Requested by CassieMilanese
This is longer than my normal chapters.
Peter knew it would be a bad day the second he woke up.
His head was pounding the second he opened his eyes, causing him to wince and close them again.
He covered his face with his hands, already wishing the day was over. He cracked an eye open and looked to his left, spotting Sam, Luke, and Danny still sleeping peacefully.
Wait, Danny was asleep? What time is it?
He looked at the clock and saw that it was about 20 minutes before 7.
Great. Just great. They were supposed to be up 10 minutes ago.
He and Danny usually served as the rest of the team's alarm clocks, but today it looks like Peter would have to do that job himself.
Danny had a late night, so he shouldn't complain. It was Danny's turn to patrol last night, after all.
With an insane amount effort, he sat up in his bed.
All of a sudden, he was dizzy, his throat felt congested, and his nose was stuffy.
He ignored this, and swung his legs out of the bed.
He stood up, swaying a bit before regaining his balance. He stumbled his way over to Sam, and shook him. "Wake up." He cringed at the way his voice sounded.
Sam let out a whine and turned away from Peter.
Peter huffed and shook him more roughly, causing Sam to let out a squawk. "I'm up! I'm up." He sat up, rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes.
"Finally." Peter mumbled. Sam visibly recoiled at the way his voice sounded.
"Woah, are you feeling okay?" Sam reached a hand up to feel Peter's forehead, but it was immediately slapped away.
"I'm fine! I just woke up, cut me some slack!" Peter said, clearing his throat.
It helped the congestion immensely, so he sounded less like a dying cat. The stuffy nose still affected his voice, but it was less noticeable.
"You sure?" Sam asked. Peter rolled his eyes.
"You getting soft on me, Alexander? I'm fine!" Peter laughed despite not feeling the urge to at all. Sam stared at him for a moment, before letting out a sigh.
"Okay," He mumbled. He stood up, going to brush his teeth.
Peter woke up Luke next, which was easier and took less time. He waited a bit before waking Danny, deciding to let him sleep a little longer.
Once he did wake Danny, he did it gently.
"Hey, Dan, wake up bud." Peter shook Danny gently. Danny let out a quiet groan. "That's it, wake up. We have long day ahead of us."
"Five more minutes?" Danny mumbled.
"I already gave you five more minutes, Danny." Peter told him gently. "It's time to get up now." Danny sighed and sat up. "Are you okay?" He asked Peter upon getting a good look at him.
"What do you mean?" Peter asked.
"Your aura, it's...off." Danny mumbled. "Is something wrong?"
"I'm fine, Dan, you're just tired." Peter chuckled. "C'mon, get up. We have school." He turned around to leave and was met with Sam, who had a smirk on his face.
"And you say I'm the one who's getting soft." Sam giggled, causing Peter to turn bright red with embarrassment and scowl.
"Go get changed!" Peter squawked, storming past him.
---
Peter was unusually silent during the walk to school.
He lagged behind the others, fatigue eating away at his stamina.
The others pretended not to notice, not wanting to make Peter push himself harder in an attempt to prove he was fine.
There were occasional pauses in the conversation when they all looked back at Peter to see how he was holding up. The pauses would end when Peter looked up, noticing the abrupt silence.
Peter was silently relieved when they reached the school, he could feel the sweat beginning to form on his brow.
He felt pathetic, it wasn't even that long of a walk.
And to make matters worse, Peter was Spiderman. The same Spiderman who fought criminals and could run around the school fifteen times without breaking a sweat.
And here he was, tired because of the walk to school.
Peter was so lost in thought, that he bumped into someone on the way in.
"Watch it, freak." The boy scowled.
God, was Peter drunk? Why did that comment make him way more upset than usual?
Maybe it was because of the truth behind it. He wasn't normal. He was a freak of nature. A mutant.
He felt tears come to his eyes, and instantly began to blink them away.
He wasn't going to cry because of something so dumb, no sir.
The boy had apparently noticed the tears in his eyes, because he gave Peter an incredulous look. "Are you fucking crying?"
"No." Peter said, which sounded pretty pathetic because the tears made his nose stuff up more.
Sam, who was the first to notice Peter wasn't behind them anymore, ran over. "What's going on over here?" Sam asked, passive aggressive smile on his face. The others were right behind him, the same expression on each of their faces.
"He bumped into me, I told him to watch it, and the little freak starts crying." The boy replied, looking at Peter in disgust.
"I'm not crying." Peter mumbled, wiping his nose with his sleeve.
"Hey now, there's no need for names." Danny stepped foward, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "We can talk this out peacefully."
The boy opened his mouth to protest, but Danny's naturally calming presence affected him, making any form of indignation die on his lips.
"I--whatever." The boy sighed. "Sorry, I haven't had a good morning."
"It's fine, I get it." Peter waved him off. "We all have bad days. Do you want to talk about it? We've got about 20 minutes."
"...sure." The boy agreed. The team sighed fondly, of course Peter would offer to listen. It's the leader in him.
The team walked off, letting Peter deal with it.
After a long conversation, Peter learned the boy's name was Elliot.
Peter had to resist the urge to cough or sneeze the entire conversation, making it incredibly hard to focus.
"Thanks for letting me complain, man." Elliot smiled. "You're a really good listener."
"It's what I do." Peter shrugged. He laughed, which quickly turned into a coughing fit.
"Are you okay?" Elliot asked. "Do you need to go to the nurse."
"No! No. I'm fine." Peter waved him off. "I just got something caught in my throat. Okay, Elliot. Remember, if you're feeling stressed or upset, just take a deep breath and count down from ten. It's what helps me."
"You get stressed? You seem like a pretty laid back guy." Elliot chuckled.
"I'm only human." Peter shrugged. He bid Elliot farewell, and headed to his locker.
After retrieving his books, he began the agonizingly long walk to class. Why did it seem so much longer than usual?
He arrived and all but collapsed into his seat, sweating profusely. His headache had gotten more intense, causing his eyebrows to furrow in pain.
He had first period with Ava, who was watching him with a concerned expression on her face.
He had apparently arrived just in time, because the teacher started taking attendance at that very moment.
"Ayala, Ava." He called out.
"Here!" Ava responded immediately.
"Chase, Brent."
"Present!"
The list went on and Peter felt drowsy beyond belief, he was beginning to think he was poisoned.
"Parker, Peter."
Peter shot his head up, forgetting that his name was on the list too. He was really out of it, huh?
"Uh, here. I'm here." He rasped out, congestion back in his throat. The teacher didn't hear him, raising a brow.
"Is Peter here?" The teacher asked.
Peter cleared his throat. "I'm hEre." His voice cracked, causing him to flush in embarrassment.
The entire class tried their best not to laugh, not wanting to embarrass Peter further.
"Alright, speak up sooner next time." The teacher told him.
"Yes sir." He mumbled, looking down at his hands.
The rest of the class went on fairly normal, except Peter didn't answer any questions. He wanted to give his voice a rest, and plus he was barely paying attention. He was more focused on staying awake.
---
It was time for training, and Peter didn't feel good.
His headache had evolved into a migraine by the time he put on his suit. It wasn't the normal sensory overload migraine, it wasn't accompanied by the lights being too bright and everything he touched making him itch.
It just hurt like a bitch.
He staggered his way into the training room, collapsing on Sam when he walked in.
"Woah, Webs!" Sam exclaimed, alerting the rest of the team. "Are you okay?"
Peter couldn't formulate an answer, his body had apparently decided to shut down. Rude.
When Sam's question was met with silence, the team exchanged worried looks. Spiderman was ALWAYS talking, what the hell happened?
"I knew something was off about your aura." Danny mumbled, walking over. He placed a hand on Peter's forehead, flinching at how hot it was. "Oh, Pete. Why didn't you tell us?"
Luke gently took Peter out of Sam's arms, carrying him bridal style.
The team walked out, passing Fury on the way. "We're calling in sick." Ava said as they passed.
"All of you?" Fury asked.
"Yep!" Sam gave Fury a wave.
---
They arrived at the dorms, and placed Peter down on his bed. "What about training?" Peter slurred, attempting to sit up.
"No, friend. You need to rest now." Danny told him, gently putting his hand on Peter's chest and pushing him back down lightly.
"But--"
"No buts, no cuts, no coconuts, Bug Breath." Sam said quietly. "There's no arguing about this one."
"Just go to sleep, Spider. We'll still be here when you wake up." Ava told him.
"I--" Peter began, but was cut off when Luke began running his fingers through his hair. "Oh, that feels nice." Peter murmured, relaxing into the bed.
"Go to sleep, Pete." Luke mumbled, a small smile on his face. "You work so hard, you deserve a break."
"No breaks for Spiderman." Peter said quietly, his eyes slipping shut. The team frowned, was this the mindset Peter was living by? No wonder he got sick.
"Spiderman needs breaks too." Danny told him.
"Yeah, Spiderman can't protect the city if he's pushing himself all the time." Sam chuckled.
The team didn't hear a response to that. They looked down and saw Peter had fallen asleep.
"Oh, are we boring you?" Sam whispered, chuckling slightly.
"Rest well, Peter." Danny smiled softly.
A/N:
I finished this on my way to piano class :)