Outnumbered

Chapter 16

Peter decides to stay with May for a few days to let Tony cool off. That, and he needs familiarity. Someone who will let him be in his thoughts and talk him through everything when he's ready. The low during the mission, and the scene in MedBay with Tony turning red in the face, was enough to throw him into hypervigilance mode when it came to anything and everything diabetes. Now, it's like he can't calm down. It's on his mind 24/7, every beep and buzz from his pump or phone making him jump, making him feel like he's in trouble.

He stays in May and Happy's guest room, pretends he's taking a small vacation.

His birthday arrives and May makes her traditional birthday pancakes for breakfast. It feels like old times. Kind of. When it was just Peter and May in their Forest Hills apartment.

Truth be told, though, he's absolutely terrified of facing Tony, hasn't spoken to him in three whole days. May had done the initial communicating, had recommended that everyone have some time to calm down before coming together to discuss what would happen going forward.

Peter wishes he could slip into his suit and spend the evenings swinging to get his mind off of everything, but that's off the table until further notice.

"I don't agree with it, either, Peter," May had said as she'd made up the guest bed that first night. "But a break from everything doesn't sound so bad."

A break? Yeah, right.

"You've been going full-throttle since you got diagnosed. I think a few days at Club May might be just what you need."

Peter had rolled his eyes as he sat on the edge of the just-made bed, a sigh escaping before he let his chin hit his chest.

Don't cry don't cry don't cry, he told himself.

The tears came anyway.

"Oh, baby," he heard May whisper as she sat beside him and pulled him into her arms, rocking him back and forth. "I know this is so hard. I know."

"I don't know how to do this!" he sobbed hoarsely.

"No one knows how to do this, baby. We've just gotta figure it out as we go, like we've always done."

"I've fucked everything up..."

"You did not fuck everything up," she reminded him, rubbing his back. "You made a mistake. We all make mistakes."

"Not ones that can kill you!" he argued, lifting his head up. "May, I did something really stupid and Tony...he's...always so obsessive about my blood sugar levels, so this is like...monumental in his book! He's never exploded on me like that before! I've royally fucked everything up and I don't think I can...f-fix this!"

She'd set her hand on his shoulder and sighed. "Peter, I know you look up to Tony, and I know he loves you, but sometimes an adult's reaction to something has more to do with them than you. I'm not saying you're totally innocent here; you do get ahead of yourself sometimes when it comes to paying attention to details. But you're not the only person who has mixed-up numbers while bolusing. I see people all of the time in the ER who take their long-acting insulin instead of their short-acting or ones who forgot to detach their tubing while priming their pump and give themselves an extra ten units inadvertently."

"I just feel like, eventually, you're gonna start yelling at me, too," he whispered, turning away from May to wipe his face. "Like you're being nice right now, but that eventually it's gonna turn into a rant, because that's how it is with Tony."

"I'm not going to yell at you. I know that you know what happened today had consequences." She paused, thinking of how to put her thoughts into words. "I think Tony's feeling just as beat up about everything as you are right now. He's probably mad at himself, too. Like I said, sometimes someone's reaction has everything to do with them and what's going on in their head. Sleeping on this will be good for everyone."