There were voices, not too far, whispering to one another. He tried to ignore them as his brain woke, not wanting to open his eyes just yet. Maybe if he lay here long enough he could fall back asleep, unconsciousness being a better place than where he was now. His head pounded and he was sore all over, why did he have to wake up? In fact, he would have fallen back to sleep if it wasn't for the quiet name drop.
"I don't like it much either, but for Peter's sake-" Wade's eyes shot open as memories flooded back to him. He attempted to sit up but a quick hand on his chest pushed him back down.
"Whoa there sleeping ugly."
"Tony!" It took a moment for the mercenary's eyes to adjust to the dark room, and when he did, he found Steve berating his husband for insulting an injured man, to which Tony replied that Deadpool's healing factor was practically back to normal.
"Peter." Was the first thing out of Wade's mouth as he looked around the room now that he could make it out through the dimmed lighting. He was in what looked like a hospital room, a rather cramped one at that, with a large technological upgrade. Deadpool himself had been stripped of his spandex and now lay in one of those hospital gowns, one with a back thankfully, and had various things taped to him. There were a couple needles in him and various other monitoring equipment that made him a tad uncomfortable, but his groggy mind didn't have the power to act on it at the moment. "Where's Peter, is he okay?" Both the fathers' expressions softened, though Tony tried to hide it, as Steve made his way around Deadpool's bed, calling the mercenary's attention to him. The blond led Wade's eye's to a curtain to the left and proceeded to pull it back as quietly as he could to reveal a sleeping Peter. The brunette was in close to the exact same setup has the mercenary, though unconscious and more beautiful in Wade's opinion.
"He'll be fine; he just needs some rest now," Steve explained, letting Wade breathe a sigh of relief as he relaxed into the surprisingly comfy bed. He didn't really like the sight of his boyfriend hooked up to all that equipment, but he was alive, and that's what mattered.
"You know he refused to stay anywhere but this room. Caused a lot of trouble, trying to stuff two sets of equipment in one room," Tony explained, not surprised to have all eyes continue to watch his son. "But he said he wanted to be here when you woke up, be the first to say good morning, to say thank you, then he fell asleep and missed it." The group of men chuckled softly before they all went silent as the awkward atmosphere began to settle in. Eventually it was Deadpool who broke it, not being one to enjoy silence.
"Where are we? How'd I get out?"
"We're in the S.H.I.E.L.D. section of the hospital, a place they take patients with special physical circumstances. And Tony brought you here." Steve informed him, making a quick hand gesture his husband's way.
"Really?" Wade asked, turning to the inventor. "I would have figured you'd take the opportunity to axe me while you could." Deadpool joked, causing Steve to chuckle slightly.
"I wouldn't have come if Peter hadn't begged me to," Tony huffed, his expression stubborn, though it soon softened. "I should thank you for what you did back there."
"Hm?"
"For saving Peter."
"Oh, well, what else was I supposed to do?" Wade asked, as if it were obvious there was no other option, leaving his boyfriend wasn't even fathomable.
"Save yourself," Tony reminded him.
"And ditch Petey? My goodness tin man, how heartless do you think I am?"
"I though you were, until that night."
{And Iron Man's heart grew three sizes that day.} It took Deadpool a good chunk of self-restraint not to laugh at his inner voice. He was finally starting to inch into his boyfriend's parent's good grces; he wasn't going to mess it up by showing more of his craziness.
"Been thinking about what I said then?"
"Yeah, I have." Before Tony could continue however, a noise stole all the men's attention, causing them to turn to the brunette now wriggling slightly in his bed. Steve ran his hand through his son's hair soothingly, not sure whether the younger man was in pain or waking up. Luckily it was the latter.
"Dad?" Peter queried as his eyes fluttered open and he was met with the familiar smile of his father.
"Petey!" Deadpool jumped in, causing the college student's attention to quickly snap to his boyfriend.
"Wade?" the brunettes expression quickly shifted from sleepy confusion, to worry, and finally relaxed as he saw the mercenary's cheerful grin. "Thank god you're okay; I was so scared."
"That's it, you're getting a hug," Deadpool declared, to the confusion of the others. The mercenary began to remove the various needles, sensors, and what not that the nurses and doctors had stuck to him, causing both the others in the room and the machinery to go into a slight panic.
"Wade!"
"Hey now, calm down," Tony advised, holding his hand out, not sure if he should force the mercenary back down.
"You said yourself that my healing factor was practically back to normal, so I'll be fine. Plus I need me some cuddles," Deadpool said as he jumped from the bed like a child waking up on Christmas morning. With a gleeful skip in his step, Wade approached Peter's bed and proceeded to get on beside him, after Steve had moved away that is. The captain may have preferred an injured man to stay in his bed, but he also understood the need for physical contact with the one you love after almost losing them; he had slipped into bed with a hospitalized Tony many a times before.
As soon as Wade began to climb onto the mattress however, he slowed dramatically, not wanting to cause pain to the younger man's currently sensitive body.
Though he would have rathered Deadpool stay connected to the equipment that had been helping his healing, Peter made no protest to his boyfriend's affection, glancing only momentarily at his fathers, who were now busy assuring the concerned nurses that the patient was alright.
"My dads might get mad," Peter warned as he snuggled his head into the merc's chest, showing that he wouldn't pull away even if they did. Deadpool muttered something into the younger man's ear, causing the brunette to chuckle, as the mercenary flung both his right arm and leg over his boyfriend to pull him closer. Peter was able to find peace in the warm embrace and steady beat of the older man's heart, finally accepting that everything would be okay again.
"*ahem*" came the obvious attention grabbing cough, pulling the college student from his serenity to reality where his parents stood over his hospital bed, clearly not comfortable with watching their son be almost smothered by Deadpool. "The doctors say that you two can leave the hospital around 1pm as long as Peter promises to continue resting for a few day, before even leaving the house." Tony informed them, causing his son to pout slightly. Peter was happy that he wouldn't be stuck in the dreary hospital for long, but what about school and being Spider-man?
"Don't worry boys, I'll make sure he stays put." Wade assured cheerfully, not minding the idea of 'nursing' his boyfriend back to health.
"I know he will, because we'll be taking him home." You could see both hospitalized men's expressions drop at the statement.
"Dad-"
"Let me finish." Tony interrupted, expression also sinking as he knew he'd probably regret this later. Steve rubbed his husband's upper arm in assurance that this was the right thing to do. "I've already sent people to pack up and move all your stuff to floor 22 of Stark Tower."
"Floor 22?" Peter questioned, obviously knowing something that Wade didn't. "One of the guest floors, why there?" Why didn't they stick him back in his room on the penthouse floor with his parents.
"Well it has its own kitchen, living room, it's basically its own apartment." Deadpool took in an excited breath as Peter squeezed him closer in realization. "You and Wilson will be living there together so we can keep an eye on you two," Tony explained, though the last part was somewhat drowned out by Deadpool's squeal of excitement. Peter wanted to say something, a thank you at least, but he was in such shock that he was left, mouth agape, staring at his parents. "Don't get too excited though, I'll have J.A.R.V.I.S. monitor you consistently, and you'll have to work for room and board. Peter, you're going to work as my lab assistant six out of the seven days of the week as soon as you're able to lift a screwdriver." Tony said sternly, over-exaggerating a bit, pointing a finger at his son.
"Yes, of course," Peter was finally able to say, knowing the job wouldn't be that hard as he had been doing it voluntarily since the age of 10. "Thank you."
"And Wilson," Tony continued, finally making Wade loosen his excitedly tight grip on his boyfriend. "No more freelancing missions for you." The mercenary pouted slightly, his mood sinking a tad. He liked his missions. "Steve and I were able to convince Nick Fury to interview you about possibly becoming a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent." Wade's mood lifted again, especially after receiving a smile of excitement and pride from Peter. Deadpool would still probably end up killing people, but at least with S.H.I.E.L.D. it would be a lot less frequently.
"Steve and I?" the blond questioned with a humoring grin. "You never even spoke to the man. I was the one to search out and find the proof of the good deeds Deadpool had done, especially with the recent attack on the city," Steve informed them, returning his gaze to the happy couple as he slid an arm around his brooding husband's waist. "And Peter, there's one more thing."
"There's more?" the brunette asked. What could possibly make this better? Well aside from not having his parents spy on him and his boyfriend 24/7 but he'd work on that.
"It won't be right away, since you have so much on your plate right now. It probably won't be until you graduate college, but we've all decided that we'd like to offer you your spot on the Avengers back." Peter took in a sudden breath as Wade's face lit up.
"Oh congratulations honey, you get your cake and get to eat it too!" Wade cooed happily as he squeezed his again stunned to silence boyfriend.
"We realize that we may have been holding you back from your potential, so don't let us down okay? You to Wil-... Wade. We're trusting you with the most precious thing in our lives, take care of him." Tony said, though both he and his husband had half-apologetic, and half-proud smiles spread across their faces.
The Avengers, and living with Wade, and working with his dad again... if Peter was dreaming, he didn't want anyone to wake him up. Everything was falling into place, though it would take a little time.
"Of course I will, you can count on me pops," Wade thanked Peter's parents, as he smiled at Tony and Steve, whose expressions dropped a little at the title.
"Woah there, don't press your luck Wilson." Okay, maybe a long time.
And that's it. ^^ Hope it wasn't to fairytale perfect ending. Thanks to everyone who read all the way, and a special thanks to those who waited for the updates to see what happens next.
And let us give one more round of applause to DreadPirateWombat on Archive of Our Own for editing a boat load of grammar mistakes and making this story a lot easier to read. Thank you!
All in all I'm vary proud of this story. It is the longest cohesive story I have ever written, almost 50 pages and I think it turned out well, though I'm kind of annoyed cuz I feel like I wrote Peter like a high school student.
Did you know that the ending was extended 3 times? First it was going to end soon after Tony offered Peter the chance to join the Avengers to break up with Wade. Then it was going to end with everyone meeting up outside after Tony saved Wade. Then it ended here.
