2
When Peter woke, he felt odd.
Even before he opened his eyes. His head was pounding, he ached pretty much everywhere – and there was a loud beeping somewhere over his shoulder. And Tony was with him. He knew it before he even opened his eyes, but when he did, he smiled, sleepily, when he saw his daddy sitting in the chair next to the bed he was in, his brown eyes watching him, intently.
“Hey…”
Tony had been holding Peter’s hand, and he squeezed it, lightly, when his baby spoke. Proof that he was awake – finally – and proof that he was alert enough to recognize him.
“Hi, baby. How do you feel?”
“My head hurts.” He looked around him without moving his head from the pillow. “Where am I?”
“The hospital.”
“What? Why?”
Tony squeezed his hand, again, trying to soothe the sudden uncertainty in Peter’s expression.
“You’ve been a little sick,” he replied. “But you’re getting better.”
A little sick didn’t even begin to describe it, really. For the last two days Tony had hovered worriedly. First in the waiting room the first night while Peter had gotten sicker and sicker, and then in the private room the doctors had put the boy in when – for some unknown reason – he started getting better only 48 hours after he’d first shown signs of illness. By then Tony hadn’t been the only one at the hospital, hovering.
Ned was in and out as his schedule allowed; checking in with Tony by phone when he wasn’t able to be at the hospital and asking for updates every couple of hours. Pepper, too, had been in and out as she could. Tony knew that his CEO liked Peter, but he had a feeling that she was more being a presence for him, rather than his young lover. He was honest enough to admit that he appreciated it, too.
The first night had been rough, and when the doctor had returned with more specialists in tow, they’d brought an oncologist as well – and that had frightened Tony enough that he’d literally felt his heart skip a beat and had been pulled into a chair, told to sit down before he passed out. The oncologist was just running tests, he’d been told. It was common when there was a sudden illness, and no obvious reason for it. The doctors had run every scan they could think of and had done a million different tests, but nothing was coming back conclusive. By the time the Avengers started trickling in to check on Peter for themselves, they were running out of theories.
Then, for no reason that any of them could understand, Peter’s fever broke. His breathing, which had been raspy but steady, began to clear up, and his sleep was real rest, now, instead of the broken, delirium fueled tossing that it had been. After a million more tests that didn’t tell them anything more than the initial ones did, Peter’s doctor decided that it was safe to move him from the ICU and put him into a regular (and because of Tony’s constant presence) and private room.
Most of the monitoring equipment had been removed, and Tony had been allowed to stay with his baby, now. He’d settled into a chair tucked right up against Peter’s bed, watching him sleep and continually looking between the boy and the machines that were monitoring his health. When their rhythms changed, slowly, he turned his attention more to Peter now, and watched his eyes flutter open.
“Oh.” He must have seen the worry in his daddy’s expression, because now he was the one who gave a reassuring squeeze to the hand that was holding his. “I’m okay.”
“We’ll let the doctors be the judge of that.”
><>><><><><><><><>
“They’re releasing him?”
Steve shrugged.
“They can’t find anything wrong with him.”
Romanoff frowned.
“He was in the ICU two days ago.”
“And now he isn’t, Nat.”
“And Tony’s alright with them letting him go home?”
“He suggested to Peter that they have the doctors run more tests,” Steve replied, his expression slightly amused.
“And Peter said…?”
“That he wanted to go home.”
“Tony put his foot down?”
“Of course. He said Peter was going to stay in the hospital until the doctors could figure out what happened.”
“And then…?
It was clear she knew what was coming.
“Peter cried and Tony folded like a sheet and told him that he’d get his release taken care of.”
She rolled her eyes – but she was secretly amused, too.
“Tony spoils him.”
Rogers shrugged, but he didn’t deny it.
“Don’t pretend that you would have lasted any longer than Tony,” he told her. “Everyone knows you have a soft spot for him.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He snorted.
“Right.”
“And you don’t?”
“I do,” he admitted. “Sometimes I think I should get me a sugar baby…”
Natasha laughed – even though she knew he was (a little) serious. It was hard not to think that way when watching Peter and Tony together, after all. She’d considered looking online, too, once or twice.
“Tony Stark can absorb the scandal of having a lover as young as Peter Parker,” she reminded him. “Captain America is held to a much higher standard.”
“Too bad.”
Romanoff smiled at that.
“When are they releasing him?”
“This afternoon.”
><<><><><><><><>
“This is a terrible idea, baby. Why don’t you let me take you back to the hospital? I’ll make sure it’s a private suite, and you-“
“I’m fine, daddy,” Peter interrupted, breathing a sigh of relief at being home. Peter was submissive to Tony, and their daddy/baby dynamic was as exciting to him, then, as it had been the day that they’d met, but he was also more than able to make his feelings and needs known to Tony when it was important to him. This was important. “I didn’t like being in the hospital.”
“But the doctors are at the hospital…” Tony pointed out, unnecessarily. “What if something happens?”
Peter’s illness had been so sudden. So dangerous. It had frightened Tony enough that he was willing to forgo having Peter to himself, in favor of having him close to a doctor in case he relapsed.
“I’m fine, daddy,” Peter repeated. “My head doesn’t even hurt, anymore.”
He felt better than fine, really. It was almost scary how good he felt. Scary enough that he didn’t want to be near any of the doctors before he had a chance to figure things out for himself – or talk to Tony about them.
“Well, come sit down, okay?” Tony hadn’t released Peter’s hand. He tossed the overnight bag that held the items his baby had needed during his short stay in the hospital onto the coffee table and pulled Peter over to the sofa. “Let’s make sure.”
Peter smiled at him, but instead of sitting, he pressed himself against Tony, his arms going around him and his cheek going against his collarbone.
“I love you.”
Tony’s arms came around him, automatically, and he squeezed him close. There had been little chance to hold him like this while Peter was under the watchful eyes of the doctors and nurses.
“I love you, too.” He frowned, though, as he slid his hands along Peter’s lean body, touching him through the fabric of the shirt he was wearing. Pulling back just a little, he ran his palm along Peter’s stomach, surprised to feel individual muscles where he hadn’t only a week before. He knew Peter’s body well, after all, and that was definitely different. “Have you been working out?”
Peter smiled, looking a little nervous.
“No. But we should definitely talk, daddy.”