Chapter Text
“Like this?” Peter asked, looking to Tony for approval as he carefully mixed all the ingredients together as he’d been instructed.
“Perfect,” Tony said with a grin, “you’ll be chasing May out of that kitchen in no time, Pete.”
“This isn’t what I’d expected we’d been doing when you texted me to come over tonight,” Peter admitted as he kept his eyes on the slowly forming dough that he was determined not to mess up, “I thought you meant we needed to do Spider-Man things.”
Peter’s voice dropped as he mentioned his alias, a habit he had gotten into and stuck with even when he was somewhere that could be deemed a safe place.
“That’s it, don't be afraid to really knead that dough, we need to to be less stringy before we add the eggs in,” Tony said, as he watched Peter carefully, “Kiddo, you know I don't keep you around because of Spider-Man, right?”
“Uh, I guess,” Peter mumbled, still staring at the dough, missing the frown that appeared on Tony’s face at his uncertain reply. The older man was about to respond when Peter spoke up, “eggs now?
Tony peered at the dough, “sure, go ahead.”
“I feel like May would benefit from some of your cooking classes,” Peter said with a snort, “last night she tried to make mashed potatoes but forgot to drain the water before mashing them.”
“Oh jeez, please tell me you ordered in,” Tony pleaded.
“Nope,” Peter mumbled, popping the ‘p’, “she mixed a stock cube through it and called it soup.”
“I’m not religious but that makes me want to pray for your safety,” Tony muttered.
“It wasn't the worst thing she’s ever made,” Peter said in her defence, “but also not the best.”
“Well then, next time we do this we’ll invite her too,” Tony decided.
“There’s going to be a next time?” Peter asked.
“Of course,” Tony said, “why wouldn’t there be?”
Peter merely shrugged, “dunno.”
“You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” Tony said.
“Not even if I ruin this no- kno- nok-“
“Gnocchi,” Tony corrected with a fond smile.
“Exactly as I said,” Peter said.
“Sure it was,” Tony agreed, “but to answer your question, no not even then. Besides, you’re not going to ruin anything, I’m right here helping you aren’t I?”
“Yeah,” Peter said with a soft smile.
They worked together easily, Peter following Tony’s orders to the ‘T’ and Tony watching carefully to make sure that Peter was following his family recipe properly - not because he was afraid that Peter would mess it up, but more so because he was afraid that if something went wrong it would be a knock to the kid’s confidence. He was already a little uncertain about his own abilities, something that he hid well behind his Spider-Man mask and persona.
“You know,” Peter said, speaking up after a prolonged period of working in comfortable silence, guided by Tony’s gently instructions, “I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“What? Cooked?” Tony asked.
“No, well, yes but not how you mean,” Peter said, “I’ve never properly cooked a meal from scratch with someone.”
“Really?”
“I don't know why that surprises you, we’ve already established that May can’t cook,” Peter said.
“I just assumed maybe your Uncle had,” Tony said with a shrug.
Peter shook his head, “he was always too busy working or too tired after work, we generally survived on May’s attempts to cook and takeout.”
“Healthy,” Tony said with a snort.
Peter laughed in agreement, “alright, what now?”
Tony’s phone started buzzing in his pocket, “why don't you boil a pot of water while I take this?”
Left to his own devices, Peter did just what Tony had said but quickly began to grow bored as he watched the bubbles slowly start to form on the bottom of the pot. It wasn't true - the saying that a watched pot never boils - it should have been ‘a watched pot boils slower than the slowest tortoise in the world’.
Despite that, it was rather hypnotic to watch the bubbles gradually grow bigger before rising to the top of the water.
The water was boiling, but Tony hadn't given him any further instructions on what to do so he merely continued staring at the pot, he could feel the heat of the steam on his face, he didn't want to ruin all the hard work they’d already put in. It was strange, Tony had invited him over to spend time with him , not Spider-Man. The older man had wanted to teach boring old Peter Parker how to cook. It didn't really make sense, but he wasn't going to refuse the invitation.
In his distraction, he didn't notice Tony reenter the room. So when the older man cheered loudly at the successfully boiling water, Peter freaked out. He spun around in shock, his arm flying up into a defensive position, unfortunately as he did so his Spidey-Sense flared just in time for his leg to be drenched in boiling water.
“PETER!”
Peter screamed in agony as the water soaked his trousers and seemed to light his leg on fire.
“Shit, shit, shit,” Tony muttered as he raced over to Peter and flapped his hands around him in a panic, “F.R.I.D.A.Y. what do I do?”
“Remove the wet clothing and run his leg under cold water for twenty minutes,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. informed him, “according to my databases his healing factor should kick in quickly and begin to repair any damage but I would prepare for a trip to the emergency room if this doesn't happen.”
“Can’t,” Peter gasped out, “weird DNA.”
“Let me worry about all of that, alright Kiddo?” Tony said as gently as he could through his panic, “now come on, let me see.”
“I can’t,” Peter said, trying desperately to blink away the tears, “it hurts.”
“Alright,” Tony said, taking a deep breath before grabbing one of the sharp knives from the block on the counter, “sorry, Kid, I hope you didn't like these trousers.”
Peter couldn't care less in that moment about his clothes, he could only think about the agony that was consuming him and stretching up his leg making the skin feel tight. Tony carefully cut through the fabric against Peter’s leg, ignoring the painful sting that the hot fabric created on his fingertips.
“It’s gonna be alright, Pete, we just need to get rid of the wet stuff and get you in the bath,” Tony said reassuringly as he finished cutting the leg of the trousers off, leaving Peter looking very silly in his half full length bottoms -half shorts. The skin on his leg was scarlet and beginning to blister.
“Shit, Kiddo,” he muttered as he looked at the size of the scald.
“I- I don't know if I can walk,” Peter admitted softly.
Tony blinked, “oh, right, of course, listen, don't worry about any of that.”
As carefully as he could, Tony lifted the kid from the floor, momentarily surprise overtook the concern as he registered how light Peter really was.
“Ah!” Peter called out before biting his lower lip to try and retain his complaints of pain, “I‘m sorry.”
“You don't need to apologise,” Tony promised him as he carefully made his way into the nearest bathroom, trying not to stare at the angry skin on Peter’s leg, “now this is going to suck, like really suck, but it’s important and it’ll help your leg, I promise.”
He lowered Peter into the tub before turning on the cold tap. Peter’s teeth instantly began chattering as the cold water swirled around him, but the relief was clear on his face when the soothing liquid finally started to cover the fiery blisters on his leg.
“H-how l-long?” Peter stuttered out.
“Twenty minutes,” Tony said, his voice apologetic as he stared at Peter’s exhausted, tear stricken face.
There had been so many situations where Tony had found himself standing over Peter, helping to stitch a wound or holding a hand while a more qualified professional helped to set a broken bone or cast a particularly reluctant to heal fracture, but Peter’s healing abilities always made sure that his pain was temporary and before long he was back to his usual self. Not only that, but his injuries tended to be Spider-Man related - not a kitchen related accident.
“Is the water helping?” Tony asked, feeling useless now that he’d completed the instructions that F.R.I.D.A.Y. had given him, he’d nothing left to do except wait for the twenty minutes to pass. This was all his fault.
“Y-yeah,” Peter stammered.
Realisation hit Tony all of a sudden, Peter’s DNA had been irreversibly changed by the spider bite, he couldn't deal with the cold as well as a normal person, so he would be struggling with the chilly water. He pulled one of the towels off the heated rack by the door and placed it around Peter’s shoulder to try and help keep him as warm as possible.
“T-thanks,” Peter said with a grateful smile.
“Your Aunt is gonna kill me,” Tony said with a humourless snort.
“N-no, she won’t,” Peter said, “we c-can t-tell her it’s sunburn.”
“Sunburn?” Tony asked, raising an eyebrow, “Peter it’s the middle of February and you’ve only hurt one leg.”
“She might b-buy it,” Peter said with a shrug.
“No, Kid, she won’t,” Tony said, “she’s a terrifyingly intelligent woman who can smell a lie from a mile away.”
Peter merely snorted and continued to shiver in the cool water despite the heated towel wrapped around him.
“Maybe we w-won’t have t-to tell her,” Peter said hopefully, knowing that it wasn't true even as he said it.
“Kid, we have to tell her, especially as this is all my fault,” Tony said.
“What? It’s not your-”
“Sorry to interrupt, Sir, but Mr. Parker’s temperature is becoming dangerously low,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. said.