Chapter Text
Pain was overrated.
Pain was, is and always has been annoying, and it made Peter want to curl up in a ball with every single bite of his Frosted Flakes, but it was overrated. A bit of pain in his mouth shouldn’t call for an operation.
“May, is this really that important? Can’t I just take a rain-check or something on this?” Peter moaned. His appointment was upstate in less than five hours, and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous. (His fear of needles is completely and totally rational, thank you very much, it wasn’t his fault that a nurse dropped a needle while it was still in his arm once)
May laughed. “Yeah, Pete, it’s necessary. But I promise it won’t be that bad.” Peter made a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat. May just rolled her eyes and continued.
“I got my wisdom teeth out when I was in college, and I was fine.”
Peter rolls his eyes. “May, you’ve literally told me how not fine you were after that. Don’t think I haven’t heard the stories of how your roommate decided to give you vodka while you were still loopy to make you stop whining. You said, and I quote, ‘blood was pouring of my mouth and everyone was crying.’”
“Yes, but you learn from my mistakes. You’re not in college, and you have some very responsible adults looking after you. You’ll be spending a couple days hanging out with just me and Tony. It’ll be a slumber party!”
“Won’t be much of a slumber party if I’m lying in bed like an invalid the whole time,” Peter grumbled, crossing his arms and slinking back into the couch.
“Dr. Andrews said that your healing factor would take care of it relatively quickly, and the meds she’s giving you slow it down a bit but will help the pain. It’ll only be a few days, honey. You’ll be up and about by the second day.”
“Can’t I just not take anything at all? Won’t it go faster that way?”
May pursed her lips. “No can do, sorry bud. Tony said you’ll be in a fair amount of pain as it is, it’s best this way. He was kind enough to offer to let you stay upstate so we could keep an eye on the side effects. Plus, with this arrangement, you won’t have to drive all the way back here while you’re feeling gross.”
Peter groaned. “But Iron Man’s gonna see me all loopy and drugged up! You guys are going to baby me; this is embarrassing, May!”
May ruffled his curls as she settled into the couch beside him. “You’re adorable. It’s not like he hasn’t seen you drugged off your ass before. Remember that robbery back in January?” She chuckled as she watched her nephew put his head in his hands.
“Don’t even remind me.” Peter let out a long sigh. “I guess I rather wisdom teeth to a stab wound.”
“Oh, you better. That was a disaster.” May’s face visibly tightened at the memory as she stood up. “Before you get all comfy here, kiddo, I should let you know that we’ll be heading out soon. I want to get there early to talk to Tony and clarify everything.”
“Are you sure I can’t just wait til I’m like, dead, to get this done? We can stay home and watch movies instead. It’ll be fun!”
May pressed a kiss to the top of Peter’s head. “No can do. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to take plenty of pictures to send to Ned and MJ once the procedure is over.”
“May!” She just laughed again and threw a pillow at him.
“Now, chop chop, Pete. Let’s go.”
***************************************************
“I take it back,” Peter groaned, “I would take the stab wound to this.” Said teenager was currently sitting in the waiting room chair, hands gripping the arms so hard they were in danger of breaking clean off.
“You better not let your Aunt Hottie hear you say that,” Tony said.
“Ew, stop calling her that. I’m in distress, don’t corrupt my young innocent ears.” Tony snorted.
“Young, yes. Innocent, well... May’s told me you’ve been spending more alone time with MJ lately.” Tony winked suggestively, and Peter’s cheeks gained a significant pink tint.
“Oh my god, Mr. Stark. Please stop talking.”
“You know what, maybe we should be talking about this. Are you being safe? Using protection? Condoms are the most reliable way to prevent both STDs and unplanned pregna--”
“Mr. Stark!” Peter cut him off. His face had been steadily turning redder with every word said. “Can we not talk about this when I’m about to get surgery?”
“Relax, kid. I’m just kidding. Well, mostly. That’s still important information. I don’t know how much you young ones are learning in Sex Ed these days. See, when I was younger--”
“Can we change the subject? Please?” Peter pleaded.
“I don’t suppose you’re willing to provide another subject to talk about?” Peter just slumped further in his chair, his head falling back and slamming against the top of the hard plastic chair. Peter made a noise in surprise, his head jerking straight up at the impact.
“Jeez, Pete. Chill out a bit, yeah? This is all super routine, nothing to worry about.” Tony placed a reassuring hand on Peter’s knee.
“I know. It’s just, last time, there was nothing to put me under. And this time, we don’t really know what the side effects are going to be with the drug. I know you and Bruce spent a really long time on it, and you’ve run all those tests...but I don’t know. It’s not like I don’t trust you, because I definitely do, but I just don’t like knowing that my powers are going to be...subdued.” Tony’s face softened at Peter’s words. The tension and anxiety written across the kid’s face was clear as day.
“Hey, eyes on me, kiddo.” Peter slowly dragged his gaze up from the ground to meet Tony’s unwavering one. “It’s perfectly fine to be a little nervous. Hell, I was terrified before I got mine out. Neither of my parents could be there, and I thought I was going to be alone, but Rhodey came as soon as he found out. I’ll be your Rhodey. You’ve got both me and your Aunt May, and Pepper will be floating around if you need anything else. You’ll be just fine.” Peter sighed.
“I know...but also just...needles.” Tony could practically hear the shudder in the kid’s voice. He chuckled, not unkindly.
“I wonder what all those criminals would say, the amazing Spider-Man, pro to idiotically walking off gunshot wounds and concussions, has a phobia of needles,” Tony joked.
Peter lightly punched his shoulder. “Rude. I don’t see you preparing to get stabbed with an inch long death poking device.”
“Kid, you have actually been stabbed with a much larger, sharper, more dangerous ‘poking device.’”
“But that’s different!” Tony gave Peter a look.
“Ugh, point not taken,” Peter said, slumping back into his chair.
Silence came over the room, the only sound being the tap-tap-tap of Peter’s foot as he fidgeted. His body radiated nervous energy, his hands were pulling his fingers, his entire being practically vibrating. Tony figured it was best to keep him talking, and less focused on his anxious thoughts.
“Hey, so, why are you so afraid of needles? Is there a story here?”
Peter shrugged, his tapping foot slowing. “Not really. I guess I don’t like the idea of something so small and pointy just injecting something inside me. Oh, but there was this one time with a nurse who was giving me I think what was my hepB vaccination. Maybe the menjacockle one? That’s unimportant, sorry. This wasn’t like, why I’m afraid of needles, but this whole situation just kinda grossed me out. So anyways, there are like, these nurses who administer a bunch of the mandatory vaccinations at school, yeah?” Tony nodded, he didn’t know a whole lot about the whole teen health care thing but he vaguely remembered Peter saying something about that before.
“Okay, and these nurses are not always the greatest. They’re like, new, or super old, or just don’t care a whole lot. The nurse who was doing mine stuck the thing in my arm, and like two seconds later she just said ‘uh oh’. Like, who does that?”
“She--she what? Why?”
“Turns out, she had let go of the needle by accident. I looked over when she said that and there’s just this whole ass needle hanging out of my arm. She dropped it, and then she didn’t even move to fix it! She just stood there, kinda white in the face, for I swear like, a minute!” At Peter’s expression, Tony let out a laugh.
“Stop laughing at my pain,” Peter whined, but the light in his eyes betrayed him as a smile broke through his serious resolve.
“I’m sorry, kid. But just--what? What the hell?”
“I know! But that wasn’t even the worst part!” Peter announced incredulously.
“What was?” Tony raised his eyebrows in curiosity.
“She hadn’t injected anything into my arm the first time. She had to do it all over again.” Tony laughed harder and wrapped an arm around Peter’s shoulders. It was good to see the kid distracted, there was a little more colour in his face this time around.
“Okay, wow. Remind me to start a fund for better school health care.” Peter smiled softly and dropped his head onto Tony’s shoulder with a sigh. They stayed like that for a while, even after May walked in holding a fresh cup of coffee and sat down on Peter’s other side and took his hand.
The content lull that had fallen over the three was broken when Doctor Amelia Andrews herself walked out and flashed Peter a gentle smile.
“We’re ready for you now, if you’re all set then you can come on back.” May gave Peter’s hand a light squeeze.
“You got this, baby,” she murmured.
“If you’d like, you can have your family come back with you while we insert your IV for the anesthesia.” Peter nodded tensely. Dr. Andrews smiled again and pushed the door open again, allowing Peter and his protection squad to follow.
Peter paled at the sight of the needle in Dr. Andrews’ hand, and he looked mildly ill. May noticed and squeezed Peter’s hand a little tighter, and Tony ruffled his hair affectionately.
“The medication that Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner synthesized will act as a general anesthesia does, and you will have no memory of the procedure. I trust that you have people willing to help you out following this?” Peter nodded again, vaguely gesturing to the two people standing at his sides from his place lying down on the bed.
“I don’t think these two’ll let me have any alone time for a while.” Peter let out a laugh that was maybe a little too forced, but he thought he deserved props for trying anyways.
The dental surgeon chuckled.
“Good to know. Alright, here we go. You ready, Peter?” After a pointed look from her nephew, May caught the hint and released her grip on Peter’s hand and grasped his upper arm instead. Tony didn’t move his hand from where it was gently brushing through his curls.
“Ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”
“This will just be a bit of a pinch. Three, two, one.” Peter squeezed his eyes shut as he felt the needle sliding in. Even with his eyes closed, he felt like he was watching it penetrate his skin and sink deep beneath the surface. But as he lay there, his brain grew more foggy and he felt reality slipping away from his fingertips.
“All good, kiddo?” He didn’t know who was talking, but he threw up a lazy thumbs up as the darkness finally claimed him.
***********************************************************
Tony had been pacing the floor ever since Peter had gone into surgery. The rational part of his brain knew it was a simple, routine operation, but Peter’s an enhanced 16-year-old kid, and anything could always go wrong.
May shifted from where she was napping lightly in a chair and Tony stopped his pacing, exhaling sharply and sitting down next to her. He didn’t dare wake her, she had been up almost the entire night with Peter watching movies to calm both of their nerves. She deserved the rest. He grabbed his phone from the side table and fiddled with it, hoping to channel his nerves in a quieter, more productive way.
It felt like ages until Dr. Andrews finally wheeled an unconscious Peter back in on a rolling bed. May and Tony both lurched forward.
“How did it go?” Tony asked anxiously.
“It was perfectly routine, we faced no complications, and the anesthesia worked just as expected.” Both May and Tony let out identical sighs of relief.
“Thank God,” May said. Dr. Andrews smiled and turned to face Peter.
“As we discussed earlier, I would like him to stay around for another hour, just so I can continue to monitor him. He should wake up within the next 10 minutes, but know that it isn’t uncommon for him to be nauseous or dizzy, or experience some sort of emotional response to the medication. We don’t really know how he’ll react, or the effects the pain medication he is meant to take after will have, but I’ll come around in about 30 minutes to check on him and there’s a call button on your left to call me or one of the other nurses.” Tony nodded.
“Thanks, Doc.” Dr. Andrews nodded and left the room. As the sound of her footsteps disappeared, Peter blinked his eyes open.
“Peter!” May said, rushing over to hold his hand. His eyes opened a little more, looking foggy and a little glazed over.
“Welcome back to the land of the living, kid. How’re you feeling?” Tony questioned. Peter moved his mouth but no words were formed. He looked dazed as smacked his lips together and he tried again.
“Wha’?” May raised her eyebrows in amusement.
“How are you feeling, Pete?” Tony repeated. Instead of articulating his thoughts, Peter raised his arms above his head, his face breaking out into a grin.
“That good, huh?”
“Does your mouth hurt at all?” May stepped in. Peter’s eyebrows furrowed.
“Wha’ happ’n’d ‘o my mou’fh?”
“You got your wisdom teeth out, baby.” Peter’s mouth opened in an ‘O’ shape.
“Who ‘ook ‘em?” The gauze in his mouth made his words barely intelligible.
“Dr. Andrews did,” Tony replied, a smile playing on his lips.
“Oh. Rude.” Peter raised a hand to touch his chin, and his eyes widened like saucers once it made contact.
“I can’t feel i’! Miss’r S’ark, I can’t feel my chin!”
“That’s because the nice doctors knocked you out and then numbed your face so it wouldn’t hurt.”
“Make ‘em give it back,” Peter whined.
“Give what back? Your teeth?”
“No!” Peter yelled, and both adults startled. “I wan’ my face back.”
“Peter, baby, you have to calm down a little, okay? Maybe no yelling?” May said gently, but as she looked up Tony made eye contact with her and could see the amusement written across her face.
But her words sombered Peter up immediately. “‘m sorry!” Tears filled his eyes at an alarming rate and were spilling down his cheeks before either adult could do anything about it.
May threw her arms around her nephew right away, and Tony stood awkwardly a little bit away.
“Miss’r S’ark! You go’a join!” Peter opened his arms wider, inviting Tony into the hug. The tears were gone as soon as they came, but Tony still moved closer and wrapped the teen up in his arms.
The moment was ruined when Peter spotted his bag across the room.
“Is my phone over ‘ere? I wanna ‘ext MJ. I miss ‘er!”
“Underoos, I don’t know if it’s the best idea for you to have your phone right-”
“Please?” Peter was looking up at him with the biggest, brightest puppy dog eyes and Tony relented, standing up to retrieve it out of the side pocket.
“You’ve got him wrapped around your finger, Pete,” he heard May say quietly.
“I heard that!” Tony said without turning around.
“Yeah, yeah. It’s only the truth.” Phone in hand, he glared at May, but there was no heat behind it. Tony handed Peter his phone, but the hyperactive teenager was no longer focused on that.
“Wha’s tha’?” Peter asked, pointing to his bag. Tony turned to look and saw a familiar red mask poking out the side where he hadn’t finished redoing the zipper up. Tony vaguely remembered telling the kid to bring the suit for when he was feeling mostly better and wanted something to work on and make some updates to.
“That’s your Spider-Man mask.”
“Did I make tha’ for him? Can I mee’ him?”
“You already know him, kiddo. You’re--”
“Ohmigod, is Ned Spider-Man?”
“No, Pete-”
“He didn’ ‘ell me ‘hat! Why’s he been lying to me? We’re bes’ freinds!” Tony looked over and saw May’s shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.
“Peter, you’re Spider-Man.” Peter gasped, his eyes comically wide, and then promptly passed out.
After Dr. Andrews had been called back following the adults brief panic, it was determined that this was normal for the medication that he was on, and wasn’t anything to worry about. It was deemed safe for him to be taken out of the MedBay and into his room where he would be more comfortable.
The whole time up Peter babbled about how MJ and Ned would be so excited when they learned that he was “a superhero, May!”
Once Peter was situated comfortably in his room, his gauze changed, Brooklyn 99 playing, and a bucket next to the bed just in case, Tony and May finally left him alone with a promise from FRIDAY to tell them if anything was wrong.
Once the door was closed behind them, May turned to Tony and hugged him.
“Thank you, Tony. For helping me out with this.”
“Please, May. I didn’t do much.” May pulled away and flicked his ear.
“You synthesized a general anesthesia for my super-kid. If he had had to go through all that awake again…” Tony nodded in understanding, his stomach turning at the thought.
“I know.”
May smiled. “Our dumbass spider is okay.”
Tony’s breath hitched for a moment, a little overwhelmed, and May reached out to press a gentle hand to his shoulder.
“I don’t know how you’re so good with all this ... emotional gunk.” Tony pretended to shudder and May laughed lightly.
“It’s a gift. Now come on, let’s eat while we still can...Lord knows Peter will be up and trying to function before we even have time to breathe.” Tony went to follow her as she walked towards the elevator but paused.
“FRIDAY, save the footage of Peter in the MedBay and send it to his friend Ted.”
“Right away, boss.”