Chapter Text
Peter couldn’t move. He was trapped, rocks pinning him down at every possible point on his body. He cried out in pain the minute he woke up, blinking and gasping, his body limp. His heartbeat sped up and Peter struggled, but that only made the pain worse. He was face down in water and Peter spluttered and immediately raised his head, but that sent shooting pain down his spine. Small bits of rubble fell down on him just from that simple movement. He knew had been here a long time; the dust had settled completely around him, aside from what his movements had caused. Peter cried out in pain again, before realizing his air was running out. His gasp was desperate; he couldn’t breathe. Thank God his hands were free, limp in front of him, and he willed them to go to his neck and dig for the edge of his mask that was soaked in water. In a panic he realized it was slowly suffocating him. Peter peeled it off his face and let it fall into the puddle in front of him, taking big gulps of air. There was something red and sticky on the back of the mask and Peter gulped in horror, not wanting to raise his hand to touch the wound on his head. He had to get out of here. Peter pushed a hand up against a nearby rock, got a good grip, and braced himself, ignoring the spinning in his head.
“Ok, ready?” He takes a quick breath and then jolts himself up with all of his might, gritting his teeth to hold back a scream, blinking away the feeling of pressure in his head and his fear of confinement. He just needs to get out of here. Come on, come on…
Peter is straining his weak arms, pushing and pushing, trying to get out, trying, trying- failing.
He falls limp, taking big gulps of air that he desperately needs as the rock sinks on top of him again, pushing him into the hard ground.
Peter takes a deep breath that burns but he yells anyway.
“Hello?!” It’s weak and timid and Peter knows he’s going to have to scream louder.
“HELLO? Please!” Peter’s screams are raspy and clearly filled with fear, his voice raspy.
“Hey, hey, I’m down here,” he’s hyperventilating as he shouts for help, “I’m down here, I’m stuck,” he reaches out a hand as if someone’s going to come and save him, which of course, isn’t going to happen, “I’m stuck, I can’t move, I can’t…”
Peter falls limp again in exhaustion, on the verge of sobbing. He starts breathing hard again and sharp pain erupts in his chest as he’s somehow pushed further into the rubble. He cries out in pain and looks down, slumped and weak.
Tony Stark comes to mind and Peter’s lip trembles as he realized he should have listened to him. He hadn’t listened, he had taken the job, and now he was in over his head, and will never get to see him again. Never see Tony look at him proudly, never get a proper hug, never get to tell him sorry, never get to spend more time with him. Tony had basically said he was a father figure. Peter had brushed it off before, since he was in the middle of a fight, but he remembered Tony saying that his own father was never there for him, and that he wanted to break the cycle, implying he thought of himself a little more than Peter’s mentor, and Peter had cut him off. He was sorry about that too.
Peter tried to move again and failed.
Ok, options, think of options, Peter thought to himself.
Who knows you’re here?
No one, except Ned, but he had cut off the call saying everything was fine.
Where’s his phone?
In Toon’s car.
Where’s Flash’s phone?
He had no idea.
Could he really die here?
Possibly.
Peter looks in the reflection of the puddle. Half of his spiderman mask is floating and half of it is underneath the dirty puddle, instead showing Peter’s reflection Peter takes a deep breath to try and steady his breathing. The puddle shows him that he’s half Spiderman and half Peter, which means there’s a part of him that’s useless, Peter realizes miserably. Then he remembers what Mr. Stark had said to him.
“If you’re nothing without this suit then- PETER!”
Tony Stark’s words cut off and Peter frowns. That’s not what Tony had said.
“PETER!”
Peter weakly lifts his head, begging himself not to go unconscious. He recognizes the voice.
“KID, PLEASE!” Tony! That’s Tony.
Peter lets out a strangled scream, “Mr. Star-” He screams in pain as the building rumbles, a rock crushing hard into the back of his head. Peter tries to shake it off but his vision goes blurry and he’s losing consciousness.
“Mr. Stark...help me...please...Tony...” Peter feels everything shut down and his head falls limp against the ground, his eyes shutting, tears sliding silently down his cheeks. Darkness wraps him up and carries him and the excruciating pain away from reality.
Tony is searching the rubble, his mind swirling. The last half hour had gone by too fast for him to handle. Peter’s friend Ned had called him and explained everything that was about to happen. It was far too late to stop the plane from crashing on the beach; the Vulture had told him that as he hacked into Tony’s coms. Tony had brought the plane down, and it was headed to crash on the beach which was cleared of pedestrians.
But none of that mattered.
One sentence had made Tony forget everything that was in that plane, every thought he had, every instinct- one sentence made his world stop.
“You might want to find the kid first,” Vulture snarled.
That’s when Tony had calculated the path to the beach, knocked out the engine, and yelled over the coms, “Where is he? What did you do to him?”
“Let’s just say the walls came tumbling down,” Vulture laughed harshly as he cut off coms leaving Tony screaming on the outside of the invisible jet...screaming into an empty line.
“No! Where’s P-” Tony yelled in anger cursing as the plane dropped below him. He spun around in the air, using his boosters to fly back to the city.
“FRIDAY, track Peter’s suit…” Tony’s voice failed him as he realized he had took the boy’s suit. He had took the one thing that maybe could have stopped whatever happened to Peter. Tony refused to believe the boy was dead and he yelled so loud his ears started ringing, “FRIDAY locate collapsed buildings. News, social media, whatever, just do it! DO IT NOW! HURRY FRIDAY!”
“On it boss.” The A.I. wasn’t capable of having emotion, but to Tony’s ears, her voice sounded worried.
“There’s one. Warehouse not that far from here.” Friday gave him directions and Tony shot across the sky to go reach Peter. To go reach Spiderman. To go reach his kid.
Tony felt tears falling down his cheeks as he landed in the section FRIDAY had led him to. Tony never cried. Until now. He looked ahead and saw an old warehouse that was collapsed in on itself. It was certainly recent and although Tony hoped that Peter was here somewhere, his heart fell to the bottom of his chest when he realized that Peter could be- Oh God…
He could be underneath all of that.
“I’ve located him sir,” FRIDAY said nervously over the com.
“Where?!” Tony asked urgently, “And status report. Is he alive? FRIDAY is he alive?!”
“Yes. He...he seems to be moving. I can’t tell what his injuries are, he’s too deep.”
“Too deep,” Tony repeated breathlessly, “Can you patch him through?” Tony said, as he was running toward the beginning of the rubble.
“I can try sir.”
Just then there’s static and Tony hears his kid’s voice in his helmet. It’s rough, racked with pain, trembling, muffled, and breaking up, but it’s his kid. It’s Peter.
“Hel- HELLO! Pleas- hey I’m down- I’m stu- can’t move- I can’t-”
His voice sends pain through Tony’s chest and he yells in anger for his boy, running a surveillance camera for heat signatures across the rubble, still making his way forward. Tony’s helmet shrinks back around his neck. The minute it’s off, Tony can scream. “Pete!”
Nothing. No answer. Just awful silence.
“PETER!” Tony yells again, tears streaming down his face. His voice cracks with fear and sadness, “PETER! KID PLEASE-” Tony’s voice cuts off into a sob, but he’s not giving up.
Just then, there’s static on his coms and a shaky voice fills Tony’s ears, “Mr. Star-” The boy screams in pain and Tony feels the ground shake like something had shifted.
Tony whirled, freaking out as Peter’s voice was cut off.
Then he hears it again, almost having a heart attack in relief, “Mr. Stark...help me… Please, Tony-” The voice trails off for good. Tony’s heart hurts, hot tears in his eyes as he rushes forward. He needed to find him. Peter was in there. The closest thing he had to a son was in there.
Tony’s running, running, and finally FRIDAY gets an exact location. Well pretty exact: a 10 foot perimeter. Tony stops and whirls, “KID! PETER!”
Eventually, his eyes fall on Peter’s handmade red and blue suit, crushed by huge pieces of rock, metal beams, and concrete. Tony chokes on his next words and flies over to his kid, using his hand thrusters and dropping to the ground. He runs the remaining feet, diving to his knees in a puddle and letting out a strangled, “Peter!”
The boy is unconscious, the back of his head bleeding. He doesn’t move.
Tony takes the kid’s limp hand and raises his head to cup his chin looking anxiously at his face. Peter’s eyes are closed.
Tony shakes his head, “No, Peter come on, wake up. Kid I need you to wake up. Peter!” Open your eyes Pete, come on, Tony thinks. But they don’t open. Tony can’t even tell if he’s breathing just by looking at him; there’s so much rock covering his small body.
“FRIDAY is he-” Tony doesn’t want to say it. His voice cracks with emotion.
“No boss.” She pauses, “In fact he seems to be waking up. Keep talking to him,” The A.I. urges.
“Peter, you’re gonna be ok, it’s gonna be ok, alright kid?” Tony says, “I’m going to get you out of here...Peter,”
The kid stirs, his hand gripped Tony’s, his beautiful brown eyes shooting wide open. His messy hair is in wet curls and Peter coughs from the dust.
“Mr. Stark?” He says, blinking. His gaze is unfocused.
Tony speaks softly, “Hey it’s me kid, don’t move ok?”
Peter is wide awake now and he’s crying, “Get me out! Please Mr. Stark, get me out.” The boy’s face contorts in pain, “Oh it hurts Tony,” he lets out a small whimper through gritted teeth before he mumbles, “I want to go home, Tony please-”
Tony nods, tears coming to his eyes, “Pete you’re gonna be ok. Just let me get this off of you-”
Tony stands up but now Peter is grabbing his leg.
“No wait, no, don’t leave me, please Mr. Stark don’t-”
“I’m not leaving you,” Tony promises, “I’m not, ok? I need to get all this off of you. Just hold on.”
“No, I don’t want you to-” Peter’s voice is broken.
Tony looks the kid dead in the eye and speaks firmly, “I’m not going anywhere ok? I’m not leaving you. I’m never leaving you. I just need to get all this rock off you, ok kid?”
Peter grits his teeth, his eyes scrunched up because he doesn’t want to cry and he nods bravely.
Tony flies into the sky and uses his beams to cut away at the rock before coming back to Peter who’s struggling in vain to get the remaining rocks off of him. There’s one more big section preventing him from escape.
“Ok kid get ready to get out alright?” Tony says. Peter nods. Tony grips the edge of the rock with his metal fingers and lifts it. Rocks rumble and fall off the other side. Tony makes sure the suit is stable before he ejects himself from it so he can go to Peter who’s trying to squeeze his way out of the rubble. Tony grabs his waist and Peter pushes through the last crack, falling into Tony’s arms in tears. The kid sobs against his chest and Tony sinks to the ground with him, holding the boy tight. Tony runs his hands through Peter’s hair as the kid curls against him, his shoulders shuddering as huge sobs rack his broken body.
“FRIDAY status report.” Tony says softly, not letting the kid go yet. Peter is trembling against him, his breathing returning to normal.
“Not good boss. Broken ribs, concussion, internal bleeding, broken ankle.”
Peter hugs him tighter at that, ignoring the broken ribs.
“I’m sorry,” Peter whispers, his limp body sinking into Tony’s.
Tony bites his lip. This kid was apologizing to him? “You have nothing to be sorry about kid. This is all my fault. I need to get you to a hospital ok? Just hang on.”
“I...Ok...dad,” Peter mumbles. Tony nods, glad Peter’s ok. Then the words register and Tony realizes Peter had called him Dad. Tony had always wanted to be the father figure Peter never had, but he didn’t want to overstep. Peter had said it now, but from the state Peter was in and how out of sorts he was acting, Tony tried not to take it literally. He probably didn’t even know what he was saying. Tony's chest grew warm as he gripped his kid, never wanting to let go again. He felt so small in his arms.
“I’m so sorry Pete,” Tony whispered softly as the Ironman suit drops the rock and encloses around Tony’s body. He puts one arm under Peter’s legs and holds him against his metal chest tightly. Peter whimpers in pain, and grits his teeth again, his hands reaching up around Tony’s neck and he buried his face into the metal suit.
“Hang on kid,” Tony says with tears in his eyes as he blasts off and flies as fast as he can to the nearest hospital.
“Help! I need help!” Tony yells. The nurses look startled to see Ironman walking into their hospital but when their gaze fall on Peter, broken and bleeding, they snap out of it. They take Peter from Tony and rush him down the hallway in a stretcher. Tony starts to follow but a nurse puts her hand out, “I’m going to have to ask you to wait here. He’s going to be ok. We’ll call you out when he’s ready.”
“But-” Tony protests weakly.
The nurse has already rushed away and Tony sinks down into a chair, his metal clinking softly.
He calls Pepper who rushes over, and then calls Happy to sort things out and get a crew on the building and Toons. He hangs up and throws the phone into the seat next to him, his head spinning. Pepper walks into the waiting room 10 minutes later and finds a broken Ironman, with his head in his hands.
Tony falls asleep, exhausted, at the hospital. He’s already called May and told her what happened. Well...a version of what had happened. A car crash during the Stark Internship. She’s furious with him and she has every right to be. She's yelling and sobbing over the line and Tony is taking the hits he deserves. The hits that Peter should have given him, but didn’t. The poor kid blamed himself, but Tony knows it’s all his fault. May finally calms down so he can tell her what hospital Peter is being treated in and she says she’ll be there as soon as she can.
“I'm sorry May,” he says in a broken voice before they hang up. Pepper rubs his back and says she’s going to get him something to eat and some coffee. Tony’s stomach grumbles and he nods slowly. She kisses him gently and walks out the door, leaving Tony in the waiting room alone.
It seems like an eternity until finally some other doctor comes out and calls Peter’s name, Tony jumps to his feet, ejecting himself from the suit which is sitting in the chair. Tony looks behind the doctor and asks, “Where is he? I need to see him.”
“I’m sorry sir, but since he was in such critical condition, the policy is family only. You can come back at another time-”
Tony’s eyes flash and he shakes his head weakly, too tired to argue, “No, you don’t understand-”
The doctor shakes his head, “Sir I’m sorry but-”
Tony snaps.
“That’s my SON!” Tony yells desperately. He had just screamed it, in hopes of seeing Peter, but his voice was believable. His look was believable. He even believed himself. Why? Because it was partially true. The doctor looks shocked and steps sideways a bit. Tony pushes past him and storms down the hallway, his eyes skimming all of the names.
PETER P.
Tony rushes in, almost breaking off the handle. His gaze falls on Peter immediately and his heart shatters. He feels tears in his eyes as he walks slowly over to the bed. Peter looks pale against the white sheets if that’s even possible. His chest is wrapped up with bandages and his ankle is in a cast. There’s blood on a bandage in his side, and Tony guesses that’s where he had his surgery. But that’s not all. Peter’s got a nasty black eye and a bruise on his jaw, but both are slowly fading. A couple of the cuts Tony had seen when he was under the rubble are gone, which means his Spider regeneration is working. That gives Tony a little hope. He goes over to Peter’s head and strokes the kid’s hair, muttering, “I’m so sorry Pete. I’m sorry kid.” Tony’s hand is shaking and he holds his bad arm, the left one, before reaching up and rubbing his own neck, which sore from the slump of his head in the chair as he slept.
Tony pulls up a chair next to Peter’s bed with trembling fingers and takes Peter’s hand, resting his forehead on Peter’s arm. And Tony just stays like that, tears falling down his cheeks.
A few minutes later a nurse, oblivious to what had happened with the doctor, says, “Sir you can’t be here-”
“Tony?” Peter whispers, his voice hoarse.
“Yeah it’s me Pete,” Tony looks up, blinking, breathing a sigh of relief. Peter’s hand weakly squeezes Tony’s.
“Hi,” Peter says quietly. He smiles a bit.
The nurse’s eyes widen a bit and she apologizes softly before backing out of the room and closing the door.
Peter swallows, blinking again.
“Hey kid,” he says softly, putting both of his hands around Peter’s limp one, “Are you alright?” Tony says, blinking back tears.
Peter closes his eyes and licks his lips before scrunching up his nose, “It hurts.”
“I know Pete, I’m- I’m so sorry.” Tony’s heart is being squeezed by a fist and he puts his forehead on the bed, breathing into the sheets.
Tony looks up at his kid with bleary eyes and a weak smile.
Peter nods, “I’m going to be ok.”
“I know kid,” Tony fakes annoyance to hide his real pain and fear, “I know, I just…” Tony trails off, rubbing his fist against his eye.
“Your plane, Toons, what happened?” Peter asks.
“The plane crashed. A first responder team was sent out. Toons is in jail. He can’t hurt you anymore,” Tony said softly. He shouldn’t have hurt him in the first place. Tony swears no one will hurt his kid and get away with it ever again. If he could, he’d kill Toons himself.
“All of your stuff Tony,” Peter said weakly, his eyebrows knit and his face showing disappointment and shame. Almost like he was embarrassed that he didn’t do more. This kid was purer than any of the Avengers. Period.
“It’s ok Pete. Don’t worry about all that, it doesn’t matter. You matter, you hear me Pete? Don’t worry about all the stuff.”
Peter smiles slightly, blushing before sinking back into the bed, “I’m kinda tired.”
“I know. Get some sleep-” Tony says, brushing the kid’s hair away from his face and squeezing his hand one last time. He doesn’t want to leave but he gets up and pushes his chair back. Then a hand grabs his sleeve and Tony turns around.
“Stay Tony,” Peter says weakly. He’s the one holding his sleeve, “Stay? Please?”
“You got it kid,” Tony tries to hide his happiness and he nods, sitting back down in the chair and lays forward, his hand holding Peter’s as they both fall asleep.
May rushes in a couple minutes later and sees the two of them, sleeping soundly. Tony’s face is scrunched with worry and pain, and she sees tear marks on his cheeks. Peter looks rather peaceful, sleeping curled toward Tony, one hand holding Stark’s and one hand slumped against Iron Man's head as if he had been running his fingers through the messy black and grey buzz cut. May realizes how close they had become. A large portion of her anger at the billionaire melted away just then. She walks quietly over to Peter’s head and kisses him softly on the cheek. She smiles at her son and his father figure one more time before walking out to go meet Pepper in the waiting room.