𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐋

bonus 3 - personal nurse

Answers don't matter right now to Valeria. She cares for Peter as if he's her own.

Valeria looks to her daughter. "Use the gauze you have left to put pressure on the bleeding, I'll be back with a bigger kit." Is all she says before she turns around and runs down the hallway. 

Ryder blinks before shaking her head, fumbling the gauze she has left in her hands and gently seep it into his wounds to stabilize the bleeding so that there's no more dripping onto the clean hardwood floors, doing her best to blink through her tears and remain somewhat calm for him. Peter grimaces, squeezing his eyes shut in hopes that that will relieve any of the pain that's firing through every cell in his body, a low hiss seething through his gritted teeth and eyebrows pointed in agony.

She can't look him in the eye. It's her fault -- she was practically yelling. Now, it's a mere whisper. "I'm so sorry."

Peter doesn't answer. 

Valeria returns moments later, breaking the tension by setting down to Peter's left, opening a kit three times bigger than the one Ryder possesses, pulling out bottles of chemicals and patches of heavy-duty gauze and wipes, and setting them in front of her.

"Peter," Valeria says softly and slowly, "I am going to have Ryder remove the gauze so I can disinfect the area around the wound, and I'm then going to apply this ointment to treat the burns, alright?"

All the boy can do is nod. 

Frankly, he's afraid to say a word, worried it might come out as a scream. 

Ryder removes the gauze after getting the confirming nod from her mother, and Valeria immediately dips a cloth into one of the bottles and gently pats the area around his cuts, a low hissing sound emitting from his lips. Ryder, without thinking, grabs his hand and he squeezes back (pretty hard, which kind of hurts, but she would never say anything, not now). Her mom murmurs 'Almost done's and 'You're almost there's to him as any good nurse would do, and sooner than later she's done disinfecting the wounds, and she wordlessly applies the cream to another wipe and spreading the burn ointment on the surrounding burns.

Peter emits a low curse word, his toes curling into nothing as he squeezes Ryder's hand even harder, but his grip slowly lessens as the coolness of the ointment eases the radicalness of the burns. 

"Alright," she finishes up, "now I'm going to patch up the gashes and then wrap your entire lower chest with bandages, is this okay?"

Peter lets out a labored breath, "Mhmm." He's unable to say more.

Valeria takes this as a yes, as she begins to add finishing touches to the burns and gashes as she quickly patches up each one, making sure the bandage covered the wound before sticking it to his body. At least it's clean now, and he doesn't have to worry about any infection to the gashes (that will be worse than anything, she can attest to that). Valeria sticks the remaining patches to the rest of the gauzes with silence.

Ryder cannot find the willpower to speak, afraid of the result. Her own mother knows about Peter now, because the suit laying in the middle of her room totally didn't give away the secret, and now she has to worry about a mother's intuition and concerns of dating a superhero boyfriend. As she says before, the personal vendetta has gotten worse, and the universe truly has something against Ryder Phoenix today. Her luck cannot get any worse. She prays her mother won't tell her other mother. The less people know, the better. Besides, this isn't her secret to spread, it's Peter, and he should be the one to decide who knows and who doesn't know.

Valeria asks Peter to sit forward so she can wrap the bandages around his waist and up around his left shoulder to cradle his left arm. She explains to him that this side of his body is going to be sore so it's best to take it easy for the next couple of days and limit the movement of his hips and arm on his left side. A bottle of ibuprofen is in the cabinet downstairs, as Ryder knows, and that he's more than welcome to take a few to ease any lingering aches. Peter nods to her words and simply hums as she asks him 'yes' or 'no' questions, probably too embarrassed or scared to even utter out a word.