Peter's mind was made of sludge.

One minute he was dozing off while watching a movie with his friends, and then he was vaguely aware that MJ and Dr. Banner were leaning over him.

He tried to listen as MJ babbled on about how the movie ended, but he couldn't focus enough to make her words out clearly enough to understand.

He blinked again, or dozed off again and then there was a prick in his elbow and he felt cool liquid flow through his veins. It felt nice. He was too hot. He blinked.

He must have dozed again, because the next thing he knew, May was leaning over him, her cool hand on his hot cheek.

"I'm here, baby," he heard her say.

He tried to respond, but it came out as a mumble or a groan, or a combination of the two.

"We have to put him under," a distant male voice said.

Peter tried to respond again, but then his body was heavy and it felt like he was sinking into the surface below him. His eyelids were too heavy to keep open.

When he woke again, his mind felt clearer and his body felt cooler.

"May?" he asked as he tried to blink the sleep and tiredness out of his eyes.

"Hi baby," she said, and when he was finally able to open his eyes, he saw her leaning over him.

"Wha-?" he tried to say, his tongue heavy and dry.

"Here," she said, putting something cool on his lips. He accepted it before he realized that she was feeding him an ice chip. He let it melt on his tongue before trying to speak again.

He swallowed. "What happened?"

"Your port was infected, and you got a fever because of it. Tony and Bruce brought you to the compound, and Bruce removed your port and put you on antibiotics. Your fever broke a few hours ago."

"Mmm," Peter hummed in response, still feeling sleepy. "I don't think I'm going to go to school today, May," he mumbled.

"Shh, just rest baby," he heard her whisper as he felt her hand gently card through his hair.

"How is he?" Tony whispered from the entrance to the room.

May smiled a little to herself as she continued her gentle ministrations on her now-sleeping nephew.

"Pretty sleepy still, but otherwise as fine as he can be in this situation."

"May, I…"

"Thank you," she interrupted.

Tony's lips parted in surprise. "May, I should have insisted he stay here, we could have caught it earlier…"

May held up a hand to stop him and looked him dead in the eye. "You did what you could for him. You answered your phone when his friends called, and you got him here in time. This is not all on you, Stark. You didn't give him cancer. You didn't infect his port. It's not all on you to take care of him. This is a team effort, and a team effort means that there's more people than just you. You did your part and you did your part perfectly."

"But, I…"

"But nothing," May insisted. "Even if we had told him to stay here for his break week, he's eventually going to go stir crazy behind these walls. Those breaks are as much, if not more, for his mental health than for his physical health."

Tony's brows furrowed. "I just wish I could have done more."

May stood up and faced him. "Look at me, Stark."

Tony brought his eyes to meet hers.

May took a deep breath. "I want to hear you say it. I want to hear you say that this is a team, and not all of it falls on your shoulders."

Tony looked down at his feet.

"This is a team, and not all of it falls on my shoulders," he mumbled.

"Look at me when you say it, Stark."

Tony slowly brought his eyes to meet hers. Every time when he expected to see hatred and contempt in her eyes, he just saw patience and compassion. He didn't want to be the failure his father had always made him believe that he was. He was desperate to do good by Peter, and he hoped May knew that.

"This is a team, and not all of it falls on my shoulders," he said firmly.

May smiled weakly. "Now I want you to say that whenever you feel inadequate. I want you to lean on me, so that I can lean on you. We're all going to have bad days, butt the important thing is to get through this as a team."

Tony nodded.

—

Peter stirred a little. He was awake enough to know and to realize that he was awake to listen to his surroundings, but he didn't quite want to move his body or to alert those around him that he was awake. He was far too comfortable for that.

He listened to the soft beeping of the monitors in his room, and the gentle breathing of…May, he guessed, as the next most likely person to be in his hospital room alone with him had a heart arrhythmia due to his multiple arc reactors and heart surgeries.

He used his spider-hearing to see who else was around, and that's when he heard hushed voices a room (or two?) over. Peter laughed a little in his head. At least that spider bite was good for something, even if it did give him cancer.

"It's just so hard!" one voice exclaimed quietly. It sounded like Ned.

"I know baby," the second voice answered, accompanied by soft sounds of friction, as if someone was rubbing something or adjusting the way that sat on the furniture. This voice sounded adult and female, and since May was in here with him, Peter guessed that this voice was Ned's mom.

"It's hard enough that he's sick with cancer and to go to school without him and to only see him here, but people constantly asking me where he is makes it ten times worse!"

"I know, honey," Ned's mom whispered gently.

"And I don't want to lie to them, but I also can't tell them where he really is. Even if Peter let me tell everyone, I don't think I would want to. It was hard enough to tell MJ."

Peter heard some more friction.

"Have you tried telling Peter how it is for you at school?" Ned's mom asked him.

More friction, as if Ned was shaking his head.

"I think you should tell him how it's been for you so that he can sympathize, but also to ask if he's ready for everyone at school to know."

"I can't do that, Mom," Ned responded, "Peter has too much on his plate as it is. I don't want to add one more thing."

Ned's mom sighed. "I get that, honey, but I also know that Peter is your friend and that he wants to be a good friend to you, just like you want to be a good friend to him. He would want to know if something was bothering you."

Peter stopped listening. He momentarily felt bad for eavesdropping on what was meant to be a private conversation, but he was also glad that he had heard it. He hadn't even considered what his ordeal must be like for Ned, or how it would feel to be the friend stuck at school instead of the one stuck in the hospital bed.

He rolled a little onto his side. He blinked when he saw that the person in the room with him was not May.

"MJ?"

MJ looked up from the book she was reading. "Hey, loser."

"Where are May and Tony?" he asked, brow furrowing.

MJ put aside her book. "They went to have lunch. They needed a break at the same time, so I offered to sit with you. Do you want me to go get them?" she asked, moving to get out of her seat on the couch.

"No, it's fine. I was just surprised to see you in here alone, that's all."

"Okay," MJ nodded, picking up her book again and settling back in with it.

"MJ?"

"Hmm?"

"Is it hard for Ned at school with our classmates not knowing what's going on with me?"

MJ closed her book again, but didn't put it aside, and instead tapped her fingers on the cover as she thought.

Peter watched as different emotions briefly flicked over her otherwise stoic features. She was hard to read. She didn't let people in easily.

"Yes," she finally answered, after some hesitation. "He hates lying, and it makes him uncomfortable when people ask where you are or what happened to you or when he thinks you'll be coming back."

Peter nodded.

"Oh, Peter, you're awake," May exclaimed as she practically ran into the room.

MJ gave Peter a little smile and went back to her book.

"Am I interrupting anything?" May asked, coming to stand uncertainly by her nephew's bed.

"No, it's fine," Peter responded.

"How are you feeling?" May asked, immediately going into what Peter had dubbed 'nurse mode' in his head.

"Awake?" Peter answered questioningly, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "A little drugged? Cancerous?"

May smiled briefly and nodded. "So the usual?"

"Yep," he sighed, popping the p in frustration.

May nodded again with false cheer, "Well that's good! At least you don't feel feverish anymore!"

"May?" he asked, hoping to be real with her. He wished she would be real with him. He knew this was affected her too.

"Hmm?" May answered from where she was adjusting his blanket at the end of his bed.

"Can you tell Principal Morita that he can tell my class about all this now?" Peter asked, motioning to himself and the tubes and wires attached to him.

"What's brought this up?" May asked, sitting down on his bed and gently placing he hand on his leg.

Peter sighed and nodded toward his friend on the couch. "MJ told me that it's stressing Ned out to lie to our classmates, so I thought Principal Morita could just tell everyone, since he already offered to. That way Ned doesn't have to keep lying to people."

May paused in thought and then nodded. "I will, if you're absolutely sure you're ready for them to know."

Peter sighed. "I don't want them to ever know, but I might as well get ahead of it in case I'm ever healthy enough to go back for a day."

May nodded again, this time with more finality. "Okay, I will make that call for you," she said, patting his leg and standing up.

"Thanks, May."

May smiled, "Anything for you."

Peter looked to his friend on the couch. She was smiling behind her book.