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“I’m going crazy. I’ve actually lost it this time.”
“If you’re going crazy, then we all are,” Natasha cut in. “Don’t make me smack you, Tony. I’d only marginally enjoy it.”
“Of all the things-”
“This is karma, Tony, pure and simple.” Rhodey sounded almost amused. Tony shot him a look, unimpressed. “Face it, you spent most of your teenage years harassing me and it’s come back around. Big time.”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you were enjoying this, Sour Patch, which would be absurd since my intern is now-”
“Guys.” Pete spoke up at that point, making Tony jump. He rubbed at his chest. Jesus, when had the kid gotten so close. “Ah. Sorry- I forgot-”
“What is it, Roo?” he asked wearily, taking a deep breath in.
“Well, I forgot that you couldn’t- but I’m going to fix this, really Mr. Stark. I’m sure there’s an easy solution that we’re just not thinking of at this point-”
“An easy solution?” Tony asked incredulously, staring at his best approximation of where Pete’s voice had been coming from. “Really? You think that this happens every day?”
“Well, every problem has a solution. You told me that, remember?”
“I was mostly talking about that asshat at your school,” he groused.
“Can I give you a hug? You seem stressed.”
Tony grumbled but then relented. “Fine. If it pleases you.”
“Alright, I’m standing right in front of you.”
“This is so weird,” Tony said, feeling Peter invade his personal space. Not being able to see him. He hesitantly wrapped an arm around Pete’s torso, feeling the muscles in the teen’s back. Running his fingers up to touch Pete’s shoulder. “Is this your ear?” He gave a little tug.
“Yeah, ouch-”
“And your nose- eyes- okay, right here? Is this your cheek? I hate this, Peter.”
“Yeah, that’s my cheek.”
Sighing, Tony pressed a kiss there. He could smell Pete’s shampoo. Felt the kid’s arms squeezing him none too gently. “I don’t even want to know what this looks like.”
“Kind of looks like you’re frozen,” Natasha told him.
“Looks like your back finally gave out,” Rhodey said, his eyes bright with mirth.
“You’re older than me,” Tony snapped. He pressed another kiss to the junction of Pete’s shoulder and neck. “I will fix this, kiddie.”
They brought Pete up to the medbay. Tony insisted on Pete holding his hand and the teen complied surprisingly easily. “You’re not as talkative as you usually are,” he said, swinging the hand holding his.
“Mm, I’m nervous,” Pete admitted. “What if I’m like this forever? Nobody will ever see me again.”
“That’s not going to happen.” He tightened his hold on the teen’s hand.
They had to clue back into the discussion going on between Natasha, Bruce, and Rhodey. Tony pulled himself up on the medical bed, feeling Pete’s leg brush against his. Weird.
“Alright, so what happened this time?” Bruce asked wearily, looking over at Tony.
Tony nudged the invisible teenager. “Would you like to tell him or should I?”
“Mm, you can tell him.”
“Pete’s an idiot,” Tony started broadly. He felt the teen pinch him. “But I care about him,” he amended. “A little.”
Peter groaned and laid down on the bed behind him, his body curling to fit the space that Tony had left. Tony could see the impression of the teen- a dent on the pillow, two spots on the blanket where his heels dug in. Pete took his left hand with both of his.
“He was on patrol,” Tony said baldly, looking back at his friend. “Usual hijinks he gets up to when some evil wizard or scientist- not really clear- throws a liquid on him. And he started to get…”
“Pale,” Pete’s voice supplied from somewhere near the head of the bed.
“Paler than usual.” He heard a muffled, half hysterical laugh from the same spot. “And he delayed coming back to the Tower-” he glared at the spot he assumed the teen was- “until he’d gone completely… transparent.”
“How long did that take?”
“...about an hour,” Pete mumbled.
“I can’t believe,” Tony started, loudly, haughtily, “that you waited an hour to call me after getting doused in some mysterious liquid.”
“Really irresponsible,” Rhodey murmured from his spot in the visitor’s chair. “You’d never have done that.”
Tony could almost feel his mouth twitching with amusement. He shot his former college roommate a withering glare instead. Pete rubbed the back of his hand with his thumb apologetically.
“And the suit also became invisible?” Bruce queried over the chaos.
“Or did you come back to me in the raw?” Tony said, barely suppressed laughter present in his voice now.
“I definitely did not!” Pete protested sharply. “Or I wouldn’t have hugged you. The suit turned invisible too.”
“I think we should call Strange in on this one,” Bruce said. “Get his perspective. It’s not like I can draw some of his blood. We can’t exactly see the vein.”
Bruce left to contact Strange. “I’m going to tell the others what’s going on,” Natasha said and swept out of the room. Rhodey pulled his chair closer to the bed. “Sorry for joking so much, Pete. Trying to wind up your old man.”
Tony would have protested that designation but Pete was already talking. “S’okay. It is kind of funny except for, you know, the scary bits.”
“Tony will never leave you this way. He loves you too much.”
The engineer busied himself with finding a blanket. He could hear Rhodey and Pete whispering behind him but he chose not to listen. “Here,” he said, coming back and unfolding the blanket as he went. “At least this will help show where you are.” And- “I won’t leave you this way.”
“Because you love me?”
“Because it’s fucking annoying.”
“He loves you. You do. Don’t look at me that way, you really do.”
Tony sighed. He felt Pete take his hand again and he gave it a squeeze. “This is the worst thing you’ve done so far, Pete. And I never did this as a teenager,” he added, shooting Rhodey a look. He pressed his lips to Pete’s knuckles. “We’ll fix it.”
“I know. Thanks, Mr. Stark.”