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Peter Parker was Tony's biological son from a one night stand. Peter's mother had died a few days after birth so Tony became Peter’s primary caregiver. Peter was 5 now and living in the tower with his dad, his mom Pepper and the other Avengers who he was very close with and they thought he was adorable. In the middle of the night Peter woke up and went to his parents room, but didn't quite make it to their bathroom before vomiting all over their floor. Tony and Pepper shot awake from the noise of their son gagging on their floor. They exchanged a look before springing into action. “Alright you help Peter and I will start cleaning it up” Tony said before retreating to the supply closet down the hall. Pepper got up and walked to Peter who was now crying on the floor. “Hey baby, you're okay, it's over now.” Pepper scooped the little boy up and carried him to the bathroom. Surprisingly Peter hadn't gotten it on his pajamas so Pepper told him to just rinse his mouth out. When they were done in the bathroom Pepper placed Peter on their bed and went to grab a small trash can. When Tony was done cleaning he hopped back into bed with Peter.
“Hey buddy, how are you feeling”
“My tummy hurts” Peter whines
“I know bud. Let's go to sleep and we will see how you feel in the morning, okay?”
“Okay daddy. Night night.”
The rest of the night was uneventful, thankfully and there were no more incidents until the morning. Peter decided to wake up 3 hours after he first woke up and had another round of sickness. Thankfully this time he made it to the toilet. Pepper didn't wake up at the commotion but Tony did so he followed the little boy to the bathroom and gently rubbed his sweaty back as threw up into the toilet. That's when he realized Peter probably had a fever too but decided to wait until the morning to really check it. After a few minutes of dry heaving he was finally ready to go back to bed. When they got back into bed Pepper had woken up and instead of going back to sleep Peter kept them awake until it was a decent enough time to get out of bed. The two parents were exhausted and obviously so was Peter since he was the one who was sick.
When Tony finally dragged himself out of bed he left to get the thermometer and a cup of coffee. In the common area he was met with Nat and Steve, he greeted them with a small nod and Nat responded with “you look like shit, did you sleep last night?”. “Actually no I didn’t. Peter woke up at midnight and threw up all over my floor, then he woke up around 3 and threw up yet again and refused to go back to sleep after that. So no, actually I did not sleep last night.” Nat gave him a sympathetic look and Steve said “Sorry Tony that sounds horrible. If you need help with Peter or if you guys want to sleep, let us know we are here to help.” “Thanks capsicle. I might have to take you up on that offer. Do either of you know where the thermometer is, the one in my bathroom is gone.” They both shook their heads so Tony moved on to the communal bathroom in the common room to look for the thermometer. Why don’t we have more than one thermometer in here. There are like 15 of us living here Tony thought. But his thoughts were soon cut off because he finally found what he was looking for. He returned back to his room where he was met with the cutest sight. Peter was half asleep and curled up on Pepper who was running her fingers through his sweaty hair as they watched a movie that played quietly in the background.
“Hey bambino, can I check your temperature really quick?” Peter gave a small nod barely paying attention. Tony slid the thermometer into his mouth and waited for the beep. The thermometer read 102.3, he flipped it to show Pepper. “Go get him some medicine and water. It should be wherever you found the thermometer.” Pepper said. “Alright, be right back.” Tony responded. Peter squirmed around in Peppers arms trying to get comfortable but ultimately failing resulting in a small whine from him. “Mommy I don’t feel good and my tummy hurts.” Peter whined. “I know sweetheart, daddy's getting you some medicine that will make you feel better.” Pepper cooed back to the boy. Tony came back with the medicine and an iron man sippy cup with water. They always had a hard time giving Peter medicine, no matter how good it tasted he always cried before taking it and with him being sick it made him even more emotional. When Peter saw the cold and flu medicine he knew how horrible it tasted and remembered the last time he took it and threw up again after because of how disgusting it tasted. And with that the crying started. Tony had poured it into the little cup and tried to give it to Peter but he swatted it away, almost spilling it on the bed. Pepper tried consoling him but nothing seemed to be working. So Tony moved on to the last resort, bribing. “peter , if you take your medicine I’ll get you a new truck. How ‘bout that?”. Trucks were Peter's new favorite thing, specifically dump trucks. Peter's crying calmed down at the thought of a new truck but he still wouldn't accept the medicine so Tony added “it can be a dump truck, but you have to take your medicine now, okay?” Peter sniffled as he stopped crying and finally agreed to take the medicine. He quickly swallowed it and reached out for the water which Tony gave to him. After the medicine started to take effect Peter finally drifted off into a deep sleep.
Once they were sure he was sleeping they quietly snuck out to the common area where the rest of the team was eating breakfast. Pepper took a seat next to Nat and Tony decided on another cup of coffee instead of real food. “How’s Peter feeling? I heard the tantrum before.” Nat asked Pepper, “he's finally asleep, the medicine knocked him out. Hopefully he is done getting sick and his fever breaks soon.” “Yeah, let me know if you need anything.” Pepper nodded and began eating the food Tony had placed in front of her. After a few moments of quiet Pepper said “Tony you need to eat something, you don't want to get whatever Peter has.”
“Pep I’m good I don't ever eat breakfast anyway.”
“Okay suit yourself”
Tony walked over to the other side of the room and plopped himself on the couch next to Barton.
“Peter have a stomach bug? Coop was just sick with one last week, they are going around at school.”
“Probably, he's thrown up a few times and had a fever so we will see what the rest of the day brings.”
“Get some sleep, you don't want to catch it too. And Pepper is right, you should eat something. Laura caught whatever Cooper had and she felt like shit. These school diseases are crazy.”
Tony rolled his eyes and retreated to Peter's bed to try and get some sleep. He must have been exhausted because he fell asleep as soon as he hit the pillow. He woke up hours later with Pepper sleeping next to him. He tried to get out of bed without waking her up but she woke up with the bed evening out.
“Tony where are you going”
“To check on Peter."
“Tony, he's fine. Nat is looking after him right now. It's only been about an hour since you came in here. Go back to sleep.”
Tony reluctantly agreed then slipped back into the bed. His thoughts only lasted minutes before he was taken by sleep again. When Pepper woke up again the sun was setting and she shook Tony awake before yelling at him to wake up. She felt guilty that they slept so long and left Nat alone to take care of their sick child. When they both left the room they went into their room expecting to see Peter in there. Instead, to their surprise they found it empty. Tony suggested checking the common room so they headed there. In the common room they found all the avengers huddling around little Peter who was being cradled in Thor’s arms. He looked even smaller in Thor's giant arms that wrapped comfortingly around all of Peter. Tony and Pepper stood there in shock as they saw these tough, world-saving superheroes all fussing over a little 5 year old.
