The Nephilim

the last twelve hours were some of the craziest of peter's life.

after finding out that one of his closest friends that he's known for almost the entirety of highschool has abilities that rival wanda's, then watching said friend fall into what doctor strange called a 'minor coma' from overworking those powers and developing a fever that reached 105 at one point; the teenager was surprised he only had, like, two panic attacks.

"you sure he's gonna be okay?"

stephen looked up from a notepad that he had been writing on, peter assuming that the notes he had been taking were on jack's condition and probably his powers, the doctor's expression not really showing anything; "jack should be completely fine, peter, his body just got overworked because, from what i heard, he had killed two creatures even though he's never really used his abilities before, so the response his body gave makes plenty of sense to me."

"even the fever?"

"yes, even the fever."

peter turned his attention back to jack, watching the teen's chest rise and fall as he continued to sleep, having done nothing but that for the past twelve hours, peter's phone buzzing in his pocket and he pulled it out, seeing a message from michelle and ned in the groupchat, both of them asking for an update on jack's condition.

with a sort of shaky hand, peter replied; "still out. his temp's back to normal and strange is still keeping watch."

"ned : are his parents there?"

"yeah, they fell asleep in one of the guest rooms a couple hours ago."

"mj : have you slept any?"

".......would you believe me if i said yes?"

"mj : get some sleep, dummy. you can't be there for him if you're barely functioning."

"ned : what she said because its been like twelve hours."

peter sighed at their response, he knew that she was right but acting on it was much harder than it seemed, he figured that his body would force him to sleep eventually and he'd end up passing out in the stupid chair next to the stupid hospital bed.

"you know what happens to the human body when it doesn't get the sleep it needs, right?"

or, an adult was going to force him to sleep; "......yes, i do."

"i know that you're worried, but so are your friends and his parents, and i know that at least of two of the people i just mentioned are asleep right now, so--"

"i get it, i need sleep, but it's not like i can just leave and go to bed." peter interrupted, staring at the machines that were at jack's bedside, making sure that everything seemed correct, "i never said that you had to leave the room."

"are you gonna magic me a cot and force me to lay in it?"

"no, but i'm capable of getting one the normal way and making you lay in it." stephen replied with a faint smirk and peter huffed, rubbing his hands over his face, "fine, but wake me up if he needs me or something weird happens or--"

"i get it, peter."

•◇•

jack realized, when he regained consciousness, that his entire body felt weird and that he wasn't at school anymore.

he opened his eyes, immediately closing them again as everything was way too bright and he let out a small noise, raising a hand and putting his hand to his forehead, feeling a bandage around his hand; "friday, turn down the lights, please." he heard his father whisper and the teen hesitantly opened his eyes, the lights having been dimmed down and he noticed that he was in the medical bay of the avengers compound.

jack looked down, seeing that his left hand was wrapped in an iv and he was medical scrubs; he would have thank whoever decided to put pants on him instead of a gown later.

"jack, honey, can you hear me?" he heard his father whisper and he turned to look at him, his heart sinking as he saw the worry in castiel's eyes and the usual eyebags the man had were deeper than usual, "mhm." was all he could manage and castiel stood up from his seat, wrapping his arms around jack and holding him to his chest, the boy grabbing onto his dad's shirt and relaxing into the hug.

"what happened?"

jack knew what happened, even if it was a little bit blurry, "tony called us and said that you were really close to getting hurt and your body went into shock because of it." oh, so he lied to them.

"is everyone okay?"

"yeah, everyone's okay."

jack nodded, "where's dad?" he muttered as he realized that his other parent wasn't in the room, "he went home to grab some clothes for us, he should be on his way back by now." castiel replied and jack nodded again, going quiet letting his father keep holding him.

"i think peter was almost more scared than we were."

"really?"

"tony had to carry him out of here after he fell asleep on the cot."

jack turned his head, noticing the cot that was a few feet away from his bed, a crumpled up blanket resting on it and a pillow accompanying it, a small smile spreading across his face because peter really cared about him.

•◇•

"mr.parker, you need to wake up."

the teenager groaned, barely awake and barely aware of the fact that friday was waking him up, "why?"

"because mr.kline is awake and is requesting to see you."

peter nearly fell out of his bed at the ai's words, immediately getting up and putting on some socks because holy shit the floor is cold before he rushed to go to the med bay, anxious to see how jack was doing.

peter couldn't even attempt to describe the feelings that rushed through him when jack saved his life.

or when jack collapsed, having to see his best friend curl up into a shaking ball as he immediately began to burn up so bad that peter could feel it through his clothes.

or when jack had a heat-related seizure when they got him into the compound, having to stick him into an ice bath and jack was awake for about half a minute before passing back out.

it was just......too much to witness in the span of, like, twenty four hours.

"peter, the elevator is open."

the boy jumped at the ai's voice, snapping out of his daze and seeing that the elevator doors were in fact open, blushing a bit before exiting the lift and making his way to jack's room, heart racing as he turned the corner and grabbed the door handle, pushing it open and the teenager's locking eyes.

jack looked fine; he was sitting on the bed in everyday clothes that peter had seen him wear at school (jeans, jacket, and a graphic tee that said "lets sacrifice toby!" (he had several of those)), bandage around his hand in which he used to have an iv, his hair a bit messy and expression a little tired, but he looked like nothing happened.

peter rushed over to his friend, grabbing him in a tight hug and he felt jack hug him back, his muscles relaxing as he let out a sigh and clung to the younger boy; "don't fucking scare me like that."

"what scaring are you referring to?"

"the one where you went into a mini coma, dummy." peter tried to joke, but the fear in his voice was obvious and jack smiled softly, pulling away and looking at his best friend as peter sat down on the bed, keeping his hands on jack's hand and holding onto it, scared that if he let go then everything would go wrong. "pete, i'm okay."

"you weren't."

"he's completely fine, parker."

the two boys looked up as they heard stephen strange speak, the sorcerer having entered the room as peter had spoke and hearing some of their conversation; "is he really?" peter asked and jack rolled his eyes, but he was actually really touched that his friend cared so deeply, wanting to make sure everything was okay now. "yes, he really is. jack's body just went into a bit of shock from using so much power, and while the shock was rather scary, its over now and fine--"

"see?"

"but." stephen added, giving the teenager a side glance and he made himself smaller under the sorcerer's gaze, "to avoid something like this reoccurring, you shouldn't just rush in and use extreme amounts of power at once, train yourself." he advised and jack nodded, fiddling with a button at the bottom of his jacket, "i also wanted to ask you, what exactly can you do, jack?"

"with my powers?"

"yes, how much can you do?"

jack sat up more, peter sitting beside him as his friend raised his hand, the three in the room watching as the unclicked pen on the beside table began to float and jack began moving his hand in an infinity symbol motion, the pen copying his movements in the air.

whilst peter and strange were in awe; jack just looked at it as if it was a normal thing for people to do.

"i haven't done much, just using it as entertainment when i'm really bored or bringing things to me when i don't want to get up." he explained, putting the pen back down on the table and letting his hand fall into his lap, "i can fly--well, its more like teleporting because you can't really see my wings and before you ask, i haven't figured out how to show them."

stephen nodded, "it's mostly unknown, i assume?"

"i can also heal myself, but that's all i know.....i'm sorry."

"don't apoligize, jack, nothing to be sorry about." the doctor reassured before standing up, "i'm sure that we'll meet again, hopefully not when you're injured." he continued before leaving the room and the teenagers watched him leave.

•◇•

jack walked up to tony's laboratory door, f.r.i.d.a.y having said that the man wanted to see him before he went home and jack would be lying if he told you that he wasn't anxious as fuck.

it wasn't that he was afraid of tony; he's personally known the guy for over a year now because peter had convinced him to let him bring the three friends he had over to the compound and tony was always kind to him, he was a sarcastic asshole, but kind and trustworthy.

he was anxious over the fact that tony asked to see him alone.

why did he want jack alone? what was wrong with having peter there? or his parents? what could he possibly say that was only for jack to hear?

after taking a deep breath, the teenager pressed his hand to the scanner and entered once the door opened, tony looking up at the sound and smiling; "little moose has arrived!" the genius announced to himself more than anyone, jack chuckling at the nickname he had been given after tony had realized that sam looked like a moose and since jack was the guy's kid; tony had a big brain moment and he's been calling the teen that ever since, among a few other things but mainly that.

"hello, mister stark."

"its tony, kid, you don't work for me yet."

jack walked further into the room, tony getting up from his seat and making his way over to the boy, "actually, on the subject of you working for me." the genius started as he put an arm around jack's shoulders and the blonde teen's eyes widened at his comment, "i've been thinking about your abilities, because other than the fact that they're extremely cool, they're obviously powerful as hell and i know that you're a 'superhero' nerd--don't even deny me on that , kid, i've talken to your parents and they love embarrassing you."

while tony rambled, jack's heart pounded in his chest because was he really about to make him an avenger? there was no fucking way, it took peter like two years to become an avenger.

"anyways, what i'm trying to say is; i think you'd be a pretty good hero." stark spoke and he pressed his hand to another panel on the wall, the walls opening up and revealing a suit that made the teenager want to cry.

it was similar to peter's, but it had key differences; the material was black with golden lining stitched (was that the right word?) into it, it was also a full piece suit, from gloves to boots, except for the mask which had a small slit that was transparent so that jack's eyes would be visible, but it would still protect his eyes.

"wh.....wh-what?" was all jack could manage, mouth open in a smile as he stared at the suit with wide eyes, unable to contain his joy as he was practically vibrating from it. "i designed it while you were healing; i figured if you wanted to continue using those powers of yours than you would need proper protection; i can't have you pulling a parker and making a suit out of pajamas or something." tony smiled and jack let out a breathy laugh, not really laughing at anything but he was just so full of emotions that his body was forcing him to.

"its all yours, if you want it to be."

"i-i don't know to say." jack muttered as he glanced at the hero before looking back to the displayed shit, "a thank you would be nice." the man teased and jack chuckled before tony held out his hand, "whaddya say, kid? you in?"

the teenager turned to the genius, smiling at him and grabbed tony's hand in a firm grasp, "i'm in."