A/N: Hey friends! Here's a new update! Sorry if it's been delayed, this semester has been a little overwhelming so far but nothing I can't handle! I'm also working two jobs and (surprise, surprise) I'm sick again so be kind to me. I wish there was a way for me to keep y'all updated on the fact that I am actually working on this story and not abandoning it. Would you guys like for me to create an instagram so that I can keep you guys updated? Or an email list? Or do you guys like the suspense of not knowing whether or not I am going to continue this piece? Let me know!
Once again I am a hungry beast and I only eat comments and reviews so please leave enough to fill me up! 3
"Is Peter coming with us?" Morgan asked as her mom set down a bowl of cereal in front of her.
Pepper sighed and glanced over at her husband, making eye contact with said man.
It had been almost two weeks since the accident. Peter was pretty much completely healed from all of his injuries, save for some stiffness and soreness in his knee. However, whenever Tony suggested that he join the family on their pre-planned vacation, Peter claimed to still not be feeling all that well. Tony wasn't dumb, he knew the reason for not wanting to leave wasn't solely based on pain. Yet, whenever Tony tried to ask him if he was scared of getting in a car or scared of leaving May, the boy shut down.
Tony and Pepper had even suggested they reschedule their vacation but this was met with even more opposition from Peter. He refused to hear them out, pointing out that Morgan would be the one most disappointed by this change of events. She really wanted to go to Disneyland.
"No honey, Peter's going to stay here and take care of Aunt May." Pepper explained, a warm feeling swelling in her chest.
Over the last few months since the snap reversal, May had become an aunt to Morgan. She even took Morgan some nights for "sleepovers" to give Tony and Pepper date nights or whenever Stark Industries needed them both for weekend meetings. This of course only made Peter and Morgan's bond stronger. The two of them had really become like siblings and these past few weeks had only reinforced this dynamic.
Morgan doted over Peter like a mini mother hen. She was constantly in Peter's room when she wasn't meeting with her tutors. She had her afternoon snack with him, did her classwork at his desk, and even played video games or watched movies with him. Sometimes Tony or Pepper had to carry her to her room for bed because she fell asleep next to Peter.
"Maybe I should stay and help Peter look after Aunt May." Morgan suggested, twirling her spoon around her bowl.
"But if you're here then you won't be able to explain to your dad who all the Disney princesses are and he'll be very confused." Pepper said in a dramatic voice.
"Remind me darling, Snow White is the one who lost her slipper, right?" Tony asked, feigning ignorance.
Morgan's eyes went wide and her mouth dropped in shock.
"What? No! That's Cinderella! Snow White ate the poison apple!" Morgan exclaimed.
"See, we really need you to come with us." Pepper said kindly.
Morgan sighed before nodding and digging into her food.
"Boss, Mr. and Mrs. Leeds have arrived." Friday announced.
Ned's parents had been visiting him ever since they had been contacted. At first Tony was prepared to let them stay on the lower floors but Bruce stopped that idea immediately. He told Tony that it wouldn't be fair for Peter to have them there. With his advanced healing, it would be hard to explain why he wasn't more hurt and make it near impossible to visit his aunt and best friend.
He told Ned's parents they couldn't stay all the time with Ned because it wouldn't be healthy for them and could hinder Ned's healing. It wasn't a lie. They got visitation hours every day from 8:30am – 11:00am then from 2:00pm – 6:30pm.
The one thing Tony did offer was to call their works and explain they needed time off and that ability to keep their jobs. He then offered them their paychecks plus a little more so that they could spend time with their son and not have to worry about their bills. While they were at first skeptical about taking the money, Pepper eventually broke them down by explaining that they just wanted them to worry about Ned and nothing else.
"Alright Fri, tell them they can go ahead and visit Ned." Tony said, pouring a bowl of cereal for himself, "Where's Peter?"
"Right here." Peter said, getting off the elevator and limping slightly into the room.
Pepper immediately came over and helped support him to the dining room table across from Morgan.
"Is your knee acting up this morning?" Tony asked, setting a bottle of his pain meds down in front of the teenager.
"Yeah, just a bit." Peter confessed, unscrewing the bottle and tapping a couple of pills into his palm.
Tony set his bowl of cereal down in front of Peter before heading back into the kitchen in search of some juice. Peter threw his head back and slung the pills into his mouth, dry swallowing his medication. Morgan made a face across from Peter which caused said boy to stick his tongue out at her.
"Kids, stop." Pepper chastised playfully as she sipped on her coffee.
Tony came back over with a glass of orange juice for Peter and a bowl of cereal for himself. He sat down next to Morgan and began to eat, watching as Peter took a long sip of his juice before working on his own bowl of food.
"Are you absolutely positive you don't want to come with us?" Pepper asked, sweeping Peter's bangs out of his face.
Peter gave Pepper a small smile as he swallowed his mouthful of cereal.
"I'm sure. I don't think I'd be able to walk around the whole park with my knee acting like this. Then Morgan would have to walk extra slow to keep up with old man Peter and she'll miss out on half the park." Peter smirked, tossing a look at Morgan.
Pepper looked over at Tony who merely shrugged in a 'what else can we do' manner.
"Alright, well if you're sure then we'll stop bugging you about it." Pepper said, giving Peter a kiss on the top of his head as she took her mug over to the sink, "Morgan you have five more minutes before you need to brush your teeth and get dressed. Our flight leaves in an hour and everybody," Pepper gave Tony a pointed look, "better be packed."
Tony averted his gaze and made eye contact with Peter, giving him a look that made him snort into his orange juice, causing it to splash out of his glass and onto the table. Morgan couldn't help but laugh, spraying cereal out of her mouth.
"Gross!" Tony exclaimed, grabbing his bowl and jumping up from the table, "Pepper the kids are spewing things everywhere!" Tony exclaimed in disgust.
"One. Hour." Pepper said, trying her hardest to fight the smile that wanted to break out over her face.
Tony, Pepper, and Morgan left at around nine in the morning. Morgan gave Peter almost a hundred hugs and kisses before she had to, physically, be dragged into the car by Pepper. Tony then bid Peter goodbye, giving him a tight hug and promising to call him every night before bed.
"We'll only be gone for a week, but honestly if Morgan gets tired of the park before then, we'll leave earlier. And if you need anything, anything at all, you call me. Okay? Even if you just get a hangnail." Tony said, making Peter snort, "Promise me?"
"Promise." Peter said.
Pepper then also dragged Tony to the car before bidding Peter goodbye. She hugged him just as tight as Tony before giving him a couple of kisses on the forehead. She then leaned back and placed both of her hands on his cheeks.
"We love you, Peter. We really wish you would come with us but we understand that you don't want to leave your aunt. Take care of yourself, hon. We'll be back before you know it." Pepper said.
Then the small family was gone, being driven by one of the Stark Industries drivers. Happy hadn't left his floor since the accident. Tony and Pepper went and visited him, bringing him food and other necessities, but Peter hadn't heard from him once.
It was currently around three in the afternoon and Peter was chilling on the common floor with Clint and Rhodey. They were watching reruns of Brooklyn Nine-Nine when Friday announced that MJ was on her way up.
Once Thanksgiving break came to an end and Peter was a little more lucid, he contacted MJ and told her what had happened. His girlfriend had immediately come over to the tower to check on her boyfriend. The pair then made their way down to the medbay and visited with Ned and May for a little bit. Ever since then, MJ had been stopping by the tower each day after school with Peter's classwork. The couple would do their homework together, eat dinner with the team, and then MJ would take his work with her and go home.
Peter sat up from his reclined position on the couch and made his way over to the elevator. The doors opened and out walked MJ, a small smile forming when she saw Peter.
"Hey stranger," MJ said, dumping a stack of books and papers into Peter's arms, "here's all your work."
"Thanks," Peter said, giving MJ a kiss on the cheek, "Let's get to work."
The couple got settled at the dining room table, spreading all of their school work out, and began to study. Clint turned the TV off and both men made themselves scarce so the teenagers could get their work done.
After a couple of hours of homework, teasing each other, and making out like two lovesick puppies – Peter and MJ finally finished. Peter then made some popcorn while MJ pulled up a movie and the two settled down for a quiet evening.
Just as the movie was coming to an end, Steve and Sam came onto the common floor and began to make dinner. MJ and Peter cleared off the table and offered to help cook which was kindly rejected. So instead the teens found themselves at the island, talking away about random things as the common floor slowly filled up with the rest of the team. Soon, dinner was done (homemade tacos and enchiladas) and the room was filled with talking and laughter.
After dinner Rhodey and Thor cleared the table and cleaned the dishes, Clint and Natasha set up a gaming console in the living room, and Bruce went back down to the medbay to make his evening rounds. Peter helped MJ pack up her bag and walked her to the elevator.
"Well, I'll see you tomorrow." MJ said, leaning against the wall of the elevator.
"I can't wait." Peter said, leaning over and pressing a soft kiss to her lips.
"Try not to get into any trouble," MJ whispered, a little breathlessly.
"No promises." Peter smirked, kissing her again.
All too soon they were on the ground floor and MJ was walking outside, heading towards a Stark Industries car that would drive her back to Queens.
Peter pushed the button for Tony's private floor, having already bid goodnight to the others, and leaned back against the wall. He closed his eyes, sighing a bit as he tried to stretch his leg out to help ease the stiffness but only causing his kneecap to flare up in pain. Peter bit back a groan as he got off on his floor, limping over to the kitchen area. He found his pain medication in a cabinet filled with ibuprofen and children's Tylenol, popped a couple into his mouth, and washed them down with some water straight from the faucet.
After telling Friday to turn out all the lights, Peter limped his way back to his room before getting dressed in his pajamas and climbing into bed. Just as he was about to call it a night, Peter's phone began to ring. Grabbing it from the nightstand, Peter checked the caller id. It was Tony.
"Hello?" Peter answered, leaning back against his headboard.
"Hey kid! What have you been up to today?" Tony asked enthusiastically.
Peter told him about his mini TV marathon, MJ coming over, and what he ate for dinner. Tony then told him about their time on the plane, how Morgan had immediately passed out upon arrival in California, and how their dinner consisted of the best mac and cheese ever – "Seriously kid when we take you out here you'll definitely have to try it it's out of this world!" – before Tony asked him about his knee.
"Is it still bothering you?" Tony asked, worriedly.
"A little." Peter admitted, shifting said limb and biting his lip in the process.
After promising to speak with Bruce in the morning if his knee was still hurting, and talking to both Morgan and Pepper for a minute, Peter hung up and slowly shifted to lay down in his bed. As he closed his eyes, willing sleep to take over, Peter couldn't help but think about May down in the medbay.
In the past two weeks, May had shown little to no improvement. Bruce kept trying to reassure him that it was better than negative improvement, but Peter wasn't stupid. He knew that eventually, with no progress, they would have no choice but to start making long term plans about May's medical treatment. He knew that the longer she stayed the way she was, there was more of a chance of her not being able to come out of her coma full unscathed.
Peter rolled over, curling up in the fetal position, and squeezed his eyes shut. He definitely didn't want to think about any of that right now. After a few moments, Peter finally succumbed to a fitful sleep.
