A Sick Spider-Man

Food and Frustration

CHAPTER 3

Peter's favorite part of the day was dinner. Not only did he get to hang out with all the Avengers, but there was food too. It combined Peter's two favorite things. But today, Peter was dreading dinner. He didn't know how he was supposed to be with the Avengers for a whole 45 minutes without anyone noticing he was sick. This wasn't going to be fun. 

At exactly 6:15, Peter started toward the dinning room. On his way he stopped by the kitchen to grab a bottle of Nyquil and quickly swallowed some while putting the rest in the pocket of the hoodie he was wearing. He was about to leave the kitchen when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped and flipped his body around so it faced the person who had touched him, seeing bright red hair. Nat. Dang it. Had she seen him slip the Nyquil into his pocket? But, when Peter looked into her eyes, he saw nothing that wasn't usually there. He almost breathed a sigh of relief, but caught himself just before he could. 

 "Hey Peter" Natahsa says, "I haven't seen you all day!" There's a reason for that  Peter thinks to himself.

 "Oh yeah, I had a lot of homework." Peter lies. Nat seems to believe it though, so they walk towards the dinning room together. They're the last ones to get there. Peter sits down at the table in between Tony and Clint. 

"Okay," says Tony, taking charge, "everybody eat fast so we can go train." Nobody wants to disagree with Tony, so they all start shoveling food into their mouths.  Just as Peter finishes, he feels his nose tickle. He wrinkles it to try to stop the sneeze, but it only makes it tickle more. His breath becomes more shallow as he leans toward his elbow. 

 "Huh hu HUHISHOOO.... HAHISHOOO!!" Peter sneezed, realizing too late that he should have tried to stifle them. All the avengers stared at Peter with wide eyes. In all the time Peter had lived with them, he had never sneezed like that. In fact, none of them could remember seeing him sneeze at all. They all looked at him with raised eyebrows or dropped jaws.

 "Bless you, Pete" Tony said. "Are you feeling alright?" 

 "Oh yeah" Peter said, "I'm perfectly fine. Just a little tired, that's all." 

 " Are you sure? " Steve said "because of you aren't feeling well, you could always go to bed." 

 " No! " Peter yelled a little too loud and a little too soon. He wouldn't, couldn't, to go bed early. As much as that might have appealed to him, he loved training with the team. "I'm fine." He said, recovering fast from his outburst. Luckily, everyone's attention was off Peter quickly and onto Bruce who had fallen out of his chair. Peter tried to hold back his laughter and as a result his already irritated nose began to itch. Peter knew that he was going to sneeze again, and he wasn't going to be around the others when he did it. He excused himself as everyone was still focused on Bruce, and he stepped out of the room and into the hallway. 

He started to walk towards the elevator and he let out a sigh of relief, causing his breathing to become more shallow. He took a breath in, resulting in his brewing becoming hitched as he fought off another sneeze. 

"Ihhh... hhh! Hhhhh! Ih'ixxxshhhh! Xsstt! Ha'Nnggxx!" Trying desperately to hush his sneezes in fear that the Avengers might hear him, Peter had turned his head towards his shoulder and pinched his nose as his head bobbed forward. Finishing the fit, he sniffed deeply in a hope to clear his nose, only to be find that it didn't help. He groaned inwardly as he continued to walk towards the elevator. He needed to find some tissues fast. 

"Spider-Man floor please, JARVIS" Peter mumbled into thin air as he stepped into the elevator and the doors closed. 

                                                                    *******************

 "Guys, I'm fine." Bruce said. " Really. " The initial shock of him falling out of his chair had worn off and everyone was now talking down. Tony took a deep breath in as he closed his eyes and then slowly let it out. He did this several times before opening his eyes. He looked back at Bruce, who was looking right at him questioningly. He gave him a look that said, "I'm fine. Just don't ask." .

 Tony couldn't seem to catch a breath around here. He felt like he was supposed to watch everybody while taking care of his Iron Man duties and he was kind of glad that it was starting to calm down a little. After the last bit adventure he had, being in charge of Peter, everything had been starting to chill. Peter was a handful, he 'd give him that much. Wait a second, where was the kid?

"Uh, guys?" Tony said, " Where's Peter? ". It seemed like only then that the rest of them realized the spiderling wasn't there. They exchanged worried glances. Peter wasn't that familiar with this place, being new here. He could get lost easlily. And, where was he going in the first place? And, why was it so important that he had missed part of dinner? It was no secret that dinner was one of Peter's favorite parts of the day. That, school, his daily morning runs with Nat, hanging out with the Avengers, training, patrol, okay. So, maybe he had a lot of favorite parts of the day. But, still. It wasn't like the kid to skip. At least Tony knew this much. 

Hey guys! sorry it took so long to update this! I had writers block and couldn't come up with anything. I would love to know what you think about the story so far and where you want this to go. I'm open to suggestions! 

From, 

WritingPotato_13