Work Text:
When Tony's phone goes off in the middle the night, he initially ignores it.
He's seconds away from falling back asleep when it rings for a second time, and Pepper lazily nudges his shoulder as a silent demand to answer it. While Tony groans in response, he picks it up anyway.
"What do you want?"
Tony doesn't bother to look at the caller ID as he presses the phone to his ear but once he hears heart wrenching sobs from the other end of the line, he immediately sits up from the bed, no longer tired. If Pepper notices his sudden burst of energy, she doesn't comment on it.
"Pete, what's wrong?"
Peter seemed to be trying to tell him something, but it was unintelligible through gasps and wails that sounded outright painful.
"Kid, I need you to take a deep breath and tell me what's going on."
Even with the lack of information, Tony knew the situation had to have been dire. No matter how many times in the past Tony had begged Peter to call him when he needed help, the boy had always ignored his pleads.
Peter was one of the most stubborn people he has ever met, he could be shot in the chest and still refuse to reach out. The fact that he had called at all was telling of how bad the injury must be.
Tony was already out of the bedroom and stepping into the iron suit. He quickly tracked Peter's Spiderman suit and found his location in seconds, and that was when Peter finally spoke.
"Mr. Stark, I feel really funny." Tony fought the urge to sigh at that.
"I need a little more details kiddo."
There's a short pause, and Tony assumed Peter was processing his words.
"I feel weird, and my head's all fuzzy and I think- I'm pretty sure I'm bleeding but I don't know where... I feel really funny Mr. Stark, I don't know what's happening."
The tremble in Peter's voice had Tony increasing the speed of his blasters.
"I'm on my way, just stay where you are and I'll be there as soon as possible- can you tell me what you remember."
There was another pause, and this time Tony does sigh.
"I was fighting this bad guy... and I think he did something to me because I got really dizzy and my heart started beating really fast."
The words were slurred together and if Tony didn't know any better he would have assumed that Peter was wasted. He quickly did an internal scan through Friday just to be safe, and found results that suggested there was an unknown substance in his system.
"Did you take any drugs?"
When Peter spoke, he sounded progressively worse.
"I don' do that."
His incredulous tone would have made Tony laugh in any other scenario, and he could practically see his eyebrows knitting together in confusion. This time however, he frowned.
"I know you don't, just humor me for a second. Did anyone give you something that seemed... off?"
"I- I don' remember... Mr. S'ark I think something's happening, I think- I don' know what's happening."
At this point the kid sounds completely wretched, and it was clear that he wasn't going to get any more coherent responses out of him.
"I'm coming, I promise, I'll be there in five minutes."
There was no reply from Peter, and Tony felt his heart rate pick up to an unhealthy rhythm. Still, he tried to be the voice of reason.
"Kid, don't fall asleep okay? I need you to stay alert for me."
"I- I don' know if I can."
Tony cursed himself for not answering the phone the first time it rang. For all he knew, Peter could be dying right now. He didn't know how permanent the wounds were but he prayed that Peter's super healing would eliminate some of the pain.
Tony thoughts and self deprecation were interrupted by a scream that hurt his ears. Peter wasn't in the right state of mind to hold any noise the way he usually would, so the sobs that escaped his mouth were borderline animalistic. Tony felt his heart skip a beat at the sound, and fear coursed through his veins.
"Pete? Tell me what's happening."
There was no response, just high pitched moans that he has never heard from Peter before.
"Kid, you're scaring me."
Still nothing.
"Peter?"
While the lack of communication was concerning, the sight that Tony was met with when he finally found Peter was petrifying. It took him longer than anticipated to find the location, and he scolded himself once more for not leaving sooner.
Peter was sitting at the end of an alleyway with his head tucked into his chest and breaths coming out as pants. He looked deflated, and it was clear that he didn't have the energy to properly hold himself up. His Spiderman suit had rips all over it, but none of the cuts looked deep enough to be detrimental. Nevertheless, Tony would have to make a new suit from the amount of damage it had taken.
The most concerning issue was the blood dripping down from his hairline to his jaw, which made Tony suspect that he had a concussion. While he couldn't see Peter's face from where he was positioned, he could tell that he wasn't fully aware of his surroundings.
Tony approached him as quietly as possible, so not to startle Peter as he bent down to take a good look. He then gently placed the palm of his hand on Peter's cheek and supported his head as he looked up. Tony examined his pupils and saw that they were blown out and a tad disproportionate.
Definitely a concussion then.
"Looks like the spider got squashed, huh?"
Maybe the comment was a tad insensitive, but he wanted to gauge just where Peter was in awareness and pain tolerance. The kid has had plenty of concussions in the past, but he's never been this out of it no matter how many times he was hit in the head. Tony predicted that it was whatever drug that was coursing through his body that caused the pain to be so blatantly etched on his face.
Peter didn't react to the attempted banter, and that was when Tony really started to worry. He put each of his hands on Peter's shoulders and repositioned him so he was sitting more upright. Then, he held eye contact and waited until Peter focused in on him once more.
"Can you tell me your name?"
Peter blinked twice before answering the question, his eyes slightly squinted in concentration.
"Pe'er Parker." Tony nodded his head and offered a smile that he often used for media.
While Peter didn't seem able to pronounce his 't's' currently, it appeared to be only a temporary issue. Hopefully the same could be said with his memory.
Just in case, Tony asked another easy question, mentally timing the delay of the answer.
"What's my name?"
"Mr. S'ark?" Only five seconds.
"And that's two for two, good job kiddo."
"I feel funny."
Tony let out a humorless laugh because he didn't know what else to say. He had no words of comfort, and he still didn't even know what had happened. From the sound of it, Peter didn't either.
Clearly he was in some state of shock at this point. Before Tony got angry however, he took a deep breath and forced himself to focus on the situation at hand.
"We're gonna fix that real soon, do you think you can stand up?"
Now that Tony was physically there, he could see the intense concentration it took from Peter to decipher the questions and respond appropriately. Peter looked up at the stars and Tony counted seven seconds before he answered.
"Yeah, yeah- I can s'and."
Tony held out his hands to Peter's side as the two started to get up. It took a lot of work to get Peter to stay on his feet, but eventually they were standing side to side.
The moment Tony had let go of Peter's arms was when the kid began to tip over, but he was able to catch him before he face-planted to the ground.
"Okay, this clearly isn't going to work."
Peter vigorously shook his head, but stopped a moment later as he squinted his eyes shut instead.
"No, I- I'm fine Mr. S'ark, I swear, just give me a second."
Now that Peter was standing up, he noticed that he was heavily preferring his left leg by putting all of his weight onto it. Tony took a closer look and saw blood dripping down to his right calf, hidden from his already red suit. His knee bent in an angle that did not look natural in the slightest, and Tony swallowed down bile.
"What happened to your leg?"
Peter opened his eyes but simply stared at Tony, apparently not understanding the question.
Tony decided he was wasting time with the small talk. So, he picked Peter up bridal style, and that was when he let out another sob that startled Tony so much that he almost dropped him in the process.
He readjusted himself so he was sturdy when holding the injured teen. He also let the iron suit support most of the weight while he quietly shushed Peter who began to moan and fidget around.
"It's okay buddy, it's going to be okay. You're doing great-"
He hoped that he was offering some comfort with his words, but Peter seemed far too gone to hear what Tony was saying.
He ignored the pit in his stomach and trudged along to the med bay.
~
Peter was surprisingly cooperative during the flight back. He must have passed out at one point, and Tony let Peter enjoy his momentary bliss before waking him up twenty minutes later. He wasn’t a doctor, but he knew patients were not supposed to sleep for too long when they bore a concussion.
Of course, Peter tried to walk on his own once he was woken up, and Tony had to physically wrap his arms around the other after the third time he tried to escape his grip.
Despite Peter’s act of reluctance, he quickly tucked his head into the crook of Tony’s neck once he was secured, seeking the warmth he possessed. Tony knew he would have never done if it wasn’t for the concussion making his thoughts all muddy and jumbled, and he fought a smile at the unconscious action.
“How about we get you in the shower and clean you up before Helen gets here?”
Peter didn’t respond, but Tony could feel him slowly nod against his shoulder. This time, Tony did smile.
The smile immediately disappeared when he heard a hiss of pain from his side.
It took them a significant amount of time to get to the bathroom, and Peter let out a breath he had been holding as he sat down on the closed toilet seat. While he was in less pain, he didn’t seem any more relaxed.
“Mr. Stark, do you know when Doctor Cho is gonna be here?”
“She said she would be here in a half hour or so... why do you ask?”
Peter looked up with dread in his eyes, and Tony would have given anything to erase the look from his face. He placed a hand on Peter’s shoulder, offering subtle, physical comfort that he knows Peter always craved but was too shy to ask for.
Not surprisingly, he leaned into the touch.
“Would you be willing to pop my knee back into place?”
The hand that was rubbing Peter’s tense muscles paused at the motion, and Tony took a double take when the words were spoken.
“Is there a reason why we can’t just wait for Cho to look at it?”
Peter looked down at his bent knee and refused to make eye contact. Tony could still see the blush growing on his cheeks.
“I can kinda feel my healing factor locking the bones in place, but I’m sure it would be fine if we waited- it’s probably smarter anyhow.”
Tony instantly cursed at himself for not thinking of it sooner. He looked down at the leg in question and cringed at the unnatural position it was laying in. He then forced himself to snap out of it.
“No, you’re right, we should pop it back before it gets stuck like that... but it’s going to hurt.”
Peter nodded and was already closing his eyes in anticipation. It was clear that this wasn’t new information for Peter. “It’s okay, I can handle it.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to wait until we have some pain killers?”
Peter impatiently opened his one eye at that. “You and I both know that pain killers don’t work on me- it’s okay, seriously, it’ll hurt for a second and then I’ll feel better.”
The fact that Peter was the one comforting Tony was laughable in this moment, and the irony of it all did not go unnoticed. He hated that it has gotten to the point where Peter was not only used to this kind of pain, but accepting of it.
“And you still don’t remember how any of this happened?”
Tony knew he was wasting time asking the question, but the idea of inflicting more suffering on Peter made him want to throw up, even if it would help him. The kid already had a crazy concussion, and the dry blood that was matting his face was only a reminder of Tony’s failure to keep him safe.
“I’m sorry” was Peter’s only response.
Tony bent down so he could get a better look at the dislocated knee. “Don’t apologize for something like this, if you have something to be sorry for I’d make sure you were aware of it.”
That got a small laugh out of Peter, and Tony couldn’t help but feel a little bit proud. He gently poked at the injured leg and watched as Peter flinched back in reflex.
“You’re gonna have to keep still as I put your leg back in place, we don’t want to make it worse than it already is.”
Peter closed his eyes yet again and took a deep breath, steeling himself for the inevitable. Each of his hands gripped the sides of the toilet seat, and he moved his leg a little closer to Tony.
“Okay, I’m ready."
Tony hated that he wasn’t able to at least hold Peter’s hand. Instead, he grabbed onto his ankle and prepared to set it back into place. He had plenty of experience popping dislocated shoulders, but he for some reason has never done it with a knee.
Despite this, he knew the general premise of what to do. Tony made sure that Peter’s leg was completely straight out with his foot flexed to the ceiling, before pulling it as high up as it could go.
Surprisingly, the foot went almost to the top of his head, Tony often forgot how flexible Peter was.
There was a loud snap and then a muffled scream from Peter. Tony looked at Peter’s face to see that he had bit his lip shut in an attempt to camouflage the cry of pain. He must have bitten down too hard, because blood was pouring out of his mouth at a quick speed only seconds afterwards.
Tony took the pad of his thumb and separated his teeth and lips. “Don’t do that, kiddo.” He then put both of his hands on his cheeks and wiped away the tears that had fallen during the procedure.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, but it’s over now. All we have to do is wash you up and make sure you’re rested, then Cho will come in and check on that noggin of yours.”
Peter nodded in agreement but didn’t say anything. His chest was moving rapidly in an attempt to catch his breath, and Tony felt his heart constrict at the sight.
He finally wrapped his arms around Peter, whispering in his ear in the hopes that it will calm him down.
Eventually, Peter snapped out of his trance and wrapped his own arms around Tony. He was still shaking slightly but his breathing was much more even, which Tony was thankful for.
Peter was hugging a little too tightly to the point where it may leave bruises in the morning, but Tony didn’t comment on it. Instead, he moved his hand so it was resting on the back of Peter’s head.
“I’ve got you kiddo.”