Title: My Favorite Weakness (is You)
Summary: Where is Peter's place in a place he doesn't belong?
Author's Notes: Study Break! And don't worry, Tony's perspective (from Peter's universe) is coming soon. Enjoy!
Chapter 13: Your Life Is Not Ours to Risk
- Day 6, Multiverse full Day 1 -
"Well, your vitals are looking good," Bruce confirmed, "nothing out of the ordinary. The higher heart rate is normal and healthy for you as part of your enhanced qualities, in case you were wondering," Tony didn't doubt that from the look on Peter's face, he wasn't wondering, much less understanding the numbers in front of him, "and from your CBC it looks like you've actually been hypoglycemic over the past few months - low blood sugar, that is."
"Which... is a good thing?" Peter asked, trying to interpret Bruce's meaning.
"Well, it's good as in you're not diabetic, but your metabolism requires more nutrients than it appears you've been getting."
"Oh. I've recently been working on eating healthier and more throughout the day. Mr. Stark and Bucky both just started talking about how important it was."
Tony, standing just behind Peter, muttered, "just started?"
But Bruce nodded, affirming Peter by saying, "that's good to work on moving forward, as adequate nutrition will help you physically and mentally."
Bruce quickly pulled up what appeared to be some sort of x-ray of Peter and went on, "what I would like to inquire about, is this;" he zoomed in on Peter's left shoulder. "There's still healing going on in this area, which I remember for you usually means something happened more recently."
With the black-and-blue past of the Peter Tony knew, even he was able to recognize the mismatched shades on the screen in front of him. Whatever had happened had been recent, and had not been good. They both waited for Peter to begin his explanation.
"I... uh... sorta got stabbed the other day," Peter began, causing Tony to run a hand down his face, "but I got surgery and the Doctor lady said it was better. It feels better."
"Does it still hurt?" Bruce asked.
Peter replied with a confident "No." Tony raised an eyebrow at the lie, which was so apparent to Tony by both his tone of voice and body language, but Bruce believed him. This Peter obviously hadn't learned how to lie to Tony yet, and Tony had no intentions of teaching him.
"So much for no hand-to-hand combat," Tony pointed out, "even if you end up in these situations minimally, you should probably be prepared so that you don't get so hurt on the occasional run-in. Have you looked into training?"
Peter shrugged. "I guess it's a good idea, I just don't know who to ask about it."
Bruce and Tony shared a look, both wondering the same thing.
Tony spoke for them, "what about any of the Avengers? Where do you... stand with, well, any of them? If you know them."
Peter turned to look at Tony, eyes wide at the possibility, "I only met Clint and Bucky before coming here. They said Capt- Steve, was there, but I don't know about the others."
Tony shrugged, "could you ask, uh, me, about training with any of them?"
Peter frowned and looked down in thought; "I don't know; you don't seem... it seems like you don't get along with them." Peter looked up quickly, his voice rising, "but I've only visited over a few days so I don't really know! It could be something totally different!"
Tony shook his head, keeping his expression flat despite the pit he felt in his stomach; "it is what it is; don't worry about me, remember." The more he learned about Peter's reality, the angrier he got with himself. He knew from his past that there was plenty of evidence and situations where he could have been justified in getting angry; at times, he even did cause more trouble for what a situation called for. He knew there was probably a reason or trigger for whatever caused his other-self to mess up so badly, but he knew himself well enough that he couldn't side with his actions. Not yet, anyway.
"And what about the bruises?" Tony asked, setting the pain management investigation and self-assessment aside for the moment.
"Oh that's just because I fell weird in the ring," Peter said quickly, looking relieved at the change of topic, "they'll be gone by tomorrow."
"Okay, we can check on those then," Bruce confirmed, "and Tony said you stated you weren't feeling well earlier; what can you tell me about that?"
Peter shrugged, "I don't know. It was after breakfast, though the food was really good."
"Was it too much?" Bruce assessed, "you mentioned you've only recently started altering your diet."
Peter shook his head, "No, it was good. Mr. Stark was right, it was probably just all the personal questions."
Tony furrowed his brow; "do you often get anxious? Because we can help with that, too."
Peter shook his head again, "no, not like that. Not that I know of. I mean, I'm fine now and you guys have been asking a lot of personal questions."
Tony and Bruce paused. He was right.
"Well, if you feel that way again, just let me know," Bruce said. "Communication is key."
"A lesson I doubt you've learned yet," Tony said, "based on how nice you've been so far." Peter gave a guilty smile; "we're just asking for some honesty here."
"Got it," Peter said, "may I please get something to eat after this? I'm kinda hungry after that workout and this."
Tony smiled, "there we go, and absolutely. Next stop: Tony's All-You-Can-Eat Buffet."
Tony's All-You-Can-Eat Buffet turned out to be lasagna, salad, garlic bread, and several other filler items that Tony found around the kitchen.
Tony was poking around, asking general questions about Peter's life and school, then getting more specific as he discovered differences. He was careful not to give any differences away, and Peter didn't ask questions about his other-dimensional self's life. Using only prompts, Tony listened intently as Peter ramble on about the decathlon team, his friends, his suit, Karen, Aunt May, Spider-Man, and other aspects of his life.
Bruce sat with them, not saying a word or even participating in the conversation at all. Tony figured he just missed Peter's presence; it was good to have his youthful, energetic self back. Tony thought about how different Avengers Tower had been in the month since Peter's been gone; Peter filled a spot on the team they didn't know they needed so much until he was gone.
"Mr. Stark, are you okay?" Peter's voice cut through Tony's thoughts, bringing him back to reality.
"Yeah," Tony caught himself, "I was just thinking about what you were saying about…" Tony consulted his echoic memory, "...the sandwich shop. Are the sandwiches really that good, or are you just loyal?"
Peter considered this for a moment before stating decisively, "definitely both."
Their conversation was interrupted by Tony's cell phone ringing through the priority filter he'd placed on it, meaning it was either Pepper or one of the Avengers calling. Tony saw it was Steve.
Peter could only hear Tony's side of the conversation.
"Steve, to what do I owe the honor?…. No, I'm having lunch with Bruce and Peter…. I figured it was important if it required you using a telephone… I see… Where?… How convenient… We'll be right down."
Tony swiped off the call and turned towards the two who were waiting.
"So apparently, we're needed," he said with mock grandeur, "the public is in danger and the media calls for the Avengers' help. We're being summoned by the others, they're already downstairs."
Tony knocked on the table and then led the trio in standing up; he saw Peter hesitate before joining them.
They made their way down, Tony giving no explanation except that he didn't know any details, and led Peter down a hall he'd never been on before.
Only part of the team, just Steve and Clint, was still in the conference rooms. The news station that was playing in a side room was on mute when they entered, signaling they'd already seen and heard what it had to say. Clint, who was in a reclining chair in the attached room, turned it off when he saw them. Tony knew someone would fill him in when needed.
Steve greeted them when they entered. "Tony, Bruce, Peter. Thanks for coming down, and sorry your lunch had to be interrupted. There's some sort of unnatural weather fluke occurring and the rest of the team's already taken one of the quinjets."
"Unnatural weather fluke?" Bruce asked.
"Sounds like something up Thor's alley," Tony added.
"Yes," Steve answered Bruce, "Unless the city of Atlanta is naturally prone to tsunami's, which I can assure you it's not."
Then Peter finally spoke, "And I can help?"
"Definitely not," Tony cut in, before Steve could sat anything.
Steve looked at Peter and said to him, "Peter, I know how much you like to help on missions – trust me, we all know."
"This isn't even your universe to help," Tony added.
"But I can help!" Peter protested, "I want to help you!"
"I believe you," Steve said, giving Tony A Look asking him to not talk for a minute, "I know you could and would help. But right now, you're on another mission – you've got to get home healthy, and more importantly, alive. We are blessed enough to have you for what is currently an unknown amount of time, but ultimately, your life isn't ours to risk. I couldn't imagine how terrible it would be if something happened to you while you were here."
Peter bit the inside of his cheek in an attempt not to show how disappointed he was; every argument he came up with in his head he was able to refute. It didn't matter which universe – much less which city he was in, people were people, and he wanted to help.
At the same time, however, he saw where Steve was coming from and knew he was right.
For the first time since being in this universe, he realized that the Tony Stark in front of him wasn't the only one he was hurting.
How long had he been here already? Was Mr. Stark looking for him? Did May know?
He needed to get home.
He kept his gaze on the floor and nodded.
"Okay," Steve continued down his mental checklist, "Clint volunteered to stay here with Peter while we're gone."
"How very Katniss of him," Tony commented.
The realization of what Steve was implying hit Peter, and he turned to Mr. Stark. "You're leaving?" He exclaimed.
"Yes," Tony answered, "But as soon as my presence is no longer absolutely required, I'll be back."
Peter nodded, too overwhelmed to say anything.
"I'll be here, too," Bruce said in an attempt to be helpful.
Peter nodded again, but still didn't look up.
"We'll all be back as soon as we can," Steve affirmed; "Tony, the quinjet is waiting for us; I'll catch you up to speed on the flight down."
Tony nodded, held up his index finger, and mouthed I'll meet you to Steve, who nodded but tapped his watch. He walked out of the door, followed by Bruce. Clint was still in his recliner, tapping something on his phone repeatedly with the same finger.
Then Tony pulled Peter into a hug; it caught Peter off guard, and he hugged Tony back before he really processed what he was doing.
Tony let go, and Peter looked up at him; they were there? Was all he could think. That and how he was suddenly aware again of how much he missed his aunt's affection.
Tony smiled. "Seemed like you needed that." he said quietly. Then raising his voice a little but still addressing Peter, said, "Honestly, out of all of us, I'm most worried that you have the biggest handful here with Clint."
"Heyy," came the humorous voice from the couch. That brought a quiet laugh out of Peter.
"Gotta go," Tony said; he smiled and rubbed his hand through Peter's hair before heading towards the door.
"Don't let Clint get into too much trouble!" He said on his way out.
Peter watched him leave, then stared at the door.
He had nothing else to do. His emotions called for him to find his aunt. Habit told him to call Ned. He wondered where they were here, how they were.
The deep sound of "ba-boommm" that was familiar to him from all the recent movie nights at Ned's house, and he turned to see Clint had turned on Netflix.
"Do you," Clint began, and he took the effort to sit up and turn around to look at Peter. "By any chance, do you happen to like Star Wars as much as your counterpart does – did?" He corrected himself. "Because I've been having withdrawals."
Peter couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face as excitement overtook the negative emotions, and he made his way, the bounce in his step growing, to the small room where recliner chairs were facing the television.
"Of course," Peter said.
"Fantastic!" Clint responded, "I'll make popcorn, you pick out the episode."
Peter grabbed the remote and took a seat, thankful that George Lucas's creativity had made it across the multiverse, and not feeling so bad about the upcoming hours.
Author's Notes: Thoughts? Feelings? Suspicions? Questions? Concerns? Comments? Random facts? How y'all doing?
What do you want to see more of as the story progresses and the plot thickens?
I hope you're enjoying it! Let me know what you think!
