“Hey dude, can we possibly settle this the non-violent way tonight, I’ve had a rough night and-“ That is as far as Peter got before he was shot in the chest by a bright light. “Wha- the, man seriously?” Peter said softly as he tried to stay awake, and look to where the criminal had gone, but eventually he loses his fight with consciousness.
——/——-/———
“Sir, I am detecting unusual activity with Mr. Parker.” Friday says.
“Unusual in what way?” Tony asks worriedly.
“It seems he is passed out in an alley near Brooklyn.”
“Have you tried to wake him up.”
“Yes sir, it appears he is unresponsive.”
“Oh shit.” Tony cried as he called his suit. Tony spent almost 20 minutes trying to find where Peter was. He finally finds him passed out and leaning up against the side of a dumpster. “Jeez kid, what happened to you.” Tony mutters under his breath with a sigh. Tony attempts to try and wake the kid by giving him a slight shake. “I guess Friday was right to say unresponsive.” Tony says after trying for a several minutes to wake him up. He picks up Peter and cradles him in his arms and flies his to the Medbay. Tony puts Peter down on a bed, but he doesn’t stir.
“What in the world happened to him?” Bruce asks concernedly looking down at the boy.
“I’m not sure, FRIDAY alerted me that he was passed out in an alley and was unresponsive.” Tony replies.
“Ok, well, I will check him out and see what’s wrong.”
———-/——-/——-
A few hours later Peter’s eyelids started to flicker, and he slowly opens his eyes and looks around, but he can’t see anything. Why can’t he see anything. It was so blurry, almost like before the bite. His heart monitor starts beating faster and faster and his chest starts to heave. He tries to move but feels a tug at his arm, so he yanks his arm trying to get up and away, and scrambles up and tries to get out of where ever he was. ”Hey, hey buddy you’re okay, you fine, you’re at the medbay, you’re safe, can you look at me bud.” Tony softly says, gently holding on to his arm and he leads him back to his bed.
“Oh, uh Mr. Stark, what am I uh- doing here, wasn’t I patrolling.”
“That is exactly what I was going to ask you, do you remember passing out?”
A look of recognition passed Peters face. “Oh, I just probably didn’t eat.” Peter says nervously, obviously hiding something.
“You wanna try that again bud.”
“No?” Peter says quietly.
“Well if you decide to change your mind and tell me what’s really going on, tell FRIDAY to call me in here. I need to go and get Banner because you ripped out your I.V.. Will you be alright for a bit while I go get him?”
“Yes” Peter said quietly looking down.
——-/——-/——-
“Bruce, I’ve never seen anything like it, it’s like he was like he didn’t see me, or even knew where I was.”
“I’m not sure Tony, he was probably just disoriented.” Bruce says gathering up the supplies needed for a new I.V.
“There’s something he’s hiding from me though, I could tell he was lying to me.”
“Maybe he’ll tell us when we get back in there, but I do need to put his I.V. back in.” They both start heading back to Peters’s room when FRIDAY says “Boss, Peter is requesting your presence.”
“Ok Fri, tell him Bruce and I are on our way back.” Tony says smiling slightly. When they reach the room Peter is curled in a ball in the middle of the bed and is shaking. His back is to the door, but Tony can tell he is crying. “Hey buddy, what’s wrong?” Tony asks concern lacing his voice.
“Nothing.” Peter says his voice muffled.
Tony walks over and sits on the side of the bed and puts his hand on Peter’s back and soothingly rubs his back before turning him to face him. Peter has tear tracks running down his face and was sniffling. “ ‘m fine Mr. Stark.”
“You don’t sound fine, what’s up bud.” Peter takes a second but then he mutters something quietly so that Tony can’t hear.
“What was that buddy.”
“I can’t see anything, it’s all blurry, almost as bad as before the bite.” Peter sniffles. And that brings Tony to attention, he shoots a worried look at Bruce, who then comes over.
“Hey Peter, I hear you aren’t feeling too well, I’ve to set another I.V. but when I’m done setting it up, you need to tell me more about this blurry vision.” Bruce says as he fiddled with his supplies. Tony takes this opportunity to start running his hands through Peters hair to get him to not focus on the needle. Once Bruce finishes setting up. He goes over and grabs a penlight from the table. “ Ok Peter.” He says as he shines the penlight through his eyes. “Tell me how much you can see right now.”
“I can see you hand because it’s really close, but I can’t see the rest of the room or Tony. I can see his shape but not him.”
“Ok, so you said this was close to what it was like before you go bit.”
“Yes, it was almost exactly like this.”
“Ok, I’m going to talk to Tony , he will be right back.” Bruce says leading Tony out of the room and into the hallway. “I have a sneaking suspicion he lost his powers, do you have the baby monitor footage from tonight.”
“Oh, I forgot I had that, hold on I’ll get it. Tony types something than flicks his watch up and it projects the footage, he then fast forwards until he sees a bright flash then goes back a bit. “This may be it.” Tony says nervously.
The footage is shaky, but he hears his kid saying “Hey dude, can we possibly settle this the non-violent way tonight, I’ve had a rough night and-“, but then the screen goes white and he hears a thump, the next thing they see is a man running away with a large alien looking gun.
“Holy shit.” Tony says “Do you think that, whatever that gun was made him loose his powers.”
“I think so, we may have to run some tests to be for sure, it also may not be permanent so we should let him rest tonight, then start running tests in the morning.” Bruce replies.
“Ok, sounds good Bruce, I better get back to the kid and tell him the plan.”
“Oh you should find out if it was just his sight, or if anything else was changed after the bite besides his strength of course”
“Ok will do, night Bruce”
“Night Tony.”
—/———-/——-
Tony heads back to Peters room where he curled back into a ball again. “Hey buddy, how are you feeling.”
“Fine.” Is this room soundproofed?” He asks, “because for some reason I couldn’t hear you or Bruce talking.”
“Well, me and Bruce think that you may have lost your powers, temporarily.”
“What! But I’m fine, I just must have gotten some uh- dirt in my eye or something.” Peter says quickly, his chest heaving and he starts to blink fast as tears start to form again.
“Hey, buddy it’s only a guess, we’ll run some tests tomorrow just to be sure.” Tony says gently as he pulls Peter into a hug and runs his hands up and down his back. Peter then starts to sob, “But, but- what if they are gone forever.” He hiccups.
“That’s why Bruce and I will do some tests and make sure it’s not.” Tony says, he then starts to notice Peter is having a difficult time trying to breathe, thinking it’s a panic attack he starts to rock Peter back and forth in his arms. “Hey, buddy breathe with me, in and out, you’re fine, we will fix this, you will be fine buddy, but you have to breathe.”
“Ton- Tony, I cant breathe.” Peter sobs, and then starts to cry even harder while still trying to force the oxygen in his lungs.
“FRIDAY get Bruce now.” Tony shouts. Tony just keeps rocking his kid, and telling him to breathe, but it isn’t working. When Bruce finally comes in, he was a syringe in his hand, he rushes over to Peter and grabs his arm and injects the fluid into his arm. And the fight instantly leaves him, and Peter slumps over wheezing.
“What did you give him?” Tony asks
“A mild sedative, it should keep him calm for a bit.” Bruce says looking down at the boy.
“Mr. Stark wha-“ Peter mumbles while trying to look at him.
“Shhh, it’s ok buddy, you’re ok, you should sleep. We will talk more in the morning ok bud.”
“Ok” Peter mumbles before closing his eyes and cuddling close to Tony.
“I love you so much buddy.” Tony whispers into his hair.
—/——-/———
The next morning, Peter wakes up feeling slightly better. After they get some food into him they decided to do some tests. “So Peter do you know what changed after the bit.” Bruce asks.
“Well I got enhanced strength, and hearing. I also got the whole climbing on walls thing, but my vision got perfect too, so I didn’t need glasses anymore. My asthma also went away too.” Peter says
“Well we already know that your enhanced eyesight is gone and Tony mentioned you weren’t able to hear us talking last night in the hall, so from that I’m pretty sure your hearing is gone but we can test it just to make sure.” Bruce says. He then walks out of the room but returns quickly with a pair of headphones along with a small device.
“Ok, so I’ll have you put these on, and we will test differing pitches and frequencies. We will go above what the normal human can hear, and see if you can still hear the sounds. So I want you to raise your hand every time you hear a sound.” Bruce says, handing the headphones to Peter. Peter puts them on then Bruce starts the test. It goes well at first Peter raising his hand as soon as the sound played. But as soon as Bruce went even the slightest above normal levels, Peter stopped raising his hand. “Well, I think we can stop. I am positive that you have also lost your enhanced hearing.”
—-/———//———-/
The next thing they decided to test was Peter’s asthma. They started off easy, and Peter started to run on the treadmill. But after a bit Peter started to wheeze, and his face was getting paler by the minute.”Ok Peter, I think we should stop.” Bruce says softly going to unplug the treadmill.
“No we don’t, this doesn’t even feel like asthma, I’m pretty sure I didn’t even lose my powers.” Peter says between pants.
“Peter.” Bruce warns. Then all of the sudden Peter starts to cough violently, and Bruce hurries to go unplug the treadmill but it’s too late, Peter trips and falls, almost hitting his head on the wall. As he is sitting down, the coughing gets worse, and the wheezes grow louder.
“Ok, Peter I will be right back, I’m going to get you an inhaler.” Bruce says running out the gym doors.
“Hey buddy, you will be ok.” Tony says grabbing hold of Peters hand. Peter now has tears streaming down his face, and his eyes are wide with fear. Bruce comes running back into the gym with the inhaler in hand. He puts it to Peters mouth and pushes down for him.
“Come on Peter, breathe.” Bruce says as he pushes down again on the inhaler. After a bit, Peter’s wheezes subside, and his coughs die off. He then slumps against the wall, exhausted.
“Come on bud, how about I bring you to your room, we’ll finish the tests later.” Tony says softly, as he reaches out and pulls Peter up. Peter leans heavily against Tony as they walk slowly to the elevator, then go to his room. Tony carefully helps Peter lay down, then covers him with his blankets.
“I’m sorry Mr. Stark, I though I could but I’m just too weak and-“
“Buddy you are not weak, if anything you are one of the strongest people I know.” Tony says, cutting Peter off. “Just sleep buddy, we’ll figure it out tonight, ok bud. I love you.”
Peter smiles up at his dad- no, no his mentor, and then slowly closes his eyes.
—//——-///——-/
After Peter wakes up from his nap, they decided to do some more tests. They decided to test his wall crawling abilities. “Ok Peter so just try to do your spider thing.” Bruce says. Peter tried to make his hand stick to the wall but it just wouldn’t. He then tried his feet, but they also wouldn’t stick.
“It’s my socks that’s why I can’t stick.” Peter says getting frustrated. He then takes off his socks and tries again with no luck. “Bruce, is there- do you think we can fix this?”
“Well, we should see if it will resolve on its own first, if it doesn’t, we’ll have to track down the guy who shot you.”
“Wait, how did you know I was-“ Peter’s voice dies off. He then steals a glance at Tony, who was looking right back.
“Oh, how did we know you got shot with alien tech, you know this fun little thing I have access to, it’s called the baby monitor protocol.” Tony says sarcastically.
“Can we just not talk about it right now.” Peter says with tears in his eyes. “I mean I guess it means my powers are gone because I wasn’t paying attention, I get it ok.” Peter says almost sobbing now, he then runs out of the gym.
“Well, crap we need to figure this out.” Tony says under is breath.
“I’m going to go attempt to see what we can do to fix it, you need to go calm your kid down. I’ll be up in an hour to get a blood sample.”
Bruce says walking to the elevator.
Tony follows him after a few minutes, mentally preparing himself for what to do next.
—-/——-//——-/
Peter runs into his room and cries. He is so pissed at himself for being so stupid. He goes to his bed and starts hitting his pillows. He starts taking his blankets and throwing them all over. Peter then goes off his bed and gets under a blanket, and sobs. Then after a while he hears a soft knock on his door. “Peter, bud, can I come in.” Tony says.
“No.” Peter croaks
“Please bud.” Tony says softer this time. Peter doesn’t answer, he just burrows deeper into his blanket pile. He knows Tony will come in sooner or later, but right now he just wants to be burrowed in his warm, pile of blankets. He hears a sigh, but then the door slowly opens, and he hears footsteps coming closer. “Peter, bud, where are you?” Tony asks concernedly. Peter doesn’t make a sound, he just wants to be alone. He then feels a foot nudge his pile. “Peter.” Tony calls. “I know you’re there.” Tony kneels down beside his kid, and slowly undos the blanket pile. When he reaches the last blanket he finds Peter, with tears rolling down his cheeks in big globs. “Hey buddy, you’re alright.” He then helps Peter sit up and gives him a hug.
When Peter starts to cry louder he starts rocking him back and forth. “Bruce is working on something, he has a plan. You need to calm down first ok bud, he’s coming up to get a blood sample and then we can eat as much ice cream as you want and have a movie marathon .” Tony says softly. Peter’s tears slowly start to subside, and Tony just keeps rocking him. And that’s where Bruce finds them 30 minutes later.
“Is now still a good time.” Bruce calls from the doorway. Peter nods and Tony leads him to his bed. Bruce grabs Peter’s arm and gets it straight. Bruce then shoots a sharp glance at Tony. Tony then starts talking a mile a minute trying to distract Peter. He even gets him to smile a few times before they are done. “Ok Peter, I’ll go take a look at this and see what I can find.”
“Ok.” Peter says, sounding much better than he did earlier. “Can we eat ice cream now. I wanna conduct a test.” Peter says sounding excited.
“Sure bud.” Tony says and leads him to the couch, “You get a movie started. What kind do you want?”
“Peppermint.” Peter says with a smirk.
“Ok, bud, but I’m calling Bruce up here if things go wrong.” Tony replies.
Peter gets Return of the Jedi queued up and ready to go. Then Tony returns with peppermint ice cream for Peter. And chocolate ice cream for himself. He watches as Peter puts the spoonful of peppermint ice cream to his mouth and waits. But nothing happens. Then Peter starts to giggle. “Look Mr. Stark, I can eat peppermint again.” He says gleefully eating another bite, and soon before he notices it’s all gone. He then starts feeling tired, and not even 20 minutes into the movie, Tony feels a weight getting heavier on his shoulder, and he looks over and Peter is almost asleep. His eyes trying to stay open, but he is failing. Tony starts to rub his back softly and then looks over and Peter is fast asleep.
——/——/——//
At around 1 in the morning Tony is roughly shocked awake. He quickly looks around and looks for the threat, but calms down when he sees it’s just Bruce. “I’ve figured it out. I know how we can get him his powers back.” Bruce said excitedly.
“Do you want me to wake him up, or should we wait.” Tony asks looking over at the sleeping boy.
“We should wait, I can do it in the morning. I just wanted you to know he’s gonna be back to normal in no time.”
———-/——//——-/
The next morning Peter wakes up to the sound of bacon frying in a pan. And soft voices talking close by. He cracks open and eye to see Bruce and Tony standing in the kitchen. He then sits up and stretches and lets out a long yawn. He then walks into the kitchen and plops down on a chair and puts his head down on the table. “Hey bud, how’re you feeling.” Tony asks gently.
“Better.” Peter says picking his head off the table.
“Here eat this.” Tony says sliding a plate with eggs and bacon on it. “And then me and Bruce need to talk to you about something.”
Peter practically inhaled his food and then waits expectantly for the news.
“Bruce is positive he has figured out how to get your powers back.” Tony says.
“What?” Peter asks in shock.
“Well Peter it’ll be fairly simple, I found something very interesting on your blood and I-“
“Anyway, Bruce made a shot that will bring you back to normal.” Tony says, cutting Bruce off before he can go into an hour long speech about it.
“Just a shot?” Peter asks.
“Yes, I’ll go get it right now.” Bruce says walking over to the counter. He grabs the syringe and brings it over to Peter. He pulls up Peter’s sleeve, and starts to wipe down the area. And then Peter starts to freaking out. He wriggles his arm out of Bruce’s reach and his eyes start tearing up.
“Hey buddy what’s wrong?” Tony asks quickly heading next to Peter and kneeling down by his chair.
“Wha- what if it doesn’t work an- and I never get them back and-.” Peter stutters out, the tears coming faster.
“Buddy it will work, Bruce is positive that this will work okay?” Tony says still comforting Peter. While Peter starts to calm down, Tony nods at Bruce, who gently grabs Peter’s arm again. Tony starts to talk softly to him and pushes his head back to him, when he starts to look over at what Bruce was doing. Then Bruce quickly inserted the needle and pushed the plunger down. Then Peter’s eyes roll in the back of his head and he promptly passes out.