Chapter Text
Peter was having a good week. A great week even. Key word, 'was'.
He was stopping a bank robber and was living the high life off his adrenaline come down on a neighboring roof when a whirring sound made him jump back into high gear. He stumbled back, ready to jump across to the next building. What he saw made him not dare to move. It was a mixture of fear, confusion, and excitement all wrapped into one that did him in. Iron man. Iron man was standing right in front of him, exiting his suit and all he could think about was 'what does he want? Am I in trouble?', and 'oh my god it's Iron Man.'
"Nice job kid, come here before you fall overboard." Tony was wearing one of his tailored suits, probably not the best outfit to greet a child with. But it'll do.
"H-hi. I'm Spider-man, big fan." Peter walked up to Tony, unsure if he should put his hand out or not. He chose not to as he got closer because his nerves started rebelling.
Tony perked his eyebrows at the kids exasperated tone of voice, "I know who you are. Listen, why don't you come back to my place, we eat some burgers and talk about you coming to help me with something?"
"Uh- help you? I can't go to your place to eat, I've got this whole 'secret' identity thing going-" Peter closed his mouth when Tony pulled up a halogram of his yearbook photo.
"That's you isn't it?" Tony pointed towards the picture and looked at it, scrutinizing his awkward smile. "Cute really," Tony closed the halogram, "so burgers or?"
Peter twiddled with his fingers, "what if I say no?"
"Hmm. I'll just have to eat burgers by myself and mope about. Come on it'll be fun!" Tony backed himself into the suit and it enclosed around his body, leaving his head sticking out. Peter wanted to laugh, his head look incredibly small when it was the only body part showing. He didn't though.
Peter looked behind him at the sunsetting, he didn't have his phone on him. It was in his backpack that he webbed to the alley near his house, he had to get home before Aunt May got off her shift.
"It's only 7 o'clock, I bet you're hungry."
Peter was going to protest, his stomach beat him to it making an embarrassing gurgling sound. "Ya, okay. I could eat."
"You can lose the mask kid, this is my penthouse nobodies allowed access. Only me and Pepper, she's in Italy so you're good. Secret safe." Tony was walking fast towards the dining room, there were already two take out bags sitting on the table when they got there.
Peter was eyeing it with suspicion. Tony must've notice because he provided some answer, "Happy, my driver, told him to run it up here." Peter nodded and took his mask off.
It felt odd to be in the presence of someone and not having to worry about hiding his secret identity. It was like both of his worlds colliding. It felt good, strange also. Peter didn't know what freaking Tony Stark was doing talking to him, it could be anything. Does he want him to be an avenger? He can't be an avenger, that's too much responsibility. He was just a neighborhood Spider-Man.
"You're ruining my appetite with those running thoughts," Tony patted the seat next to him, "come sit."
Peter obeyed like a loyal dog. He watched as Tony took out a burger and fries, placing it right under his nose on the table. This felt so out of place. He cautiously grabbed a fry and bit into it, he didn't let a grimace fall over his face even though he wanted one to. The fry tasted god awful, it wasn't even the poor fry's fault. It was just that Peter's taste buds were damaged. He couldn't let Tony know that or else he would get hounded, then he would get a lecture on why he shouldn't be out spider-manning around.
"So the onsie-"
"Not a onsie," Peter quipped over Tony.
"-you made it yourself?" Tony reached over and grabbed the mask that was laying limp on the table top. "Geez, can you even see out of these things?"
Peter used his web shooters to retrieve the mask, "Yes! I can see out of them. Please just- I don't understand. What do you want?" He was getting defensive, he couldn't stay here long and there was no point in eating the food anymore.
"Alright teenager, been there, dont that. Ever been to Germany?"
"I-I can't go to Germany!"
Tony raised a single eyebrow, "why not?"
Peter couldn't exactly explain that he was extremely ill and that flying far away from his medical care would not benefit him in anyway. Not to mention that his aunt would never allow it. Plus he has school, "I've got... homework," he finished lamely.
"I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that. If it's aunt hottie that you're worried about, don't sweat it. I've already got a plan to tell her you're accepted in an internship program. It'll only be the weekend, I'm sure she'll let you stay."
Of course Tony knew about his aunt, he figured out his identity for crying out loud. He did miss one big chunk during his researching though. It could work in his favor. "Okay, but! I get to tell her!"
Tony cocked his head to the side, "I'm sure she'll want to speak to me."
"No! I mean- she's very protective over me and if I explain it, it'll just be better. For the both of us."
"I could just call her right now," Tony whipped out his phone.
"No, no- I'll, I'll do it!" Peter gave Tony a pleading look until Tony lowered his phone, "thank you."
May strode in, throwing her keys and bags on the counter. It was quiet, that wasn't unusual. What was unusual was that Peter was doing his homework in the living room. Whenever she got home he was always hold up in his room. She walked around and sat down beside him.
"Hey Pete," she ruffled his hair and kissed his forehead. "You feeling okay? You feel a bit warm, let me get the thermometer." Peter caught her wrist before she could stand.
"I'm good, promise. I wanted to talk to you about something," he began to fiddle with the pencil in his hands.
She stood up once he released her, she needed to get the thermometer. False alarm or not, she was not going to risk it. She didn't want a repeat of last time. She walked back over and swiped it across his forehead, closing her eyes until the resounding beep echoed out. Satisfied he wasn't in the rising temperature zone, she turned to give him all her attention.
"I got accepted into an internship program at Stark Industries," he let it hang in the air, watching as May's face lit up and then frowned and then lit up again.
"That's great! What does that mean? Why didn't you tell me that you applied?" She was talking a mile a minute.
"I didn't think I was going to get in, Tony Stark he- he contacted me. He said they're doing a weekend overnight program thing this weekend, and I was wondering if it was okay to go?" He bit his bottom lip, he really did want to go. He wasn't sure what Tony needed help with and why it had to be in Germany. Getting to do anything along Tony Stark, Ironman, that's just insane!
May's face sobered up, "overnight? I don't know baby, you just go off the chemo last week."
"I know, but the effects aren't as strong." He left out the part that they haven't been as strong for a while now, not since he was bitten. He can't share that though. Peter just thought his healing was taking care of the cancer and that it wasn't going to effect him anymore as it slowly went away? He didn't know, he was guessing. He has scans next week to possibly prove his theory. "Plus, I can administer the medications by myself. I did it that one night you had an overnight shift, remember? I was fine, I didn't even have to call Darrell next door in to help."
May nodded in thought, she knew she had to let him do normal things. She couldn't hold his hand through everything, even if he was sick. "And does Tony know?"
"Ye-yeah, I told him and he was okay with it. I even gave him your number in case of emergencies." He felt awful lying through his teeth, even lying about Spider-man was slowly rocking him off his pedestal.
"Good, you should give me his number so I can walk him through what to look for if you're feeling sick." Peter stomach did a flip.
"That's okay, I'll do it. So, you're letting me go?"
May shrugged, "I don't see why not, only if you tell him about all your meds and to not overwork you. Got it?" Peter nodded fast.
"Yeah, got it."
▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎
Next thing Peter knew was that come weekend and he was on a private jet, flying to freaking Germany. He watched out the window as they flew over the clouds, buildings looked like ants from up here.
Peter was glad that Happy Hogan was the only person on board with him, he wasn't much of a talker. He wouldn't scrutinize why Peter had two bags with him instead of one. He was giving him glaring looks as Peter walked up and down the aisle to look out of every window.
"The view is the same in all the windows kid," Happy leaned back and closed his eyes.
Peter laughed with nervous laced in, "I know that." Peter walked to another window.
When Peter got to the hotel, he had discovered a suit in a bag that was made by Tony freaking Stark. He was currently standing in the mirror looking at it. It clung to his skin and protuded every muscle. There was just one problem. You could see the outline of his port.
Peter covered his hand over the right of his chest and continued to look on. How the hell was he going to hide this? He could just rip out the connecting IV, but then he'd have to take the medication orally and that is just disgusting. Also it would probably hurt. It usually did.
Peter thought maybe if he just kept his distance from Tony it would be fine, he could also just move really fast. All he got was instructions to web people up from a distance, so him keeping a distance from Tony wouldn't be an issue. He could do this.
The fight was insane! Just insane. He totally took Captain America's shield, then he webbed up a man with a metal arm! He also dodged Tony the whole time, well he tried. Until he was flung off of a very, very large dude. He didn't think Tony noticed the outline on his chest though, he was too preoccupied with making sure he wasn't injured.
He only had a visible black eye, which he wasn't sure how it was going to go over with May. He convinced Tony to drop him off at his apartment, but that's it. He wasn't allowed to walk him inside.
Peter gathered himself in the hallway, trying to figure out what lie he was going to spill next to his aunt. He couldn't say he got it while being at the internship, that would cause too much trouble for everyone involved. Peter rocked on his heels outside his door, finally twisting the door handle when someone exited their own apartment. He couldn't just stand awkwardly in the hallway like he got locked out, so he waltz right in. Straight into May who grabbed his chin and looked wide eyed at the bruising on his face.
"What happened!?"
"I-I was walking home and some guy just jumped me," Peter shrugged.
"Jumped you? Did he take anything, are you hurt? You are hurt, baby." May pulled him into a hug.
"Sorry May, I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time."
"No, right place, right time. Should've never happened." May grabbed her keys and took Peter's bags off his shoulders and pushed him out the door. "We're going to the ER."
"What! No May, I'm fine. It's just a small bruise, I swear."
"You have a record to downplay, I just need to get you checked over." May was just being paranoid and she had every right to be. Considering the last time he downplayed how he was feeling he ended up needing oxygen and prayer.
Peter slumped his shoulders in defeat, "Okay."
Emergency rooms were not fun. Ever. He sat in a seat close to May, his legs were up on the chair and his arms were pulling them to his chest. They had been sat for almost an hour waiting, kids screaming and crying, throwing up. Peter had to wear a mask when he was around these people. If he had a fever he'd already be back in a room, but since he didn't he had to wait and wait.
"Peter Parker," upon hearing the name May stood up, grabbing Peter to his feet. They followed a tall scrawny man through some doors and into a small room. Peter hated the small emergency rooms, whenever he was admitted they would transfer him to oncology and he'd get a big bed that could fit May on it too. Right now he was on a small bed that was only big enough for him.
"Heard you got into a scuffle, huh?" The man took out a pen light and shined it into both of Peter's eyes, making him squint.
Peter wanted to laugh at 'scuffle', that's the understatement of the century. He couldn't say that though, "yeah," he settled with.
The nurse checked him over and said that the doctor will be in shortly to check him over as well. Code word for 'it might take another hour before you get checked out again even though I just did it.'
Peter laid on his side, facing May and scrunching his legs back up to his chest. He started fiddling with the bracelet on his wrist. Turns out the nurse didn't lie this time, because soon enough a broad shouldered doctor came in. Peter knew this guy, he saw Peter a lot when he comes in.
"Hi Peter, how are you feeling today?" He finished rubbing in the hand sanitizer that he had left on his hands and put some gloves on.
Peter sat up to be respectful, "I'm good, great actually."
"I see. Let me look at that eye. Yeah you seem good, there's no swelling either." He looked down at the paper he had in his hands, walking over to a computer that sat in the room and began typing out something Peter couldn't care to look at. He looked over the monitors, "Your blood pressure is a bit too high for my liking, I'm gonna take some blood and if you can I'd like a urine sample as well." The doctor walked to a locked cupboard and magically unlocked it to grab a container that was enclosed in a bag, he handed it to May. "I'll send someone in to get the blood, how about some blankets?"
"That'd be great, thank you," May supplied for the both of them.
Peter groaned when the doctor left the room. This was going to be a long night, he had school tomorrow. Hopefully he'd get out of here before it got too late. It was already nine.
They finally got out at three in the morning, the blood test and urine showed that he was dehydrated. So they went through some bags of IV liquids. Peter felt bad that May had to sit in an uncomfortable chair the whole time, while he got to lay in a bed. He passed out at around one in the morning, leaving May to sit and watch the small tv they had up in the room alone.
Peter wrestled his clothes on and snuggled up into his blankets, May popped her head into the room. She assumed Peter was already asleep, she set down his phone that was on the kitchen table, onto his side table and leaned in to kiss his forehead. "Sleep good honey."
Peter listened as she closed his door and walked into her own bedroom to sleep. Peter grabbed his phone off the table, it was littered with messages from Ned. Ned knew that Peter was doing an internship program, he didn't know about Spider-man.
'DUDE! SO HOW WAS IT?' Read Ned's text, following at least twenty messages of similarity after.
'Long njght, tell youabout it tmr at sghool.' Peter didn't care about his spelling errors, he was so tired.
"Did you see any other avengers?" Ned was buzzing with excitement.
Peter nodded with enthusiasm, "yeah, I saw Black Widow and even Hawkeye."
"That's insane! What even is your life man?" Ned shook his head, he was blown away at his best friend. And jealous.
Peter wanted to tell Ned everything, but he couldn't. It was his own little slice of life that he got to keep all to himself. Well and now Mr. Stark, but does he even count?
The duo made their way into the lunch room, gathering their lunch trays and sitting down at their table. Yum, mash potatoes and guck. Peter didn't care what they ate for lunch because he was either going to eat it all no matter what because of his metabolism, or he wasn't going to eat it at all because of his meds. Today it was the latter.
"Hey Penis," Flash made his presence known, slamming his own lunch tray in front of Peter's and taking a seat. Ned and Peter eyed him, he never sat down by them, only made comments and then went to sit with his jockey friends. So this was weird. "Still pretending that you went to the hospital I see?"
Peter looked down to his wrist where Flash was looking, he self consciously pulled his sleeve over his hand covering the hospital bracelet that was still on him. He hadn't realized, he fell asleep in the hoodie he was wearing and chose not to change out of it this morning. Gross, he knows but he didn't care. He was good at ripping the ugly bracelets off whenever he got home, but in his haste to sleep he must've forgotten.
"You can try to get all the sympathy you want, but it'll never come from me," Flash spat out.
Peter's school knew about his cancer, well sort of. It was a rumor at this point, that Peter chose not to confirm or deny. Only his teachers and Ned knew that it wasn't just a rumor, but a fact.
Like sure, he missed school a ton, but it never effected the lives of the other students. Only once it had, because he was doing a school project in history and he ditched in the middle and never finished his portion. He still didn't confirm it then either. No way was he going to be known as the kid with cancer, not again.
"Leave him alone Flash," Ned defended. He gave Peter a look, letting him know that he was worried.
"Whatever-" Flash stood up and left with his tray.
Ned turned to Peter, "are you okay? Why were you at the hospital?"
"I'm fine Ned, just drop it." Peter looked down at his lunch, man did it look disgusting right now. He didn't want to talk though so he shoveled a spoon full of mash potatoes, avoiding the gravy, into his mouth.
Peter had decathlon after school today, he liked it for four reasons. Number one, Liz. Liz was the captain of the team, she was a grade ahead of Peter and she was beautiful and smart. Number two, he loved being a nerd. When he became Spider-man he had to drop all of his extracurriculars, except he couldn't bare to drop this one. Number three, he got to hang out with Ned without begging his aunt to do so. Number four, he could ignore cancer. Once he got home he got hounded by Aunt May, 'eat dinner, then meds'. It gets exhausting. Also ignoring cancer is pretty limited, considering it exists in you, with you. It's not a good reason to like decathlon he decided, at least today.
Today he was in pain, it started out small this morning, but now it was all he could think about. He didn't want to be at school any longer, but he felt like an asshole if he ditched. He didn't want his team to think anything was wrong. This weekend they had a competition in another town, he could handle it. Really.
Peter laid his head over his arms that were resting on the table. Class ended at three and they don't start decathlon until three thirty, so he had time to take a little nap without anyone judging. Or so he thought.
"Hey loser," Mj threw her stuff down next to his head.
He turned his head keeping it resting on his arms, but enough to see her face, "Hi Michelle."
"You can call me Mj."
"I thought only your friends could call you that?" Peter closed his eyes.
"I don't have any friends," Mj pulled out her notebook and started doodling.
They sat like that until everyone showed up, Ned filing in next to Peter's other side and Flash sitting across from Peter. Great.
"Alright guys, we're splitting off into groups of 4. So let's have Mj, Ned, Peter and Flash-"
Peter didn't listen to the rest, he was annoyed that he got paired in a group with Flash. He watched Liz as she walked away with her group to another section of the library.
"Yeah, uh- I'll ask you guys the questions." Mj elected.
Their group got up and walked to some bean bags that were in a corner. Each of them sat on one, except Mj, nope she wanted to sit on the floor in front of them on her knees. Peter did not envy her.
When Peter sat down he closed his eyes and breathed heavily, trying to force the pain out through his nose. It didn't work. He opened his eyes when he felt Ned's hand on his arm. Peter gaved him a tight closed lip smile, for reassurances.
He knows he should tell May how he feels, but he didn't want to be brought back to the ER. His tests were coming up soon, he could wait it out till then. He could, he swore he could.
Peter didn't answer a single question, he sort of dozed off, his body slightly curled up and his head on Ned's arm that was resting on his bean bag. He really owed one to Ned, he was probably the reason they didn't disturb him.
Peter woke up to Mr. Harrington kneeling in front of him and Ned's voice wafting through the air.
"He's fine Mr. Harrington, I was just gonna let him rest until we had to go," Ned sounded sad for some reason. Peter didn't know.
Peter could feel Mr. Harrington's hand on his knee, "I'd rather get him home to sleep, I already called his Aunt." Mr. Harrington's hand jostled Peter's knee, "Hey, Peter. Time to get up."
"You really gave your teacher a scare," May pulled a blanket over Peter's form on the couch.
Peter laid his head down on a throw pillow, "sorry May."
May tsked, "No baby, no apologizing." May burritoed Peter as he glared at her for doing so, "cozy?"
"Yeah, I think I'm overly cozy."
"No such thing," May leaned down and kissed the crown of his head. "Get some rest, I'm gonna make a small dinner okay?"
"Okay."
Peter felt bad that his aunt was always worrying about him and taking care of him. When he was thrusted into his aunt and uncles lives permanently, everything was good. Then his parents died and it got bad. They coddled him everynight as he sobbed out in hysteria about wanting his parents that were never going to come. Then one day he got sick, his eyes were bruised and yellow and his uncle had taken him to the ER three seperate times until they figured out what was wrong. He hated when his memory would pull up those times. His aunt and uncle crying alongside Peter as he cried out in pain. He was only nine and was given a death sentence. High-risk neuroblastoma.
Peter didn't really know what that meant, the cancer part, well he knew all about that. He was nine and in the 4th grade, of course he had heard about cancer before. His life had halted, he only made it to middle school because he was pushed along with his classmates for his own benefit. Also the school knew how bright of a student he was. He didn't know how much his life was pushed back until he was allowed to go back to school in the 6th grade. He was the smallest kid in his class, even the girls were taller than him. He found it hard to concentrate on subjects that he used to excel in. And even though he was declared 'miracley' cancer free, he still had to go in for scans regularly and take medications still. The only thing that had stayed the same was May and Ben's support and Ned always being by his side.
Ned. He really did owe everything to Ned. He threw up on him three times, you'd think he would stop showing up after the first time, but nope. Ned sat with Peter even when he was crying in pain and when he was sleeping from the drugs. One time Peter got to stay at Ned's house while Ben and May had to leave for a weekend funeral, Peter had got to sleep in Ned's bed while Ned went to school. It felt like they were brothers. No, they were brothers. If the roles were reversed, well Peter would do the same.
Peter's life was looking up, especially when he got into the same highschool as Ned. Peter's regular scans had turned less 'regular' and he didn't have to take a crazy amount of pills. His scars from past surgeries weren't making him queasy to look at, only a reminder of what he survived. Until he woke up one day screaming.
Peter didn't want to think about that though, he still had his support team, even if it was one man down. He had everything he needed to kick cancer's ass a second time. He just had to figure out a way to explain that maybe the drugs needed to be stronger this time around.