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One moment, the team is sitting around in the living room, enjoying the peace and quiet while Sam, Clint and Bucky sit around the tv playing a video game, until the Avengers emergency alarm goes off, engulfing the room into chaos.
Tony winces at how loud it is, noticing the way Bruce violently flinches from it, spilling a drop of his tea over the rim of his mug. He is going to have to see if he can lower the volume a little bit to spare their eardrums from bursting, particularly an enhanced spider-kid’s overly sensitive ears.
“Oh, come on, really?” Clint whines from his spot on the floor, throwing down the controller to the carpeted floor. “I almost beat you too!”
“Well, you didn’t.” Sam says, shooting a grin at Clint as he stands up, putting his controller down more maturely than the archer had.
“I still don’t get the point of this game.” Bucky mumbles to himself, shaking his head as he stands up as well.
“What are we looking at, FRIDAY?” Steve asks as the alarm finally silences.
“A group of armed individuals is in the process of tearing through Times Square. Their motives are unknown at this time and the NYPD haven’t been able to apprehend them.”
“Are they enhanced?” Sam asks, frowning.
“Unknown at this time.”
Sam and Bucky exchange knowing looks before looking back at Steve. “It might be the Flag-Smashers,” Sam says. “I got word that they were in town… just not sure why.”
“Well let’s find out,” Steve says, brows pulling together. “Tony—you stay with Peter. We’ll call you in if we need you. You too Bruce, in case Tony needs your help with anything.”
“Got it.” Bruce says with a nod.
“FRIDAY, have Nat, Wanda and Vision meet us at the Quinjet and we’ll—” Steve says, only to be cut off by the elevator dinging across the room.
Everyone shoots their heads over to the elevator, only for Peter to stumble out, looking dazed as he blinks, obviously just rolling out of bed from the sight of his bedhead and how tired he looks. And not to mention the fact that his suit is backwards, showing off the large red spider symbol that’s usually on his back, is now on his chest instead of the smaller black one.
“M’ ready!” Peter hoarsely says as he walks further into the room, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
Steve gives him a sympathetic smile. “I can see that, Pete, but why don’t you let us handle this one? You should go back upstairs and get some more sleep.”
Peter drops his arm and shakes his head slowly. “But m’ all good. I can go.” He weakly protests.
Steve and Tony share a knowing look in passing before Tony looks at Peter, smiling softly at him. “Pete, what do you say if you and I relax and put a movie on?” He suggests. “I’ll even let you have some ice cream. Does that sound good to you?”
“But I wanna go on the mission.” Peter whines as he watches the team go with sad eyes, his voice giving out on the end with how hoarse it is.
“I know you do, Pete but not today,” Tony says as he wraps an arm around Peter’s shoulders and steers him back towards the elevator.
“You have to let me go, T’ny. Please.” Peter begs.
“I’m sorry, kiddo but you’re sick and you need to rest. There will be other missions.” Tony promises, gently squeezing his shoulder. “Even Spider-Man needs a sick day once and a while.”
Peter lets out a weak, hoarse groan as they step into the elevator, leaning heavily against Tony’s side. When elevator doors slide shut, Tony glances down at Peter as the kid blinks lazily through half-lidded eyes.
When they arrive on Tony’s floor, he leads Peter out of the elevator, keeping an arm around his shoulders.
“How about you change out of your suit and get into some comfy pj’s. Meet me in the living room when you’re done, okay?”
Peter nods, blinking slowly like he’s trying to process what he just said. “M’kay...”
Tony raises an eyebrow at him. “Do you need any help?”
“No th’nks…” Peter mumbles with a shake of his head as he steps away from Tony and starts to walk down the hallway towards his room.
Tony smiles slightly as he watches the sick teen disappear into his room. The poor kid is exhausted, especially after these past few days being bed-bound with that cold of his. Thankfully, the kid is on the mend now after Bruce whipped up a batch of extra-strength cough medicine to rival the kid’s enhanced metabolism.
And now, all the kid needs is some cuddles, ice cream and a movie for him to fall asleep to.
…
It’s close to six in the evening when the elevator doors slide open and Steve steps out, fresh from a shower, wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants. Tony looks over at him from the back of the couch.
“Mission go well?” He asks in a soft tone so he doesn’t wake the sleeping spider-kid beside him.
“Yeah, we wrapped things up pretty quickly,” Steve says in a low voice as well, stopping beside the loveseat across from the couch, smiling softly down at Peter, who’s passed out, his head leaning against Tony’s chest, snoring softly. “I’m assuming yours did as well?” he asks with a knowing smile, gesturing to Peter.
Tony smiles as he looks down at Peter’s sleeping face. “Yeah,” he says with a sigh. “I had to bribe him with some ice cream and a Star Wars marathon... but he gave in pretty quickly and passed out before the opening credits were done.”
“Poor kid. He caught a pretty nasty cold. I don’t think I’ve seen him this sick before.” Steve says, looking at Peter sympathetically as he sits in the loveseat.
“I know,” Tony agrees. “But he’s getting better. These things hit him pretty hard at first… but he thankfully recovers quickly from them.”
“Yes. Thank God for his healing factor.” Steve says.
If Peter didn’t have his healing factor… there have been so many close calls that would have ended the kid’s life. Tony can’t even recall how many times he’s been woken up in the middle of the night now, to Karen alerting him to the kid’s vitals tanking. And that one horrible night where Peter barely made it to the Tower before he collapsed, soaked in his own blood after a fight with a gang went wrong. If it wasn’t for Dr. Cho having an emergency supply of the kid’s blood for a life-saving blood transfusion…. Peter would be dead right now.
Tony closes his eyes as he forces himself to let out a slow, shaky breath to loosen his tight chest as he pushes away the horrifying thought. “Yes.” he agrees.
“Hey,” Steve says gently, causing Tony to look over at him. “I know that it’s been rough lately, with everything you’ve been through and what Peter’s been through… but it’s gonna be alright, Tony. He’s just a little sick. Heck, I know a thing or two about that. It’s no fun… but he’s going to be back on his feet in a few more days.” The super soldier says with a warm, reassuring smile.
Tony nods as he looks away from him, letting out a sigh, a grin pulling at the corner of his mouth. “Yeah and he’s going to go right back to making me go gray early in life.” He jokes.
Steve breathes out a laugh as his smile grows as he leans back against his chair, looking over at the tv that’s now in the middle of the end credits of Return of the Jedi. “You know… I’m partial to Star Trek, myself.” He says.
Tony chuckles lightly at that as he nods in Peter’s direction. “Well don’t let the kid hear that. It’ll break his heart that good ol’ Capsicle isn’t a Star Wars fan.”
Steve smiles at that as he shakes his head to himself. “I’m a fan of both.” he says with a shrug.