Ned didn't have a lot of classes with MJ, but they tended to end up hanging out in the morning during their study period. It was a new thing that school year; they hadn't done it on purpose, but the schedule just happened to work out that way, and the teen looked up when MJ walked into the library, looking annoyed as she dropped her bookbag on the table.

"What's up?"

She shrugged.

"Did you talk to Peter?"

"Not since brunch. Why? Did you?"

"We had a fight."

Ned frowned.

"About what?"

"The usual. Him being reckless and hurting himself. Not telling the truth about how it happens…"

"You can't expect him to be able to just spill his guts," Ned told her. "You know that."

"Do you know how he hurt his hand?"

"No. I wish I did, because it must be epic."

"Shuri probably does…"

Ned looked at her, his expression changing a little.

"She doesn't. At least, I don't think she does. She saved his life, though, from what Tony and Peter both told me."

MJ scowled, but before she could say anything, they were interrupted.

"What's going on with Peter?" Flash asked, walking up to the table.

Both of them stared at him.

"Peter, who?" MJ asked.

The newcomer rolled his eyes.

"Peter Pan," he said, sarcastically. "Who do you think I mean? Parker."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, my dad got an emergency call to go out to the compound, yesterday, but wouldn't tell me what's going on when he got back. What happened?"

"No clue," Ned replied, honestly, still a little surprised that Flash seemed concerned. Or that he was actually curious enough that he wasn't being a jerk, automatically. "What did your dad tell you?"

"Nothing. I just told you that. We were just sitting down to lunch, when a call comes in. I heard the voice on the other side mumble something and say 'Peter', but that was all. Dad said he had to go, told mother where he was going and that he'd be back for dinner if he could."

"You're worried about Peter?" MJ asked.

"Of course not. I'm just curious what's going on with him."

"Must have happened after we had brunch," Ned said, more to MJ than Flash. "Everything looked good when Natasha took me home."

Flash looked at MJ.

"Call him and find out."

"Me?"

"You're his girlfriend, right? Call and check on him."

"I'm not his girlfriend," she snapped. "And probably the last person that he wants to talk to, right now."

"Call him and see."

Ned nodded his agreement.

"Do it, MJ. See what you can find out."

She scowled but reached for her phone.

OOOOOO

They were still sitting at the table when Peter's phone rang. He looked over at Tony, flushing slightly. It had been a habit to pick it up, even though he was grounded. His father raised an eyebrow.

"Who is it?"

Peter didn't need to look; he could tell by the ringtone.

"MJ."

Who was absolutely the last person that Tony wanted Peter talking to, just then.

"Voicemail."

The others; Clint and Steve, anyway, gave Peter a commiserating look. They agreed with Tony, though. None of them wanted Peter dealing with more than he already was. Not until he was a little healthier. Stark held out his hand, looking at Peter, expectantly, and the boy hesitated, unwilling to hand over his phone. It was his life's blood, after all.

"What if I need to call mom?" he asked. "She said to call if I need anything…"

"You can use Karen – or even Friday," was the prompt reply. "Or ask me."

Peter didn't look convinced, but he reached into his pocket and handed Tony his cell – which wasn't ringing, now.

"Ouch," Clint said, amused at the family dynamic he was watching.

He'd taken Cooper's phone a time or two, already.

"What do we do with Sirah?" Steve asked, changing the subject to take Peter's mind off losing his phone – even though it was only two weeks. Hardly the end of the world, after all. "I want to make sure she's taken care of." He looked at Gamora, knowing that she'd spent more time with the girl than anyone. "Suggestions?"

Gamora shrugged.

"I don't know your world well enough," she admitted. "Something where she won't be out of her comfort zone, I would suggest."

"We don't have servants here," Steve said.

"We'll think of something," Tony assured them.

"You might ask her what she wants to do…" Mantis added.

"We will."

OOOOOOO

"He didn't answer," MJ told the two boys, shrugging. "I told you."

"Or, he's hurt, and he can't answer it," Flash pointed out.

Ned rolled his eyes, wondering why Flash even cared – or was pretending to care.

"If he's not answering, then there isn't anything we can do, can we?"

"Or…"

The two looked at Flash.

"Or?" MJ prompted.

"You're good with security networks, right?" Flash asked Ned.

"Yeah."

Everyone knew that. Ned was good with anything networking related.

"So my father keeps extensive records on everything that he does. It's secured, but you could get into it."

"You want me to hack your dad's records?"

"To find out what's going on. Yeah."

"Are you crazy? I could probably go to jail for that."

"Only if you got caught. You don't want to know what's going on with Peter?"

"I know what's going on with him. He's injured his hand and it's getting better."

"Call him," MJ suggested. "See if he'll talk to you."

Ned shrugged, and reached for his phone.

OOOOOOOO

"Is there anything that you need?" Tony asked Quill. "For your ship, I mean?"

"We're good," Quill said. "Although since I'm here, I'm going to retrofit the Milano with a new stereo system."

"We can do better than stereo," Tony told him. "Everything is digital, now. Peter could help you-"

He was interrupted when the cell phone in his pocket started ringing, again. This time it was a different ringtone and the billionaire looked at his son, again.

"That's Ned," Peter told him, correctly interpreting the look.

Stark rolled his eyes but hit the accept button.

"Peter Parker's cell phone, Peter's father speaking."

"Mr. Stark?"

The conversation around the table had stopped, so they could all hear the confusion in Ned's voice.

"Good morning, Ned. How are you?"

"Oh. Good, thanks. I was trying to reach Peter."

"Unfortunately, he isn't available, right now," Tony told Peter's best friend. "You'll have to wait two weeks to call him – but you can send him an email, if you want."

"Oh." Still confused, and Peter could understand why. Who sent emails when texting worked just as well? "Yeah. Is Peter alright?"

"He's fine, Ned. I need to go. You doing okay? Need anything?"

Just in case.

"No. I'm good. Thanks."

"See if your mother will let you come out, next weekend."

"I will, thanks."

The call ended, and Tony put the phone back into his pocket.

"As I was saying; Peter can help you with whatever you need if you want to really put some high-tech audio in your spaceship."

Quill beamed, and Peter looked pretty excited at the thought of getting a good look at the inside of the guardian's ship. A real spaceship? Who wouldn't be excited?

"Yeah. I could help," the boy told him.

"We accept."

OOOOOO

"Well?"

"It was Tony, not Peter."

"And?"

"He said I couldn't call Peter for two weeks."

"Why?" MJ asked. "Did he say?"

"No."

"Maybe Parker's dead."

MJ rolled her eyes – and Ned made a noise of derision.

"He said to ask if I could come over to the compound, next weekend. Peter isn't dead."

"But you don't really know, do you?"

"I'm sure he's not dead."

"Tell me you're not really curious, though," Flash said, sitting down, now, across from them. He lowered his voice. "We could find out what's really going on. It'd probably take you less than a minute."

Ned looked at MJ, who shrugged.

She was more annoyed that someone answered the phone for him, but not for her.

"Whatever."

Ned shrugged, too. He was curious. And hated being on the outside looking in when it came to Peter.

"I need some information before I could look…"