Peter Parker // WHUMP

5 - poisoned

um yeah hi it's been a while 🤡
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It was a cold December evening. I'd spent the entire day out in the snow with Ned and MJ, building snowmen and pelting each other with balls of snow. My toes were freezing and I was feeling kind of drowsy. The receptionist, Vanessa, giggles at me as I shuffle through the lobby, looking like a frozen marshmallow. I give her a self-conscious wave and slip into the elevator.

"Hello, Peter." Friday greets me, with what I assume would be a smile (if she had a face).

"Hey, Fri!" I smile, wondering if she even knew I was smiling.

"I'll alert Tony that you've arrived home." She informs me.

"Thanks." I pull my phone from my backpack, wiping the melting snow off the screen. Checking my notifs, I slowly start to feel my fingertips warm back up.

The elevator doors slide open and I'm greeted with a few smiling faces of the Avengers. "Have fun out there?" Tony chuckles once he sees me.

I nod vigorously, smiling. I pull off my thick jacket, now wet since the snow had melted. Making my way into the little laundry room Tony has set up in the hallway, I drop it into a hamper to dry later. My fingers are still red with the chill of winter, getting that weird burning feeling after the flash of hot from the change in temperature.

I slip off my shoes and wiggle my toes in my socks, trying to warm them up. My nose is starting to get runny from the sudden heat of the building. Pepper walks into the kitchen, her feet sliding a bit in her ankle-length white socks. "Hey, Pete." She smiles at me. "You look cold."

I smirk, "Just a little." I plop down at the island, rubbing my hands together.

"Want some hot chocolate?" She offers, already pulling a mug from the cupboard.

I smile brightly, "Sure! Thank you, Pepper."

"No problem, kid." Pepper smiles right back at me as she starts boiling a teapot of water.

"So, what'd you guys do out there?" Tony asks curiously as he looks at the falling snow from the giant window in the side of the room.

I turn in my spinny chair to face Tony, "Oh, we just built snowmen and stuff. We tried to build an Iron-Man snowman but it didn't really work out too well." I chuckle. "We decided it'd work best if I used my webs to keep it together, but they're waterproof so they didn't stick to the snow."

Tony smiles as I mention the fact that there's now an Iron-Man snowman somewhere out there in New York.  "We can work on that." Tony nods his head at me. "Keep 'em waterproof but work on that part."

"That sounds super cool!" I smile at him for the millionth time.

Pepper slides the mug of hot cocoa in front of me. "Here you go, Pete." She smiles.

"Thanks, Pepper." I smile right back at her and bring the mug up to my lips. My nose catches a scent of something, since my heightened senses are more in tune. I'm not sure what the smell is, but it's something my senses don't like.

I'm not about to be rude and not drink Pepper's hot cocoa, so I ignore my senses and take a drink. It tastes fine...I wonder why my senses freaked out on me.

"You okay, Pete?" Tony asks curiously, noticing the look on my face. A few of the Avengers turn away from their movie to look my way.

"Um, yeah, fine!" I smile reassuringly at him and take another sip.

Curiously, Tony makes his way into the kitchen to see what Pepper's doing. He picks a small bottle up off the counter and looks at the label. "Pep, what's this?" My throat starts to feel oddly tight, making it hard to breathe.

"Oh, peppermint. Just adds a little something to the cocoa." She smiles playfully as she puts the teapot away.

Tony and I freeze at the same time, sharing a look. "Peppermint-?" Tony clarifies, watching me concernedly.

As my throat constricts even more, my eyes water and my hands start to shake. "Is that a problem-?" She watches us confusedly.

"Yeah, Peter's allergic-" Tony blurts, rushing up to me. "Pete? Pete—look at me." He tries to draw my attention to his face, but I'm too distracted with trying to remember how to breathe. "Bruce?!" His head snaps over to the Avengers sitting on the couch.

"Yeah?" Bruce flips around, already making his way over here.

"We're gonna need some help." Tony shouts as he gently pats my face, trying to keep me awake. I'm starting to get drowsy from the lack of oxygen.

"What?!" Bruce shrieks as he hustles over. "What happened?!"

"Peter's allergic to peppermint." Tony grimaces as he points to the bottle on the counter. Pepper's simply standing there in shock.

"Oh my god..." Bruce gushes and moves in front of Tony. "Peter? Peter, hey-" He also tries to get my attention. My hands are held tightly against my throat, trying to find any way to let some oxygen pass. "We gotta get him to the medbay."

Tony scoops me up quickly, my head lulls back. "Peter?" He tries to lift my head up with the crook of his elbow. "Please, stay with me."

All I can reply with a raspy gasp for air, grimacing and squirming in Tony's arm. Suffocating does not feel nice.

We hurry into the elevator and I grasp onto Tony as it drops down, quicker than usual. "Mr. Stark..." I gasp out, tears in my eyes. "It hurts."

Concern and pain fills his features, thick in his voice, "I know, buddy."

"We're almost there." Bruce grimaces. The elevator doors open and Tony carries me into one of the many medical rooms lined up in the medbay. "Here-!"

Tony lays me down on the cot. "What do we do?!"

Without hesitation, Bruce pulls a bottle and a syringe from the cupboards. He fills the syringe and sticks it in my arm, taking a few deep breaths as he does so.

I still feel like I'm being strangled, my energy depleting every second. Bruce extracts the needle, a bead of sweat dripping from his forehead. A few seconds later, my throat finally loosens and I sigh in relief as a breath of oxygen floods my deprived lungs. I lean back against the pillows, trying to take deep breaths. "Thank you..." I huff between breaths.

"Just get some rest, kid." Tony wipes a few curls from my face. His face is full with concern as I lie there, exhausted.

I nod feebly as my eyes shut gently, my mind drifting off into the darkness of sleep.

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so uh here's something lmao

i'm not dead

...

as far as you know

-captain crunch