All Tony knows in those first few moments is panic. Pure, raw panic that he feels through his very core. Winding throughout his body, and making him vibrate as Happy rushed him back to the compound. This couldn't have happened. It was some sick joke that the universe was playing on him.
Because Rhodey could not have picked Peter up from a patrol gone horribly wrong. Peter could not have gotten shot three times. Tony could not have not gotten the call because the meeting he had been in didn't allow phones. Because Peter was not in a fucking coma.
And because the last conversation Tony had had with the kid had most definitely not been a stupid argument.
Peter was still. He wasn't supposed to be still. He was supposed to be hand movements during a conversation. He was supposed to be nervous energy expressed through combing his fingers through his hair, or twisting his shirt. Peter was jumping around when he was excited, and swinging through buildings.
Peter was quiet too. Peter Parker was not made for quiet. Gems made for shouting answers on stage during Academic Decathlon. For mumbling to himself in broken sentences in the lab because he brain worked too quickly for his words to even hope to catch up. He was talking so quickly about his day that Tony had almost thought it was another superpower.
Peter was neither quiet nor still. And yet he was now both of those things.
Tony seemed to float over to the chair beside Peter's med bay bed. He couldn't seem to focus on anything else in the room but the kid. But his kid.
His too still and too quiet kid.
"Peter," He choked out, "Peter- Kiddo." He grasped Peter's hand tightly, his index finger right over Peter's reassuring pulse. Even if the heart monitor was beating steadily, Tony needed that pulse under his finger tips.
"They don't know when he's going to wake up," Rhodey unformed from behind Tony. "They say a few days but…"
"But if it wasn't Peter he'd be dead," Tony finished, his gaze not moving from Peter's too still face.
"The kid has some healing," Rhodey mumbled, squeezing Tony's shoulder in comfort.
'Yeah,' Tony thinks, 'Some healing.'
Tony doesn't move from Peter's side unless he's forced to go shower. He'd had a cot brought in so he could get a more comfortable place to rest, but otherwise he never left Peter's room.
He worked next to Peter's side, complaining about problems like Peter was awake. Like he wasn't too still and too quiet.
Tony talked to the kid too. Auditory functions were the first to heal after all, but Tony could never be to sure with Peter's healing abilities. More likely, the kid's healing ability was focusing on the three bullet holes in Peter's lower back, torso, and chest.
Tony despised how much this situation was out of control.
"Hey, Kiddo," Tony starts, rubbing his thumb over the back of Peter's hand, "It's been three days already. I think you've slept long enough."
It's actually been three days, five hours, and twenty-seven minutes. Tony doesn't say that out loud though.
"Y'know, things are so quiet around here… I really miss your voice. I never actually realized how much you brighten a room," Tony buries his head into the thin bed sheets.
"Everything's dim right now."
"They said you might not be able to walk," Tony scoffs, "One of the bullets, it hit your spine- but still. Even if everyone else says you can't walk, I'm going to build you some legs to help. Just like Rhodey's. Except yours will be red and blue."
Tony pulls up a holo-screen from his watch, "I'm going to start now. Just so I have more than ideas to show if-" Tony falters- "If you really aren't able to walk by yourself."
He looks over at the too still and too quiet Peter, grasping his hand once again, "We'll be with you every step of the way." Tony chuckled, "Sorry, bad choice of words I guess, but you know what I mean."
There was no laugh or giggle like there usually would be. Tony sighed, squeezing Peter's too still hand, "Wake up, Peter. We… I really miss you."
"So we're on day five now are we?" Tony muttered, making a few changes on the things that would help Peter walk. It was precaution, as they wouldn't know if Peter was paralyzed from the waist down until he woke up. The legs would also have to be different, as Peter's body was very different from Rhodey's. Peter also needed to be able to move quickly and like a dancer or gymnast.
Tony would do it. He'd do anything for his kid.
"If you're trying to prove something to me, Kid, you've definitely done so. Bravo, you've won. You have bested Tony Stark," Tony started at Peter's face. Hoping that something would change. That Peter wouldn't be too still or too quiet anymore.
That he'd wake up.
It's on the sixth day that Tony finally cries. He'd been holding his tears back for some reason he didn't know, but on the sixth day of Peter being too still and too quiet… Tony cries.
It's quiet, and barely controlled. It's like he's subconsciously trying to hide his cries, because the one person that could comfort him is in a coma, and he's not waking up.
"I'm so sorry, Peter," Tony says in between sobs. "I didn't mean anything I said. I don't care if you want to go to college or not- well I do, but I won't force you to go to one you don't want to.
"I don't know why you'd ever think I would replace you after you leave. I don't know how you think I could replace you, Pete. You're my kid. You make everything so much more alive. I couldn't ever replace you with someone else."
Tony clutches Peter's too still hand with both of his trembling ones. He bites his lip in attempt to keep the sobs at bay, and brings Peter's hand to rest over his heart, "You feel this kid? That's my heart. Make sure yours keeps beating better than mine."
("Why do you even care where I go?! I'm just some charity case you'll replace as soon as you get the chance! You'll forget about me as soon as some other kid comes along!")
"Don't think for a moment that I could ever, ever forget you. You are so special, Peter. Now wake up so you can listen to me tell you this."
Peter remains too still and too quiet.
Day nine and Tony is playing one of Peter's playlist quietly in his room. It's the kid's comfort playlist. The days where his mood and low. Where he needs a recharge, and just a day to be not good.
'Once I rise above the noise and confusion, just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion…'
(Even then Peter twitches and plays with the fuzzy blanket he loves. Even then Peter will mumble a one worded answer or nod. Peter his noise and movement. Most of the time it's both. Sometimes it's only one. It's never neither.)
' I hear the voices when I'm dreaming. I can hear them say…'
Rhodey comes in with Tony's food. A sandwich since he can't stomach anything more solid than that with the damn knot in his stomach. It's a grilled cheese- Tony's comfort food from back in his MIT days. Rhodey knows all Tony's quirks.
"Any changes?" Tony's best friend wonders.
'Masquerading as a man with a reason. My charade is the event of the season.'
Tony knows Rhodey already knows the answer, but he still humors his friend. "No," He answers with a shake of his head, "Not yet."
Rhodey sighs, "Come on Pete. We're here for you." The man runs his hand through Peter's messy curls. "You've got this. You're safe."
'Tossed about like I'm a ship on the ocean. I set sail for winds of fortune…'
Tony jumps as Peter's heart eats a little faster. "Peter? Peter can you hear me? Peter, please, please wake up."
Rhodey runs out of the room to get a doctor. They could tell FRIDAY, but they didn't know if her voice would scare Peter anymore.
'Carry on my wayward son. There'll be peace when you are done.'
Tony holds Peter's hand in one of his, and runs his hand through his hair with the other, "I'm here, Kid. I'm right here."
'Lay your weary head to rest…'
"I'm not going anywhere."
'Don't you cry no more.'
AN: Hi, I hope you enjoyed!
Up Next? Day Ten: Head Trauma
Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review, favorite, follow, and all that other fun stuff! Until next time!