Bruce came into the room to check on Peter.

"Hey, Peter," he greeted the teen.

Peter barely turned his head, not really wanting to interact with anyone. He was hurting. His injuries were more severe than he was used to, and despite his and Tony's earlier diagnosis, his healing was working, but not nearly as quickly as it used to. The injuries would have normally taken him a week to heal, but because of his illness affecting his healing, they were going to take three. He wasn't looking forward to that combined with chemo.

"I'm Bruce Banner. I've been treating you, and Tony wanted me to help synthesize your chemo."

Peter turned his head at that. "Tony said that we're starting today. Can I please wait until I've healed more?"

Bruce shook his head. "I'm afraid not. We need to begin chemo as soon as possible. If we wait even a day longer, you have less of a chance of surviving this. This is a life-threatening disease, Peter, and if we do nothing, you will die."

Peter sighed and nodded. "Are you going to do it now?"

"We're waiting for Dr. Cho to get here so that she can weigh in on what we've made. She's a specialist in enhanced humans, and we greatly value her opinion. Once she's given the go-ahead, we'll begin."

Peter nodded again.

Bruce fiddled with the machines and then turned to leave.

"Doctor Banner?"

Bruce turned.

Peter's face reddened slightly and he looked down as he picked at the blankets on his bed.

"Under different circumstances, I would have been really excited to meet you. I've read all your papers and really enjoyed them. It's just really difficult for me to think about anything but cancer right now."

Bruce smiled a little. "I understand. And I'm impressed that you actually read those. Tony did say you were a smart kid. I wish the circumstances were better too, Peter. I really just want to help you get better."

"Thank you," Peter looked up, smiling a little bit.

Bruce nodded and left the room, even more determined to save the teen's life.

—

"Hey Peter," Ned said, as he slowly cracked open the door to Peter's hospital-like room in the Avenger's Compound and inched into the room.

Peter was an absolute mess. He was worse than Ned had ever seen him, and Ned had been his best friend for years, and had seen him through getting bullied by Flash and mugged in an alley. Both of those incidences were before he had his powers, though. Before Spider-man.

"Hey Ned," Peter responded, wincing as he tried to sit up.

Ned eyed the machines surrounding his friend. Peter had texted Ned that he was fine, but he had been much more of a flake lately. While Ned would normally attribute that to Spider-man, Peter was more depressed lately. It reminded Ned of how Peter acted after his uncle died.

"Are you really okay, Peter?"

Peter slowly lay back in the bed and shook his head, ashamed. He didn't like lying to his friend, and he had been doing a lot of that lately. It was time to finally come clean.

"I have cancer, Ned."

"What?" Ned asked, a confused and shocked look on his face. A chill went down his spine and his forehead suddenly felt warm and clammy.

"I have cancer," Peter repeated, looking his friend in the eye.

"Since when?" Ned asked, sitting down, his mouth dry.

Peter sighed. "Apparently since I got bitten by the spider in the first place."

"What?" Ned's eyes bugged out of their sockets.

Peter looked Ned in the eye. "The radioactive spider that gave me my powers also gave me cancer. I was officially diagnosed a week ago. I've been wanting to tell you ever since, but I just couldn't."

Ned nodded in understanding. "Have you…do you need, like, chemotherapy, or anything?"

Peter bit his bottom lip. "I'm supposed to start it today."

Ned nodded again. "Do you want me here for it?"

Peter shrugged. Honestly at this point, it felt like so much was out of his control, so he didn't really care anymore.

Just then, Tony opened the door wide and behind him stormed Dr. Banner and a small woman with dark hair and a doctor's coat who Peter hadn't met yet. They had a medical cart trailing after them. May was right on their heels.

"This is Dr. Cho," Tony said as soon as they were completely in the room, "She's our resident expert on enhanced individuals."

"Okay," Peter said.

Ned took a step back away from the cart and almost backed himself into the wall. He didn't like doctors.

"Ned, honey, why don't you wait in the hall?" May asked, seeing his distress.

Ned nodded and quickly bolted, clearly very uncomfortable with his best friend's situation.

As soon as the door shut, Dr. Cho began speaking. "I'm going to start with a baseline checkup for our records. That way, we know while you're conscious how you are doing at the moment despite your injuries. Then we're going to do a surgery to implant a port so we don't have to connect a central line every time. It'll make the chemo more comfortable for you. After that, we'll give you your first dose."

Peter nodded. He couldn't bring himself to say anything. There wasn't much to say.

—

May found Ned huddled in the staircase by himself.

"Ned?" she asked.

Ned looked up at the sudden voice, obviously not expecting company.

May sat down next to him and gently put her hand on his shoulder.

"Is he okay?" Ned whispered.

May paused for a moment, considering the question.

"No. He's not okay. But he will be."

"Are you sure?" Ned asked, looking up at May with teary eyes.

May sighed and hugged her arms to her torso. She nodded slowly. "It's going to be a very long road, and it's going to be a very, very difficult one, but yes, in the end, I do believe he will be alright," May said firmly, "He's a fighter."

"Yeah," Ned said, nervously wiping his nose with the back of his hand, "Would it be alright if I went home?"

"Of course, honey!" May said, hugging the boy.

Ned nodded. "Can you let me know when I can see him again? I want to support him, but I'm not sure how supportive I can be with all the medical stuff there."

May smiled a little. "Of course. I'll let you know his treatment schedule once we make it so you don't have to be here when everything's going on."

Ned nodded a little before running down the stairs. He just wanted to get out of he place where his best friend was hurting so much.

—

Ned ran into his house, slamming the door behind him.

He had told his parents that he had been visiting Peter at his Stark Industries internship. Now he found that couldn't control his emotions. His best friend had cancer and could die.

"Ned? Are you okay?" his mom asked, knocking softly on the door.

Ned turned to face her. There was no way he would tell Peter's Spider-man secret to anyone, but he had to tell her something, especially since this was weighing on him so heavily.

"Peter has cancer," he finally said, tears falling afresh.

"Oh, baby," she said, immediately coming to sit on the floor next to her son and hugging him.

"They just started treatment today, and they don't know yet if the type they have him on will work," Ned sniffled.

"Is that why you went to visit him today?"

Ned nodded, "Yeah, he and Mr. Stark have really forged a good relationship and Mr. Stark is having his own team of doctors treating him. Plus, Peter has some, uh, allergies to medicines and stuff."

"Oh, it must be so hard on May," his mom said, sighing. Ned's mom, Leilani, and May had been roommates in college. They became closer than friends, and even went so far as to call each other "sister." They were maids of honor in each other's weddings. May had celebrated with Leilani when Ned was born and Leilani had mourned with May when she found out she couldn't have children. They had mourned together when Mary and Richard had died, and rejoiced when May and Ben adopted Peter. Leilani has been by her sister's side when Ben died. Ned and Peter were so close because of their mother and aunt's close friendship.

"I'll have to give her a call," Leilani whispered to herself, softly kissing her son's head as he cried bitter tears for his friend.

—

A/N: Thank you everyone for reading, following, favoriting, and especially reviewing!

Shoutouts to HUGEmarvelnerd1 and vampgirliegirl for reviewing! I love reviews, they give me the strength to continue on days when writing is difficult. Thanks guys!