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“Alright that’s it,” Tony said, frustrated and pushing his stool forcefully away from the work bench and shoving the magnifying googles he was wearing up to rest on the top of his head. “When we the last time you ate?”
“Um what?” Peter asked, looking up from where he was fiddling with the trigger mechanism on one of his web shooters and making exactly zero progress. He’d had a pretty hard time focusing today in his classes but he thought that the general excitement he felt anytime he was allowed to work in the shop with Tony would perk him up a little but no dice. He was still recovering from the concussion he had gotten from slipping in the shower at the compound the week before and had been feeling a little out of it since. He had an appointment to see Bruce in the morning to determine the next steps but he suspected that they would include reduced screen time and more sleep.
“When was the last time you consumed an appropriate amount of food for your metabolism?” Tony asked slowly, keeping Peter’s attention. “It sounds like your stomach is trying to eat itself.”
Now that he mentioned it Peter was pretty hungry, when was the last time he had eaten? Lunch at school probably but what did he have? Midday seemed ages ago and he couldn’t really remember. “Lunch?” He responded, voice tilting up on the end a little and brows furrowing in confusion.
“So way too long ago and probably not enough,” Tony answered with a nod, pulling his goggles off and dropping them at his station. “What are you feeling like tonight? Pizza? Tacos?”
“Can we do pasta? Peter asked, giving up on his web shooters and pushing away from his own bench, it wasn’t like he was accomplishing anything any way.
“From that little Italian place?” Peter nodded in confirmation. “Can you order a variety of stuff FRI? I’m sure it’ll get eaten.”
“On it Boss. Estimated delivery via drone in 43 minutes.”
“Brooklyn 99 or Queer Eye?” Tony asked, putting his arm around Peter’s shoulders to lead him from the work shop to the elevator. God his mentor knew him so well, those were some of his all time favorite comfort shows. The moratorium on screens had just been lifted a few days before and all Peter really wanted to do was veg out on the couch with some carb-heavy food and then pass out. His head was beginning to ache with the start of a mild headache and he felt like he hadn’t slept in days – the world was fuzzy and fluffy around the edges. “Kiddo?”
Tony’s voice broke through Peter’s musings and he blinked his dry eyes a few times and looked over at Tony standing in front of the open elevator door leading into the penthouse. They had already made it up there?
“Peter? You with me?” Tony asked carefully, gently reaching out to grip Peter’s bicep.
“Yeah sorry,” Peter said, stepping forward and squeezing past his mentor. “Just… spacing out.” Tony clearly wasn’t buying it but let Peter get away with it for the most part, steering him over to the wide couch. Tony sat on the chaise part, stretching out and dropping a pillow next to him in invitation. Peter rolled his eyes but fell heavily and gracelessly onto the couch, moving the pillow until it rested in Tony’s lap and wiggling around until he was comfortable.
Peter had trained Tony well by this point, his mentor no longer froze up or stiffened at Peter’s clingy-ness but rested one of his hands in Peter’s already disheveled curls and started gently massaging the back of his head and neck. Peter felt the tension in his muscles disappear as he went lax, eyes slipping half closed and not focusing on the episode of Brooklyn 99 that had started to play.
“You can nap if you want,” Tony told him softly, carefully digging his thumb into the pressure point behind Peter’s ear that made him go completely boneless as his headache disappeared for a moment. “I’ll wake you up when the food gets here.”
“Okay,” Peter breathed out, already mostly asleep. He dozed for a while, not really asleep but not really awake either, as the episode on the TV auto played into the next and Tony’s fingers slipped from his hair to work on the knots in his shoulders. His upper back and biceps were always a little sore and tight from swinging around New York and Tony knew just how to work all the knots out without it hurting too bad. He was just starting to slip deeper into sleep, food be damned, when Tony shook his shoulder lightly.
“Soup’s on Webs, hustle up.”
Peter groaned and flipped over to lie completely on his stomach, stubbornly and purposely sticking himself to the couch. “Five more minutes.”
Tony chuckled and tapped him on the cheek with one of his knuckles. “You and I both know that five more minutes won’t make it any easier to get up. Budge up and go sit at the table, we’re going to eat like civilized human beings for once.”
Peter groaned again but acquiesced, levering himself off the couch and into the kitchen, dropping heavily into the plush kitchen chair. He normally would go and help Mr. Stark get plates and drinks together but he was content to laze around today and not fight his mentor on this with the knowledge that it would just be a waste of time and he wouldn’t win anyway.
Once they both had plates and forks and Peter had taken one of the modified Excedrin Bruce had made for him under Tony’s watchful eye, they both served themselves from the multiple open containers sitting on the table. Peter listlessly twirled his fettuccine around his fork, not really hungry anymore and dizzier than he had been in the workshop. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as his Spidey sense tingled.
“Tony I think –,”
“Peter! Pete focus up, I need a response here. FRIDAY where’s Bruce? Get him here now!”
Tony’s worried tone pulled Peter’s attention back. Mr. Stark was standing next to him and holding his face between his hands, expression pinched in concern. When had he moved from across the table? Peter was saying something to him a second ago right? The fog in his head was worse than before and he felt like he couldn’t form complete thoughts, like his brain was wrapped in cotton candy. But Mr. Stark was worried, Peter needed to respond.
“Tony?” He was able to slur out groggily. His tongue felt strange in his mouth and his eyes were having a hard time tracking Tony’s twitching and small, frantic movements.
“Hey,” Tony said in relief, still supporting Peter’s head in his hands. “Hey bambino. Bruce is on his way up but, until then, I just need you to focus on staying awake okay? Do you remember what day it is?”
It took Peter a second to process all of the information and a second longer to steady himself. “Friday?”
“That’s good Pete,” Tony told him, the pinched look not leaving his face. “Who picked you up after school today?”
“Happy.”
“What’s going on?” Bruce rushed out of the elevator looking a little disheveled and hurried over to hover next to Peter, Tony didn’t budge from his spot.
“We were having dinner and he tried to tell me something and his face just went completely blank,” Tony reported with an edge of something Peter couldn’t identify right now to his voice. “His fork was literally halfway to his mouth and he just completely spaced, I couldn’t get his attention for about a minute.”
“Peter?” Bruce said as he gently pried Tony’s hands from Peter’s face and supported it gently in one of his own, pulling out a penlight to check Peter’s pupillary responses. Peter whined at the sharp pain that came from the light and squeezed his lids closed. “How do you feel?”
“Floaty,” Peter murmured in response. He couldn’t really think of a better way to describe the weird feeling in his head and he was so tired, he just want to lie down. “Tired.” He told Bruce, keeping his eyes closed.
“That’s fine Pete. Let’s get down to MedBay and you can take a nap okay?” Not that Bruce really gave him a choice in the matter, he and Tony each took one of Peter’s arms and levered him upright, supporting his weight as his knees wobbled and threatened to buckle. The walk to MedBay was a blur as was the discussion that Mr. Stark and Bruce were having above him once he was tucked into one of the beds. Peter decided that sleeping was the better option right now and let himself drift off.
When Peter woke up later the room was dimmed and quiet. Tony was sitting in the chair next to him but Bruce was nowhere in sight. “Mr. Stark?”
“Hey there Pete. Feeling any better?” His mentor was quiet, his brows furrowed slightly and the muscles in his jaw twitching slightly, all signs Peter recognized as concern. Peter took a moment to take stock and determined that he did feel a little better, he head at least felt clearer than it had before and he wasn’t as tired.
“Yeah. Did I pass out?”
“Not exactly,” Mr. Stark let out a deep sigh and ran his hand down his face and Peter finally noticed that Tony was pale and the dark circles under his eyes stood out darker than they normally did. Bruce took a look at the video FRIDAY saved from dinner and he thinks you had an absence seizure.”
Peter was stunned. “But I was still sitting up right? I didn’t fall over or… or shake or anything?”
“Bruce says this type of seizure is characterized by the behavior we typically think of with seizures. All you did was freeze and stare off into space for a minute.”
“Is it going to keep happening?” This was a lot. Peter really didn’t think he could handle much more change in his life and, besides that, what about Spider-Man? He couldn’t be an Avenger-in-training if he could have a seizure at any time, he couldn’t web sling or fight or stop crime or anything. He felt his hands start to shake a little as he worked himself up. Tony was quick to reach out and still them.
“We don’t think so,” Tony told him carefully. “Most likely, this is just a side effect from the multiple concussions you’ve had recently and lack of proper food and sleep. You just need to take a break to allow your brain to fully heal and take care of yourself and they’ll probably go away. Bruce doubts you will even have another one.”
Peter let out a shaky breath and relaxed just slightly back into his pillows. “So everything’s okay?”
“Well no,” Tony told him. “You still need to take better care of yourself but everything will be okay.” The man sat in silence for just a moment as he stared at Peter and then stood, lowering the rail on the bed and nudging Peter over until there was enough room for Tony to lie next to him on the narrow cot. He put his arm around Peter’s shoulders and Peter tucked his head in close to Tony’s neck and letting his mentor rest his own head on Peter’s. “I’m enforcing self-care starting now. Get some sleep.”
“You don’t have to stay,” Peter whispered, tucking in closer and resting his arm across Tony’s stomach in clear juxtaposition to his words.
“Shhhh.” Tony shushed him. “Bedtime for Spider-babies.” Peter grumbled a little in protest but was already falling asleep, warm and content.
Maybe a few days of vacation wouldn’t be so bad.