A continuation of my "Explosion" prompt! This is Peter's recovery- and, of course, when he first wakes up :)

TW: Same as before, some detailed descriptions but not that bad

~ ~ ~

Tony and the others - even May- were forced to stay out of the med bay for an agonizing two weeks. The only ones allowed in the room containing Peter and the cradle were Cho and Banner, and they had to undergo a series of procedures to clean all the bacteria off their bodies before entering the room to make it the most sterile environment possible. Tony spent most of his time on the waiting room side of the viewing panel, watching Peter and the monitors. It was the closest he could get to being with the kid after failing him so drastically.

Other than the completely not ideal situation, things were going according to schedule. Cho and Banner had managed to get the scorched skin off of Peter's back in a long, extensive, 37 hour surgery. They'd mentioned that without his healing factor, Peter would absolutely be dead- but then again, that was because of Spider-Man, and if Peter weren't Spider-Man, this wouldn't have happened in the first place. But if Peter weren't Spider-Man, he wouldn't have met Tony or the Avengers- but his Uncle wouldn't be dead. Was Tony just being selfish when he thought that he wouldn't have lived this long were it not for Peter?

Ugh. Feelings.

Regardless, it had been two whole weeks, and while Tony desperately wanted to do anything he could to ensure that Peter woke up healthy, he was also itching to be next to Peter, to hear him breathing, not see him through a glass window. So, he devised a half-baked sort of plan that wouldn't put Peter's life in danger but would hopefully get him in.

And, of course, that plan was to corner Bruce when he was walking out of the room after Peter's daily checkup. They both knew what he wanted to talk about, so Tony didn't waste time with pleasantries.

"When can I go in?" Tony asked, leaning against the wall as Bruce pulled off his disposable gloves and scrubs, tossing them in the trash bin. 

Bruce sighed. "Not for a while, Tony, you know we don't want to expose him to hazardous bacteria while still in a danger area."

"It's been two weeks, Bruce." 

Bruce gave him an unimpressed glance over the rim of his glasses, and Tony couldn't help but think he looked like one of those grumpy old librarians who always used to reprimand him for being too loud in the 'quiet zone.' "I get it, Tony, we all know you're an impatient person by nature, but you've gotta understand that it's all to make sure Peter lives and recovers as quickly as possible."

Tony sighed, and Bruce gave a small smirk, knowing that the second he brought up Peter he'd already won the argument. Rather than lose more of his dignity, Tony elected to stay silent, and Bruce walked past him, heading for the door.

"You know, that kid really does have you wrapped around his finger." the man called over his shoulder, opening the door. "Who ever knew that all it would take to shut Tony Stark up is to bring up the wellness of a teenager?"

Then he stepped out before Tony could say another word, and the man himself rolled his eyes, glancing towards the glass window in Peter's room. "The things I do for you, kid." he muttered, finding a chair to sit in.

~ ~ ~

Tony woke up to loud beeping sounds and doctors flurrying around. He jumped up from his seat, still half asleep- though he didn't remember sleeping, which was weird. A quick glance at his watch and a cursory sweep around the room showed that it was 12:16 in the morning, and it looked like an absolute mess.

Tony blinked away his bleary eyes and grabbed the arm of the closest doctor running by- who just so happened to be one very frazzled Bruce Banner.

"Bruce, what's wrong? Why are all the alarms going off and why is it an absolute shitfest in here?" Tony barely managed to finish his question before Bruce jerked out an answer that made Tony's blood run cold.

"It's Peter," the man said abruptly, turning and hurrying towards the hallway as Tony rushed to keep up with him.

"What do you mean? I thought you said everything was going well?" Tony said, thinking back to the conversation he'd had with Bruce a mere 6 hours ago. He'd assumed they were in the all-clear and was even joking about pushing the rules a bit. Now whatever had happened was serious and Peter's life was on the line- again. Tony was a fool for thinking anything would go as it should.

"Everything was fine- up until an hour ago, when a nurse noted that his temperature was a bit higher than before. We didn't think it was much of a concern, as the body's temperature naturally fluctuates as it goes through a recovery period, but his fever steadily started to rise and is now at 104.6 degrees. In other words, he's caught an infection, and even if just a minor cold, his body needs to prioritize fixing up the burns on his back. However, if his immune system is working full time to get rid of the cold, it means his back will not heal and will remain fully open to more infections, which at this stage would be lethal. And we can't give him immune system repressants because even if his back heals up, without his immune system actively fighting against the cold, it could develop into something much worse. It's a lose-lose situation and we don't have much time to figure something out." Bruce said, and were it not for the direness of the situation, Tony would find it impressive and somewhat amusing that he almost managed to fit that entire explanation into one breath.

Bruce hurried out the door into the corridor, which was still flashing with red strobe lights, and Tony didn't have time to say anything before the door had swung shut again and he was alone. Well, actually, he was far from alone; doctors and nurses hurried around him left and right, throwing around medical terms that he should know but that his brain refused to process. And yet, despite all the hustle and bustle around him, Tony had never felt so alone in his life.

~ ~ ~

He decided to return to the viewing window, where it was less crowded as more doctors were focused on being with Peter rather than just watching him from a window. He saw the silhouette of a woman standing there and was momentarily confused before mentally kicking himself when he realized it was May.

"Hi." he murmured quietly as he arrived at her side. 

"Hey." she replied, barely audible over all the noise. They both watched as doctors rushed in and out in uniform, sanitized white scrubs. There was a growing mass of disposed scrubs in the corner, as the doctors changed them every time they went out of the room; they weren't taking any more risks now. Needles were inserted into Peter's arms, bags of fluid attached and pumped in, blood drawn. The regeneration cradle was brought in, and Tony winced as they gently rolled Peter into it. He full out turned away as pure alcohol was sprayed on the irritated burns on his back; he supposed the one blessing of all this was that Peter was unconscious and couldn't feel it. The doctor's voices were muffled through the glass but he heard them yelling about how Peter's back had to be sanitized and cleansed before they could put new skin on; otherwise the current cells would reject the new ones and they'd start rotting on his body. That would leave him even more susceptible to new infections, and that was a risk they couldn't take.

May kept her eyes glued to Peter the entire time they were 'sanitizing' him, though her gaze was vacant and she wasn't really seeing what was happening.

"Parker Luck, huh." May said after they'd stood in silence for what felt like ages. Tony startled a bit; his mind had started to wander as well. He shot a glance at Peter, who was now firmly positioned in the cradle with the machine creating the delicate patterns of structured skin on his back.

"Yeah." Tony replied when he realized he hadn't said anything. He then kicked himself for the completely asinine response, but May wasn't even listening, too caught up in her own head.

"I just wish I could keep him safe." May admitted. "Like I used to be able to when he'd crawl into my bed after a nightmare. Back when he was 6. Back when I could solve all his problems, and he wasn't in danger of dying 24/7." her voice gradually lowered to a whisper. "Because it hurts, Tony. Every day when I see Spider-Man on the news- I see every time he gets hit and I make a mental note to check if he's favoring the other side that night. Because I know he won't tell me. And every time I see him falling, or thrown like a rag doll from the newest super-villain in some giant super-suit, I'm terrified. Terrified he won't catch himself, that he'll fall, and that he won't get up. Because he's dead. And I'm terrified of it because I can't stop it. I can see it, it could happen any second, but I can't do jack shit about it except tell him every day that I love him in case I won't be able to do it again. And to not leave arguments on an open note because that happened with Ben and I-" she squeezed her eyes shut, pausing. 

"And I want to keep him safe, but I also want to trust him. I try so hard not to hover because even though I love him so much, I have to let him make his own decisions. But it's so hard, and those days when he comes home and admits that he feels like shit, those are the worst days. Those are the days I want to wrap him up and never let him get into danger again. But I know I can't do that. And I love him too much to deny him what makes him happy; getting into that ridiculously bright suit every day and helping people." May stopped, choking back a sob.

"Sorry." she said, palms pressing against her eyes in a desperate attempt to quell the tears. Tony could feel his own eyes burning, especially after such a strong woman like May had broken down, but he was much more trained at pushing back his emotions. May gave a feeble, half broken laugh, pulling her hands away. "Sorry, just had to get that out to the only other adult who really gets the struggle of dealing with a super hero teen."

Tony gave a tight, sad smile. "I have a feeling you have it worse than me in that department. I don't know how you deal with every day."

May gave a half laugh, half cry, and the tears she was trying to hold back fell down her face as she started to laugh a bit. "Not well, as you can see."

Tony shook his head, his own tears threatening to return. "I contradict that." he said, watching as the woman wiped her eyes swiftly, erasing all evidence of the tears. "Come here." he said a bit awkwardly after a short pause, reaching out an arm for a quick hug. May reciprocated the hug; Tony was glad, because it would have been extremely weird if she hadn't.

"To be clear, I'm not giving away free hugs now." Tony said to fill in the awkwardness he felt from the hug. May chuckled and pulled away, wiping her eyes one last time.

"This is our secret now," she said, holding out a hand. "I won't mention it if you won't."

Tony grasped her hand and shook it, feeling a thousand moments of shared grief and love for the teen on the operating table pass between them at that second.

~ ~ ~

It was hours before someone came out to alert them of the news, and thankfully, it was good. May and Tony had situated themselves on the uncomfortable waiting room chairs, sharing stories of the dumb shit Peter did, and they had shared several laughs despite the darker mood.

They heard the footsteps at the same time, and Bruce appeared in front of them, dressed in his (8th? 9th?) pair of scrubs from that evening. He looked exhausted, but he gave them both a smile and they relaxed simultaneously.

"His skin accepted the new cells, and they're fusing together well." Bruce started off with. "That means his body can still work on getting rid of the cold; his fever actually broke a little under than 30 minutes ago. We were a bit worried in the middle because he was half conscious and extremely delirious, mumbling about trees and leaves and red lights, but we gave him a mild sedative and he's resting normally now. He should wake up in 6-7 hours, and his enhanced healing means that the skin on his back should be fused together at around the 4 hour mark, so you can go in after that and wait for him to wake up. Other than that, he'll just feel sore for a little while as his muscles and new skin stretch to move like he normally does, but that's normal. He is officially out of the danger zone." Bruce finished up with a warm smile.

May had stood up while Bruce was saying this, and Tony did too because he didn't like being the only one sitting. When Bruce was finished, May smiled at him and thanked him warmly, and Tony gave a grateful nod to the doctor too.

"I'm going to go take a nap, but FRIDAY will notify me when he wakes up." Bruce said, starting to walk away. "She'll let you two know when you're allowed in as well." He was about to close the door after him when another thought occurred to him and he popped his head back in. "Oh, and after he wakes up, the Avengers would like to see him." Then he swiftly drew his head out and shut the door gently behind him.

Tony and May walked over to the viewing window, where they could see Peter resting peacefully on the white sheets. Color had returned to his cheeks and his features were relaxed and soft.

"So, who's going to lecture him on the importance of not standing near a ticking time bomb?" Tony asked.

May snorted in amusement. "He'd do it again if a civilian was in danger."

"I'm going to go gray prematurely." Tony remarked.

"Welcome to parenthood." May said.

"I'm not a parent."

"He says, after spending two and a half weeks in the waiting room for a teenager."

Tony rolled his eyes. May grinned, holding out a hand.

"Shake on it?"

Tony regarded her, noting the way that the wrinkles around her eyes crinkled when she smiled, so similar to Peter's. It was a small detail, one he hadn't noticed till now, one he didn't think he paid enough attention to the kid to know. Her eyes, a warm brown that held an innate sense of kindness that Peter's also held, also held a wisdom, one Peter hadn't acquired yet. His gaze traveled down to her outstretched hand, one that held a promise. I won't tell if you won't.

He grasped her hand and shook it firmly.

"Our secret."

~ ~ ~

Okay, and THAT is 19 days overdue. OH WELL, in my defense I am still very busy and it is 1:23 AM and I still have shit to do. We love that for me.

Anyways, I figured I might as well get this out, as I felt bad for leaving that last one on a cliffhanger. This one is more of an open ending, it focused a LOT more on Tony and May than I first anticipated, but I just kinda went with it after a while. It seemed like the right choice; dragging this along any further just seems pointless and long, so... here's the end. I'm assuming in my head that Peter woke up and they all have a happy ending, yay, but the benefit of this is that if you, for some unknown and odd reason, want Peter to die from infection, you could imagine that too, though this is more set up for a happier ending, you do you. 

And yeah, I think you understand by now that I have just not been keeping up with the daily prompts; high school truly is a bitch. Buuut yeah I hope you enjoyed this and I do want to do all of these eventually; they just most likely will not all be written in October.

Next prompt is 'Human Shield' and I already have an idea for that! I won't be able to write it this week though because I have a Chinese quiz (reading syllables out loud that I'm really bad at and need to practice) on Wednesday, an AP history test and a theology test both on Thursday, and a trigonometry test and a Latin test both on Friday. And then wow, the weekend. Damn. Time really does fly.

Except it hasn't happened yet.

Is it just me or do the school days feel long but the week short?

AND I'M RAMBLING I'M SORRY.

:)) 

2928 words.