Tony took a deep breath, relieved Peter was alive. He had no doubt if the kid had survived this long, they'd get him through the rest. Perhaps that's what he was thinking about himself too, but it was easier to focus on the kid.
At least, that's what he was expecting. The careful words draw Tony's focus back to Pepper and he frowns. That was never a good sign.
She's leaving you. She lost the baby. She realized she never loved you. She hates you.
"Okay?" He lays back down and braces himself for whatever new shit life was going to throw his way.
Pepper lets out sigh, collecting her thoughts because what she has to say is not good news and her heart is aching in her chest but she can’t focus on that just now.
“It’s about May.” She says gently. “She’s on the missing list.” She finally states, keeping her emotions reigned in with her cool, business tone. “We haven’t told him yet.”
Tony stares at Pepper a long moment as he feels the hurt in his heart growing, like ripples in a pond till it covered his whole body. He liked the woman in her own right, but the pain isn't for him or her. It's for the boy who apparently is sleeping in the next room.
"I- I'll tell him." Just how he was going to do that, he didn't know. Whatever the case, the news should come from him. Somehow he feels responsible for this. In some way this was his fault. What could he have done to prevent this? What were they supposed to do now?
He was going to be sick. "Trash can!" He gags out, barely able to stop the next action till there's something to catch it. It couldn't be healthy for him to be throwing up, but the very idea that Peter had lost one more person in this world was too much for him.
Pepper's quick to grab a bin for Tony and moves closer rub his back soothingly. It's a bad deal. The moment he starts vomiting there are several alarms going off in the room and Bruce rushes in. He looks from Pepper to Tony and frowns in concern as he moves over to check vitals and glucose levels and to see if maybe he should dial back some of the doses.
"He's okay." Pepper assures as Bruce continues to check things over, staying quiet so that Pepper could talk to Tony. "Are you sure you're up to it? Can tell him if you'd prefer." But it had to be either Tony or Pepper. She Bruce had decided sometime ago that this wasn't the kind of news Peter needed to hear from a stranger. For that reason, they kept the information about May from the other Avengers just in case someone accidentally let it slip.
Pepper knows this is going to hurt. She knows that Peter's going to break when he finds out-he's a such a gentle and compassionate boy that it breaks Peppers heart to know his last living relative is gone.
"I've also gotten in touch with some custody lawyers, they're on stand by to draw up papers Monday." She might not have left Tony's side but that didn't mean she'd just been idle.
"When you have a moment, I need to go over Peter's condition with you both." Bruce states, once he's sure Tony isn't going to go into cardiac arrest. "He's fine." Bruce adds to keep Tony as calm as possible given the news. "But there are something things we'll need to talk about."
There was only so much a man could handle. How did the universe expect him to cope with all of this? Did they think he was actually made of iron?
He shook from the violent way his stomach emptied itself and he wondered if he'd made it out of that ship just long enough to die here. This was preferable, he supposed. He knew Peter would be okay and he was in Pepper's arms..
He stayed pressed against her, not wanting her to let go just yet. He had to tell Peter, but what if he couldn't? What if.. "Custody lawyers?" He asks, barely having a voice to do so. His mind wasn't moving fast enough to keep up with this. He'd just been starved for a bunch of days- how many he'd already forgotten.
His heart tightens painfully in his chest, all color leave his face at Bruce's words. 'Peter's condition'. He makes the tiniest whimper/ gasp, feeling the world starting to fall apart in those seconds. The 'he's fine' has Tony staring at him unsure what that even means. "What?" It's hoarse and weak but he just can't keep up with this. Tony who preferred assistants with ADHD just to keep up with him, looked completely lost but even this little amount of news.
Pepper continues to hold him, gently rubbing his back as he shakes. Perhaps she should have waited a little bit longer to break the news to him but when Peter woke up again, he was sure to ask about where his Aunt was and might even figure out what happened before they had the chance to tell him-that would be worse Pepper thinks, then he might get in his head they were trying to hide it from him.
"Peter's a minor, honey." Pepper says calmly. "He can't live on his own." So she's already started the process of taking legal custody over him, though with the way things were across the world at the moment, it was likely to take months to even hear anything back.
"Pepper's already started the process and taken over as power of attorney." Bruce states quietly. "My thing, can wait. He's sleeping right now and you two seem like you might need a moment."
Peter was a minor. His aunt was gone. That left him and Pepper. What if he didn't want to? Okay, that wasn't going to happen. Peter obviously would want this to be how it worked out. Tony didn't have to ask the boy, he knew it. The only concern was how the boy would come back from this too. Hell, how would Tony?
He watches as Bruce leaves. He'd never appeared so weak in front of the man and feels a pang of uncertainty over it now.
Pepper's concerned about that herself, Peter's usually so bright and cheerful, sometimes it's easy to forget what harsh life the kid has had. But he'll bounce back, she's confident they both will. It just might take a long time to get there.
"Once." She answers honestly, hand combing through Tony's hair as she holds him. "He was really tired and kept having an anxiety attack over the needles-Bruce and I decided to sedate him for a little while until he's had a bit more rest."
She glances over at Peter's room, the two only separated by glass wall. "He'll probably be out for a few more hours."
It makes him laugh. It was so stupid and trivial, but that little snapshot into normal, dumb teenager antics breaks through all the crap going through Tony's mind and he just laughs.
"He's such a wimp about needles!" He hears himself tell Pepper rather than feels himself doing it. His head feels a little too light. "D- do me a favor? Dose him up again."
Pepper takes the bucket away and sets it off to the side so she can lay Tony back against the pillows before moving off to dispose of the sick. On her way back she encounters Rhodey and gives a quick summary of Tony's condition. She gives him permission to visit the man after Bruce has given the okay for more visitors. She's also stalling though, because they haven't fully decided what to do about Peter for the time being, the only thing that's been decided is that he'd be staying with her and Tony.
She makes a stop by the bathroom to wash her hands and then goes to the kitchen to make up some tea. She comes back about forty minutes later and sets her tea on table before leaving again to go check on Peter. He's still sleeping, his face is relaxed and the gentle up and down movement of his chest makes him seem so peaceful. She smooths some his bangs away and lets out a sigh. A quick glance at his vitals on the machine he's hooked into reassure her that he's okay and she returns to Tony's side to wait for him to wake up again.
It another couple hours before Tony stirs again. He feels a little better than the last time, not quite as thin. It wasn't a reference to his weight, although he had lost some pounds. It was more mentally thin or thin regarding his emotional state. He didn't know how else to describe it other than simply 'thin'.
This time, wakes slower than the first and doesn't push himself as hard. He already knows what is going on mostly, so there isn't that urgent fear of what's become of him or Peter. He has yet to realize he's forgotten about Nebula completely- which isn't fair, but he nearly died so forgive him.
"Hey," he calls to Pepper when he sees her. "How's the prettiest woman in the world?"
Pepper is right there when he wakes up again, hard at work on her tablet likely filling out forms, approving donations and running Stark Industries all from the chair by Tony's bed. She looks over at him and gives him a look for the comment, but the small smile on her face says it's appreciated.
"Feeling any better?" She asks, setting her tablet aside and moves to hold his hand. The mood is still a little heavy considering everything that's happened. Pepper's still feeling drained from all the worrying she's done and is doing still as Tony's still in bad shape and Peter's not much better. But she has them both back now, that's the important part.
Tony smiles back, pleased he could still get that look on her face after all these years. He was ridiculous, but he was her ridiculous. It had taken a while for him to realize it, but he was forever grateful she'd stuck by him until he matured and became more of the husband she deserved- which sadly was only in the last couple years. He was going to spend the rest of his life trying to do right by her.
"Yeah, a little stronger. And.." He pauses, mulling around how he feels. "Starving! Do we have any of those muffins you like to pretend you make but really get from that bakery around the corner from the office?"
That just earns him another look. She can make muffins when she's not busy. Which admittedly it's been close to a few years now. After she has some things in order it might be time for a vacation.
"We're at the compound, Tony." She points out with a fond roll of her eyes.
"Sorry Tony, you're gonna be on light soups and getting most of your nutrition through tubes for a few weeks." Bruce came back in with the clipboard from Peter's room. Do you two have a minute to talk about the kid?"
He tries to maintain that innocent smile on his face but he ends up coughing instead of laughing. Looking up, he was surprised to see Bruce again, but not disappointed.
"Sure but afterwards, I want ice cream," he jokes. When he gets a look from Pepper- and he knows he will- he shrugs. "Hey, kids get it when they get their tonsils out. I've been through much worse than tonsil surgery! I deserve ice cream. And not the cheap frozen yogurt stuff. The real milk, sugar, chocolate bad for you but tastes as good as sex ice cream." He winks at Pepper again. "Well, with some sex. Not yours, honey."
Pepper can't help the little smile that plays at her lips as she shakes her head. He's still Tony, that's for sure.
"Anyways." Bruce interjects a little awkwardly. "About Peter. From what I can tell his Powers are in a dormant state because his metabolism has slowed down-so until it goes back up again he's uh... got some health issues and I'm gonna recommend putting him back on an inhaler for a few weeks." Bruce explains. "That means no over exerting himself."
Personally, he loved it when Pepper got that expression on her face. It was a mix between wanting to bop him in the head and kiss him. In just about any other circumstance, it would've been harder for him to drag his attention back to the topic on hand if Bruce's third word hadn't been 'Peter'.
Tony's gaze snaps from where he was smirking at Pepper to worried at Bruce. "So that's why he had an asthma attack on the ship! I wasn't sure what had caused that. Towards the end, he.. he was just sleeping." Which really had been what all of them were doing to conserve energy.
Pepper moves her hand over to Tony's to gently grasp it again, now worried about Peter again. Bruce just offers a nod, still looking at Peter's charts.
"It shouldn't take too long to get his metabolism back up but it's still running after than a normal person's but once it kicks back up again, his powers will come back and the health problems will go away. But you should know, he's got a weak immune system, Tony. Not just from the trip up into space. I'm gonna see if I can get his shot records in case he needs any vaccinations."
"Wait, he didn't get all his vaccines?" Tony asks, with a frown. Had he missed them or did May or his mother simply not give it to them? "What do you mean, he has a weak immune system?" That wasn't a result of not getting his vaccines. That was..
"I can't know for sure without full access to his medical records but Pepper's working on that but with how things are after..." After Thanos. "...well, we're expecting it to take time. From what I can see though, no. I don't think he did get all his vaccinations but probably because he couldn't you know what herd immunity is, don't you Tony?"
"But you said he was fine?" Pepper pressed, suddenly it was starting to make a lot of sense why Peter tested himself like he did-why he was so reckless and eager to always prove himself.
"Yeah, as soon as his powers come back online his healing factor will kick in and keep him well, healthy."
"Dammit," Tony curses and shakes his head. Running a hand through his hair, he tries to think what all of this could mean for the kid. In all honesty, he was in the best place he could possibly be right now. They had the best medical equipment and could keep that room he was in sterile.
"Give me a computer. I may not be as good as Jarvis- or Vision or whatever- but I can break into a regular hospital's records." He probably could, if he was at his peak mental state. Right now, maybe not as much.
Pepper just grabs her tablet and hands it over to Tony. Normally, she would never approve of stealing hospital records but she'll make a special exception in this case.
"It was probably Queen's Memorial they were taking him to." She states reasonably. Even if his parents had been taking him to a different hospital when he was little there should still be records from there as well.
He accepts the tablet and starts in, moving through websites and code as fast as the tablet will let him. As he's doing that, he asks, "What about coffee? Or tea? Can't I at least have something warm? It might help with how hungry I am."
Queen's Memorial. Queen's Memorial records. What was his birthday again? He pauses. It worries him that the date doesn't just come to him like it usually would. He also can tell a small pain behind his eyes was starting, but that could be ignored. He looks up with a scowl. "What's his birthday?"
"August Tenth." Pepper supplies before getting up from her seat. "I'll get you some tea." She states at Bruces approval.
"Nothing too strong though, something like green tea or chamomile." Bruce explains. "Try not to stare at the screen too long, Tony. You don't want a migraine."
"Right." He plugged in the date, including the year now that he'd been reminded of the first part.
The restrictions were bugging him. He knew logically he shouldn't be pushing himself or his stomach or he'd end up just hurling again, but he was never good with the word 'no'. It was like as soon as Bruce said no black tea, that was what he immediately wanted. Such an obvious character flaw, sigh. Oh look, birth records and oh.. oh... that was a lot of...
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At least, that's what he was expecting. The careful words draw Tony's focus back to Pepper and he frowns. That was never a good sign.
She's leaving you. She lost the baby. She realized she never loved you. She hates you.
"Okay?" He lays back down and braces himself for whatever new shit life was going to throw his way.
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“It’s about May.” She says gently. “She’s on the missing list.” She finally states, keeping her emotions reigned in with her cool, business tone. “We haven’t told him yet.”
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"I- I'll tell him." Just how he was going to do that, he didn't know. Whatever the case, the news should come from him. Somehow he feels responsible for this. In some way this was his fault. What could he have done to prevent this? What were they supposed to do now?
He was going to be sick. "Trash can!" He gags out, barely able to stop the next action till there's something to catch it. It couldn't be healthy for him to be throwing up, but the very idea that Peter had lost one more person in this world was too much for him.
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"He's okay." Pepper assures as Bruce continues to check things over, staying quiet so that Pepper could talk to Tony. "Are you sure you're up to it? Can tell him if you'd prefer." But it had to be either Tony or Pepper. She Bruce had decided sometime ago that this wasn't the kind of news Peter needed to hear from a stranger. For that reason, they kept the information about May from the other Avengers just in case someone accidentally let it slip.
Pepper knows this is going to hurt. She knows that Peter's going to break when he finds out-he's a such a gentle and compassionate boy that it breaks Peppers heart to know his last living relative is gone.
"I've also gotten in touch with some custody lawyers, they're on stand by to draw up papers Monday." She might not have left Tony's side but that didn't mean she'd just been idle.
"When you have a moment, I need to go over Peter's condition with you both." Bruce states, once he's sure Tony isn't going to go into cardiac arrest. "He's fine." Bruce adds to keep Tony as calm as possible given the news. "But there are something things we'll need to talk about."
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He shook from the violent way his stomach emptied itself and he wondered if he'd made it out of that ship just long enough to die here. This was preferable, he supposed. He knew Peter would be okay and he was in Pepper's arms..
He stayed pressed against her, not wanting her to let go just yet. He had to tell Peter, but what if he couldn't? What if.. "Custody lawyers?" He asks, barely having a voice to do so. His mind wasn't moving fast enough to keep up with this. He'd just been starved for a bunch of days- how many he'd already forgotten.
His heart tightens painfully in his chest, all color leave his face at Bruce's words. 'Peter's condition'. He makes the tiniest whimper/ gasp, feeling the world starting to fall apart in those seconds. The 'he's fine' has Tony staring at him unsure what that even means. "What?" It's hoarse and weak but he just can't keep up with this. Tony who preferred assistants with ADHD just to keep up with him, looked completely lost but even this little amount of news.
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"Peter's a minor, honey." Pepper says calmly. "He can't live on his own." So she's already started the process of taking legal custody over him, though with the way things were across the world at the moment, it was likely to take months to even hear anything back.
"Pepper's already started the process and taken over as power of attorney." Bruce states quietly. "My thing, can wait. He's sleeping right now and you two seem like you might need a moment."
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He watches as Bruce leaves. He'd never appeared so weak in front of the man and feels a pang of uncertainty over it now.
"Has he woken up yet?"
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"Once." She answers honestly, hand combing through Tony's hair as she holds him. "He was really tired and kept having an anxiety attack over the needles-Bruce and I decided to sedate him for a little while until he's had a bit more rest."
She glances over at Peter's room, the two only separated by glass wall. "He'll probably be out for a few more hours."
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"He's such a wimp about needles!" He hears himself tell Pepper rather than feels himself doing it. His head feels a little too light. "D- do me a favor? Dose him up again."
And that's all he can say before he faints.
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She makes a stop by the bathroom to wash her hands and then goes to the kitchen to make up some tea. She comes back about forty minutes later and sets her tea on table before leaving again to go check on Peter. He's still sleeping, his face is relaxed and the gentle up and down movement of his chest makes him seem so peaceful. She smooths some his bangs away and lets out a sigh. A quick glance at his vitals on the machine he's hooked into reassure her that he's okay and she returns to Tony's side to wait for him to wake up again.
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This time, wakes slower than the first and doesn't push himself as hard. He already knows what is going on mostly, so there isn't that urgent fear of what's become of him or Peter. He has yet to realize he's forgotten about Nebula completely- which isn't fair, but he nearly died so forgive him.
"Hey," he calls to Pepper when he sees her. "How's the prettiest woman in the world?"
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"Feeling any better?" She asks, setting her tablet aside and moves to hold his hand. The mood is still a little heavy considering everything that's happened. Pepper's still feeling drained from all the worrying she's done and is doing still as Tony's still in bad shape and Peter's not much better. But she has them both back now, that's the important part.
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"Yeah, a little stronger. And.." He pauses, mulling around how he feels. "Starving! Do we have any of those muffins you like to pretend you make but really get from that bakery around the corner from the office?"
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"We're at the compound, Tony." She points out with a fond roll of her eyes.
"Sorry Tony, you're gonna be on light soups and getting most of your nutrition through tubes for a few weeks." Bruce came back in with the clipboard from Peter's room. Do you two have a minute to talk about the kid?"
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"Sure but afterwards, I want ice cream," he jokes. When he gets a look from Pepper- and he knows he will- he shrugs. "Hey, kids get it when they get their tonsils out. I've been through much worse than tonsil surgery! I deserve ice cream. And not the cheap frozen yogurt stuff. The real milk, sugar, chocolate bad for you but tastes as good as sex ice cream." He winks at Pepper again. "Well, with some sex. Not yours, honey."
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"Anyways." Bruce interjects a little awkwardly. "About Peter. From what I can tell his Powers are in a dormant state because his metabolism has slowed down-so until it goes back up again he's uh... got some health issues and I'm gonna recommend putting him back on an inhaler for a few weeks." Bruce explains. "That means no over exerting himself."
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Tony's gaze snaps from where he was smirking at Pepper to worried at Bruce. "So that's why he had an asthma attack on the ship! I wasn't sure what had caused that. Towards the end, he.. he was just sleeping." Which really had been what all of them were doing to conserve energy.
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"It shouldn't take too long to get his metabolism back up but it's still running after than a normal person's but once it kicks back up again, his powers will come back and the health problems will go away. But you should know, he's got a weak immune system, Tony. Not just from the trip up into space. I'm gonna see if I can get his shot records in case he needs any vaccinations."
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"So Peter grew up sick?"
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"But you said he was fine?" Pepper pressed, suddenly it was starting to make a lot of sense why Peter tested himself like he did-why he was so reckless and eager to always prove himself.
"Yeah, as soon as his powers come back online his healing factor will kick in and keep him well, healthy."
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"Give me a computer. I may not be as good as Jarvis- or Vision or whatever- but I can break into a regular hospital's records." He probably could, if he was at his peak mental state. Right now, maybe not as much.
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"It was probably Queen's Memorial they were taking him to." She states reasonably. Even if his parents had been taking him to a different hospital when he was little there should still be records from there as well.
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Queen's Memorial. Queen's Memorial records. What was his birthday again? He pauses. It worries him that the date doesn't just come to him like it usually would. He also can tell a small pain behind his eyes was starting, but that could be ignored. He looks up with a scowl. "What's his birthday?"
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"Nothing too strong though, something like green tea or chamomile." Bruce explains. "Try not to stare at the screen too long, Tony. You don't want a migraine."
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The restrictions were bugging him. He knew logically he shouldn't be pushing himself or his stomach or he'd end up just hurling again, but he was never good with the word 'no'. It was like as soon as Bruce said no black tea, that was what he immediately wanted. Such an obvious character flaw, sigh. Oh look, birth records and oh.. oh... that was a lot of...
"Wow, he sure has an extensive hospital record."
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