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Ever since the Battle of Earth, Tony had almost fallen down countless times.
When he first woke up in a hospital bed and saw he was down an arm, he felt like he was falling over. When he finally was able to stand up a few weeks after that, he would have fallen over if Pepper and Peter hadn’t caught him. When he attached his prototype prosthetic arm for the first time, he almost fell over from the weight. Needless to say, he made some adjustments so that wouldn’t happen again.
But his latest near-faceplant was for the worst reason yet.
Peter had been so excited about his summer vacation that Tony couldn’t bring himself to tell the kid his concerns. He had to admit that his concerns were more like paranoia, but the kid had been gone for five years. He absolutely had the right to worry.
Tony had nearly put on his suit, rushed to Venice and flown Peter home after the incident with the water monster. But the boy had called immediately after and assured him that everything was under control, and that he and that Mysterio guy had handled it. Of course, Tony had not been reassured, but Peter had convinced him to let him keep up the trip for a little while longer.
But Tony had been close to a seizure when Peter had finally called him the day after the incident with the fire monster. The boy barely gave him a chance to get a word in as he spilled out something about Mysterio and the Netherlands. He’d only gotten the name of the town Peter was in and immediately had F.R.I.D.A.Y fire up the private jet when Peter hung up.
But when he’d finally made it the impossible to pronounce village in the Netherlands, the fucking Netherlands, what made him nearly fall over was the sight of Peter.
He was a complete and utter disaster. There were spots of blood on his torso, face and limbs, his hair was even more of a mess than usual, and he was practically dragging his right leg behind him.
Tony grabbed onto the railing of the jet’s stairs to stop himself from falling. He managed to get down them and quickly began to make his way toward the injured boy. “Peter? What the hell happened to you?!”
“Tony?!” Peter called, making Tony’s heart shatter when he sounded like he was going to cry. “Is that you?!”
What kind of question was that? Of course it was Tony. Could Peter have brain damage or something? From the looks of him, it was entirely possible, and that made Tony’s heart speed up.
“Of course it's me, Pete!” He called back, trying to walk a little faster. “What happened?”
Suddenly, Peter stopped dead in his tracks and threw a hand forward. “Stop! Just, stop, please!”
Peter sounded even closer to tears than before. And as much as Tony wanted to run up, give him a hug and take him inside the jet to treat his injuries, the desperation in Peter’s voice made him stop as well.
“Tell me something only you would know!”
What the fuck?
“Why do you want me to-”
“Please! If you’re really Tony, then tell me something only Tony would know.”
Tony hated to see Peter in his current state, so he wracked his brain for something that only he and Peter would know.
“Okay, okay.... Remember when you and I went to space? You came even though I sent your stubborn ass back to Earth. You came up with a plan to save the wizard based on that movie Aliens- ”
“Okay, okay, it’s you!”
Tony let out a sigh of relief at Peter’s satisfaction and went as fast as he could towards the boy. But when he was finally close enough to touch him, he didn’t even get the chance. Peter’s legs gave out and he almost face planted, but Tony managed to catch him and haul him up into his arms. Peter’s arms instantly wrapped around Tony’s torso. “It’s so good to see you.”
Tony stared at Peter worriedly as the boy trembled and buried his face in Tony’s shoulder. He rubbed circles into Peter’s back, hoping to get him to calm down. “It’s good to see you too, kid. Now relax. You’re safe now, okay? You’re safe.”
It took a minute for Tony’s reassurances to actually sink in, but Peter had mostly stopped shaking by the time he tried to pull away. “Okay, okay, I’m good now.”
Tony still grasped one of Peter’s arms tightly, draping it across his own shoulder. “Nope. You’re not walking on your own. You really want to fall over and give me a heart attack?”
Peter shook his head. “No, definitely not.”
That caught Tony by surprise. The kid wasn’t even protesting? Jesus, he had to be in a lot of pain if he wasn’t trying to help himself.
“Okay, okay,” He said. “I don’t like this Peter. Let’s get you on the jet, okay?”
---
Tony had almost carried Peter into the jet bridal style, but the boy had insisted on just holding the railing with the hand that wasn’t over Tony’s shoulder. It was weirdly nice to briefly argue with Peter. It gave Tony a sense that no permanent damage had come to his kid.
At least, physically. He had no idea how Peter’s mental state was.
When Tony finally had Peter sitting down in the jet, his head resting on the table, he got out the emergency medical kit and had F.R.I.D.A.Y scan him.
Nothing was life threatening, thank God, but Peter was still pretty banged up. Nearly all of his ribs were bruised, two were broken, his right femur was fractured, he had a mild concussion, and various cuts and bruises all over his body. The only one that needed stitches was on his upper back, so Tony prepared to seal it up.
“Okay.” He said, helping Peter out of the orange shirt he was wearing. “Mind telling me how all this happened?”
Peter lifted his head and looked down at his hands. “You’ll freak out if I tell you.”
“Of course, I will. But not at you.”
Peter still didn’t look at him, but muttered something unintelligible under his breath.
“What did you say, Pete?”
The kid’s voice was a little louder this time, but Tony still couldn’t hear what he said. “Kiddo, you’re going to have to speak up. I just have to know who did this to-”
“I got hit by a bullet train.”
Tony felt his heart stop. But a moment later, it sped up so fast that it was a miracle it didn’t burst.
But after he got over his initial shock, he immediately went into his own panicked rant.
“You got hit by a BULLET TRAIN?! What the fuck?! How did you- oh my God, even being you, you’re lucky you didn’t walk away with worse!”
He didn’t mention that even with Peter’s extra strength, there was a good chance he could have died from that impact.
Peter’s eyes went even further down, and Tony could see them turn glassy. Shit, the last thing he wanted to do was make Peter cry. So, he got up, went in front of Peter and wrapped his arms around him. “Hey. Not your fault, alright? I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“I’m not really okay.”
“Well, as okay as you are right now.”
He let go of Peter and went back behind him. “Now, while I’m fixing you up you can tell me the whole story.”
Surprisingly, Peter did. He launched into his story of how that son of a bitch Fury had hijacked his vacation, All of the monsters in Europe were created by Mysterio, who was actually some asshole named Quentin Beck that Tony had fired years ago (dammit, that meant this entire mess was his fault), Peter had given him the Edith glasses, and Beck had used his illusions to mess with Peter’s head, which had eventually led to getting hit by a train.
Tony could taste bile in his mouth just thinking about it.
By the time Peter had finished, Tony had stitched up his back, made sure Peter’s advanced healing was taking care of the broken bones, and had made sure none of his cuts were infected. But Peter still looked absolutely miserable, so Tony squeezed Peter’s shoulder. “Hey. You okay, kid? I patched up everything. Does something else hurt?”
“My mind.”
“Your head?”
“No, my mind. I can’t believe I was so stupid! You trusted me with one of the most powerful technological devices on the planet, and I gave it away without a second thought! How are you not mad at me? Why aren’t you yelling at me?!”
“Do you want me to yell at you?”
“No. Not really. But why aren’t you upset?”
Tony sighed. “Kid, this is not your fault. If it's anyone’s, it's mine. I’m the one who fired that Beck asshole.”
“He was crazy, though. You had every reason to.”
“Doesn’t erase the fact that this whole thing is my fault.”
“Tony, you should be blaming me. Not yourself. You wouldn’t have come if I told you what I did-”
That sentence felt like a punch in the gut. Because it was absolute bullshit.
“No. Stop. Just shut up and listen to me.” He grabbed Peter’s face and forced Peter to look him in the eyes.
“I wouldn’t have cared if you blew up an entire city, for Christ’s sake. Whenever you’re hurt, I’ll come and help you. Whenever you need me, I’ll be there, okay? Nothing will ever change that. And I don’t want to go back and forth on whose fault this is. We can talk about that later, but it is not. Your. Fault. Got it?”
“But-”
“It’s not your fault.”
He said the last words so firmly that they’d be impossible to deny. Peter bit his lip and sighed. “Okay. It’s not my fault.”
Tony smiled. “Atta boy.”
He let go of Peter’s face and stood up. “Now. You still have a continent to save.”
Peter’s eyes widened. “Me?”
“Yeah, you. Let’s show that son of a bitch what happens when you fuck with Spider-man.”
And for the first time since Tony had found him, Peter smiled.
“Yeah. Let’s do it.”