Archive of Our Own ^beta

A Little Adventure

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An adventure in many things: periods, neurodivergence, and relationships

(The writing is a bit all over the place but to be fair I dissociated like the entire time)

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They’re in the quinjet heading home after one of their easier missions. Everyone came out unscathed and are mostly winding down from the adrenaline. It’s feeling like a pretty normal day until in the middle of conversation Tony puts his hand on Peter’s thigh. Now, don’t worry. This is something they spoke about being okay previously.

However, one thing he hadn’t considered due to his ADHD was periods. When Peter gets his period he’s a very different person sensory wise. So, Peter had begun to dissociate and didn’t notice until he was touched. Once he did, his immediate reaction is panic. He grumble-stims then shreaks as he jumps onto the ceiling. Sam and Steve are immediately putting the jet in self-drive at the sound.

“Woah, what the hell’s going on?”

Peter had just never had his period start whilst with the Avengers. Sure, he’d had it whilst they’re around, but he knew it was happening and so he knew exactly how to counteract any of his issues. On the first day though, and especially right as it starts, he needs a lot of careful socialization. He’s dissociated or loopy, sensitive physically and emotionally to another degree, not to mention he regresses in and out of being able to communicate.

He’d noticed he might have his period half way back to the compound and promptly dissociated to not panic. He knows he can just sit still then go to the bathroom before debrief with no issues. However, Tony didn’t realize this was him dissociating on purpose to avoid anxiety. Had Peter remembered to talk about it, he would’ve absolutely warned his mentor that being autistic with a period can be very weird and confusing and concerning.

“Pete, buddy, you with us?”

As Peter finally began to feel a little more mentally there, he realizes he’s on the ceiling and his teammates are definitely worried. Unable to fully think through how to help them feel comfortable, and needing controlled comfort, Peter jumps back down and curls up next to Tony’s legs on the floor. The seats wouldn’t work. Too high. Floor is good. Solid.

As soon as he feels the vibrations of the jet on his butt and lower back Peter feels himself purring. He avoids doing it too much in the hope people don’t tease him, but he’s not able to care right now. Plus they know he’s sensitive to teasing. Tony probably doesn’t know what’s going on (as author I can confirm he is very confused. as are the rest of their teammates) but Peter can feel him slide down onto the floor with him instead and wrap his arms around him.

He accepts the touch wholeheartedly and decides that as scary as it feels with his butt not on the solid floor, sleep is more important. Ignoring his fear is not giving it power. That’s what he’s supposed to do. When it’s clear Spidey is asleep (he keeps his suit on in the jet to help with his transition anxiety. the others don’t even mind calling him Spidey too) they continue their conversation but slightly quieter.

They had begun to ask Peter what was wrong seconds after he began to panic, but it soon became obvious he couldn’t hear them. Bruce was the one who pointed out that Spidey was completely out of it. At his observation they simply begin to ask amongst themselves what to do. When he came down from the ceiling and clearly began to seek comfort from Tony, even if it was oddly, they figured he would be okay.

Despite the purring upon sitting on the floor of all things, once the boy fell asleep in his mentor’s arms they all calmed. It might just be a spider thing happening. Tony reassured them that he’d never had this experience with Peter before. Natasha suggested they wait until he wakes up and shows signs of being able to hear to ask questions. It was concerning that he lost his hearing, or maybe his ability to process sound, but they couldn’t do much without Spidey’s input.

When the quinjet has set down at the compound each hero waits nearby for Peter to wake up. Said boy begins to stim as soon as he’s awake. He’s doing his huffing and pushing arms stim as he stands. They all can tell he’s nonverbal so they lead the way inside, knowing that at least he’d follow. It’s highly unlikely he wouldn’t follow routine even in an off state. Of course, they’re partially wrong as the second they’re in the building Spidey’s suit detracts and he’s booking it to the nearby bathroom.

Granted, not that far off from routine, but they’re unfortunately aware of how much the kid hates self hygiene including going to the bathroom. May and Tony have been trying for years to help him and have only been partially successful. He’s aware of why it’s necessary now, but still has to endure meltdowns and panic attacks to actually take care of himself. When Peter walks out of the bathroom he’s doing his anxious stims.

Waiting outside the bathroom for him might’ve seemed weird for most, but this is an enhanced autistic adhd teenager with few self preservation skills and something clearly going on. They all care about him, too. Tony puts his hands out face up in front of Peter so he has the choice to stop his SIB first. The kid takes the chance to play with Tony’s fingers on one hand and squeeze tightly to the other. He continues humming his anxiety.

Tony asks what’s going on. Peter can’t respond verbally. He lets go of Tony’s one hand to grab Natasha’s too then sets off down the hallway with  the two adults. Obviously the other three heroes follow. They get to Peter’s room where he has his giant AAC and nobody is surprised. Ever since Tony had the idea and implimented it in random locations throughout his facilities Peter’s been in love. Evident in how he happy stims for a bit before actually using it.

“Start. Day. Period. Ow. Dissociate. Grr. Pain.”

That at least explains the bathroom, though they weren’t fully sure how his behavior on the jet was due to his period starting. Bruce asked as such politely.

“Dissociate. Pain. Sensitive. Anxious. PTSD. Fuzzy. Pain. Later.”

He gets all frowny and begins to whine after finishing his message. As the whine begins to turn into his moan-and-groan stim Tony realizes that painkillers would be great right now. Natasha realizes the same thing, but knows she could better help by getting her heating pad. Tony’d buy her a new one. The two set off after clearly indicating to Peter they’d be back. Steve and Bruce don’t look too out of depth, but are clearly worried.

He hugs them both. Then accidentally punches the wall when he tics. It freaks him out enough that Sam changes his initial plan to try and distract Peter to calming him down. The humming and anxiety-flapping settle into regulation-flapping by the time the last two adults get back. They really don’t have to stay or help him at all, so Peter plans to happy-cry about it with Tony after he’s settled in bed.

As his mentor convinced him to lay down and Natasha gives him the heating pad to decide where he needs it, the men standing decide to leave. They indicate that they’ll check in later and they love him. Peter definitely doesn’t give the biggest puppy eyes and almost begins to cry right there. The heating pad is on his stomach and he’s all tucked in tight with his weighted blanket before Natasha kisses his forehead and leaves the room.

Peter briefly wants her to come back so he can return the gesture but figures he can just kiss her cheek later. He was given the injection for his painkillers whilst Natasha was helping him settle. Tony stays with him as he begins to purr his content at the lessening pain. He moves then crawls his way up onto the other side of Peter’s bed nearby the wall. He positions himself laying on his back right beside his mentee.

“I made sure May and Pepper both know you’re navigating the red sea again. They said they’d both come visit if you’d like. Seems like the waves are a bit more choppy on the first day than I realized, huh?”

Peter doesn’t reply with many words, just a “mwah” to indicate he’s feeling a lot of love towards his family right now. He had planned to cry but finds he doesn’t feel too overwhelmed by the love right now. The weighted blanket is a blessing with a capital Fucking before it (“Fucking Blessing” in case you didn’t understand what he meant).

When he sleepily opened his eyes to peer at his mentor’s face he smiles. The man’s the definition of heart eyes. He’s had a hand in his hair for awhile, so he knew he wasn’t asleep. It still baffles Peter that Tony doesn’t have ADHD or Autism. He always seems like it in the shop, but then in any other situation except for the whole sunglasses thing Tony is the picture of neurotypical.

Sometimes, privately, Peter worries his mentor is neurodivergent and just doesn’t know it; was so trained out of his behaviors that it only shows up in almost complete private. The boy wouldn’t put it past Howard and Maria Stark to be so misguided. He’s wanted to say something to Tony or Pepper, but worries it’s not his place. Suddenly there’s a tapping on his forehead. Oops, he got lost again.

“You okay, bud?”

It’s quiet, but he manages a verbal “yeah”. He wants to sign instead, but is far too comfortable to ruin it. Speaking or having his mentor guess would be good for now.

“mo- m- may, pepper, hunger?”

He did not just almost reveal that whilst so out of it. He does not wanna have that conversation whilst buried under a 50 lbs blanket and still quite loopy if he tries to think about anything besides the current moment. He’ll tell them later. Yeah. Maybe he should just do it now so it can be all heartfelt when he’s prepared for it though? The tapping again. Peter looks up at his mentor as he chuckles.

“Keep losing ya, huh, bud. Your mo- May. May. is coming and so is Pepper. They said they’re bringing Delmar’s and Chick-Fil-A each. Glad you aren’t boycotting them anymore, by the way. The fact you’ll eat it almost any time we ask is a blessing.”

Okay, ignoring the surprising amount of joy from Tony even knowing he boycotted the fast food chain for 5 years, did his mentor just purposefully indicate he knows exactly what he was about to say? Peter is a bit floored by the emotional intelligence his mentor just displayed. Sure, he knows Tony is a genius and has grown far from his old behavior. He watched some of it happen; but it really just hit him how much Peter probably doesn’t actually hide from him.

This is kinda confirming his thought about doing it now. He’ll probably cry if he doesn’t focus on the food. When they arrive he’ll find out which he pays attention to. You never know whether the hunger or emotions will win out. Especially when food is so stressful. Stupid disordered eating. In the mean time, mostly because he doesn’t wanna have the food here before he starts getting emotional, Peter decides to talk to Tony.

“You’re my dad now.”

Okay, Peter, maybe that wasn’t the best way to go about it. Tony laughs then kisses his forehead. Nevermind.

“Kid, that is the best way to find out you don’t mind me thinking of you as my son. Never change.”

That was totally an autistic sentence. Nobody speaks like that except his ND friends. Wait.

“Wait, you’ve thought of me as your son already?”

“For awhile now, yeah. I mean look at ya! You’re so-“ Tony gestures to all of him, “You!”

Peter grins widely as he recognizes the opening.

“You just gestured to all of me.” Tony grins just as wide.

“Exactly, kiddo. Best kid I’ve ever met. Don’t tell Harley, though, he might get jealous.”

Peter makes a face of confusion that has Rhodey constantly on his case. Apparently, Peter looks so incredibly like him when he makes the expression that his best friend is convinced the kid is secretly his illegitimate child. Tony isn’t convinced, though he’s been very tempted to check purely out of wishful thinking. There’s nothing wrong with non-blood relationships, but he’s wanted to have at least one child of his own since forever.

Tony has always felt guilty about it, but Pepper has reminded him that he can’t foster and adopt every child already without a parent either way, thus having his own child is okay. Having Peter now makes his urge grow. To adopt every orphan in the world, to get a blood test done, and to discuss having a baby with Pepper again. This time it’s Peter dragging him out of his head.

“Who’s Harley?”

“Oh shit, I forgot you’ve never met. He’s not really my son like you, but I have been distantly mentoring him for a long time now. It’s because of you I can actually go visit him on occasion now. Before I was far too reckless and a bad influence. You helped me out a lot.”

Peter doesn’t know what to say to that. Instead he focuses on what they were originally talking about. Perfect for his new plan, May and Pepper walk in. He smiles brightly at them and they return the expression. Since May is psychic and Pepper clearly spoke with her before they came into the room, Delmar’s sandwich in thin plastic wrap is set on his lap first. He sits up with a little help from Tony grabbing his squishmallow specifically for back support.

He squeals a bit, rocks gentley, and does small flaps at the presence of the food. Then, with Tony beside him, Pepper sitting at the foot of the bed, and May sitting in his desk chair (very cosy by the way, always invest in a comfortable desk chair), Peter enacts his prank. He uses his drama voice and pretends to slam his hands into the blanket to enhance the affect then looks to each adult as he speaks.

“Mom, Dad, May…. I’m gay.”

(in case you didn’t understand, they know he’s queer but he hadn’t told Pepper and May about thinking of the Starks as his parents yet)

He giggles alongside May and Tony as Pepper gapes. May looks a little surprised, but apparently finds Pepper’s expression far too funny to not laugh.

Peter realizes just then that he’s able to make eye contact with the three adults in the room. Hmm. For another time. Said woman finally giggles too for a second before sighing fondly.

“Honey, I have to admit, that is not how I expected that conversation to go.”

“Wha- Did all of you know??”

Pepper gives a small one armed shrug with an apologetic face, May has begun to giggle again, and Tony is just smiling. Peter is pretty sure it’s the autism.

“I swear to godex, you guys know you can tell me these things, ya know. I spent way too much time being anxious about it.”

Peter pretends to passively aggressively open his sandwich and take an annoyed bite, but they all know it’s just the drama he enjoys playing at. Tony ruffles his hair.