Chapter Text
Most of the time, Peter appreciated the spider bite. He had a stronger body, healed quickly, and could do things that most other people couldn’t. However, there were some downsides too. He needed to eat more, couldn’t handle being cold, and couldn’t stand mint in his food.
But the biggest disadvantage was his body’s ability to metabolize drugs of any sort. He couldn’t get drunk, and cleared toxins out quickly, but it also meant the few times he got truly sick, nothing helped.
Like now, Peter thought miserably as another chill ran through his body. It had been three days with whatever bug had managed to overpower his system, and honestly, Peter was starting to get desperate. He could barely keep anything down, his body felt too hot and too cold at the same time, and his head throbbed constantly.
Desperate didn’t mean much when he had nowhere to go. May had passed away his first year of college and Ned and MJ were at schools out of state, which left Peter in his little apartment by himself. Once upon a time, he might have gone to the Avengers, but they had made it very clear that if he wanted anything to do with them, he’d have to sign on and go full time. They refused to work with small-time vigilantes.
There was one other option, but Peter wasn’t sure if he’d honestly be welcome anymore. Ever since Tony had used Extremis on himself, he had distanced himself from the Avengers and other heroes including Spider-Man. Once upon a time, Peter would have bet his life on his mentor not caring about that, on Tony valuing Peter’s presence in the lab just as much as his help in a fight. And yet, in Peter’s senior year of High School, the older man had gone radio silent. His clearance for the tower had been revoked, and all contact had been cut. Even when May died and Peter was struggling to survive, dropping out of MIT and switching to part time at NYU so he could work to make ends meet, the man didn’t so much as send a card.
Peter caved on day five when he hallucinated that May was there with him. His symptoms were getting dangerous and his spider sense was thrumming constantly.
His mask stayed quiet as he pulled the suit on, another sign of his lost favor. Karen had just stopped turning on one day, no matter how many times he and Ned tried to get back into her code to turn her back on. That had especially hurt, because she was a friend, and he could really use those these days.
Peter flung himself clumsily out the window into the cool fall night and nearly hit the next building before remembering he needed to shoot his web if he was going to swing. Stark Tower was an ever present beacon, and Peter fixed his eyes on it, pushing through the pain and exhaustion. A few times he slipped and would clip a building but they were grazing hits so he kept going.
He managed to stay focused as he got closer and flung himself as high as he could, not trusting himself to make the full climb like he used to. With a pained groan, he dragged himself onto the landing pad, panting from the effort. The world blurred around the edges, darkening more and more with every blink.
Peter didn’t know how long he lay there, but he knew he needed to get up and get to the door so he could speak to Friday. His strength was gone though, and his last passing thought as he gave in was that Tony was probably going to be pissed that he died on his balcony.
For a while, Peter just floated. Occasionally, he’d see May or Tony, but after the first few times of chasing after them, crying and begging them to come back only for them to disappear again, he just stopped. Clearly, he was hallucinating in his final moments or something and Peter would rather just get it over with if that’s what this was.
The floating didn’t end though, and other voices occasionally filtered in. He didn’t recognize them at first but eventually they got clearer.
“Dr. Cho?” he croaked, throat dry as he opened his eyes blearily. “Dr. Banner? What-”
“Easy does it,” Cho said, quickly putting a straw in front of him. Peter drank the cool water greedily, gulping down as much as he could. Cho pulled the cup away as Peter began to choke in his haste to re-hydrate. “Easy there, you had quite the nasty bug.”
“Yeah, they knock me down hard when I get them,” Peter said after clearing his throat. He was finally waking up enough to glance around. “Where am I anyway?”
Bruce and Cho exchanged an odd glance and Peter tilted his head in question.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Bruce asked.
“I was sick, and it wasn’t getting better so I, ah-” Peter flushed as he realized how childish the next part sounded, even to him. “I thought I’d go see if Mr. Stark might have any of my old meds around still. Since normal stuff doesn't work and all. Last thing I remember is getting onto the landing pad of the tower and then falling asleep I guess. Or maybe I passed out? I don’t really know.”
“Peter, why didn’t you call someone?” Dr. Cho asked, frowning. “Swinging in that condition was ridiculously dangerous.”
“I don’t have anyone’s number to call,” Peter replied, confusion coloring his tone. “And I was out of minutes on my phone, anyway.”
“Rogers didn’t give you a phone for emergencies?” Bruce asked. Peter’s brows scrunched, even more confused.
“No? They don’t work with vigilantes,” Peter said, feeling like he was in an alternate dimension. Bruce was an Avenger, surely he knew that Spider-Man wasn’t on the roster. “Did I like, fall through a weird multiversal portal or something? Because this isn’t making sense, like at all.”
“No, no,” Bruce said with a sigh. “Nothing quite so dramatic. Just a bit of miscommunication I guess, or something. I don’t work with the Avengers anymore, Peter. And this is Tony’s new Medbay. He redid it after everything- well, just after everything.”
“Oh.” Peter fell quiet, processing the information as Cho and Bruce resumed checking him over. They pronounced the worst of it had passed and now all he needed was food and rest.
“I should get going then,” Peter said softly, his chest tight with the knowledge that Bruce had been allowed to stay, and even Cho, but not Peter. “I don’t think Mr. Stark kept a room for me after the renovations.”
“Do you have someone we can call to take you home?” Cho asked gently, not refuting Peter’s statement.
“No, just get me my suit and I’ll swing home,” Peter said as he pushed himself further up. “I’ll be fine.”
Cho pursed her lips and looked at Bruce, who just shrugged.
“You stay put,” Cho said firmly, walking over and pushing Peter physically back down. “For one, I have no idea where your suit is, and for two, you are not strong enough to swing home.”
“But-”
“No buts,” Cho cut him off. “I did not get you healthy for you to make your system crash again by overdoing the first day you wake up fever free. Stay one night, let me check you again tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ll go find you some food and your suit. Deal?”
“I’m really not sure that’s a good idea, Dr. Cho,” Peter said, though he didn’t try to get back up. He still felt weak and wasn’t sure he could swing home yet. “I don’t think Mr. Stark wants me here.”
“Tony can deal with it,” Cho snapped back and Peter flinched in on himself. “You will stay, and you will rest, understand?”
Peter nodded, feeling like a small child caught with his hands in the cookie jar.
“Yes, ma’am.”
True to her word, Cho had a large tray of easy to digest shakes and broths brought in to Peter. He could’ve gone for something a bit more substantial personally, but they were tasty and the broth made his insides feel warm, so he couldn’t complain too much. He had a sneaky feeling they were filled with supplements too, given that he felt moderately sated after finishing everything, and that didn’t happen much these days.
Peter slept fitfully but that had become his new normal, so he shrugged it off. Cho showed up at breakfast with another tray of fluids and Peter sighed but ate everything under her watchful eye. After another round of tests, she deemed him ok to go home.
“Here, clothes. Your suit will be returned in a few days, when you’re ok to be off of rest,” Cho said, giving him a stern look. “Stark is having a car take you home, so I don’t want to hear it. Also take these.”
A large box was shoved into his arms. Peter glanced at the containers and frowned.
“There’s instructions in the box,” the small woman said. “You’re underweight and missing key nutrients according to your blood work. That has a two week supply of vitamins you need plus the formulas to make more from. There’s also meal replacement powders to help up your caloric intake. All you need is water to add it to.”
Peter did his best to keep his face blank, all too aware of his terrible poker face. He didn’t think Cho would be too happy to know that there was no way he’d be able to get them refilled, though he was grateful for what she was providing. He could probably stretch it to last two to three times as long if he was careful.
“That doesn’t mean skip eating though,” Cho added before Peter could get a word in. “You need three meals a day minimum with that metabolism of yours.”
“I understand,” Peter replied quietly. “Thank you for putting this together for me.”
“Of course. The car is waiting downstairs, Friday will take you,” Cho said and Peter nodded. Now that he was up and about, he could still see the parts of the Medbay that were the same, and the elevator was as easy to spot as always.
“Thank you again, Dr. Cho,” Peter said. “And, could you let Mr. Stark know that I’m sorry for just showing up like that? I- I wasn’t thinking. Next time, I’ll make sure to handle it.”
Cho looked like she wanted to say something but Peter hurried into the waiting elevator, and Friday thankfully closed the doors and took him down to the garage. A driver he didn’t recognize stood beside one of Tony’s more discreet cars and Peter cautiously walked up to him.
“Get in,” the man said brusquely as he opened the door.
Peter slid in and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Tony already sitting there.
“Queens, 15th street near Delmars,” Tony said to the driver.
“Uh, actually, I don’t live there anymore,” Peter said, giving the driver his new address. Tony gave him a sharp look but didn’t say anything so Peter sat in silence, eyes staring at the box in his lap. After a few minutes, Peter glanced up to see Tony giving him a hard look, and he felt his heart sink further.
“Look, Mr. Stark, I’m really sorry for bothering you,” Peter finally blurted, unable to stand the silence. “I wasn’t thinking straight, and next time, I promise I’ll take care of it myself.”
“Kid, you were running a hundred and five degree fever,” Tony said, and Peter flinched at the sharp tone. “Why didn’t you go to a doctor sooner?”
“I-I don’t have a doctor, Mr. Stark, and regular meds don’t work on me, so I normally just wait it out,” Peter replied. His voice rose as his agitation grew. “There isn’t anywhere for me to go.”
“You telling me Earth’s Mightiest Heroes don’t keep doctors on staff anymore?” Tony asked, so sarcastically that Peter cringed back from the acerbic man.
“I wouldn’t know, sir,” Peter retorted, wondering why he was having to explain this again. “They don’t associate with vigilantes.”
“Alright, enough sass out of you,” Tony sighed. “Got enough of that in your teenage years.”
Peter flushed but didn’t respond. How could he when here the man was, bantering like he hadn’t just abandoned Peter for the last three years.
“Look, kid, I know this whole situation probably seems unfair, but I can’t be your mentor or anything to you anymore,” Tony finally said, and Peter just kept his gaze down, because he knew that. Tony had made it abundantly clear through his actions that Peter didn’t have a place in his life. “That being said, I don’t want you to end up in an early grave either, just because you don’t have anywhere to go. So if you get hurt or really sick again, the Medbay is always open.”
Peter looked at the older man skeptically. You don’t tell someone to stay out of my life but go ahead and use my doctor for free.
“I mean it,” Tony said, correctly reading his look. “Don’t bleed out because you’re too stubborn to ask for help.”
Peter finally nodded, but he had no intention of following through. He’d been fine for this long on his own, he’d be fine again.