Peter groggily opened his eyes, shielding them from the bright light shining. His eyes soon adjusted as a figure walked towards him, blocking some of the light, making it bearable. He squinted, recognising the figure. "May?" He asked, his voice still croaky from the water boarding.
"Peter," She smiled as the distance between them closed and she wrapped her arms around him.
"It's been a while," Peter's eyes widened at that voice. He looked behind and saw his Uncle Ben standing in front of him. He looked well and healthy, so different from when Peter had watched him bleed out. "I'm so proud of you." He smiled, as they also hugged.
"But it's my fault you're dead," Peter protested, but Uncle Ben shook his head at him.
"The only person whose fault it was is the man who fired the gun, not you," He reassured Peter.
"I knew you were spider-man," Peter saw Ned and MJ standing a way off. A smirk covered MJ's face. "I knew it, you should've told me."
"There's a reason why it's a secret identity," He laughed, doing his handshake seamlessly with Ned. "I didn't want people knowing."
"Well I'm gone now so I guess it doesn't really matter," She laughed.
"I'm sorry," He apologised. "I was there in space, fighting Thanos. I tried…" He turned round to face Aunt May once more. "I tried to save you but… I failed."
"You're not a failure," Peter didn't recognise this voice but as he saw who it came from, he knew instantly who said it. He didn't have any memories, but he knew what they looked like from photos.
"You're our son," His mum smiled, as Peter walked over to the two of them. "And we couldn't be prouder."
"I'm sorry we left you so young," His dad apologised.
"Mom? Dad?" Peter asked as the two of them brought him into a rib-crushing hug.
"Yes," His dad smiled, ruffling his hair.
"Am I?" Peter asked, pulling away and looking up at the parents that he had never got the chance to know. "Am I…" He couldn't bring himself to say the word dead.
"Not yet," Ned told him. "We're in an in between place, like in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with Dumbledore at platform 9¾." Peter smiled at the reference.
"You can stay and move on to where we are," May told him. Peter stared around, not knowing what to say. He wanted more than anything to catch up with his family. Everyone he had ever loved was here… Except…
"I don't know what do," He whispered, not wanting to let them down. Not when most of them were dead because of him.
"Dude," Ned smiled. "Tony Stark is your dad, why would you want to stay here?" He asked and Peter had to let out a small chuckle at that.
"I don't want to leave you again," He argued, staring at all of them in turn.
"You won't," MJ told him quietly.
"We never left you," Uncle Ben added gently.
"Come on Peter, stay with me," Peter jumped at the abrupt voice, not knowing where it came from. He knew without a doubt that it was Tony though. He'd know that voice anywhere.
"I-" Peter began but everyone standing around him began to start growing fainter.
"You need to choose, now," Aunt May told him with urgency.
"I love you all," He said quickly. "And I'll see you again one day." The relief on all of their faces were apparent. They hadn't wanted him to come with them. They wanted him to live.
"Until then," His mum told him before the world went dark again.
"Please Peter," Tony whispered, taking his kid's hand and squeezing it gently. "Don't leave me." As the defibrillator left Peter's chest, he jerked up suddenly, drawing a huge breath.
"Tony," He whispered, seeing the tear tracks running down the man's face.
"Thank goodness," Tony breathed with relief.
"What happened?" Peter asked, confused about his dream, not knowing what was going on.
"It's okay," Tony pulled him into his chest as the doctor began wiring Peter up. "You're okay now. It's all gonna be okay. Just don't do that again."
"Do what?" Peter asked, still not understanding. He looked past Tony to see Natasha giving him a small smile. He was surprised to see that a single tear had slipped down her face. He had never really seen her emotional before.
Tony threw hit after hit at the punching bag, ignoring the stinging sensation in his knuckles. They had begun bleeding long ago. He ignored the pain though. His pain was nothing. Not compared to Peter's. They had tortured him. He had taken a bullet for him. His heart had stopped. Peter had died. And it was all his fault.
He heard the noises Peter had made while being tortured going round in his head. They were louder than the thuds made from hitting the bag hanging in front of him. The blood on his knuckles reminded him of the blood gushing from Peter's stomach as he stumbled to the ground, having jumped up to intercept the bullet going straight for Tony's head.
He felt Natasha's presence long before she said a word. She had slipped silently into the room, but still he knew that she was there. He sensed it. She always came when he was beating himself up. He deserved it though. Peter was almost dead because he hadn't protected him.
"You know that he's going to be fine," She said eventually, folding her arms, still staring at him.
"He might not have," He said, not stopping the punching.
"You need a sparring partner," She told him, pulling him away from the punching bag. "Come on." She led him across the room to where there was more space. "This wasn't your fault." She told him, bringing her leg up to kick him, but he easily blocked.
"Yes it was," He responded through gritted teeth, bringing his arms up for an attack, but she flipped him over so he was lying on his back, panting up at the ceiling.
"You're not focusing," She told him, not bothering to give him a hand up, instead watching as he got back up himself. "It was not your fault." She said before they began. This time Tony lasted slightly longer.
"Can you not go easy on me?" He groaned as he got up again.
"I'll stop beating you up when you stop beating yourself up," She told him, raising her eyebrow at him.
"That's not fair," Tony argued, preparing for Natasha's next attack.
"That's not fair," Natasha repeated scoffing. "What's not fair, is leaving Pepper upstairs trying to both comfort your kid and look after and breastfeed Morgan at the same time." Tony sighed, knowing that she was right. "This was not your fault Tony, but the kid, he thinks it's his fault. I know that you're upset and this," She looked down at Tony's bloodied knuckles. "Has always been your coping mechanism, but your kid needs you. Being a dad is putting him and his needs first, even above your own guilt." She paused slightly before continuing. "Now do you need your butt kicking some more or are you done with the guilt game?"
"I don't think any of us will ever truly be done with the guilt game," Tony muttered darkly, though he headed towards the door, up to the medbay. The last time he had been in here was when Pepper gave birth. It seemed like years ago now.
"Tony," Pepper smiled in relief above the wailing of Morgan. "Can you stay with Peter, I didn't want to leave him but Morgan needs changing an-" Tony cut her off with a quick kiss.
"Sort Morgan out and get some rest," He told her, settling down in a chair near Peter's bed. Pepper nodded, standing up to leave.
"He should be fine," The doctor told him. "We got the bullet out of him stitched him up. The blood loss was pretty bad, but he's not in any immediate danger. In fact, since plugging in some water and vitamins, the healing process seems to have advanced a lot faster than should be expected." Tony nodded, knowing that it was because his powers also gave him faster healing. "He's heavily sedated at the moment to help with the pain, but we're hoping to lower them and see how he's feeling in about 12 hours." Tony nodded.
"Thank you," He said, before taking Peter's hand. He knew that heavily sedated, Peter wouldn't even feel it, but he needed to. He needed to remind himself that Peter wasn't dead. He had survived. Peter had only been dead for a couple of minutes before they had tried the defibrillator and he had come back. Tony would never forget the moment Peter died. It felt like the world was crashing around him. He had never felt pain like that before.
It was his fault that Peter was kidnapped and then that he was shot. He had been protecting Tony. It should have been the other way round. He should've been the one to be kidnapped, tortured and shot.
"Tony," Tony's eyes shot open at the sound of his name. He didn't know how long he had been sitting there next to him. His back was stiff though and he had been dozing on and off. He figured it must have been about 12 hours though for the pain meds to have worn off, bringing him back to consciousness.
"I'm here kiddo," He replied. "You feeling okay?" He asked sitting up, leaning closer. Peter groaned slightly, wincing at the pain from the wound in his side.
"It's hurting," He said, rubbing his eyes groggily. "But it's not too bad."
"Do you want me to get them to give you something for it?" Tony asked concerned, knowing that the doctors wanted to lessen the painkillers, but he also didn't want his kid in pain.
"No," He shook his head. "They'll make me go woozy."
"You sure?" Tony asked, squeezing Peter's hand reassuringly.
"Yeah," Peter told him. "I'm alright."
"Kid you got kidnapped, tortured and shot, you're not alright," Tony replied and Peter laughed slightly at that.
"I had to protect Morgan," Peter argued. "And you."
"It's not your job to protect me," Tony said. "When I saw you take that bullet for me, I was terrified, and then in the quinjet... when you died..."
"I died?" Peter asked and Tony realised that no one had the chance to tell him already. After had come back he had been on heavy pain meds.
"Yeah," Tony nodded. "Only for a couple of minutes, but I was so scared, I thought that you were gone."
"I survived," Peter smiled. "I'm okay. You don't need to worry."
"You're my kid, I'm always gonna worry," Tony replied, ruffling his hair at which Peter squirmed uncomfortably, then winced as he moved his side and the pain intensified.
I hope you enjoyed and that no one's gonna kill me for the cliff hanger last time. I had a lot of very angry messages from my sister about ending the chapter there, so I hope you're happy I've updated so soon. Thank you for all your wonderful reviews, they mean so much to me.