Chapter 4

Over the next few weeks Ali and Peter didn't see each other at the tower again. Peter would often sneak off to watch her train though, but she didn't know about that.

They would talk in Geography as it seemed that Tony was still determined to keep Peter a secret from everybody.

Two weeks went by and Maya got more and more frustrated at the two of them. She wasn't angry at Ali just extremely inpatient. She wanted them to hurry up and get together though she knew that unless something were to change, they were going to stay as friends

The day of one of the Avengers actually planned missions arrived. She had managed to convince them to let her stay at the tower home alone while they were on it. Since they would be back in the middle of the night on the same day, Natasha had eventually agreed.

The morning of their mission Ali woke up with the most awful headache. She knew she was sick as soon as she felt the stabbing pain in her head. Luckily it was early so she moved as quickly as she could and got dressed before brushing her hair since there was no way she would be able to manage tying it up.

She didn't even try and swallow anything as she walked towards the elevator. Luckily no one saw her, and Ali was just praying that she could make it through the day.

As she was still extremely early for school Ali stopped off at the training floor and grabbed a tablet from her training room before sinking to the floor. The screen was blurry, but Ali still just about managed to activate protocol safety which would hopefully prevent her family from finding out that she was sick.

Her energy had run out, so she sat there with her eyes closed for a bit. Only when she realised that she was beginning to fall asleep did she look at the time. She was late.

Running wasn't really an option as she only just about had the energy to stand let alone move. Maya was already waiting for her when Ali reached the bottom of the road. She took one look at her before placing an Air Pod in each of her ears and grabbing a hairbrush from her bag. The two of them ducked down one of the empty roads that connected to the main one and Ali allowed Maya to brush her hair for her since she didn't have the energy.

This was one of the things that Ali loved about Maya. She knew exactly what to do and could see answers to questions without even having to ask them.

Maya knew from the first time that she saw Ali that morning that she was sick. Her cheeks were a feverish pink, and her hair was a mess. Her eyes didn't seem to be able to stay open and when they did Maya could tell that they weren't focusing. She could see Ali wince every time her feet hit the pavement.

It was obvious that she was going to hide try and hide this from her family since she wouldn't be here if she hadn't. There was unfortunately nothing that Maya could do to convince Ali to go home, and she knew that, so instead she made it her mission to help Ali in any way that she could.

Once Ali's hair had been brushed and it looked less like a bird's nest, the two started the trek to school. The constant volume of the music in her ears made it hard to hear the noises around her which prevented her headache from spiking whenever she heard a bird chirp.

Ali fell asleep in form and only woke up at the end of it when Maya gently nudged her. Her headache had gotten worse, and it now seemed that her stomach thought it was a good idea to do flips. She felt freezing but could tell from looking around at everyone else that they were all fine and nobody was even wearing a jumper.

Maya hadn't spoken a word to Ali since yesterday but kept shooting her worried glances. She forced Ali to keep the Air Pods in her ears for the first 3 lessons of the day. They seemed to help with the headache and Maya wasn't going to take no for an answer. The fact that Ali didn't put up much of a fight was what worried her most of all.

"Ali had almost been sick at break and lunch at just the sight of food so hadn't eaten anything. Maya had managed to eat her lunch but had hidden it as best as she could from Ali which was pretty easy as she had her head on the table the entire time.

They both had double Geography for their last two lessons. If Ali's brain had been working, then she would have been extremely embarrassed and worried about it. If she could think, then she would have realised that she was probably looked horrible and was about to sit for two hours next to her crush.

Instead of thinking Ali just followed Maya to the classroom and Maya had to remind her where she sat before she was able to drop her bag on the floor, sit on the chair and place her head on the table.

She was feeling a hundred times worse than she did that morning. Every time she moved the pain in her head would get worse and the Air Pods had stopped working which was why she had given them back to Maya.

Only when she turned her head to the side and saw Peter's worried eyes looking down on her did she realise where she was.

Immediately she quickly raised her head off of the table. She regretted it as soon as she had done it since not only did it now feel like her head weighed the same amount as a boulder but the pain in her head grew to an all-time high.

She tried to smile at Peter and act like she was fine, but it came out as a grimace and it was obvious that she wasn't fooling anyone. Instead of asking her questions like she expected him to, he merely took her bag from under the table and took out her Geography book as well as her pencil case and water bottle which was what Maya had been doing in for the last 3 lessons.

The starter had been placed on the board so Ali thanked Peter as quietly as she could before taking a pen out of her pencil case. She honestly couldn't think of any of the answers to the questions and it was starting to really annoy her. Peter could see this so answered all the questions himself before turning his book so that Ali could see it.

It took Ali several minutes just to write the answer to the first question since her vision was so blurry and she had also started to shiver from how cold she was.

Peter was no doctor but was still making a list of symptoms in his head to try and work out what Ali had so that he could help her. His worry grew as the 2 hours started to pass by. Her shivering only got worse, her cheeks only got redder, and her winces only became more frequent.

The only thing that stopped him from running to the tower to try and find Mr Stark was that this was the last lesson of the day and that Ali must have her reasons for not telling anyone. Today was one of his many internship days though, so if Ali didn't inform one of her family members by the time he arrived at 4, then he would.

He saw Ali wobble as she got up from her chair at the end of the lesson. He had already managed to pack her bag for her before she even had a chance to reach for it. As soon as he saw that Ali was in the capable hands of Maya he dashed out of the classroom and out of the school. He was in his favourite deserted alley in less than 5 minutes. He pulled his suit out of the bag before pulling it on and webbing the bag to the floor before hiding it so that it was out of view. After the many weeks that he had spent in Mr Stark's labs he had managed to secretly create himself a new suit. It fitted him a lot better though he was working on creating an A.I. that would be able to talk to him while he was in the suit.

The streets were always quiet at this time of day yet stopping crime was not Spider-Man's main priority today. His main priority was making sure that Ali got home okay. That was why he swung to the tower before swinging above the route that would take you to the school. He spotted a feverish and extremely exhausted Ali halfway along the path and started to follow her silently from above.

Ali had left Maya a few minutes ago and was now trying to win the battle in her mind about why she shouldn't stop and why she should keep on walking home. Unfortunately for her she ended up stopping. There was a tiny alleyway that she always walked down and on one side of it there were loads of tree stumps. They looked so inviting and Ali just had to stop to sit on one.

Her head was spinning, and her stomach was flipping itself over and over. She knew she had a fever though she felt like she was freezing. Even though she felt like death, she still could sense that someone was following her.

She didn't have the energy to try and loose them, but she also didn't have the energy to fight them or talk to them either. That was why she just hoped that they took pity on her or that her senses were playing up because she was sick.

After 5 minutes of waiting, she started to get annoyed. She still had no energy, her headache hadn't gotten any better and she still felt like an ice cube.

"I know you are there."

Her voice was hoarse both from not speaking all day and from being sick. It ended up coming out in no more than a whisper. She still saw someone dressed in a red and blue onesie jump down from the top of a wall that was on one side of the alleyway.

She didn't have enough energy to think anything of this or think of any questions to ask as just watching him move caused the spinning in her head to increase. Instead, she once again tried to pull herself together and act as if everything was fine.

"Are you okay?"

Some part of Ali's brain was telling her that that voice sounded familiar, but she didn't pay any attention to it. She just wanted to get out of this situation as quickly as possible.

"I am fine. I only have a few more minute walk before I am home."

Ali didn't even try and stand up but was internally cringing at both how awful she sounded and also how badly speaking hurt her head.

"Are you sure you will be all right to walk home? Don't speak as I know it hurts your head."

Instead of asking him how he knew this, Ali nearly put her thumbs up. It didn't seem that he was going anywhere though, so she reluctantly started to get up from the tree stump that she had been sitting on.

Two hands were placed in front of her and unthinkingly she took them. She found herself, in the blink of an eye, with two feet on the ground. The onesie man was holding onto one of her hands to steady her but what surprised Ali the most was that her head hadn't started to spin more, she hadn't thrown up and her headache hadn't suddenly got a lot worse. This gave her enough time to realise that she had no idea of the onesie man's name or what he looked like since he had a mask over his face.

As she carefully let go of his hand and tested her balance she quietly said,

"Thank you..."

"...Spider-Man."

"Thanks."

Ali took a steadying breath before she continued the journey home. The feeling of being followed didn't go away but Ali now knew what it was and felt a little safer with it there.

When she finally reached the tower, she almost collapsed in the elevator and only just about managed to make it into her bedroom.

She curled herself up into a ball under her covers and almost immediately fell asleep.

Peter arrived at the tower at 3:50 and had already started making plans on how to sneak up to the main sitting room and check on Ali.

First, he went to the labs since FRIDAY would have already declared his arrival to Mr Stark so he would be expecting him.

Instead of finding Mr Stark in his lab, Peter saw a note that had been blue tacked to the door of it./

Peter,
Here is my number. I am on a mission but if you need anything then just call me or Pepper. Pepper's phone number is below mine. You can continue to work on your project and if you need any snacks then help yourself to the ones in the main kitchen. I will be back by tomorrow,
Tony.

At least this meant that Peter didn't have to sneak off to check on Ali.

He dumped his school bag by the door of Mr Stark's lab before dashing back to the elevator. He had stuffed his suit into the bottom of his bag when he had changed out of it in the alley.

The elevator automatically took him up to the main floor. Before going to try and find Ali's room he rummaged in the cupboards and found some dry crackers. He also filled a glass with water.

Her room wasn't too hard to find as she was the only person on this floor so he could easily identify her heartbeat. He walked down the corridor before stopping in front of a door. There was a really pretty sign in the middle of it which said Ali.

He did quietly knock before he entered but didn't hear any response so opened the door.