Wednesday mornings weren't the busiest time in the St. Luke's hospital ER. That happy award went to Saturday night. It was still busy, though, and not everyone in the waiting room looked up when Tony and Pepper Stark hurried in, looking worried, but not frantic. The receptionist noticed them, immediately, of course – and recognized them without problem. Noticing their concerned expressions and very much used to seeing such on the faces of pretty much everyone who entered the place (it was the emergency room, after all) she held up a hand, already putting on her most reassuring expression.
"Mr. and Mrs. Stark. Your son told us you'd probably show up, first."
"Where is he?" Tony asked, not ready for pleasantries, just then.
"In the back with his friend." She glanced at one of the others behind the counter and with a gesture the man walked over to take her position. "I'll show you the way."
She walked around from behind the receptionist desk and led them to a large wooden door. A swipe of her badge opened it, and the three walked into the back area, which was a little busier than the waiting room, of course, but not frantic.
"Is Ned's mother here, yet?" Pepper asked.
"Not, yet," the woman confirmed. "But we called her right before we called you. We expect her any time."
Of course, Tony and Pepper had already been exiting Stark Tower when they'd received the call from the hospital. They'd been in a meeting when SHIELD had called them and had immediately excused themselves. Notified by SHIELD, also, Happy had pulled the car around to the front, rather than allow a worried Tony Stark to drive through the morning traffic and had raced them to the hospital.
"She was probably at work," Tony said – more to himself, really. Her work was closer to the hospital than the tower was, and he knew she wouldn't have any problem getting her work to let her leave. "Where-"
Before he could finish the sentence, he saw his son peek out from one of the large, curtained, sliding glass doors that separated each of the rooms in the back of the ER. Pepper saw him, also, and they headed his way.
"Are you alright?" Pepper asked as Tony pushed the door open.
Peter nodded, smiling to reassure them – and to prove that he was fine.
"Yeah. It was Ned, this time. Not me."
The nurse pulled the curtain aside, revealing Ned who was sitting on an examination table. He had his shirt off and was sporting a blue cast on his left forearm. The boy looked over and grinned when he saw who it was, and he raised that hand with a slight wave.
"Hey."
Pepper made a slight noise and walked across the small room, brushing her hand along Ned's forehead, noticing as she did that there was a bruise above his eye.
"Hi, Ned. Are you alright?"
"Yeah." Another smile. "I just tripped."
"And fell down the stairs," Peter said, smiling a thank you when the nurse told them she'd be back in a minute.
"Almost fell down the stairs," Ned corrected. He lowered his voice a bit, although they were alone, again. "Peter kept me from really falling hard."
Tony raised an eyebrow, looking at his son and making sure to close the glass door.
"You caught him?"
"I used my webbing," Peter said, softly. "It caught the back of his sweatshirt, but it didn't stop him from falling, completely."
"But it did stop me from going all the way down," Ned said, cheerfully. "I would have really hurt myself."
"Not completely, though," Peter told them. "He broke his wrist when he tried t o catch himself."
"And bumped my head."
"Nothing serious?" Pepper asked.
"Nope."
"No one saw anything?" Tony asked.
Peter shook his head, understanding the question.
"No. It was just us."
"Yeah. No one else was around. We had a pass."
"He wouldn't have hurt himself at all if he'd listened to me," Peter told them, taking the spot on the exam table beside Ned in case Pepper or Tony wanted to sit down in the only chair that was in the little room.
Ned rolled his eyes, and Tony couldn't help but ask the burning question.
"What do you mean?"
"He doesn't mean anything."
"I mean…" Peter said, ignoring Ned's jab into his side with his elbow. "I told him his shoelace was untied, and that he should tie it before he tripped on it."
Pepper and Tony both glanced at the boy's shoe. Sure enough, it was still untied.
"Well, he wasn't wrong…" Tony said. "Then what?"
There had to be more to the story than that. Peter looked too smug – and amused.
"Yes, Ned," the boy said to his friend. "Then what?"
Another eye roll.
"I might have mentioned that I'm a grown man and I didn't need him telling me what to do."
"And that you already have a mother," Peter added.
Ned didn't deny it.
"You didn't," Pepper said, shaking her head.
"Why would you purposely slam down a gauntlet like that?" Tony asked, smirking. "You were asking for something to happen."
"I was-"
"He was showing off."
"I thought the place was empty," Pepper asked, frowning.
"It was," the boy confirmed. "Don't listen to him, Pepper," Ned told her. "I wasn't showing off."
"You weren't telling me how you planned on impressing all the French girls that are coming for the competition?" Peter asked, pointedly.
"That isn't showing off," Ned said. "it's fact."
"Is there a French team coming?" Tony asked.
He knew that the competition was a week away, and that SHIELD had already been given the names of all students, teachers, and chaperones so they could vet them. Since Nick had agreed to allow a short excursion to the Avenger compound for all involved, no one had even questioned why they'd wanted those people checked. And no one had argued. Tony knew this, but he hadn't seen the list, or anything. He was a fairly busy man, after all.
"Yeah." Peter smiled, but Ned looked excited, too. "There are teams coming from France, Japan, England, Australia, and China."
Tony smirked, turning to Ned.
"Did you ever stop to consider the French time might be all boys?"
"No. But the universe loves Peter," he said, shrugging. "And I'm Peter's best friend, right?"
"Right."
"Then there is almost certainly going to be a few really hot French girls on their team. All waiting to meet a super smart nice guy like me."
"A guy who can't walk down the hallway without tripping over his own feet?" Tony asked.
Pepper was too polite to laugh, but her expression plainly told all three that she was amused. Ned smiled, too, far too easygoing to be offended or hurt by the teasing. Besides, it was Tony Stark teasing him. He was long beyond the hero worship, but it didn't mean that he wasn't still amazed, sometimes, to think that the guy was a friend. He couldn't wait to see the expressions on the foreign kids when they found out.
"I-"
Before he could defend himself, further, the sliding glass door opened, again, and this time it was his mother who came through it. She looked concerned – of course – but also relieved when she saw him sitting up on the table and joking with Peter and his parents.
If he could be joking around and smiling, then he wasn't at death's door, now was he?
"Are you alright?" she asked, taking in the cast – and the bruise – with a mother's eye, and obviously looking for an indication that all was not as well with her son as it appeared it was.
"Yeah, mom," he said, as Peter moved from his side to allow her to get closer – which she did. "Just fell down."
"What happened?"
Peter opened his mouth to tell the story, but Ned spoke up, first.
"I ran into a burning building to save some little kids and fell."
The woman wasn't fooled for a moment, but the concerned look faded as she turned to Peter.
"What happened?"
"He tripped on his shoelace."
Ned groaned, theatrically, and Peter smiled at the noise. His mother turned to the nurse who had accompanied her into the room.
"Just the broken wrist?"
"And the bump on his head. We'll give you a script for some pain killers for the wrist, but he's fine." She smiled, too. "He'll be fine."
"Thank you."
She nodded.
"I'll go write up the discharge papers and the doctor will come by and answer any last minute questions that you might have."
She excused herself and shut the door once more, and Ned's mom ran her palm along her son's forehead.
"I'll take you home," she told him.
"I'm fine, mom," Ned assured her. "I can go back to school."
"We could take him to the tower," Tony offered, in case she didn't want to miss the rest of the day of work. "It's the least we can do for someone trying to save kids in a burning building…"
Ned rolled his eyes, good-naturedly, and shook his head.
"I'm good. Really." He held up the hand with the cast on it. "It doesn't even hurt, now that they have it set."
"Probably because they have you on good pain meds," Peter said. "You should go home. I'll tell MJ and the others what happened, so she won't be mad at you for missing practice."
Ned's mother shot him a look that plainly said she wasn't going to argue. Sure enough, the next words out of her mouth were an ultimatum.
"We're going home," she told him. "The doctor is going to say that you need to rest, and he or she will be correct. Say your goodbyes so Tony and Pepper can get back to work and Peter can get back to school."
Ned rolled his eyes, but he didn't rebel.
Of course.
"Fine." He looked at Peter. "But you have to give everybody my version of the events…"
"Because there are so many burning buildings in the school hallways?"
"Just do it, Peter."
He smirked.
"Fine."
No one would believe him, obviously.
"Come on, son," Tony said. "We'll drop you off. Ned? We'll still see you this weekend – unless your mom says otherwise."
"I'll be there, thanks."
OOOOOO
A/N: I hesitated before starting this story, because work is still busy, but it's rattling around in my head and I want to get it out before it packs up its things and leaves without saying goodbye. This one is the competition story with other things added to the mix, of course, and several characters to try and keep up with. I hope you like it! No promises on my updating schedule, just yetm but I'm here and won't abandon it.