Evolution

Wade quietly opened the door to the bedroom, peeking inside. Peter was still lying there, sleeping peacefully his cheeks slightly red. He went in, carrying a cup of tea he just made, silently approaching the bed, before he sat down next to the young hero. The merc gently stroked a few strands of hair out of the boy's face to put his hand on the other's forehead. The fever still drained the former spider, making Wade frown. He caressed the boy's cheek a little until he stirred awake slowly. The teen blinked, trying to orient.

“Hey there, baby boy. How about some tea?” Wade asked smiling, but Peter just growled groggily before pressing his face in the pillow again.

“Come on, you need to keep hydrated.” He sighed. “You can continue sleeping after taking a sip.” Peter pried open one eye to look at Wade, but then slowly started to sit up. The boy seemed so sleepy and dizzy however that he could barely keep himself upright so he leaned onto Wade for some support. The merc put an arm around him, holding him tight, then he held the cup to his lips to help him drink. Peter took a cautious sip, but flinched a little, when he swallowed it down, making him cough a little. Wade put away the cup and gently patted the boy's back, but instead of making it better Peter just coughed even more.

“Pete, you okay?..” He asked worried, watching the scrawny boy's frame twitch more and more violently. Suddenly Peter grabbed his throat as if he was suffocating, bending over as he did. Wade just watched unable to do anything else in his shock, when Peter held a hand before his mouth and spilled out so much blood that it squirted out in between his fingers. He slumped against Wade, who gathered him in his arms, cradling him gently while trying to make out what the hell just had happened. He swallowed hard as he saw the scarlet blood on the pale, almost greyish looking skin. “Peter? Shit. Come on, come on, comeon,..” He pleaded, but the boy in his arms was barely conscious anymore. Closing and opening his eyes as if staying awake demanded all his strength, while his whole body was shivering slightly. Wade grabbed a blanket from the bed and wrapped it around his roommate, cursing under his breath. He knew that Peter needed help, but then someone would figure out who he was, what he was that could lead to horrendous events, but Wade had no choice – he had to take Peter to the Avengers Tower, Bruce sure would be able to help him, but at first Wade had to tell them the truth, so he pulled out his mobile and called Tony's emergency number.

“Wade, this is an emergency number and I already told you that running out of taco's was not an emergency.” Stark growled.

“I could feel offended by that but I'm too happy to hear your voice right now so listen I got to.. uh.. tell you something, it's important..”

“I don't have time to listen to your stories, Wade!”

“But it's an emergency.”

“Fine, good. I'll listen, but if it's not-”

“Yes! Just let me start already. Okay so here we go. Imagine an incredibly good looking merc breaking into Oscorp, stealing a genetically altered spider from one of their labs.”

“Wade-”

“No, listen! Okay so the merc get's home forgets about the spider and – puff! - it turns into a teenage boy!”

“Wait, are you just telling me-”

“Everything was fine, they had a lot of fun, they went to the zoo and to the beach and they became superhero-partners, but then something happened to the spider-kid and he rushed a fever and started to cough up blood and oh god, Stark I think he might be dying, just.. just help him!” Wade cried out. It was silent for a few seconds, but when he answered Tony sounded serious.

“Just hold on for a few more minutes, okay? I'll send Happy, he will take you to the tower and I'll call Bruce so when you get here we will look into it, alright?”

Wade nodded, but when he realized Tony couldn't hear that he hummed slightly. He looked down at Peter, who tried to curl up in his laps, reminding him of a spider that curled up upon death. Wade suddenly felt sick. “No, baby boy, come on.. stay with me..” He pleaded holding him even closer.

Minutes felt like hours and by the time Happy finally arrived in front of their apartment Wade was trembling as much as Peter was, he carried him into the car and lost his nerves every time they were stopped by a red light or someone taking their right of way. It was terrible. When they finally arrived at the tower Wade basically jumped out of the car with Peter in his arms, running straight to one of the elevators, Stark's AI already rambling about something.

Wade remembered laying Peter on a bed a little later and then Tony and Bruce took him away, but everything that happened after that was a blur. He had paced down the hallway most of the time, until the door that kept him away from Peter finally opened up. It was Tony who called him over, Wade tried to decipher the look on his face, preparing himself for the worst.

“Don't worry, he'll be alright.” Tony simply said and those words actually made Wade want to laugh, because he suddenly felt so relieved, but then he saw Peter and the urge to laugh died away instantly. He rushed to his side. Peter was lying in a bed, an IV and other stuff attached to his frail body and he didn't look better at all. Wade looked up to Banner and Stark almost screaming, because he thought that this all was just a really, really cruel joke, but the scientist's felt his dread and instantly tried to calm him.

“It's okay Wade, we figured out what was wrong – all we need to do is to synthesize a cure.” Tony explained.

“Cure? What's wrong with him?” Wade was so frustrated he almost cried, but he bit his lip and tried to hold back the tears.

“The thing is, that Peter probably wasn't supposed to turn human.. when he did. The scientist's that had worked on him just weren't finished yet, resulting in his body being rather.. unstable, which causes constant damage to his DNA. It's a normal thing actually, but in his case it's too massive to heal up completely – at least on his own.”

“So he just.. falls apart, from inside?”

“Yes, I guess you could put it like that, but as I said we are working on something that will stabilize him. Some kind of serum that he will have to inject every now and then.”

Wade nodded slowly, rubbing his forehead, then he made sure that Peter was lying comfortable, shifting him around carefully, rearranging the pillows a little – just the way the boy liked it the most.

Banner and Stark left the room after that to go into one of their many labs.

“I think you should have told him.” Bruce finally said.

“Haven't you seen him?” Tony asked. “He needed to hear something positive.”

“Tony we both like the boy as well – we can't just.. deny it.”

“We do not deny anything, Bruce. We are just being optimistic, okay? Just let us make that serum and everything will be fine.”

“You know-”

“Enough. Less talking more life saving.”