ten.
Once the data and weapons were confiscated, Sam, Steve, and Peter returned to home base.
Steve noted that Peter looked pale, but Sam thought they oughta chalk it up to that having been Peter's first mission. Peter agreed that he was a little out of it, but only he knew why.
As the day progressed, and Peter helped unload the crates from the jet, he began to look paler. Tony chalked it up to it being all the 'excitement' from the guns.
With his hoodie zipped up, he went with Sam and Steve to fill out the mission report. Peter swayed the longer he stood. Steve decided that it was because Peter needed to rest, and told him to go lay down when they were finished.
Peter, however, did not go to rest. He went instead down the hall and into the kitchen. He was pained but he was hungry. He didn't want to mention the injury, but Wanda noted his pain and discomfort the moment he walked into the room.
She and Vision were in the middle of their weekly cooking lesson, so Peter just grabbed an apple that he ended up never eating.
----
Peter went to his room and stripped out of his hoodie and suit. He could see the bloodstain. He tossed his clothes onto the floor and went into the bathroom.
In the mirror, he could see it. His face was pale, sunken in. He looked like he hadn't eaten in so long and that he hadn't slept for longer.
He let his eyes travel down his chest and to his side, where the wound was. He let out a long breath that hurt him so badly he whimpered. Finally alone, he could let out all the pained noises he'd been keeping in.
He dug into the cabinet and pulled out the rubbing alcohol and the first aid kit. He'd stocked his with a needle and thread for just such an emergency.
With another deep breath, the poured the alcohol onto the wound and let out a soft cry from the added sting.
He took the tweezers in hand. His spidey-senses were tingling worse than ever. Every bit of Peter's being knew that this was a bad idea, but what choice did he have?
He wished he could say that he'd never had to dig a bullet out of his own skin before. The last time he'd done so was in May's bathroom. It took him three hours to finally remove the bullet and another hour to clean up afterward. Thank God May had been out that day.
Peter didn't realize that his spidey-senses weren't tingling because of the wound, but because Bucky was standing slack-jawed behind him.
When Peter saw him in the mirror, he froze. Bucky had shushed him before he even got the chance to ask that he didn't tell anyone.
Bucky took the tweezers in his metal hand and knelt down to have a better view of the wound. Peter sucked in a breath as the tweezers touched his skin.
He put his hand on Bucky's shoulder, where the metal met the flesh, and squeezed.
Bucky did not react to the touch in the same way he normally would have. Instead, he put more focus into removing the bullet from Peter's side.
It wasn't until he'd removed the foreign object that Bucky realized the bullet was in pieces.
He knew Peter would protest everything that had anything to do with anyone else finding out about his wound, and so Bucky just sighed.
He had to do what he had to do, so when Peter turned around... Bucky hit him. Right in the space where the head meets the neck. Peter went out like a light and fell like a sack of potatoes into Bucky's arms.
Buck looked at the ceiling. "Friday. Alert the others to meet me in the medical bay, please."
----
When Peter woke, the lights were blinding. The pain in his side had dimmed, but the pain in his head only increased the longer he looked at the adults standing over him.
Bucky was off to the side, leaning against the wall next to the door. He'd done his part. He'd brought Peter in for the help that Peter himself would have refused if given the choice.
On the wall across from Bucky were the x-rays of the bullet fragments that had been lodged in Peter's body.
Next to him was a small tray covered in bloody bandages and a bowl with little silver pieces in it. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they'd once belonged to a bullet.
Directly above him was Mister Doctor Strange, looking like a worried mom. Peter's actual worried mom didn't look so much worried as disappointed. Her fiery hair was no match for the burning anger in her eyes.
Steve looked... Sad? Upset? He was wearing his Press Conference Face™ and it made Peter worry. Next to Steve, however, was a very pissed off looking Tony Stark.