There Are Still Going To Be Consequences (The Promise part 3)

Peter woke up in a room he knew all too well, a room he had been desperately trying to avoid this past week, but had ended up in anyway. Stupid stress headaches. But, Mr. Stark had said he had won the bet, and he was going to hold him to that, even if it wasn't technically true.


He opened his eyes slowly, trying to accustom himself to the dull white glare of the lights. He moved slowly, trying to work out the kink in his neck. As soon as he moved, he saw Dr. Banner come to the side of his bed. Turning slightly, he saw Mr. Stark sleeping in a chair right next to his bed, leaning against the wall and snoring slightly, obviously having fallen asleep looking after Peter.


Dr. Banner sat down and placed a hand on his forehead. "How're you feeling, Pete?"


"Okay, I'm still a little dizzy. That headache was one of my worst, wasn't it?"


Bruce looked down on him gently. "Yeah it was, since you didn't take your medication that is supposed to prevent those. Why didn't you?"


At this, Peter felt tears spring to his eyes, and he quickly blinked them back. He was not going to cry in front of Dr. Banner. "Tony made me a bet, that if I could go an entire week without a trip to the Medbay, he would build me a robot. So since I had to come to you to get my medication for that, I couldn't do it." Even as he said it, he knew it sounded stupid. "I'm sorry, Dr. Banner."


"Hey, it's okay. You didn't do anything wrong, it's Tony here that was an idiot." With that, he shoved the billionaire off his chair. Tony woke up instantly, right as he landed on the cold floor.


"Hey what the hell what that for?"


The doctor fixed him with a stare. "That... was for telling Peter he had to go a whole week without a Medbay visit, so he didn't take his medication, and then he passed out from a stress headache."


"What, Peter? That's not what I meant! I meant I wanted you to be careful and not get hurt and end up like this in the Medbay! Not that you couldn't come down here to take your meds! Oh, I'm so stupid." Tony put his head in his hands. "Pete, I'm sorry, okay? I did not want this to happen."


"It's okay, Mr. Stark. I was stupid too." Peter said quietly.


"No, Pete, it was my fault."


"Alright fine, it was completely and utterly your fault, Mr. Stark. Feel better?" Peter quipped.


Tony raised his eyebrow. "Geez, kid, you never do cut the snark, do you?"


"Nope."


"Of course you don't, you hang around me too much." Tony and Peter both laughed, but then Tony turned serious again. "Listen, I'm going to go ahead and tell you what was my plan if you lost the bet, which you kind of did, since you were sick the last day."


"Hey!" Peter yelled, but Tony held up a hand.


"I think this way will be better for both of us. I don't need to have any more anxiety attacks because of you, and you need to stop making yourself so sick you pass out. So here's what we're gonna do, okay? Any time you feel sick in the slightest, you need to tell someone. I know you don't like most doctors," he said, anticipating Peter's hesitations, "but you don't mind Bruce and Stephen, do you?"


"They're better than anyone else," Peter admitted. This got him a gentle pat on the back from Bruce.


"So, I've updated your suit to send your vitals to them if they exceed certain parameters. If anything happens to you and you try to hide it, or lie about it, or try to push through it, they will know, and all three of us will bench you from being Spider-Man for weeks."


"What? That's not fair!" Peter cried.


"That's only if you don't tell anyone. If you let them know before something happens, the moment you feel even the slightest bit bad, then they can get you help immediately and you will face no additional consequences. This way, everyone can have peace of mind. How does that sound?"


"That's not a terrible idea, I suppose." Peter grudgingly conceded.


"Okay, good then. Peter, I want you to take care of yourself. Every time anything happens to you, I almost go crazy with worry. So this will help, I hope."


"Yeah, okay. I'll try to tell people from now on, are you happy? I hope so, because now we need to talk about your consequences."


"What? Kid, I kept my bet perfectly."


"Try telling that to the fresh beer stain on your shirt."


"That's old."


"No it isn't. Now you have to sit and watch every Star Wars with me. And that means all the Clone Wars episodes too. And I'm going to sit there and recite every. single. one."


Tony groaned, but there was laughter in his eyes. "Geez kid, you drive a hard bargain. I guess it's only fair, though."


And then they went upstairs to have a massive Star Wars marathon, complete with ice cream and popcorn.

Comment