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“I don’t want to go,” Peter said. “Are you really going to force me to?”
“Yes,” May said, flatly. “Yes, I am. Because I’m going to be at the hospital, all the time, and I don’t trust you to stay inside if I tell you to. And I don’t want to come home and bring it with me and put you in danger, either.”
Peter scoffed. “I’m not scared of it.”
“Well, I am,” May snapped. Peter went silent, staring at her. May almost never snapped.
May closed her eyes. “Peter, I promise you that any parent in the city who had the option I do would take it right now. I don’t want to be worrying about you in the middle of all of this. I want to know that you’re safe. That will let me focus on what I need to do.”
Peter wanted to argue, but from the moment she’d snapped at him, he knew he wouldn’t win. May was obviously serious about this. And he only wanted to be in the city if he could help, anyway; he didn’t want to put her more at risk than she would be already. So instead of arguing, he asked, “How long?”
May sighed. “I wish I knew, baby. But we’ll video chat all the time. Every night, even.”
Peter bit his lip. “And you’ll tell us if you test positive or get sick, right? The compound is already being converted into a hospital, and Dr Cho and Dr. Banner––”
“I’ll tell you,” May said, stopping him. She pulled him close, and Peter rested his head on her shoulder. “Right away, I promise. Thank you for doing this.”
“I hate it,” Peter mumbled.
“Me too, baby. But it’ll be over––at some point, it’ll be over. And until then, Tony and Pepper and Morgan will take good care of you.”
“Who’s going to take care of you?” Peter asked.
May smiled at him. “Happy’s going to come back after he drops you off tomorrow.”
Peter still didn't like it, but that did make him feel a little better. Not much, but enough that he nodded, acquiescing.
***
The drive up the next morning was quiet. Happy usually put on podcasts or the news, but instead he just turned on music and let it play. May had left for a twelve-hour shift that morning, and all Peter could think about was whether she was safe or not. He thought Happy might be thinking the same things.
They weren’t even over the bridge before Peter pulled out his phone and started scrolling through news coverage. It was all bad, but he couldn’t make himself stop. When there were no new updates on the New York Times, he switched over to Twitter. He’d never had a Twitter account before all this, but it was where a lot of the most up-to-the-minute reporting was happening, so he’d created one just to follow along. The coverage there was endless.
They were maybe twenty minutes from the cabin when Peter finally spoke. “You’ll take care of her, right?” he said, looking up from his phone. “You’ll make sure she comes home and doesn’t just sleep at the hospital.”
“You’ve got my word, kid,” Happy said. “That’s why I’m staying.”
Peter was silent for another minute, watching the country road unwinding before them. There was never a lot of traffic out here, but today there was none at all. It made him uneasy. “I’m scared for her.”
“Me too,” Happy admitted. Peter looked at Happy, surprised by the candor. “But you know that this is what she has to do. She’s a nurse, and we need nurses and doctors more than we need superheroes right now.”
“I know, I just... I don’t like feeling useless.”
“None of us do. But right now, this is the best thing you can do for her.”
Peter thought about Ned and MJ, trapped in their tiny New York apartments with their families. About the home-made mask and blue gloves Mr. Delmar had been wearing when Peter had gone in to get some supplies for May and Happy yesterday. About the taqueria across the street that was shuttered and might not survive if this went on more than a week or two.
It wasn’t fair that he got to escape when so many other people didn’t. But he knew that argument wasn’t going to hold any more water with Happy than it had with May, so he kept his mouth shut as the miles slid past.
***
Morgan ran out of the house and down the steps when they pulled up. “PETER!” she yelled. “Daddy says you’re coming to stay with us for two whole weeks!”
Peter thought that was an conservative estimate at this point, but Tony had probably been trying not to scare her. “That’s right, Mo-Mo,” he said, trying to sound happy about it. “I can’t pick you up yet, though. I need to––”
“Wash your hands,” she finished, in a singsong voice. “I know.”
Peter went into the house to wash his hands and, after thinking about it for a moment, to change into clothes from his dresser. He stuffed his city clothes into a laundry bag. He’d showered before leaving the house that morning, and Happy’s car was always spotless, but everything had started to feel dangerous. And even if it wasn’t dangerous to him, personally––and Peter was pretty sure he couldn’t get the virus himself, no matter what the adults in his life said––it was still dangerous to other people. Tony’s lungs weren’t great, and neither was his heart.
The moment he emerged, freshly scrubbed, Morgan started talking a million miles an hour. “It’s been so boring since school was canceled,” she said, dragging Peter down the hallway by the hand, “so I’m really glad you’re here. Mommy works, and I help Daddy in the garage, but he’s on the phone with the ‘vengers all the time, and it’s sooooo boooooorrrinng.”
“That’s important work,” Peter told her. “They’re going to save a lot of people with the hospital at the compound.”
“I know,” she sighed, “I’m just––”
“Bored?”
“Yes!”
“Well, tell you what, maybe we can do some science while I’m here.”
“YAY SCIENCE!” Morgan yelled and let go of his hand to bolt down the front steps of the house again.
Outside, Tony had come out of the garage and was talking with Happy, with the requisite six feet between them. Peter joined them, while Morgan ran down to her tent.
“Freshly washed,” Peter said, holding up his hands. “I even changed my clothes.”
“Thanks, kid,” Tony said. He put his arm around Peter’s shoulders and gave him a squeeze. “How’re you holding up?”
Peter shrugged. “You know, if Morgan was wearing you out, you could have just said so. I’m happy to give you a break.”
Tony huffed a laugh. “Not saying it isn’t true, but it wasn’t at the forefront of my mind.”
“Sure,” Peter said, managing a smile, “I definitely believe that.”
Happy cleared his throat. “I should get going. Long drive back. We’ll call you tonight after May gets off work, okay, Pete?”
“Yeah, thanks, Happy,” Peter replied. He watched Happy get in the car and head back down the driveway. None of them had suggested he stay for lunch. He hadn’t even come inside the house. Peter knew it was for the best, but it felt bizarre. It felt even more bizarre when Tony handed him some bleach wipes and asked him to wipe down his bag before bringing it inside––his phone, too.
Peter’s anxiety had never taken the form of OCD, but he thought it might after this.
Lunch felt a little more normal. Tony had made turkey sandwiches and salad. He took a plate upstairs to Pepper, who was working in her home office, and the three of them ate outside at the picnic table on the porch. Morgan chatted away about what she had planned for the two of them, and Peter found himself suppressing an unfair stab of annoyance that she seemed to think this was an unexpected vacation. He thought she had some sense that something big was happening, but it was harder to grasp it here than it had been in the city.
He remembered the first morning after the shelter-in-place order, when he’d looked outside at what was usually heavy rush-hour foot traffic toward the subway station, and seen no one. There was no traffic here, and no people aside from them. He couldn’t blame Morgan for not understanding.
“Mo, let’s let Peter get settled, all right?” Tony finally said, once they were done eating. “Why don’t you go put on a movie, and maybe you and Peter can play outside later?”
Morgan sighed but ran off toward the living room. Peter helped Tony clear the table, and then the two of them loaded the dishwasher together.
“You’re being awfully quiet, kiddo,” Tony said as he rinsed a plate under the hot water. “I know this is tough. I’m sure you’d rather be in the city right now.”
Peter shrugged. He didn’t want to sound ungrateful, even if Tony was right.
Tony was quiet for a moment. “It’s okay to be safe, you know. I’ve had to remind myself of that a lot recently. Sometimes the right thing is the safe thing. That doesn’t come naturally to either of us, I realize.”
Peter toweled a dish dry, not looking at Tony. “May doesn't have that option.”
“No,” Tony conceded. “No, she doesn’t. But she’s a good nurse. I’m sure she’s being careful.”
“Yeah,” Peter said, not saying that she might not have the option of being careful––if there wasn’t enough protective equipment, or if she’d been on shift for too long and got tired and careless, or if she was asked to do something she wasn’t trained for because they were so overwhelmed. Being a good nurse wasn’t enough to keep her safe, and he knew it. Tony knew it, too, he just didn’t know what else to say.
Tony handed the last plate to Peter and turned the water off. “Come on, let’s watch a movie. Maybe after that, we can go for a walk.”
Peter couldn’t have said what movie they watched; he spent almost all of it on his phone, refreshing the Times and scrolling obsessively through Twitter. After the movie ended, Pepper came downstairs, and the three of them dragged Peter out for the threatened walk around the lake. Peter whined, but there was no convincing them to let him stay at the house.
Five minutes into the walk, Peter was reading a third article about a hospital in Queens that was already under water––not May’s, not yet–– when Tony marched up and snatched his phone right out of his hand.
“What the––I need that!”
“No, you don’t, kid,” Tony said firmly. “This is not a situation where knowing everything is going to help you, and you’re making yourself crazy. I can see your anxiety ramping up.”
“But what if May tries to contact me?” Peter protested.
Tony put the phone in his pocket. “I’ll keep an eye on your notifications. But you’re cut off until dinner. Go with your sister to look for some skipping rocks.”
“Yeah, Peter!” Morgan chimed in. “Let’s look for skipping rocks!”
Peter glared and grumbled, but Tony was utterly unmoved, and Pepper wasn’t coming to his rescue either. Morgan grabbed his hand and hauled him up the shoreline to a spot she thought was promising. Peter took a deep breath, inhaling the smell of lake water and green growing things and life all around him, and tried not to think about how unfairly lucky he was to have this place to come to, when so many people were trapped in a concrete jungle that was even more dangerous than usual.
It took a few minutes for his head to clear. The first thing Peter really remembered was the skipping contest the four of them had at the edge of the lake as the sun went down. Tony and Pepper were ridiculously competitive, so Peter and Morgan left them to bicker about whether a throw had skipped five times or six and moved down the shoreline a little ways.
It wasn’t as hard to let Morgan win as Peter had thought it would be. She’d grown up at the lake, and she was an old hand at skipping rocks. After the first couple of rounds, she mostly wanted to see how far Peter could throw, anyway.
Pretty freakin’ far, was the answer to that. Far enough that he missed the lake entirely and it landed in the trees.
They walked back to the house together in the deepening dusk. Morgan and Pepper walked hand in hand up ahead, while Tony put his arm around Peter. Peter thought about asking for his phone back, but the truth was that he felt better than he had in a long time. Maybe he really didn’t need to know absolutely everything that was happening. It made him feel guilty, but the guilt wasn’t quite as bad as the anxiety had been.
Peter and Tony and Morgan cooked dinner while Pepper went to send a few emails, and then the four of them ate on the porch. It was cool in the evenings still, but with sweatshirts layered over their clothes, it was still comfortable. Peter couldn’t help but think about Ned and MJ, opening windows or escaping their families on fire-escapes. He wondered how long it would be before they were together again.
After dinner, before he took Morgan upstairs to get her ready for bed, Tony handed Peter back his phone. “May wants you to call her,” he said. “I’ll be back downstairs in a bit, all right?”
Peter nodded. He tried to help Pepper with the dishes, but she waved him off, and so he took his phone back out onto the porch and sat down.
May answered after two rings. “Hey baby,” she said, sounding exhausted.
“Hi,” he replied. “How was your day?”
“Long,” she sighed. “We had a lot of cases come in. But I don’t want to talk about that. How was your day?”
“Fine.” Peter paused, but May didn’t say anything. “We went for a walk,” he finally said grudgingly, feeling guilty about just how nice his day had been. “Had pizza for dinner. I miss you.”
“I miss you, too, baby.”
“You’re being careful, right?” Peter said. “You’re wearing a mask?”
“Of course I am. I’m being as careful as I can be.”
Peter pressed his lips together. “Did Happy make dinner?”
“Yes, he made lasagna. And pie. He says he’s panic-baking.”
“What kind of pie?”
“Lemon meringue.”
Peter smiled. “I want lemon meringue pie.”
“Well, he’ll make it when you come home, how about that? We’ll have it for your welcome back dinner.”
And just like that, Peter felt his tentative good cheer evaporate. Because neither of them knew when he’d be back. He didn’t say anything else, and after a moment, May said, “I hate to cut us so short, but I need to be up for my next shift in a few hours. I love you.”
“I love you, too. Please be careful.”
“I will. Say hi to Tony and Pepper for me. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
May disconnected. Peter sat on the porch with his phone in hand, looking out at the lake. There was a full moon tonight, and the light was shimmering on the water. It looked so pretty... and so normal. Like people weren’t dying.
Peter didn’t know how long he sat there, but eventually Tony came out and joined him. He had two mugs of hot chocolate in his vibranium hand, and he handed one to Peter.
“How’s May?”
“Tired.” Peter looked down at his mug. He’d bought hot chocolate mix for Happy and May at Delmar’s yesterday. It was the cheap kind, not like the stuff Tony made, which was basically just melted dark chocolate with a bit of cream.
A minute slid by, then two. Finally, Tony leaned over and bumped Peter’s shoulder with his own. “Talk to me, kiddo.”
Peter swallowed. He hadn’t taken a single sip of his hot chocolate. Couldn’t bring himself to. “I’m really afraid for her. I’m afraid that she’ll get sick—a lot of nurses have gotten sick—but also that she’ll be alone. I won’t be able to get to her.” He sniffled, wiping his eyes on the back of his hand. “And... and I don’t know what I’ll do if that happens. If she gets sick and I’m trapped here. I just... I’m really scared, Tony.”
“I know,” Tony said. He took Peter’s mug from him and set both their mugs aside. He pulled Peter toward him and tucked his head under his chin. “I hate that I can’t make this better. But I promise you this—if May gets sick, we’ll take care of her, all right? We’ll make sure she comes up to the compound, and we’ll get you as close as we can to her. That might not be as close as you want, but she won’t feel alone. I know that’s not much, it’s not enough, but—”
“Thank you,” Peter murmured, pressing his forehead to Tony’s shoulder.
Tony pulled in a sharp breath. Peter felt him press his lips to the top of his head. “I hope you don’t hate me for saying this,” he murmured after a moment, “but I’m glad you’re here. I was going crazy thinking about you in the city. I know this is hard, but I’m glad you’re here.”
“It doesn’t feel fair that I get to be here,” Peter muttered.
Tony sighed. “I know. And you’re you, so that’s going to be tough. But it’s the right thing to do right now. I promise. Do you trust me?”
“Yeah,” Peter said, looking up at him. “Always.”
Tony smiled at him. “Good. Now come on—I’ve got some stuff brewing in the garage I want to show you. Some prototypes we should take to the compound tomorrow for Helen and Bruce to look at. If they think they’re promising, we can start getting approval to—“
“Wait, what?” Peter jumped to his feet. “There’s stuff we can do? Why didn’t you say so?”
“Because sometimes, kid,” Tony said, getting to his feet and collecting their mostly untouched mugs of hot chocolate, “you have to accept that you’re not going to be the hero. We’re the sidekicks in this scenario. We’ll do what we can to help, but your aunt is the hero. Her and people like her.”
Peter sighed heavily. “I don’t like not being able to do more.”
“Me neither. But it is what it is.” Tony squeezed Peter’s shoulder. He went inside to put the mugs in the kitchen, then came back out and headed down the stairs.
Peter followed Tony down the well-lit path toward the garage. His phone weighed heavy in his hand. The urge to pull it out and check the Times and Twitter was almost overwhelming.
“Tony?” he said, as Tony pulled open the door and gestured him through. The lights came up automatically. “Can you, um, can you keep my phone for me?” Peter held it out. “Just let me know if May or Ned or MJ contacts me. Or Happy, but he’d probably contact you, too, if––if something happened.”
Tony looked at him, face softening. “Yeah, kid, sure,” he said, taking Peter’s phone and slipping it into his pocket. He looked at him a moment longer. “I’m proud of you, Pete.”
“For what?” Peter asked, baffled. “I didn’t do anything.”
“I know you think that,” Tony said, smiling at him gently. He sat down on a stool and rolled over to a blanket-covered object. Peter pulled up a second stool next to him, and waved at DUM-E, who was watching them from his charging station. “Come on, then. Let’s see what us sidekicks can do.”
Fin.