I Don't Have to Leave?

“Dude, I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think,” Ned tried to reassure him but Peter shook his head hard.

“You weren’t there, Ned. He was looking at me like he didn’t even know me and I—god I fucked up so badly but at the same time I’m mad at him like is he—he took Spider-Man away from me, Ned. Queens needs Spider-Man.” Peter buried his head in his hands as he sat on the bottom bunk of Ned’s bed.

Ned placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You have to talk things through with Tony, man. I don’t like seeing you upset like this.”

Peter let out a shudder and he flushed red in embarrassment as his tears filled with eyes. What had he done? “I’ve ruined everything. But I—I don’t want to sacrifice being Spider-Man, not even for a month. I had long enough off when the accident happened, I can’t keep doing this. Did you know the crime rate in Queens has soared since I stopped going out every day?”

Ned shook his head. “Dude, you gotta be easier on yourself. This isn’t your responsibility. This isn’t your job, you’re not on a contract. You can have some time off.”

“I’ve had time off, Ned. And I was finally back out doing what I love and he took it away again!” Peter moaned. “I don’t know what to do.”

Ned didn’t have a chance to say anything or offer his opinion because his phone rang loud. He looked at the screen before snapping his head back up to Peter.

“It’s Tony Stark.” Ned said, his hand shaking slightly as he held the phone. “Tony Stark is calling me right now.” He looked at Peter desperately. “What do I do? Do I answer it? Do I ignore it?”

“Nobody ignores Tony Stark, Ned. Just pick it up.”

“M-Mr Stark?” Ned picked up the phone.

“Ned, hey. Have you seen Peter? He—he left the tower earlier and he didn’t tell anyone where he was going and we’re a little worried. Have you seen him? Has he talked to you at all?”

Peter could hear Tony’s voice on the end of the phone, panicked and worried, and he immediately felt guilty for leaving. He was so conflicted. Ned looked to him to give him and answer and Peter shook his head hard.

“N-No, Sir. I’m sorry, Peter hasn’t—he hasn’t texted or called me or anything.” Ned spoke and Peter cringed at how bad of a liar he was. He really needed to work on that.

“Okay, thanks Ned. If—can you do me a favour? If he does get in touch can you tell him to come home? Tell him—tell him I’m worried about him.”

Well hell, if that didn’t make Peter feel even worse about what he’d done. He thought Tony didn’t care about him and here he was on the phone with his best friend saying that he was worried about him. If he didn’t care, why would he even bother?”

“I will, Sir.” Ned hung up and immediately flopped down on his bed next to Peter. “Oh my god, I just lied to Tony Stark. You think he knew?”

“Probably.”

Ned cursed.

“I think I should go back.” Peter said, standing up hesitantly.

“What’re you going to say to him?”

“I don’t know. I want to yell at him but I also want to hug him and tell him I’m sorry. It’s really weird.” Peter tried and failed to explain how he was feeling.

“Alright. Well I hope you figure things out.” Ned stood up when Peter slid the bedroom window up. He climbed out onto the fire escape and pulled his old mask back on.

To say Tony was freaking out was the understatement of the century.

He had no way to track Peter. His Spider-Man suit was cut in two, so he wasn’t in that. He’d left his phone in his backpack that was now in his room, and Tony hadn’t finished the watch with a tracker implanted in it that he was planning to give him soon. There was no security footage of anyone looking like Peter. It was dead end after dead end.

And this was all Tony’s fault. If he hadn’t been so goddamn stupid and if he’d have just stayed with the kid like he wanted to, nothing like this would have happened. There would have been no misunderstanding, Peter would’ve known that Tony cares about him, and he wouldn’t have run away. The kid wasn’t at Ned’s house, he wasn’t at MJ’s house, there was literally nobody else that he could’ve gone to for help. Or at least nobody that Tony knew of. How far could he have gotten? Could he have taken a train? Did he have any money? Was he hungry? Had he eaten before he’d left at least?

Tony’s breathing started to get faster and faster, his heart stuttering as he thought of all the things that Peter could have done, all the things that could’ve happened to him.

Boss, you appear to be in severe emotional distress, would you like me to get someone for you?

FRIDAY spoke and he couldn’t breathe to the point that he couldn’t even nod or shake his head to give her an answer. He didn’t know what his answer would be even if he could.

Did he want someone? Did he really want one of his teammates to see him like this? Would the embarrassment, the shame be too much?

He didn’t have to decide because then Peter came stumbling down the hallway into the living area. Tony’s head shot up at the sound and he whipped around to see Peter. He searched him up and down with his eyes, seeing no visible injuries.

He was fine.

He was fine.

There was nothing wrong with the damn kid. He’d just chosen to give Tony a freaking heart attack by disappearing for a few hours and not telling anyone where he’d gone.

Breathe, Tony, breathe.

Suddenly Tony’s worry melted away and it was replaced with frustration and anger.

“Where the hell have you been?” Tony asked with a shaky voice, standing up from the sofa.

“I—I just—”

“Because I thought, like everyone else in this goddamn Tower, that you were in your room. And then you weren’t. You were gone. And you didn’t tell anyone where you were going or why you were going. You just left. You left and you’re still recovering from your injuries and you just—you just—you didn’t even take your phone with you, I—I’ve rung everyone, I even called Ned to see if he’d heard from you. I can’t believe you’d be so reckless.” Tony started ranting about how worried he was. “I’ve been worried sick, I—I was about to call the goddamn cops, Peter, I—”

“Oh you were worried, were you? That’s a first, isn’t it?” Peter spat out and Tony was shocked into silence. “I figured you didn’t give a shit anymore since you haven’t even bothered to come and see me in the Med-Bay for the last two days. You were worried sick, were you? Really? Forgive me if I find that hard to believe!”

Peter had never yelled at Tony like that before. Hell, Peter had never yelled at anyone like that before. The audacity of this bitch. Tony took a deep breath and lowered his voice again.

“Your ban from patrolling has now been extended to six weeks. And when I make you a new suit, there’s gonna be some more rules to make sure that you stay safe. Because I can’t handle this, Peter. If I’m gonna take care of you—”

“But why? I did this for a whole year before you met me! Who took care of me then? Me! I did!” Peter yelled and Tony grew frustrated.

“But you’re my kid! You’re my kid, Peter! I have to protect you!”

Peter rolled his eyes. “Yeah I know, you keep saying it all the time! ‘You’re my kid, you’re my kid, you’re my kid.’ I get it, okay?!”

“I know I say it all the time and it might not mean anything to you but it means something to me!” Tony shouted and Peter fell silent. “I never thought I would ever have kids! But I have you! I have you and you’re my kid and so help me god I am gonna do everything in my power to help you and to keep you safe because you’re my kid!”

“But you’re not my Dad! So stop acting like you are!”

Tony’s breath stuttered and he visibly stumbled back as though he’d been shot. The look on his face must have said everything to Peter because he seemed to be surprised that he’d even said it.

Peter didn’t say another word. He was too nervous and shocked to know what to say.

“Get out,” Tony breathed, his chest heaving up and down. “Leave me.” He needed Peter to just go and chill for a while in his room, he couldn’t focus on him for a second. He had to try and process what the hell had just happened.

Peter immediately turned and ran, the slam of his bedroom door echoing loudly in the silence. His heart was racing, and Peter didn’t know what to do. How could he have said that to Tony? The one person that had been there for him through absolutely everything. He’d been the only one to step forward and to take him in when May died. He was the one that came to Peter in the first place and gave him a suit so that he’d be safer. He was the one that comforted Peter every time he’d had a nightmare, without question. And he hadn’t resented Peter for any of it. And then Peter had just yelled at him like that and said the worst possible thing. He saw the look on Tony’s face when he said those words. He knew how much they’d hurt him.

Peter began to panic. If Tony hadn’t wanted him out before, he sure as hell did now. Peter’s breathing started to stutter. He felt so claustrophobic, even in his huge room. He made another split decision and pulled the suit back on, slipping out again.

Tony had been through a lot in his life. From a resentful and abusive father to alcoholism and drugs to his parents dying to being the CEO of a fortune 500 company by the time he was 21 to his surrogate father betraying him to his team betraying him and nearly dying at the hands of the man he considered one of his closest friends. But the feeling he had after Peter had said those words was nothing like he’d ever experienced before. He placed a shaking hand onto the edge of the kitchen island to steady himself, his legs feeling a little wobbly. He wasn’t sure they could hold his weight at the moment. He felt like someone had ripped the heart out of his chest.

FRIDAY said something again but he couldn’t focus on it enough to understand what she’d said. But then the elevator doors were opening and Nat and Steve stepped out.

“Tony! Are you alright?” Steve rushed forward and grabbed Tony by his arm, steadying him. Tony’s free shaking hand grasped onto Steve’s bicep hard. “What happened? Did you find Peter?”

Tony tried to speak but he still couldn’t and he grew frustrated with himself. “F-F-FRI,” he managed to get out the single syllable and he heard his AI explain what had happened. When she got to the end, Tony felt his legs buckle underneath him and Steve took his weight, helping him to the sofa.

“Shit,” Nat mumbled. “This is—this is bad. I’m gonna call Pepper and Rhodey, they need to come back for this.”

Steve nodded. “Okay. You do that, I’ll try and calm him down.”

For the next twenty minutes, Steve tried to get Tony’s breathing back to normal, bringing him water. Once it was back to a reasonable pace, Tony burst into tears. Steve was startled a little, having never dealt with this side of Tony before. The man collapsed onto him and Steve placed what he hoped was a comforting hand on his back.

Nat came back a short while later. “Rhodey’s setting off from DC now, he should be here within the hour. Pepper said she’ll finish the meeting she’s in and then cancel the rest of her trip in Chicago. She’ll be here at some point tonight.”

Steve nodded. “Okay, great. Maybe they’ll be able to… deal with this a little better than us.”

“I’ll go and talk to Peter and see if he’s okay. I bet he’s tearing himself up.” Nat suggested and Steve agreed. She walked down the hallway and knocked on Peter’s door quickly before pushing it open and walking in.

And of course, Peter wasn’t there.

Peter was swinging a little closer to home. He hadn’t ventured out into Queens just yet. He was hanging around Manhattan still, wondering how long he should stay out and what he should say to Tony when he got back.

He hung around for a little when his hearing picked up the sounds of someone in distress a few blocks away. Peter sighed, shaking the thoughts out of his head. Focus. People were in trouble. People needed help. They needed Spider-Man.

It was only a few swings away, and Peter landed at the end of the alley in his signature pose. The girl being robbed must have been in her early twenties. Her hair had been ragged down out of her ponytail and she had her hands wrapped around the handles of her bag. Any normal person would’ve given up the bag by now, but she hadn’t. There must be something valuable to her in it. The two men that were attacking her were at least a foot taller than her. They both wore ski masks so they couldn’t be recognised by CCTV and they had gloves on. Apparently they weren’t quite amateurs this wasn’t just a one time thing. The taller of the two men had a gun and Peter automatically slung a web, nabbing the gun from his grasp and flinging it back to him, catching it in his hand.

“Hey, guys. Got a little bored and thought you’d attack a women for no reason? I think you need new hobbies. Have you ever tried yoga? I haven’t but I heard it works wonders.”

Their gaze immediately snapped to Peter, who started to saunter down the alley as though he owned it, putting on Spider-Man’s slightly cocky persona.

“And who the hell are you?” The smaller man asked.

“Aw guys, you never heard of me? I suppose my usually neck of the woods is Queens so I shouldn’t just automatically assume, you know? But I’d hoped you recognised me at least. I’m Spider-Man.”

The tall one looked him up and down and shook his head. “Nah, you don’t look like that Spider-Man guy. You’re wearing a tracksuit.” The other snorted and they both began to laugh.

“Y-Yeah, well. My other suit’s in the wash at the minute.” Peter was just trying to distract them from the girl long enough so that she could grab her bag properly and maybe get out.

He kept on walking down the alley.

“Get out of here, Spider-Man. This doesn’t concern you.” They both turned back to the girl and Peter jumped into action, shooting off webs with both his hands to latch onto the faces. He pulled hard and the men stumbled forward face first.

The girl scrambled to the floor and gathered her belongings whilst the men were distracted. She bolted down the alley, nodding at him in thanks as she passed him. He nodded back and kept an eye on her, making sure that she got to the end of the alley.

She did, but Peter had taken his eyes off the two guys.

They both had knives. How convenient was that?

They’d both managed to cut through Peter’s webbing and were steadying themselves again, ready to fight. Peter gathered himself together, preparing for the worst. He checked the gun and rolled his eyes when he found it was empty. They were never going to shoot the girl, they didn’t have any goddamn bullets.

He was going to get hurt, he knew that. Tony had taught him to expect to be hurt in a knife fight. He just had to try and avoid getting slashed in all the places that could kill him. You know, like his carotid. That would be rather unfortunate.

Peter ducked and dodged and threw punches, landing each one and grinning in satisfaction when the guys groaned in pain. He shot webs and kicked off the sides of the alley, he threw one guy over his shoulders onto his back. He turned to web his hands to the floor so that he couldn’t move and couldn’t hurt anyone with the knife in his hand. That meant he turned his back to the other one.

He felt the painfully long slash of the knife down his back. It curved at the end so that it reached around his side and the guy removed the knife to then plunge it into the back of his thigh.

Peter let out a cry in pain, dropping to one knee. The hoodie soaked with blood immediately and all Peter could think about was how stupid he’d been to turn his back on an armed enemy. He’d been even more stupid to come out in the first place in a suit that wasn’t even a suit. It was fleece-lined cotton. Fleece-lined cotton that was being soaked with his blood at the moment.

Peter reached around and shot webs at the second guy, pinning him to the wall behind him. He webbed his mouth shut for good measure.

Now the real issue was what the hell was he going to do. This suit didn’t have an AI, it didn’t have Karen, it didn’t send an emergency signal to Mr Stark when he was hurt. He couldn’t call anyone.

His only saving grace was that he was in Manhattan, and not in Queens. Peter was pretty sure if he had to drag himself back to the tower from Queens, he’d die before he got there.

It took him around half an hour, which he was pretty impressed about to be completely fair. He was bleeding a lot, leaving a trail behind him, and he still managed to get to the tower foyer. Granted, he scared the living shit out of everyone in the foyer when he stumbled in covered in blood.

The last thing he remembered before he blacked out was somebody running towards him with a stretcher.

Boss, Peter has returned to the Tower. He is in the Med-Bay.

FRIDAY’s complete nonchalantness startled Tony back into a panic.

“What?! When did he leave to being with? Why is he in the Med-Bay? Why is he hurt?!” Tony was practically screaming at this point and Nat placed her hand on his shoulder.

“Tony, calm down. Peter wasn’t in his room earlier. I’ve been trying to find him before I told you about it, I didn’t want you to be even more upset than you already are.” She hurriedly tried to explain what had happened and Tony pushed past her to get to the elevator.

“I left him in the Med-Bay once, I’m not doing it again. I’m not making that same mistake. He’s my kid.” Tony let out a shaky breath. “Whether he wants to be or not, he’s my kid, and I care about him more than anyone else. I’m not making the same mistake twice, Romanoff.”

Nat sent him a small smile and a nod. “Then get down there. Keep us updated.”

“Helen!” Tony ran down the main hallway of the Med-Bay. “Helen!”

Dr Cho emerged through one of the doors. She let out a breath in relief.

“Tony, thank god you’re here.”

“Is he okay? What happened?”

Helen look at him with worry in her eyes. “He’s not in a good place, Tony. They found him on the floor in the foyer covered in his own blood. He was in his old Spider-Man suit.”

That was like another punch to Tony’s gut. He didn’t have time to process it properly because Helen was still talking about his injuries.

“He was slashed across his back and side with a knife and it went pretty deep, it’s gonna take a hell of a lot of healing. I—if he didn’t have his powers he’d be dead. There’s no question about it. He has a deep puncture wound to the back of his right thigh. It’s less severe as the slash, but it’s still worrying. The knife could have been dirty. He could develop an infection. There are a lot of things up in the air right now. He lost a lot of blood, Tony.”

All Tony caught from that was that Peter could die. Peter was dying. He’d lost so much blood that he was literally fighting for his life.

“Oh my god,” Tony mumbled, stumbling sideways into one of the chairs in the hallway.

“I’ll keep you updated, Tony, but I have to get back in there. I’m his best shot.” Tony nodded and Helen left without another word.

He’d gone out in his stupid old Spider-Suit. He’d gone out in that because Tony had refused to make another one, he’d told him he couldn’t be Spider-Man, and Peter had taken it into his own hands. It was Tony’s fault. It was Tony’s fault that he snuck out instead of talking with him, it was Tony’s fault that Peter got hurt, it was Tony’s fault that Peter was dying on the table in the operating room.

Everything was Tony’s fault.

He felt his chest getting tighter and tighter and he grabbed at his shirt, stretching it so that the neck couldn’t go back to normal. He jumped three feet in the air when someone put their hand on his shoulder.

Rhodey.

“Hey, Tones. How’s it going?” He said softly and Tony knew someone had updated him on what was happening.

Tears immediately filled his eyes at seeing his best friend and Rhodey wrapped his arms around him tight.

“He’s gonna be okay, Tony.” Rhodey kept repeating the same thing over and over again, mumbling it quietly in an attempt to comfort Tony.

“But what if he isn’t?”

“He’s a tough kid. He’s unlike any kid I’ve ever known. If there’s anyone that can survive this, it’s him.” Tony didn’t know if Rhodey was trying to convince him or himself. It didn’t really work, but Tony appreciated the effort.

“I thought you were in DC.”

“Nat called. Said you needed me. I ditched everything and took the jet back. I know Pepper’s in Chicago so I was the closest.”

Tony let in a shaky breath. “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem, Tony. I care about the kid, too.”

A few hours later, Peter was done with surgery and moved to his own room. Helen came out to report that he wasn’t yet out of the woods, and that the healing process would be vital over the next few hours. If he didn’t show a marked improvement, they’d have to think of something more drastic.

Rhodey stayed with Tony for a little while, watching as Tony grabbed a hold of Peter’s hand and wouldn’t let it go for even a second. Tony sniffed as he ran his hand through Peter’s hair and mumbled to him under his breath.

Once his legs had gone numb, Rhodey stood up and placed his hands on Tony’s shoulders. He kissed the side of his head.

“I’ll come back a little later, okay? I’m gonna go get some sleep. Tell FRIDAY to get me if you need anything, Tones.”

“T-Thanks, Rhodey.”

Tony sat on the chair hunched over, his elbows resting on his knees and his hands encasing one of Peter’s.

“You gotta stop doing this to me, Pete. You know I have a heart condition, buddy.” He chuckled to himself and shook his head. “Seriously, though. You have to chill, I—my heart literally can’t take it anymore. I bet my cardiogram is worse than Happy’s right now. I can’t keep worrying about you like this. I mean I’m gonna worry about you for the rest of my life, that’s normal, that’s what a parent does but I—” Tony caught himself when he realised what he’d said.

Parent. He was a parent.

He was a parent. He wasn’t just Peter’s guardian, he was a goddamn parent. He loved the kid like he loved nobody else on the planet.

“Because t-that’s what a parent does, Pete. But you—you gotta meet me half way here, you gotta try, too.” Tony’s eyes flooded with tears again. “You gotta have some sort of self-preservation, bud. We can’t keep going on like this, I’m not gonna last much longer.” Tony’s voice was thick with emotion and his words caught in his throat. “I know I’ve been a complete jerk the past few days and it’s not all your fault. I—I was mad, and I couldn’t cope with the idea of you getting hurt because of me and it led to you getting hurt even more and it was all my fault.”

He shifted his chair as close as he could to the bed and readjusted himself again. “I’m sorry that I ever, ever made you feel like you weren’t loved, that you weren’t wanted. Pete, I can’t think of a single thing that could happen that would make me not want you. Seriously, I—even when I’m mad at you, even when you’re mad at me, I’m always going to want you, kiddo. Because—because you’re my son, you get that? You’re my kid. And I know I call you my kid all the time and apparently that annoys you so I’ll work on that, but you’re my son, kiddo. And I love you so much. And you probably can’t hear me right now, so I’ll have to repeat it all when you wake up, but I will. Because it’s something you need to hear and you need to know.” Tony pressed a kiss to Peter’s hand. “But to do that I need you to wake up for me, bud. I need you to wake up. I need you to get your super healing Spidey powers to work, kiddo, cause I can’t live without you.”

He stayed like that for the next few hours, hoping and praying that Peter was going to be okay. He wasn’t a religious man, not by any extent of the imagination, but he was praying to every God he could think of, even Loki.

There was a twitch of the hand that Tony was holding, and he thought he’d imagined it for a solid thirty seconds until it happened again.

“Pete? Peter, buddy, are you waking up?”

He saw Peter’s eyes flutter a little and then the kid let out a groan.

Tony was so happy he thought he was going to cry. He probably was. His face stretched into a watery smile and his hand found Peter’s hair again, running his hand through the curls.

“Hey, baby,” he surprised himself with the nickname he’d chosen for Peter, but didn’t let it bother him. “How’re you feeling?”

“Like I got stabbed real bad.” Peter’s voice was hoarse and Tony let out a huff of laughter.

“That’s cause you were, buddy.”

Immediately, tears began to fill Peter’s eyes and started to cry. Tony brushed the tears away with his thumb, his brows knitting together.

“What’s up, kiddo? Are you in pain? I can see if I can get you some more pain killers if you want—”

“I’m so sorry,” Peter cried, clutching Tony’s hand harder. “I’m so sorry, Mr Stark, about what I said, I—I’m so sorry. I can’t b-believe I said that and I—if I didn’t think you w-wanted me before that then a-after I can’t—I can’t—I didn’t mean any of it, I promise. I promise.”

Tony shook his head, tears finally spilling down his own cheeks. “Kiddo, don’t worry about it. I forgave you like thirty seconds after you said it. I—if anything, I’m the one that should be apologising, Underoos. I’m the one that didn’t come to see you in the Med-Bay when you were hurt, I’m the one that banned you from Spider-Man and I—you need to understand how much I love you, okay?” Tony’s hand left Peter’s to wipe at his own tears for a second before retuning again. “I’m sorry that I ever let you think that I didn’t care about you because I do. I care about you more than anything in this world, kiddo. I—I wasn’t here because I couldn’t sit here and look at you knowing that you were hurt and I was the cause of it, that’s all. I couldn’t cope with it and I—I know that’s not a very grown-up thing to do, to run from things that scare you but I—I was so worried about and you and I’m still so worried about you but I—I promise I’m learning, I won’t do that again, I won’t let you feel like that again. I promise.”

Tony finished his speech and Peter let out another sob before collecting himself together.

“You soppy piece of shit,” the kid said and Tony let out a wet laugh. Peter reached up with his hand and wiped at Tony’s tears.

“Language.”

Peter raised an eyebrow at him and gestured between the two of them. “Pot, kettle, black.”

“How’re you feeling, kiddo? How’s the pain?”

“It’s manageable. I’m super tired though.”

Tony nodded. “Yeah, Helen said that you would be. She said that this was really bad—your injuries were worse than they usually were and we still have to be careful about infection. There was a—we thought at one point that you might not wake up.” Peter seemed to realise the seriousness of the situation and just how hurt he had gotten out on patrol. “So I need you to be more careful, Pete. Cause you’re gonna kill me if you keep going on like you have been.”

Peter nodded slowly, taking everything in as Tony updated him on his situation. Rhodey came to visit for a little bit and then Pepper came back from Chicago and fussed around Peter for ages, making sure that he was doing okay. Once she’d left to go up to the penthouse and unpack, Peter let out a groan.

“How long have you been holding that in?” Tony asked, growing slightly concerned.

“Too long. The pain’s getting worse,” Peter tried to shift around and a shooting pain went up his side. He let out a cry of pain and Tony shot out of his chair.

He pressed the back of his hand to Peter’s forehead and hissed when it was practically sizzling.

“Geez, kiddo. You could fry an egg on there.” Tony pressed the button that would call Helen and then he looked around the room in the cupboards for something that could help; a cooling pad, some more pain killers, anything.

Helen appeared a minute later and started checking over Peter, noting that he was a little too hot. She pulled down the sheets to his hips and started to undo the massive piece of gauze that was on his side. He hadn’t moaned too much about his back, but the side seemed a little more sensitive.

“Oh god,” Helen muttered, peeling back the material.

“What? What’s going on?” Tony rushed out, his voice flooding with worry again.

“He’s got an infection.” Helen jerked her head. “Come have a look, see how that’s all red and swollen? And it’s tender? Key signs of infection. We’ve got to get him on some antibiotics now.”

Tony felt sick as he looked at Peter’s side.

“His healing factor?” He asked and Helen shook her head.

“Infection slows down the rate of healing anyway, I doubt the spider bite’s doing him any favours. Little infections in small grazes and things, he’d have no problem with. But this is a hell of a lot bigger and it’s sapping him of his energy.” She pressed another button by Peter’s bed an almost immediately someone else walked in with supplies.

Half an hour later, when Peter’s wounds had been re-dressed and he’d been hooked up to antibiotics and plenty more painkillers. He was a little loopy from it all and spent the next few hours dipping in and out of sleep.

He didn’t seem to feel any pain though, so that was one thing that Tony took as a positive. He kept ahold of his hand in his own. He didn’t leave the room for a second.

Peter let out a content sigh and shifted slightly so that he was angling Tony more, taking the weight off his back and onto his good side. “Mmm, Dad?”

Tony sucked in a sharp breath. His heart started to race even more than before, for a whole different reason. “Y-Yeah, buddy?”

“Thanks for staying with me. Love you.” Peter’s eyes were still closed and Tony knew he was so loopy he probably would never remember it when he woke up properly. Still, it was progress, and it made Tony feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

“I love you too, kiddo.” Tony whispered, tears filling his eyes again as he pressed a kiss to Peter’s forehead. “I love you so much, kid.”

“I’m tired, Dad.”

Tony smiled warmly. “Then go to sleep, baby. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

Helen made him understand the seriousness of everything; that the infection was making things worse and that there was the possibility that he wouldn’t pull through the night. It completely shattered Tony. After everything they’d talked about and set straight and all the thoughts and emotions they’d laid out. Peter had called him Dad for the first time. And Tony prayed to god that it wouldn’t be the last.

“If you don’t make it through this, then neither will I.” Tony swore, clutching his hand ever tighter. “Which means you have to. You have to pull through for me, Pete.”

To say it was a restless night for the both of them was an understatement. At every shift and flinch Tony shook himself awake, needing to know that everything was okay with Peter. Occasionally, Helen came in to check on him and noted that he seemed to be improving. Rhodey and Pepper came back and left around 1am after failing to convince Tony to go to bed. Tony had left Peter in the Med-Bay once before, he wasn’t going to do it again.

It took a few days for Peter to recover to a decent level that Helen was happy he was going to pull through and his healing factor kicked in again, getting rid of his infection faster than a normal human body would. Tony was thankful that his heart rate could dip back to normal again. He thought he might have to go on a higher dosage of his blood pressure medication.

“Please don’t make me leave.” Peter whimpered and Tony was so surprised he physically recoiled for a second before checking himself.

“What?” He asked. “Why would you say something like that? Why would you think that was ever going to happen?”

“B-Because I was supposed to be grounded and I went out anyway and I got hurt and I broke like 5,000 different rules and I—”

“Yeah, Pete, you did break a lot of rules. You were reckless, you didn’t think, you were angry and upset and you said and did things you shouldn’t have. But none of that means that I’m gonna be sending you anywhere. You got that?” Peter shrugged his shoulders and Tony hooked a finger under his chin to get him to look at him. “I mean it when I said that I love you more than anything else, kiddo. You’re my son, and I’m not sending you away. Not now, not ever. There’s nothing that you could ever do to make me do something like that. You’re not going anywhere. You don’t have to leave.” Tony said the last few sentences slowly so that Peter would understand.

Tears streamed down Peter’s face and his shoulders shook as he cried in relief. He didn’t say anything, but Tony supposed he didn’t really have to say anything. He leant forward and took the boy into his arms, pulling him close and holding him as tight as he dared.

“You don’t have to leave.” He repeated it just in case Peter hadn’t heard him the first time.