Peter wakes up slowly, almost like he just wants to stay asleep but eventually he starts to stir. He doesn't open his eyes right away, trying to work out everything that's happened as he knows it. They made it back to earth-he doesn't remember exactly when that happened but when he woke up Dr Banner and Ms Potts were there.
He groans and finally opens his eyes when he hears Tony's voice. It's a relief to hear but as he's still feeling heavy and groggy it still takes a moment for him to respond. "There's a needle in my arm." He voices, trying not to look at it-but he can still feel it. He starts to sit up and looks around the room, looking confused a moment. Tony's there. Ms Potts is there.
"Where's Aunt May?" He thought for sure she'd be there-maybe she just went for coffee or something?
"Leave it there, kid," Tony responded in that. It was his stern, but 'on your side' tone he sometimes uses with people even if he had no right to do it. It was just natural to him somehow.
The next question was like a sucker punch to the gut. Tony knew it was coming, he just had hoped it might not be so soon. He looked down at Pepper's hand in his and gives it a squeeze. He lets her go in case she needs or wants to go hold Peter. He gives a second only before he answer in the only way he knows how. "Peter.. she's.. she's gone. Like how we saw Dr. Strange on the planet. She faded too."
Peter was hoping that May would walk in with hot chocolate or something, maybe she'd just left the room at the same time he was waking up, it would be just his luck. He bites at his lip, and glances at the needle when Tony tells him to leave it in. He really doesn't want to leave it in but in the next few seconds he completely forgets about it as his eyes snap up to Tony.
"Wh-what?" The words are registering-not at first. His brain rejects it immediately and he just shakes his head, shaking the the thought and the tears already starting to burn in his eyes away. Faded away? Like Doctor Strange? "No." He shakes his head again.
"No-No she couldn't have." He starts, nearly wincing at how hollow his voice sounds. "She-she couldn't."
Pepper, meanwhile, watches with a pained expression as the news starts to hit the boy. It hurt to see him starting to crumble, the way he slides right into denial.
"No." He says again, still shaking his head, although not quite as violently. "No, no. no... She can't-I can't-not again. Oh god not again." Tears finally start a strong, steady stream down his face and covers his face, breathing sharply in rapid succession.
Pepper doesn't wait before moving to Peter and gently rubbing his back to try and get him to at least calm his breathing.
Pain was such an odd thing. He'd been through torture and all sorts of other injuries. He'd had his parents murdered and grew up believing he meant nothing to his father. He'd lost his first real best friend besides Pepper to the very man who had done the murders. He felt the pain of guilt knowing how many people had died because of Ultron. It made you start to believe you had felt and were somehow immune to every kind of pain there was.
Nothing he'd ever experienced felt quite like this. It hurt and brought tears to his eyes. "Peter.. I'm so sorry, kid. It'll be alright.." Just how, he wasn't sure. "You're not alone, Pete."
What else could he say or do? He couldn't physically be close enough. He wanted to be the one holding him. "Just breathe."
Peter's breathing gets sharper and more rapid as he just thinks about May and the fact that she's gone. After everything-he thought he'd still have Aunt May. Now she was gone too. Just like Ben, just like his parents. He takes in another sharp breath and suddenly becomes aware that his lungs aren't getting air again. His chest tightens and constricts and he tries to breathe in.
"Peter, you have to calm down-you have to breathe." Pepper is saying, still rubbing his back. He tries to take another breath but it's not not working and then starts the gasping coughs. Pepper wraps her arms around him, rubbing his back still, trying to get him to calm down.
It isn't long before Bruce is hurrying in and messing with medicine bags.
"Sorry Peter but until I can get you inhaler, this is gonna have to stop your asthma attack." He pulls the syringe of sedative back out, checks for an air bubble and once he's satisfied sets about administering it.
"Peter!" Tony calls from his bed, watching helplessly as the young man spins out of control. There's nothing he can do, nothing he can influence to happen. The only people with any power were already doing what they could without the help of Iron Man and that was hard thing for him to cope with.
Eventually the boy quiets down as the sedatives take a hold of him again. Tony watches over him. He was unwilling to sleep for fear the boy would wake and need him. Logic wasn't helping this time. The only thing that does catch his attention besides being Peter's silent support from across the room is when Pepper brings paperwork for them to pursue taking guardianship over the kid. He signs it right away without hesitation. It was probably a better move to get Peter's okay before pursuing that further, but Tony knew he'd agree to the terms.
As they waited for the sedative to wear off again, Tony looks up at Pepper. "We should get a dog. A dog for him. Maybe one of those with the floppy ears or something." He's never had any interest in pets before but it just seems like something Peter should have. Some pet to love and hold on to.
Pepper just gently holds Peter close, rubbing his arm soothingly up and down while he cries and struggles to breath until the sedative takes hold and he's sleeping in her arms. She carefully leans him back on the pillows and brushes his bangs away to press a kiss on his forehead.
She wants to tell him it'll all be alright but opts to just let him sleep. She has things she needs to take care of, papers to sign and arrangements to be made. She clears the lump out of her throat and even allows herself a small sniffle before sliding back into her business mode. She watches a moment while Bruce diligently checks over Peter's vitals. He's probably still concerned about how much or how little of something to give the boy and she can't blame him.
"I'm going to find Rhodey, see if he's up to drive into town for a few things." She announces before leaving the two, heels clicking softly against the floor as she leaves.
She returns a few hours later, a manilla envelope in hand and a bag of prescription drugs. It seems that Rhodey was up for a drive after all. She knew the others were curious as to what all was going on with Tony and Peter but she ignored their questions, telling them they still needed time and that neither Tony or Peter were up to any visitors.
"You need to sign this." Pepper tells Tony as she opens the envelope filled with legal papers that would, in effect appoint Anthony Edward Stark temporary custody over Peter Benjamin Parker. Temporary because it was the best she could rush in such a short amount of time. Full guardianship was likely to take awhile.
Pepper opens up the paper sacks that Peter's prescriptions are in and pulls out the drug information to be better informed about what they're giving the kid and what to look out for, though certainly Bruce would be on the look out for that as well.
"A dog?" She looks up from her reading about the rescue inhaler. "I'm not saying no, but I think we should give that a little time-to see how he feels about it." A lot of things have just drastically changed for poor Peter and he's going to be overwhelmed. Getting a dog, while she's sure someone like Peter would love one in normal circumstances, seemed like just thrusting more change on the poor kid. "Let's wait until he's settled down a little first."
"I've never heard of you wanting a pet before, Tony," Rhodey remarks, making his way into the room. He ignores any of Bruce's attempts to keep him out. Just as he'd thought, Tony gives him a smile and waves him over. Rhodey wasn't the one Tony was worried about dealing with.
"Not for me to Peter," Tony explains again. He quickly signs the paperwork Pepper gave him without reading a single thing on it more than 'sign here'. He hands it back without a hesitation. "Rhodey, good. You're here. Go get me a porterhouse. These people are trying to starve me to death all over again."
"Sorry Tony, you can't solid foods until I give the green light. That's a gonna be about a week if you're lucky." Bruce explains before moving over to the sleeping spider-kid and checking his vitals.
"So, you want to keep Peter on the inhaler for the next two months? What if his powers come back before that?" Pepper looked up at Bruce from where she was reading about all the medications.
"Yeah-I suspect that his powers will come back in about a week if I can get the math worked out-but considering the attack he just had-I'd feel better about it if he took the medicine a little longer-just so we know for certain he's not going to have another attack." Bruce offers.
Pepper took the papers from Tony and stored them back in the Manilla envelope, having already signed where she needed to. It was official. Peter Parker was under the temporary guardianship of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts.
"Well Tony, it's a boy." Bruce says with absolutely no humor in his voice, he doesn't offer a congratulations because the situation wasn't one to really celebrate.
"A week?!" Tony cried, looking over at Bruce like he's the devil. "What the hell? So I starved on the space ship and now you're going to keep starving me here?"
Rhodey rolled his eyes and put a hand on Tony's shoulder. "Relax. If you do well with it, I'm sure he might relax it a bit." He glances towards Bruce and gives a definite 'just go with it' look. They could admit they're lying later.
Tony sat back, still feeling very affronted by this rule he was going to attempt to break by the end of the day. His attention is drawn back to Peter at that last comment. "Hey," he says, this time in a much softer tone. "Get him another blanket. He might be cold in here."
"Sorry Tony, you have to build back up to solid foods." Bruce says, his ton of voice only maybe a little sorry. He does move over a cabinet though to pull out another blanket carefully covers the kid with it-moving the arm with the IV so it was laying on top of the blanket.
"He'll probably be out for a little longer-watch the screen though, 'cause something tells me, he's not gonna tell you the moment he's awake." Bruce states, gesturing to the monitor showing Peter's steady heart beat.
"You wanna give him mood stabilizers and anti-anxiety pills?" Pepper pipped up from her reading over Peter's prescriptions. "He's a sixteen year old kid."
Bruce just shrugged. "They're for just in case. He might only be a sixteen year old kid, but he is a sixteen year old kid that lost his last relative. He might need a bit of extra help."
Tony just scowled at Bruce and Rhodey. They weren't fooling him and he was going to be cranky about this decision. He wasn't good at people telling him no when he wanted something.
Except, it was easier to ignore his own problems when there was such a huge problem in the bed next to his. "When can I get out of this bed?" He wanted to hold Peter when he woke up. He couldn't come right out and say that, but that's what he wanted. He frowns hearing about the medication but Pepper asks the question he would've. Bruce had a pretty strong comeback, despite this being a long way from ideal. He wished he could fix this for Peter, but he couldn't.
The only one who could fix this was Thanos and they'd lost against him. It was mostly Captain's fault for not seeing his point about the defense system around the globe, but he knew it was on all their heads too. They were the ones who weren't strong enough to defeat the beast.
Whatever answer he got about when he could get out of bed was met with a grumpy grunt and Tony looking away. "Fine. Just.. go away. All of you." He says this while reaching out and taking Pepper's hand. 'All of you' didn't include her. Unless she wanted to leave. He wasn't going to stop her.
Of course Pepper stayed while the other two went off to do something else. Maybe talk to the other Avengers. Pepper moved back over to where Peter's sedated and brushes his hair back. It was hard to believe Peter used to be so frail.
"You know, it's really no wonder he's always so willing to test his limits. He's been celebrating doing things he couldn't before." She says gently. "He's going to be just as bad as you when he finds out he's on bed rest." If not worse because he'll have to keep the IV in until Bruce says it's okay to remove it.
After everyone else had left, Tony rolled onto his side, facing Peter. He didn't like everyone seeing him when he was feeling vulnerable or too emotional. He couldn't imagine actually being a dad to someone.
"Can you push my bed closer to his?" Tony asks after a long moment of silence. He's feeling overwhelmed and irritable. He'd normally be taking it out on everyone in the room, but he's so grateful she's back in his life he can't do it.
Outside the room, Rhodey looks to Bruce. "I don't know, Bruce. He's recovering slower than I thought he would. Usually Tony bounces back from things. When does he ever want to be alone?"
Pepper finishes brushing hair back from Peter's face, the boy looks a little pale still, but he's sleeping peacefully and that's the best she can hope for at the moment.
"Yeah, I can do that." She tells Tony with a small nod before rearranging a little and then pushing the two beds together as close as they can be. The metal bars on the side pressing against each other.
Outside, Bruce is still reviewing charts, still going over math in his head and still trying to calculate how much glucose Peter should be getting among other things to get his metabolism working again. Was there a way he could jump start it? and would that be dangerous?
"Tony's got a lot on his mind right now." Bruce finally answers. "And he just became the legal guardian of an emotionally unstable teenager with asthma. He's gonna need time."
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He groans and finally opens his eyes when he hears Tony's voice. It's a relief to hear but as he's still feeling heavy and groggy it still takes a moment for him to respond. "There's a needle in my arm." He voices, trying not to look at it-but he can still feel it. He starts to sit up and looks around the room, looking confused a moment. Tony's there. Ms Potts is there.
"Where's Aunt May?" He thought for sure she'd be there-maybe she just went for coffee or something?
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The next question was like a sucker punch to the gut. Tony knew it was coming, he just had hoped it might not be so soon. He looked down at Pepper's hand in his and gives it a squeeze. He lets her go in case she needs or wants to go hold Peter. He gives a second only before he answer in the only way he knows how. "Peter.. she's.. she's gone. Like how we saw Dr. Strange on the planet. She faded too."
And he waits for it.
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"Wh-what?" The words are registering-not at first. His brain rejects it immediately and he just shakes his head, shaking the the thought and the tears already starting to burn in his eyes away. Faded away? Like Doctor Strange? "No." He shakes his head again.
"No-No she couldn't have." He starts, nearly wincing at how hollow his voice sounds. "She-she couldn't."
Pepper, meanwhile, watches with a pained expression as the news starts to hit the boy. It hurt to see him starting to crumble, the way he slides right into denial.
"No." He says again, still shaking his head, although not quite as violently. "No, no. no... She can't-I can't-not again. Oh god not again." Tears finally start a strong, steady stream down his face and covers his face, breathing sharply in rapid succession.
Pepper doesn't wait before moving to Peter and gently rubbing his back to try and get him to at least calm his breathing.
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Nothing he'd ever experienced felt quite like this. It hurt and brought tears to his eyes. "Peter.. I'm so sorry, kid. It'll be alright.." Just how, he wasn't sure. "You're not alone, Pete."
What else could he say or do? He couldn't physically be close enough. He wanted to be the one holding him. "Just breathe."
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"Peter, you have to calm down-you have to breathe." Pepper is saying, still rubbing his back. He tries to take another breath but it's not not working and then starts the gasping coughs. Pepper wraps her arms around him, rubbing his back still, trying to get him to calm down.
It isn't long before Bruce is hurrying in and messing with medicine bags.
"Sorry Peter but until I can get you inhaler, this is gonna have to stop your asthma attack." He pulls the syringe of sedative back out, checks for an air bubble and once he's satisfied sets about administering it.
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Eventually the boy quiets down as the sedatives take a hold of him again. Tony watches over him. He was unwilling to sleep for fear the boy would wake and need him. Logic wasn't helping this time. The only thing that does catch his attention besides being Peter's silent support from across the room is when Pepper brings paperwork for them to pursue taking guardianship over the kid. He signs it right away without hesitation. It was probably a better move to get Peter's okay before pursuing that further, but Tony knew he'd agree to the terms.
As they waited for the sedative to wear off again, Tony looks up at Pepper. "We should get a dog. A dog for him. Maybe one of those with the floppy ears or something." He's never had any interest in pets before but it just seems like something Peter should have. Some pet to love and hold on to.
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She wants to tell him it'll all be alright but opts to just let him sleep. She has things she needs to take care of, papers to sign and arrangements to be made. She clears the lump out of her throat and even allows herself a small sniffle before sliding back into her business mode. She watches a moment while Bruce diligently checks over Peter's vitals. He's probably still concerned about how much or how little of something to give the boy and she can't blame him.
"I'm going to find Rhodey, see if he's up to drive into town for a few things." She announces before leaving the two, heels clicking softly against the floor as she leaves.
She returns a few hours later, a manilla envelope in hand and a bag of prescription drugs. It seems that Rhodey was up for a drive after all. She knew the others were curious as to what all was going on with Tony and Peter but she ignored their questions, telling them they still needed time and that neither Tony or Peter were up to any visitors.
"You need to sign this." Pepper tells Tony as she opens the envelope filled with legal papers that would, in effect appoint Anthony Edward Stark temporary custody over Peter Benjamin Parker. Temporary because it was the best she could rush in such a short amount of time. Full guardianship was likely to take awhile.
Pepper opens up the paper sacks that Peter's prescriptions are in and pulls out the drug information to be better informed about what they're giving the kid and what to look out for, though certainly Bruce would be on the look out for that as well.
"A dog?" She looks up from her reading about the rescue inhaler. "I'm not saying no, but I think we should give that a little time-to see how he feels about it." A lot of things have just drastically changed for poor Peter and he's going to be overwhelmed. Getting a dog, while she's sure someone like Peter would love one in normal circumstances, seemed like just thrusting more change on the poor kid. "Let's wait until he's settled down a little first."
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"Not for me to Peter," Tony explains again. He quickly signs the paperwork Pepper gave him without reading a single thing on it more than 'sign here'. He hands it back without a hesitation. "Rhodey, good. You're here. Go get me a porterhouse. These people are trying to starve me to death all over again."
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"So, you want to keep Peter on the inhaler for the next two months? What if his powers come back before that?" Pepper looked up at Bruce from where she was reading about all the medications.
"Yeah-I suspect that his powers will come back in about a week if I can get the math worked out-but considering the attack he just had-I'd feel better about it if he took the medicine a little longer-just so we know for certain he's not going to have another attack." Bruce offers.
Pepper took the papers from Tony and stored them back in the Manilla envelope, having already signed where she needed to. It was official. Peter Parker was under the temporary guardianship of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts.
"Well Tony, it's a boy." Bruce says with absolutely no humor in his voice, he doesn't offer a congratulations because the situation wasn't one to really celebrate.
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Rhodey rolled his eyes and put a hand on Tony's shoulder. "Relax. If you do well with it, I'm sure he might relax it a bit." He glances towards Bruce and gives a definite 'just go with it' look. They could admit they're lying later.
Tony sat back, still feeling very affronted by this rule he was going to attempt to break by the end of the day. His attention is drawn back to Peter at that last comment. "Hey," he says, this time in a much softer tone. "Get him another blanket. He might be cold in here."
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"He'll probably be out for a little longer-watch the screen though, 'cause something tells me, he's not gonna tell you the moment he's awake." Bruce states, gesturing to the monitor showing Peter's steady heart beat.
"You wanna give him mood stabilizers and anti-anxiety pills?" Pepper pipped up from her reading over Peter's prescriptions. "He's a sixteen year old kid."
Bruce just shrugged. "They're for just in case. He might only be a sixteen year old kid, but he is a sixteen year old kid that lost his last relative. He might need a bit of extra help."
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Except, it was easier to ignore his own problems when there was such a huge problem in the bed next to his. "When can I get out of this bed?" He wanted to hold Peter when he woke up. He couldn't come right out and say that, but that's what he wanted. He frowns hearing about the medication but Pepper asks the question he would've. Bruce had a pretty strong comeback, despite this being a long way from ideal. He wished he could fix this for Peter, but he couldn't.
The only one who could fix this was Thanos and they'd lost against him. It was mostly Captain's fault for not seeing his point about the defense system around the globe, but he knew it was on all their heads too. They were the ones who weren't strong enough to defeat the beast.
Whatever answer he got about when he could get out of bed was met with a grumpy grunt and Tony looking away. "Fine. Just.. go away. All of you." He says this while reaching out and taking Pepper's hand. 'All of you' didn't include her. Unless she wanted to leave. He wasn't going to stop her.
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"You know, it's really no wonder he's always so willing to test his limits. He's been celebrating doing things he couldn't before." She says gently. "He's going to be just as bad as you when he finds out he's on bed rest." If not worse because he'll have to keep the IV in until Bruce says it's okay to remove it.
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"Can you push my bed closer to his?" Tony asks after a long moment of silence. He's feeling overwhelmed and irritable. He'd normally be taking it out on everyone in the room, but he's so grateful she's back in his life he can't do it.
Outside the room, Rhodey looks to Bruce. "I don't know, Bruce. He's recovering slower than I thought he would. Usually Tony bounces back from things. When does he ever want to be alone?"
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"Yeah, I can do that." She tells Tony with a small nod before rearranging a little and then pushing the two beds together as close as they can be. The metal bars on the side pressing against each other.
Outside, Bruce is still reviewing charts, still going over math in his head and still trying to calculate how much glucose Peter should be getting among other things to get his metabolism working again. Was there a way he could jump start it? and would that be dangerous?
"Tony's got a lot on his mind right now." Bruce finally answers. "And he just became the legal guardian of an emotionally unstable teenager with asthma. He's gonna need time."