The moment Peter stepped foot into the building, FRIDAY's voice rang out.
"Boo-Boo Protocol activated. Please remain in the room, Peter. I suggest sitting." Peter groaned and dramatically tossed his head back as he dragged a hand down his face. His class gave him weird looks while the employees gave him looks ranging from sympathetic to worried to amused. The trip hadn't even started yet and he wanted to die.
Tony Stark stepped out of the elevator. The employees parted for him like the Red Sea as he rushed to the lobby. He didn't stop until he was in front of Peter, seemingly completely ignorant to the other teenagers crowding them. Tony immediately put his hands on Peter's shoulders, scanning for injury.
Peter gave Tony the look of a dead inside man - or an annoyed teenager - and Tony just stared back with obvious concern.
"Talk to me Peter." God, even his voice was filled with unveiled concern. Peter rolled his eyes and looked away from him.
"Mm-mm." He absolutely refused. He knew his class was looking at him like he was some crazed alien claiming to be their saviour while obviously being their destroyer, but he couldn't find himself to care. He was just so annoyed right now. Not even the tiny flash of hurt across Tony's face made him find it in himself.
"Kid." Tony's voice was filling with panic now. Peter shot him a hard glare and huff.
"Fine." Wow. Where was all this sass coming from? That was so rude of him! He still didn't care though. He was mostly human, and he was allowed to have off-days.
"Cherry pie." It was a code for non-fatal but still pretty bad injuries. No one else - not even Ned and MJ - understood, but Tony's eyes widened like it meant the world to him, and immediately went about trying to pull Peter to the medbay without even saying so. But Peter remained put. He was stuck; literally to the ground, but also between a rock and a hard place. He absolutely despised being here on a field trip already, but he had hoped it could be at least normal in some way. Apparently not.
But now he stuck to what his mind interpreted not as familiar, but expected. The expected situation with the expected outcome of a somewhat odd field trip. But no. Tony just had to be looking out for him, so kind and caring, with such concern that he even added a protocol just for making sure Peter was okay to his personal AI. And that's when the guilt came crashing into him. It hit him so hard and suddenly, that he almost felt like he was going to puke. Tony was in front of him, trying to talk to him.
Peter couldn't hear him.
All he knew was the tears welling in his eyes, the bullet hole in his leg, the slash near his chest, and the guilt. Also, he was still stuck to the floor. It happened sometimes in extreme cases. He would be surprised yet relieved he hadn't done anything obviously spidery yet, but he wasn't in the right state of mind. He was already focusing on all the negativity happening, and he was trying to focus on Tony's voice. He wanted to tell Tony that he was Trying Mr. Stark and So so so sorry. But his mind was scattered and he couldn't even stop the tears from rolling down his face. Tony waved off his class with urgency, but he didn't notice.
Then there was a sharp pain in his mouth and oh god not now. Why? His fangs had popped out, and they were digging into his gums. He was still crying, still stuck, still felt like he was drowning.
He subconsciously recognized Tony trying to pick him up though, and thank god he responded to that. He doesn't know how, but somehow his feet unstick. Then Tony is carrying him bridal style and all he can do is curl into Tony.
He tries breathing, but he really can't. He's still in inner turmoil, and he only has some control over his thoughts now. All he wants to do is tell Tony how bad it is, so he focuses on that and remains ignorant to the sobs wracking his body and the tears soaking Tony's shirt. All he can do is repeat Key lime pie. Key lime pie. Key lime pie. He hopes that soon his mind will understand the importance and let him speak. It does.
"Key lime pie." His voice is muffled and cracked in pain and he isn't sure if Tony heard him through the sobs and almost screams, but the hold on him tightens and Peter thinks Tony understood.
Then he's put down on a bed, and Peter cries even harder. Tony put him down. Tony isn't touching him. Tony is leaving him. Tony? Oh god, where's Tony? Mr. Stark? He can't speak, his mind made only one exception. His brain wasn't processing what he was seeing, so Peter just groped the air like a blind man, whimpers escaping him, growing louder and more desperate by the moment.
The bed slumped down some, and then he was leaning against someone's chest. Tony was there. So kind and understanding and somehow knew everything. Peter sobbed even harder and clutched onto Tony with probably way more strength than he should. But he couldn't control it. He couldn't control anything. All he knew was that Tony was here, and that meant safe.
It was quite some time before Peter actually came to in a mostly conscious state. He was tired and almost falling asleep, curled into and held securely in Tony's arms. But he wasn't panicking. He was breathing normally, he wasn't crushing Tony - who was totally going to be sore with bruises - and he was relaxed. His fangs were still there, but he didn't care.
Tony knew he should do something to assure Peter was really alright, and also talk to him at some point, but he couldn't. They both needed a breather, so Tony let Peter tap out. And then, he tapped out too.
Helen Cho was not happy when she had been alerted of the situation. She was happier when she got to the medbay, seeing both Peter and Tony relaxed, before she remembered the report. She snapped with a curse and walked over to the bed.
Helen poked Tony first, who woke with a start. Peter woke because of Tony's startle. Peter knew Tony was fine though, so he woke with a cute little yawn, before attempting to snuggle further into Tony with a nuzzle. Tony gave a short and silent laugh, then turned to Helen. Helen looked at him with worry, and then at Peter.
"Hey, Pete. I need you to open your eyes for me, okay?" Peter just tiredly mumbled something into Tony's chest.
"Pete," Helen demanded, but kept her voice soft. Peter opened his eyes and turned his head from Tony's chest. He blinked a few times before realizing where he was and why, and he stiffened. Tony rubbed a comforting arm down his back. Peter was still bleary and not yet fully awake, so he acted on an urge he always pushed away.
He purred.
And as cute, interesting, adorable, etc. as it was, Helen needed to work. Like, right now.
So she put a gentle hand on Peter's leg, and rolled up his pant leg. Peter was still purring, and seemed close to falling back asleep. Tony was whispering things into his ear, and she assumed it was keeping Peter awake, so Helen paid it no mind.
After a simple observation, Helen knew that a short surgery was going to be required. She didn't bother to check the cut near his chest, knowing it would have healed by now. Helen sighed, and caught Tony's eye, who had already been looking at her.
"There's a bullet casing in his leg and his leg has already healed over some. Not too much, thank god, but we'll still need to do a minor cut. Should be simple. I'll do it right now, actually." She turned away to grab materials, and tried to ignore the purring that had grown louder. It made her feel utterly terrible. She hated doing surgery on Peter, simply because any soothing medication didn't work. Thankfully though, he was apparently really soothed right now. She steeled herself with a breath, and walked back to the bed.
"Hey Pete," she started arranging the tools and made sure to use a soft tone. "Your leg has healed some over the bullet casing, so I'm going to remove it, all right? It's going to hurt, but just hold onto Tony, okay?" Peter's purring got a little quieter, and he gripped Tony's shirt tighter. Helen took this as a sign he heard her.
The moment she started the purring stopped, and she could have sworn there was a faint hiss. She blocked it all out and focused on the work, disassociating the leg from Peter, and thinking of it as just a leg. Whose leg was this? Could be anybody's leg. She couldn't tell you.
Afterwards, she tightly wrapped a bandage around Peter's leg, and left to go clean up.
Peter had regained full awareness about halfway through the surgery. He shared a faint hiss again, before realizing what he had done and clamping his mouth shut. He buried his face into Tony's chest. Tony chuckled at him, but wrapped his other arm around Peter, and Peter was tempted to purr again, despite Helen currently cutting into his leg. He didn't let himself. He was never living this one down, and he suppressed a groan, choosing to focus on the relaxation that he associated with Mr. Stark.
Helen left and his leg was wrapped all nice and snug. Once again, Peter was letting himself go, relaxing into Tony. He was seriously considering letting himself purr again, until Tony spoke up.
"So," he said softly with concern, and Peter knew what was coming. The urge to purr opened the window, jumped out, and flew across the world as nerves shoved their way into Peter's throat, and landed heavily in his stomach.
"Purring?" Tony started off with. Peter groaned, but still refused to move his position. Tony laughed.
"Really though, I'm honored. Aren't things supposed to only purr when they're, like, super relaxed?" Peter flushed and stiffened.
"Glad to know you feel so comfortable around me kid." Peter released the breath he didn't know he'd inhaled. He was grateful Tony didn't tease him about this.
"Mm-hm," Peter hummed into his chest, ignoring the dread that filled him. He knew what happened next.
"Peter," Tony's voice was so soft and filled with so much worry that Peter's eyes filled with tears again. He couldn't help it.
"Let's start at the beginning, yeah?" Peter's life was chaos, but he liked order when it got too much. At some point, Tony had picked up on it.
"The injuries. Why did you hesitate?" Peter was crumbling.
"I just -" he took a deep breath to calm himself. He relaxed himself and started again after a minute. "I just wanted a normal field trip." That wasn't good enough. It didn't truly convey everything; Peter had to elaborate.
"Not normal. But, I already didn't want to go, and then I didn't want the wounds to be a big deal, and I didn't want to be treated as a special case already since I know everyone recognizes me here, but then the wound and everyone stopped to look and then you came out and it was just so unfair. I'm not normal, Tony, and I know that. But, I don't know, it all just came crashing down!" Peter rambled, and the panic was swelling up in him again.
Tony hugged him tighter and rubbed comforting hands in patterns on his arms and back.
"Alright, bud. I get it. Too much emotions for now. Why don't we go relax then, hm? Harry Potter or Star Wars or whatever kind of marathon you want - I'm all ears. We'll make you so relaxed, you'll be purring again in no time. We'll put this on the shelf for now, and bring it down later." Peter nodded into Tony's chest, and kept his eyes closed - when did they close? He mulled over the purring comment. It wasn't really teasing, Tony seemed genuine. He wasn't freaked out and seemed more curious than anything. Mostly, he'd picked up on it being associated with a relaxed Peter, so he wanted it more often. That was nice. Tony was nice. The guilt from earlier crashed into him again.
"I'm sorry, Tony," he mumbled into his shirt and, god, he just felt so pathetic right now. He couldn't even speak at full volume! Such a lame ass apology.
Tony, still so kind and understanding, accepted it nonetheless.
"It's fine, Pete." It was not. "I know you wouldn't lash out on me, or anyone really, unless something was affecting you. Like I said, later. Right now? Cuddles and purring. Up, up." Peter smiled despite the lingering guilt. He didn't really want to get up, but he did. He kind of missed the purring to be honest. It was kind of new, and was something he made sure he only did when he was alone (or with Ned). It was usually only elicited by happy memories, and sometimes a really good show or movie, and once, a really memorable meme. Now though? He had someone who was just as willing to experience it.
They called the elevator. It was really awkward when the doors opened, because it was Peter's class. They stared at Peter, who yawned, and they all saw his bandaged leg. They also saw Tony, who had an arm slung around Peter's shoulders. They even saw that the room was, in fact, not anything like a lab, but a medbay.
Ned broke the short silence. He pushed his way to the front, his focus entirely on Peter.
"Peter! We were so worried - well, me and MJ, this class is kinda full of assholes -" some had the decency to look guilty, "but anyways, are you alright?" Peter yawned again.
"Yeah Ned. Thanks though. You and MJ both." Ned and MJ nodded, and Tony and Peter got in. FRIDAY already knew where they wanted to go, so she kept silent. The ride was short and awkward, and ended with the class shuffling around Tony and Peter. Peter's teacher stayed behind for an explanation of some sorts, but Tony just said "Classified." and gently shoved ushered the man out. The elevator closed quickly.
The class, of course, erupted into gossip, and the teacher was calling Peter's aunt again. She picked up this time, and soon enough hung up while reassuring him that yes, Tony has her full permission to do anything concerning Peter, including pull him away from the class and keep him at the tower after the field trip. She stressed that last bit. He didn't question it. Flash was trying to paint Peter and Tony in a negative light, but Ned and MJ kept shooting him down, and no one belived Flash against their own eyes and Tony fucking Stark. The class left.
Meanwhile, Tony shuffled around the floor, making a bowl of popcorn and grabbing a large, warm, fluffy blanket. Soon enough the lights were out, the popcorn sat on the coffee table, and the blanket was secured around Peter and Tony's forms. Star Wars played on the TV, but neither really paid attention. Tony was running his hand through Peter's hair, and whispering to him occasionally. Just little small things, sometimes in Italian, and sometimes accompanied by a soft kiss pressed into Peter's hair. Neither of them acknowledged the relationship with words - hell, Peter still called him Mr. Stark half the time - but they both knew they had a father-son relationship. So, it bothered neither of them when gestures like this were made.
Peter relaxed more and more by the second. Just being curled into Tony's chest, able to hear the near silent hum of the arc reactor, was enough to calm him. Now he had an excess amount of comfort from Tony. He was fully relaxed now, and he was sure he'd never been this relaxed in his entire life. It was euphoric.
The purrs came suddenly and loudly, and were welcomed. Peter felt so much better not holding them in, and Tony smiled knowing Peter was relaxed and trusted him enough to purr.
Eventually, they made the stupid decision to fall asleep like that. It was early, so no one else had been back, but they were in the common room. Everyone who walked into the floor would become aware of the situation; and everyone did.
The first were Steve and Bucky, coming in from a training day. They were honestly tired and just wanted to watch the TV some before dinner. They walked in to find Tony and Peter on the couch, and Steve was about to tease them about Star Wars playing again, but the words died on his tongue. As he'd stepped closer, there was a noise. It was like a hum, but not quite. Bucky heard it too. They approached quietly and quickly, before being close enough to realize what it was. Peter was purring. Loudly. It was adorable. Steve fumbled with his phone for a moment, before taking a short video. He sent it to Pepper immediately - well, as quickly as possible. Steve and Bucky retired to their rooms, deciding not to disturb the two.
Next came Natasha and Clint, making far more noise with their arguing. Most of it came from Clint. They froze at the humming sound. Natasha shared a glance with Clint, and snuck to the living room. Neither remembered there being a cat anywhere near here - not even in an alleyway - and all the robots were quiet. Natasha stifled a laugh as she realized what was happening though. She waved Clint over, who snorted. Tony stirred some, so they moved to the kitchen, making sure to keep their voices quiet.
Slowly the rest of the team filtered in, all sharing similar experiences. It was adorable, so they just left the two alone and made sure they had plenty of photographic evidence. Soon enough, dinner rolled around, and noise started to gather. Peter was the first to stir, his purring halting for a moment before resuming. It was a little quieter than before though. Shame. The team had already gotten used to the cute purring. Tony stirred next as Clint dropped a fork on the table loudly. He woke up fully, not one for sleeping much, and silently yawned. He opened his eyes and realized what was happening, but he didn't move.
"Pete," he whispered and the purring grew louder. That caused everyone to smile, a tease on everyone's tongue.
"Peter," he whispered again with a gentle shove to Peter's shoulder. Peter opened his eyes for a moment before settling back down, still purring. Tony laughed and looked at him fondly.
"Pete, c'mon bud. Dinner." Peter finally moved and then realized the Avengers were all watching. He stopped purring abruptly. Oh god they'd all heard the purr, didn't they? He flushed because he knew those knowing smiles and smirks. Oh yeah. They knew. He was half tempted to curl back into Tony, but the man was getting up.
Peter shuffled over to the table himself, and sat down, refusing to look anyone in the eye. His face was still burning, even though he felt more relaxed when Tony sat next to him. He took the plate he offered Peter with a "thanks", and was easily consumed by his thoughts. The guilt came back again and he didn't see all the concerned looks.
"So," Steve cleared his throat, pulling Peter out of his thoughts as he looked at Steve. "Purring, eh?" Peter flushed again.
"Y-yeah. It, uh, happens? Sorry, I know it's loud." Steve definitely looked a little sadder at that.
"Oh no, it's fine," he assured Peter. Others caught his drift.
"I, for one, think it's adorable," Wanda added and was backed by murmurs of agreement. Peter shrugged. They started eating. Well, all save Peter.
Peter was still out of it, and accidentally shot some venom into his food, which liquidated and landed sloppily on the table. He just stared at the liquidized lettuce and tomato for a moment, dead inside. It started to garner some odd looks from the team, so Peter grabbed his napkin and cleaned it up. He ignored the stares and tried again. Accidental venom again. Dammit. Peter sighs and puts the fork down, already moving to grab another napkin.
"Did - did you just turn food into liquid?" Tony pressed. Peter shrugged.
"Yeah. Fangs won't go away." Tony looked at him with slight worry.
"Fangs? Wow, we are just learning so much about you today!" Peter sat down with another shrug.
"I can tell you more stuff if it isn't too weird."
"One hundred percent. I don't want to be the one freaking out over something normal for you." Peter nodded.
"Well then, this one's important." Tony gestured for him to continue.
"Right, so, sometimes when I'm in pain - and this is just an instinct, so sometimes it happens with minimal amounts of pain too - I rip off a limb or whatever. It grows back though, so don't worry if it happens." Tony choked on his food. And then he sat there regaining his breath, just staring at Peter with his mouth hanging open.
"Tony?" Peter asked in concern and waved a hand in front of Tony's face. The rest of the team noticed Tony's state too now, and laughed a little.
"What the fuck Peter! I swear, you're trying to give me a fucking heart attack!"
"Language!"
"Shut the fuck up Steven!" Tony ignored Steve's muttered reply of "my name's not Steven".
"Peter," Tony dragged out his name slowly.
"Yes Mr. Stark?"
"What do you do with the limbs?" Now that threw the team for a loop, because what the fuck could the two be talking about?
"Obviously eat them, Mr. Stark." Tony wrinkled his nose in faint disgust.
"That was a joke. I, uh, trash bags?" Tony facepalmed.
"Please, please, please, tell me you haven't been putting random body parts into trash bags and just throwing them away?" Peter didn't answer. He just stuck some salad in his mouth and quickly closed it before the liquid could escape.
"Peter, sweet intern o' mine, wonderfully nice child, brilliant mind, talented superhero, actual genius, could skip college if he wanted to, Parker. Please tell me you haven't been throwing random body parts away?" Peter stuck another piece of lettuce in his mouth and gulped.
"I can tell no lie, sir." Tony groaned and banged his head on the table.
"Not the time for Harry Potter references, Peter."
"Peter? What's going on?" Bruce asked in concern and confusion. Peter shrugged.
"Sometimes when I'm in pain I act upon the spider instincts inside me that tell me to rip off my limb or whatever. Mr. Stark asked what I do with the body parts. I throw them away. Also, I regenerate." Bruce took in a deep breath.
"Peter, I've seen you theorize plausible ways for literal time travel. What the fuck?" Peter shrugged again and looked down in shame.
"What else was I supposed to do?" Tony sighed.
"Anything else we should know?"
"It's approaching winter, which means if I fall asleep and don't wake up for a week to a month, don't worried. That's just me taking a Big SleepTM."
"A what?"
"Hibernation."
"Jesus, okay. What else?"
"Sometimes I sleep in my webs. Also, I have natural webs from my wrists, but I like my webshooters better."
"... Right. Continuing?"
"I don't really have bones. Like, I'm part human, so obviously I need bones, but, like, they're lighter and basically non existent and hardly even support my body at all. Which means I'm super flexible! And because I've got like no bones, my skin is a little thicker than a normal human's to make up for the loss of my precious bones."
"Is there more?"
"Uh, probably? I absolutely cannot have mint. It tastes like ... I don't know how to explain it. The closest thing is it's like an extreme allergy that gives me fight or flight instead of the sniffles."
"Okey dokey. What else."
"... I've slept on the ceiling before?"
"Not that weird in comparison."
"I stick to the ground in extreme emotional situations."
"Explains this morning."
"I can jump super high. Like, I've jumped ten stories before."
"Wow."
"Yeah. Um, I hiss? I think you heard that earlier?"
"Mhm."
"... Spiders can't digest so sometimes my body just shuts down."
"Yikes."
"I haven't been full since I got bitten by that spider."
"Wait, really?"
"Yeah..."
"Kid, I've seen you eat five boxes of pizza before. Not even Steve eats that much. You're still hungry after that?"
"Maybe?"
"Okay. Eat. Now. After this we are going to Ms. Cho and telling her everything and then she can adjust all her doctory measurements to your spidery stuff and see much you should be eating and all those other things."
"Um, do you have a cup?"
"What?"
"My fangs won't go away, so I was just going to liquidate everything and drink it. It's kinda gross and I don't think the venom hurts me? But right now this is the only way I'm eating."
"... Sure kid. Whatever. Go for it. Just finish up so we can get to Helen."
It's safe to say that in the near future there's a "No fangs at the table unless it's a Fang Day" rule added to the food section of the large Avengers rulebook, which goes right after the "No eating on the ceiling" and the "No unliftable hammers placed on table" rules. (Most rules are "No" this and "No" that, with only a few "Yes, do this for heaven's sake" rules.)