This is an early birthday present for Angel!
Angel, I love you so much, and I hope that this next year brings you everything you hope for. I'm so excited to have been your friend since 2016, even if you hated me back than, and I'm so glad that I still have you 5 years later.
Happy birthday once again, and now, on with the story!
•••
Peter was excited to join the Starks at the beach. The three members had taken him as one of their own all but legally, and he loved spending time with Morgan.
"You ready, Morgan?" He asked as he reached forward to help her take off her seatbelt, unable to keep a straight face as she exclaimed.
"Beach time!"
Peter smiled as she gripped his hand, running as fast as her small legs would take her towards the ocean, laughing as he heard the remarks of her taking after him from her parents.
He was glad that Mr. Stark had decided to put her sunscreen on in the car since she was already forcing him into the cold waves, screeching happily as they hit her legs.
Peter took a deep breath, taking in the smell of the salty air and hearing the happy commotion all around him; he allowed himself to shut his eyes and extend his arms, taking in the entirety of the experience.
He was snapped out of it with a splash of cold water to his face that almost made him fall over with shock before he opened his eyes and saw Morgan laughing, her hands covering her mouth.
"You're going to pay for that." Peter couldn't keep from smiling as he splashed her, resulting in an all out water war between the two of them.
However, after what couldn't have been five minutes, Morgan reached back and touched her hair, both of them realizing that her favorite scrunchie, which was red with gold flecks all over it, had fallen out.
As she started crying, Peter made his way over to her and pulled her into his arms, "It's okay, Morgan, I'll find it. Shh…," he ran his hand through her already tangled hair, "why don't you go back to your dad and get some more sunscreen."
He gently pulled her away, and watched as she made her way back to the sand, wiping her arm across her face, before holding his breath and sticking his head underwater.
'Where is it?' He wondered, unable to see it, lifting his head out of the water before going in deeper, holding his breath again so his head was completely submerged, before finally seeing it and wrapping his right hand tightly around it.
Before Peter could lift his head out of the water, something hard slammed into his chest, sending him deeper before he slammed into the ocean floor.
He couldn't stop from screaming as he felt a crunch followed by agonizing pain going up and down his entire body.
•••
Tony winced when he saw the wave hit Peter, the amount of pressure most likely hurt, but it was probably a temporary thing that Peter would laugh about when he got back to them, Morgan's hair bow in hand.
However, after a few moments with no sign of Peter getting out, a pit grew in Tony's stomach.
Before he could run towards the waves, however, Pepper was already diving under, which made his only option to grab Morgan and hold her against his chest, looking at the horizon as his wife's head came out above the water.
'Come on, Pete. You can do this. You're going to be fine.' He thought as he dashed over to Pepper, who was laying Peter on his side on the sand. "How is he?" He asked as she turned him on his side.
"He's hurt, swallowed a lot of water." Pepper panted as Peter started to cough harshly, which made Morgan whimper even though she was pressed tightly against Tony's chest.
"Is he gonna be okay?" She asked, just above a whisper, and Tony was surprised he could hear it as he watched Peter struggle to breathe clearly.
Before he could whisper back some vague reassurances, however, Peter spoke, wheezing as he did so, "M-Mr. Stark? My wrist and chest hurt, like… really bad."
"Your wrist?," Tony watched as Pepper gently turned Peter's wrist, a flash of fear going across her face before turning to Tony and whispered, "I can see the bone."
However, that immediately sent Peter with his super hearing into a panic, which made Morgan start crying and cling tighter to Tony's shoulder; as Pepper gently soothed Peter, Tony did the same to Morgan, a hand in her damp hair as he bounced her gently.
"M-Mr. Stark?" Peter asked, swallowing to try and clear his throat, "I-I can feel it trying to heal. That's good, right?"
'Shit.' Tony thought to himself, still bouncing Morgan in his arms as her cries diminished, watching as Peter handed something to Pepper. 'Morgan's scrunchie.'
Luckily, that's when the sirens came and with sirens came EMTs; as they started to get Peter on the stretcher and started to stabilize his arm, Tony swallowed back his panic and handed Morgan to Pepper.
"Go, we'll be right behind you." Pepper insisted, Morgan pressed tightly against her shoulder. "I promise."
Tony nodded, and climbed in the ambulance, watching as they got Peter settled in before closing the doors and whisked them to the hospital; all Tony could focus on was Peter's face as they put him on medication that he was bound to burn straight through.
"I'm getting you transferred as soon as possible." Tony whispered as they stopped in front of the emergency entrance.
"H-how bad is it?" Peter whimpered as the stretcher got jostled, which make Tony's stomach jolt inside of him.
"Don't look at it, look at me." He insisted as they started to take him inside, his hand around Peter's good one.
"Easier said than done." Peter glanced down as he spoke, before looking back into Tony's eyes and tried his best to squeeze his hand, although it was very weak.
That's when the emergency room doctor spoke up, trying to gently push Tony away from the room.
"Sir, we need you to move so we can work on him. If you could go to the waiting room, that'd be greatly appreciated."
"He moves, I leave," Peter nearly snarled at the doctor before turning back to him and started to plead., "Mr. Stark, please don't leave."
"The sooner they work on you, the sooner we can get you out of here," Tony explained, running a hand through Peter's hair, despite the fact his heart was insistent on staying, he knew he couldn't, "I gotta call your aunt. Be good."
"I don't want to be alone." Peter whimpered, a last ditch attempt to try to get Tony to stay, but even though he wanted to, he knew he couldn't, so he just pressed a soft kiss against his forehead and whispered.
"I'll be with you as soon as possible, I promise."
Peter responded with a teary nod, and Tony forced himself to walk to the waiting room, sending a text to Bruce before coming face to face with Pepper and Morgan, the both of them wrapped in towels.
"Is Peter okay?" Morgan asked softly, and Tony couldn't help but smile sympathetically at his young daughter and nod, pulling her into a hug before turning to Pepper.
"I gotta call his aunt."
"I've got her. Go." She insisted, and Tony nodded, stepping outside before clicking the speed dial and pressed the phone against his ear before the voice came over the receiver.
"Tony?"
"Peter's hurt." Tony told her, trying to keep his tone as neutral as possible, even though he could hear the worry seeping from May's voice.
"What happened to him?"
"He was trying to get Morgan's scrunchie. He busted his wrist, inhaled a lot of water, and I'm pretty sure he has a concussion.
I'm getting him transferred to the compound as soon as possible."
"I'll meet you there." May insisted, and the phone clicked off.
•••
May swallowed as she entered the Avengers Compound, immediately being greeted by Pepper, who was holding Morgan.
"Are they here yet? Tony called me while they were still at the hospital." May explained, adjusting her purse against her shoulder as her heart pounded against her chest.
"Yeah, they're in the med bay, they already took Peter into surgery," Pepper pointed before adjusting the towel around Morgan, "I've gotta get her in bed."
"That's okay, I know where it is." May smiled before speed walking to the med bay; she knew that being here always wracked Peter's nerves, on top of the fact that he was in surgery and she hadn't been there. It made her heart ache.
When she got to the waiting room, she saw Tony sitting in one of the chairs with his phone in hand, so she sat next to him and spoke softly, trying to keep her voice from shaking. "Morgan's asleep. Any updates?"
"Not yet, but considering I just saw most of the nurses leave, I'm pretty sure he's almost done."
May nodded, before asking the question that was on her mind. "Was he okay, besides the injuries, before he went in?"
"He didn't want to be alone, but in his defense, the emergency room doctors tried to pry me away from him. Other than that, he was surprisingly calm; I wouldn't be surprised if that was shock though." Tony explained.
May nodded, unable to keep a smile from her lips as she looked him in the eyes. "Thank you. For making sure that he was okay."
"Of course. He's my kid too." Tony smiled back when the double doors opened, revealing Bruce still in his scrubs.
May couldn't stop herself from jumping to her feet, and immediately asking how Peter was.
"He did great," Bruce assured her, which deescalated her panic before he continued, "His arm is probably going to take awhile to heal, even with his abilities. It's going to take about two to four weeks to heal. You can see him now."
May nodded, allowing Tony to squeeze her shoulder gently before the two of them walked to the recovery room and she opened the door.
"M-may?" Peter's voice stuttered, and she immediately approached him, wrapping her hand around his uninjured one gently before he asked, "h-how bad?"
"It's going to take a little longer than normal to heal, but you're going to be okay." She smiled softly, brushing his hair out of his eyes.
"T-that was nothing like Baywatch," Peter groaned before asking, "M-Morgan?"
"She's asleep now." Tony answered for her, receiving a nod from Peter followed immediately by a yawn.
"C-can you tell her it's not her fault? Don't want her to blame herself."
"We will. You can go back to sleep," May insisted, kissing his forehead as his eyes fluttered closed before she turned to Tony, "do you want me to tell Pepper and Morgan that he's out of surgery?"
Tony shook his head, ruffling Peter's hair before saying, "I'll go. You stay with him."
And with that, Tony had whisked out of the room, leaving May by herself with the silence.
•••
Peter didn't know what time it was when he woke up again, but since he could feel someone holding his hand, he knew that he had landed himself in the med bay once again.
As he tried to open his eyes, the memories of being forced underwater by a wave while trying to grab Morgan's hair bow flooded back, and that's when he heard it.
A soft voice from the hallway asking, "when is he gonna wake up?"
Peter forced his eyes to open, squinting as the bright lights shined directly into his eyes, hearing May say softly, "shh, it's okay."
"M-Morgan?" He asked softly, his voice shaking as he did so, managing to open his eyes again when May ran a hand across his scalp.
"Yeah, I'll let her in."
As her shoes clicked across the floor to the other side of the room, Peter forced himself to sit up, wincing as his arm jostled before the door opened and Morgan ran over to him, hugging him tightly around the stomach.
"I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault, Morg. I promise," Peter smiled softly, pulling her closer to his chest before continuing, "I'm just glad you're okay. And I'm gonna be okay, but until then, we'll just have to watch a bunch of movies."
Peter gently poked her ribs with his good hand, which made her laugh and Peter couldn't keep himself from laughing either.
"Can I draw on your cast?" She asked, pulling a green marker seemingly out of nowhere, which made Peter laugh even harder as he nodded, watching as her eyebrows furrowed while she pressed the marker down.
"What're you drawing?" He managed to ask, the laughter finally dying down as she continued to draw.
"Uncle Bruce, duh," She retorted, before pulling a second marker out of her pocket, this one purple, "he needs pants though."
"Do you have a whole container of markers in your pocket?" Peter wondered aloud, watching as her tongue stuck out of her mouth slightly in concentration, meaning that he probably wasn't getting an answer.
He couldn't even keep himself from drifting off again as she continued to doodle on his cast, and he really hoped that May was monitoring exactly what was going to be on his arm for at least two weeks.
