The day wasn't the best Peter's ever had. For one, he had been nursing an injury from the previous night's patrol; one good hit from a steel baseball bat ended up fracturing two ribs and he couldn't exactly sleep in a comfortable position. Because of that he woke up late, May not waking him because she was pulling a double shift, and because of that he'd missed his bus and would be forced to walk. Could he have swung building to building to get there on time? Technically yes but it would definitely aggravate his ribs and, on top of everything else, it was heavily raining. Nonetheless he gathered his things and bolted towards the school; he arrived fifteen minutes late.
What was worse was the day just seemed to be dragging on. It felt like hours had gone by but it was barely second period. It was completely agonizing and slow. Not to mention when the bell for second period did finally ring, Flash had accidentally knocked into Peter and jarred his ribs. All in all, he wasn't having a good day.
"You okay man?" Ned asked as the two of them sat in their seats.
"I'm fine." Peter answered as he adjusted in his chair while trying to hide a grimace. "Rough time last night; my ribs have seen better days."
"Have they healed yet? Isn't that like- a bad thing if they haven't?"
"Probably… they didn't hurt this much last night so it's safe to assume they're more injured than I thought." He huffed. "I just wanna go home and sleep."
"Can't you call May to get you-? Tell her you're not feeling good or caught a bug from the rain?"
"May's working a double shift right now. As far as she knows I was actually on time and didn't have to walk in the rain and wasn't late to first period."
"Why not call Mr. Stark then? You know he'll drop whatever he's doing to come get you."
That was an understatement. Tony blew off a meeting with the president when Peter had broken his arm in a fight and needed to be cared for.
"I'll be fine Ned. I just need a few hours for my healing to kick in."
"You had all of last night for it to kick in." Ned frowned. "If they weren't real bad then they should've healed already."
He definitely had a point. Most injuries he had always seemed to heal over night. The only ones that needed more care were bullet holes, stab wounds, or if something was broken. He didn't think his ribs had actually been broken, and Karen hadn't said anything about it so he just figured he was banged up. He did a half decent job of wrapping them at least.
"I'll- give it until break. If it doesn't feel better by then, I'll call Mr. Stark." He breathed out before finally listening to their teacher. That gave him a little under two hours to try to heal.
And boy did those hours pass like a slug. Peter didn't know if it was because he felt completely miserable or if somehow the earth was spinning slower but everything just took so long. Third period was only hitting the thirty minute mark when something happened but it didn't have any effect on him, or at least he didn't think it would.
The room was suddenly dark. There were a few startled gasps and a slight yell but nothing appeared to be wrong.
"Everyone calm down. Looks like it's a blackout." The teacher announced. He went to open the door to see that all the lights in the hall had also gone out. He then went to the phone to call up to see what they should do. "Phones are out too. Maybe someone hit a pole."
Most of his classmates took out their phones and took to social media to post about it and he even heard a few looking on news sites to see if they could find a cause. Peter himself was going through his contacts, his finger hovering over Tony's name. He really didn't want to bother the man but his ribs hurt. It almost felt like his healing was working in reverse. The pain had just gradually been getting worse. He wanted to make sure he wasn't overreacting before he made the final decision though.
He raised his hand and called to the teacher. "Can I go to the bathroom?"
"Hurry back." His teacher said.
Peter carefully got out of his chair and left the room making his way down the darkened hall. Schools always seemed creepy when it was dark, no exceptions. When he got to the bathroom, he made sure there was no one else there before lifting his shirt and undoing his crude bandage. The sight of his side was shocking because it definitely wasn't those colors that morning; his whole lower right side was black and blue. The main reason he hadn't thought it was anything serious was because of the lack of bruising when he first saw it. So much for that.
He pulled his phone out and texted, not Tony, but Ned asking him if he could come to the bathroom. He was there within a minute.
"Pete?" Ned's voice seemed to echo as he entered. He saw Peter leaning up against the wall, holding his side and grimacing. "You're still not healing?"
"Somethings wrong." Peter rasped out. "It hurts to breathe."
Ned was at his side in a second, gently lifting his shirt to see the actual damage. "Shit dude. You didn't tell me it was this bad."
"I didn't think it was this bad. There wasn't really a bruise when I got up but it's just been getting worse."
Ned shook his head and took Peter's phone from him. "I'm not letting you torture yourself with this Pete. You need help."
Peter let out a shaky laugh. "That's why you're here; don't think I can stay awake that much longer. The pains getting to me and I think my body's turning things off so I can start healing."
Ned located Tony's number and called. "Yeah I'm no doctor but I'm pretty sure that's a real bad thing so just- try not to."
"Try not to what?" The sudden voice on the phone nearly made Ned yell. "Ned do I really wanna know why you're calling me from Peter's phone while you're both supposed to be at school?"
"Uh, probably but I don't think you're gonna like what I have to say." Ned muttered as he kept his eyes on his friend. "Pete's not looking too hot right now and he said he's on the verge of passing out."
"And why he is like that right now?"
"He-uh, rough night last night? I don't know what actually happened Mr. Stark but his right side looks real bad. It's bruised up and down the whole side; I think something might actually be broken."
"Put him on."
Tony's tone seemed almost hostile but Ned knew he was worried. He also knew that Peter probably couldn't talk even if he did had the phone over; with how pale he looked and the fact that he was collapsed on the ground, he doubted he could even hold the phone.
"…he looks real bad Mr. Stark." Ned finally answered.
"Shit… okay I can be there in ten. I'll call the school and let them know. Can you get him outside?
"About that, the school doesn't have any power right now. Something got knocked out during the storm and took out the phones with it… and I don't think I should try to move him, just to be safe."
"Yeah that's probably a better idea." He paused for a moment and Ned could hear a car in the background. "Just stay put and I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Can do Mr. Stark." The call ended.
Ned's eyes were locked on his friend; Peter's pain stricken face was pale and had a gleam of sweat on it. His arms were curled to his right side, clutching it in hope of some relief.
"Did you get any of that Pete? Mr. Stark's on his way. You'll be taken care of in no time and you get to miss the rest of classes. That's always a plus."
Peter's lips twitched into a grin before changing into a grimace. It just hurt so bad. "You're the best."
"You spend all of your time taking care of the city, someone needs to take care of you." A slight smirk appeared on his face. "Does anything else not feel right besides- the obvious?"
"I'm cold."
That was to be expected. Peter had to walk to school in the pouring rain. His clothes had been soaked by the time he got there and Ned could see that they were still damp. He placed the back of his hand on Peter's forehead.
"You're burning up man. You really seem to go to shit when you can't instantly heal. I mean I'm pretty sure this would happen to anyone who didn't actually have super powers but still, it looks pretty bad."
"Good thing you can't actually feel how bad it is." Peter joked. "I've seen how you get when you get a paper cut."
"Those things hurt dude." Ned complained. "I know it's nothing in comparison but come on."
"I'm just giving you a hard time." A laugh rattled through his chest and he had to stop himself from wincing. "Think you can go to my class and get my things? Pretty sure Mr. Morris will let you if you say I'm sick and am leaving."
Ned thought for a second. He didn't necessarily want to leave Peter by himself but he also knew his suit was in his bag and it was be very bad if someone else got to it.
"Yeah, I'll go do that super quick. Just- try not to pass out before I'm back." With that, Ned quickly left the bathroom and made his way to Peter's class.
Peter himself let out a lengthy moan. He didn't understand why it hurt so much. His healing not working was probably the main reason but as to why it was hurting at that time and not when he arrived back home or at any time during the night was a complete mystery. Did his healing just decide to take a day off?
The weirdest thing was, while his entire right side torso was bruised and his ribs likely broken, that wasn't where it actually hurt, not the most at least. There was an intense stabbing feeling below his ribs, almost to his hip. He didn't think the bruising went that far down but he didn't exactly know what his body was doing at that moment so everything was up in the wind, like why he suddenly had the urge to vomit.
Because he was an impossibly well mannered human being and didn't like creating work for other people, he hoisted himself up through the pain and wobbled his way to a stall and proceeded to empty is already empty stomach.
He could feel tears welling in his eyes as he coughed and dry heaved into the toilet. He wanted to go home, to have someone take care of him, to just sleep until the horrible feeling went away.
God that day sucked.
He barely registered hearing the bathroom door opening and two sets of footsteps walking on the tile floor.
"Pete?"
Okay, that was Ned. Maybe he brought a classmate to confirm he really was sick.
"Aw kid…"
Nope. That wasn't a classmate. Did he really forget Mr. Stark was getting him in the short amount of time between then and the call Ned made literally minutes before? How sick was he?
"School's all taken care of, Happy's waiting in the car outside. We can go when you're good."
Tony's words were- soft, something Ned had never seem before. He was used to his billionaire facade. He'd seen it in press conferences, snarky and smart ass comebacks whenever the opportunity arose, but that, the look he gave Peter and the amount of gentleness in his voice- Ned felt like he was intruding on something extremely private. He knew the relationship the two of them had was somewhat weird and awkward and sometimes tremendously hard to manage- what with the possibility of either of them dying all the time- but that was something different and gave him a whole new understanding and perspective on what they exactly were to each other.
"H-Happy won't appreciate it I puke in the back will he?" Peter's voice waved as his head hung over the toilet.
"Can't say he will. He doesn't even like it when we eat in the car. But even if you do, we can always have it cleaned, or scrap it."
Whether he was joking or not Peter didn't know but he didn't want to take a chance on actually vomiting in the back of the car. He stayed hovered over the toilet for another few minutes before the nausea settled enough for him to move.
"I think I'm okay."
"Good enough for me." Tony helped him to his feet, slugging one of Peter's arms around his neck and taking most of his weight. "But if you do feel the need, save it for the car. I'd rather not have to throw out this shirt."
"I'll do my best Mr. Stark." His eyes went to Ned. "You really are the best dude."
"Come off it." Ned snorted. "You'd do so much more for me if I was sick."
"Yeah but you've- you've got Blake now and everyone knows what a hardass she is; I probably got you detention for being gone so long."
He shrugged. "It's just what friends do."
It was Tony's turn to analyze the pair in front of him. He knew Ned and he liked him; lots of respect to him to actually be able to hack into his software and protocols. There were people that were Tony's age, claiming to be science technicians, that where nowhere near Ned's level of understanding computer software or how it worked. He wasn't a computer wiz at that point though, he was just a boy helping out his friend and apparently he'd be taking the heat for it and that just didn't fly with him.
"You leave the school to me. No ones gonna get in trouble because someone got a real bad cold." Tony stated.
The three of them walked from the bathroom, Peter more so hobbling. There were whispers from the few people that saw them going through the hall to the front door. Tony ignored them, and Ned sent them slight glares. Happy was waiting near the car under an umbrella.
"Kid looks like shit." He stated.
"He feels like it too." Tony said as he ushered the boy into the car and took his backpack from Ned.
"I swear if he ends up puking-"
"He'll be fine." He turned to Ned. "Thanks again kid. He'd probably be dead several times if you weren't there to help."
"It's no problem Mr. Stark. Just- make sure he's all right. What's the Guy in the Chair without Spiderman?" A small smile was on Ned's face.
"What's Spiderman without his Guy in the Chair?" Tony winked at him. "Try not to worry that much. I'll give you an update later."
With that the door closed and the car drove off. Ned wasted no time in reentering the building; his jacket now decently damp from the rain. He knew Peter was in good hands, probably the best; literally going to the Avenger's compound to be cared for by an Avenger. He couldn't help but worry though, he'd never seen Peter in that much pain before. His healing didn't seem like it was working and that in itself was something to freak out over. Peter was reckless when it came to his own safety and it was only mildly concerning before when he got injured because he would literally heal overnight. Seeing how bruised his side was though…
He shook his head, ridding any negative thoughts of something else happening to Peter. He was going to be fine; Ned swore he had another super power of pure dumb luck when it came to those types of things. He walked back to his class, his shoes squeaking on the floor as he went, prepared to face the wrath of his teacher.
AVENGERS
Ned was currently sitting on his bed doing some homework. The rest of that day had been interesting; when he returned to class and was interrogated by his teacher, who didn't believe he was helping his sick friend in the bathroom, he got detention- as expected. He didn't care, Peter would literally take a bullet for him so the least he could do was take a detention.
The power had miraculously come back on just before lunch. Ned was sitting at a table with MJ when he heard his name being called on the speaker to come to the principal's office. When he arrived, he found himself under the gaze of the Principal Morita and Mrs. Blake. Principal Morita had asked him to explain why he had missed almost the complete second half of his class and when he explained that Peter had texted him asking for help, Blake called him a liar and that he just wanted to skip. Morita rolled his eyes at the accusation and explained to Ned that he didn't have to worry about the detention because Tony Stark had called and explained the situation, and Ned's claims about Peter being signed out by a guardian had been true after confirming with the receptionist. Easy to say Mrs. Blake was not happy about the situation.
The day after that continued as normal though he got a lot more stares that day and heard Mr. Stark more times than even Peter saying it. For the most part it didn't bother him but as the school day had ended, he was more than over it.
Being home and doing homework had taken his mind off of everything that had happened for a little while but it was going on seven in the evening and he hadn't heard anything. Had Peter really been that bad? Tony said he would give an update but it had been hours of radio silence and it was getting to him.
Ned couldn't concentrate on his work anymore. His mind kept playing the scene of Peter gripping his side and sliding down the bathroom wall. It wasn't exactly traumatic but- it scared him. He understood the concept of being a hero; helping people and if necessary, putting your life on the line to help and he knew Peter wouldn't hesitate to save someone even if it meant he'd get mortally injured.
The thought of that terrified him.
Seeing Peter basically broken and crumpled on the floor was absolutely horrible. He was his friend, his best friend, and knowing he couldn't do much to help him out was scary. He'd seen Peter beaten up before, a few bruises here or there, a broken arm at some point but it never scared him. He was concerned of course but Peter always healed pretty much instantly. It had been nearly twenty-four hours and he didn't seem to be improving at all. If anything it seemed like he was getting worse, and Tony's silent treatment wasn't helping at all.
Ned pushed his homework aside and got his phone. Apparently it had been silenced it at some point because there were several messages from an unknown number but he ultimately found out it was Tony.
'Hey Ned. Stole your number from the kid's phone. Please don't abuse having my number like he does.'
'He didn't puke in the car so that's good.'
'Bruce said two of his ribs were broke but it doesn't exactly account for why he's so sick or why he won't heal.'
'Point Break and Eyeliner said they're gonna kill the guys that beat him. You can go along if you want.'
'He's been having pain in his lower right side for a while. Did he ever tell you anything about that?'
'Kid's apparently got appendicitis and it's bad enough that he needs his appendix removed before it bursts. Bruce thinks that's the reason his ribs weren't healing; body too busy focusing on fighting the other thing.'
That was the most recent message sent a little over half an hour ago. How would Peter even get appendicitis with his healing factor? Did it only count for physical wounds or was the infection just that bad that his factor wasn't enough?
'Is he doing okay now Mr. Stark?' Ned texted back and almost instantly got a reply.
'Bruce has him in surgery right now so it shouldn't be much longer. He's gonna set the kid's ribs after he's done and if his healing kicks in then he should be absolutely fine and back to normal in like a week.'
That was a huge relief. Bruce was probably the best person for Peter to be with during the whole thing, even before Strange or Dr. Cho. Ned felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, but there was a question he felt he needed to ask.
'Does May know about what happened?'
That time the reply wasn't instant. It actually took a few minutes to get a reply which led him to believe that no, May had absolutely no idea.
'She does now, but she's not happy about learning about it now or that Bruce preformed surgery without her knowledge. But she is glad that he's being taken care of here with us and not lying at school or home and dying. Said she was gonna come by tomorrow to see how he's doing and I'm sure she'll want to thank you for getting in contact with me. How about it? I'm sure the kid'll want to see you too.'
'Are you inviting me to the compound Mr. Stark?'
'God, for a smart kid you ask stupid questions. Yeah kid, I am.'
Somehow, he expected his first time going to the compound to be a bit different. Mainly he expected Peter to be the one to invite him over, not Ironman himself. Even if it wasn't the ideal circumstance to be going, it's not like he would say no. It wasn't like when he had first gone to the tower on a non-school related trip; Peter had basically snuck him in to the upper levels, though FRIDAY had been showing everything to Tony in real time and when the two of them were confronted about it, Tony said Ned could stay as long as he promised not to hack anything. When the visit became more frequent though, Tony had begun to ask the two of them to help him with small projects; Ned fanboy-ing every moment of it.
So yes, when Tony Stark invites him to the compound, it took a moment for the words to actually sink in.
'Yeah, of course I'll come and see how Peter's doing.'
'Good. I'll have Happy pick up you and May up some time in the afternoon so be ready.'
The conversation seemed to stop after the last message was sent.
Ned felt like he could breathe easy again; Peter was going to be fine, but knowing May she was going to most likely give him an earful about him not telling her about his side hurting prior to the broken ribs. She was a nurse for crying out loud, she could've helped stop it from getting worse.
Ned had gone back to his homework after a few minutes of collecting his thoughts of everything that had happened. It was just past nine-thirty when he finished and his phone buzzed once more.
'Thanks again for getting in touch with me. Don't know what the kid would do if you weren't there for him. Glad you're his friend.'
A huge grin plastered itself on Ned's face as he read Tony's text. It was extremely humbling to know that Tony was happy that the two of them were friends.
'Its no problem Mr. Stark. Just what friends do.'
Okay well, there's that.
This story took a completely different turn when I was writing it. Like, it was supposed to be funny and crackish but apparently not. But it turned out nice nonetheless.
I really enjoy writing Ned's POV for things because it's like he's unofficially officially kinda part of the team and needs more love and his and Peter's friendship is so important to me like you don't understand the lengths I will go through to make these boys happy. And I feel like Tony and Ned have a good relationship with each other after all the times they've had to help Peter after he did something stupid.
So there's another part of the It Happened at School mini series I suppose. Gonna go make some slight tweeks to the other story descriptions to kinda put them in some sort of order but I guess it doesn't really matter.
If you have any ideas or prompts you'd like to see, please send me a message!
Please point out any spelling or grammatical errors so I may fix them in the future! Leave a review! I got a new computer and want to use it so give me reason to write!
Hope ya liked it! See ya in the next one!