< I don't know if anyone is actually reading this, but this is my first attempt at fan fiction and specifically sickfics. If you like it, please let me know or let other people know. If there's anything you don't like, please comment and tell me to add stuff. Feel free to do asks and tell me what scenarios you'd like to see Peter in next. Also thanks so much for getting me to #1 on sickfic! That's crazy!>

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Peter looked at his watch. "Uh, Mr. Stark? It's like midnight already. May's gonna be freaking out. I need to leave, like now."

Tony looked up from the workbench, where one of his droids was dissembled. "It's fine, I already called your aunt and told her we'd be working late. You can sleep here tonight. Are you tired now?"

"No," Peter lied, but even as he said it a huge yawn escaped. "Maybe a little," he amended.

Tony put the wrench down. "Alright, that's it. To bed with you. Take the elevator to the top floor, your room is the second one on the right."

"Wait, I have a room?" Peter was shocked.

"Of course, kid! You're an Avenger. All the Avengers have one."

Peter was speechless. Finally, he stammered out. "Wow, thanks, Mr. Stark." And without thinking, he launched himself across the lab and gave Tony a big hug. The billionaire didn't respond at first, and Peter started to draw back, knowing he had made a mistake. But then Tony gently wrapped his arms around Peter too.

"No problem, kid. Now go to bed or you have to sleep in the basement." He ruffled the kid's curls teasingly.

~slight time skip~

Peter laid on his bed in Avengers tower, still not fully believing it was actually his. Another yawn wracked his body, and he started to lie down, but then he jolted back up and pulled out his laptop. He had to disable FRIDAY from his room. He had been around the tower enough to know that FRIDAY monitored the sleep patterns and vitals of all the tower's occupants, and would notify Tony of anything out of the ordinary instantly. It would also notify Banner if anyone's heart rate or temperature got too high.

Peter could not have anyone check on him. He had had terrible nightmares for years, and he didn't want to show any weakness to the team. They already believed him to be too small and young to fight completely, he couldn't give them any more reasons to take him off the team. No, FRIDAY's monitoring was not an option. Ten minutes later, he was good. Anyone accessing the feed to his room would see him sleeping soundly, or maybe stirring gently in the clutches of a normal dream. They would not hear his screams of terror or his racing heart. Those were for weak people, and the Avengers were not weak. Tony thought he was a real avenger, so he had to live up to their expectations.

Eventually, Peter did fall asleep, and nightmares plagued him all night long. He jolted upright in a cold sweat, and then instantly fell back on to the bed, his nightmare forgotten for a real-life nightmare. His stomach was clenched tighter than a wind up toy. Every time he shifted even the tiniest bit, it felt like someone was twisting a knife in his gut. His breathing came faster, and he could feel the panic building. He had to do something, had to escape before someone came into his room.

He dragged himself out of bed and into the bathroom, where he collapsed against the toilet and puked his guts out. He heaved and heaved until nothing was left in his stomach. After that, he felt slightly better, at least enough to be able to stand up by himself. He went back into his bedroom, racking his brain for a way to get somewhere the Avengers couldn't find him. He couldn't take his suit, it was equipped with Karen and would let Mr. Stark know of his symptoms immediately. He looked around, the room, growing more desperate. He thought about just walking out of the compound, faking a smile the whole way, but he knew he would never be able to do it. If anyone saw him, he wouldn't be able to keep up the ruse. And then they would drag him to Bruce, and... he couldn't even imagine what would happen next. He wouldn't be allowed to be an avenger anymore, that's for sure, if he let something as simple as a stupid stomachache get the better of him.

Finally, Peter saw the vent. Perfect. If he couldn't get out of the compound, he could at least go somewhere in the building where the Avengers would never find him.

He grabbed his web shooters and climbed up the wall. He removed the vent and swung into the shaft, ignoring the stabs of pain every movement caused. Slowly, he crawled along, moving silently through the vents until he found a passage that wasn't directly accessible. Only then did he allow himself to collapse. He curled up in a tight ball, tears streaming down his face. It hurt. Oh god, it hurt so bad.

~Tony's POV~

Tony walked downstairs and grabbed a cup of coffee, taking a deep whiff of the amazing scent of that heavenly beverage. He also smelled Steve's pancakes, and looked around, expecting to see Peter. The smell of food was like a beacon for him, but Peter wasn't sitting at the table. Tony looked at his watch. It was almost 8:30. Not early, but not too late for the kid to be sleeping in. Still, he was surprised that the smell hadn't called him straight from bed. He walked back upstairs and listened outside of Pete's door. He didn't hear anything, which was weird. He knocked. No response. He knocked again, and he still didn't hear anything. He grabbed the door handle. Locked.

"Hey FRIDAY, unlock this door."

"The door is unlocked, Boss."

Tony tried it again. "No it isn't! Unlock the door FRIDAY! What the hell is wrong with you? Peter, you in there? Unlock this door right now!" Tony was starting to panic, he could just feel like the kid was in trouble.

"Peter Parker is sleeping soundly, heart rate 72 bpm, temperature 98.6, temperature 98.6, temp, temp, T...." Tony looked up in alarm. FRIDAY seemed to be glitching out, repeating one word over and over again.

"Peter Benjamin Parker, unlock this door right now or I'm breaking in!" There was still no response, and so Tony twisted the Iron Man bracelet. His suit closed around him seconds later, and he fired a repulsor at the door handle. He rammed his shoulder into the door and it opened. Peter wasn't in the room. Tony was full on panicking now as he swept the room. He wasn't anywhere in the room, or the bathroom. The bathroom did have small specks of something that looked like vomit on the floor, which did nothing to calm Tony's panic.

Peter's laptop was still sitting on the table beside his bed, and Tony pulled it open, quickly bypassing the password. He swore when he saw what was pulled up. He put his head in his hands. "This fu***** kid hacked FRIDAY." Tony quickly erased Peter's work and brought FRIDAY fully online again. He knew Peter had to be still in the tower somewhere, and he couldn't have his suit with him. He stormed out of Peter's room into the living room, yelling commands at FRIDAY the whole time. "Scan this building from top to bottom! Tell me where Peter is!"

Steve heard the shouting and came out of the kitchen, followed by Bucky and Natasha. "Tony, what's going on?!"

"It's Peter. I can't find him anywhere, he's not in his room, and he hacked FRIDAY so I couldn't track him." He was screaming, on the verge of a full blown panic attack. Steve knew what what happening and grabbed Tony's shoulders.

"Calm down. He can't have gone far." Just then, FRIDAY piped up.

"Boss, I have scanned the building and have found the spider-child."

"Where is he?!" Tony pushed Steve off and stood up.

"He is curled up the the vent system in between the fifteenth and sixteenth floors. He appears to be in great distress. His heart rate and breathing are incredibly elevated, as well as his temperature. He is suffering from intense abdominal pain."

"Get Bruce!" Tony screamed over his shoulder at Steve. He didn't even look able to see if he had complied, he was already shooting out a window and up the tower to the fifteenth floors. He fired a beam at a window on the fifteenth floor and stepped through. "Peter, where are you? I'm coming!"

~Peter POV~

Peter heard the laser blast and flinched. He curled up tighter. He could hear Mr. Stark's yelling, and it was just making everything worse. His head hurt, his eyes hurt. Even the dim light from the vent was too much. His own breathing was too much. He let out a tiny whimper, praying that Mr. Stark hadn't heard it over his yelling. He couldn't be seen like this, he couldn't! He pressed a hand into his mouth and stifled another cry as the room below him went totally quiet. Peter forced himself to stay totally still, barely even breathing. And then suddenly he was being pulled backward, out of the vent. He shot upright, not even noticing the pain it caused him. He was still holding on to the vent's metal, but it was being pulled. Without warning, bright lights swept over him, and he felt himself falling, darkness taking over his vision.

~Tony POV~
The kid fell in slow motion, tumbling off the piece of metal and through the air. Not even fully realizing what he was doing, Tony flew forwards, hands outstretched. The kid dropped right into his waiting arms and lay there, still as a board. He was pale and flushed. Tony adjusted his grip and walked faster, flying out the same hole he had made earlier. He flew into the basement of the tower and was walking quickly toward the medbay when Peter woke up, thrashing. "Shh, it's alright," He whispered, stroking the brown curls. "We're almost to the medbay now."

~Peter POV~

Peter came to again and felt arms against him. Instantly he began to panic, but stopped when he realized it was Mr. Stark. He met his mentor's eyes, and his mentor ran his hand gently through his curls, calming Peter until he started talking. When Peter heard the word medbay, however, he shot out of Tony's arms instantly. He landed on the ceiling, his sticky hands and feet grasping for purchase.

"Don't take me there, please. I'm fine, I swear. I think I just have a stomachache. Please." He was begging now, tears pooling in his eyes. He blinked hard to keep them from spilling out. He tried to school his face into a neutral expression, but just then, another wave of pain hit. He couldn't stop the hiss of pain from coming out.

"You're clearly not okay!" Tony looked up at the kid on the ceiling. "You need to have Bruce look at you."

"No. I. Don't." Peter gritted his teeth and spat the words out, even as the pain kept growing.

By this time, Bruce had heard the commotion and had come out if the medbay. "Please, Peter," He said calmly. "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I just need to examine your stomach really fast. Can I do that, please?"

Peter shook his head. "Pete, he has to, okay? I asked him to. You don't want to disappoint me, do you?" Tony said.

At this, the tears did start streaming out. "No, I don't, Mr. Stark. That's why I need to be strong. You would never let something like a stomachache stop you." Gasps punctuated his sentences.

~Tony POV~

Tony was dumbstruck. This was all his fault. The kid hadn't told him because he wanted to be like Tony, he wanted to be strong like Tony only pretended to be.

"No, kid, no." Tears had welled up in his eyes too. "It's perfectly alright to get sick. It happens to me all the time. I have horrible panic attacks, and I've learned that the best way to be strong is to have other people help me."

"Really...?" Peter asked in a small voice.

"Yes, really. So you need to be strong too, okay? And come down and let Bruce and I help you."

"Alright. Okay." Peter was still crying, but he let himself slip down the wall into Tony's waiting arms.

Looking down at the frail kid, Tony was moved. "You're gonna be alright, kid."