"What's an oncologist?" He didn't think he'd heard the word until just a minute earlier. Maybe at school, but if that were the case, he'd forgotten it a long time ago.
Tony gripped Steve's arm, trying to ignore the way his heart started beating fast...
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Three weeks ago, Peter had turned 16. Tony had offered to throw him a big party, but, like every single year before that, he declined. He just wanted to celebrate with the people closest to him. Ned, MJ, Pepper, Happy, Rhodey, his dads - Tony and Steve - and any of the Avengers that happened to be around. This year it had been Natasha, Bucky, and Sam. It had been a great day filled with laughter, cake, soda, and movies. The fact that he felt a little sick was the only thing that annoyed him about the day. Coughing every other minute.
Four weeks ago, he had caught a bug. Since then, he'd been coughing non-stop. And it wasn't really getting better. But he paid it no mind. It'd pass soon. Tony was getting worried, but Steve reminded him how easily their son could get sick. He'd always been small for his age, a little more fragile than the other kids, and had a tendency of catching any and every bug he came in contact with. But they both agreed that if it got worse, they'd make him get it checked out.
Feeling tired went hand in hand with being sick, so Peter just powered through. When school started back up the following Monday, he'd almost gotten used to it.
"You know you can stay home, right? Nothing important happens on the first day," Tony proposed, probably for the sixth time that morning.
"I know, but I wanna go," Peter repeated himself.
"It's alright, you can go to school. But call us if you don't feel up to it, and we'll come get you. That sound like a plan?" Steve suggested, knowing that would make both his husband and his son happy. His mouth full of food, Peter just nodded in confirmation before putting his empty plate in the dishwasher.
It wasn't that Steve's cooking was bad, but Peter had had a hard time eating all the scrambled eggs and bacon on his plate. His appetite was just... not quite there. But, Peter being Peter, he didn't want to worry anyone, so he had just forced it down. If he still felt like that at lunch, he could just skip it and see if that made him feel better. Honestly, his appetite had been weird for a little while now, but he was sick, so it didn't matter.
The first day of school was alright. Peter was a junior now and would be lying if he said he wasn't excited about that. What he wasn't excited about was that school starting up again meant gym class starting up again. His least favorite subject. It was no secret he was a bit scrawny and clumsy. His only comfort was that he had Ned, who wasn't that fond of gym class either. They always got through it together.
What he hadn't expected from the first gym class of the school year was for it to hurt so bad. Every time Peter heaved for his breath, it stung badly in his chest. And he got winded much easier than usual. He blamed it on not really having worked out over the summer, only getting self-defense lessons by Steve occasionally. That added to the fact that he was sick explained it. The teacher went relatively easy on them for the first class, and Peter was grateful. He was also grateful that it was his last class of the day, so he could head straight home after.
