Avengers Oneshots

Peter Parker (3)

"Peppermint"

"May?" Peter called. "What oil did you put in that diffuser thingy you got?"

"Peppermint, why?" his aunt yelled back.

"....I can't come out of my room, but I want to." Peter couldn't make sense of it.

His aunt came into his room to find him hanging upside down off the top bunk of his bed, doing sit-ups out of boredom. "I read somewhere that spiders hate peppermint, and I don't like spiders, so I put the peppermint oil in."

Peter's eyes widened in shock and he let go of the bed rail, flipping over and landing lightly. "That might be why! I got spider powers, so I hate peppermint!"

"What?" May looked confused.

"I have a training session with Aunt Natasha and Mr. Stark, but I can't leave my room for some odd reason. I had my door closed, so the scent hadn't worked its way into my room yet," Peter rationalized. "Now that my door's open and I can smell it, I really want to leave the house, but I can't because the entire house smells like peppermint!"

May hurried out of his bedroom. "You go out the window and I'll turn it off. Sorry, Peter!"

"Thanks, May. It's ok, I didn't know either." Peter quickly pulled on jeans and a Stark Industries hoodie over his suit, then hopped around his room trying to tug on his Converse while standing.

He crawled out the window and dropped to the sidewalk below, then looked at his watch. Exactly 12:30. Dr. Strange had arranged to portal him to the facility at 12:30.

Sure enough, gold sparks began spraying about, forming a circle. Peter waited until he could see the lounge of the Avengers facility on the other side before leaping through.

Peter landed on a couch, having misjudged the distance. He face-planted into a pile of pillows, just barely missing a snoring Thor's feet.

The portal faded as Peter got up off the couch, hair mussed.

Dr. Strange rolled his eyes and sipped his tea. "You're welcome."

"Thank you," Peter said meekly, catching a whiff of Strange's tea. Peppermint. He gave the sorcerer a wide berth, heading downstairs to Tony's personal lab.

"Hey, Spiderling," Tony called from the far back of the space. "Be there in a sec."

There were several clangs and bangs from the back before Tony emerged, a screwdriver tucked behind one ear like a pencil.

"Want some gum?" Tony tossed a stick towards Peter, who snatched it out of the air easily.

Tony wiped grease stains off his hands and forearms while Peter unwrapped his gum.

"You ready for today's training?" Tony asked.

"I'm still a little sore from Tuesday, but yeah." Peter started chewing the stick of gum and immediately gagged. Peppermint again! He rushed over to an overflowing trash can and spat the gum out, trying to control rising nausea. It hadn't made him sick before.

"Peter? You ok?" Tony asked worriedly, dropping the cloth he had been using to clean his hands and hurrying over to Peter.

Peter tried to nod, but that simple movement caused him to gag again, and this time he couldn't stop it. He threw up, retching on all fours as his stomach tried to rid his system of the peppermint.

"Oh, Pete..." Tony knelt by Peter's side and held his hair back from his face.

Peter dry-heaved several times, then slumped onto Tony, who cradled him.

"What'd you eat, buddy?" Tony asked him, running his fingers through Peter's curls reassuringly.

"The gum..." Peter replied weakly, his stomach still churning.

"You're not supposed to swallow it, dumbass," Tony chuckled.

"No, it was peppermint..."

"Peppermint? Pete, you're not making any sense. Do you have a fever?" Tony pressed a wrist to Peter's forehead. "You aren't too hot..."

"No, no." Peter quickly explained about the peppermint and spiders situation.

Tony struggled to hold in laughter. "Seriously? Peppermint?"

Peter sighed. "Yeah..."

"How do you feel?" Tony questioned.

"Like shit," Peter said quietly but truthfully.

Tony frowned, all laughter gone. "I'm canceling the training session today. Rest time for the spider-boy."

"No, I can do it, Mr. Stark," Peter protested. "I'll be better in a few minutes."

To exhibit how better he was feeling, Peter tried to stand, but his knees shook and he collapsed back against Tony.

"Definitely not. You're lying down," Tony helped Peter to his feet and back up the stairs into the living room. Dr. Strange was still drinking his tea and reading a book, and the smell made Peter nauseous all over again. Bile crawled up his throat and he broke free of Tony, stumbling into the bathroom to throw up again.

He faintly heard Tony explaining to Strange, telling him to go somewhere else and enjoy his tea. Peter curled up on the cold tile, shivering and exhausted, his vision blurry.

Warm hands shook his shoulders. "Pete, c'mon, buddy. Let's get you to the couch," Tony's voice said.

Peter allowed Tony to help him up. He was falling asleep on his feet as he stumbled to the couch, and as soon as he sat down, sleep claimed him.

He awoke after a while, to find himself lying with his head resting on Tony's chest, the arc reactor glowing faintly underneath Tony's Black Sabbath T-shirt. His mentor was also asleep, breathing calmly.

Peter snuggled into a more comfortable position and drifted off again...

"Shh, don't wake him," Tony's voice whispered.

"I'm not trying to," Steve replied equally quietly.

"You came stomping in here like an elephant," accused Tony.

Steve sighed. "Sorry."

Peter yawned and opened his eyes. Tony's arm was draped loosely across his back, keeping him close.

"Hiya, spider-boy. Welcome back to the waking world! How're you feeling?" Tony asked, sitting up and shifting Peter off him onto the couch.

"Better. A lot better," Peter replied, his throat scratchy. The blurriness to his vision was gone, and his stomach had stopped hurting.

Tony ruffled his hair affectionately. "Remind me to never feed you peppermint again."

"He's allergic to peppermint?" Steve asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's a spider thing," Tony said shortly. "Don't give it to him."

"I'll tell the others," Steve said. "But don't blame me if Clint wards his room with candy canes."