What about me, Mr. Stark?

You can't tell Mr. Stark

Peter made it home late that night and Ned stayed over.

In the morning, Peter felt like death itself. His chest hurt as he breathed.

Peter whined as he sat up in the bed and turned the alarm clock off.

He moved his chest as little as he could, making small and fast breaths.

"Is it morning already?" Ned whined with his head in the pillow making the sound dull.

"Yeah" Peter gasped as he stood up.

"You okay, man?" Ned asked and lifted his head from the pillow, getting to witness the big, purple and green mark around a forth of Peters torso.
"Shit, man. You shouldn't go to school today."

Peter scratched his neck and looked back at Ned still laying in the upper bunkbed.

"Yeah well you should, we start in thirty." He answered and put on a t-shirt and jeans.

May drove them both to school and wished them a good day.

Of course Flash and his friends would see them when they entered the school hallway on their way to the lockers.

"Hey Penis!" Flash shouted after putting his hands around his mouth to make the noice louder.

Peter made his 'uh not you again' expression and moved his head in Flash's direction.

"How about that lunch money?" Flash and his friends walked towards the two and Eric slammed Ned's books on the floor. Flash licked his upper lip, put one hand on his hip and the other he reached out and waited for Peter to hand him the money.

"Sorry. Not today." Peter tried walking his way out of the group of people surrounding him, but felt a punch in his stomach.

Oh, man. That hurt. Peter felt like his already two broken ribs, broke again a little.

Flash and the others giggled as Peter hit the ground and hissed in pain. He held his arms against the chest where the pain came from and started panicking a little as he felt how he couldn't quite grasp the air.

Ned kneeled beside him and helped him up, he pushed the group of gorillas away as he knew they wouldn't go further than this.

Ned held Peter in a side hug, except he literally carried him at the same time.

"You alright?" He asked and watched Peter in his agony.

"Mhm!" Peter let out and nodded as he pressed harder on his chest.

Later that night, Peter felt his ribs healing. He'd probably be in perfect shape in the next two or three days.

He looked out over the city from his spot on the rooftop.

It was as beautiful as ever.
Orange silhouettes against the cherry red clouds. Laughs and music from down the street. The smell of unconsumed air.

That was his favorite place. The rooftop.

Suddenly his phone started vibrating in his backpack. He pulled it out and got a little surprised.

*Mr. Stark*

Peter pressed the answer button and held the phone against his ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey! Pete," Tony said in a weird way, as of suspecting something.

"What's up?" Peter asked, hoping he called because he needed help in the lab or something.

"Actually, I was going to ask you the same thing. Why didn't Karen inform me of any patrolling last night?"

Huh. Why did Peter have to call him every night to tell him about patrolling when Karen obviously already did?

"I, umm," Peter hesitated on what to answer, "I'm having a lot in school right now." Damn. That's the dumbest excuse ever told on this planet. At least he didn't say his dog ate the suit. Not that he had a dog-

"Oh. Okay, well good luck with school then." Tony told him and waited for the boy to say something.
But it was quiet. Tony had expected a long conversation with rumbles about anything and everything as usual, but Peter stayed quiet.

"Okay? I guess that was it." Tony broke the silence.

"Alright, bye." Peter said and then hung up.

Why did that make him feel so emotional? Why did it make him feel so bad? He knew that he just had gotten the best opportunity to ask Tony if he could come over, but he didn't take it. He didn't want to be there if he wasn't wanted there.