Maybe Diapers?
When Peter woke that morning, he already knew it would be a bad day. His head throbbed with the beginnings of a migraine, and there was a dull ache in his left shoulder where a burglar threw him down on a table. He could hear the early traffic on the streets of New York, the low whirring of Tony working on something in his lab, Steve doing his usual gym routine, and Pepper talking to someone on the phone. Peter groaned and tried to open his eyes, but the streams of sunlight splaying into his room made him wince.
"Fri? Shut the blinds, please," Peter whispered, his voice grinding against his ears.
Thankfully, FRIDAY didn't say anything and did as told. Once Peter could open his eyes, he pushed the covers off of him, thankful that Tony had made blankets that wouldn't itch whenever Peter had a sensory overload.
"Could you notify Tony of my overload, Fri? Tell him I'll come out when I'm better," Peter's voice was barely above a whisper, but FRIDAY caught his words and shone a red light, meaning that Tony knew. They had created a light system, so they could speak without actually talking.
Peter opened the top drawer of his nightstand and grabbed his noise-canceling earbuds. He went into his bathroom and clumsily took off his pajamas in the dark. He turned on the water and stepped inside, letting the warm water wet his hair and hit his back, massaging out the kinks. Peter let the water ground him, feeling every droplet as it hit him and slid down his body. He rolled back his shoulders, groaning at the pull of his sore muscles. Having super strength and enhanced healing is great, but every punch, kick, stab, gunshot still hurt, and smashing through a wooden table definitely hurt.
Peter doesn't know how long he stood under the showerhead, but he's sure he looked like a prune. He could've stayed there longer, the water would always be warm, thanks to Tony, but he was getting tired. Peter wanted to sleep for another eight hours. He shut off the water and stepped out, grabbing one of the towels on the rack and dried himself.
Once changed in soft clothing that wouldn't bother him, Peter slipped back under the covers. With the noise-canceling earbuds still in his ears, Peter fell asleep. He dreamt of swinging around the city, building lego sets with Ned, and spending time with MJ.
When Peter woke up, his head wasn't throbbing anymore, and his shoulder felt much better. Taking out the earbuds, he sighed contently. His hearing was back to normal, well, his standard of normal. He got up and stretched, groaning as his muscles popped. He dropped his earbuds back into his drawer and left his room. Peter stopped by the kitchen to grab a water and chugged it down, throwing away the bottle in the trash. He then took the stairs to the second level of the penthouse, which housed Tony's private lab.
Peter pressed his hand to the scanner, and a second later, the doors opened. "Hey, Tony."
Tony whirled around, a smile on his face. "Pete! You feeling better?"
Peter nodded, plopping down on his chair. "Yeah, I just needed a shower and sleep. I'm glad it's Saturday and not a school day."
"You know I would've let you skip the day," Tony said, putting down the wrench and taking a seat.
"Yeah, I know, but you know I don't like missing school more than I need to."
Tony clapped his hands together. "You hungry?"
"Starving," Peter scoffed.
"How you feel about donuts?"
"Awesome, let me just change," Peter answered and got up to leave.
"Why? You look fine." Tony said, looking Peter over.
"I just woke up after sleeping for seven hours, and I didn't brush my hair after showering," Peter supplied, making his way to the door. "You should change too. Your shirt's stained."
"It's my brand, Peter!"
Peter laughed and made his way back to his room. He changed into a grey science pun shirt, blue jeans, and his usual black converse. No matter what Peter told Tony, Peter did not feel like brushing his hair. He slipped a blue beanie over his curls and deemed himself decent.
Peter met up with Tony by the elevator, and, fortunately, he had changed shirts. "You know Pepper doesn't like it when we eat dessert before dinner," Peter said as they rode the elevator down to Tony's private garage.
"I think she'll forgive us this time," Tony snickered.
Tony ended up choosing the Audi R8, claiming that it was the least flashy car. Peter didn't say anything on it, still getting used to the idea that the vehicle he was in came out when he was dusted. Yeah, not something he liked to think for too long.
They drove in silence, listening to Tony's music, but Peter didn't mind. Some of his music wasn't all bad, not that Peter would ever tell Tony.
Tony pulled into his favorite donut place, Randy's Donuts. He ordered his usual, and Peter got his four boxes of glazed donuts. After Tony left a generous tip and gave out two autographs, he drove to the nearby park and stopped the car.
"So, another sensory overload?" Tony asked around a donut.
Peter nodded. "Yeah, I don't know why they're happening more often." He grabbed another donut, but he just stared at it. "It's kind of like how it was when I first got bitten."
"Do you want Dr. Cho to check you out?"
Peter shook his head, chewing a little faster. "No, I'm sure it's-" Peter stopped as a shiver went down his spine, and the hairs on his arms stood. Something was going to happen. "Get out of the car."
"What?"
"Get out of the car!" Peter yelled, jumping out of the car, Tony following his lead.
"Kid? What's wrong?" Tony asked, coming around the car to Peter.
Peter's spidey sense went off again, and he didn't know what was going on; he just knew that they weren't safe. Peter grabbed Tony's arm and started pulling him.
"Pete? You have to tell me what's going on."
"I-"
Before Peter could say that he had no idea, a white blast came from nowhere and hit Tony's car. They both ducked away, and Tony wrapped an arm around Peter's back.
Well, at least Peter's spidey sense was still working.
"The hell was that?" Peter asked, looking back at the wreck from behind Tony.
"The great Tony Stark!" Someone yelled, and Peter looked around to see where it was coming from. He looked up and saw a woman on the rooftop of a building.
Wait.
No, she was floating to the side of the building. The same white blast that hit Tony's car was surrounding the woman, levitating her.
She started descending. "I'm so glad you're here." She stayed a few feet away, still in the air. "You saved me the trip to your tower."
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Tony asked, moving to stand in front of Peter.
"Oh, of course, you wouldn't remember me," The woman scoffed. "I've tried for the longest to figure out how to make you pay for taking everything from me, but after everyone came back, I got these abilities." The lady raised her arms, and the white stuff around her swirled higher, following her movements. "And now, I've got a way to make you pay."
Tony grabbed Peter's arm and pulled as they ran from the lady with crazy white blasts. The woman kept shooting at them, hitting trees, cars, and trash cans.
Tony pushed Peter into the nearest alley. "Stay here. I'll take care of her."
"But I can help!"
"No! You stay out of her way."
Before Peter could further argue, Tony ran back to the woman, and Peter peeked around the corner to watch. Tony had activated the nano-tech and was shooting his own blasts at the woman. Peter couldn't do much without his suit, or else he would reveal his secret identity to the bad lady. So, brute force it is.
Peter stayed in the shadows as he made his way behind the woman. He grunted as he jumped onto the woman's back, getting her in a chokehold.
"Kid, I told you to stay away!" Tony yelled, lowering his arm.
The woman was struggling to keep herself afloat and getting Peter off. "Get off, you little pipsqueak!"
Peter tightened his hold, enough to subdue her but not kill her. "You know, you should be nicer to the future generation."
Peter could feel the woman's energy draining, and he must've lessened his hold because the next second, Peter was blasted off and wrapped in the white stuff.
"Oh, you won't be part of the future generation," the woman turned around and fisted her hands. Peter gasped for air as the white stuff squeezed him.
"No!" Tony yelled. "He's just a kid! Please, let him go!"
Peter watched the woman's face screw up in thought, but her hold on him didn't lessen. Then a sick smile spread across the woman's face.
"You care about this little runt, huh? I didn't think you were capable of caring about anyone but yourself." The woman spread her right hand, the squeezing lessening, but it wasn't enough for Peter to wriggle out. "I lost my boys, too, because of you."
"I am sorry for what I did to you," Tony apologized, edging closer, "but he didn't do anything. You came for me, so let him go."
Peter's eyes trailed over the woman; it didn't seem like she was going to let him go. He watched the lady swivel her right hand, and for a second, it reminded him of Wanda, but the evil sneer that the woman was giving Peter was nothing like Wanda. Whatever the woman was doing, Peter knew it wasn't going to be good.
"My boys didn't do anything, either," the way the woman said made it seem like she wasn't all there like her mind was somewhere else. "And they died because of you." The woman's right hand came up, and Peter could see wisps of black within the white. That can't be good. "And now, he's going to suffer the same fate." When the last word left her, the woman thrust her right hand, and the black and white blast hit Peter full on.
Peter could distantly hear Tony yelling and fighting the woman, but there was a loud buzzing in his ear, his brain felt like it was getting prodded with a fire poker, and he could still feel the blast hitting him. Every nerve in his body felt on fire, and he wasn't sure if he was screaming or not; the only sound he could hear was a constant buzzing.
His body curled in on itself when the pressure on his chest got removed, but the pain only decreased by five percent. Slowly, Peter started forgetting things. What was he doing there? How did he get there? What happened that morning? Peter could see faces in his mind and watched as a guy in a chair fogged and disappeared, followed by a tall, slim woman with a kind smile and straight hair, then a blob of curls hunched over a notebook. Things were getting louder, and he scrunched up in himself, but there wasn't much of him to curl up into. More familiar faces fogged together in his mind before disappearing; two tall figures with brown hair and warm eyes and an old man with glasses and plaid shirts. Peter couldn't tell where he was anymore, he felt strangely small, and there was something soft around him but hard under him. Finally, the last face slipped into the dark abyss of his mind: a tan face with mischievous eyes and a flirty smirk.
Tony
Tony was surprised by the guttural scream that ripped out of him when Peter cried out in agony. Tony readied his arm and shot at the woman, momentarily forgetting that Peter could get caught in the line of fire. The woman shook with the pain from the blast, but she didn't let go.
All right, mission: Get Peter Out Of The Way
Tony flew up to the woman and tried to peel her away from Peter, hoping that her hold on him would dissipate. Tony could see the beads of sweat rolling down the woman's cheek. Fighting Tony off and doing whatever it was she was doing to Peter was pushing her limits.
There was a wall around the woman and Peter, but it got less effective the more Tony barreled against it. "Stop hurting my kid!"
The woman cackled, but she was straining under the pressure of keeping up the force field and hurting Peter. As much as Tony wanted the wall down so he could kick the lady's ass, he hoped the woman's hold on Peter dropped first. The kid's face twisted in pain, and Tony wished he could do more to help, but all he could is push the lady's limits until she gave out.
After a few more blasts, the force field, the woman, and Peter dropped. It worried Tony that Peter barely registered or reacted to dropping on his right shoulder, besides curling in on himself, and-? Was he getting smaller?
"It doesn't matter," the woman panted out, barely holding herself up by her hands. "You'll feel the same pain I did when I lost my babies."
Tony was ready to blast her to kingdom come, but he hesitated. As much as he hated this woman for hurting his kid, he understood. The woman had lost her boys, and if Tony lost Peter or Morgan, he would go insane.
"Can't do it, huh, Tony?"
"Just get out of here before I change my mind and blow you to bits," Tony growled, retracting his blaster into the suit.
The woman scowled, and the white stuff started to whip around her, but Tony guessed the woman realized she couldn't fight after straining herself.
She got to her feet and started lifting off. "This isn't over, Stark. The loss of a child is only one of the pains you've cost me." With that less than pleasant cliffhanger, the woman flew away.
Tony didn't waste any time rushing to Peter, his mask retracting back. There was a bundle of clothes, but Peter was nowhere to be seen, and a loud sob ripped out of Tony's throat. His hands hovered over Peter's stupid pun shirt, tears running down his face. When Tony placed his hands on the clothes, he gasped as he touched something solid. He frantically pulled at the shirt, and another gasp left Tony. In front of him was an unconscious Peter, but not Tony's Peter. No, this Peter was at least two feet tall, had more fat in his cheeks, and well, was butt naked.
Tony wrapped tiny Peter in big Peter's clothes and looked to the car, which was ruined. Eh, he had three other of those. The IronMan mask slipped back on, and Tony checked tiny Peter was wrapped tightly and took off.
"FRIDAY, call Brucekins," Tony ordered, looking down at the restful face of tiny Peter. The call connected, and Bruce's face appeared in front of Tony.
"Hey, Tony, what's up?"
"Brucey, I got an emergency, and I need you to gather the team."
Bruce immediately looked uneasy. "Emergency? What is it?"
Once again, Tony looked at the kid in his arms, and Tony started to feel like he couldn't say tiny Peter anymore. The kid lost all of the boy-ish charms he got when puberty rolled around, and the mop of usually gelled back curls was shorter and messier. This was Peter Parker, who gave Tony heart attacks twice a month and loved pancakes and Star Wars. He was just younger, a lot younger.
"It's best if I show you," Tony finally answered Bruce's question. "Oh, and, if someone could get like clothes for a toddler, boy, and uh," Tony paused to look at Peter. Tony didn't know how young Peter was. "Maybe diapers?"
Bruce sighed. "Tony, please tell me you didn't adopt another kid."
Tony chuckled. "No, but something happened to the one I already did."
That got Bruce's attention. "I'll get on it." Then he ended the call.
Tony looked down at Peter, who was just sleeping; Tony made sure of that. Peter was still breathing, and although this situation wasn't ideal, Peter's breathing was a silver lining and the only thing that Tony cared about.