It had been two weeks since the dad realisation as Peter was now calling it in his own mind and he couldn't get it out of his head. Everything Tony was doing he was now second guessing to see if he was just acting as he was out of a sense of duty as his mentor or for another reason. Even worse the thought had expanded to include Pepper pretty quickly, he may not hang out with her alone as much as he did Tony but she was always there for him and when Tony was busy in the evenings she was always happy to watch a movie or something with Peter. She had taken to showing him how to cook recently, after all Tony could make lasagne and little else so she was determined one of them should be able to cook in case she went away anywhere on business. Her words were stuck in Peter's head…I refuse to go away on business and come back to find my boys have been eating only takeaways for weeks, no way. Peter you will learn. Her boys…Tony's place was clear…but Peter didn't want to assume his own.
He had to admit Pepper's actions were easier to interpret than Tony's but sometimes he was not a fan of her mothering, he couldn't decide if she did it in an attempt to make him miss May less or because it was the just the way she was. He was getting tired of thinking so much on the topic or maybe he was just tired…sighing he dragged himself out of bed and into the shower sniffing slightly. Truthfully he didn't feel amazing but it was probably because he only just woke up and was still tired, he was Spiderman he was certain he couldn't get ill so the thought barely crossed his mind.
Pepper took one look at Peter when he came into the kitchen for breakfast before school and sighed. The boy looked pale. "Peter you look pale, do you feel alright?" she asked pressing her hand against his head worriedly, a year ago if someone told her she would be fussing over a teenager she would have laughed but here she was.
Peter took a step back slapping her hand away "I'm fine Pepper, just stressed I've got a lot of school work, I'm fine" truthfully his head hurt, his stomach was churning uncomfortably and he was exhausted but he did have a lot of school work to do and a class test in chemistry so it was probably just a tension headache, nerves for his test and then he had had quite busy patrols the past few days so that explained the exhaustion.
"You don't feel too warm I suppose, it could just be from your shower" Pepper sighed as she held her hand against his head again as he nodded furiously at her words.
"I'm fine, honest." Peter assured her as he skirted round Pepper into the kitchen to make himself a bowl of cereal for breakfast.
Pepper decided just to let the matter drop, Peter would tell her if there was something wrong with him, wouldn't he? Yes he would, he's a smart boy. Convincing herself she is just overreacting she asks Peter about school and allows conversation to flow normally. She was probably worried over nothing, ugh she was such a mother hen sometimes.
Twenty minutes later Peter found himself sitting silently in the backseat of Happy's car on his way to school. "You okay back there kid? You're awfully quiet?" The man asked, as much as he complained about the kid's nonstop chatter he did enjoy it sometimes and the silence was unsettling.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm good Happy great in fact." Why did people think something was wrong with him? He was fine just nervous and tired. They pulled up around the corner from his school moments later (Peter said it would look strange if Tony Stark's driver was seen dropping him off all the time) so Happy didn't have time to question him anymore before Peter jumped out and jogged towards the front doors.
As soon as Ned laid eyes on his best friend he knew there was something wrong, ten years of friendship made it almost impossible for Peter to hide anything from him…other than Spiderman that is but that hadn't lasted all that long anyway. Knowing Peter would just deny feeling ill he decided just to ignore it unless Peter got worse. His friend was stubborn and he couldn't be bothered arguing with him, he himself had been ill over the weekend, his mum almost hadn't let Peter visit on Monday she was so convinced he was still sick…on second thought he probably made Peter sick…oops.
The two only had time for a quick hello before the homeroom bell rang and they had to fight their way through the sea of students towards their class.
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By the time Peter dropped into his usual seat in Chemistry, his third class of the day, he felt horrendous, it was strange he had never felt like this over a test before and this wasn't even that important. He could see Ned to his left looking at him worriedly but ignored him, he was fine, totally fine. Him feeling warm and sweaty was probably just from rushing to class because he couldn't get sick…could he? Had he been sick since the bite? He honestly had no idea, if his body could heal the odd black eye he got while patrolling overnight then surely he couldn't get a cold. He was startled from his musing when the person in front of him passed him the stack of tests for him to take one and pass it along, doing so he couldn't help but shiver slightly…he was warm two seconds ago, why the hell was he shivering now?
Trying to push his discomfort to the back of his mind he turned his test and started reading at his teacher's command. Ten minutes later he was somehow feeling worse, the words on the page seemed to be moving and he was having difficulty stopping his teeth from chattering. He unconsciously curled in on himself as if that would help him feel better and tried to battle on with his test but by this point he could hardly see straight let alone read.
Suddenly it was as if the world tilted on its axis, his head was spinning and the churning in his stomach returned abruptly and violently. He attempted to stand "Sir…" he mumbled too quietly for his teacher to hear but loud enough for Ned to look up at him and blanch. He managed to heave himself onto his feet holding the desk for support but quickly fell sideways and would have hit the ground if not for Ned grabbing his arm.
"Mr Parker! Mr Leeds! What is the meaning of this? Get on with…" started Mr Grant, but upon lifting his head and taking a look at Peter he stopped abruptly and leapt to his own feet. "Another one?" he sighed quietly to himself. "Take a seat Mr Leeds, I've got him." He gripped his student's arm and was shocked when the boy almost collapsed against him, he really must be unwell how did he even make it to this far in the day? The heat coming off the boy was astonishing how he was still conscious was amazing.
Peter could hardly focus on putting one foot in front of the other as he was almost dragged by his chemistry teacher to the nurse's office. Usually he would protest having to see the nurse but he honestly felt far too horrendous to care, he just wanted to sleep…okay throw up then sleep.
Peter was dropped onto the cot in the corner with a bucket placed between his legs, he tuned out the conversations going on around him as his stomach turned violently and he was sick into the bucket. Tears ran down his face unchecked as he heaved several times bringing up his cereal from that morning. This was horrible, so embarrassing, throwing up at school was a low point, he was hot and sticky and couldn't stop a sob from escaping.
"Peter your Aunt isn't answering, we will just call the next number okay? No need to worry, you'll be home and in bed soon" Peter nodded hardly listening to the nurse's words as his head continued spinning. After another minute or so of throwing up he turned himself to lie on the cot, the cool leather of it feeling great against his sweaty forehead and was unconscious almost immediately tears still running down his face.
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Tony was bored. He was in another shareholders meeting and it was just as dull as always, he knew why Pepper insisted he come to them but it was still mind-numbingly boring. Suddenly a phone started to ring and he was snapped into full alert. After all phones should be turned off in meetings and he loved making people uncomfortable over it when they forgot. Huh…why was everyone looking at him? He could feel twelve pairs of eyes staring at him including those of his very unimpressed fiancée. Then it hit him that was his phone, but who could be ringing him? His phone was on emergency calls only and Pepper was here with him and Peter at school. He pulled his phone from his pocket ready to just hang up but one look at the caller ID and he stood up from his chair. "Excuse me ladies and gentlemen, I really must take this." He ignored their grumbling as he tilted the screen somewhat so Pepper could see who was phoning, receiving a nod from her he sped from the room picking up the call as he did so.
"Stark here…no really me…no she's away…yes of course…is he okay? What's wrong with him?...I'll be there as soon as I can."
He hung up the phone as he ran down to his private garage, usually he would have called Happy but the man was on the other side of the city making some deliveries so he would be quicker going himself. Jumping into the closest Audi he sped towards Midtown worry clouding his mind.
Tony reached Peter's school in record time, he had probably broken numerous traffic laws but his kid was sick…would that work in court…meh…he was Tony Stark it would be fine. He rushed inside glad class was still in session otherwise he would probably be mobbed, which would slow down his trip to Peter, where the hell was the nurses office anyway?
Seconds later he spotted a sign for said office and followed it skidding to a stop outside the door. Running a quick hand through his hair he knocked and entered the small room his eyes immediately falling on Peter who was asleep on a cot in the corner. God the kid looked like shit. Was that a bucket of sick? Oh my god was he dying? Why didn't he get Pepper to come she would know what to do?
"Mr Stark?"
Tony was pulled from his spiralling thoughts by the question and turned to face the person that spoke.
"Sorry to interrupt your day, but you were down as his secondary contact, we didn't think it was actually you. Peter felt unwell in his chemistry class, we called his Aunt but she didn't answer so you were next on the list. As you can see Peter is too unwell to stay in class today would you be able to take him home?"
"It's no problem, I'm never too busy for Peter. May is away he is staying with me at the moment I'll take him home, don't worry. What's wrong with him?"
"I'm only a nurse not a doctor Mr Stark but it appears to just be a virus, he has thrown up several times and has a fever. Many students have had it in the last few weeks, I daresay he will be fine in a couple of days."
His worry fading the tiniest amount Tony nodded and walked over to the boy in the corner. He kneeled down next to him and lightly shook his shoulder. "Hey Peter…Pete…you need to wake up buddy, I'm taking you home."
Peter groaned, he could feel someone shaking his arm to wake him up, but he didn't want to wake up, he was comfortable sleeping. The shaking became more insistent and he grumpily peeled his eyes open to tell them to stop when he realised who it was. "Tony" he grumbled "Go 'way…I wanna sleep, I'll go later."
Tony laughed slightly, Peter sounded much younger than usual and he didn't have the heart to make him walk to the car, the kid was sick he would make allowances! Sighing he stood up and pulled the boy into his arms, it wasn't easy but Peter wasn't particularly heavy it was more awkward than anything else, the boy was all gangly limbs. He smiled politely at the nurse as she opened the door for him and carried his kid towards the Audi he had parked illegally right outside the school gates in his rush to get to the boy.
Opening the passenger side door he managed to deposit Peter onto the chair albeit with some difficulty, the kid was a dead weight. He pulled the seatbelt over the boy before getting in himself. He looked worriedly over at the teen, a sheen of sweat was clear on his forehead yet he was pale as a sheet, how did people do this? He had tear tracks down his face. The nurse said it was just a virus…but she wasn't an actual doctor he would get a second opinion…it could be anything! His kid was sick! Why didn't the nurse call an actual doctor, it was Peter that was sick! His Peter! Could he sue the school for being neglectful?
He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialled, he knew the perfect person to help him.
"Helen, I heard you're in New York, it's an emergency can you meet me at the tower?"
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Helen was unimpressed. Tony used the word emergency…this was certainly not an emergency. She had rushed here from the other side of the city thinking someone was dying from the desperation in Tony's tone. She looked down at the teen in the bed and her heart went out to him it really did, but he was not that sick. He had a virus from school he would be totally fine in a few days.
"But look at him! He is sick, can't you give him something? He has a fever Helen!" Tony half whined half demanded.
For the first time since arriving she truly looked at the man. His hair was a mess from running his hands through it in worry and frustration and his clothes were crumpled and stained with…was that vomit? Most probably from carrying the boy.
"Look Tony, I get it, I really do…I'll hazard a guess this is the first time he's got sick under your care…all new parents go through this. He is fine, in a few days he will be back to his usual teenage self, just make sure he rests, and drinks plenty of fluids. If you really need a doctor Bruce will be enough, Peter will be okay Tony, trust me."
Tony looked at her doubtfully. Why wasn't she helping him? Sure she had hooked him up to an IV with some slightly enhanced drugs to help with his fever due to his metabolism but she didn't seem too worried. Was she looking at a different kid to him? Peter was pale and sweaty, his breathing laboured. Peter was not fine. He opened his mouth to argue further when a hand clasped his arm and he turned to face his fiancée.
"Listen to her Tony, I'm worried too but we won't leave him by himself, he will be fine. Bruce is just one floor down if we need him. Helen is a doctor she has not steered us wrong yet has she?"
Tony looked into his fiancée's eyes and nodded sulkily. "Fine, but I will call you if anything changes Helen. If it's to do with Peter it's always an emergency."
The doctor rolled her eyes but nodded at the worried parent standing over his ill son. "Fine Tony, but I assure you he will be okay, remember plenty of fluids, you want his fever to break."
Pepper nodded at the doctor and showed her to the door thanking her for her time knowing Tony would not be leaving their kid's room for anything short of a global disaster…actually maybe not even for that…Peter came first, always.
Not long after Dr Cho had arrived and declared Peter was not ill enough for the med bay Tony had carried him up to his bedroom, after all he wanted Peter to be comfortable and where better than his own bed? So here he now was sitting on Peter's desk chair, his fingers absently running through the teen's sweaty locks.
"You need to change your shirt Tony, that one is disgusting…." Pepper started wrinkling her nose in disgust.
"I'm not leaving him"
She sighed as she looked fondly at her lover, he'd never looked more like Peter's father than in that moment. "Good thing I brought the shirt to you then isn't it?" she replied smiling sadly as she threw it at him and sat herself on the chair at the other side of the bed. Peter was rarely anything but full of life so to see him looking sick was jarring and something she didn't wish to see again anytime soon.
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Several hours had passed since Peter was carried to his bed and Tony had yet to leave his side, he had called to update May on the situation reassuring her she needn't come home but other than that he had silently watched over his child. Peter's temperature was still high but no longer rising, clearly Helen's drugs were doing something for the kid, but not enough. He currently had Bruce working on more medication for Peter, usually he would be eager to join but right now he couldn't bear to leave the boy's bedside.
"You should wake him, he needs food Tony" he jumped at Pepper's words, the first spoken between them in over an hour. He nodded as she stood leaving the room, he could only assume to get something for Peter to eat.
Tony moved his hand from the boy's hair and lightly shook his shoulder. "Peter, hey…time to wake up underoos."
Peter could hear someone calling his name but it seemed muffled and far away, he was comfortable why wouldn't they go away? The voice became more insistent and he could feel a hand on his shoulder, now awake he groaned audibly rolling onto his back as he lifted a heavy arm to cover his eyes. God, he felt like shit. He peeled an eye open and looked to his left to find the owner of the annoying voice was to his surprise, Tony.
Why was Tony here? How did he even get here? Where was he? Was this school? It didn't seem like school, the bed was too comfortable. The questions ran through his head quicker than he could comprehend them, he could feel his chest ache as his breathing sped up due to his panic.
Seeing the beginning signs of a panic attack Tony stood and leaned over Peter to look into his eyes. "Hey look at me Pete…you're okay...you're in your bedroom, here, at the tower, you were sick at school remember?" He told the boy trying to keep his voice gentle and soothing.
Peter stared up at him blinking slowly as his breathing slowed but he still couldn't understand what the man was saying. "Huh" he grunted unintelligently which earned him a snort from Tony. He tried to push the man's hands away when they felt his forehead but he felt far too weak so just settled for an unhappy sigh as the man dragged him up into a sitting position and propped him up with pillows.
"Hey don't look at me like that" Tony chided the pouting teen "you need food kid, Pepper will be back in just be two minutes with some soup for you. How do you feel? Are you going to be sick?"
Peter shrugged, he didn't really know to be honest, he supposed he wouldn't know if he felt sick until he ate something. He looked up when Pepper entered, lap-table in hand and grinned, he hadn't realised how hungry he was until he could smell chicken noodle soup. He gripped the spoon in his hand but was having difficulty scooping soup onto it and getting it to his mouth without spilling any.
Tony watched as Peter tried and failed a good six times to eat his soup and he knew he would have to intervene. He reached over and plucked the spoon from the boy's hand while perching himself on the edge of the bed. "Let me, Pete" he murmured softly.
Peter could feel the blush covering his face but he had to admit he was hungry and he clearly didn't have the energy to feed himself so he just nodded and resigned himself to the humiliation of being spoon-fed at fifteen. He was pleasantly surprised when Tony didn't make any jokes at his expense over it and simply fed him spoonful's of the delicious soup. Before he had even eaten half the bowl however he could feel his eyes drooping and he had to fight to stay awake, Tony's murmured promises that if he had a few more spoonful's he could sleep were the only thing keeping him falling asleep right that second but he couldn't help but let out a small whine.
Pepper had watched on fondly as her fiancé spoon-fed the boy they both thought of as a son and couldn't help but notice the two moving closer to each other while doing so. By the time Tony had finished feeding the boy he was fully sitting on the bed and Peter was tucked into his side Tony's arm around his shoulders, holding him close as he struggled to keep his eyes open. She knew she would be asking FRIDAY to give her a snapshot of the moment later.
Tony looked down fondly at the boy at his side, he could plainly see the boy's exhaustion. "Go to sleep underoos, we'll still be here when you wake up, you'll feel better after a nap, I promise."
The boys sleepy response would be etched into Tony's brain until the day he died, he was sure of it. "Th'nks dad."
Tony couldn't help but look up at his fiancée a grin splitting his face, "did you hear that?" he whispered excitedly, "FRI did you catch that? Send it to my phone."
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It was Wednesday that Peter was sent home from school sick and only now four days later was Tony allowing him to leave his bed for anything other than the toilet. The first day and a half hadn't been too bad because he had admittedly been too sick to feel bored but since then it had been torture! So boring.
Sure he had to admit Tony had made sure he was never left alone, heck, the man hadn't left his side at all for the first two days and was still texting him every few hours between his meetings to make sure Peter was okay but Tony hadn't let him do anything but watch TV and sleep, he was going stir crazy. Sure he was a teenager and he loved both of those things but he was usually so active, sitting in bed was just boring.
He had finally been able to leave his bedroom though, he was now a whole thirty feet away from it! Tony had allowed him to move into the lounge which was a minor improvement. He knew the man had been worried he had been hovering over him for days but it was getting a little suffocating especially as he now felt pretty much one hundred percent fine but Tony still wouldn't let him do anything, he couldn't visit the labs, invite Ned over or even go down and see Nat and Bruce. Tony had also made it very clear Spiderman was not to be patrolling until at least Tuesday.
Today was the first day he had been left by himself since he fell ill, in the past he would have considered just doing whatever he wanted and gone out patrolling anyway, but he knew Tony would class that as endangering his health needlessly as he still wasn't in top form…and he certainly didn't want his ass warmed because he went out due to boredom. So here he was sprawled out on the couch under a blanket watching Netflix, he was hardly paying any attention to the screen however and was simply letting his mind wander.
He was beginning to feel at home here in the tower and he couldn't help but feel guilty over it. His home was in Queens with May, was he abandoning her by feeling so comfortable here? While he'd been sick in bed he had missed her, it was the first time he could remember being sick and she wasn't there to comfort him, it really made her absence hit him more than it had any other time over the past few weeks. Tony and Pepper were there and gave him anything he wanted or needed, he couldn't ask for anymore from them but still, he missed May.
It had only been three weeks but it was the longest he had been apart from May since he had gone to live with her after his parents died, she was the only mother figure he had up until Pepper, sure he called her Aunt May, always had and always would but she was there for him. So yeah, he missed her terribly. After Uncle Ben had died they only grew closer so it was tough not seeing her whenever he wanted. He couldn't even call her whenever because her shifts could be unpredictable.
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Rhodey was not prepared for the scene he walked into when he left the elevator. He knew Tony had to go to several meetings this afternoon and Pepper had back to back meetings the entire day and with Nat and Bruce away for the weekend he knew his nephew was probably lonely and bored so decided to visit. With Peter being ill Friday family dinner was cancelled so he hadn't seen the boy in over a week, and he hadn't expected the first time he saw him for the boy to be curled up on the sofa staring into space with tears running down his cheeks. He knew the teen was probably in a world of his own so moved slowly and tried not to startle him, "Hey Pete, what's wrong?"
When the boy didn't answer he simply lifted the blanket that was covering him and sat down next to him before pulling the teen into a side hug and letting him sob into his chest. He knew the boy wasn't still sick, Pepper had told him the kid was completely fine but Tony was just being paranoid in not letting him leave the penthouse. Which begs the question, why was he crying?
Peter knew he should be embarrassed, he hadn't even realised he was crying until Uncle Rhodey pulled him in close, but he couldn't find it within himself to calm down or pull away, he simply let his uncle comfort him and he cried. After several minutes he calmed down and pulled away from Rhodey who was looking at him worriedly.
"What's up Pete?"
Peter didn't know why he let the words slip out but he did and he had no way of taking them back. "Do you think May hates me because I think of Tony as dad in my head sometimes?"
Rhodey felt his jaw drop, he knew Peter had let the d word slip after all, Tony had called him within minutes of it happening almost in tears. He didn't expect Peter to admit to his feelings so soon though. He looked down at his nephew wiping away the tears softly with his thumb, "Peter look at me, I don't know your Aunt May but from what I've heard about her I don't think she could ever hate you."
Peter thought about his words for a moment allowing them to sink in. Rhodey could be right, May had always supported everything he did, even Spiderman but was this too much? She had raised him after all would she be angry he was replacing her? But was he really replacing her? She was still Aunt May, Queens was still his home. Tony and the tower was just becoming like a second home, kind of like when parents divorced he supposed.
"Why don't you call her? I'm sure she's missing you and wants to see you're better with her own eyes anyway"
Peter found himself nodding, he knew if he didn't call he would just worry and if he worried, Tony would worry and then Pepper and they would tell May something was bothering him, so everyone would just be worried.
"I want to do it alone" he found himself saying with more conviction than he perhaps felt but he was relieved when Rhodey nodded assuring him it was fine and he would check back on him in an hour or so.
Peter moved back to his bedroom dragging the blanket with him before asking F.R.I.D.A.Y. to video call May through his TV. She picked up on the second ring and he couldn't stop the smile which spread across his face as he laid eyes on her. She looked tired, she was probably working hard but she looked healthy and that's all he could ask for.
"Hey Peter, feeling better? Pepper told me Tony is being a bit overzealous."
He laughed lightly at her words assuring her he was totally fine and Tony was just worrying over nothing. They fell into casual conversation easily as if they were together and not hundreds of miles apart speaking through screens.
May knew as soon as her eyes fell on Peter something was bothering him, he was fidgeting slightly and not fully invested in the conversation. She let conversation flow for twenty minutes or so before interrupting knowing if she didn't Peter probably wouldn't speak up about whatever was on his mind. "Peter, why did you call? What's on your mind?"
Damn. He should have known she would be able to tell, other than Spiderman he had never managed to successfully hide anything from her. "I call Tony dad in my head sometimes" he blurted out as if saying the words quicker would make the moment pass faster. He avoided looking at the screen, at her face, in a mix of embarrassment and fear.
May smiled softly, she knew this call was probably coming and she was glad Peter was willing to talk about it with her rather than bottling it up. "Peter look at me, there's no need to be embarrassed, I expected this. It's okay I don't mind, it's understandable." She watched him fondly as his head snapped up and jaw dropped in shock.
"But I never called Uncle Ben that. Is it not disrespectful?"
"Peter you were four when you came to us you probably don't remember much, but you had known us forever, I was Aunt May and Ben was Uncle Ben to you. Why would we change that? It just became normal for you, we never expected to be called mum or dad. We both knew we were in those roles but the title was not needed."
He let her words sink in and felt his whole body relax as the tension he didn't know he had left his body. "You don't mind then?"
"Peter, Tony is your dad in everything but blood, if you want to call him dad call him dad. I know he will be thrilled, and the same with Pepper, you would not be disrespecting my role in your life if you call her mum. I understand."
"Thank you" he mumbled as he brushed the stray tears from his cheeks. He felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
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When Rhodey entered the apartment an hour later he was almost knocked from his feet due to the force of Peter's hug. He held the boy tight in his arms as he babbled into his chest his thank you's for telling him to call May. When Peter pulled away he smiled down at him. "Do you think we have time for a few games of Mario Kart before your dad gets home?" Never before had a question of his been met with such a dazzling smile.