āYou saved me once when I was a kid, you know.ā
Thereās smoke and fire and the sky is burning and Tony shakes his head, shushing him desperately. He has to save energy. Has to conserveā¦so they can get away. Get out. They have toā¦
āStark expo, 2010,ā it comes out choked, a wheezing cough from a throat thatās been abused and hurt, but when Peter laughs, he still sounds happy,Ā āone of the coolestā¦ coolest moments of my life.ā
āPeter, come on, you need to- to get up, come on, Iām gonna get you home, alright, letās-ā
āIām sorry Tony,ā he says, and heās shaking his head on the ground, blood dripping from his temple, and Tony looks down at him with something close to disbelief, because there is no way in hell that this is actually happening. Not Peter. Neverā¦ never Peter, surely? He didnāt even belong here. He should have been in school, getting evacuated with all the other kids; should have run far far away rather than throwing himself into a war that was never his to fight-Ā āIām sorry, I failed, I tried to get the stone but I couldnāt-ā
āYou didnāt fail, Peter, stop it,ā Tony hisses, his own filthy hand scrabbling for Peterās in the dirt and debris,Ā āyou didnātā¦ stop it, just stay awake and wait for backup, weāre gonna take you home-ā
āThink weāre a little too far away from home to do anythingā¦ useful, now,ā Peter cracks a tired smile and his face is grey, thereās blood everywhere-
He realises, absently, that his face is wet.
āPeter, please-ā Tonyās pressing the hand close to his own, trying to push some of his own life through the connection, because God only fucking knows someone else is more worthy of it than him- Peter Parker is more worthy than a thousand of him, and heād do it, heād fucking do it if Peter could just-Ā āstay awake, kid. For me. Donātā¦ā
Peter smiles again.Ā āI watched you save the world in 2012,ā he murmurs, and Tony is realising quite how small he is, lying on the ground like that- his hand is entirely covered by Tonyās,Ā āyou can do it again. Youāre Iron Man. Tony Stark. Myā¦ my favourite hero. I believe in you.ā
āNo, no, no, Peter, Peter stop-ā
āGiveĀ āem hell for me, Mr Stark,ā Peter breathes, breathes and breathes and thenĀ
his eyes shutting peacefully,Ā
body going limp in Tonyās arms,
and all he can do is keep holding the warm hand and stare, becauseā¦ because it canāt be happening.Ā
Tonyās presses Peterās hand to his face and shuts his eyes. Tries to hold on to what little sanity he has left. The air hurts his face. The hand pressed between his still isnāt moving. He canāt look down, he canāt seeā¦- he just canāt look down.
Peter Parker cannot be dead. Tony did everything- everything he could to make sure that never happened. Itās not possible. He canāt have failed. Not when it mattered so much. Not another person he considered family, dead because of him.
Thereās a rumble behind them. Tony doesnāt want to face it. He just wants to hold Peterās body until he wakes up again, laughs and does that stupid smile and saysĀ āI got you that time, right Mr Stark?ā, and Tony wouldnāt even be pissed, God, not if it meant he could see Peter breathing again, fuck, no, he-
Another crash. Itās getting closer.
Someone has to pay for this.
He takes another moment. Swallows down the tears, the consuming grief. Guilt. Loss.
He turns around and stares everything heās ever dreaded in the face.Ā
Bring it on, is all he can think, completely and utterly numb.
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