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“Alright, Kiddo. Time to go inside,” Tony said. When Peter didn’t move he rolled his eyes and released the seat belt himself. “Come on, Bud. I know you don’t feel good, but you can’t just stay in the car.”
Apparently, Peter had arrived at school with a minor case of the sniffles that had exploded into the full-blown flu by second period. He was stuffed up, sneezing, and had a fever high enough to alarm the school nurse. As expected, they’d tried to call May. But when they were unable to reach her, they’d pulled up his secondary contact information instead. That’s how Tony ended up ducking out between meetings to pick a sick kid up from school.
“I’m serious, Peter. I’ve got a meeting to get to, and I refuse to leave you in the garage,” he nagged. When the sole response he received was a pathetic whine, he huffed an annoyed breath. He’d already missed the second half of the R&D meeting he’d been putting off for weeks. Pepper hadn’t mentioned anything about it when he’d left the room. Although he was sure, her generosity had been more for Peter’s sake than his own. Either way, he wasn’t likely to get away with skipping out on mandatory board meetings as well.
“Do you want me to carry you?” he sarcastically inquired. Peter perked up slightly and mumbled something at a nearly inaudible level. “Was that a ‘No, Mr. Stark. I’m perfectly capable of dragging myself to the penthouse?’” he asked. He was surprised when Peter blinked up at him, his cheeks bright red with fever, and shook his head. “Wait, you do want me to carry you?” he asked, sure he’d misunderstood the response.
Peter hummed in the positive and sat up a little taller in his seat. “I’m tired,” he croaked, “and everything hurts.”
Tony considered cracking a joke about how the kid was entirely too big to be carried to bed. Then he got a good look at Peter’s glassy eyes and sighed sympathetically. “Alright, Kid. Just this once,” he said before hopping out the car and walking around to open the passenger side door.
After coaxing Peter out of the car, Tony crouched down to offer access to his back. The kid wrapped his lanky legs around his waist and his arms around his neck before propping his chin on his shoulder. He could feel heat from Peter's body radiating through the layers of his three-piece suit. “It’s like I’m giving a piggyback ride to a furnace,” he mumbled under his breath as he crossed the garage into the elevator.
The plan had been to unceremoniously drop Peter onto his bed, grab him some meds and then rush downstairs to attend his meeting. However, once he arrived in the penthouse, Peter refused to let go. “Peter, you have to get down,” he prompted. “If I don’t get to this meeting Pepper’s going to have my head. You don’t want to be responsible for my beheading do you?”
Peter giggled quietly but didn’t let go. If anything he held on more tightly.
“Okay, I guess you’re coming with me then,” Tony said, half expecting the kid to slide off of his back and slink into his bedroom. When that didn’t happen, he grabbed a couple of bottles of water from the fridge and pocketed a couple of tablets. Once he reached the elevator, he paused and craned his neck to try and get a look at the kid’s face. “Alright, Clancy. This is your last chance to disembark.”
“I don’t feel good and you’re super comfy,” Peter mumbled, half asleep, into his neck. Tony scoffed at the accusation and swayed his head.
Resigning himself to his fate, Tony sighed and entered the boardroom with a confident stride. All eyes were on him, more so than usual, as he strode across the room with his sleeping teenager attached to his back like an overgrown koala. “What?” he asked, then pulled a chair out and whipped it around so he could sit down without squashing Peter. “It’s ‘bring your kid to work’ day. Did you not get the memo? You all should really check your email more often.”
“Tony,” Pepper smilingly chastised. “There is no such day on the calendar. What are you doing?”
Tony shrugged and reached awkwardly over his shoulder to brush Peter’s sweaty bangs off of his forehead. “The kid’s sick,” he flippantly explained. Then grinned widely. “Actually, don’t people usually get time off when they have a sick kid?”
“He’s fifteen, Tony. And he’s not yours,” Pepper laughed and Tony gasped theatrically.
“You can’t talk like that in front of my son!”
The entire boardroom went quiet, save for Pepper’s giggling and Peter’s quiet snoring. “Oh for heaven’s sake,” Pepper said. “Take Peter upstairs and tuck him in. I’ll reschedule this meeting for when he’s feeling better.”
Tony opened his mouth to offer a snarky remark, but before he could Peter lifted his head, eyes still closed and said, “Thanks, Ms. Pott.”
Pepper smiled softly, crossed the room and placed her hand on Peter’s forehead. “You’re welcome, Kid,” she said, then smirked in Tony’s direction. “You did a great job getting your dad out of his meeting.”
“Yep,” Peter replied, followed by a sleepy sigh. “And now he has to take me upstairs and tuck me in.”
Still grinning, Tony turned towards the exit. He knew Pepper had a lot of explaining to do on his behalf and he was sure he’d hear about it later. But for the time being, he was more than happy to carry his clingy feverish kid up to his bed.