Switched

3.3K 137 26
                                    

**My own idea where a spell goes wrong and Loki has 24 hours to fix it - that is, if Peter and Tony can get through the day without dying first. This is post-Homecoming, and there is a part where 'Peter' has a PTSD flash back, and that's a big part of what gets them back on the same page. Enjoy!**

There was only 274 reasons to not let Loki move into the Tower. Tony had counted them himself, but then again, when the God had shown up and proved himself, Tony really didn't have a leg to stand on anymore. After all, there was a 12% drop in crimes, a 36% increase in the Tower's pranks and comradery. Besides, Peter liked him.

But then there was the incident.

When Tony woke up, he knew something was off. As soon as he blinked the sleep from his eyes, he focused on the sheets, which had lightsabers and the resistance symbol all over them. He was in Peter's room, which was already strange enough.

Oh, and he was feeling really sweaty. Sweaty and kind of shy but also really angry? For no reason.

As Tony stumbled to the bathroom, he became aware of why. He was staring into the mirror, but Peter was staring back. Tony raised his hand, but Peter's chewed nails were what scratched across his face.

"Well," he said, startled at the way his voice broke a little. "Fuck."

Peter, on the other hand, was waking up to silk sheets and-

"Mrs. Potts, I am so sorry!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Loki had feigned some apologetic sympathies, which was nice, but everyone knew he wasn't really concerned. "I'll work on it," he promised. "I should be able to switch you two back before the end of the day."

And that left Peter and Tony to go about their days. Rather, Tony and Peter. Peter and Tony. Oh, you know what I mean.

Peter had it easy - Tony hadn't had any meetings, so he was just going to the lab. Tony on the other hand, was suddenly back in high school, and it was far more familiar than he liked to admit. Peter had always been smart, Tony knew that, but he was so much fun around the tower. Tony couldn't imagine kids not loving Peter, and yet, here he was. Being shoved around in the halls and trying to wave and be nice and all the things he imagined Peter did at school, but no one even noticed. Well, no one but Flash, and Flash had pushed him. Pushed Tony.

Tony went sprawling, his hand getting caught under toe as other students tried to get through the hall. Suddenly, his whole body seemed to seize up, and his backpack felt so much heavier than it really was, and Tony couldn't see. He couldn't see and he couldn't breathe.

Tony knew what a PTSD flashback was. He knew what was happening before he even looked around and saw that every single one of the kids were-

"Peter!"

Tony looked up to see... Peter's friend. Ted.

"Ted?"

Ned's face paled. "Is this some spell thing? Is this Mr. Stark?"

"Smart kid. Help me."

Ned pulled Tony up and helped him down the hall, ignoring the shouts from other students. They finally made it to a hall off the main area and Ned pushed open the first door on the left. It was a small and dark bathroom - the light over head broken.

"This is where Peter usually goes to wait it out," Ned explained. "It'll go away soon. Try talking it out, ya know? Like find a difference between here and then."

"I don't know about then," Tony admitted. "Peter never told me. But I'm feeling better, so really. It's nothing."

Ned nodded a little. "Don't tell him I told you, then. He doesn't like talking about it. Most of the time he has an attack at school, he doesn't even call me, he just waits for it to go away and meets me for the next class."

Tony hummed. "How often does this happen?"

Ned shrugged. "A few times a week. Sometimes it's Flash that causes it. Sometimes it's just normal stuff. We had a class experiment about the force of breaking bridges and as soon as the first bridge model started breaking, Peter was out of there."

Tony was feeling less like his whole body was trying to stop working, but his head was foggy. He hadn't expected this. If he was switched with a body, he shouldn't have had this reaction. This was psychological, not physical, right?

"You should go home," Ned said suddenly. "Peter always stays after this happens and then he just gets exhausted throughout the day and falls asleep in class and gets in trouble."

There was too much there to unpack, so Tony just pulled out his phone and called for Happy. And made a mental note to have a very serious conversation with Peter when he got home and back to his own body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Peter?"

Peter looked up at his mentor, a happy smile spreading across his face "It worked!"

Loki stood behind them, his robes billowed out around his arms as he lowered them. "Of course it worked. I am a master spellman."

"If that were true, we wouldn't be in this situation to begin with," Tony snarked. He felt so much better being in his own skin, where he recognized everything from the feel of his sweats to the view from his own eyes.

Peter was looking a lot less comfortable, though. He kept rolling his shoulders, and his eyes were drooping ever so slightly. "I feel horrible. Did something happen at school?"

Tony didn't say anything.

"I feel like... I had a flashback." Peter looked up in sudden worry and fear and something else Tony couldn't quite place. "Mr. Stark, did you- did I- did you have a flashback? In my body?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah, kid. I did. Your friend helped me out, but he said that happens a lot. I don't even know what caused it."

Peter didn't say anything, so Tony kept going. "Did something happen? Did something happen and you haven't told me?"

"Lots of things happen," Peter said slowly. "I- uh, well. I don't like the sound of things breaking, but I bet you get that one. I don't like being closed in. Or the doctors office. And sometimes I have flashbacks at school if I'm too crowded or I feel crushed in."

"Why though? Peter, those are all really normal things, what happened to you that makes those things... so dangerous?"

"The Vulture," Peter admitted quietly. "When I was chasing the Vulture, he collapsed a building on me. I was buried under there for a while, but I didn't have Karen or anything else, or anyone else, and I just had to save myself so I lifted the rubble off of me and I had to- I was trying- I just barely made it to the beach-"

"Wait, this happened on Homecoming? Peter, you have been living with this for years now." Tony pulled Peter in for a hug. "Is this okay?"

"Yeah," Peter said. "I like hugs. I just don't like being crushed half to death."

Tony and Peter held each other tightly. Tony was so grateful he knew now - he could implement better health screening programs into Karen's coding, or work on a system between he and the teen so Peter could call when he had a flashback at school, or -

"Hey, Peter? I'm sorry it took this failed magic experience for you to tell me, but I'm glad you did. I'm always here for you, and I'm always going to love you. Always."

"I know," Peter said softly. "I love you, too, Dad."

Superfamily One ShotsWhere stories live. Discover now