Chapter Text
"Kid?" Tony called, noticing Peter hadn't said anything for a good part of their session together. Usually, the room was filled with a mix of music and chatting but today only the music could be heard despite him keeping it low. One too many panic attacks led Tony to get the hint that enhanced hearing and ACDC played at full volume did not mix.
The younger made a humming sound at the call but maintained his attention on his suit. There were a few rips in it from his last patrol that he blamed on the fabric catching on the fire escape but the billionaire knew there was more to it than that. Queens fire escapes couldn't have railings that sharp. Then again, Peter didn't exactly live at the Ritz and those buildings probably had a violation or two.
"You're quiet," he mused. There was another hum, making him groan and abandon his own project.
As he got closer, he noticed how pale the younger was looking and how his jaw was tensed.
"If you're going to chuck up, can you do it not in the general lab area? I don't fancy cleaning teenager vomit."
"Not sick," Peter wheezed out. It wasn't chesty like you'd presume. It was more so out of breath. Like he couldn't take in a full breath and was making do with what he had.
"Not sick huh?" He reached out and put the back of his hand against the teen's forehead.
"You're gonna get oil on me."
"You don't have a fever. You're not sniffling either," he listed, taking his hand away and crossing his arms across his chest. Was there some new sickness about that only made you pale and tense? Was this a new trend like an offshoot of goth? It was boring if it was.
"Because I'm not sick," Peter insisted although the older was more inclined to believe him this time. So sickness was off the board. What else was there that would make someone's motormouth stall? His eyes studied Peter, flicking his gaze across his face and his body. Tense, pale, quiet, bent over slightly, breathing more laboured. There was definitely something wrong and if it wasn't sickness then it had to be an injury.
"Kid, I need you to be honest with me here, did you or did you not get injured on your last patrol?" The younger swallowed thickly but committed to the story of everything being sunshine and rainbows.
"I told you, I just caught the suit," he replied, attempting to sound confident. The breathlessness really didn't help. Not that he would've been very believable without it. Tony would bet all his money on that being a straight-up lie.
"I asked if you got hurt or not."
"I didn't get hurt." Oh, he totally got hurt.
"Are you sure?"
"I think I'd know if I got hurt."
In hindsight, Peter had dug his own grave with that one and practically handed Tony the shovel to cover him up. If there was one thing he should know by now, it's that Tony didn't just let things go—not when it came to him, at least. He supposed he shouldn't expect anything different from the man who put a million fail-safes in his suit.
"So, if I asked Karen now if you got injured, she would say no?" There was a short pause before he nodded and instantly regretted it but it was too late to take it back now. He sat back and suffered as Tony went on. "Alright. FRIDAY, can you get last night's report from Karen?"
"I'm unable to do that Boss," the robot responded. A look was sent his way by his mentor and he could already feel the dirt being shovelled onto his grave.
"Oh? Why can't you do that?" Tony asked, already knowing why. He always did.
"It appears Karen's data was corrupted."
"Corrupted," the billionaire repeated, feigning shock. He cast his eyes down at Peter who had busied with his work once again. His hands shook slightly and his movements were slow. Careful. Not of the fabric but almost as though they anticipated something. Pain was the most likely answer. "Did you think I wouldn't call your bluff?"
"In my defence, I am a very dumb smart person. MJ says so," he replied weakly.
"She's not wrong. So," Tony prompted. Peter sighed dramatically although he ended the sigh with a whimper. His arm wrapped around his torso protectively. Maybe foregoing painkillers that morning wasn't the best of ideas.
"I didn't lie about it catching on a fire escape," he began quietly. "Just didn't tell you how."
"Then tell me what happened. You don't need to spice it up with the drama, give it to me straight."
"Aw c'mon, that's the best part of being caught out," Peter whined playfully, a smirk tugging at his lips. The older tried his best not to smile back but it proved harder than he thought. "I kinda sorta fell down a fire escape and maybe could've broken a rib. Or two. Maybe three. Only on the left side though and who even sleeps on their left side? Menaces, Mr Stark. Menaces sleep on their left side."
"You broke your ribs?" Tony exclaimed.
"They're already healing! They're probably already at just bruising."
"You broke your ribs!"
"I just said they were healing!" he shouted back, exasperated.
"What's going on in here?" Bruce asked. "I leave for coffee and you're biting his head off."
"Peter broke his ribs!"
"And they're already healing!" The scientist sipped his coffee before heaving out a sigh. "I'm being sent to Dr Cho, aren't I?"
"Yeah."
One visit to Dr Cho later and it was revealed that Peter did have broken ribs. Four in fact. Luckily, Dr Cho was confident his healing factor was running its course and working effectively to fix the damage.
"See Mr Stark, perfectly fine," Peter bragged.
"Uh no. Not perfectly fine. You've been dealing with this without painkillers, I'm surprised you're able to move around," Dr Cho stated. He shrugged but he knew there was no leaving it there. There was no way someone new to the pain of broken ribs would be able to handle it the way he was.
"I'm taking paracetamol," he argued. "I looked online and they said it would work. Thought I'd treat it at home."
"I have the best doctor in the country and you tried to treat this at home?" Tony asked, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. Did nobody care about his heart these days? It's like they were asking him to have a heart attack. Especially his Spider-Kid who was dead set on letting himself hurt for no reason.
"He's not wrong about the paracetamol but your dosage is much more than the average person needs. You run through medication faster with your enhanced metabolism," she stated. "I'll give you some pain meds that we developed for Steve but other than that, there's not much we can do. Broken ribs take three to six weeks to heal but with how fast you heal, I don't doubt you'll be healed in no time."
"I'm taking this as a Peter win," the teen stated, flashing his mentor a triumphant smile.
"Not a Peter win. You can't be Spider-Man until I'm sure those ribs are back to normal. I have a feeling you didn't take a break once you got them." He shuffled uncomfortably which meant yes. In his defence, he broke them on the other side of town so he was going to have to web home after the fight - which he was by no way telling them the details of - anyway. It wasn't his fault crime happened on the way there. He was a hero and heroes stop crime when they see crime. There was just so much crime. Seriously, why was there so much crime, someone should look into that.
"So he's taking a break?" Tony clarified.
"A week at least."
"Thank God you don't have school," he commented. "I'll call May and see if you can stay here for the majority of it."
"What? Why? I'll be fine looking after myself," Peter complained.
"Oh no no you Mr Broken Ribs I Don't Tell My Mentor About can absolutely not look after yourself. You already hacked my suit so I know for a fact you won't sit around all day." He had a point but that didn't mean Peter liked it. Then again, this could be a good excuse to hang out with the others. He hardly saw them since they were in and out on missions. There was also the prospect of more lab time even if most of it was going to be filled with lectures about self-care and not hacking the suit.
"How did you break your ribs, Peter?" Dr Cho asked out of interest.
"Fell down a fire escape."
"Are you sure you fell down a fire escape?"
"Why would he lie about falling down a fire escape?" Tony asked, suddenly as curious as the doctor was in the story.
"He'd have to fall down a fire escape at such force to do this damage that it's unlikely he'd receive no other injuries unless they've already been healed and even if they were, how could you do it without force?" she theorised.
"I fell down a fire escape," he insisted.
"How exactly did you fall then?"
"Lost balance. Conk, bonk, wham." They narrowed their eyes at him and he let out a long sigh at not being believed. To be fair, he was lying but that wasn't the point. They didn't know he was lying and therefore the questioning was unprompted. What if he really did fall down a fire escape? They weren't being very nice if he was. "I told you how it happened which I never usually do. Why are you picking it apart?"
"Because it doesn't make logical sense," Dr Cho deadpanned. "I suppose it's not entirely relevant to your recovery though," she added, sensing something was up. He was doing his best puppy dog eyes to plead for an end to the questioning so it wasn't exactly a sixth sense.
"It's not relevant at all. I'm fine, you're fine, Mr Stark is fine, everything is fine," he ranted defensively. "It doesn't matter so can I please just go back to fixing my suit?"
"Not until you tell me how you broke your ribs."
"What am I doing if I don't tell you?"
"You're not supposed to want that-"
"Tony," Dr Cho warned, sensing an impending argument which was the very last thing Peter needed right now. "If you don't tell him, go rest in your room."
"To my room, I go," he announced.
---
Sam heard that Peter would be staying with them for a bit but honestly wasn't listening past that point. He was way too busy thinking of how to prank the kid. They had a sort of prank war going on ever since Peter crawled on the ceiling to jump scare him. The sort of part was because it was on and off thanks to the no prank rule after Tony became a victim of it. Luckily neither one of the pair cared. Bucky must've heard his thoughts because, after the announcement, he sent a glare at him.
"What?" Sam asked defensively.
"Don't do what you're going to do."
"What kinda cryptic message is that?" The soldier rolled his eyes.
"Don't do your prank shit with him."
"Last time I checked, I was an adult with autonomy. I can do as I please," he argued back. The glare continued just as strong. "Fine. No pranking. You're no fun, Buck."
"I'm plenty of fun but you heard Stark. That's not what Webs is here for." Yes. Totally. Sam had no idea why he was staying but admitting that at this point was somehow taking an L. So he nodded like he understood and resigned to just teasing and taunting. In hindsight, he probably should've asked for clarification. It would've saved him from the dog house.
When he saw Peter, the teen was making a sandwich whilst chatting to Natasha and Steve. Well, he was chatting with Steve as Natasha supervised. He was rambling on about training exercises he wanted to try but Tony wouldn't let him for one reason or another. Everybody knew the billionaire had gotten protective over the kid and sometimes he got a little too protective. They all remembered the Baby Monitor programme. Granted, Peter probably needed that level of protection given how accident-prone he was.
"We can try it next weekend. Are you sure you won't break your fingers trying to catch my shield?" Steve questioned.
"I caught Mr Bucky's hand in the airport, I can handle your shield. Oh, we should see if I can propel off of it. Seems like a superhero need," the younger explained. He'd probably seen it in a movie somewhere, Sam thought. He also thought that Peter's sandwich looked much better than anything he could make and the plan to steal it was already unfolding.
Could he just make do with his own sandwich? Yes.
Could he order a sandwich? Also yes.
Yet Peter's sandwich was right there and he hadn't scarfed it down. What kind of hero would he be if he let this sandwich be eaten by someone who wouldn't savour the bites? Not the kind of hero he wanted to be.
"You gonna eat that?" he asked. Peter turned to him with a raised eyebrow and nodded. Obviously, he had plans to eat it that was the point of a sandwich.
"Uh, yeah. I was planning to."
"Even with that massive spider next to you?" Was it cool to play on Peter's fear of spiders? No, it wasn't but everyone's trauma was free game in this household and Peter was no exception. The teen held his hands up and jumped back, his eyes frantically looking across the countertop for the scurrying of an eight-legged beast. Now that he was distracted, Sam snatched up the sandwich and took a bite.
"Hey!"
"Must've just missed it."
"Nuh-uh, that was my sandwich."
"Biters keepers."
"In that case, I better find that spider and work out a deal," he joked, a smile overtaking his features. Sam liked that about the kid. He could take a joke and it was great that he could prank someone who definitely wouldn't kill him or everyone he loved.
Playfully, he jabbed the younger in the ribs but before he could get his quip out, Peter had crumpled to the floor with a whine. His arms wrapped around his torso and his face became pinched with pain.
"Owie," he whimpered.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Natasha scolded as Steve quickly went to the young hero's side.
"He just said owie, he's obviously faking," Sam replied, casually taking a bite of the sandwich he'd won.
"He's not faking. You know he has broken ribs," Steve added. He helped Peter to his feet and led him over to the couch to catch his breath. The perpetrator choked on his food at that revelation. This kid was just walking around with broken ribs? Surely he should be sat down all the time or hauled up in his bedroom. Who let him stay out of bed? Tony mustn't know he had broken ribs if he was just wandering the room. "Stay sat up, son. You'll make it worse bending over."
"How was I supposed to know he had broken ribs?" Sam asked.
"Tony told you when he explained why Peter was staying here," Natasha pointed out. Ah. Listening probably should've been a thing he'd done in that meeting. The pair let out disappointed sighs upon realizing he genuinely hadn't a clue as to Peter's condition. For adults, they sure did have some childish people on their team besides the actual child.
"Sorry Webs. Didn't realize you were hurt."
"It's okay Mr Wilson," Peter wheezed out. "And owie is a valid reaction." He let out a low chuckle.
"Sure. Just like being spider-themed whilst hating spiders is valid."
"I got my powers from being bitten by a spider! Valid reason! It's trauma!"
"Surely you'd like spiders for giving you the powers?"
"You weren't there those first two weeks. I was almost hospitalized! It's all fun and games until you have a fever of 104." He made a disconcerted hum and felt incredibly out of place in the room. Probably because of the combined disappointment of the super soldier and the super spy coupled with the teen who kept bending over to deal with the pain only to remember he was supposed to be sitting up and then wincing upon straightening up.
"So, I'm gonna go. Thanks for the sandwich," he announced, slowly sidestepping toward the door.
"You owe me a sandwich!"
Okay, so maybe Sam was feeling a little bad about the whole poking a child with broken ribs in said broken ribs. Curse his conscience for being somewhat morally comprehensible! Although he knew that Peter had already forgotten about that side of the incident - he would always remember the debt of a sandwich - he still felt guilty about it. Mostly because he knew Peter was a strong kid and he had to be in a fair amount of pain to react as he did. That obviously didn't feel good to be the cause of so the least he could do was pay his sandwich debts.
Making a sandwich sounded like a whole lot of effort so instead, he went to a sandwich place Tony was already ordering from. It felt a tiny bit disingenuous to not even pay for the sandwich - thank you Tony Stark - but he supposed the principle of the matter was a sandwich for a sandwich. The ethics of procuring the sandwich didn't really matter. He doubted Peter would care. So with the sorry sandwich in hand, he went on the hunt for the teen.
Surprisingly, for someone who was recovering, he was hard to find. Everyone he asked either said they didn't know or they thought he was with someone else. It took him making use of the ceiling AI, the creepiest part of the building, to find out that Peter had hauled himself up in the lab.
"You're a hard man to find, Webs," he greeted. The teen jumped and slammed the computer closed before whipping around with a nervous smile. "Please tell me you weren't watching por-"
"I wasn't! Ew, that's so gross! We work in here!" Peter replied with a scandalised tone. Sam smirked at how flustered he was and rolled his eyes. "Did you need something?"
"Nah, thought I'd give you a makeup sandwich for the other day. The whole poking your broken ribs thing," he explained, rustling the bag a proof. A smile was quickly brought to the younger's face and he happily accepted the peace offering. "So, what were you doing?"
"Nothing!"
"You are a terrible liar. It's almost impressive," he taunted. Now that he'd gotten such an obvious lie as an answer, Sam couldn't deny how interested he was in the secret. It had to be something juicy if he was being so secretive. Last time the kid kept a secret, a building had fallen on him and whilst that was traumatic, it did classify as a juicy piece of information. There was no doubt that this had something to do with Spider-Man since Peter Parker secrets usually weren't kept all that well. The rambling habit usually dogged him in and it was a miracle that he was able to keep his secret identity for so long. "C'mon, I brought you a sandwich."
"Yeah, but that's a guilt sandwich. Not a bargaining sandwich," Peter clarified, already beginning to scarf down his meal.
"I could ask FRIDAY what you were doing."
"Jokes on you, I swore her to secrecy," he retorted.
"How about this? I won't tell Stark a word about this whole interaction if you tell me. If not then he's going to get a call." Peter groaned dramatically and began weighing up his options. It was inevitable that he'd choose to spill the beans given Tony's history of freaking out. That then made Sam even more interested because this had to be bad if he thought Tony was going to freak out about it.
"Promise not to tell him no matter what," the teen bargained.
"Promise. Spill it."
"There's this new villain around that's kinda a massive reptile thingy. He's like if Godzilla made a baby with Donatello from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-"
"You didn't need to sing the show name."
"I definitely had to sing that. It would be blasphemy if I didn't. Anyway, I was totally going to tell Mr Stark about it at some point but then he told me that under no circumstances should I go after him until we knew SHIELD wasn't going to get involved. It's his fault really," he explained. He fiddled with his shirt as he spoke and his senses were dialled up just in case Tony decided to escape his meeting early and deal with the wrath of Pepper later.
"Does he have something to do with your ribs?" Sam asked. There was a hesitant nod.
"I wasn't lying about the fire escape! A fire escape was very much involved. It's just that I didn't catch my suit on it nor did I fall down it. I was more so thrown into it. At force. Like a really hard force." It took a minute for that to sink in and it weighed on Sam that someone had hurt this kid. A heavy hitter this time. The odd mugger or two would get the drop on him and he'd let it go but this time it was a reptilian monster. "But I took him down and swung home with broken ribs which is super cool of me. Also fought some vague crime here and there."
"How are you still alive?" Sam muttered to himself.
"Spider DNA duh. Anyway, the guy broke out of the secure facility he was being held in last night and I sorta kinda know where he's going next so I was messing around with a few things then the suit is already fixed-"
"Peter, you cannot go after this guy with broken ribs!"
"I'm not gonna!"
He was totally gonna.
"I'm just preparing for my fight with him if the authorities don't bag him before I recover. It's the responsible thing to do and as a responsible young adult, that's the smart thing to do." Sam raised an eyebrow, not believing him one bit but resigned from saying anything.
He wasn't Peter's dad and he wasn't trying to be responsible for the mess that was the teenager sitting in front of him. If they couldn't find Peter one of these days, he'd just tell someone else and laugh at the punishment given. It was the passive adult thing to do. Besides, the kid may as well have been bitten by a cockroach with how hard it was to kill him. Broken ribs after going toe to toe with some lizard monster weren't the worst thing to happen.
"Alright. Have fun with the guilt sandwich."
"Thanks, Mr Wilson!"