Chapter Text
When they shut down the machines it felt like the flatlining noise of the heart monitor was as connected to his soul as it was to his Aunt’s heart.
May was gone.
Peter remembered the day that she fell over the carpet in their living room and would not move anymore.
Peter remembered how they told him that his Aunt would be fine, that the stroke was not fatal.
Peter remembered how Mr Stark had her transferred to the compound MedBay as soon as he heard.
Peter remembered how the second stroke hit on their way upstate.
He remembered how his Aunt promised it would be fine. That the coma would help her body heal and when she wakes up it will be like nothing happened.
Peter was faced with a reality that would not ever allow anything to be like nothing happened.
“Pete? Peter?” Tony tried to get the boy back to earth. He knew that dissociation was a common form of protecting the mind, but he had to get Peter back in his body.
The man knew he could not touch Peter in this state. It happened once and Tony did not feel the need for another black eye from his protege.
Of course, Peter did not hit him on purpose. The boy’s body reacted on reflex.
So he was forced to stand in front of Peter waiting and hoping for the boy to respond to him.
“Peter, buddy, come back hm? We need to figure some stuff out okay?”
Peter still did not react, the look on his face and in his eyes just seemed so far away. If Tony did not know better one could have mistaken Peter for the dead Parker and not his late Aunt.
Around them a team of nurses and doctors rushed around, fixing up May Parker’s body, removing tubes and cables and finally removing her.
“I am alone.” Came the sudden tiny whisper. Tony instantly kneeled in front of Peter to be able to look him in the eyes. His knees protested and he cursed his age in the back of his mind.
“No, Pete no, you are never alone.” Finally, Peter’s eyes seemed to clear and he looked into Tony’s eyes like they held an answer to a question nobody asked.
“I am. This is it. I am fifteen. And the last living Parker. I am going to be forced into a foster system everybody knows is rigged, I will lose my scholarship for Midtown and never see my friends again, I will be placed god knows where and maybe never see you again and then-”
He spiralled and Tony was so overwhelmed because he has been there. Hell, he had no clue how to deal with someone spiralling that was not him.
“Peter stop. Please. We gonna find a way. I promise. We find someone who is capable of taking care of you and-” Suddenly anger burned in Peter’s eyes and Tony was painfully reminded that the boy was a teenager, emotional and passionate.
“And what?! Does the next person die? The next guardian will be killed by Parker luck? And what about me? About Spider-Man?! No matter how nice someone might be, nobody will ever live up to what she did for me, who she is to me.”
Angry tears ran down his face, confusion, sadness and grief clouting his entire being. Peter could not cope anymore. He could not. This was his last straw. A sudden wave of energy hit him and he jumped up, almost right into Mr Stark’s face.
“I am not going to let any other person into my life just to get them ruined and further ruin me.”
Mr Stark seemed to think about this for a second.
“How about someone you know already?” Peter huffed. “Yeah right, I am sorry Mr Stark but I don’t...I don’t want to think about this. Not right now.” All the energy from mere seconds ago left his body and he slumped back into the plastic chair. A sobbed rocked his body and Mr Stark, who hated hugs or any physical sign of affection hugged him. A long, firm hug that conveyed ‘You Are Safe’.
But Peter knew he was not safe. His entire life had crumbled in front of him.
“I will go and sign a temporary guardianship with Pepper okay bud? Then you have more time to figure this out, we have more time to figure this out, hm?” Tony tried to convey as much optimism and affection in these two sentences as he could. Peter needed him. This was not the place for his own emotional issues.
“I don’t….don’t want to burden you more Mr Stark. I am sorry.” Peter led his head hang. “You would never burden me, Peter, okay? You are my protege, my kid, my responsibility. And if this gives you more comfort I am Tony Stark, if I didn’t want to take care of you or spend time with you, I wouldn’t.”
The last sentence hit a soft spot in Peter.
“R-really?” He whimpered. He knew Mr Stark did not do bullshit, but it still meant a lot to the boy to know that the billionaire actually, consciously decided to spend time with him. That it wasn’t just for pity or out of an odd sense of responsibility.
Mr Stark’s smile softened.
“Really. I am not proud of my asshole moments but I tend to turn people away no matter what they try to get me into. I didn’t sign any birthday cards or condolences cards in my entire life. Because I either care enough to be there in person or I don’t care at all.”
“Isn’t that like super bad for PR?” Peter whispered and Mr Stark had to bite back a smile. “You spent some time with Pepper? I mean she has a stamp with my signature on it for this kind of things. Or rather the PR apartment does because if she wants my signature she tortures me to get it.”
Peter nodded, tears still running down his face, his head heavy with clouds and circuits burning because they could not process the data that May Parker was gone.
“She said when she wakes up from the coma, it will be like nothing happened.”
He spoke in the heavy silence of the MedBay room. It was so odd to miss the sound of breathing machines and heart monitors and whatever the other dozen machines had been for.
Mr Stark nodded solemnly.
“Sometimes these things happen and we just are helplessly forced to try and cope with the aftermaths. She will be fine you know? It is a shitty way to look at it that way because you still hurt, but at least she does not.”
Peter hummed, eyes far away but at least he could listen to Mr Starks voice.
It would be a long night.