The Devil With The Face of an Angel | Irondad, pepperony

Chapter 18

"Sir, Peter's sick. The body's temperature has risen to almost thirty-nine degrees," announced the robotic voice, that awakened Pepper,   just after midnight. She had never had a deep sleep, especially today because she was worried about Peter. At dinner, he said he was fine, but she didn't believe him too much.

"Tony! Tony, wake up, Peter's sick!" she blurted, shook Tony's shoulder, and then quickly jumped out of bed. "Friday, symptoms?"

"Just the high temperature and the feeling of vomiting," the AI replied, and in a few seconds, Pepper was in Peter's room, running to his bed.

"Mommy," he said in a low voice when he noticed her. She put her palm on his sweaty forehead. He was burning so much.

"Oh God, God. We have to reduce fever, honey. Does anything hurt?" she asked him carefully, and when Tony finally appeared in the doorway, she quickly sent him for cold tiling and rather for bucket too.

"No, I just feel so cold and then hot again. And I feel awfully weak," he replied, closing his eyes for a moment. She wiped his cheek gently with a handkerchief and when Tony appeared with a wet cloth, she carefully put it on his forehead.

"Are you sure nothing happened to you at Oscorp?" Tony started again, and Pepper gave him a disbelieving look. Perhaps he doesn't want to discuss this again! "What? That's quite likely!"

"I don't know, I don't remember anything..." Peter murmured, frowning as he tried to remember.

"It doesn't matter. I could take your blood and see from a few tests if-"

"Really, Tony?" Pepper interrupted sharply, wiping Peter's face. "Perhaps you won't take his blood right now! Are you crazy?"

"Would you be so kind and not yell at me, dear?" he asked her in a very calm voice and looked at Peter. "What do you think?"

"I don't know. Oh, God, I'm cold," he shook, and Pepper covered him with a blanket.

"Tony, please go get our duvet," she pleaded, stroking the boy's hair soothingly. "Maybe it will be better in the morning."

"I hope so."

"Do you think you can fall asleep?" she asked him softly, and he shrugged. He closed his eyes. "Try it, darling. I'll stay with you, okay? If anything happened, I'm here and I'll look out for you."

"Thanks, mom. I love you."

"I love too, sweetie."

•••

Tony, in the end, managed to convince Pepper to allow him to take Peter's blood. Neither one of his parents had fallen asleep that night; Pepper stayed with Peter, who slept restlessly and woke up every now and then, and Tony was back in his lab and started doing individual tests to try and figure out what was going on and if there was some mistake. Friday regularly informed him about Peter's condition, which remained unchanged.

Pepper came to him with the sunrise. Tony was so busy working that he didn't notice her. Only when the smell of scrambled eggs and sausages struck his nose, he did look up. She smiled exhaustedly at him.

"How is he?" he asked immediately, walking toward her. She put a plate on the table and raised her arms so she could wrap them around his neck.

"The fever has finally gone down. He said he was better, he even ate a little. And he finally fell asleep, so I thought I'd go make you breakfast and catch up with you if you found out anything. How's it going?" she asked him with interest.

"That's good, he might be better now. Well, you'll be surprised, but I really found out something," he said, grinning as her eyebrows flicked up curiously. "There are enzymes in his blood that are somehow... extra. More specifically, they cause mutagenic changes," he told her, pausing for a moment. Pepper covered her mouth with her hand in shock. "I would be more sure if Bruce was here with me. But this is how I am really worried that something must have happened to him in the lab."

"But what about Peter now?" Pepper gasped.

"I don't know," Tony shook his head and sat down heavily in his chair. "I'm surprised that after something like that, he is still..." he'd rather not finish the sentence and shook his head. "We're going to have to keep an eye on him now and monitor him for any changes."

•••

Peter woke up. He felt great, lively like a fish, full of strength. He quickly put on his shirt and pants and then headed for the kitchen, adjusting his disheveled hair on the way. But he found no one in the dining room.

"Hm, Friday?"

"Yes, Peter?"

"Where are mom and dad?"

"Down in the lab, Peter. How are you feeling? Should I inform Tony and Pepper that you're awake?"

"No, no, I'm going to tell them myself, I'm great," he muttered in reply. On the way to the lab he almost bounced, and when he went inside, he found that mom and dad were bending over something. An internal voice prompted him to show off some spectacular arrival, so he flip flop jumped in front of them and fell on both feet without any problems. Pepper almost got a heart attack.

"Peter! Why aren't you in bed!" she said slightly angry, and he grinned at her. He didn't notice that Tony was looking at him with narrowed eyes, looking for the initial changes. Peter had never jumped flips and never seemed to have planned it.

"I'm fine, Mom," he smiled at her. "I guess it was just onde day sickness."

"I'm afraid it wasn't, kid," Tony said, tapping the screen where Peter's blood sample was. "I've found something in your body that definitely doesn't belong there. Mutagenic enzymes."

Peter paused and almost whispered, "What does that mean? What will happen to me now?"

"That's just the thing we'll have to find out."