(A/N hey guys, gals, and non-binary pals. so tomorrow I'm re-enrolling in public high school *cringes* after doing one semester of online school (because I thought my school was going to get shot up) and I'm not sure how I feel about it. why am I re-enrolling you might ask? I don't fucking know. I just don't like online school very much and it's too damn expensive. the cheapest one I could find was $230 a month and I can't even afford a car yet so I definitely can't afford to do more than one semester of that. yeah. anyway enough about my boring life choices, I hope all of you fine and valid people are doing amazing and I hope you have a fabulous day/night, wherever you are. enjoy the chapter lovelies!)
*PETER'S POV*
WHEN will this end?! I caught myself thinking as I ran towards yet another group of aliens surrounding humans being held hostage. I'm not sure where Harley went. I think he went in the other direction, towards Mr. Stark, Wanda, and Rhodey.
There's no way Mr. Stark gave him permission to fight this battle with us. He must have gotten the suit secretly. I wonder how he overrode the security system in the lab...
I was jerked out of my thoughts with a sharp, stinging pain in my right shoulder. I winced and glanced at the source of pain. My whole arm was covered in blood. "Oh no, no no no..." I applied pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding as much as possible but it burned like hell. I almost screamed.
I surveyed the street below me and saw an alien, dressed in all black, with a gun in hand. I hadn't even noticed he was there. He was smirking at me like he was a predator, and I was the prey within his grasp.
Thankfully, there wasn't a bullet in my arm. It had simply grazed my shoulder. But I was still in unbearable pain and I felt myself getting dizzy as I lost more and more blood. I thought about heading over to the building where I had left those two girls after their mother was shot to tend to my wound, but I decided against it. They had already seen too many traumatizing sights today, and I wasn't about to contribute to that.
I heard a zooming noise behind me and almost shot a web, just for good measure, but I turned around in enough time to see that it was Mr. Stark. He flew in the air right beside to where I was, crouched on a window ledge of an apartment building. "Come on, kid," he motioned for me to follow him, "let's go. You've done enough."
"No. No, I want to figh-"
"Did you just tell me no?"
"I-"
"DID. YOU. JUST. TELL. ME. NO?"
I sighed. "I'm sorry, sir."
"Come with me."
I huffed and rolled my eyes but nevertheless, I followed him through the destroyed city. Seeing these places I had grown up with and had so many amazing memories at, places I had seen a thousand times and loved, in complete ash and rubble, stirred my heart and made me want to cry. This was my city. It might be dirty and noisy and the majority of people might be rude and ignorant, but this is the place that shaped me, made me who I am. And now it was a gigantic pile of debris, with a few surviving buildings scattered here and there.
The sun was almost all the way up now, peeking over the tops of the tall buildings that were strong enough to uphold through the battle. The orange and pink sky, blotted with dust and smoke, painted a scene of calm after the storm. I wondered where Harley was. I wonder how Aunt May was. I wondered if my friends were okay, if any of them had been hurt or even died. I wondered if New York City, or the rest of the world for that matter, would ever be the same again.
Mr. Stark led me back to the tower. "Go straight to the infirmary," he said. I couldn't see his face, but I knew it was serious and stern. "Bruce is down there with Natasha right now. He'll fix up your shoulder." He gently touched my wound and I flinched and inhaled sharply. "Sorry," he mumbled. "It's okay," I sighed. "Is everyone going to be alright? Are you sure you don't need me?"
"Peter," he put his hand on my shoulder, "we will be fine. Thank you for doing your very best, but I think it'll be over soon. They're starting to surrender."
I looked around and saw the aliens running and flying up to their ships, the ships floating further and further into the atmosphere. "Wow," I smiled, "we really did it."
"We really did." I could tell he was smiling too.
"Wait," I realized. "There's some girls I saved. Two of them, both of them are small. I left them on top of a building to keep them safe, I need to find them."
"Oh my God," he put his head in his hands. "What you need to do is get some stitches in your arm before you pass out. Go to the infirmary now. I'll find them. Where are they?"
I paused and twiddled my thumbs.
"Peter," he asked suspiciously, "where are they?"
"Um... the Woolworth Building."
"YOU LEFT THEM ON TOP OF THE WOOLWORTH BUILDING?! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? Okay, you know what, I'm not even surprised." He walked to the edge of the tower and locked the Woolworth Building in his vision.
"I'm sorry," I muttered as he took off. I wasn't sure what he was going to do with the girls when he rescued them. I just really hoped they were still okay.
A sudden wave of nausea coursed through my aching body. My head felt dizzy and I became disoriented. Not good to be on top of a tall building right now.
I ran as fast as I could to the doors leading away from the roof. I jumped down flights of stairs at a time, the bottoms of my feet stinging with pain every time I landed but I didn't really care. I had more important things to take care of.
I stumbled through the swinging white doors of the infirmary. Bruce noticed me and rushed to me. He put an arm around me and helped me stand, then told me to lay down on a bed beside Natasha. I did as I was told, and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I almost fell asleep. I was so exhausted.
"Hey kiddo," Natasha said quietly, with a certain gentleness in her voice, like I would break if she spoke any louder. "How are you doing?"
"Not so great," I mumbled. I still felt like I was going to throw up and I wasn't in much of a talking mood.
"Is everyone okay?"
"I hope so. Mr. Stark said they were. The aliens are gone."
"Good," she smiled, but pain and regret was written in her eyes. "I wish I could have helped."
"It's not your fault," I assured her, "you got hurt. It happens to all of us."
"Yeah," she replied gratefully. I could tell she still felt bad though.
"Okay," Bruce came back with a dozen medical tools in his arms. "Sit up for me, Pete."
He took out a small but very bright flashlight and examined my shoulder. "I see, hmm..." He muttered to himself as he analyzed the damages. "Okay," he turned it back off with a small click and put it in his pocket. "Good news is you don't have a bullet stuck in there. Bad news is you almost did, and the wound is pretty bad."
"I think I'm going to pass out," I responded. I felt breathless, like I was drowning, gulping for air but I still couldn't get any.
"It's okay if you do," he said, "because I'm about to give you anesthesia anyway."
"Why?" I coughed. "Don't you just have to give me stitches?"
"Well, yes," he said, "but wouldn't you rather be unconscious so you don't have to feel the pain?"
"Yeah," I admitted. He connected an IV to my arm and started pumping anesthesia into me. I closed my eyes and drifted away into a state of unconsciousness...
I woke up slowly and groggily, like someone who had gotten super drunk the night before waking up with a bad hangover. I lifted my head a little bit, then plopped it back down on the pillow. The fluorescent lights were blinding. "Wakey wakey," Bruce said from beside me. I turned to him with my eyes still squinted. "Is it over?"
"Yes. It's over." He pulled up my shirt sleeve to show me a fresh set of stitches and clean arm, no blood anymore. My whole body was clean.
"How... wait, who changed me out of my suit?" I asked, my words slurring together a bit because I was still recovering from the anesthesia. "Harley did," Bruce flashed a tiny smile. "He came in a little bit before I started stitching you up and I asked him to change you into some clothes. It's a lot easier to work with than your suit."
I blushed thinking about Harley changing me into different clothes. And I'm clean... so does that mean...
"Don't worry, he just wiped you down with a wet cloth, he didn't bathe you." Bruce read my mind.
"Oh. Okay. Um, thanks for not letting me die."
He chuckled, "It's what I do."
I saw someone pass by the doors through the little circular window. They paused for a minute, then came in. It was Harley and Mr. Stark.
"Hi," I said shyly. "Hey, you doing okay?" Harley sat on the edge of my bed and wiped my hair out of my face. "Yeah," I smiled, "I'm fine."
"Good to know," he smiled back.
I would have kissed him if I could.
Tony was talking to Natasha and Rhodey, who was in a bed across from me. He must have come in while I was still unconscious. "Hey bud," he came over to me after a little bit. "Bruce did good on you?"
"Yeah," I said and showed him the stitches. "Ouch," he winced. "Must've hurt."
"It did," I nodded my head.
Bruce and Tony both left and it was just me and Harley, sitting on my bed. "Thanks for, uh, changing me into clothes," I said with a hint of embarrassment. "Of course," he kissed me on the cheek. We both had totally forgotten about Natasha and Rhodey, who were sitting there watching the whole thing.
"Aw," Natasha gawked. "I wish I had a relationship like you two do."
"One can only wish," Rhodey agreed and turned over in his bed.
Me and Harley silently laughed with each other and he curled beside me. "I'm so glad you're okay," I told him, "I was worried about you."
"You were worried about me?" He scoffed. "I was worried about you. That's kind of the whole point of why I stole an Iron Man suit."
"You're so brave," I booped his nose. I lowered my voice and whispered, "And you looked really sexy in that Iron Man suit."
"Oh shut up, you wear spandex. The whole world knows what a great ass you have."
"Harley James Keener!" I exclaimed and he shrugged. "Am I wrong?" He laughed.
"I just don't really like the idea of people staring at my butt."
"They don't. They also stare at your crotch." I pushed him away and he giggled. "Kidding, I'm kidding."
"Whatever." I pulled him in and we kissed quickly and quietly, not long enough for Natasha or Rhodey to see, but long enough for both of our hearts to go crazy.
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(A/N so finally things are getting better again. more uwus and cute moments to come! I said this a while ago but remember, this book is coming to an end soon :( but don't worry because I'm 99.9% sure I'll be doing a sequel, so stay tuned ;) don't forget to vote, comment, and follow me so you never miss an update! love you all and I appreciate all of you so much! thanks for reading and the continued support.)
bye for now✱
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