TW- GUN VIOLENCE
*3RD POV*
Peter didn't know what to do.
The moment replayed in his head over, and over again. He couldn't stop it, god, it wouldn't stop! He was numb. He couldn't hear anything, couldn't feel anything.
Tony's blood on his fingers
His body motionless on the ground.
Being pulled away, screaming for his mentor.
~~~Earlier~~~
"Peter, Tony! Get upstairs we've got an emergency!" The two looked at each other for a moment. Normally when Steve said there was an emergency it wasn't too important. Tony's words, not Peter's. Last time he said there was an emergency, it was because he couldn't figure out youtube and was asking why these strangers were talking to him. As expected, it was just a damn video.
When they got up from the lab, everyone was already gathered around. It was quiet except for Tony, who made sure to share his annoyance.
"What is it this time Rogers?" "SHIELD contacted me and apparently, we've got a Giant robot on our hands."
Ugh this was complete bs. They could all just lounge around today but instead, they were fighting some big hunk of metal. What's next? It shoots lasers from its eyes?
"Who sent it?" "They believe it's Osborn Industries." "Makes sense. C'mon this shouldn't be too hard. Their tech's always been shit," Tony scoffed, calling his suit.
As expected, it didn't take much work to finish the mission. The bot was strong and hard to beat but it didn't last long, as Natasha and Clint broke into Osborn and took down the controllers. With the Robot turned off, SHIELD was able to take it and break it down to just parts themselves. Though, there was still the cleanup left.
Tony tapped his helmet. "Kid. You there?" "Yeah Mr. Stark. Are you ok?" "Yeah Pete. You?" "Mhm. Just a little- uh- shaken. The bot took down a lot of buildings." "Yeah? Well It's going to be alright. You got a lot of people evacuated. You did great. What do you say we blow this popsicle stand and grab some donuts and take 'em back to the tower." "But... the debris." "Don't worry, the others have got it. Besides, your metabolism's probably got you starving by now." "Yeah... a little."
He tapped through to the other coms. "Guys I'm taking the kid to grab a snack. I'll meet you back at the tower, yeah?" Steve began to protest but was cut off by the others chorusing agreements. The kid was new to missions and didn't need to see the aftermath and deaths.
Tony had already had a meeting with everyone (but Peter) about this. Peter would have to deal with seeing it on the news to begin with and Tony didn't want him to loose that last bit of innocence he had left by letting him see the bloodshed. It was bad enough seeing it on patrol some days...
"C'mon kid. I'll have FRI send a backpack so you can change."
~~~~Time Skip~~~~
The duo went to the nearest donut shop, which surprisingly, wasn't in shambles.
"You know what you want Pete?" "Yep."
"We should get a lot of donuts. Like, a lot," Tony said. Peter's eyes widened slightly. " How much is that supposed to be?" "Kid you know me. How much do you think is a lot for me?" "...An unhealthy amount." "There it is," he exclaimed humorously.
They got 4 big boxes of donuts. Tony wanted to get more than that but Peter told the donut guy not to give them any more.
"That's it?" He asked. "Yes, thank you!"
Before they could walk out of the shop, someone muttered, "Not so fast."
Tony raised an eyebrow, turning around to face the person. "I'm sorry... what do you want," he asked, sarcasm lacing his voice. "Him."
The air got tense as the man pointed to Peter. "I- what do you want with him? Leave him out of this," he demanded. Tony got in front of him protectively. "He's not just an intern Stark. What's he doing with you right after you finished fighting with the avengers, huh?"
"No. He's nothing more than an intern," he lied. "I picked him up for food, is there anything wrong with that?" "Yes, in fact. Where's spider-man?" Thank the gods there was no one inside the store anymore. Most people had scattered. The store owner was ducked inside his office and probably couldn't hear them.
"He's helping with the cleanup. Him though, he'd be too young to be Spider-Man. He's just a kid."
Ouch, Peter thought.
Tony squeezes his shoulder as if to say 'Sorry kid.'
"I'm done playing your games Stark. He means something to you." "Does he now?"
The back of Peter's shirt was balled up in Tony's fist.
"You don't think so, huh? How about a little experiment... You like those, don't you Stark?" The man cocked his gun.
As the gun was fired, Tony threw Peter to the side by his shirt.
"Oh fuck!" The man shouted, running out of the shop with his gun thrown to the floor.
"Mr. Stark!" Peter dropped down next to the man. "Tony, oh god." He'd gotten shot. His breath was ragged, coming out in quick hot huffs. Despite that, Tony gave a shaky smile. "Pete- you-... good..? P'shed yo... hard." Peter choked back a sob. Tony was laying on the floor bleeding out and he was still worried if Peter was ok since 'he threw him to the ground hard.'
"Yeah Tony I'm fine. You're gonna be too. I-" god, he needed help. "Help!" He yelled. "Pl-please help!"
The donut guy came out saying he'd already called the police several minutes before. As if on cue, sirens could be heard. They put Tony on a stretcher and pulled him away. Peter protested as he was pulled back.
Every noise around him was drowned out by shock and helplessness. He wanted to go with Tony! What if he never saw him again? Oh god, this was just like uncle Ben all over again!
"Tony!" He shouted. "Plea-please let me go with him!" A crowd was staring at him but he couldn't bring himself to care. He took a step forward wanting to chase after them but was suddenly pulled back by his shoulders into an embrace.
Rhodey.
The avengers had just gotten there, hearing what'd happened. Not being able to hold back the tears, he cried against Rhodey's chest. The man didn't mind. He just held onto Peter tightly, doing his best to comfort him.
He didn't remember being guided to the quinjet. He didn't remember walking into the avengers compound without Tony.
He just realized he was sitting on the couch in the living room. The place they'd have movie nights. The place Peter would fall asleep because he stayed up too late the night before studying.
Hot tears began streaking down his cheeks as he hugged his legs to his chest.
Uncle Ben died from the same thing. Surely Tony would. That guy wanted Peter and he had jumped in front of him. The bullet was meant for Peter. He would have survived. He's dealt with a bullet wound before!
"Hey Pete?" Peter buried his head further into his knees at the sound of Steve's voice. He'd cried in front of everyone. Some superhero he was. He couldn't even save his mentor.
(Pete you spelled dad wrong-)
"Peter?" "...What?" "Tony's awake." Immediately, Peter's head snapped up, eyes still wet.
"He's ok?"
"Yes. And he wants to see you. We had him brought to medbay when he was stable." "...Is he... mad at me?" "What? Pete why would he be mad at you?" "He- the guy- he pointed that gun at me- he wanted me! Tony pushed me out of the way I-"
"Peter, listen to me. I've known Tony for years and I've never seen him care for someone as much as he cares about you." The boy looked away. "I mean... he cares about you guys. And Pep and Rhodey have to count."
Steve laughed. "Kid he think's we're all stupid! Yeah he does care for Pep and Rhodey but I'd say you're different." "...Thanks." "So, are you going to see him?" "Oh! Yeah- yeah. Thanks Mr. Rogers!" Peter exclaimed and he ran off to see Tony.
He paused at the door for a moment.
Did Tony really want to see him after that?
This wouldn't have happened if Peter just webbed him. He could've thought faster! It was his fault!
"Kid?"
Tony's voice came from the other side of the door. Friday probably alerted him he was at the door. Peter slowly opened it, probably looking pathetic.
"...Hi..." "Well don't you look happy to see me," he quipped. Tony's eyes then furrowed. "Are you ok kiddo?" "I- what?" "Are you ok? Nothing bruised, broken...? I pushed you kinda hard back there. You haven't gotten checked for any injuries since the mission have you?" "Wha- how are you asking me that I-I- you got shot and that bullet was supposed to hit me-" Tony reached out for his kid. "Peter-" he jerked his hand away. "You could've died and It- It was just like Uncle Ben! I screwed up again and I told myself I wouldn't!"
Peter inhaled sharply, trying to hold his tears back.
"Peter... You didn't screw up. There was absolutely nothing you did wrong. You've been doing so great kid." "It was just like last time," he hiccuped. Peter squeezed his eyes shut as memories flooded his mind.
"The bullet was going for me and- and Ben jumped in front of me and I could've saved him I- I had my spider powers just like earlier and I froze up again! I messed up! That night I said I'd never freeze up again and I still did! I-I let you and Ben down..."
"Pete. I want you to listen to me," Tony began, his eyes full of sympathy and determination. "You could never let me down. And I'm 100% sure Ben doesn't feel let down either. What you've done since then is- Sorry Cap but- fucking remarkable. I know I can't force you to stop blaming yourself for this as much as I'd love to, but anything I can do to help you, I'd do it in a heartbeat kid. Therapy, a movie, just a hug- whatever. I know you and I know you're upset I pushed you out of the way instead of letting it happen but I think I just explained myself there Pete."
"...Thanks Mr. Stark." "Na ah kiddo. I may be a little high still but I vaguely remember you calling me Tony." "I- Sure... Oh yeah the- uh- donut guy, apparently his name was Mr. Murphy, he still gave us the donuts. And more. I guess he kinda felt bad for me..." Peter said, scratching the back of his neck. "Well who can say no to free donuts?" For the first time in what felt like decades, Peter smiled. Tony was... ok. He was fine, he was alive. "One sec," he said, going to grab one of the boxes of donuts.
"Wait kid," Tony said, his voice shaking with the laughter he was trying to hold back.
"Donut leave me."
He then laughed at his own joke. Peter smirked. "Yeah, I think you're still high." "Wha- hey! I don't think I'd be able to make a speech like that off the top of my head if I was! And that was a great joke!" "It was a dad joke, that's what it was." "Does that mean it was good," he asked, oblivious.
"I-... Yeah. It's a great joke."
And so, Peter left the room to grab the many boxes of donuts he was given.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Words: 1965
What's an Irondad one shot book without Tony getting hurt and Peter blaming himself? I don't think I've seen many without it lmao
Also, Tony making dad jokes without knowing what they are is amazing-
So when I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with this I thought "Meh it's too cliche for them to go to get ice cream. They always do that" and I also wanted Tony to make a dad joke sooo
✨DONUTS✨
Welp have a great day/afternoon/ night :)
<3000 :D