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Peter steps out on the front porch of the Stark’s cabin with a tray of five mugs full of freshly brewed coffee. He smiles to himself as he inhales the crisp autumn air, the faintest hint of a bonfire from somewhere in the distance, as well as the remaining pumpkin spice donuts they had after lunch.
“Thanks, Pete,” Tony says with a warm, grateful smile as Peter puts the tray down on the wicker coffee table in the middle of everyone.
“Sure,” Peter smiles back as he squeezes himself in between him and Happy, who is currently in a bit of a heated debate with Clint and Steve over last Sunday’s football game.
Tony wraps an arm around Peter’s shoulders, an amused grin pulling at his lips as he listens in on the conversation taking place next to them.
“Okay, let’s settle this then, shall we? Tony—Pats or the Bucs?” Clint asks, turning to them.
Tony raises his eyebrows and blows out a breath. “That’s a tough one. I don’t know… I think it’s gonna be hard for the Pats this year without Brady.”
“Yeah, and the Bucs also have Gronk now.” Clint points out.
Steve sighs, shaking his head. “I still can’t believe Brady’s not a Pat anymore. I mean, I get why he left but… I don’t know. I’m still rooting for the Patriots, though. They have some pretty good players this year.”
“Yeah, but they don’t have the GOAT.” Happy adds in.
Steve heaves out another sigh, his disappointment evident by the way his shoulders drop. “True.”
They continue their debate, but Peter chooses to tune them out, wanting to just relax and enjoy the moment. It’s a bit of a rarity the Avengers could all have a nice lunch together and not get called away for any emergencies that needed their attention.
Peter brings his mug up to his lips, tasting the eggnog he’d added in for himself since he can’t stand the taste of coffee on its own—plus it's the perfect beverage for a fall day like today.
A light breeze blows past them, sending a shiver through Peter, feeling the coldness, despite the thick flannel he has on.
“Cold?” Tony asks gently.
“A little.”
“Want me to get you a blanket?” Tony offers.
Peter shakes his head with a small smile. “No, I can get it.”
As soon as he stands up, Peter freezes when his spider-sense hums warningly at the back of his neck. His eyes sweep over the front lawn that’s covered in a mixture of red, yellow, and orange leaves… but there aren't any signs of danger.
Where’s Morgan? Peter wonders, frowning as something twists in his stomach.
He walks to the end of the porch that overlooks the lake and looks out, only seeing Gerald grazing by his shed a few feet from the house. Again, nothing seems out of the ordinary or threatening in any way, but his spider-sense continues to persistently tingle at the back of his neck.
When he scans over the dock, something catches his eyes. Peter squints, brows pulling together as he zones in on the speck out in the water.
That’s when he sees it—the all-too-familiar pink coat, standing out against the dark blue water.
“MORGAN!” Peter yells, eyes widening in realization as fear shoots through him.
Instead of wasting time in taking the stairs, Peter swings his legs up and over the porch railing, landing heavily on the ground before he springs up and takes off at full-speed towards the dock.
From here, he can see that Morgan is struggling to stay above the water, her arms flailing above her head. She doesn’t know how to swim on her own yet, so Tony and Pepper have always made her wear her little arm floaties or a life vest when they go swimming in the summer.
Peter can feel his heart pounding away in his chest as his feet hit the ground, the cold air hitting him in the face as he nears closer to the dock, hearing running footsteps and yelling behind him but he doesn’t look back. He rips off his flannel and tosses it away, feeling his feet hit the wooden boards of the dock.
Morgan is a couple of feet away from the dock—how she got out there is a mystery.
The moment she disappears under the water, Peter jumps off the end of the dock without thinking twice, diving in after her.
Peter’s body freezes up from the shock of how frigid the water is, but he fights against it, forcing his arms to move as his eyes desperately scan the darkness around him.
Come on… please, please, please. Not Morgan… please not Morgan. He mentally begs.
If something happens to her… Peter will never forgive himself for it. He should have been paying more attention to her when she was playing out in the yard while he was sitting with Tony and the team.
Peter’s swimming downwards as fast as his arms and legs can take him, and that’s when he sees Morgan. Her usually happy brows eyes are now wide and fearful as she sinks further, her arms and legs kicking in a desperate attempt to keep herself up.
Peter reaches a hand out to her, grasping her little hand in his. He pulls Morgan towards him and wraps an arm around her before he twists, kicks his feet as hard as he can, propelling them up.
When they breach the surface, Peter gasps for air, only to swallow a mouthful of water that causes him to break out into a violent coughing fit. Through wet eyelashes, he can see Tony and Steve standing at the dock’s edge and he swims to them, holding a gasping and crying Morgan above the water.
“I-I got y-you M,” Peter stutters out around a harsh cough.
When they finally reach the dock, Peter lifts Morgan above his head, handing her to Tony. Morgan desperately clings to her dad as she sobs, tucking her head in between his neck and shoulder.
Now that she’s safe, Peter feels the panic dissipate. He feels like all the energy has been sucked right out of him. His legs stop moving under the water, but a pair of hands are on him before he goes under again. He looks up, seeing that it’s Steve.
“I’ve got you, Pete,” Steve says as he lifts him out of the water, helping Peter lie down on the dock as he violently coughs, bringing up the mouthful of water he swallowed.
Peter lets out a gasp that comes out more of a wheeze, feeling his chest seize up painfully as a horrible shiver wracks through him, causing his teeth to chatter.
He’s so tired .
Peter slowly blinks up at Steve’s concerned face as Happy’s worried one comes into view. His mouth is moving, but Peter can’t hear what he’s saying over his heartbeat pounding away in his ears.
The last thing Peter feels is someone lifting him and a pair of warm arms wrapping around him before he blacks out.
…
The first thing Peter registers when consciousness comes back to him is how wonderfully warm he feels. He slowly blinks his heavy eyelids open, finding that he’s wrapped up in blankets, lying on the couch.
He frowns as he closes his eyes once more, discovering how sore he is as he rolls on his back with a groan.
“Well look who’s up,” A voice says softly next to him.
Peter opens his eyes, only to meet Tony’s concerned ones above him.
Tony offers him a small smile as he brushes a stray curl off of Peter’s forehead. “How’re you feeling, kiddo?”
“M’kay…” Peter mumbles, closing his eyes.
That’s when the memories of the lake and Morgan almost drowning come back to him all at once.
Peter’s eyes snap open as he shoots up into a sitting position, realizing that he’d been using Tony’s lap as a pillow. “M-Morgan! W-Where—I-Is she okay?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa—take it easy, Pete. She’s okay, thanks to you. Pepper’s with her upstairs.” Tony reassures him as he braces his hands on Peter’s shoulders, keeping him sitting.
Peter blinks at him in disbelief. “S-She is?”
“She is. She’s safe, Pete. You saved her… if you hadn’t gotten there so fast…” Tony trails off, closing his eyes with a shake of his head.
Morgan would have died. Peter thinks to himself, chest tightening as tears spring to his eyes at the thought.
Peter swallows hard around the growing lump in his throat. “Tony… I-I’m… I’m so sorry . I-I wasn’t paying attention to her a-and she must have fallen in the water-”
“Hey, hey, hey,” Tony rushes out, placing a hand on his shoulder as he locks eyes with Peter’s. “What happened today isn’t your fault, Peter. I’m the one at fault here—it’s my job to watch out for the two of you, and I failed in doing that today.”
Peter silently looks down, brows pulling together as a few tears slide down his cheeks.
“Awe, bud,” Tony says softly as he pulls Peter in for a hug, rubbing a hand up and down his back as a sob escapes from Peter. “It’s alright… I’ve got you.”
Peter buries his head against Tony’s chest, trying to push away the horrifying images of Morgan underwater with her wide, fearful eyes.
It feels like forever before his tears stop, leaving Peter drained as he slumps against Tony, who’s still running an arm up and down his back.
“How about we go upstairs and pay, little miss a visit?” Tony suggests.
Peter nods against Tony’s chest and pulls back, sniffing wetly, wiping his nose with his sweatshirt sleeve. Tony offers him a warm, reassuring smile before helping Peter up from the couch, wrapping him up in a blanket.
They both make their way upstairs, Tony keeping a steadying arm around Peter as they go, which Peter is grateful for with how shaky he feels.
Stopping at the threshold of Tony and Pepper’s room, Peter can see Pepper sitting on the bed with Morgan, who’s sound asleep on Pepper, wrapped up in her favorite fuzzy bear bathrobe with little round ears on the hood.
Pepper looks up, smiling softly at Peter. “How are you feeling?”
“Okay,” Peter answers, stepping in the room, worriedly eyeing Morgan’s sleeping form. “H-How is she?”
Pepper looks down at Morgan, brushing a strand away from her little face. “A bit shaken up, but she’s going to be alright, thanks to you,” She says, meeting his eyes with a grateful smile. “Bruce doesn’t even think she’ll catch a cold.”
Peter lets out a relieved breath as he smiles, sitting on the bed next to Pepper, who pulls him closer. They all sit in silence for a few long seconds.
“Peter, what you did today was so brave. I know that you face dangerous situations all the time… but it’s scary when it's family.” Pepper says, breaking the silence.
Peter silently nods, swallowing hard. He knows what that’s like that all too well. First with Ben, and then in London when Beck threatened and tried to kill his friends. But this time, there weren’t any bad guys to fight. It was a freak accident that could have ended very badly today.
“We’re just glad you both are safe,” Pepper says.
Tony hums in agreement from his spot on the edge of the bed at Peter’s feet. After they’re silent for a moment, Tony heaves out a sigh. “You know what this calls for… a nice calming movie with a cup of hot chocolate.”
“With marshmallows?” Peter asks with a tired smile, his head resting on Pepper’s shoulder.
“Whatever you want, bud,” Tony says with a soft smile.
That’s how Peter finds himself snuggled up on the couch under a blanket thirty minutes later with Morgan snuggled up against his side on the chaise, while Tony and Pepper sit together. They chose to watch Tangled , one of Morgan’s favorites.
They’re about half-way into the movie now, and Peter’s already starting to doze off. Sleep pulls at him as his eyes get heavy, struggling to keep them open any longer.
Peter drifts off to sleep, feeling safe and warm, surrounded by his family, beyond grateful that they’re all here together, safe and sound.