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Peter lay on his makeshift bed, sick with fever and infection. It ate at his cuts, his wounds. It curled in his gut; wept at his eyes.
Tony hovered over him worse than a mother hen, tending to his every wish out of childish hope that he’d get any better in the upcoming days.
He’d take anything at that point, if he was being completely honest.
“Hey, Dad.” Peter greeted, blinking one eye open lazily.
“Hey, baby. How’re you feeling today?”
Peter did his best to nudge his shoulders up into a shrug. “I’m okay. A lil’ better.”
“Good, good.” Tony nodded. He folded his hand over his sons’, brushing his fingers over the back of Peter’s own gently.
The kid was deathly pale under the dull lights; the dying industrial grade bulbs doing nothing for his complex pallor.
Peter allowed his eyes to drift closed, breathing shallowing even further. Tony’s eyebrows furrowed, the crease in his forehead deepening. He pressed a kiss to his boys’ forehead, drawing in a sharp breath.
He then rolled up his sleeves, preparing himself to strip his son from the dirtied bandages wrapped ‘round his legs. They had speckles of blood seeping through them; dirt scattered across the top layer.
Tony pulled the cloth away, cringing at the wildly inflamed wounds beneath. It was a bright red infection, hot and festering. Blood oozed from it; turning Tony’s stomach the wrong way.
Little red lines creeped up his leg, and Tony was doing his best to ignore them.
The apocalypse was well on its way to cross the galaxy; having taken the Earth long ago. Tony barely had the resources to keep himself alive anymore. And what he had, he gave mostly to his ‘not so little’ boy.
Tony sighed, redressing the wounds carefully. He patted Peter’s uninjured leg softly, pressing a kiss to his sons’ forehead.
“I love you.” He whispered.
“I l’ve you too.” Peter murmured.
A small smile nipped at Tony’s lips.
There was very little hope left in the world. The people remaining didn’t have much left to live for anymore. But Tony would take anything he could get. Even just a little grin from his son would give him enough to make it through another day.