IronDad/SpiderSon One-shots

sometimes it's hard to wake up (the after)

Third Person POV: 
Trigger Warning: Mentions of PTSD, Mentions of nightmares
Word Count: 3,079

Everyone was shocked when they heard the news that Peter had woken up. He had fallen into a coma twenty-two days ago, so it was safe to say that no one expected it. Of course, for the first week, they wanted to believe that he was going to wake up. They all wanted to. But, everyone slowly started losing hope after that. Everyone except Tony. That's why he went and talked to the kid. Every single day. Multiple times a day. He talked and talked and talked. He joked one time that it was his turn to do all the talking since Peter was the one who was always talking. He didn't really mean it, though. He so desperately wanted to hear the kid's voice again. He wanted to hear him talking about why Star Wars was one of the greatest cinematic creations that was to ever bless this Earth. He wanted to hear him talking about why he thought that Ned and M.J. were two of his favorite people. He wanted to hear him talking about science in the lab as they tinkered. He wanted to hear him say anything. Anything would work. Because staring at his bed while he lay motionless and hopeless was heartbreaking. Absolutely heartbreaking.

But, Peter woke up. Despite the odds, he woke up. Tony, and everyone else, were so thankful. Peter still had a long road of recovery in front of him, but everyone was going to be there for him. No matter what happened. Bruce tried to conjure up an explanation as to why Peter couldn't pull himself out of the coma sooner, but that wasn't his main issue right now. His main issue was trying to get Peter back onto his feet. He was lucky. That's what Bruce told everyone. He could have lost a lot more brain function. He could have even lost physical function. But, luckily, none of his losses were that great. Sure, he was weak and he had other injuries, but most of them were already healed. But, Dr. Banner still gave him a lengthy order of physical therapy, which he was going to be doing with Steve.

After Peter woke up, he was terrified to go back to sleep. Despite feeling exhausted and utterly tired, he didn't want to sleep. He was too afraid that if he slept, he would fall back into a coma and wouldn't be able to wake himself up this time. Though he did sleep while he was in med-bay, it wasn't often. Though, no one noticed because he often faked sleeping. When he did sleep, it was never restful or good sleep. Rather, it was a restless, nightmare filled sleep. Nightmares of the battle. Nightmares of not being able to wake up. Nightmares of being stuck while he had to watch everything age around him, yet he stayed the same in a hospital bed. They weren't fun, nor were they easy to deal with, but he did his best to deal with them.

Peter was cleared to be released from med-bay six days after he woke up. Despite his enhanced healing, his body wasn't healing as fast as it usually did. Bruce said this was due to all of the trauma his body experienced. That was understandable, but also very frustrating. Sure, everyone else was used to their body's healing at a normal rate, but Peter wasn't. He was used to his body healing him quicker than everyone else's. So, when his body wasn't healing at the rate he had grown used to, he became frustrated. With himself, mostly. But, he was healed enough that Bruce gave him the clear to be released from med-bey conditionally. Those conditions were simple. He had to stay at the compound until he was fully better, he had to do physical therapy with Steve, and he wasn't allowed to go out as Spider-Man until he was given the all clear. Peter was pretty okay with all of those things. He had his own room in the compound. He also really liked it there. Now that Tony and Steve were on better terms, Peter and Steve were also on better terms. Not that they were ever on bad terms. They would have gotten along well from the start if it wasn't for the fight. And not being Spider-Man? He was actually pretty okay with that. He needed the break, both physically and mentally.

As he started to recover, things were going okay for him. He was getting stronger physically. Bruce said he was improving every single day and that within the next week or two, he would be able to return as Spider-Man. Typically, that would have made him excited, but deep down he was dreading it. Don't get it wrong, he loved being Spider-Man. He loved being able to patrol the city and save a person's life here and there. He loved the feeling of swinging through the city. What he didn't love about being Spider-Man was the guilt that he carried with him. There was a heaviness that always followed him around after he took on the role of Spider-Man. That was because when he wasn't able to save someone, it would crush him. It made him feel absolutely awful. He was always tortured with the thought that if he was there a second sooner, maybe a life could have been saved. If he had been out patrolling sooner, maybe he would have gotten there in time. He felt a lot of that before the battle. And despite that guilt that followed him, it was good to just be inside.