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Peter’s life has been good lately. There's really been no reason to complain, no major changes in his life that he has to worry about. He would describe his emotions as content, and maybe even happy, surrounded by the support of his Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Things could be better, even though he finds himself missing his parent's presence at times. But there's an overall steadiness to his life that he has to appreciate. Things have been okay for him. He'd much rather things don't change.
Then things do change. Things change a lot in a short span of time. Peter Parker doesn't like change. Usually change in the Parker family means the loss of a loved one and he's not sure if he's ready for another loss so soon. He knows loss is difficult and unavoidable, but he's just experienced so much of it these last few years. And even though his life has been okay, he definitely isn't ready to handle more heartbreak anytime soon. There's still a lot of healing for the teenager to do.
But the change is different this time - something unexpected and completely new. His best friend is by his side as a spider escapes from a nearby tank on a field trip, somehow finding it's way to Peter's leg and taking a large-sized bite. He's bitten by a radioactive spider on this field trip, and every particle in the boy's body changes forever.
He's sent into a week-long sickness, screams of pain that cannot be satisfied by any of May's at-home treatments. The pain is sharp and extreme, unexpected as it rips through the boy’s body. Peter remembers screeching and sweating through cramps as his body rearranges itself under his skin. Everything seems to change in that moment: the density of his bones as they grind against each other, the strength of his muscles as they throb and stretch beneath his skin, and the stickiness of his skin as he grips at the bedsheets, desperate for any sort of relief. No relief comes.
He can’t remember what happens in those three days, but there’s a vague memory of screaming, vomiting, and pounding within his ear canals. Pure torture that will forever carve his mind.
But that’s all behind him now. Besides a slight migraine from sensory overload and responsibility he can no longer ignore, he's exactly the same Peter Parker as before.
Except he isn't. He's special. He has abilities and powers that he can use to help others. He can stick to walls - and other things, too. He also has increased strength and improved reaction time. Even his senses and metabolism have become comparable to Captain America. He's like no one ever before.
He’s a superhero. He’s Spider-Man, inspired by his childhood hero. He's always been impressed by the great Tony Stark. He wants to be just like him. He wants to help people. And he finally has his chance.
Tony Stark shows up in Peter's bedroom one day and everything changes for the better.
It takes time. Relationships aren't built overnight, but he's got a new mentor figure that inspires and pushes him to do better. His goals are now within reach.
It starts with Germany. He fights alongside his idol. He wears a special super-suit built just for Peter, designed with his abilities in mind. Tony Stark actually spent time making him this.
When he returns to New York, the boy isn't tossed aside like he was expecting. Maybe in some other universe. But this Tony Stark welcomes him, sees the potential in Peter right away. Not only for the physical abilities he gained when he was bitten, but for the brain filled with wonder that always wants to learn more.
Quick suit checkups turn into them developing suit prototypes side by side. Internship lies become actual internship nights where Tony teaches him an endless amount of laboratory skills, alongside some actual physical training so that his safety is maximized. (Tony can't bear the thought of his pupil being hurt in battle. Keeping him close is the best way to maintain his safety.)
Late night work sessions turn into sleepovers. Broken hearts turn into comfort sessions with ice cream and movies. Their professional relationship turns into something more.
Spider-Man’s just finishing up his final after school patrol when something catches his attention.
A small flake floats by his face, practically dancing on the wind as it loops in front of his eyes and lands on the nose of his mask. He goes cross-eyed for a moment as he studies the tiny white speck. A single drop of white snow, but carved in a way he’s never completely studied before. It’s like no snowflake he’s ever seen, and he can only assume his newly improved vision has something to do with it. It truly is beautiful, nearly bringing tears to the corner of his eyes, but he pushes down the reaction. At least he can hide the dopey smile underneath his mask.
He knows he should rush home and tell his family about it. He might even have some time to stop at Tony's and share some childhood snow-time stories if he swings quick enough. He’s quite cold, and he knows there's a large amount of hot chocolate waiting for him at the tower, but he doesn't move yet. He takes a moment to bask in the newly found beauty of the world around him. He needs to be alone in this moment as he watches the differently carved flakes dance around him.
He quickly texts his mentor that he’s running late, then spends the rest of the night slowly swinging around the tower watching the snowflakes fall. He's sure he's being tracked, especially in cold difficult weather like this. The swings take a bit more work than usual, his heartbeat slowing with the freezing cold Winter surrounding them, but he's enjoying himself too much to care. He can rest later.
This is going to be a long Winter if Peter’s already so cold on the first night. There's something inside him slowing, a desperate longing for rest that's starting to tingle, but he has no clue of what’s yet to come. He can only blame a long day of school and the thin spandex he’s wearing. He's going to have to turn in early tonight.
If he’s going to keep up his patrolling this month - and he definitely is, there’s no way in the world Peter could ever stop being Spider-Man - then he’s going to need to propose installing a heater into his suit.
Peter shouts a quick greeting when he enters the private Stark suite, but there isn't much heart in the greeting. He has other things on his mind as he rushes to his room. Mostly collapsing on his bed.
The snow is starting to come down much harder than before, and the last few blocks of his route had left him completely waterlogged and freezing cold. He already has trouble regulating his temperature, so catching a bug from a freezing cold super-suit is something he definitely does not want today. His aching joints and chattering teeth are already too much for him to bear.
The second he's in his room he's throwing the wet clothes onto the floor and pulling on a pair of dry boxers, grabbing the thickest blanket he can find from his bed and throwing it around his own shoulders. The bed seems like the warmest and safest place right now. A hot shower would be too much on his freezing cold skin.
It’s a good thing he took the time to put on some underoos because he can no longer find the energy to get up and close the door. It wouldn't be the first time he's been walked in on naked because he forgot that other people live in this suite, but he definitely doesn't need a repeat of the incident. At least Mr. Stark was kind about it.
It feels like seconds before Tony is knocking on the side of the door frame, entering only after a very sleepy grunt from Peter underneath the blanket. Peter can barely open his groggy eyes to answer his mentor, but he's excited to hear from him nonetheless. Things are always better with him around.
“What’s going on in here? Are you having a slumber party without me?”
“No Mr. Stark,” Peter says with a purr. “Just cold.”
It already seems quite warm in the room to Tony, but he did just come down from the lab and has been working hard all night. He can probably adjust the thermostat in the room a bit, but he’s more concerned that Peter’s becoming ill. He's never seen Peter get sick before, but his dad senses are going off slightly in the background.
But at the same time, he doesn't want to be too much of a concerned father. The boy was just outside patrolling in the snow. It's probably no big deal. Peter just needs to let his body rest a bit. Eventually, he'll return to normal spider-baby temperature.
"Alright. We'll skip the lab today. Just get all warm and cozy. Dinner's in twenty."
Peter feels blessed to be staycationing at Stark Tower. He gets a few beautiful weeks away from school and he gets to work alongside his mentor for the entire holiday break. May's usually too busy working overtime during this time of year, which leaves him alone for most of his Winter Break. But this is a much better way to spend it. He jumps at the chance for an Ironman Christmas.
He just wishes he could act more appreciative. It was great during the start - when he first arrived with his duffle bag. He's brought to the "guest room" by Happy and Mr. Stark, which has been renovated into a special room only for him, decorated with all his interests and hobbies. No school. Increased lab time with hot cocoa breaks in between. Spider-Manning without a curfew. Movie nights. Yet something feels off.
He's happy. This is great. It's exactly what Peter's always wanted in a parent - don't let Mr. Stark hear that word - but he feels overly dreary and tired. Like a thick fog is surrounding him and pulling him back into dreamland. A beautiful siren singing to him, luring him towards his bed. An instinct so deep and built into him that he's sure has been there since birth. And this tiredness has been dragging him down from his usual happy self. He knows his response time is off and his tone less enthusiastic than usual when he replies to his mentor. He just hopes his Tony doesn't take the tone as uncaring or ungrateful.
Because none of his yawns or sleeping in have been in bad meaning. He didn't mean to sleep through the pancake breakfast this morning. He's just so fatigued. He wanders out of bed for a few moments to empty his bladder before crawling back into the warmth of his blanket fort.
It isn't until the afternoon that Tony wanders into the boy's room to check on him with a knock to the door. He comes in when he hears the boy grumbling, and is surprised to still find the teenager in bed. He isn't upset, but it only reinforces the "getting sick" theory Tony's been pondering since the night before.
"You okay spider-baby? It's almost two o'clock. I'm not used to growing teenagers, but that seems like a bit much."
A face peeks out from under the blankets, eyes groggy and scrunched up. "Mmmm... Tired...."
"Too much patrolling last night?"
Peter doesn't answer. He can't remember if that's true or think of a witty reply. His brain is too foggy. Instead, he moves his face back inside of the warmth of his blankets and murrs.
"That's funny, kid. Now come on out and let's get some food in you. May won't be happy if you starve on my watch."
Even that's a battle for the boy. He eventually does pull himself out of his fort, but only with the thickest blanket wrapped around his shoulders and trailing behind him down the hallway. He's wearing his thickest fuzzy socks without holes in them and a holiday jumper that runs far past his sleeves, but he still feels cold. It's only in the warmth of his room that he feels the urge settling down a bit, but that's only because he's sleeping through the tingles.
There's a spread of sandwiches and hot soup. The steam that rises from the soup seems most pleasing to him right now, so he spends the next ten minutes hovering above a bowl of warm chicken noodle, which only worries Mr. Stark even further. The warmth calms him until he can feel a large grumble emerging from his empty tummy, forcing him to sip down some of the warm broth and eat half a sandwich.
"Are you sure you're okay? I normally can't stop you from inhaling your food."
"I'm fine. Just tired. And not very hungry."
"I'm about 99% sure you're sick at this point. There's no denying it any longer..."
"I don't get sick. Not since the bite."
"Maybe it's best to take the next few days off."
"Crime stops for no spider!"
"I'm going to have to put my foot down, kiddo. No lab time. No patrolling. Not until you feel better. I don't need May murdering me."
"Pushover..."
"You bet! That woman is hot, but also very terrifying! In a good way, of course. But I don't feel like being castrated this Christmas."
Peter scrunches his nose in disgust at the thought, but forces down a few more bites anyway. If only to prove that he is in fact not sick, but he's mostly just being a stubborn teenager doing everything he can to deny authority. He may be *not sick*, but he definitely doesn't have any other explanation for his tiredness, chills, and lack of appetite.
"Why don't we watch a movie instead? Star Wars? I could always watch it for the fifty-second time."
Peter smiles. He has made Mr. Stark watch that movie a lot, but it's his go too sick-time movie. And feel-good movie. And can't sleep because of nightmares movie. He just really likes Star Wars.
"Can I bring my blankets to the couch?"
"Sure. Whatever you want, Spider-baby."
There seems to be some kind of blanket magic going on here. He blames Doctor Strange.
Tony is sure there were two blankets in the kid's room when he made the bed last week. And he didn't count, but there were no more than four blankets in the blanket fort earlier. Maybe a few pillows and an extra sheet, at the most. But there weren't nearly as many linens as the kid has right now.
The kid has, at a very minimum, thirteen blankets spread out around him on the couch. They must be multiplying. Maybe breeding every time he blinks? The man isn't even sure that he owns this many blankets. The entirety of Stark Tower doesn't have that many linens - not counting his own personal blankets. But there so many comforters and throws here. Who knows where the kid found them.
At least he can somewhat reach the boy's head through the mound of blankets. There's just enough room for the man to run his fingers through his son's hair in the most comforting way, doing his best to make his kid feel better. He can feel the warmth coming off the boy's head, but he pushes down his worries. The boy is pretty medicine resistant, and tearing away these blankets isn't an option. With all the snow flurrying outside, it's probably just a quick bug at the worst.
It isn't too long until he can hear the boy's snoring from inside the blankets.
That's where they spend the majority of the week. Cuddled up on the couch of the Stark Tower suite.
He could bring Peter back to his bedroom, but he keeps telling him this is safer. This way he can keep an eye on him. The living room keeps his boy closest.
It isn't until day two that things take a turn for the worst. The winds have started howling outside with the intensity of the polar vortex surrounding the state. Tony can feel the coldness seeping through the walls of the tower despite the ever battling arc reactor powered furnace downstairs. He can't help but wonder if the boy's Peter Tingle predicated this with his sleepiness.
Things get even more frantic when the boy will no longer wake. Tony's been waking him every few hours to feed him, force down bits of water, and helping him to the bathroom. None of these things that the boy wants to do, but more for Tony's worry than anything.
It's weird. The boy doesn't seem sick. He really doesn't have a fever beyond the temperature of the blankets surrounding him. He isn't sneezing or sick to his stomach, and he doesn't have a sore throat when he does try to eat. He's breathing fine - if anything a bit slow but nothing too worrisome. The worst is the lethargy and lack of appetite. Tony has no idea if he should be worried or not.
He calls May, but there's not much concern from her end. "This is pretty normal when he's sick. We don't... have a lot of money, Tony. So unless we're hospitalization-level sick, we generally just have to sleep off whatever's attacking us. He'll be okay. Just keep an eye on his temperature and call me if anything escalates."
He keeps an eye on the boy's temperature. That's all he can do. Tony lays with his Spider-boy on the couch worriedly googling symptoms on his phone when something catches his attention.
The Disney Plus account has been scrolling through random content for the last two days. With the Star Wars saga finished, Tony's left movies running in the background as noise. Something to distract him from the constant flurrying of the snow outside and white noise for the sleeping boy beside him.
He hasn't really been watching, but a random animal planet documentary playing has caught his attention. Bears eating just a little bit too much before tucking themselves away inside their caves for the Winter, the worst of the snow tumbling outside. They're safe hibernating.
Something clicks within Tony. He stares at the pile of blankets for a few moments. His gaze switches to the fat sleeping bear on TV. Then it finally rests on the large bay windows where snow is dancing in swirls as it settles across the New York landscape. All these things just seem like too much of a coincidence.
"JARVIS, do spiders hibernate?"
"Some spiders, like the fishing spider and the tarantula, live longer than a year and will hibernate during the cold months. Both adult spiders and young spiders will hunker down under tree bark, rocks, between the ground and the snow, or even burrow into the soil."
"Or a pile of never-ending blankets... Do you think Peter could be hibernating right now?"
There's some silence before the AI responds. "It's possible. His heartbeat and symptoms are extremely similar to hibernating animals."
Jarvis was right. There's no other explanation. The boy is hibernating.
A careful eye is kept on him over the remainder of his rest. A close monitor of his blood sugars and heartbeat kept by Tony and Jarvis. Nothing changes. Tony can barely believe it, but this seems perfectly natural besides never happening in a human being before. The boy's warm and happy and safe.
And as quickly as the sleepies took over Peter, he finds himself waking again. It's the first time he's woken on his own accord for the entire week. He can sense the snow settling outside as he blinks his eyes sleepily and scrunches from underneath the blankets. He feels different - well-rested maybe? - something he hasn't been able to claim since the snowstorm settled over his city.
He pushes his head up from the couch. His blankets tumble around him, mostly falling onto the floor below. The lights are too bright for and he rubs his eyes groggily.
"Jarvis, lower the lights please."
"Mmm... Mr. Stark?"
"I'm here. How are you feeling?"
He blinks a few more times as the room settles around him. He can see the sun shining through the window, melting the snow that the storm has settled on the landscape of the city. And his body feels much more like his usual self. "Better. I guess I just needed a nap."
Tony shakes his head in exasperation. "That was quite a nap, Spider-Baby. You slept for almost four days straight. Had May and I quite worried you know, but it's good to hear your voice again."
"It's good to be back. Do you think we could order some pizza or something? I'm super hungry."
"Of course, Underoos. Whatever you want."