Author's Notes: Thank you all so much for all the reviews and discussion! Please keep it coming! It's probably obvious, but the medical information in this fic is two parts Wikipedia, one part making shit up completely.
Canon Note: Peter and Aunt May and Uncle Ben's history mentioned in this chapter is my own version of the many different canons - Peter's parents died when he was three, Aunt May gave up her job as a pharmacist to be a full-time parent until he was in middle school, but she had to return to work full-time after Ben died. Ned having an older brother who's a student at Columbia is also my own invention. Also, both nurses are borrowed from other stories - one in the MCU and another from a different fandom.
Chapter Eleven
Peter was so agitated after the confrontation with Pepper Potts that May was actually glad to see Tony Stark return to the medical suite. It saved her the miffed pride of having to ask for him (and the stealth, because, of course, Peter kept telling her not to "bother him").
With Stark came Colonel James Rhodes aka War Machine. Until she worked out that Peter was Spider-Man, May wouldn't have been able to recognize any Avenger out of costume (well, maybe Thor, but who could blame her?). Now she knew all of their faces. She didn't relinquish her chair closest to Peter, but didn't complain while Stark pulled a second one to the bedside.
Neither man commented on Peter's red-rimmed eyes or the way he was shaking. "Peter Parker, Rhodey," said Stark.
May blinked. "Wait, you haven't met?"
"Not really," said Rhodes. "Definitely not face to face." His smile was warm as he shook Peter's hand and took the second chair. "Glad we finally got around to that. How're you feeling?"
Peter shrugged and looked down. "I'm okay." Then he stiffened and looked more intensely at Rhodes – at his legs, for some reason. "You're..."
May had no idea what he meant, but Rhodes did. "Yep. Up and moving, getting better, thanks to her." He gestured to Dr. Cho. "Cutting edge regeneration technology, even starting to work on the spinal cord."
That knocked Peter out of his tailspin. "Regeneration?!"
May forced herself to playful-groan. "Please, don't give him ideas."
"Please do," Dr. Cho said. "I'll steal him from Tony!"
Peter brightened. "You know they used to use spiderweb for bandages. Maybe you should try mine. I cooked it up in chemistry."
Rhodes looked from Peter to Stark. "Wait, that web stuff wasn't Stark tech?"
"No," said Peter, sounding defensive. "Well, the shooter on the suit in Germany was Mr. Stark's 'upgrade,' but I invented the web fluid formula."
"Son!" Rhodes leaned back. "That's amazing! I thought that was either Stark tech or you actually spun it yourself!"
At any other time, May would've been proud to bursting at seeing Peter get praise like that. Now she was itching to snap a reminder of what Spider-Man had gotten Peter into. She forced it back. Rhodes caught her eye and held out a hand to Peter again, wanting a look at his bandaged wrists. "They're healing," Peter muttered, avoiding everyone's eyes. "They'll be fine in a couple days; I heal fast."
"Still, no US agent had any business pulling this on you or anybody else, especially not kids. All hell is about to rain down on these Sentinel squads for this. But Tony's right," Rhodes said, both to Peter and May. "You didn't do anything wrong, not as Spider-Man or Peter Parker. Nobody had a right to do that to any of you."
Nobody had a right to give him a uniform and take him to Germany to fight other Avengers either, May wanted to spit. She didn't. It wouldn't do any good now and would only stress Peter even more.
Peter was the one anxious to change the subject, and demanded, "So how do you regenerate nerves? I thought that was impossible!"
"It used to be," Rhodes confirmed. Dr. Cho, Stark, and Peter were soon off on a conversation about cellular responses to energy stimulation that made May's head spin. Even Rhodes said at one point, "Don't look at me, I just smile and nod and get in the cradle when she tells me to. He's the genius on this team," he gestured with his head at Stark. "Though I'm starting to think you're gonna give him a run for his money by the time you're twenty-one."
Peter blushed adorably, but asked, "Does it...hurt?"
"Nah, not the cradle. Tony calls it the tanning booth. I just nap. After...while the signals are reestablishing, yeah, that hurts, but I'm on the good drugs."
Dr. Cho seized the opportunity. "There you go, Peter, not all painkillers turn people into opioid addicts."
Peter looked thoughtful. May decided to tug the discussion along. "I used to be a pharmacist. I take it they're not still using lycanphoban for nerve damage?"
"Gesundheit," said Rhodes.
Dr. Cho laughed. "No, that's been obsolete awhile. How long ago?"
May forced a chuckle. "Not since this one was three." She'd quit working when Peter's parents died and she and Ben had become his guardians, thinking he'd need a full-time parent after that. She'd gone back to work part-time once he hit middle school, and they'd done fine with Ben's income until he died. After that, she'd had to work full-time. I guess that's part of the reason he managed to become Spider-Man without me finding out. She didn't say any of that. "I don't know what the good drugs are anymore if they're not in the news."
"Unfortunately, it gets complicated for people with enhanced or non-standard anatomy like Peter or the other Avengers," said Dr. Cho. "Or mutants. Bodies and blood respond in different ways, and you've got to get creative. I had a patient the other day that nothing worked on, but at least he let me try."
Peter turned to her. "Was that Bucky Barnes?"
There was dead silence for several beats, and Peter belatedly remembered that Tony Stark was in the room. He flushed again, May held her breath, and Dr. Cho answered without looking at Stark. "Yes. But part of the enhancement of the supersoldier serum is that their pain tolerance is far higher, luckily. He did let me try some different formulas on him. I'm still working on something that'll work for when Captain America gets injured."
"I guess I, uh...didn't think the supersoldiers could get injured," Peter murmured, avoiding Stark's eyes.
"They can, sad to say, along with almost everybody on the team. There's no superhero that doesn't end up needing a painkiller or a sleep aid."
"Oh, right now, I need both," Rhodes said quickly. "Especially right now, when you're getting over an injury. Sleeping's not easy. That's when it's hardest to distract yourself."
May decided she liked James Rhodes. Peter looked at his hands and smiled. "Okay, I...guess I'll try that stuff tonight." He shot Stark an anxious look before asking Cho, "So...do you mean you had to take bullets out of him without anesthesia?"
"Oh! No, fortunately, we had Wanda Maximoff."
"Brain stuff," Stark put in. "It can come in handy." He gave Peter a half-smile. "Guess I should've mentioned I'd also seen her sedate injured people who were panicking."
"I made her cry," Peter murmured in dismay. "Was she okay?"
Rhodes turned around and shot a glare at Stark, who stammered, "I - uh - yeah, I've seen her since. She's okay. She was on the team that rescued you, and when I met up with them yesterday, they had twenty more rescuees." He frowned to himself suddenly, then turned to May. "Now that I think about it, let's talk later. I may have an idea for where you go from here?"
"What?" Peter piped up.
"Nah, don't worry about it right now, kid. You're here until you've recovered. Speaking of which, we oughtta let you get some sleep."
"Will you - " Peter caught himself.
Stark paused as Rhodes got up. "Yeah?"
"Will you be here tomorrow?" Peter finished in a small voice.
Stark betrayed almost no reaction. "Yeah," he answered. "Yeah, I'll be here."
May let herself glower at him once her back was to Peter. Can we keep Rhodes and lose you? At least Rhodes had gotten them back to the subject of meds, and though Peter bit his lip, he didn't pull away when Dr. Cho brought the syringes out.
"We'll start you with the smallest dose," she told him. He grabbed May's hand and looked at her, avoiding even watching as Cho injected him. "Tomorrow you'll be able to try some solid food."
Peter grinned weakly at May. "Good. I couldn't take one more day of Starkified Ensure. This stuff isn't as bad as that Pedia-whatever you used to make me drink when I was sick, but it's not exactly a milkshake."
May pinched his nose, a game she and Ben used to play with him. He squeaked on cue. "I'll bring you take-out. What'll it be? Larb?"
Dr. Cho laughed. "Not that I don't appreciate larb, but we're going to have to start a little bland. And you're stuck on the Stark nutritional supplement for a little longer even when you are eating solid food."
Peter mock-groaned, and May could already see him relaxing and getting sleepy. "When you're out of recovery, we'll go out," she promised. "Somewhere really obnoxious."
"Y'said y'd take me to Sparks Steak House when I graduated," Peter murmured with a dopey smile.
"Aw, Sparks is so uncreative," Dr. Cho protested. "A steak's a steak."
"Dun' want all that chef-thing-gastromomigal stuff. Wanna eat real food."
"Larb is about as creative as Peter can tolerate," May said, stroking his hair. The conversation got increasingly less coherent, and in ten minutes, he was out. "Thank God. I couldn't've handled another night like last night."
"Once he's had a comfortable night, I think he'll feel a lot better about this," said Dr. Cho. "If these meds work well, I'll switch them to his IV, so he doesn't have to feel another needle."
"Thanks," May said thickly, rubbing Peter's hand.
"You know...of course, you know this already, but I'll say it anyway." May looked up at Dr. Cho, whose expression was dead-earnest. "Spider-Man or no Spider-Man, he is a remarkable boy."
May sucked in a deep, shaky breath. "Yeah," she whispered. "Yeah, I've known that for a long time. I just wish I'd known sooner just...how much."
Dr. Cho patted her shoulder. "You're not the first parent to have a brilliant child get ahead of you, both in intellect and growing up. It's not a failing."
Hearing that said out loud, from this doctor who'd been so reassuring and knew so much, May thought maybe she could start to believe it.
On the second day waking up somewhere other than...there...Peter felt halfway human again. The smell of coffee and toast actually had him thinking he was at home for a few minutes. Then he felt the IV in his arm and the bandages around his wrists, and he remembered. "'s morning?"
"It sure is," May confirmed, putting her coffee cup down to ruffle his hair. "And you slept through the night. How're you feeling?"
"Better," Peter said, sitting up slowly. "A lot better," he amended it, surprised. He still felt wrung out and sore, but no longer like somebody'd sand-blasted his whole body and tied him up in sailor's knots. He was still tired and groggy, but no longer like he'd just collapse in a quivering pile of bones and Jell-O at any moment.
"So what do you want for breakfast?" asked Claire, the duty nurse. ''Oatmeal or cream of wheat or just about any other soft food. Eggs?"
"Honestly?" Peter sat up a little straighter and swung his legs off the bed. "Can I take a shower first? Y'know, a real one?"
May looked at the nurse. "I'll get one of the male nurses to sit outside," Claire said. "But if you feel up to it, no reason not to."
So Peter got an honest-to-God power shower with real shampoo and everything, and didn't even feel ready to collapse by the time he was finished. The male nurse, Rory (Stark sure employed a lot of Brits), hung out and chatted with him through the door and politely turned his back once he established Peter could manage drying off and getting dressed on his own.
Peter was tired by the time he got back to bed, but he could still sit up and eat. Eat food not just drink stuff out of a can – well, he still had to drink the Stark Nutritional Supplement out of the can, and it was nasty. "Hey - May, did anyone call Ned and tell him I'm okay?"
May hesitated, and Peter's heart sank. "Ned's been here," she admitted. Peter froze, and she explained, "The first day, you were still asleep, but he, ah, wanted to see you. I - I snapped at him, Peter, I admit. I need to apologize to him, and I will."
Peter sighed. He didn't have any right to get upset with May for freaking out. He'd known the first time he'd gone toward a crime instead of away from it that May would freak out, and the more he did, the more he'd known she'd freak out. The last coherent thought he remembered having in that prison was how freaked out she'd be. "He...is he okay?"
"Let's call him," May suggested. "I still want you resting, but maybe he can pay a quick visit."
Ned cried when he heard Peter's voice on the phone! Peter was mortified and guilty and just kept babbling at him that it was okay until Ned's mom took the phone. "Sorry, Peter, he's just really glad to hear your voice."
"I - uh, I'm feeling a lot better, if he -uh - wants to come hang out for awhile."
"At Avengers headquarters?! Okay, I'll bring him!"
"Oh - uh - wait - hang on a minute, Mrs. Leeds - " Peter covered the phone frantically and hissed at May, "Ned's mom wants to bring him, what do I tell her?"
May got up and hurried out of the suite. Luckily, Mr. Stark was close by, because Peter heard his voice. After a minute, he leaned into the suite and gave Peter a thumbs-up. "Tell her she can bring her kid; we'll have a cover story."
"Okay. Sorry, Mrs. Leeds, that's fine. See you soon." He hung up and said nervously, "The thing is, Ned's...not always great at keeping secrets, but his mom's a gossip, Mr. Stark. Everything that happens, she'll tell the neighbors about and post on the Internet."
"Excellent," said Mr. Stark, to Peter's complete confusion. "She's going to spread some rumors for us without even realizing it, before we're ready to make a formal statement."
"So...what is the cover story?"
"You were a Stark Industries intern, brilliant enough to get access to some classified work on behalf of Spider-Man," said Mr. Stark. "In time, you met Spider-Man, who's a college student and a legal adult." May snorted. Mr. Stark ignored her and went on, "But like all teenagers, you couldn't always keep your mouth shut. You let slip a few details you shouldn't have, your buddies passed them along, and you maybe took a project home that wasn't supposed to leave the building - oh, relax, kid, we've all done stuff like that," he said, seeing the look on Peter's face. "Including yours truly, once upon a time, longer ago than I care to admit. The point is, you weren't breaking the law, and a couple of morons in the Sentinel program decided you were Spider-Man and shoved you, a nice Queens high schooler with perfect grades and a single mom, into a detention center and tortured the hell out of you for ten days."
Peter's head was spinning. "I...I...dunno if I can remember all that," he mumbled.
"Don't worry about it. Let Pepper and me do the talking. We grown-ups will rant about the injustice while you and your BFF catch up."
"But Ned needs to know the cover story too," May pointed out. "Ned knows Peter's Spider-Man."
"We'll prep him. If he's smart enough to hack my suit tech, he's smart enough to learn a few sound bites."
When Ned got there, came running into the suite ahead of his mom and hugged Peter. "God, it's good to see you, man!" Startled, Peter hugged him back.
Peter had to endure a hug from Mrs. Leeds as well. "Ned's father wanted to come too, but I was afraid we'd overwhelm you. How're you feeling, darling?"
"Better," Peter said honestly, but had trouble looking her in the eyes.
May coaxed her out of the room. "Let's let the boys commiserate for a few minutes. They've both had a rough time."
Ned nearly broke down crying again when they left, and that freaked Peter out all over again. "I'm sorry, man, I'm so sorry! It's all my fault - "
" - hey, no, come on!" Peter protested. "Look... May told me she freaked out at you; she didn't mean it. She's freaked out at everybody in the building who stands still long enough. It's not your fault. Mr. Stark and...some of his people were investigating those guys who took me out of school. They're real federal agents, and I wasn't the only person they grabbed. MJ was right about the Sokovia Accords, all of it. They did a blood test at the police station, and it came up abnormal, so they locked me up."
"Shit." Ned buried his face in his hands. "But how'd they know to grab you if it wasn't for me talking?"
"Seriously," said Peter. "There're all kinds of rumors about who Spider-Man really is and who's related to who and where the Avenger outlaws are. Toomes knew I was Spider-Man; a prison informant's more likely to get their attention than some guy at a high school party saying, 'hey, my friend knows Spidey!'" Peter waited until Ned looked at him again. "Unless you said it other times that I don't know about."
He didn't want to think Ned would do that, and to his relief, Ned shook his head vigorously. "Uh-uh, even then, I knew it was stupid and I mighta put you in danger. I never talked about it to anyone again except you and, well, I went to Stark Tower after you got taken and told the receptionist I knew, so she'd call Mr. Stark."
Peter waved him off. "Definitely no harm, no foul. Listen, Mr. Stark's giving a cover story to your mom that I'm not Spider-Man, and those agents just fucked it up and got an innocent guy tortured."
At first, Ned was all breathless, 'Okay, yeah, that's good thinking..." then he frowned. "Peter...dude, seriously, you were just an innocent guy, Spider-Man or not! Shit, MJ's right, they can't just lock up and torture people!"
"Yeah, that's what I meant. Just that we're gonna tell people Spider-Man's a college student and I'm just an intern." It came out a little more petulant than Peter intended.
Ned studied him. "But...that's good, right? That way Iron Man gets the bad guys without having to blow your cover."
Peter shrugged. "Yeah. I guess. I...dunno, it's stupid."
"So say it anyway, we both say stupid stuff."
Peter had to smile, even if it was a little weak. "Yeah, I...don't want people to know I'm Spider-Man. That'd put a lot of people in danger. Aunt May, you, everyone at school. I just...it kinda bugs me, the thought of people being absolutely certain that I'm not Spider-Man."
Ned had to contemplate that for a few moments, then slowly nodded. "Yeah...I think I get that. I do. It pisses me off when people say maybe you're Spider-Man but it's a foregone conclusion to 'em that I'm not." Peter couldn't think of what to say to that, so he just nodded.
When Mrs. Leeds came back in with May and Mr. Stark, she was sputtering with barely-contained outrage and hugged Peter again. God, that was embarrassing. May just grinned, while Ned looked sympathetic. Peter was sorry to see Ned leaving so soon.
"You up to longer company?" Mr. Stark asked. Peter nodded eagerly, and Mr. Stark turned to Mrs. Leeds. "Why don't you let me have a driver bring Ned home later? Peter could use some company his own age by now, I'm sure."
"Are you sure? You won't get too tired?" Mrs. Leeds demanded.
"If he gets tired, I'll bail," Ned promised. "We'll watch a movie or something, nothing tiring. Next time I'll plan ahead and bring Legos."
It was a deal, and that got Mrs. Leeds out of the suite so Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts and May could coach Ned on the cover story. He paid rapt attention to every word and asked questions Peter would never have even thought about. All to convince the world that Peter Parker wasn't Spider-Man.
Well, more than once, Ned shot Peter sympathetic looks.
Once they were all satisfied that Ned had the story down, and Mrs. Leeds was probably already blowing up the cell towers in Queens, they left Peter and Ned alone. "So Iron Man rescued you?"
Peter opened his mouth to tell the story, then thought better of it and just said, "Yeah. I don't remember much of it. I was pretty messed up by then."
"They didn't let you sleep? Like, at all?" Ned demanded. "How long can someone live without sleeping?"
Peter shrugged. "Dunno, but I passed out a lot after awhile. It all kind of ran together."
Ned cringed. "Sorry, man. That's..."
"...torture?" Peter asked dryly. They both chuckled weakly. Flailing around for a safe topic, Peter called, "Friday, did The Last Jedi come out on video while I was gone?"
"Yes, it did, Peter. Would you like me to play it on the big screen?"
Peter raised his eyebrows at Ned, who looked around in confusion. "Yeah, but...what big screen?"
The generic landscape on the wall abruptly turned black. "This big screen," said Friday, sounding amused. "If you need to pause or backtrack or skip ahead, it responds to verbal commands."
Peter had gotten used to the sound of Friday teasing him, but Ned was baffled. "That's awesome...but who's Friday?"
Peter grinned and waved at the air. "Ned Leeds, this is Friday. Friday, this is Ned Leeds."
"Nice to meet you, Ned. I'm Tony Stark's primary AI. I operate the compound and Mr. Stark's suits when he's in combat. I also interface with the AI in Peter's suits when he's patrolling."
Ned was moving his mouth, but no sound was coming out. Judging by the wild eyes and delighted grin, Peter was pretty sure he was impressed, not preparing to run screaming out the doors. "Friday's cool. So you watched all the special features without me, didn't you?"
Well, that dropped the mood. Ned's face fell. "You kidding, dude? You'd been missing six days when I got the email that the DVD had dropped, and I had a freaking meltdown. My big brother came back from Columbia to try and cheer me up, brought the Blu-Ray, and I wouldn't even look at it."
Peter winced. "Sorry, man."
Ned forced a smile. "I'm just glad you're back. So? Let's do this."
Peter didn't even make it to the special features. He fell asleep at some point during Luke and Rey's second training session. When he woke up, the video had stopped, and Ned was nowhere in sight. May was watching TV with headphones. She grinned and brought him a note:
You zonked out during Luke's exposition! Man, you are so not ready to go back to school. Don't watch the rest without me. See you later!
- Ned.
To Be Continued...
Coming Soon: Peter is still struggling with unanswered questions from his time in the Raft, but the answers lie with the one person he knows is least likely to visit - Bucky Barnes. But where Peter's afraid to ask after Bucky, May isn't.
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