(day three is muzzled and I personally don't wanna do it so we're using one of the alternate prompts: natural disaster
In which Peter can't thermoregulate when his apartment's power goes out in a blizzard and may has no idea how to handle it. Just read <3)
Last night Queens announced rolling power outtages as a heavy blizzard stressed their power grid.
Temperatures at dipped down to 5°F (-15°C) and were only dropping farther.
Peter and May Parker's power went out in the middle of the night. Peter was comfortably snuggled in his bed and May was also fast asleep in her room. But the power didn't roll back on as promised.
8 hours later Peter and May woke up to their alarms, trying to maintain a schedule despite school being cancelled. And they woke up freezing.
Slowly, very slowly, Peter say up in bed, breathing out shakily. He could see his breath.
He was wearing nothing but his boxers, he'd collapsed in the heated apartment after his early patrol, marinating in the warmth under his blanket and vowing to take a shower the next morning.
There was no showering now. He could feel the cold in his bones as he moved to find a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie, maybe double each of those. Add several pairs of socks and his outfit was complete.
After layering up he went to find his aunt May, who had also just woken up and was pulling on her winter coat. She didn't look happy.
Peter could understand. Being woken up by a piercing cold wasn't very fun at all. He could feel himself shaking as May waved him over.
"Powers out.." she said seriously, "seems like it has been for a little while now. The warm's seeped out. The cell service has gotten buggy.. but the down website says we've been without power for 8 hours already."
"D-didnt they p-promise rolling outages w-wouldn't be for m-more than an h-h-hour?" He stuttered, his jaw clacking uncontrollably as he tried to speak. May put his coat over his shoulders for him to put on.
"I'm wondering if our line got downed somewhere." She said wearily, pulling on a beanie and scarf and then handing one to Peter as well.
"Finish dressing up, I'm gonna grab out some blankets and light some candles, mkay?" She directed calmly. She didn't seem to be shivering too much. Her winter gear was doing good to warm him up.
Peter? Not so much.
Thanks to the spider bite, his bodies thermoregulation had taken on the same as a spider's.
Poor.
Very poor.
He couldn't warm himself off or cool himself down. It was almost like he was cold blooded, relying on his surroundings to be perfect for his temp not to soar or dive.
And right now it was diving.
The coats weren't doing anything. His hands and feet were completely numb.
May knew about his endeavors as spiderman, but she didn't know some of the negative things he faced because of it. Or any of the negative things in his life.
Penis Parker
Flash as a whole
The sheer amount of negative news stories and gossip articles written about spiderman.
How severe his injuries would be if it wasn't for his super-healing.
How bad his thermoregulation was.
How serious this situation was.
She had no clue.
It was finally beginning to set in how cold he really was when he was shaking so badly he could barely pick up a pair of gloves to pull on.
"Aunt M-may?" He called out, still shivering. He felt like his legs might collapsed underneath him.
When had he gotten so weak?
"What's up, Pete?" She asked, still lighting a few candles around.
"Can you h-help me with g-gloves?" He asked nervously. He felt his heart flutter a little and a wave of dizziness wash over him.
How did he feel colder?
May was over in a moment and gasped when she saw him, "Hun, your lips are blue. And your fingers- okay gloves on. Gloves on. Why are you so cold you've got all the layers?" She questioned, very worried.
Peter looked down at his hands weakly as fabric covered the bluing tips.
He blinked slowly.
"The spider b-bite." He stuttered, tripping over his cold trembling, "my thermoregulation isn't as g-good anymore. I can't wa- warm m-myself up as good." He admitted, his words becoming repetitive as a mental fog set in.
"I'm s-so cold." He shivered.
May wrapped and arm around him and led him to the couch. They bundled close together and wrapped up under a bunch of blankets.
The apartment was quiet other than Peter's trembled breathing.
May had hoped a close proximity would help warm him up. She had hoped she could share her body heat with him, but all of her layers only reflected it back at herself.
Peter got colder.
"Feeling any warmer, Petey?" She asked, her arm still wrapped around him, rubbing his opposite bicep.
But the boy was in a daze, his eyes a little glazed over.
When he didn't respond immediately, May felt a pang of panic.
"Peter?" She asked seriously, shaking him relief flooding her body when he blinked and moved a bit.
"What?" He mumbled, clearly confused and disoriented. He leaned into her side a little more heavily now.
"Feeling any warmer?" She asked, her brow creasing as Peter shook his head stiffly.
"I feel... weak." He muttered, blinking slowly, like the cold had gotten into his brain, "m'hearts all fluttery and everything feels..." He paused to think, "wrong." He settled on.
May frowned.
Then frowned more when Peter's eyes fell shut and he went limp into her side.
"Pete?" She asked, calm at first. Then he didn't wake up.
He wasn't being funny or pulling a joke.
"Peter? Peter, wake up." She urged, shaking him a bit, more serious.
He didn't wake up. His lips were blue.
She pulled out her phone and dialled 911, pulling Peter's unconscious body fully into her lap, trying to get him some kind of warm.
But she was put on hold.
By 911.
Their operators were full.
Every single one.
She faltered and waited for another minute. Then two.
She monitored his breathing and kept a finger in the soft spot behind his ear, monitoring his heart.
His heart was slow, his breathing was shallow.
She didn't know what to do.
Who could have power right now? Who could have somewhere they could go?
Even so, how would they get there? The roads were closed, there were accidents everywhere. The snow was falling too harshly to drive safely, the wind was whipping in through the glass of windows.
She could only think of one person.
One person who was smart enough, and rich enough, to have a place with backup generator to assist through outages, one person who could get to them above the chaos of the streets.
She pulled out her son's phone and called Mr. Stark, the one and only Ironman.
It barely took a ring for the man to pick up.
"Hey Pete! What's up?" He asked casually.
May was silent for a second, shocked at the causality of how the billionaire answered.
"Tony, it's May." She said shakily, the weight of the situation finally falling on her.
"Hi. Is everything okay?" He asked, suddenly more serious.
"We need your help. Our power has been out for nine hours.. Peter- he-" she began to get choked up, "he needs help. Hes too cold."
"He can't thermoregulate right. Oh hell, okay. I'm on my way." Tony said seriously, realizing the horrid reality of the situation, "can you put him on the phone?"
"He passed out. 911 operators are all busy, please we need your help. Quickly." May choked, holding her nephew as close to her as possible, "he's breathing. He's still alive but it's so- he's so weak. His lips are blue."
"I'm coming. Bundle up in as many warm clothes as possible. I'm bringing both of you to the tower, we're fully generator run right now. We have heat and medbay is fully operational. I'll tell Bruce to get a bed ready." He said. She could hear as he climbed into his suit and after he finished speaking to her, began mumbling off to someone named Friday about calling a guy named Bruce.
Soon enough he was in their apartment, scooping them both up, blankets and all with barely a word.
"Keep monitoring his breathing." He ordered as they exited the apartment and flew into the snowy wind and air.
"His heart feels weird." May said halfway through the ride.
"Like what?" Tony asked immediately, trying to push forward faster somehow while still trying to protect May and Peter from the cold.
"Like, like skipping beats. It's irregular. Hurry." She begged.
"I'm trying." Tony answered, trying to keep himself calm as May tightened a blanket over Peter's face, hiding his blue lips from the wind.
At last, Tony landed on one of the balconies of the tower. He commanded Friday to open the doors and turn up the heat on the floor they were on.
"C'mon Pete.. wake up." Tony said softly as he set the two down and climbed out of the suit, leaving it to put itself away as he picked Peter back up and rushed them both into the medbay.
"Tony! Over here!" Bruce called, waving them over to where he had heating pads warmed in advance.
"He's barely breathing." Mr. Stark said seriously, carefully setting the boy down on the hospital bed and following Bruce's lead on undoing the clothing that was wet with snow.
Which now, was most of it.
He was reduced to his sweatshirts and sweatpants. They put the heating pads on his core and wrapped him in an insulating blanket.
Bruce gave him an oxygen mask and they waited with baited breath, staring at his vitals until he woke up.
Eventually his heart rate kicked up again as his temperature increased. His oxygen levels went up as his breaths became fuller. He began shivering again, his body resuming function to try and keep him warm.
And then his eyes opened softly. He let out a groan.
"Hey.. underoos, how are you feeling?" Tony asked gently.
"C-cold." He answered, trying to crack a joke with the blatant obviousness of his answer.
"He's gonna be okay." Bruce said with a chuckle.
And soon the whole room was laughing, a couple shivering.
Peter would be okay.