"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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Peter flinched slightly when a door opened. A man in a white coat called his name, but he stayed in his seat until Steve and Tony pulled him up with them. The longer he could put this off the better. Avoidance seemed safer than confirmation. With his head down, he walked into the doctor's office, sitting down in the chair the man gestured to. After having shaken his hand, Tony and Steve sat down as well, one on each side of their son.
"So, I've been looking at the CT scan. What I want to do is to have a PET scan of your lungs and then tomorrow we need to take a biopsy. Do you know what that is, Peter?"
He looked up. "Yeah, but not... I don't know how when it's the lungs."
"I'm going to put a small tube up in your nose and then down into your lungs." The doctor noticed Peter looking very uncertain. "And I'm not going to lie to you. It's not comfortable. But you can have some medication to make you calm, some local anaesthetic in your throat and I'll get it done as quickly as I possibly can. Okay?"
"Yeah," Peter whispered, clearing his throat. He really wasn't looking forward to any of that. He just wanted to be back in his bed and stay there forever.
That's what he pretended he was doing when they got back home after his PET scan. If he wished hard enough, maybe - just maybe - time would stop and tomorrow would never come. He'd never have to go take that biopsy and the world would just stop and he'd be okay. Frozen in time.
He only ate dinner because he knew his throat would hurt after the biopsy and he didn't want an aching, empty stomach on top of that. And he only fell asleep because it was on accident. He was cuddled up to Tony who was running his fingers gently through his hair. His feet were on Steve's lap who was rubbing them softly. It was as if it were a perfectly executed plan to soothe him to sleep.
Little did he know that they'd actually planned it. No joke. They knew their son well enough to be worried he might not fall asleep at all if he were alone in his own bed.
Even though Peter knew he shouldn't fall asleep on the couch, he couldn't help it. He was exhausted after not sleeping the previous night. So he dozed off rather quickly.
"I think we can move him now," Tony whispered, having been paying attention to his breathing and his facial expression. He looked peaceful and was taking slow breaths. Steve got up slowly and bent down, picking up Peter. He frowned. It didn't feel right. It didn't feel right at all.
"What's wrong?" Tony asked when he had stood up, facing his husband.
Steve just frowned and held Peter out for Tony to take him. With a confused look on his face, he took his son in his arms and instantly realized what was wrong. Before speaking, he looked at Peter to make sure he was still deeply sleeping.
"He's too light," he whispered, noticing how his arms weren't aching even a little under the weight. There was a considerable difference since the last time he had carried him to bed, and that was just weeks earlier. A shared look between the couple had Tony walk steadily into their bedroom with the boy. They didn't want him to be alone through the night, so they put him in their bed before walking back to the living room.
