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Alex didn’t wake up in the body very often, but when she did, it was a rough experience.
It was even rougher once, after she’d blinked away the lingering grogginess brought on by the switch, she realized she was in the medbay at Stark Tower.
“Kid, you up?” Tony asked. Alex turned her head to look at him.
“Yeah,” she said, looking down. She frowned at the IV in her arm. “What happened?”
“Spidey took quite a hit last night,” Tony sighed, pulling out a chair and plopping down, “his web shooters broke and he had a thirty-foot drop.”
Alex worried her lip between her teeth, then sighed and laid back against the uncomfortable pillow. “How long have I been here?”
“About sixteen hours now.”
“Sixteen?! Oh, I’m going to have a nice little chat with that boy once I get back inside.”
“Ah- I take it you’re not Peter then?”
Alex paled. ‘Shit.’
“Uhhhh…”
Tony snorted. “So, Pete not in today or what?”
Alex sighed, resigning herself to her fate, and shook her head. “No. Keagan’s been letting him back into the inner world a bit. Just certain areas, though. He’s been trying to find time to do it. No better time than when the body is injured, I guess. Little twat”
“What does that mean?”
Alex rolled her eyes. “It means that I take over when the body needs to be taken care of, and that Peter has decided to take advantage of that.”
Tony hummed. “Are you the same chick from the car?”
She scoffed. “This chick has a name, you know.” She stuck her hand out. “Alex. Nice to meet you- well, nice to officially meet you. I don’t think me taking over for two minutes in the backseat of May’s car counts as an introduction.”
He shook her hand. “Ever notice you talk more than Peter does? That’s an accomplishment.”
She rolled her eyes again. Jesus this man was a real load of work. “I’m just open about my thoughts. Can’t say the same for a certain billionaire playboy I happen to be looking at right now.”
“Correction,” Tony held up a finger, “former playboy, and the official title is ‘genius, billionaire, philanthropist.”
“Mm, only one of those is correct.”
Tony snorted. “Right. When’s Pete gettin’ back? I wanted to talk to him about reigning in Spidey a bit.”
Alex sighed. “I don’t know. I’m fronting for now, and I’ll probably be fronting until the body heals.”
“The body, that sounds stupidly spiritual.”
“It’s not spiritual, dickwad, I don’t actually look like this in the inner world. Only Peter and Spiderman actually look like the body.”
“Oh yeah? What do you look like then?”
“Ever hear of this guy named Addison Grace?”
Tony gave her a blank stare.
“Right, you’re old.”
“Hey!”
“They're gay and post videos online about how gay he is,” she explained, typing up their name. She pulled up a picture and held it out for Tony to see. “That’s more or less what I look like.”
He raised an eyebrow and leaned back. “Neat. Anyway, Cho will be by in a bit to do a checkup. She said you should be out of here by tomorrow.”
She groaned, flopping her arm down onto the bed. “I really don’t wanna be stuck out here until tomorrow.” She winced as a stabbing pain shot through her legs. “Ow.”
“Your legs botherin’ you?”
“A little,” she admitted, “but it’s fine. I’ve dealt with worse.”
Tony frowned. “Al, you can ask for more pain meds. Cho’s got the heavy-duty sh- wait, how old are you?”
“Twenty-four right now.”
“Cho’s got the heavy-duty shit. All you gotta do is ask.”
Alex grimaced as the pain subsided a little. “I’ll live, Tony,” she huffed, “The last thing we need right now is a morphine addiction.”
Tony’s frown deepened. “You’re not gonna get addicted from having a singular extra dose.”
“I know how addiction works,” Alex said quickly, “I’m an EMT. I really don’t want to risk it if I can-” her voice became strangled as the pain flared up again. “-handle it,” she choked.
“That’s not ‘handling it,’ kid.”
“Adults have the right to refuse medication.”
“Right. But currently, you are in the body of a sixteen-year-old, and, technically speaking, you are a minor.”
Alex huffed. “Fuck loopholes.”
“Language.”
She scoffed. “You sound like Steve. Did you miss the whole ‘I’m an adult’ part?”
“No, I just choose not to acknowledge it.”
She groaned. “You’re insufferable. How do Peter and Spiderman put up with you?”
Tony snorted. “No clue. I’ll admit, I’m a handful.”
“That’s an understatement.”
“Watch it, kid. I just might decide to sue.”
“Right. Peter and his aunt can barely afford their groceries, what makes you think they can pay if you file a lawsuit?”
“I’m joking.”
“I can see.” She paused. “You never answered my question, Stark.”
“What question?”
“How Peter and Spiderman-”
“Put up with me,” he interrupted, waving a hand. “And I did. I don’t know.”
Alex snorted. “They barely put up with me, let alone you.”
Tony frowned at that. Alex was beginning to regret ever opening her mouth. “What do you mean? Aren’t you the careseeker? Caregiver?”
“Caretaker.”
“Whatever, technical terms don’t matter.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I do. Anyway, don’t they see you as a mother or something?”
Alex scoffed, reaching up a hand to brush away the curls from her forehead. She normally didn’t like being in the body when she wasn’t actively taking care of it, but she could appreciate their hair. It was soft and silky- Peter did a good job taking care of it. “Yeah, right. I’m a mom to the littles. I just annoy the others.”
“I doubt that.”
“Oh really?” she turned her head to look over at him.
“Yes, really. Peter loves you, that much is obvious. I’m sure the others do too.”
“They don’t. I just get in their way.”
“How?”
“I’m overbearing,” she answered, simply. “I try my hardest to be caring towards them, but they’re so reckless sometimes, and it’s…” she took a deep breath to compose herself. “It’s hard to be compassionate when they do nothing but destroy their physical and mental health.”
“I can see that,” Tony said, “but there’s nothing wrong with tough love.”
“Sure, when it comes to some people,” she snipped, “but I’m a caretaker for Christ’s sake, I’m supposed to be kind. I’m not supposed to yell at them for every little scratch.”
Tony scooted his chair closer to the bed. “Alex, you’re not supposed to do anything. If anything, that just goes to show how much you care about them.”
Alex sniffed, inhaling a shaky breath. “I do care about them, a lot, actually, but I don’t think they understand that- especially not with how much I yell at them.”
Tony sighed. “I yell at Spiderman all the time, Al, and I’m pretty sure he understands how much I care about him. Wanna know why?”
She nodded once, hesitant.
“Because I tell him that. Maybe not with words,” he admitted, “but I try to show it. Lab days, how much I call him on patrol, hell, I even give him a pat on the shoulder if I’m feeling nice. You’re really saying that yelling is the only thing you do?”
Alex thought about his question and realized, ’Holy shit, he kinda has a point.’
“I-”
Tony smirked, no doubt knowing that he’d gotten through. She stared up at him with wide, unbelieving eyes.
“See?”
She couldn’t stop the onslaught of tears that followed that single word.
“Woah- woah, okay, crying kid, I am not prepared for this-”
Alex choked on a sob, burying her face into her hands as her shoulders shook. Some distant part in the back of her mind found it funny how clueless Tony was when it came to comforting people, but that tiny little part was very quickly overshadowed by just how goddamn right he was.
Tony’s hand hesitantly clapped down on her shoulder, providing a welcome, grounding point of contact. She sniffled and wiped her face with the sleeve of her hospital gown.
“Thanks, Stark.”
He gave her a nervous smile. “Uh- no problem. You should probably talk to them once you- you know, get back.”
She let out a weak laugh, sniffling. “Yeah. I’ll do that. Thanks.”
“No problem. That’s what I’m here for, right? To provide an unwavering point of stability and copious amounts of helpful life advice?”
She laughed tearily. “Yep, exactly,” she warbled.
Alex leaned back on the pillow and shakily sighed, staring up at the dimmed lights on the ceiling.
She definitely had a lot to talk about once she got back, and she needed her kiddos to listen to every word of it.
They had to know how much she loved them.
’Although,’ she thought, thinking back to Tony’s words from before, ’I think they already know.’