A/N: This is quite a long chapter btw. Hope you enjoy.
I don't own any of the characters. They belong to MCU.
TW: Panic Attacks
Peter wakes up slowly. He snuggles into the person he was sleeping with. Wait, person. He quickly opens his eyes to see MJ asleep on his shoulder. His breathing speeds up and he tries to relax himself slightly to avoid waking her up.
He thinks back to the night before and realises that he must've fallen asleep; he blushes instantly at how he feel asleep against her. But she didn't leave so maybe she was enjoying. His thoughts pick up speed at the thought of her staying.
He's so absorbed in his thoughts that he doesn't notice her stirring against him. She lifts her head of his shoulder and looks at him. She notices a slightly faraway expression on his face and so she clears her throat slightly.
He zones back into reality and blushes again once he realises that she's looking at him with an almost expectant look on her face. He looks at her, hoping that his blush isn't too visible and smiles.
MJ bites back her laugh at his blushing face.
"Morning." She says, her voice still sounds sleepy.
"Good morning." Peter replies sounding rather chipper. MJ's smile falters slightly at the morning person energy being radiated off him.
"Sorry, I must've fallen asleep last night." He adds, blushing again. She laughs a little at his embarrassment. It's kinda adorable.
"Don't worry about it. I fell asleep too. Anyway, you weren't doing too well. How are you feeling this morning?" She asks, her tone that clear that she doesn't believe whatsoever that he's sick.
"Yeah, um I still feeling pretty ill." Peter says, he coughs slightly and she raises her eyebrow and stares him down. He rubs the back of his neck nervously before noticing that it's quite hot.
He resists the urge to smile and instead coughs again. Her eyebrows raise even more and he sniffles slightly, really laying his "illness" on thick. "Yeah, maybe you should check my temperature." He says, coughing again.
She looks at him suspiciously before raising her hand and resting it on his forehead. He swallows, enjoying the sensation of closeness.
She looks concerned for a few seconds before her eyebrows knit together. Then a look of realisation hits her face and she smiles a slightly evil grin.
"Your temperature does seem a little high; but what I don't understand is why its raising with my hand on your forehead." She says, he blushes horrifically and pull my head away.
He checks his watch and groans quietly. Its barely eight o'clock and he's already blushed an abnormal number of times. "Care to explain, Parker?" She asks, her voice is laced with sweetness but he knows that if he looks at her, he'll catch the same evil grin he'd previously seen.
"I, um I need to go shower." He manages to stutter out before going straight into the bathroom. He close the door before letting himself slide down against it.
He rests his head against his knees and breathes deeply. He stands up and looks around the bathroom that he's in. He's breathing starts to pick up as he remembers where he is.
"Come on Peter, you need to drink some water." Tony whispers to Peter as he strokes his back.
"I-I can't, what if they come back for us." He stutters before crying again.
"Don't worry Peter, they aren't ever gonna come back for us. The Avengers have dealt with them. They're never coming back." Tony assures him soothingly. He brings the class up to Peter's mouth; he manages to drink a few sips before coughing again.
"That's great bud, can you drink anymore." Tony says. Peter shakes his head but clings onto Tony tightly. Tony wipes away the tears from his eyes before rubbing Peter back again. "You think you want to take a shower or a bath." Tony asks Peter who just chokes back a sob and shakes his head.
The same building where he was tortured, the same floor where he was rescued, the same bathroom where he broke down for the first time. His chest starts to tighten, his heart rate speeds up and breathing becomes harder and heavier. He manages to slip his hand into his pocket and hit speed dial.
"Peter… Peter, can you hear me bud? Peter, are you okay?" The voice says. Starting to speed up with every sentence.
"T-Tony, h-h-help." Peter manages to say before he passes out, hitting his head on the bathtub on the way down.
oOo
Tony hears his phone ring and groans slightly. He wakes up a little more and recognises Peter's ringtone. He hurriedly wakes up and leans over to pick it up.
"Peter" he says, his tone relaxed and his voice sleepy. He doesn't hear a response and his anxiety starts to kick in. "Peter, can you hear me bud?" he asks, his anxiety heightening.
He can hear something in the background. He sits up straight. "Peter, are you okay?" He asks, he speaks rapidly. He hears the breathing speed up ever so slightly and he runs a hand through his hair and grips it tightly.
He looks over to see Steve stir in his sleep slightly. He kicks him with his foot gently before he hears a tiny voice over the phone.
"T-Tony, h-h-help." It squeaks out before he hears the phone drop. He drops his phone and lets out a strangled cry. That wakes Steve up straight away.
"Baby, is everything okay? What's going on?" He asks, his voice a little husky that Tony normally found adorable but not today.
"Peter just called; I could hear him breathing heavily on the other side of the phone. He said "Tony, help" but it came out as more of a stutter or squeak. I think he was having a panic attack. God, I knew I shouldn't have agreed for him to go on this trip. He didn't want to go but I thought it would be a good idea for him to come and try and get used to it again. Then last night he broke down again, I should've sent him home straight away after that." Tony rambles on quickly. Steve tries to speak but Tony keeps on speaking.
Eventually, Steve just pulls Tony into an embrace. Tony squirms at first before allowing Steve to calm him down. When he finally let Tony go, he has formulated a plan in his head.
"Okay sweetheart, we're gonna put some clothes on and go find him. He probably fell unconscious from breathing too fast. Let's go okay." Steve says calmly. Tony nods, almost as though he's in a trance. He grabs the hoodie that he was wearing last night and follows Steve out of the room.
They then walk briskly down the stairs and heads into Peter's room. Tony acknowledges the lack of MJ and sees the bathroom door closed. He tries to open it but quickly realises it's locked.
"Peter, Peter it's me Tony. Open the door please bud. I'm worried about you." Tony says in a tone that Steve would think is calm if he didn't know Tony as well as he does.
They don't hear any response so Steve pulls Tony back before tackling the door down. The both enter and see Peter passed out on the floor, his head is bleeding slightly from where he hit the bathtub edge. Steve checks his pulse as Tony begins to freak out in the corner.
"Babe, babe I need you to breath for me okay." Steve says looking at Tony who had begun to hyperventilate in the corner. Steve shuffles over and puts his hands on Tony's shoulders. He takes a few deep breaths, encouraging Tony to do the same. His face is etched with worry but Tony does eventually start to breath with him.
"Okay, I'm gonna take Peter to the medical bay; he's breathing and he has a pulse, albeit a little weaker than I would like but it's there. You wanna come with me?" Steve asks Tony who just nods numbly and stands up. Steve picks up Peter and walks towards the medical bay. They lay him down and the doctors get to work on him immediately.
"I'm gonna go inform his teacher, okay honey." Steve says lovingly.
"I'll come too." Tony says, his voice a lot stronger than it had been.
oOo
Peter wakes up slowly in a hospital room. His nose is assaulted by the smell of disinfectant and he coughs slowly. He opens his eyes and takes note of who's in his room.
He sees MJ sitting in a chair with her feet up on the table flicking through a magazine. Ned is sitting on another chair, fiddling around with some Lego. He can just about see Tony hovering in the hallway.
He clears his throat slightly, Ned jumps up at this whereas MJ looks up from her magazine, waves, before going back to it. Ned leaves the room to go find a nurse and MJ puts the magazine down and leans forward.
"Hey loser, nice of you to join us again. Doctor's said you had a panic attack, care to enlighten me." She asks, before resuming her relaxed position.
"Um, I'm just a bit stressed at the moment." He says, hating how easily the lie rolls off his tongue.
"Huh." She says, in a tone of unbelieving but she choses not to question anything. He shifts uncomfortable, a nurse comes in and he's glad of the distraction.
"Hi, sweetie. My names Nurse Maya, you appear to have passed out and hit your head on the way down. We gonna keep you in overnight to see if you've got a concussion, if not then you'll be free to go tomorrow. It was sure lucky that Mr. Stark happened to be passing by and heard your fall. Anyway, I'll be back in half-an-hour to check on you." She says with a cheery wave, once she had checked his vitals and used her torch to check his reactiveness, she leaves him be.
"Peter, are you okay?" Ned asks, his concern evident.
"Yeah, I'm fine dude. Just a bit stressed is all." Peter replies, Ned looks at him with a worried glance before his eyes flick over to MJ.
"I'm gonna go if you're all good. Let you rest up; Mr Harrington is keen for us to get back. He says we're gonna tour Stark's lab which is cool." Ned rambles excitedly. Peter nods and watches him go, a leap in his step.
"What about you? You going?" He asks, while he hopes she'll keep him company, he doesn't wanna be a burden.
"I'm gonna stay for a bit, if that's alright with you, loser." She adds the last bit on as a second thought. Trying to sound like herself again even though she had been dreadfully worried about Peter while he was in here.
She's kicking herself for leaving when he went to the bathroom. Maybe she could've stopped his panic attack, maybe she was the cause of it. All she knows is that she should stay here and keep him company, just in case.
oOo
Nat is walking down the hall of the medical bay; she'd heard about Peter being admitted in here so she decided to come check with the doctors to see if he's alright. She does have a little soft spot for the kid.
She notices Steve and Tony stood near each other, having a hushed conversation. Tony looks very tired and nervous but Steve looks calm as ever. She picks up on their body language; they way they're leaning into each other, the way they hold eye contact. She thinks back to the recent months, Tony has been shaving a lot more recently, Steve has been checking his appearance in windows and mirrors a lot more. Then there's the obvious stuff; the way Steve hangs out in Tony's lab; the shirt Tony wore a little while ago that looked suspiciously like Steve's.
Nat looks a little closer and realises the hoody that Tony is wearing is one of Steve's hoodies. She smiles to herself and goes over to her friends.
"Hey guys, nice hoody Tony." Nat says, relishing the look of shock on Tony's face as he realises, she knows. Steve looks at the hoody and smiles slightly. An unspoken conversation happens between them that Nat won't say anything to anyone. They both smile at her gratefully before she speaks again.
"How's Peter doing?" She asks, Steve looks appreciative for the subject change.
"Good, he's woken up and his friend is in there." Steve says before Tony shoots him a glance.
"I think she's more than a friend Steve, I saw them huddled up cuddling earlier on. They both looked peaceful." Tony replies, Steve's eye brow furrow as he takes in the information.
"People can cuddle and just be friends Tony. We'll have to ask him when we can see him then." Steve says, arms crossed. Confident that he's right, Tony rolls his eyes and whispers to Nat.
"We used to cuddle all the time and look where we are."
Steve looks slightly outraged and blushes furiously before walking off. Tony rolls his eyes before chasing after his boyfriend. Nat smiles to herself, happy that the friends have found love.
