Tony's heart skipped a beat, unintentionally squeezing Peter's hand tighter.
'-.- - ..- / -.. .. -..' You did?
Peter nodded, his eyes wide. '-.. - / -.- - ..- / - ... .. -. -.- / .. - ... / -.-. - - .. -. -. / -... .- -.-. -.-' Do you think it's coming back?
'.. / -.. ..- -. -. - / -... .- - -... ..' I dunno, Bambi.
"Hey, Brucie, can you meet me and Pete down in the med-bay in five?" Tony turned to Bruce, catching the man by surprise.
"Oh-uh, yeah? Why? What's wrong?" Bruce asked.
"Nothing's wrong, per se…" The billionaire trailed off, already helping Peter up to leave.
"I'll be there in a minute, then." Bruce said slowly, still slightly concerned.
Tony nodded absentmindedly, gently pulling Peter into the elevator.
Bruce walked into the lab, seeing Peter wrapped up in Tony's arms. The sight made him smile. He cleared his throat lightly, hoping not to startle the two. Well, really only Tony, but still.
Tony looked up, and laughed as Peter clung to him like a koala.
"Hey, Brucie-bear."
"Hey. So, what's up?" Bruce asked.
"Basically, while the two heathens were screaming at each other earlier, Peter could hear them. So we have a few possibilities, I guess. The loss of hearing could be temporary and returning slowly, or it could only be a certain percentage of loss. I want to check it out." Tony explained to the surprised physicist.
"Wow, okay. We can do that."
After running multiple tests, the two had come to a conclusion. It seemed to be that Peter's hearing would gradually come back on its own, and they would just have to let it come by itself.
"Peter's hearing seems to be returning quite quickly, actually. If you see the results, the regeneration period has sped up significantly, Tony," Bruce said, showing the other man the tablet.
"So that means it should be back soon! That's great," Tony's voice was laced with an excited tone.
Grabbing the teen's hand, Tony relayed the information. Peter grinned.
"That's awesome! I kinda hear a little bit right now. I mean, when you guys were talking normally it sounded like someone was whispering."
Tony smiled, squeezing Peter's hand. '-.- - ..- / -. - - -.. / - - / -. - / -... .- -.-. -.- / ..- .-.' You good to go back up?
Peter only nodded in response.
The small group stepped out of the elevator. Tony steered Peter away and into his room, and Bruce went to sit down.
"What was that about, Bruce?" Rhodey spoke the question that the rest of the group was too scared to.
"I don't know if Tony wants me to tell. It's nothing bad, but you guys know how Tony is," Bruce said.
As if on cue, the billionaire walked into the room and flopped down on the couch. He dropped an arm over his eyes dramatically.
"Ugh, I can feel all of you staring. I had Bruce run some test with me on the kid because he said he could hear the two idiots screaming earlier. Turns out his hearing is coming back," Tony said, arm still over his face.
"That's great! The boy of spiders will be well in no time!" Thor boomed, making everyone jump.
"Yeah, it is," Tony surprised the group with that one. They expected him to dismiss the subject with a witty remark, but he agreed with a smile on his face.
The group exchanged glances with raised eyebrows.
"So, where is the kid anyway?" Sam asked.
"He should be asleep. Almost knocked out when he hit the pillow," Tony offhandedly said.
"You mean you tucked the kid in? Geez, Tony. Didn't know it was possible to be so much of a dad to a kid who isn't even related to you," Clint said, smirking.
Tony shot up, spluttering. He stumbled over his words, flinging his hands around.
"I'm not the kid's dad!" Tony ignored the voice in his head replaying the scene from earlier when the kid had, in fact, called him dad.
"Whatever you say, Tony. Whatever you say."
Thank you for reading! I know it's been a while, and this isn't very long. Sorry!
I'm hoping to get more done since it's Christmas break. As always, if you have any suggestions, or want to point out bad grammar or something, lemme know. :)
djooo