Fluff, angst & everything in between | Spider-man One-shots

And if I can't be close to you, I'll settle for the ghost of you... {2}

A/N: Pepper may be OOC a bit, I don't write her character too often, so sorry my friends I tried 

Through the fog in Tony's mind he hears someone scream.

Somehow he's wound up on the floor, and the cool of tile does nothing to calm the burning of his heart.

Sharp heels make their way into his view, and he slides into unconsciousness.

—-

A beeping sound is the first thing he registers.

His dream slides away from him but he weirdly thinks he can still see the ghost of Peter's hand on his arm, his eyes looking at him with worry he doesnt deserve.

He groans and trie s to open his eyes, quickly closing them again as his eyes are still sensitive due to his hangover. He tries again slower this time, allowing his eyes to adjust, and is still disappointed to not see Peter there, half hoping he had just been living in a nightmare, especially when the hand on his arm had seemed so real, he felt as if he could still feel the heat from it.

A rustling sound comes from somewhere to his right, shifts, and looks over. He sees Pepper, looking slightly disheveled and this alone is so jarring from her normal pristine appearance that he lets out a gasp. 

She awakens with a jolt. "Tony," she breathes.

He winces, guilt washing over him over causing her more stress than she already has to deal with.

Pepper straightens herself out and then sets her fiery glare on him.

He mentally prepares himself, but her glare softens a moment later and he doesn't know which is worse. Her anger or her pity.

"Tony," she takes his hand, "You can't keep going on like this. It isn't healthy."

She swallows. "You, I know this is hard on you, It's been hard on everyone since he..." Tony wills her not to say his name, he just can't right now. He doesn't know if he can ever. "I know he and you were close, and I miss him too," He eyes fill with tears, "But you can't keep doing this to yourself."

"Drinking yourself unconscious, it's dangerous." She closes her eyes. "I can't lose you."

He swallows, feeling guilty more than ever. But he just doesn't know how to live, how to function anymore now that Peter is gone. Life just doesn't seem worth living anymore.

"And this time... I got the notification from Friday that you were drunk again but imagine my surprise when I walked in to find you covered in spots of blood."

That explains the scream, he thinks wryly, and with a guilty wince at having put her through that.

"Just," She cuts herself off, unshed tears glistening in her eyes as she pulls herself together, "You have to pull yourself together Tony, you can't go on like this." A pause.

Not good, Tony thinks.

"I think you should go to therapy", and there it was.

Tony Stark shouldn't have to go to therapy. He should be stronger than this. Stark Men are made of Iron.

And besides, without Peter here, he had no motivation to go.

Because losing a kid.. it was the worst pain he had ever felt.

He wouldn't wish it on his worst enemy *cough* Osborn *cough*.

But he would try not to worry Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy so much.

He smiled softly at Pepper, and turned his head to look out the window, purposefully avoiding answering the question, something he was good at.

"Well your cuts weren't deep, and Dr. Cho bandaged them while you were unconscious so you can leave when you're ready, but try to rest Tony." She smiles sadly, knowing he won't.

She sighs, and stands, running a hand through this hair and smiling softly. She leans down and presses a soft kiss to his lips and then leaves, the click click of her heels down the hall slowly fading. He sighs and rolls over.

Closes his eyes for a few seconds trying to gather himself but all he sees are doe-brown eyes, and that bright smile he always had, even though the world had never been kind to him. 

His eyes jerk open again and he gets out of the bed, wincing slightly at slight burns of his various cuts. He runs a hand through his hair and heads up to the penthouse to take a shower and grab a bite to eat before he heads back down to the lab.

Friday had had someone already clean up the blood and glass so it looked like nothing even happened, but Tony knew and part of him was ashamed at his behavior, he was supposed to have left his drunk days in the past, but t the same time he couldn't understand how it seemed everyone else had already moved on. Didn't they feel their hearts cracking too?

Was he the only one having to try to keep the peices of his heart together when it had been shattered so many times before that he didn't even have all the pieces anymore? Peter had been the glue that not only held it together, but had healed him.

He didn't know how he had ever lived without Peter in his life before.

He goes and sits down at his bench, staring blankly down at the cluttered workspace.

That's when he heard a clatter behind him.

He turned quickly, expecting that DUM-E had made something fall over again, but nobody was there, just a wrench lying on the ground that hadn't been there before.

He frowns and goes over and picks it back up again and sets it down on a nearby surface, but just as he turns back around he hears a clatter again.

He whirls around, thoroughly disturbed and sees no one there. He huffs, "Friday who's in here with me? Don't tell me there's a new superhero out there with invisibility powers?"

"There is on one in the room with you, and no reports have been made about a superhero or villain with invisibility powers in this area."

"Thanks, baby girl." Maybe I really am going insane."

He takes a step back toward his work table when he feels a hand brush his. Startled nearly out of his skin he summons his latest iron man suit's gauntlet, and it forms around his hand and is powered up in the few seconds it takes him to turn around.

 And out of the empty space comes words, "Mr. Stark?"

And he can feel his face go pale as his heart speeds up with stupid hope and he says,

 "Peter?"

(1,077 words)

lol I wrote this over several days, so If the tone of it is kinda weird that's why. <3