"Darwin!" A voice cries out.

But it's not Peter's voice. Peter has just stumbled out of the bus to see Ned standing with a web-shooter in his hands, strands of webbing attached to the Shocker gauntlet. And his dog lying on the ground.

He quickly grabs the web, pulls the weapon down while also pulling the web-shooter towards him. He quickly webs the Shocker to the bus, sans weapon. Then, he runs to his dog.

"Darwin!" He exclaims, falling to his knees beside the unconscious Wolfhound, "Oh my God, Darwin, are you okay?! Wake up, buddy, c'mon, please!" Darwin doesn't move, but Peter can see a nasty burn on his shoulder where the Shocker hit him.

"Peter!" Ned exclaims, rushing over to them, "What is going on?!"

Peter jumps to his feet. "Ned! The guy with the wings is Liz's dad!"

"What?!"

"I know! I gotta tell Mr. Stark, I gotta, I gotta stop him, but-" He glances between Ned and Darwin, clearly conflicted. He doesn't want to leave his injured dog, but he has to catch Mr. Toomes.

Ned seems to understand. "Don't worry, man, I'll stay with him."

"Oh, thank you!" Peter gasps, "Call Happy Hogan. He's Mr. Stark's head of security. And, uh, get a computer to track my phone for me."

"Are you gonna be okay?" Ned asks, but Peter has already turned and begun swinging away.

"Hurry, we gotta catch him before he leaves town!"

When Darwin wakes up, it feels like he's been unconscious for many hours. Someone has their hand on his flank and he can hear hushed voices around him.

"Okay, so while you were on your way back, I Googled what to do when your dog gets an electric shock. Apparently it's pretty common in puppies because they chew on wires and stuff-"

"Ned!"

"Right. So, I checked his heart and his breathing and he seems overall okay, it's mostly the burn we need to worry about. I guess it was a good thing I got kicked out of the computer lab because the gym has first aid stuff in the office. Anyway, so I've already cleaned the burn and I put Neosporin on it- don't worry, you can use that on dogs too- but apparently burns in dogs can get infected and they need antibiotics."

"Oh, God, I can't take him to the vet, May will find out and how the hell am I going to explain a giant burn to her?"

"Don't worry, his fur is already dark so maybe she won't noticed it's singed and it can hide the burn. As for the infection… eh, let's hope for the best?"

Fingers card through the fur on his head. A sigh. "I hope he's gonna be okay."

"Dude, are you gonna be okay? You look like you just got hit by a bus."

That gets Darwin's attention. The dog blearily blinks his eyes open and glances at the two teenagers kneeling next to him. Peter's homemade Spider-Man suit is torn and burned in many places and his face is bruised and bleeding. Darwin whines and lifts his head.

'What happened?'

"Darwin!" Peter gasps. Darwin moves to get up, but Peter holds him down with a hand. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, bud, don't get up, you're hurt. Holy shit, I'm so glad you're okay!"

'Toomes!' Darwin remembers suddenly. He eyes Peter's injuries. 'Did you fight him? Did you win?'

"Rrrroooooo…"

"Aww, I know, bud, I know it hurts," Peter soothes him, petting his head, "Such a brave boy, protecting me from the Shocker. I love you, but never do that again."

'I would do it a thousand times over,' Darwin thinks, pushing himself into a sitting position despite Peter's protests. His shoulder aches terribly, so puts his weight on his right paw and glances around. The lights are off and they're in the gym. Darwin briefly wonders how Ned got him in here.

Said boy stands up and pats Peter's shoulder. "I guess he's gonna be okay. It's getting late, though. My mom is going to be here any minute. Where did you leave your clothes?"

"Oh, in the bathroom next to English class."

"'Kay, I'll go get them. Maybe clean up a bit in the meantime, you're covered in ash and sand."

Ned disappears, but Peter doesn't get up. Instead, he stays kneeling in front of Darwin and the two gaze at each other.

Peter looks utterly exhausted, but he smiles wearily. He gently leans his forehead against Darwin's. "I got the bad guy, buddy," he whispers tiredly, "He was after Mr. Stark's plane. I knocked him right outta the sky, you should've seen it. It was like, the awesomest and scariest thing I've ever done." He lets out a huff of laughter, then inhales deeply. "God, I'm so tired."

Darwin turns his head and licks the boy's face. Instead of grimacing and moving away, though, Peter just huffs again and lets him lick the ashes off his face. Then, he leans forward and wraps his arms around the dog, careful to avoid his injured shoulder. Darwin rests his chin on his head and sighs, relieved.

'Good boy. Let's get you home.'

Peter eventually goes to the bathroom and cleans up, changing back into his homecoming suit when Ned returns with it. Then, Ned's mother arrives, soon followed by May. Thankfully, a lot of the smaller cuts on Peter's face are healed by the time she arrives. Peter and Darwin both hide their limps and May remains wonderfully oblivious. She excitedly asks question after question about the dance, but when it becomes clear that Peter is tired and not in the mood for chatter, she falls silent and drives with a small smile on her face.

Then they're home and Peter is stiffly getting into bed, mindful of his injuries. He's not even trying to go in the top bunk, which shows he's really in a lot of pain. Darwin curls up next to him and the exhausted duo fall asleep instantly.

Thankfully, the next day is Sunday, so they sleep in until 11AM. Darwin is awake first, the pain from his injured shoulder waking him up. He groans softly and lifts his head. Peter is still asleep beside him and he glances over. Any cuts and bruises he had are completely gone, but he's frowning in his sleep, feeling stressed. Sniffing, Darwin nudges his hand with his nose and the boy's eyes snap open.

He sits up quickly, then winces. Putting a hand on one of his shoulders, he grunts, "Remind me to never get trapped under a collapsed building ever again."

Darwin blinks. 'You what?'

Rubbing his eyes, Peter glances at Darwin with a smile. "Hey, bud, how are you feeling? Let's take a look at that shoulder."

Crawling over to the dog's other side, Peter gently pushes aside some of his singed fur and frowns. Darwin can't see the burn, but just the act of pushing aside his fur makes him wince, so he know it can't be good. Peter takes a deep breath and gives him a tight smile.

"Let's just… keep an eye on that."

Peter gets out of bed and Darwin moves to follow him, but Peter gently pushes him back down. "No, no, bud, stay in bed today, okay?"

Obediently, Darwin lies back down, too tired to protest. Peter disappears for a few moments and Darwin hears him chatting with May in the other room. When he reappears, he's got a bowl of cereal in one hand and a bowl of kibble in the other.

"I told her you were just being a lazy couch potato after the dance and she believed me without question," Peter snickers, setting the bowl down in front of the dog. Then, he sits down next to him and the two eat their breakfast in silence.

As they do, Darwin finds himself not being very hungry. He nibbles at his food half-heartedly and Peter glances at him worriedly. The boy pulls out his phone and begins typing, eating his cereal as he scours the internet. Once he's finished, he stands up and pats Darwin's head.

"I'm gonna go get you some medicine to make you feel better," he reassures him, "Try and finish your breakfast, okay, bud?"

Darwin grunts in response and Peter disappears. As soon as he's gone, Darwin pushes his food away and flops onto his side. He's trying not to show it, but he feels awful. The pain in his left shoulder is nearly unbearable and constant, and even though he got a full night of sleep he's exhausted. He dozes off while Peter is gone and only wakes up when he walks back into the room.

He's holding a peanut butter sandwich and has a corner of it ripped off and in his hand. He offers it to Darwin, who glances away disinterestedly.

"C'mon, Darwin, you love peanut butter," Peter urges, "It's good, see?" To prove his point, he takes a big bite out of his sandwich and hums. He holds the piece in front of Darwin's nose. "Please?"

'If it'll make you stop, fine.' The dog gently takes the sandwich piece out of his hand and eats it. As he does, he feels a pill crunching between his teeth. 'Oh.'

It doesn't seem to do much at first, but eventually the pain eases up slightly. Enough for him to leave the apartment briefly to do his business, but even May notices his fatigue.

"Do you think he's getting sick?" He hears her whisper to Peter, "Did he eat something bad at the party?"

Peter shrugs. "He was by my side the whole time."

"Well, if he doesn't perk up in the next couple of days, I'm taking him to the vet."

Even though he's exhausted, he barely sleeps that night. Peter has trouble sleeping too. The boy shifts and whimpers in his sleep, waking up with a jolt a couple of times. Darwin wonders what his nightmares are about this time. It must be something from the Vulture incident.

He feels even worse the next morning. It's all he can do to not let May see his limp as he follows Peter out the door for school. The boy tries to make him stay behind, but Darwin makes it very clear that he isn't going to. So, Peter just gives him another pill and deliberately slows his pace so that Darwin can keep up with his limp. As soon as they reach Midtown High, Darwin flops down on the grass and sighs.

Peter kneels down in front of him, worry in his eyes. "Take it easy today, okay, bud?" He says, gently scratching his head, "I'll put an ice pack on your shoulder when we get home."

Darwin grunts as the boy straightens up and joins the mass of students swarming into the school. He dozes off for most of the day, too tired to sniff around for food at lunchtime. He wakes up in the afternoon when he knows that Peter will be done soon.

'He's probably in… what, Academic Decathlon right now?' the dog muses, 'Shouldn't be long before he's done.' His nap helped a bit with his fatigue, but his shoulder is aching with a new vigor. 'The pain medication must be wearing off.'

A nice-looking car pulls into the parking lot and Darwin glances over at it. An odd time for a car to arrive, but Darwin doesn't think much of it. At least not until the driver steps out and it's Happy Hogan.

'What's he doing here?' Darwin wonders as the man glances around, walking towards the school. As he gets closer, Darwin stands up and limps over to him.

Happy quickly spots him and pauses. "Oh, right," he says, as if he'd forgotten Darwin even existed. He notices the dog's limp as he comes to stand in front of him and asks, "What happened to you?"

Darwin stares at him blankly. 'I could ask the same about you. Aren't you Stark's head of security? He must be pretty upset about his plane getting hijacked.'

"What, Peter just leaves you outside of school without even a leash?" He sounds like he can't decide whether to be judgemental or concerned. "Well, anyway, I'm picking him up now anyway so you'd better come with." The man turns and heads into the school, Darwin soon following.

For some reason, they walk into a bathroom and wait in there while Happy texts Peter. Darwin sits down on the cold floor and watches as a boy walks in a moment later. However, it's not Peter, and the boy gives Happy an odd look before disappearing into one of the stalls.

Eventually, though, Peter does round the corner and blinks in surprise when he sees them.

"Hey, Happy," he says, feeling apprehensive, "What, uh… What are you doing here?"

To both Peter and Darwin's surprise, Happy actually smiles. "I really owe you one. I don't know what I would do without this job. I mean, before I met Tony-"

He's interrupted by a toilet flushing, soon followed by the boy from earlier walking out of the stall. He washes his hands as they stand there awkwardly, Happy glaring at him impatiently. As he leaves, the boy throws Peter a confused glance and Peter turns back to Happy with a sheepish expression.

"So, uh, how long you been here?"

"Long enough to be awkward," Happy responds, "Boss wants to see you."

Peter glances at the stalls and whispers, "Is he here too?"

"In the toilet? No, he's upstate."

That catches both boy and dog's attention. "Upstate? Like, upstate-upstate?"

"Yeah, let's go," Happy responds, leading the way out of the bathroom.

Peter doesn't follow immediately. Instead, he hesitates, looking back at Darwin who's still sitting on the floor. Noticing he's not being followed, Happy stops and asks, "What's wrong? Come on."

"Yeah, it's just…" Peter stammers, "It's, uh, Darwin. I mean, he hasn't been feeling really well… I don't know if he's up for a long trip…"

"Yeah, I noticed he's limping, what happened there?"

Peter hesitates. He walks back to Darwin and gently pushes aside the fur on his shoulder, revealing the burn. Happy actually looks concerned when he sees it and steps closer. He glances up at Peter as the boy explains.

"It was on homecoming night, I mean, when Toomes was preparing to steal Mr. Stark's stuff. He sent one of his guys to the school to stop me from coming after him and he had this electric weapon gauntlet thing on his arm and, well, Darwin tried to protect me and he got hit with it. I wanted to bring him to the vet, but Aunt May would find out and I didn't know how I could explain this to her, so…" Happy gives Darwin a contemplative look as Peter goes on, "I mean, I've been putting neosporin on it and stuff and I found some over-the-counter dog pain meds and-"

"Tell you what, kid," Happy interrupts, "Come along now and on the way back we can stop by a vet clinic and get him checked out. I'll cover it."

Peter blinks, surprised at the formerly grumpy man's generosity. "Oh, uh, you don't have to-"

"Don't worry about it," Happy grunts, already turning around, "Now come on."

Peter smiles at Darwin and the dog wags his tail. 'Alright,' he thinks as they follow the man out, 'Maybe Happy's not so bad.'

The drive takes a couple of hours and during it Darwin rests while Peter texts May with some excuse to be coming home late. Happy doesn't talk much, but he doesn't raise the partition like he did last time, so Darwin sees it as a positive. He doesn't seem annoyed when Peter asks questions and even asks some back.

"You didn't get too hurt dealing with Toomes, right, Peter?" He questions, feigning nonchalance.

Peter still feels surprised. "Oh, uh, no, no, I'm good- I mean, I was a little bruised up but, ya know, enhanced healing and all that… I'm fine."

Darwin huffs. 'A little bruised up?'

"Why can't you tell me anything about what Mr. Stark wants to talk about?" Peter changes the subject, shifting in his seat eagerly.

"I'm sworn to silence, he wants it to be a surprise," Happy replies simply. After a moment, he adds in a gentler voice, "Don't worry, kid, you're gonna love it."

Peter seems to accept that and is relatively silent for the rest of the trip, idly petting Darwin the entire time. They eventually reach the Avengers Compound and both boy and dog gawk at it through the car window. Everything is so pristine and high tech- Darwin feels very out of place limping alongside Peter as they enter the building.

Stark isn't there when they arrive, but Happy assures him that he'll be there soon. Darwin glances around, his ears twitching.

'Am I delirious with fever,' he thinks, 'Or is that room over there full of reporters?'

Peter is busy watching a Quinjet prepare to take off outside, so Darwin figures he can go take a look. He limps across the room and the closer he gets to the closed door, the louder the chatter behind it becomes. He stops and sniffs at the base of it.

'Wow, smells like a lot of people. What has Stark got planned for Peter?' he wonders. The crowd behind the door is buzzing with excited emotions.

Just then, Stark arrives, once again clad in a fancy suit, and asks for a moment with Peter. Happy doesn't seem, well, happy with this and follows a few feet behind them as they walk towards Darwin.

The dog watches as Stark playfully punches Peter in the shoulder, then puts an arm around him. "Sorry I took your suit," he says, "I mean, you had it coming. Actually, it turns out it was the perfect sort of tough-love moment that you needed, right, to urge you on, right? Wouldn't you think? Don't you think?"

It kind of just sounds like Stark is trying to excuse what he did and pass it off as a good thing, but Peter agrees anyway and, after a brief pause, starts to apologize.

Stark, however, interrupts him. "You screwed the pooch hard," he says, "Big time."

Darwin arches a brow as they approach. 'What an odd thing to say.'

It gets weirder.

"But then you did the right thing. Took the dog to the free clinic, you raised the hybrid puppies…" It seems that Stark realizes that what he's saying is really weird. "Alright, not my best analogy." He pauses and looks at Peter. "I was wrong about you. I think, with a little more mentoring, you could be a real asset to the team."

Peter and Darwin both take a moment to absorb what he just said.

'Wait, what?' Darwin thinks, 'Wait, wait, wait, are you crazy-'

"To the… to the team?"

'He is a fifteen year old boy!'

"Yeah, anyway." Stark points at the door that Darwin is standing in front of. "Looks like the dog figured it out first, but there's about fifty reporters behind that door. Real ones, not bloggers." He taps his watch and the wall in front of them opens up, revealing a brand new Spider-Man suit. This one is somehow even more high tech than the last one and seems to be made of metal. Peter stares at it in awe, but Darwin only feels apprehensive.

'I don't know about this, Pete…'

Stark appears very confident, however. "When you're ready, why don't you try that on? And I'll introduce the world to the newest official member of the Avengers: Spider-Man."

Peter stammers for a couple of moments, not knowing what to say, and then settles on simply admiring the new suit. His eyes are bright, looking as if Stark just made his dreams come true, and Darwin stifles a sigh.

'Okay… maybe this won't be so bad. I mean, a better suit means better protection. He'll probably get some actual training, so that'll be even better. He's never going to stop being Spider-Man, even without Stark's suits, so maybe… maybe this'll be really good for him? He's really happy. Happier than I've seen him in a long time…'

Then, Stark decides to continue. "So, after the press conference, Happy will show you to your room, your new quarters." Just then, Peter's expression changes, just slightly but Darwin sees it. He watches as his boy realizes just what becoming an Avenger will really mean. Happiness fades into unease. "Where's he between? He's next to Vision?"

"Yeah, Vision's not big on doors," Happy replies, "Or walls."

"You'll fit right in," Stark reassures him.

Peter glances down at his feet, troubled. Sensing his bondmate's inner turmoil, Darwin pads up to him and nudges his hand. Peter looks at him, his fingers slowly tangling in his fur. Darwin blinks and leans against him comfortingly.

'It's okay if you're not ready,' he thinks, 'You don't have to be ready yet.'

Even though the dog didn't say anything out loud, Peter's lip still twitches upwards and he takes a deep breath. With a final pat to Darwin's head, Peter turns to Stark and politely declines his offer.

The man is obviously not expecting that. He blinks in surprise and asks Peter to clarify, but seems to accept it after a few moments. "Okay," he says, clearly trying to gather his thoughts, "It's kind of a Springsteeny working class hero vibe that I dig. Uh, Happy will take you home. Yeah?"

"Yeah." Happy looks at Peter. "Mind waiting in the car? I need a minute."

Peter and Stark shake hands and the boy turns away. Seeing that as his cue, Darwin pads after the boy, still limping heavily. This doesn't go unnoticed by Stark, whose eyebrows knit in concern as he passes by.

"What happened to the dog?" He asks, confused.

Peter pauses and glances behind him. "Oh, he got a little hurt during the Vulture incident," he replies.

Stark opens his mouth to reply, but Happy says, "I'm gonna stop by the vet on the way back. Get him checked out, you know."

Stark nods, satisfied. "Good. Cover it."

"Obviously."

Darwin finally reaches Peter's side, but the boy doesn't continue right away. Instead, he hesitates and asks, "That was a test, right? There's, uh, nobody back there?"

"Yes, you passed."

Darwin snorts.

"Alright, skedaddle there, young buck."

'Jesus Christ, Stark.'