I love you
Peter had a constant headache all day for the past two days.
It felt like a headache he’s never had before. This one was more intense and like sharp, stabbing pains trying to break out of his skull.
He’s been waiting for it to pass for the past two days but it wasn’t. If anything, it was getting worse.
Peter collapsed from exhaustion onto the couch when he got home from school. He could hear his dad moving about around the main floor but the sound was intensified so he covered his hands over his eyes.
There was a hand on his back and Peter flinched. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. How are you feeling? You look really pale.”
Peter nodded but even that hurt his head so he whined and shut his eyes again, reaching his hand out until he found his dad’s hand so he could hold it. “Do you feel like you’re gonna vomit?” Tony wanted to be prepared if he had to grab a bucket or not.
Peter had a phobia of throwing up and had never once in his life made it to the toilet or even tried to.
He shook his head again even though it hurt. Tony was standing up and leaving which had Peter snapping his eyes open. He didn’t want his dad to leave him when he felt so sick and helpless.
“Shh, stay here. I’m just gonna grab the thermometer.” Tony gently coaxed Peter back down and left to quickly grab the thermometer. He wasn’t really good at this stuff, Pepper always knew what to do and how to make Peter feel better but she was currently in New York and wouldn’t be back until the weekend.
He returned with a thermometer and helped Peter sit up, not commenting on the groans and whines since he knew Peter was extremely extra and often over exaggerated his sicknesses just to get extra cuddles and attention.
As soon as he went to lift up Peter’s shirt to put it under his armpit, Peter whimpered and tried to get away from him. “It’s cold. Mm.”
“I know but it’s just for a few seconds so I can see what your temperature is. I’ll be quick.” Tony had to fight Peter on it by pinning one arm to his side and forcing the other one up and then down.
When the thermometer beeped, Tony read it but it didn’t alarm him. “It’s only 99.8. That’s not too bad. I’ll get you some water and then you try to sleep.”
Peter whimpered again. He felt like he was dying. “Stay with me.”
Tony smiled. Peter was so cute and cuddly when he was sick. He pressed a kiss to his head and left to grab the water and a cold washcloth. He sat on the couch but took the blanket away from Peter. “You need your temperature to go down. I can get RoRo if you want?”
Peter nodded so Tony handed him the water but Peter didn’t take it so he put it on the coffee table and went upstairs to retrieve the beloved rabbit.
When he got downstairs, Peter was passed out with the blanket covering him so Tony took the blanket away and tucked RoRo under his arm then left to make a phone call.
Pepper answered on the third ring. “Hi. How is everything going over there?”
Tony spoke in a whisper as to not wake Peter up. “So our baby is sick. He’s sleeping now but has a temp of 99.8. Nothing I can’t handle.”
Pepper sighed. “Aw, poor baby. Do you want me to come home early? I can, I’ll just need to push a few things back.”
“No. No, you stay there. I got this. Rest and fluids.”
Pepper laughed. “Oh I see, you just want to get all of his cuddles for yourself.”
“Exactly. Gotta go. I love you.” Tony hung up the phone and walked back into the living room to keep an eye on Peter while he watched some boring tv and replied to a few emails.
It was about an hour later when Peter began whimpering and shaking his head. Tony watched him, trying to decide if he needed to interfere or let Peter put himself back to sleep by himself but then Peter’s eyes were snapping open and he was gagging so Tony quickly sat him up just in time for Peter to vomit all over himself.
“It’s okay. Get it out.” He rubbed his back while looking around for something to collect the next vomit session in but there was nothing so he waited to see if Peter was going to do it again.
Peter began crying like he always did once he threw up. It broke Tony’s heart but this wasn’t his first time around the block.
“Okay… let’s take this off…” Tony grabbed the bottom of Peter’s shirt and lifted it over his head, careful not to smear the vomit all over Peter’s face. He tossed it onto the couch for now, his main concern was getting Peter somewhere clean and comfortable.
Next, he took his jeans off, not knowing how Peter managed to fall asleep in jeans. He wiped Peter’s face and neck with the cold washcloth that had Peter crying harder at and trying to push him away. “I know. I know. All done. Can you walk?”
Peter didn’t even want to try. He simply lifted his arms up and waited until his dad lifted him up. Once he did, he laid his head against his shoulder. His head was killing him and everything was too bright and loud at the same time.
He didn’t even realize he had been sadly whimpering this whole time until his dad was coping at him. “Aww, baby. What’s wrong? Does your stomach hurt you?”
Peter didn’t respond. He tried to but no words came out of his mouth so he wrapped his arms around his dad’s neck and shivered.
Tony walked into Peter’s bedroom to grab pyjamas but Peter thought Tony was going to put him to sleep in there so he lifted his head up. “Your room. Please.”
“Shh, I know. I’m just grabbing your pyjamas.” Tony could feel Peter’s body heat radiating off of him and the cold shakes coming from his boy. Pepper always knew what to do, he didn’t.
He debated putting Peter in a bath to help lower his temperature but it wasn’t that high so he went into his bedroom and helped Peter change into his pyjamas then laid him on the bed.
Peter immediately reached for the blankets but Tony took them away. “That’s too hot. I don’t want your fever to go up.”
Peter looked at his dad. He could see his mouth moving but there were no words coming out. It looked as if he were hundreds of feet away from him but right in front of him at the same time. Peter whimpered louder this time.
Tony was back at his side and pressing a cold wet cloth to his face, Peter didn’t know where that came from but it was cold so he tried to push it away in his weakened state.
“I know but it’ll make you feel better.” After Peter still tried to push him away but barely had enough energy to lift his arm up and say no, Tony stopped. He would try again later. “All done. Rest now, baby. I’ll be downstairs if you need me.”
Tony turned Peter onto his stomach so if he threw up, he wouldn’t choke on it. Plus it was Peter’s favourite position to sleep in.
Peter watched his dad leave. He wanted to tell him to stay but he didn’t have the energy to. He also didn’t have the energy to keep his eyes open anymore so he drifted off.
Peter slept for five hours. Tony came to check in on him every twenty minutes during that time but Peter was always in the same position he left him in the first time.
When Peter woke up next, the first thing he felt was pain. Everything was too bright. Everything was too loud and the blankets were even hurting his extra sensitive body.
He went to call out for his dad but he heard the man talking to… someone in the room. He looked around, the movement making his head hurt but his dad wasn’t there.
His voice was loud, like he was standing right there only… he wasn’t. Peter whimpered again. “Dad?”
No one came.
He tried to get out of bed but all the muscles in his body tensed up like he was being electrocuted from the inside out.
“D-dad?” Peter tried again but he barely made a sound. The pain was too much.
He scrunched his eyes closed and rolled into a ball to try and stop the intense pain that he was feeling.
His head felt like it was coming off of his body and his eyes might pop out of its sockets.
Tony walked into the bedroom at that moment and dropped everything once he saw Peter on the bed. He went to rub at Peter’s back but as soon as he touched his boy, Peter was freaking out so Tony ripped his hand away but also because Peter was burning hot.
Like he just spent the last five hours in a sauna.
“Peter, you’re burning up.” Tony grabbed the thermometer off the nightstand table and tried to lift up Peter’s soaking wet shirt from his sweat.
“Stop yelling. Too loud.” Peter cried out in a whisper, covering his hands over his ears and his face pressed in pain.
“I’m not yelling, baby.” Tony’s heart broke for his baby. He started going over in his head all the things that could possibly have gotten Peter sick but he came back with nothing.
Peter was fine one minute and the next… he was whimpering in what looked like excruciating pain. Peter’s been sick before but never this sick.
He grabbed some pain pills off the nightstand table and put one in his hand, bringing it to Peter’s lips. “Open. It’ll help.”
Peter didn’t even acknowledge what he was asking so he pushed the pill past his lips and pushed the glass of water up to his lips for Peter to swallow it.
Tony sat with Peter, waiting for it to kick in. He was scared to touch Peter because every time he did, Peter practically screamed so he just sat there. It was hurting Tony to watch his son in so much pain.
He didn’t know how long it was until Peter was uncurling from his ball and rubbing at his eyes. “Hey, the painkiller finally kicked in. Do you want some water?”
Peter looked over at his dad. He was shaking. His hair was slicked back with sweat and he felt like he jumped into a swimming pool with how soaked his pyjamas were.
He didn’t answer but Tony got the hint and brought the glass of water back up to Peter’s lips.
He held Peter for a few minutes, hoping the worst was over with now but the shaking and uncontrollable pain was coming back, full force again. Tony had no idea what happened to the painkiller pill.
He grabbed his phone off the floor to call Pepper. She answered on the fourth ring but Tony didn’t give her time to say hello. “Peter’s really sick. He’s in a lot of pain and he’s burning up. I might have to take him to the hospital.”
“Oh god. What happened? I thought he was fine.” Pepper was already running out of the meeting to catch her plane. She had to get home.
“I-I don’t know. He’s burning up and he’s in a lot of pain… he won’t let me take his temperature again.” Tony grabbed the thermometer and tried again but Peter weakly pushed him away.
“Okay. I’m coming home! I’ll be there. Tell him I’m coming.”
Tony tossed the phone onto the bed and helped Peter sit up. “Baby, Peter. I have to check your temperature.”
Peter didn’t give any consent but Tony had to so he lifted up Peter’s arm and shoved the thermometer under there. He only had to wait half a minute before it was beeping.
His heart dropped at the numbers. 104.6.
“Fuck. Okay. Um…” Tony looked around the bedroom. He debated on putting Peter in a cold bath or taking him to the hospital but he didn’t want to risk anything with the bath so he grabbed his phone again and walked around to pick Peter up so he could get him into the car and to the emergency room.
When he went to pick Peter up, the kid practically flew in his arms. Tony put way too much strength into the lift and almost sent Peter to the ceiling.
He knew how much Peter weighed. He picked him up on a regular basis. Whether that was because they were play fighting which they did probably way too often or on the nights Peter fell asleep somewhere so Tony carried him to bed.
Tony knew how much his kid weighed and now… it was as if he weighed half that.
He went to continue walking but then it hit him like a ton of bricks. He carefully put Peter back down in the bed and grabbed Pepper’s planning calendar off her dresser.
It was October. Peter was fourteen.
Peter was fourteen and it was October. Peter got bit by the spider in October when he was fourteen.
“No. No no no no no.” Tony grabbed his phone and searched through his old documents. He’s gotten hundreds of phones since then but he still had all of his important information on his new phone.
He searched for the date he started talking to Peter all those mixed up years ago. November 4. That was the day he came in contact with Peter but Peter had already been Spider-Man for a few weeks at that point.
“Oh god. Oh my god.” Tony turned back to look at Peter whimpering in pain on the bed. He was becoming Spider-Man again.
When he got de-aged, he lost his powers and there was no way for Tony to tell when or if Peter was ever going to get them back but now, he was.
Tony didn’t know how to feel about that.
He didn’t even know if he wanted Peter to be Spider-Man after everything they went through. He wasn’t Iron Man anymore and hadn’t been in a long time. He was happy.
Now things were going to change.
Peter got a little worse before he got better.
It was the middle of the night the next night when Peter was finally able to stop shaking and the pain was finally going away. He turned over in bed and reached out to hold his dad’s hand. “I… I feel better. No more pain.”
Tony didn’t know why his eyes were watering. They built this beautiful life and now Peter might want to be Spider-Man again.
He pressed a kiss to Peter’s head, more happy than anything that Peter was okay.
“I’m glad. That wasn’t fun, huh?”
Peter nodded. He moved closer to his dad. “I feel… different. Like, before different.” He made eye contact with Tony for the first time since feeling better.
Tony nodded too. “I know.” He didn’t want to say it, he wanted Peter to.
They sat in silence for a few moments. Peter turned around so he could be held by his dad with his arms wrapped around him. “Am I Spider-Man again?”
Tony stayed silent.
“I-I think I am… I feel like I did before but… I can’t really remember.”
That was something that Peter struggled with. He remembered everything from his life with Tony and Pepper but he had no other memories from his previous life, they would come every once in a while and confuse Peter since he couldn’t tell if they were real memories or just dreams.
“What do you think about that?” Tony asked him, holding Peter a little bit tighter.
Peter shrugged and began playing with Tony’s ring. “I don’t know… I’m… happy here with you and mom and I know,” Peter sighed. “I know New York isn’t our life anymore but… if I’m Spider-Man now…”
Tony understood. He couldn’t really stop Peter from being Spider-Man. He wanted to but it wasn’t fair.
“We are happy here. We built a home here.” Tony continued for Peter. “But if you feel like you want to go back to New York, if that’s where you’ll be happy, we can do that.”
Peter thought about it. He was really happy living by the beach and he had his friends here. “I don’t know. You decide. You have to tell me what I want.”
“Baby,” Tony chuckled. “I can’t tell you that. You have to decide what makes you happy and chase it. No one else can tell you that.”
Peter turned so he could face his dad. “But… you’re my dad and that’s your job.”
“True. Let’s talk about it. What do you wanna do now?” Tony had a feeling Peter wanted to go back to New York so he could be Spider-Man but that required a lot of sacrifice.
Peter shrugged again. He tried to think but then Pepper was running into the bedroom, scaring the both of them.
Once Peter saw who it was, he jumped up. “Mom! I missed you.”
Pepper was relieved to see that Peter was okay. About halfway through her plane ride, Tony had called her and said Peter was getting better but she had to see it with her own two eyes.
“Hi baby. Are you feeling better?” Pepper lifted Peter off the bed to hold him in a hug and immediately looked at Tony with wide eyes.
She was never able to carry Peter once he hit eleven. He was too heavy for her to actually carry. She could lift him up no problem but the carrying stopped. That was Tony’s responsibility alone after that but now, she could carry him and she shouldn’t be able to.
Peter must have felt the confusion. He smiled shyly. “I’m Spider-Man, mom.”
Pepper dropped him onto the bed. “Oh, baby.” She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what this meant for them now.
Peter didn’t want to scare her so he held her hand and leaned his head on her chest. “I’m sorry. But I’m okay now. See, I’m not in any more pain.”
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t here, baby. I’m sorry.” Pepper kissed Peter’s cheek. She felt bad.
“It’s okay! Dad was here. It’s fine, mom. Don’t be sorry. I’m okay!” Peter tried to reassure her. Tony appeared on his other side so Peter was sandwiched between the two of them.
“I know. You’re okay and that’s all that matters.” Tony said, pressing his own kiss to Peter’s other cheek.
“As long as we’re together, it doesn’t matter where we are. We just care that our baby is happy, safe and loved.” Pepper added, poking Peter’s stomach to get him giggling.
Peter leaned into both of them, feeling so much love. “I know. Maybe… maybe we can stay here. I love it here but maybe we can go to New York some summers… just so I can be Spider-Man for a bit?”
Both Tony and Pepper looked at each other, having a silent conversation with one another. Tony spoke. “Yeah, we can do that.”
“Thanks.” Peter hugged both of his parents at the same time. “I love you guys.”
“We love you too, Petey.” Tony couldn’t help but pull Peter onto his lap and attack him with kisses. He loved being a father so much.
Peter grinned. This was his home now and he didn’t want to leave it. He may not have a normal life but that’s what makes it even more interesting.