Of Choices and Tribulations

Chapter 6

Peter Parker

Peter woke to the soft sound of classical music playing in the background and the strong smell of iodoform. Opening his eyes slowly, he could see that it was nighttime through the clear windows in front of him. Definitely not home as the cityline wasn't familiar to him, but it was a really nice view. With his eyes only, Peter scanned his surroundings. Yep, not home, and looking down at all the wires and tubes attached to him, he was about 100 percent certain he was in the hospital.

Out of reflex, he tried moving his limbs slightly, just so that he could be sure he had all of them. It was strange fear, but a fear no less - who wanted to wake up to find that they had to remove a leg or something to save his life? It happened all the time in the movies. Well. He maybe losing a leg wasn't that bad, science had improved a lot these days. But seriously, he'd really much favor having all his limbs as an ideal. Yep. All there , he thought in relief after flexing his toes and fingers. But boy, after just doing that small action, Peter felt exhausted already and the ache all over his body was definitely noticeable. There wasn't any pain, but he felt like he had been put through the wringer, like the last fight he had with Adrian Toomes at the amusement park.

Relieved to have the basic fear abated, Peter rested his head back on the pillow for a second before tilting his head to look over his right, where he saw a half eaten Walnut date slice ... and someone he did not expect. Instead of Aunt May who Peter had assumed to be there, it was none other than Mr. Stark himself.

The man's eyes were shut, with his arms folded across his chest, head tilted back on the leather chair. Even though Mr. Stark was asleep, Peter could see the dark circles under the man's eyes. No doubt sleep eluded the man for some time. Oh no... did that mean there were casualties at the Pharmax lab? Did people die because Peter wasn't fast enough to warn Happy? What about Dr. Cho? Did they get her out in time. The small fridge, there really wasn't a lot of oxygen in there. Peter could feel a surge of panic ripple through him. The heart rate monitor that he was hooked up to was also reacting to it. Okay, calm down Peter or you're going to wake Mr. Stark , Peter chided to himself. Breathe. Breathe.

In calming himself, Peter took in more his surroundings. There was a clock in the far section of the room that told him the time - just fifteen past midnight. Then there was the fancy shelves that Peter was pretty sure regular hospitals didn't have. Aside from the default smell of a hospital facility, the room was definitely not average looking. Everything in there looked expensive, from the mahogany colored furniture, leathered chairs/sofas and even a wide screen 65" TV... yeah, Peter was going to be in debt to Mr. Stark for the rest of his life. No way was he going to let Aunt May pay for this. Now Peter really wanted to know how long he had troubled Mr. Stark.

My phone. That should tell me the date , thought Peter as he spotted it lying just by the a tray table in front of Mr. Stark. As he reached for it as stealthy as he could, he accidently pulled out one of the wires attached to him from a machine. Instantly it started to beep loudly. Within a second, Peter's plan was foiled – Mr. Stark's eyes had snapped wide open and the two of them made eye contact. Ah man. Not good, totally not my intention.

The man was at a loss for words for just a second, as if he couldn't believe that Peter was awake. Maybe Mr. Stark thought he was dreaming.

"Peter?" He said hesitantly.

"Hey, Mr. Stark," he said sheepishly as he pulled down his oxygen mask. "So sorry, I really didn't mean to wake you."

There was a beat, like Mr. Stark was digesting that Peter had answered him.