Work Text:
“Pete.”
He blinked. Who was talking? Who was Pete?
“Pete, you really have to wake up, sweetie.”
Was he Pete? “Don’t want to,” he mumbled. “Go away…”
Someone was shaking him. “No, no, not a good response, bud. Come on, Pete. Wake up for me.”
He frowned. Whoever it was, they were insistent. He didn’t even recognize the voice. “No,” he slurred. “It’s too early.”
“He thinks we’re getting him up for school. Jesus, kid.”
And then there was a new voice. Another man. “Is he waking up, Tony?”
Tony. So the rude guy’s name was Tony. And he was Peter? None of this was making a lot of sense. He could hear the two men talking above him but he couldn’t bring himself to focus. And then-
Someone was lifting him. His arm shot out, trying to make contact with whoever was bodily picking him and he felt arms grabbing his. “Pete, Pete, it’s okay. Come on, buddy. Weren’t you listening? Steve said he was going to pick you up.”
He didn’t want to open his eyes- the world was too bright- but he needed to see around him. He wrenched them open with an effort and moaned; a hand grabbed his face and turned him so he was facing someone. “Are you Tony?” he asked, trying to focus on the brunette in front of him and not the daggers the sunlight was sending him.
“Am I Tony? Kid, that’s not funny,” maybe Tony said sharply.
“Tony, I don’t think he’s kidding.”
He swung his head around to see who was carrying him- an absolute mountain of a man, with blond hair and clear blue-green eyes. He felt like he was going to retch. The blond was looking at him, worried and calculating. “Peter? Do you know who we are?”
He gave up fighting to grab at his temple. Covering his eyes, he screwed up the lids as much as he could, trying to block out all the feedback. “Am I Peter?” he moaned.
“Are you-? Oh, Petey-”
“Let’s get him back to the jet.”
“I’m really tired,” he mumbled, clutching at the blond man’s leather jacket. “Why’s it so bright?”
Neither man answered him, but he sighed in relief when they crossed some threshold and the ambient light was cut almost in half.
“Lay him down here. Friday- scan him-” That didn’t make any sense? Friday was a day not a person. He curled into the mattress as soon as he was put down. A beam of light passed from his head to his feet.
“Who are you?” he asked sleepily.
“I’m your very stressed mentor, kid. I’m Tony. You call me Mr. Stark. But I wish you wouldn’t.”
“Mentor…?”
“Friday, I need those results!”
He was blinking- trying to stay awake really- but his body was heavy and he was exhausted. The man- Tony- was straightening him out on the cot, or whatever it was they’d laid him on, and he let him. “You’re my teacher?”
“There’s really no good name for what I am to you, Pete, because our situation is fucking ridiculous-”
“He loves you, Peter,” the other man said, and oh, had he been there the entire time? He’d thought the man had gone away at some point. “And you love him too, even if you’re both too stubborn to admit it-”
He loved Tony? He didn’t even know who Tony was. Tony was saying something to the blond- and why wouldn’t anyone tell him his name? He couldn’t keep calling him the blond- and Tony was rubbing his arm and it was nice and he- he really was way too tired. He was going to have to trust that these two weren’t going to steal his organs while he slept. They seemed nice. He…
“Are you awake?”
He blinked sleepily. There was a light above him. “It’s bright,” he complained. “Tony?”
“Friday, turn down those lights, sweetheart.” The lights dimmed accordingly. Whoever Friday was, they were prompt. Pete flopped his head in the direction Tony’s voice was coming from. “Hi, kid.”
“Who names their kid ‘Friday’?” he asked.
“You were never a film buff, unfortunately.” Which made no sense. That didn’t even try to answer the question. “So am I to take it from the continued use of my first name, that you still don’t know who I am?”
“You told me to call you Tony,” he protested.
“But you never do. That’s okay.” The brunette was fidgeting. “Let me give you some context for what’s going on. Your name is Peter and I’m Tony. I met you when you were fourteen. You live with your aunt May- she’s on her way here. We’re sitting in the medical wing of a building I own. And you have temporary amnesia. Make sense so far?”
“Why do I live with my aunt?”
Tony’s mouth tightened a little with a grimace. “She’s the family you have.”
“Oh.” Were his parents dead? He should probably feel more, shouldn’t he? “And what do you teach me?”
Tony barked a laugh at this. “Nothing. You never listen to me.” But he sounded fond. “Mostly we work on engineering. Some other things. I’m not supposed to get you riled up. Let’s focus on the engineering piece of it.”
“How’d we meet?”
“I was intrigued by a project of yours and sought you out. You’re an intelligent kid, Peter.”
“Is my aunt May going to be sad that I don’t remember her? I don’t remember her. Like nothing up here.” He waved his hand over his head.
“She’s used to your hijinks. I’m the one with the broken heart.”
Pete shifted his head to look back at Tony. The man was half smiling, but his eyes were worried. He felt an unexpected pang. “You look kind of familiar,” he offered.
Tony snorted. “You’re very kind, Pete. That’s why I’m so fond of you.”
“Who was the other man? He was tall?” Pete stretched his arm up to indicate height.
“That’s Steve. Yeah, he’s a big boy. He’s a friend of mine. And we work together.”
“Why do you think I have amnesia?” Peter whispered. He was afraid to know the answer. What if this was permanent?
Tony responded by reaching out for him. He worked his fingers into Pete’s hair and probed a spot near the back of his head. Pete jolted. Tony held his hands up in silent apology. “Yeah, you hit your head pretty bad this time, Pete. I spoke with your doctor though. He says you’re going to be fine. And good news- you heal quickly.”
“Why were you so worried? Before, I mean.”
“Your aunt scares me.”
“You joke a lot.”
“It’s the trauma,” Tony said automatically. He sniffed. “Sorry. But it actually is the trauma sometimes. I was worried before because I care for you. And it was alarming watching you fall. You’re actually lucky you’re not hurt more.”
“I fell?”
“You fell.”
“From what?”
“Mm, now that’s kind of hard to explain, buddy. I promise it’ll make sense eventually. When you get your memories back.”
Pete hummed. He looked around the room. Blue walls. No TV. What kind of hospital was this? Tony was watching him. “Would you like to go somewhere else?”
He perked up. “Could we?”
“Yeah- let me help you up. You still look like a good breeze would blow you away.”
“Sorry,” he mumbled, flushing when Tony had to help tie his johnny in the back.
“Mm, don’t worry about it,” Tony said back brusquely. Peter wondered if this wasn’t the first time he’d had to do something like this. He seemed oddly familiar with Pete, even if Pete didn’t know him from a hole in the wall. “Alright, Roo, you won’t break any public indecency laws now.”
He flushed. “Roo?”
“Little nickname.”
“Are you sure you’re just my mentor?” Peter asked, clutching Tony’s arm as they moved down the hall. Tony raised an eyebrow. He flushed. “Steve says you love me,” he mumbled.
“Steve’s right.”
He blinked. “You do?”
“Of course, Pete.” Tony gestured them into an elevator.
“Huh.” He leaned more heavily on the older man as the elevator ascended. “Where are we going?” he asked, slurring his words a little now.
“Your bedroom,” Tony said, watching him sway. “You look tired.”
The elevator dinged. Pete looked around with interest. They seemed to be on some common floor and there in the kitchen was- “Steve!”
The man straightened up. “Petey, what are you doing up here? Tony, he looks really pale-”
“He’ll be comfier in his own space,” Tony said unapologetically. “Here, help me steer on his other side.”
Steve reached back and snapped the burner off on the stove. “The things he does to you,” he mumbled to Pete, slipping an arm around his chest and essentially lifting him off the ground. “Come on, honey. Let’s get you back in bed.”
Honey? Roo? Who were these people? A voice from the ceiling spoke then, startling Pete. “Boss, May Parker is here.”
“Send her up, darling. We’re heading for his bedroom.”
“Why do I have a bedroom?” he asked, distracted.
“Tony was keeping you up late. Here we are.”
Pete paused on the threshold, not understanding. “This is my room?” He didn’t understand. Why was it so big? Why were they so kind to him? The room he was standing in the doorway of was huge- and well lived in.
“This is your room,” Tony agreed, tugging him forward. “Let’s get you in bed, sweetheart.”
He let the brunette roll him onto the bed, feeling boneless and exhausted. “When do you think I’ll get my memory back?” he asked, as Tony pulled the blanket up around him.
“Hopefully, soon.”
“Do you really love me?” he asked, playing with the edges of the blanket. He yawned, then blushed. Why was he so tired?
Tony hesitated. “I really love you.”
He stretched, rolling slightly to look at the blond- Steve, he corrected himself- where he was sitting on the other side of the bed. “Does he say that a lot?”
Tony scoffed, but Steve grinned. “No, he doesn’t. You get it the most. And he gives you forehead kisses when you’re sleepy- (“No, I don’t,” Tony interjected. Steve ignored him) -and he likes to hold you when we have movie nights.”
He was watching the two of them interact, Steve giving Tony a noogie and Tony protesting wildly, when there was a knock on the door. “What are you two doing?”
“Tony’s being emotionally constipated again-”
“No, I’m not, I’ve been good-”
“Come on in, May. Tony moved him up here, against medical advice-”
“He’s more comfortable. Aren’t you, Pete?”
He was looking dazedly at the woman that must be his aunt. She looked like she was Tony’s age, but she was undoubtedly beautiful, and she was beaming at him. He felt guilty already. “I am,” he said slowly, feeling a strange sense of loyalty to the man who kept calling himself his mentor. “Is this really my room?”
“Of course it’s your room. So you weren’t kidding, huh?” His aunt wrapped her arms around Tony’s shoulders, leaning on him. “You lost your memory, baby?”
He nodded, feeling shy. “Sorry,” he whispered.
“Oh, don’t be sorry. Can I give you a hug?”
He nodded, pushing himself up into a seated position again, and she engulfed him. He buried his nose in her shoulder- her hair floated around him and half covered his face, but her shampoo- he remembered her shampoo. She smelled like lavender. She squeezed him and then turned to face Tony. “Is he hurt?”
“Just the bump to the head. Here, I’ll show you where.”
They crowded him, Tony’s hands gentle in his hair- he still hissed a little when they probed around the bump- and then they were pushing him down onto the bed and he felt heavy, not unpleasantly so, and he was falling asleep. “I’ll just nap a bit,” he said unsteadily, looking from adult to adult. “Maybe I’ll be back to normal when I wake up?”
“Hope so. Get some rest, baby.” May pressed a kiss to his cheek.
Tony bent over him next. “Night, Roo,” he said, pecking him on the forehead. “We all love you, you know,” he said, very quietly. “Especially me.”
Steve had gotten up from his side of the bed and ducked around the bottom of the bed. “Can I hug you too?” he asked, almost shyly, which looked odd on a man of his stature. He nodded sleepily and Steve gathered him in a loose hold, so much more gentle than Pete had expected. “Don’t get hurt like this again, bud.”
“I won’t.”
Tony was the one to linger at the bottom of his bed, the other two stepping into the hallway. “You scare me when you get hurt like this, Peter.”
“Sorry, Mr. Stark-”
They both froze. Peter didn’t know where that had come from- he felt as lost as ever- but that had felt right. The corner of Tony’s mouth had twitched into a smile. “Sleep, sweetheart. We’ll be just down the hall if you need us.”
“Kay.” Tony had almost pulled the door shut completely when he called out again. “Wait, Tony! Mr. Stark?”
Tony pivoted, coming back into the room. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah, just… Do I tell you I love you too? I think I do.”
Tony’s lips definitely pulled into a smile now. “Oh, you tell me in your own way. Goodnight, Mr. Parker.”
“Night Mr. Stark.”