Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I need WHAT!!?? No! No. Mr. Stark? Pleeeeease say he’s kidding.” Peter plead as soon as Bruce left the room.

Tony laughed, although half-heartedly, and gave Peter a pitiful smile. “I wish, Underoos, I wish. God, if it wasn’t so shitty, I’d say this was kind of funny.”

“It’s NOT funny! Nothing about this is even remotely funny!!” Peter said in exasperation.

“It’ll be fine, kiddo, Bruce is a pro you know? Or, actually, he’s not a “pro” in the sense that he’s a professional, because he’s decidedly not a professional in the traditional sense considering among his seven PhDs there is none in the medical field, so he isn’t a professional professional who has actually learned this profession“ Tony was totally rambling now, concern growing within him upon seeing Peter’s more and more distraught features “but well, you know, years of being our “not-that-kind-of-doctor-team-doctor” sort of make him a professional now. Anyways, I can totally vouch for the fact that he’s certainly qualified enough to give you a couple of shots.”

“A couple of shots?? He said I need ALL the freaking shots!”

“If you don’t feel comfortable with Bruce doing this we can certainly get you a medically trained-“

“It’s NOT about Dr. Banner doing this” Peter whined and buried his face in his hands as he let himself fall back on the medical exam bed he was currently sitting on. “URRRRGH!!” he groaned through his fingers “This is SO typical! Why does this always happen to me?”

___________________________

15 minutes earlier:

“So basically your immune system has been completely wiped. Factory settings restored so to say.” Bruce tried to explain in layman’s terms what all the charts and graphs of Peter’s blood tests meant that were displayed on the holo screen in front of them.

“And that means what exactly, Dr. Green?” Tony seemed fascinated as he swiped around the graphs but sounded a bit tentative nonetheless.

“It means you’re starting over with a clean slate, Peter. The bite pretty much wiped whatever traces of “wear and tear” your body already had. For example, any fast food and other unhealthy things you put into your body before the bite, any traces of toxins, medication – all gone. It’s like your body doesn’t know that it’s already sixteen years old. It’s why your asthma was suddenly gone, too, why your eyesight was restored.”

“That’s awesome though, isn’t it?” Peter sounded quite happy with himself, looking between Tony and Bruce.

“I don’t know. I’m sensing a “but” there, kiddo.” Tony said, carefully looking at Bruce. “There is a but, isn’t there, doc.”

“There is I’m afraid.” Bruce tapped a few things on the holo screen, pulling up some new graphs. “Your body has essentially forgotten everything it’s been through. Which is pretty amazing actually, but it’s also forgotten any diseases it’s already fought off, any antibodies it had produced. Your healing factor so far has been doing a fantastic job in staving off everyday diseases since the bite and apparently you’ve been in contact with the flu and other more common pathogens, I’ve found antibodies for many things like these in your blood. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any traces of antibodies for the things you wouldn’t normally come in contact with so easily, things people are usually vaccinated for.”

“So… I need to be vaccinated again?”

“Yes.”

“Against what?”

“Against everything.”

___________________________

Bruce had left the room to grab a list of the diseases Peter needed to be vaccinated against. And honestly, to give Peter a moment in private with Tony. He could tell that the boy was growing anxious at the mention of the shots. Of course he had asked why he needed to be vaccinated at all, his healing was unparalleled after all, even Steve and Bucky didn’t heal as easily as he did. And while it may be true that Peter would be able to survive and recover from some of the diseases others wouldn’t, there was no way to tell for sure. If a virus or another pathogen hit him at the same time as his healing was compromised due to a major injury, there was no guarantee what would happen.

Upon returning to the med bay room he found Peter lying back on the exam bed, face hidden in his hands, Tony gently rubbing his shoulder.

“How fast can we get this whole thing over with, Bruce?” Bruce could tell Tony’s tone of voice had changed. He wasn’t joking around anymore the way he had before.

“Well, to be honest, we don’t really know much about how Peter’s immune system will react to the vaccines. I’ve already consulted with Cho on this and after a few initial blood tests we believe the regularly available vaccines won’t work for Peter. So we’re going to have to manufacture customized vaccines from the ones normally used. We’ll have to run some pretty extended testing, it could take up to a few months. And we’ll also have to see which – if any – of these we can combine to decrease the amount of times Peter needs to-“ Bruce looked at the boy, choosing his words carefully “uhm, needs to come in for this.” There was a small groan audible from the exam bed.
“Unfortunately this is completely unchartered territory, kids are usually vaccinated over the course of years and years, not all at once. Some vaccines require 2 or 3 doses to achieve full protection. People don’t usually need to be vaccinated for more than 15 diseases at once, you know?” A louder groan sounded from the bed at this.
“Peter, I know this whole situation is… unpleasant and less than ideal. Cho has gathered a team and even though this is far from my area of expertise I’ve promised to help with all the research as well. We’ll try to get this done as fast and as uncomplicated as possible, ok?”
A muffled “ok” came back from the bed.

“I can’t tell you much yet in terms of scheduling or, uhm, number of appointments needed, but we will work on vaccines for most common diseases first and work our way towards the ones you’re least likely to contract here in New York. Sound good?”

“Absolutely fabulous”, Peter mumbled sarcastically, but at least his face wasn’t hidden in his hands any more.

“Good. Now one last thing before you’re good to go for today. We’re going to have to draw some more blood. We’ll need quite a bit to test each serum on. We don’t just want to shoot you up with whatever Cho’s team cooks up, right?” Bruce’s futile attempts at lifting the mood with a bit of humor remained unnoticed by the now grumpy looking Peter. “Riiight. Uhm. Ok, so, you know the drill.” Bruce eventually said, shuffling over to Peter’s bed, supplies in hand and apologetic look on his face.

___________________________


“Good news, kiddo!”

Peter was surprised to see Tony in the driver’s seat rather than Happy as he hopped into the sleek black Audi parked in the school pick-up zone.

“Mr. Stark! Hey! What’s the good news?” Peter asked excitedly, swinging his heavy backpack onto the backseat.

“You, my friend, get to pick where we order dinner tonight. No limitations. I promise I won’t even use my power of veto.”

“What, that’s so cool, Mr. Stark! I can seriously pick anything? Like any place? You know I’ve always wanted to try that vegan place that MJ-“ Peter suddenly stilled and turned to search for something in Tony’s face. “There’s a catch.”

Peter’s accusation was met with silence.

“Mr. Stark. What’s the catch? You’d never waive your right of veto.”

After a beat of silence Tony gave Peter a brief look and tried a careful yet unconvincing smile “Cho’s team finished your vaccines. You’re booked for a first round with Bruce tonight, kiddo.”

Peter slumped down in the passenger seat. Shit. He had completely forgotten about this. Or maybe not forgotten, maybe more like purposefully pretended it didn’t exist until he seriously almost didn’t remember this was a thing he’d still have to do. It had been almost four weeks since Bruce told him, apparently that’s all it took a team of med nerds to customize some crazy complicated medications to suit spidey-DNA. Shit.

“You ok, kiddo?” Mr. Stark sneaked a peak over to Peter. Peter hadn’t said anything for two full minutes. This might be the longest silence he’d ever had from the kid on any car ride.

“Fine.”

“You sure?”

“Totally.”

“That doesn’t seem necessarily convincing to me, so-“

“Yeah, well, whaddoyou expect? Want me to pull my party hat on?”

Tony sighed. “It’ll be fine Underoos, it’s just shots, you know? I know you’re not the biggest fan of needles and I know it sucks to have to do it but I’m sure Cho and her research squad found a way to combine some of them so you don’t have to get like 30 shots or whatever-“

“30 shots!??”

“No no, that’s not- I’m not saying it’s gonna be 30, that was just a random number!” it was totally not a random number, because of course he had done some research to see how many shots a normal human would go through in the life-span of a teenager and of course it depended on quite a few different factors but yeah, 30 didn’t seem too far-fetched. Especially considering that Avengers team-members never knew where the next mission could take them so they had to be protected against even the most ridiculously rare tropical diseases in case their next job would be a jungle-adventure type of deal.

“30 shots…” Peter mumbled to himself incredulously, face pale, eyes staring out the front.

_______________________


“Five?”

“Yes, five.” Bruce confirmed

“Five all at once or, like, spread out?”

“Oh nonono, certainly not all at once. We’ve already combined a lot of different serums that would usually be given separately over the course of years into each of those five doses. Your immune system will be quite busy with these highly concentrated shots. But we’ve done a lot of preemptive testing, we’re quite confident your healing factor will make sure you can handle it. We’ve combined what we could, a normal person would have to have at least two dozen appointments to achieve that status of protection.”

“Yeah, well I’ve already been to those two dozen appointments, too, remember?” Peter quietly snapped.

“Underoos.” Tony warned him.

“I-, oh gosh” Peter’s eyes grew wide when he realized it himself “I’m so sorry Dr. Banner, I- I didn’t mean to take it out on you. I’m just not a big fan of needles, you see, and the thought of having to do this five times… but you’ve taken all this time out of your own research to-, to do this just for me, because you can’t even use this stuff for anyone else afterwards, just me, and-“

“Don’t worry, Peter. No harm no foul.” Bruce smiled. “Let’s go over possible side effects, shall we?”

Bruce explained that just like with most other vaccines, there was always a possibility of side effects. Cho and Bruce thought anything from fatigue, fever, queasiness, rashes, and pain at the injection site to be a possibility. In order to accommodate Peter’s, as Bruce liked to put it, uneasiness, around needles, they had combined as many serums as they could but this in turn potentially meant that some side effects might hit a bit harder than they would if they had done this over the course of 28 different appointments rather than five.

Peter nodded along to all of this. He’d take some side effects over more needles any day. His healing factor would take care of it just fine. Or so he thought.

“Any questions or concerns, Peter?” Peter shook his head. Bruce turned to face the other man hovering around Peter “Tony?”

“All good, Brucie.”

“All right, let’s get started then. Since you’re right-handed we’ll use your left arm if that’s ok, with you.”

Bruce wiped the side of his upper arm with an alcohol pad. He could feel Peter was tense. Too tense he realized as he took hold of his arm.

“Can you relax this arm a bit for me, Peter?” Bruce gently tried to shake out the tension in Peter’s arm but was unsuccessful. Nobody commented on the fact that Peter only started to relax when Tony silently grabbed his other hand. “Just a small poke.” Bruce whispered as he seized the moment and immediately injected the vaccine.

“Well done.” Peter visibly relaxes when Bruce finally wipes the injection site and puts a small band-aid on. “I need you to stay in med bay for 15 minutes after each appointment, ok? Just to make sure there are no unwanted reactions. Let me know if you feel dizzy, have a ringing in your ears or any changes in vision. You’ll be good to go after.”

“Wanna go ahead and have Friday order food while we’re waiting, Pete? Your choice. No veto, as promised.” Tony winked at him and Peter almost forgot all about the stinging in his arm.

Two hours later Bruce steps out of the elevator into the Penthouse common area. He finds Peter sitting at the kitchen island, school books and a StarkPad strewn out in front of him and Tony quietly humming to the subtle background tunes of Led Zeppelin while stirring a pot that smells suspiciously like the famous vanilla pudding Tony made from scratch.

“Oh hi, Dr. Banner!”

“Hey, Peter, just thought I’d check in with you before turning in for the night. How are you feeling?”

“Pretty good. Arm feels a bit heavy but other than that – all good.” Peter smiles brightly.

“Good, I’m glad to hear that. Any swelling or redness around the injection site?”

Peter pushes the arm of his t-shirt up to check. “Nope.”

“Great, it seems like you’re tolerating the vaccines very well then. We will give your immune system two weeks before we do the next one, ok?”

Peter’s smile slowly fades at the mention of “next one” but considering how well today went he’s more confident it’ll all be fine. Right?

Chapter Text

Dr. Banner made good on his promise and Peter found himself sitting on an exam bed in the tower’s medbay again two weeks later. Last time was fine, quick and easy, Peter tried to remind himself. His right leg jumping up and down betrayed the sense of calm he tried to emit in front of Tony and Bruce though.

“Okay, here we go, round two” Bruce announced, pulling a rolling table closer to where Peter was sitting. Peter carefully eyed the syringe that was sitting on top of it.

“You ready, Peter?”

“Mhm” Peter wasn’t sure he trusted his voice not to be a high-pitched squeal so he decided to stick with a hummed affirmative instead.

Bruce didn’t hesitate and everything pretty much went exactly like last time. Alcohol swab, Peter being too tense, Tony gently grabbing his hand, Bruce waiting for Peter’s arm muscles to relax and then a small poke. When Bruce retracted the needled Peter jolted “Ouch! What is that, I can feel the stuff spreading inside of me!”

“You can?” Bruce grabbed a StarkPad and started typing something as he mumbled on “Ok, that’s interesting”

“Some vaccines can have that effect I’m afraid. It should pass soon though.”

Bruce grabbed the empty syringe and disposed of it in a sharp’s container. “Again, 15 minutes in med bay and then you’re good to go ok?”

“We got it Doc.” Tony said and then turned to Peter to figure out dinner plans. They had agreed on what Tony dubbed the “Peter Parker Poking Promise”, enabling Peter to pick where they’d order takeout whenever Bruce poked him. Tonight he just felt like good old Shake Shack.

“Boss, Peter Parker has triggered med watch protocol.”

Tony groaned. “FRIDAY? Ngh.. what time is it?” he slurred.

“It is 3:27 am, Sir”

Tony turned onto his side in slow motion to find the light switch for his bedside lamp. “What was that about a protocol?”

“Peter Parker has triggered med watch protocol, Sir. His temperature has passed the 100.4 °F mark, qualifying as a low grade fever, placing him under medical observation now.”

Tony was suddenly wide awake.

“Fever? Is he awake?”

“No, Sir.”

“Get Bruce informed and on the line for me.” Tony said as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

“Certainly, Sir.”

A sleepy Bruce was on the line not even a minute later.

“What do we need to do Bruce?”

Bruce stifled a yawn before answering lazily “First of all, we need to relax, Tony. It’s only a low-grade fever and so far he seems to be sleeping through it. Sleeping it off is the best he can do. If it makes you feel better you can go check on him, make sure he has water, keep some fever reducers ready in case it climbs up above 102.2°F. But really Tony, let him sleep it off.”

Tony had FRIDAY display Peter’s temperature on his Stark Watch. He went to grab some fever reducers and water and slowly pushed open the door to Peter’s bedroom, taking in the sleeping form in front of him. Peter’s head was barely peeking out from the covers, he had pulled them all the way up his nose.
Tony considered waking him to get him to drink something but fought off the urge to do just that and ask him how he felt in favor of letting him rest.
He set the water and pills on the night stand and exited the room quietly.
Back in bed he couldn’t help put watch the numbers on his StarkWatch. The number climbed slowly but steadily for a while before settling in at 101°F.
He asked Friday to disable the alarm in the kid’s room and set an alarm for himself alerting him in case Peter’s temperature reached 102°F before slowly drifting off into a light sleep.

Peter emerged from his bedroom, dressed in jeans and t-shirt backpack in hand. Tony’s brows furrowed as he spotted him “What do you think you’re doing?”

Peter gave him a puzzled look.

“Uhm. Getting ready for… school? I guess?” Peter answered tentatively as he made his way over to the pantry to grab some pop tarts, unsure whether this was the right answer to Tony’s weird question.

“No you’re not. You had a fever last night, Pete.”

“I did??” Huh, explains the overall sweaty and gross feeling this morning, he thought.

“Yes you did. Probably a side-effect from last night’s shot. In fact- “ Tony said, checking his StarkWatch “your temperature is 99.4, still slightly elevated, so you’re staying home today.”

“I’m not staying home from school today for a slightly elevated anything, Mr. Stark.” he emphasized his words plopping the two poptarts into the toaster a bit more energetically than needed “I got an English test and I can’t miss it.”

“Sure you can and you will. I already got a note from Dr. Cho.” Tony said standing up, filling a glass of water for Peter and handing it to him.

“How did you-? Mr. Stark, you can’t just decide this like that. Mrs. F makes the hardest make up tests on the planet. It’s impossible to get an A on them. I studied so hard for this one and I need that A to keep my A in the end of year report card.”

“Underoos, it’s not a good idea to go to school with a fever, it’s normal for temperatures to be down in the morning before they go back up, I’d really feel better if you’d-“

“Well, I’m glad you would feel better, Mr. Stark. Have you noticed that you never even asked me how I felt this morning? Isn’t that something you’re supposed to do when someone had a fever and is supposedly too sick to go to school?” Peter said, emphasizing the words “too sick” with airquotes “Well, for your information, I feel great.” The irritation was now clear in his voice as he tried to fish the poptarts out of the hot toaster. “Perfectly capable of going to school. Which I’m about to be late for by the way if I don’t get going soon so- yeah.” Peter felt kind of bad for calling Mr. Stark out on it like this but he really, really could not risk having to take Mrs. F’s impossible make up tests and he also felt just a tad proud for standing up to Mr. Stark at the same time. After all, he wasn’t a child anymore and perfectly capable of making decisions like this on his own.

Tony studied the kid before him for a moment. He did look ok, sure, a bit tired maybe, but he didn’t like sending him off with an elevated temperature like that and he certainly didn’t like the attitude he was giving him.
“I’ll make you a deal” he eventually said, fumbling with the watch on his wrist before holding it out to Peter “You wear the StarkWatch so I can keep an eye on your temperature and if it gets any higher than 100.2°F, I’m coming to pick you up.”

Peter hesitated for a second unsure whether or not having Mr. Stark track his vitals all day would be such a good idea. He knew compromising wasn’t the billionaires strong suit though, so being offered this deal was already more than Peter could’ve hoped for. He grabbed the watch and strapped it around his wrist.

“It’s currently the only prototype of the new model, try not to break it, will you, kid?” Tony quipped, signaling their brief argument was over. Peter rolled his eyes theatrically but then smirked. “You know I can’t promise that, Mr. Stark.”

Period 1 and 2 went by just fine, but all throughout AP Biology, Peter kept stealing glances at the watch as he watched his temperature rising slowly. The thought of Tony watching the steady increase at the same time made Peter’s stomach churn. “Come on” he whispered to the watch as if it could actually change anything “we just got to make it to period 5 for the test”.

When Peter’s temperature climbed up to 99.9°F in the beginning of Physics in period 4, he knew he wouldn’t make it all the way to the test. He couldn’t just watch the temperature climbing, he could feel it too. He could feel it meddle with his concentration already. But he knew taking the test with a low grade fever was still preferrable to the make up test so he made a decision. As soon as his temperature reached 100.1°F he would take the watch off. Maybe he was lucky and Tony wasn’t watching a live feed but only had an alert set up for when it reached 100.2°F and would therefore never know? Besides, Mrs. F. didn’t allow any smart devices to be worn during tests anyways so really it wouldn’t even be his fault that he took it off. Huh, loop hole, Peter thought and giggled silently. And he could just say he forgot to put the watch back on after the test.

When period 5 rolled around and students settled in their desks in anticipation of the test, Peter wasn’t so sure anymore that exploiting the earlier detected loop hole was such a smart decision. His temperature had been exactly 100.1°F when he had taken the watch off in the restrooms a few minutes ago and he couldn’t help but wonder where the numbers would be at now. He had almost been late to the beginning of class because he relished the feeling of splashing cold water on his face so much he almost missed the sound of the bell.
Now he just felt weird. Light-headed. Wishing himself back to the restroom with the wonderfully cold water. It became hard to concentrate but he knew he only had to make it through the test.

The test was hard, really hard. He had studied stylistic devices until he had them coming out of his ears but these essay questions were killing him. What he wouldn’t do for a simple multiple choice test right now. Like the ones Mr. Leinert had always done in 5^th grade. Yeah, those were really nice. Sometimes Mr. Leinert even arranged the correct answers in a pattern so once you had the first ones figured out you could sort of follow the pattern. And Mr. Leinert always told the best stories about his dog, “Sunday”, and all the trouble he got into, like the one time where he stole another dog’s toy at the park and …

Peter jerked up and realized his thoughts had been drifting. Checking the clock on the wall he suddenly started to panic, he hadn’t even gotten through half the questions and there were only twenty minutes left. He briefly looked around. Everybody else was deeply in thought, apparently not noticing the sweaty, hot, unfocused kid next to them. When he turned to look over his other shoulder his eyes met Ned’s. This was their first shared class of the day and Ned’s eyes widened upon taking in his friend for the first time today. He gave him a look of confusion and mouthed a “You ok?”. Peter answered with a quick nod and a thumbs up before turning back to his own paper. He was surprised to find the words on the paper melting together.


Tony was enduring the third meeting of the day, ears only half-listening, eyes glued to the StarkPad in front of him. But he was currently ignoring the so called “comprehensive” summary of projected sales that was pulled up on everybody’s StarkPad, instead he was focused on watching the tiny box in the upper right hand corner visible only on his StarkPad that was showing a single number. The number had been rising slowly but steadily for the last hour. It was currently sitting at 100.0°F. Tony already knew what was going to happen. He almost wanted to just go and leave right now but he had promised Pepper he’d actually wait for the agreed on number before he left the meeting.
The number switched to 100.1°F and Tony’s impatience rose with it. He silently debated whether or not he should just leave already – not like he was paying attention to the boring suit currently speaking anyways, when the tiny box in the upper right hand corner of his StarkPad suddenly displayed something unexpected. “Connection lost.” It took Tony all but two seconds to realize what happened “That little shit” he bit through gritted teeth before throwing Pepper an apologetic look and excusing himself from the meeting.

On his way through traffic he tried calling Peter’s cell five times. He knew chances were slim of the kid actually picking up since cell phones were supposed to be kept in lockers at all times but he tried anyway, urging Happy to step on it when he reached Peter’s voice mail for the fifth time.
When they made it to the school he instructed Happy to wait and made a beeline to the front office. He had no idea where to find the kid within that building.
After explaining that it was a family emergency and the secretary double checking that the Tony Stark was actually listed as Mr. Parker’s secondary emergency contact she finally supplied the information he was looking for.

“He’s currently in period 5 English with Mrs. Foster. Her class room is in the East Wing, classroom E/2/5.”

Ahh, the English test. That would probably explain why Peter had tried to avoid Tony finding out about his temperature, having made it through the day thus far he probably didn’t want to risk being dragged out right before the test.
With the help of the map the secretary had provided him with he made his way to aforementioned classroom, about to knock on the door when his eyes fell on a sign outside the door. “Test in progress! Quiet Please!”

Tony groaned. Right. He probably shouldn’t just barge into a room full of angsty teenagers taking an important test. He checked his watch, the actual currently available model of the StarkWatch, since he’d given the prototype of the unreleased model to his absolutely irritating kid. Ugh. That kid could expect an earful once he was done with his test. 10 more minutes until class was over. Might as well wait. Letting out a deep sigh he leaned back against the lockers opposite of the classroom door with his arms crossed. Unbelievable, he thought. Standing in a high school corridor. Waiting for the bell to ring. It was quiet. And boring. Gosh time really does tick by more slowly in a high school than it does on the outside, he thought.

Two classrooms down a door opened and a kid walked out, carrying a huge sign labeled “hall pass”. The boys’s blue eyes widened with recognition when they spotted the man leaning against the lockers and then looked like they were about to pop out when Tony gave him a smirk. Tony nodded his head down in the direction the kid was going, ushering the boy to move along. The kid vanished in a bathroom down the hall a few seconds later.

Tony was just about to take his phone out to pass the last few minutes of waiting boredom when he heard a flurry of activity break out in the classroom in front of him. He was trying to decipher what was being said in there when suddenly the door was flung open and he heard someone yell “Get the nurse!” before a teenager raced out the door, completely oblivious of the world’s most famous billionaire standing there.

Tony took a second to snap out of his confusion before he bolted into the classroom, heart racing when his concerns proved to be true. Because of course the kid they had to call the nurse on, the kid passed out on the floor, would have to be his kid.
“Peter!” completely ignoring the surprised murmurs and looks, he made his way through several rows of chairs and desks and students towards the still form on the floor.
The teacher was currently feeling for a pulse when she spotted the foreign presence amongst her students.

“Excuse me, Sir, this is a classroom, you cannot be in here. Out, right now.” she said with a no-objections-permitted-look. Tony was actually impressed. Most people threw all the usual rules out the window when meeting a celebrity for the first time, this one apparently didn’t take any bullshit. He immediately liked her.

“I’m his emergency contact” he supplied and the genuine concern in his eyes when he looked down at Peter must have been enough to convince her to let him stay for now.“What happened?”

“We were about to finish a test when he collapsed to the floor.”

“He ran a fever last night.” Tony explained, taking Peter’s wrist to check the pulse himself. He looked at Peter’s wrist and on top of his desk, looking for something. “Where is his watch?” he asked irritatedly when he couldn’t find it.

Mrs. Foster pointed to a box on her desk. “No smart devices during tests. It’s in the box.”

Tony went to the box, silently cursing himself for the fact that he hadn’t even thought about the possibility of a rule like this some schools might have, grabbed his watch and wrapped it around Peter’s wrist.

“Friday, vitals” he said curtly.

To everyone’s surprise – except Tony’s of course - the watch around Peter’s wrist started speaking. “Heart rate slightly tachycardic at 110 bpm, temperature elevated at 102.7°F, blood pressure in normal ranges at 115/70. Medical attention advised.”
Tony couldn’t believe what he heard. How had Peter’s temperature jumped almost three degrees within just one hour?

His attention snapped back to the teenager when Peter moved his head from side to side and groaned.

“Peter?” Tony said, gently holding Peter’s face in his hand. “Can you look at me, buddy?”

The nurse chose this exact moment to make her entrance, slightly out of breath, apparently she had tried to get here as soon as she could. “What have we got?

“Peter passed out, he has a fever and a racing pulse” Mrs. Foster explained “His- uh- emergency contact is already here.”

The nurse knelt down next to Peter, feeling his forehead. She took out a penlight and shone it in Peter’s eyes when he suddenly jerked and gasped “too- gnn, bright, too bright” he whined in a low mumble, squeezing his eyes shut.

“I know honey, I know, no one likes that part. I just need you to hold still for a second, ok?” turning to the man next to her she quietly asked “Could you…?” nodding towards Peter’s head.
Tony understood and was glad the nurse seemed undeterred by his presence (and fame) and simply did her job. God, this school’s employees were anything if not professionals, he thought, plans for an anonymous donation to the school solidifying in his head.

He grabbed Peter’s head with both hands, making sure he couldn’t jerk away as she shone the light in his eyes. Peter flinched and whined quietly but the nurse was quick.
“No concussion. Let me check his neck real quick so we know he’s save to be moved.” she motioned for Tony to release Peter’s head so she could take over. Slowly and carefully she felt along his head, neck and upper spine. “Doesn’t look like a spinal. He’s ok to move.”

Tony didn’t need to be told twice. “Thank you so much, I’ll take it from here” he merely said before he lifted Peter into his arms without further ado.

“Mr. Stark, Peter should be checked out, we can call an ambulance for you if you-“

“That’s very kind, but it won’t be necessary. We have a fully equipped medical facility at the tower. Peter will receive all the care he needs.” With that he turned on his heel and carried Peter out into the hallway.

But just his luck, the second he exited the classroom, the bell rang and the hallway started flooding with teenagers.

Any student being carried out of the school would be a big deal, but Peter Parker being carried in the arms of the Tony Stark caused a commotion that could hardly be contained. “Great.” Tony mumbled, “Just fantastic.” He certainly didn’t feel like shouting at a bunch of adolescents on his way to the car but if these pubescent hobbits didn’t make room for them soon he’d certainly-.

“MOVE! Get out of the way you morons!”

Tony had to turn his head to check where the angry commands were coming from. A curly haired teenage girl was walking by his side. And he just now noticed that her hand lay on Peter’s knees, which were hanging loosely over the side of Tony’s arms.

“I said MOVE!” angry girl yelled again at a few students who hadn’t gotten the message the first time. “Stupid idiots” she added on, fiercely glaring at anyone daring to step in their way as they made their way to the main entrance.

“Thank you, Miss…?” Tony questioned carefully, utterly impressed by the natural authority the girl exuded as she held the main doors open for Tony and Peter.

“MJ”

“Well thank you, Miss MJ” Tony said with a quick smile. “Are you a friend of Peter’s?”

“Team members. Decathlon.”

“I see. Well, thanks again. I really appreciate it.” He spotted Happy nearly falling out of the front seat in his attempt to hurry over when he saw Tony and Peter “We got it from here.” Tony couldn’t help put smile despite his concern for the kid in his arms. MJ, huh? He sure heard that name before. In connection to a certain vegan place that Peter was dying to try out. But his smile was short lived and replaced with a grim line of worry when the figure in his arms didn’t even stir upon being laid out on the backseat of the car.

Chapter Text

“It’s normal, Tony.”

“How is this normal, Bruce? He freaking collapsed at school! From a fever!”

“I told you some side-effects might hit him a bit harder since we combined so many serums into each shot. Fatigue, dizziness and the fever probably all came together to cause this collapse.”

“Well, fix it!”

“We are Tony, calm down. He’s not in any danger right now” Bruce said, but the irritation in his voice was almost as clear as the one in Tony’s. Of course he felt somehow responsible that the vaccine he had created with Cho and the team had caused such a severe reaction and it frustrated him. “We’ve got him on fluids, we’re monitoring him closely. We just administered the first dose of fever reducers, give it some time to take effect.”

“I don’t like this. Not one bit, Bruce.” Tony said warningly.

“I’m sure you don’t.” Bruce’s clipped answer made it clear that there was nothing left to say. Tony tried to glare in return but neither him nor Bruce were fooled, knowing perfectly well that both of their anger was a cover-up for their worry more than anything else.

In the early hours of the evening, his nerves having calmed down tremendously ever since Peter’s fever started going down, Tony is suddenly faced with two chocolate-brown eyes staring at him from a certain MedBay bed.

“Hey, you back with us Spider-Baby?” he says softly but Peter’s brain seems to have been going on autopilot, as he doesn’t seem to be registering that his eyes are open and he’s looking at Mr. Stark’s face.

“Kid?” Tony’s brows furrow and he waves a hand in front of Peter’s face. He’s about to turn around and yell for Bruce to get his butt in here right this second because Peter seems to be suffering from locked-in syndrome or whatever creepy shit like that when Peter thankfully snaps out of whatever he was in and starts blinking rapidly. Thank God, he thought.

Peter makes a face at him. “ ‘m not.”

“What?” the panic Tony just successfully stuffed back into a deep, dark corner of his mind creeps up again at Peter’s incoherence and seeing how the boy struggled with trying to get his mouth to obey.

“ ’m not-.. Spider-Baby”

Tony releases a breath of relief. “Right, that”, he laughs. Damn this kid and the emotional rollercoaster he managed to send Tony on within the last 10 seconds.

Peter blinks some more, eventually taking in his surroundings. He groans when he realizes he’s in the MedBay. God, just set up a room for him in here permanently, why don’t they?

“Yeah…” Tony reads and understands his proteges face right away “MedBay, buddy. How are you feeling?”

“Dunno. Tired.”

“Yeah, I bet you are. Fever took a lot outta you. Bruce said you’re on the mend though. Your fever broke a few hours ago with the help of those super-powered fever reducers. You’ll be fine by tomorrow.” He studies Peter’s face for a few seconds before he continues. “Do you remember what happened?”

Peter nods. “Didn’t feel so good, got dizzy.”

“Conked out in the middle of your test there.”

Peter’s eyes grow wide at Tony’s words “Aw shit! The test! My test! Mr. Stark, I gotta-“

“Whoa, whoa, calm down kiddo. I spoke to your teacher. You can retake it- nuh uh uh” he raises his finger and shushes Peter when the latter tries to interrupt “and she promised me it won’t be impossible to get an A on. I think the reason why Mrs. Foster’s make-up tests are so hard is because she’s tired of pubescent teenagers feigning sick to get more time to study, eventually resulting in more work for her having to create a whole new test. You, my friend, are definitely not one of those pains in her neck. Actually, you’re quite the opposite, you might possibly be the only student feigning healthy to take a test. You are definitely in her good books now. Or maybe I am. “ he smirks mischievously.

“Oh my God, Mr. Stark, please do not tell me you flirted with my English teacher!”

“What? I would never!” Tony’s overdramatic show of offendedness does nothing to calm Peter’s nerves as he imagines the embarrassment of having his- well, basically his “dad”, and oh my God, did I just call him dad in my thoughts? flirt with one of his teachers “Okay so maybe I did flirt with your English teacher a bit, over the phone, mind you, when I called you in sick again for tomorrow, but Pepper was actually sitting right next to me always typing out stuff on her StarkPad and shoving it in my face to say to Mrs. Foster. So it was basically Pepper flirting with her, I was just her exceptionally good-looking mouthpiece.”

And for the first time in what felt like ages but was really just one regular Friday, Tony is glad to see Peter’s cheeks glow fiery-red because finally, it’s not due to a fever.

Two weeks later the trio is sitting in MedBay once more. Peter feels like his life has turned into some sort-of really bad “Groundhog Day”-remake. And apparently in this shitty remake he is Bill Murray who just can’t seem to break out of a seemingly never ending cycle of vaccination appointments with Dr. Banner and an annoyingly chipper Mr. Stark.

“Third time’s a charm, huh kid?”

Peter only narrows his eyes at Tony, absolutely not in the mood for their typical banter. Not after the ordeal of the last shot’s side-effects. He can’t believe this is only the third of five shots. Gosh this is the most annoying thing that ever came with being Spiderman.

“So,” Bruce says once he motioned Peter to press the cotton pad to the new injection site “as always, I need you to-“

“Yeah, yeah 15 minutes and all that jazz. We got it, Bruce” Tony interrupts him before turning to Peter.

Bruce just rolls his eyes and turns away, busying himself with the typical clean-up and updating Peter’s vaccination data on the MedBay’s computer.

“So what are we thinking today, Pete? Thai? Korean? Columbian? Oh, actually, Pepper was reading about this awesome new African place, apparently they make these really good-“

“What happened to the Peter Parker Poking Promise, Mr. Stark?” Peter asked suspiciously.

“Oh, oh that’s still active of course, I was just making a suggestion, you know? In case you were feeling uninspired today or something.”

“Suuure, just admit it you’re already tired of not being the one in charge!” Peter smirked “I already have something in mind though, Mr. Stark! M- uh, a friend of mine said there’s this place in Greenwich village and they actually employ old ladies, like grandmas, you know, who have been impoverished, often widowed and otherwise couldn’t financially support themselves and they pay them really good wages and they allow them to prepare their personal specialties and each day it’s something different, so one day they might have “Grandma Ruth’s Roasted Pork Loin” and the next it could be “Grandma Giuseppina’s Lasagne” so you’re getting, like, sort of a home-cooked meal while supporting a good cause and-“

“Yeah yeah ok, I get the point. You don’t have to sell it to me you know, you are free to choose any place remember? Fri? Can you find and place an order with that place Peter is rambling on about?”

“I have found one place in Greenwich Village that suits Mr. Parker’s description by the name of “Dinner at Grandma’s House”, Sir.

“Yeah that’s the one.” Peter happily supplies.



An hour later they are sitting around the dinner table, feasting on “Grandma Anneli’s Swedish meat balls with mashed potatoes and gravy”.

“This is really good actually.” Tony muses, sounding somewhat surprised. “It does feel like a home-cooked meal. Looks like that friend of yours is a really smart-“ he waited a second before ending with “girl.” testing to see how Peter would react to that.

And as expected, Peter immediately blushes. “Yeah- she uh, she is, she’s really smart and stuff.”

“Uh-huh.” Tony smirks. “She the one that recommended that vegan place, too?”

“Yeah. Uh. She- yeah.”

Tony chuckles but feels he’s teased the kid enough.

“So, you feeling ok so far? No fever?”

“Nope.”

“Headache?”

“Nope.

“Dizzy?”

“Ugh, nooo!”

“Nauseous?”

“God, seriously, Mr. Stark!”

“Just making sure. Not taking any chances this time. You do have a tendency for surprise medical emergencies in case you didn’t know.”

Tony is slurping a way too hot but oh my gosh I can’t wait, I need my morning fix right now-coffee when Peter shuffles into the kitchen. “G’ mornin”.

“Good morning to you too.” Tony answers as he puts his coffee down to properly acknowledge the teenager he’d already been waiting for. “How are you doing today?”

“All good, thanks.” Peter’s answer was clipped.

Tony gives him an inquisitive look. The way the kid was standing there was just- off. Like he’s not standing up straight, sort of crooked. Clearly uncomfortable.

“No post-vax side-effects then?”

“Nope. Looks like I dodged a bullet this time, right?” Peter’s uncertain laugh at the end of that tips Tony off more than anything.

“Ok, cut the crap Parker. Friday already tattled. Says you’ve been squirming all night and your heart rate was way up right after you woke up, so something’s going on. Plus, you’re making a face like you’d rather be in someone else’s body right now. Care to explain?”

“Wow. Just- wow. Helicopter much?”

Tony sighs dramatically, because of course, Peter wasn’t going to just give anything up like that. “Can you please, for the love of God, for once not make it a full-time private investigator’s job looking after your health, kid?”

“I- what? What the hell are you even saying, that doesn’t make any sense.”

“You’re being a pain in the ass is what I’m saying” Peter just rolls his eyes at him. “Seriously Pete, it’s like we’re playing 20 questions every damn time. Why do I have to worm it out of you whenever I’m trying to find out if you’re ok?”

“Yeah well, I’m fine ok? Can you please just drop it?”

“Peter, side-effects are no joke, if there’s something going on I need to know. We don’t need a repeat of last time. Why can’t you just tell me these things without me having to-”

“Maybe it’s because I don’t feel like fucking advertising there’s a damn rash on my butt!” Peter almost yells as he closes the fridge with a bit more force than anticipated, resulting in a lot of rattling coming from the inside of the device. Great, now it sounds like I made have the contents of the fridge fall over and spill, he thinks.

“There’s a- what? You have a rash. On your butt.”

“Yes, goddammit.”

“Ok, kid.” Tony snickers, trying hard to suppress a laugh and basking in the relief that it was nothing serious “First of all, I’m instating a limit on swear words. Maximum daily usage. Let’s say.. five. No more. Once you’ve reached your quota of five, that’s it, gotta wait till the clock chimes midnight before you get another contingent.”

“You and me both then, Mr. Stark” Peter slyly smiles at him.

“Fine. Whatever. Daily quota of five for each of us then. But, secondly, Friday, be a dear and alert MedBay and Bruce. Tell them the Spider-Baby’s on its way with a sore Spider-Butt.”

“I can’t fucking believe this” Peter groans through his hands. He’s still currently riding what might be the biggest wave of embarrassment ever to be known to mankind, after lying face down on the exam bed with his shorts below his butt cheeks so that the Dr. Banner, gosh, why did it have to be the greatest scientist to currently walk this earth, could get a good look examining the angry looking rash he had going on down there.

“That’s four spiderling. And it’s only 9 am. Better make good use of that last no-no word today.” Tony can’t help but mock Peter in his misery.

“So, Peter, I don’t think we’ll need to go with pills just yet” Bruce says as he walks over with a tub of cream in his hand “I think this cream should do the trick. Instructions are on the back but just do be sure, apply a thin layer every couple of hours throughout the day and continue till at least the rest of the day even if the rash is already gone.”


Tony is quick to reach for the tub, “Do you want me to-“

“What the actual hell, Mr. Stark!” Peter cries out and snatches the tub from Bruce’s hand. “No, I do NOT want you to-“ Peter only then recognizes the grin on Tony’s face. He was kidding. Peter is relieved and embarrassed at the same time. And that wave of embarrassment he was riding before? Yeah, that wave just completely wiped him out and gave him a good few rounds of the wash cycle. But thank God his mentor wasn’t actually suggesting to help him put this stupid cream on his butt.

Both Bruce and Tony can’t help but snicker at the kid’s horror-stricken expression accompanied by a face glowing in color ranges matching his butt a little too well.

“I’m glad my suffering is contributing to everyone’s entertainment today” he mumbles.

“Aww, come on. You do have to agree that this is at least a bit funny, right?” Tony says as he gives him an encouraging pat on the shoulder “Oh and by the way, that was five, kid.”

Chapter Text

“No. Absolutely not.” Tony says in his no further questions voice.

“But- Mr. Stark! That’s not fair! I feel fine. Totally normal. I’ve been fine all day, it’s just some light patrolling, nothing will happen, I promise.”

“You can’t possibly promise that, kid, you know that.”

“But there’s nothing wrong with me!”

“There was something wrong with you just this morning if you recall.” Tony gives him a look that says don’t tell me you already forgot all about taking your pants off in front of Bruce Banner. “It’s still a no, bud.”

“But I stayed home all day today like you asked, the rash has been gone for hours and I’m fine, all good, why do I have to stay home tomorrow, too!?”

“Kid,” Tony sighed  “you heard Bruce. The first shot kicked that spider-butt of yours pretty badly, more than we were anticipating. And then this one made you develop some sort of allergic reaction over night, literally kicking your spider-butt until it was red and sore.” Peter cringed at the memory “We can’t be sure you won’t have another delayed reaction. You were lucky you passed out at school and not some dark, grimey alley after that first shot.”

“Yeah, suuuper lucky” Peter huffs and mumbles something about being carried like a girl in front of everyone.

“Yeah, well” Tony answers, running his hand across his face, tired of bringing up yet another argument that Peter’s going to shoot down anyways. Gosh this feels too much like being the lame kind of dad. “I know it sucks buddy and I know it doesn’t feel fair but Bruce thinks it’s for the best. No spider-manning for 48 hours after each shot.”

And that was final. Even Peter could tell there was to be no more arguing about this so he just groans and stomps off. He knows he is being childish and he knows Tony is right. That doesn't change the fact that it absolutely drove him wild to be sitting out on his spider activities for two days in a row. Three actually, if you counted the day of the poke because Tony picks him up straight from school on those days, too. “Arrrrggh this sucks” he mutters as he shuts his bedroom door behind himself.



The next morning Peter finds Tony surrounded by the typical array of newspaper articles on several holo-screens. Pre-selected by FRIDAY of course. No one knew better which articles he’d want to read and in what order. Maybe not even Tony himself.

“Sooo…, yesterday you said no spider-manning today, right?” Peter asks casually as he drops two pop-tarts in the toaster. His words make Tony look up from the holo-screens. He looks at the kid quizzically. Not even a good morning, huh? He wonders where this would be going.

“Good morning to you too.” He says, equally as casually, turning back to his screens. “And yes, that’s what I said.”

“Ok, so that means I can do other non-spider-manning stuff?”

“If by non-spider manning stuff you mean hanging out at the tower, sure.” Tony says, still keeping the "I have no idea where you're going with this"-front up without taking his eyes off the screen.

“No, like, I thought I could head downtown to, uhm, there’s this protest going on today, against uhm- animal cruelty and I thought I would go and uh-.”

“Protest huh?” Tony smirks and swipes through the air, making the holo-screen morning papers disappear. Now this was getting interesting. ”And there wouldn’t happen to be a certain friend of yours there as well?”

“Yeah, uh, yeah Ned and uhm, and MJ are going too.”

His kid was so very predictable sometimes, Tony thinks and chuckles briefly before sighing, remembering he’d still have to be the bad cop here. “Kid, I love that you wanna be politically active and stand up for those who obviously can’t do so themselves, but Bruce and I don’t want you out and about after your shot. I’m sorry.”

“So basically I’m being grounded.” Peter concludes as he crosses his arms defensively.

“Of course you’re not grounded.”

“Well, then that means I can come and go as I please?”

“You can come and go to anywhere within the tower that pleases you, sure.”

“See, that sounds very much like being grounded to me!”

“Kid, come on, you’re not grounded, you know that. We just don’t need any replay of last time. Of you passing out wherever. I’m not sure you truly understand this, how hardcore these shots are. They’re hitting you with 5 or 6 times the amount of stuff any normal shot would and they’re obviously putting a bigger strain on your body than we thought – first that God-awful fever, then an allergic reaction and- kid, we just need you to take it easy and stay safe for a while.”

“But I would be safe. It’s just a protest. I won’t even be alone. Ned will be there, and MJ. And MJ is, like, the most responsible person on this entire planet. Please, Mr. Stark! I promise I’ll call as soon as I feel weird, or- I don’t know, I can wear the watch again and FRIDAY can track everything and make sure I’m fine, and-”

Tony actually had to laugh at this. He could tell how much going there meant to Peter. Oh to be young and in love again. He couldn’t help but smile a bit stupidly.

“Wh- why are you laughing at me?” Peter asks, so absolutely unsure of himself.

“Nothing bud, just admiring your enthusiasm.” Tony gets up and walks towards the teen. “The fact that you’re offering to wear the watch just tells me you’re actually trying to be responsible about this, I know you don’t like being tracked and monitored all the time. So here-“ he takes the watch off his own hand and puts it on Peter’s.

"Just like that?" Peter asks, watching incredulously as Tony fastens the strap.

“FRIDAY will monitor you closely but I don’t want to hear it from her if you’re not feeling well, ok? I want to hear it from you. I want you to be the one to take action and call me, understand?”

“Yes, yes! I understand! Thanks Mr. Stark! I swear I’ll let you know if something’s up!” Peter says, beaming.

Two hours later Peter finds himself flinching as soon as the automatic doors of the subway open at his stop. The cheers, whistling and shouts of thousands of protesters are already filtering down all the way to the subway. At least to his ears they are.
He feels his pulse pick up as he makes his way up the final flight of stairs and to the coffee shop they’d all agreed to meet at and wonders if it’s because of the overwhelming noise or in anticipation of seeing MJ outside of a school or decathlon setting.
When he finally spots MJ and Ned in the crowd, he’s already working hard to block out the noise around him.

“Are protests always this loud?” he grins and shouts as a way of greeting his two friends.

MJ leans in closer to him and Ned and shouts back “Not always, today is an important day though, trying to make sure they don’t pass that new legislation! Drew a bigger crowd than usual!”

Both Ned and Peter nod in response. Peter then turns around to take in the entire thing for the first time. There are banners and flags, balloons and soap bubbles floating above a sea of thousands of heads. Cheers and chants, someone with a megaphone, hundreds of whistles, at least 6 different songs playing from sources spread out across the square, and drums, someone apparently brought drums. He steals a glance at MJ, who seems to bathe in the spectacle of it all, smiling a proud and determined smile, knowing exactly what she’s here for. This is really her element, Peter thinks in admiration.

A short while later, the crowd starts to set in motion, finally starting their protest march at the end of which they would be arriving at the main stage where speeches would be held, including by some awe-inspiring animal rights activist MJ can’t wait to see live as she said, and apparently some band was going to play. MJ drags them towards the center of it all, to where a group of people she knows from her regular protesting are pulling a small wagon with speakers on it, blaring music at full volume, distorting the music to where it couldn’t be described as sounding anything but “shitty”.

Peter tries his best to not let the plethora of sounds and sights and smells overwhelm him. He glances down at the StarkWatch, confirming what he already knows, his pulse was speeding up a notch. He tries to breathe, telling himself it’ll be fine, he’s with his friends, he’s safe, it’s just loud and crowded, there’s no threat in it.

MJ has joined into a chant some random person in the crowd started, Ned is trying to chat with one of MJ’s friends, shouting in his ear to make sure he’s heard over the noise of the masses. Peter is fighting hard to keep in control. Each somewhat slow breath now a small victory.

Suddenly someone bumps into him from behind and Peter falls to his knees.

“Dude, don’t stop walking in the middle of it, man!” the guy says, clearly annoyed, but holds his hand out to him anyways. Peter hadn’t even noticed he had stopped. He stares at the guy’s hand, and at his moving mouth. His mind unable to comprehend what the proper action to take in this situation is. He can’t think. His mind is fighting the whirlwind of input, it feels like he’s stuck in the eye of a hurricane, it’s calm and quiet here, like everything’s on mute, but along the walls of the storm, sounds and noises are swooshing past him, a jumble he can’t untangle, and they’re closing in on him as the eye is growing smaller. The other guy’s lips are still moving, hand still outstretched, he’s saying something, when Peter feels two sets of hands gripping his arms and pulling him up, just now comprehending that he had still been on his knees. He can see MJ’s worried frown right in front of him. Her lips are moving too and Peter focuses on them, his mind trying to make sense of the word they are forming over and over again.

Peter.

As soon as his mind comprehends, it’s as if someone hit the unmute button. And all of a sudden the walls of the hurricane’s eye come crashing down on him and he can hear everything. His knees buckle. Two sets of hands quickly gripping tighter to not let him fall.
He squeezes his eyes shut, his silent whimper drowned out by the droning sounds around him and he can feel he’s being dragged away. He can tell they’re moving against the flow of the protest, countless people bump into him or he bumps into countless people, he can’t tell, one familiar voice on his left stuck in a steady stream of apologies while another on his right alternates between demands to be let through and swearing. The bumping into people becomes less frequent as the crowd thins out.
Finally, the hands turn him around 180° and softly push him backwards, he can feel a wall right behind him and he allows the hands to maneuver him down to the ground. His head falls between his knees, his hands coming up to cover his ears.

He’s trying to breathe. Trying to get back in control. “Can you, c-can you-” he quietly rasps out after a few minutes. He feels soft curls brush across his arms when a head full of those curls lowers down, closer to him.

“Peter? Can you say that again? I couldn’t hear.” The voice is merely a whisper. So soft. So soothing. Almost making him feel safe.

“C-Call-“ he tries again “Call Mr.- Mr. Stark, please.” Without lifting his head, Peter fumbles his phone out of his pocket, allows his thumbprint to unlock it and blindly holds it out to whoever wants to take it.

He’s counting his breaths, trying to remember how to ground himself in these situations, trying once more to drown out everything else.

He doesn’t hear MJ on the phone with Mr. Stark. He doesn’t hear Mr. Stark asking them to move him away from the protest to somewhere he could get access with a car. But he eventually feels the hands pull him up again. Peter keeps his eyes shut, lets the hands guide him, only blinks a few times, eyes trained on his feet, scared looking up at the roaring crowd will throw him back into the eye of the hurricane.

He can hear two car doors open and close in quick succession, two sets of feet hurriedly shuffling across the asphalt, and then a third door opens. He feels the grip of the now familiar hands on him loosen as two new hands take over. He’s again turned around before a hand on his shoulder gently pushes him back and down onto a soft car seat, another hand safely cradling his head. Someone’s fumbling with something to his right before a seat belt is strapped across his body. And then, sweet sweet mercy, something is pushed into each of his ears and as soon as his mind realizes there’s no more sound, no more chaos, no more hurricane, he feels all tension leave his body and slips away.

“Underoos?” So soft. “Hey, Underoos?” soft and familiar. Mmh, don’t stop, he thinks, realizing that something is carefully brushing through his hair. His head is leaning against a chest, a chest that slowly rises and falls. “You up?”

Peter blinks and the first thing he sees is Happy, who’s turned around in the driver’s seat of the parked car to get a better look at the two people occupying the back seat. Peter moves his head and looks up at Mr. Stark’s face. Huh, interesting angle from down here. He thinks he could probably count each hair in Mr. Stark’s goatee individually.

“We’re here, buddy. Are you ok or should I start up the noise cancelling again?” Tony asks carefully, in as quiet a voice as he can muster.

Peter slowly sits up and just then realizes he can hear. Mr. Stark must’ve already tapped his headphones to stop the noise cancelling function. He tilts his head the tiniest bit from side to side and takes them out. Once they’re out, he takes a deep relieving breath – he’s ok.

“I’m ok” he says with a tired smile.

“I’m glad, Underoos.” Tony returns his smile and puts a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s get you up to bed then, you look exhausted.”

And Peter was exhausted. A sensory overload takes so much out of you, he can’t even begin to describe how heavy he feels, how it’s like his mind is still catching up on processing everything it’s seen and heard and smelled and it’s utterly draining and takes up every ounce of energy left.

Peter thinks he must weigh at least 500 pounds with how heavy his arms and legs feel as he plops down on his bed.

“Thank you for calling today, Pete.” Tony says, as he slowly pushes Peter to lie down on his bed, moving to the closet and grabbing the weighted blanket they’d gotten for him for these specific days, because it helps him with the grounding.

Peter looks up wearily and watches Tony tuck the blanket around him. “You’re not mad I didn’t call earlier?”

“No, Pete. I think by the time you, or Friday for that matter, picked up on how bad it was you weren’t really in a place to be able to call anymore. It’s not your fault, Underoos.”

“But you were right in the end. I shouldn’t have gone out today.”

“Kid, you couldn’t have known. Your sensory overloads are unpredictable, it’s not like you can plan them. I asked Bruce, he says it’s unclear wether the vaccine accelerated it, maybe it did, maybe it didn’t. But the thing is kid, you were being safe. You asked your friends to call me rather than insisting you’re fine, trying to get home on you own or, hell, even trying to get back into the protest.”

“Hmh-kay.” Peter can barely keep his eyes open, let alone find the strength to open his mouth to form more coherent words anymore.

“We’ll talk tomorrow, Underoos.” Tony says, and adds, after a featherlight kiss on the brown curls hiding halfway under the blanket, a “Sweet dreams“ that only spider-kids with spider-hearing would be able to hear.

Chapter Text

Bruce couldn’t help but smile fondly as he heard the elevator doors open, allowing Peter’s and Tony’s excited voices to drift towards the medbay. Gosh, Tony was really made for this. The father thing. Bruce had no doubt in his mind that Tony had purposely engaged Peter into some random topic that had the kid excited enough he seemed to forget he was getting another shot today.
Whatever cosmic mix-up had happened to have Tony not be Peter’s biological father, the universe had somehow managed to fix it by having Tony and Peter meet after all. Yes. They were always meant to be father and son. Bruce had no doubt in his mind.

“- and actually, Mr. Stark, we’ve only scratched the mere surface of what can theoretically be done, think of all the applications in the medical field, or- or think of the possibilities if we could find a safe way of applying irradiation on a larger scale in the food industry, all the food that wouldn’t have to go to waste, we could solve world hunger, Mr. Stark! We-“

“Well it’s a good thing we got the expert on gamma radiation right here, huh, Pete?” Tony chuckled as he and the kid turned the corner and made their way into their usual medbay room.

“Did I hear you correctly, Peter? You’re discussion irradiation?” Bruce said as way of greeting the two, motioning Peter to take his usual spot on the exam bed while snapping his purple latex gloves on.

“Dr. Banner! Hi! Yes, guess what! I got a research paper on gamma radiation for school. And it’s amazing, the- the sheer possibilities, did you know that with irradiation, we could-“ Peter suddenly stopped himself and started blushing furiously when he looked into the older man’s face that had amusement written all over it. “Oh gosh, of course you know, you- you’re literally the leading expert on gamma radiation.” He stutters out before mumbling something to himself about potentially being too stupid for college after all.

“No worries, Peter,” Bruce laughs and gives Tony, who looked suspiciously like he was about to make some joke at Peter’s expense, a quick warning look not to get the kid agitated right before today’s shot. “If you like, you can show me what you already got for your paper? Depending which direction you’re taking it, we could even recreate some experiments I’ve conducted? Oh- that is if you’re meant to work empirically not just theoretically?”

Peter’s eyes widened “That would be SO awesome Dr. Banner! Yes, yes that would be amazing! I’m focusing on applications of irradiation, and emprirical work would be amazing, have you done anything in that area?”

“Sure have, just last year I-“

“Aaaaalright you gamma heads, I get it, gamma radiation is the shit. But we actually came down here to get the kids’ next round of vaccinations over with, right kid?” Tony interjected “Can we get that done before you two go all gamma nerd?”

“Sure, sure, alright then, guess you’re right, let’s get this done first.” Bruce said as he got his supplies ready and laid them out on the cart next to Peter’s exam bed. “You feeling good today, Peter?”

“Yeah, everything ok. Just the normal amount of nervous I guess.”

“That’s perfectly fine. So-“ Bruce explained as he gently pushed up Peter’s t-shirt to find a spot on Peter’s upper arm to wipe with the alcohol pad. “you know the drill. Just a small poke and then the quick 15 minute wait. We can use the time to check out your paper? Can you pull it up on your phone?”

“I got it on the school cloud” Peter replied excitedly, too distracted to even feel Bruce inject him with the shot “we can look at it on a StarkPad. If that’s ok with you Mr. Stark?”

“Ugh damn.” Tony suddenly said to himself, only then realizing that both Bruce and Peter were looking at him. “Sorry, sorry, I meant yes, of course you can use a StarkPad, sorry I just remembered I actually got a surprise for you, Underoos!” Tony smiled and his eyes glistened with a hint of mischief “I forgot it upstairs, I’ll run up and grab it!” he exclaimed, halfway out the door, “Don’t go anywhere!”

“We’ll be here” Bruce called after him as he stuck a band-aid over the injection sight, gaining him a surprised squeal from the spider-kid who hadn’t even noticed the poke.

“Just give me a sec okay, Peter? Let me quickly put today’s info into your chart and then we’ll check out your paper, yeah?”

“Sounds great Dr. Banner.” Peter said, lazily swinging his legs on the exam bed, mind wandering back to Tony and the surprise he apparently had for him. What could it be? Maybe an upgrade for the suit? A new StarkPhone? No, nono, that’d be way to much, maybe a sandwich from Delmar’s? Last week when they were watching a movie Tony surprised him with a speed delivery from Delmar’s. He had even remembered to have the number 5 smushed down the way Peter liked it. Yes, that must be it, Peter couldn’t contain his smile and a small chuckle at the thought but suddenly winced as he felt his throat seem to catch at the movement. Huh.
He cleared his throat, trying to get rid of the weird feeling down there.

“Did I ever tell you how I got into gamma radiation research in the first place, Peter?” Bruce called over from the computer he was still focused on, Peter could see his medical chart pulled up on the screen.

“Uhm” Peter winced again, quickly clearing his throat, surprised at how difficult it was to get his voice to work. “I don’t think so, Dr. Banner.” Why did his throat feel so weird?

“So you know how I went to Harvard before I started working at Culver University, right?” Bruce happily typed away at the keyboard as he began his story “You see, at Harvard, I had this professor who-“

Peter was sure that hearing about any part of Dr. Banner’s biography normally would have been nothing short of fascinating to him, right now though he found it hard to listen and focus on anything other than the pressure he felt in his throat. Clearing his throat for what must have been the tenth time in the last minute, he looked around trying to locate some water to get rid of the frog in his throat. Breathing was quickly turning from the easiest thing in the world to actual work.
Opening his mouth to ask Dr. Banner whether he kept any water in this medbay room Peter felt his heartbeat pick up when he realized he couldn’t get the words out. All he got was a quiet wheeze. And then, willing himself to take a deep breath to try one more time to ask Dr. Banner for water, Peter’s heart went from running a hundred miles to crashing to a complete stop because the next breath never came. He started panicking. He was pretty sure he was doing this breathing thing correctly but something wasn’t working right, the air didn’t make it down to his lungs.

He needed to move. To get to Dr. Banner. He brought his hand to his throat, willing it once more to work. Standing up from the bed he found his legs to be wobbly, panic and lack of oxygen turning into a mixture that barely left him functioning. He leaned onto the cart next to his bed heavily, hoping his plan would work. And with a crash both Peter and the cart came down to floor.

Tony couldn’t wipe the smile off his face as he stepped back onto the elevator to get back down to medbay, trying to balance dozens of various colorful objects in his arms. He was sure the kid would get an absolute kick out of the samples of the new Avengers merchandise that had been delivered for Tony’s (and, let’s be honest, Pepper’s) final approval before mass production. Especially because for the first time, the collection would include a series of Spider-Man themed pieces as well. He couldn’t wait for the kid to see them. The new collection has been in the making for weeks and just before it was almost done, he had had a sudden epiphany and specifically requested for there to be band-aids in the collection. Inspired by a certain spider-child’s recent increased need for those things of course. He would make sure to stick a blue and red Spider-Man themed band-aid right onto Peter’s arm once he got back down there. He didn’t care whether or not the kid already had one, he’d get a Spider-Man one on top of that.

Bruce whipped around at the sound, tools from the cart still clattering on the floor. “Pe-PETER!” He was by his side in seconds, eyes frantically scanning the boy’s body “Peter! What happened? What’s wrong?” he asked, staring into the younger man’s panicked eyes, when with what seemed to take way too much effort, Peter brought his hand to his throat once more. Bruce’s eyes widened.

“You can’t breathe? Peter, you can’t breathe?” he didn’t even wait to see the kid’s strained nod to confirm before jumping up, sprinting towards the wall, hitting a big blue button.

Tony heard the alarm through the elevator doors before they even opened towards the medbay floor. “Fri? What’s that alarm tone for?”

“Dr. Banner has just triggered a code blue alarm for Peter Parker, boss. ”

Tony felt his breath quicken “Code bl-?”

“Code blue is initiated in case of sudden respiratory or cardiac arrest.” Friday supplied right in time for the elevator doors to open and Tony to drop whatever items he’d been balancing in his arms and run.

The room burst alive with the on-call medical staff as soon as Bruce heaved Peter back onto the exam bed. “Get a nasopharyngeal airway set up right away” Bruce shouted to no one in particular, as he pushed an oxygen mask onto Peter’s mouth and nose and hectically clipped a pulse oximeter onto his finger.

“Sats probe?” a nurse asked, removing the oxygen mask for a quick moment to follow Bruce’s command and push the small tube into Peter’s nose.

“Sats probe’s showing 91” a second nurse said as she read off the numbers on the pulse oximeter.

“Peter, I gotta look into your mouth for a second ok?” Bruce said, trying to put some calm in his tone for the kid’s sake although he wasn’t sure how much of what he was saying actually got through to Peter anymore. His half-closed eyes were barely shimmering with a hint of recognition when Bruce addressed him. With Peter’s body heaving, fighting for air, Bruce had to almost forcefully hold his jaw to get a look down his throat “His airway is closing! We gotta RSI him right now. Get it set up! I want an IV in asap!”

Bruce’s words seemed to spark a spurt of awareness in Peter, who started looking around in even more panic, choking behind his oxygen-mask trying to get words out “Sweetheart, can you look at me?” a nurse quickly trying to calm the boy down “Here, honey, look at me please. Theeere you go. Just relax ok? Dr. Banner has to intubate you, ok? I know it sounds scary but you’ll be ok. It’ll be a bit uncomfortable at first but we’ll pop you off to sleep as soon as we can.”

“What the FUCK is going on! Bruce!” Tony burst through the door panic evident in his voice, running towards the medbay bed, not so gently shoving away a nurse working on Peter to get to his kid. “Oh my God, Peter!” Tony’s frantic pleading caused Peter’s already tumbling heart rate to go absolutely haywire. “Pete, I’m here, I’m here ok? I got you, I’m here-“

“He’s in anaphylactic shock, Tony, you can’t be in here. You need to get out.” Bruce demanded harshly too busy setting up for Peter’s RSI to even look at Tony.

“You’ve got to be kidding, Bruce, you can’t expect me to-“ he said, ready to fight, when a monitor to his right started blinking and beeping.

“Sats 85 and falling” a nurse read out to the room. 

“This is NOT a game Tony, get the fuck out of here. You’re in the way” Bruce spat, before quickly turning back to the now barely conscious Peter.

Chapter Text

Someone had pushed him out of the room after Bruce had ordered him out. Backwards. Until the back of his legs hit something solid and he’d been pushed down. There weren’t many times in Tony’s life where he felt so utterly out of control of the situation that he’d let someone else maneuver him anywhere. This seemed to be one of those times.

“Fri? What’s happening in there?” he asked with a shaky voice.

“Mr. Parker received a second dose of epinephrine to counteract the allergic reaction. He
is being prepped to be placed in an induced coma.” Tony inhaled sharply, his breath catching in his throat, his upper body falling forward. “Dr. Banner is currently injecting him with paralytic and sedative drugs.”

Tony cradled his head in his hands “Oh my God” he whispered.

“Dr. Banner is currently inserting an endotracheal tube to take control of Mr. Parker’s airway.”

There was a beat of silence where Tony heard nothing but the rustling of his own clothes as his leg was bouncing up and down and his head shaking constantly in between his hands.

“Dr. Banner’s attempt at endotracheal intubation failed.”

“What?” Tony jumped up from his seat looking frantically between the door to Peter’s room and the ceiling, his breathing quickened “Fri, talk to me!”

“It seems Mr. Parker’s airways have closed to where an ETI was no longer possible. Dr. Banner has just announced they will have to perform a tracheostomy to secure Mr. Parker’s breathing.”

“Wh- what does that mean?” Tony could hardly get the words out, his chest felt so tight he thought he couldn’t breathe. Was that what it felt like for Peter? Oh God, his kid wasn’t breathing.

“A tracheostomy is a surgical opening of the front of the neck, allowing a direct airway through an incision in the patient’s windpipe.”

“They’re cutting a hole in Peter’s windpipe??” Tony yelled, staggering back towards the rows of chairs, using the back of a chair to steady himself.

“Yes, Sir.”

Tony gripped his chest, scrunching up his shirt right over his heart, trying hard to get the air he needed.

“Fri, what now? What’s happening now?” he managed to get out against the sickening feeling in his stomach.

“I’m sorry Sir, I can no longer provide you with information regarding Mr. Parker’s health status.”

“Wha-? What the fuck, Fri! Update! Now!”

“Sir, as per Ms. Potts’ mental health protocols I am to inhibit exposure to any and all serious mental health triggers to obviate potential panic attacks. According to my analysis, information on Mr. Parker’s status has resulted in a rapid increase in your heart rate and trouble breathing. You are also displaying symptoms of lightheadedness and chest pains, triggering Ms. Potts’ protocol TSH-015.”

“I don’t fucking care. Override, Fri, right now.”

“I’m sorry Sir, you do not have the authority to override the protocols Ms Potts created in the Tony-Stark-Health category.”

“That is my kid in there, in my medbay!” Tony was seething before he bit out his next words, punctuating each one fiercely “Master. Override. A-E-S-alpha-00284, Fri. NOW!“

„I’m sorry Sir, this master override code cannot be applied to-“

The rest of Friday’s answer was drowned out by the sound of a table lamp shattering against the ceiling that Tony had grabbed from the side-table and hurled towards the closest loudspeaker.

“Calling Ms. Potts.” If there could ever be a case made for an AI showing true emotion, it would be the worry and defeat evident in Friday’s voice right there.

It was only a few seconds later that another worried voice could be heard over the speakers.

“Tony-“

“Pepper, deactivate your protocols right the fuck now!”

“Tony, you need to calm down, you’re pushing yourself into a panic attack, please, just calm down with me for a second ok?”

“My kid is in there, Pepper and he isn’t breathing! I am not calming down!”

“He’s breathing Tony, the machine is doing it for him, they placed the tube, his oxygen levels are going up, he’s getting air Tony, he is.”

All the fight drained out of Tony and the anger out of his face at those words. “Ho-how do you-“

“I’m having Fri update me, Tony. Please, can you take a seat for a minute?”

Tony needed a second to orient himself, looking around to locate the chairs. He brushed the glass shards from the lamp that had landed on the seats onto the floor, wincing when one of them got caught in his finger.

“Take some deep breaths ok? Come on, work with me here.”

Tony allowed himself a slow breath in and out, absent-mindedly examining the glass shard sticking out of his index finger. Pepper’s words “he’s getting air” on repeat in his head, enough to take his mind of the chaos happening behind the closed door down the hall. Like this, a minute or two quietly passed.

“Tony?”

“Yeah?”

“You better now?”

“… Yeah”, the word accompanied by a long breath out.

“Ok.

“… Ok.”

For a moment neither of them spoke.

“Pep?” Tony eventually choked out “Please. I need to know what’s happening.”

A brief sigh was heard first. “Bruce says he’s stable. They’ve taken over his breathing and it’s working. Apparently they are having a hard time getting the allergic reaction under control though, but he’s stable, Tony.”

All Pepper heard was a quiet sniff in response.

“Bruce called Helen in. She’ll be there within the next half hour.”

Tony nodded before remembering he had to verbally communicate too. “Ok.”, he whispered.

“Do you know when I can go in to see him?”

A moment of silence followed where Pepper was relaying Tony’s question via Friday to Bruce before she had an answer for him. “Not before Cho hasn’t seen him.”

Tony simply nodded again.

“Tony? Honey?”

“...yeah?”

“I want you to do something for me, ok?”

“…hm?” he asked, his exhaustion allowing him no more than monosyllabic answers.

“I want you to leave the medbay. I want you to go up to the penthouse. Make yourself a coffee or grab some water and just sit down for a moment to wrap your head around this. Call May. Take a moment to gather yourself before you get back down to see Peter. You’re no good to him if you’re panicking. Waiting around in that hallway is driving you insane. The best thing you can do for him right now is to make sure you’re mentally and physically at your best, don’t you think?” Pepper paused, waiting to see if Tony would fight and complain. “I’ll have Friday lift the information ban as soon as you’re sitting up in that penthouse with a regular heart rate, ok?”

Tony sighed deeply. Scrunching his eyes and rubbing his fist over his eyes he got up. “Ok.” was all he could get out before he made his way towards the elevator, where, strewn across the floor, a mess of dozens of colorful Spider-Man bandaids greeted him.




Up in the penthouse, Tony was surprised himself to find that he was actually following Pepper’s request. To say the phone call with May was difficult was putting it mildly. She had already hated being gone all week, had questioned her decision to take the job in Philadelphia again and again before relenting and giving in to Peter insisting that this job was a once in a lifetime opportunity, that he’d be fine living with Tony during the week and seeing her on weekends when she came back home. Tony could tell that it was breaking her apart now to not be able to be there right away. The mere fact that May didn’t fight him now when he offered to send a helicopter to get her here said everything they both needed to know about the situation.

He turned the coffee machine on and busied himself by sorting all the bandaids he had dumped on the kitchen island neatly back into the metal box they usually came in. Before said box had been dropped to an elevator floor. Had sprung open. And spilled dozens of his spiderling's band-aids all over the floor because a sickening, terrifying alarm alerted him to the fact that his child had stopped breathing. Oh God. He had stopped breathing.

Tony closed his eyes. He knew he needed to calm down if he ever wanted to get more information. So he did the best he could. Keeping his eyes closed, he quietly planned out how he would need to change Friday’s coding to make sure that he would never, ever be left out of anything that had to do with Peter. It was enough to bring his heart rate down, because a few minutes into his internal recoding of Friday, her voice rang out.

“Information ban lifted. Would you like an update on Mr. Parker’s status, Sir?”

Tony’s eyes sprung open. “Yes!”

“Mr. Parker’s tracheostomy was successful. He has been placed on a ventilator to ensure sufficient oxygen intake. He is being kept in the induced coma for the time being. Mr. Parker is on fluids to counteract the severe hypotension the anaphylactic shock caused. Dr. Cho arrived 10 minutes ago. Drs Banner and Cho are currently examining Peter’s blood to find out why his body is not responding to the epinephrine. The most likely explanation currently would be his mutated cells not allowing the hormone to take effect.”

“Isn’t there anything else they can give him against the allergic reaction?”

“There is no substitute for epinephrine. It is the only first-line treatment for anaphylaxis.”

“What- “ Tony gulped “what happens if they can’t get it to work?”

“Anaphylactic shocks can be fatal if left untreated.”

“Patch me through to Bruce, Fri.”

“Certainly, Sir.” she replied, and after a brief pause “Connection established.”

“Bruce?” Tony asked carefully.

“Tony?” Bruce sounded startled, there were muffled noises in the background.

“How is he?”

The silence following Tony’s question almost said more than the one word Bruce chose to answer it. “Critical, Tony.”

“I- I thought- But Pepper said he was stable?”

“For now, yes. Because we’ve taken over his breathing. We need something to counteract the allergic reaction, though. The epi doesn’t take, his body doesn’t accept it. Right now we’re only treating the symptoms, not the cause. His cells are still producing more immune mediators, the allergic reaction is still going on.”

“What does that mean?” Tony doesn’t think he’s ever been more scared of asking a question in his life.

“Our biggest problem is the hypotension. His blood vessels widened as a result of the allergic reaction, making his blood pressure plummet. We’re trying to synthesize a version of the epi that his spider-immune system doesn’t reject, something to tighten his blood vessels to raise blood pressure and reduce the swelling of his airways. But we don’t know how long it’ll take and we just- we don’t know how long his body can deal with the low blood pressure.”

Tony was at a loss for words. He had come up here, allowed himself to spend whole minutes sorting band-aids into a stupid metal box, while his kid was down there, not getting better but fighting for his life?

“You should go down there, Tony. Be with him.” Bruce’s words were so quiet, Tony questioned for a second whether he had actually heard them.

“How long?” Tony choked out, paralyzed in his seat at the kitchen island.

“I’m sorry, Tony, I wish I could tell you but we really don’t know. With Peter’s mutation we- there’s just no data to go off of. Your guess is as good as anyone’s.”

“I understand.” Tony said, determination settling in as he suddenly snapped out of his haze and sped towards the elevator.

Chapter Text

Someone had put the kid into a hospital gown. Tony cringed in his seat next to the bed. That wasn’t going to go down well. He hated being in those gowns. With his recurring Spider-Man stunts, the kid landed himself in the medbay more often than anyone wanted to count. After a particularly busy week (three visits within five days, a new record Tony begged Peter never to break) and Peter’s accompanying complaints about the “stupid gowns”, they had found a compromise and actually started stocking up on sterile plain white t-shirts and grey sweats down here for Peter to change into for the usual small injuries. It was now only for those really dire situations that the medical staff ignored any and all of his protests and still made him wear the gown. Seeing him in it now only confirmed what Tony already knew. That this was one of those really dire situations. As dire as it could possibly get.

And suddenly Tony finds himself fighting back tears because as much as he’s (unfortunately) used to being with Peter in the medbay, this time it’s so unlike the other times. Usually, after making sure Peter would be ok, Tony would get to do one of two things: rant about some ass who put his kid in the medbay or give Peter a lecture (and they had gone through countless variations of the “you need to put your own safety first-speech” in the process). But this time, he had nothing to direct his anger, his worry, his desperation at. It’s not anyone’s fault that his child is in the gown this time. It’s not even Peter’s fault. There’s no villain, no mugger, no bad guys to blame for this, Peter didn’t make any risky or reckless decisions, didn’t hack Karen for the umpteenth time to keep her from informing Tony. This time, it’s just a freak allergy. Just biology. And he couldn’t be mad at biology. And so the tears came hard and fast because this was something he didn’t know how to go up against and Tony just fell forward onto Peter’s bed, buried his head in his arms and let himself weep.

He didn’t know how long it took for him to calm back down. When he finally straightened back up, it was somehow surreal to see that while he had gone through what felt like one of the worst breakdowns of his life, Peter hadn’t moved at all. Tony was almost surprised at how peaceful Peter looked. With his periodic visits to the tower’s medbay, Tony had gotten pretty used to seeing Peter’s face with an oxygen mask strapped to it, or at least sporting a nasal cannula. So seeing him without either almost calmed Tony down, because that usually meant he wasn’t too badly hurt. But only for a second. Only until he looked down at the tube in Peter’s neck. Only until he looked at the monitors, the other tubes and wires, the IV ports, the blood pressure cuff. The damn blood pressure cuff. Tony almost growled as he watched the cuff inflate. Again. Like it was mocking him. He wished it would give a different reading than those horrifically blinking red numbers indicating Peter’s too low blood pressure. Every damn time.

Tony heard the door open, footsteps shuffling in. A nurse proceeded to quietly note Peter’s vitals and adjust his IV. Tony didn’t miss the timing of this. Friday must have intercepted any not strictly medically necessary visits to the room during his meltdown allowing him to process this on his own time. Bless her non-tangible heart.
The nurse checked the placement of the blood pressure cuff and suddenly Tony felt stupid when he realized he didn’t even know why or how the low blood pressure was threatening Peter’s life. It’s just low blood pressure, right? No, the nurse explained. Organ failure. Insufficient blood flow to the organs would eventually cause them to fail. Simple as that. She gave him a sympathetic and, Tony felt, quite genuine smile and shuffled back out. And Tony was alone with his kid again. Simple as that.

When he heard the door open again, no footsteps shuffled in. Tony turned around to see Pepper standing in the doorway. She made her way over to his side quietly, a single unspoken question in her eyes.

Tony shook his head no. No news yet.

“… Ok.” she answered barely audibly. It took a few minutes of them listening to the monitor’s beeps and the machines’ wheezing and whirring before she spoke again slowly. “Tony, I’m so sorry, I didn-“

“You had no right” he whispered, more to himself than to her, but he knows she still heard and it still stung.

“I know, but I didn’t-“

“No.” He interrupted her, his gaze now fixed on her instead of his son, eyes fiercely boring into hers. “No. I’m not doing this with you right now. Not with him, in- in this room. And I’m not leaving him again. So no. I don’t want to hear your apology or your reasons or your whatever, I don’t want any anger in this room. I want- “ and he suddenly choked up as the fight left his voice “I jus- just don’t want him to see me angry or- or feel me angry, I guess, I don’t know, I don’t even know how much he realizes, or if he’s aware, but I don’t want him to- the last thing he, he hears of me an-and you to be anger o-or fighting. And I- I- don’t even think I have the energy to do this now- I-“

“It’s ok.” Pepper simply said. Talking this through wasn’t a priority for either of them now. And she knelt down in front of his chair, engulfed him in a hug that Tony only resisted for the fraction of a second before he let himself be held and rocked.

After both their cheeks were wet with shared tears, Pepper finally pulled back. She kissed his head and got back up. “I’ll find Bruce. See if I can find something out.”

The next time Tony heard footsteps approaching the room, he turned, expecting to see his wife there again but the woman frozen in the open doorway wasn’t her.

“May” he whispered, shooting up from his chair. She didn’t seem to notice him, eyes fixed solely on her nephew. The peacefulness of his face such a stark contrast with the battle he fought, the allergic war raging in his body.

“May?” Tony repeated walking towards her. Her eyes didn’t shift over to meet his until he stood right in front of her. Her head turned, almost mechanically, as if recognizing the person addressing her was no more than an automated response. Tears escaped her eyes when he engulfed her in a tight hug. “That’s our child, Tony” she brokenly sobbed.

“I know.” He reassured her, holding her close, wondering how many more tears would have to be shed for the boy in the bed on this day.




“He’ll be awake soon. We’ve been weaning him off the sedative” Bruce explained, putting the stethoscope back around his neck. After hours of relaying the "no news" update from Cho's lab via Friday or Pepper, Bruce had come in to check on Peter and give them the "no news" lab update in person this time. “We needed him out during the procedures earlier, but here’s no medical reason for us to keep him asleep any longer now. And,” he paused, searching first Tony’s, then May’s eyes “this way you can at least be with him as much as possible.”

He adjusted Peter’s IV and screwed a syringe in. “This is a mild anxiolytic. Many patients get scared when they first realize they can’t speak with the trach tube in. The anti-anxiety medication will keep him from panicking.”

Tony and May nodded silently and she grabbed Peter’s hand. Her eyes trained on his pale face, waiting for any sign of waking. She didn’t have to wait very long until his eyebrows twitched and his lids started to flutter.

“Peter? Honey?” Peter’s eyes opened slowly and the brows on his brows furrowed in confusion as he tried to identify the source of the familiar voice. “Oh, sweety, it’s so good to see you awake.” May almost sobbed in relief at seeing her nephew finally looking at her. Peter’s lips moved, forming the letter M. A single syllable was trying to escape his mouth, but nothing came out. Peter’s eyes widened.

“Peter?” Dr. Banner, Peter’s mind supplied. “You can’t speak at the moment. There is a tube in your throat and it’s helping you breathe, but you can’t speak with it, ok? Are you feeling ok at the moment?" A brief nod. "Are you in any pain?” A shake.

Peter opened his mouth trying to form words again before he realized his mistake. If people couldn’t already see it in the way he then squeezed his eyes shut and scrunched up his face, the heart monitor gave away his efforts in staving off the growing fear of not being able to speak.

“Pete?” Tony understood quickly, grabbing his free hand. “Hey buddy, if you want, you can just write with your finger on the bed, ok? Friday’s cameras will be able to read it and she’ll translate for us.”

Peter's expression relaxed slightly and he nodded once more. His fingers twitched for a moment, trying to obey their owner’s command. With concentration settling in on his face, Peter finally started spelling.

W-H-A-T-H-A-P-

“Mr. Parker is asking what happened.” Friday supplied softly, not even needing Peter to finish.

All eyes including Peter's moved to Bruce, who cleared his throat and, with a gentleness that Tony doesn’t think he’s ever heard in his voice, started explaining, going into the details they all knew Peter would want to know, to fully understand what was happening. Tony felt his heartbeat pick up in speed. This was it. And he’d been dreading this. Telling the kid what was going on. Because at the end of Bruce’s explanation, he knew the most important words would be missing. You’ll be ok.

“Your body is currently fighting on two fronts. Your immune system is trying to fight back the supposed intruder, a component of the vaccine, while your circulatory system is trying to cope with the extreme stress of that immune response.”

As Bruce described the reactions happening in Peter’s body, Tony could feel his hands start to shake, he could barely stand listening to this anymore. Everything that Bruce was saying led up to the same conclusion and it was tearing everyone standing around Peter’s bed apart. We don’t know how to fix it.

Chapter Text

Tony kept his voice low as he was watching Bruce disinfect Peter’s wrist and lay out a sterile blue cloth around the disinfected area. He was afraid to wake May, who had curled up on the couch below the window and fallen asleep after seconds, the exhaustion written all over her face even in her sleep. “What is that?” he asked.

“It’s an arterial line.” Bruce answered in an equally quiet voice as he let an ultra sound wand slowly wander over Peter’s wrist, checking the monitor to see the correct positioning of the needle before inserting it into his artery. “It allows us to monitor his blood pressure in real-time rather than only with every inflation of the cuff.”

Tony frowned. “Why are you only doing this now?”

Bruce looked up from his work for a second, trying to determine how to phrase this for his friend. “It’s usually only done in intensive care." he eventually said carefully. "For critically ill patients.”

They didn’t need to talk about what this meant. Tony watched silently as Bruce seemed to insert one tube in Peter’s wrist only to take it back out again, then suddenly put in a scarily long wire-thing, only to take that out yet again and replace it with another tube thing. Tony thought he now understood why Bruce had secured Peter’s hand on a board for this, immobilizing it, because this thing seemed so much more complicated than a regular IV line. Finally Bruce connected the tube coming out of Peter’s wrist with a monitor and something that looked like an inflatable bag that he hung next to the fluids on the IV stand. They both watched in silence for a moment as the monitor started displaying Peter’s blood pressure.

“He’s getting weaker. Isn’t he.” It wasn’t a question. Tony and Bruce could both see it even though one of them didn’t really understand what he saw on the monitors. Peter had fallen back asleep right after Bruce finished explaining what was happening, his body too weakened to cope with the added effort of consciousness for longer periods of time. The fact that he didn't even wake up during the whole procedure attested to how deeply the sheer exhaustion dragged him under. Right this moment though, Tony was quite thankful for that as Peter wouldn’t have been a fan of whatever Bruce had been doing to his wrist there.
Bruce nodded silently as he pushed a button on Peter’s monitors. “His blood pressure dropped another few points. It’s- really, it’s a miracle his body hasn’t given up yet. Low blood pressure like this, over an extended period of time, he’s been fighting for hours.” Bruce looked Tony in the eyes “It would have already been fatal to any non-enhanced human.”

“He’s a fighter.” Tony whispered. Not to Bruce. Not to Peter. Not to himself. He stated it as if it was an unchangeable truth. As if Peter being a fighter was a natural law that couldn’t be broken. Like water freezing at 32°F. And Tony prayed with everything he had that it would be enough.

Pepper had just gotten done organizing things with May’s employer and was now in the middle of clearing both her and Tony’s schedules for the next few days. “Mrs Boss, I would recommend for you to find Boss in his lab. He seems to be in distress.”

Pepper shot up from her desk. “Distress?”

“Yes, boss has been crying for about 20 minutes now.”

Pepper didn’t even take the time to close out of her e-mail account before she hurried down the hall, a security risk she never would take under normal circumstances. Friday had the elevator waiting for her and took her to the lab floor. She found Tony hunched over his desk, head on his forearms, shoulders shaking and sobbing.

“Honey?” Pepper asked in a mere whisper. “What are you doing down here?” Why aren’t you with Peter? Her voice was unsteady, thoughts shooting through her head, had she missed anything, had she missed the- the news?

Tony needed a few breaths to compose himself before he could answer in a way that was even remotely understandable. “May- when she woke up sh-she asked for a bit of time alone with- him- “ he told her before his last words were ripped apart by another sob.

Pepper enveloped him in a tight hug. Of course Tony would not allow himself to crumble in front of May. Of course he would hide in is lab. She quickly failed at holding her own tears back when she felt how the love of her life trembled in her arms.

“He’s been getting weaker.” Tony finally managed to pull back and look her in the eyes for a moment before the implication of what he just said crashed over him anew “I can’-. Pep, I- can’t lose him. What if I lose him forever? I can’t live without him. I can’t. I can’t.” Tony was past worry and sadness, he was grieving, his words interspersed with more sobs, more shaking.

“Don’t, don’t think like that Tony. He’s here. He’s still here. He’s fighting.” She tried with all she had to impart her strength on him, to let Tony share her hope, but his despair had erected a wall around him, shutting out any faith she had.

“How can I live if he’s not here? I can’t, Pep. I can’t. I can’t live if he doesn’t.“

As much as it pained Pepper to hear this, she knew it was true. She knew Tony could never be the same again if Peter were to… She tried not to let her thoughts go there, trying to steer clear of imagining these scenarios and of what Tony would potentially… resort to if he were to lose Peter. Their lives had been continuously interwoven to a point where they now were indiscerptible. It scared her. It scared her more than anything in her life. If Tony didn’t think he could live on without Peter or chose not to live on, how could Pepper ever hope to live on without both of them in her life?

“Don’t do this, don’t give up on him.” She plead, and Pepper knew she was now praying for two lives. Not just one. “Bruce and Helen haven’t given up, they’re trying so hard to give him a chance. And he’s fighting, Peter hasn’t given up either. We need to have hope, Tony.”

Hope came in the form of a call for Tony and May to meet Bruce and Cho in the medbay conference room.

“We might have an idea.”

Bruce stood at the end of the oval conference room table, StarkPad in hand and Cho by his side. After Tony had managed to collect himself and then two more harrowing hours of sitting vigil by Peter’s sleeping, fighting body, they had asked Tony and May in the room to discuss “their options”. They were all sitting around the table, staring at a holo-screen in the middle showing what Peter’s blood looked like under a microscope. He nodded at Cho for her to take over.

“Peter’s biology is complicated,” she started “The mutated cells in his blood are keeping the epinephrine from doing it’s job in communicating a stop of the allergic reaction to the brain. His cells are treating the medication as a hostile intruder and, well, let’s just say Peter’s spider DNA makes for an incredibly strong line of defense. We’ve been trying to work out a way to make his cells stop doing that but nothing we synthesized has worked with the blood samples we tried it on. So… we’ve come up with the idea to try to bypass the hostile blood cells by bypassing Peter’s blood.”

“How is that possible?” May asked nervously.

“We would inject the epi directly into Peter’s spinal cord.”

Tony and May were drawing an audible breath in before looking at each other and Helen cleared her throat to continue. “We think it might be the only way for Peter’s brain to receive the instruction to stop producing immuno mediators, basically, to get the message to stop the allergic reaction.” She paused to make sure she saw a level of understanding in everyone’s faces. “But it’s a procedure not without its risks. It’s never been done this way before so there’s no way to tell how his body will react. We would draw some spinal fluid first, run a few tests with the epi before we do the procedure on Peter. But” she paused for a beat “we don’t think we have a lot of time. And we first need your consent of course. Both for the initial lumbar puncture and then for the injection through the spine.”

“What- um, what are the risks?” May directed her question at Bruce, who had been looking away. He took a deep breath before sincerity settled in his expression and he managed to look up at her.

“Even if administering the epi this way is successful in the sense that we get his body to stop the allergic reaction, we don’t know what the epi in the spinal cord could do, how his cells in the spine will react to the intrusion. Anything from partial or full paralysis to brain damage is a possibility. And- “ Bruce hesitated “potentially, it could cause an increase in the allergic reaction, which-“

“-would kill him even faster” Tony whispered, finishing Bruce’s sentence for him.

He nodded at Tony’s words. “Im sorry, May. There’s simply no way to be sure.”

May’s face was scrunched up in desperation. “What are the chances of- of this working?”

“We’re assuming the chances are about 50:50 that we will be able to stop the allergic reaction this way.”

“And if- if we don’t do anything he- he will-“ she couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence but Bruce’s nod confirmed he understood. “Tony?” she asked, her voice shaking.

He put a hand on her arm. “It’s your decision, May. But I think we have to give him a chance and try.”

She nodded once more. “Yes, I agree. But," she sniffed "I want the final decision to be Peter’s. He’s old enough, he should have the right to decide over his body.”

Cho nodded earnestly. “Let’s go then.”

Peter felt like a lab rat. If he hadn’t been so utterly exhausted, he knew he’d feel incredibly overwhelmed and embarrassed right now. But as it were, he was too drained from the mere act of being awake that he couldn’t even muster a fraction of the energy needed to feel these things. There were 5 adults standing around his bed. First it had only been Dr. Cho and Dr. Banner, Tony and May. Then Pepper had joined them and he watched how Tony’s hand subtly moved to touch her thigh, carefully searching for her hand before their fingers intertwined and Peter thought he saw both of them lose some of the tension in their postures.

“So, what do you think, Peter?” Dr. Banner softly finished his explanation of his option. One. Singular.

Peter looked into May’s eyes, searching for guidance and assurance and hesitated before his finger started moving on the bed slowly.

M-A-Y-?

“Mr. Parker is asking for your opinion Ms. Parker.” Friday translated again. Tony could only wonder how his AI had learned to adjust her voice to the atmosphere of the current situation. He thought he could hear genuinely deep compassion in her words.

“Honey.” May bent down to be close to him and started stroking his hair. “It’s your body. We’ll respect what you want.”

He shook his head with as much vigor as he could possibly give and started spelling once more. S-T-I-L-L-W-A-N-T-T-O-K-N

“Mr. Parker would still like to know.”

May couldn’t help but smile. And even though the smile was honest, as honest as a smile could ever be, she couldn’t hold back the tear that fell with it. “I think, sweety, I think that we should try, despite the risks. It’s a chance, it’s- it gives you a real chance.”

Peter’s whole body seemed to relax at that, apparently having found what he was looking for in May’s answer. His fingers danced over the sheets with a hint more energy than before and he mustered his first smile since waking up.

T-H-I-N-K-S-O-2, he spelled, and Friday didn’t need to translate the three syllables that his lips then formed for May.

May sobbed, just once. “I’m so proud of you, sweety.” she whispered into his hair. “I love you, too. So so much.”

“Alright.” Cho said carefully, she put her hand on Peter’s calf and gave it the slightest of squeezes. “We’ll prepare for the lumbar puncture right away. We’ll be ready in about half an hour.”

27 minutes later exactly, Cho arrived back in Peter’s medbay room with Bruce, a nurse following close behind pushing a cart with a number of tools and equipment.

“Okay, Peter, we’re going to need you to lie on your side for this. No-no, don’t try to move on your own” Cho quickly said as Peter made a weak attempt at pushing himself up on his elbows “We’ll help you.”
Bruce, Cho and a nurse all helped Peter to lie on his left side. “Ok, now I know it’s going to feel uncomfortable with the tube in but I need you to bend your neck, bring your chin as close to your chest as possible. Can you do that?”

Peter nodded but winced as soon as he moved his chin further down. “I know Peter. I know it doesn’t feel good but I promise you’re still getting air ok? You can still breathe.” Cho tried to reassure him. Peter scrunched up his eyes but gave the briefest of nods again.

“You’re doing so well, sweety” May encouraged, sitting on the opposite side of Peter’s bed, facing him. Holding both of his hands in hers.

“Okay, now bring your knees close to your chest. Good, good, yes just like that. Alright. Good job. Dr. Banner will do an ultrasound first to help with visualizing and assessing the exact needle placement. All good so far, Peter?” Another small nod was the go ahead Cho was waiting for. “Alright. Bruce?”

After the ultrasound, Bruce treated the area with iodine, carefully disinfecting everything in circular motions and draped another set of sterile sheets over Peter’s mid-section, leaving only a small circle of skin exposed. “Ok, we’re ready to administer the local anesthetic. Are you ready, Peter?” when Peter didn’t move, Cho looked over to the other side of the bed for May’s confirmation. She brushed the hair out from Peter’s forehead.

Her question was merely a whisper. “You ok for them to start, honey?” Instead of a nod, he just closed his eyes slowly and when he opened them he gave his best to present May with a smile. Her answer was a kiss to his forehead and a nod to Dr. Cho.

Tony was thanking all the God’s in this universe and all the other universes that Peter couldn’t see the needle that was about to go into his spine. Gosh that thing was long. Tony felt slightly nauseated at the mere sight of it piercing Peter’s skin and restrained himself from letting the hand on Peter’s shoulder squeeze too tightly. He tried to tune out the medical jargon going back and forth between Helen and Bruce while his other hand never stopped carding through Peter’s hair.

“Needle is in the subarachnoid space. Withdrawing stylet now.” Bruce.

“Collecting cerebrospinal fluid.” Cho. Concentration evident in her features as a clear liquid slowly dribbled out.

“Aaand withdrawing the needle.” Bruce.

“Okay, all done. We got what we need.” Cho handed the vial over to a nurse to take to the lab and then circled the bed so that she could speak to Peter directly. “You’ve done a great job, Peter. We’ll keep you lying down for the next few hours. It’s still being medically debated whether it helps with post-spinal headache, which we really hope you won’t be experiencing, but just in case, ok?” Peter did what he had been doing for the last couple of hours. He nodded. His eyes were barely open anymore, the procedure clearly having drained what little energy he had left. “Try to get some rest now, Peter. And you too” she added, addressing May and Tony. “It’ll be a little while before we have any results.”

Chapter Text

It felt a little like med school.

The graphs in front of them and the strictly unemotional explanation of medical processes and procedures that Dr. Cho was currently giving them.

“The fluids we’re giving him manage to keep his blood pressure stable, or, at least somewhat stable, considering how low it’s been for a while now, but unlike blood, they can’t carry oxygen to his organs and brain.” Dr. Cho's impression gave nothing away. For a brief second Tony found he was imagining what it would be like playing poker against her.

“Which means?” May asked with a nurse’s knowledge that she wouldn’t like the answer.

“The most recent responses he’s given are indicative of a reduced consciousness level due to those low oxygen levels. GCS has gone down to about a 12 right now from a full 15 when we did the spinal tab a few hours ago. His systems are showing beginning signs of shutting down, his heart can’t keep up trying to pump enough volume and the low blood volume to his organs is starting to show.” She paused. And there. There it was Tony thought, a brief pulling of the lips inwards, this must be her tell during poker. “It means we cannot wait for him to deteriorate any longer. We need to stop the allergic reaction. And we need to do this now.”

Tony was out of his seat in a second. All thoughts of poker vanished “But you just told me an hour ago that this would take time, that you weren’t ready. It’s too risky!”

“All our tests have shown positive results so far. We would’ve liked to do more, yes, but we can be extremely pleased with the results we have so far. They all point to a positive response.” Bruce finally looked up from the holoscreens he’d been pointing to with all the charts and graphs meant to support what he was saying, not that Tony or May understood what they were seeing there anyways. “This might really work.”

“We need your consent of course, for us to perform the procedure, May.” Dr. Cho spoke up again.

May looked at Tony pleadingly. It took everything in him not to continue arguing with Bruce and Cho. He forced the grim line of his mouth into a small smile and his brows to unforrow a bit to show her his full support, even though he didn’t like this one bit. He couldn’t even imagine carrying the burden of making this decision in May’s stead. And feeling responsible for whatever outcome there may be. Even though they all knew there was no real decision to be made. There was no alternative. No alternative to an as good as untested medical procedure that meant injecting something directly into a child’s spine. God.

He grabbed her hand and gave it a small squeeze.

And it seemed that Tony not arguing, not fighting the doctors, was what she needed to feel reassured in her decision.

 “Ok.” she said eventually.

___________________

While May was going over the detailed and, quite frankly, terrifying consent forms, Tony was sitting with Peter. Stroking his hair in what seemed like slow motion. “… so they’re going to do it earlier than we’d originally planned.” He finished explaining. When he got no response from Peter indicating he’d heard him, he leaned down to be closer to his eye-level. “You understood all that, Underoos?”

Peter started dragging his eyes towards Tony’s and Tony wasn’t sure what emotion it was that he could see whirling around behind them. He just knew it was there. Something was there and Peter was desperate to convey it. And Tony was so focused on Peter’s eyes, that he flinched a little when he felt Peter’s index finger start to move over the skin on his wrist.

T-I-R-E-D

Friday immediately caught it and started translating “Mr. Parker says he’s-“

“I can feel it. I got it, Fri. Thanks.” He interrupted her softly, waving a hand at the ceiling towards the sensors of the A.I., before turning back to Peter. “I know, buddy. I know. You’ve been fighting quite the battle, hm? And you’ve been doing so good” he tried an encouraging smile. “We’re working on getting you better, you’ll see, later today, after-“ but he stopped as soon as he felt Peter’s fingers starting to move again, needing to concentrate so that, even without Friday, he could catch the letter’s that Peter’s feather light, yet shaky touch just barely painted on his skin.

T-E-L-L-M-A-Y-I-L-

And suddenly Tony’s heart was ready to stop and go a hundred miles an hour when he realized what Peter was trying to say. “No, no no no, bud, no,” His eyes shot up to the monitors and back to Peter’s face and fear gripped his heart at the sight of Peter’s drooping eyes. “Fri!” he suddenly yelled “get help! Call Bruce! Call May in here, please” he found himself pleading and briefly getting angry that his vision had suddenly turned so blurry that he couldn’t see Peter’s face clearly any more before he realized it was just his own tears. He wiped his eyes furiously, refusing to give up even a second of seeing Peter’s face and lowered himself to squat beside the bed, getting himself as close to Peter as he could.

“Peter? You don’t give up right now you hear me? May is on the way, you can tell her yourself, ok? You tell her yourself! Please, just a little longer ok, you have to keep fighting kid, we’re almost there, you can’t give up now, you’re so strong, Pete, stronger than any of us, you’re doing so well, so so well, you’re going to be fine. I know it’s hard but I’m here ok? I’m here, you see? You just need to look at me, open your eyes again, Pete, please, I’m here, I’m-“

Tony was too focused on his mantra and Peter’s weakly fluttering eyelids to notice the pounding of the footsteps and the clanking of medical equipment until a strong grip landed on his shoulder pulling him back from the bed unceremoniously in lieu of a command to make room. He staggered backwards and bumped into a shaking body that, upon looking up, he found out belonged to a sobbing May Parker. The way her eyes were trained on the scene in front of them in shock made his hearing snap back into reality.

“-njection site right now, Bruce.” Tony watched Cho issue a few commands, confused at how quiet everything was. His kid was there, on the bed. He hadn’t even twitched when Bruce and Cho turned him back onto his side. He was there, dying, and when Tony had called for help he’d expected at least five people to rush into the room, to frantically yell and shout and hands to be working all over his kid because that’s how he felt, like he needed to yell and panic, like he needed to do something, like if somebody just did something fast enough it would all be ok. But all he saw was Bruce and Cho. And even though there was an urgency to their movements, the way that Bruce grabbed the disinfectants and wiped down the exact same spot that they’d performed the lumbar puncture on just hours ago, there was also a serenity to it that almost drove Tony insane, the two doctors’ demeanor juxtaposing everything Tony felt at that moment.“Give him another 2,5 mg adrenaline, Bruce.”

While May had turned away, one hand over her mouth and another tightly clutching the pendant of the necklace around her neck, Tony watched as Bruce screwed a syringe into the IV port in Peter’s arm “Adrenaline’s in.”

“Ok. Then this is it.” Helen said and Tony looked between her and Bruce trying to keep up and see what she meant when he saw her grab another one of those awful, awful looking needles that were longer than anything he’d ever want to see go into his kid’s body. And he understood. This was it. This was all they had. If this didn’t work, it would be it.

“Here we go.” Cho mumbled quietly as she inserted the needle into Peter’s back going impossibly deep and pushed the plunger down.


___________________



“What’s happening? Bruce?” Tony finally dared to speak again and step towards the bed when Cho pulled the blue latex gloves off her hands. She gave Bruce a mixture of a clap and squeeze of his shoulder before leaving without another word.

“We’ve administered the epi.” Bruce placed a few more tools back on the cart in the corner before and then pulled his own gloves off. “He fully lost consciousness right before that so we’ve decided to give him a sedative to put him under again. Now we wait and see.”

“Can I- t-touch him?” May whispered and Bruce simply stepped away from the bed to make room for her.

“We wait and see? That’s it? This- this is all you’re going to do?” Tony was clearly still in panic-mode and it was undeniable now that May and Tony obviously had very different ways of responding to the threat of their kid’s imminent death. Tony was a problem solver, he needed for the problem to be fixed, to do something or to see people do something to help. There hadn’t ever been a problem in his live that he hadn’t been able to fix with enough brain power, hard work and effort. But May, May just felt the unyielding urge to be with Peter in this moment. She hadn’t been able to be with Ben when he passed and she wished, more than anything, that she had. Holding Peter’s hand was all that mattered now.

“Tony.” Bruce answered quietly, putting a hand on Tony’s shoulder to turn them both away from May and Peter to give them a moment. “There’s nothing else we can do. We’re already breathing for him, we’re doing for his blood-pressure what we can. The sedative allows his heart and body to rest and recover as best as they can. I know you’re expecting a hectic scene but- that’s not what these things are like. Death in real life is not quite so chaotic as it is in the movie scenes.”

Tony had to stifle the small sob that escaped him with his hand “Please don’t say that.” He plead.

“Don’t say what?” Bruce asked.

“Death.” Tony whispered and silently cried into his hands.

“Tones,-“

“Please, Bruce, don’t do this, don’t give up on him.”

Bruce was about to respond with an explanation of how that’s not what he was trying to insinuate at all but one look at Tony told him the man wasn’t receptive for rational explanations of rhetorics. Instead he took him by the elbow and gently guided him back towards the soft chair by Peter’s bed. “Come here, Tony. Sit with him.”

Chapter Text

It was strange in a way.

How things could sometimes happen so quickly. Be so monumental, yet unceremonious. How a moment could be so anticlimactic, yet so powerful.

It had only taken a few minutes between administering the epi into Peter’s spinal cord and Bruce’s confirmation that they could be “cautiously optimistic”. Because in those few minutes, absolutely nothing had happened. Which was decidedly a good thing, considering the possibilities of Peter’s reactions to the medication were pretty much endless.

And then everything happened almost dizzyingly fast. May, Tony and Bruce watched in awe as with every passing second the numbers indicating Peter’s blood pressure rose and rose, and as, for the first time since that small, calamitous poke, the numbers on the screen stopped blinking red.
The three bystanders stood, reverently, their eyes going back and forth like those of spectators in a tennis match between the monitor and their respective faces, to silently confirm that the others were in fact seeing this too, that it wasn’t a trick of their dejected minds.

“Bruce, is, is he-“ May was the first to speak with a trembling voice, afraid to somehow jinx it if she phrased this question, the answer to which meant everything to her, the wrong way.

“Yeah.” Bruce nodded with a smile. “He’s going to be okay.”

And whatever invisible barrier had held back the avalanche of emotions within Tony and May, Bruce’s words broke it down, allowing them to let go and let the avalanche roll over them, letting it carry them and letting it encompass them in its entirety, down to the ground.

Peter had been kept in the induced coma for another 36 hours. The strain on the body having been too much to risk it dealing with the added stress of wakefullness already.

Tony and May sat by his side, tears having finally run dry, while Bruce and Cho continued to check on him every few hours and delivering nothing but good news every single time. It almost felt unreal to Tony. Whatever higher power out there had placed a permanent target on Peter’s back before, had finally decided to chill the fuck out and give his kid a break. The things you make me do, kiddo, Tony thought to himself with an almost loopy smile after sending a quick prayer of gratitude to aforesaid higher power.

The epi had managed to stop the allergic reaction in Peter’s body, his blood vessels had tightened and the swelling in Peter’s throat had gone down enough for Cho to soon order the decannulation of the trach tube. The way that Peter’s body was recovering and his healing factor was gaining traction was immediately visible in how the wound in his neck looked only a few hours later.

Not long after, Cho discontinued the flow of sedatives into Peter’s IV line and he started stirring and lazily blinking his eyes open. Tony would forever be grateful to witness how Peter woke up in peace. He must intuitively have know that he wasn’t in any more danger, or maybe he just read it in Tony’s and May’s faces, but there was no panicked disorientation, or anxious confusion. Instead, he seemingly savored the presence of the two most important people in his life and the way they held his hand, stroked his hair and cheeks. His eyes closed again soon after. For now his body’s demand for sleep was winning over his desire to be with Tony and May. But before he drifted off fully, he felt the tickling of a familiar beard and soft lips on his forehead.

“Thank you, kiddo.” a voice whispered. “Thank you for fighting.”