Chapter 2
Peter shot a web at one of Thanos’ aliens that was getting a little too close to Mantis and retracted his arm quickly to pull the creature away from her. The weight of the creature grounded him for a moment, but between one blink and the next, Peter was stumbling backwards with an untethered web and a handful of ash in his face.
The suits filtering system prevented him from choking on it, and Spider-man glanced around their surroundings to see the enemy creatures dusting all around them. He quelled his rising anxiety when he realised that he couldn’t see any members of his team disintegrating- just the bad guys.
Tony had gotten the gauntlet back to Captain Marvel! He’d helped her save the world!
A smile pulled at his lips, and he saw the women fighting around him pause and come to the same conclusion he had. He launched a web at a tall hill of debris, leaping up so he could see the scope of the battle as it ended. All around him, Thanos’ army were ashing, which was why he was so panicked when he felt that his spidey sense still hadn’t stopped from the steady thrum it had kept up during the duration of the fight. He glanced around, trying to determine its cause, before an irrational wave of frantic fear had him swinging over to where Mr Stark had said he would be.
He flipped mid-air as he reached the clearing, turning around to try and find the older hero; as he was turning, he caught sight of the Iron Man suit laying under an alcove of debris, the arc reactor pulsing dimly.
His heart dropped as he sprinted over, one hand outreached in desperation.
“Mr Stark?” he asked, as he fell to his knees beside the billionaire. Blood ran down from lacerations all over his face, but that was nothing compared to the burning flesh running all the way over the right side of his head and down his neck.
Iron Man had reversed the Snap and saved the universe, Peter realised.
The mechanic’s eyes turned to meet the teen’s, and Peter was overwhelmed by the love that was brimming there.
“I-I’m gonna get you help, sir,” Peter reassured the man, as tears fell down his cheeks. He reached out one hand and took Tony’s, a sob escaping him as the older man squeezed his hand weakly. He tuned his comm onto the broader channel, instead of the private channel he and Mr Stark shared.
“I need medical! Iron Man used the gauntlet and h-he’s in a bad way- a really, really bad way,” he stammered through the comms to anyone that was listening. “Someone please send help!”
Static sounded, and Peter hoped that meant someone had heard his plea. He turned back to Mr Stark.
“Oh, Tony,” he heard murmured softly from just behind him, and he turned to see Pepper with her faceplate up and eyes full of tears. The suit she was wearing resembled Mr Stark’s, and it thudded into the ground as she knelt beside him, placing one hand on Peter’s shoulder and squeezing it reassuringly. She pulled her hand away, cupping Tony’s cheeks, and pressed a gentle kiss into his forehead. Mr Stark’s eyes slipped shut at the contact, and Peter felt his heart start to race. When Pepper sat back, his eyes fluttered open again, drifting, before landing on Pepper.
“Pep,” he croaked, struggling to part his lips around the syllables. She nodded as one tear fell down her pale cheeks.
“I know, honey, I know. Everything’s going to be just fine,” she murmured. She took a deep breath, as if her next words physically pained her, before whispering, “you can rest now.”
Tony forced his eyes to meet Peter’s, mouth opening and closing a few times.
“I . . .” he began, voice strained and wheezing, “love you . . . kid.”
The teen sobbed then, leaning forward so his forehead rested against Tony’s. He saw the man’s eyes slipped closed, and knew deep down that they wouldn’t be opening again. The light from the arc reactor began flickering: even weaker than the erratic fading it had been doing when Peter had landed.
“I love you, t-too, Mr Stark. So, so much. Please hold on, help is coming, I promise. We won, Mr Stark. We w-won, you did it, sir. You did it. Please, I’m sorry,” Peter choked, the words a panicked stream of broken sounds he didn’t bother to stop from falling.
Pepper pulled him away from Tony when the arc reactor went out completely, standing both of them up and hugging him tightly.
Two thuds sounded from behind him, and he turned to see Rhodey running towards Tony with Bruce’s large medical bag cradled in both arms. He dropped beside the mechanic, leg braces whirring, and pulled the Iron Man suit apart so he could see his best friend’s chest. The darkness of the arc reactor did nothing to deter him from his mission.
“Rhodey,” Pepper began gently, as she joined him next to Tony with Peter just a pace behind her. Rhodey held threw one hand up towards her without looking, a clear gesture to stop talking and let him work.
“It’s not too late, Pepper. I wasn’t there for him in the battle, but I’m here now and I can fix this, I can bring him back. I know I can.”
Neither Pepper nor Peter saw the use in trying to convince him that Tony was already gone- that they’d seen the light from the arc reactor fade out to nothing.
With the ease of years of practise aiding him, Rhodey pulled out a defibrillator and fired it up, placing it over Tony’s chest. The billionaire’s body jolted horrifically, and Peter held a hand over his mouth to stop himself from crying too loudly.
“Come on, Tones, come on,” Rhodey muttered to himself, and Peter could only hear it because of his enhanced hearing. “I know you’re always late but this is the one party you’ve gotta turn up to, man. I can’t do this without you.”
When nothing happened, he tried again.
Then again.
Then again.
The minutes were ticking by, and the teen could see that even Rhodey was starting to lose hope.
“Come on, Tones!” he half-shouted, the defibrillator firing up.
Peter felt his spidey sense start to ebb away, and hope - irrationally- kindled in his chest.
“Please, Mr Stark,” he begged. “Please come back to us.”
The young hero felt Pepper grip his hand tightly as Rhodey pressed the paddles against Tony’s chest again.
They fired, and his body jolted as it had every time, but Peter’s enhanced hearing picked up the small intake of breath he made as his head fell back against the debris.
“He breathed!” Peter exclaimed, and Rhodey’s bloodshot eyes turned round to meet his, desperation swimming there clear as day. Another small intake of air, and an audible, pained groan sounded.
“Tony!” Pepper and Rhodey shouted at the same time.
The three of them sat Tony up as Rhodey called for medics to come and stabilise him. The arc reactor flickered, just once, before dimming again, and Peter’s felt his heart stop at his fear that they had lost him again.
But then the light came back, steadily emitting a weak light.
Medics raced towards them, shifting Mr Stark gently onto a stretcher and whisking him away with Pepper, Peter and Rhodey a few steps behind. Rhodey was speaking into the comm again, telling Dr Strange that they needed him to portal them to the Tower’s medbay, as the Compound had been reduced to rubble.
When no angry shouting followed, Peter breathed a sigh of relief that the sorcerer had complied.
---
Peter woke up when he heard the scraping of chair legs against the room’s tiled floor, looking up to see Pepper taking a seat opposite him.
“How is he?” she asked him, the steady beeping of Mr Stark’s heart monitor the only thing he could focus on.
“The same,” he answered quietly, eyes not leaving Mr Stark’s face. He had deliberately taken a seat on the man’s left side, still not quite accustomed to the charred skin that ran down the entire right side of his body from where he’d wielded the gauntlet. The mechanic had been in hospital for nearly two weeks, getting healthier and healthier as they monitored his ever-increasing brain activity. “But Bruce said he should wake up at some point in the next few days.”
Pepper clapped a hand over her mouth, eyes filling with relieved tears. “That’s great news!” she said. “Let me go and get Morgan and I’ll let you tell her the good news!”
Peter smiled and nodded gratefully.
In the two weeks since they’d first met, Morgan had quickly become one of Peter’s favourite people- she was a perfect mix of her parent’s best qualities, and Peter wasn’t surprised by how much she adored her father. What had surprised him, however, was when Pepper introduced him: “You know your big brother that your dad is always telling you stories about? Well, this is him, honey. This is Peter.” She’d squealed excitedly and hugged his leg tightly, before he picked her up and introduced himself properly. They’d spent the rest of the day building legos on the floor beside Tony’s hospital bed, and Morgan had reenacted some of the stories that Mr Stark had told her about her older brother. Peter had been holding back tears at the thought of Mr Stark thinking of him as his kid, and May had taken the news brilliantly. She loved Morgan like the girl truly was Peter’s sister, and May and Pepper had gotten in the habit of taking both of them out for ice cream or dinner if they’d been cooped up at Tony’s bedside for too long.
The door shut behind Pepper with a soft click, and Peter let his eyes drift back to Mr Stark as he stood up and walked over to his still body. He took the man’s left hand, rubbing small circles over the mechanic’s calloused palm.
“You have to wake up soon, sir, because Pepper is telling Morgan what Bruce said, and you know how she is about breaking promises,” Peter said, a small smile on his lips. After a few moments he placed Mr Stark’s hand back next to his side, and let his gaze flick to the stump at the billionaire’s right shoulder. The amputation hadn’t really come as a big shock to Peter, Pepper or Rhodey, who had all seen the devastation that using the stones had wrought upon his body. Morgan, however, had only been bought in to see her father after he’d been stabilised from the amputation, so as not to scare her. She’d been surprisingly calm about one of her father’s limbs being missing, asking thoughtfully about if he’d be okay with just one arm. Peter had chosen that moment to show her the early designs for a prosthetic arm he’d decided to build- modelled as a blend of the Iron Man suit and Bucky Barnes’ metal arm. In the two weeks following, he’d completed the arm and it was waiting in the lab for Mr Stark to wake up and put it to use.
The teen hoped that it would make the transition slightly easier for the mechanic to handle.
At that moment, his enhanced hearing detected an irregular spike in the heart monitor- just once, but it was enough to draw his attention. Having no medical training past basic stitching and how to tie a tourniquet, the lines and number meant nothing to him; but focusing on Mr Stark’s heartbeat reaped different answers. A small groan escaped the billionaire’s lips, and Peter pressed the button at his bedside so that Cho would know they needed her assistance.
“Mr Stark?” Peter asked hopefully, taking the man’s hand back in his and praying to every God he could think of that his mentor was finally waking up.
He saw the man’s eyes moving form under his eyelids, before they blearily blinked open, squinting against the minimal lighting in the room. Some semblance of understanding filled his eyes as he looked up at Peter.
“Kid?” he murmured.
“Yeah, Mr Stark, it’s me,” the teen said, voice thick with emotion. “You’re in the medbay, Cho should be here soon to help you. Does anything hurt?”
Peter felt the man’s hand slowly squeeze his, just for a moment, as Tony shook his head.
“M’fine,” he answered, but the waver in his voice suggested otherwise. “Just need a cheeseburger. Maybe two.”
A small laugh sounded from the teen, and the mechanic cracked a smile that looked halfway towards being a grimace.
“Where’s Morg ‘nd Pep?” he asked.
“Pepper’s just gone to get Morgan from Happy and then they’re coming here to see you. They don’t know you’re awake yet, so their reactions should be pretty funny.” The younger hero raised his voice a little, then, as he addressed FRIDAY. “Can you let Colonel Rhodes know that Nr Stark is awake?”
“Of course, Peter.”
“Can’t move my arm. Think m’still drugged,” Tony suddenly mumbled, barely coherent. Peter felt his heart start to race as he wondered how to tell him about his arm..
Cho opened the door at that moment, her eyes bright.
“Welcome back, Tony. How are you feeling?”
He half-heartedly rolled his eyes. “Like I wielded the power of the universe, how are you?”
She smiled, used to his methods of deflection.
“I’m fine. Rate the pain on a scale of 1 to 10 for me, please.”
“ A six?” he said, sounding more like he was asking than telling. “And my arm feels weird. Kinda tingly.”
Peter turned to face Cho, panicked. He was relieved by the calmness he saw etched over her features.
“You were bought to me in a very bad condition, Mr Stark. It was touch and go for a little while,” she began to explain. “The power of the stones were never meant to be weirded by a mortal man- they had destroyed most of the cells in the right side of your body. I’m afraid there’s no easy way to tell you this, but we couldn’t salvage your right arm. We had no choice but to amputate your arm in order to save your life.”
A moment of silence settled over the trio as Tony took a few deep breaths.
“I see,” he said evenly. “Well, thank you, Helen, for fixing me up. Would you mind letting Morgan and Pepper know that I’m awake?”
The polite dismissal was clear, and Cho said her goodbye before leaving.
“Pete,” Tony said gently, when it was just the two of them. “I’m sorry you had to see me like that, it can’t have been easy.”
The teen looked away with a small sniffle. “You’re okay now, and that’s what matters. I’m really sorry about your arm, Mr Stark.”
His mentor shot him a small smile. “It’s a damn lot better than being dead. And what’s one arm in the face of saving my kids? Of saving the universe? I’d give up all my limbs if meant I could save you or our family- don’t ever doubt that, kiddo.”
Our family.
“Um, while we were waiting for you to wake up, I, um used your labs a little bit. Pepper said I could, I hope that’s okay.”
Tony squeezed his hand again. “Of course it’s fine, underoos. You know you don’t need my permission to be there as long as you’re being safe. Build anything interesting while I was out?”
Peter ducked his head as he nodded, and the mechanic couldn’t help his grin at the kid’s bashful nature. He’d missed this. He’d missed this so much.
“Yeah, I, um, kinda made you an arm. It’s kind of like Bucky’s, but it’s more lightweight and flexible. It’s red and gold, too. I know how much you like those colours,” the teen answered, his eyes bright and voice excited.
Tony simply blinked, unable to express his gratitude as his vision swam with unshed tears. Mistaking the older hero’s silence for disapproval, Peter hurriedly backtracked.
“You don’t have to use it, Mr Stark, I know that you could make a prosthetic way, way better than mine. I just thought it might help you get used to it and I didn’t want you to have to-“
“Kid,” Tony said, still grinning. “Thank you. That was a really nice thing to do for your old man. And smart decision on the colours, I’ve always gotta be on-brand with my red and golds.”
A laugh escaped the boy then, stopping short when he registered what he’d just heard.
Your old man.
Peter cleared his throat anxiously, unsure of how to breach the next topic.
“I met Morgan,” he blurted, ineloquently. “She’s super cool. She’s mastered your eye rolls as well.”
“What can I say? Sarcasm runs in the family. I can only imagine the type of stuff she’s gonna get up to now you’re back to teach her how to prank us all,” his mentor answered, voice warm with fondness.
“Pepper said that you told her stories about me,” Peter said, his voice carefully even. He didn’t know how to broach the topic of being introduced as Morgan’s big brother; he presumed that Pepper had only said that to be polite, and he didn’t want to overstep by insinuating anything. He didn’t want to get his hopes up.
Mr Stark’s eyes met his, an indecipherable emotion there. “Of course I told her about you. You really think a kid should grow up without hearing about the time her big brother got a multi-million dollar AI and named it Karen?”
A huff of laughter escaped them both, but Peter was focused on the butterflies he felt in his stomach.
“Big brother?” he whispered, reverently, just loud enough for Tony to hear.
The man’s eyes softened.
“Of course, Pete. You’re my kid. You’re both my kids.”
A tear slipped down the boy’s face at those words. It had been such a long time since he’d had more than just May, even longer since he’d had May and Ben. He’d almost forgot what it had felt like to have more than one person in your corner.
“Is that okay?” Tony asked him softly, than hand holding his moving up to squeeze his shoulder in a reassurance.
Peter nodded, more tears tracing down his cheeks.
At that moment, the door to his room opened, revealing a beaming Pepper, Morgan, Rhodey and Happy.
“Daddy!” Morgan shouted excitedly, clambering up onto the hospital bed and wrapping her little arms around his chest.
“Hey, munchkin,” he murmured, gaze filled with warmth.
Rhodey and Happy both came and hugged him, telling him it was good to finally see him awake. Tony thanked his best friend for saving his life. His best friend told him they were even now.
Pepper kissed him softly, quiet I love yous spilling from both their lips. When they broke apart, Tony pulled Peter and Morgan against him with his left arm, Pepper wrapping her own arm over his chest as she squeezed next to him on the hospital bed. Rhodey and Happy sat to his left, mock-arguing about which channel to choose on the hospital TV.
Tony looked at them, these people he loved and trusted so inherently it was as though it were wired into him, and rejoiced at having his family back with him.
Reunited.
Complete.