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The medbay doors burst open as a panicked-sticken Tony Stark, fully armored, held a small body close to his chest. Peter Parker in a battered spider-man suit was unconscious and bleeding out profusely, the blood leaving a trail from his shoulder to his fingertips, where it dripped onto the floor.
“Bruce!” He shouted his friend’s name quite pointlessly, having already called him ahead of time. He was already by Tony’s side, helping him lower the teenager onto a stretcher as a team of doctors swarmed around him, preparing him for emergency surgery.
“He’ll be alright, Tony.” Bruce reassured him, giving him a gentle pat on the shoulder before quickly following behind the medical team already on their way.
Tony sighed, his breath hitching as he looked down at his bloodied hands and chest, covered in his kids blood. He deactivated the armor and the nanoparticles retreated before he could make himself sick.
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Steve Rogers had been shocked to learn just how young the Spider-Man really was. He knew he was young, judging by the sound of his voice maybe his early twenties, late teens, but he never would have guessed he was fourteen years old when they first fought in Germany.
Two years later, having just returned to the former Avenger’s Tower, he met him officially at a team gathering.
“Hi Mr. Captain Steve Rogers, sir, I’m Peter Parker!” The teen had nervously offered him a hand, and Steve shook it and smiled before heading over to Tony in the lounge area.
“That’s him, isn’t it?”
“Hm?”
“The spider kid. That’s him.”
Tony looked up from what he was reading and sighed. “It’s that obvious, huh?”
“It’s not that hard to piece together.” Steve crossed his arms, “When were you gonna tell us?”
Tony took a sip of his coffee, “It’s not my secret to tell. Look, just don’t go telling anyone, okay? They can figure it out on their own, but no one really needs to know.”
Steve glared at him, “You recruited a child? What made you think that was okay?”
“He’s stronger than he looks, Cap, so calm down.”
“I cannot believe you.” Steve huffed and left the room without another word, Tony looking somewhat offended as he stalked off.
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A few days later, he walked into the medbay to confront one distressed-looking mechanic.
“Are you kidding me Tony? First you bring him to Germany, now this?” The super soldier said with a stern tone as he talked down on his teammate. He didn’t notice the tear streaks, the slightly disheveled and the tired look Tony wore as he looked at him.
“Oh, what now, Rogers?”
“FRIDAY just told me what happened after I asked what was going on down here. I can’t believe you let him get hurt!”
“Since when did you care so much about Peter, huh?” Tony asked, sarcasm lacing his tone, the captain completely missing the way his voice quivered, how it was strong but softer than it usually was.
“He’s just a kid, Tony! And you let him get shot!” His tone was rising now, a change from the usually calm and collected leader he was so well known for.
Tony’s face fell. “I know.” He said quietly. But Steve wasn’t done.
“You do this, time and time again. You get yourself into these situations and panic when you can’t dig yourself out of the hole you’ve created.”
“He had a suit, Rogers, it’s not like I didn’t try to prevent this.” Steve pressed on.
“A suit? He only has that because you know that if he gets hurt he’s your responsibility, a liability! What will his family say when they find out? You may be able to make up for the financial aspects, Tony, but not the emotional damage!”
“Excuse me?”
Steve, absolutely fuming, spun on his heel to face a woman who had just walked into the medbay. She was tall, with high-waisted pants and rounded glasses. Her long brown hair was tucked back in a bun as she stared at him incredulously, and from what he could tell from her expression?
She was pissed off.
“Are you Peter’s mother? I’m sorry about your son, we can cover any expenses that come out of this and help any way we can.”
“Hallway. Now.” She turned and walked away, seemingly furious. Steve furrowed his brow, confused. He glanced back at Tony, who didn’t look at all like he was paying attention anymore as he stared at the wall, and followed the woman out of the medbay.
She was waiting there, arms crossed as she stared at him.
“May Parker. You must be Steve Rogers?” She said stiffly.
“Yes. I’m going to assume you heard all of that? I’m sorry you had to witness that.”
“You’re damn right you’re sorry.” Steve looked at her, wide-eyed. Not that he was above talking to people below his position, but he had never met a civilian who so bravely looked him in the eye.
She stared him down. “You really don’t know anything about what happened while you were gone, do you?”
Steve opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out. It was true he hadn’t really caught up with what had happened while he was gone, save important political events that he mostly was able to keep track of while in hiding, anyway.
She scoffed. “I thought so. Clearly, you have no idea what you’re talking about, coming in here and talking to Tony like that. Do you have any idea what he’s going through? What I’m going through?”
She searched his eyes to see if he would reply, but he only stared at her. “Tony is Peter’s mentor. No, scratch that, he’s the closest thing Peter has to a father. He has been for awhile now.” May ran a hand through her hair, shaking her head, “When my husband died, I never thought Peter would have something like that ever again. Not after his parents, not after Ben. I love him to pieces, but I just wasn’t able to be there for him emotionally all the time. Tony filled that void. He taught him things that I never could,” she let out a shaky breath, staring at the wall behind Steve, “He gave him a suit with all the bells and whistles. A suit that tracks Peter’s vitals and alerts him whenever he’s injured, and has lenses that help him focus when his senses overwhelm him. Regardless of whether he had it or not, he would still be Spider-Man. We know we can’t stop him, so we do the only thing we know how. We protect him and prepare him to face the world, because god knows I wish I could stop him. Do you think I want to see my baby get hurt? Of course not, but we do what we can.”
She paused, collecting herself. “You don’t know a thing about us, Steve. Because all those times they went to baseball games to together just for the food, the countless hours they spend in the lab building cars and working on who knows what, all of those holidays and Sunday brunches we spent together, that isn’t liability. None of it is.”
“Don’t you ever say that Tony doesn’t care for him,” May hissed, rage seething into her tone “because this? This isn’t liability. This is love, Rogers.”
Steve stared at her, in shock and just a little bit afraid under her glare. He stammered, trying to find the right words “I’m. . .I’m sorry, I didn’t know--”
“Save it. I need to go take care of my kid.”
And with that, she walked back into the medbay to join Tony, who had his head in his hands.
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After being chewed out by May, Steve went back upstairs to go to bed. It was around eleven-thirty when he had gone down to the medbay, and he was exhausted from the day, yet not able to sleep at all. He kept playing his argument with Tony over and over in his head, regretting everything he had said. Eventually, he drifted off to sleep, only to wake early the next morning, and too restless to sleep anymore decided to go for a morning jog around the block a couple of times.
As he ran, he became lost in his thoughts. The guilt weighed him down like a ball-and-chain that drug behind him as he ran and tried to get away from it, but his attempts were in vain. His thoughts kept lingering back to all the things he had said that he knew he couldn't take back.
After running particularly hard and collecting himself, he worked up the nerve to return to the medbay an hour later.
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Peter was on the table for five hours.
It was the five most agonizing hours of Tony’s life. He broke down, twice, the first time with Pepper on the phone from her meeting in Japan, and the second with May attempting to comfort him. It reminded him too much of when he had first lost Peter, after the snap. He thought he was past the nightmares, the anxiety attacks, the hysterical breakdowns that had plagued him ever since the battle of New York.
He was so wrong.
Tony had protested at the idea of Peter going back out on patrol just as the world was trying to return to normal, but he insisted. He said he wanted to help people get back into the rhythm of everyday life.
“Spider-Man can’t just disappear in the face of global crisis. I need to be out there to help people.”
About three weeks after he went back to his regular patrolling schedule, he was attacked in an alleyway by a gang of raiders that had formed as the city fell into chaos post-snap.
Two bullets. One in the shoulder, one in his upper abdomen.
Tony had gotten the alert as soon as the first bullet had found its target, and he immediately summoned his suit, making it to Queens in record time.
When he had found him, he was already drifting in and out of consciousness, curled up behind a dumpster as he attempted to stop the bleeding with his webs.
And, for the last six hours, he had been staring at the wall in front of him. May had gone to rest for a couple of hours, but there Tony stayed, too anxious to sleep.
He could only think about what Rogers had said to him, about it being all his fault, and for once, he agreed with him. How could he have possibly let this happen? What if he had gone out that night with him, to help people with Peter, to shield him from the bullets? Why didn’t he?
“Tony?” His head snapped up at Banner’s voice.
“He’s stable. We managed to get the bullets out, but not before infection could take over. He’s got a fever and he’s knocked out, but we’re watching him closely. You can see him now if you want.”
Tony stood up, almost too fast, and it caused him to suffer vertigo. He was restless and sleep-deprived, something Bruce quickly took note of. He frowned. “Did you sleep at all last night?”
Tony shook his head. “I. . .I couldn’t sleep.” Bruce just sighed in understanding. This wasn’t his first time dealing with a patient’s family. He nodded. “Just promise you’ll get some sleep after you visit him, okay? We can bring in another bed into his room for you and May, but Tony,” he chuckled, “You really look like crap.”
Tony ran a hand through his hair and grumbled “Yeah, yeah, I know.”
Bruce patted him on the shoulder before leading him to Peter’s room.
Tony’s stomach lurched at the site before him. He had seen Peter bedridden a few times, being somewhat self-destructive, but never to this degree. He was attached to a heart monitor and several other machines, including an IV that was on a constant drip of fluids. There was also a tube feeding him oxygen, his abdomen wound apparently close enough to his chest to make his left lung collapse. His right arm was in a sling, and his midsection was wrapped in gauze and bandages, blood seeping through, a startling contrast against the white. He had a towel draped over his forehead, and was sweating profusely. Though asleep his brow was slightly furrowed in pain.
Tony wondered, briefly, if his flying had caused the bullet to shift closer to his lung.
He moved to sit next to him, studying him carefully as he slept. He looked uncomfortable, and made small whimpering noises even in his unconscious state. “Are the meds not working?”
Bruce was studying Peter’s vitals, “Apparently not. I could imagine they ran their course within the last hour. I’ll have to give him a heavier dosage.”
Just then, Steve approached the open door.
“Hey.”
Tony refused to acknowledge him.
Banner read the situation accordingly and decided to make his exit. “I’ll uh. . .go try and synthesize a higher dosage.”
He gave Steve a worried look and hurried out of the room.
The only thing that remained in the silence was the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor and Peter’s ragged breathing. Steve couldn’t stand it any longer.
“I’m sorry.”
“Oh really? What for?” Tony said coldly, not taking his eyes off of Peter.
“For. . .everything I said last night. I was wrong. I had no idea he meant so much to you.”
He scoffed, “Clearly.”
Steve hesitated, stepping forward, “Look, Tony, if there’s anything I can do--”
“You should leave.” Tony locked his jaw as he tore his eyes from Peter to look at Steve.
Another step, “I just want to help--”
“And you can help by leaving! Now go--” Suddenly, the pace of the heart monitor quickened, indicating wakefulness. Peter shifted in his bed, moaning incoherently as he came back to the land of the living. Tony immediately turned his attention to the teen, who had his eyes squeezed shut. “Fri, dim the lights to underoos settings.” The lights dimmed considerably, “And wake up May,” he added.
Peter opened his eyes, or at least tried to, and he squinted as they fell on his mentor. “‘ony?” His voice was soft, barely audible. He began to wheeze as his attempt of vocalizing.
“Shh, hey, don’t try to talk,” Tony ran his fingers through Peter’s hair and spoke with a hushed tone, “Just try and focus on me. Fri, get Banner in here.”
“Hurts” was all Peter could manage as he furrowed his brow even more as he shifted around. Tony assumed it was an attempt to sit up, but came across as more of a pathetic squirm. “I know, kid,” he gently rest his hand on Peter’s arm, “Banner’s gonna help you feel better. Just hang tight for me, okay?”
Steve felt totally out of place as he stood in the doorway and observed the scene before him. He had known Tony for years, and already knew that behind all the sarcasm was a heart of gold. He did well, however, to hide it from his teammates and the rest of the world, so watching him comfort Peter like he were his own son felt like a violation of privacy.
As he considered leaving, May swiftly walked past him and into the room, not even sparing him a glance. Steve couldn’t blame her, not after the things he’d said.
“Hey baby,” May placed a kiss on Peter’s forehead, who just moaned painfully in reply. “Feeling really bad?” He just closed his eyes and nodded his head once, just barely.
Banner entered the room, IV medication in hand. “Hey Peter, I’m gonna up your dosage so you might feel really tired, okay? But it’ll make the pain go away” the teenager just smiled softly in response to the voice he recognized.
Steve felt like he was looking into a little bubble in someone else’s world. Peter, drifting off quickly as the medication took hold. May then sent Tony off to bed, and he swept the hair out of the kid’s eyes before getting up and leaving, Steve following behind.
“Tony, you have to at least let me try and apologize.” He stated as the mechanic finally came to a halt. He spun around to face the super soldier.
“And why, should I, huh?” He challenged, taking a step forward, “You have no faith in me, Rogers. You know nothing of my family and I have no reason to have to explain myself to you after you betrayed me. Do you really expect me to forgive you after everything you’ve done? Even after Thanos is defeated and we fought side by side again you still have so little faith. Starks are made of iron, remember? We don’t have hearts. We’re not supposed to.”
“And yet here you are.” It was a simple statement, yet powerful as Steve tried to read the expression on Tony’s face. He’s never seen him so desperate.
“I’m sorry, Tony. For everything. The accords, for assuming that you didn’t care about Peter. I’m sorry I accused you of letting this happen. This isn’t your fault, it can’t possibly be. I don’t expect you to forgive me, at all,” he let his gaze drop to the floor, “but I at least want you to know that I mean it.”
Tony stayed silent for several minutes.
“I forgive you.”
Steve looked up in surprise, “You do?”
The mechanic sighed “I don’t expect you to always be perfect, Rogers. People make mistakes. And you couldn’t have possibly known about Pete unless I told you. It’s not fair for me to stay mad forever. He wouldn’t want me to stay mad.”
Steve chuckled, “He’s a bit of a peacekeeper from what I can tell.”
Tony smiled for the first time that day, “You don’t know the half of it. He’s so smart he’ll probably outwit me someday. Who am I kidding? He will.”
Steve couldn’t help but smile as he saw his friend’s eyes light up with pride and love as he talked about his pseudo-son.
This kid would be just fine.