Fandom: Avengers
Character(s): Spider-Man/Peter P. | Ned | May P. | Iron Man/Tony S.
Pairing(s): slight mentions of Liz/Peter
Warning(s): mild language, discussion of medical treatments, spoilers through Avengers: Infinity War
Guy-In-The-Chair
Guy-In-The-Chair
When Spidey needs him
He'll be there
With his screens
And his headset
He helps Spider-Man
Track down threats
Look out!
He's the Guy-In-The-Chair!
Okay, so maybe screaming "We're all gonna die!" in a bus crowded with teenagers hadn't been the most brilliant idea Ned had ever had. The resulting mass panic had actually rocked the bus enough for Mr. Harrington (formerly known as the school's chillest teacher) to epically lose his cool and scream at them to SHUT UP! and SIT DOWN!
It had worked, though. During all the confusion, Peter had managed to wriggle out of a window and safely get away...and Mr. Harrington was so rattled that he completely forgot to take a headcount when they finally got to the museum, so Peter's absence was yet to be discovered.
Team Spidey: 1
Civilians: none the wiser
After that, the Museum of Modern Art couldn't be anything other than boring. Ned snapped a few pictures for Darla and successfully folded a free-hand origami crane out of his museum flyer...but once that was done, the yawns set in fairly quickly. There were only so many times he could hear about the "soul captured in gouache" before his attention began to wander.
He stared at the back of Betty's hair for a while. She was talking softly with MJ and some girl named Gwen. He'd never noticed before that Betty had two kinds of smiles: 1) her on-camera, cub reporter smile and 2) a softer, smaller smile that she directed only at her friends.
It was a pretty smile.
Ned kind of wished she would use it more often.
bzzzzt. bzzzzt.
Tearing his eyes away from the group of girls, Ned pulled out his phone and - checking to make sure nobody was paying attention to him - unlocked the screen.
Over the summer, Ned had set up a number of keyword alerts on his social media accounts. Any article that mentioned Spider-Man now sent an alert directly to Ned's devices; and any images of the superhero were flagged immediately with a number of specialized notifications. He and Peter spent hours poring over the many different blogs and videos devoted to Spider-Man's vigilantism.(They had found one Reddit account particularly funny, as the owner seemed convinced that Peter was actually a 30-year-old woman named Lucille deWinter.)
Now Ned's screen was filled with notes about a new YouTube video that was currently blowing up across all social media accounts.
He carefully slipped in one earbud and opened the page.
Spider-Man's Been Beamed Up! screamed the opening caption. Then the screen tuned in to a shaky, grainy, flip-phone-camera footage of Ned's best friend being towed along behind some floating guy and getting caught up in some kind of retractor beam.
Another video - titled The Spider From Space, and apparently gleaned from the roof of a condo building - showed open sky and a slight vapor trail as the donut-shaped ship rose into the sky.
"Duuuuude." Ned murmured to himself, bringing the screen up close to his nose as he squinted at the tiny red-and-blue figure crawling on the side of the space donut. Up and up they went, rising into the clouds and disappearing from sight. Peter was on that!
Ned bit his lip, about to make an excuse to run to the bathroom and try to text his friend. But then, just as the video ended, he caught a flash of red-gold metal as Iron Man rocketed up towards where Spider-Man and the ship had vanished.
Instantly, most of the tension seeped out of Ned's body. It was okay. Peter was going to be okay. Iron Man was on the job. He wouldn't let Peter fall.
"Bon voyage." Ned whispered, sending the good thought out through the cosmic karma web towards his friend's consciousness, relieved that at least Peter wasn't going to be alone. Fight a few stormtroopers for me while you're up there. He quickly pocketed his phone as Mr. Harrington glanced his way. Go get 'em, Peter. But you'd better come back in one piece...
Fin.