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Peter didn’t know where he was. It was cold, snow falling gently and covering the tall trees that stood on either side of the empty road. He’d been walking for miles, his phone still didn’t have reception, and not a single car had passed by. He couldn’t even remember what had happened. He was going out as Spider-Man, saving people from a building, and then suddenly, he was in the middle of nowhere, still in his suit, with nothing but his phone. His suit wasn't working, either, which made it worse. The heater couldn’t turn on so he was freezing, and knowing he couldn’t thermoregulate properly, it was likely only a bit of time before he passed out from being so cold. He needed to find reception, and soon.
Peter shivered again, and decided to start moving quicker. Running would get his temperature up, right? And it would mean he would reach reception quicker, even if it did burn energy that he didn’t really have.
He started off with a jog, suit-covered feet pounding the snow-covered tar. His breath came slightly quicker, and he could clearly see how it puffed up like smoke in the cold air. He checked his phone again. Still no reception. Peter huffed a breath of irritation before increasing his pace. It wasn’t helping with the cold though, which had managed to penetrate every single part of Peter’s body. He increased his pace again, now going faster than a non-enhanced human could manage. It didn’t help the cold, if anything the speed caused him to get colder from the air whipping around him.
Peter groaned and slowed to a halt, checking his phone again. He gasped aloud when he realised he had a bar of reception, and immediately opened his phone to his contacts. He needed to decide who to call. He knew logically Tony was the best option, but he wanted to go through his other options first. May? No, she wouldn’t be able to find Peter’s location, and would be far too worried. Ned? He’d be able to find Peter’s location easy enough, but getting to Peter? That was another story. That really only left Tony, so Peter reluctantly clicked on his contact and hit call.
The call didn’t even ring once before going through.
“Kid?” Tony’s voice sounded frantic. “Kid, where are you?”
Peter immediately assumed that he was like… missing, or something. Why else would Tony sound like that?
“Um,” Peter said. “I dunno. It’s really cold. And snowy. I might pass out.”
“I…” Tony trailed off. “Look, I’m mad, but we can talk about it later. I’m tracking your location now.”
That left Peter reeling. Tony was mad. Why? Peter hadn’t done anything to his knowledge.
“Uh, Mr Stark, why are you mad?” Peter asked meekly.
Tony honest to god growled a bit. “I’m mad because you decided it would be a good idea to run away without telling anyone where you’re going. Oh, and apparently you don’t even know where you are, either. In the middle of goddamn Massachusetts by the way.”
“Wait what?” Peter said, entirely confused. Because what the fuck? “I didn’t run away. I have no idea how I got here.” Then what Tony had said registered and he squeaked “Massachusetts?” in a pitch so high it had no right coming from his mouth.
Tony seemed more worried when he spoke next. “Yes, Massachusetts, kid. Are you sure you don’t remember?”
Peter nodded, before remembering Tony couldn’t hear him. “Yeah, there was this… gas leak or something in New York. I went in to get civilians out and I don’t remember the rest.”
“Kid.” Tony’s voice sounded strained. “That was two days ago.”
“Holy–” Peter started. “That was two days ago?” Peter decided he needed to sit down, so he did. His butt immediately got wet from the surrounding snow.
“Yes, Pete. Look, I’m almost there now, we can figure it out once you’re home and warm. May’s worried sick.”
“Okay Mr Stark,” Peter said, and then he hung up. He realised he was still sitting in the middle of the road. Deciding that was unwise, even though no cars had passed, he shuffled back to the small strip of grass on the side of the road. There was a stick laying there. He picked it up and started drawing shapes in the snow to distract himself from the coldness. It seemed like hours but was probably only minutes before he heard the sound of repulsors and saw the gold and red Iron Man suit touching down next to him. Peter pulled the mask off so Tony could see his face.
“Kid.” He heard Tony gasp. He dropped the stick and looked fully at his mentor, who had stumbled out of the suit. He looked worried as hell. Peter felt bad for worrying.
“Hey, Mr Stark,” Peter greeted, trying to make it sound casual though it was shaky from the cold.
“You’re blue,” his mentor fussed, and Peter started a bit. He knew he was cold but blue? Really?
Peter grinned back at his mentor. “I can finally achieve my smurf aspirations!”
Tony shook his head. “This isn’t a joke, kid. Shit, let's get you to medbay, huh?”
Peter nodded, and Tony stepped back into the suit and picked him up as gently as he could. Peter put his mask back on and Tony lifted off, flying through the air. His mentor’s arms were warmer than the air, but the speed they were going at meant the wind felt freezing. It was a strange, stark difference.
It was only around half an hour before they got back to the compound. God bless Tony’s ridiculously fast suit. Peter was immediately ushered to medbay, where after removing his wet suit and changing into warm clothes, he sat on a bed. Even though he was hypothermic, according to FRIDAY, Tony said he didn’t need to lie down unless he wanted to, which he didn’t.
Tony threatened to call Dr Cho to come down and look at him, but FRIDAY reassured him it was not necessary. Peter sighed in relief. He really didn’t want to be checked out. Instead, FRIDAY amped the heat up to full. Peter could see his mentor sweating.
“So, Kid,” Tony started as soon as they were settled and Peter was warming up. “I looked into the incident you went to as Spider-Man. Turns out a lot of the people in the building were acting strange afterward. Running off, violent etcetera etcetera. But within the last day they’ve been snapping out of it. Have no recollection of doing any of that.”
“Oh,” Peter stated dumbly. That made a bit of sense. “So there was some toxic gas or something, and I got affected?”
His mentor nodded. “Yup. But you didn’t have medics and hospital staff to contain you and prevent you from running off.”
“That sucks,” Peter said, not knowing what else to say. “It’s really hot in here, can we turn the heating down?”
“Nope.” Tony popped the ‘p’. “FRI says you’re still hypothermic. Not quite yet, spider baby.”
Peter groaned. “Is May coming?”
Tony nodded. “Should be here soon actually. Happy’s driving her.”
As if on cue, there was a yell from somewhere else in the compound that Peter instantly recognised as May. Within a few seconds his aunt was rushing in, Happy following close behind.
“Peter?” May half-shrieked in relief, and Peter relaxed more at her voice. His aunt came over to him immediately, running her hands through his hair and fussing about with him to try and find any injury. “God, it’s hot in here,” she complained.
“Peter’s hypothermic,” Tony explained. “Need to warm him up.”
May nodded shakily. Peter could see tear track stains on her face. Peter reached out and pulled May into a hug, as she seemed unsure. His aunt happily hugged him back at full force, before pulling back and cupping his face in her hands.
“You scared me,” she whispered. “Don’t do that again.”
“You’re not mad, are you?” Peter worried, knowing that Tony had originally thought he’d run away.
“Tony explained everything to us on the way down,” Happy said from across the room and May nodded in agreement.
“I’m not mad, honey. Just scared.”
Tony stood up from his chair and crossed the room to Peter’s bed, sitting next to him. “None of us are angry, kiddo. We love you and hate when you’re hurt.”
May and Happy nodded in agreement.
“Thanks Mr Stark,” Peter said, and Mr Stark smiled at him, clapping a hand on his back.
“Don’t need to thank me, kiddo. I love you.”
“Love you too.”