Comfortember 2022 prompts #3 - Warm Food, #6 - Exhaustion, and #17 - Falling Asleep on Someone
and using Irondad Prompt #40 from idk-bruh-20, idea from bayzadas
Happy Hogan and Colonel James Rhodes met Peter Parker, who was wiping at the lingering dampness in his hair, at the hospital room door. Thankfully, the suit Tony had made him was fairly water-tight.
"Hey, kid. Thanks for coming. How's the weather out there?" They were having an unseasonably cold thunderstorm that evening.
"Getting colder, but not too bad, he said with a slight shiver. I made good time. How is she?" Peter's face was worried, as it probably had been since he'd gotten Happy's text a few hours before school got out that day. Happy almost hadn't remembered to tell Peter he couldn't pick him up for the internship today, since Pepper was having an emergency appendectomy. The kid had asked if he could do anything to help, and Happy had told him no. Later that night he'd changed his mind, though, and had texted Peter again.
Hey kid, if you're not busy, maybe you could come to the hospital? We could use your help after all. Just whenever.
Peter had, of course, dropped whatever he was doing, and had arrived thirty minutes later, at nearly 10 PM.
"Pepper's going to be fine," Happy assured him. "The surgery went well, and she's recovering. They've got her on some strong stuff, and she'll probably be out the rest of the night, they said."
Peter nodded in obvious relief. "So, what can I help with then?" he asked, his brow furrowing in confusion.
Happy nodded at the window in the hospital suite's door. "You see that guy in there?" Peter looked through to see Tony sitting on the couch, apparently working on some project. He looked a little tired and stressed, but otherwise okay.
Rhodey picked up the narrative. "He slept about an hour last night, since Pepper's appendix started doing its thing shortly after midnight, and he got maybe four the night before. Plus, no one has had any luck getting him to eat anything all day, but he's had enough caffeine to power a whole floor of interns. We thought he'd settle down and eat and sleep after she came through the surgery okay, but no such luck. Can you help us with him?"
Peter looked startled. "Me? What can I do?"
"Well," said Happy, turning to the table behind him to grab a big styrofoam container, "You can start by getting him to eat. I just got this baked potato soup and some rolls from the cafe across the street."
"Wouldn't Colonel Rhodes have better luck?" Peter asked hesitantly, turning to his mentor's best friend. "You can usually get him to do stuff."
"I cut off his coffee two hours ago," Rhodey said, "so he's mad at me."
Peter appeared to mull it over, holding the hot container of soup in his hands. "Wow, it smells so good," he said, inhaling as he brought the container closer to his face. He tilted his head to the side.
"Do you think you could find me a couple of bowls and spoons?" Peter asked the two men.
Happy rushed off to make that happen. Any idea the kid had, he would try. He tried not to show it, but he was mildly frantic with worry about his boss. The man hadn't slept even as much as he normally did this week, and his stress over Pepper's pain and eventual surgery had him in a weird headspace. He had no idea how they were going to get the man to sleep tonight, but he needed it desperately.
It was hard enough to get him to sleep at the Tower or the Compound when anyone was hurt or otherwise under care. Here at a "normal" (but very fancy) hospital, it seemed a hopeless attempt, even though Happy had asked for a twin-sized rollaway bed to join Pepper's in her recovery suite. But getting Tony into that bed sounded impossible. Happy sighed. Food first.
"Here," he said a few minutes later, brandishing the paper bowls and disposable spoons at the teenage superhero like they were weapons he was taking into a battle with particularly bad odds. Which, they kind of were.
"Okay," Peter said, grabbing the bag of rolls, too. "I'm ready."
Rhodey opened the door. Tony looked up with a poisonous glare. "Tones, the kid's here to see you. Be nicer to him than you've been to us, okay?" He ushered Peter through the door. Happy was relieved that he left it ajar. He wanted to make sure they could hear. Tony would regret it later if things got out of hand and he yelled at the kid. It was kind of like kicking an overeager puppy, and Tony was usually pretty soft with the boy, but Happy wanted to be able to interfere if needed.
"Pete? What are you doing here?" Tony sounded surprised and a bit nonplussed. "You shouldn't be out in this weather. Did you swing here?" he asked in mild alarm.
"Hey, Mr. Stark. I really wanted to see you, and see that Ms. Pepper was okay, so Happy finally told me it was okay to come." Man, the kid ignored the last question and lied like a pro when he was trying to help someone else, apparently.
"Hey, I hadn't had dinner yet though, and I thought you might be hungry, too, so I grabbed us some soup and these amazing-looking rolls on my way in. Want some?" He sounded completely sincere in his story.
"Since when can Mr. I'm-a-superhero-but-I'm-also-like-ten" lie so smoothly?" whispered Rhodey incredulously. Happy just shrugged and shook his head in amazement. "I dunno. But I'm gonna be keeping my eye on him," he said with a chuckle.
"Thanks kid, but I'm not hungry," Tony replied distractedly. Looking through the window, they could see Peter ignore Tony's refusal, and carefully pour soup into the two bowls, tearing off a couple rolls to go with each one. He arranged them on the little coffee table in front of the couch Tony had set up his work all over.
"Please, Tony? Don't make me eat alone." Happy couldn't see Peter's face, but the look he was probably giving Tony was one that had never failed yet. It was the main reason Happy had asked him to come here tonight, despite the rough weather outside, and despite Tony's possible displeasure at Happy involving him.
Tony sighed in annoyance. "Fine, gimme."
Peter moved sideways so Happy could see the happy grin on the boy's face as he carefully handed Tony the bowl of soup, and set the rolls at his side. The kid dropped onto the floor on the other side of the table, sitting with his legs crossed to start eating his soup.
"Pete, hold on. Don't sit on the floor." Tony sounded more exasperated and resigned than annoyed or angry now, and he moved his tablet and piles of notes into an untidy stack and set them on the table, clearing a spot on the couch next to him, which the boy happily took.
Happy and Rhodey watched in awe (well, observed through sneaky glances here and there) as the kid got Tony to eat two full bowls of soup. Peter refilled both their bowls when they were empty, despite the mild glare his mentor shot at him while chewing on a roll. When Tony wasn't looking, Rhodey whispered Peter's name and set two bottles of water inside the cracked door. The sneaky little punk soon found a good excuse for those as well, and managed to get Tony to drink most of a bottle.
When the engineer acted like he was going to get back to work, Peter asked about watching a movie instead. Tony declined, starting to bring up designs on his Starkpad. Then the real sorcery happened.
"So, I'll bet you were pretty scared when Ms. Pepper had to come in, huh?"
Tony froze, looking up from his notes in palpable discomfort.
Peter kept his gaze elsewhere. "When my Uncle Ben had to have his gallbladder out, it was super scary, and I hated thinking about what might happen during the surgery. I mean, usually everything is fine, but things happen, you know?"
"Yeah, Pete," Tony said quietly. "It's scary. I'm glad she's going to be okay."
Tony abruptly started putting his papers away, then set them all down on the floor. "What do you want to watch, kid?" Tony asked gruffly, laying his head back in defeat. Apparently, the only thing Tony Stark hated worse than not working himself to distraction when he was stressed, was being forced to confront and talk about his feelings.
Peter grabbed at the olive branch quickly, clicking the tv on and rapidly scrolling through the options. "Hey, can we watch 'The Martian?' We never finished it, and it's right in the middle, it looks like."
"Are you serious? We stopped because it was so slow, kid. It barely kept your attention before."
"Well, I want to finish it now. Is that okay, or do you want to pick?"
"Fine," Tony grumbled.
Thirty minutes later Rhodey and Happy snuck quietly into the hospital suite, looking in amazement at Tony, who was fast asleep. He had his arm behind his intern, his head resting partially on his own shoulder and partially against Peter's head. The boy greeted them with a soft smile.
"Hey. I did it. Now what?"
"Uh…" Happy hadn't though the plan past this point because he didn't think it would get to this point. "Um, any chance we can get him into that bed? He nodded towards the twin-sized rollaway.
Peter quirked an eyebrow, looking between the sleeping hero at his side and at the bed. "Can you bring it over here by the couch? Maybe move this table? I think I could slide him onto it without waking him if we don't have to move him very far."
Rhodey and Happy hurried to comply, pulling the top sheet and blanket completely down and out of the way. The overpowered teenager did manage to tilt and slide his mentor until he could roll him gently onto the bed, and they all held their breath to see if the slightly jostling would wake him. It didn't.
Peter stood up and stretched, ducking into the en suite bathroom briefly before returning.
"I think we should move the bed over in this corner, as far away from Pepper's as we can. People will probably come in a few times tonight, and we don't want to risk waking Tony unless Pepper is awake," Rhodey was explaining to Happy.
"Yeah, you're probably right." The two men began to slowly move the bed further into the second part of the L-shaped hospital room, but at the last minute, Rhodey tripped over a cord, causing him to push the bed into the wall with a loud, abrupt thunk .
Immediately Tony stirred, groaning a little, and moved his hand around on the other side of the bed, obviously unsure where he was. Happy was certain his face reflected the horror on Rhodey and Peter's.
Peter, moving just a little too fast to be normal, toed off his tennis shoes and slipped up on the bed next to Tony, rolling in close to him. "Shhh. I'm right here," he murmured. "Go back to sleep."
And, surprisingly, Tony did. But not before turning to wrap his arm around Peter's warm form and burying his nose in the top of the kid's hair. Rhodey backed up rapidly, a hand over his mouth to avoid exclaiming, and Happy was biting back laughter hard at the wide-eyed look on the teen's face. He was so surprised, and so unsure what had just happened. It didn't look like there was any chance of Tony giving him up and staying asleep though.
Peter glared mildly at Happy. "Pretty sure you owe me for this," he muttered in a whisper. "And you'd better text my aunt."
Happy nodded enthusiastically. Anything the kid wanted. Seriously. Peter sighed and shifted carefully so he was laying a little less flat, and Rhodey shoved a pillow behind his back for support in response to the pointed look the kid gave him and then the pillow. Then Peter tucked his head a little more securely under Tony's, sighed softly in what might have been contentment, and closed his eyes.
"FRIDAY, play some white noise please," Peter said quietly. Surprisingly, Tony's phone responded from the couch, doing just that. That was smart thinking. Maybe it would help keep Tony from being disturbed by any hospital personnel that needed to come in.
Early the next morning, Pepper was back asleep when Happy woke up on the couch, where he'd been taking his turn for some shut-eye. Pepper had woken briefly in the night when they came in to take her vitals and check her meds, but after a look across the room at her sleeping husband and his life-size teddy bear, and a quickly whispered explanation, she had forbidden them from waking him. Rhodey was reading in the recliner in Pepper's part of the room. And Tony was… oh. Tony was awake, too, and looked completely bewildered. The curly-headed teen was snuggled into his side, but still passed out.
"What in the world happened here?" Tony whispered incredulously, half raised on an elbow. Peter stirred, and with a quick glance at the still-dark sky outside, and at Pepper sleeping peacefully, he laid back down, shushing the teen quietly. Peter stopped moving.
Tony turned his head to stare skeptically at his forehead of security, and Happy was pretty sure he was going to hear about his part in this ambush. But his boss had eaten and slept all night, so he really didn't care. What was he going to do? Fire him?
Happy felt a particular kind of satisfaction about ten minutes later when he noticed that Tony had fallen back asleep with his arm slung over the sleeping teenager. It was shaping up to be a very good day.