Chapter 15: Unmatched Concealer
I am woken up from my nap by the bell signaling the end of the first block. Thankfully, now I feel at least slightly more rested. I then slowly trudge to 2nd block, Forensic Science, which I have along with MJ.
MJ has been constantly looking at me concerningly throughout the entire class, but I do not even have the energy to hide how tired and exhausted I truly am, I am going to have to save my energy to hide it later when I go to the internship. Thankfully MJ doesn't say anything, but I am definitely not out of the woods yet.
When I get to lunch, the questioning that I have somehow been avoiding all day is there waiting for me. As soon as I sit down, Peter, Ned, and MJ all stare at me for a bit seeming to be trying to figure out what to say. Eventually, Peter speaks up.
"Are you ok Finnley?"
"Mhm" I hum in response, but figuring that this will probably not be good enough of an answer for them I continue. "I'm fine guys, seriously, just tired."
"Finn, you hiss in pain every time you move, I don't think that is 'fine.'" MJ says with a challenging look.
Of course she noticed that.
I chew on the inside of my cheek as even Ned surprisingly speaks up. "What really happened? Are you safe Finnley?"
I scoff and give my most convincing tone, "I'm fine! I just fell down the stairs this morning and landed weirdly on my side, that's all. Really it's quite embarrassing so I didn't really want to talk about it, not my proudest moment. You don't need to worry." I then tie my lie up with a smile that physically pains me but seems to do a good job at convincing them further... well maybe all besides MJ, she still looks suspicious. No one can ever fool MJ.
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The rest of the day goes extremely slow, but when it finally gets to the end I breathe a sigh of relief. I am looking forward to going to the internship today as I have a bunch more ideas for things to add to the project that I am working on. Additionally, my seemingly above-average natural healing really got to work today, and I feel a lot better than I did this morning.
I manage to get out of the class even without limping too much and start to make my way through the hallways to get out of the cesspool of teen angst and axe body spray that is high school, but just as I am almost to the front entrance, my heart sinks as I see the person that is seeming to be waiting for me.
Flash and his goons mockingly laugh at me as I reluctantly continue making my way closer to my doom. I look over his shoulder to thankfully see Peter outside, at least he didn't get stopped by Flash.
"Look who it is guys, it's Finnley the freak!" Flash seethes.
I sigh, "Just get it over with Flash."
"Oooh, impatient are we?"
Within a few seconds, I am pinned up against the wall with Flash uncomfortably close to my face as he speaks, with spit flying into my face with every word. "You know why you deserve this freak?"
I simply look at him dead in the eyes without responding, I wouldn't give him the satisfaction.
He snickers and then swings a punch right into my stomach causing me to involuntary gasp.
"You are worthless! No one wants you around, especially Tony Stark of all people! He wouldn't even step into a room with you! You are just too desperate for attention. Did your parents not give you enough?... Oh wait, that's right, they didn't even want to be around you either." He then brandishes a wicked smirk as he lands another punch into my ribs making a cracking sound as he walks away laughing to his goons.
I fall to the ground trying to catch my breath, but this only causes my ribs which were seeming to be doing better before to start screaming in pain once again. On top of that, I also feel several of my wounds open up again.
Slowly, I begin to pry myself off of the floor and slide back up the wall. Taking a few deep breaths, I collect myself and push off the wall and start finally making my way out of the school and towards Peter so that we can walk to Avengers Tower.
Peter gives me a concerned look when I approach him, but thankfully keeps quiet. We walk most of the way through the busy streets of New York in silence, at least until Peter notices me clutching my side in pain, wincing, and stumbling one too many times for his liking, and speaks up.
"Was it Flash again?"
"What?"
"You were not even this bad this morning. Did Flash stop you again?"
I didn't see a point in lying about Flash, Peter obviously already knew about him, and then maybe it would make him less suspicious of where the wounds from this morning came from.
"Oh, yeah, it's fine though."
"Obviously it's not fine Finnley! But I don't know what to do about it. And Obviously, the fact that his parents basically run the school doesn't help either."
"Yeah, well there is nothing we can do about it. And hey, if he is beating me up, at least that means that he isn't beating up other people." I say humorously trying to make light of it, although Peter doesn't seem to find this very amusing. "Hey, you said the same thing before! It's the truth!"
"I guess you are right, but I really don't like seeing you getting hurt Finn. I'm Spiderman for god's sake! I should be able to stop this, I'm supposed to help people!" Peter whispers the last part but the frustrated tone still makes it through in his voice.
"You can't save everyone Peter, that is just not possible. Plus, I can take care of myself. I dare Flash to try something outside of school where I can't get in trouble for anything, then he is really screwed," I say with my signature smirk that people have learned to know that I mean business (or mischief) so well.
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After several minutes of painful walking, we make it to the tower. I wave at the desk lady as we pass, she is really nice, and she makes the best ginger and honey cookies, she gave me a whole tin last week and they were gone within hours. We smile and wave to pretty much everyone in the lobby as we head toward the elevator.
Once the elevator doors close behind us, FRIDAY instantly speaks up.
"Hello Thing 1 and Thing 2, would you like me to notify Mr. Stank of your presence?"
I try to hold in my laugh and smile up at the camera. Clint must have changed the names in the system again,
"No, that's ok FRIDAY, we can just go to him. Where is he?" I ask the AI.
"He is in the common room. Although I must warn you, he is not in the best mood right now. He just lost at uno for the third time against Mr. Barton (AKA the best avenger), who Mr. Stank suspects is cheating."
Yep, it was definitely Clint that changed the names.
"Thanks, FRIDAY."
I am honestly amazed with FRIDAY, she is one of the best AIs I have ever seen. I really want to introduce her to RUBY, I feel like they would be good friends.
Eventually, the elevator stops and the doors open to the common room, where just like every other day, chaos is going on all throughout the room.
Both me and Peter walk over to the dining table where Tony is sitting throwing a tantrum like a toddler over uno. As I am walking over I also am not surprised to find Natasha crouched behind the bar next to Clint sneaking him cards. We make eye contact for a brief moment and Natasha smiles and winks at me, I simply shake my head while smiling. Although, only a second later, her smile quickly falls.
Natasha abruptly stands up from behind the counter with her eyes narrowed toward me. Instantly Tony jumps from his seat pointing at Natasha and screams "I knew it! I knew you were cheating!" Although Natasha's intense and concerned glare does not falter as she continues menacingly walking closer to me.
"What happened to your face Finnley?" she asks leaving no room for avoidance.
"W-what? Nothing, I am perfectly fine!" There is just something about Natasha that causes my ability to lie to simply vanish, It is really hard to lie to her, let alone nearly impossible to do so successfully.
"You are wearing a bucket load of concealer, you never wear makeup. Also, you really need to get a better color match, that one is way too dark."
My face scrunches up in confusion, I thought that this concealer always matched my skin perfectly, if anything it was a little light for me. Curious I walk over to a small mirror that was hung up on one of the walls to look.
My face scrunches further in confusion when I look and the mirror, and true to Natasha's word, the concealer is way too dark for me. Now I have always been a little bit pale, but now it looks like I am several full shades lighter. I am still in shock and observing myself in the mirror when I see Natasha appear behind me in the mirror.
"So what happened Finnley?" Natasha speaks very coldly and seriously.
I turn around to look at Natasha in the eyes, lies are more convincing that way. "I just fell down the stairs this morning, it's really quite embarrassing. I'm fine." I say with the most conviction that I can muster.
She only narrows her eyes further. "And falling down the stairs gave you a black eye, bruised cheekbone, some sort of pain in your ribs, sprained ankle, and a bruise on your neck in the shape of a handprint?"
My breath gets caught in my throat. I look around to find everyone in the room now staring at our confrontation with increasingly concerned eyes.
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A/n - Sorry for not uploading yesterday on my usual day, I was busy actually interacting with people and I also finally made my dad watch Ant-Man and Captain America: Civil War, but I am here now!
I would also like to point out that my dad is Team Cap, however, he mainly just thinks that all of them were complete idiots.
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