#hurt!peter

You and Peter had been best friends for years. Something just clicked between the two of you when you first sat together at lunch when you were five. You had become a part of his family, spending most of your time in his apartment. May had come to think of you has her daughter, much like she saw Peter her son. When Peter got the flu you found yourself reheating chicken soup in his kitchen when May was at work. Sometimes she thought that there was something more going on between the two of you, there wasn’t, but she isn’t the only one who thinks so.

When Peter became Spider-man, he made a promise to himself, to never let you get hurt. Not that you knew this. After Tony Stark had found the ‘kid’ he took him under his wing. Peter spent three hours after school at Stark Towers training and making improvements on his suit. Tony had often told Peter to bring you the tower after hearing him talk about you every day. Once Tony found out that you were just Peters friend, he wanted to know why Peter hadn’t taken your relationship further.

Peter’s explanation to Tony was that he didn’t want to see you get caught up in the mess or worse get hurt. Tony understood this after seeing Pepper go through the exact thing he was describing. It pained Tony how similar Peter was to him, such an age difference and a completely different ego. He had to give it to Peter, the kid had heart.

Although Peter told you he had a Stark internship you didn’t quite believe him however you trusted him, he had never lied to you before. Even when you were 14 and your dog died, and your family told you that it went to live on a farm. He couldn’t lie to you despite your parents having your best interests at heart. The dog was your mini you, she followed you around wherever you went and just generally didn’t leave your side, not even when you got sick. Weeks, you spent weeks crying over her and how your parent’s deceit had done this. You made Peter promise to never to lie to you, knowing full well that he wouldn’t anyway. He had your full trust from the day he told you, followed with the days he stuck by your side whilst you grieved.

The chemistry homework you had been working on is discarded on your desk for you to complete, you are sat on your bed watching a movie. It was meant to be movie night with Peter, but yet again he had let you down again. This was becoming a more frequent thing in return promises of you choosing the movies the next time and him cooking grilled cheese (he made it better than anyone else).

The horror movie you had put on was full of jump scares so due to this you had climbed under your covers holding them up to your face. This did nothing to help with the scares, but it made you feel safer and more at ease. Regretfully you had chosen to put the film on when it was dark outside with practically no moonlight. Thinking about what to do when you had had enough of the jump scares, not being able to make it to the end of the movie you hopped off your bed to turn on the light.

That’s when you first see it, or rather see him. Peters’ bloody face. This more of a scare than those in the film. He is crouched on your window ledge, one arm holding the ledge clutching something, the other wrapped around his ribs. What shocks you the most is not the blood falling from the cuts on his face, but the Spider-man suit adorning his body. Shakily you step towards your window to let your best friend in not quite believing the sight in front of you. Once the window is open Peter falls into your arms, trying his best not to put his full weight on you. Helping him to the bed you look at him with teary eyes, disbelief coursing through your veins.

“I I I I can e e explain. It’s n n n not what it l l l looks like” he stutters, breathing shallow. His eyes fixed on your face.

“Is this some kind of joke Peter? You turn up at my window at god knows what time, dressed up in fancy dress coming back from some kind of fight. Was it Flash? Did he do this to you?” your mind was whirling at speeds you hadn’t noticed before. Jumping to conclusion after conclusion about how your daft best friend ended up in this situation. You had patched him up when you were younger after he had gotten into fights defending you, but never ones quite this bad.

“okay. M M Maybe it is what it looks like. This isn’t a a a costume. This is real.” His stutter was slowly disappearing as he was able to take deeper breaths having found comfort on your bed. “you think Flash could do this to me? God no. He could only dream. I guess what I’m trying to tell you is that I am Spider-man.” His cockiness soon turned to a high-pitched tone.

Shaking your head you took a step back from him. How could you be so blind to not notice your best friends’ convenient absences? It all started to add up, but the one question still remained how? You wanted to know more, you needed to know more. He was the most important person in your life, and he didn’t tell you about the most important part of his life. These thoughts were selfish, you knew that, but you didn’t care, you told each other everything, you kept no secrets.

Putting your hand up to him to stop whatever he was about to say you grabbed your first aid kit from your kitchen, your parents kept one as you were a clumsy cook. He explained everything you wanted to know whilst you patched him up, hating how he hissed when you put alcohol rub on his face. He eagerly told you he would take you to meet Tony Stark, gushing about how Tony had wanted to meet you for a long time. His face ended in a pout as you stepped away from him.

Kissing him was the only thing on your mind right now. Your best friend. The one person you were never meant to have those thoughts about. To hell with the fact he was your best friend, you went and kissed him. Reacting quickly he started to kiss you back, pulling on your waist for you to straddle him. Resting your hands on his face and your forehead against his you couldn’t believe it. A blush set on both your faces. Did he share the same thoughts as you?

“I’ve wanted to do that for a while.” You couldn’t believe what you just heard. He did share the same thoughts as you.

“Stay.” You whispered. He had stayed before but this time it felt different. Your best friend turned boyfriend staying in your bed with you. Pulling away from you, he headed to the draw where he kept a spare shirt and joggers for when he stayed over before. Deactivating the suit he climbed out of it and into the clothes that now lay on your bed.

He climbed into bed cuddling into your body afraid that if he let go you would disappear. “Promise me you will be safe and careful. Promise me you won’t leave me.” You whispered, knowing it would hurt you if this happened.

When he saw the familiar car with the familiar person driving said car, he quickly rushed over to it, opening the back door, hoping in, and slamming it shut.

“As fast as you can,” Was all he said as he pulled out his phone. He had a tracking device on Peter’s suit, but not on Peter’s anything else. Nonetheless, he pulled up the app that told him where Peter’s suit was, in hopes of knowing something, but no luck at all. The suit was where Tony had left it.

“You need to calm down,” Happy said, seeing the distress on his friend face increase.

“Calm down?” Tony laughed, throwing his head back and leaning it against the back of the seats. “Calm down?” He repeated. “How the hell am I supposed to calm down?” He was laughing hysterically at this point. Shit. Maybe he really was going mad. “Jesus Christ,” He mumbled under his breath, closing his eyes, and trying to take Happy’s advice and calm down, even though he knew his attempts were futile.

“I should’ve let him keep the suit,”

“What?” Happy said, taking a glimpse at Tony, who looked a mess, through the rear-view mirror, before diverting his eyes back to the road.

“If I had just let him keep the suit, he would’ve had better protection, maybe he could’ve escaped before the building escaped, or hell, maybe he could’ve even stopped it from collapsing all together-”

“Don’t do that to yourself,” Happy stopped. “It’s not your fault the kid decided to meddle in something larger than he could handle, he’s reckless, not dumb. He knew it was a bad idea, but he went for it anyway, nothing about it is your fault,”

Tony knew that was supposed to reassure him, but it didn’t. He didn’t respond and jsut left himself to his thoughts for the rest of the drive over to Peter’s apartment. When Happy parked, it stopped Tony’s train of thought, and he opened the door, thanking Happy.

He walked into the lobby, to the elevator and onto Pete’s floor. Once he got to the door, he knocked. Someone might answer. May was probably working, but Peter, depending on what shape he was in, was either at school or home, or patrolling. If that kid was patrolling right now Tony might actually have a heart attack.

After waiting a minute or so, he heard the door unlock, then the door opened and revealed Peter’s face. Once he saw it was Tony at the door, he opened it wider. “Oh, hello Mister Stark, why are you here?”

Tony just stared down at him, his face expressionless. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling. Was he relieved? Upset? He was relieved to some extent, sure. Peter wasn’t horribly injured, not that he could see right away. There a nasty bruise on his arm that he hadn’t covered up. Tony didn’t want to know the other injuries that could be hiding behind Peter’s clothing.

“I mean, not like I don’t want to see you or anything,” Peter began to ramble on. “But it’s kind of weird for you to just show up- actually no it’s not- you tend to just show up a lot actually, kind of creepy sometimes- I mean not that you’re creepy or anything-”

“Can I come in?” Tony asked, still trying to sort out his emotions.

“Oh, yeah, sorry of course,” Peter said, side-stepping so Tony could get through.

Once Tony was inside he looked around. “Is it just you?”

“Wha? Oh yeah, May’s at work,” He said. Tony glanced at him and it didn’t take a genius to realize the boy was antsy, he kept balling his fists, wiping them on his jeans, even the way he was standing made it obvious the boy wasn’t doing too great.

“So, what have you been up too recently?”

“Oh, you know, Mister Stark, same ol’ stuff,”

“Staying out of trouble?” Tony said, directing his attention from around the apartment back to Peter, making direct eye contact while quirking a brow.

“Uh, for, for the most part, ya, yeah,” He said, laughing nervously.

“Really?” Tony says, staring Peter down, noticing how the boy is getting even more nervous.

“Ya, Yeah, why’d you ask,”

“Oh no reason, say, where’d ya get that bruise on your arm,” Tony said, stepping forward, carefully grabbing Peter’s arm and holding it up, showcasing the painful-looking bruise on his arm, observing it further. It was a deep purple. It’s what you would expect a bruise to look like if it was caused by rubble falling on your body.

“Mister Stark, I have a feeling you know something,”

“Hm, do you now? So I guess you really aren’t dumb,”

“I gotta say I’m a little confused Mister Stark, I-”

“So if you’re not an idiot, I don’t know why you’d go chasing after criminals, and then get an entire fucking building to fall on you,”

Peter’s jaw dropped. “I mean, I didn’t get it to fall on me, someone else broke it I was just, I uh- I was in the way of it,” There was a short pause. “It was kind of a lesson, if I remember correctly, it really wasn’t all that bad,” Peter was rambling at this point. Tony released his arm gently and looked him in the eye.

“Why do you keep doing this to yourself, kid?”

“I, um-”

“You can’t keep letting yourself be put in harm’s way!”

“I was fine! I swear Mister Stark, I had it under control! I mean, sort of, I didn’t plan for it to happen the way it did, or anything, I didn’t plan for the building to fall on me, duh, but I knew basically what I was doing! And I got out of it, nothing bad happened it was fine,”

“For one, me and you have different definitions of fine–”

Peter tried to cut Tony off, but he kept talking.

“Secondly, even if that was considered ‘fine’, one day, you’re not going to be so lucky, you’re not going to get out, and then who knows what will happen. You could get injured, you could die. Do you even care? This is your life we’re talking about, Pete,”

“But I’m fine!” Peter yelled, he didn’t know why he was yelling, but he was getting mad at how Tony would just swoop in and yell at him for doing things Tony would’ve done if it meant saving someone. Why was it any different when he did it?

“Once again!” Tony was also raising his voice now. “We have two completely different definitions of fine!” Tony reached forward and grabbed his arm again, holding it up. “It’s a bruise this time, but what about next time? And don’t say it won’t ever happen again because this isn’t the first time! You keep putting yourself in these dangerous situations, without caring what happens to you, or what other people are going to do when you get hurt, you’re just being reckless, Peter,”

“Try and tell me you wouldn’t do the same thing!” Peter yelled, yanking his arm away. It hurt a lot, but he wouldn’t admit that. Especially not to Tony.

“It’s different, kid,”

“Tell me, how’s it different?”

“I don’t know kid, it just is, okay?”

“No!” Peter yelled. “It’s not okay, you would’ve done the same thing in that situation! And you can’t sit here and look me in my face that you wouldn’t because we both know that’s bullshit,”

“Peter-”

“No, Tony, It’s B-S!”

“Peter listen to me, you can’t keep doing this!” Tony was trying to avoid the ‘you would do it too,’ because yes, he would. He was dumb and reckless as well, but that’s a subject for another time.

“God,” Peter said, exasperated. He ran his fingers through his hair and through them back down to his sides. “Why are you so concerned with every little thing I do? I don’t see you riding up anyone else’s ass about this, it’s only me,”

“That’s not true,” Tony said, slightly throwing his head back. It wasn’t true was it? Think, Tony, think of an example come on- “Wanda, I’m always concerned about her,”

“No, you were concerned when the papers were being signed because she was seen as a weapon, it’s different and you know that, so why are you so concerned with me? Concerned with how I save lives, how I save people, how I defeat bad guys? Do you like adding to the stress level I have to deal with in those situations? Do you want me to be fighting and think “Oh, damn Mister Stark’s gonna be pissed, I should stop and let everyone else handle it,”

“To some extent, kid, Yes I do. I want you to think, I don’t want you plunging into battle without a second thought of the people who care about you!”

Peter didn’t respond. It felt like the breath was taken out of his lungs. He had so much he wanted to say but he just couldn’t.

“What would Ned feel? What would May feel? Do you think about that at all? How they’d feel if you died? Or got hurt? Held hostage?”

“I-” Peter began, but Tony cut him off.

“I mean, Jesus Christ kid, what about me? Do you know what I would do if you died? I’d be devastated. I love you, Peter, and as selfish as it might be, you can’t leave me. I can’t live in a world that you’re not in. And it hurts me to feel that way, it really does, but I can’t stop it. And so I have to watch as you constantly put yourself in harm’s way, and it’s killing me, Peter,”

Peter listened as Tony poured his heart out and he was shocked to say the least. He noticed how his jaw had dropped slightly, and instantly closed it.

“It’s like you don’t even care-”

It happened in a flash. Tony saw Peter stepping closer, bouncing up on his toes to make himself taller, and then he felt Peter’s soft lips against his. Tony was shocked for the first few seconds, obviously. However, he was able to gather his thoughts enough to start kissing back and place his hands on Peter’s hips and pull him closer.

Tony wasn’t sure who initiated the tongue kissing, but he was sure thankful it happened. It was hot and messy and Tony shouldn’t be getting excited by how inexperienced Peter obviously was, but the dirty reality was that it just made it all the better.

Every other thought of Tony’s was pushed away and all he could think of was Peter. Peter’s tongue. Peter’s body against his. Peter’s soft skin. Peter’s lips. Peter’s hands that were tangling themselves in his hair. Peter.

Unfortunately, you can’t kiss forever because of this pesky little thing called: oxygen.

“Sorry,” Peter said, not breaking eye contact and his face flushed red.

“Why are you apologizing?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but probably because of the fight, or the fact I kissed you, or-”

Tony cut him off. “That took some guts, I could’ve meant it all platonically,”

“Yeah, I thought about that but then,” Peter tilted his head, the corner of his mouth quirking up. “I decided it was worth the risk,”

Tony couldn’t help but smile. This kind of risk was a risk he didn’t mind Peter taking.