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“Hey! Watch it!”
“Sorry” Peter called over his shoulder as he barreled through
He’s running late!
AcaDeca ran long and since Happy was with Pepper in Tokyo and Mr. Stark was in meetings all day, he had to take the subway to the tower. He didn’t mind taking the subway, but his phone broke so he couldn’t message Mr. Stark to tell him he’d be late. And then as he was rushing out onto the street he runs into one of those vendors selling souvenirs and trips over a Mr. Fantastic plushie.
Perfect.
The Fantastic Four, the newest superhero group in New York and Ned’s latest obsession.
Every day he would bombard him with every question imaginable. Had he met them yet? Who was better looking, Human Torch or the Invisible Woman? Peter loves Ned, his best friend is his favorite person in the galaxy, but the next time he asks him if Spider-man is stronger than the Thing he was going to web his mouth shut; his identity be damned.
It’s not that he didn’t like the FF, he does, but he’s way too busy to really pay attention to them. Or anyone really. Between school, patrol and his internship he had no time to even breathe. Don’t tell Mr. Stark.
So, that being said, he makes his way to the tower as quickly as possible.
“Good evening, Peter. Would you like me to take you to Boss?” Friday asked him as he slipped into the elevator.
“Yeah, that’d be great, Friday. Thanks”
Grateful for the moment to catch his breath, he leaned against the wall.
Peter’s Senior year was winding up to be the craziest one yet. Flash had eased up on the bullying; instead, he was staring at Peter like he was trying to solve a math problem. And as a person with plenty of secrets, this made him nervous. MJ and he had decided that they were better friends than lovers, so they split. He doesn’t regret it. It honestly feels like a weight was taken off his shoulders like he can be more relaxed around her. Oh, another MJ started at MidTown. Her name is actually Mary Jane and her aunt lives next to May and Peter. She’s sweet, but a little too observant for his comfort. Also, her Aunt keeps trying to set them up; it’s weird.
Bad guys had been getting worse and worse. Not in a “these guys are evil and a major threat” worse; no, it’s a “these guys are just plain annoying and tacky”.
That’s why he was looking forward to his time in the lab. The chance to work with his mentor and relax as he creates and improves? He feels better just thinking about it.
Which was probably why he didn’t notice his spider-sense telling him he was about to run into someone around the corner. It caused his things to scatter everywhere.
“Ah! Sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going. Dang. I’m really sorry.” Peter quickly apologized as he gathered his things.
The other person chuckled as he bent down to help. “You don’t have to apologize, dude. I wasn’t paying attention either,” He handed Peter the last of his stuff before extending his hand. “I’m Johnny, by the way. Johnny Storm.”
Peter finally looked up to the most stunning person he’d ever seen. Golden hair, blue eyes, and skin so clear it was unfair. He looked like he was sculpted by the goddess of beauty and released into the world. Johnny started to look uncomfortable and Peter realized that he hadn’t responded.
“Oh, umm, I’m Peter. Parker. Peter Parker. Uh... If you don’t mind me asking what are you doing up here? You seem a little young to be here.”
“I got lost coming back from the bathroom.”
“Okay, but, like, what are you doing on Mr. Stark's personal floor?”
“What? Oh! My team had a meeting with him and he invited us up here so he could nerd out with my brother-in-law. You know how geniuses are, right? So what are you doing up here? I didn’t think Iron Man had kids.” He shrugged like it was no big deal to be in the home of a billionaire.
What? What team was he talking about? Who was his brother-in-law? He needed to be pretty im…
“Holy shit! You’re THE Johnny Storm. The Human Torch.” Peter breathed out.
Johnny started laughing and nodded. “Yeah, dude, I’m the Human Torch. But you still didn’t answer my question.”
“Oh! Right! I’m Mr. Stark’s intern.”
“Great! Then you can show me the way back to everyone.”
After that Peter started to run into Johnny a lot. Between seeing him at the store while running errands for Mr. Stark and then seeing him on patrol; the Torch was everywhere. He wasn’t stalking him right?
Peter finally decided to get to know the boy. Not so shockingly, they got along well. It's no wonder they became quick friends. Well, Peter and Johnny became friends. Spider-Man hasn’t met him yet.
It wasn’t long before Johnny started to invite him over to the Baxter Building. They’d hang out, play video games, watch movies the whole shebang. He found out that Johnny loved Dancing with the Stars. Watched it with a passion. Which was what he was doing when Sue stormed (pun intended) into the room with a piece of paper.
“What is this?!” She pushed it in front of the pyro. “How did you fail this test? You and Reed studied for hours!”
He pushed the test away from him and rolled his eyes. “You mean I was trying to study while Reed got off-topic and rambling about things way beyond my skill level for hours?”
While they bickered, Peter lent over and grabbed the test. He immediately saw the problem.
“You did it out of order.” The Storm siblings stopped to look at him with matching confusion. “You worked the problem left to right, like reading a book, instead of starting with the exponents.”
“What?”
“Here, watch me.” Peter pulled out a pencil from his bag and showed Johnny how to work the first problem; the right way. It didn’t take long before he could do each problem without trouble. Sue was actually impressed, not to mention that Johnny was ecstatic. Which is how Peter became Johnny’s tutor and ended up spending even more time at the Baxter Building.
And as much as he loved it- he was wearing himself thin. He cut lab time down to only once during the weekdays and every other weekend. Tutoring was on Wednesday and he spends Tuesdays with Ned because that’s his best friend and he’s important to Peter. He didn’t do anything after practice on Thursday so he could take a nap before dinner and then patrol. The leftover time was spent on training and homework.
Mr. Stark wasn’t really thrilled about his new schedule but he didn’t say anything.
It wasn’t that big of a battle. Doom-Bots; nothing like the last invasion of New York, but Peter couldn’t bring himself to sit it out. Yeah, the FF had it pretty much under control but everyone could use a hand. Right?
No. Not from a sleep-deprived Spider-Baby apparently.
The sense of danger was constantly buzzing in the back of his head and it was hindering his ability to fight. After about the tenth near hit to the head, he was starting to think that this wasn’t a good idea. Even Sue was asking if he was alright. But what is he if not a complete dumb-ass?
MJ was going to yell at him later.
Halfway through he finally decided that Spider-man was better off as aerial assist. The Doom-bots couldn’t fly and he could see them and their terrible designs before they got close to him.
Or his teammates.
One was coming up behind Johnny and he seemed completely unaware. Without thinking, Peter dove towards Johnny, slamming his side into him as hard as possible just before the bot shot him.
The blast barely grazed his side, it’d be healed in the hour. On the other hand, Johnny was completely flamed on when Peter slammed into him. His right shoulder and hip were severely burned, and parts of his suit were still on fire. That had to be what hell felt like because his legs buckled and he collapsed on the ground.
There was shouting.
He was in pain.
Someone was touching him.
Moving him.
That hurt!
Where was he?
Why can’t he breathe?!
Something is on his face.
It needed to come off.
He can’t breathe!
Take it off!
His side hurts! Why does it hurt so bad?!
Johnny. He’s supposed to be tutoring Johnny. He can’t be late for that. His friend has been doing so well.
His cute friend.
He loves his friend.
He can’t breathe. Something’s on him.
The building collapsed. Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark, Help! Please! He’s buried under the building! Mr. Stark, you have to get him out! He’s going to die. MR. STARK!
“What the hell!”
Mr. Stark?
He can’t move.
“Helen is ready for him. This way.”
No, he wants his mentor. He wants Mr. Stark.
Where’s Uncle Ben? Uncle Ben always makes things better. He and Aunt May make everything better.
Pain! He’s in pain!
It hurts! Stop! Stop! That hurts!
“We can’t do anything if he keeps fighting us!”
“Pete, baby, you got to calm down!”
He’s got to get to school.
He’s late.
He can’t be late because then he can’t hang with Johnny. He loves to be around Johnny. Johnny is fun. He likes him.
“We need to sedate him!”
“Hold his arm!”
Waking up in the MedBay is never fun. Waking up in the MedBay is even worse when you don’t remember how you got there.
Peter slowly drifted into consciousness. Becoming more aware of his surroundings a little at a time. The beeps of his heart monitor, the buzz of the lights, the smell of the cleaning supplies, the feel of the blankets. All of it coming back piece by piece. It wasn’t until he heard the door open that he bothered to open his eyes.
Standing there was his mentor, with what Peter was sure was his 6th cup of coffee maybe more. His hair was messed up like he had been running his hands through it a million times and he would bet a kidney that he slept in that suit.
“Hey, Underoos.”
“Hey, Mr. Stark? So, um, what happened this time?”
“Yeah, this time.”
“Mr. Stark.”
“Well,” an airy chuckle. “You gave the Fantastic Four one hell of an introduction to the world of heroes.” He took a seat next to him.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, after going into a battle on less than advised sleep-” He paused to glare. “You body-slammed the Human Torch out of the way of an attack. Third-degree burns all down the right side of your body that required a skin graft. You have a few lacerations from the fight and a fractured wrist since you decided to fight the Thing on the way here.” Tony looked him over before taking a deep breath. Seemingly debating something in his own mind.
“You went into shock, Peter. Between the confusion and the shortness of breath, you thought you were being suffocated. They tried to stop you, I promise they tried. But you ripped off your mask on the way here. They know.”
They know?
.
.
.
Shit! They know!
Peter’s breath caught in his throat; eyes as big as saucers. The FF knows who he is. Johnny knows that Peter Parker is Spider-man. What was he going to do now? He didn't even know how they felt about Spidey. Yeah, they were nice during the battle, but they're also polite people. They could have easily been praying for him to leave.
In the background, he could hear his heart monitor pick up. It sounded like the bass to his doom.
Even if they liked Spidey before; what about now? He kinda interrupted their fight. Maybe he should’ve just gone to school. But then Johnny would be here instead.
School! Damn it! The clock on the wall read- 2:45 PM.
“You’ve been asleep for 2 days anyway,” Mr. Stark spoke. “I called the school. I told them that there was an accident during your internship and that you were in the hospital for a bit. Your aunt picked up your work.” He gestured to the stack of papers he had overlooked earlier.
“Uh, thanks, Mr. Stark.”
“Don’t mention it, kiddo. Oh, but you might want to check your phone. It’s been buzzing for hours.”
His mentor stood, kissed his forehead, and made his way out of the room- hopefully, to get some sleep.
Mr. Stark wasn’t wrong about his phone though. Despite being on the charger, it was at only half a battery. Probable cause? The trillions of notifications he’s getting from his friends. Ned and Mj, already used to the chaos, had sent the basic “You alright”s and “What happened”s. Johnny, on the other hand, was talking about anything but what happened. Well… that’s not completely true. His latest texts were anything but, the first hundred was him apologizing.
He shot back a quick message saying he was up before reading the rest.
It made Peter smile. At least Johnny wasn’t avoiding him. He loves Johnny too much to handle that.
.
.
.
Wait… What?