Chapter Text
Tony rushed into the penthouse of the Tower, ignoring all the calls from the businessmen he just ran out on. He knew Pepper would be on his ass about it sooner than later, but right now he had more important things to deal with.
Peter had just got back from swinging around the city, and while he was texting Tony that everything was fine and nothing even happened, FRIDAY sent him an alert that the kid had a stab wound. Tony knew he wasn't supposed to be on his phone in the meeting, but he knew that Peter would be getting back from patrol soon. It was about an hour after school had ended, and he always liked to swing around some before he came back to do homework. It was a good thing he ignored the rule too, otherwise, Peter would've hidden the wound for who knows how long.
As soon as Tony opened the door to Peter's room, he saw the kid collapsed on the floor, a pooling puddle of blood next to him. His eyes went wide with shock, not thinking that the wound was as bad as it was. He was wrong.
"Fri, call Doctor Cho and Bruce and get them in the Med Bay for me. Tell them it's the kid," Tony called towards the ceiling, kneeling next to Peter in preparation to pick him up. He looked down at himself for a split second before taking off his suit jacket, throwing it on Peter's bed.
"On it, boss. Would you like me to call Doctor Strange to make a portal to the Med Bay for you?" FRIDAY knew exactly what she was doing when she asked that, and Tony could feel her smirk when he started blushing.
"No, thank you, Fri. I'll just carry him." He tucked his arm under Peter's knees, wrapping his other one around his shoulders carefully. He could see the wound now, and it was much more than a simple wound. Peter's side had practically been sliced open, running from his shoulder to just above his hips on his left side. It was a miracle he even made it back to the Tower, honestly.
The second Peter was secure in his arms, Tony was on his way towards the Med Bay, having to hold himself back from sprinting there in case it hurt Peter more.
The doors opened for him the second he was close enough, Helen and Bruce coming into view as they gathered everything they needed. Helen was gathering all of the actual equipment, while Bruce got the anesthetics ready for Peter in case he started to come to.
"Helen, his supposed stab wound is a lot bigger than Friday made it out to be, it's all the way down his side," Tony said in a rush, completely skipping over a 'hello.' He was justified though, considering his pseudo son was currently passed out and bleeding out in his arms.
“Tony, it's alright, we'll take care of him. Put him on the table for us and you can stand next to him to make sure he's okay. How does that sound?" Bruce spoke gently but sternly to his friend, knowing that anything to do with Peter shot his anxiety up and that this was the only way to get him to do anything.
Tony simply nodded, walking over to place Peter on the table and immediately taking his spot next to his head. He was playing with his curls before anyone even realized, calming himself down while telling himself it was for Peter's sake. Helen and Bruce shared a look, each of them nodding and getting started with the stitches while Peter was still out.
Bruce lightly tapped the spider that was on Peter's chest, allowing the suit to become slack from his body. They gently pulled the suit off, finally able to see how big the gash was for the first time. It was exactly how Tony said, all the way down his side. He left out one crucial detail though, the edges were all torn and ripped apart, like whoever did this used a broken and dull blade.
Helen looked up at Bruce, meeting his eyes before saying, "this might be a little bit more difficult than we thought."
Tony looked up at that, eyes wide and panicking. He was glancing between Bruce and Helen, waiting for any sort of explanation from one of them. When it didn’t come after a few seconds, he finally asked, “what do you mean it might be a little more difficult? How bad is it?”
After sharing another look, Bruce started to explain. He went over everything they saw and what it meant. How the jagged, ripped edges would make it harder to stitch and possibly harder to heal, and how he had lost a lot more blood than they originally assumed. Bruce explained to Tony how this could cause a whole slew of issues while they were suturing his side, telling Tony that there was nothing for him to worry about.
Helen finished cleaning around the outside of the wound while Bruce explained, finishing up the last of the prep work that she was able to do before they could start. She called his name softly when she was done, sending a look over at Bruce that told him to get Tony to wait outside, just on the off chance that something happened.
“Tony, you’re going to have to wait outside. Now that we know it’s bigger and worse than we expected—“ Bruce trailed off, meeting Tony’s eyes with a sympathetic smile.
All Tony could do was nod, just barely whispering, “no, it’s okay, I understand. Come get me when he’s out,” as he went to sit in one of the plastic chairs outside.
They’ve been through this time and time again, where either Tony or Peter would get hurt and they would end up having to wait outside of the Med Bay while Helen and Bruce fixed the other up. While it wasn’t anything new, and they certainly knew the process by now, it still always hurt.
Tony thought about the voicemail Peter had left him during his meeting. He had texted Peter to let him know that he would be in a meeting when he got out of school and that he wouldn’t be able to answer his usual pre-patrol call. That didn’t stop Peter though, opting to leave a voicemail for the man when he got out. Tony hit play, letting Peter’s voice play out through the empty waiting room.
“Hey, Mr. Stark! I know you’re in the meeting right now, and you probably will be for another few hours, but I still felt like I needed to have our pre-patrol call. I don’t know, it just wouldn’t feel right without it. Anyways, I’ll be back home in about an hour,” there was a pause and Tony could hear Peter rustling through his backpack, most likely for his suit. “Can we make alfredo for dinner tonight? It’s been a while and I’ve been craving it recently for some reason. Oh, you should invite Mister Doctor Strange to dinner too, I have a feeling both of you would have fun.”
Tony could feel Peter’s smirk as he listened back to it, laughing ever so slightly as he shook his head. He was debating inviting Stephen over, but for a very different reason now. Despite having to do this every other week with Peter, he still likes to have a professional around when it comes to taking care of him. But that was just the excuse he told himself and everyone else when he wanted to get the doctor over. Not that anyone needed to know that, of course.
~~~
Luckily it was only a few hours later when Bruce and Helen came through the Med Bay doors. Finding Tony slumped over in his seat asleep, however, was not what they were expecting. Bruce went over to gently shake his shoulder, making sure, “you’re okay, he’s okay,” were the first words out of his mouth.
Tony calmed down instantly, both by realizing it was Bruce and by his words. “Where is he?”
“He’s still in the Med Bay for now, but once he’s a little more stable we’re going to transfer him to his room. It should be soon, especially with his healing factor,” Helen cut in to explain, looking over Bruce’s shoulder. “I know this is about when you call Doctor Strange to help you take care of him, so you can go ahead and do that if you’d like.”
Tony blushed, surprised that even Helen had noticed his routine. He didn’t bother denying it though, just mumbling something under his breath to the two of them as he walked into the Med Bay. If Helen and Bruce had to guess, Tony said something along the lines of, “I’m going to go sit with the kid and call the wizard now.”
"You go do that, Tony. We'll be around if you need us," despite already having his back turned to her, Tony could see Helen's teasing smirk. He shook his head as he walked into the room, almost as if he was trying to shake off the blush that was creeping up his neck again.
It stopped once he saw Peter, almost immediately going over to sit next to him. His face was still pale, and if Tony didn't know any better then he would assume he would be dead. He could see the heart rate monitor though, steadily beeping off to the side. Tony knew it would be driving Peter insane if he were awake. The beeps were shrill, and almost right next to his head. Tony would have to figure out if there was a way to mute it before Peter woke up.
Peter started to stir slightly, as if on cue. He groaned, reaching his hand to grab over towards his side. Tony reached out on impulse to grab his hand, making sure that Peter didn't tamper with his stitches.
"Sorry, Pete, can't let you do that," he explained softly. "Do you remember what happened?"
"Mr. Stark? But meeting?" Peter was skipping over words, slurring the ones he remembered to say. Tony shook his head. Of course, the kid was worried about Tony's meeting even though he had been bleeding out on his bedroom floor only two hours ago.
"Don't worry about the meeting, it doesn't matter."
"Got stabbed, Mr. Stark. Think it was worse than I think," Peter looked up at Tony. "At least Mister Doctor Strange gets to come over now."
Tony blushed. He didn't realize that it was so obvious that even Peter had started to pick up on it. He started to talk but had to clear his throat to keep his voice steady. "Yeah, kiddo, it was just a little bit worse than you thought. But you'll be just fine before you know it. Especially with Doctor Strange's help."
Peter smiled at something, then laughed slightly at something.
"What's so funny, Pete?"
"I have school tomorrow," he completely ignored Tony's question, starting to panic about the homework that he still hasn't done before he even realized what he was doing. Peter went to sit up, most likely wanting to go and grab his schoolwork from upstairs.
Tony stopped him before he could get out of bed, putting a hand on the uninjured side of his chest and pushing him to lay back down. "Peter, it's okay, you're not going to school tomorrow. Stephen and I are going to take care of you until the weekend."
"Where is he?" Peter seemed to relax at the thought of both Tony and Stephen taking care of him. He looked around the room, probably waiting for him to materialize out of thin air at the sound of his name.
"He's not here yet, kiddo. I still need to call him."
Peter seemed content at that, nodding his head before resting it on the pillow again. Tony looked down at his hands still holding Peter's for a few seconds, and when he looked back up Peter was asleep. He knew he was going to fall asleep again soon, surprised that he had been awake and talking for that long. The last time Peter got out of surgery, he had been floating in and out of consensus for two days after, barely saying anything anytime he was awake.
Tony knew this was the perfect time to call Stephen. He was always full of nerves before calling the man, afraid that this was going to be the one time he said no and Tony would have to care for Peter himself. Not that it would be the end of the world, Tony was used to taking care of himself when injured and he had Bruce and Helen if anything went awry. But he still liked having the man there, more for the company than anything at this point.
His thumb floated over Stephen's contact, debating if he should actually bother the man. He stuck his phone in his pocket before he thought better of himself, pacing the room as he thought about if that was the right call.
"Boss, incoming call from Doctor Strange," FRIDAY's words came from the ceiling, "would you like me to patch him through?"
"Yeah, go ahead, Fri," he replied, pulling out his phone from his pocket. Pressing a button on his phone, he answered with, "What's up, Doc?"
"Hello, Tony. I saw on the news that Peter got injured, is he okay?" There was genuine concern in his voice, but Tony could tell that he was trying to cover it up. "Do you want me to come over to help take care of him?"
"Yeah, he's okay. He had a decently deep gash that went from his shoulder to his hip, and he was in surgery for about two hours. He woke up for a bit and was kind of talking to me, but he's asleep again now," Tony explained rubbing his face as he remembered the sight of Peter laying on the floor, the forgotten puddle of blood still on his bedroom floor. He shook the thought out of his mind, not willing to have a panic attack on the phone with Stephen. "If you'd like to then you're more than welcome, but I won't make you."
Tony desperately hoped that Stephen would want to. It's been a while since he's seen the man, between Stark Industries meetings, battles, training, and interdimensional crises, they haven't had time.
"I don't see any reason why not, Wong can watch over the Sanctum for a few days. After all, it's been a while since I've seen either of you and I think a movie marathon is in order," Stephen said casually. He was glad that Tony wasn't able to see him, as he was pacing across the old, wooden floors of his bedroom with a bright grin at the thought.
There was a time when Stephen would have scowled at the thought of a movie marathon with anyone, let alone Tony Stark and his pseudo-son. Now it was one of his favorite things in the world. He had grown so much closer to them, usually coming over at least once a week for dinner and a movie when time allowed. With Peter living at the tower full time now, it was much easier to pick a random night for dinner.
"It most definitely is. Movie marathon and all of the shitty take out you can imagine," Tony was grinning, and Stephen could practically hear it through the phone. "When do you think you'll be over?"
Stephen shook his head but said nothing about the food. "I should be over in an hour or two. I need to get a bag together and let Wong know I'll be out for a few days."
"That sounds good to me, just let me know before you magic your way over here and I'll let you know where we are."
"Gateway Tony, it's called a gateway," Stephen sighed, smiling slightly. "I'll see you in a few hours. Goodbye, Tony."
"Bye, magic man, see you later."
Tony plopped himself back down in the chair next to Peter's bed, grinning from ear to ear as he thought about the movie marathon that was going to take place over the next weekend. Of course, they would let Peter pick the movies, but there was a strong chance that it was going to be Star Wars.
Before he got too lost in his thoughts, both thinking about Stephen and the weekend to come, FRIDAY spoke again. "As glad as I am that Doctor Strange is coming over, Boss, you still need to inform Peter's school that he won't be coming for the next few days."
"Shit, you're right. Will you go ahead and call Principal Morticia and patch it through on my phone?"
"Already on it, sir," FRIDAY was one step ahead of the game as always. Tony walked out of the room, making sure not to disturb Peter as he talked. He glanced one last time at him before closing the door fully, glad to see that most of the color had returned to his face at this point.