Hospital
IRON-DAD IS I-AM-MAD!
In shocking footage, the relationship between Spider-Man and Iron-Man is pulled into question again. Although both have previously denied blood relations, the latest video contradicts that. Iron-Man outright declares Spider-Man ‘his kid’ as he threatens the general public. Is this the answer we’ve all been seeking? Watch the video below and see for yourself.
It had been years since Tony had gone through so many strong emotions within a ten-minute time span.
At first he felt relieved. Not at what happened, but at the fact it wasn't his company being screwed over. It had led to a debate between Pepper and himself about what could be in the truck - for fun, more than anything else. Then a red and blue bug had swung onto the news and anger had swept through him. A hijacked truck was a significant step up from muggings and helping old ladies. Didn't Peter realise how dangerous it was? How unprepared he was? Tony and Pepper hadn't even needed to speak after that. He'd engaged his suit and headed to New York while she'd phoned the kid.
He watched the live feed on the way, listened to her conversation and ignored his pounding heart - it was almost as loud as the wind around him. The tightness in his chest became too much when the kid went inside the cabin and he had to switch to auto-pilot. The cameras hadn't been able to capture what went on inside, but not even a minute later that didn't matter.
The next emotion had been fear.
Tony stopped breathing when Peter went flying through the windshield. He didn't care about the police cars crashing into each other because Peter was still fucking rolling on the ground. The kid skidded almost ten metres ahead from the momentum before he stopped and went as limp as a ragdoll.
He also didn't get up.
Pepper's frantic calls echoed in his ears, giving voice to what he wasn't brave enough to say aloud - then the kid twitched and Tony gasped, big and deep gulps that left him dizzy, while Pepper cut the terror out her tone. When he could speak without his voice wavering, he snapped, "I'm gonna kill him. Call Karen, F.R.I.D.A.Y. Don't give him a choice." The kid appeared on his screen, eyes squinted and a bruise on the side of his head, and Tony had to hold back the first and second thing he wanted to say. Then, finally, he said, "I thought we promised no more heart attacks Pete," and prayed the kid couldn't hear how wrecked he was.
"I'm fine Mr Sta -"
He refused to listen - Peter would say he was fine even if someone had impaled him through the stomach.
"Yeah, no, Spiderlings don't get a say right now. Karen, run a diagnostic."
Severe and minor bruising, external only. The kid had gotten lucky.
Peter's swift dismissal stunned him, though in retrospect it shouldn't have because Steve had been the same. Their enhanced healing ruined their perspective (he wondered what they would think if he told them Pepper still ached from her 'severe bruising' in the bombings almost two months ago). When the police distracted the kid, it gave him a chance to regain his composure and relax. The crisis was over; he was only flying in to help with the clean-up and answer any awkward questions.
Then the kid fucking fainted.
“Jesus," he muttered and repeated Karen's diagnostic in his head to reassure himself it couldn't be that serious.
"Oh my god he's worse than you," Pepper said in disbelief. "How did I end up with two of them?"
The crowd of people around Peter had increased a lot by the time he arrived. Tony dodged around helicopters, ignored the cameras now tracking him and searched for the best place to land. He couldn't dive straight to the kid’s side like he wanted because it would put others at risk. The police were doing their best to keep the public away but there were too many people. He wasn't surprised when the line broke and people surrounded his kid.
He saw red when some asshole reached out to pull off Peter's mask.
“Get your hands off my kid!”
A split second later he was next to Peter and pointing his blaster at the asshole.
“Woah man -” the man backed up immediately, eyes wide and hands up in surrender.
“All of you back the hell up!” he roared, twisting so he was now aiming at the whole group, and took immense satisfaction in the way they fell over themselves and dropped their phones to do as he asked. He hoped a few of them had shattered their screens.
“Mr Stark, please stand down,” one brave police officer asked, her voice trembling. Tony spun around and disengaged the helmet, so he could give her his best glare. She blanched.
“Don’t you dare tell me what to do when you can’t even do your job,” he snapped.
“Tony…” Pepper warned. He was about to launch into a tirade when there was movement out the corner of his eye. He spun back around, pointed his blaster at the idiot who’d dared to try when his back was turned and then did a double-take. A woman had thrown herself over Peter’s torso and was scowling up at him.
“I’m sorry, do you not see the imminent danger you’re in?” he took one step forward and put the blaster flat against her forehead.
“You won’t hurt me."
“You’ll find there’s very little I wouldn’t do for that kid,” he powered up. He intended to intimidate, there was no chance he would shoot her, but although she paled, she didn’t back away.
“I’m not leaving,” her voice trembled even as she shouted, “He’s my boyfriend and I love him!” and a hushed silence descended on the crowd.
...
Tony stared.
He kept staring.
"I'm done. So done. You hear me kid?" he glanced down at the unconscious teenager. "The situations you put me in, Jesus fucking Christ. My heart can't cope." He powered down the blaster, grabbed the back of the girl's shirt and hauled her off his kid. "You," he snapped his fingers at the nearest police officer. "This woman is crazy and needs to be kept far, far away from Spider-Man. Think of it as your chance to redeem yourself for your first screw up."
"You can't do this!" the woman shrieked in his grip and tried to escape but, of course, couldn't. "You can't keep us apart forever!"
"I can and will do exactly that, thanks," he shoved her into the police officer's arms. "Let her go and you're answering to me," he threatened and the officer gulped. As his partner helped restrain the struggling girl, Tony turned his back on them and returned to Peter. The crowd had learnt their lesson and stayed a respectable distance away. "Spidey?" He shook Peter's shoulder.
To his relief, the kid stirred and then slurred, "Mr Stark...? What...?" The eyes on the spider-suit blinked, Karen's representation of what happened behind, and Tony had never been gladder to have installed that feature.
"You fainted," he explained as he pushed the kid into a sitting position. "Quite dramatically, in fact. A proper swoon, worthy of Aunt Pittypat. Of course, most people wouldn't have got up the first time after being thrown through a windshield, so you have that going for you." Peter leant into Tony's chest and Tony deactivated his suit so only his right arm remained armoured. He wrapped his left around the kid's shoulders and held him close. The lack of response was worrying.
"Pepper?" he asked.
"Happy's nearly there," she answered.
"Did you call -" he didn't dare say May's name, not when the cameras were rolling, but Pepper understood anyway.
"Another car's bringing her to the compound."
God he loved that woman.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y, gimme his vitals," he ordered and on the screen a more detailed summary of Peter appeared. His AI confirmed the only injuries were bruising and the head hadn't taken any damage, which made the kid's lethargy even more worrying. He needed to get them to the compound. "Spidey? You up for moving?"
"... Yeah," Peter said, sounding exhausted, and Tony felt the kid tensing underneath in preparation.
"Alright bud," he said and shifted so his arm was now wrapped around the kid's chest. He pulled them both up, Peter making a token effort but managing to stay upright once they were on their feet. He swayed and Tony pulled him close again, letting the kid rest against him while scanning the crowd. He finally spotted Happy storming down the street looking very unhappy and said, "Cavalry's here, Spidey. Let's head to the car and -"
"No! Spider-Man, help me!"
Tony's head snapped up. The crazy woman from earlier was fighting hard against being put in the car and the two officers restraining her were having so much trouble two other officers ran forward to help.
"Yeah we've definitely overstayed our welcome," he muttered and pushed Peter towards Happy as the other man approached. Happy didn't say a word, immediately pulling Peter's arm over his shoulder, and Tony kept a hand to Peter's back while keeping an eye on the crazy lady.
"Spider-Man! Spider-Man!"
Peter lifted his head and started to turn towards her. Tony snapped, "Eyes front and centre kid. We don't engage with crazy."
"Car's round the corner," Happy muttered and shot a dark glare at the people who had started following them down the street. The kid stumbled, would have face-planted if Happy weren't holding him, and Tony tried to pretend his heart wasn't threatening to jump out his chest. Everything would be okay when they got to the compound.
When he woke up, a lot of what happened felt like a dream.
The memory of following Mr Stark and Happy down the street was hazy and he didn't remember the car ride back at all, but he did remember stumbling through the compound and crashing out on an infirmary bed. He felt a hand running through his hair and asked, "May?" before he'd even opened his eyes.
"Sorry to disappoint kid."
The hand retreated and he whined before he could really think about it. The other person huffed, either in amusement or disbelief, then their hand returned and Peter leant into it. His aunt and uncle had always comforted him by running a hand through his hair and with his body throbbing almost everywhere, he could really do with some of that comfort now. It was a pleasant distraction from the ache and he cracked open his eyes, recognising who it was even through the blurriness.
"Hey Mr Stark," he whispered.
"Hey Pete," his mentor whispered back, his hand stilling. "Your aunt's sleeping, but I can go wake her if you want?"
"S'okay," Peter blinked to try and improve his focus. "She should rest. Tired."
Mr Stark chuckled. "So are you, bud. Go back to sleep, your body needs to heal."
"Mmkay..." he could feel sleep calling to him again, but there was something he had to say first. "You're never a disappointment Mr Stark."
"You just haven't been around long enough. It'll happen eventually." The expression on his mentor's face told Peter he wouldn't be winning this fight in a hurry and he decided to let it go for now. He'd tuck it with Mr Stark being a hero and hope someday he could convince his mentor of both those ideas.
"We'll have to agree to disagree, sir," he yawned.
"Look kid, I allowed you to keep calling me Mr Stark. Sir is pushing it."
"Sorry... sir."
The last thing he saw was his mentor pretending to be offended.
There was still a hand in his hair when he woke and he murmured, "Mr Stark?" The answering silence told him no, it wasn't his mentor, and he opened his eyes to see May leaning over him with a small, sad smile.
"Hi sweetheart," she said and brushed his fringe out his eyes. "How do you feel?"
"Um..." he thought about it. His body still throbbed all over but it was no worse than the vulture incident. "I'm okay. Are you?"
She didn't answer. "Are you going to stay awake long enough for a chat?"
"Yeah, of course," Peter ignored the pain and pushed himself into a sitting position. "What's wrong?"
"Do you know why you fainted?" she reached out and squeezed his hands. He shook his head. "The doctors said it was because you haven't been eating enough. I thought that meant maybe you hadn't been getting enough, that with your metabolism you needed more and you were too hesitant to ask, but that wasn't the case," her grip tightened and she pressed her lips together so hard they turned white.
"May..."
"You were suffering the same amount of malnutrition as someone who is anorexic. It doesn't show on your body like a normal person would, but all the important things inside..." she swallowed. "Peter, why didn't you tell me? Is it because I've been working more? I haven't been around for you to talk to?" He didn't reply. The same amount as an anorexic person? He'd admit he'd been skipping a lot of meals, but he had been eating some, and it was only for the past few weeks - three at most. There was no way he could be the same as an anorexic person!
"That's impossible," he said.
"Don't lie to me Peter, not now -"
"I'm not lying May, I swear!"
She crossed her arms. "There are medical records which say otherwise."
"I don't know why they're saying that but May please, I'm not anorexic. I've been eating! Yeah okay it's been a lot less but I'm not -" his hand gripped the sheet as he pushed forward, trying to make his aunt understand. "You have to believe me."
"No, I don't. How can I?" she blinked back tears. "You lied about Spider-Man until I caught you red-handed. The only reason I found out this time is because you fainted -" she cut herself off and pressed a hand to her mouth, then regained her composure. "Pete, I'm trying so hard but you need to be honest with me."
To his horror, his eyes started to sting.
"May, I swear, it's not what it looks like. I'll talk to the doctor, I'll answer every question, you can even look at Karen's records. But I'm not - I wouldn't do that to you. May, you're all I have," his voice cracked.
"You have Tony and Pepper now. If you're not mentoring with one, you're hanging out with the other and it's -" she was interrupted by the doors opening. Doctor Cho walked in, looked up from her clipboard with a smile that faded when she took in the scene.
"I'll come back," she started to turn.
"No! No, it's fine," May moved from the bed to the nearby chair. "Peter was telling me something very interesting."
Peter wiped at his eyes and straightened. "Y-yeah, Doctor Cho, I don't know what tests you've done but I'm not anorexic. I've been eating."
"You have?" she frowned and pulled out a tablet. "When was the last time you ate?"
"Um..." Peter cast his mind back. "Thai? With May. Yesterday."
"Two days ago," his aunt corrected. "And you ate only half. You said you'd eat the rest after patrol, but..." Shit, she was right. He'd intended to, but when he'd got back he'd been so tired he'd crashed out and wound up skipping breakfast again.
"Then, lunch. At school," he clarified.
"What did you have?"
He frowned and stared at his hands. What did he have? Why couldn't he remember?
"You didn't have lunch," May realised.
"I grabbed a tray!" he defended because he was certain of that. "I planned to eat! I just had some homework I had to get done and lost track of time -"
"That's no excuse!"
"- and you've gotta admit those lunches are disgusting, like I'm probably healthier for not eating them, really, so we should look at it as a good thing -"
"Do you often skip lunch?" Doctor Cho interrupted.
"No," he huffed. "I haven't been skipping at all! I've been really busy and I forget, okay? Ned and MJ have already been on my case about it so it's fine. They won't let me get away with it anymore so it's not even a big deal." He saw the two women exchange a glance and frowned. "I swear it's just because I'm busy."
The doctor hummed. "What about breakfast?"
"He's been more tired recently so I've been letting him sleep in," May frowned at Peter. "I always sent him off with a piece of fruit and a snack, but I also remember telling you to eat a big lunch."
He scratched the back of his head and couldn't meet her eyes. That was definitely true.
"So that's breakfast and lunch skipped, and dinner, when eaten, is smaller than before," Doctor Cho put her hands on her hips. "It's no wonder you collapsed." Put like that it made sense, but...
"It's only been a few weeks! Just until finals are done. Then I'll have more time again and it'll go back to how it was before."
"Perhaps for other people, but with your enhanced metabolism things like this are going to hit you harder," she pointed out. "It may have only been a few weeks but it's been at least double that for your body."
"What?" his eyes widened.
"Well, that's my guess. I'd need to do more tests to give you a more accurate rate, but that's what your current blood work suggests."
He bit his lip. Had he really been screwing himself over that much? He'd been getting more and more tired as the weeks went by, but he'd thought that was due to stress and the increased workload. He glanced to his aunt.
"I didn't know," he whispered as her words echoed in his ears. "I didn't, I swear. I just thought..."
May studied him. He fidgeted, feeling like he was seven years old and had broken the vase all over again, and he was just starting to worry she wouldn't forgive him when she darted forward, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held his head close to her chest.
"...May?" he croaked.
"I believe you," she said. "You scared me so damn much Peter. With the truck, then the fainting - that call from Pepper was one of the scariest things I've ever had! And then to think that it was self-inflicted…"
His eyes burned again and he buried his face into her sweater so neither of them would see.
"I'm sorry. I'm so, sorry..."
He'd expected the next visitor to be Mr Stark again, so when Miss Potts strode in he almost spat out his glass of water.
"Er - hi Miss Potts!" he banged the glass down on the beside cabinet and did a quick check in the mirror to make sure he was presentable.
"Hi Peter," she smiled as she settled in the chair May had earlier. She cast an eye over his bruises as she asked, "How do you feel?"
"Awesome! So awesome. I mean there's a bit of stiffness but - i-it's fine, Miss Potts, it looks worse than it is, you know? It'll be healed in a few days, so..." he trailed off, finally noticing her clasped hands in her lap and amused smile. He slumped back in the bed and would have crossed his arms if it didn't hurt too much.
"Bruises always look worse while they get better," she replied. "It just means they're coming out rather than swelling up underneath."
"Yeah I know," he sighed. He'd had a lot of bruises so far and suspected many more would come.
"If they're anything like the ones Tony gets then you have my sympathy," she patted his bicep. "I'm glad you're awake. Do you feel up for a chat?"
He snorted. "Miss Potts, you could ask me to go clean up dog litter in Central Park and I'd probably do it." When she raised an eyebrow, he realised how that had come across. "I-I just mean I'm really bored right now, not that I would do anything you ask, 'cause May ordered me to stay in bed and I really don't want to piss her off... again." He thought over what he'd just said again. "Not that I wouldn't not do anything you ask 'cause you're, you know, CEO and all around badass and I'm going to shut up now," he hung his head and felt his cheeks burn.
"Well, you haven't babbled like that around me for a while now, I thought I was losing my touch," she teased. He looked at her through his fringe, expecting to see mockery, but instead he saw tiredness and worry lines. He realised her hair was a little out of place too. He lifted his head again, about to ask if everything was ok, when she continued. "There's a few things I want to talk to you about, but first I wanted to apologise."
Peter gaped. "A-apologise?"
"I'm partially responsible for adding to your workload, which to my understanding has kept you so busy these past few weeks you haven't found time to eat," she leant forward. "In hindsight, both Tony and I are terrible role models for you."
"No no no no," Peter flapped his arms at her. "I liked it! Really! I'm totally happy to help you with anything Miss Potts, I swear. And I was doing totally awesome as well, managing my time just like you told me but then finals..." he trailed off with a sigh.
She nodded. "That brings me to the next thing. It's time for your next lesson."
"What's that?"
"How to prioritise," she said. "No matter how well you manage your time, there will always be more things to do than time to do them. You need to learn which ones you can afford to put down for a moment and which you can't."
He pulled a face. "I did think about that actually, but..."
"But?"
"They're all too important. I can't drop any of them."
"I can guarantee that's not the case, but welcome to the first stage - how to be brutal," she pulled out a tablet and stylus and then looked at him. "Let's make a list of everything you have to do."
He shifted position on the bed to get more comfortable even as he asked, "Uh... don't you have other important things to do?"
"I'm prioritising," she smiled. "Teaching you this now is an investment in the future and, I trust, will prevent things like this from repeating. Agreed?"
Peter grinned. "Agreed."
ned (16:52): dude your dads gone viral
peter (16:55): wat?
ned (16:56): it’s #1 trending on YT
ned (16:56): comments are crazy omg
ned (16:57): youre gonna have soooo many new fans after this
mj (17:00): and weird chicks
ned (17:01): yeah that was freaky
ned (17:01): you don’t have another secret life right dude?
peter (17:13): just showed miss p
peter (17:13): guys im freaking
peter (17:13): guys
peter (17:14): help
mj (17:17): you shouldn’t have fainted then lol
ned (17:18): that’s a good point
ned (17:18): btw you ok? looked bad
peter (17:32): no
peter (17:33): miss p says they gotta call a press conference
ned (17:35): why?
mj (17:36): he did threaten people
mj (17:36): and basically confess to having a kid
ned (17:37): to protect peter
mj (17:38): yeah but this is Iron-Man, one wrong move and everyone leaps on
mj (17:38): comments seem split 50/50
peter (17:45): how can I fix it?
ned (17:47): not sure you can dude
mj (17:50): I have an idea
peter (17:51): wat?
ned (17:51): ooo
peter (18:00): what idea?
peter (18:05): MJ?
peter (18:20): Michelle???????????????
ned (18:21): uh oh