**A/N: Just an idea I had of a way Flash learns his lesson. It's super long, but its cute at the end and that makes up for it, right?**

It was a typical Tuesday at school, and Peter was wishing it would just be over by now. He had barely slept the night before, staying out passed his curfew and getting chewed out by his mom, and then had to finish a paper for English. All said and done, Peter had only slept a maximum of 3 hours.

The sleep deprivation wasn't a huge problem, Peter was pretty used to it by now. His father stayed up late, too.

The only reason this particular Tuesday was worse than any other sleepy day was Flash. The bully had been in rare form from the minute the first bell had rung. Peter had been taking the brunt of the attacks the whole day, resulting in a few bruised ribs, some bruises on his chest and arms, and a broken finger (courtesy of one of Flash's goons slamming Peter's locker on his hand).

While some people might've been out of commission after the first couple bruised ribs, but Peter was used to getting knocked around during his time as Spiderman. He was trudging along the day, silently waiting for his body to heal and for the last bell to rang.

Finally, the sweet sound of the bell came, and Peter nearly knocked over his chair standing up so quickly. He raced to his locker, Ned quick on his heels.

"Are we still on for Legos this weekend?" Ned opened his locker and tossed his books in, not caring if they landed nicely or not. Peter nodded his head, struggling with his books as he babied his left pointer finger.

"Dude," Ned said seriously, taking his friend's bag from him. The friend in question sucked in a breath as his hand caught on the backpack's straps and pulled his hand into his chest. "This is getting totally out of hand, pun intended."

Peter rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, I've had much worse. Besides, if it wasn't me, they'd go after someone else, and there is no way I am letting that happen."

"What if it needs to be set? What if it heals funny and you can't use it again?"

"I picked up some things from Bruce," Peter shrugged. "It's totally fine, doesn't need to be set and its already starting to heal. I'll be fine by morning time."

Ned knew he wouldn't win this one, so instead, he just huffed and threw the rest of Peter's stuff into the locker.

"Oi, Puny Parker!" Before Ned and Peter had time to process what was about to happen, Ned was pushed away and Peter felt his head slam against the lockers next to him.

"How's it going, huh? Excited to back to whatever little apartment you call home? How's life treating you, poor, puny, pathetic Parker."

That was Peter's cover. He was a kid from Queens, living in an apartment with his 'Aunt". His parents didn't want the press to know about Peter yet, seeing as the shy boy would most likely be accosted by paparazzi the minute people knew about him, and the flashing lights and yelling would more likely than not spark a sensory overload.

The skinny boy didn't bother with a reply. If he said anything, Flash would lash out at him for "back talking" but if he kept silent, the bully would lash out for Peter "ignoring" him. It was a lose-lose situation.

"I'm talking to you!" Flash pushed Peter into the locker harder, making the second boy wince as his hand got smashed again. Flash pulled him closer, then punched him in the face. Peter's eyes watered from the impact on his nose, and he blinked a few times in pain, while falling to his knees in pain.

"Loser," Flash spat, then walked away.

Ned hurried to Peter, holding him up and checking him out. "Are you okay? Is your hand okay? Your ribs?"

"I'm fine, Ned," Peter said shakily. He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them and pushed himself up, lifting his head. When Ned saw his eye, he gasped and grabbed Peter's chin, turning it to the light.

"Dude, you're face is trashed. I don't think he's done this much damage in a while."

Peter swore, grabbing his bag off the floor with his good hand. "Mom saw me last night, she knows I didn't get hurt on patrol. There's no way I can hide this."

Ned didn't show it, but he was secretly happy Peter wouldn't be able to lie about this to his family anymore. "I don't know what to tell you, man, but I'd just be honest about it with them. I got to go, otherwise I'll miss the bus." He gave Peter an apologetic look.

"It's all good, I'll figure it out. See you tomorrow!" Peter flashed his friend a smile, ignoring the pain in his chest from talking and his face from smiling.

The two boys parted ways, and Peter made his way out to where Happy was waiting in the parking lot with a inconspicuous Honda Accord.

"Hey, kid," the bodyguard huffed. "Get in, traffic's crazy today."

Peter got in the car, keeping his head low.

"You okay back there?" Happy tilted the rear view mirror, catching a glimpse of Peter's swollen eye and bruising cheek. "Woah, what the hell happened?"

"Language," Peter muttered.

"Don't sass me, just tell me what happened? Are you okay? Do I need to get involved, or are we going to have your father do it?"

"Peter smiled lightly at that. "It's fine, just some dumb kid at school."

Happy nodded, texting Tony on his phone out of sight from the teen. "You all good? A detour to the hospital would take a while, so I need to know now if we have to get you checked out."

Peter shook his head slowly. "I'm okay."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Peter and Happy got to the tower, Peter raced up to his room, not bothering to say anything more than "lots of homework" as he passed his family in the penthouse.

"Is Peter okay?" Natasha sat up on the couch, looking over at Tony and Pepper.

"Happy texted me a bit ago about him being upset, but he said we'd talk more when he came upstairs." As if on cue, the elevator dinged and the bodyguard came into the living room.

"Speak of the devil," Tony said, setting down his coffee mug and coming out into the living room. "What's going on with my son?"

"I think he's being bullied," Happy said, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "He has a pretty nasty shiner, and it wasn't there this morning." Everyone's faces dropped, and Tony immediately stood up a little straighter.

"FRIDAY, can you scan Peter and report back to me without letting him know?" The billionaire ignored the look of disapproval his wife shot at him and addressed his AI.

"Tony, we can't invade his privacy like that!"

Tony waved his hand to dismiss the worry.

"Peter has several bruised ribs, a broken finger, and abrasions to his chest and face. He is currently taping his finger and icing his face with a cold Pepsi from his mini-fridge."

"Jeez," Tony said, running a hand down his face. Everyone else was either shaking with rage or on the verge of tears over what their boy was going through.

"Did he mention who it was?" Natasha turned to Happy hopefully, but the bodyguard shook his head.

"I bet Ned would know," Pepper piped up, pulling her phone out of her pocket. "I'll text him now."

Tony nodded and stood up. "I would say that one of us should go talk to him, but we all know he'd just lie and tell us he was fine."

Bucky cleared his throat, causing everyone to look over at him. He was staring at Steve with a pointed look. Steve was squirming under all the attention.

"You know how you can help and you're going to pretend you don't?" Bucky raised an eyebrow at his friend.

"I'm not sure I can help!"

"Oh, please, as if one phone call wouldn't change things!"

"I'm sorry, but can someone please fill me in on what Rogers is hiding now?" Tony's outburst startled the room, and Steve deflated a little more.

"I did a series of videos for the schools in the area a few years ago. PSA's I guess. Anyways, I did these little videos, things like "Detention Isn't Cool" and "Health 101." It doesn't matter- I just- ugh, I think if I called Pete's school and asked to do an assembly..."

Steve didn't finish his thought before the whole room erupted into laughter.

"PSA's? Really, Steve?" The room was filled with teasing and laughter for a few moments, then Pepper's phone went off and everyone stopped. The red head grabbed her phone, checking it quickly.

"Ned says his name is Flash. Apparently, Peter has let this kid bully him for nearly 3 years, 'cause he doesn't want this Flash kid to hurt someone else who wouldn't heal as quickly."

"Ask why he doesn't fight back," Clint said.

Pepper typed away, then waited. It wasn't long before Ned wrote back.

"He said Peter was weaker when the bullying started, so he doesn't want to give his identity away or accidentally hurt this bully now that he's got more muscle."

Everyone sighed. Their kid was way too pure for this world.

"Okay," Tony sighed, running a hand down his face. "Steve, call the school. You're going to handle this, since you are the least likely to kill a minor and the most likely to be granted permission for an anti-bullying assembly."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter was notably more refreshed the following school day. Ned had been quick to check his hand and face, but found that Peter had healed completely and was feeling much better.

"What did you tell your family?"

"I didn't tell them anything," Peter said with a shrug. "I told them I had homework and went to my room. I ended up falling asleep, so I didn't even go down for dinner."

Ned pursed his lips, unsure if he should say anything about the text he'd gotten from Pepper. Before he could say anything, though, their teacher walked into the classroom.

"Alright, class, I have exciting news! We will be attending a surprise assembly this morning, and I think you'll all be very excited to see who's here! Come on, now, leave your things and head down to the auditorium."

Peter and Ned both sighed heavily. They hated assemblies, mostly because they were usually too loud and too annoying and too stupid to deal with.

Sure enough, the auditorium was already crowded and loud when the two friends got there, and each one was silently hoping it would be over soon.

"Everyone, everyone," Principal Martin said, trying to get everyone to settle down. "Please take your seats and quiet down so I can introduce our guest today. Please give a warm welcome to Captain Steve Rogers!"

The whole school burst into enthusiastic applause and cheers. The whole school except Peter and Ned, who were both staring up at the stage with wide eyes as Peter's uncle walked onto stage.

"Would now be a good time to tell you that your mom texted me about Flash last night?" Ned turned to his friend with a grimace.

"Hello," Steve started. He pulled a chair from the back of the stage to the front, then swung it around and sat with his chest against the back of the chair. Peter knew what was coming as soon as he did that; it was his favorite position to take when lecturing the teen on something.

"Here it comes," he muttered to his best friend, who was stifling laughter.

"I'm Captain America. So you're being bullied. Its nothing to be ashamed of! I was a student like you guys not too long ago, and I was bullied, too. Before I was injected with super soldier serum through government experiments, I was pretty scrawny, if you can believe that. My best friend, Bucky, stood up for me when I couldn't stand up for myself, and that got me thinking-"

Peter sighed heavily, sliding down his seat and closing his eyes. Yup, this was definitely because of last night.

"-I know a few of you are bullies. I know this for a fact. I also know that my nephew-"

Peter's eyes snapped open, Ned whipped his head around, and the rest of the student population took in a gasp. Steve, who seemed oblivious to the fact that he'd just let out the big secret, just kept talking.

"-is being bullied. More than the run of the mill name-calling, he's being pushed around. He came home last night with a pretty nasty shiner."

Peter just wanted to die at that point. He didn't need his uncle standing up for him, especially like this. In front of the whole school, calling out bullies and injuries and whatever else he might say next.

"I believe a certain Eugene Thompson is responsible for a good amount of this bullying. Perhaps he would like to come up here and talk about his feelings? The only people who feel a need to bully, are those who don't feel good about themselves." There was a long, awkward silence as everyone turned to look at Flash at the front of the auditorium. The bully was bright red, and quickly shook his head.

"Alright, then," Steve said, clapping his hands together. "I think that settles the issue. I don't want to hear about anyone ever getting bullied here again." With that, Steve got up and walked off stage. There was stunned silence in the auditorium, then the principal came back out.

"Uh, let's thank Captain America for that excellent talk on bullying." There was scattered applause. "Thank you, now please return to your classroom. Peter Parker and Ned Leeds to the office."

The two boys looked at one another. "Do you think this has anything to do with Mr. Good and Righteous?" Ned and Peter giggled a little, but made their way down to the office, ignoring the waves of peers heading back to class.

"Right this way, boys," the secretary waved them down the hall. When they headed into the office, Steve and the principal were waiting for them, the principal seated behind the desk, and Steve leaning against the front of it.

"Uncle Steve, I don't like you anymore." Peter's groan made the super soldier smile and roll his eyes.

"I know you love me," the man teased, and Peter sighed dramatically. "Ned, its good to see you. Pepper wanted me to thank you last night for the help."

Ned nodded, feeling a little uncomfortable. Steve noticed it right away. "I know its hard to go against your friend's wishes, but telling us was the right thing to do. Now Peter won't get beat up all the time, right?"

Ned nodded again, and Peter shot him a smile. "'s all good, man, I'm not upset."

Relief flooded Ned's face, and he relaxed. "You can head back to class now, Ned."

The teen hurried out of the room, while Peter took a seat in the chair facing the principal's desk.

"Peter, you never reported any bullying. Neither did any teachers." The principal gave him a serious stare.

"Its been going on for years," Peter started. "I got pretty used to it, so I was fine. Flash is careful around teachers, he never does more than a little name calling. Most teacher's never noticed." Peter shrugged, and Steve gave him the eyebrows of disappointment.

"Peter, why didn't you say anything?"

The teen looked up at his uncle, almost certain the Ned had told him.

"I didn't want Flash to move on to another target. I can take it, someone like Ned or a freshman or something, they couldn't."

The principal was quiet for a moment, and Steve spoke up.

"Pete, your parents are considering going public with your identity in order to press charges against Mr. Thompson. I've been keeping them at bay, part of the agreement that I come today, and they are pretty upset. We need to do something about this."

Peter nodded slowly. "What if we let the principal handle it? Something easy, a couple days of in-school detention? He looked pretty freaked out, today, I doubt he'll keep bullying me now."

"We don't know that for sure," Steve said. "He doesn't know you're my nephew, just that someone here is. It might've just made him more angry, and he might go after you harder."

"On top of that," the principal interjected. "School policy says any student who physically harms another must be expelled. I have proof you were hurt, Mr. Parker-"

"Stark." Both Steve and Peter corrected the teacher.

"-Y-Yes, sorry, Mr. Stark. Your parents faxed over medical scans from last night, which alone are enough for an expulsion."

Peter sighed. "Okay. Okay, expulsion. I don't like it, but I guess our hands are pretty tied."

The principal nodded. "I'll email his family this afternoon."

Steve pushed himself off the table. "Go get your stuff, lil' spider, I signed you out for the rest of the day."

Peter bounced up, happiness flooding his face. "Ice cream?"

"Sure," Steve laughed.

Peter raced his uncle down the halls, skidding to the front of his classroom to get his bag. Steve stood in the doorway, watching his nephew grab his books and stuff them in his bag. "Sorry for the interruption."

The whole class was awe-struck.

"Bye, Ned!" Peter started to walk out, but the teacher stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Where are you going, Mr. Parker?"

"Oh, my Uncle signed me out for the day," Peter said with a smile, ignoring the shocked looks around the room. "And it's Stark, actually."

And with that, the teen and the super soldier made their way out of the classroom, Steve's arm slung around Peter's shoulders.