Work Text:
Tony didn’t hear the phone ring at first, the music playing loudly in the lab as it always was.
He wasn’t even supposed to be in the city, just a last minute trip to sign something Pepper hadn’t been able to before she and Morgan went out of town to visit her mother.
Tony figured while he was in the city that he’d tinker around, less than eager to head back to an empty cabin - debating whether he should text Peter and see what he was up to, hanging out like old times.
But he didn’t, something he would later regret when the music cut off.
“FRI--”
“You have a call from Peter Parker sir.” FRIDAY chimes in before presumably pushing it through, Tony immediately feeling on edge when he hears the pained breathing on the other line.
“Pete?”
Tony hears a sharp inhale, immediately standing only for his stomach to drop at Peter’s next words.
“Tony… I really messed up.”
It takes fifteen minutes for Tony to get to ESU.
Fifteen miserable, anxiety filled minutes - enough time for him to panic, enough time for his mind to run through all of the terrible possibilities of what could happen to Peter if they don’t figure this out in time.
“FRIDAY, what’s the ETA on SHIELD’s decontamination unit?”
“Approximately thirty minutes, boss.” FRIDAY chimes in as he flies through the sky, the science building that Peter was currently located in coming into view.
“Fuck.” Tony swears, bracing himself for landing as he flies across the building to the lab where Peter was supposed to be located, lasering through the window that FRIDAY had indicated would give the least amount of damage.
The glass flies out in a heap as he flies in, Tony immediately glancing around - only for his heart to skip a beat when he sees him - Peter’s hand and head braced against the clear, fiberglass lab wall.
“Kid?” Tony asks through the suit, wondering for a half second if he’d made a mistake by exposing the room to the outside air - even if Peter had been clear on the phone that the toxin was contained within the four walls of the lab he was in.
Peter had told him that he had grown suspicious of his biochem professor, dropping hints that he thought something more was going on.
“I think he’s hiding something, Tony. Or hates me, for some reason. I don’t know.” Peter had said over the phone, Tony still remembering how playfully he’d dismissed him.
“You sure, kid? Could be just some stress-induced worry like you had with Suresh’s physics class last semester?”
“Maybe.” Peter had replied before saying, “MJ thinks I’m just pre-panicking about the final.”
“That MJ’s a smart one and she’s probably right, kid.” Tony had said, now cursing that he hadn’t taken it seriously - too convinced that it was just like the last time Peter had worried about a class, knowing that the stress of balancing his Spider-Man duties and his schoolwork wore on him more now than it ever had in high school.
Peter’s head moving off the glass panel, bringing Tony out of his thoughts - slow and lethargic in a way that only further terrifies him as Peter blinks back at him, seeing the pained way his chest rises and falls.
“Hey.” Peter rasps, Tony taking a step forward only for Peter’s eyes to widen - bracing his hand firmly on the glass.
“Wait, don’t-- don’t come any closer.”
“The toxin’s contained to the room you’re in right?” Tony asks, wishing with everything within him that they could’ve switched places - that Peter wasn’t the one taking a beat too long to respond to Tony’s question, slowly nodding his head as he says, “Yeah, yeah it is.”
Peter had been a lot more coherent over the phone when he’d first called, telling Tony before he’d flown out to him about his last minute decision to check in with Dr. Connors and see what was going on - guessing that snooping after hours as Peter Parker rather than Spider-Man would be an easier cover if he was caught.
The result had been finding Dr. Connors dead in his lab, an unidentified toxin being released the moment Peter had stepped in - saving countless lives when he’d locked the door in after him, FRIDAY telling him from hacking into his professor’s computer that it had been an inhalant meant to cure respiratory diseases.
What it did instead, as Peter was finding out - was destroy the inner linings of a person’s respiratory system, the only reason Peter was still standing being his spider mutation.
Peter’s reckless decision to creep in after hours had inadvertently saved the lives of thousands of students, Tony knowing that the guilt Peter would’ve felt if the toxin had been released the next morning would have been overwhelming.
But all Tony can think of now is that Peter had effectively signed his death warrant if they didn’t get him out of there, chasing that thought away as quickly as it came as he shook his head.
“Then I’m gonna get as close as I can, kid. SHIELD’s decontamination unit should be here in,” FRIDAY flashes the message across his HUD, Tony swallowing down the panic, “about twenty-five minutes.”
Peter half-smiles at that, as if he could hear the lie in Tony’s voice - the both of them knowing in a way that aches at his core that the chances of Peter staying conscious for that long grew slimmer every moment that passed.
“Sounds like a party.” Peter chooses to say instead, Tony letting out a strangled laugh before putting an iron hand to the glass, hovering over where Peter’s was.
“FRIDAY, is it safe to take the suit off?” He asks, seeing Peter’s eyes widen again as he furiously shakes his head.
“No, no, no--” Peter begins, only for FRIDAY’s voice to cut him off.
“Peter is right, boss. The toxin is contained.”
That’s all the confirmation that Tony needs, the suit immediately dematerializing around him until Tony’s actual hand is pressed against the glass - Peter shaking his head more furiously.
“Not safe.” He whispers, Tony swallowing something down in his throat at how rugged his voice sounds - seeing the way Peter’s eyes are red.
“Can’t stop me now, kid. I’m here.” Tony whispers back, watching as Peter blinks at him before seemingly looking resigned, the easy way that he just accepts Tony being there proving to him more than any other calculation that he’d been in the room far too long - knowing that if Peter was in his right mind, he would fight against him more.
Instead, Peter just braces himself against the glass more - seemingly holding all his concentration in standing, blinking back at Tony with a smirk on his face.
“All those times I tried to get you to come visit ESU and now you finally do.”
Tony laughs, a sharp sound - giving an awkward smile before saying, “You know I got a flair for the dramatics kid.”
Peter smiles then laughs, only for it to be cut off by a horrible hacking sound, his body doubling over as Tony’s eyes widen.
“Kid? Pete--”
Peter waves his free hand around, Tony’s heart clenching at the wheezing sound coming out of him, shaking his head as he brings his attention back to Tony. “I’m okay, I’m--”
He coughs more violently this time, his knees buckling - Tony feeling powerless as Peter sinks down to the ground, Tony mirroring his action as he asks, “FRIDAY, where’s that decontamination unit?”
“Still twenty-two minutes away, boss.” Her voice rings out, Tony pressing harder on the glass.
“Tell them to hurry up.” Tony says, watching as Peter tries to take control of his breathing before shifting so that he’s sitting, shoulder leaning against the glass as Tony adjusts himself on the ground to see him more clearly.
Peter wheezes, blinking up at the ceiling before his eyes shift back to Tony. “Tony?”
“I’m here, kid. I’m right here.”
Tony knows that the glass between them is the only thing keeping him from certain death - the body of Dr. Connors just out of view.
But it still aches at Tony that he can’t be there for Peter, aching more that he hadn’t been there to save him in the first place - even if a part of Tony recognized that had he gone on this covert mission with Peter, he’d be dead too.
Peter’s head is braced against the glass, Tony feeling so close and yet impossibly far as Peter nods - his chest heaving as he says, “Stay with me?”
Tony feels his heart leap into his chest, pressing a hand even harder against the glass.
“Of course, Pete.”
The only thing worse than listening to the rattle of Peter’s breathing is the question he asks him fifteen minutes later - Tony rambling as he tries to keep Peter awake, only to stop suddenly.
“T’ny?”
“Yeah, kid I’m here.”
“Can you--” Peter coughs, Tony trying to hold down the panic when he sees the blood dribble out of his mouth, Peter awkwardly trying to wipe it away as he leans his head back, “C’n you do some--something for me?”
“Anything, Pete. What do you need?” He asks, already regretting asking the question before it leaves his lips.
“Can I— can you tell—” Peter’s coughing becomes more violent, Tony sitting up and wishing that SHIELD would hurry up, that he hadn’t been so easily dismissive to Peter’s concerns -- too hopeful that nothing was going on in a world that too much had already happened to him.
“Don’t talk, Pete. It’s okay, help’s on its way.” Tony says, furious at himself that he was powerless to stop what was happening to Peter - the sinking feeling in his gut that he was hearing Peter’s last request as Peter shakes his head.
“I need-- I need tell May and--” He coughed, wiping his mouth but not quickly enough for Tony to miss the amount of blood that came out of it, “MJ that I—“
Peter coughs again, another shallow breath. “Can you record something for me?”
Tony opened his mouth to protest, to try and assuage Peter that everything was going to be okay - that whatever message he had for May and MJ, he’d get to tell it to them himself.
But then Peter locked eyes with him, a haunted expression in them - one that causes the words to die in Tony’s throat before he can say them.
He’d already dismissed Peter’s concern before, Tony knows he can’t rob him of this.
“FRIDAY?” He asks, his watch lighting up for a moment before the display changes, letting him know that the recording was about to begin.
He glances down to it then to Peter, watching as he tries to control his breathing - closing his eyes as his head is braced against the glass.
“Hey May,” Peter begins, Tony’s heart breaking at how much concentration Peter was clearly giving to keep his voice steady even if the rasp of his words could still be clearly heard, “Just wanted to--to say I love you. Thank you for--for putting up with me.” Peter laughs, the sound turning into a cough - Tony’s hand shaking as he brings the watch closer to where Peter was.
“You were the best--the best--” Peter coughed even more, his shoulders shaking so violently that Tony wants to tell him to stop, only for Peter to compose himself again - taking a shortened, ragged breath as he says, “MJ, sorry I f--forgot the laundry.”
Tony can see the tired smile on Peter’s face, eyes closed as he wheezes, “I’ll--I’ll get it next time.”
Peter takes another shallow breath, Tony feeling the tears in his eyes as Peter says, “I love you. You and May-- you--” He coughed, “You’re everything.”
Peter’s breathing starts to get more ragged, Tony’s hand hovering until Peter seems to slump backwards, Tony immediately ending the recording and getting on his knees.
“Pete? Pete, stay with me, kid. They’re ten minutes out.”
“You too, T’ny.” Peter says, his voice barely above a whisper - Tony banging on the glass.
“Kid, don’t--”
“You--you did ev’rything for me.” Peter gasps, eyes lazily looking over to Tony - the trust and the love in them shattering something deep in Tony’s soul.
“Pete, hang on for me okay? You gotta hang on.” Tony whispers back, hating that even if he broke through the lab doors that the toxin that was slowly killing Peter would knock him out instantly - that Peter would never forgive him if he put anyone else at risk.
“I l—love you.” Peter says, his chest spasming as the love transforms into fear, eyes searching Tony’s face for help that Tony knows he can’t give.
“Love you too, Pete. Come on, stay with me. Stay with me.” Tony pleads, the world around him all starting to fade out of focus - begging for Peter’s lungs to work like he’s never begged before.
Tony had bent time itself to save Peter yet now, on the other side of a glass pane - he began to wonder if time was finally fighting back.
Tony could still feel the residual nerves in his arms, his legs, his chest - willing for himself to calm down as he grabbed the red Jello cup that had been put out for Peter.
He sat down on the chair beside him, eyes dancing over to where May and Michelle were both sleeping - huddled together, Tony thanking anyone in the universe that would listen that the choked off message that Peter had recorded would never see the light of day.
Yet as he settles in the chair, Tony knows his mind will never be able to forget how Peter had sounded - the panic of watching Peter’s eyes rolled into the back of his head before he slipped off into unconsciousness.
He shakes away that horrible memory now, bringing himself back to the present - quietly opening the Jello pack as the heart monitor attached to Peter continues to beep, wondering if there would ever be a time when he wouldn’t always associate the sound of a ventilator with Peter.
“You know I got a heart condition, kid. We gotta figure out a new hobby for you.” Tony whispered to no one, settling back in the chair as he absentmindedly eats the Jello cup - Peter’s chest rising and falling, the tube that was helping him breathe being the one reminder that he was alive, still remembering the time it took before SHIELD had finally arrived - the longest few minutes that Tony thinks he’s ever lived.
It’d been almost nine hours since then, the adrenaline having long run its course in Tony’s system - now just waiting for Peter to wake up.
The doctors were optimistic, confident that because of Peter’s mutation that the extra oxygen he was receiving and his removal from the point of origin that he would recover just fine - Tony seeing the six hours scans himself and the clear improvement that Peter had already gained.
It was still torturous to wait, even if Tony knows he would wait forever for Peter - scraping the side of the jello cup with his little plastic spoon.
He frowns, having already devoured it when he glances up - his heart skipping a beat when he sees the slight twitch of Peter’s finger.
Tony immediately discards the jello cup and stands - hovering by Peter’s bedside, knowing the tube down his throat would prevent him from speaking but hoping that if eyes opened that he could still see a familiar face.
“You still with me, Pete?” Tony whispered, glancing over to May and Michelle - half considering waking them only to look back at Peter and watch as his eyes fluttered, seemingly trying to force himself awake.
“Don’t fight it, kid. You’re okay, doctors just want to give you a little help to breathe.”
Tony can see the way Peter’s eyes move underneath his eyelids, only stopping when Tony puts a hand to Peter’s forehead - his hands not being nearly as gentle or as smooth as May or Michelle’s but being just as calming.
“You’re good, Pete. You’re okay.”
It’s all the confirmation that Peter seems to need, his eyes fluttering once more before they stop - Tony glancing towards the heart monitor as it continues to beep at a steady interval.
“Just like old times.” Tony whispers, glad that even if Peter was still unconscious that he was at least okay - feeling his own heart start to return to its natural rhythm as he sighs, making his way back to the chair.
He sits, waiting and watching for a second before the exhaustion starts to settle over him - feeling his own eyes start to droop.
Peter was gonna be just fine, Tony knew it. But his last coherent thoughts as he started to unwind, the steady breathing and beeping in the room lulling him to sleep were still on Peter’s panicked gaze - knowing he’d wait for as long as it was necessary for his eyes to open again.
“How many jello cups can one man eat?”
“Peter…”
“I’m serious, MJ. I’m the one they’re here for.”
Tony stirs, the voices in the room familiar as he groans, hearing quiet whispers.
“Now you woke him up.”
“Good. He has to account for his crimes. And he snores too loudly anyway.”
Tony lets out a huff, working the crick in his neck as he blinks a few times - seeing the exasperated expression on Michelle’s face and the unamused one on Peter’s.
“Real big talk coming from you, kid,” Tony says, rubbing his eyes before saying, “you snore like a freight train.”
Michelle laughs at that, causing Peter to frown - Tony feeling entirely too exhilarated that Peter was awake to wonder how long it’d been when he says, “No I don’t.”
“I’m with Stark on this one, Pete.” Michelle says, rolling her eyes before she gives him a quick kiss. “I’m gonna see if May’s got the goods alright?”
Peter smiles and nods, Tony seeing right through what she was doing just as much as Peter did - Michelle looking pointedly at him before she says, “You want pizza or a burger?”
“Have you met me, kid?”
Michelle smirks, before giving him a head nod. “I’ll be back.” She gestures towards Peter, “He’s already heard it from May and I but feel free.”
She leaves, only for Tony to turn to Peter in confusion - understanding flooding through him when he sees the conflicted expression on Peter’s face.
The reminder of why Peter was there comes back to him, sighing as Peter frowns.
“Before you start,” he begins, his eyes looking serious, “do you— do you still have that recording?”
Tony tenses, swallowing something down in his throat. “Yeah.”
Peter’s eyes flit to the door then back to Tony, a hardened expression in them when he asks, “Can you delete it?”
Tony nods, already moving to do so on his watch as Peter says, “I don’t want them to hear it. Not— not that one.”
Peter laughs but there’s no humor in it, Tony glancing to to him once he’s finished sending the command. “I should probably record a real one.”
“A real what?” Tony asks, even if he knows exactly what Peter is talking about - the terrible memory of his own goodbye message to Pepper on a ship in space coming back to him.
Peter seems reluctant to say it as he grinds his teeth, Tony taking the opening.
“Kid, what were you thinking?”
“Tony—“
“You weren’t.” Tony’s voice is harsh, barely above a whisper - surprising himself and Peter with how forceful it is.
Tony takes a deep breath, letting out the shaky exhale. “You weren’t thinking, Pete. You could’ve—“
“Died, I know.” Peter says dismissively, something that just constricts something in Tony’s chest as he says, “But if I hadn’t gone when I did, a whole lot more people would’ve actually died.”
“You came pretty damn close.” Tony says, holding Peter’s gaze for a beat - knowing from the stubbornness he sees that this a fight he won’t be able to win.
It’s something that Tony had tried and failed to reconcile, the knowledge that for as much as he was retired that Peter was barely getting started in a sense - his all too quick dismissal of the problem Peter had found himself in being based in a desire for Peter’s world to be as peaceful and as calm as Tony’s was.
But it wouldn’t, something Tony knows deep in his gut - Peter being five years older than the kid he’d been when he met him yet still seeing the conviction in his eyes that he’d had all those years ago in a tiny bedroom in Queens.
“But I didn’t .” Peter finally replies, Tony taking another deep breath as his shoulders sag - rubbing his temples with his fingers.
“I don’t want to fight,” Peter says, Tony looking up as he leans forward in the chair he was in, bracing his arms against his knees. “Not now.”
“How about next Tuesday then? We’re due.” Tony says, the lightness of it only barely holding in the argument he wants to have - seeing the smirk on Peter’s face.
“I am sorry, Tony. For making you be there.” Peter says, Tony silent as he continues. “I shouldn’t have— I should’ve just called SHIELD.”
Tony’s quick to shake his head as he closed his eyes. “No, it’s— it’s not that, kid.”
“I didn’t wanna be alone.”
Tony’s eyes snap open - the look on Peter’s face bowling him over, hating that Peter had wrestled with his mortality enough that he had a sense for how serious a situation could be.
Tony didn’t need the reminder but it was still crushing to hear it all the same, how close they’d been to losing Peter and what was worse - that Peter had resigned himself to his fate enough to know he didn’t want to be alone if he died.
But he hadn’t, Tony trying to push that away as he swallows and says, “You’re never alone, kid. You never will be.”
Peter smiles, a sad one - a part of him wondering if there would come a day when he wouldn’t be able to be there for Peter, remembering an old conversation with May and the fear that Peter wouldn’t ever live to see eighteen.
He had, now just a few months shy of graduating college - but the look in Peter’s eyes is enough to shake him to his core, Tony choosing instead to say, “Though you do that again and I’ll do worse than eat all your jello cups.”
Peter laughs at that, rolling his eyes. “Capital offense, Tony. You don’t take a man’s jello cups.”
Tony pantomimes with his fingers. “Okay Spider-Man whatever you say.”
Tony rubs his hands together, a faint smile on Peter’s face - one that makes Tony smile despite himself.
“You’re a piece of work, you know that kid?”
“Yeah,” Peter pursed his lips, shrugging, “but you love me.”
Tony’s heart clenches, the memory of Peter’s pained whisper to him hours ago coming back to him - the same memory seemingly rushing back to Peter from the way his face falls.
Tony holds his gaze, communicating everything that he can into it - hearing May and Michelle’s footsteps in the hall as they make their way back to the room.
Dismissing Peter’s concerns had been a mistake, one that Tony knows he can’t make again - even if there’s a small voice that reminds him that even if he hadn’t, it wouldn’t have made a difference.
Peter had years ahead of him as a hero, years of a life that Tony had every intention of making sure he sees.
He couldn’t stop Peter from being who he was even if he wanted to. But he could do everything in his power to always remind him that he’d never truly be alone.
“Yeah kid,” Tony finally replies, seeing the smile on Peter’s face as he says, “I do.”
The door opens then, May and Michelle walking in - laughing at some joke that makes Peter’s smile grow wider - eyes shifting to them before moving back to Tony.
He grins, not saying the words aloud now but Tony still hearing them - the smile on his own face widening.
Love you too.