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One week. One more week and finals would be over and done with. Then Peter could get some actual sleep. Between the constant studying every day, patrols every night, and interning for Mr. Stark, admittedly he wasn’t exactly getting the recommended eight hours of sleep at night. He was tired. Really tired. But he would never admit to it, at least not to your face. And he was pretty good at hiding it for the most part.
That is, until he accidentally dozed off in class. He couldn’t really help it though. That day’s chemistry lesson wasn’t anything new or exciting to him, so what would it hurt if he didn’t pay as much attention just this once?
“Mr. Parker?”
Peter’s head jerked upward at the sound of Mr. Harrington’s voice, his eyes immediately widening as he realized what had happened.
“Uh- I-“ he sputtered as his eyes focused on the board in the front of the room.
“As I was saying,” his teacher continued with a raised brow, “would you care to explain the name of the formula?”
Thinking quickly, Peter scanned the writings on the board, his gaze landing on said formula. “Um, it’s iron oxide. Or rust.” His voice wavered slightly with embarrassment as he felt his cheeks heat up.
“Right,” Mr. Harrington said, clearing his throat. Peter quietly sighed in relief as his teacher continued with the lecture without another word to him.
Ugh, how could he be so stupid to let himself fall asleep in the middle of class? He’d never done it before, but god was he tired. Most of his classes this semester were more advanced, which hadn’t need an issue before, but trying to balance them with being Spider-Man had proven to be maybe just a bit too much on his plate at once.
“Hey,” Ned whispered from beside him, drawing his attention. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just... late night.” Peter shrugged. “I’ll explain later.”
And by that, he meant that he’d make up some story about patrolling super late and losing track of time, which wasn’t technically a lie. But he’d definitely leave out the part about it happening over the course of the past two weeks. Peter just didn’t like for people to worry about him. He was fine, really. Maybe he’d just have to sacrifice an hour or two a night on patrol until finals were over with. He could live with that. Maybe.
After school, Peter did his usual routine of homework and then studying, followed by dinner and more studying. By the time nine o’clock rolled around, he decided to retire his textbooks for the night and trade them in for his suit, which he slipped on before quietly escaping out his bedroom window.
It was only about an hour in on his patrol when his fatigue really started to hit him, but he figured all he needed was a short break. So he made his way to one of his favorite rooftops downtown and sat down on the ledge, letting his feet swing as he gazed out at the city. It was all in all a relaxing sight, which didn’t much help his state.
His head was all but spinning, and his limbs suddenly weighed a thousand pounds. His eyelids were fighting him to close, but he had to stay alert. He had to stay awake.
But sleep would be so nice, he thought. Maybe if he just took a short nap. He could have Karen wake him up and he’d be right back at it- No, he had to stay awake. He had to. But his eyes were beginning to betray him as they started to slip closed, and then he was out.
Something had suddenly jolted him awake, though - his senses practically screaming at him. His eyes flickered back and forth, widening as he saw the ledge he’d been sitting on getting further and further away. He was... falling?
“Shit!” Peter gasped. He had to think fast.
He quickly outstretched his arm, activating his web shooter toward the building. The relief of swinging away never came though. Instead, he felt himself hit the ground, hard. His back and head were immediately drowning in a wave of pain that made him groan with a strained voice, and that familiar feeling of heavy eyes quickly came back again. This time, he didn’t hesitate to give in to it.
The next thing Peter remembered was the feeling of floating. Was he still falling? No. He remembered hitting the ground. Or had he dreamt that? Was the whole thing a dream? Was he still just asleep on the rooftop? He really had hoped so. He hoped that he was fine. That he had just dozed off on the roof and he was just dreaming and that everything was okay.
That train of thought was entirely derailed as the faint yet distinct beeping of a heart monitor started to fill his ears. At about the same time, the back of his head began to ache, alongside practically the rest of his body. Okay, so he had definitely fallen, and he was definitely not dreaming. But where was he? And how the hell had he gotten there?
He fluttered his eyes open, his vision started to focus on his surroundings. He could tell he was in some sort of hospital room, but it definitely wasn’t a regular hospital. It was almost as if he knew, but his head was still spinning and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
“And there he is,” an all too familiar voice sounded from his side. His head jerked toward the source as his brows furrowed.
“M-Mssr Stark?” Peter slurred, his eyes slightly widening.
“How’re you feeling, kiddo?” Mr. Stark asked, taking a small step toward him.
“I- My head...”
“Yeah, I’m sure that’s gonna be sore for a bit, thanks to that lovely concussion you got from falling - what was it - ten stories?” His mentor raised a brow, his lips pressed into a fine line.
Peter’s face immediately shifted to a mixture of embarrassment, surprise, and guilt. He could tell Tony knew exactly what had happened last night. Wait, had it been last night? Or the day before. Peter could quite tell how long he’d been out. It honestly felt like days.
“Karen showed me everything, Pete.” He sighed, his expression turning to concern. “How much sleep are you getting at night?”
Peter opened his mouth to protest, but the words never made it out. Instead, they were replaced with a sigh and a slight head shake. “I’m sorry...” he mumbled.
“Kid, listen,” Mr. Stark started, making his way over to Peter’s bedside. “I know I agreed to not spy on you and look through your suit recordings, but I wanted to figure out what was going on.” He sighed, running a hand over his face. “Karen told me you’ve been out patrolling until two in the morning sometimes. Wanna tell me why?”
Peter hesitated, a sigh sipping past his lips. “I- It’s just that- Finals are coming up and I’ve been kinda struggling with a couple of classes and I just wanted to make sure I did really good on the finals, you know? So I’ve been trying to study a lot more, which means I don’t get to patrol until later so I-“
“Take a breath, Pete,” Mr. Stark cut him off, a half amused smile on his face. “At least now I know why you’ve seemed so spaced out in the lab recently.”
“I- I wasn’t spaced out. Just... not as, uh, focused.” He gave his mentor a sheepish smile.
Mr. Stark hummed, an eyebrow slightly raised. “You don’t need to be working yourself that hard.”
“I know, I know... It’s just- I mean I’ve been trying to make sure I can do everything that I need to, and I guess I haven’t really been keeping track of time and-“ he sighed, his head slightly dropping as his fingers toyed with one another in his lap. “And I’m just trying to keep up with my responsibilities. I can’t just not be Spider-Man.” His tone turned dismal.
Somewhere in the back of Peter’s mind, he knew that he probably should’ve cut his patrols short for the time being and catch up on sleep, but he also knew that his guilt would be eating him away at the thought of Spider-Man not being there for his neck of the woods every day.
On the other hand, he should’ve known better. Getting about three or four hours of sleep at most over the past couple of weeks had definitely not been treating him well, and it only kept getting worse and worse. And now he knew the repercussions of that.
Mr. Stark was quiet for a moment, looking at Peter with a mixture of worry, yet with understanding.
“Hey,” he placed a gentle hand on Peter’s shoulder, prompting his attention. “I know I’m not exactly the poster child for proper sleep schedules, or time management for that matter... But Pete, you gotta realize that being responsible is also remembering to take care of yourself sometimes, too. Your finals are important, yeah. And being Spider-Man is, too. I get that. But you can’t keep over-working yourself and sacrificing sleep just so you can cram everything into your life at once. You’ve gotta take time for yourself, you know.”
Peter’s gaze found its way to his mentor, his head nodding a bit. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry, Pete.” He brushed a stray curl from Peter’s forehead. “And don’t feel like you can’t take a night off or two from being Spider-Baby if you need to.” A slight smirk formed on Mr. Stark’s features before it turned into a more genuine smile. “No more patrolling on nights you’re gonna be out past eleven, alright?”
Peter’s features formed a small smile of their own. “Fine.”
“Good.” Mr. Stark returned his smile. “Now you need to get some more actual rest, kiddo. You’ve got one nasty concussion to sleep off. Not to mention the cracked rib. And the major bruising-“
“I get it, I get it,” Peter laughed, playfully swatting a hand at him.
“I’ll be here when you wake up, kid.”
“Don’t wait up, Mr Stark.” He slightly smirked, his eyes already drifting closed. “I’ve got a lot of sleep to catch up on...”