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Peter Parker felt that, with all he'd been through, he deserved a better immune system. He was scheduled to finally go on an official Avengers mission over the upcoming long weekend and he'd been so excited and now... this.
Some sort of virus was going around his school. Pretty normal, happened every autumn- what, with hundreds of kids crammed into one school building, afraid to miss school, lest they fall behind. It was just a shame that Peter got it.
He woke up on Friday, mentally excited and bouncing on the roof at the thought of the mission he'd be leaving for tonight. Physically, however, Peter was pretty close to dead. Well, he felt like it, anyway. His nose was impossible to breathe through and runny at the same time, his throat much too sore to deal with and an incessant cough that only made his throat worse.
"Peter- maybe you should stay home today? Skip this weekend?" May had suggested, but Peter shook his head, took two Panadols for his headache and marched miserably to school. Halfway through the day, he was beginning to regret his decision.
Mr Stark? I'm not feeling so good.
I think I should skip this mission.
Tony was, to say the least, very confused. He knew the kid had two tests next week but that had never stopped him from an Avengers mission before.
Kid? Are you sure? What's wrong?
I think I caught the school cold
That could be an issue, Tony thought to himself. Especially seeing as the kid had a somewhat important part of this mission.
Is it really bad? You can skip if you need to
The scientist didn't receive an answer and, assuming the kid was in class, went to speak to Steve.
"Tony? You can't be serious! Surely he can push through it!" was Steve's response
The First Avenger had yet to meet the kid officially and was beginning to suspect he was a lazy replica of Tony. And possibly that Tony had embellished his feats to make Steve allow him to come on the mission.
Tony nodded. "It shouldn't be too bad... and he can sleep it off on the ride there..." he sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than anyone else.
Kid how bad is it? Do you think
you can push through it?
Ok Mr Stark
Tony sensed he'd made a mistake. He'd just have to keep an eye on Peter.
———
Peter arrived at the compound later that afternoon having spent the entire ride there asleep in Happy's car. He felt somewhat refreshed, but only marginally, and had taken some of the special painkillers Bruce had given him for emergencies. Peter had decided this was an emergency when the Panadol wore off only two hours in.
He walked into the compound with his eyes a little less glassy and skin a little less sweaty than it had been at school and quickly found Tony in his lab.
"Hi, Mr Stark!" He called as cheerfully as he could manage.
"Hey, kid. You feeling alright?" Tony asked, his eyes still fixed on his holograms
"Uh-"
"Oh, hey, you're Spiderman, right?" Steve's voice came in right behind Peter, who jumped and was shocked to find his spidey sense hadn't warned him.
"Um, yes, sir, Mr Captain America, sir," he said, somewhat awed by the captain, despite his dislike of him due to certain events in a certain airport.
"Great. You're fit for the mission? Stark's told you your part? You're critical for this, son," Steve said.
Peter felt guilty. Surely this Avenger would never let himself be stopped by sickness? "I- yeah Mr Stark told me."
———
Peter knew he wasn't fit for the mission. He plucked at Tony's sleeves a couple of times but the older Avenger always asked if he could just push through until the end of the mission. Peter couldn't say no.
When they landed, Peter had taken a couple more tablets and snatched a few hours of sleep. Steve, Wanda, Tony, Sam and Natasha were the other members of this mission, but Peter hadn't thought to pester either of the women, too wrapped up in his own issues as he was.
From the jet, they spent their few remaining sunlit hours trooping through the Canadian forest they'd landed in before settling down for the evening around a small fire. Peter found himself uncontrollably shivering as the temperature plummeted but refused to complain, except for mentioning he was a little under the weather to Natasha when she'd asked.
Peter turned in early and wrapped himself as tightly as he could in his sleeping bag. Tony followed not long after and the remainders of Team Cap huddled together to discuss the newest member of the Avengers. General consensus was that he was a small Stark - worried only about himself and smart but unconcerned with helping others.
The rivalries between Team Cap and Team Ironman had been growing since their split despite efforts to heal them.
———
Finally, the infamous mission arrived. Peter's head was pounding and he thought maybe his mask was impeding his ability to breathe? Or maybe it was his nose, clogged with snot and refusing to clear. It was probably that.
Peter's body ached as he hauled himself through the forest, not half as graceful as he usually was. He ignored the snide comments from Sam, who was flying above, and replied curtly only when necessary. Tony had made a couple of comments to try and let Peter into the team's bantering discussions but the teen wouldn't bite so he left it alone. He had other things to worry about anyway.
Finally, Peter made it into the Hydra base. He used his electrical webs to electrocute everyone in his path, fearing that his fighting skills wouldn't be up to it today, before finally making it to the control panel, programming it to allow him access to certain areas and all sorts of other techy ideas.
A couple of minutes later, he was climbing through the windows and making his way up to the roof so that he could disable the antenna. Even if the Hydra agents managed to regain control of the base, it'd be months before they could fix this antenna, due to the sheer difficulty of reaching it. Luckily, Peter was sticky.
However, it appeared that his stickiness was affected by his sickness and after Peter had been solely focused on disabling the antenna, he found that being sticky took a lot out of him...
...he was falling at some point...
...then it was lovely and dark but Peter was still cold...
...then the air was knocked out of him. Peter barely dragged in a breath before darkness overtook his vision. He hoped someone might find him soon.
———
"My God... he said he was sick but I didn't realise-"
"He'll be alright Tony."
"Nat, I told Steve he was sick! I said he shouldn't have come! I knew something was up he'd never skip a mission!"
"Tony calm down-"
"No! I-"
Something unintelligible ran out of Peter's mouth. He forced his eyes open and found two pairs of eyes looking down at him. His flushed cheeks reddened further and Peter strive to find out what he'd meant to say.
"I'm allrigh', Misser Star'," he slurred. Somehow, he didn't think that was what he meant to say.
"No, you're not kid. Go to sleep." And it was such a tempting offer, Peter had to obey.
———
When Peter woke later, it was to a cool hand resting on his forehead and sparkly blue eyes looking down at him.
"You have a fever"
"I know"
"You look like-"
"I know."
"You need to-"
"I know. I am sick, I've been trying to tell you since Friday, so back off! I am handling it myself because all of you didn't even notice or care that I felt like shit!"
Steve recoiled. "Son, I thought-"
"I'm not your son," Peter hissed through clenched teeth. What he wouldn't give to punch this man in his perfect teeth right now.
"Pete, kid, hey, hey. I'm sorry. You're unwell right now and it's because I didn't see the warning signs. I should've trusted you when you said you feel sick and I didn't so I'm sorry but this is my fault. We're going to rest here tonight and get you back to the jet tomorrow and I'll get you home safely and May can look after you. Or I can, if you'd prefer or if she's busy," Tony said quietly, filling Peter's vision and shouldering Steve out of it.
Glassy eyes stared back at the millionaire. "Ok."
It wasn't an answer, but an acknowledgement of an apology and that was enough for Tony. He could see the teen's bruised eyelids trying to fall and allow the kid to sleep but...
"Do you need anything? Do you want to eat anything?"
"No," came the sleepy reply. All the fight had drained out of Peter at Tony's heartfelt apology. He found himself asleep not a second later, curled away from the rest of the Avengers.
———
Peter woke late the next morning, to find himself floating along behind the Avengers on what appeared to be the Iron Man suit. However, it had been reconfigured into a sort of stretcher for Peter's comfort.
Up ahead, Tony was speaking to the others. "We're almost at the jet. Shame we couldn't remove their air defences or we could just call it to us..." Peter drifted off, listening to his mentor's voice.
———
Wrapped in a warm, woollen blanket and safely in the quinjet, Peter was pleased to find he was tucked away in one of the beds off to the side of the jet. He was equally pleased to find Tony beside him, asleep where he sat.
The teen was tempted to wake his mentor but Tony looked tired and Peter felt exhausted. It felt like his very bones wouldn't- couldn't move, even if he tried, such was the weariness within them. But Tony... that chair couldn't be too comfortable.
"Tony," Peter rasped. He hadn't realised his mouth was so dry.
The man in question grumbled a little but remained asleep. So Peter cleared his voice and tried again.
"Mr Stark," he said and this time, Tony roused himself to see the big brown eyes of his apprentice staring at him.
"Peter! Are you okay? Are you alright? Should I-" a worried look overtook Tony's features and Peter reached out to him, his muscles feeling like lead.
"I'm alright, Mr Stark, but you should sleep in a bed. That chair'll be bad for your back," Peter cut him off, his features edging into a smirk.
Tony paused, "Did you just call me old?"
Peter grinned, "shoo! Go sleep somewhere comfortable!" And then he became aware that Steve was watching them from next to the pilot's seat, as was Natasha. Although, the captain was infinitely less discreet than the spy. Peter flushed and Tony, realising why the atmosphere had changed, went and fetched him a bottle of water, glaring at Steve in the process.
Peter fell asleep not long after and Tony remained by his side, as if to shield him from the other Avengers.