Peter Parker // Whump

Friendly fire

It just seemed like a good idea at the time...

These past weeks were horrible, Peter woke up everyday feeling nothing more than numb. It was like his emotions had turned off. He hated it.

So when him and Ned were invited to a party he said yes. Usually he would've passed the opportunity in favor of studying. But he needed something to distract him from the uneasiness of feeling nothing.

May pulled up a block away from the party, waving goodbye as Ned and Peter climbed out of the car. They headed towards the house that had all the lights on. They could hear the music from outside and smile to each other.

"I thought you'd never agree to a party" Ned exclaimed as they walked up the steps.

"Neither did I" Peter mumbled, following behind Ned as they walked inside. They were greeted by many drunk teenagers, and eventually moved to the drinks.

Ned grabbed a Capri sun, he wasn't one for alcohol. And neither was peter, until tonight.

"Woah what are you doing?" He asked as peter poured himself a cup full of vodka, "isn't that too much"

"You're forgetting I have a really fat metabolism, this is like taking a half a shot for me" he explained sowing the entire cup before refilling it.

The party went on and he kept drinking, sometime past twelve he had started noticing the colors blend together. Peoples voices were dull but at least he didn't feel numb, he felt fuzzy. He'd take anything over nothing though, so he kept drinking.

When it got too cold out some people lit a bonfire. The red and yellow flames licked up the towers of wood. Peter stopped sipping his drink and stared at the fire. 'Welcoming' he thought, unsure of where that idea came from.

As the night progressed and Peter got drunker and drunker the welcoming fire looked more and more welcoming.

At one point he felt as though the heat it emitted was a hug and he dropped his cup. Ned didn't notice as he walked closer to the fire, past the range anyone else would go, it was too hot. He didn't feel it though, somewhere in his mind the rational side noted that he was probably flammable with the amount of alcohol he consumed. The drunk side won, and he stumbled into the fire. He heard someone scream, the fuzziness of being past drunk blocked it out though. He didn't feel the burning as the fire lapped at his skin.

Suddenly the fire was put out, cold water was sprayed all over him and suddenly he could feel the burns. He wanted to scream but the pain made him bite his tongue, his jaw clenched and he stumbled out the gate towards the street.

"PETER!" Bed yelled running after him. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT"

Peter just turned to look at his furiously concerned friend.

"It looked friendly Ned" he slurred, the mixture of the alcohol and the pain made his words almost incoherent.

"That's it give me your phone" When peter made no move Ned reached into his burnt pocket and pulled out the phone. It was a miracle it wasn't destroyed. "Sit down" he commanded, peter slid down the stone wall. Wincing as his burnt back cut on the rock. "Hello? Tony hi it's Ned Peters friend, you need to get him he needs immediate medical help...Yes...no I don't hunk he's dying yet. Well we were at a party and he drank a lot and at one point they lit a bon fire and he kind of just walked straight in. We put the fire out a few seconds later so he wasn't too badly burned but it's still bad... ok see you soon"

Peters eyes were closing as his body fought sore he so desperately needed. Ned turned when he heard the thump of metal boots hit the floor.

"Hello Ned, Happy's on his way to pick you up, thank you for calling right away"

"Of course, thank you for getting here. Now go heal his dumb ass"

Tony chuckled and smiled at how grown up Ned had gotten. It had been a year since he'd met the avengers and he spent the first half freaking out about everything.

No time to think about that though when your illegitimate kid is burnt. He gently lifted said kid into his arms and flew to the tower. His boots hit the floor of the balcony outside the medbay and he rushed inside as the suit removed itself. He laid peter down on a gurney before calling for Bruce and Cho.

The duo came rushing in and Bruce got started checking Peters vitals while Cho prepped the Skin regrowth chamber (I don't remember what it's called). When it was all set up they slid peter into it and sat down to wait.

"Tony there's something wrong with him. Not just the fact he was drunk, you need to find out why he got so drunk. When you got drunk in the past it was because you were going through tough shit" Bruce advises before patting Tony on the shoulder and leaving him.

"Oh peter what am I going to do with you?" He sighed, laying his head on the back of the chair and falling asleep.

The next morning he woke up and peter was healed, his rapid healing helped the machine work faster.

"Hey kiddo" he greeted smiling at the boy wrapped up in hospital blankets.

"Ugh" he groaned, placing a hand on his head.

"Yep just like I thought, you're hungover" he grabbed two super soldier Advil's and handed them to peter, along with a glass of water. When peter had taken both tony spoke again, "look kid I need to know why you drank so much?"

"Oh, I just wanted to feel something. I've been numb for weeks now and I hate it. When I started drinking it just kind of dulled the numbness by making me more numb if that makes sense" he paused "it probably doesn't make sense

"No I does kid, I went through the same thing a while ago and I'd hate to see you make the same mistakes I did. If you ever feel so numb again please call me, you can spend some time at the tower and we'll watch scary movies with Clint, that should make you laugh. And if not we can do anything, even if you just want to sit in silence while you try and sort through your feelings, or lack there of"

"Thank you Tony, I'm sorry about all this "

"Hey it's all good kid, just next time maybe stick to a Capri sun, and don't walk into the bright hot fire"

"Yes sir" he mock saluted.