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Peter frowned.
“Are you sure you did this right?” He asked, staring intensely at the mechanisms within his dissected web-shooters. He reached out to try and poke at the thing, before Tony gently swatted his hand away.
“Of course I did it right!” Tony responded, appalled. “Who do you think I am? Some kind of… some kind of… some-” He stuttered out. Peter rolled his eyes.
“Alright, dad. Calm down, we get it, you’re Tony Stark, blah blah blah. I was just saying that it looks… odd. I’m not sure it’s going to work as we wanted it to.”
“We gave it a top-to-bottom upgrade, of course it’s going to look a little weird at first. You’re just not used to it yet.” Tony replied, electing to ignore the mocking.
“Why don’t you take it on a test run and see how it works?” Ned piped up, closing in on Peter’s back. He leaned over his shoulders and pressed a kiss to the nape of the other boy’s neck.
“No PDA in the lab, thank you very much.” Tony protested. “Leave room for Jesus.” Ned stuck out his tongue. Peter snorted.
“Jesus abandoned me when he let two sets of parents die.” Tony cocked an eyebrow.
“Touché. Need me to set up another therapy appointment?”
“Only after you set one up for your addiction to this place.” Peter said, motioning to the rest of the lab. Tony just looked at him weirdly.
“Peter. We’ve both been down here for three days.” Peter furrowed his brow.
“So it’s… what? Sund-” Peter froze. “Oh, shit.” His back pain, which he had been experiencing for the past hour or so, suddenly made sense. “I missed my shot.” Tony opened his mouth slightly.
“Ah. Fuck. Kid-”
“It’s- it’s fine. Nothing I haven’t been through before.” He said, before another cramp wracked his abdomen.
“No, it’s… you need to remember these things.” He said, raising his voice slightly. “I know you like the lab but I can’t have you down here for so long if it’s going to end up in another situation like-”
“Dad. Please.” Peter interrupted. “Can you just go and get me some pads and a tampon? I think I need to change as well.” He admitted, tugging at the material of his light gray sweatpants. Tony let out a long sigh, before nodding and grabbing Peter by the shoulder to lead him upstairs.
“We’re all definitely taking a break. You guys are coming with me.”
Peter came out of the bathroom with his hair styled in messy wet curls, after a short shower and change. Ned reached up and ran his hair through them, enjoying the texture.
“Can you guys leave my hair alone for once?” He grumbled, as Tony reached up and repeated the motion.
“Sorry, kiddo. I just love your curls. 10/10 genetics.” He said, shooting Peter a thumbs-up. Ned nodded.
“They’re so cute.” He added, before his face steeled into something more serious. “Did you do your t-shot? Do you need help with it?” He asked, peering behind him and into the modern-looking bathroom with its open door. Peter sighed.
“I kept nicking veins. It happened twice, Ned. Twice.” Ned and Tony cringed.
“Ew. That puts a gross image in my head.” Tony said, running a hand through his hair. “Alright, we’ll help.” He announced, steeling his resolve.
“Fine. Just- don’t laugh.” Ned frowned.
“Why would I laugh?” In response, Peter pulled down his sweatpants to mid thigh, revealing the multiple Hello Kitty band-aids on them. “Oh! Those are cool!” He told his boyfriend, earnestly. “Hello Kitty is a BAMF.” Tony face-palmed.
“I’m not sure she is, but thanks Ned.” Peter said with a slight, dopey smile. Tony mumbled something about cooties, before ushering them all into the large bathroom, pulling out a stool for him to sit on. That was when-
“Petey!” Morgan yelled, stumbling into the room. “Why are you wet!” She asked, plopping herself down on the aforementioned stool.
“Hey, Morgs! That was for Peter!” Tony chastised, shooing her off. Morgan took up residence on the closed toilet seat instead.
“I just showered, and now I have to get a shot.” He explained, carefully. Morgan made a face.
“A shot? Yucky.” She said, “I wanna watch!” Ned chuckled.
“Sure.” Tony had been shown how to do the shots himself a while back, and though he was a little rusty, did a good job pulling up the testosterone into the syringe, changing needles, and popping open the cap again.
“Ready?” He asked Peter, who had pulled down his sweatpants again, just enough to reveal a sliver of thigh. Ned had another bandaid ready. Morgan watched intently as the needle slid in, fascinated by it. This time, Peter felt no pain, and when Tony pushed the plunger down it did so seamlessly.
“Woah.” Morgan remarked. “What’s the shot for?” She asked. “The flu? When I got my flu shot it was in my arm!” She said, pulling up her right shirt sleeve. Tony looked at Peter. Morgan had some semblance of an idea that Peter had a different anatomy than most boys, but they’d never really gone super into that idea before.
“It’s a kind of liquid that helps me look like a man.” He explained, in very simple terminology. Morgan nodded, brow furrowed. “I can’t produce a lot of the liquid naturally so I need extra of it.”
“I see.” She liked using that phrase a lot now, probably having picked it up from Tony. “Because you were born a girl?” Peter smiled as he applied the band-aid, ignoring the rudimentary understanding of gender. She was only five after all, and the concept was hard for a lot of adults, so he appreciated that she managed to understand that much.
“Yeah, exactly.”
“Oh! Okay!” She replied. “I wanna play now! Can we play kitchen?” She tugged on Peter’s right arm as he drew up his trousers again, then Ned’s, and then finally Tony’s human one.
“Sure, Morgs. We can play kitchen.” Peter grinned down at her. “Me and you can be the chefs and Ned and dad can be the customers.”
“Awesome!” She said, running off to the playroom in front of them. Peter’s stomach rumbled.
“Maybe let’s get some real food in you, huh?” Tony teased. Peter rolled his eyes.
“I-” His stomach rumbled again. “Okay, fine. Real food first. You still have that pasta from three nights ago?”
“All yours, kid.”