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Peter Parker patrolled as spiderman every night and things rarely went wrong.
He had only dealt with small fries since he put the vulture and his crew behind bars. After that whole ordeal, Tony Stark had been checking in on Peter at least once a week (if not way more). They often called or texted and even sometimes Mr. Stark would take him out to dinner on days he wasn’t busy being a billionaire or Iron Man.
Overall being Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman was a breeze. His super healing made taking punches light work and his spidey sense alerted him to any real danger.
But maybe he had gotten a little too comfortable relying on said abilities.
It was a slow crime night and Peter spent most of his patrol chit chatting with his suit AI, Karen.
“Do you think MJ knows I’m spider man?” Peter asked as he laid on the roof of a slightly run down building. “Shes always looking at me like she can see under my skin”
“Maybe you are overthinking it” Karen replied and before Peter could rebuttal the AI spoke again. “There seems to be a man in distresses on a roof a few blocks away”
“On the way,” Peter quickly jumped up from where he was sitting as Karen showed him directions to the location.
Spiderman was there in a few swings. He landed gracefully at the top of a tall building 20 odd feet from a middle aged man standing at the ledge.
Aw jeez I'm not qualified for this.
Peter thought as he quickly worked out a plan to talk the man down.
“Listen sir, I know life may seem bleak sometimes but just step away from the ledge and we can talk this out!” Peter had his hands out in front of him in a soothing gesture as he slowly approached the guy.
The man was facing away from Peter with his feet planted firm at the edge of the roof. He seemed to be holding his abdomen.
Peter's spidey senses were tingling dully but he brushed it off as warning him that the man was about to jump.
“Sir, can you hear me? I promise that whatever you are going through is not worth ending your life over”
Peter was close enough now that he could probably just web the guy and pull him away from the ledge but he didn’t want to risk hurting him so he planned on getting a little closer to grab the man instead.
“You have so much to live for”
The man turned slightly to meet Spiderman's gaze and Peter breathed a sigh of relief thinking he was getting through to him.
“I might not know you but I know you don’t deserve to die, no one does” As Peter finished he placed a hand on the back of the man's shoulder. Right when his hand made contact, his spidey senses went crazy. He even briefly heard Karen say something although he was too focused on the pain that rushed from his abdomen.
At first Peter didn’t know what had happened until his eyes trailed down to the man's hands which were holding a gun. Peter had been shot before, when he was stopping a robbery, but the bullet only grazed his arm. This was different.
He was so shocked that he didn’t move away and was completely defenseless when he was pushed off the building. As he fell he could make out Karen's worried voice but he was too delirious to understand what she was saying.
Peter hit the ground hard and his world went black.
…
He didn’t know how long he was out but when he woke up pain shot through his entire body like he was a metal fork in a microwave.
Peter gasped and coughed, filling his mask with blood. He was laying in a filthy alley and the man who had shot and pushed him was nowhere to be seen.
“Shit Shit Shit…” Peter whimpered as he squeezed his eyes closed. Karen must have been speaking for a while now because he only caught the later half of her sentence.
“.....like me to do?” The AI’s voice made Peter's ears ring and his vision swarm.
“What did you say Karen…?” Peter ground out his words trying, and failing, not to cry as he clenched his knuckles.
“I said that you have multiple broken bones in your legs, a concussion, and a fractured hip and ribs. The bullet missed your vital organs but you are suffering from major internal bleeding and need medical assistance immediately. What would you like me to do?”
Peter cursed again, his voice weak. “I-I don't know…I just want…” Tony's face flashed in Peter's mind. That's right, Mr. Stark would know what to do he aways does.
“Call dad! I want my dad” Peter managed to choke out, too delirious from pain to be embarrassed that he just admitted he saw Tony as his father figure.
The AI only took half a second to process the request before she replied. “Calling Tony Stark.”
…
Tony had had a long fucking day.
These days were the days Tony hated the most. The days were he spent all morning and afternoon in back to back mind numbing meetings. It felt like the worst form of torture.
However, if he had to pick between doing boring meetings for the rest of his life or Peter getting hurt even once, he would happily go to every meeting in the world.
But it wasn’t up to him.
It was nearly midnight. Tony didn’t exactly have the best sleep schedule so he was tinkering in his lab when his phone began to ring.
The caller ID read ‘Underoos’ and the photo was one Tony had taken of Peter when he had fallen asleep on the Avengers Compound couch during one of the weekend nights he stayed over.
Tony smiled slightly before he realized how late it was. This could be nothing good.
He answered instantly, dropping everything. “Kid?”
The other end of the line was silent aside from muffled sobs. Tony felt a wave of fear crash down on him and for a split second he couldn’t breath before he snapped into action.
“F.R.I.D.A.Y. pull up my kids location” he said trying to keep his voice calm. The AI replied in affirmative and began tracking Spiderman's suit. That's when Peter finally spoke.
“Mr. Stark?” Peter's voice was hoarse and dry and Tony felt his heart in his throat.
“Ya Kid I’m right here what happened?”
Tony could hear Peter swallow thickly before replying. “I…got shot and fell off a building” Tony’s heart nearly shattered as he heard the pain in the kids voice. His kid's voice. His responsibility.
“Don’t worry, F.R.I is pulling up your location now and I’ll be there before you know it. Everything will be fine.” Tony didn’t know if he was talking to Peter or himself.
He didn’t have time to dwell on it though because as soon as he finished speaking, F.R.I.D.A.Y. finally located Peter.
Stark suited up quicker than he ever had and was flying in seconds in his Ironman suit to Peter's location. Tony had moved the call to his suit instead of his phone so he could still talk to Peter as he flew.
“Talk to me kid, how bad are your injuries?” As he was speaking Karen sent over Peter's body scans to F.R.I.D.A.Y. and Tony’s AI projected it into his helmet.
“Jesus fuck…” Tony could barely look at the report without feeling lightheaded. Not because he hadn’t seen worse, he had, but because he hadn’t seen worse for Peter. Peter wasn’t supposed to get hurt. Not his Peter.
“I’m ok sir…I heal faster than most people because of my powers so I-I should be just fine in a while” Peter's voice was weak and Tony could tell he was falling asleep, likely from losing too much blood.
“I know I know you’ll be just fine, but you have to stay awake for me, kid, you have too” Tony's eyes felt wet but it must have been sweat from the stress. He wasn’t crying, that wouldn’t make sense.
“Dad…” Peter mumbled softly and Tony knew he wasn’t talking to him, he couldn’t be, but his heart felt so full it might just burst.
“I’m almost there” He said trying to push down the weight he felt in his chest
Tony touched down in the alleyway mere seconds later and his helmet slid up to reveal his face.
“Kid? Fuck, Kid, are you awake?” Tony bent down to Peter's side.
Peter was laying in a pile of his own blood, both hands pressed over his abdomen where the bullet wound laid. Tony cursed again and Peter's eyes slid open from under his spiderman mask.
“Dad?” Peter's voice was muffled and weak but Tony caught the word. His mouth went dry and he again pushed down his complicated feelings.
The kid is delirious and doesn’t actually see you as his father, get a hold of yourself Tony.
Tony chided himself in his mind. As he pulled out a small triangle shaped object and attached the object to Peter's chest. This was his nano suit which he had brought in preparation of Peter not being able to move.
“Hey kid, I’m going to have the nano suit assembled around you and then have it autopilot back to the Avenger Compound medical wing, that way your wounds don’t worsen with me carrying you through the air” Tony’s voice was wavering slightly as he spoke.
He would never admit to it, but he had constant nightmares about Peter getting hurt so he had prepared this plan (among many others) that he had hoped he would never use.
“That's smart…” Peter mumbled weakly in response and Tony managed a choked up laugh. Of course this nerd was still conscious enough to praise his ideas.
Now that he explained what was happening, Tony tapped the triangle on Peter's chest and watched as a nano ironman suit formed around Peter's frail form.
Stark then had the nano suit follow beside him as they flew. The suit tactfully held Peter horizontally as if he was on a stretcher in the sky while they made their way to Avenger Compound.
Once they arrived, Tony all but broke down the doors to get to the medical wing. The nano suit only retracted when Peter was laying on a bed.
Tony had never seen Peter look so weak and…young. He knew the kid was, well, a kid, but it sunk in more when he was wounded.
Dr. Cho was already assessing Peter's injuries and saying something to Tony but Tony was too out of it to comprehend what she said. Hours passed as Dr. Cho painstakingly treated Peter's wounds. The bullet seemed to be the worst of it since Peter's body had already begun healing around the bullet and with where he was shot, it was dangerous to make mistakes.
Tony was there the whole time by Peter's side, holding his limp hand. Tony’s throat was dry and his hands felt overly clammy as he rubbed Peter's bloody knuckles.
When Dr. Cho finished, it took another two hours for Peter to wake up. Tony held his breath as he watched Peter wince at the bright light of the room. Instantly Tony told F.R.I.D.A.Y. to dim the lights.
“Hey Pete, how are you feeling?” Tony tried to make his voice sound calm but his nervousness seeped through the facade.
Peter groaned softly. “Like I’ve been hit by a train…” he replied with a small smile.
Tony couldn’t help but smile back before clearing his throat. “I already sent people out to search for the man who shot you. With baby monitoring protocol I rewatched the whole thing while you were sleeping and…” Tony swallowed while he ran a hand through his hair. “I got a good image of his face so don’t worry about us finding the fucker who did this to you”
Peter's heart clenched a little at the thought of Tony having to watch him be shot though the cameras in his suit. “Thanks Mr. Stark” he managed after a moment of silence.
“No problem kid…It’s my job to protect you and I…well frankly I’m doing a pretty shity job” Tony’s voice was serious but Peter laughed lightly. The sound loosened a knot in Tony’s chest.
“You’ve been doing the best job…you saved me Dad” The word slipped from Peter's lips before he could stop it. His cheeks reddened a little. “Sorry, is it weird for me to call you that?...I can stop”
Tony was shaking his head before Peter even finished talking. When he realized what he was doing he stopped to cough and cross his arms. “It’s…It’s fine…you can call me…um…that” He shifted his weight from foot to foot awkwardly,
earning another giggle from Peter. Maybe being a mess wasn’t so bad if it made the kid–his kid–happy. “Stop laughing, you’re gonna bust a stitch open” Tony said as sternly as he could but despite his words he rubbed Peter's shoulder gently.
Peter nodded softly “Ok Dad”