Tony gets clingy after Peter comes back. He’s drifting between consciousness and drug-induced sleep after each surgery, and he’s so out of it he can’t tell the difference from Peter disappearing and him closing his eyes.
He keeps reaching out with his good hand, keeps muttering “you’re coming back, right?” and “Pep, don’t let him wander off, just give me a second,” and “don’t go anywhere, wait for me.”
And Peter’s sitting at his bedside in the hospital. He’s smushed in a seat with a little girl he doesn’t know that propped herself up on his lap and promptly called him big brother. Pepper’s beside him, and they’re all weepy, and he doesn’t even feel like he really belongs there, but Tony is adamant that he stays.
He’s trying not to think about how he’s the first thing Tony looks for in the room when his eyes open. He’s trying to convince himself he’s not all that important, here, because maybe it’ll make it hurt less if Tony doesn’t end up pulling through.
