Life Changes (ch8)

Life Changes (ch8)

Tony was almosts asleep when his phone started blaring ‘Perfect’ by Ed Sheeran. That was the ringtone he set for Peter. Was he hallucinating? Why would Peter be calling him? Scrambling for his phone, he answers it.

“H-hello?” Amazingly, his voice sounded steadier than he felt.

“Tony?”

“Peter. You’re real.” His voice was as soft as Peter’s was.

“ Of course I’m real.” The tiniest bit of a smile shone through the younger man’s voice. “I know I was an ass to you and I don’t blame you if you hate me but do you think...You could come up here?”

“Peter...I don’t hate you.”

There is silence for a moment.

“Can you come up here?” Peter’s voice wavers a little. “Please? I need to see you.”

“I’m on my way.”

“Thank you.”

Tony pulls on his shoes and looks around for his keys.

Tony?”

“Yes love?” Tony asked, sliding out his door and locking it.

“Can…..can you stay on the line until you get here? You’re voice is comforting. It’s the one thing that I have from before.”

Tony doesn’t have an answer for that. He just wanted to hold Peter and never let him go.

“Yeah, I’ll stay on the line. So talk to me. How are you feeling? Are they treating you okay?”

“I’m starting to get feeling in my leg again, which hurts like hell by the way but painkillers are a blessing. I’ve noticed there are a lot of redheads here. Oh and Dr. Romanova says I can start PT in a few days so I suppose that’s good.”

Tony chuckles a little.

“Have you met T’Challa King yet?”

“Oh yeah! He’s nice.”

“His sister works in plastics. I think you two would get along.”

“Maybe I’ll meet her. I seem to be meeting a lot of people. I met a guy from peds today.”

“Guy from peds?”

“Big guy. Kinda scary looking. Ex cop with a fake arm that’s all doodled up?”

“Ah. Bucky. Don’t let how he looks scare you. He’s a big softie, especially around Steve.”

“Steve? The guy who helped him?”

“Peter, Steve and Bucky are engaged. Theirs is the wedding I invited you to.”

“Oh! That’s sweet. So when do I get to meet Steve then? It’s only fair if I meet both halves of the couple. And they are friends of yours so it's fair right?” Peter babbles a little

“I’ll see if I can set something up. We’ll do lunch or something. How does that sound?”

“Only if you want to. I don’t want to impose.”

“I’m sure they’d love to. Steve has already asked twice. He’s kinda old fashioned in his ways. He wants to take us out and pay forit himself. He’s such a dad but it’s sweet.”

“Well okay….If he insists.”

Tony smiles. “Well I can’t exactly argue with my boss.”

“Yeah that is true.”

Tony pulls into the parking lot and turns his car off.

“Do you want me to bring you something from the cafeteria?” He asked, suddenly remembering he hadn’t eaten all day.

“Um….not fish sticks.”

“I see you talked to Wanda.”

“Yeah. She’s really nice.”

“That she is. How does grilled cheese sound?”

“That sounds amazing. And a hot chocolate?’

“Your wish is my command.”

“You are the best.”

“Yes so I’ve been told.”

“Hurry up here. I really wanna see you.”

“I’ll be there soon. I gotta hang up now so I can order okay?”

“Okay bye. See you soon.”

Tony heads up to Peter’s room, sandwich in hand. On his way, he spots a familiar streak of white hair.

“Stephen!” He calls.

Stephen stops and looks over at him. His face goes through a whole range of emotions that Tony couldn’t quite read. He sets the chart down and makes his way over.

“So I take it you’re feeling better?”

“Yeah. Thanks for letting me stay over.”

“It’s no problem. I’d rather know you were safe than dead in a ditch somewhere.”

Tony nods a little.

“So what are you doing here?”

“Oh, I’m actually here to see Peter.”

“Peter?”

Tony grins widely.

“Yeah. He called and asked me to come up.”

“Oh. That’s wonderful.” Stephen smiles a little, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Okay, what happened last night?” Tony asked, worried. “Did I do something stupid? Did we do something-”

Stephen raised a hand, shutting Tony up.

“No, we didn’t do anything. You wanted attention and I sent you to bed but instead of going to the guest room, you decided to sleep in my bed. So I slept in the guest room.”

Tony’s smile fell. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put you out.” “I’m not worried about it. You were drunk so I saw no point in arguing with you.”

“Yeah. I am an unreasonable drunk.”

“Don’t flatter yourself Antony. You’re always unreasonable.” Stephen teases, seeming to relax a little.

“Well I think that depends on who you ask.”

Stephen rolls his eyes and pats Tony’s back. “Go on. He’s waiting for you.”

“I’ll talk to you later?” He asked, turning to go to Peter’s room.

“I’ll be here.”

-----.-----

Peter looks up with a careful smile as Tony enters his room.

“Tony.” He breathes softly, wanting to reach for the older man but holds back.

Tony however, moved to sit beside him and hands over the burger with a smile.

“I missed you Peter.” Tony says, breaking the silence. That made the dam inside Peter break wide open.

“Tony I’m so sorry. I snapped at you and it was wrong. I was an idiot and I shouldn’t have said those things. None of this is your fault. It’s my own fau-”

“I’m going to stop you right there.” Tony says, leaning over with a tiny smile. “Peter, I don’t blame you for acting the way you did. Hell, if I were in your situation, I’d probably be worse.”

Peter opens his mouth to protest again but Tony leans over and kisses him gently, effectively shutting him up. When Tony pulled away, Peter stared at him.

“Is this going to be a thing now? You kissing me to shut me up?”

“Hm. Yes, I think it is.”

Peter blushed a little. “O-oh. Okay.”

“So have I missed much?”

“No, not really. Though I do have a question.”

“Ask away.” Tony props his feet on the edge of the bed and smiles.

“Nurse King wouldn’t happen to be related to Shuri King, would he?”

Tony sits up straight in surprise. “You know her?”

“She’s dating a friend of mine.” Peter grins. “Michelle Jones.”

“Ah well I don’t know Shuri to well, but I do know she’s a great person.”

“Oh yeah. She’s super sweet. The two of them are great together except when they get pissed off. Then it’s scary.”

Tony laughs softly again and sits up to take Peter’s hand in his own. He intwines their fingers and looks up into Peter’s eyes. He could listen to the younger man talk for hours.

“What about you? What have you been up too since I flew off the handle.”

“Well I worked in the ER and did a surgery or two.”

“Anything interesting?”

“A guy had a branch go through his leg.”

“Anything else?”

“Um….I got drunk and ended up at Stephen’s house?”

Peter giggles a little. “Is there something that happens often?”

“Me gettin drunk or me going to bother Stephen?”

“Both? EIther one?”

“I don’t drink a whole lot anymore. I used to be an alcoholic and I realized that was just like my father and I don’t want to do that. As for me bothering Stephen,” Tony smirks. “I do that as often as I can.”

“So do I get to meet this Stephen?”

“Do you want me to go get him?” Tony asked, moving to get up.

Peter makes grabby hands at Tony, stopping him from getting up. “I don’t want to bother him. I don’t want to be a bother.” He catches his bottom lip between his teeth.

 Tony chuckles a little. “Don’t worry. I’m pretty sure he isn’t doing anything right now. It’s late and most people are sleeping.”

“Are you sure?”

Tony runs his fingers along Peter’s lip, gently pulling it free from his teeth.

“You’ll get blisters.” He says softly. “And yeah. Just give me a minute.”

Pressing a kiss to Peter’s head, Tony stands and leaves the room. Heading back towards the nurse’s station, he looks around for Stephen. Not seeing him, he heads for an on-call room. He hears the sound of soft crying through the cracked door and peeks in, concerned.

“Hello?” He calls.

-----.-----

Stephen watches Tony head towards Peter’s room and smiles softly. It was good that Tony was so happy again. He finishes his rounds and finds an empty on-call room.  He pauses by the young ex-performers room. Tony looked so peaceful talking to him. It was something Stephen hadn’t seen in a while. He enters the room and sits on one of the beds. As he sits in the dark, his thoughts seem to settle around him. His mind goes back to the kiss and Stephen squeezes his eyes shut tight, feeling heat rise in his face. If it was any other circumstance, he’d be giddy with joy. Though maybe this could help him get over his feelings. Except it didn't. It just confused him more. He knew Tony would never feel that way about him but the words kept repeating in his head.

“I need you…..”

“You’re my best friend….”

Putting one hand over his eyes, he feels the tears slip out, making hot tracks down his cheeks. Sometimes a man just needs a good cry. Stephen did have a terrible habit of burying his feels deep inside. He hears the door creak and jumped up, realizing he hadn’t shut the door all the way.

“Hello?” A soft voice called.

“Tony?” Stephen’s voice cracked a little and he winces. He hurriedly wipes his face and takes a deep breath. “Did you need something?”

“I’m turning on the lights.” Tony warns before flipping them on. Stephen hisses at the sudden flood of bright lights.

“Stephen.” Tony moved closer, sitting beside him. “What’s wrong?”

Stephen shakes his head and clears his throat. “It’s nothing. I’m just tired is all.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.” Tony counters,

“Do you need something Tony or did you come to annoy me?”

Tony glares at him. “You aren’t getting out of this. We are going to talk later. But yes, I actually want something.”

“Well I’m waiting.”

“Peter wants to meet you.”

“Me? Why?” Stephen asked, shocked.

“Uh because you are one of my best friends?”

“I….see.”

“Please will you please just come meet him? He’s really important to me.”

Stephen knew full well he could never tell Tony no. He sighs and nods. “Only for a few moments though because I actually would like to sleep in my own bed tonight.”

“Great. Come on.” Tony gets up and leads him out.

 Once they got to the room, Stephen took one look at Peter, who was all bright smiles and greetings, and couldn’t help but smile.

“Hello. My name is Stephen Strange.”

“You helped fix my leg!”

Stephen nods. “Yes, I did.”

“Thank you a lot.”

“Well I’m just happy to help.” Stephen says, relaxing a bit.

“So….do all the neurosurgeons here have pretty eyes and nice hair?” Peter blurts, his face flushing.

Tony gives Steve a look, a dopey smile on his face.

“Well, not as far as I know but don’t tell me I’m going to have to fight my best friend for your attention.” Tony teases. Stephen pants Tony’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry. He isn't my type. No offence Peter.”

“None taken!” Peter stammered a bit. “You aren’t really my type either.”

“So if Peter isn’t your type, who is?” Tony questions with that damn quirked eyebrow of his.

Stephen shrugged, stopping himself from saying what automatically popped into his head.

“Ah well, you’re find someone who I deem good enough for you.” Tony grins.

“Yeah, we’ll see.”