Hold Onto Me 'Cause I'm a Little Unsteady

Chapter Twenty-One

Tony wakes to find not only the space beside him empty but the hospital bed too.

And to say he panics is a little bit of an understatement.

Slapping Steve on the shoulder, he pushes the blanket off his legs.

"Fuck, oh my god, he's back. He's got them- They're gone-" Tony rambles, waking Harley and Steve in the process.

"Sir, before your heart rate elevates anymore than it already has, I'd like to inform you that Morgan and Peter are in Peter's bedroom as of right now. Both of them are asleep," Friday informs.

A relieved sigh falls from him, holding his chest as he breathes carefully to calm his panic.

"Now that we're up, might as well get breakfast on the go, yeah? Wanna come help?" Steve asks, looking over at the slowly waking Harley who looks grumpy from the sudden wake-up.

But Harley nods, glancing quickly at Tony to make sure he knows what his job is, before following Steve to his feet.

The three of them head to the elevator and part ways when they reach the penthouse, two of them off to the kitchen and the other off to Peter's room to see how they're doing.

Peter's curled around Morgan's body as though protecting her even in her sleep, face finally relaxed and at peace. It's a nice change of pace to the constant fear that seems present through both his waking and sleeping moments.

Tony isn't sure how long he's standing there for, but soon enough, Steve is calling out that breakfast is almost ready.

He finally takes the daunting steps into the room, keeping his footsteps light enough not to scare them, but loud enough to not feel like he's sneaking up on them.

"Morgan, Pete, time for breakfast," he calls out gently, reaching a hand out to brush back Morgan's messy hair.

Both of them wake the same. Fists reaching up to rub their eyes, hair sticking every which way, limbs stretching from their curled positions.

"Morning," Morgan murmurs, licking her dry lips as she sits up. "Petey, wake up. It smells like Pops is making his chocolate chip pancakes!"

There's a part of Tony that worries her louder, less considerate voice will scare him into his own head. A part of him that worries more than he's ever worried about anyone else before. A part of him that wants to hide Peter away from the rest of the world for as long as he can.

But then a small smile is touching Peter's face. A smile Tony hadn't seen since before.

"'kay, Mor. I'm waking up," Peter mumbles through a yawn, running a hand through his long curls. "You have to get up before I get up."

Morgan laughs quietly, swinging her legs out of bed and stretching. "Is Lee in the kitchen already?"

Tony nods, silenced by the gratefulness and the relief that Peter looks normal. More normal than he has since they got him back. And god has he ever missed that.

Stretching his arms above his head, Peter gets out of bed, wincing at some unseen pain. There are scars covering his visible skin, but now that he's had good sleep and has gotten some fluids into him, his healing factor seems to have kicked in and taken care of the majority of his wounds.

Both Tony and Peter are silent on the way to the kitchen, half-listening to Morgan rambling about the dream she had the night before. Something about boats and crocodiles.

They sit around the stack of pancakes on the center of the table, and everyone does their best not to stare at Peter who seems well on his way to healthy except for the skinniness that'll take a lot longer to heal with Peter's metabolism back in action.