Throwing Caution to the Wind

Chapter 22

Peter spent the next few days in bed with May fretting over him. She only let him go the bathroom or the couch. On the the day after he left he tried to make lunch for her, but the look she gave him was enough to deter him from trying that again.

Thankfully she aloud Ned and MJ to come over for their usual Friday night movie.

When they arrived they brought a t-shirt that said "I survived my trip to NYB" with the addition  "... barley" written in with permanent marker.

When May saw it she snorted and brought out the snack bowls for them since Peter was confined to the couch.

"I can't believe you actually got shot and thought that you could clean it out with less than the dregs of hydrogen peroxide" she said with disbelief.

"I didn't want to waste it" he said his voice rising up an octive.

"So you decided to waste some specially engineered anesthetic instead" she said raising an eyebrow with a smile.

He looked down and mumbled a quick "maybe".

To which she started laughing.

"You really are something else Parker" she said once the laughter subsided.

Ned just watched the exchange with a look that Peter couldn't place.

Thankfully May walked in with all the goodies for the night.

"Do you guys want drinks, or do you typically not" she asked after the bowls were safely on the side tables.

"Sometimes one of us gets generous and splurges on either pop or slushies if it's hot enough" MJ told her.

May, went to the the 2 liter bottle of ginger ale they had in the pantry.

"I didn't expect you guys to need anything else" she said with a laugh.

"Don't worry about it, this is what happens at mine and Ned's house too" MJ said opening the cap carefully so not to get it everywhere.

It was MJ's turn to pick and ti absolutely no one's suprise, it was The Hunger Games.

It was a pretty good time. They mocked the capital accents along with Katniss and Gale and started discussing their own survival plans.

Eventually they fell asleep. The next morning after Ned and MJ had left, he went to his room to work on his hometown to wait for Happy to let him know that he was at the door.

Peter had wanted to go home with May, but Mr Stark wanted him to come back to spend until Monday evening at the tower so he could keep an eye on him and his leg. It also helped that Friday night was the only night of the week/end that she didn't have the night shift.

When Happy got there, he found Peter waiting in the hallways with a backpack May having already left for her next shift.

"You're not supposed to be up yet" he said in lieu of greeting.

"My leg feels fine" he insisted.

"At least give me the backpack so Tony doesn't kill me.

Reluctantly Peter handed him the bad and they headed down the hall.

"What are you doing kid" Happy asked when Peter headed to the stair well.

"Going down" Peter said.

"Get in the elevator" Happy said motioning to the open door.

"It's not a very good elevator, I usually take the stairs" Peter explained thinking of its heavy tobacco smell.

"Kid, do you want Tony to come for my hide" Happy said, clearly done with the situation.

Peter realized he want winning this one so he took a deep breath and walked into the elevator.

Happy didn't comment on the fact that he didn't breath in the elevator until they were in the car.

"So what was that about" he asked.

"What was what about" Peter said confused.

"You didn't breath in the elevator. You held your breath the entire time" he said slowly as if Peter didn't remember.

"Oh ya, uhhh, see the smell of smoke always bothered me. Even before the bite. But after, taking even a small breath in there is basically asking for a migraine" he explained sheepishly.

Happy nodded and continued driving.

When they got to the tower he found Mr Stark waiting for them with a wheelchair.

Peter quickly got out of the car grabbing his bag and attempted to make a mad dash for the elevator.

Unfortunately he felt a firm hand on his shoulders before he got too far.

"Nice try kid, but make it easier on both of us and just get in the wheelchair" Mr Stark said with a slightly smile.

Peter got in with a sigh and Mr Stark immediately put up the foot rest for him to prop his injured leg on.

Once he was settled he brought him up to the Medbay and helped him onto the bed.

A few minutes later Cho walked in with a rolling x-ray machine.

She took a few pictures and had a look at the injury.

After prodding at the skin and applying a cream on it, she declared him healed. But that she still wanted him to stay home in Monday. Judy as extra insurance.

Mr Stark let him make dinner for them. He decided that pasts sounded like a great meal. So he made sure that he had everything and started on the flour volcano.

"Remember that you can make as much as you want and take the leftovers home with you. I have enough to feed you 1000 times over", Mr Stark reminded him from where he was on the kitchen stool having some coffee.

Dinner ended up being delicious. Chicken Alfredo was a good go too that Peter found himself making a lot lately. And thus, he'd had plenty of time to perfect it.

A few hours later, once Peter finished his homework, they decided to watch a movie.

"What movie do you want to see kid" Mr Stark asked from the listen where he was making hot chocolate and icecream.

"Star Wars?" Peter asked

"Sure, why not, it's been a while since I've seen them anyways" he said mixing the cocoa powder in the hit milk.

They settled on the couch and enjoyed the sweet vanilla contrastive with en rich chocolate.

As usual Peter fell asleep towards the end of the movie.

"Kid" came the gentle voice of Mr Stark waking him up.

"Yeah" he mumbled.

"You fell asleep on me, I think you provide want to get up to sleep in a real bed tonight bud" he said gently.

Peter took a minute to process what he was saying before shooting up from his mentors lap.

"Sorry sorry sorry" Peter said standing up his face heating up.

"Kid, relax it's fine. Actually I think it's pretty adorable" he said with a teasing smile. But Peter didn't see anything malicious behind it.

"Really" he said softly, his voice filled with wonder.

"Surprisingly, yes. I don't know what you did to me kid, but I love having you around. You make things better somehow" he said pulling him into a hug.

When Pepper walked in the next morning have been out on a business trip, she found them snuggled on the couch sleeping soundly.

After snapping a few quickly pictures on her phone, she silently pumped her fist into the fair whispering 'finally'.