"Peter!"

"I'm okay."

He wasn't, though, and he knew it immediately. He'd known something bad – something terrible – was going to happen and that it was going to happen to Tony. Before he even had a chance to take in what he was seeing, a guy bundled up in front of a fire, looking scared and holding a gun, he'd tried to warn Stark, and had pushed him out of the way.

It hadn't worked exactly right, of course, he thought ruefully. Natasha and Steve had both told him that plans rarely survive beyond a first battle, but this one hadn't even lasted that long. The gun had gone off – shockingly loud in the still of the night – and he'd felt the warning before the bullet even hit the Ironman suit. Trying to dodge, he'd still felt the kick as he'd been hit, and the stab of pain that felt like fire along his hip.

He'd gone down – he couldn't help that – but he scrambled to his feet right away, forcing himself into an upright position, trying to reassure Tony and keep something terrible from happening. He looked at the man on the ground, who was staring at both of them as if they'd materialized from nowhere – which it had probably seemed like to them. The gun had fallen to the ground as soon as it had gone off, and Tony had his eyes on Peter, but one hand trained on the man huddled against the tree roots.

"Are you out of your mind?"

Peter flinched, but so did the man. Neither knew for certain who he was talking to.

"Holy Jesus," the man said, suddenly realizing who was standing in front of him. "You're – you're Tony Stark."

Tony turned his attention from Peter's pale face and looked at the man he was still targeting with the repulse in his left hand.

"Who are you?"

"Elmer Rupp. I'm lost."

"Well, now you're not."

"How did you find me? I didn't know anyone knew I was in trouble."

"Are you injured, Mr. Rupp?"

"No. Just colder than hell. Is your boy okay? Are you alright, son?"

Peter nodded, forcing a step forward and hiding the grimace of pain behind the scarf still wrapped around his face.

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry about the shot," Rupp told them, sincerely. "I thought you were wolves – or a mountain lion. I've been hearing noises all night and was edgy. I didn't think anyone was out here."

"Where's the rest of your group?" Stark asked, not ready to forgive and forget just yet.

"I'm it. I'm staying at a friend's cabin, taking pictures of wildlife. I got turned around in the dark and decided I'd better stay put until morning."

"We can take him back with us, Tony," Peter said. "Doctor Strange can make sure he's okay."

"I'm fine," Elmer told them, both, looking relieved when Stark finally put his hand down. He could definitely sense the hostility coming from the man in the Ironman suit, but he understood completely. He finally dared to stand up. "Can you help me find my way back to the cabin?"

Tony scowled, looking over at Peter, before turning toward Rupp again.

"No one's there? Not even a dog, or a pet racoon or something?"

"No."

"Then we'll take you back with us and make sure you're really alright."

It's what superheroes did, after all. And what Peter wanted.

"I appreciate it."

Tony nodded and gestured to the tiny fire.

"Put that out. Only you can prevent forest fires and all that." Rupp looked at him like he was crazy, but kicked some snow over the flames, which died with a hiss, and Tony turned back to Peter. "You're sure he didn't hit you? You're alright?"

Peter shook his head. There was saying he was okay, and then there was flat out lying – and that wasn't something that Peter would do. Besides, he would find out, eventually.

"He did. But I'm okay."

"What?" The brilliant light was back, and Peter raised a hand to shield his eyes from it. Which lifted his coat just a little and allowed Stark and Elmer both to see the spreading scarlet stain above the upper leg of Peter's jeans. "Jesus-"

"It's not bad," Peter assured him, holding a hand against the pain. "Doctor Strange can take care of it."

Tony debated several things all at once, then. If Peter was on the ground with a bullet in his chest, he would have called Stephen immediately to come help. It would give away his abilities to Mr. Rupp, but that wouldn't have mattered – to either of them. Strange was reluctant to allow people to know what he could do, and while Stark didn't understand that – if he could do what Stephen could, everyone would know – he did respect that it was his secret to keep. Besides, calling Stephen would frighten Pepper, as opposed to bringing Peter home, upright and more or less in one piece – proving to her that he wasn't in mortal danger.

He activated the helmet of the suit.

"Friday?"

"It's a crease," the AI responded, knowing immediately what Stark was asking. "No injury to major blood vessels and not life-threatening, as long as it isn't allowed to infect."

"Fine." He deactivated the helmet, again and moved to Peter's left side – the injured one – and gestured to Elmer. "Mr. Rupp? Take his other side, please. We'll carry him."

Peter didn't argue, and he felt Tony's grip tighten, just a little, as he drew Peter's arm over his shoulder. Rupp did the same on the other side, and Peter found himself a foot off the ground, suspended by the two men.

"Got him?"

"Yeah."

The trail back wasn't hard to follow, and while Rupp was cold, he wasn't hurt and had no trouble keeping up with the pace that Stark set – somewhere between a fast walk and a slow trot. He had a million questions, of course, but recognized that it wasn't the place or time to ask them.

"How are you holding up, Peter?" Tony asked as they saw the lights from the floodlights at the front of the cabin in the distance.

"I'm okay."

"I'm going to call Natasha and have her wake Stephen – and only Stephen, for now. We're going to try and keep Pepper from freaking out. Okay?"

"Yeah."

His hip was numb, now, but there was a spasm of pain that radiated from it – going down his leg and up into his gut and groin that refused to be ignored. He closed his eyes against a wave of dizziness and heard Tony talking to Natasha. What seemed like only a moment later – but could have been longer, since he wasn't sure he remembered any of the rush back – they were at the front of the cabin and Romanoff was standing on the porch, with Strange beside her.

"Put him on the sofa," Stephen ordered, holding the door for them and watching as Rupp and Stark carried Peter over to the couch and carefully settled him there. "Get his coat off."

"What happened?" Natasha asked, watching as Peter closed his eyes and leaned his head against the back of the sofa.

"It was an accident," the boy said, grimacing. "We scared Mr. Rupp and his gun went off."

She frowned, looking at the stranger. "You shot him?"

Peter opened his eyes.

"It was an accident, Natasha. I got in the way."

"Because he tried to push me out of the way," Tony added, scowling as well as he carefully pulled Peter's coat and gloves off. The boots were next. "Don't ever do that again. There's a reason I'm called Ironman. I'm bulletproof."

"I'm sorry. It happened so fast." He gasped as Strange started cutting through his jeans and boxers, and then blushed brilliantly when he realized that there was no way the doctor was going to be able to look at the wound with his modesty intact and Natasha was still in the room. "Wait. I-"

"Don't you dare get bashful on me, young man," Natasha told him, coming around to the back of the couch where she would be out of the way and could still be there for him. "Now isn't the time…"

She leaned over, though, and pressed her cheek against his, her thick hair cascading over the boy's chest as she did, blocking her view of what Strange was doing – as well as Peter's. He winced and brought a hand up, but Tony grabbed it, holding him tightly.

"Easy…"

"It looks fairly clean, Tony," Strange said after a moment of prodding the wound that left Peter breathless, tears soaking Natasha's cheek. "The bleeding was bad, but it's almost stopped, now."

"Do we stitch it?" Stark asked.

"Can't. It's too wide for that. We'll dress it and use pressure to make sure there aren't any complications. Hand me that first aid kit."

He must have been speaking to Elmer, because Natasha didn't move and Tony didn't let go of his hand. Peter didn't open his eyes, but he felt a tingle that told him Strange had done something magical before he heard the first aid kit being opened.

"This is going to hurt, Peter," Strange told him. "I'm sorry."

He nodded, even though no one but Natasha could see it and felt her press tighter against his cheek, while Tony tightened his grip on the hand he was holding. A moment later there was a path of liquid fire across his entire hip that made him spasm and forced him to bite down on a cry of pain that would have woken not only the others in the cabin, but probably the people back home at the compound. It turned into a moan of agony that he couldn't choke down.

"Easy…" Natasha crooned, trying to comfort him behind the shield of auburn hair. "We've got you…"

He drew a stuttering breath and nodded, trying to wish away the pain. It didn't help, but she did, and he felt her kissing his cheek while her hand kept his head still.

"That's the worst of it, Peter," Strange assured him. "I'm going to give you a shot of antibiotics – just to make sure you don't develop an infection, and a painkiller, then we'll get you bandaged up and let you rest."

"Okay."

"Do we need to move him to a hospital?" he heard Tony ask.

"They wouldn't do anything I can't do, here," Strange replied. "And the nurses here are better looking."

Natasha chuckled at that and even Peter was able to smile. He felt a couple of injections and then felt as Strange applied a bandage and drew a blanket over his lap. Even better, once the blanket was on, Peter was immediately dressed in a pair of loose-fitting lounge pants which made him sigh in relief, too. With him covered by the blanket, no one but Strange knew why he was relieved, but the doctor took Peter's uninjured knee in his grip and shook it, lightly.

"We're done," Stephen told Natasha.

She held him a moment longer, though, giving him a chance to catch his breath before allowing him to face the others, and only then did she kiss him once more and let him go, moving away from behind him to come around and sit on the other side of where Tony was now perched. Strange took a pillow and tucked it carefully between Peter's injured hip and Stark.

"We'll keep a little pressure on the wound," he explained. "Just to make sure it doesn't start bleeding, again. It will help it hurt a little less, too."

Peter nodded. While they'd been working on him, Elmer Rupp had pulled off his coat and had been observing from where he was standing almost inside the fireplace – where the fire was built up to provide as much heat as possible. Strange was on the coffee table, a pile of medical supplies – used and unused – beside him. He was watching Peter intently, his experience gaze making sure there wasn't any reaction to the medications that he'd administered.

"Thanks," Peter told him, feeling a wave of light-headedness wash over him.

He closed his eyes and leaned back, feeling the sting of pain from the wound start to fade as the painkiller's side effects started to draw him down into sleep almost immediately. He felt Natasha's arms come around him and turned automatically to put his nose against her collarbone as he started to drift off.

"You're welcome," Strange said, his voice oddly far away. "Now, will someone tell me what the hell happened?"

Peter didn't hear the explanation. He was already asleep before Tony and Rupp started talking.