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It wasn’t that Ned wasn’t worried.
It wasn’t .
He was worried and had every right to be.
His boyfriend is a vigilante superhero on the path to take over The Avengers. Which is cool and awesome and so absolutely amazing! But said boyfriend also has, like, zero self-preservation skills, despite having a precognitive sense to literally warn him about danger. He’ll say it’s because “with great power comes great responsibility” - and yes, it’s really great that he decided to use the powers he got from a field trip gone wrong to help the people of New York but, could he be a little more selfish with that selflessness?
That said, Ned is worried. He just can’t afford to let that worry affect helping his boyfriend with his injury, and from helping their other boyfriend stay at school.
__
Ned was getting lunch for them at Delmar’s when it happened. Peter was supposed to be meeting him for lunch so they could facetime with Harley before he got himself sucked into the world of exams. Harley had only taken two of his exams at MIT when he got called away for a mission in London that needed help from someone with Iron Armour, and with Tony stuck in Tokyo due to a Stark Industries disaster, Harley was next up. Once the mission was done, Harley’s teachers said he had a week to take the other 5 exams he needed to take. So after cramming for 3 days, Harley was giving himself a 4 hour break, per his boys’ instructions to nap, eat, and talk with them.
He was almost done getting the video call set up when Mr. Delmar called to Ned across the bodega. “Ned, looks like your spider is back at it again.”
“He better not be, he’s supposed to be here ten minutes ago!” Ned rushed to behind the counter to get a look at Mr. Delmars tv that showed the current news. “No, nonononono. Please tell me he crawled between those cars, Mr. Delmar. Please tell me he didn’t do what I think he did.”
Ned looked at the bodega owner with pleading dripping from his expression. When he was met with nothing but tense silence, Ned cursed under his breath and set up a bot at their table to pack and prevent their stuff from being stolen by sending it home before speaking into his watch.
“F.R.I.D.A.Y. launch The Guy,” Ned said, running into the alley next to the bodega. A jet pack formed on his back, coming up his neck to form a mask around his features and then extend to a full body armor.
As the suit flew him the few blocks to where Peter was, Ned narrated a message to Harley explaining why they were about to not video call as planned.
To: Ken Doll
Hey babe, so little Spider issue, we’re not gonna be able to call. Don’t worry about it, go get some more sleep and ace your exams. Love you.
Ned was just about to land when Harley responded.
From: Ken Doll
What do you mean little issue? Darlin, I’ll leave you to deal with it simply because I don’t need you stressing about me taking these exams, but I need to know what’s happening too. Keep me informed.
Ned took one look at Peter panting between the two cars and reassuring all the occupants, and knew he couldn’t respond at all to Harley until he was back from exams.
One look at how the hoods of the cars were crammed into Peter’s back and stomach and Ned knew it was going to be a long week.
“F.R.I. Silence all incoming messages and debrief the Iron chat. I have it handled.” Stepping forward, Ned started to help paramedics and firefighters get all of the occupants out of the cars, and the pedestrian Peter had pushed out of the way to an ambulance as well. Once all was said and done, Ned turned to Peter.
“Ah- ha, Hi Guy. What’s crack-eeeen?” Peter tried to stay non-chalant, but Ned could hear the pain in his voice and was immediately more worried. Peter kept all bad emotions from his voice when ‘on duty’, except when they hit extremes.
“Seems like your back is cracking, Spidey. How about we get you out of there? F.R.I.?”
“Sounds, hmph, sounds great, Guy,” Peter panted, and Ned worked with the visual F.R.I.D.A.Y. gave him on how best to get Peter out from the car sandwich without further exacerbating his injuries. Once he had enough room to move him out, Ned placed him in the med pod that had automatically been sent along when he had called out his own launch protocol earlier.
“Send him to Cho, F.R.I.” he murmured before turning to the crowd that had inevitably watched the whole process. “Thank you for your patience, updates on his condition will be available, as always, on the official Spider-Man website. Now, if you don’t mind, I have to go make sure he behaves for the doctors.”
The crowd gave a rough chuckle and a cheer as Ned blasted off to the tower. Ned’s alias had come about when he stole a suit of armour while the avengers were held up states away and Peter and Harley had needed help getting to medical attention. Harley’s suit could fly him, but getting out to a position where he could actually fly was what was difficult. Ned had stuck around afterwards to answer questions and relay updates to worried onlookers. It was well known that he didn’t, and couldn’t fight. But given that he helped everyone involved get the medical attention needed, it was sort of an unwritten rule that he was off-limits when it came to kidnapping and harm. He started the official Spiderman website as a way for Peter to feel like people could reach out to him and not worry them.
As Ned made it back to the MedBay, he looked on and realized Peter wasn’t as bad off as he thought, but he was definitely not in the all clear.
“Really, Dr. Cho, ma’am,” Peter said, looking as if he was moving to get up. “I’m fine, I’ll be right as rain in a few - ah - hours.”
“Peter Benjamin Parker, if you so much as try to stand up on your own without Helen clearing you to, I will not hesitate to initiate Protocol Bug Spray. You know Harley will be here at Mach-2 if that happens.”
Peter went pale at that, knowing what Harley was in the middle of, and immediately complied with all of Dr. Cho’s inspections. When she was done working, she concluded that Peter would need to rest for a few days without walking anywhere. He could stand for a short shower after 3 days, but otherwise would be stuck with sponge baths or Ned carrying him to the tub. It was only because of his super healing that this wouldn’t last for 3 months.
That settled, Cho handed Peter’s care off to Ned, who only sighed mentally, knowing Peter’s ability to be a patient patient was practically non-existent. He got his boyfriend settled into the wheelchair and moved to the elevator to head to their floor. As soon as Ned had gotten them to the bedroom, the ride completely in silence, Peter made a move to stand up.
“Peter.”
“Ned.”
“Don’t. You. Dare.” Peter sighed but stayed put in the chair.
Ned got him moved over to the center of their king bed and then sat on the edge of the bed, facing away. Finally, finally having a break from doing the next action, Ned allowed himself to think over the day. He had planned on surprising both of his boyfriends tonight with some good news, but in the light of what had happened, he just, didn’t have the energy at that moment to feel excited. Peter had put himself in harm's way, again , and while Ned could admire and appreciate and love the hell out of him and his need to help others, he just wanted to see it happen more often where he doesn’t almost lose him or come close to it. He was so paranoid that one of these times, his healing isn’t going to kick in, and they’d really have to deal of the fall-out of Peter’s lack of self-preservation.
And gods, this was the way Ned thought of it after having to deal with it for years , even before the spider bite. Harley hadn’t been dealing with this, with Peter’s idiotic need to not keep himself safe as he saved others, for nearly as long, and he certainly hadn’t built up any coping mechanisms.
And oh shit, Ned still needed to update everyone on what was happening, even if F.R.I. had done her job, they needed to hear it from him too. With a sigh and a quick look behind him to see that Peter’s sedatives he had chosen to help him speed up his healing even more had kicked in, Ned moved to his desk in the connected room to deal with any questions that had popped up on the website. F.R.I.D.A.Y. turned back on his notifications and a flood of messages from Harley came flooding in.
From: Ken Doll
Ned? Everything okay?
Fri is stil offline for me until my exams are done
I ‘m not getting any notifications.
Ned?
Hello?
Fucki t
From: Ken Doll
Shit
I borrowed a classmates internet after the test
please tell me he didnt
oh no he did
ned i need updates
please
From: Ken Doll
thank fuck friday made her post on the website
darlin do I need to come back
I think I can talk to my teachers and take the rest of my tests all tomorrow
i need this over with
i need to see you guys
From: Ken Doll
fuck it
Im taking the test all today
ill be home by noon tomorrow
Ned pressed back the urge to cry. They had worked out the plan perfectly so Harley wouldn’t overdo it or stay up too many hours. Then again, Peter had promised not to get hurt while he was gone, but look at where they were now.
His hands were shaking and he knew he wouldn’t be able to type, so he did the next best thing, and steadied his voice to call Harley. He picked up on the first ring.
“Love, thank fuck, how is he? How are you ?” Harley sounded out of breath, and Ned knew it was because he was running across campus to take his different tests back to back.
“He’s been better, but also been a lot worse. I’m doing okay.” Ned scratched his brow as he leaned forward, an elbow on the desk in front of him. Silence and heavy breathing met him on the other side of the line, and he knew that meant Harley was expecting more. “He was on his way to meet me at Delmar’s when he saw someone swerve across three lanes of traffic - thankfully empty - but straight at another car headed in the other direction and a jaywalker who just thought he would make it. He shoved the pedestrian out of the way, but didn’t have enough time to do that safely and reposition to keep the cars separated, hence the Peter sandwich. He at least had enough self preservation that he waited for me to show up and didn’t try to move the cars that were digging into him at all. He’s on bed rest for a few days and then he’ll be allowed to stand for short bits of time for a few days after that. By this time next week, he’ll be back at it. Though Miles has already said he’ll do a few patrols through the neighborhood in his mock suit.”
Silence continued to meet him, but this time Ned had no clue what to say in response. It felt more like Harley was trying to say something. So he stayed silent and procrastinated a little longer on his own crisis. He had to make sure his boys were alright.
“What. the. Fuck,” Harley’s growl startled Ned, and he looked up as if looking up would allow him to see Harley’s face. “How can you say all of that so blasé? Peter got hurt bad enough that he’s on bedrest for a week -”
“-half a week-”
“Not the fucking point here, dear. He’s hurt and it doesn’t feel like you’re worried ab-”
“Don’t. Don't go there. Harley, as much as this conversation needs to happen, it cannot happen over the phone. I love you baby, I love both of you, but we all need to have this conversation together. So let’s just focus on what we can do right now, and when you’re back here we can talk about this. Please. ”
Ned heard Harley take a deep breath over the phone. Just a few more minutes, then he could- “Ned, love, how are you really doing?”
“I’m dealing, Harls, as best as I can right now. And right now, I need to make sure my boys are good, because all three of us can’t be out of commission right now. So. I’ll get my time.”
“Sweetheart-”
“Baby. If you really want to help me right now, you’ll take care of your tests, get some sleep and be back later than noon tomorrow. Not before, not at, but later than noon. So I know you got some sleep before you came back. Peter’s asleep for now to hopefully kick his healing into overdrive and maybe get him on his feet faster. Until then, I’ll do my best. Okay?”
A long sigh, then, “Okay. I’m about to head in to take my second to last exam, but this one should take the longest. It’ll finish around 8 pm, then my last final is at ten and should finish by midnight.”
“And how long have you been up?”
“Only-”
“Harley!”
“What?!”
“You only start your answer to that question with ‘Only’ when you’ve been awake for more than 48 hours! SMH, my love, you said you wouldn’t.”
“Did you just-”
“OMG, GTG, you have test to take, TTYL, ILY!” Ned hung up to the sound of Harley’s strained laughter at his spoken spelled out text talk. He hung his head with a slight smile, but felt the tears of exhaustion pull at him nonetheless. Ned heaved himself up after logging everything off, heading back to bed with Peter. His phone vibrated with a message, but he got ready for bed (yes at 4 in the afternoon) before he checked it.
From: Ken Doll
You’re ridiculous.
To: Ken Doll
You love it.
Ned was all read to wait for a response til morning when his phone went off again.
From: Ken Doll
I do
Take care of yourself
To: Ken Doll
don’t you have a test to take doll?
Ned giggled when he saw the typing dots appear then leave. That’s what he thought.