Okay so this is a shorter update to hold you guys while I work on a longer one! The longer one is called Corrupted and it's a brilliant request from one of you lovely readers <3
May has no idea Peter is Spider-Man, only that he is Tony's intern and the two are very close.
Basically, I've mixed Miles' and Peter's stories to create this. Some of you familiar with Miles' story can guess where this is going.
We get a really happy ending <3
"I'm going to school now! I'll see you later, Mr. Stark!" Peter called, grinning as he slung his backpack over one shoulder.
A few days ago, Peter had slept over at the compound. It wasn't an abnormal experience - he did it a lot now, and May was catching on to the fact that Tony cared about him as more than a mentor: rather, as a father.
"Love you!" Tony had said, quickly and impulsively as he opened the door and Peter jumped out of the car in front of Midtown. The boy, momentarily stunned, hadn't said anything.
It had seemed like it would be a normal day.
"I'll see you after school, kid," Tony told Peter, a bit awkwardly. The boy flung his arms around Tony, smiling. "See you, Mr. Stark."
Ironic that, after everything, Peter still referred to him as Mr. Stark, not Tony.
"You didn't have to come in your fanciest car," Peter told him, wrinkling his nose in amusement as Tony grinned with pride at him as he leaned against the car door. People were gaping at them as Tony reached out and ruffled the boy's hair, smirking. "Embarrassed?" He asked smugly. "Awkward," Peter had corrected, sending a wary glance over his shoulder as Ned waved a goodbye to him next to MJ, who just flipped them both off.
Tony only wished the day could be as nice as it had started. Sadly, the universe had something against Tony Stark, and couldn't let him be happy for long.
Curious and shocked eyes had watched as Tony slid back into the car, Peter clambering in the other side.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Word has it there's a new villain on the streets," Peter said, looking up from his web shooters with an adorable grin underneath still-ruffled hair.
If only Tony had taken it more seriously.
"Yeah? What about 'em?" Tony had asked, moving toward Peter almost defensively, in spite of the safety of the lab. He wasn't letting Peter get hurt again.
Tony was wrong.
And he wasn't the one to pay for it.
"They have something against me. I think they're a hitman or something. Well, not a man, per say."
A woman, Peter had told him. Someone who was tracking Spider-Man and attempting to kill him. It wasn't exactly out of the ordinary though.
"She calls herself Lady Prowler."
It was an odd name, of course. But most criminals did have titles like that.
"Got a lot of tech. She's really efficient, and I've only seen her a few times."
Tony was assured enough to assume that Stark tech would easily outmatch this "Lady Prowler" tech, no matter what.
"Hey, so uh I was on patrol, right? But Lady Prowler is on me. I haven't lost her yet. Can you come help quickly?" Tony was out of the room in a flash.
It should've been faster.
There was an earsplitting crash as an explosion rocked the thankfully empty streets. But Tony was wrong, he realized too late. It wasn't quite empty. A small figure was blasted into the wall and lay crumpled on the ground now. A shadow shifted behind him.
Tony should've been quicker. Maybe if he'd been a few seconds faster, he would have seen the knife in the lady's hand...
A glint of silver, and Tony was too late. Even at the top speed of his repulsors, he couldn't make it in time to prevent a small flash of metal and the frantic whimpering from the small boy.
Peter.
The horrible cleanliness of the hospital room was harsh in comparison to the vivid color of Peter's blood spilling across the pavement.
Tony had dropped to his knees beside the body of his kid. Lady Prowler had receded into the shadows, still watching. He wanted to go kill her, but she wasn't the priority right now. Tony's priority was the kid bleeding out on the road.
Tony was clutching Peter's immobile hand.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Tony had ripped off Peter's mask to get a better view of the wound. Lady Prowler, in the shadows, had let out a strangled, horrified gasp.
'Yeah, that's right,' Tony had wanted to tell her. 'Spider-Man's only a kid.'
The wounds were healed better now. But not without a cost.
Comatose, pale, disconnected from all reality, he was alive.
For now.
Lady Prowler had run to Tony's side, searching through her bags for anything she could use to stop the bleeding. She pulled out bandages and gauze.
"What are you doing?" Tony had gasped, confused and terrified. "Saving his life," Lady Prowler had replied, in a very familiar voice that Tony couldn't quite place.
It was probably thanks to her that Peter was still semi-alive.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Somehow, against all odds, Iron Man and Lady Prowler ended up bandaging a battered and bleeding-out Spider-Man. Tony had picked Peter up and started to fly away when Lady Prowler cried out "Please, tell me when he's okay!"
Only once May never showed up at the hospital did Tony realize why Lady Prowler's voice seemed so familiar.
It had been a mistake. May was trying to get money for her and Peter, not knowing that Peter was Spider-Man. She only wanted the best for them. It wasn't quite an excuse, though.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Peter, feverish and gripping Tony's wrist like a vise, whispered out an answer to Tony's earlier, unanswered words. "I love you, Dad. I'm sorry."
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Tony... it's been a month. We don't know if he'll recover," Helen said ruefully one day as Tony walked in.
"I'm not giving up on him."
The dreadful silence that had followed as Tony desperately tried to keep Peter alive.
"Hey, kid. It's... been a while. People miss Spider-Man. Please, come back?" Tony swallowed past the lump in his throat.
"Don't be sorry. Stay with me."
"Hey, Peter. I can't... please. It's been six months. I can't do this without you. Your friends miss you, Queens misses you, and nothing's been the same without you."
Beep. Beep. Beep.
No response from Peter. Only a quiet notification from FRIDAY that Peter's pulse was rapidly dropping.
"Tony... it's been half a year," Cho told him regretfully. "He wouldn't want this."
That much was true. Peter would hate thinking that he was stuck being 'a burden' - not that he could ever be one.
Pepper put a gentle hand on his back, and Tony turned to hide his face. Natasha let out a small sob and buried her face in Clint's shoulder. Steve looked at the ground, a tear slowly tracing down his face. Bucky, T'Challa, and Shuri had made an appearance from Wakanda, and Shuri had been feeling incredibly guilty for not being able to help Peter.
"It's a simple injection. It's your choice, of course, but..." Helen studied the floor. Clearly she didn't want to be the bearer of bad news.
"We have to," Pepper told Tony softly. The man nodded reluctantly.
"I want to be the one to do it," Tony insisted. Helen hesitated, but at an encouraging nod from Bruce, she handed Tony a syringe.
Tony gently pushed loose strands of hair out of Peter's face.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"I love you," He whispered, kissing the boy's forehead. Peter should be awake, sixteen and excited at whatever new ideas that he, Ned, and MJ had.
No response.
Tony, with a steady hand that he was astonished wasn't shaking, inserted the syringe into Peter's vein.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"I can't-" Tony gasped, pulling it back out precisely without pushing the fluid in.
Helen and Pepper traded sympathetic looks.
"I can't let him die. Please."
A doctor gave Helen a nod. Helen took the syringe from Tony and put it into Peter's arm, then pushed the plunger down.
Tony was screaming.
"Please, kid, no, stay with me, I know you can do it, you're stronger than this!"
Beep. Beep.
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-
"Peter, please. I can't do this without you."
-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-
"You're the best person I know. You can make it through this."
-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-
Tony collapsed on the floor next to Peter's bed.
-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-
Natasha's eyes were blurred with tears. "If anyone can do it, you can," She whispered.
-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-
MJ was standing, hands clasped so tight her knuckles were turning white.
"Please."
-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-
Tony clasped Peter's hand, hopes fading.
"Stay with me."
-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Beep. Beep.
Helen's eyes widened with shock.
"His powers," Steve breathed in relief, smiling.
Shuri's eyes lit up suddenly. "If he can withstand that..." A small smile started to grow on her face.
"You just had an idea," Tony accused, dizzy with relief and excitement.
"It's just a theory. But if he can take what would normally kill 10 people - that was the modified serum, too! - then he might be able to live through this. Okay, bear with me. It was an idea I had, stimulating parts of the brain that were unresponsive through electrical impulses. The issue was, the electricity required would be fatal to anyone, because it's just as lethal as that injection. They've been scaled, and they're the same. If Peter lived through that, we might be able to wake him up," Shuri rambled.
MJ brightened. "You're a genius!" She breathed, catching on. "If we can stimulate the cerebrum, and reduce the exertion of the thalamus using shock levels that high, it should be able to snap him out of it..."
A helpful guide: they can go zap-zap very strong and the brain will be like 'o wow lets respond to the zap-zap and wake up'.
"Why didn't you think of this before?" A doctor challenged.
Shuri glared at him. "Because before, there was a chance of him waking up on his own. And we had previously assumed that this would kill him."
"And you're sure it won't kill him this time?" Tony inquired.
Shuri hesitated. "It's... unlikely. Rhodey, can you run the equations for me as I start getting it set up?"
Rhodey grinned at her. "I knew MIT would come in handy."
They were all riding on adrenaline that comes before you process something that just happened.
"Shit," Tony breathed. "My kid almost just died. I almost just killed him."
MJ shot Tony a glare when she heard. "It was with his best interests in mind. If you blame yourself, I swear I will punch you another goddamn year into the future," She threatened.
Natasha looked up from converting her Widow's Bites to be useful for the procedure.
"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk," The woman pointed out, making a joke for the first time in a year.
"Nat, I'm literally going to kill you."
Natasha sipped her tea innocently. "You could try," She told Steve sweetly.
"He's comatose. I don't... I don't know when he'll be back. Or... if," Helen told Tony uncertainly, rocking on her heels as she cast a nervous look back into the room.
"He'll be back. As long as I'm here, he's always going to come back."
--------a few days later--------
"Mr. Stark?"
Tony never thought he'd be so happy to hear those two words.
He fell back into his chair, a hand clapped over his mouth and tears rolling down his cheeks.
"What happened?" Peter asked blearily, not quite realizing where they were.
"You died. But then you didn't. And- you were asleep for a - a long time," Tony managed, struggling to find the words.
Peter's eyes narrowed. "Just how long was it?" He inquired, looking around.
"Six months," Tony replied, physically restraining himself from hugging Peter to death.
"Six?" Peter yelled, then clapped a hand to his mouth and muttered a "sorry."
"Never. Never say that again. I never want to hear you apologize for anything," Tony said sternly.
"Oh! Ah, sor- that is, I won't?" Peter told/asked him. Tony smiled proudly through tears.
"Where is everyo-" Realization dawned in Peter's eyes. "May," He whispered hoarsely.
"She ran," Tony told him reluctantly. "I got a note... she explained everything. How she was short on money for you two and decided to take a job in order to make money. Turned out to be a shit deal. May disappeared. She's a good person, but was misled into thinking you were a bad person. Turns out you and her have a similar guilt complex. She... left a phone number. For you to call when you woke up."
Peter nodded hesitantly. "I'll call... later I guess."
Tony buried Peter in a not-too-tight hug, ignoring tears tracing down his face.
"Peter?" Tony whispered. "Thank you for staying. I love you, kid."
The answer was faint but definitely there.
"I love you too, Dad. I'm not leaving."
Short, depressing, but led through to cute stuff in the end.
Hope you enjoyed! I'm currently working on a longer update, sorry this was a bit late! <3