Silver Lining

climbed up the spout again

Hayden had heard him as soon as he'd landed on his balcony.

It wasn't until the sounds of a body sliding down his door that the brunette grew worried, putting the dishes aside quickly and rushing over.

His heart stopped when he saw the blood.

The door was open in a second, the caretaker by the heroes side another later.

"Hey, hey, look at me!", he ordered, taking the vigilantes face in his hands. Spider-Man groaned, eyes only opening a little. "It's me, Hayden. I'll get you inside now, can you stand?"

A weak shake of his head told the brunette everything he needed to know.

"I'll pick you up now, okay? I'm sorry if I hurt you but you can't stay outside."

The second he received a nod for consent, Hayden slid one arm under the heroes legs, the other under his arms, doing his best to not startle the hurt shoulder too badly.

Quickly, the injured man was moved inside and sat down on the couch.

Immediately the caretaker took off again, making his way towards the bathroom.

"I gotta take a look at your shoulder, can you pull down your suit?", the brunette yelled to the vigilante as he was frantically searching for his medkit.

As soon as he'd found it he came barreling back into the living room, sitting down behind the other man.

Peter had managed to get his right arm out of the suit, it now being halfway unzipped, exposing most of his upper body except for the left arm.

The wound stretched from the top of his right shoulder down to the lower shoulder blade, still bleeding sluggishly.

His suit was soaked, leaving a broad red smear on his back.

Hayden wanted to throw up. Not because it was blood, but because it was his blood.

He could tell that it wasn't a shallow cut, though thankfully not deep enough to do serious damage.

And, most surprisingly, it also seemed to already be in the early stages of healing.

"Spider-Man?", he asked carefully, trying to get the heroes attention. Said man hummed, turning his head slightly towards him. "Do you have a healing factor? Because if you do, I probably won't have to do any stitches."

"Yeah...", Peter rasped, his head lolling slightly to the left. "Bullet wound w'd be gone 'n a few hours.", he added, slurring the words.

Hayden nodded. "Okay, that makes things easier. I'll start cleaning the wound now, it's going to sting a bit."

The hero snorted, already knowing how much 'a bit' was going to be.

He hissed as the disinfectant made contact with the open wound, gritting his teeth.

"You're doing great, it's almost over...", the caretaker murmured. His free hand came to rest between Peters shoulderblades, his thumb rubbing soothing circles into his bare skin.

Sighing, the vigilante leaned into the touch.

Finally, the stinging sensation was gone, Hayden moving on to put some sterile gauze pads over the entire length of the cut, fixating it temporarily with tape.

"Almost done.", came a whisper from behind the hero. A warm hand found it's place onto his arm and started stroking the sore muscles, causing Peter to relax even more.

He was basically sitting between the other mans legs now, back almost connecting with his front.

"I have to bandage it, can you sit up a little straighter?"