Pulled Together (By A Fragile Web)
Just a quick little thing I wrote, set after 'Civil War' and 'Spiderman: Homecoming', but let's pretend Tony and Pepper are still on a break, because she's not in this. I don't think there's much in the way of spoilers. Hope you like it!
Disclaimer: Characters aren't mine; they belong to Marvel and Disney.
'He had seen Tony Stark confident, cocky and brash. He had seen him as a CEO, and a mechanic, and a superhero. He had fought beside him and, more recently, against him. He had seen him defeat aliens, build machines and babble in science-talk far beyond his own comprehension. But he had never seen Tony Stark cry.'
When Peter is injured, Tony seeks comfort from a former team-mate and friend.
….
"Tony?" Steve looked surprised at the late-night visitor. "What's going on?"
Tony opened his mouth, but all he managed to say was "Steve", before he collapsed into the other man's arms, sobbing. Steve automatically caught Tony, staring down at him in confusion and concern. He had seen Tony Stark confident, cocky and brash. He had seen him as a CEO, and a mechanic, and a superhero. He had fought beside him and, more recently, against him. He had seen him defeat aliens, build machines and babble in science-talk far beyond Steve's comprehension. But he had never seen Tony Stark cry.
Tony clutched at Steve's arms, his hands shaking desperately. There was still blood underneath his fingernails - Peter's blood. He felt his stomach lurch, and tried to force his mind away from the images that assaulted him every time he closed his eyes. Peter, blood leaking from beneath the hasty webbing he had shot onto his thigh, flinging himself back towards the Goblin with no regard for his own welfare. The Goblin, face hidden behind a wickedly grinning mask, laughing as he launched a pumpkin bomb at a balcony of people. Peter, diving after the projectile, flinging it away from the balcony. The explosion, occurring an instant after it had left Peter's hand, and Tony, flying desperately towards him, allowing himself to hope that Peter had gotten it far enough away from himself. But it had been too close to him, and the blast knocked Spiderman out of the air. And this time, he didn't come back up. Tony watched, as if in slow-motion, as the kid he had come to care about crashed into the pavement 20 feet below. He bellowed in pain and anger, blasting the goblin straight off his stupid glider and soaring down to land at Peter's side. The kid's suit was scorched and burned away in places, patches of heavily blistered skin visible through holes in the fabric. The mask had been torn, and Tony could see one closed eye.
"Friday, call a med-evac NOW", he instructed, voice only wobbling slightly. "Get Helen Cho and her team to meet us at the tower."
"Done", his AI replied, the electronic voice sounding calm and collected. Tony wanted to scream. Instead, he said "Read vitals. Give me a medical report."
Friday was silent for a minute, then recited: "Deep laceration to the right thigh, requiring stitches, 2nd degree burns along the right arm and chest, multiple contusions, concussion and possible further head injury. The suit's AI is offline, so I cannot give a complete analysis."
"Shit", Tony muttered, kneeling beside the fallen hero. "Come on kid, stay with me", he muttered. The silence from his companion was deafening. Tony felt his chest tighten, breathing becoming more difficult. "Come on, kid", he said again. He closed his eye, taking deep breaths. He couldn't afford to have an anxiety attack now.
"Friday, get me an ETA on that med-evac", he said.
"ETA 2 minutes", the AI replied swiftly.
It had felt like an eternity to Tony. And another eternity as Peter was loaded into an ambulance, taken to the compound's medical wing, and wheeled away for stitches and scans and God knew what else. Tony stood, shaking, in the hallway for a long time before sinking down into a chair and preparing to wait. He couldn't say how long it had been when Dr Cho finally came out - several hours, he thought, although it could have been a week for how he felt. He stood automatically, swallowing the fear that rose inside him at the sight of the Doctor.
"We've cleaned and bandaged the burns - thankfully they're not bad enough to need any skin grafts." she told him. "The thigh wound was fairly deep, but we've stitched it and there shouldn't be any issues with that, especially with his advanced healing." Tony nodded, hanging on her words like a drowning man holding onto a buoy. "He also had a couple of fractured ribs, and a transverse fracture of his right humerus, but they were simple breaks so I'm not overly worried about them. With his advanced healing rate, they should be fine within about 4 weeks." She hesitated, and Tony felt a surge of fear.
"What else?"
"I'm concerned about the head injury. He fell from a considerable height, and landed on bitumen. The suit would have provided a little protection, but not a lot. We've put him into a medically induced coma to help protect the brain and reduce any swelling."
Tony couldn't speak. A coma? Peter was in a coma? There were many occasions over the past year that Tony had regretted dragging a teenager into a world of villains and weaponry and danger, but Peter had proven himself time and time again, and Tony knew that even if he were to forbid Peter from patrolling, or to take away his suit, the kid would still keep doing what he was doing, because he considered it his duty to protect anyone he could. He had told Tony the very first time that they met, 'When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen... they happen because of you'. Really, he took on a ridiculous amount of responsibility for someone whose peers were more occupied with school, getting drunk and having sex. But Tony had trusted the kid, and he had made him the suit to help keep him safe. He had hoped never to find himself in this situation.
"Tony?" Helen was saying gently. She put a hand on his arm, and he abruptly shook it off, not wanting to feel her pity. "It's not as bad as it sounds, Tony", she said gently. "I can give you a couple of minutes with him, if you'd like?"
Tony swallowed, forcing himself to look at her.
"Does he... can he hear anything?" he asked her. She gave him a small, sad smile. "I can't say for sure", she replied. "But we think that coma patients are able to hear things around them, yes."
Tony nodded, then pushed past her and headed towards the room where he knew Peter would be kept. Part of him didn't want to see the young man, but he felt like he needed to... like he owed it to Peter to prove he was there for him now, even though he had arrived too late to protect him when it mattered most.
He stopped in the doorway, his breath rushing from his lungs as he took in the sight. He had thought he was prepared for this. He was wrong. Peter lay motionless under the crisp white sheets, a nasal cannula snaking from his nostrils and his right arm encased in plaster. Gauze and bandages covered the myriad burns over his body, and various machines around the bed measured his heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen levels. He looked so small and so young - too young to be risking his life every night.
"Hey kiddo", Tony said softly, voice cracking. He waited, almost expecting Peter to fill the silence with his usual stream of chatter. But he couldn't, of course.
"You..." Tony trailed off. What could he say to this ridiculously brave kid? He couldn't tell him what he desperately wanted to - that he would be okay, that he'd come out of this just fine - because he didn't know if it was the truth. And while Tony didn't have an issue with lying to most people, he had never lied to Peter. "I... I'm sorry, Pete", he said quietly. He sat there for a little longer, listening to the steady beeping of the heart rate monitor, then stood and quietly left the room.
He didn't realise where he was going, at first. He just knew that he had to get away - that if he was forced to spend any more time in close proximity to a teen who was lying in a coma because of Tony's negligence, he would fall apart. And he couldn't blame Peter at all - the kid had just been trying to help, like he always did, and of course it was inevitable that at some point he would be injured in the line of duty. But he had never thought that he would end up in a fucking COMA. Tony briefly considered taking a car, but quickly dismissed the idea. Driving with the way he was feeling now would be irresponsible. Flying a suit wasn't exactly safe, either, but at least then he had FRIDAY who could take control a little.
Within five minutes from when he had left Peter's room, Tony was soaring away from the compound. His eyes were dry and itchy, and he realised that he hadn't shed a tear since seeing Peter knocked from the sky. He pushed the repulsors faster, trying to leave his regret behind, but it was a constant shadow behind him which he could never outrun.
It was only after he had been flying for 20 minutes that he realised where he had subconsciously been heading the entire time...
….
If you liked this, I'd really appreciate any reviews and feedback! Camelotpointe x