A/N: Oooookay, so what was supposed to be a vague possibility of Peter's reaction after Tony's death…has now become Peter's reaction after Tony's death…only, Tony isn't dead after A4…Sorry. Not sorry. I want him alive. *sobs*
Enjoy this fluff and angst. Its all thanks to iamanunusuallady , who wanted to have some fluff…any kind of fluff. Well here it is…I hope it doesn't disappoint.
This mush is MUSH, ya got it? Proceed only if that floats your boat...
….
"Come on, baby. Please…for me?"
It's been over twenty-four hours since Peter has been rescued and placed in a hospital….an estimated five days since he's had anything put into his belly…twelve hours since Peter's refused the food brought to his lips…
May's phone alarm goes off at approximately 7:30pm.
Her tears fall at the sound.
The soft melody is a reminder that they were out of time…that Peter would soon be forced to have a feeding tube put in…that the doctors and nurses could even be on their way at this very moment.
"Tony, please," May begs, getting up from Peter's bed and pivoting the rolling table with the tray of food to the other side. "Can you try giving it to him just one more time?"
Tony squeezes his hands tightly together, staring up at the woman with dark circles under his eyes. "He won't even look at me, May," he says, glancing over at the limp teen who stares across the room with vacant watery eyes.
"He's scared," May whimpers back, moving to place her hands over Tony's white knuckles. "He's terrified you're gonna disappear if he hopes for it…That's all."
When Tony doesn't move, she continues, "Do you know how many times he woke up screaming your name even before he was kidnapped?"
It isn't her intention to guilt, and even as she says the words and watches the man's body stiffen, she almost wishes she could take back the cruel truth, but what other choice does she have?
"Tony, I am willing to bet everything, that if you would just hold him…you can make him believe…You can still heal him."
Tony's breathing quickens as he listens to May's words. Would this inner turmoil always accompany him whilst caring so deeply for this kid? Would he and the boy ever find some kind of peace together, or were they destined to always cause each other such horrific pain?
"One more time…" May says, "I'll help you. Just…hold him…and see if he'll take the food."
Tony stares down at his shoes for a moment and pushes himself up. The moment he's in Peter's line of vision, the boy turns his face just enough to where he can't see him anymore, fingers twitching as his tube covered chest rises and falls at a rapid rate.
"Hi buddy," Tony tries, cringing when the sound of his voice makes Peter's body startle.
"I know…" he continues, carefully easing himself on the bed. "I know you're scared,"
Peter feels the warmth of his mentor and squeezes his eyes shut, barely managing to shake his head back and forth to protest against the close proximity. He's suddenly breathing so hard that it sets off the heart monitor, a small keening sound with each inhale and exhale escapes from his throat and Tony feels sick to his stomach.
"Buddy, hey, listen, shhhh," he interjects, taking the opportunity to curl his hand behind the boy's back while emotions were still spilling, "This is just a dream."
Deceiving his kid feels like a knife to the chest, but nothing is worse than seeing that the lie actually works.
Peter's sobs and panic stop at the false information, his head turns towards him just enough to let his glazed brown eyes peek up at the man.
Tony glances over to May and the woman nods before folding her hands together and praying for this to work.
"I heard you've been acting like a little Veruca Salt to your Auntie M, so I thought I'd come and pay you a visit." This time Tony hooks his other arm under the boy's legs and manages to make enough room to climb up beside him…Peter's eyes are now fixed on his mentor, head leaning back against the older man's arm.
Dream Tony was safe. Dream Tony was meant to disappear. Dream Tony's departure wouldn't hurt like the real Tony's had….
The boy itches to cling, but his arms won't cooperate…thin fingers won't do what he needs them to do, but when Tony suddenly clings onto him instead, his heart settles a little.
A few more tears pool down the teenager's face, he has only the strength to mouth, what Tony guesses to be, 'I miss you,'
Tony clears his throat again and again as he works at his own composure, not missing the empathetic waves rolling over from where May sits. "I miss you more, kiddie,"
Peter's head lulls back a bit, glancing up and down at Tony with eyelids threatening to droop closed. He really studies the older man's hairstyle closely, the expression practically asking if he had changed it somehow.
Tony chuckles and smoothes back Peter's curls, "Yeah, I fixed it up a bit," he murmurs, "Had to do something about my image before I actually turned full dad."
Peter seems to almost smile, closing his eyes for a second, ''Dad,' he mouths.
"Exclusively yours, kiddo," Tony replies, sending May a gesture to proceed.
The woman takes no time in moving to uncover the tray of food, sliding it within Tony's reach and placing a spoon in the steaming bowl of soup. The billionaire stares up at her as she squeezes his shoulder, hope shining in her expression as she returns to her spot.
With his free hand, Tony grips the utensil in his fingers and spins it as he carefully contemplates his next move.
"Listen…Pete…Since this is only a dream and all, how's about trying some of this…delicious…chicken noodle soup for me."
At first, the boy clamps his mouth shut, hours of conditioning himself to refuse any food makes breaking the habit no easy feat, but Tony's just as stubborn, pressing the spoon in till it hits the boy's teeth, and finally, after a little more coaxing and whispered words, Peter relents and swallows the liquid down, coughing when it comes in contact with his dry throat.
"That's it, kid. Good-good boy." the older man praises, trying to mask the fact that he's about to burst at such a small miracle, "Let's…try that again," he adds, grabbing a napkin and wiping Peter's chin. May covers her hands over her mouth to silence herself, relief washing over her as she watches Peter take another spoonful…and another from his father figure.
The moment Peter gives himself permission to eat, he changes over to the starved creature he really is, gulping the substance down faster than Tony can bring it and gasping as he waits for the next mouthful.
The billionaire halts and keeps the spoon away for a moment, knowing the kid's enhanced metabolism has kicked it into high gear, but also knowing the risks of aspiration.
Peter looks up at him and back down to the spoon, when his lips part again, Tony has to catch the drool that creeps down from the corners of his mouth. "My poor Spider-baby, I know you're starving," he says with a small, sympathetic laugh. He ignores the tears that fall down his own cheeks immediately after. If Peter's been reduced to feeling just like an infant lying here in his dad's arms, well than, he could be one right along with him. He sniffs a few times and May, being the beautiful soul that she is, dabs his face with a tissue when he can't get to them on his own. "Thanks," Tony says to her with another sniff, bringing a bigger piece of chicken to his charge.
He's grateful it goes down easy, but Peter's barely chewed it before he's swallowing.
"Slooow down, bud…Its still here…I'm still here. Nobody's gonna take it from you," Tony continues, bringing a noodle and a piece of carrot next.
It doesn't take long at all before Peter's eaten the last bite, but Tony knows the kid could probably eat another ten bowls without a problem.
He sees his theory is spot on when the boy looks at the empty tray and then back to him in desperation. "May…my rice pudding in the cooler over there," Tony says, knowing Peter is likely to lose it if they couldn't at least curb the awakened monster of an appetite.
Peter's mouth continues to salivate even as he watches May peel off the top of the container and pass it to his mentor. His stomach screams and he wonders how on earth he was able to ignore such a beast.
"Okay, okay. Here we go," Tony says as May places it down on the tray, concern creeping back on her face when she watches just how famished Peter's seems.
"It's the metabolism," Tony explains to her as he shovels another spoonful into the kid's mouth, "Its kicking in now that he's behaving for us."
May breathes in and sighs, crossing her arms to her chest and leaning her hip against the end of the bed. "Well, what do we do? I mean, is there something else he needs? I don't want to hurt him,"
Tony clicks his tongue and sighs too, warring with what the next course of action should be.
"We can't give it all at once. His stomach can't take it…and too little would be torture. Go get a few more bowls of the soup, and we'll settle with that for now, alright?"
May nods and leaves the room, wondering how they went from fearing forced feeding to needing to restrict her nephew from too much in just a matter of minutes.
Peter whines after the last bite of pudding a bit later, so Tony decides to distract, pressing a button to bring the bed back a bit, he lets the kid's head lay back against his bicep and grabs the remote to turn on the tv.
"Lucky for you…I happen to know they're playing every single one of the Star Wars movies tonight on the Sci-Fi channel,' he comments, wishing he could've seen the kids eyes light up instead of simply wandering up to the screen for a moment.
As the movie comes into view, Peter's fingers manage to find their way to Tony's free arm that's currently draped over the billionaire's middle. For a second they can only brush across the dark hair there, but eventually the kid grips his wrist and works to drag it somewhere.
With the last bit of strength, he has left, he carries it to the side of his face and Tony's heart swells.
"You are one spoiled kid," he murmurs with a laugh. "Hmm? You really are,"
Peter's tiny smile all but confirms it, as the older man goes to bring the boy's head under his chin and massage into his curls and behind his ears.
He turns to see the TV showing Darth Vader reaching a hand out to an injured Luke Skywalker, as he reveals his identity to the hero.
"Peter...I am your father," Tony says lowly into Peter's ear using his best Darth Vader impression, "Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son."
Peter responds with the tiniest sniff of amusement, burrowing as close as he can despite everything he's hooked up to, and Tony grips him tighter. "How's this for a good dream?" he asks, assured that Peter would slowly but surely come to realize it wasn't one.
The boy hasn't the strength to reply, but Tony knows he's at peace, accepting what was truth in his own way as the little snores soon follow.
….
A/N: Short and simple, but hopefully it brought my irondad friends some joy...I may add to this later, but we'll see.