Jim Morita stood at the window of his office, watching as his students came into school that Monday morning.

He sighed. He didn't want to be the bearer of bad news for the sophomore class. He didn't want to tell them that their classmate was severely ill. But he had offered to, and since May Parker had emailed him about it last night, he knew he couldn't procrastinate. He had to buck up and do his job.

Jim glanced at the framed photo of his grandfather with whom he shared a name. He had been a Howling Commando, so he knew better than anyone how to handle tough situations. Too bad the man had been gone for years. Jim wanted to bounce ideas off of him, but that simply wasn't possible.

He sighed again. Back to work, he thought as he once again pulled up the email.

—

The entire sophomore class buzzed. Principal Morita had called an assembly of just them in the gym that afternoon at the end of the school day and now everyone was asking each other what it could possibly be about.

MJ knew. He was going to announce that Peter had cancer. She wondered if Ned suspected, or if he was just fidgeting with the usual amount of nervousness he had around their classmates lately.

"Do either of you know what's going on?" asked Betty Brant from the row behind them.

"No, I…" Ned stammered nervously. He had tried so hard these last few weeks to avoid saying anything, but now that Peter hadn't been to school for weeks at a time for chemo treatments and hospital stays and people who knew him were starting to wonder where he was.

"Do you know what happened to Peter, Ned?" Betty asked upon seeing his hesitation, wondering if the assembly and their missing classmate could somehow be connected.

"Yeah, where is Parker?" Flash asked from Ned's other side. "Your only friend hasn't been to school for a while. Did he get suspended?"

"He…" Ned desperately tried to think of something to say, but Principal Morita chose just the right time to enter the room and everyone began to quiet down.

MJ gave Ned a sympathetic smile before turning and giving their principal her full attention.

"Thank you everyone for coming," the principal said as he took the podium in the middle of the gym. "I'm sure most of you are wondering why I've called you here today. No, you're not in trouble," he said with a slight smile on his face as the class murmured nervously.

"In fact, only one of you is. One of your classmates has recently been diagnosed with cancer. This individual is Peter Parker."

Ned could feel the stares of several people radiate off of him. MJ put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"He has asked me to let you know this so that when he returns to school he can avoid as many awkward exchanges as possible."

"Now I know this is surprising and sudden information and many of you have questions. I am going to tell you what the Parker family has authorized me to divulge." He paused for a moment to catch his breath and to adjust his papers and tie before straightening and looking several students in the eye.

"Peter has been diagnosed with osteosarcoma, which is a type of bone cancer. It is in Peter's right hip bone. You many have noticed that he has been limping and has been on crutches the few times he's been to school since his diagnosis."

He paused again to look at his students. The room was dead silent. Many students were shocked. They all knew what cancer was, but I had never occurred to them that it could directly effect one of their classmates and community.

Morita took a deep breath before continuing. "Currently, he's going through chemotherapy treatments, so he'll be back either when he feels well enough to come back, or when the doctors say he can come back safely."

He gave several more pointed looks around the room, pausing specifically to look at Flash.

"When and if he comes back, I want you all to treat him as normally as possible, but to not make his life more difficult than it normally is. Please help only if and when it is appropriate."

Flash squirmed uncomfortably in his seat as several students looked in his direction.

Betty raised her hand. "What can we as the student body do to help?"

Principal Morita looked a bit taken back but answered the question anyway.

"For now, keep Peter in your thoughts and prayers. If you want to do a fund raiser or write get well cards, you can do that too. I will do my best to help anyone who would endeavor to do so. When and if he comes back, he may need assistance getting around the halls. He and his teachers will take point on getting him caught up in his classes. Other than that, just be your normal, friendly selves.

"Any more questions? No? Alright, you can go then. Have a good rest of your day."

The class began buzzing again, mostly out of concern for Peter, even though a good amount of them didn't even know him.

Ned looked to his left. Flash looked absolutely shocked.

Ned looked to his right to see MJ looking straight at him, a small smile on her lips and sympathy in her eyes.

"You knew, didn't you?" Betty asked him, her face full of incredulity and….sympathy.

Ned sighed before facing her. "Yeah, he told me a week after he found out."

"And he didn't tell us?"

"No, he didn't want anyone to look at him differently."

"Wait, you knew too, MJ!" Betty said, almost accusingly.

MJ gave Ned a look before answering, a touch of hostility in her tone. "Yeah, I'm his friend. I've been visiting him in the hospital, what of it?"

Betty sighed. "Do either of you know any more information than what Morita just told us?"

Ned and MJ exchanged a glance before MJ answered. "It's been affecting him for longer than he wants to admit. This far, the chemo is successfully shrinking his tumor, but the doctors want him on it for longer. They're going to remove it in a few weeks if the chemo schedule isn't messed up. His port got infected and had to be removed a couple days ago through, so I think the chemo schedule is probably out of whack already."

"Okay," Betty answered, nodding. "I'm going to do something to help. Organize a student organization, or something."

"Okay…" Ned answered uncertainly.

Betty nodded finitely and walked out the door.

MJ raised her eyebrows.

Ned shrugged a little. "I guess she likes to have something to do to feel like she's helping."

"Don't we all?" MJ sighed.

—

A few days later, Betty approached Ned and MJ after school.

"I have something for Peter!" she said brightly, holding up a bright blue gift bag.

"Okay, thanks!" answered Ned.

"It's a cancer kit," Betty continued, "I also included a card that I got most of our class to sign. You guys need to add your signatures to it," she said, practically shoving a pencil case with colorful pens into their hands.

Ned took the card and signed it before handing it to MJ.

MJ smiled. The card read, 'Get well soon!' and had an obnoxious yellow smiley face on the front. The inside just had 'Thinking of you!' and their classes' (and some teachers') signatures in every color of the rainbow, plus some. Betty had been thorough.

"Thanks, we'll be sure to deliver these to him," Ned said, taking the bag from Betty.

"Thanks!" Betty replied, "And let him know that we're thinking about him and praying for him!"

"We will!" called MJ, practically dragging Ned out to where Happy's car was waiting to bring them to the compound to visit Peter.

—

Peter tried to hold it. He just felt so nauseous. Just a little longer, he promised himself as he stumbled his way out of his hospital bed and to the bathroom. Oops, he thought as he leaned over and the contents of his stomach made their way on the floor yet again.

He felt his eyes begin to tear up as he sat of the floor, leaning against the side of his bed and trying to avoid the mess. No, I'm not going to cry over a little barf, he thought as he tried to swallow his tears down, only to taste the acid in his mouth.

He had woken up that morning to a nurse inserting a PICC line to deliver his next round of chemo in. They wanted to put in another port, but he had balked at the mere thought of it. He didn't want to go though an infected port again.

And as per usual, the chemo made him unspeakably nauseous. He was not okay.

"Oh buddy," he heard Tony's sympathetic voice before he saw him coming to sit next to him on the cold tiled floor.

"Let's get you back to bed," the man said, gently helping the teen to his feet.

Peter felt tears fall down his face. He was so sick of being sick. Luckily he hadn't gotten his clothes dirty this time. Small miracles.

Peter lay down in bed as per Tony's instructions and felt the man tuck him in and then gently card his hand through Peter's dirty hair. Peter leaned into the touch. Tony's hand was a small relief in the turmoil that was now his life.

"Are you up for company today?" Tony asked gently.

Peter shrugged. He didn't really care.

He heard Tony take a deep breath. "Your friends Ned and Michelle are here. They have a gift from your classmates with them. If you're not up to seeing them, I'll just tell them. I'm sure they'll understand."

Peter shrugged again and buried his face deeper into Tony's side.

"I'm going to take that as a no," Tony said. Then to someone else in the room- Peter didn't feel like looking up to see who it was- "When you're done with that, could you please tell his friends that he's not up to seeing them today?"

"Of course," a voice Peter recognized as Jan's- one of his daytime nurses, replied.

Peter cuddled into his mentor, allowing the man's ministrations to soothe him as he slowly felt himself begin to doze.

"Hey buddy," Peter felt Tony gently rubbing his arm to wake him up.

"Mmmm," Peter hummed, blinking up at the man.

Tony couldn't help but smile at Peter's wonderfully adorable Bambi eyes looking up at him.

"Are you up for opening this present from your classmates?" Tony asked, uncertain of what the teen's response would be. His chemo infusion was almost done and he would probably sleep for the rest of the day once the nurses took it out.

Peter blinked a little and then slowly sat up, being careful not to disturb his PICC line.

Once Tony was sure that Peter was sitting comfortably, he reached onto the floor by the bed to retrieve the gift bag.

Peter smiled a little upon receiving it. He appreciated the gesture from his classmates, but being the center of attention for any reason- and especially one so far out of his control- made him kind of uncomfortable.

As he took out the overzealous amount of colorful tissue paper, he thought about how this was probably organized by Betty Brant- someone who was extremely organized and neat, but who also liked everything to be colorful and more importantly, color coded. This thought was confirmed when he found the card with its bright yellow smiley face on the front, neat message, and uniformly spaced signatures on the inside. Definitely Betty.

The next thing he took out was a pair of blue hand-knitted socks. These had an index card inside them saying that they were from Claire. Of course the girl who always brought a knitting project to class would make him socks. He put his hand inside to appreciate the softness of the yarn.

The next item in the bag was ginger candy. When he looked at Tony questioningly, the man replied, "Ginger is supposed to be a natural remedy for nausea. I thought about getting you some, but I wasn't sure if you'd be up to eating any."

Peter nodded before settling the candy bag next to the socks on the bed.

When he reached in again, his hand met a small box. When he took it out, he found that it was a mini Lego kit for building a SHIELD Quinjet. He smiled, bigger and brighter than Tony had seen him smile in a long while. His classmates knew him well.

The next thing he pulled out was a stuffed teddy bear holding a red heart that read, "Get Well Soon!" Peter stroked its fur and then put it on his bed next to the other gifts.

The last item Peter took out of the bag was a soft green beanie with atoms printed on it to look like a chalkboard. Peter froze a little upon seeing this. He knew its implications. His hair hadn't begun to fall out yet, but he knew that it was only a matter of time, especially since this new round of chemo was a stronger type than the last.

Peter sighed before reaching for the socks and putting them on his cold feet and snuggling back into Tony's side.

"Did that help a little?" Tony asked.

Peter sighed before nodding against his mentor. Tony stroked his hair. Nothing more needed to be said.

A/N: The reason why I had the school do it in a formal announcement is because that's how my school handled it when a classmate died in a car accident several years ago. I know some schools would handle this differently, but this is how the school I went to handled it.

Also, I wrote a chunk of this, the 14th chapter, on August 14th! Which means….nothing, but I thought it was cool when I was bored at work, so now y'all get to know too.

Please tell me what you think! I love hearing from you, it gives me encouragement and motivation to continue!