Chapter 1
A loud crash wakes Peter from a deep sleep, he jolts up on high alert searching frantically for the source of the noise.
Ned looks up sheepishly from the doorway. “Sorry…” All around his feet are the broken remains of a plate. “I thought I’d bring you some breakfast, clearly it was a terrible idea.” He crosses the room to the bed where Peter has laid back down, an arm covering his eyes to block out the light. “So, you’re Spider-Man?”
“Your observation skills are unparalleled my friend.” Both boys chuckle and a small amount of tension leaves the room.
When Ned sits the bed jostles and Peter is suddenly reminded of his injury when the movement causes his leg to feel as though it is on fire. He cries out and Ned jumps away as if he’s been electrocuted. “Oh God I’m so sorry Peter.”
“No, it’s not you don’t worry.” He says through gritted teeth. “Could you help me?” Peter gestures to the bed sheets and Ned quickly gets the hint, rushing over and gently pulling back the covers to reveal Peter’s lower half.
Peter doesn’t even need to look, the noise that leaves Ned’s mouth is enough indication of what sight will greet him. “It didn’t look that bad last night Pete.” His right leg is swollen to twice its regular size and is an angry red colour with some purple bruising around the edges.
Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath Peter faces the reality of what he needs to do. “It’s broken. I’m gonna need to reset it.”
“Whoa! Peter, no, can’t we just go to the hospital or something? Can’t you phone your dads?”
“No Ned, I can’t! You’re the only one that knows, we can’t tell anyone else.” Peter almost thinks he imagines it but he’s certain a look of pride passes across Ned’s face upon learning he’s the only one that knows about Spider-Man. “If I don’t do this now it will never heal right.” Ned still doesn’t look convinced. “You don’t have to stay Ned, I can do it by myself.”
The other boy looks like he wants to take Peter up on his offer to bail but quickly steals himself. “I’ll stay, you’re my best friend… and someone has to be here when you pass out again. What do you need me to do?”
Peter asks Ned to grab a towel from the bathroom, so that he has something to bite down on, and then asks the other boy just to stand by to make sure Peter actually goes through with it.
After taking a deep breath Peter places one hand near his ankle and another just below his knee, after a second of hesitation he twists until the bone clicks back into place. Peter bites down on the towel so hard his jaw aches almost as bad his leg.
Then to Peter’s utter embarrassment, and just as Ned predicted, he passes out again.
---
When he wakes up again the alarm clock to his right proclaims it to be two o’clock. Peter slowly pushes himself into a sitting position and smiles softly when he notices that Ned has propped his leg up on a few cushions to keep it elevated.
His best friend is nowhere to be seen but Peter can hear him moving about in the next room. He feels a surge of gratefulness for Ned, the boy that has stood by him through thick and thin, and now the boy that took care of him when he came crashing through his bedroom window on a Saturday night bloody and dressed as Spider-Man.
There isn’t a single doubt in Peter’s mind that there will be many questions from his Spider-Man obsessed friend but answering them is the least he can do considering how amazing the other boy has been.
Peter lifts his arms above his head to stretch out all of his sore muscles and catches sight of the sport where the Green Goblin’s blade had caught him. Thankfully the cut has faded quite a bit over night and doesn’t look any worse than a bad graze at this point.
He had spotted his phone charging on Ned’s nightstand upon waking up this morning but chose to ignore the device, it’s fair to say that Peter is more than a little afraid of what awaits him when he finally decides to unlock the phone.
Ned chooses that moment to come back into the room, this time carrying a glass of water and a sandwich with him. Both of these items make it to Peter in one piece which he is extremely thankful for, his growling stomach alerting him to how long it’s been since he last ate.
Peter wolfs down his sandwich in record time as Ned waits on baited breath to barrage the boy with questions. Peter can see the desperation clear in the other boys features and thanks the heavens once again for blessing him with Ned Leeds.
After taking a large drink of water he turns to the other boy. “Alright, what do you want to know?” That opens a flood gate as Ned speaks at a hundred miles a minute, even tripping over his own words a few times in his desperate haste to get everything out.
Peter answers every question as best he can. Some are easy; how did this happen? Mutated spider bite. Where? Oscorp. On the field trip? Yes. How long ago? Almost a year now.
Some other questions are just strange; do you lay eggs? I don’t think so… Can you control other spiders? I’ve never even considered that. Are you going to grow extra legs? Fairly certain that would have happened already, so no.
This goes on for about half an hour until Ned is somewhat satisfied, more like he finally runs out of questions. “This is insane dude. So, were you fighting that new guy, the Green Goblin, last night?”
“Yeah.” Peter responds as he slowly pulls back the covers to check on his leg. “I meant to ask, did you undress me?”
Ned scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. “Erm, yeah. I just wanted you to be comfortable and you were covered in blood and ash from that burning building.” The news about the explosion had been all over the television with footage showing Spider-Man struggling to escape the burning wreck.
“Thanks Ned, I really appreciate it. All of this. I didn’t know where else to go, and I obviously couldn’t go back to the Tower.” Peter continues to inspect his leg; the swelling has gone down significantly and it’s not looking quite as angry as it was earlier, but it’s far from healed and will probably need a few more hours of rest before he can safely put any weight on it.
“Would it really be so bad if they knew Peter? They could help you. I mean you’re safe and not dead, but last night was really scary. What if it happens again? Or gets worse?”
Peter looks up to meet Ned’s concerned gaze. “That’s exactly why I can’t tell them. Tony and Steve would never let me be Spider-Man if they knew. I couldn’t put them through that stress.” Seeing the clear determination in his friend’s face Ned decides to drop the topic knowing that he won’t get anywhere.
There’s a beeping noise from the kitchen which signals that that the dryer is done. Ned proclaims that it’s Peter’s Spider-Man suit and goes to retrieve it.
As Ned leaves the room Peter decides he should probably check his phone now. Talking about not wanting to cause his adoptive parent’s any stress reminded him that they’ve probably tried to get in touch with him and might be panicking, Tony tends to do that.
Sure enough, his home screen is full of missed calls and text messages. Scanning through them quickly Peter spots three messages from Bruce, three messages and four missed calls from Natasha, five missed calls and ten text messages from each of his parent’s respectively, but by far the most notifications are from Bucky.
Since Peter stormed out of the Tower yesterday at around lunchtime Bucky had texted and called him an impressive seventy-two times in total. The last two had only come through in the last half hour.
Peter this is getting serious, your Dads are asking why you’re not responding. You need to tell us where you are. Please.
Please Peter, I’m so sorry. I overstepped. Please come home.
Feeling a deep sense of regret at over how he treated Bucky yesterday and guilt over seeing just how many times the super soldier had tried to get in touch Peter responds:
Sorry my phone died. I’m fine, at Ned’s. I’ll be home for dinner.
He’s basically just sent the message when Bucky replies.
Thanks Ace.
With one hurdle already tackled Peter figures he may as well take on another. Opening up his call log he finds Steve’s name and presses call. He figures Steve might be calmer than Tony after hearing nothing but radio silence from their teenage son over the past twenty-four hours. He figured wrong.
“Peter! Oh, thank God. Are you okay? Where are you? Do you need us to come home?” Steve’s voice comes through clearly before Peter is even able to say hello.
“Is that Peter?” Tony’s voice joins Steve’s panic now. “Kid, where are you? Why haven’t you been answering your phone? Do you know how close I was to deploying SHIELD Agents to track you down?” Peter doesn’t doubt for a minute that sending SHIELD Agents to look for his son is something Tony Stark would actually do.
It takes a while but Peter is eventually able to convince his parents that he is fine. That he just lost track of time and decided to sleep over at Ned’s but forgot to charge his phone.
When the call ends Peter sets about clearing the rest of his notifications which is when he comes across one text message he missed earlier. It’s from Harry:
Hope you’re okay.
This one Peter decides to ignore, opening the message so that the notification disappears but leaving it at that.
Ned returns then with snacks and the suggestion that they play Mario Kart, Peter gladly agrees.
---
Happy picks Peter up that night just after six o’clock. Never one for small talk Peter is more than a little surprised when Happy asks if he’s had a nice day. There’s a weight behind the question that suggests his parents had been in touch with Happy when he wasn’t answering his phone. Peter makes sure to keep all responses light-hearted so as not to arouse any suspicion from the head of security.
Safely in the Tower’s elevator Peter asks JARVIS to make sure no one visits his floor tonight. He does this under the guise of being tired and wanting to go straight to bed so that he can be well rested for school in the morning.
Unfortunately, when the doors open to his floor Peter sees that Natasha is waiting for him.
“Oh, hey Nat. Sorry I gave you guys all such a scare, I’m the worst at remembering to charge my phone.” Peter walks further into the room trying desperately not to wince as he forces himself to walk normally. “I’m totally beat so I’m just gonna go straight to bed I think.”
He tries to make a break for his bedroom but Natasha brings his escape plan to a grinding halt. “Stop. Come here.” She points to the couches and stares Peter down as he walks over and takes a seat. “Give me your leg.” Not wishing to upset the assassin by disobeying Peter lifts his leg into her waiting hand, he’s unable to prevent a wince and slight hiss of pain escaping his mouth at the movement.
Natasha doesn’t say anything she just lifts Peter’s pant leg up far enough to view the injured area. After inspecting and prodding the area a few times she gets up to go to the bathroom and returns with a roll of bandages. Wordlessly she wraps Peter’s leg tightly and he instantly feels some of the pressure on his leg alleviate.
Satisfied with her work Natasha rolls his pant leg back down. “Now you can go to bed.” Then she gets up and leaves without saying anything else.
---
When Peter stands up on Monday morning he finds that there is virtually no pain in his leg, a pleasant surprise to say the least. He decides to keep it wrapped in Natasha’s expertly applied bandages just to be safe.
The whole situation last night should probably be filling him with anxiety right about now. What does Natasha know and why isn’t she saying anything? But those are the least of Peter’s concerns. Monday morning means school, and school means seeing Harry.
They haven’t spoken since Peter basically ran away from Harry’s house on Saturday. He doesn’t even know how to approach the situation. Should he bring it up and address it head on? Or just pretend it didn’t happen?
As he walks to the train station Peter decides to let Harry take the lead. If the blonde boy doesn’t mention it then neither will Peter.
He spots Harry from afar, blonde hair perfectly styled and leather jacket firmly in place despite the fact it’s the end of May and currently seventy-one degrees out.
“Mornin’ Pete.” Comes the simple and easy greeting accompanied by one of Harry’s signature smiles.
The train ride is just like every other one they have shared over the last few weeks. Harry asks about Tony and Steve and Peter tells him they’ll be home tonight. He spoke to them this morning and they said they were bringing a surprise with them.
“Hopefully it’ll be better than the surprises I get when my dad goes away on trips. They usually come in the form of a new girlfriend who only sticks around for a few weeks.” Peter laughs awkwardly at this. He’s still unsure of how to respond to most of the comments Harry makes about his father by now he’s at least pieced together that the pair don’t see eye to eye most of the time.
They pass their morning of classes as they always do, with Peter helping Harry as best he can when the teachers have their backs turned. Eventually lunchtime rolls around and Peter is delighted to realise he hasn’t even thought about Saturday’s events, any of Satuday’s events, until he sees Ned waving them over to a table.
Ned and Harry begin an intense discussion about the merits of the Star Wars prequels that Peter is more than content to just listen to. The pair have just moved onto discussing Ewan McGregor’s casting as Obi Wan when MJ comes to sit beside Peter, opposite from Ned and Harry.
“Hey MJ.” Ned greets her taking a brief pause from his debate, she half smiles in response.
“I just wanted to come and remind you about Decathlon practice today afterschool, it’s one of the last big ones we have before the final next Wednesday in Connecticut so it’s important you’re there.” For someone who usually appears so uninterested and fed up with everything Peter is surprised to hear something akin to passion in MJ’s voice when she talks about the Decathlon team.
Over the past few weeks, since she apologised to him in the hallway, Peter has found he quite likes MJ’s company. She can be a bit standoffish at times but he’s noticed new layers to her personality recently. For example, MJ is probably the most observant person Peter knows, and he lives with spies and assassins. She has a really good sense of humour and is actually extremely funny.
In many ways MJ reminds Peter of Harry. In the way she doesn’t take herself too seriously, or how she doesn’t openly or outwardly express the things she cares about but deep-down MJ is extremely passionate and proud of all of her accomplishments. She presents a mask to the world that portrays her as someone who is uninterested and above it all, but really, she cares just as much as anyone else does.
Peter thinks he really quite likes MJ.
---
Decathlon practice always passes quickly and soon they’re putting tables back and tidying away the chairs.
“Dude, do you have a crush on MJ?” Ned approaches Peter from behind, catching him completely off guard.
“What? Why would you think that?”
Ned shrugs slightly. “You were staring at her for like the entirety of practice.”
Peter rolls his eyes at this logic. “Ned she was the one asking us questions. I had to look at her.” MJ had stood at a makeshift podium taking on the role of question master in order to run drills with the team.
They’re walking down the hallway now, MJ a few paces ahead of them, so Ned whispers slightly when he says, “Whatever you say Peter. Why don’t you just ask her to go an a date?” With that he heads off to get in his mom’s car that is already waiting in front of the school.
Peter sees Harry waiting for him near the gate as he always does on a Monday. While Peter is at Decathlon the other boy gets tutored for Physics, which he hates but the tutoring is part of the agreement that allows him to attend Midtown.
MJ has stopped to speak to a few of the other team members just shy of the gate as Peter gets closer to the girl he can’t help but think of what Ned said. Does he have a crush on MJ? Lately it seems as though everyone knows something about Peter’s romantic life that he doesn’t.
But MJ is pretty in a really understated way. Her hair is wild and unruly, it should really consume her but her bold personality shines through the mass of curls.
Peter doesn’t even realise he’s walking towards the girl at first and then all of a sudden, he’s standing beside her asking MJ if she wants to come over to his for extra Decathlon practice on Wednesday night.
Although she looks a bit perplexed by the invite at first MJ accepts then turns in the opposite direction from Peter and begins her walk home.
Harry is fixing Peter with a confused and contemplative look when the brunette walks over. He doesn’t say anything as they begin walking towards the train but eventually Harry breaks the silence. “Did you just ask MJ out on a date?”
“I mean, not really.” Peter shrugs. “I asked her if she wanted to do extra Decathlon practice on Wednesday after school.” They’re waiting on the platform now, neither boy meeting the other’s eye. Something heavy is hanging in the air between them and it’s clear they can both feel it.
“Well are any of the other team members going to be there?” Harry presses further. No, Peter responds, it will just be the two of them. “Sounds like a date to me Pete.”
“And so what if it is? What does it matter to you? What does it matter to anyone?” Peter raises his voice slightly catching the attention of a few other passengers in the carriage they’ve just climbed into.
Harry says nothing else for the rest of the journey, only saying a short goodbye as they part ways when they get off the train again.
Peter’s not in the best mood when he arrives home and it isn’t helped when JARVIS ignores his request just to go to his own floor bringing him instead to the common area.
His mood does lift slightly when both of his adoptive parents engulf him in a hug as soon as he steps out of the elevator. They weren’t due to be home until later that night so it is a nice surprise to have them home earlier. They catch up about Peter’s day at school and how the mission was, which Peter personally thinks is far more interesting than how his English exam went.
When they finish chatting in their family bubble Steve wraps a comforting arm around Peter’s shoulders and walks him into the main area. At that point Peter realises there are far more people here than usual. “Remember how we told you we had a surprise for you?” Peter nods in response to Steve’s question, how could he not? He’s been trying to figure out what it could be all day. “Well it got a bit out of hand and a few more people turned up than we expected.”
“What Captain Dad is trying to say is that we’ve accidently thrown a party.” Peter laughs at the glare Steve sends Tony.
“No, we haven’t. It’s a school night and we would never throw a party you couldn’t attend Peter.”
Peter waves him off. “Don’t worry about it, I’m not really one for parties anyway. I don’t mind.” Tony gestures to the boy and fixes Steve with a look that says ‘told you so.’ “I really hope this surprise involves food of some sort, I’m starving.”
There’s a hearty laugh and a tall blonde man stomps toward them. “It appears your offspring shares your same passion for food Rogers.” Peter looks up at the man with wide eyes. Standing in front of him smiling with all his impressive Asgardian might is Thor the God of Thunder. “Glad to meet you young Peter, your fathers have told me many great things.”
In this exact moment Peter has a lot of sympathy for Ned when he first met the Avengers. He’s truly speechless.
“Well I guess we know who his favourite Avenger is now.” Clint’s joking tone breaks Peter out of his trance as he turns to glare at the archer.
“Come young one, we have much great food to be consumed!” Thor pulls Peter forward with a firm grip on his shoulder. “And I should like to learn more about this Decathlon team, surely you are their strongest member.”
Over the next few hours Thor asks Peter numerous questions, apparently the God of Thunder is very interested in and confused by the American school process. The number of people at the party, which Steve still insists is not a party, slowly starts to dwindle until it’s just the main group of Tower inhabitants left.
Peter is seated comfortably on the couch between Tony and Thor contentedly listening to Thor regaling the group with an impressive battle story.
“Then I swung my hammer and took his head clean off.” Everyone laughs and a few people applaud as Thor stands up taking his hammer in hand to demonstrate how he delivered the final blow.
“Whatever man, the hammer’s not even that impressive. It’s all just a trick.” Clint voices from his space on the floor.
Thor smirks at the man and places the hammer back onto the table. “Be my guest.” He gestures to the object with a humorous glint in his eye.
Clint stands and strides over to the object. He places one hand onto the handle and pulls upwards. Nothing happens. Then again with two hands. Again, nothing.
"Don’t worry Clint it’s been a long day, no one here will judge you for not being able to get it up.” Tony snickers. Peter groans from behind his hands.
“Tony,” Steve shakes his head disapprovingly. “not in front of Peter.”
In response to his husbands words Tony gives an impressive eye roll then stands from the couch. “My turn. I never have any problems getting it up, isn’t that right Spangles.” Peter wants the ground to open up and swallow him whole. Everyone but Steve is howling with laughter now.
When Tony also can’t get the hammer to move it opens him up to a fair amount of goading and teasing from the other team members. Everyone takes a turn one at a time with no greater success than the person before them. Eventually they only team members that haven’t tried are Steve, Bucky and Natasha.
Despite encouragement from everyone there all three of them refuse. Steve and Natasha say they’re simply not interested and Bucky says he’s still mildly freaked out by smartphones, so adding a magic hammer to the mix isn’t something he’s keen to do.
“Pete why don’t you give it a go?” Tony suggests and everyone else is quick to jump in with agreement.
“Please Peter, it is only fair if you also try and fail miserably just as your father did.” Thor smirks at Tony as the other man sends a rude gesture his way.
Peter doesn’t need to be asked twice to try out his childhood fantasy of holding Mjolnir so he makes his way over to the hammer. Of course, he isn’t expecting anything to happen so he makes a bit of a joke and a show out of rolling up his sleeves and placing both hands carefully on the handle. Then he pulls up with his full strength, not seeing the need to hold back as obviously nothing is going to happen, and the hammer moves.
Not much, but it definitely moves. Peter feels it and hears the noise of it scratching against the glass table. He looks up and meets Thor’s eyes full of questions and confusion. He can feel Natasha’s familiar gaze trained on his back. Peter schools his expression quickly, desperately masking any surprise and let’s go of Mjolnir stepping back and raising his hands as if to say ‘knew it wouldn’t work’.
Thankfully Steve comes to his rescue and diffuses the situation further. “Good try Peter, I guess none of us are worthy eh Thor?”
The God of Thunder seems to have recovered from his momentary shock as he picks the hammer up with ease and swings it around as if it weighs no more than a piece of paper. “Exactly right. None of you would be fit to rule Asgard.”
Thor goes back to joking and chatting with the group as if nothing happened but Peter gets the impression that Natasha isn’t going to let it go as easily. If the expression with a single raised eyebrow and head cocked to the side she is currently watching him with is anything to go by.
Between the hammer tonight and his leg last night, on top of every other suspicious thing she has ever caught him doing Peter really needs to start being more cautious. Or start coming up with some excellent lies.