connection - parkner week 2019

day six: hurt / comfort

the first time harley saw peter come back from patrol injured was the day that he had found out that his boyfriend was spider-man. harley and tony had been in the lab - harley was coming up with new ideas for clint's arrows, and tony was upgrading natasha's widow bites. at first, harley hadn't even seen the young superhero drag himself through the window. what had made the boy turn around was the sound of tony dropping his tools on the floor.

"hey, mr stark. uh, i have a little problem." spider-man had said. and although he'd stated that it was a 'little problem', his voice was weak. harley could do nothing but stare, wide-eyed, at the superhero. harley noticed that he definitely recognised the voice of the boy behind the mask - but he figured that he'd work that one out later, there were more important things to worry about right now. 

"a little problem? kid, there's a knife in you!" tony had rushed over to spider-man, who was now lying flat on his back. "friday? i need the med-bay ready. i need dr. cho and bruce down there. and i need someone to help me and harley get him down there. kid, how are you feeling?"

"it's... worse than the last one. hard to breathe but it's fine." spider-man had replied after taking a few deep breaths. it looked like he was trying to say something else, but tony cut him off before he could.

"save your breath. take the mask off."

"but- but- mr stark-" spider-man turned his head slightly, so that he was looking at harley.

"i don't care. please take the mask off, or i'll do it for you." tony watched as spider-man reached up to take the mask off. at first, harley couldn't see who it was - tony had just moved into harley's eyeline. there were a couple of whispered words between tony and the superhero, but tony eventually moved. revealing peter. peter. harley's boyfriend. lying on the floor, blood coming out of him, a knife in his side. 

harley couldn't explain the emotions that consumed him in that moment. it was a little too much for him to process right now. peter was spider-man. spider-man had just been stabbed. peter had just been stabbed. after a couple of seconds of silence, harley had rushed over to peter, and kneeled by his side. he'd question peter about this superhero business later. a moment later, someone came through the door of tony's lab, carrying a stretcher.

"the knife is still in him, right? none of you tried to pull it out?" the doctor - harley presumed - asked, placing the stretcher onto the floor.

"still in him." tony replied.

"okay, good. we need to get him lifted onto this." immediately, harley and tony had lifted peter, making sure to keep his body level, so that the knife didn't go any further into him. after what seemed like forever for both harley and tony - but really it was only thirty seconds - they had peter out of the lab and into the elevator. 

~~~~~

neither harley or tony were allowed to see peter for three hours. 

tony burned the time away in his lab - working on projects faster than he had before. in those three hours, all of his overdue s.h.i.e.l.d work had been finished, and tony had started working on a new suit for peter. of course, he didn't want to finish it - peter had taken a liking to helping tony adapt each new spider-suit, and the boy wouldn't be going out as spider-man for at least a few days, so he'd have plenty of time to finish this suit. tony had managed to come up with an idea for a thicker suit - one that knives couldn't get through - but it was still flexible, which tony knew that peter preferred.

harley had stayed in the lab with tony, but couldn't put his mind to anything. he was worried about peter. who wouldn't be? his boyfriend had just been stabbed. both bruce and dr. cho had assured harley that the damage wasn't major, and peter would be completely okay within a few days, due to his super healing. but harley was still losing his mind - there was so much blood, how was peter still conscious? harley felt sick to the stomach. he'd never quite understood why pepper found it so difficult to let tony go out on avengers missions. tony was saving the world. why was she so reluctant to let him go? but now harley understood. peter did so much for new york, and harley had always admired spider-man, but now harley wished nothing more than for peter to give up spider-manning - if he was going to get hurt like this. but harley knew that he wouldn't. 

"tony, harley, peter's awake. he's okay. he's a little tired and a bit drowzy from the blood loss, so he's not making much sense, but other than that, he's okay." bruce's voice came through the speaker. the announcement made both harley and tony jump out of their seats, and they both practically ran to the elevator. tony had seen peter in this state before, but it didn't make him any less worried each time.

~~~~~

and as soon as they walked into the medbay, peter spoke to them.

"i lived, bitch."

~~~~~

a/n - okay this would've been longer but i wanted to finish it on that sksks