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“So, over here is where my tomatoes are gonna go, and over here is- Morgan, step away from the lake for me,” Pepper called out towards the six year old, only turning back to Peter when she had obeyed, “as I was saying, I’m gonna have multiple rows of kale here. It’s the easiest place to hide it from the alpaca.”
“You know, you could always try and get along with Gerald. When he’s not eating Morgan’s hats, he’s actually a really nice pet.” Peter suggested, trying to ignore the fact that despite the fact New York was finally warming up, the slush was still on the ground and soaking into his sneakers.
‘At least Pepper and Morgan had the sense to wear rain boots.’
“You weren’t here when he ate all of my gogis, Peter.” Pepper explained with a smile and a shake of her head.
“Well, yeah, I’m just saying-” Peter started to continue to defend the alpaca, but stopped when the all too familiar high pitched ringing in his ears started and everything else muffled around him; usually, it was enough to send him straight into an anxiety attack, but he had slowly learned that he wasn’t dying but that his senses were acting up.
“Peter?” Pepper’s voice sounded far away, despite the fact that her hand was on his shoulder, “Peter, are you okay?”
He was about to shake away the feeling, until a thought sprung into his head that made his heart sink with pure terror, ‘Where’s Morgan?’ , which led him to focus on the still slushy, frigid lake and seeing the unnatural ripples expand towards the edges.
Peter didn’t hesitate to run straight towards the lake before diving in, immediately laying eyes on Morgan and started to swim towards her; the lake water stung every inch of skin and his eyes burned as he continued to dive down before finally securing his arm around Morgan’s waist.
As he started to swim upwards, his skin surrounded in icy fire and his chest aching, pleading for a breath, he just squeezed his eyes shut tighter and continued swimming upwards, making sure that he never lost his tight grip on Morgan.
Just when the edge of the lake was in view, however, Peter’s mouth burst open with an inhale, making him choke as he broke through the barrier, letting the strong hands pull him and Morgan to the edge.
He continued to cough up water as Morgan was pulled away from him and he was turned onto his side.
“M-Morg-” he stuttered as another mouthful of water cut him off, a warm hand gracing his shoulder.
“Shh, Pete. Just focus on breathing.”
Peter knew he had to breathe. However, he also knew he'd only be able to do so once he knew Morgan was okay, so he tried again, "Mo... Morgan!,” followed by another coughing fit.
His ears were ringing by the time and his vision was blurring by the time he had returned to an unsteady wheezing while the hand that had stayed on his shoulder squeezed gently followed by Tony’s voice.
"She's gonna be okay, Peter. So are you."
His body convulsed with shivers as he coughed, the tears in his eyes seemingly made of ice as they dripped down his face. He could have sworn he heard someone say that he was freezing before the hand left his shoulder and replaced it with Pepper’s voice.
“Sweetheart, can you hear me? We’re gonna get you inside, okay?”
Peter tried to form words with his mouth, but the shivering made him unable to release his sentences from his lips, so he nodded and allowed himself to be nearly drug inside, unable to move his aching limbs.
His vision dimmed as his soaking wet clothes were pried from his body and the last thing he saw was the orange flames crackling in a desperate attempt to keep him warm.
…
Tony’s heartbeat only began to settle down as Morgan grew more alert with every crack of the fireplace even with the simultaneously growing anxiety in his stomach from the fact that Peter’s shaking, unconscious body seemed to grow colder despite the blankets, fire and heating system.
“Tony, should we call an ambulance?” Pepper’s voice broke his attention away from his kids, “I would have already called one, but-”
“Peter.”
“What do we do?”
Tony sighed and tried to process his thoughts while looking at Peter’s gray-tinted face. ‘They both need medical attention, that’s a damn fact. But they can’t treat Peter correctly and the compound is three hours away.’
“FRI, text Cho and tell her to meet us at the hospital. Text Happy Hogan as well, tell him to meet us with NDAs,” Tony explained before turning to Pepper and offering her a nod from the floor, “call 911,” as soon as Pepper left the room, he turned back to Peter and whispered despite knowing that he wouldn’t be heard, “you just stay alive.”
He hated that all he got was a wheeze in response.
The next hour passed in a blur for Tony. The ambulances got there and got them to the hospital in twenty minutes and as soon as the kids were in triage, he had to leave Morgan with Pepper despite how much it pained him to hear her voice cry out for him to come back.
“Daddy!” She cried despite the tremors in her teeth from the shivering as she was examined, but Tony had to force himself to take a deep breath before returning to Peter’s side.
Morgan was okay with Pepper and would be thoroughly comforted; Peter was a legal mess waiting to happen if he didn’t stay by his side until Helen could take over with the correct medical information and NDAs.
It took forty minutes of him alternating between stroking Peter’s hair and knuckles before Helen arrived, followed closely by Happy and May, and he could safely stay with Morgan while Peter was taken care of.
“I’ve got my kid, go be with yours.” May insisted as she took his spot, forcing him to go up to the pediatric ward.
He made sure to press a kiss to Peter’s forehead before he did, his worry never diminishing and just swapping causes.
‘Universe, God, Thor, whoever…if anyone’s listening, just grant me this, Let my kids be okay.’ He begged in his mind as the elevator brought him to his wife and daughter and broke him away from the closest thing he had to a son.
…
When Peter’s mind finally emerged from the darkness, he could feel the cold still deep in his bones and a new burning sensation in his chest with every breath as a hand slowly ran through his hair in a comforting motion.
‘Morgan,’ He remembered as he tried to open his eyes while his mind replayed what would go down as one of the most terrifying moments in his life, ‘where’s Morgan?’
“Shh, Peter…” his aunt’s voice cooed softly, “you’re safe now. It’s okay.”
‘But what about Morgan?’ He tried to ask, but his body was too tired to open his eyes, let alone open his mouth.
“Everyone’s okay, sweetheart. Go back to sleep.”
As soon as the confirmation hit his ears, he couldn’t stop himself from drifting back off into darkness.
…
Tony was all too familiar with trying to distract a child in the hospital so they didn’t try to stage a breakout; however, that child was usually a teenage superhero and not a six year old who bounced back incredibly quickly.
“I wanna see Peter.” Morgan declared as she tried to maneuver herself out of Pepper’s arms and onto the hospital floor.
“We’ll all go see him soon,” Pepper insisted as she adjusted her hold on their daughter and brushed her still damp hair out of her face, “but they need to make sure you’re okay first.”
“You can play with him all you want then,” Tony added despite the looming thoughts of Peter’s wellbeing swirling in his mind, “but until then, we gotta stay put.”
“But it’s boring,” Morgan groaned as she pressed her head against Pepper’s chest in frustration, “and I wanna make sure he’s okay.”
“That’s the doctors and May’s job, not yours. Your job is to stay put.” Pepper insisted while pulling a hair tie out of her purse and started to braid Morgan’s wet, stringy hair.
Tony pulled in a shaky breath as his worry began to show outwardly, but before it could escalate any further, there was a knock on the door before May walked in.
“How’s Peter?” Pepper asked before Tony could manage to get the words out.
“Well, it’s not great but Dr. Cho is hopeful about his recovery. Along with the obvious hypothermia, he also has aspiration pneumonia.” May’s voice was calm despite the shake at the end, obviously letting her professional side take over in the situation.
Tony, however, couldn’t stay calm; Peter had just wanted to spend time at the lakehouse now that it was starting to get warm and Morgan had just been playing by herself.
“Helen is gonna get him transported to the tower as soon as she can, but until then, it’s only family-”
“Consider him transported.” Tony cut her off as he made his way to the door with his checkbook in hand and determination at the front of his mind.
…
The cough that erupted from Peter was strong enough that it forced him to sit up as it tried to force his lungs out of his body and left him even more exhausted when it ended.
“That one sounded painful,” Tony remarked as he slowly laid back down against the pillows, fully aware of his sweaty hair, “do you want me to make you some tea?”
“What about Morgan?” Peter asked, wincing at the sound of his hoarse voice as exhausted tears built up in his eyes.
“She’s with Pepper, and someone’s gotta make sure you take those antibiotics until May gets back,” Tony insisted as he gently squeezed Peter’s arm, “just let me do something nice, bud.”
“You always do nice things for me,” Peter argued before yawning, “it’s kinda required at this point.”
“Yeah, you’ve got a point,” Tony agreed before pressing a soft kiss to Peter’s forehead, “be right back, bud.”
Peter was asleep before the door closed.