Make Him Proud, Peter Parker

NINE. you've got me on speed dial, peter parker

Happy was on his back in the hospital bed, his eyes shut, and one of them bruised. A burn stretched across his right upper arm and onto his shoulder blade. His lips were cracked and dry, and his skin was pale.

Nellie and Peter stood on opposite sides of the bed, both looking down at him. They studied his wounds at a distance to which Nellie scrunched her face in response. The burn was nasty and looked extremely painful; it was rare that she wished she had any kind of abilities such as Peter, or gadgets like Tony had, but seeing Happy in pain made her wish she could fix him somehow.

"Do you think he's dead?" Peter finally spoke over the faint beeping of the monitor to his right.

Nellie instantly reached across Happy in the bed and smacked Peter in the stomach, "Not funny."

Peter stumbled back, bumping into the IV stand connected to Happy by a variety of tangled tubes.

The two froze and waited for the bag of fluids to stop swaying on the stand, their eyes still on Happy. He didn't move a muscle.

"Should I poke him?" Nellie puzzled, glancing to the doorway.

She wondered if the nurses would know if something was wrong. Would they come immediately if he started crashing? The beeping remained steady, which made her remain calm. He wasn't in a coma, or at least, they had not been told he was.

"If he is dead, he wouldn't be in rigor mortis by now. He'll still be all. . .jiggly." Peter responded, his pointer finger now hovering above Happy's stomach.

"Am I in hell?"

Peter and Nellie both jumped away from the hospital bed, startled. In the process, Peter ripped out Happy's IV. One of the many machines surrounding them began to beep loudly and more rapidly.

Happy sat up slowly in the bed with a pained grunt, "Did you come all the way up here just to finish me off? Jesus, kid. Can't a man die in peace?"

A nurse finally entered the room, her gray hair pulled up into a perfect bun, "You're hardly dying, Mr. Hogan. I predict a long life ahead of you yet."

"Perfect, I don't think Peter and I were quite done annoying you yet, Hap." Nellie smiled, leaning down to hug him very carefully as she was not on the side of him that appeared to be burned.

Happy used his uninjured arm to wrap around her back before adjusting himself in the bed. Peter grabbed his breakfast from the bedside table for him as the nurse fixed Happy's IV.

"How'd you get here so fast? And please, for the love of God, don't tell me you stole Tony's Audi E-tron GT." Happy sighed, picking up a piece of bacon from the plate now in his lap.

"Rhodey took a jet out from the Avengers Facility. . .one that didn't get blown up by aliens, I guess. We landed around two hours ago." Peter explained, his eyes locked on the bacon hanging from Happy's fingers.

Nellie rolled her eyes as she watched Peter practically salivate over the sight of food.

"What time does the cafeteria open, ma'am?" Nellie asked the nurse as she was about to leave the room.

The nurse checked her watch, "Give them about a half hour more, sweetheart." With a smile, she exited the room, leaving the three of them.

Happy finished chewing and attempted to reach for a napkin on the bedside table.

"And what, you show up here at sunrise to watch me eat a single piece of pork, one badly scrambled egg, and a stale piece of toast?"

"Peter's actually just dropping me off," Nellie spoke up, grabbing the napkins for him. She passed one to him and watched as he dabbed the crumbs away from his stubble.

She frowned watching him wince as he accidentally pressed too hard on one of the bruises near his nose.

Happy looked between the two of them, shaking his head. He lowered the napkin and leaned back against the headboard.

"Back to work already, huh? Last I checked I was still your liaison, kid. I don't recall calling you in for a mission quite yet."

"Actually, sir, a liaison is a person who communicates between two individuals. You know, like a middle-man. Now that Tony's gone. . .well, there's no middle anymore." Nellie's voice wavered, her eyes lowering to the pale blue blanket on Happy's bed.

Happy raised his eyebrows in surprise, "So, you really are a big shot Avenger now? You don't need me anymore."

Peter tore his eyes away from the remaining crumbs on Happy's plate, "I'm always going to need you, Happy." He disagreed, locking eyes with his mentor.

There was a squeak of a boot in the doorway, grabbing their attention. This time it wasn't a nurse; it was Rhodey. "We've gotta go, kid."

"James, he's not ready." Happy interjected, reaching out with a pained face to grab Peter's wrist.

Peter sucked in a breath, pausing between them.

Rhodey shook his head, "It doesn't really matter if he is or if he isn't. Tony and Nat are dead, Hogan. Steve retired. Barton and Lang are back home with their families, and who can blame them? So, who does that leave the world left to turn to?"

"Peter," Nellie replied softly. "I don't like it any better than you do, Hap, but Rhodey's right. New York needs its friendly neighborhood Spider-Man right now. We can't let these space nerds keep coming into our planet, causing death and destruction every other week."

"Did you seriously just refer to a deadly alien, woman warrior as a 'space nerd,' Stark?" Rhodey scoffed, though Nellie thought she saw the corner of his lips turn up.

Peter smirked as he gently removed Happy's grasp on his wrist, "That's my girl."

"Get out of here," Happy threw the piece of toast from his plate at Peter's head.

Of course, he caught it mid-air before taking a big bite out of it, causing Nellie to chuckle.

"We'll be in touch?" Peter tried, inching ever-closer towards Rhodey and the doorway.

"Don't act like I'm not on your speed-dial." Happy responded, handing Nellie his now empty plate.

Rhodey gave Happy a nod before disappearing out into the hall. Peter gave Nellie a wink before following behind.

"So, Pepper and Aunt May are cool with this?" Happy asked, his eyes now closed again.

Nellie remained silent until Happy leaned forward, opening his eyes.

"Always the liaison, aren't I? Hand me my phone."

Nellie walked over to the window while she listened to Happy try to explain the current situation to either one of her and Peter's caregivers. She was sure they were just waking up to find them gone.

Looking out at the skyline, Nellie could no longer find the familiar tower she'd once lived in. The gap in the row of black and silver buildings was quite noticeable, and she felt herself place her hand over her heart. There was a gap there, too.

Stark Tower, her home, was nothing but a memory now.