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Peter had been trying to get out of going on the field trip to the Stark Tower since the permission slip was sent home.
“May, please don't make me go. I literally go there every week; it's practically my second home.”
“Peter, it's a school trip. You have to go,” May said sternly.
“Not if you don't sign the permission slip,” Peter suggested.
“No, Peter. You're going on this trip; you don't have a choice.”
Peter groaned in response but dropped it for now. The field trip was in a week and he was having a lab day today, so Peter decided he would test his luck with Tony.
After an uneventful day at school—besides Flash picking on him—he ran out the door to the black SUV waiting for him. He hopped in and greeted Happy with a smile, but Happy just grunted in response. Why is his name Happy if he's never actually happy? Peter thought. The rest of the drive was quiet besides some music playing in the background. When they got to the tower, Peter bounded out of the car and went straight to the lab. Tony was already down there working on one of his projects.
“Hi, Mr. Stark!”
“Hey, kiddo, how was school?”
“It was pretty good but,”
“Kid, don't even ask me to not make you go on the field trip.”
“Aww, come on, how did you even know I was going to ask that?”
“Because I know you, Peter.”
Peter gave up asking for now and got his homework out of his bag, then threw his backpack on the floor. He made his way to sit next to Tony and put his books on the table. Tony got up to get them drinks and snacks and tripped over Peter's backpack on the way.
“Peter, backpack!” Tony said, annoyed, to Peter.
“Sorry, Mr. Stark!”
Tony laughed to himself, shaking his head at the kid. Tony returned with a sugary soda for Peter and water for himself. They worked in silence for a few minutes before Peter closed his books and put them back in his backpack, which he did move to the side. He returned back to the table to see what Tony was working on.
“Okay, I'm done with my homework. What are you working on?” He could tell it was something for his suit but couldn't figure out what.
“I'm just tweaking your web-shooters a little, but I'm pretty much done. Is there anything you want to work on?”
“Actually, I have a project for chemistry I have to do, so I can work on that while you finish.”
They worked on their separate projects for a few hours. May talked to Tony and they arranged for Peter to just stay at the tower. This wasn't the first time this had happened since Peter has a room there. After a while, they went upstairs to have dinner and watch a movie. When the movie was over, Tony told Peter to get ready for bed and go to sleep soon. Peter obeyed and fell asleep faster than he expected.
He woke up with a pounding headache and his body was aching all over. Even with his body's protests, he decided to get up and take a quick shower before he had to meet his classmates downstairs. The scalding shower helped until he got out and was immediately hit with a wave of pain throughout his body. He took longer than usual to get ready, but eventually made his way to the kitchen where Tony was making breakfast.
“Hey kid, how did you sleep? I’m making you eggs if that's good with you.”
“Yeah, that's fine, thanks. And I slept pretty good last night.”
“Good. Now hurry up and eat so you can get down there before the rest of your classmates.” With that, he scooped the eggs on a plate and slid it across the counter to Peter. He ate half of it even though he didn't want to, but he knew with his metabolism he had to eat something even if he didn't want to.
He scurried downstairs and waited in the lobby for his classmates to arrive. He heard Ned calling out to him, telling him about his night and how he beat his high score in his favorite video game. He and his friend both have the tendency to ramble when they get excited, but Ned stopped when he saw Peter's face.
“Hey dude, you good? You look sick.”
“Thanks,” he said sarcastically. “I’m fine, just a cold probably, but honestly it's probably nothing since I can't get sick.”
“Okay, whatever you say, but just know you look like shit.”
Peter rolled his eyes and started walking through security even though he literally just came from inside the tower. FRIDAY was saying hello to everyone as they walked through the metal detector, and when it was Peter’s turn, FRIDAY said, “Welcome back, Roo’s.” Peter sighed as his classmates stared at him in awe since no one actually believed that he actually knew Tony Stark until now. They continued the tour around the exhibits and stopped at the cafeteria for lunch. Peter was practically being dragged around by Ned the whole time, not wanting to actually walk around. When they got to the cafeteria, he was relieved; he put his head down on his arms and quickly drifted off to sleep.
“Hey, wake up, kid,” Tony said as he shook his kid awake. Peter let out a small moan in response and slowly lifted his head off the table.
“Come on, buddy, let's get you upstairs. FRIDAY told me you have a fever. Why didn't you tell me this morning?”
“You were going to think I was faking it.” Peter now had his head leaning into Tony's stomach and Tony was running a hand through his brown curls. His class was watching as their classmate was being personally escorted to the private elevator by Tony Stark. Peter slumped into Tony's side as they rode the elevator up to the penthouse floors.
When the doors opened, they made their way to the living room and Tony sat Peter down on the couch before asking FRIDAY where the thermometer was. Pepper had banned Tony from just relying on FRIDAY’s reading after the AI told him his fever was much lower than it actually was. The AI told him where it was, and Tony found it and brought it back to where Peter was laying down. Tony bent down in front of him, stuck the thermometer in his mouth, and held it until it beeped.
“You’re burning up; we need to get your fever down. It’s at 104.2.”
“I’m cold, Mr. Stark,” Peter whined.
“I know, bud. I’ll be right back; I'm going to call Pepper.”
“Hey Pep, do you have a sec?”
“Hi, yeah, what's wrong?”
“Peter is really sick and I have no idea what to do. His fever is really high but medicine doesn't work on him and he said he has a headache and his body is achy.”
“Sounds like the flu. You should take him down to MedBay and get him tested, and if he has it, Bruce can give him antibiotics. And if he doesn't have the flu, you need to make sure he is super hydrated and make sure he eats even if he doesn't want to. And let him get as much sleep as he wants; his body needs it.”
“Okay, thanks Pep, you're the best. Love you.”
“Love you too. I’m going to be home in a few hours and I can help out then. I’ve got to go, see you in a bit.”
Tony made his way back to the couch. Peter was sleeping and Tony thought about letting him sleep, but if he had the flu or something, the sooner he got medicine, the better he would feel. Tony shook Peter awake. He was so tired and just wanted to sleep, but Tony kept trying to wake him up, so he gave up and opened his eyes.
“I know you want to sleep, but Pepper said you might have the flu, so you have to go get tested.”
“Ugh, okay.”
“Do you want to put on comfier clothes before we go down? We might be there for a while.”
Peter didn't respond, he just got up and went to his room and came out a few minutes later in sweatpants and one of Tony's sweatshirts. Tony swung an arm around Peter’s shoulders as they walked to the elevator.
Peter blurted out, “I feel like shit.”
“Yeah, I know, bambino. Hopefully you have the flu or something so you can get antibiotics and feel better soon.”
“Why do you want me to be sick?”
“I don't, but if you don't have something, then you just have to wait it out and suffer without medicine.”
“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense.”
They made their way down to MedBay, strategically avoiding Peter’s class. Bruce was already waiting for them to arrive. He had everything set up waiting for Peter so when they got there he could get them out quickly, hopefully not spreading any of his germs to any of the MedBay staff. Bruce greeted them and brought them into a room. Peter had been there plenty of times with stab wounds and other various injuries, but being there when he was sick gave him an uneasy feeling. Tony caught on to that and rested a comforting hand on Peter's shoulder. Bruce began the checkup and ran all the tests he needed to before leaving the room. He came back a little while later and, to no one's surprise, Pepper was right: he had the flu.
“Sorry Peter, you have the flu. I can get you Tamiflu but with your metabolism, I don't know if they will really help.” Peter just nodded in response, too tired to say anything else, so Tony responded for him.
“Okay, thanks Bruce. I will keep an eye on him, make sure he rests, stays hydrated, all that jazz.”
“Anytime. Feel better, kid.”
“Thank you, Mr. Bruce.”
Tony gave a little giggle as they got up to leave. They made their way back up to the penthouse and Tony guided Peter to sit down on the couch.
“Alright kid, how are you feeling? Do you need anything right now?”
“Honestly, I feel horrible. And can I have some water, please?”
“Of course, Roo’s. Anything else while I'm up?”
“No, I'm good for now,” Peter said while laying down on the couch and pulling the blanket all the way up to his chin. Tony came back with the water and gave it to Peter, telling him to take small sips. After a few sips, Peter put the cup on the coffee table and tucked himself back in.
“Want to put on a movie and try and take a nap?”
“Yeah, I'm tired. Can we watch Star Wars?”
“Sure,” Tony rolled his eyes and said, “This is how you know I love you, kid.”
Tony knew what he was going to say as soon as he asked, but he still asked anyway. Peter had been at the tower when he wasn't feeling good before—whether it be a stab wound or just a headache—and he would always ask for Star Wars. Before the opening credits were even over, Tony glanced over at Peter and he was already sleeping. Tony let him sleep on the couch and went to the kitchen to make something for lunch.
He was about to start eating when he was startled by the sounds of vomiting. He practically ran back to the living room where he saw Peter throwing up all over the floor. Tony swiftly grabbed a small trash can that was in the corner of the room and handed it to Peter, who was now sobbing on the couch. He let out a few wet coughs before gagging again, although this time he got it into the trash can. Tony rubbed his back and cooed soothing words to Peter.
“I’m so sorry!” Peter choked out between sobs. Tony couldn't help but give the child a sympathetic smile before responding with, “Hey, it's fine, it happens to the best of us. I promise it's okay. Let's go to the bathroom and get you into the shower and I can clean this up, okay?”
Peter nodded, still sniffling and crying, but he got up and started to make his way to the bathroom with Tony following close behind.
“Okay, let's get you into the shower. Do you need help with your clothes or can you do it?” Peter just stood there, still crying a little, so Tony took that as an ‘I need help.’ Tony stripped him of his clothes and left him standing in his boxers.
“I’m going to go get you new clothes and you get in the shower.”
When he came back, he was surprised Peter was actually in the shower. He left his clothes on the counter and put the soiled ones in the hamper. He went back to the to clean up and waited for Peter to get out of the shower. After what felt like forever, Peter finally emerged from the bathroom looking better than he did before. Tony patted the spot on the couch next to him, signaling for Peter to sit. He sat and leaned his head on Tony's shoulder. They sat peacefully like that for a few moments before Peter broke the silence.
“Thanks for taking care of me, Dad.”
Tony was briefly taken aback by that, but his heart swelled with love for the kid. He was so happy Peter saw him like a dad even if he was half asleep and had a fever.
“Of course, kid. I love you.”