Chapter Text
“Ow!” Peter hissed, as a sharp sudden sting took over the back of his neck. He reached behind him to rub at the spot, wincing in pain as he felt a lump there.
“You good?”
“Shit,” the teen gasped, startled, clutching at his chest as he was caught off guard by the sudden voice. He was on a field trip to the General Techtronics public exhibition, and had wondered off from his class in the hopes of getting some space from Flash hassling him.
He’d thought he was alone, yet found himself unsurprised to turn around and come face to face with MJ, who was leaning against a pillar oh so casually, picking at her nails.
“You-you really need to start wa-walking louder.” He said, turning back to look at the bio-experiments in front of him, grimacing at the sight of a large arachnid crawling against the glass of its exhibit, its smaller baby spiders hanging off of it with webs.
“Where’s the fun in that?” She asked, moving to stand next to him and look at the exhibits they’d already seen again.
He didn’t respond, instead leaning against the bar that separated them from the experiments, overcome with a sudden forceful dizziness.
“Ned’s looking for you, so by my guess you have two minutes before he tells Mr Harrington and they start looking for you too.” The girl said, tilting her head to look at the boy when he once again didn’t respond. Her eyebrows drew together when she saw how pale Peter had gone, his eyes scrunched together tightly in… pain?
“Whoa, are you okay?” She placed a hand on his back, and he opened his eyes again to jolt away, almost collapsing at the movement if it weren’t for his tight grip on the bar.
“I—” Peter wasn’t sure what was happening, he felt lightheaded and confused and so, so hot all of a sudden. He fiddled with the sweater he had on, debating taking it off, but he didn’t like the idea of not having the extra layer of clothing for protection and his fingers had gone numb. He looked over to MJ for help, but was caught off guard by the room spinning disconcertingly around him.
“Dude, there’s a spider in your hair, c'mere.”
As soon as her words registered he froze in fear and squealed when she flicked something off of his head. Eww, spider, get it off, get it away, had that been what bit him? It had felt like a bite—
He almost fell over again then, if it hadn’t been for his friend catching him, letting him lean against her for support. “Whoa, easy there. You... you feel really hot. Let's get you back to the class, Peter. And, umm, maybe ask Harrington if you can sit down somewhere for a little while?”
Sitting. That sounded good. Sitting somewhere nice and quiet, where his head wouldn’t feel like it was taking a beating.
He let himself be led off by his friend, having absolutely no clue that this moment would change the course of the rest of his life.
~~~~~
“Are you sure you’ll be alright here alone?” Tony asked, the concern in his voice still noticeable beneath the tired rush he was in, practically bouncing on his feet to get going as he held the very fussy Morgan on his hip. “You don’t look so great…” He trailed off, eyeing the teen worriedly.
Peter shrugged, trying to appear uncaring, as he hiked his backpack higher up on his shoulder, hands shaky as much as he tried to conceal it.
He had been picked up from his field trip by Tony after calling him out of fear of passing out in the unfamiliar environment. Of course, his adoptive father had picked him up without question, and it wasn’t until he arrived in a stressed and rushed state that Peter remembered just how busy he and Pepper were today.
Pepper was coming off of maternity leave officially this morning (she’d been doing some work at home, but now she was going to start going back into meetings and SI) and Tony had been taking her place at some of the more important decisions over the last few weeks because, in Pepper’s words, everyone else on their team was ‘entirely incapable’ of managing on their own. So overall, it was a very busy time for them. Tony had to finish up with what he’d been doing before going back into partial retirement/ working from home. Pepper had to become reintroduced to the company during a very important time for it with the opening of a new subdivision and the introduction of nanotech, along with plans for an SI base to be opened in Tokyo if the deal they were currently making with the Minister went through. They also had to do all this while watching an 18 month old, because they hadn’t found anyone they trusted enough to watch Morgan yet (Happy was currently sick).
And now Peter had added himself into the equation.
Obviously, his father had been too caring to say anything to Peter about this over the phone, but he could easily tell how stressed and rushed he was by the unexpected snag in his already packed schedule.
Normally both of his parents would fret and coddle him more than necessary, but today he was barely spared a glance as the man spent the drive back to Stark Tower arguing with someone on the phone before hanging up and mumbling how he had to get back to the meeting he’d been in before they all messed everything up.
Sitting in the car next to Tony under those circumstances had left him feeling very small, to say the least. Though Peter couldn’t fault him for this, it brought back every insecurity he’d had about living with the Starks. Already feeling like a huge inconvenience, a burden, he just couldn’t bring himself to tell Tony what was really going on.
That he felt like he was burning from the inside out. “I’ll be fine. It’s just a headache.” He lied, sitting down on the couch before he collapsed in front of his dad.
He didn’t want to worry him needlessly, and he didn’t want to get in the way of anything.
“If you’re sure… I could always get one of the drivers to take you home?”
“No, it’s fine. I-I’ll just do homework or something.” He didn’t want to go home where he’d be alone, he wanted to stay here where he could be close to his parents, even if they were in another room.
He’d be fine. After all they’d done for him, the least he could do was toughen it out for a few hours.
“Well, feel free to tell anybody who bothers you to fuck off.” He commented offhandedly, straightening out his suit jacket and repositioning Morgan on his hip.
Peter looked at him surprised, not at all willing to do that nor sure whether he was actually being serious or not.
Tony just laughed, “Perks of owning the company. You’re sure you’ll be alright in here? I’m bringing Morgan into meetings so I'm sure I can squish another kiddie in too. It’d be a good learning experience, and you’d probably know what’s what better than the executives.”
Peter shook his head, holding in a wince at the increase of pulsing pain the action caused, forcing on a smile to try hide it. He really wanted to stick by his dad, but he didn’t like the idea of being sick in front of a room full of strangers. “It’s fine, really.”
Tony gave him another worried look, eyes flicking to the door. He’d already missed a good forty minutes of the proposal, he wasn’t opposed to missing the rest of it, and he didn’t think Pepper would be mad if it was for Peter. “Promise?”
Peter could tell if he told the truth about how he was feeling the man would drop and cancel everything to stay with him, but he just couldn’t do that. This week was so important, and Peter was fifteen he could toughen it up for a few hours. He didn’t need his parents fussing over him, he hadn’t had anyone looking after him while he was sick for years now. “Promise.” He mumbled, eyes moving to his lap as he tried his hardest to keep his composure for just a little while longer.
Tony leaned down and gave his head a quick kiss, before hurriedly pulling away to leave. “Tell Fri to contact me if you need anything, Pepper should be free soon and she'll come check on you, alright? Just watch TV or something.” He said, passing the boy the remote for the flat screen above the fireplace, before walking backwards to the door, still clearly torn about leaving him.
“Mmkay,” Peter mumbled, no longer having the energy to come upon with anything else as his eyes started slipping shut.
“See you soon, kiddie.”
Once he was alone he let out a sharp pained breath, bringing his knees up onto the couch with him to rock comfortingly back and forth. His ears were ringing loudly, and the pain in his neck had travelled down to attack the rest of his body. Everything ached. And he was still so hot.
You’re fine. He told himself, this isn’t going to be another time where he spends hours curled up in the fetal position on the floor, holding in sick, as his foster family taunts him for being so pitiful. Everything’s fine. He just had to go to sleep, and it’d all be alright when he woke up, and hopefully Pepper would be there.
Sleep came far too easily to the usually insomniac teen, his energy completely depleted as it was used up for the major changes to his body.
~~~~~
Everything was fuzzy when he came too.
There was just one thing that was distinguishable amidst the now freezing cold wracking his body.
Pain.
He gasped in a sharp breath as he felt it, attacking every receptor in his body. It was everywhere and torturous.
His eyes were torn open to see a bright agonising light shining directly into them, burning his receptors, but he couldn’t close his eyes to escape it, something was holding them open. Was this it? Was he dying? He didn’t want to die anymore, how did this happen? He couldn’t die, he wasn’t supposed to leave his parents and sister. He’d promised them. Mercifully, the light was soon taken away from his eyesight, instead being replaced by a blurry figure leaning over him. It took a few moments before they came into a startlingly clear focus.
He could see everything. And by everything, he meant every pour, every hair, every skin cell of the stranger’s face. It was terrifying, no one was supposed to look like that.
He felt a vibration in his throat, and a shrill sound rung in his ears. It took a moment to realise that he was screaming, thrashing to get away from the new man, but there was something holding him back.
It was then, amidst the freezing ice seemingly covering the rest of his body, he felt a warmth behind him. A sturdy chest beneath his head, rising up and down with each breath, and strong arms wrapped around him in an embrace to keep him still.
He weeped softly into the warm embrace, somehow able to tell that it was Tony and therefor safe without needing to check.
Everything was all weird, he could hear everyone in the room’s heartbeats and breathing far too easily, and the usually comforting smells of coffee on Tony and Pepper’s perfume, along with the cologne of the new person, burned his nose. He wanted it to stop. He didn't know what was happening, he was confused.
“Well? What’s wrong with him?” He heard his adoptive mother ask in a tone that sounded like it should be whispering, but it was so loud to the teen.
He whimpered and turned his face to try hide in the man’s clothing, wanting to get away from all of the sounds and escape the cold into his warmth. It felt weird though, he realised. Everything felt weird, even his skin. He could feel every fibre of cotton and breeze of air touching him with a startling severity, and it made everything sort of ticklish as he was so hyperaware.
“The flu’s going around, and he’s showing all the symptoms for it. I suggest you take him home, try cool him down to break the fever, and give him some antiviral pills. And if the fever doesn’t break over the next four days or it gets worse, then call for an ambulance again, okay?”
“He won’t take pills.” Pepper told the medic quietly, her statement followed by a heavy silence. Peter felt Tony run a hand through his hair, and he nuzzled further into the comforting touch and warmth.
“How old did you say he was again?”
“Fifteen.”
Again, another silence, as the medic thought something through. “He looks small enough to try a kid’s medicine. Maybe just give him an extra half a spoon of Calpol to treat the symptoms and see if that works?”
“Okay… okay, yeah, we’ve got some of that at home. But are you sure that’s all? He was convulsing and wouldn’t wake up!” He heard Pepper say, and his face scrunched up a bit at hearing the worry in her voice. He blindly reached out for her, knowing exactly where she was in the room without even thinking about it. His freezing cold hand was taken into her warm one, and he let out a short breath of relief.
“I know ma’am, but getting him home and bringing the fever down really is the best thing to do right now. Just keep a close eye on him and contact us again if his temperature goes above 105.”
“Fine,” she sighed, not at all sounding happy about the teen not being taken into emergency care. The woman had had quite a scare when she went to check on her son and found him completely unresponsive, after all. “Thank you for your time, I trust you can find your own way out?”
“Of course. Best wishes to you all.”
The door opened and closed with what was probably a soft thump, but sounded like gunfire to the teen and had him flinching back.
“Why didn’t I take you home sooner.” Tony mumbled regretfully, still playing with his hair.
Peter made a whimper at the back of his throat again, hearing the guilt in the man’s voice and wanting to ease it, but he couldn’t get himself to talk. He could feel the darkness taking over him once more, and as he slipped back into the relatively pain free unconsciousness, he felt strong arms lift him up bridal style, and a soft blanket tuck over him.
~~~~~
Tony was furious with himself, as he carried the boy into the elevator and down to the underground carpark, Pepper carrying Morgan in a baby seat next to him, who was blissfully asleep so wouldn’t make any noises to hurt her brother’s head.
How could he mess up so badly? How could he have believed his son when he’d claimed he only had a ‘mild headache’? Peter, who didn’t even ask for days off school when he was practically debilitated by a depressive episode, had called to ask to be picked up earlier and Tony had shrugged it off as though it were nothing.
It was clear something was wrong, and he’d left the teen all alone without a second thought. Guilt hit him stronger than before as he looked down at the pale shivery mess in his arms, the boy’s skin soaked with sweat and hot to the touch.
The doctor had better have been right, because if this turned out to be something more than a bad fever and Tony had ignored it he’d never forgive himself. His arms were burning from carrying the dead weight of the kid, the teen not as sickeningly light as he had been a year ago now that they’d gotten him eating better, but he managed to make it to the car and lie the boy across the back seats without dropping him, out of pure will power.
As soon as he placed him onto the cold leather, however, the teen’s body contracted off of it, face scrunching in discomfort as he tried to get away. Pepper shifted his legs onto the floor in order to put Morgan’s car seat next to him, before securely tucking the blanket they’d snatched from an office around Peter. They were supposed to be cooling him down, they knew, but they saw no point in leaving him uncomfortable and freezing on the ride home.
They’d face that when they got there.
~~~~~
Peter was floating.
He could feel himself being carried in the air, in his brief moments of consciousness. Being placed gently down onto his soft bed.
Things were happening around him, time was moving. So why did he feel stuck?
He lost count of how many times he woke up. The first few times he’d barely managed to make out a whisper of voices, someone playing with his hair and humming softly, before drifting off again. He felt ice cold each time he woke, searching weakly for an extra blanket, but he lost energy before he could find one.
Images kept flashing before his mind. Horrible memories, forming together in a confusing fever dream. His aunt and uncle, dead on the floor. A belt raised up high in the air above him, swinging down. Boney arms and tearful faces of other kids. Purple bruises. Tall, dark, imposing shadows on the walls. A creaking bed.
He woke up at the sound of screaming, and passed out again before he had time to realise that it was him.
He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he woke up to the feeling of being rocked. He was in his bed, huddled onto Tony’s lap as the man swayed him soothingly back and forth like he did with Morgan. Peter liked the calming motion and the feeling of finally being warm again in his arms, so curled up more and closed his eyes, trying to savour it. Unfortunately his body never let him have anything nice, and the movement soon had him feeling nauseous.
He started heaving. He didn’t know how he managed to move from his bed to the bathroom opposite, knees hitting the cold tile harshly as he threw up into the toilet. He whined fearfully when he felt a hand on his shoulder, but relaxed into it when he sensed that it was Pepper.
“Shh, it’s alright, let it all out.” She rubbed at his back, and it encouraged him to once again throw up, hurting his soar throat and dizzying him once more with the overwhelming acrid smell.
“What kind of medicine has nausea as a side effect?!” He heard Tony yell from another room, and Peter went to cry in pain at the loud sound but he was taken over by sleep first, falling onto the floor.
“Peter,” he felt someone shaking him. “Peter, sweetie, wake up for just one moment please.”
He groaned and tried to bat the woman’s hands away from his shoulders. Everything ached, and he wanted to go back to sleep. "Mom," he called out, eyes screwed shut as he didn't even register what he'd said. With Morgan talking and copying words more, he usually did say mommy and daddy when talking to the little girl so she didn't get confused, which had caused him to slip up a few times now. He'd accidentally called Pepper mom without Morgan around as a reason twice, and each time he'd blushed with embarrassment and awkwardly left, glad he hadn't called Tony dad because that'd be even more embarrassing and the man would probably tease him about it for days instead of just smiling softly like Pepper had.
Pepper went quiet for a little while at the name, stroking his cheek, before carrying on with what she was doing. "I'm right here, baby. Your shirt's all dirty though, so we have to get you washed up, okay?"
As soon as she pointed it out, his violent shivers from earlier started back up. He didn't know why but his clothes were all wet and sticky, cold against his chest. What happened?
"Peter? I've got to undress you and give you a quick wash, is that alright?"
What was happening? He hummed in response, already feeling himself getting sleepy again but he forced himself to keep his eyes open, staring blankly across the bathroom floor he was lying on as Pepper gently tugged his shirt off. Everything sounded really loud, he could hear Pepper's heart beat, the electricity humming, and the running of water. He could also hear someone pacing, but that sounded further away. Not in the room... but, downstairs, in the kitchen by the backdoor. He could hear feet against the marble tile and the clicking of the backdoor opening, followed by dog paws walking inside, but he didn't understand how. "'mmm, 'ony?" The man not being in his immediate vicinity put him on edge, as childish as it sounded.
"He's downstairs, we figured you wouldn't want him around while you were undressed."
Peter tilted his head again to look up at her, vision still spinning but he could make out the red hair if he focused hard enough. It was then he properly understood what was happening, and he cried out and tried to curl himself into a ball when he felt the woman's hands pull at the top of his jeans.
She stopped instantly, again holding a hand to his face. "Shh, shh, shh. It's alright, I'm not going to do anything you don't want me too. I was just gonna slip these off, and keep your briefs on for a quick bath. But if you don't want me to, that's fine, we can just wash your face and chest up in the sink. Whatever you want."
"Wan' bed."
"Oh I know baby, but I'd be a bad mom if I let you sit around in dirty clothes. Please can I help you?"
Hearing her call herself his mom provided all the trust he needed. Because if she was his mom then she wouldn't hurt him. Moms don't do the things Carson did.
"The bath's all nice and warm for you, and after we can get you into some proper pyjamas and tuck you back into bed. Okay?"
He hummed in response again, this time with a slight nod. He stayed still with eyes scrunched up in fear and hands clenched as she pulled off his jeans, biting into his lip. But soon it was over, and she praised him for a good job and kept her promise of leaving his boxer shorts on. She helped him up to his feet, letting him lean heavily on her before turning him around to sit on the edge of the bath, before slowly putting his legs followed by his body into it.
As soon as the warm water surrounded him he let out a breath of relief, closing his eyes as the water muffled his hearing and he felt Pepper gently pour a handful of it over him.
Going back to sleep with his head supported in her hand, finally comfortable.
~~~~~
Peter woke up with a gasp.
He lay frozen for a moment, waiting for some sort of pain to hit him, but when non came he curiously opened his eyes.
The room was mercifully dark, the curtains drawn and lights off. The only light coming in from the hallway through the partially opened door, and, when he looked, Tony’s phone.
The man was slouched over on the bean bag chair by Peter’s bookcase, scrolling through his phone with a look of boredom. He hadn’t noticed Peter had woken up yet.
Either Tony or Pepper had been there every time he woke up, so it couldn’t have been that long since he fell asleep at SI, otherwise they would’ve gone to work. It had felt like a lot longer, though.
The teen lay there exhaustedly for a moment, feeling a million times better than before, better than he normally did, actually. Nothing in his body hurt anymore, in fact it felt oddly great, he was just tired.
And hungry.
“Mr Stark?”
Tony looked up, surprised, and immediately smiled and came over when he saw that the boy was looking a lot better.
“Hey, buddy." he greeted, kneeling next to the bed, still in a whispery tone but it sounded louder and made him wince. "You feeling alright? You look a lot better, less ghosty more peachy." He felt the teen's forehead, and was surprised to find it a completely normal temperature.
Peter stared at him, startled to find how different he looked. Like the medic from earlier, everything about Tony's face was too clear. He could count every single hair on his face, even without his glasses (that he'd gotten a few months ago after school called him out on his bad eyesight) on. He could even make out what looked like dust particles, floating through the air. It was weird, to say the least...
"What? Something on my face?"
The teen blinked several times before forcing himself to stop gawking, realising that nothing was changing. Maybe things had always looked like that? He'd just forgotten? Or maybe he was just hallucinating. "No." He swallowed, lying there for another moment before suddenly shifting to sit up. Tony put a hand on his back, expecting to need to steady him, but Peter found himself needing no help whatsoever. Whatever had been going on was over now, and it hadn't left him weak or achey like they'd expected. "No, I feel fine." He did feel fine. More than fine, he found, as he looked around his room, able to see everything despite the relative darkness it was in.
"Oh, that's good." Tony said, biting on his tongue about something before adding "You gave us quite a scare..."
Peter turned his attention back to him, head moving quicker than he'd planned giving himself mild whiplash. He blank as everything caught up with him. Right. He'd passed out at the office after claiming a mild headache. This was awkward. "Sorry." He replied, not really knowing what else to say. All he could think about was how he could easily hear four heartbeats in the house, and how that most definitely wasn't normal. Unless maybe he was just hearing his own double, if that was even a thing.
Tony stared back at him in reply, before standing up from the crouching position he was in with a groan and sitting down on the bed next to the teen. He stayed still for a moment, before awkwardly placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, patting it softly. There was a thick tension in the room and Peter didn't like it. "Why didn't you... why didn't you tell me you were feeling bad, Peter?"
Oh... Umm...
"I-I didn't, umm, I didn't feel that sick when you picked me up," Lies, that was a lie and they both knew it. "And I... I didn't want to be a bother, you were busy." He mumbled, looking down in shame. He hadn't meant to worry his parents, that had been the exact opposite of what he'd been trying to do, actually.
Tony looked physically repulsed by his words, and without giving any warning he pulled the teen into a hug. "No. No don't say that, you're not a bother. You would never be a bother to me, okay? You and Morgan always come first, always. My kids come before work, I'm not my f-" He cut himself off before he could finish the sentence, just clinging to the teen like he needed the reassurance more than Peter did. Which was why the boy let him, despite how weird contact now felt on his skin. It was half way between ticklish and itchy. "You and Morgan come first. I don't care how busy I am, if you need something or aren't feeling great you tell me."
Peter didn't respond, too bust trying not to get overwhelmed by the sensory overload that was quickly building up. Speaking of Morgan, he realised, that out of the four heartbeats he could hear none of them were hers. Matter of fact, he had an unexplainable feeling that she wasn't anywhere in the house. Or outside. "Where's Morgan?"
Tony looked like he was about to chide him for changing the subject, and ask him to confirm that he understood he came first again, but thought better of it. "She's with a friend."
"Happy?"
"No, he's still contagious. One of Pepper's friends. Don't worry, she's alright."
One of Pepper's friends... Peter couldn't think of anyone who fit that description, meaning he hadn't met them, meaning his little sister was with someone he didn't know, a stranger. How could he know if she was safe or not? Why had they done this-
"Breathe, kiddie. She's a nice girl, and has kids of her own. Morgan's just fine."
"Why?"
"You were crying over whispers, Petey. A baby's not exactly great at sticking to a no noises rule."
But that wasn't fair. Morgan was their real kid, and only a baby, they shouldn't be sending her away for him. That wasn't right. He was going to tell Tony as such, but they were interrupted by a loud growl coming from his stomach.
Peter blushed, kind of shocked by how terrifyingly loud that had been, and Tony chuckled softly before giving his head a kiss and pulling back from the hug a bit. "It's been a good day since you last ate, no wonder you're starving."
"A day?" Peter asked incredulously, still holding on tightly to his father's shirt, not wanting to let go of the hug now that he'd gotten one, because, to be honest, he was quite scared. Everything felt so weird and unexplainably different, but other than his skin feeling more sensitive to touch, a hug from his dad still felt relatively the same.
"Mmhm, welcome to Tuesday Peter. It's coming up to dinner time, and you've been pretty much out of it since yesterday lunch."
No way. That couldn't be right, because every time he woke up either Tony or Pepper had been there, but if a whole day had passed they would have gone to bed and work at some point... Unless Peter had just slept through when they were gone. "But... you're both here."
Tony looked at him in confusion, before he seemed to understand what the teen meant and let out an exasperated huff along with a roll of his eyes, resting his chin on top of the boy's head again. "What did I just say, hmm? You're. More. Important. You didn't really think we'd go into work and leave you in this state, did you?"
Again, Peter didn't respond, just closed his eyes as he was held.
His stomach growled angrily again, causing him to jump in surprise and his face to get even redder.
Tony pulled away.
"I'll go ask Pep if you're clear to eat something." He said in explanation, but seeing him begin to stand up to leave had the teen panic and he reached to grab at the man's shirt with a yell of "Don't go!"
They both looked at the hand in surprise, as it lay flat against Tony's shirt without any grip whatsoever, yet somehow kept him from being able to fully pull away. As though it were sticking to it.
"Okay." he said hesitantly, eying the hand as he sat back down, "Okay, I'm not going anywhere, I promise... I'll text Pepper to bring some crackers up, you just lie down again and I'll stay right here."
Peter looked at his face, still mildly panicked, but complied and let himself be pushed back into a lying position. His hand didn't detach itself from the shirt, but they both elected to ignore the oddity of it, Tony lying down a little next to Peter to pull him into a hug.
"I've got homework..." Peter mumbled sleepily, staring at the ceiling.
"Ha! There is no way you're going into school tomorrow. Don't even try it. Just lie down and close your eyes for a bit," He ruffled the teen's hair, before placing a kiss on it and fully lying himself down too, facing each other.
"I never got sick days off before..."
Tony swallowed, visibly upset as he thought about his son being ill in one of the hostile environments of his other homes. School had probably actually been a relief to the kid. "Well, now you do. Deal with it."
The exhaustedness had completely taken over now he was lying down again, and that combined with the relief that came when he closed his eyes and tried to focus on just the sound of their breathing rather than everything else, made him quite happy to do as told.
"Sleep tight, kiddie. I got you."
Got him through what exactly, they were yet to find out.