"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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An array of distressed emotions flickered over his face, and that snapped MJ out of her stunned silence. "Peter, it's okay. It's okay, we knew this was gonna happen," she tried calming him down, but Peter just pushed away from them, desperate for his dads. He almost fell out of bed, Ned grabbing his arm to prevent it, and rushed as fast as he could to get to his dads.
"Peter!" Ned worriedly called out, but MJ put a hand on his shoulder. She also grabbed the clump of hair from his hand, dropping it on the floor for now; just not keen on Ned to be holding or seeing it for any longer than necessary.
"He needs Tony and Steve right now. It's okay," she told him.
Peter wished he could sprint, but his body could barely handle a light jog. And still, it took its toll on him quickly; he stumbled, almost nose-diving right to the floor three times before he grabbed onto the door handle that would let him see his dads. First time, he lost his grip, but got it open the second time, stopping for a short moment, then walking into the room.
A raw sob tore up his throat, startling the two men awake from their light slumber. They'd both only fallen asleep less than half an hour ago. He spluttered nonsense as he walked to the bed, and Tony, being the one closest to the door, pulled him into his arms. He physically felt himself snap out of his fog, the need to protect Peter overriding absolutely everything else. He felt it all; it was almost too much, but moved his focus to his hysterically crying son who was shaking in his arms.
"You need to breathe. Peter, look at me, you need to breathe," Tony encouraged, trying to get Peter to look at him, but he was avoiding his eyes. Steve pieced it together when he tried to calm him by playing with his hair, and instead of melting into the touch, Peter flinched away. An overwhelmed and confused Tony searched Steve's eyes for an answer, and got it when his husband whispered "hair".
The already upset Peter really didn't need an anxiety attack on top of this, so Steve cupped his face. "Listen, sweetheart. Shh, listen," he cooed, "you're okay, we've got you." Tears running down his face, eyes wide and mouth in a small pout, Peter looked much younger than he was. "Petey, we knew this was coming. There's nothing we can do about it, and that's okay. It's okay, I promise."
What they didn't tell him was that the past couple of days, there'd been strands of hair coming out whenever they ran their fingers through it. Not much; just enough for it to be more than what could be considered normal.
Peter inhaled sharply, his crying breaking up his breathing into small gasps. "I'm so-sorry, I shouldn't ha-"
"No, sweetie, shh. Nothing to be sorry about," Tony soothed, rocking him back and forth as if he were a baby.
"MJ a-and Ned. Ned was- he was scared," Peter cried, voice hoarse.
"He'll be fine, MJ's there. There's nothing she can't do," Tony promised him, drying away tears with his thumb. "They'll be there in the morning, you can sleep here."
