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Aunt May was so going to kill him, Peter thought, as he narrowly dodged a swipe from the Lizard’s claws. She had only given him one rule to follow for the day, which he had to concede was a pretty good point; “no missing high school graduation.”
As it turned out, a giant reptilian abomination rampaging throughout New York made a particularly solid counterpoint. So, instead of sitting through Betty’s carefully planned opening remarks, he was swinging on a random rooftop, desperately trying to web up the Lizard before the roster got to Parker.
Of course, in his haste, he had to prioritize some things over others, and he figured bleeding profusely while walking across the stage was better than showing up too late to walk at all. He pressed one hand over the gash in his side, managing to web down one of the Lizard’s arms with the other.
The Lizard swung at Peter ferociously as he darted out of the way, one of its talons catching on the back of the suit, tearing the fabric like paper.
“Not cool, man,” Peter grumbled as he swung back around, ignoring what he was pretty sure was blood trickling down his back, “don’t you know what time it is?” He didn’t wait for a reply, throwing all of his weight into a heavy, solid punch that landed squarely on the Lizard’s jaw. “It’s time for you to get clocked.”
The Lizard crumpled, and Peter wasted no time in thoroughly webbing him to the spot where he lay. Still running on pure adrenaline, he sprinted over to his things, wiping the blood on his hands on the tattered suit before he peeled it off of him. He hastily pulled on the nice outfit that May had set out for him, then his graduation robes, hoping that the gown would hide the blood slowly oozing through his shirt.
The graduation wasn’t too far away, and he ran through the back door sliding into his place in line just as Mr. Morita called out “Sue Lorman”. He applauded politely as she took her diploma, gritting his teeth, the pain from the fight starting to set in.
“Yasmin Monette.”
The girl in front of Peter stepped forward and he braced himself against the wall, his hand leaving little smudges of red on the white paint.
“Peter Parker.”
Peter took a deep breath through his teeth, stepping up the stairs to the stage. He could hear May in the crowd without even looking for her, and he glanced out to see his family, Mr. Stark sitting in the row with May and Happy, who were suspiciously close together. They beamed at him, clapping and cheering, and he teetered forward.
All he had to do was make it across the stage to get his diploma without collapsing. Easy. He took another step.
He woke up in the med-bay hours later, Ned and MJ and May and Mr. Stark all packed into the room, his diploma sitting untouched on the table beside him.