DONâT LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN
PETER PARKER / DOCTOR STRANGE WORD COUNT : 2107 WARNINGS :Â NONE (except Iâm low-key living for the idea of Doctor Strange navigating father-figure-hood)Â REQUESTED BY: @awesomea353
SUMMARY : Peter has had so much on his plate lately, that heâs been skipping meals just to get it all done. He thought he could handle it, until he passes out in the middle of a fight. Thankfully, heâs right around the corner from a certain Sanctum Sanctorum.Â
âWanna come over and work on the physics project?â
Peter had his head in his locker, cramming books he didnât need inside while shoveling the ones he did need out and into his backpack. He closed the locker door, accidentally slamming it in his haste, to find Ned standing on the other side.
âWhat? Sorry,â Peter said. He had heard Ned but he wasnât really listening. He definitely wasnât ignoring Ned, but his mind was focused on the tasks he needed to get to and he could already feel his feet carrying him down the hall before Ned had a chance to answer.Â
âDo you want to come over and work on the physics project?â Ned asked again, following Peter down the semi-crowded hallwayâ.
âI canât today, maybe tomorrow?â Peter said over his shoulder.
He pushed through the front door and hopped down the staircase in steps of two, slinging his backpack over his shoulders as he did so. Ned did his best to keep up.
âYouâve been running nonstop lately,â Ned said when he finally caught up to Peter on the lawn, âYou skipped lunch again and Iâve never seen you look so tired. You okay?â
Peter finally stopped and stood still for a second, turning back to Ned.
âYeah, yeah,â Peter assured, clearly in denial, âIâm great. Just, busy, thatâs all. Iâve had a lot of homework, and May has been piling on the chores, soâŚâ
He started moving again, leaving Ned standing in the lawn.
âI gotta go, but Iâll catch up with you tomorrow,â Peter called with an apologetic smile as he jogged backwards, âI promise weâll hang out after school, okay?â
âOkay,â Ned shrugged, âI guess so.â
Peter gave Ned two thumbs up and a big smile and then turned around and jogged off. Once he was safely out of view of the school, he ducked into an alleyway and crouched behind a trash can. He quickly swapped out his uniform for his suit. Once he had his mask situated over his face, he tucked his uniform back into his backpack and put it back over his shoulders.
He webbed through the city to get home quicker, trying his best to stay high and out of sight. As he did so, he rattled off a list of chores and tasks he had to get done as soon as he got home. May had agreed to let him take âextra-curricular lessonsâ at the compound, but only if he stayed on top of all of his homework and all of his chores. So in an attempt to manage it all, he started to develop a habit of skipping lunch and dinner some days in order to cram in his homework or his chores and still have time to make it to the compound.
He didnât have any lessons tonight, but he did have to get to Manhattanâs Chinatown to pick up some stuff from the shelter for May, and then get back to Queens to clean his room and do his homework. He figured that if he could get it all done tonight and maybe do a little extra, he would be free to hang out with Ned tomorrow and then be able to make his lessons at the end of the week.
As he swung over an alleyway, he heard commotion down below. He landed and crouched on the edge of the roof, peering down below to see what was going on. One man was hassling another, in what looked to be a drug deal gone wrong, or maybe an unpaid debt.
Peter glanced down the alleyway and could see the Sanctum Sanctorum just a few blocks away. He had been given strict instructions to not engage with criminals or bad guys unless the life of a civilian was clearly being threatened, and that if another more seasoned Avenger or hero was nearby (or in this case, if the threat was in Strangeâs neighborhood), Peter was supposed to let them handle it.
He looked back down at the two men who were still arguing in the alley and waited to see if the situation would diffuse on itâs own, but it only seemed to be escalating. He saw movement at one end of the alley and looked to see a man with a crowbar slowly moving towards the dispute. A man with a baseball bat and a man with fists so large that he didnât need a melee weapon approached from the other end.
By the matching marks on the biceps of those three men and the larger man in the dispute, Peter could tell that this wasnât going to end well for the other man in the altercation. That, and the lonely man was now pleading instead of yelling.
Peter glanced back towards the Sanctum Sanctorum.
âCome on, come on,â he whispered anxiously. He knew that he had rules to follow, but he couldnât let this poor guy get pummeled to death.
There was no sign of Strange coming to the rescue, or anyone one else, for that matter, so Peter quietly slid his backpack off of his shoulders and webbed it to the edge of the roof for safe keeping. He checked his mask and suit, and then took a deep breath and stepped off the ledge.
He perched on the railing of a fire escape closer towards the men below. He hardly made a sound as he landed, so he remained unseen by the goons. In two quick moves, he snatched the bat and crowbar from the two goons and webbed them to the brick wall out of reach.
âHey, what the,â one goon said, startled. They all quickly glanced around the alley and then finally noticed Peter.
âHey you!â the man with the fists shouted, âGet down here ânâ fight or stay out-ov-it!â
âLet him go and we can all pretend like this didnât happen,â Peter offered.
âHa! Yeah right, kid,â the leader said.
The man who had brought the crowbar spit in Peterâs direction, but Peter was well out of his range. The bat and fists guys moved towards the victim, who Peter could now see was way smaller than the gang of goons.Â
Telling himself that he had no choice, Peter quickly stretched his neck and fingers and then leapt from the fire escape. He swung, kicked, and threw punches in rapid success, hearing grunts and profanities from the goons with ever hit he made. His vision began to blur, despite being sure that he hadnât been hit in the head or anything else that could be incapacitating. He continued fighting, though, shooting webs at the men and holding them off of himself well enough.
Peterâs vision cleared just long enough for him to see an unmarked van pull up at the end of the alley, and the leader of the gang command the men to get in. They all piled into the black vehicle and the door slammed shut behind the last one. Peter stumbled in the alley, looking both ways to make sure there were no goons left waiting to surprise him. His vision faltered again, blurring and fading in and out.
Unsure of what was happening, he shot a web up to the edge of the roof and tried to lift himself up, but ten feet from the ground the web snapped and he landed flat on his back in the alley. He blacked out on impact.
Peter slowly blinked his eyes open. He was relieved to find that his vision was normal again, aside from the typical post-sleep fuzziness. However, he had a terrible migraine and felt unreasonably weak. He blinked a few times more, realizing that he didnât recognize his surroundings.
He wasnât in the alley, and he wasnât in his bed at home. He wasnât in a cot or an office at the shelter, and he wasnât in a hospital room. âWhere am Iâ, he thought.
The room was dim and the walls were a deep, rich wood. He felt the surface beneath him, which was a plush leather couch as dark as the walls. The blanket that was draped over him felt more luxurious than any fabric he had ever touched, and was somehow both as light as a feather and as heavy as the Hulk.
Peter weakly pulled the blanket off of him and tried to stand up. His head began to spin a bit, so he steadied himself, but continued to try to stand anyways. Before he could do so, a deep and quietly commanding voice broke through the silence, startling Peter.
âSit.â
Peter did as he was instructed, though not by his own choice. His legs gave way and he found himself falling back into the couch, his stomach rumbling and his head still spinning.
Doctor Stephen Strange set a tray down on the coffee table that sat in front of the couch, and lifted the dome lid off to reveal a heaping pile of food that smelled heavenly.
Strange sat down gracefully in a leather armchair nearby and summoned a cup of tea for himself out of thin air.
âEat.â
Realizing that his stomach had become an empty void, Peter mustered up the last bit of energy he had to sit up and pick up the fork. He tasted the first bite of the juiciest steak heâd ever had, and then began shoveling bites of steak and broccoli into his mouth.
âSlow down, or youâll get sick,â Strange said, and his voice was more kind than it was commanding this time.
âSorry,â Peter said through a mouth full of food, and then made a conscious effort to follow Strangeâs advice.
They sat in silence while Strange sipped his bottomless cup of tea and Peter ate from the plate that never emptied until he finally felt full. He set the plate down (which still had a heap of mashed potatoes on it that he was dying to eat more off, but was too stuffed to do so) and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. He was already starting to feel significantly better, and felt guilty for being so reckless with his time and health.
âThank you,â he mumbled shyly, âI donât know how to pay you back.â
âYou can repay me by not letting it happen again,â Strange said candidly, âat least not in my borough.â
âYes sir,â Peter said. He took a small bite of mashed potatoes, unable to resist them, and then looked up at Strange again. âAre you going to tell the others?â
Doctor Strange looked at Peter for a moment over his cup of tea, as if he was considering his options.
âNo, not this time,â he said finally, âbut you need to be more careful. If the boss of those men hadnât called them off or if someone else had found you⌠I canât say what couldâve happened. But you need to be more careful, and you need to eat more, for christâs sake.â
âYes sir,â Peter nodded while stuffing another bite of potatoes in his mouth.
Realizing that he didnât even know how long he had been asleep, Peter suddenly stood up, panicking.
âMayâs gonna kill me,â he said anxiously, grabbing the armrest of the couch so he wouldnât fall over from the sudden movement, âIâve gotta get home. How do I-â
He glanced around, looking for a door or an exit, but before he could find one, a flare of gold caught his eye. Strange, still poised in his chair, had opened a portal a few feet past the couch. It opened up onto the roof of Peterâs apartment building.
Peterâs eyes grew wide at the site, still fascinated by Strangeâs abilities.
âTh-thank you, sir,â Peter said distractedly, stepping cautiously towards the portal. He clenched and relaxed his fists a few times, trying to dispel his nerves.
âOh, Peter,â Strange said, just before Peter finally entered the portal.
Peter turned and looked back at Strange, who simply nodded towards the coffee table. Next to the tray of food sat a large brown paper bag with the top rolled shut. Peter stepped towards the table, picked it up, and curiously unrolled the top. Inside the bag, he found the documents May asked him to pick up from the shelter, as well as his backpack and some snacks.
"Oh, gee," Peter said as he looked over the contents of the bag in wonder before looking back at Strange, "thanks⌠again."
Strange simply nodded, masking the admiration he was feeling for the kid by feigning impatience.
"Go, before she starts to worry," Strange said, "and don't let it happen again."
TAGGED:
@totheendofthelinepal @locke-writes @rogersxbarnesx @bbbarneswrites @harley-dent @sebbytrash @i-less-than-three-you @aenna-4 @litterally-trash @belleetlabeast @stormy-thomas @becausefanfictionthough @sebaestans @fab-notfat @shieldagentofthemonth @spnfandommademeamoose @hellomissmabel @lovely-geek @allinhishands @majestic-squad @happelu970 @7minutes-tomidnight @-supernatural-coffee-llama @angel34jolly-blog @feelmyroarrrr @dearthofequanimity @lbouvet @takemetothefictionalworld @thesmolbear @avengerofyourheart @laurenwhitehouse-blog @beccaanne814-blog @melonberri @lostinspace33 @fangirl1029 @ryverpenrad @angryschnauzer @lovelyladylilac @bellenuit45 @knittingknerdy @the-real-tony-stank @castielohcastiel @ijustwanttobepartofyourworld @eyeofdionysus @buckyhawk @oinchavengewho @whatsbetterthanfantasy @diving-down-to-wonderland @ianbewiild @pixierox101 @marvel-ous-fics @devilstrip @girl-next-door-writes @nikkitia7 @flowercrownsandmetallicarms @jaybird6232 @crownie-sr @crazychick010 @tinacuppy-blog @buckybarnesisalittleshit @fantasticallyabnormal @popsicle863 @bwozzler @bellastellaluna @sebbeanstan @divide-supermarketflowers @secondstartotheright-imagines @aesthetic-bbygoats @just-another-fangirl777 @shieldagentofthemonth @broken-pieces @its-onepiece @strawberrybucky @lovelyfuckingcunt @4theluvofall @txcountrybelle @ginasellsbooks @phasma-trash @thevanishedillusion @magnitude101999 @lady-thor-foster @power-of-god-and-anime @volcanicchoas @a-watson-in-search-of-a-sherlock @olivelongnprosper @yourwonderbelle @neeadinghugs @odinhson @dafnekeenfblog @thinkwritexpress-official @vethrvolnir2 @wildefire @heartssick @riddikulus-obsessions @cudan2 @metalarmlover @jaegers-and-kaijus @pandamambo5 @bookscoffeeandracoons @katelynkargol @stonedxsoldier
If you would like to be tagged or removed, or if I forgot anyone, please let me know <3
















