Peter stood there, staring at it, and contemplating every life decision he’d made up to this point in his life.
How had it come to this?
‘Nevaeh’s Nirvana- Health and Wellness Spa.’
The periwinkle letters superimposed over top of a pinkish-white lotus flower, mocking Peter in their serenity.
Stupid spa.
“Ma-aay,” he whined into his cell phone again. “Do I really have to do this?”
“Yes, Peter. We’ve already talked about this. You do.”
“But it’s going to be so weird!” he argued back. “And I don’t even know what to do!”
“You are twenty-three years old, Peter Parker, are currently working on a master’s degree, and are an Avenger who works in high pressure situations every day. Are you trying to tell me you don’t have the skills to figure it out?”
Peter glowered, not that May could see it. “I know I can figure it out but— can’t we just reschedule this for when you’re back in the city?”
“No, we’re not rescheduling this,” May insisted, “You’re supposed to be taking a break this week, and this’ll help! Trust me! And trust Tony! He says this guy is amazing!”
“But, May?” Peter cupped his hand around his mouth and whispered, “What if I have to get naked?”
May’s laughter peeled loud enough that a passing pedestrian heard her through his phone and smiled.
“It’s not funny, May!” Peter complained, “This is the kind of stuff I get really worried about!”
May sobered, “I know you do, and that’s the problem, honey. You’re worrying about everything—even the little things, and it’s not good for you.”
“But I’m okay, though.” Peter promised. “You know I always am.”
“But you really aren’t, honey. Last week, you were so tense you pinched a nerve in your neck and couldn’t turn your head for the first half of the day! Your body is trying to tell you something, and you need to listen to it!”
Peter dropped his head and pinched the bridge of his nose as he breathed through his frustration. She was right, and he hated it.
“Fine...you win, but the naked thing is still freaking me out,” Peter mumbled, grateful that no one was paying attention to his blush.
“Oh, Peter. I love you, my adorable idiot...”
/-/-/
It was a couple of hours later that Peter came shuffling back into the seemingly empty penthouse. With May and Happy spending a few days out of town doing all of their gushy and adorable ‘couple’ stuff, and the knowledge that Peter on his own made for chaos and far too much takeout consumption to be healthy —even for superheroes with wacky metabolism— having him spend reading week with Tony, Pepper, and Morgan made the most sense .
Peter ran a shaky hand through his mess of oily curls and headed down the hallway to his room, ready to take a shower and change into something that hadn’t been exposed to the plethora of essential oils they’d tried to so hard to eliminate for his “fragrance free” appointment. Ah, well, he thought to himself. Effort counted and it could have been so much worse. For now, all he wanted was to wash away the remnants of the grapeseed oil his massage therapist Henry had used to knead into “the most knotted back he’d ever worked with”—along with every other part of him and call it a day.
“Hey, FRI?” Peter called out as he pulled off his coat and draped it over the back of his desk chair. “If anyone asks, I’m home and I’m good. I’m just gonna shower and take a nap.”
“Of course, Mini Boss. I will inform Boss and Mrs. Boss when they return home.”
“Awesome. You’re the best, FRIDAY,” Peter half smiled then slipped into the bathroom. Logically he knew that there weren’t any cameras in his bedroom, but the idea of undressing in front of FRIDAY was... disconcerting. Peter shook his head as he snickered at his own ridiculousness.
Soon enough, Peter was stepping into the shower and being pelted with too hot water from too many jets while he tried to process what had just happened. Peter pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, planted himself on the tiled shower bench and rubbed vigorously. He’d already cried enough... gosh, he was so embarrassed. No one had warned him, but Henry, his massage therapist, promised him that it was normal—that sometimes the body needed to release not just the physical stress, but also emotions, or even trauma.
Perfect.
No way was Peter going to tell anyone that Henry had said that—or that Peter had needed that reassurance.
And no way was anyone going to find out that Peter had gotten so caught up in that permission to let go that he barely remembered the rest of the massage, forget about the cab ride back to the tower.
It could have been minutes, or even hours, but eventually Peter pulled himself together, lathered and rinsed away the last of the oil, and stepped out.
He was exhausted.
After almost braining himself on the granite countertop, Peter staggered into his bedroom and collapsed onto the bed. The clock on his nightstand read 5:24pm. “FRI? Change of plans,” he called out. “Lights off, please? Tell everyone I’m going to bed and I’ll see them in the morning.” Henry had said something about rest, right? Again, Peter couldn’t be sure, but his body was telling him it was time to shut down and so he would.
See? He could learn.
“Apologies for the interruption, but Boss would like to confirm that—”
“Nope!” Peter grabbed his pillow and plopped it over his head. “It’s bedtime for spiders... in fact, initiate Do Not Disturb mode, FRI, and I’ll catch them all at breakfast.”
Silence answered.
Peter smiled to himself in satisfaction. Yup. A good night’s sleep was exactly what he needed, today would be behind him, and he’d be set.
/-/-/
“Mini Boss.”
Peter blinked in confusion as he woke suddenly. “Wha-? Wha’s goin’ on?!”
“Good morning. I apologize for disturbing you, Mini Boss, but you indicated last evening that you would be joining the family for breakfast and Boss is currently setting the table. Would you like me to inform everyone that you will be joining them shortly or should I reinitiate the Do Not Disturb protocol?”
So many words.
“Ugh.”
“Mini Boss?” While Peter always got a kick out of Tony’s behaviour confusing FRIDAY’s algorithms, he knew if he didn’t start moving, FRIDAY would start initiating all sorts of other protocols that Tony, in his chronic overprotectiveness, had put in place in case of emergencies.
Peter groaned and rolled himself over to get out of bed.
Or tried to...
Peter gasped.
“Mini Boss? That sounded like you are in distress. Initiating Squished Spider Protocol.”
The overhead lights of the bedroom flared to what Peter knew was only twenty percent brightness, but it didn’t change the fact that Peter’s normal wince sent an ache like nothing he’d ever experienced before through his entire body. “Oh, sh—”
A clattering of footsteps rushed down the hallway and moments later, Peter’s door flew open as Tony and Pepper rushed into the room, with Morgan coming up the rear from the sounds of it. “Peter? What’s going on?”
“I don’t know?” He couldn’t help but sound upset.
“Scan him, FRI,” Tony barked the command as he looked over the boy on the bed, eyes filled with fear and concern. “Did something happen that FRI missed?” Tony brushed his hair away from his face. “She said you stayed in and fell asleep, but—”
Peter drew in a steadying breath—and taking far too long to reply for Tony’s liking.
“ow?”
Tony sighed, gathering that Peter wasn’t at risk of imminent death, “Alright, FRIDAY? What’s the scoop?”
There was barely a beat of silence before FRIDAY offered up her analysis. “My limited scans are showing no structural injury, Boss, with no broken bones, blood loss or need for sutures. I am, however, detecting a low grade fever. I would require more invasive testing in order to reach a definitive diagnosis, though a trip to the med bay would provide the same outcome.”
“Well, it’s good to know that it’s nothing critical.” Pepper sounded more than relieved as she took the tentative all clear to come up to Peter’s bedside and pressed a cool hand to Peter’s forehead. “Are you feeling sick, honey? Can I bring you anything?”
Peter tried to shake his ‘no,’ only to whimper as he realized his mistake and the presence of some mild nausea. “’m not sick,” he insisted though. “My body is one big ache.”
Tony crooked an eyebrow, “Your body is one big ache.”
“Mm-hm.” Peter answered.
Tony stared at Peter, thinking for just a moment, and then sighed. “You had your appointment with Henry yesterday, didn’t you?”
“Yup.” Peter tried to figure out where Tony was going with his question. “Why? Did he try to kill me?” Peter chuckled, then, “ow. Sure feels like it.”
Pepper chuckled, too, realizing whatever it was that Tony had, “I’ll be back in a minute with some water and your pain meds, love.” Pepper brushed a gentle hand against his cheek, turned, and left the room.
She must have grabbed Morgan as she went, gifting Peter an audience of only one as he prayed for death, though he did hear her say, “I don’t get it? It’s just Henry?”
Tony was merciful, pulling up the chair from Peter’s desk instead of risking moving Peter one millimetre more than necessary in his compromised position by sitting on the bed. “Alright, kiddo. We’re going to get you started with some painkillers and a whole bunch of water... does that sound okay?”
Peter swallowed nervously then smiled, “Painkillers sound amazing.”
“Good, now,” Tony leaned forward, arms resting loosely on his knees. “Do you want to tell me why you didn’t follow Henry’s instructions yesterday?”
Peter’s brain short circuited a little as he tried to figure out what Tony meant. Henry hadn’t said anything to Peter about anything, he was sure, but then he’d been so... “Um? I don’t—”
Something must have shown in Peter’s expression, because Tony’s changed from its confused curiosity to concern in a flash. “Pete? Did something happen at the appointment yesterday? I mean, he cleared all of the background checks, and I’ve only ever had great experiences with him. Hell! He’s even worked on Mo after a couple of gymnastics mishaps. I’d never have—”
Peter would have let him ramble forever if it meant he didn’t have to admit to his little “episode” yesterday, but that wasn’t fair to Tony, and it especially wasn’t fair to Henry, who Tony was seconds away from firing as his personal massage therapist and ruining his life forever. “Tony! Henry was fine. I just...” Peter started strong, then immediately trailed off as he thought of how to explain what had happened without worrying Tony even more. “I just...”
Peter and Tony locked eyes for a brief moment, Tony obviously seeing something as he did. “Oh.” Tony’s gaze softened as he came to a realization, “Did I ever tell you about my first experience with getting a massage?”
Peter shifted a little—very little—so Tony knew he was paying attention. (ow)
“It was a few years before I became Iron Man. I’d spend so much time hunched over whatever circuit board I was working on that my hand would start to go numb—which definitely doesn’t fly if you’re trying to create, well—” Peter and Tony both knew it wasn’t cell phones and watches that he’d worked on back then. “Regardless, Obie insisted that I take care of it before it started affecting the bottom line, and I always listened to him so...” He sighed as he remembered. “I finally managed to find an amazing massage therapist named- Stephanie? Tanya? Something like that. Anyways, it couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes into the massage when I started tearing up. Man, I was so embarrassed. Stark men are made of iron and all that shit, am I right?”
Peter scoffed. “Bullshit, but go on.”
Tony smiled softly at the boy, “So here I am, freaking out that she’s gonna go to the press about me being some freak, but nope. She kept going with the massage and basically explained to me that sometimes our bodies are just holding too much; too much anger, sadness, frustration... and when we give our body permission to, it all just... lets go.”
Peter sighed and closed his eyes at his own memory. “Yeah. That jives with what Henry said.”
“I’m glad, but I still don’t understand why you didn’t eat, or even just drink, like, a gallon of water and stretch before you headed to bed yesterday? It would have saved you load of grief this morning. How are you not feeling nauseous?”
Peter gave Tony a telling look.
“Peter.” Tony shook his head. “It’s gonna be a nice, slow morning, I guess— but really. Did Henry forget to say something? Did you ignore him?”
“Honestly?” Peter almost whispered. “I sort of drifted at the end.”
Tony exhaled slowly, “Well, we can’t have you doing that, now can we?” Tony gently clasped Peter’s hand in his. “Maybe we can think of the massage as a start, and we can start working on some other stuff to help out with all the stress?”
Peter would have shrugged if he could move.
Then Tony went into planning mode. “We should talk to May and Pepper—and Happy, too. And anyone else you want on your support team... did I mention we’re going to get you a support team? I’m feelin’ like we need Cho to vet some therapists, too. That, I think, is not optional. Or Sam can help? And we can talk to your professors. Take yoga! Pfft. Rhodey loves those adult colouring books. There are so many things we can do to get you back to one hundred percent, grade A Peter.” Tony took a gentle hold of his hand. We just need to find a way to keep you a little more anchored in what’s important.”
“Knock, knock,” Pepper interrupted as she entered the room with a tray loaded down with, well, everything. “I thought that a couple of bananas and protein bars would be a help, plus the water,” Pepper placed the tray on the desk, grabbed two pills and a glass of water, and brought them over to Peter. “And these. Let’s get this done first. Oh,” She looked around like she’d almost forgotten something, “Morgan’s just ducked into our bathroom to grab the heating pad. I absolutely refuse to have one of my babies suffer more than he has to.”
Peter smiled as he struggled to prop himself up without anymore whimpering, “Thanks, Pepper.”
“No thanks, necessary. Between all of us, we’ll have you back up on your feet in no time.”
Peter smiled a little bigger at that, and he believed her.