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a cliche where he never leaves
her side and they realize they're
both in love with each other
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ok so the episode i watched today was SO CUTE. i had to write it down before i forgot. and yes. im doing a dr strange cameo even though hes specifically a neurosurgeon im making him a general doctor in this
sorry this is kinda long its like 2500 words almost! i didn't want to split it up again sooo
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"Seriously?" you spoke tiredly into the phone and Peter glanced up at the hospital building, "you promised to protect me...like a bodyguard...how could you leave me without my permission? You told me to be within your sight. You said as long as I stay within your sight I'd be safe."
Peter walked up to the crosswalk and crossed the street to make his way over to you, despite the fact his lungs were screaming at him to stop because all he'd been doing for the past several minutes was running.
"Come back now," you pleaded, "I miss you."
"I'm coming, I'm coming," he replied, picking up the pace, "I'm coming now."
He started sprinting, sprinting past all the other pedestrians, down the sidewalk and burst through the doors of the hospital, running as fast as his legs could possibly take him.
"Excuse me, ma'am, which room is Y/N Stark in?" Peter asked in a hurried tone, completely out of breath as he'd just sprinted two miles straight and his clothes were beginning to stick to his skin, "I'm a family friend. I need to see her ASAP."
"One moment, please," the nurse held up a finger as she typed away on her keyboard before looking back up again, "Peter Parker, is that right? She's in room 307. Thanks to Dr. Strange and his team, the surgery went very well and she should wake up at any moment now."
"Thank you so much," he breathed out, and the woman gave him a friendly wave as he quickly dashed up the stairs, not even bothering to take the elevator because he knew he didn't have that sort of patience to wait.
People gave him confused glances as he dashed down the halls but he didn't care, running straight up the three flights of stairs without stopping and bursting through the doors to your room.
You turned your head to the side and noticed him there, breathing heavily and watery, red-rimmed eyes that held a worried gaze to them unlike anything you'd seen before. He bit his lower lip that began to tremble as he attempted to keep his tears at bay but you could tell he was struggling to do so.
It was easy to tell that he hadn't gotten any sleep at all in the past three days in which the doctors had told you you'd been asleep for, with bloodshot eyes and heavy dark circles underneath. Tony tried to drag him back home to get some rest but he wouldn't budge, waiting outside until he got any sort of news at all. Steve and Natasha tried forcing him to at least eat something, but he refused to. Sam and Pietro failed to get a laugh out of him, even with what they considered to be their greatest puns of all time. Frankly, everyone was worried not only for you but how worried he was.
"Why," he squeezed his eyes shut as a few tears slipped down his cheeks, "did you jump into such a dangerous scene? You have no fear, don't you? You could've actually died. What if you actually died?"
HIs voice broke and he struggled to regain his composure. "How am I supposed to live, then? How am I supposed to live without you?"
You took in a deep breath and fixated your gaze on his, "Don't be ridiculous. You make it sound like I'm the only one who did that. You did the same thing before, too. You tried sacrificing yourself. Sacrificing your life. You almost died for me."
"This is different," Peter shook his head, "this isn't the same thing."
"It's not any different."
"You said you always trusted me. That you trusted me to be the one who'd always be watching over you no matter what happened, in the case that your dad or one of the others was unable to. You said I was supposed to protect you."
"Seriously?" you croaked out. "It was really hard for me to wake up. And you keep saying nonsense. Until when will you keep being angry at me?"
He curled one of his hands into a fist and pressed it up against his mouth to prevent a sob from escaping.
"Please," you begged, "please don't do this to me, please-"
Peter shook his head again and sat down next to you, leaning down to pull you into his arms and engulfing you in a tight hug.
His body heaved with dry, racking sobs but you still felt safe nonetheless, and continued to hold him as tight as you could, being able to feel the hot tears that were rolling down his face staining your shirt in dark spots.
"I love you," he murmured.
You stared upwards in shock, unknowing of how to reply but before you had the chance to think about how to reply he pulled away, and you were surprised at how cold it felt when he did.
"I was really scared I wouldn't be able to tell you this," he looked at you with a pained expression on his tear-stained face, "I was really scared that I'd be too late. The others kept pushing me to say something but I said no every time because I was scared, but really, that fear was nothing compared to this. Knowing I could've lost you out there was so much worse. Knowing that you could've died before I had the chance to tell you I loved you and knowing you almost died on my behalf felt so much worse. Then I would never be able to forgive myself for as long as I lived."
"I was scared too," you looked back up into those deep brown eyes of his, "I had a long dream, but...I couldn't find you there. I wanted to wake up from it so badly."
He nodded as the rest of his tears flowed freely down his face and leaned back down to embrace you again.
"I love you too," you sobbed into his broad shoulder as one of his arms carefully snaked around your torso, "I'm sorry for not saying it sooner either, I just-"
"Shh, I know, it's okay," he soothed, smoothing your hair back gently, "I know. Just...thank god you're okay now."
"Uh...Tony...should we go in yet?"
"Not yet, Wilson," the billionaire hissed and nudged Sam in the shoulder as the Avengers all gathered around to peer through the small window in your door, "kiddies are having a moment. Let 'em be."
Steve and Natasha exchanged knowing smiles.
"So when did you first call it?" she poked his arm. "I said beginning of this year."
"Beginning of last year," he smirked, "the way they were looking at each other during paintball? Refusing to shoot at each other even though they were on opposing teams? That was it for sure."
"Oh yeahhhhh. You're right."
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When you woke up in the morning he was still there, his legs curled around yours and his hand gripping yours tightly as he breathed softly. You smiled and admired the sight for a few seconds before adjusting him so you could sit up.
"Heya there, champ, how you feeling?"
"Cap!" you grinned, and Steve gave your shoulder a tight squeeze. "I hope I didn't worry you guys too much."
"You kind of did, but you scared the living daylights out of Petey here," he pointed to Peter asleep on your shoulder, "Tony and I tried bringing him back home to make him get some sleep but he wouldn't. Stuck by your side and waited for you the entire time. He looked like a mess."
You couldn't help but chuckle at his determination. "Aww, he's too sweet."
"I'm telling you, kiddo, he really loves you."
"If I'm being honest here I'd do the same, though..."
"No, he really loves you. As more than a friend."
"Oh..."
"Look, I know you still can't eat right now, but you'll be able to later for lunch since the doctor said it was fine. Nat and I are going to go pick up something, what do you want? Thai food sound okay?" Steve suggested.
"Thai sounds good," you agreed, "thanks."
"No prob."
You laid back and at that moment Peter stirred and woke up.
"Sorry I fell asleep on you," he apologized with a sheepish grin. "I was going to stay up all night and watch over you to make sure you were okay since the doctor wasn't able to make his rounds, but...guess that didn't work out..."
"No, no...it's fine," you reassured him, "you needed the extra sleep anyways..."
"How's the bullet wound doing? Scar?" Peter questioned.
"It's okay. I was told it'd take a couple months for it to go away completely, so until then I guess I'll have to pull a Natasha and say bye-bye bikinis. She says we can match that way. Ha ha. Ugh. It's kinda big, though. And it's gonna be annoying."
"I don't know if I can even call that a scar, though..." he raised an eyebrow at you and raised the hem of his shirt up slightly, "it should be about this big."
Your eyes widened. "What's that? Is that a sword cut? How many stitches did they give you?"
"Fourteen, one dude brandished a giant blade and flourished it at me," he explained, "I even got the stitches without anesthesia. Wanda said that wasn't such a good idea but I went through with it anyways."
"Seriously? Even without anesthesia?" you stared in disbelief. "That must have hurt a lot. You're really amazing. And brave."
"It's no big deal," he tried to look nonchalant as he tugged his shirt back down but then he slid his jacket off and unbuttoned the top of his shirt, showing you another scar on his left shoulder, "You saw this before. When I was shot in Switzerland."
"Right, I saw that..." you tilted your head, "Did it hurt a lot? How much did it hurt? Well...I should know more now that I've gone through it too and it wasn't just a simple graze..."
"Oh, right," his eyes lit up with realization and he turned around, "there's one more on my back too."
"Christ's sake, that's...that's bad," you spluttered as he sat down on the edge of your bed, "you really have been through hell, haven't you?"
"We all have," he shrugged, then bent his head down slightly, "and I think there's one on my head too. I don't remember how I got it, though."
"Oh, yeah, there's one," you peered over and lightly touched the top of his head, "it must've hurt a lot."
"There was a time," he tilted his head back up and met your gaze once again and pointed at his nose, "I got injured here, too."
"Here?" You tried to search for a hint of a scar but came up with nothing. "But I don't see anything here."
Right at that moment he leaned closer and gently brushed his lips over yours, letting them linger there for a bit before pulling away.
You were left speechless with a light pink tinge shading your cheeks and you both stared at each other in awkward silence for several moments.
"Ahh, this smells so good," the door opened and Bucky walked through with the rest of the team, inhaling the rich aroma wafting up from the to-go bags, "we got a total steal here-"
Everyone stopped dead in their tracks and froze on the spot when they noticed Peter leaning over you with the top of his shirt unbuttoned.
"What's going on?" Bruce looked around in confusion as evil grins and smirks crossed over the looks of everyone else. Too shocked to speak, Tony covered Pietro's and Wanda's eyes with his hands as they were the only other teenagers in the room.
"I-it's not what you think," Peter stuttered as his cheeks flushed a deep red, "I was just-"
"Jeez, Y/N, you just woke up," Sam sighed, rubbing his forehead, "you can't just take his shirt off like that already-"
"I didn't unbutton his shirt," you replied, cutting him off before he could finish his sentence.
"And I didn't do that either," Peter added.
You whipped around and both stared at each other in shock.
"Then why is your shirt unbuttoned, Peter?" Bucky tried to stifle a laugh and Thor simply stood next to him in pure shock. "Out of all places in the world, you had to try and get it on in a hospital?"
Peter quickly buttoned up his shirt and brushed it off.
"Would you like us to eat outside, Sir Parker?" Thor offered. "We can just give you your guys' food, and some privacy if that is what you prefer."
"No!" you raised your voice but quickly quieted down. "No. You guys can just eat in here."
Wanda put yours and Peter's food onto a tray and the rest of the team settled down around the couches, and Peter slid his jacket back on.
"Wait," Peter put a hand on your shoulder when you attempted to sit up abruptly and winced in pain, "Don't rush yourself. You injured your lungs so you should be careful. Just hold my hand now, and try to take it easy, okay?"
You gripped his hand tightly and sat up, leaning against your bed, and he smiled in relief as he opened the togo boxes of your guys' food.
"So, what about some spicy pad thai?" Pietro broke the silence. "We should eat something spicy if we're feeling nauseated."
Bucky and Rhodey snorted.
"Bruce and I will just have some fried rice," Tony said. "Fried rice sounds good."
Later on after everyone was finished eating, you grabbed a Starbucks frappe drink from your nightstand and were about to twist it open when Peter took it from your grip.
"I'll go heat this up."
"What are you doing, Peter?" your brows furrowed in confusion, "I'm fine. It's just a frappe. I can have it cold."
"If you drink something cold with a gunshot wound, it can make the injury worse. It's common sense."
"Since when did it become common sense?"
"It...it always has been."
He nodded and went off to go heat it up, coming back within five minutes and handing the drink back to you, screwing it open for you. "Here you go."
You grabbed the remote next to you but he also quickly snatched that from your grip. "I'll press the button for you. What channel?"
"Channel 20."
This kept happening over and over; every time you attempted to do something on your own he'd stop you before you could, acting overprotective and worried that you'd somehow hurt yourself.
"Helloooo?" Sam waved, "have you forgotten that we're still here, lovebirds?"
Peter didn't hear them and brushed a stray hair behind your ear. "Hey, your hair's in your face."
"Cute," Tony coughed, "Very cute."
"I have to admit, I agree," Steve agreed.