It's short, but it's content.
Basically it's a part of Whumptober 2019. I had no inspiration but I decided to get something out here tonight, though it's really short. Hopefully you guessed by the title that it was a whump, plus I just said it up there ^ but if you don't know what that is...
Whump is like physical pain while angst would be more emotional. That's the best way I could describe it.
Anyways, enjoy the little bit of content I'll get out!
Peter honestly hated the galas that Tony brought him to. After being outed to the world as Mr. Stark's 'intern', it only made sense that he would have to show up at some point.
At any rate, people were starting to get suspicious that Tony Stark's personal and closest intern was never anywhere to be seen, despite the fact that multiple less-important interns were regularly there.
Currently, Peter was sitting at the bar with Natasha, drinking a lemonade.
"You don't seem to be having much fun," She pointed out wryly, lips twitching up in a hint of amusement.
Peter widened his eyes exaggeratedly. "Oh, really? What gave it away?"
Natasha smirked a bit at his retort. "I honestly wish we could ditch," She said noncommittally. "Yeah, well. You can imagine what the press would think. 'Stark's Intern Leaves Party With Black Widow: Is Peter Parker Secretly a Spy?'" Peter imitated with a grin.
The woman nudged him with an elbow, and Peter just laughed. Natasha was clearly hiding a smile.
Multiple people were watching the two as they chatted, although Peter was trying to ignore them. He could hear them whispering - he had enhanced senses, for crying out loud.
"Who knows? For all they do, you could be a spy," Natasha replied, amused. "Yeah, but there's one flaw in that plan, Auntie Tasha. I'm not."
Peter saw out of the corner of his eye that a few people averted their gazes at his words.
"Kid! Nat!" Tony called, approaching the two with a wide grin. Peter straightened instinctively at the sound of his voice. "Hello, Mr. Stark," He said quickly. That was how they were expected to act in public. Professional. Because as far as they knew, there was no relationship further than businesslike. Not a mentor-protégé relationship. And certainly not a father-son one.
Even so, Tony flinched slightly at the cool formality of the words, without any hint of emotion. Peter winced, trying to send a message with his eyes - sorry.
Tony got the message and understanding flashed in his eyes. "Ah- uh, yes, hello, Peter," He amended quickly. Hey, Nat." Peter gave Tony a skeptical look. He kind of already blew his cover, but whatever.
"What's up?" Tony backtracked awkwardly. Peter slammed his face into the table. Natasha poked him with a small grin. "Not much. How are you, Tony?" She inquired, amusement clear in her tone.
"Well, I'm about to have to go make a speech. I wanted to see if my ki - ahem, Peter - would like to be up there with me."
Peter hesitated. Sure, it would be cool. But it would be boring, not to mention embarrassing as hell. Tony turned to him with a smothered hopeful look.
"I- uh, sure, Mr. Stark. Sounds good!" Peter stammered out after a pause. After all, people may end up wondering why he wasn't there. With the way things were going, it may end up seeming more suspicious and less formal.
Tony smiled slightly in a poorly-disguised expression of relief. Natasha grinned at him. "Knock 'em out."
Peter raised an eyebrow at her. The woman only smirked. "Literally or figuratively."
Tony tossed an arm around Peter's shoulders, grinning as he guided them through the crowd. They climbed onto a small stage in the midst of a lot of people.
As soon as Tony cleared his throat, silence fell across the room, faces turning obediently to see the man.
"Hello," Tony began with a small smirk. "Those of you here clearly know who I am."
A small laugh rippled through the crowd - though, Peter could tell, was mostly just polite and in anticipation.
"Stark Industries would like to thank..."
Peter stopped paying attention in a second.
Spidey Senses.
Peter looked around the crowd, trying to pinpoint the exact location of the danger to him.
No.
Not a danger to him.
To Tony.
A shadow shifted in the corner of the room.
Peter was across the stage in less than a second as the deafening bang echoed through the room.
A glint of metal, his Spidey Senses going off, a horrible and tearing pain, then silence and blackness.
Tony's POV
Tony saw it before he heard anything.
Well, he didn't precisely see the danger. He only saw the quick flash of a shadow moving.
Then he heard the crack of a gunshot.
Finally came the glimpse of brown hair, a pressure slamming into him, and then Tony was tumbling to the ground, gasping for air.
A gunshot, Tony realized. Somebody had shot him.
But no. That wasn't the weight he was feeling. That was-
"Peter!" Tony yelled, terrified.
Tony wasn't the one who was shot. Although he wished that he were, and with an immense dread, he thought he knew exactly what had happened.
Peter had gotten over to Tony's side of the stage. That was no accident.
With a terrible certainty, Tony processed the events.
Peter had taken a bullet for him.
People were screaming and running around in terror. Natasha silently moved toward the corner inconspicuously, then hurled a knife directly at the shadowy figure with the gun. It lodged through the figure's shirt and into the wall, immobilizing them.
Tony's heart was racing as Peter slid off of him and onto the ground. Tony frantically searched for where the bullet went in as Happy yelled for a medic.
Seeing the bloody wound in Peter's chest, Tony pressed the boy's suit down around the site, hoping to staunch the bleeding. Tony looked around for any sign of a doctor. Happy was barking orders into a transceiver and running over to the attacker as Natasha came toward the two.
Shit.
Tony knew he should have had more Avengers come. Maybe one of them would have noticed as well - besides Peter.
"Fuck. Kid, why would you do that?" Tony muttered, mostly to himself.
Peter squeezed his hand dazedly. "You couldn't take a bullet," He said, sounding as if he were a hundred miles away.
Tony looked away as Helen ran onto the scene.
You shouldn't have to.
--------
It was a few hours until Peter was out of the surgery-esque operation that Helen had done.
In that time, Tony had been dazed in grief and horror.
Clint had come in to check up on him, and the only thing he was able to stammer out was "This is my fault".
And it was.
If Tony had known- or if he had just taken the bullet instead of Peter, then the boy wouldn't be in the Med Bay right now.
He had to apologize once Peter was okay.
Peter had to be okay.
Only after the final touches was Tony allowed into the room, much to his displeasure. He should've been allowed in much long ago.
"Hey, kid," Tony whispered to the unconscious Peter as he walked into the room.
"I'm sorry."
"I should've done something."
"This is my fault."
After a pause, Tony chuckled wryly.
"The people filming at the gala got a clip of you taking the bullet. Everyone wants to know if you're okay. They're spamming your Twitter page, not to mention the Avengers' page."
Tony sighed at the silence.
"It's not the same without you. Please come back."
----------
And a few hours later, he did.
"You will never take a bullet for me again. EVER," Tony lectured, more scared than angry. Of course, he wasn't angry at all, just relieved.
Peter laughed a bit. "No promises."
"ExCUSE ME?"
I did a cute little whumpy one shot just to get some content out there. Hope you liked it!