Day 4 Entry for Marvel Whump Madness, hosted by Trekkiehood
As hard as Peter tried to concentrate on the work in front of him, every time his mind slipped from focusing on the task of staying awake, he found himself jerking upright from another five-second nap. He'd been up for over forty-eight hours straight, and they'd run out of coffee at the house.
His head was throbbing, his eyelids felt like they weighed ten tons, and he felt like he was going to throw up just because he was too tired to be awake. And that feeling made it so he hadn't eaten in the past twelve, hours, either.
As usual, when his mind wandered to the depth of his woeful condition, it quickly wandered into nothingness as well, and he found himself jerking awake from yet another mini-nap.
Oh yes, and to top everything off, they had a sub in this class, and besides being all around evil, he had decided he hated Peter.
"Mr. Parker..." Speak of the devil, and here he came again, leering down at him with a wicked smile on his face. "Maybe next time you should think twice before you stay up until 3 am playing videogames... your grade will thank you for it."
"I wasn't playing videogames," Peter muttered, leaning further over his book work to make it clear how hard he was working. The page was about halfway full. All the answers were probably wrong, but it was a completion grade anyway so who flipping cared?
He'd actually been saving someone's sorry butt from a standup. If he ever saw that happening to this jerk, he'd keep walking.
Except his wouldn't, because then it would be his fault, and he couldn't live with himself if that happened. Man, why did he have to be such a freaking good person?
Sometime, he was going to become a super villain. That sounded like fun.
Halfway into a half-dream, half-daydream of him in black, kicking puppies, he realized he was doing it again, and jerked himself awake once more. It was going to be a long day.
After school, a black limo was waiting for him, with Happy drumming his fingers on the steering wheel in impatience. Apparently, Mr. Stark wanted to show him some suit upgrades or something. Peter wasn't going to argue with him, that was for sure.
"Hey, Happy," he greeted as he tossed his backpack inside the car and climbed in after it.
"Kid," Happy responded simply. He didn't even wait for Peter to buckle up before he was pulling out of the parking lot. "Man, you guys are horrible drivers."
Peter shrugged. He wasn't going to deny it... not when trying to cross the parking lot felt like playing frogger with himself as the frog.
He chattered away about anything and nothing for the rest of the ride to headquarters, both to fill the silence and to keep himself awake. When they were finally pulling up to the compound, Happy let out a soft groan of relief.
"Great, you're Tony's problem now."
"Good to see you too, Happy," Peter responded cheerfully as he bounced out of the car and towards the doors of the compound.
Tony met him just outside them.
"Hey, Mr. Stark!" he called when he saw him. His smile widened when he saw the corners of the billionaire's mouth twitch.
"Kid," he replied simply. "I see you survived the drive... that's always a miracle with him behind the wheel."
Peter just smiled at that, following his mentor inside and then downstairs, to what was apparently Tony's workroom.
"Sit down, drop your backpack... you want something to drink?"
Peter opened his mouth, but he was cut off before he could say anything.
"Like, lemonade... I see that look and I will not take you home to your aunt drunk. Come back on a day I have a bit more of a death wish."
Peter closed his mouth again, frowning a little. He hated it when Tony talked like that, because he knew he wasn't joking. It made him want to get up, wrap his arms around the dude, and tell him over and over again how much he needed him.
"Moving on," Mr. Stark continued, "I've got a few upgrades I want you to try out. I'll explain them, then you can take them for a test drive and see what you think. Yes?"
Peter nodded simply, and Tony launched into the lecture. Ten minutes of big words and technical descriptions later, Peter had managed to stay awake, but still had absolutely no idea what any of the new features did.
"So," Tony said as he finished. "Get over here, and we'll see how they work."
Once again, Peter nodded, rising quickly and bouncing over to where Tony was standing.
Unfortunately, the rapid movement didn't agree with his exhausted body. Another wave of nausea swept over him, and his head screamed as his vision swam. Desperate not to black out, Peter closed his eyes briefly, reaching for the table to steady him.
When he opened them again, his vision was clear... and Mr. Stark was giving him a hard look that had concern written behind it.
"Okay, Kiddo," he said evenly. "How long's it been?"
"What?" Peter asked, shooting him the most innocent look he could muster."
"Since you slept, and don't give me that face," Tony quipped back. "How many hours?"
"Um... since six this morning?"
"Kid, I know sleep depravity better than I know my own face. Try again."
"Mr. Stark, I'm fine," he tried again. "I just got a little dizzy, that's all"
"Lie to my face again and I'm calling your aunt."
Yep, he'd lost this one. He stared at the ground, sighing heavily.
"I guess that would be about sixty hours."
The look on Tony's face was both priceless and terrifying. He reached out, taking hold of Peter's arm and dragging him in the direction of the stares. "Alright, come with me."
"Where are we going?" Peter squeaked, hopping to keep up.
"You're going to bed. We still have a room for you upstairs."
Peter opened his mouth to protest, but closed it again as two realizations hit him. A, he wasn't going to win, so he shouldn't bother trying any more. B, he could really, really use a nap.
