First, thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed. I appreciate my reviews so much, and I'm sorry I wasn't able to respond to many this time around. Life has gotten quite hectic. Secondly, I hope you enjoy the chapter! I'd say there are less than 5 chapters left in this story. :) Please forgive errors as it is late and I am quite tired, but I wanted to get this out tonight.
Bad Days and Bad Patrols
It wasn't that long of a walk back to the Tower, despite what Rhodey had said. Not really. It was mostly warm out, and Peter walked at Loki's side, the two of them moving together in silence for a while. Every once in a while, he would glance up at the Asgardian at his side, but the man seemed content to stare straight ahead and focus on walking.
That was fine with Peter.
He realized that May probably would have liked Loki. He was funny when he wanted to be, and was usually nice. Plus, he was always good to Peter. That had been her most important requirement for liking people.
People on the street would occasionally stop and look, eyes narrowing as they apparently tried to place Loki, but he was in civilian clothes, so they mostly just glanced over and went about their days. "Is it weird?" Peter wondered as they waited to cross the street. "Living here." Loki glanced down at him, lifting an eyebrow. "I mean...since you're kind of well known and it isn't your home...I mean, it is now but…" Peter let himself trail off, eyes dropping.
"Asgard had not felt like my home for most of my life." The man told him, ignoring the guy who was standing at the corner, tracking them with his eyes like he wasn't quite sure if he was seeing things. Peter wiped at his eyes, hoping it wasn't obvious that he'd been crying. In his pocket, he was very aware of his phone which he hadn't turned back on. He needed to text Tony...to let him know that he was fine. Well...relatively. He still wanted to go to bed and stay there...still wanted to be in a dark room alone for the rest of the day.
"Earth can be your home," Peter told him, shrugging a little with a smile, trying to force the cheer into his voice. Loki glanced down at him again, then gave a brief smile in return, his eyes softening. "You're like family, anyway."
Reaching out a hand, Loki rested it on Peter's shoulder, nodding just a little. "Yes...I suppose you're right."
When they reached the tower, Peter followed Loki almost sheepishly into the elevator, hoping he wasn't about to get in trouble. He knew that he needed to turn his phone back on and maybe text Tony, but first, he should probably apologize to Rhodey...not that he was sorry for what he'd done. He'd needed to do it. He'd needed to see her...to be alone with her. But maybe he should have texted Rhodey first...before leaving school. He was sure the man would have understood. Sure that Rhodey would probably have driven him to the graveyard himself if Peter had just asked.
But he'd wanted to be alone.
He still wanted to be alone.
The elevator took them directly to his floor. Peter thought about asking if Loki would just make him invisible so he could sneak off to his room, but he figured Friday would rat him out. So he stepped into the living room and glanced sheepishly up at Rhodey who was holding a phone to his ear. The man stood when Peter stepped forward.
"Here he is. Just a second." Rhodey put the phone down and reached out, grasping Peter by the shoulders and looking somewhere between frustrated and concerned. "Are you okay?"
He shrugged a little. "I'm fine."
"Here." He held out the phone that Peter took on instinct. He knew without looking that it was Tony, and his first words were 'I'm sorry.'
"Are you alright?" He felt a rush of frustration. He was Spiderman! Anger and frustration he could get. Could even accept. But worry? He was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, but he didn't say that.
"Yeah. I'm fine." There was a moment of silence and Peter went on, lowering his voice as Rhodey stepped away and Loki disappeared. "I mean...I'm…". He shrugged even though Tony couldn't see him. "I went to May's grave. I know I shouldn't have skipped school…"
"I'm not mad about that, kid." Tony's voice was quiet but he sounded stressed. "You turned off your phone and didn't tell anyone where you were going."
"I was fine, Tony." Finally, a little of his frustration leaked into his tone, and Tony went quiet. "I'm Spiderman. I can take care of myself."
Rhodey was watching him from across the room, arms crossed. When Tony responded, his voice was measured. "You're a kid, Pete. Whether you're enhanced or not. You're only sixteen. A kid. More importantly, you're my kid."
"I'm not…"
"I don't give you a lot of rules, Peter." Tony went on in the same tone as if Peter hadn't spoken. "Hell, most of the rues I give you are just common sense...ways to take care of yourself. And this one. Don't go off without telling anyone. Because if you get hurt and you don't have a way to contact anyone, what the hell am I supposed to do?"
"I was fine."
"I am halfway across the world, Peter." Tony finally snapped a little. "I cannot be there to help you if you need it. You turned your phone off!"
"I didn't need help! I was at her grave, Tony! I wasn't in danger!"
"I didn't know that!"
Peter closed his eyes when Tony raised his voice to match Peter's. He hadn't even known he'd been yelling. Hadn't realized...his eyes got hot and he hated himself for it. It wasn't even a serious fight...not a big deal. All he had to do was apologize...to promise he wouldn't do it again. Because he wouldn't. But he couldn't say it...couldn't get the words out. Because he missed Tony and he missed May and somehow this had turned into a fight and it was too much.
Rhodey was suddenly right beside him, one hand clasping his shoulder, one taking the phone from him. "Tones? Everyone's fine. I'll call the school and let them know that Peter was sick."
"Rhodey…"
"Get back to your meeting." Peter started to pull away...to sneak off to his room, but although Rhodey didn't so much as look his way, the hand on Peter's arm tightened enough to keep him still. Peter could have pulled away, of course, but he wasn't about to. He stayed put letting the man hold him in place, practically leaning into the contact. "He can call you later. Okay?"
There was a soft sigh that Peter could barely hear. "Okay. Tell him to call me sometime before he goes to bed. And...tell him that I love him."
Rhodey softened when Peter smiled a little, lowering his eyes, the hand on his shoulder squeezing. "He knows, Tones. He'll call you later. Get back to work."
When Rhodey hung up, he eyed Peter critically for a moment. "Come on." He urged, jerking his head, and Peter followed him to the kitchen where he was instructed to take a seat. He did, perching on a barstool as the man pulled out a box of waffles. "It's a bit late for brunch but i think we can make due." He popped two waffles into the toaster and then grabbed a plate. Passing over a bottle of water, he waited for Peer to take a long drink. "He's not even mad at you. Not really. You just scared him. Serves him right for all the times he's scared me."
Peter managed a smile, draining the glass, then taking the bottle of gatorade Rhodey handed him next. When the waffles popped out, Rhodey put them on a plate with butter and syrup and handed them over. Peter ate them in silence, then the two others that he made. When he was done, Rhodey took his plate, placing it in the sink. "Go rest, kid. You look like you need it."
"I'm fine." Rhodey shook his head, reaching out and ruffling his hair.
"Go on. I'm sending you to your room." Peter gave a weak smile at that. "Go on. Go to your room. Turn on your phone and text Tony and do your homework or whatever it is you do in there."
Peter did as he asked, going straight to his room, turning on his phone, then dropping onto the bottom bunk of his bed. His screen was full of messages, mostly from Tony.
"Hey, kid. Text me when you can."
"I know it's her birthday. I know this is rough. Call me, okay?"
"It's okay if you want to go home from school."
"Rhody just called. Call me, Pete."
"Call me, Peter."
"Come on, kid. Please call me."
"Kid, please. Call me. Rhodey is worried."
"I'm worried too."
Peter sighed, opening the last text and replying. "Are you in a meeting?"
Immediately Tony's face appeared on his screen, and he answered the video call. "Nope. Just got out of one."
Peter smiled a little. "Because you left?"
Tony shrugged. "Eh. Tomato, Tomahto. How are you feeling, Pete?"
"I'm fine."
"I've thought about banning that word…" Peter snorted.
"You can't ban words."
"Can too. I'm banning fine. Now, how are you?"
"Satisfactory." This time it was Tony who snorted, and Peter had to laugh a little, the sadness deep in his chest abating for a while.
"I didn't want to be gone on her birthday, Pete. I wanted to be there…"
"It wasn't your fault. You had to work...I get it." Peter assured him, propping his phone up beside his face and laying his head on the pillow.
"You're a good kid. The best kid."
"Even though I skipped school without telling anyone where I was going?" Tony shrugged.
"I once skipped two weeks of college and went on a drinking binge so bad that I had to have my stomach pumped. So if you ask Rhodey, I deserve a kid that scares me every once in a while."
"I'm still sorry."
"Just keep your phone on next time. Please. For my sake." He nodded, eyes dropping a little. "How did Loki find you?" Peter held up the charm on his necklace. It wasn't as warm as before, but it was still warm.
"It's a tracker."
Tony nodded, humming a little. "Imagine that. I think 75% of your birthday gifts were trackers this year." Peter smiled, shrugging. He wasn't wrong. "No patrolling tonight, Pete. Stay in."
"I'm grounded?" He cried, eyes narrowing a little. Tony shrugged, seeming unconcerned.
"You can call it that if you want. Mostly, I just don't want you patrolling while you're upset. Stay in. Do homework. Watch a movie. Heck, go running with Capsicle if you want. Just no Spiderman."
"But…" Tony lifted an eyebrow, and in the background, Peter could hear a couple of people speaking loudly, and what sounded like Pepper calling for him. "Just for tonight?"
"Just for tonight," Tony confirmed, the corners of his mouth tugging upward. "Alright, Pete. I'll be back Friday night. We'll get some dinner together and I'll tell you all about Hong Kong...well, the parts I got to see. Mostly the inside of board rooms. It'll be great."
"Okay." Peter nodded, wiping at his eyes and wishing he could turn off these ridiculous emotions.
"Love you, kid."
"Love you, Tony." And with that, the man's face disappeared, and Peter dropped his phone with a sigh.
It was really a surprise that he was distracted all the next day. He'd elected to go to school despite Rhodey, Tony, and even Pepper via text all assured him that it would be fine if he stayed home...got some rest. Hung out with the team. But Peter insisted on going, reminding himself that the whole reason he'd elected to stay home instead of going with Tony was so that he could study for finals. And this time, he managed to make it through the whole day. Flash had, since finding out that he was Spiderman, left him alone for the most part, still occasionally running into him in the hall, his shoulder knocking against Peter's, but he would wink so ridiculously that it pretty much ruined any effect it might have had.
Peter was almost certain that people were starting to think that they were secretly dating or something.
Still, on Thursday morning, Flash cornered him in the bathroom to ask if he was okay. Apparently, his running out of school in the middle of the day had attracted some notice. Peter assured him that he was fine, then went about his day, struggling to focus, but managing it anyway.
Then he went out on patrol, which went fine for all of roughly twelve minutes.
Peter swore, head slamming back against the brick wall as he let it drop. "Shit!" He hissed, a hand pressed against his side. "You have got to be fucking kidding me!" His last day! The last day he'd have to be without Tony.
"Peter, it appears as though you have sustained…"
"I know, Karen!" He snapped a little, sighing as the anger dropped away.
It had been a long day.
Hell, it had been a long week.
"My protocols require me to contact an Avenger when you receive a stab wound."
"Yeah. I know." He snapped again, dreading this. As if the Avengers didn't think of him as a child already.
"However, considering that many of the Avengers are close by, you may choose which one is contacted."
Of course, Peter knew that it didn't matter...if one of the Avengers knew he was hurt, they all would know soon enough. "Do you have to tell Tony."
There was a long pause. Then she spoke. "Not if you contact him yourself." He rolled his eyes.
"Right. Yeah. Send a text. Tony, got lightly stabbed. Don't freak out." He glanced up at the brick wall across from him and sighed at the man he'd webbed there. "Was it really necessary to stab me, dude? Like...now Tony's gonna be pissed." He didn't pull the mask off but kept talking as he tried to figure out which Avenger to call for. "Not at me, to be clear. At you. You've officially pissed off Tony Stark."
"Peter, who would you like to contact?"
"Uh…". Clint was out. The man already didn't think much of him being a superhero, even though he'd been pretty nice when they'd been training. Rhodey would be the most likely to tell Tony all the details. Steve...well, Steve was fine, but he didn't feel close enough to the super soldier to admit to being stabbed and ask for help. Honestly, he was fine...like, he felt fine. Just... a little light headed. And his side kind of hurt. So...who could he call. Bruce….Bruce was a Doctor. Surely he wouldn't freak out...right? "How about Bruce? Can you call him?"
"Of course, Peter."
The line rang a few times as he pressed his hand to the wound on his side, swearing again when it stung. "Hello? Peter?"
"Oh, hey Bruce. Um...do you think I could get a hand?"
"Of course. Are you on patrols? What happened?"
"I was...um….lightly stabbed." He tried, flinching when Bruce's voice lifted an octave.
"You were lightly…"
"Yeah." He interrupted. "Webbed the guy up and everything so I'm fine. Just...do you think you could pick me up?"
"Of course. I'm on my way right now. How are you feeling?"
"Like I've been lightly stabbed." He grumbled, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Hoping he wasn't coming off as rude, he immediately apologized. "I'm sorry. I just...this sucks."
"Friday set the GPS...I'll be there in about ten minutes. You know, Rhodey could have gotten to you faster in his suit."
"I'm fine. It's not too bad." Even as he said that his side gave a stab of pain and he took a deep, ragged breath.
"Peter? I've got some painkillers that I'm pretty sure will help...you're going to be okay. Did you tell Tony?"
"I texted him."
"You...okay. Okay...can you breathe okay? Does it feel like your lung was hit?"
"I don't think so. It's not that deep." Despite his words, the blood gushed around his fingers. "Just...bleeding a lot."
"I'm almost there. Stay on the phone with me, okay?"
"Okay." He murmured, closing his eyes and feeling frustration bubble up. Why couldn't he go more than a few weeks without a major freaking injury? Not that this was major but still. It was annoying.
"We all get hurt sometimes." Bruce's voice was gentle, and Peter rolled his eyes a little. "You go out on patrols almost every day. You're bound to get hurt more often. If Steve or Natasha did what you did, if they went out every night they'd probably get some bruised and scrapes too...and a couple of minor stab wounds."
"Clint already thinks I'm too young to be doing this."
"Clint will get used to it. He's got a daughter about your age, you know. That's probably why he's having such a hard time with seeing you as an Avenger. But you are one, no matter what he thinks."
Just then, a car pulled up to the alley and Bruce was climbing out, grabbing a black bag and hurrying over to him. "Hey, kid." He glanced up at the man webbed to the wall across from him, thick webbing covering his mouth.
"He was trying to steal a car," Peter explained, jaw clenched.
"Alright." Bruce crouched beside him. "We can call the police as soon as I get you in the car. Here." He moved Peter's hand and pressed a clean cloth to his side, then pulled out a syringe. "The pain medicine." Taking his arm, the man turned it over, injecting the drugs into his arm. Peter flinched, but Bruce had been so quick that his hatred of needles had barely had time to be a problem. "Think you can stand up?" He nodded, letting the doctor pull him up, leaning heavily on the man.
His phone chose that moment to ring, and Bruce helped him get it out of his pocket. "Want me to…?" Peter nodded, eyes closing as the pain relief started to flow. Bruce opened the passenger side door of a car that definitely belonged to Tony. "Hey, Tony."
The man's voice was panicked on the other line. "Why are you answering his phone? He sent me a text…"
"I know. He was hurt on patrols but he's going to be fine." Peter let his head rest against the window when Bruce closed his door, and for just a moment as the doctor hurried around to the other side, he couldn't hear either of them. Then he was sliding into the driver's seat, the phone sandwiches between his shoulder and ear until the call switched to the Bluetooth of the car.
"What the hell did he mean, lightly stabbed?" Bruce threw Peter an almost reproving look, but he was barely paying attention anymore. He was tired and ready to be laying down and not in pain anymore, although the pain medicine seemed to be doing a pretty good job….or maybe it was just making him sleepy.
"He has a superficial stab wound to the left side. Not too bad. He's going to be fine. I've got him here with me in the car and we're on our way back to the tower."
"Is he awake? Can I talk to him?"
"You're on speaker in the car."
"Pete? Can you hear me, kid?"
"Yeah." He muttered. "Hey, Tony."
"Hey. Maybe don't send me texts designed to freak me the fuck out, huh?"
"Karen said I had to contact you…"
"Yeah, but for things like stab wounds, how about an actual phone call, not a text I'm going to glance at in a meeting." He sounded scared, and Peter was immediately guilty.
"I'm sorry."
Tony gave a soft sigh. "Not mad at you, Pete. Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Sleepy…"
"It's the pain medicine." Bruce put in, lest Tony think that he was falling asleep due to blood loss or something. "The wound isn't too deep. I'll just stitch him up and he should be healed by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. By the time you get back, he'll be fine."
"Yeah, he'd better be. Peter, please, I'm begging you. For the love of all that is holy, just stay in the tower until I get back." Bruce glanced over at Peter with a smile.
"He's fine, Tony. Don't worry about him."
"I don't think I can ever stop worrying about him, Bruce." That made Peter's heart clench, eyes closing for a second as he struggled with the emotion that statement brought to the surface. "Okay, Pepper is glaring at me. Just wait until I tell her what happened. Be expecting a phone call from her, kid, because there's no way she'll let this go."
"Tell her it wasn't my fault." Peter practically begged, head thrown back against the headrest.
"No can do, Pete. I think I'm just going to do what you did and tell her you were lightly stabbed. If i have to be scared to death by you on a regular basis, so does she."
"We're at the tower, Tony. I'm going to patch Peter up, and then he's probably going to need to get some sleep. We'll talk to you soon."
"Try not to let him hurt himself for at last another two hours." The man only sounded like he was half kidding as he hung up, and Peter groaned.
"Alright. Let's get you up to the medbay."
"Great." That was exactly where he'd been hoping to spend his night.
Thank you for reading :)
