Chapter Text
It was two days into the visit and a Friday afternoon. Happy had recently brought Peter back to the tower. Tony and Peter were working in the lab together and would for a little while.
Peter had his old hoodie pulled on and his hood covered his face. Flash still wouldn't leave Peter alone and still thinks Peter is faking his internship. Today Flash took matters into his own hands so to speak. Peter was pretty sure that with his increased healing it'd be gone by the time Him and Tony had to go up for Dinner (Pepper made sure they all ate breakfast and dinner together)
“Hey, Pete. How was school?” Tony asks after a few minutes of working in silence.
“Uh, pretty good. I got my math test back so that was nice.” Peter lies and hopes to distract his mentor from that fact.
“How'd you do?” Tony asks, thankfully distracted by the test and didn't notice the lie.
“Pretty good, I got a 98%.” His mentor nods with an approving hum.
“Aren't you warm? It's like 70 degrees in here.” The older man then questions. Crud.
“I'm just kinda chilly today, Mr.Stark.” Peter replies, hoping Tony believes it. It was kinda true, he had been chilly but sweating all day.
He hadn't gotten sick since he got bit by the spider, surely he wasn't sick. He risks a glance back at his mentor, only to find Tony looking right at him with a furrowed brow.
“Fri, pull up Peter's vitals.” The man orders his AI assistant.
“Here is a list of Mr.Parker's vitals, Sir.” The AI responds and Peter is sure he's screwed. A holographic screen forms in front of Tony. His blood pressure and temperature were above average.
“Pete, anything you want to tell me?” Tony says, and Peter knows that he's screwed no matter how he answers.
“No?” Peter replied hesitantly, but Tony's already up from his work bench. Peter tries to pull his hood down further.
“Try again, Underoos.” The older man says as he puts a hand on Peter's shoulder to prevent him from darting. His hand reaches up and starts to pull down the hood. Shit.
“Mr.Stark-”
“Well, we have multiple discussions to be had.” The older man deadpans, more worried than disappointed. His hand tightens on Peter's shoulder.
“Who?” Tony asks. Peter struggles to think of an answer. Between barely sleeping at night due to nightmares, and Flash being an asshole, his lying skills have definitely gone down.
“I accidentally hit into a wall while on patrol?” Peter answers, but it's more of a question.
“Mhm, suuure.” The mentor mutters sarcastically.
“Fri, you got anything on the recordings about this?” The older man then says.
“Negative, sir.” Tony nods, already knowing the answer. But Petter fidgets uncomfortablely. Tony sighs, this kid was making him go soft.
“We'll be talking once you're not sick, okay?”
“Mr.Stark, I'm not sick, I haven't gotten sick since I got bit.” The teen protests.
“Nuh-uh, we're not doing this.” Tony says, lifting Peter to his feet by lifting him from under his armpits. Peter stumbled at suddenly being pulled up from the stool.
“Not sick my as- butt.” The older man steadies Peter, catching himself before he swore (Like Peter hasn't heard worse)
“Mr.Stark, I don't need to stop working!” Peter whines, but practically melts into Tony without wanting to.
“Uh- yeah you do.” Tony replies, making the decision to just carry Peter.
“You look dead on your feet kid, how didn’t I notice this morning?” He comments, ignoring Peter's squeak of surprise at being lifted into a bridal carry.
“Friday, get the doors.”
“Of course, Sir.” The Ai replies as she opens the doors for Tony to bring Peter out of the lab.
“Mr.Stark! I can walk!” The teen protests.
“Just because you can, doesn't mean you have to.” Tony says simply.
“Now, how long have you been feeling poorly?” Peter knows there's no point in lying now.
“Last night.” He mutters, letting out a yawn afterwards. Jeez, guess he wouldn't be able to avoid nightmares these two weeks by not sleeping.
“You should've said something, kid.”
“Sorry…”
“Don't-” the older man sighs
“Just tell me or Pep next time, okay?” Tony asks, exasperated with the teen. Peter nods, feeling bad about making his mentor worry.
“Come on, bed for you, mister. We'll wake you up for Dinner later.” The teen is about to protest, he really didn't want to risk having a nightmare about homecoming at Mr.Stark's house.
Tony already felt guilty about taking Peter's suit, and he didn't even know the full story. But Tony steps into the room Peter was staying in. He didn't stay over very often so it wasn't very personalized, but it was lived in.
Tony sets Peter down in his bed and pulls the covers up.
“I'm gonna get you something for the fever, don't get up.” Tony says and ruffles Peter's hair, a subtle check of temp. Peter leans into it and briefly closes his eyes like a sleepy kitten.
“There you go, Underoos. Sleep…” Tony whispers gently, wiping a bit of sweat off of Peter's temple before he leaves to get something to bring the fever down.
Peter felt like his bones were made out of lead once he was laying down. He snuggles into the blanket and doesn't open his eyes. He falls asleep before Tony can even decide what to do for Peter. Because of Peter's enhanced healing and metabolism, normal meds didn't always work well. Plus this was just day one of being sick, he'd be pretty bad tomorrow. May had told Tony that when Peter gets sick, he hides it for the first day before he can barely open his eyes the next day.