Chapter 7
peter ran through the mess of cars and debris that was on the bridge, mask off after fighting beck, the adrenaline from the fight still running through his veins as he searched for his friend's body among the wreckage.
the teenager couldn't find it in himself to care that he just defeated quinten beck, or the fact that the man was dead, because all that was on his mind right now was jack and how jack had fallen at least a hundred feet, crashing full force into the concrete bridge, to what could very well be his death.
oh god, jack could be fucking dead.
at that thought, peter ran even faster than he was already, seeing the teen's body in the distance and sprinting towards him, falling to his knees in the cracked and broken concrete that surrounded jack, the impact from his fall causing the ground to break and he laid in a small crater-like dent in the concrete, peter ripping off the teen's mask and not holding back his tears as he looked at his friend's unconscious form; jack's nose, mouth, and ears had dried blood on them from earlier leakage, his wings spread out and broken, feathers missing and burnt with bullet wounds visible through in the muscle and bones, his left wrist visibly swollen in the suit, as well as one of his legs and the other one was a little strangely bent, blood staining the ground beneath him.
peter put his mask back on, "karen? karen are you still online?" he called as he begged that the ai wasn't damaged in the fight, "i'm right here, peter, what's wrong?"
"is.....is he alive?"
"jack's bpm is at 55, he is alive but needs medical attention as soon as you can possibly get it."
"PETER!"
peter looked up, taking off his mask as he did so and he saw mj running towards him, ned and happy right behind her, alomg with flash and betty but peter didn't even bat an eye at that, looking back down at jack and gently pulling the boy into his lap, letting out a small sob as he held him, "oh god, jack." ned breathed out as the group approached, "what happened?"
"b-beck had a secret drone, a re-really strong one and j-jack......he pushed me out of the way and th-the drone fired and then expl-loded, taking part of the bridge out and h-he fell."
peter looked up at happy, jaw trembling with the urge to cry and he swallowed thickly before speaking, "please tell me you have a way to get him help."
"i'll call fury and we'll get him to shield's medical, they have one in the uk."
•◇•
peter sat on a chair in the waiting room that was in shield's united kingdom headquarters, his own injuries patched up and the blood cleaned off him as he waited to hear about jack, who was still in surgery, staring at the necklace case in his hands.
it should be him in that surgery room, he should be the one who's fighting for his life instead of jack, this was all his damn fault and he should be the one paying the price for it.
"peter, hey." michelle cooed as she walked over, gently putting her hand on her friend's shoulder and getting his attention, handing him some water, "you need to at least drink something." she added and he took the water, sipping on it, "is flash still having a crisis?" peter muttered, trying to lighten the mood at least somewhat.
"he's calmed down a bit, still pretty frazzled that his two main targets are actually badass superheroes."
peter smiled at that, mj sitting down in the seat next to him, "ned and betty are sleeping, maybe you should try that too." she suggested and all the teenager did was give her a look, "i get it, you don't want to, but when he gets out of surgery and eventually wakes up, you can't really be there for him if you're barely conscious."
"........at least let me wait until he gets out of surgery."
"i think i can allow that."
peter pulled a face, making mj let out a small laugh and she leaned forward, hugging him tightly while being mindful of injuries and the brunette hugged back, the taller teen pulling away after a minute and then walking off to where shield had said they could sleep while they waited for jack.
after she left, peter's phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out, seeing that tony was calling him and he answered the phone, "h-hey mister stark." the teenager replied, trying to keep his voice steady, "hey kid, happy told me what happened."
"how much did he tell you?"
"enough to know that you're freaking out."
"jack is fighting for his life because of me, of course i'm freaking out."
tony sighed over the phone, not in an upset way but in more of a sympathetic tone, "peter, he's got shield's most precise surgeons on his side and from the information that happy and fury gave, his chances are unbelievably high." the man cooed and while that did give peter some relief, his stomach was still rolling with guilt, "y-you didn't see him, there was so much blood......fuck, tony there was so much blood.....if he doesn't die then he'll probably be paralyzed and that's not fucking fair, he shouldn't be in there, i--"
"if you say that you should be in there instead of him, i will fly down to london and smack you."
"but its true! i was the one who gave edith to beck like a damn fool! jack didn't trust him from the very beginning and i thought beck was someone that could be trusted, but, no! he tried to kill me and that drone was aimed for me but jack's stupid self-sacrificing attitude took over and he pushed me out of the way! i don't care if you fly down here and smack me because it should've been me!"
as he finished his outburst, peter leaned back in his seat and took in a shaky breath, tears falling down his cheeks as he tried to not break, "s-sorry, i just...i'm really scared." he breathed out, wiping his face but it didn't do much because more tears just spilled, "jack did what he did so that you would be able to finish the battle that quinten started, he did it because he loves and cares about you. i get that you're scared and the guilt is hard to not feel, but whatever happens when he gets out of that surgery, you need to be there for him."
"you really think he's gonna wake up?"
"he's too stubborn not to."
peter let out a watery chuckle at that, seeing a doctor walking down the hall towards him and he jumped up, "i gotta go, doctor's here." he rushed out before hanging up, putting his phone in pocket after he very quickly sent a text to happy to come back to the waiting room, which thankfully the man was already on his way back from wherever he was and by the time the doctor had reached peter, happy was already there.
"the surgery went very well, despite the severity of all of his injuries and his wings, he is currently stable and resting comfortably." the female doctor began and peter let out a relieved sigh, feeling a huge weight lift from his shoulders, "but, the fall he took did do a lot of damage to his spine and while he should heal just fine, he will need physical therapy to help him walk normally again.
"w-wait, physical therapy? for how long?"
"we don't know how long because his enhancements and abilities are rather mysterious, but he will need some physical therapy and possibly will have some difficulty with feeling, but we won't know that until he wakes up and we can run tests that require consciousness."
the guilty weight that had previously left peter's shoulders came right back, heart sinking at the knowledge that jack would need therapy to fucking walk again.
"can....can i see him?" peter asked shyly and the woman smiled at him, "yes, of course, but he's asleep and will be for awhile." she cooed and the brunette nodded, happy and him following her to jack's room and when opened the door and let them in, peter wanted to throw up and cry at the same time.
jack was almost as pale as the hospital blankets covering him, just making the bruises on his body even more noticeable, his left forearm in a red cast and while both his legs were covered by the blankets, peter could tell that his left leg from the knee down was in a cast and the other one seemed to be in some sort of splint, the bone not breaking enough for a cast, an oxygen cannula in his nose and an iv attached to his arm, giving him blood as he had lost way too much, a steady beeping from the bpm machine and the hissing of an oxygen tank being the only sound in the room.
peter silently made his way forward, grabbing a chair and pulling it up to the bed, taking a deep and shaky breath as he gently intertwined his fingers with jack's, blinking his way through tears as he watched jack breathe with the help of a machine, the teenager faintly heard the door to the room click shut behind him, meaning that they let him be with jack alone and he was thankful for that because he really didn't want to ugly cry in front of two adults.
despite the fact that he knew jack would be alright and that he would wake up, it just crushed him to see his best friend in this state, broken and surgically put back together.
peter took a deep breath, wiping his face to get rid of his tears for what felt like millionth time, gently putting jack's hand back down onto the bed and pulling out his phone, putting headphones on and listening to music, his gaze never leaving jack as he watched the boy rest.
•◇•
ouch.
that was the first word that came to jack's mind when he woke up, cracking his eyes open and squinting at the light, while it wasn't too bright it was still brighter than the previous darkness he was in. the blonde tried to sit up, realizing that there was a cast on his arm and his back was really aching, also that his leg was in a cast and he just overall felt rather ache-y.
turning his head, he saw that his suspicions were correct and he was in a hospital room, but not an actual hospital room because it was just a touch different, seeing a discarded and mostly empt dinner tray on the bedside table and jack turned to his left, his heart stammering as he saw that peter was curled up on a cot, a hospital blanket wrapped around him as he slept peacefully.
the last thing jack remembered was that peter was beneath him as he blocked him from getting shot to death, and the fact that peter was sleeping peacefully with only some very faint bruising om his face meant that his "protect peter" goal had been met and jack let out a relieved sigh, wincing a little as a sharp pain hit him in the ribs and he slowly laid back down.
what happened to him?
jack looked back to the cot as he heard shuffling, seeing peter stretch out on the cot as he woke up, rubbing at his eyes and looking up at jack, furrowing his eyebrows before they widened as he realized that jack was awake; "hey." jack whispered and the brunette jumped up, rushing over to his friend and pulling him into a hug, being mindful of his injuries but still holding him close, "you're okay, oh my fucking god, you're okay." peter whispered, voice shaky and jack's heart sank as he felt hot tears drip onto his skin.
jack wrapped his arms around peter, "did you....you won, right?" he asked and peter nodded, "y-yeah, we won." he replied before pulling away, letting out a humorless laugh as he looked at jack, several emotions tumbling around in peter's chest and he sniffled, "i told you not to scare me again and you didn't listen, asshole." he teased and jack laughed, "sorry.....don't regret it, though."
"you don't--jack, do you know what happened to you?"
"i-i remember getting shot, nothing really past that."
peter took a breath, his expression turning to sad really quick as he thought about what happened and the state jack was in, "you....you fell through the bridge and th-the doctor can tell you specifics, but......fuck, jack, you nearly died."
•••
like peter said she would, the doctor told jack all the specifics.
a fractured fibula in the left leg and a badly bruised tibia in the right, a snapped radius and a bent ulna, a couple cracked ribs and a couple bruised, a concussion, and to top it all off; a spinal injury that caused minor paralysis in his legs, which would lead to him needing physical therapy to get back to walking normally again, the doctors estimating about six months of therapy before he could walk without aid again, but they weren't sure due to his enhancements.
"a physical therapist will be found and provided by the time you are home, which shouldn't be more than a couple days, and appointments will be set up and everything." the kind woman cooed and jack nodded, focused on the blanket in his lap as he picked at the strings, "tony's got you covered, kid." happy smiled from his spot across the room and the blonde looked up, smiling at him in gratitude. "need anything before i go, jack?"
"u-uh......no, i'm alright."
the doctor smiled at him before leaving the room, jack looking back down at his lap and staring at the red cast on his wrist, running his free hand across it and feeling the bumpy texture, jumping a bit as peter's hand was suddenly on his arm, turning his head and looking at his friend, "jack, you know that we're for you, right?" the brunette cooed, "yeah, you're not alone here." ned added with a smile, mj and betty nodding, the blonde girl having refused to go back to the class group with flash because she was worried about jack and she didn't want to leave without knowing he was going to be alright, which really did mean a lot to jack even though him and betty weren't all that close.
"i......i know what you guys are saying and i do appreciate it, really i do, i just.....it's so much."
"but you'll get through it."