TW- detailed description of injury
*3RD POV*
Would Tony be mad when he found out Peter gave away his super cool AI sunglasses that probably costed more than everything Peter owns combined?
... Maybe?
In Peter's defense, Mr. Beck made some pretty good points.
"So, let me see them on you."
"I-ok. They're kinda big right now but," Peter trailed off, slipping them on. He smiled, feeling pretty good about them, but it dropped as he watched Beck grimace.
"Eh, they're... they're ok."
Peter deflated a bit, his ego bruised.
"What's wrong with them?"
"They're not.. I dunno, they're not really your style kid." Peter chewed on the inside of his cheek anxiously. He thought they were fine.
"Not trying to put you down or anything, I just- do you think you're ready for that kind of power? Stark put everything into those glasses," he said, tapping the edge of them. "You're a kid. You should do something a little less... grown up."
Ok, fucking rude.
"I'm not a kid," he muttered, holding the glasses up for him. "You try them on then."
Without hesitation, Beck slipped them on.
He looked kind of like Tony...
Like how he was before the snap.
The Tony that would invite him over every weekend for some time in the lab and they'd work shoulder to shoulder on something that may or may not have been important but the only thing that mattered to Peter was that he was spending time with his mentor and that they were still playfully bickering over something idiotic. Then the man would drive him home later way over the speed limit because they stayed late and Peter had a curfew, but he would always laugh at Peter as he shouted for him to slow down and clutched onto the seatbelt and it made him feel so much lighter than he had felt in a very long time.
It was like the Tony that hadn't yet changed.
"You should keep them."
"What?"
"You could handle them better."
Peter didn't miss the grin that spread across Beck's face. "You sure kid?" "Y-yeah-"
"Thanks. Means a lot Spidey," he replied quickly, patting his shoulder.
Peter looked away for a moment, suddenly finding the ripping fabric of his stealth suit interesting.
"So, what are you gonna do now?"
"What?"
"We killed that elemental. The job's done. What are you gonna do?"
"I... I don't know, my class is leaving tomorrow so the plan's off I guess..." "What plan?" "Asking MJ to be my girlfriend." "Than go ask her out."
"But..." "Pete, I think you should go for it. Do it tonight. Be a kid, ask that girl out."
"But I.. I don't think it's a good idea.. I made a plan to sit next to her during that orchestra but I had to leave-" "Just apologize and say you had like, I dunno- stomach problems." Peter cringed, "Ew."
"I dont know kid! I'm no liar," Beck leaned back with a smile, huffing out a laugh.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter pulled on the collar of his shirt anxiously. He was a few paces away from MJ as the two walked across the bridge.
Ugh, Peter thought, Maybe having an entire 4 glasses of apple juice was a bad idea.
"Um," Peter began, spinning around to meet MJ's eyes. "I'm really sorry I dipped at the concert.. I just.. I had-" "Spiderman stuff?" "Stoma-What?"
"Spiderman stuff. You saved everyone from the lava dude." "What? No, no I just- it was just-"
"Stomach problems," MJ dryly asked, her eyebrow rising judgingly.
Peter sighed in defeat.
"Wait actually? I was right? I totally was, wasn't I? I mean, I've been watching you for a while now and kinda put 2 and 2 together but like- it was kind of unexpected." "Yeah..- Wait you weren't 100%?" "I was more like.. 67% sure." Peter groaned, digging the heels of his hands into his eyes frustratedly. "Fuck."
MJ snickered. "Don't worry loser, I've kept it a secret for this long, I won't tell anyone."
"Um... is that the only reason you've been... watching me?"
Her mouth opened for a moment as she fished for an answer and then replied, "No, yeah that's- that's the only reason I've been... watching you." She rolled back and forth on her heels.
Peter looked down at the cracked concrete bricks, watching the corner crumble slightly as he dragged his foot along it.
Why'd he even think he had a chance?
Peter was about to call this off, say he was tired and maybe lie face first into his pillow and cry for a while when he heard gears clicking; coming from something he couldn't identify. As it whirred, a beam of light shot up from the ground- no that wasnt the ground, that was a device.
"What the-"
Peter shakily picked up the tech, watching as a hologram video played out a scene of an elemental.
"What the- This is an elemental," he said, waving his hand through it, watching it glitch apart and stitch itself back together again.
"Does that mean..." "The elementals are fake... Mysterio, he- he did this. Oh god, I messed up-"
"What'd you do??" Peter whipped around to face MJ, wishing she would just smack him for his stupidity. Hate him for even thinking he had a cha-
"I gave him Mr. Stark's really expensive tech glasses he gave to me that have a lot of important stuff on them and a way to literally shoot missels at people. I also almost shot missels at Brad on accident a few days ago."
Mysterio had betrayed him. Everything was made of drones. Projectors that created this lifelike being.
That was why he thought his senses were messed up. His spider senses told him to shoot it at the water elemental because it was made of drones.
At least he wasn't actually that much of an idio-
"You actual idiot."
Oh yeah. He did still do something pretty idiotic...
"I know, I know just- come with me. I need to fix this."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"..Maybe if you were good enough, Tony would have still been ok."
Peter shook his head, trying to get rid of Beck's echoing voice. The thick fog that surrounding him was messing up my senses, he realized as his head began to pound. He felt like everything was fuzzy. Though, it could have also been the concussion he received after jumping off a beam, and ending up head first onto the concrete. God, He couldn't even tell if there was a wall in front of him.
"He wouldn't have lost his arm, wouldn't have to lie to the world and pretend he's dead."
Peter turned around to see a gravestone, dirty and cracked. Dark green Moss grew on the edge of it.
Anthony Edward Stark.
Peter hated that gravestone.
He knew it wasn't real but it almost was. He almost lost Tony. He-
Crack.
"Wha-" A metal Ironman hand plunged through the dirt. The rest of the decomposing body hauled itself up and began limping towards the young hero.
Peter choked on a sob, shouting in fear and stumbling away from it. God, he just wanted to go home.
But it's ok because Beck was just messing with him. This wasn't real. He was- he was-
"I really did like you Peter... it's a shame I have to do this."
Peter looked around frantically as the scene around him faded away.
"Wha-"
Everything went dark when a heavy, painful weight slammed into him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter didn't remember how he got off the tracks but when he woke up in some Netherlands jail, he only felt excruciating, nauseating pain.
Everything hurt but nothing compared to his back. When the train had hit him head on, he held onto the front and slowly pulled himself up, though, he had still scraped it against the tracks. His back was wet from blood and the sting of it made him never want to move again. He could tell from the rough, soreness of his throat that he'd screamed. Even imagining what it looked like made him want to puke.
Peter grunted and pulled himself up to his feet.
Tears gathered in his eyes at the dizzying pain. There had to be at least 2 ribs broken.
"We gave you another shirt since your costume was so dirty." Peter jumped at the sound of a voice. Looking up, he saw a few men, looking at him with a friendly smile. Their shirt thing was counterproductive because blood was still dripping from his wounds but the intention was nice.
"Oh... thanks." "Anytime friend."
"I uh- I've gotta go. Thanks again."
Peter crushed the lock and pulled the barred door open. These guys could keep a secret.
He took the police officer's phone (he had his mask so it was only fair) and ran out the door.
"Hello..?"
"Peter is that you?" "Ye-yea-"
"What the hell is going on," Tony's demanding voice rang through the speaker, making Peter flinch away.
"First I see that your heart rate's off the charts, then FRIDAY tells me you're injured and that the watch I gave you is offline, then you won't answer your phone! Did you hack the watch to hide an injury again?"
"No, I-" Peter tipped his chin to the sky, trying to stop the tears that had begun to form in his eyes. "I-I'm really sorry Tony.."
The line was silent for a moment.
"Just... what happened Pete? Are you ok?"
"I messed up," he choked out, "I need help."
"I'm already on my way. FRI tracked the call."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Pete-"
"Don't-" he gasped, holding out his bloody, shaking hands. He panicked at the mere thought of another illusion, once again making him question what reality was. "Don't come any closer! Is-is it you?"
"Of course it's me Pete.." he went to take another step but seeing Peter squeeze his eyes shut in fear and hold his hand up again made Tony stop in his tracks. His fingers shook violently and the sight of blood drenching his shirt (where the hell did that shirt come from?) made the man feel sick. Cuts and bruises scattered across his face.
Happy stood behind Tony, shocked at the way he was reacting. They'd never seen him like this, seen his eyes dart around wildly the way they did. The two of them shared a look of 'What's going on' and looked back at Peter, hearts sinking with worry.
"W-What's something only you know?"
"Something only I know?" "Y-yeah. Please.."
"Ok... On Thursday June 23rd, I took you, Peter Parker, to the airport to fight my friends," Tony said, his voice almost a whisper, careful not to scare the kid again, "Which honestly wasn't my brightest idea but hey, I wouldn't know you if I didn't. Anyway, when we were there, you were doing those little video diaries. There's one of you going on about the hotel and Happy coming in talking about thin walls. Later that night you edited together clips of your little sneak-out adventure in the suit, which I can't say I approve of." Tony rambled on, not noticing how Peter's shoulders relaxed slightly, tears welling up in his eyes.
"Especially the fact that your mask was off in multiple of those clips but those people seemed like they were too drunk to end up remembering it in the mornin-"
Tony grunted as Peter limped forward and slumped against him. The man didn't hesitate to carefully wrap his arms around his kid. He pressed his nose into his curls and sighed.
"Also that one where you were imitating Thor-"
"Shh. Don't talk about that one," Peter slurred.
Tony chuckled taking in his kid being alive but then he remembered he probably shouldn't be considering he had lost a shit ton of blood.
"God, what happened kid?"
Peter didn't answer his question, due to his very obvious exhaustion. For a moment, Tony thought he'd passed out until the boy pressed himself closer to him, sniffling.
"Hap get me the first aid kit."
He guided Peter to a chair in the quinjet, trying to ignore that a few thick drops of blood made contact with the white floor, making a 'plink' noise.
Peter stared forward as Tony gathered everything he needed to stitch him up. He made no movement until he started to flinch as the needle was pressed into his skin.
"Sorry kid," he muttered sympathetically, trying to focus. "Try and relax."
He could practically feel the tension radiating off Peter, the way he glared at the wall and more tears gathered in his already bloodshot eyes.
God, he looked like he'd gotten hit by a bus.
"Ow."
"Sorry." Tony tried to work quickly, he didn't want Peter to be in anymore pain but he didn't have anything in that first aid kit but some bandaids, gauze, and the needle. They'd used anything that could numb a wound up after Thanos when Tony was coming home with one less arm.
The kid violently flinched and shouted in frustration, banging his fist against the table. He jumped up out of his seat and turned around to rip the needle out of his back. "Peter!" Tony scolded.
The hero's shoulders shook as he paced around. Pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes, he exhaled a breath that sounded more like a sob.
"I-I can't." "What?" "I can't do it."
Stark stared at Peter as he sat down and buried his face in his hands, crying.
"Pete... What happened?"
"Beck! He- he's the one that made the elementals with all this tech and- and I found out so he tried killing me and he's going to kill all my friends! He- he used all these illusions and pushed me into tracks," he gasped, clenching his chest.
Tracks? That means-
"You got this from a train?!"
"He has your glasses. I-I gave them up." "What?" "I gave them to him. He- I didn't deserve them! I just- I can't do anything right. The world is expecting some new Ironman- I can't be that Tony!." A tense silence followed for just a few moments. Then, Happy spoke up, noticing how Tony probably needed a few seconds to push back his own panic attack.
"You're not Ironman... and never gonna be ironman kid. Nobody could live up to Tony. Not even Tony."
"Hey-"
"Buddy I love you but you need to shut it."
Tony glared at his friend and plopped down in a chair, his arms crossed.
"He's a mess. He's always been a mess- hell, with everything that's happened, we all are. I've known him for a really long time and Rhodes would tell you the same- he's always second guessed every single thing he did. But tell me Tony, did you second guess taking Peter under your wing?"
"Nope," the man replied, without an ounce of hesitation. "You don't have to be the next ironman. Just... keep being Spider-man."
Peter smiled and looked down at the ground. "Thanks.."
"So, what are you gonna do now?"
"I'm gonna kick his ass," Peter grinned, standing up once again. "I need to figure out where my class is first- Happy can I borrow your phone quick?" "Yeah sure." "What's the password?" "Password."
"Yeah. What is it?"
"Password."
Peter stopped in his tracks and let his jaw drop slightly. "You're the head of security and your password is password." "Believe me I'm embarrassed too kid," Stark said.
The two adults watched as the kid typed something into Happy's phone. Then Flash's voice rung through the speaker, speaking about London.
"London! They're in London! Ok now I need a suit."
"On it." Tony snapped his fingers and a desk emerged from the walls of the jet and some holograms of Spider-Man hovered above it. "Dibs on the music!" He announced, speeding to the front of the jet.
"Oh I love Led Zeppelin!"
"Kid-"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Just give me the glasses Beck," Peter wheezed, limping over to the dying man. The drones had gone off after Beck's desperate demand to kill. The shots had succeeded in hitting him a few times though, Beck was the one who had gotten the worst of it.
"You know, I trusted you." "I know. That's the most disappointing part," Beck laughed, "it's such a weakness." There was suddenly a flash of some sort of maniac excitement in the older man's eyes.
"You know what? You deserve them. Take the glasses." Beck's shaking hand held out the blood-stained EDITH glasses.
Suddenly, his senses gave a sharp, painful spark in the back of his head.
Peter whipped around and grabbed the real Beck's hand holding the loaded gun. It went off, missing his head by just a few inches.
The hero breathed heavily, trying to ignore how the loud ringing in his ears was beginning to hurt.
"You can't trick me anymore."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"MJ! Are you ok?" "Yeah I'm fine are you ok?" "Yeah," Peter laughed shakily, noticing how it sounded more like a sob. "Are you sure? You look... awful." Peter smiled. He loved MJ so much.
"Yeah."
"The uh- the sweaty guy that works for you.. he gave me this." She held out the necklace that was now shattered and barely noticeable.
"No... MJ Im sorry I just- I got you this necklace because it was a part of my stupid plan to give it to you in Paris when we went to the Eiffel Tower and I just thought that you'd maybe-"
She pressed her lips against Peter's and suddenly, all of his once unbearable wounds felt like they were never there because MJ was kissing him and Peter didn't think he could ever feel so much happiness in a single second.
"-...kiss me."
"Hey love birds! Ready to go? your flight's in like... half an hour. Chop chop."
Aaand the moment was ruined.
MJ whipped around and glared at Tony and Happy.
"Peter your boss is nosy," she said, loud enough to where she knew he would hear.
The man put his hands up in mock surrender. "Sorry, sorry. We'll give you a few. You two are welcome to come on the quinjet though it's just a few minutes out."
No way was Peter going to let Tony embarrass him.
"Nah. We'll just go on the other plane with our class."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MJ scrambled out of Peter's arms and held a hand to her chest. "Christ Peter... never do that again. Like- ever." "Swinging was the easiest way though! We wouldn't have gotten here on time if we didn't." "Parker we don't have a reservation or anything it's Delmar's sandwiches-"
"Breaking news! We come to you with this revelation about last week's attack in London! An anonymous source sent in this video just this morning!"
Billboard's once posting ad's for different businesses was now showing a pale-looking Quentin Beck, panting heavily.
"I managed to send the Elemental through the rift, but I-I don't think I'm gonna make it. Spider-Man attacked me for some reason. He created an army of Weaponized drones from Tony Stark's old tech. He's been saying he's the one who's gonna be the new Ironman- no one else. And that he'd kill anyone who got in his way."
"Do you want to commence the drone attack There will be significant casualties."
"Do it. Execute them all."
Wait- what?
"We can't trust spider-man. If you see him, run. Apparently, We can no longer trust the avengers. And because of this, in order to protect yourselves, I'm here to inform you-yo-y.."
The video glitched out and Peter had never heard New York so quiet.
"Sp-spider-man's real na-"
Please no.
"Spider-man's real name is Peter Parker!"
Oh Gods no.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Words- 3303
THIS TOOK ME A HOT MINUTE IM SORRY LMAO PART 3 SOON