why not me? | irondad |

chapter 17

"mr stark, i think my aunt is going to die"

Tony just looked down at his hands. He was honestly speechless. It was clear May was going to die, nothing and no one would save her. After all he barely even knew the kid. He wasn't even sure why he was here pitying the kid. Why should he care.

On that cue the monitors started to beep aggressively signalling the absence of her heartbeat. Nurses and Doctors rushed in. They started up the crash cart machine as fast as they could.

"CLEAR"

"UP THE VOLTAGE!"

"CLEAR"

"CONTINUE COMPRESSIONS"

"UP THE DOSE" "sir-" "PUSH MORE"

"mr stark? she's not going to die right? my thoughts are wrong? my thoughts — they have to be wrong yes? they have to be-" that's when peter started heart wrenchingly sob.

Tony stood their not knowing what the hell to do. He walked up to the kid and patted his shoulder gently, it was the only thing that came to mind that he thought would help him.

Apparently it wasn't good enough because peter crashed into mr stark's chest for a hug. Tony let out a big "oomph" and slowly sank to the ground with the kid in his embrace. He could feel his shirt dampening as the kid sobbed uncontrollably. He was unsure how long they sat there on the dirty hospital floor and how long the doctors were in here.

That's when the doctors gave up. They were exhausted. They honestly did what they could. They turned to us and the head doctor sighed and looked at his watch.

"Time of death: 19:53"

Peter went crazy. He thrashed and he sobbed (even harder than before). He yelled and screamed. "you didn't do enough! you didn't do enough!" deep down peter knew that they did.

He sobbed into mr starks chest. He sobbed until he had used up all of his tears. Until he was only with hiccups and tear swollen eyes. Until he was dead asleep against his role models chest.

———-

Tony noticed that Peter had finally fallen asleep. He finally had peace for now. At least he had hoped. If Peter was anything like Tony, sleep would be full of night terrors. He picked up the kid and phoned Happy to pick them up.

Once Happy arrived he set peter in the car and then he crawled in. He brought the kid against him so he was asleep on his shoulder.

The car ride was silent.

He brought the kid into the guest bedroom and tucked him into bed. He brought the covers up to his chin and left the room quickly.

He walked down to the living room and  sat down staring into the wall in front of him. He was exhausted from today. His eyes felt heavy and his body drooped into the couch pillow.

It was surprising that tony finally fell asleep. It was early morning when he was shook awake by pepper. He slowly rise up to a sitting with his eyes closed. He rubbed his eyes and opened them to see all the avengers staring at him.

"finally slept?" pepper said in a soft voice

"didnt answer our calls kinda got worried there boss" natasha said.

They all headed upstairs to where vision and wanda were cooking breakfast. They all talked and laughed.

When breakfast was finally ready they sat down and were just ready to dig in when soft sounds of feet coming down the stairs were heard.

Everyone went silent.

Peter came into view yawning and then realizing he was in front of the avengers in his pajamas.

WAIT. In front of the avengers? He stood their in shock.

Tony awkwardly cleared his throat and stood up. "This is Peter, my new assistant. He just needed a place to stay tonight" He put his hand on Peter's shoulder.

Tony led the kid to the table and sat him down beside him. He put a few pieces of french toast on his plate and some fruit.

"eat up kid, long work day ahead for you and me in the lab" He said softly. Peter looked confused. "you thought you wouldn't have to work, you're here early bud no exceptions" he said with a smile.

Peter couldn't help but smile too.

————

They enter the lab and start working on fixing the design on captain america's shield.

Peter started repainting the shield where some of the paint chipped off. While painting he couldn't help remembering how he ended up here in the first place.

His aunt is dead.

She is no longer here. She is no longer able to see him grow up. She is no longer here to talk to about his achievements. She is gone.

no more "disgusting" meatloaf. no more car karaoke on his way to school. no more smell of burnt food because she forgot to set a timer. no more aunt may.

a tear rolled down his cheek, he wiped it off quickly.

"hey mr stark?"

"yes kid?"

"um.. thanks for letting me stay"

"no problem"

"i think i'll call ned after, see if i can stay at his house until i figure out where to stay"

Tony flicked his head up so fast "what do you mean?". Peter played with his hands a little bit.

"i assume you don't want me to stay here, after all i am only your assistant and stuff. It's not fair to you to have the weight of me staying here"

"no, you stay here."

"but-"

"no."

"okay"

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well that was a rollercoaster wasn't it.

ANYWAY HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER!!!

-n