Time for a walk
"Is this... Is this really a good idea? What if... What if he falls?" Peter asked Fitz's doctor. Fitz had been awake from his coma for maybe an hour - if that - and they were already trying to get him out of the bed, and on his feet. Fitz was clearly unwilling, but Peter kept his arm secured as tightly as possible around his friend - his brother's waist, knowing full well that if he fell, he wasn't going to be able to catch him. And that thought terrified him. He was almost more scared now than he was when Fitz was in his coma - not knowing if he was ever going to wake back up. Almost.
The doctor glanced at Peter with an odd look, shaking his head. "The sooner we get Leopold--"
Fitz made an odd sound, grunting in his frustration at his given name. He practically spat on the floor, but the doctor didn't seem to catch on to his patient's irritation. Instead, he just cleared his throat and barreled on.
"The sooner that we get Leopold--" Again, the grunting, frustrated noise from Fitz. "--on his feet, the better outcome there will be. Of course, there will be some significant muscle weakness from being comatose for the past nine days, but the sooner we get him on his feet and moving around, the better it will be. Trust me, kid."
“Stop. His name is Fitz. He doesn’t like that.” Peter snapped, an anger flowing through him similar to the way he felt when he'd snapped at Flash in the cafeteria before he came to visit Fitz. Except this time, it wasn’t a school bully- it was a doctor. His eyes immediately wide at his own disrespectful tone. “Um... Sir.” He added, a quick, shell shocked look towards Skye, silently begging her to not bring that up to May.
Fitz wouldn't move though. He stared down at his feet, at the socks he was wearing that were just a bit too big for his feet. They stuck to the floor and something about the texture made Fitz want to crawl out of his skin and run. His knees wobbled a little, and despite Jemma and the doctor's prodding, he refused to look up, to look at them.
Skye cast a glance toward Peter, meeting his gaze with an uneasy expression. This didn't seem right. Fitz looked liable to fall over, and with how clinical Jemma was acting, how... almost uncaring the doctor seemed, it felt like getting Fitz on his feet and moving around was going to happen about as quickly as Fitz would start doing some sort of rain dance. It wasn't going to happen.
"Peh."
Fitz was still connected to the monitors and the IVs, Skye making certain that nothing got tangled. The heart monitor made an odd sound, starting to beep faster as Fitz shook his head. He squeezed Peter's hand again.
"Peh... peet... pett..." He gritted his teeth and refused to budge when the doctor tried, very passive-aggressively, to get him to move. "Bed."
But then he not only saw and heard the distress coming off Fitz, he felt it when he squeezed his hand and then any self reminder to be respectful flew right out the window.
“This isn’t working, you need to stop,” he gritted at the doctor through clenched teeth, because even if he didn’t want to admit it, his hand was starting to hurt. But there was no way in hell that he was going to pull it away or let Fitz know, probably ever.
“The bed is right behind you,” he directed towards Fitz this time, his voice still slightly raised from his annoyance at the doctor, but still a million times more gentle.
“Skye, can you help me help him?” He asked, his eyes meeting hers almost desperately. He didn’t care if this was supposed to have been beneficial. Peter hated it and it was obvious Fitz hated it too.
---
Peter remembered being there for Fitz- not as often as he would have liked. But he was there as much as he could be as a twelve year old who lived in another state and had school could. Now, Fitz was there for him. But Peter had been the opposite of Fitz in a way, while Fitz had been reluctant to get up and walk (rightfully so), Peter was ready to jump out of the bed and was constantly being told to take it easy. Of course, situations were still entirely different, but he couldn't help make the comparison in his head as Fitz stood idly by while Peter walked around the room.
Paced, more like. Had been for the last hour which was the longest he'd been out of his bed without physical assistance since being in Wakanda.
His legs were wobbly, annoyingly so. Any superstrength he had became accustomed to in the last couple years felt like it was gone. But he was managing to stay on his feet at least, and according to Shuri and Strange. That was a win. He really tried not to scoff at that.
"I hate Wakanda." He grumbled, and he tried not to roll his eyes at the scoff that came from Fitz from across the room. He was leaning against the wall, with his hands in his pockets, attempting to appear casual. But Peter could hear the way his heart had been racing ever since he got out of the bed, and his face was anything but casual. But Peter didn't call him out on it. Fitz was the only one who let him walk around without holding onto something or someone, and he didn't want that to lose that tiny bit of freedom.
"No, you don't. You just hate why you're here."
"Isn't that the same thing?" He retorted, his feet catching on each other, causing him to teeter, and he barely managed to grab hold of the side of his bed before falling over. "I'm fine." He hurried to assure, straightening himself out and taking a few slow breaths to catch his breath and re-steady himself. Fitz had already jumped from the wall - prepared to either catch him or help him up and he stood frozen in his spot for a minute, seemingly unsure if he should go back to acting casual, or if it was time to intervene. "I'm fine," Peter repeated, ignoring the way each breath was starting to burn in his chest from working harder than he had since he woke up.
"Say it again, you might summon Shuri or worse- The boogey man," Fitz smirked, but he still didn't relax.
"I know you're just being an ass - but really, I'm fine. I just... I just need out of this room. It's suffocating in here."
"I will do my best to not be wildy offended by that." Peter froze, and allowed himself to collapse back onto his bed. He'd been so focused on his own breathing, and keeping himself off the floor, he hadn't even heard the new presence enter the room.
"Ten points for the future queen of Wakanda for managing to surprise the kid with superhearing," Peter mumbled, wincing at the fresh wave of pain shooting up his side from how hard he hit the bed. Fitz was at his side in seconds, and silently helped him back into the bed, and Peter could feel him shaking with silent laughter that didn't stop even as Peter glared at him.
"Flattery will get you everywhere, Spider. Well, I have to say. You're healing beautifully. Not that I'm that surprised. I've been the one caring for you and your own special DNA has been helping speed things up of course. Which is just fascinating. You do still have a long way to go, but... It's been requested that you be taken back to your country to be cared for at home and while I was initially against it. I think we might be able to arrange for that." Shuri had crossed the room, and started scrolling through the different holographic screens in the room with a small, amused smile turning the corners of her lips.
Peter blinked, staring with his mouth hanging open a little, his eyes going back and forth between both Shuri and Fitz and it was obvious by the knowing smile on the engineer's face that Peter was the only one shocked by this news. "Are you serious?"
"It is not in my nature to lie about such things, Mr. Parker," She said seriously, finally turning away from the screens to come look over Peter. "Your heart rate is elevated currently, are you in pain? You don't have to tough that out. You know we can help with that. Suffering through the pain is not going to make you heal any faster."
"I'm fi--" He started, but after noticing the pair of sharp glares aimed at him, his shoulders slumped in defeat, and he nodded. "Yeah.. I'd say it's about a 7 right now," He admitted sheepishly, pressing his lips together tightly and his cheeks flushing.
"A seven!?" The man he considered a brother spluttered, his eyes wide. "You're making it really hard for me to keep bein' the good guy and letting you push your limits if you're not-"
"Fitz... I'll be fine. I just... I needed to do this. Let's just forget about it."
"Fine. But we're done for the day."
"Fine."
"Fine."
"Fine."
Shuri stood by silently, her eyebrows raised at the two of them before letting out a hum once she realized they were finished. "I've started your pain medication through the IV and I'll go have a chat about your future arrangements with your aunt and Mr. Stark. Take care, Peter. Have a nice nap." She winked, then swiftly walked out of the room.