Spider-Man Homecoming: Aftermath

Metro-General

I woke up in a haze. I opened my eyes slowly, the harsh overhead lights distorting my vision. I blinked a few more times to get my eyes to focus.

"...Where?"

"Shh, kid. You're in the hospital."

A face came into view. It was Tony Stark aka: Iron Man. They billionaire who'd been sort of mentoring me for the last few months. I gulped and took a breath, taking in what he'd just said.

"What? I'm in the hospital? W-Where's my suit? Oh man, Aunt May is going to kill-"

I tried to sit up, only to feel an intense pain in my side. I gasped loudly.

"Yeah, I wouldn't try to sit up anytime soon." Mr. Stark pulled up a chair to sit down next to my bed. "You broke two ribs. You're lucky neither of them punctured your lungs."

I laid back on the bed slowly, trying to keep my breathing even. I looked down at my hands. They had gauze wrapped around them in a couple layers, no blood had soaked through and they didn't seem to hurt as I flexed my fingers, so I guessed that it wasn't too serious of an injury. On my right arm was a large, bulky-white cast, probably a little more serious.

"What were you thinking?" He sounded angry.

I blinked a few times before rambling, "I-I was trying to do the right thing."

"The right thing?" His words were spaced apart. My nerves flared up at his tone of voice, making me ramble even more.

"I almost had it, Mr. Stark. It just- he just did a thing that I wasn't expecting. Pulled out some sort of weapon like nothing I'd ever seen before-"

I stopped at the look he gave me.

"Next time I'll be more caref-"

"Next time? There is no next time. Kid, we've been over this before. You call Happy if there is something major going on. There are people who take care of this kind of thing."

"Yeah, I know."

Mr. Stark closed his eyes and took a breath before speaking.

"You almost died. Do something dumb like that again and the internship is off. For real this time."

He looked stern as he got up and walked out of the room.

I closed my eyes. I bit the inside of my cheek and balled up my fists. I was so close, if I had just- my thoughts were interrupted by Stark popping his head back in the room.

"By the way, I texted hot your aunt and told her that you spent the night at your friend Ned's house." He tossed me my phone. "Don't worry about your nurse, she's a friend. Your suit also is taken care of, but you should probably come up with a story to tell your aunt about the injuries."

"Oh-Okay. Thank you, Mr. Stark."
He exited the room again. I paused a moment thinking, before yelling a question towards the hall. "How do you know Ned?"

***

"You what, Peter?!"

Aunt May's voice shouted from the other side of the phone. I had to pull it away from my ear slightly at the noise.

"Don't worry, May. I'm alright." I tried to calm her down.

"I'm coming down there. See you in twenty minutes... if traffic isn't bad."

I heard the dull whine of the dial tone and took the phone away from my ear.

Oh boy.

I quickly dialed Ned's number and put the phone once again to my ear. Pick up, pick up, pick u-