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Peter didn’t mean to let his broken ankle heal improperly. He didn’t think it would be such a problem. In fact, his super healing was already at work by the time he slipped back into his apartment after patrol that night. No need to bother Tony with another injury!
Besides that, how would he tell Tony he was only hurt because he’d forgotten to check his web-fluid levels before he went out, and was reminded of that fact when he was suddenly free falling from a very tall building?
By the next morning, it had healed, but it clearly had not healed in the right way. He swallowed the thought of having to have it rebroken in order to set it right. Instead, he decided the best course of action would be to ignore it and just hope his healing took care of that issues as well in the next day or so.
Sure, gym class was painful running on it, and he ended up in detention because he didn’t limp fast enough to class, but he was fine.
At least, that’s what he kept telling himself.
And that’s what he had told Ned and MJ when they asked about it.
And that’s what he told Happy as he awkwardly walked to the car the day after, when his ankle still was messed up.
“You sure you’re okay kid? You didn’t get hurt saving cat from a tree, or whatever?”
Peter forced himself to laugh as he performed the painful act of stepping into the limo. He carefully pulled his injured leg up across his lap, trying to focus not on the pain, but on the act of schooling his face to look casual.
“What? No I’m fine, just sore from gym class!”
The driver’s eyes in the rearview mirror stared back at him, the brow furrowing. “I thought you had gym class on Thursdays?”
He placed his hand on his ankle, swallowing a yelp in his throat. “yeah! They did the pacer test yesterday! Ya know, that crazy thing where the recordings goes, ‘The FitnessGram Pacer Test is a multistage aerobic capacity-‘“
“Okay, I don’t care enough to hear the re-enactment.” Happy put the car in drive and merged into traffic. “I just think it’s a little odd you’d be sore from that.”
The teen laughed. “What can I say, Happy? My life is unpredictable!”
Happy rolled up the partition.
Peter let out a sigh as he melted into the seat. His eyes found their way down to his ankle, crossed over his lap. Slowly, he rolled up his pant leg, only to be greeted with swelling the size of a fist.
Ignoring the fact that his heart leapt into his throat, he pulled his pant leg back down and instead reached into his backpack to work on homework.
His healing should take care of that swelling, he figured.
The fact that it healed wrong wouldn’t be an issue in a few days… right?
~~~~
“Just act normal. It’s fine, you’re fine.” He repeated to himself as he made his way into the compound. The elevator was in sight, he just had to limp- no, not limp, just awkwardly walk- to it, and get to the lab-
A sudden appearance of fiery red hair in the corner of his eye made him leap onto the ceiling. Once he felt his heart restart, he looked down to see Natasha staring up at him.
“Hi, ребенок-паук.” She said casually, the familiar nickname making him smile, despite himself. “You seem a little jumpy today.”
The teen forced a laugh. “I guess you can say I’m a jumping spider!” When she didn’t laugh in reply, he sucked in a breath to brace himself before dropping down onto the floor. He felt himself wince, despite his best efforts. “Well, it was good to see you, Ms. Romanov! I gotta get to the lab…” And he hobbled the final few feet to the elevator, leaving the former assassin watching his every move.
When the doors shut, a voice made him almost jump to the ceiling once more. This time though, he managed to hang on to the handrail that ran along the elevator wall.
“Hello, Peter. It’s wonderful to see you again.” Greeted FRIDAY.
“Oh! Um, hey FRI! How’s it going?”
“Today has been a functional day. How are you? I am detecting an increased heartrate, lack of balance, and your left ankle shows signs of severe injury.”
Peter groaned. If there was any one he couldn’t hide things from, it was FRIDAY.
Well, two “any ones”.
“Do you think Ms. Romanov could tell?”
“Based on my observation of your recent interaction with her, as well as the fact that she has just alerted the Boss about her concerns, I would say she is well aware of your injury.”
He groaned again. “Dang it…”
The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Tony stood facing the elevator, eyes immediately locking with Peter’s.
“Hey, Underoos. How was school?”
“Oh, you know… same old, same old!”
“Uh huh. Hap said they really overworked you in gym class this week.” Peter nodded quickly.
Maybe FRIDAY was wrong? Maybe Ms. Romanov didn’t say anything to him?
“That’s how it is this time of semester. They give us all these crazy tests! I’m really sore!”
“I see… is that why Nat said you got spooked so easily? Or is because you had to run those tests on a busted ankle?”
Peter felt his face drain; FRIDAY is never wrong.
Tony sighed before coming over to join Peter in the elevator. “FRIDAY, take us up to the MedBay. See if Bruce is available.” He then looked at Peter. “Kid, when were you going to tell me about this?”
“…it’s already healed, Mr. Stark…I didn’t want to bother you with something so small…”
“…and according to FRIDAY, it healed wrong, which makes this already not-so-small issue even bigger. Kid, you’re not a bother. It’s my job to worry about you, and any injuries you get while on the job. That’s what I signed up for when I gave you the suit. Hell, I signed up even more for it once May in all senses but legally binding gave me custody on weekends.” The elevator dinged and the doors opened again, this time revealing the MedBay floor. “Are you able to hobble your way there, or do I have to carry you?”
~~~~
“Well, there certainly was no mistaking it, his ankle healed wrong.” Bruce reported, holding up the x-ray. Peter felt his stomach lurch as he came face to face with the reality of how bad his situation was. The doctor put down the x-ray and turned to face him with a look of sympathy. “The only thing we can do at this point is re-break it and set it properly…and we’re still working on anesthesia that works for you…”
His stomach lurched again, and then once more with the grim realization that there was no way out of this. Before he had a chance to say anything, a large, calloused hand took hold of his own. He looked over at Tony, who had been sitting next to his bed. A flutter flew through his heart at this show of affection, but he quickly realized he couldn’t accept it and pulled his hand away.
“I’ll hurt you… I’m too strong…” he muttered sadly.
Luckily, Bruce had a better idea. He grabbed a fresh roll of gauze from the drawer and pulled it out of the wrapping. “Here. Bite down on this!”
With a shaking hand, Peter accepted the large roll, and carefully stuffed it into his mouth as Bruce set up at his feet, taking hold of the ankle in question.
Tony stood up and placed his hands on Peter’s shoulders, trying to offer some reassurance. “Look at me, Pete. Don’t look at what’s happening.” Through tears that were already starting to form, Peter did so, meeting the concerned gaze of his mentor. Regret flowed through him from trying to hide his injury. He knew that he’d ended up causing more problems by hiding it, and it had clearly caused Mr. Stark to gain yet another grey hair.
“Alright, Peter, start biting, and I’ll go on three…” Bruce said, flicking his gaze to the teen for confirmation. Peter nodded at him before looking back at Tony and biting down hard on the gauze. “Ready, one… two…”
He heard his muffled scream echo through the Medbay, shortly before passing out.
~~~
When he came to, the first thing he registered was Tony’s fingers combing through his hair. Opening his eyes, he found that the man was all but in the bed with him, holding him and stroking his hair gently.
“Hey, kiddo, you back with me?” Tony said softly. Peter just nodded. “Bruce said you’re gonna be off your feet for a couple of days, so it looks like you’re using the wheelchair to get around the compound this weekend.” He didn’t try to argue. He didn’t even have the strength to do so.
Instead, he decided to use his strength to say something else. “Mr. Stark, I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you sooner…”
“Hey. We’ll discuss this later. For now, how about we just relax with those bad TV shows you love?”
Peter scoffed. “Mr. Stark, are you calling The Office bad? I know you secretly enjoy it!”
Tony rolled his eyes and silly sat up. “Yeah, yeah, whatever you say! Hey, FRI, put the episodes of that awful show on shuffle.”
“Now playing playlist, ‘Mr. Stark’s favorite Office episodes’” was FRIDAY’s reply before the TV in front of them switched on.
Tony looked at Peter. “You little… you’re lucky you’re injured, because otherwise I’d be chasing you around the compound!”
Laughing, Peter retorted. “I’d just outswing you!”
“In my suit, catching up to someone who breaks their ankle by running out of web-fluid mid-patrol would be no issue!”
“What?” He scrambled to sit up. “How did you-”
“I programmed Karen with over-ride codes for a reason, kid. Now be quiet, this is a good part.” And he turned to look at the screen. Shaking his head, Peter did the same.