Spiderdad

51

"How'd you get so beat up?" Bruce asked as he inspected the stitched wounds littering Peter's body the next morning.

"Some guy who called himself 'Green Goblin,' or something," Peter shrugged, "you could probably read about it in the news. How that dreadful Spider-guy terrorized the city by saving a family from a psychopath who tried killing a child in spandex."

Bruce sighed, "at least the stitches look nice?"

"I didn't do them. That was MJ's brother," Peter replied, "can I have my legs back now?"

"No," Tony replied from the other side of the med bay where he was buffing out the dents and fixing shredded wires, "you gotta be more careful with these things."

"Won't be a problem," Peter promised, because Spiderman is no more! He thought giddily.

"Good," Tony huffed, "how's he looking, Bruce?"

"A little internal bleeding, but nothing his regenerative healing can't handle," the scientist reported.

"I- uh- I also wouldn't mind a painkiller... or twenty," Peter piped up.

Bruce silently took out a container of ibuprofen then handed it to the boy. Peter looked down at the little red pills with an unimpressed, disappointed glare.

"Seriously? Can't I have something stronger?" Peter requested. 

"Not without a prescription."

Peter huffed then dumped a small handful of ibuprofen down his throat, dry swallowing the load. Tony's eyes widened and Bruce retrieved a glass of water for him. 

"Kid, that was way too many!" Tony exclaimed.

"Mph," Peter shrugged as he gulped down a few sips of warm-ish water.

Tony rolled his eyes in frustration, "you're going to end up killing yourself one of these days."

"No, I won't!" Peter protested as Bruce walked away, not wanting to watch the argument that was about to unfold, "I'm trying to be more careful- bye Bruce- since I'm Natalia's dad now!"

"Then try harder! You almost died last night, and you didn't even tell Michelle," Tony snapped. 

"MJ's been miserable the past couple of weeks, she doesn't need more stress because her f-" he stopped himself before he could say 'fiancé,' "her boyfriend is stupid. I wasn't there for her as much I as I should've been while she was pregnant, the least I can do is be alive while she's trying to take care of her baby."

Tony sighed but couldn't stop the faint, proud smile twitching onto his lips, "I'm proud of you, kid."

Peter's eyes widened and his shoulders relaxed, "Um... I-i haven't heard you say that in a while," he choked out, an alien feeling of comfort and glee bubbling in his chest.

"I know, and I-" he was cut off as Thor hurried into the bay.

"Stark, my brother is on his way," he announced.

"Oh shit," Tony sighed, "FRIDAY, activate protocol Loki-Proof."

The three looked up at the ceiling expectingly only for their stomachs to drop in unison when they were met with silence.

"FRIDAY?" Tony repeated. 

"He must've disabled her," Peter thought aloud. 

Tony pinched his eyebrows together, "don't humanize it, that's creepy," he stood up from his seat, "Thor, keep an eye on the kid I'm gonna figure out what's wrong with FRIDAY."