Chapter Text
Peter fell on the concrete sidewalk, hyperaware of everything. The stinging on his thigh, the people walking around him who probably thought he was some dumb kid in a fake Spider-Man mask.
While his vision was mainly blurry, he managed to spot the alleyway he had started his patrol at and stumbled into it. He grabbed one of his burner phones.
Shakily, he typed out Ned's number- he didn't save anyone's number for their safety as Spider-Man- and texted, “Ned, s petr. got a rlllly bad cut gonA try to stitchcit but e thnk its really deep hlp”.
Praying the alley was private, he tore off his costume and changed into his civilian clothes. The cut made him want to throw up.
He felt paralyzed as he stared at it. He took out his med kit and grabbed the antiseptic agent, pouring it on a cotton pad and applying it to his thigh.
It hurt so badly and there was so much blood. He realized there was a shard of glass in it. He began to breathe rapidly.
He was too scared to take it out. His phone buzzed, “I'm not Ned, but go to a hospital. Until then, keep pressure on it.”
“i cnt go 2 hospital theres glats in it idk what 2 do” Peter quickly typed back, trying to even out his breathing. A panic attack wouldn't do him any good.
“Fuck. How old are you?”
“15” Peter responded after deciding it didn’t matter- he was probably going to die anyway.
“Kid, you need to go to a hospital.”
“no. i feeeel frint”
“Do you have a needle and thread?” Peter looked back at the wound from his phone and felt another bout of nausea. It looked horrible.
“yes”
“Jesus, I can't believe I'm doing this. If you have a lighter, brisk the needle through the flame to sterilize it.”
“done”
“Carefully, pull the glass out. Immediately after, put pressure on the wound for five minutes. You might become tired, but don't fall asleep.”
“okay” Peter, logically, knew everything he had to do. He'd done this many times- it had just never been this urgent, so having some guidance was nice.
He held some gauze to the wound. It was horrible, the way the blood soaked through it immediately. He tore off another piece.
After five minutes, he texted the random person back, “it stopped bleeding”.
“Good. How deep is it? Did you clean it?”
“rly deeep ant yes”.
“Fuck. Are you one hundred percent sure you can't go to a hospital?”
“ues” Peter felt bad about all his typos, but his hands were shaking so badly- any attempt to correct the typos would probably make it worse.
“Push your needle through your skin at a 90 degree angle.” Peter slowly managed to follow the person's instructions. It hurt so badly.
“its done thank you”.
“No problem. Now, who are you and what the fuck happened?” Peter couldn't exactly tell this person he was Spider-Man, but he did owe the person a response.. He tried to think of a lie.
“i got into a fight at school” Surely, the person wouldn't doubt that.
“It's two AM. Try again.”
‘i got mugged’.
“That, I'll believe, but why are you out so late on a school night?”
“i kinda dont have anywhere to stay rn” Aunt May had kicked him out, upon finding out he was both trans and Spider-Man. Luckily, she didn't seem interested in telling anyone he was Spider-Man, but it still hurt a lot.
“Really? No friends, family? You meant to text Ned, right? Can you stay with him?”
“No”.
“Dammit. I assume you're not willing to go to a homeless shelter either?”
“no way” the thought of some volunteer finding out he was Spider-Man terrified him. The rules most of them had, as well.
“Are you in a safe?”
“relatively”.
“What does that mean?”
“ill be ok”.
“Are you sure? I'm loaded. I could get you a hotel room for a while.” Peter began to wonder who this guy was to be able to afford that.
“ill be fine”.
“I really doubt that, but I can't do anything to force you. Can you text me in the morning?”
“yeah but why?” All Peter wanted to do was sleep.
“I'm just worried about you,” Peter couldn't pretend that the idea of someone worrying about him didn't make him feel warm inside.
“okay. i will”.
“Text me if you ever need anything, actually.”
“i will, but why??”
“I don't know. You're a homeless kid. That's awful. I want to help you however I can,” Peter reacted with a thumbs up emoji.
Peter wanted to argue that he wasn't homeless. MJ and Ned were on an overnight trip, and that was the only reason he was on the streets.
He was safe, anyway. He could fight anyone who tried to attack him, even when he was severely injured.
Despite that, Peter woke up at 6 AM with a message from the wrong number, “Hey. I wanted to make sure you're okay.”
“yeah im good. abt to head to school. thanks” Peter responded, slipping on a new outfit.
“Stay safe. I'm always a call away, even if you just need some emotional support,” Peter swiped away the message but smiled as he stepped onto the subway.
MJ and Ned were back halfway through the third period. Ned instantly began to borderline interrogate Peter on his wellbeing.
“I'm okay, I'm okay, I promise!” Peter tried to reassure Ned, who looked close to tears.
“You look really tired, Peter. Need an energy drink?” MJ offered. Peter nodded with a smile. MJ tossed him a white monster.
“Thank you so much, dude,” Peter had to force himself to not down it. Since the bite, he never felt like he had gotten a good night's rest.
The bell rung and Peter was glad to walk to the cafeteria for lunch. Since May kicked him out, he appreciated every single school meal.
He even ate the apples that probably were going to kill him someday.
Peter kept thinking about the wrong number. How were they so loaded they'd be willing to get a homeless kid a hotel room?
They also had medical knowledge, so maybe they were a doctor- that would explain why they cared so much about a random kid.
Then again, doctors made a lot, but Peter didn't think they made that much. Hotels in New York City were anything but cheap.
“Peter, you there?” MJ asked, waving her hand in front of Peter's face. He flinched and nodded.
“Sorry. The, uh, Monster hasn't kicked in yet.”
“You're good. You're spending the night at mine tonight,” Peter nodded.
“Thank you.”
“Of course, dude.”
Peter zoned out again until the bell rang. Ned and MJ had gotten used to it, and they pretended everything was okay, even though nothing was.
Peter loved his friends, he really did, but he was glad he didn't have any classes with them for the rest of the day. It meant he could sleep during class.
He woke up to a paper falling on his head that was passed back to him. He looked at it. It was a permission slip for a field trip. Great.
He looked up at the screen: it was to Stark Industries. It would be exciting, had the Avengers not been hunting his alter ego down, trying to recruit him.
Still, Tony Stark was his idol. He wanted to be excited so badly, but he was just so tired. All he wanted to do was sleep back at his aunt's apartment.
The teacher let everyone use their phones since it was the last ten minutes of the last period. Peter decided to text the guy again.
“hey” Peter realized he didn't even know the guy's name. He decided to ask later on down the line.
“Hey, kid. Aren't you in school?” the person almost instantly replied.
“the teacher doesnt gaf” Peter didn't care about the language he used. Why would he?
“I see. What's up? Is everything okay?”
“idk. theres a field trip to stark industries and i wanna be excited but im not” Peter decided to admit.
“SI, really? I work there. I didn't know there was gonna be a field trip. Why aren't you excited?”
“idk. i love tony stark, hes like my idol, but i havent been excited for anything lately” Peter could recognize the signs of depression in anyone and everyone but himself.
“Yeah, you've been through a lot lately. But look on the bright side- Tony Stark finds interns through these field trips!”
“yeah but idk. evrythng feels pointless”
Peter realized he was being really depressing and quickly sent, “sorry. im not usually this sad lol. i really am excited to go :)”
—
Tony was really concerned for this kid, but he wasn't quite sure why. He just had a gut feeling that he needed to help him.
Maybe he was finally experiencing empathy. Pepper would be so proud of him, or maybe the kid was actually a serial killer.
“Don't apologize. You said your name is Peter, right?” Tony asked. He decided to tell the kid his real name. No way the kid would figure out he's Tony Stark.
“yeah, whats yours?”
“Tony.”
“awesome” Tony audibly laughed.
“I'm part of the program that does the tours. You're Midtown, right? Don't tell anyone I told you this, but Tony Stark is going to make an appearance.”
“actually?? thats so cool”
“Yeah. Make sure you're still around for the tour.” Tony believed that the child's injury may have been a suicide attempt, because there was no way he had actually been mugged.
Peter seemed, in general, miserable, and Tony would be stupid to not recognize a suicidal teenager when he had been one himself.
“i will. thanks :)”
“Of course, kid. And maybe pay attention to your English classes more- you're supposed to capitalize the beginning of sentences.”
“im good man”
That night, Peter actually called 988, something he had never done before. He had texted them, but he felt like he was in actual danger.
There wasn't even a particular reason, really, he was just so tired.
The man on the other line was Clint, and he was really nice. He told Peter about his own long journey with his mental health, but didn't go too much into detail, and for some reason, he made it easy to believe that things would get better.
Peter unlocked the bathroom door after hanging up, feeling safe enough to go to his designated area, and doomscrolled.