**Request for marvellousgreys where Peter Stark is home sick with his very loving and protective parents. I had a blast with this one, especially the ending! I've got a few more requests coming this weekend, so if I messaged you about requests, I promise they are coming! Enjoy!**

Peter had a sniffle, which is what he called the flu when he wanted to patrol and didn't want anyone stopping him. Tony and Pepper knew their son though, and after 2 years of this charade, they knew as soon as he said the word.

Peter had a sniffle.

Peter was puking into a toilet, too, so maybe he should have called his little illness the "pukies".

In any case, Peter was home from school for at least the next week. Tony and Pepper moved him into their room so they could nest him into their massive bed, piled up with blankets and pillows and Peter's childhood teddy bear. Peter didn't mind too much - he got to sleep as much as he wanted and he got to watch movies all day with his mom when she wasn't in meetings or with his dad when he wasn't absolutely needed in the labs.

And that's where he was when Pepper extracted herself from the bed one morning and began to brush out her messy hair.

"Where are you going?" Tony asked quietly.

"There's a group of high school seniors coming through the building today," she said as she went into their bathroom to looks for something to wear. "I'm only going down for the career part of the talk, so the kids can ask me some questions."

Tony hummed and dragged his hand through Peter's hair. "How long do you think you'll be gone?"

"A few hours at the most. Why?"

"I have to go down to the labs and sign some final safety documents today," Tony said. "I'm thinking if we can both get our work done while Peter is knocked out on cough syrup, we can be back before he wakes up."

Pepper smiled. "Sounds like something we can do."

Tony extracted himself from Peter's arms and joined his wife in the bathroom. His hair was a mess, but the curls made it easier to hide the bedhead. They both brushed their teeth and got dressed in their nicest, unwrinkled suits.

Tony checked on Peter one last time while Pepper got a bit of makeup on and gave her a thumbs up. The teen was pretty out of it. They both left and closed the door behind them quietly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Peter woke up, his head was swimming with three thoughts. It was bright outside, he was all alone, and his throat was hurting.

The bright part of that concern was fixed as soon as Peter rolled over and buried his head under his father's pillow. FRIDAY knew enough to roll the drapes down and keep the sunlight out. Peter's next biggest issue was being alone.

"FRIDAY?" Peter wheezed out. His throat felt like it was being raked by knives, though, and he gave up on the loneliness in favor for finding some more of the pain relief cough syrup his parents had been giving him.

Pulling the blankets tight around his body, Peter rolled out of bed and trudged to the bathroom. He barely got the medicine cabinet open before several pill bottles and creams and some of his mother's makeup fell out and clattered into the sink. Peter jolted, but couldn't really find it in himself to care.

The cough medicine wasn't there.

Peter's throat was still burning, though, and he needed FRIDAY's help, so he turned on the cold water and used his hand to scoop some into his mouth. It helped enough that he felt like he could talk to FRIDAY.

"Where's mom and dad?" Peter asked.

"Your father was in the labs and is now headed to the second floor to meet your mother. They are talking to a group of young adults about the career paths here at Stark Industries."

Peter shuffled back to the bed and slipped on a pair of fuzzy socks he'd kicked off in his sleep at some point, then headed for the elevator.

Everyone in the building knew Peter had been sick. The employees had been running groceries up to the penthouse all week, for God's sake. They knew to avoid the moving blanket-monster that was Peter in that moment.

When he finally pushed open the door to the big conference room, he looked for his mother's red hair. It was one of the best and easiest way to find his family in a crowd like this. It wasn't just brighter, it was also much higher than Tony's hair, so Peter could scan for it easier.

Pepper and Tony were at the head of the table. Peter pushed his way to them, then hunkered down right in Tony's lap.

"Oh," Tony said, wrapping his arms around Peter's blanket shell. "You're up."

Peter just pointed at his throat.

Tony leaned away from the table to one of the assistants and asked them to get the cough syrup from the penthouse kitchen while Pepper worked her chair closer to Peter and put a hand on the teen's back. "Pardon the interruption," Pepper said to the group. "Our son has the flu and has been very sick. We're getting him the next dose of his medicine."

Peter burrowed further into his father's arms, seeking those cuddles he'd been wrapped in just that morning. In digging into those arms pushed his blankets back and off his shoulders, and there was a collective gasp from the people in the audience.

"And while she's getting the medicine, could one of you run up and get the NDA's on my desk?" Pepper asked, finally realizing what was going on.

The class was Peter's class. Peter didn't have it in him to care, but his parents sure as hell did. Pepper was working double-time to get the students to sign the NDA's and Tony was carefully keeping Peter's face out of sight of the cell phones popping up in the audience.

Peter just nuzzled into Tony's shoulder. His parents could take care of the rest.