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Mr. Dell somehow managed to convince Midtown Tech to green light his outdoor nature hike idea. It probably took a lot of convincing on his part, as well as Mr.Harrington’s, who was also co-leading this field trip, saying that it would be good for everyone to get outdoors in nature and learn the history of America’s land.
When Peter came home from school with the permission slip for the trip, May was quick to call Tony and discuss it with him. And before he knew it, the slip was signed and there were a few large packages from Sierra Trading Post and L.L. Bean waiting outside of their apartment door the next day when Peter got home from school. He didn’t even need to check the shipping label to know who they were from.
If you ask him, May and Tony were being a little too enthusiastic about him going on this trip. It’s probably because they’ve been getting on him lately with taking it easy from patrolling and focus on being a teenager and spending some time with his friends.
Peter honestly didn’t want to go on this trip, not just because of the fact that whenever he went on a school trip always seems to involve him endangering everyone’s lives when a psycho villain shows up. But May and Tony were pretty adamant on him going, so he didn’t have a choice.
The two of them sure were one heck of a force to be reckoned with.
That’s how Peter finds himself in the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate, New York, one and a half weeks later on a Thursday night at the campsite where they would all be staying for the next three and a half days.
“Okay, everyone listen up!” Mr. Dell calls. “Once your tents are all set up, we’re leaving for a scavenger hunt! Make sure you have your backpacks, flashlights and the maps I handed out!”
Peter turns back to the black and green tent that they’ve just finished setting up, smiling proudly at his and Ned’s handiwork that took them under twenty minutes. Tony had invited Peter up to the lake house last weekend and taught him how to set up a tent, start a fire without matches, as well as a few other outdoor survival skills, with Morgan’s help, of course.
It was clear that Tony was worried and stressing a bit over the trip, and Peter understood why the man was going all out with buying him all of this camping gear and making sure that Peter knew what to in an emergency. It was all a little excessive, but Peter appreciated it nonetheless.
It was just a camping trip up north, not even a couple hundred miles from the Compound and the Stark’s lake house. It’s not like they were going half-way across the world again. This time, there weren’t going to be any bad guys to fight. The scariest thing they’re going to be facing is Flash without wi-fi.
“Wow,” Michelle’s voice comes from behind them. “I actually can’t believe the two of you managed to put this thing together. I’m impressed.”
“Thanks.” Ned smiles, decked out in his camping gear, wearing a navy green hat with tiny marshmallows dangling from the rim, swishing in the air as he turns around.
“And you ever doubted us?” Peter asks with a smile.
“Well, yeah. Sort of.” She shrugs, stepping closer to him.
Peter fake gasps and presses a hand to his chest in mock offense. “Michelle Jones, I’ll have you know that we are both men or many talents.”
“Yeah!” Ned adds.
“Oh, I don’t doubt that.” She knowingly smirks at Peter, their eyes locking as she stands in front of him, only mere inches from his face.
Peter feels his heart start to race when they both start to lean in closer to each other.
Ned makes a disgusted sound, ruining the moment. “Now you two had to make it weird.”
Michelle rolls her eyes with a smirk and starts to pull away from Peter, but he snakes an arm around her waist, keeping her close to his side. She lets out a small laugh and leans against him.
Ned ducks into the tent, leaving them alone for the moment. Peter takes his opportunity and plants a light kiss to Michelle’s cheek, who breathes out a small laugh. Much to his surprise, she faces him and wraps her arms around his neck, kissing him.
Peter’s eyes close, and all of a sudden the world blurs as a warm ness spreads through his chest, feeling lighter than air. Michelle pulls away after a moment, grinning.
“W-What happened to being discreet?” Peter breaths out, eyes fluttering open.
“Couldn’t help myself.” Michelle grins at him, starting to pull away. “I have to go back and help Betty. Stay out of trouble, Mountain Man.” She tells him, already starting to walk off in the direction of her’s and Betty’s tent.
Peter watches her go with what’s probably a dumb, lovestruck look on his face. He can’t help it though. Whenever they’re together, Peter feels so happy and complete.
And for the moment, he’s able to forget about how he never wanted to come on this trip in the first place.
…….
Once the tents are all up, everyone grabs their things when Mr. Dell calls them over so they could get assigned to their partners for the scavenger hunt.
“...Ned with Abraham, Darcy, Samantha and Emily, Josh with Flash, Michelle with Betty, and last but not least, Peter with Brad.” Mr. Harrington reads off from the clipboard in his hands.
Peter’s stomach drops. It wasn’t already bad enough they were being forced out here, in the middle of nowhere to do this scavenger hunt, but to be partnered up with Brad, of all people? He didn’t know what was worse.
Peter turns his head, eyes searching the group of his classmates, until his eyes land on Brad, who looks just as thrilled as Peter probably does.
It wasn’t exactly a secret that the two of them weren’t fans of each other. Brad clearly wasn’t over everything that happened during their trip to Europe in the beginning of the summer, and their little fight over which one of them would win MJ over.
But now that Peter was dating Michelle, he thought for sure that the guy would let it go, but it’s only gotten worse. Brad still tries with MJ, trying to get her to like him, whether it be with telling stupid jokes and stories, trying to impress her, and a whole bunch more of annoying things that Peter absolutely despises.
And now the two of them had to traipse around through the woods, partnered up together.
The good ol’ Parker Luck strikes again.
The group starts to disperse into their groups, leaving the two of them awkwardly standing there.
Peter sucks in a deep, grounding breath before he walks over to Brad, trying not to let the disappointment show on his face. He was going to be cordial and work with him, not rude or anything. Ben and May raised him better than that.
Peter awkwardly clears his throat as he comes to stand beside the other boy. “Uh, so… which way did you want to go?”
Brad pulls his map out from his sweatshirt pocket and unfolds it. His brows pull together in concentration as he studies it, tracing a finger over a path. “We’ll go south.” He decides as he folds the map back up, maybe a little too roughly.
“Sounds good.” Peter agrees lightly. “Do you think we should-” He starts to say, but Brad starts to walk away from him.
Peter breathes out a sigh. “Yeah… okay.” He mumbles to himself as he follows behind him.
This was going to be a long hour.
…….
Thirty minutes later, they’ve completed half of the scavenger hunt, finding four oak leaves, five acorns, three pine cones, a piece of pine bark, and various other things off the list. They only have five more to go, but the only problem is that it’s getting dark, so much to the point that they had to take their flashlights out a while ago.
Brad stops again for the third time in the past two minutes to look at the map. Peter stands at his side, shining the flashlight on to it so they can see it.
“I don’t get it…” Brad says with a frown. “The path should be right here.” He taps his thumb on an area on the paper.
Peter’s brows pull together, looking away and shines his flashlight around them, squinting in the darkness to see if anything looked familiar.
Nothing does.
They were lost.
The real ness of their situation hits Peter like a ton of bricks, a sinking feeling forming in his stomach. They were lost in the middle of nowhere with no food or water, no tent, no blankets, only the clothes on their backs and each other.
“We’re lost… aren’t we?” Peter tentatively asks.
He expects Brad to scoff at him and deny it, but the frightened look on his face says it all.
Brad swallows hard, brows pulling together. “Yeah… I think we are.”
Peter breathes out shakily and runs a hand through his curls, trying to come up with some kind of plan. He’s Spider-Man for goodness sake! This shouldn’t be so scary to him with everything he deals with out on the streets everyday, but it does.
A sudden cold wind wishes past them, crinkling the fallen leaves on the ground around them. A shiver races through Peter and he sees Brad pull his sweatshirt closer to himself in his peripheral.
“Come on. It’s getting cold and we can’t stand around. Let’s go this way… they have to be looking for us by now.” Peter says, pointing his flashlight a few feet to the left from where they’re standing.
“Right.” Brad nods, folding up the now useless map, storing it away in his hoodie pocket once again. “Let’s go.”
…….
Another thirty minutes pass by and now, it’s pitch black out.
“Can anyone hear us?” Brad yells, his voice echoing off into the distance.
They’ve had no other choice than to resort to yelling for help, hoping that someone would hear them. But so far… no one has.
Peter walks along next to Brad, hood up, with an arm wrapped around himself, the other holding onto the flashlight with a shaking hand. He’s been shivering for some time now, teeth chattering, and it was only getting worse.
“Do y-you think we s-should s-stop and t-try to s-start a f-fire?” Peter suggests.
“We need to keep moving.” Brad argues.
“Y-Yeah, but i-it’s getting colder. S-Someone might s-see the flames.” Peter shoots back, growing frustrated.
Brad breathes out a sigh, a puff of white smoke escaping into the air, barely visible with the flashlights. He rounds on Peter, face tense. “We can’t just start a fire anywhere. There are too many trees around us.” He angrily says. “I’ve gone camping with my folks since I was six. You’re just a city boy, so I’d expect that coming from you.”
“And y-yet h-here we are lost , in t-the middle of nowhere!” Peter shouts back, throwing his arms out.
Brad’s mouth opens and closes a few times, his face contorted in anger, but nothing comes out. He turns his head away and lets out a frustrated sigh. They’re both silent for a few long moments, the only sources of sound being the trees blowing in the wind around them. The silence is unsettling out here, compared to the hustle and bustle of the city they’re both used to back at home.
Peter closes his eyes and reaches a shaky hand up, pinching the bridge of his nose. Now wasn’t the time to lose his temper.
“I’m sorry.” Peter apologizes, letting out a sigh. “This isn’t your fault, Brad but fighting is-isn’t going to h-help us.”
Brad looks back at him, their eyes meeting, before his shoulder’s slump. “You’re right.” He agrees.
Peter’s slightly surprised to hear him say that. He never would’ve imagined that Brad Davis, would openly admit that Peter was right about something.
“What do you think we should do?” Brad asks, folding his arms over his chest, looking miserably cold.
In the time they’ve been out here doing this stupid scavenger hunt, Brad had automatically taken the lead, casting Peter aside, and Peter had let him, not wanting to make any waves with him. Now, however, it seems like Brad was willing to work with him.
Circumstances set aside, it was a turn in the right direction.
Peter’s eyes searched the black darkness surrounding them, fear and dread creeping it’s way into him. “Well… let’s t-try to find somewhere to b-build a fire, get warm, and h-hopefully someone will f-find us. I think I have something that’ll help start it.”
“Okay.” Brad says. “We just need to find a clearing and some loose branches and twigs.”
“Right.” Peter nods. “Come on.”
They both continue on their way, leaves crunching underneath their shoes as they walk through the woods.
…….
Peter doesn’t know what’s worse, the relenting cold that has him violently shivering now, or the knowing hunger growing in his stomach. He can’t even remember the last time he ate.
“I’m seriously c-considering ripping off some bark and eating it right now.” Brad groans at his side.
“Sorry, the granola bars I brought are in my other bag back at camp.” Peter says, shooting him a sympathetic look, even though he could barely see it with the dim yellow lighting of their flashlights.
“Yeah, same.” Brad says. “I mean, we could always ear bugs, right? Roast them when we build a fire?” He grins, trying to lighten the mood.
Peter gives a short laugh. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Brad breathes out a laugh. “I know and then we’d have to-”
His voice cuts out when Peter’s spider-sense practically screams at him, feeling his whole body tense up. He doesn’t know why it’s going off but on instinct, Peter shoots a hand out and shoves Brad backwards, hearing a loud ‘oopf.’ Peter doesn’t even realize his next step is met by air, before he feels himself falling forward.
In a matter of seconds, he feels himself hit the ground on his knees, only for his body to be propelled forward by gravity, continuing to roll downwards. Branches snap, leaves and plants being crushed underneath him as he continues to tumble, panicked mind racing, throwing his hands out in hopes to grab onto something to catch himself. But he’s moving too fast.
Peter can’t even tell which way was up or down.
Something suddenly snaps in his arm when he manages to grab ahold of a small tree, failing to stop his descent. There’s no air left in his lungs for him to be able to scream out from all of the pain.
The last thing Peter’s aware of is slamming head first into something incredibly hard, before he knows no more.
…….
Excruciating pain is the first thing he’s able to register, as well as how freezing he is. Peter can’t pinpoint exactly where it’s coming from with how badly he’s shivering.
Sounds slowly return next, a faint ringing in his ears.
“-eter! -eter!” Someone’s muffled voice screams from somewhere in the distance.
Peter manages to slowly peel open his heavy eyes, meeting darkness. He can hear branches snapping nearby, before there’s suddenly a golden light shining down on him.
“Shit, Peter!”
There’s someone kneeling down next to him, a blurry face above his. Peter slowly blinks a few times until he’s able to recognize that it’s Brad kneeling above him.
“Peter can you hear me?” Brad pants, eyes wide and panicked.
A wave of pain washes over Peter before he can answer, a groan escaping at the back of his throat as he tightly closes his eyes.
“Uh-shit. Okay. Shit this is bad.” Brad mutters, followed by the sound of a zipper and things moving around, possibly in a backpack. “Shit. No cell reception.”
Through Peter’s pained and woozy mind, he distantly remembers sitting with Tony in the living room at the lake house, and the new StarkPhone Tony gave him.
“M-My… bag…” Peter forces out through chattering teeth.
“What?” Brad shakily asks.
“M-My b-bag… p-phone’s…”
“There’s no reception out here for miles-”
“G-Get it… p-please.” Peter weakly cuts him off, a weak cough escaping through his lips.
He can swear that he feels something wet come up, that hopefully wasn’t blood.
Brad frowns, aiming the flashlight around them. Peter’s backpack had somehow slipped off him during his fall.
“Got it!” Brad announces, jumping to his feet.
Leaves crunch under his shoes as he retrieves it, bringing it back over and kneeling at Peter’s side again.
“I-Inside l-left po-pocket.” Peter tells him, hearing the bag being zipped open.
“Found it… but we still don’t have any reception out here.”
“I-It’s made s-so it’ll w-work out o-of range.” Peter stutters out, a violent chill racing through him.
Peter had just been so upset about the whole trip and this week has been crazy, so he forgot all about the phone. He hasn’t even used it since Tony gave it to him, finding that the man had already put his number in the device.
How could Peter be so stupid to forget about it? They could have called for help hours ago.
“It’s locked.” Brad’s voice takes him out of his self-blaming thoughts.
“1962.” Peter grits out, wincing as his shoulder gives off a particularly painful throb.
He looks up at the other boy, as he types in the passcode, allowing Peter to see his wide, fearful eyes, as well as his rosy nose and cheeks from the biting cold.
“T-There’s only one number on here?” Brad says, almost questioningly. “A… Tony?”
“C-Call hi-him.” Peter struggles to say through chattering teeth.
Brad’s brows pull together as he looks down at him. “Tony? As in…”
Peter closes his eyes, breathing out shakily as another round of chills race through him, feeling something warm slide down his cheeks. “B-Brad, p-please… c-call h-him.”
“Okay, okay.” Brad says, tapping on the device a few times before Peter can faintly hear the dial tone in the background.
They wait there for several moments, hope filling through Peter, praying for Tony to answer.
“Oh my God, yes!” Brad’s yell causes him to flinch from the suddenness of it and Peter lets out a low groan when it jostles whatever injuries he has. “My name is Brad, I’m in Peter’s-yes-no, but we were on a scavenger hunt and we got lost-” Brad quickly speaks, but his voice starts to fade in and out of Peter’s ears, replaced by a staticky noise.
Peter’s eyes are growing heavy again, his head pounding away, as he shivers on the cold, hard ground.
“-eter? Hey, you have to-awake! -eter!” He can hear Brad’s frantic voice, but it sounds so far away.
Peter’s eyes slip shut, and then he knows no more.
…….
Voices fade in and out of his ears and he feels multiple hands on him.
“-shock-hypothermia-” Someone’s saying but the words don’t register with his jumbled, pained brain.
Peter somehow manages to open his eyes into slits, and there’s a bright white light surrounding him with the silhouettes of faceless figures above him.
A violent shiver wracks through him and he squeezes his eyes shut, feeling something soft and warm being pulled up to his chin.
“Hold on, honey… just hold on.” A soft voice tells him, and it almost reminds him of May, but it just doesn’t sound like her.
Everything fades to black.
…….
Peter wakes to the sound of someone crying, before pain erupts throughout his body. The crying only gets louder when his throat strangely starts to ache, only for him to discover that he’s the one who’s crying. He can feel the tears sliding down his cheeks and rolling down into his hair.
It hurts.
Everything hurts.
Make it stop!
Make it stop!
There’s suddenly a warm, calloused hand on his forehead.
“I’ve got you, Pete… I’m right here… I’ve got you.” A familiar voice says from somewhere around him.
Tony.
Peter wants to open his eyes and see Tony’s face, but everything hurts too much. It’s all too much.
He’s barely aware of the pinch of a needle in his arm, before the darkness consumes him once more.
…….
Consciousness slowly creeps up on him before his hearing comes next. There’s a soft, rhythmic beeping at Peter’s side. Everything feels weird and fuzzy, not allowing him to think clearly.
Peter manages to slowly open his heavy eyes, sluggishly blinking, only to discover that he was in a clean, white room, lying in bed. His brows pull together in confusion, as he rolls his head to the side, eyes landing on a person sitting in a chair at his bedside. He’d recognize that face anywhere.
“T’ny…” Peter hoarsely mumbles, throat horribly dry.
Tony’s head shoots up from his tablet and their eyes lock, relief washing over the man’s face.
“Well look who’s awake.” Tony smiles as he puts his tablet down on the nightstand beside the bed, and reaches a hand out, resting it on the side of Peter’s head.
“Where r’ we?” Peter hoarsely asks.
Tony’s thumb rubs small, soothing circles on his forehead. “You’re at the Compound in the medbay… you were hurt pretty bad, bud.” He softly says, brows pulling together. “Do you remember what happened?”
Peter can remember bits and pieces of going on the camping trip, partnering up with Brad for the scavenger hunt, getting lost… but it’s all fuzzy after that.
“You took a nasty fall down a steep hillside.” Tony tells him. “Your friend, Brad called me on your phone and we came looking for the two of you.”
Peter frowns, not recalling any of that.
“It’s okay if you can’t remember. You have a concussion but you’re going to be all healed up in no time.” Tony says with a small smile.
Come to find out, Peter had quite a severe concussion, as well as a dislocated shoulder, a broken arm, broken wrist, two cracked ribs and a badly sprained ankle, not to mention he came in with a severe case of hypothermia.
It takes about a day or so until Peter’s foggy brain clears up a bit and he’s able to remember what happened in the mountains. He remembers Brad coming to his rescue, climbing down that hillside after him and calling for help, not leaving Peter’s side.
…….
A sudden knock on the glass wall has Peter looking over at the doorway, seeing Tony standing there.
“Hey, kiddo. You feeling up for some visitors?” Tony asks with a smile.
Peter nods with a smile, sitting up a little bit more against the stack of pillows behind him. “Sure.”
Tony ducks out of the room and a few minutes later, Michelle, Ned and, to Peter’s surprise, Brad file in through the door. Peter’s smiles widens when Ned rushes over to him first.
“Oh my God, Peter! I’m so glad you’re okay!” His friend breathes out, clearly relieved as he carefully hugs him.
Ned steps aside after a few moments, allowing MJ to come over. She’s looking at the machines Peter’s hooked up to with teary, worried eyes, as well as the bright blue cast wrapped around his left arm. Before Peter can say anything, she leans over and presses a soft peck to his lips.
She pulls back, resting her forehead against his. “I thought that-when I saw you… I thought you were dead.” Michelle tearfully whispers.
“I’m so sorry, MJ… you shouldn’t have had to see that.” Peter tells her, reaching his good hand up to cup the side of her face. “But I promise you, I’m okay.”
They stay like that for a few more long seconds, before she pulls back, wiping at her eyes as she stands at Ned’s side. Peter’s eyes slide away from her and over to Brad, who was awkwardly standing over by the door. Peter’s eyes slide back to MJ and their eyes meet, the two of them sharing a knowing look.
She nods in understanding. “We’ll give you two a minute.” Michelle says before she grabs Ned’s arm and pulls him out of the room.
The room is silent for a moment before Peter’s eyes fall on Brad. “Hey.”
“Hey.” The other boy repeats, a little awkwardly as he walks over to the bed. “So… how’re you feeling?”
“Better.”
“That’s good.” Brad says. “You had us pretty worried there, with everything that happened. That was pretty scary with you… you know. I… I thought you were dead, when I found you at the bottom of that hill. You weren’t moving and you were all bloody… I-I didn’t know what to do.” He admits.
Peter’s eyes fall to the bed as his brows pull together, silent for a few seconds. He couldn’t imagine how terrifying that must have been for Brad to experience, on top of them being lost.
“I would be if it wasn’t for you.” Peter slowly says, looking back up at him. “I never got to thank you.”
Brad just shrugs, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “No problem.”
A silence forms between the two of them for a few moments.
“Uh… so… I guess you weren’t kidding when you said you knew Tony Stark.” Brad says, gesturing a hand around the room, smiling. “This place is awesome.”
“Yeah, I know.” Peter smiles.
After their little heart-to-heart, MJ and Ned walk back in, carrying a few bottled drinks and snacks from the vending machine down the hall. MJ carefully sits at his right side and snuggles against him, mindful of his injuries, while Ned sits at the end of the bed, with Brad taking the unoccupied chair beside the bed on Peter’s right.
It’s almost as if a weight has been lifted off of Peter’s chest after talking with Brad, and with everything that’s happened… they’re grown a little bit closer with each other. No longer nemeses, but friends .
It’s true what they say, tragedy does bring people closer together.