Welcome home

Parker woke up four hours later, groaning from a sharp surge of pain. During sleep, or it would be more correct to say, caused by a heavy blow of fainting, pain seemed to fade into the background, but then it decided to remind itself with double force. He opened his eyes and tried to get up from the floor, completely not remembering how he ended up on it, but his body, exhausted by two days of hunger and severe beatings, didn't allow him this. Teenager mentally cursed the damn spider metabolism. With the last of his strength, he looked for the backpack. On the way home, guy ran into a stall and bought a sandwich. Having difficulty reaching his backpack, Parker ate his sandwich, albeit a little. It seemed like he had never felt as bad as he was now. After sitting for a few more minutes near the wall, trying to begin understand, and when his brain was a little in order, and everything began to float in front of his eyes half as much, he got up and trudged to the kitchen. There was silence in the apartment. Father probably went out somewhere with friends or just to get some alcohol, so Parker needs somewhere to live again this weekend. Last time he was with MJ, but this time she went somewhere with her parents. So there's nowhere to go but to Ned. In order not to bother his friends, teenager usually spent time in the company of Stark, repairing something, and returned only in the evening to sleep and leave in the morning. Ned's parents knew about the troubles in Peter's family and each time tried to sympathize with him, which the young man himself tried with all his might to avoid. He gets enough of the pitying glances from his teachers for the unfortunate child and the mocking glances from his classmates. Finally reaching the kitchen, he poured himself some water, draining the mug in a second to the last drop of the long-awaited liquid, and then again and again. Having quenched his thirst only on the fifth mug he drank, Peter perked up a little and headed back to the room. On the living room floor, near the legs of the sofa, pieces of a broken beer bottle were found. Parker grimaced, imagining how much cleaning he would have to do when he came home after school on Monday. Unlike his father, he at least somehow tried to make the old one-room apartment suitable for living. Limping, he pushed the partially broken door of the room and began throwing basic things into his backpack. A spare shirt and pants, phone charger, phone, headphones, and a hand-sewn secret pocket. It's September, so it's still quite warm. Finally grabbing the keys, he left the apartment, moving his feet with difficulty and clicking the lock. A staircase appeared in front of him, Peter groaned exhaustedly. He had completely forgotten about the damn fourth floor and, as expected, there was no elevator in their house, which seemed to be as old as New York itself, and therefore teenager was clearly faced with the task of surviving while he went down. Okay, maybe he a little exaggerated with «surviving» but definitely not fallling down the stairs. Bruises and cuts were not a key problem. Apparently, Parker broke something. He doesn't know exactly, but the feeling is such painful that nothing comes to mind other than a fracture. Sighing a couple of times, he began to descend, leaning on the railing - one step, two steps. To distract himself, he started thinking how he could improve Spider-Man's suit. For example, replace the glasses on the mask with something. The fabric is thick, and he was already beginning to seriously think about going to the store, it seemed like there was something left from his salary. Peter spent all his earnings on food and paying overdue water or gas bills. Yes, father paid, but only sometimes, and the rest of the time teenager had to pay. Lost in thought, he didn't hear the entrance door slam, and drunken voices began to be heard from below. And when Parker heard what they were talking about, it was too late. He won’t be able to get up on the second floor - it’s hard, on the landing of the second floor there are no familiar apartments who could help. Option one is to rush past them quickly so that they don’t have time to understand who it was. In general, if Parker had not been half-dead, he probably would have been able to, but his agility and reflexes, dulled by alcohol, work worse. But either today is not his day, or life simply doesn't like Parker. But as soon as he ignored the pain and tried to run up the steps, his father didn’t even try to see who it was that pushed Peter with shoulder. Unable to stay on his feet, teenager flew down the stairs. How he exhaled when he realized that he had fallen on someone. A strangled sigh was heard, but man resisted, and at the same time didn't let guy fall. – Watch where you’re going, – man grumbled and walked further up to his apartment. And Peter finally went outside. His leg hurt twice as bad, but it was advisable to go as far and as quickly as possible from home. Leaning against the nearest wall, Peter dug into his backpack and pulled out a pack of painkillers. Pouring four pills into his palm at once to make sure they worked, he threw the half-empty pack back into his backpack and continued on his way. The plan was to go to the store and buy a couple of sandwiches, so that somewhere along the way he wouldn't faint from hunger. The painkiller acted terribly slowly or, as it seemed to the teenager himself, didn't work at all. By the time he approached the small stall, which was located closest to the house, and into which he ran every time after school, his leg had !!relaxed a little, allowing him to relax a little and walk more or less !!tolerably, or at least without dying from every completed step. Teenager looked around in search of the nearest bench and, when he sat down, began to eat the sandwiches one after another. The key problem now is that money will be enough for at most a week if the father pays the water bill, which they get tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, and, by the way, there will be another four days to wait until payday. Father spends all the money he receives from his salary on drinking in the first week, and for food, at most, cheap snacks, like chips or nuts. There are also huge debts for the apartment and just for friends. No, he himself didn't sin with debts, trying to periodically earn extra money wherever he could in order to pay off these very debts, but his father loved to take them, saying that he would pay them back from his salary. Peter didn’t know what to do in this situation. Finishing the last of his chicken sandwich, Parker exhaled and tossed the packages into the nearest trash can. He need to get to friend’s house, preferably before it gets dark and without incident. It’s not a long walk, so it will take about hour to get there. Of course, Peter can go by bus, but he didn’t want to spend money, which was already not that much. Figuring out in his head where the shortest path and how to get there, he grabbed strap of his backpack more comfortably and, limping, trudged in the right direction. Beatings from father were not uncommon and repeated consistently several times a week, but this was the first time that was so severe. As if in agreement, something clicked in his leg, forcing him to clench teeth. Apparently father was quite infuriated by the situation that happened that night. Apparently, he need to be much more careful and monitor whether he fell asleep or not, if only because of the broken door, which in turn gave an understanding of the danger of being revealed. How much master will cost? Or, looking at the condition of the door, is it better to buy new door, and will father even allow to repair it? One more situation like this, and he won’t be able to handle it financially. Father will break door again. Immersed in thoughts and worries, he didn't notice that he had reached the desired pedestrian crossing, moreover, he began to cross it at red light. The road, thanks God, was small, two-lane, which, by the way, is rare for the huge and well-populated New York. He was brought back to reality by the loud squeal of brakes, which would clearly break after that. From the side, someone whispered, and somewhere he heared selective swearing from other drivers. Car door, located a couple of centimeters from Parker, swung open. Peter prepared to listen everything he could hear about himself. – Hey, boy! Are you okay? – Tony was very scared when he noticed teenager coming out onto the road too late, and guy, apparently, was very scared. The voice from the side seemed to penetrate to the heart. «No. No. No.» He managed to see Stark. It will be better with the most aggressive driver than with a mentor. He didn't want him to realize who was in front of him. No way! Just not now. With hands trembling with fear, he pulled the hood of his sweatshirt, hiding his face as much as possible, and, as far as his aching body allowed, he increased his pace. There is park on the way to Ned, so he could hide in it or just get lost from prying eyes, of which there were suddenly so many. Oh shit! Not now. The panic that Peter had not felt for over a month decided to return now. His heart was beating wildly, forcing him to speed up his pace. Only, however, leg clearly didn’t like it. – Wait! Are you all right? – Stark shouted after the fleeing guy, but it was too late: his figure instantly got lost among other people rushing about their business. Strange, this guy seemed familiar to him. Parker leaned against a tree and tried to calm down. He seemed completely unaware of where he now and what happening. Slowly sliding down the tree, he felt more and more eyes on him. No, he needs to calm down, urgently and as quickly as possible. Pulling his backpack off his shoulders, he seemed to have completely lost meaning of where he was. He can only concentrate on one thing. He didn't immediately recognize shout: – Dude! – Ned, who turned out to be going to meet him, sat down next to him, holding out a bottle of water. – Has it started again? Nodding briefly, Peter frantically grabbed the bottle, taking sip after sip. It took him a while to calm down. Ned helped, tried to distract him as best he could. And he must give our friend credit, Ned succeeded. Finally, having reached the apartment, they went up to the desired floor. – No one will be home until evening, – Ned announced, throwing the keys on nightstand in the hallway. – Shall we watch the film? – Parker suggested, walking into the room. But his thoughts were not about the film. He won’t be able to appear at Stark’s for at least a week until the most serious injuries heal, but he’s unlikely to be able to take such a long time off. He have to cover up what can be covered up. He went to the mirror, examining his face. Everything except it can be covered with clothes, and face with a mask. Damn, it’s September, which turned out to be extremely warm this year, and he’ll be in sweatshirts. Having weighed his options and decided that it was better than Tony seeing signs of beatings, he returned to his friend, who had already brought a bowl of popcorn and was looking for a movie with the air of a knowledgeable person. Peter was grateful to his friend for not asking about bruises and cuts, just helping and not being sorry. He understood how unpleasant it was, but he knew that Peter was Spider-Man and helped best he could. The Star Wars screensaver played on the TV and teenager discarded other thoughts, immersing himself in the film until the evening. They were only distracted when the lock clicked and someone entered the apartment. – Darling, we’re home, – came a voice from the corridor. It was a friend's parents. Praying to all the gods not to see compassion on their faces, Peter went out into the corridor. – Hello, – teenager greeted, trying to smile as naturally as possible. – Oh, hello, Peter, – woman smiled in response. – Do you want to eat? – Just as Peter opened his mouth to politely refuse, Leeds interrupted. – Hey, mom, no, we won’t, – and pulled his friend back into the room to watch the last half hour of the film. *** – Congratulate me, Pepper. Today I could get prison sentence of five to ten years, – Tony stated as he entered his girlfriend’s office. – But this didn't happen, thanks to properly working brakes, the inventor of which is... Oh, wow! - I myself. – And I always saying that not all people like your jokes and you need to be able to slow down in time, – Pepper retorted, without looking up from the computer. – How nice. But I wasn’t talking about jokes, I was talking about almost hitting teenager with car. – Tony! – Pepper now looked away from her work and looked at him. – Of course, I knew that star fever was clouding your mind, but not to this extent! – Don't worry, the boy is fine. I noticed him in time. But this miracle in the sweater runned away before I had time to ask if everything was okay. – If I were him, I would run away too. You’re walking along calmly, and then some smug violator drives near you at full speed. The poor guy must be so scared. – Well, I thought he would at least ask for an autograph... – Tony! – Well, really, I wanted to help! Of course, I almost hit him, but still! – Lord, just forget it. He said that everything fine. But from now on, try to look at the road and not at the mirror. – Rest assured, I always look only at the road. Or something beautiful, – Tony winked, Pepper rolled her eyes. – Peter should come today, we are finishing the suit. But tomorrow I will show you how carefully I drive. – Thank you, I am aware of your intellectual capabilities. – Come on, you'll like it. We've been dating for a long time. Can I treat my girlfriend to dinner for once in my life? – Well, perhaps you can do it once in your life, – Potts finally gave in. – Super! – Tony kissed her and, deciding not to interfere with her work, left the room, finally saying: – See you later, dear. *** When the film ended, friends began to get ready for bed, actively discussing the franchise, which had not gotten boring after a hundred viewings. Parker didn’t even notice how the dialogue smoothly moved away from the initial topic when Ned suddenly lowered his voice, moving closer to him. – Will you, – he begin cautiously, looking around for some reason. Sometimes it seemed to Parker that it was not he but Ned who hiding Spider-Man’s identity, because every time he speak about it he spoke at least three tones lower, and sometimes only super hearing helped, if he can, of course, call it like that. – Will you go out on patrol today? – friend continued. – Or it would be more correct to say... But he didn’t let him finish, immediately covering the guy’s mouth with his hand in order to make him shut up before it was too late. Parker immediately regretted it, clenching his teeth. The sore hand is apparently of the same opinion, since it ached with double force. Well, he managed to stretch out his sore arm, and he, by the way, fell on it at home, judging by the bruise just above the elbow, one of the blows also landed on her. Taking a deep breath, Peter nodded towards the door, hinting to listen, but this wasn't necessary: it carefully opened, and a female silhouette with a tray in her hands looked out. Ned jumped off the bed to help his mother, that enter the door. Woman walked into the room with two plates on a beautiful clay tray. Peter knew from a friend's stories that his mother was a ceramics maker. She have a small store where she sold her products, and Ned's father worked on shifts for three months, so the Leeds family lived in prosperity say like the average New York family. – I brought you some food, – when woman put down the tray’s her gaze immediately caught on one of Parker’s bruises, the one located on his forearm. It was clearly visible through the shirt, without immediately noticing it, teenager quickly tried to cover it with a sweatshirt, which he took off while watching the movie so as not to get boiled. He hate showing off the results of his father’s beatings, but he feel calm with his friend and completely forgot that they not alone here. And that, unlike Ned, adults react differently. Most often it was negative, and he sincerely didn’t want to lose his only friend. – It’s better than eating your harmful rubbish, – Mrs. Leeds add after a moment’s pause. In the end, decided not to embarrass Peter so much with her persistent gaze, she finally turned away, but alas not for long. But already trying to look kinder and more condescendingly at the «poor child», she asked: – Would you like anything else, maybe juice? – taking advantage of the time that was given for a couple of seconds of reflection, she whispered something to Ned standing next to him, causing Parker to unconsciously wrap himself in the thick fabric better. – No, thank you, – mumbled teenager, trying to answer as calmly as possible and trying not to betray the desire tormenting inside him to run out of this apartment as quickly as possible. How he hated when someone looked at him like that, with an admixture of pity and disgust, collected in one gaze, which adults skillfully learned to hide under artificial emotions that they had developed over the years when working with nasty clients. Of course, she, as a mother, was unpleasant that with her diligent and prosperous son is ragamuffin from dysfunctional family. But if you think about it like that, Ned himself wanted to communicate with him, even more than that - he was the first to come up to meet him and the first to start a dialogue, while the rest of people, from the arrival of Parker, began to look with side-glance at him. An unbidden thought crept into his head: «What if he’s still friends with him just because he’s Spider-Man.» And in fact, he is not interesting to his friend at all, or, at least, he has already ceased to be interesting, and maybe even disgusted, almost mired in his own disappointments received from life as an unexpected «gift». Wait, no, it’s impossible. Ned was already friends with him, even before he found out that Peter was Spider-Man, and after he found out, except for surprise, he didn't change at all. They still discussed Star Wars, coming up with crazy conspiracy theories and telling him that he had ordered a couple of new comics based on recently released films, which Parker, as usual, could only read online, and only on weekends, on Ned’s computer. Well, unless take into account that he began to actively bombard the young superhero with questions about how it was to save people and fly on a web over New York at night, and sometimes, not only at night. When time was freed up during the day Parker without hesitation grabbed the suit. It helped to distract himself and feel... needed? Yes, most likely. And although Parker himself believed that he isn't superhero, since he only stopped petty crimes, such as robbery, or, more often simply helped people in a frivolous situation. Ned often dissuaded him and sure that Peter is really doing important work, once again helping the people. One has only to remember how Parker once again, just came to visit Ned, simply looked at the computer screen in front of him for several minutes, rereading the same lines a hundred times. It was Ned who sent Parker’s dossier for an internship at Stark Industries and slipped to boy a supposedly ordinary physics test, knowing that he is really capable of. That day, Peter just missed school, so he didn’t understand anything and actually solved the test. Questions only arose when Ned said to give the paper to him and not to the teacher, but Parker didn’t dwell too much on this, and judging by the current situation, thanks God. No, he’s definitely not friends with him because of Spider-Man, the teenager summed up in his head. – Well, I’m in the hall, – Mrs. Leeds smiled and, once again giving Peter an unreadable look, carefully closed the door and than left the room. – Let’s go and eat something, – Ned waved his hand cheerfully, sitting down next to Peter, who had finally come to his senses from an awkward stupor on the sofa. Having come to terms with the fact that it would be impolite to refuse food, and besides, boy was really hungry, he reached for the fork that lay next to the plate. As soon as he threw fork along with the pasta wrapped around it into his mouth, the phone that was lying nearby on the table beeped loudly. While he chewing, Parker reached for his phone, opening the messenger and, at the same time, wondering who could write to him. Of course, he wanted it to be MJ, but this is unlikely, and there is no one more important to write to him. Picking up the gadget with his fingers, he brought it to him at the height of the plate. By the way, the phone fell more than once and was covered in small cracks across the screen. Maybe if he saves up one day, he’ll buy himself a new one, newer and better, so it works faster and has more memory. But he couldn’t think for long, he opened the chat with a message and immediately coughed in panic, covering his mouth with his hand so he would not spit everything from his mouth out on the floor. Judging by the contents of the message, this was a man a hundred times more important than anyone on the entire damn planet. Shit. Shit. Shit. Why did he opened the chat? A message flashed from below, as if it had been read. From Tony fucking Stark. Still being in shock, Peter simply stared at the screen in front of him. «The suit won’t do itself, boy», Peter completely forgot that they had agreed to meet today, and at that moment, as he answered, he was only thinking about his unfinished homework and the best way to get home. Damn, he'll have to watch what he says next time. Scrolling through a hundred excuses in his head and checking which one would be better and less idiotic than the other ninety-nine, he didn't notice that Ned also read the message he had received. – What do you think? Go see him, it will be great! – Ned clearly didn't share Peter’s doomed mood, but the teenager was not lazy to calmly and clearly explain everything, citing facts and reasons. – Are you crazy? – Peter jumped up of the couch in panic and almost fell to the floor, leaning on the wrong leg; even with his accelerated regeneration, his legs don’t heal so quickly. Lord, it’s always like this. He barely lives, for that matter, and became Stark’s assistant out of pity from higher powers for the doomed teenager, nothing more. – I’m covered in bruises and I’m walking, God willing, three steps. Where the hell I'm going to go? – He didn’t have time to write back. Stark, who clearly didn't like to wait, persistently write again. «Listen to me, boy, you have a minute, otherwise I’ll come myself.» Knowing Stark’s character, this could easily be true, and he didn’t want to show to mentor his bruised. Okay, he didn’t want at all. Peter, with his hands trembling from excitement and shock, quickly wrote a message, trying to choose an excuse as plausible as possible. He erased and wrote several times and in the end still chose the most idiotic and banal excuse. Well, at least it was closest to the truth, although incidentally it was the truth, just unsaid. «I'm sorry, Mister Stark, I can't. I don’t feel well.» «Then tomorrow.» Man, in turn, didn't give up, and Parker swallowed convulsively. No, he won’t recover until tomorrow, even if he throws all possible pills at him, he would rather die from an overdose than recover. And for now he want to live. «Sorry, I’m not sure I’ll be able to recover for tomorrow...» teenager bit his lower lip, tensing his entire body. Refusing Tony Stark was... hard, or rather unusual. Or all together. For some time was deathly silence, although the phone confidently showed that the interlocutor is online, with every second the tension grew with renewed vigor. «Monday». Here even a fool would understand that this isn't a question. Peter sighed, putting his phone away. Okay, at least there’s a better chance of recovery. Ned, who was still stunned by his friend's refusal, actively added fuel to the fire. – Dude, you just refused to Iron Man, – he said, keep eyes wide open, looking from Peter to the phone several times. Still not believing that Tony Stark himself was writing to his friend. – I already understood, – Peter groaned desperately, leaning on the back of the sofa and listlessly covering his face with his hands. He can only hope that severe injuries such as bruises and cuts on open areas of the skin will not be visible, or at least they can be covered with concealer. One thing was clear: he have to wear a sweatshirt for several days. Already imagining how he would go crazy from the heat, teenager finally finished cooled pasta and meat. Although, let's be honest, he wasn't full. Looking doomedly at the already empty plate, Peter volunteered to take them to the kitchen and wash them. He planned to carefully borrow some apple hidden in the depths of the refrigerator along the way; he didn't tell his friend about his increased metabolism, he didn't want to make him worry even more. So with the money that left after paying the bills, Peter tried to buy inexpensive snacks or, if he was lucky, some noodles on sale. He also had snacks with Stark's quite often during the day. To be honest, he didn’t know why they suddenly started handing him some food, but it was just a joy, which also helped a lot, especially after active work. Because then he wanted to eat several times more than usual. When Peter wanted to go home, regardless of the time, he almost always handed something like a candy bar or chocolate. By the way, he never found an apple in the refrigerator, but he found a huge bunch of bananas and, tearing off one, quickly ate it. It became a little better, and after finishing the dishes, he returned to the room. He won't go on patrol this night. It’s better to recover and sleep normally, and perhaps the body will recover faster. At least, he could only hope.