

Flash was also there. The majority of the reason he wanted to leave as soon as he could, was due to Flash. Peter had gotten really good at not revealing that he was Spider-Man to anyone, he got really good at playing weak and submissive (which is what helped get him through the summer. If you act as if they've already broken you, nothing more will come of it). But, now that he was free from those two months of torturous isolation- he had some time to soul search.

And so coming back to school to be walked all over on by an asshole named Eugene was not making any of this easy. Peter really wanted to just kick Flash to the ground and keep kicking him. 'Hail Hydra' chanted in his mind as if edging him on.

Peter simply held his head and took a deep breath. He was better than that.

Gosh, now he knew how Bucky felt. He made a note to find a way to discreetly ask Bucky how he dealt with this all. Maybe he could do it through an anonymous message? Bucky doesn't really know how technology works so as long as he doesn't tell the other Avengers about the message, there wasn't a chance that it could be traced back to him...

Peter was snapped out of his thoughts by Ned, they had Debate Club today even though it was Monday instead of their usual meeting day of Wednesday.

Ned pulled Peter into the Debate room and soon it started to fill up with familiar faces of his peers. Their teacher, Mr Harrington, stood up happily and said, "We have a field trip today!" Everyone's eyes widened, it was the first day of school and they were to have a field trip? But when were the forms even signed?

"I know our last few trips have all lead to disaster-" Peter being bitten at Oscorp, the class almost dying at the Washington Monument, their trip around the world where a villain followed them, and even the trip to Moma which ended up with the majority of them becoming dust due to Thanos showing up... "-but this one won't have any danger!" Peter could have sworn he heard a "hopefully..." under Mr Harrington's breath after that statement. "All of your forms have been electronically signed by your guardians over the summer, and so everyone, get on the bus outside, we are off on a trip!"

May had signed the form? When?

And where were they even going?

The bus ride was a bumpy one due to rush-hour and just being in New York in general. The whole Debate Team, all clad in their bright yellow team jackets, kept asking where they were off to, but their teacher gave nothing away. The clue that finally gave it away was when the bus pulled into the Avengers tower (newly rebought) and everyone let out a sigh in awe. Well everyone but Peter and MJ. Peter because he knew that the Avengers would absolutely murder him with embarrassment, and MJ because surprise wasn't one of her emotions. She also was too busy sketching Peter's terrified face to react.

Oh, how she loved her sketchbook and her unwilling muses.

The class walked into the tower, a blanching Peter following close behind. Ned tried to calm down his best friend, but nothing seemed to have been working. All day Ned noticed Peter staring off into space with that sad look on his face, and to be honest, he was worried for his best friend. Peter was never sad, and if he was, he always told Ned what was bothering him. But ever since Peter got back from summer break, it was as if he had a wall around his thoughts, all Peter did was shut others out of his life.

The class got through the security without a hitch, well with one hitch, which was Flash being, well, Flash, and mocking Peter about his alleged internship. But, don't worry, Flash was shut up pretty quick by the tour guide, who has actually seen Peter around running errands for Mr Stark.

Touring the building was fascinating for the majority of the class, every single thing was so high tech (even the coffee machines- they just knew your favourite caffeinated drink and made it without you even having to push a button...), everyone was enthralled by the tour except Peter. Peter had been through this tour multiple times, in fact, he has even led one of these tours once for wealthy businessmen- but it didn't really go to plan. Wade Wilson, a kid at his high school as well as his friend and superhero colleague, had ended up crashing the party in his Deadpool attire- and least to say, Peter didn't lead any tours anymore.

The entire tour was going fine, Peter even felt happy for the first time in a few months, watching his best friends, Ned and MJ, having a blast in his favourite place in the world, the Avengers tower. Okay- it was mostly Ned having a blast, he was basically bouncing off the walls like an excited puppy; MJ, on the other hand, was more of a silent contentment. She simply looked at all the technology and would write something down in her notebook with a little mischievous smile.

The last stop on the hour-long tour was the Avengers training room, which Peter prayed, would be empty.

But did the Fates ever listen to Peter Parker?

No.

The training room was not empty, in fact, it was so full of Avengers that the entire Debate Team was starstruck and couldn't move for a solid few minutes.

That is until Natasha, also known as Black Widow, threw a throwing knife at the group, forcing Peter's spidey senses to act up, causing him to catch it before it could do any physical harm to his classmates. Natasha looked at Clint with a smirk, "See, I told you the kid would catch it. You now owe me $20."

Clint gave a swear before fumbling around in his purple Hawkeye costume pockets before coming up with nothing. Elated, Natasha gave him a twenty before Clint gave it back, seemed as though to pay up the bet, Clint had to borrow money from the exact person he just lost money to. Though, soon after, Clint perked up and waved to the undercover hero, "Why'd you have to catch that, Pete? Now I'm in debt to Nat! I didn't have $20 in the first place! Now I owe her $40!"

Natasha sashayed away after kicking Clint's feet away from under him, sending him to the ground, "You now owe me 60! I paid for pizza the other day too."

Clint let out a curse before waving to all of Peter's classmates awkwardly. Peter's peers still hadn't recovered from watching their nerdy Debate Team member grabbing a silver knife from out of the air.

Captain America yelled from across the room, "Pete come spar! It's uneven and we need someone who doesn't rely on weapons to even us out." Steve turned towards the teenage superhero before going pale as he looked at the class behind Peter. "Oh- I'm sorry Peter, I didn't know you were with company." Steve grimaced before giving the group a small wave and a quick "don't do drugs" PSA message before rushing back over to Bucky and Natasha to spar.

Peter, having nothing to lose, and everything to gain (cough Flash to stop talking cough), Peter walked over to join Steve, Bucky, and Natasha to spar. Ned was having a field day, excited to see his best friend in action against the world's most elite heroes. Everyone else was mostly confused, and the teacher was scared that Peter would get hurt. If this field trip went south too, there was no way to tell if he would keep his job.

Peter and Bucky teamed up against Steve and Nat, which seemed unfair to everyone except the Avengers, who knew just how intensely those four could fight. Peter also found it kind of ironic that he was paired up with Bucky, who was also tortured by Hydra. Of course, Bucky had it way worse than he did, but still, it made him feel less alone.

The fight looked more like a coordinated dance, they were even on the offence and throwing punches, or on the defence and leaping out of the way. It was mesmerizing to watch, it was mostly the two super soldiers going at it, and Natasha taking the time to teach Peter more about hand to hand combat as they fought.

Of course, Nat always thought that the best way to learn was jumping straight into it, so she didn't take it too easy on the kid. Speaking of Natasha, she had noticed how Peter was acting off. She could see it both in his face, which lacked its usual warmth, and his fighting movements, which now seemed more robotic and sad than the usual erratic yet graceful gestures.

The fight didn't last long, it ended in a tie with Natasha getting Peter in a choke hold, and Bucky pinning down Steve. All of the Avengers didn't seem too surprised with the outcome and continued doing their own thing, but it was Peter's class and the poor confused tour guide, that really were put into shock.

Did they really just watch Peter Parker hold his own against the Black Widow?

They couldn't have, right? Peter Parker? The tiny science nerd who was late to every class?

It must have just been a mass hallucination...

As Peter was walking back to join his class, sparring with everyone brought back such a sense of normalcy. It brought back such a sense of normalcy that he lifted his shirt to wipe the sweat off his brow, temporarily forgetting about the scars that littered his chest from the summer.

Everything stopped.

Tony Stark was the first to speak, he spoke in a quiet, strained voice, "Peter? Buddy? Where are those from, where'd you get them?"

Peter froze in his tracks and quickly dropped his shirt back into place, he wiped his hands nervously on his pants. "O-oh would you look at the time, this tour is probably over, we should get going-"

"Peter Benjamin Parker, you come back here this instant," Tony whispered, just quiet enough so that the tour group wouldn't head, but loud enough for the teenager's enhanced hearing to pick up.

Peter let out a sigh and walked over to his mentor, Iron Man, and stood there. Bruce walked over with a concerned look and motioned for Peter to take off his shirt. At this point, Peter's class was dead quiet, even Flash, and the only thing anyone could hear was Tony silently fussing over Peter as they waited for Peter to show his injuries.

Bruce, having seen the cuts from the other side of the room, had brought the Avenger's medical kit over onto the bench, and he waited patiently concerned to see what he had to treat. Peter let out a sigh, knowing that if he didn't show his team the scars that they'd take his shirt off anyways to look at them, and also knowing that if he did take his shirt off he'd be berated with questions.

It was a lose-lose situation.

Damn his bad luck.

With a resigned huff, Peter slowly took off his shirt, wincing slightly at the sight of the markings that were showcased on his torso. As his eyes took in the marks once again, he slowly felt them start to tingle with fiery pain, and the phrase, 'Hail Hydra' started to chant in his head once again.

To avoid further slipping into insanity, Peter looked at Bruce as the doctor slowly cleaned the cuts, some Hulk green making its way up his neck. Tony wasn't much better, he hated the thought of the kid getting hurt, and so seeing all of the injuries really made him want to beat someone up.

Bucky came closer, curious, and stopped when his eyes spotted the little marking on the kid's back shoulder, a red brand was burned right into the kid's milky white skin. Bucky would know the marking anywhere, he had the exact same one over his heart. It was a Hydra branding, showing that they belonged as cattle to the cruel and heartless organization.

Bucky broke the silence with, "They got you too?"

Peter looked at Bucky and gave a sad, broken smile. "Yeah, they did. Over the summer." He let out a soft chuckle in a sort of never-gonna-be-funny way.

Ned's voice spoke up, hesitant, "Who got you?" He stared at his best friend's broken body and had to keep down tears that were threatening to burst out.

They all knew the answer, the logo having been taught in class, as well as actively in the news as a terrorist group. "Hydra... Hydra got me."

That day was a quiet one, and the days following it were also filled with confused silence. Peter's class had kept it to themselves, and when they saw Peter at school the next day, they went out of their way to be nicer to him, even Flash.

As for the Avengers, they were royally pissed at what had happened to Peter, and promptly arrested the estranged family member and shut down that branch of Hydra, finding a dozen more teenagers being tortured just like Peter had been.

Aunt May didn't take it well, Peter's promise of never telling her flew out the window, and soon May became the person who would help soothe him back to sleep after a nightmare, or remind him to eat, or even remind him to take mental health days because 'even superheroes need a break sometimes.' With Peter, May was strong and never cracked, but when the teenage boy left for school, she would break down knowing that the reason Peter had those scars were because of her. She left him in the devil's lair, albeit unknowingly, but still, she fed her poor nephew to the lions.

The whole experience was one that Peter wanted to forget, he slowly smiled more, and after some time he felt that he would be able to truly be happy again.

All in due time, but until then, he smiled when he was expected to, and simply enjoyed the newly found peace at school. Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad at all.

-=-

I have finals but woohps writing instead

I cried while writing this ahhhhhh

Also, next will be a prompt for next week is from Willowthetallpengu and will be spideypool (same age though because we're not about that).

Thanks to ItsKatiePeeps for this prompt! Your other prompt with MJ and Peter will be after Willow's!

-SecretsInMyHead