Chapter Twenty-Eight

The next morning Tony was sipping coffee at the ungodly hour of seven am when he saw three kids burst into the waiting room of the intensive care unit. He immediately recognized Peter's two friends, the girl and the boy with the weird haircut. He didn't recognized the third boy who looked embarrassed to be there. Tony recognized the backpacks slung on their backs. They had obviously been on their way to school when they had decided to stop by.

"What are you kids doing here?" Tony blurted out as he walked towards them. "Shouldn't you three be failing Spanish?"

"I have a 110 % percent in Spanish," MJ replied with an offended sniff. "And we wanted to see how Peter was doing. First period doesn't start for another hour."

"But we'll get there on time, promise sir." Ned stuttered acting as if Tony were the high school principal. "What happened? Mr. Happy just told us he got sick and Peter needed to go to the hospital."

Meanwhile, the skinny tan boy next to him was gaping at Tony with a mix of shock and adoration. "Can I help you kid?" the boy looked like he was about to respond, but instead he mumbled something and looked at the floor.

MJ rolled her eyes as she clutched her math textbook to her chest. "Ignore him, that's Flash Thompson by the way. Huge fan. He probably has Iron Man underwear."

Flash reddened. "I do not!" he barked.

"Visiting hours don't start for another two hours," Tony announced, ignoring the jabbering between them. "But I think a couple hundred dollars bills and I can change the mind of that head nurse. Peter is still asleep by the way so you can't talk to him."

"That's fine," MJ looked at him quizzically. "What happened anyway? Parker is the healthiest person I know."

Tony ignored the question, he didn't know how much MJ and Ned knew and Peter had never mentioned the third boy. "Let me go sweet talk the nurse, I'll be right back." Tony had been halfway to the nurses' station when he felt someone was following him. He turned around and saw Flash following him. "What is it, kid?"

"Peter didn't get sick because of the pills, did he?" he fumbled with his sweater. "Because that is such a Peter thing to go. You give him one thing and he takes it to the extreme-"

"Pills?" Tony interrupted him. "What are you talking about?"

"A few months ago, Peter kept complaining of some bruises on his body which were making him have a hard time walking. I had some extra pain pills. I gave him some the first time, but then he came back asking for more."

Pills? Dr. Strange and Bruce had also mentioned Peter's odd fascination with pills lately. Not to mention he had broken into Strange's medical cabinet. And according to this Flash kid, Peter has had the bruises for months. Tony flushed. Why hadn't Peter told him? Worse why hadn't he said anything? He had noticed the limping and Peter getting weaker. He was so, so stupid. "How many times did you give him the pills?" he demanded. His voice coming out harsher than necessary.

"Just twice or three times," Flash stumbled. "After a while I cut him off because he was swallowing them like candy and I couldn't have anyone grow suspicious because the pills are prescribed to me. You won't tell my parents right, Mr. Stark? They'll kill me if they find out."

"Your secret is safe with me, kid." Tony mumbled. He suddenly saw May and her boyfriend enter the waiting room. May gave him a wave and Tony waved back as he entered the men's bathroom.

He pulled out his phone and dialed Happy's number. Happy answered on the first ring. "How is he doing? If he ok? Is Peter awake?"

"He's hopped up on pain killers. He's still asleep." Tony responded dryly, which apparently had been a mistake all along. "Listen, Happy I need a favor. I need you to go to the Parker's apartment. There is an extra key under the welcome mat. Go inside Peter's room and bring me back any pills you can find. Prescription and over the counter bring them too so Bruce can see them."

"Ok," Happy sounded confused. "Are you ok? You seem a little agitated."

"Just peachy. Just hurry ok."


"I still can't wrap my head around it," May said with a sniff as she wiped her eyes with Kleenex. After Peter's friends had left May and Tony had come back to Peter's room where he was still sleeping. "Who would try to poison him? How the hell did somebody get into our house and just poison his food?"

"I don't know, May." Tony looked at Peter who was hooked up to a dozen machines. A least he was breathing on his own, but he looked so small and delicate. "But I will make sure to personally find that person and torture them."

May laughed. "Peter is so lucky to have someone like you in his life taking care of him."

"I wasn't watching him properly if this happened," Tony said looking back at Peter guiltily.

"Stop it, don't say that," May scolded him. "You can't watch him every minute of every day. If anything, I should have noticed something was going on, but ever since I broke my arm my head has been all over the place."

Tony stood up when he suddenly saw the covers moving, both him and May turned to face Peter who was slowly waking up. Peter's eyes fluttered open and he suddenly jerked up in confusion.

May pressed a hand on his shoulder. "It's ok, Peter," May whispered. "You're safe, you're ok. I'm here and Mr. Stark is here."

"Do you need anything, Pete?" Tony asked suddenly feeling very useless.

"Water," Peter chocked out and Tony opened one of the water bottles by the table. Peter gave him a grateful look as May told him to sip the water slowly. "What happened?" he asked as he looked around in confusion. "Why am I here?"

May and Tony exchanged looks. "It's a very long story."


"Poison?" Peter looked at Natasha, Steve, Tony, and Bruce in confusion. Bruce was currently fussing over him and checking his blood pressure. "Who would poison me? How would they even get inside my apartment?"

Peter was still feeling slightly overwhelmed with everything that has just happened, especially since he had just found out he had been passed out for two days and apparently had been poisoned. It didn't help he had a private staff of ten watching his every move. Sometimes Mr. Stark could be a bit of a drama queen.

"We were hoping you could tell us," Natasha replied. "Has anything else appeared out of the ordinary in your life?"

Peter blushed pink as he looked at his lap. "Not that I've noticed."

There was an awkward silence before Bruce spoke up. "Um, guys Peter needs his rest so this might not be the best time to play 20 questions."

"Of course," Steve elbowed Tony who clearly had more things he wanted to ask. "We can come back later."

-End of Chapter Twenty-Eight-

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