Chapter Text
Peter swung up a roof when he heard the message ping his phone. It was a specific tone that meant it was one of the Starks. It helped him to not get distracted on patrol by random messages when he had specific sounds to listen for.
Pepper’s name flashed onto the screen and Peter smiled. It hadn’t been long after he moved in with Mr. Stark when Pepper insisted that she needed a way to reach him too. He didn’t mind, in fact it made him feel warm inside.
Darling, please come home. Peter’s heart jolted. He had just left not four hours ago, what could have happened in that time?
He hurried home back to the tower to find the place unusually empty. “FRIDAY, where is Pepper?”
”Pepper and Mr. Stark are both in Medbay.”
Peter furrowed his brows even as he hurried in that direction. “Why are they there?”
Even though he mostly asked himself, FRIDAY answered anyway. “Mr. Stark had an incident, sir.”
Peter’s heart was pounding when he finally made it to Medbay and saw that his dad Tony was in a hospital bed with Pepper beside him.
Pepper turned around and Peter could see by her eyes that she’d been crying for a while. She came over to him and put her arms around him. He hadn’t quite gotten used to these two loving hugging him. “Peter, I’m so glad you got here in time. Tony had another heart attack honey. It could be okay but the doctor doesn't like how his body isn’t recovering properly.” She pulled back and cupped his face. “Honey, you might need to consider saying your goodbyes.”
Peter’s mind swirled trying to process it all. How could this have happened? He didn’t know.
He didn’t know why this was happening or how to say goodbye but he went over to stand at the bed anyway.
There was too much to say and so little time. How did one say goodbye to someone that had been there for them?
Words from a song ran through his mind, filtered of course, Tony would never allow him to swear. So how do I say goodbye; To someone who's been with me for my whole ‘ntire life? You gave me my name and the color of your eyes; I see your face when I look at mine.
Peter looked down at his mentor. Without all of the medical equipment he was hooked up to, he looked like he was just sleeping.
“So um,” Tears clogged Peter’s throat as he tried to speak. “I guess I’m supposed to say stuff. You look so peaceful, like you’re going to wake up and tell us it was all a joke.”
He took a deep breath. “You’ve always been amazing, did you know that? You’ve always been there for me, even when I was just some kid you barely knew. You’ve always seen the best in me, even when I couldn’t see it myself. Always supportive, always on my side,” Peter laughed softly. “Even about the dumbest stuff. I’m scared.”
His voice cracks on the last word and he clears his throat. “I’m scared of what this is going to be like without you.” His eyes stray to outside of the room where Pepper is sitting with her head in her hands, her shoulders shaking with her sobs. “I promise, if you… go, I will make sure she’s alright.”
Peter lowers himself down onto the bed. “No matter what happens there’s no way you could ever let me down. If you need to go, if your body can’t do this anymore, that’s ok. We’ll be okay, I promise.” His voice was thick with emotion. “You’ll always be my closest friend.”
Moving closer to Tony his dad’s warmth Peter let his mind wander to one of their first big battles. They had been stuck together in some dire situation as had happened many times before and since but Peter remembered one special line from that particular battle.
He repeated, “Someday we are going to make it out.”
Peter whispered, “I love you, Dad.”
He slept on the hospital bed for the rest of the night, next to his dad.