A/N: Sorry it's been a minute. I appreciate your patience, especially since I'm a full-time college student and school takes priority. That being said, enjoy the chapter!

It had been one of the longest two weeks of Peter's life. The stronger chemo was really doing a number on him, but thankfully his doctors had finally found an anti-nausea drug that worked on him. So instead of throwing up his guts all the time, he was simply cold and exhausted.

It was exhausting being exhausted all the time, simply because his brain was going a million miles an hour with ideas and thoughts, but his body was too tired to do anything about them. May kept telling him that it was a good sign- being sick of being sick- that it meant he was getting better and the chemo was working, but her saying this wasn't very comforting. Peter was still bored out of his mind.

But with Ned and MJ coming to visit him after school every few days, Peter at least had someone other than May and Tony to talk to.

"Hey, could you bring me some of my homework the next time you come?" Peter asked them, eager to do something during the rare occasion when his brain and body were awake at the same time.

Ned's nose crinkled in distaste. "Are you sure you want to do homework? Like, you have the best excuse to not do homework."

Peter groaned. "Ned, you have no idea how bored I am all the time. I would give anything to give my brain a challenge. So yes, I want to do homework!"

Ned nodded skeptically. "Okay, Peter, if it's what you want, I'll bring some of your textbooks and some assignments next time."

"You can have my notes from class," MJ added, looking up from her sketchpad where she was doodling the two friends 'in crisis' on Peter's hospital bed. She sure is getting some good material, Peter thought, smiling to himself.

"Time for your scans, Peter," Nurse Jan announced as she sauntered into the room, effectively ruining his brief good mood.

"Ughhh!" Peter groaned, flopping into his pillows in frustration, "but Ned and MJ just got here!"

Jan gave a sympathetic smile. "I know, but they'll be here when you get out."

MJ smiled at him before setting her sketchbook aside and facing the nurse. "Could I come with, Jan? I've always been interested in seeing those machines in action."

"Of course," the kind nurse responded brightly. "You can talk to him through the microphone while we do the scans."

Ned perked up a little at the prospect of seeing machines in action, but Peter was still upset that he had to do the scans at all.

Truthfully, Peter was more terrified to see the scans' results than he was frustrated to miss time with his friends. The last scans hadn't shown significant progress so he had had to go on the stronger chemo. Peter feared that if no chemo was strong enough for his crazy immune system, he may never get better. That was a genuine possibility that he hated to even consider.

Also, he hated that cancer took everything away from him, especially his time with his friends.

He was still internally moping when Jan finally stopped his bed in the MRI room and helped him onto the bed that would take him into the tube.

"You good?" MJ asked, showing a rare display of small emotion.

Peter paused and nodded a bit before Jan helped him lay down on the bed that would take him into the metal tube of doom. That's what he called it to himself. He didn't think either May or Tony would appreciate him describing a device being used to help him with the word "doom."

He was just so sick of scans and everything that came with them. Especially laying in a metal tube for an hour.

"Hey Peter," MJ's voice came over the speaker in the room a few minutes after the scan began. He imagined her leaning into the microphone in the control booth.

"Remember Washington? How I was at the bottom of the Washington monument when Spidey came to save our class?" her voice continued soothingly.

Peter nodded slightly, knowing there was a camera in the MRI machine and that they could see his face on a monitor.

"That's when I first suspected it was you. You hadn't been around all day, which was my first clue…"

"Wait, what?!" Ned's voice exclaimed nervously.

MJ sighed and Peter imagined her rolling her eyes.

"Peter's Spider-Man," her voice said with a nonchalant tone to it.

"What?! No….I mean…" Ned's voice stammered, still denying his best friend's alter ego.

"I mean, come on," MJ's matter-of-fact voice continued with a hint of exasperation in it. "It makes sense. Peter was missing in Washington at the exact same time Spider-Man was saving our class. He also disappeared from Flash's party and from Homecoming right before Spider-Man was involved in something in the city. Spider-Man hasn't been seen or heard from since Peter stopped coming to school- right after Spidey crashed that plane on our Homecoming night, I might add. And my biggest clue was the two of you talking about the logistics of Spider-Man and his webs all the time at school right before all of the incidents connecting Spider-Man to our school happened. And I haven't even mentioned your super weird connection to Tony Stark."

Ned muttered nervously to himself, still denying it, talking about the Stark internship and the like.

Peter tried schooling his face. He wasn't supposed to move during an MRI and right now, he was nervous about his friend's observations.

"Are you going to tell me the truth, losers, or are you guys going to keep lying to my face?"

Peter sighed before answering. "MJ, I'll talk to you once I'm out of here. Tell me what's going on at school for now."

MJ sighed and Ned quickly began to tell a story that involved Flash and several milk cartons, all of which had somehow been overturned.

Peter began to breathe steadily again.

—

Peter sat silently on his hospital bed, waiting for May to get there and also for the doctor to come back with his scan results.

"You good?" MJ asked for the second time that day, likely bothered by his silence.

Peter shrugged. "The last time we did these scans, they showed that the chemo wasn't working well, so the doctors switched me to a more concentrated drug mix. I'm just afraid that if this one doesn't work either, they won't have many more options for me."

He swallowed hard, hoping they heard the unspoken, I could die.

Ned took a deep breath. "We'll be here for you either way," he said quietly, attempting a smile.

MJ nodded and gave an encouraging smile.

Peter nodded and tried to give them a small smile in return. "Thanks guys," he whispered.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes before May burst into the room, Tony hot on her heels.

"Have they told you the results yet?" May asked, sitting in a chair and adjusting her position several times.

"Not yet," Peter answered, nervously picking at his sheets.

May kept shifting. The air was heavy in the room- everyone was anxiously anticipating Peter's scan results.

Peter sat up straight when Dr. Cho walked into the room. Upon seeing her smile, everyone seemed to be able to breathe again.

"It's good news," she said, holding up her clipboard in triumph before sitting on the doctor's stool and wheeling herself over to Peter's bedside.

Tony stopped pacing to peek at the clipboard over her shoulder. MJ and Ned gripped Peter's hands and smiled encouragingly.

The doctor smiled again. "This chemo regimen appears to be working, and working well. I'm seeing a great improvement on tumor shrinkage, and your blood results indicate that your immune system is more stable than it's been in a while. We should be good to go onto the next stage of treatment after the next few rounds of chemo."

Peter smiled a little.

Tony rubbed his chin. "What's the next stage of treatment?"

Dr. Cho turned to face everyone in the room. "Since the tumor is on Peter's pelvis, we're currently shrinking the tumor down to an operable size. Once that is accomplished, we are going to replace his pelvis."

"A hip replacement?" May asked.

The doctor nodded. "Yes. This is the only way we can make sure that we take care of all of the cancerous cells in his hip and also get rid of the tumor. It is intertwined with his bone because of its nature as a bone cancer. This is the best treatment option for him and will give him the best long-term results. We're also going to follow up surgery with more chemo, just to make sure everything is gone."

"How do you feel about that, Peter?" May asked, reaching for his hand. MJ let go to allow Peter's aunt access.

Peter shrugged. "I get to live, don't I? That's better than being in one piece."

May nodded.

Dr. Cho smiled again. "I have some more information that might interest you, Peter."

He looked up at her, curious.

"Since your immune system is improving, I can authorize you to go to school for half days on your chemo break weeks." When Peter's face lit up and he looked like he was about to interrupt, she held up her hand. "You'll have to agree to be transparent about any symptoms while you're at home and at school, and to come home from school if you need to."

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Peter responded, practically jumping out of his bed with excitement. Right now, he didn't care what his classmates thought, he just wanted to be able to do anything but sit in a hospital bed all day.

"That's great news, honey! I'm so happy for you!" May exclaimed, practically crushing him in a hug.

Dr. Cho smiled again. "While you are not out of the woods yet, it is an encouraging step forward."

—

Later that night, after Peter had asked everyone to leave so he could sleep without being watched, MJ lingered.

"So…about that thing we were talking about earlier…" MJ said, not giving him a chance to avoid the conversation.

Peter bit his lower lip. He really didn't want to tell another person about his currently-absent alter-ego, but MJ was leaving no way out.

"I am Spider-Man," he answered hesitantly.

MJ's eyes widened. "You're being serious with me right now? Because it's not funny."

Peter nodded, his face blank.

"Because I was only like, 67 percent sure…"

"MJ…"

"And…Wait, why are you here? I thought Spider-man had super healing or something? He's always back within a few days after the news reports that he's been hurt, and…."

"MJ!"

"What?" she asked, finally bringing her eyes to meet his.

"I know you have a lot of questions, but I can only answer one at a time."

She paused at that and looked at him, nodding.

He took a deep breath. "I'm Spider-Man because I got bit by a radioactive spider on our Oscorp field trip last year. It gave me powers, but it also made me sick," he said, purposefully omitting the c-word. He didn't like to say it out loud.

MJ's eyes widened and she took a deep breath before smiling a little. "I can't believe I figured it out!"

Peter smiled back. Of course that would be her first takeaway.

A/N: Thank you all for the overwhelming support from the last chapter! I really appreciate your feedback!

The big reveal was not the original plan for this chapter- it just kind of happened. Sometimes you just have to listen to what the story wants. :)

Also, I wrote a chunk of this on a plane (my first flight since I was a toddler!) and in an airport! I also discovered that down escalators are my nemesis. Not up ones. Down ones.

Please leave me a note telling me what you think! They make my day and really motivate me to write!