Chapter Text
It started out as a perfectly fine, enjoyable, slightly-above-average Friday. Peter had done a successful patrol the night before, gotten a good night of dreamless sleep (which had been very rare ever since the whole… Vulture incident), woken up on time feeling quite refreshed, and even enjoyed a short breakfast with Aunt May. He had taken the subway to school and managed to avoid Flash before his morning classes (which he was on time for). He aced his Spanish test, breezed through his Chemistry assignment, and had no problem completing his Robotics challenge.
He sat down beside Ned during lunch, and they started chatting excitedly about the new limited edition Lego S.H.I.E.L.D. Triskelion that Ned had just purchased. Their conversation was interrupted when MJ sat down next to them.
“‘Sup, nerds,” she said calmly. “Have either of you losers figured out where Mr. Harrington is taking us tomorrow?”
“What?” Ned asked, confused.
MJ rolled her eyes. “Remember? The ‘surprise’ team bonding activity?”
“Team bonding?” Peter echoed, evidently clueless.
“For the academic decathlon team,” MJ reminded him bluntly. “Remember how we all had to sign those forms last week for an in-state surprise activity?”
“Ohhh,” Peter said, eyes lighting up in understanding. “Crap, that’s tomorrow? Where are we going?”
MJ crossed her arms. “That’s what I was just asking,” she reminded him. “Never mind. You losers obviously have no idea what I’m talking about.”
“That’s right, we don’t,” Ned admitted. Neither Ned nor Peter was offended that MJ had called them losers; they knew it was her way of showing any type of friendship (or emotion in general).
“Maybe we’re going to the Avengers Tower?” Ned suggested.
Peter choked on his drink in surprise. “No way,” he declared after a brief coughing fit. “Mr. Stark just re-purchased the tower; there’s no way it’s ready for a field trip.”
“Still, it’d be super cool,” Ned said. “And aren’t the Rogue Avengers coming back?”
“U-um,” Peter stuttered, “Yeah, I think so? I don’t know much…” he trailed off, unsure of what he was allowed to say on the topic. He knew that Mr. Stark had been working to revise the Accords, but he was pretty sure that the media didn’t know much about what was going on.
MJ rolled her eyes again. “Come on, nerd. If we were going to Avengers Tower then Mr. Intern would know about it,” she said, looking at Peter as she said ‘Mr. Intern’.
“I would,” Peter said. “...probably. But we’re not, because the Tower is still being remodeled.” Peter smiled, inwardly laughing as he remembered the furiously defeated expression on Happy’s face when he realized that he was going to have to oversee moving day again.
“We might be going on a hike,” MJ commented idly. “I think I saw Mr. Harrington with a box full of ponchos.”
“And Mr. Harrington said it would take a few hours to drive there,” Ned added.
“Is that why he asked me to teach him how to use a compass?” Peter said.
“Probably,” MJ said. She shrugged nonchalantly and pulled out a book.
Peter was pretty sure that this was one of the longest conversations he’d ever had with MJ; honestly, he felt like their friendship was slowly progressing. Which kind of made him... happy (not that he’d admit it to anyone).
.........
Mr. Harrington gathered the team together after school to announce the location of their ‘team bonding’ day. “Okay, team,” he said, “tomorrow you must come prepared with hiking shoes, a sack lunch, water bottles, comfortable clothes, and a cheerful attitude! Because we’re going... hiking!”
The group was silent, having already figured out the fact that they were going hiking.
“Where?” MJ asked bluntly.
“Oh, yes, right,” Mr. Harrington said. “We’re going to... Taughannock Falls!”
“Taughannock Falls?” Ned echoed. “That’s over 4 hours away!”
“Well, that’s why we’re leaving at 6 tomorrow morning!” Mr. Harrington said. When everyone groaned, he continued. “It’ll be a great team bonding activity! I even ordered matching Midtown ponchos!”
God, that sounded embarrassing. Peter glanced at Ned and saw his own horrified expression mirrored on his best friend’s face.
“It might be raining,” Mr. Harrington continued, oblivious to the team’s lack of enthusiasm, “so the ponchos will certainly come in handy! And, even better, Taughannock Creek is flooding, so the falls are even more spectacular than normal!”
“Yay,” Abraham grumbled sarcastically.
“Well, you better get home and prepare,” Mr. Harrington said. “I’ll see you all tomorrow, bright and early! Bus leaves from here at 6!”
As he walked away, Flash turned toward Peter. “Great, now I have to spend nine hours with you, Penis,” he sneered. “Don’t you have a fancy Stark internship to be at? Oh wait, I forgot, it’s fake!”
MJ narrowed her eyes. “Shut up, Eugene,” she said idly in her perfect monotone. “I’d prefer to have to listen to you as little as possible between today and tomorrow.”
Flash stammered a bit, then decided it was better to not argue with MJ. He turned away and rudely pushed past Peter, slamming him into the locker. “See ya, Penis!” he called. “Taughannock Falls are over 200 feet tall; if we get lucky, maybe you’ll fall in and drown!”
Peter sighed, and Ned patted his back sympathetically. “Don’t worry, Peter,” his friend said. “I’d rather Flash drown than you any day.”
Peter let out a small laugh. “Thanks, Ned,” he said, slightly sarcastically. “Good to know.” He waved goodbye to his friend as Ned’s mom pulled up, and left to go get some patrolling in before he got home.
.........
The next day, the drowsy members of the Academic Decathlon team piled onto the yellow school bus that was waiting for them. In contrast to his overwhelming enthusiasm from the day before, Mr. Harrington was clearly tired, grumpy, and ready to nap the second he got on the bus. The only one of them who didn’t seem tired was MJ, who casually opened a book on the bus and greeted Peter and Ned with her usual, “‘Sup, nerds.”
Peter yawned, combing his hands through his wavy brown hair. Patrol last night had been fine; he saved a surprisingly aggressive cat, stopped a few attempted muggings, and saved a drunk driver from driving into East River. He’d only gotten a few hours of sleep before his alarm had woken him up and he groggily changed into joggers and a t-shirt (it said: I was addicted to the Hokey-Pokey, but then I turned myself around). He had stuffed a drawstring bag with lunch, his water bottle, and a sweatshirt, then grabbed his phone (skipping breakfast, he was late!) before May gave him a ride to Midtown.
Ned looked only slightly tired and had insisted on showing a mortified Peter a trending YouTube video that was titled “Watch: 10 Times Spider-Man Swung into a Wall”. Peter groaned and put his head in his hands as Ned laughed. “Okay, I was only distracted because there were little baby pigeons in that nest on the windowsill of the building,” Peter argued. “They were so cute!”
“So you were so distracted by baby pigeons that you swung face-first into the brick wall of an apartment building,” Ned summarized. Peter shrugged.
“Guilty as charged. To be fair, they were really cute and wrinkly.”
“What was cute and wrinkly?” Flash called. “Something you wanna tell us, Penis?”
Peter blushed as a few of his teammates laughed and the rest groaned. “Shut up, Flash,” Peter said. He was too tired to realize the repercussions of telling Flash to shut up, but the bully was clearly angry.
“What did you say, Parker?” he said menacingly.
Peter sighed. “Never mind,” he mumbled. He didn’t want to give Flash another reason to punch him, because it wasn’t like he could fight back; he just had to sit and take the punishment.
Flash folded his arms. “You’d better watch it, Parker,” he growled. Peter rolled his eyes and ignored the bully. He leaned against the window and dozed off.
As usual, the second Peter fell asleep he saw a jumble of mixed images; the Vulture, concrete, flying through the air. His whole body tensed, and he jolted awake, sweaty and gasping.
“Woah, man, you alright?” Ned said, concerned.
“Wh- oh,” Peter said. He sat down quickly as his teammates turned to look at him. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he said quietly.
Ned knew better than to press his friend, so he let the matter drop. “Well,” he said, “we’re about only a few minutes away from wherever the hike begins, and Mr. Harrington wanted to, uh, give us some instructions for the hike, or something like that?”
“Instructions?” Peter repeated.
“Ahem, class,” Mr. Harrington called, now looking more awake after drinking a large thermos of coffee. “I know that last field trip that we took was a bit… hectic, so I think it’s smart to go over some safety reminders.” He cleared his throat and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper.
“The hike is about three and a half miles long. We will be walking through the forest, then, a bit over three miles in, crossing a bridge that sits 170 feet above the river. After the bridge, you only have to walk for another third of a mile before you get to the viewpoint for the 215-foot-tall waterfall. It is important that we stick together, so nobody gets lost in the woods. Avoid getting too close to the edge of the bridge, because it raises the risk of falling into the creek. The creek is normally fairly shallow, so under normal circumstances, falling into it from 170 feet would most likely be fatal. However, the river is now completely flooded and is roughly five times its normal depth. Regardless of this, a fall from the bridge might still be fatal.”
Mr. Harrington cleared his throat once again, then continued. “Avoid disrupting the natural wildlife. Do not litter. We are on this hike to bond as a Decathlon team, so spend time with each other. Um… that’s all.”
His dull speech was followed by a few moments of sarcastic applause from Abraham. “Okay, group, it looks like we have arrived,” Mr. Harrington said. The teenagers filed out of the bus, and took turns using the bathrooms at the foot of the hike, then began on their trek.
The forest was beautiful, the birds were chirping, and yes, it was a good team bonding experience, but Peter was still a bit disappointed. He could’ve been working in the lab with Mr. Stark (well, if he’d been invited, which had only happened a few times) if Mr. Harrington had chosen a closer destination. Still, Peter let himself enjoy the hike, chatting with Ned, avoiding Flash, and watching MJ out of the corner of his eye. She seemed to be enjoying herself; she talked with Peter a bit and spent the walk looking for some hidden grave that was said to be located on this hike.
After about an hour of walking, they had finally reached the bridge. Peter peered over the edge at the swollen river that was rushing below them. It was much, much deeper than it had been in the photos he’d looked at, due to the rain and flooding. The current seemed to be strong; he saw several large logs being whisked downstream.
“This bridge was renovated fourteen years ago,” Mr. Harrington stated. “The bridge is considered an inspiring landmark for hikers to remind them that they are close to the waterfall.”
Thank goodness they were close; Peter was starving. His enhanced metabolism required him to eat much more than a normal human, and he was looking forward to sitting down to eat lunch.
They got to the bridge, Peter walking up to the side of the bridge to gaze at the beautiful river. He was wondering why his spider-sense was tingling, but that mystery was solved when he saw Flash strutting up to stand beside him.
“Scared, Parker?” the bully taunted him. “Don’t piss yourself, none of us want to deal with that on the ride back.”
Peter frowned. Why was his spider-sense going crazy? He concentrated, listening intently to the sounds around him while tuning out Flash. Was he imagining the faint creaking sound coming from under Flash’s feet? Were his eyes playing tricks on him, or were there faint cracks spreading through the bridge?
“Parker? Are you ignoring me?” Flash crossed his arms. “Parke-”
Peter’s spider-sense screamed, and Peter shoved Flash aside right as the wood beneath Flash’s feet collapsed. The bully landed, stunned, on a stable piece of wood to Peter’s right, while the rotten wood below Peter’s feet gave out and he started to fall. Peter lashed out an arm and managed to grasp onto a portion of the bridge, but it was starting to give out under his weight.
Just as it collapsed, Flash dove forward and grabbed Peter’s wrist. Someone screamed, and Peter forced himself to stay calm as he dangled from the bridge. Flash was slowly sliding forward, and Peter realized if Flash didn’t let go, both Flash and him were going to find themselves in the river. Maybe… Peter could easily stick to the bridge or flip himself up over the side of the bridge, but to do that would probably lead to the team figuring out his identity.
“I’ve got you, Parker,” Flash grunted, but they both knew that was a lie. Flash was a second from going over the edge and the rest of the team was too far to reach him. Peter could see MJ and Mr. Harrington running toward Flash, but if they got any closer, all of the wood would collapse and they’d all fall into the river. A fatal fall for most, but… Peter could probably survive it. He turned his head and made eye contact with MJ.
Peter made his decision, then, while letting out a little sigh, breathed, “Sorry, Flash,” and then twisted his wrist slightly so Flash couldn’t hold him any longer. Peter heard screaming and someone yelling his name, but everything else became a blur as he plunged toward the rushing river.
.........
Ned watched in horror as his best friend dangled above the rushing river. “No, Peter,” he whispered as he saw Peter force himself out of Flash’s grip so the latter wouldn’t fall as well. Peter and his stupid secret identity; if he didn’t have to hide that he was Spider-Man, Ned knew that Peter could’ve easily flipped up to the bridge or stuck to it or something. Ned could only pray that his best friend wouldn’t get hurt.
.........
A yell drew Michelle’s attention to the scene on the bridge. She turned and sprinted toward Flash, but since she had already stepped off of the bridge, she couldn’t get to Peter in time. The stupid, selfless idiot made eye contact with Michelle for a brief moment before twisting his wrist, forcing Flash to let go of him so they didn’t both tumble into the river. “Peter!” Michelle screamed, unable to do anything as she watched her friend fall into the unforgiving grasp of the river.
.........
Mr. Harrington froze for a moment as he took in the scene in front of him. God, not again. He couldn’t lose another student.
.........
Flash felt himself being pulled forward, the rotting planks under his feet crumbling under his and Parker’s weight. “I’ve got you, Parker,” he said, his voice strained. He wasn’t going to let the nerd die, even if it ended up with him falling into the river.
Parker glanced toward Michelle, then looked up at Flash. “Sorry, Flash,” he whispered, then twisted his wrist.
“No!” Flash yelled, lunging forward to catch the falling teenager. But he was too late, and could only watch as Peter plunged into the river.
.........
Bracing himself for impact, Peter pulled his arms toward his body and brought his legs together so they wouldn’t break upon impact.
Peter hit the water hard, slicing through and almost touching the bottom before the current of the water wrenched him to the side. He gasped at the impact with the freezing water, coughing as he inhaled a mouthful of it. The river tossed him around, and his head briefly broke the surface, allowing him to get a gulp of air.
He yelped as his right leg scraped against an extremely sharp rock, slicing his skin along his thigh. Peter vaguely remembered something he had heard from when he went river rafting with Uncle Ben- if you fall into the river, try and maneuver so you’re going feet-first to avoid the risk of knocking yourself out on a rock. Peter tried to do so, spluttering and gasping as the river pulled him along.
He was being dragged downriver, and he was now out of sight of the bridge. Peter tried to stick to a rock so he could pull himself out of the river, but he wasn’t able too. He could hear an odd roaring sound coming from up ahead-
Oh.
Shit.
Peter frantically grabbed at any rocks that he could see, but the river was too powerful and they were too slick for him to grasp. All Peter could do was brace himself as he was dragged over the edge of the cliff.
He flew down the waterfall, his senses barely picking up on the screams and yells from the tourists on the vantage point. Although he was absolutely terrified, part of him was in awe at the fact that he was currently free-falling down one of the tallest waterfalls on the East Coast; it definitely wasn’t something that most people got to experience.
The awe was quickly replaced by fear and he hit the water at an awkward angle, his left shoulder smacking against the surface. A jolt of pain ran up his arm, and he groggily realized that he’d dislocated his shoulder. Luckily, the pool at the bottom of the fall was fairly deep, so his back barely scraped the rocks at the bottom of the falls.
Peter tried to swim to the top of the pool, using his legs to propel him because of his dislocated arm (which hurt like hell). He inhaled a mouthful of water and choked, coughing as his head finally broke the surface of the water. Spluttering, Peter managed to make his way to the edge of the pool, finally collapsing in a shallower area. His right thigh stung, but Peter ignored the deep gash on his leg as he closed his eyes, groaning. He was freezing, unable to stop himself from shivering, and weak and exhausted.
Stupid secret identity.
He was so tired… so cold…
Peter closed his eyes, and everything went black.
.........
“Oh my- oh my God!”
A tourist and her husband had climbed down to the bottom of the waterfall when they saw Peter. The woman reached Peter first- she ran to him and then paused, evidently unsure of what to do. Her husband was only steps behind her, and he kneeled next to Peter, and expertly took his pulse.
“Call 911,” he ordered, then inspected the kid’s injuries. The man professionally wrapped the gash in Peter’s thigh, then narrowed his eyes as he noticed how Peter was trembling and the blue tinge of the boy’s lips. The man wrapped his jacket around Peter, aware that they had to warm the kid up or risk serious hypothermia.
Peter jolted awake as the man touched his dislocated shoulder. “Ahh!” he yelled, then winced as his shoulder throbbed.
The man held his hands up, concerned. “Don’t worry, kid, you’re going to be okay. The medics are coming, but your shoulder is dislocated and I need to pop it back into place so it doesn’t heal incorrectly. Don’t worry, I’m a professional,” he said, with a faint smile.
Peter coughed, then nodded his head. “Okay, okay,” he rasped. “Thank you.”
“No problem, kid,” the man said gently, then continued. “Okay, this is going to hurt, but I’m going to do it quickly.” He positioned himself next to the teenager, then swiftly popped the dislocated shoulder back into place. Peter bit back a yell, clenching his jaw and shivering profusely. The pain receded dramatically after his shoulder was back in its proper place.
“Th-thank you,” Peter stammered, “th-that’s much b-better.”
The man smiled. “Can you walk?” he asked gently. When Peter nodded, the man helped Peter stand and walk out of the water. “My name’s Joey,” the man said conversationally. “That’s my wife, Emma.”
“I’m P-Peter Parker,” Peter said, shivering.
“Do you know if you have any other injuries?” Joey asked gently. When Peter shook his head, the man sighed in relief. “Well,” he continued, “you’re suffering from mild hypothermia, so we’re going to have to take your wet sweatshirt and shirt off.”
Joey helped him out of his wet sweatshirt, and Peter breathed a grateful prayer of relief that he hadn’t worn his suit under his clothes. Joey helped Peter into one of his own sweatshirts, and Peter thanked the man again.
He turned to see his classmates and teachers sprinting down toward him, pale faces evident even from a distance. He smiled weakly as they approached him, wincing slightly as Ned and MJ both gave him a huge hug.
“Dude!” Ned yelled. “Oh my GOD, are you okay? You just fell down a waterfall! You saved Flash’s life!”
MJ just hugged him and said quietly, “I’m glad you’re alive, nerd.” But Peter could see the relief in her eyes.
Clearly uncomfortable, Flash approached Peter as Mr. Harrington was fussing over the latter. “Uh,” Flash began, clearing his throat, “Thank you, Parker. You… you saved me. I’m sorry for… well, thanks.”
Peter grinned. Everything had turned out okay, his classmates were safe, and his identity was hidden.
Now the only thing he had to worry about was the scolding May was going to give him when he got home.
Honestly, he’d rather have another go at the waterfall than suffer through that.