Concussions really suck
Peter knew something was off from the moment he got the call. An alien invasion gone wrong (though there was no way for one to go right) ended with the Avengers calling on Spider Man to help what few Avengers were still standing.
Peter Parker was in school when he had gotten the call from Tony asking for extra assistance. This was worrisome in itself, as Tony in the past had refused to call on Peter. His stubborn protectiveness over the teenager left the Avengers fighting for their lives on multiple occasions, yet Tony never admitted that he should’ve called Peter. As soon as the notification popped up on his Stark Watch, Peter immediately made up a poor excuse to get out of class.
He practically ran out of school, stopping at the front office to let the lady at the front desk know that there was a family emergency related to the alien incident in Brooklyn. Ms. Harrison agreed to sign him out, but only if he brought back a signed release from a guardian upon his return to school. He shoved the paper in his backpack and sprinted out, feeling guilty in his half lie.
———
When Spider Man arrived on the scene, he immediately jumped into action.
“Karen put me on the coms.” Karen hummed in acknowledgment and a second later he could hear Natasha’s voice through his mask.
“-Tony, you need to stop.”
“It was just a small bump. Can’t stop, won’t stop.” Tony said confident, his voice sounding a little slower than usual. Peter swung from building to building analyzing the situation.
From the looks of it, there were no the aliens were quite small, not causing much destruction. They looked a little like giant shield bugs, crawling around the city with no noticeable power.
Sam and Steve were on crowd control, Natasha and Tony were fighting two of the larger ones. Clint had left a week earlier to spend time with his family so he was not here, and Bruce had injured his leg in the last fight and was most likely in the Tower still.
Peter landed on the top of the building, observing Natasha who was fighting against one that looked larger than the others and unbothered by Natasha in any way. Tony wrestled with another, using his blasters, which seemed to have no effect on it. It was almost as if they were made of…
One suddenly spit at Tony, who lethargically attempted to dodge it, but it ended up catching his hand, which promptly turned to stone.
“Shit.” The word slipped out and Tony immediately spun around, searching the area for Peter.
“Peter? When did you get here? And who told you you could come?” Tony’s confused voice came through the coms as his eyes (or at least where his eyes would be if they were visible) locked on Peter above him.
“Don’t tell me you’re getting that old Mr. Stark.” Peter joked as he swung down to step in with the bug. He slammed into it, causing it to roll over due to its lack of balance. He quickly webbed it to the street before it could flip back over.
“You called me here a few minutes ago.” Tony stumbled as another one came at him, and Peter started to become a little concerned at Tony’s confusion and lack of coordination.
Peter threw himself at Tony just as the oversized bug started to spit, dodging the spit in the nick of time.
“Mr. Stark, are you okay?” Peter stood, pulling Tony to his feet before turning to check on Natasha.
“I’m fine.” He said, but at the same time Natasha cut in through the coms.
“No, he’s not okay. He hit his head again.” Tony glared at Natasha, shooting a blaster at a bug that showed up behind him. It had no effect whatsoever, only really causing the bug to pause for a moment before continuing its rampage.
“Guys, we got another one over here.” Steve’s voice came through.
“On it.” Peter called before Tony could object.
The fight continued like this in partial conversation for a couple more minutes, Peter able to stick down a majority of the bugs much to Tony’s increasingly slurred objections. It finally ended with Natasha’s bug spitting at Tony’s when Natasha turned it at the last moment, causing Tony’s to turn to stone. Peter shot a web at Natasha’s, pinning it to the ground with no hope of escape.
Peter surveyed the damage, random objects were turned to stone but the most concerning was Tony’s glove. Natasha and the others were talking to the police, a job usually reserved for Tony who was instead sitting against a building with his suit still on. Tony was talking to Friday through his suit, his words slow and slightly slurred.
“The heat s’nsors aren’t workin’ FRI.” Tony muttered as he scanned his hand with confusion. “Wh’n did that happ’n?”
Peter rushed to Tony, crouching down so that he was in his line of sight.
“Hey, Mr. Stark,” he said softly, “could you take your mask off?” Tony nodded lazily his head lulling for a moment.
“FRI?” Tony muttered and the entire suit disappeared on itself, minus the glove. Tony looked at it, confused for a moment.
“Mr. Stark?” Peter said to get his attention again. His eyes snapped up to meet Peter’s before drifting back down. Tony’s hair clung to his forehead with sweat and his eyes were vacant, staring past Peter. His pupils were dilated in an unusual way, but Peter was unsure what that meant. There was a nasty bruise forming on the left side of his head.
“We have to get you to the tower.” Peter pulled him to his feet, not a difficult task because of his super strength, but Tony didn’t make it any easier. Natasha walked over with Sam, both with worried expressions directed at the billionaire who hung on Peter like he was the only thing keeping him upright.
"How are you going to do this?" Natasha asked, no context necessary.
"Slowly and carefully." Peter said.
"We'll meet you back at the tower." Natasha said with Sam nodding as he continued to eye Tony nervously. Peter grabbed Tony around the chest, securing him with web fluid before shooting a web at a nearby building and throwing him and Tony upwards.
———
They barely made it back alive. Peter was getting increasingly concerned the closer to the Tower they got, and Tony was getting increasingly tired and more delirious.
"I'm Ir'n M'n!" He shouted gleefully as Peter carefully swung from building to building with Tony in his grip.
"I'm a h'man an' a mach'ne." Tony noted more seriously, and more to himself than Peter.
"FRI, am I a m'chine?" He asked, receiving no response as he was not in his suit and FRIDAY was not active.
"Mr. Stark you're human." Peter assured him.
They finally made it back, Peter crashing into a window back first to protect Tony from the shards of glass. They had landed in the med floor and Bruce was ready, limping over to collect Tony who was still stuck to Peter.
"Uh, Spider Man?" Bruce said awkwardly, and Peter flushed as he unstuck himself with the web dissolver he keeps in his suit.
"Chem'c'les 're not t'ys." Tony helpfully pointed out as he watched Peter pour the fluid over him. Bruce and Peter each lifted Tony up, supporting him on either side as they walked him to a bed.
"Y're not a d'ctor!" Tony pointed out as Bruce checked his eyes with a small flashlight.
"Correct, but I still know a fair amount about medical science and I can get the job done when all the real doctors are not here." Bruce said calmly. Peter busied himself with finding an ice pack for Tony and for himself as he had acquired a new bruise on his shoulder from carrying Tony from Brooklyn.
"J'st don't hook me up to a c'r b'ttery 'nd I'll be f'ne." Tony exclaimed happily, chuckling at his joke. Peter froze mid-search and Bruce just hummed in both pity and acknowledgment.
"Tony, on a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?" Tony thought for a moment.
"Two." He said confidently, before adding: "Wait, is one highest or lowest?"
"Lowest." Bruce responded.
"Okay then five." Bruce tilted his head in confusion then wrote a few things down a clipboard.
"Okay," Bruce said after a moment, "we've definitely got another concussion, probably because he insisted on responding to a call only after he just recovered from the last one."
"'M Ir'n Man." Tony justified helpfully, his head lolling as he swung his feet lazily.
"I would want him under close observation, but seeing as I am not a doctor and Tony acts like a raccoon in a trash bag when forced to do nothing, I think it is best if we just take him upstairs and keep a close eye on him."
Peter nodded, glancing at Tony who was staring at his glove curiously.
"Is he going to be okay?" Peter asked.
"He needs to stop thinking his value is based off of how strong he can be." Bruce said, sighing.
"But yes, he'll be okay." Peter sighed with relief, unsure on what he would do if his mentor would not be okay.
"Hey, Mr. Stark, let's get you upstairs." Peter said softly, to which Tony responded: "'M gonna thr'w up."