Avengers Family

Sneezes

"Achoo"

Peter jerked over his textbook and hid his face in his elbow as a sneeze racked through his body.

"Are you getting sick?" Natasha looked up from her book to analyze Peter.

"No. And aren't you supposed to say 'Bless You' when someone sneezes?"

"Would that make you feel better?" Natasha responded in a teasing tone. "Do you need me to invoke a higher power to keep you from dying of the plague?"

Peter rolled his eyes, and was about to get back to work, but Bucky interrupted. "You're getting sick."

"I think I would know. It is my body."

"Nope. I know sneezes, and that one was a sick one."

"You 'know sneezes'?" Natasha snorted in disbelief. "What kind of skill is that?"

"The kind you get when you live with a sickly bastard for a decade."

Peter huffed indignantly. "It's the made up kind. Now if you'll excuse me, your fake abilities and insults toward Steve are keeping me from doing my homework so I'm just going to excuse myself."

Peter walked out the door just in time to hear Bucky claim it was an affectionate term.

"He is getting sick though. It was a snotty sneeze and his voice sounded off." Bucky remarked to Natasha as they both settled back into doing their own thing.

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Peter woke up achy and sweaty. His head hurt and he was extremely congested. He forced himself out of bed to use the bathroom, but even just doing that was awful.

He should probably let someone know. He was going to need help getting food, even though the thought made him nauseous, and getting his homework to Ned. He glanced at the clock - 6:30AM. He only had three choices for this time of day and two of them would be smug as hell and he didn't want to deal with it.

So he texted Steve. Less than ten minutes later, Steve knocked on Peter's door. He came in with a hot waterbottle, some medication, and a tray with hot tea, ginger ale, dry toast, and a sleeve of saltines. "How're you doing?"

"Probably about as well as I look." Peter sighed. "Thank you for the stuff."

"No problem. I didn't know what you normally take so I brought all of them. Do you need anything else?"

Steve was an absolute saint. He helped Peter choose some medication, having already known what the dosage for enhanced metabolism is, and agreed to make sure his schoolwork got turned in. He spoke softly about something or other until Peter dozed off again.

—————

When Peter woke up, Tony was standing in the doorway speaking in a hushed tone.

"He doesn't just get sick - he's a superhero. We should run some tests."

There was a sigh from behind the door. "Tony, he's almost an adult. You can ask him and May if they want any tests, but do not cause hysteria. This is just the common cold, maybe the flu."

"Did he get a flu shot this year? Do you think he has enough blankets? Spiders can't thermoregulate you know."

"I didn't know that, but also, he isn't a spider. He just has spider powers. His immune system and thermoregulation may not have been affected - we haven't seen signs of any differences so far. Plus, he's awake so you can just ask him this stuff."

"He's awake? I knew it - he is cold." Tony opened a cabinet and pulled out a heated blanket. He plugged it in and threw it over Peter. "How are you feeling? Do you need anything else? Did you get your flu shot?"