Work Text:
Peter Parker wasn’t afraid of heights, not really. It was hard to be when he swung off of skyscrapers every day.
What he should’ve been afraid of, he realized as he found himself plummeting towards the ground at record speed, was falling.
It had been a stupid mistake, one that his sixth-sense would have warned him about in any other fight, but this new guy- the Goblin- was tricky, somehow evading Peter’s heightened senses. One minute he’d managed to web the Goblin’s glider, the next he was hurtling towards what would certainly be his excruciating demise, his attempt to catch himself only succeeding in wrenching his shoulder out of its socket with a painful pop.
The first half of the fall had been bloodcurdling, his heart beating so fast he thought he was going to puke. But then the anxiety clawing at his stomach had simmered into a numb iciness that spread throughout his veins.
He was going to die.
Oh god, he was going to die.
He thought of Aunt May, Mr. Stark, Ned, MJ. With a hollow grief ripping through his chest, Peter squeezed his eyes shut.
He said goodbye.
Then he hit something solid with a horrifying crack.
“Pete?”
Peter opened his eyes.
Wait, that wasn’t right. Wasn’t he-
“Woah, hey, kid, you’re okay, I’ve got you.”
Peter blinked, blurry vision coming into focus. He was lying on some sort of net, a familiar red and gold figure by his side.
“What- how did you-“
“Just something I’ve been working on.”
Peter could hear the tightness in Mr. Stark’s voice, and he understood the unspoken reasoning behind the statement. He started to push himself up, but the pain in his side screeched in protest and he flopped back down, an expletive escaping him.
“Yeah, that would be the broken ribs, kiddo.” The net was moving slowly towards the ground as they spoke. “Sorry to say you don’t fall from that height and just walk it off. And this is just a prototype.”
“Sorry,” the apology tumbled out of Peter’s mouth, his head pounding. “He caught me off guard.”
Mr. Stark sighed. “Why are you apologizing, kid? I should be the one saying sorry for not catching you sooner.”
Peter shrugged, the motion sending tiny splinters of pain through his chest.
“Mr. Stark?”
“Yeah, Pete?”
“Thanks for catching me.”
“Anytime, kid. Anytime.”