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Tony turned away for a few minutes. Just a few. He spent that time blasting and mowing down aliens, since his survey had revealed everyone to be doing just fine.
The next thing he knows is that Peter is screaming, and he punches an alien out of the way so he can whip his head around towards the sound.
Peter’s on the ground and not moving and Tony rockets over to the fallen boy in the next moment, clearing a circle around them. The boy’s lying on his back, and a proper look shows Tony the blood slowly seeping through the red of Spiderman’s costume around his stomach. He scrambles to put his fingers to the boy’s neck and is infinitely relieved when his sensors respond with a weak but there pulse.
”I’ve got a pulse.” Tony mutters to himself, trying to solidify it as truth even as something that tastes like fear painfully wraps tight around his chest. He shakes it off and growls for someone to get the fuck over to his location and back them up into his comm while he gets ready to bring Peter back to the tower for treatment.
“Kid. Hey. You still awake?” Tony murmurs, kicking a nearby alien getting a little too close as he crouches next to Peter. The Hulk roars nearby and is over too, swiping a whole alien soldier squad out of the way. “Hey! Big guy! Cover me, will ya! I gotta get the kid to safety!”
Hulk looks at him for a moment and grunts something in response, so Tony takes it as agreement before carefully lifting Peter. He freezes when the boy whines something in protest, watching Hulk barge into the nearest aliens and waiting for the kid to settle.
Finally Peter goes still, head lolling towards Tony as he shifts the kid so he has a good grip on him, before shooting off into the sky. The boy jerks at the sudden movement, and Tony grits out some reassurances in hopes that Peter will remember where he is.
“Mr. Stark…?” Peter slurs, before flinching and resting his hand cautiously on his stomach, where the blood was seeping through. “Ow! What-“
“You went down on the field, we’re heading back to get you treated. Did you get hit in the head?” Tony assesses quickly; only one actively bleeding wound as far as he could see.
“I- I think something whacked me…” Peter drifts off, limp in Tony’s arms just as they reach the tower.
Tony zooms through the hallways to the medbay, JARVIS greeting him with a report that medical was already set up for Peter’s arrival.
“We’re gonna get you fixed up, good as new.” Tony grunts, and Peter laughs something delirious. “Hey now, no going loopy on me.”
“I’ll try my best, Mr. Stark.” Peter mutters, head turning so it was leaning against the warm iron of Tony’s suit.
“Good.” Tony doesn’t say anything more than that as they burst into medbay, and medical staff swarm them, fussing all the way as they direct Tony to put down Peter on the nearby operating table.
Tony steps back a bit once Peter’s injuries are determined to be non life-threatening with his accelerated healing, and Peter even regains enough thought to tell him to get back to the fight. Tony grumbles a little about that, but finally rushes off with a warning to not die while he’s gone, Peter already half-asleep by then.
By the time he gets back, all Tony does is mop up the last dregs of the alien invasion, most of it having already been wiped out.
“Metal man.” Tony snaps to attention when Hulk calls to him. “Where is. Spider?”
“Oh? He’s doing just fine, Greenie, just resting up. Thanks for the support earlier, by the way.” Tony gestures dismissively, and Hulk nods before seemingly losing interest in the conversation. Tony waits for Bruce to return, and then grabs the now tired man to gun it back to the tower before the press finally deem it safe enough to descend.
Tony drops off Bruce in his guest room before finally stepping out of his suit, running a hand through messy hair as he wanders back to medbay to check on Peter.
He finds the boy fast asleep, vitals at a constant and healthy rate; apparently a rib had broken under the impact of an alien’s attack and punctured skin but miraculously didn’t hit anything else on the way down. They had nudged the rib back in place and administered some painkillers before letting Peter sleep the damage off.
Tony slumps into the chair next to Peter’s bed, leaning back and exhaling. He had been so panicked for a moment back then, but thankfully nothing too severe had happened. It still itched that Peter had gotten hurt in the first place though.
If I take the suit away he’s going to roll out into the streets in a face mask and a hoodie, Tony thinks wryly. Least like this I can ensure some sort of protection. Maybe make a new suit.
Tony lets his eyes shut to Peter’s soft and rhythmic breathing, slowly drifting off to a dreamless sleep.