Wrong number :/~~Spider-Man

😬

Whatever they'd come here to talk about it, if The Tony Stark was near breaking down, it had to be bad.

"Mr Stark?" Peter himself was getting worried.

He reached his arm out to try and consul the man, but found it a lot harder to grab for an arm he didn't particularly want contact with then.

Still, he forced himself to let his arm fall on the closest part of Tony, which was his forearm.

Tony looked up at Peter.

He didn't want to have to watch Peter freak out over the news. He really didn't. But he'd be a hell of a shitty father if he didn't. He convinced himself of that.

The kid's hand was shaking on his arm. He realized his reaction must not've been the most comforting to someone who'd already stepped though hell.

"It's Harley" Stephen stated, hoping to get this done as soon as they could.

"..what?"

Peter's head swiveled over to Stephen, his arms slowly moving towards his chest.

"Harley" Stephen swallowed. "He was admitted to the hospital this morning,", Peter went to cut him off, but Stephen kept going, "He got out of surgery this morning, and I'll stop by later to treat him as I did you, but he uh.. he was one of the victims".

The room was dead silent.

Tony sat and waited for the moment Peter would break, a stream of consultations at the ready for when it came. He wasn't sure he was ready for it, but he'd force himself to be if he had to.

It never came.

Peter's hands dropped to his sides, his dead expression unchanging. He looked to his blanket silently for a moment.

"How many victims were there?" His voice didn't even waver. Just a quiet question.

Stephen glanced at Tony for a second before replying. They'd expected tears, and snot, and perhaps even some broken equipment.

Peter literally didn't budge when he heard it.

"Uhm.. three casualties" Stephen started slowly, bowing his head in respects for them, "22 students and a teacher had to be treated for burns.. and uh.. seven had it severe"

It was obvious which category Stephen hinted Harley being in.

"They aren't sure if they will uhm.. if they got there soon enough".

Again, Peter remained apathetic.

Tony and Stephen alone were near-tears despite having known this news for hours.

Peter just.. sat there.

Staring at the dotted blanket like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"And.. Skip?" He managed to make his voice quieter, a little shake being noticeable, but not enough to mean much to the average ear.

"Not on earth anymore" Tony informed, uncomfortable with Peter using the man's first name like that.

It got him thinking on how long Peter actually knew.

There seemed to be a lot of painful silences occurring, even with two of the most chatty people known to man, and the world's best listener.

It was unnerving.

"Do you want some alone time?" Tony assumed, dragging his hands off of the bed and into his lap.

Peter's neutral gaze glided up to the ceiling lights, his breathing unnaturally slow.

He just nodded.