Work Text:
The decathlon national competition was being held in Chicago, Peter had never been to Chicago before. He was pretty excited that nothing would interrupt his competition, you know Spider-man related stuff. Two hours into the trip Peter decided he was going to sleep a little, he stayed up the night before taking down a bank robbery that ended in a hostage situation. He got out every hostage safely and then almost got shot a couple times while taking down the bad guys. Basically he got no sleep and now was a perfect opportunity. Peter laid his head on the window he was squished into, Ned on his right side watching some god awful action film with his headphones on.
The bus was pretty quiet, only a handful of students awake enough to talk amongst themselves. Flash taken upon himself to post to social media that he was going to Chicago, he was trying to make it seem like it was a solo trip. That he was taking a random greyhound to Chicago by himself, to impress his followers.
Mj was drawing, as per usual. She was sat a row up from Peter and Ned, Peter wish she could sit next to him. He didn't want Ned to be alone though, plus he could always switch later on, it was a twelve hour drive. Also, he was sure Mj wouldn't appreciate his quiet snoring.
Betty was texting Cindy who was across the bus from her, before Peter fell asleep he figured it out. Betty would giggle a little then send off her text and then she would pop her head up a little to see if Cindy received it. Then when Cindy did infact recieve the message, he could hear Cindy giggle, while Betty giggled some more. Boy was he glad he couldn't hear that anymore.
Mr. Harrington was all business, going over their day plans with Couch Wilson. They weren't set to arrive until way late at night, so the day plans were for tomorrow.
"Mr. Harrington, maybe we can have hotdogs for lunch tomorrow, I heard they are really good," Abe had popped his head into the adults conversation, he was sat by himself, on his own accord, but very bored at the moment.
"That sounds like a great-"
A scream. Coach Wilson stood up to assess the situation, the girl was staring off to the left of the bus pointing frantically. As coach Wilson turned his head to observe what was causing his student distress he felt himself fly to the side. It happened in slowmotion for him. First he smacked into the right side of the bus, crushing Abe and then he landed on the top of the bus in an awkward angle, finally he was back on the left side of the bus not anywhere near his original seat. He was in pain, but nothing felt broken. He could hear screaming throughout the bus and his brain screamed that he needed to help his kids. He slowly stood up from where he was laying and looked on in horror.
Peter woke up a split second before the crash. The hairs on his arms stood up and then he jerked awake, first looking at Chrissy who was screaming and then looking to the left where a giant red semi collided into him. He pushed Ned to the other side of the bus, so he wouldn't be in the initial contact. It was the only thing he could do before he blacked out.
Mj groaned, she was confused at what just happened. One moment she was doodling a sleeping Peter and the next she was underneath Flash's body being squished into a broken window. Flash lazily pulled himself into a sitting position and mindlessly helped Mj sit up too. She lifted a hand to the back of her head and felt something sticky and warm, she brought it to her face to reveal blood. "Oh, that's nice," Mj showed the blood to Flash, she wasn't sure why she did that. She didn't feel like she was in her own body. Must be the shock. Flash stared at it and prompted her to turn around so he could see where it was coming from. He gagged when he saw that it was steadily coming from a gash on her head. It wasn't a big gash by any means, but damn did head wounds bleed a lot. He instinctively took off his jacket and pushed it into the back of her head creating pressure. He had yet to look around the bus, his mind was telling him not to. He could faintly hear sirens, but he could also faintly hear students screaming and crying, everything sounded far away.
Cindy Moon was screaming, her leg was not okay. It was twisted in all the wrong ways and 'ohmygodohmygod', did it hurt. Mr. Harrington crawled over to her, there wasn't much he could do except comfort her. He was rubbing her back and trying but failing to give her comforting words. At this point some civilians breached the bus to help the students that could walk, exit the bus.
As Mj and Flash, along side Abe were all escorted off by a nice man, Mj decided it was okay to look around. They passed Cindy who didn't look okay in the slightest, they passed Coach Wilson who was tending to Betty, she had some nasty cuts of glass in her skin. Mj looked at her own skin and saw some shards, but it was just superficial, nothing compared to Betty's. It was the last thing she saw before she was dragged off the bus that made her want to vomit. It was Ned leaning over an unconscious Peter Parker. Ned had already done the vomiting that Mj wanted to do so bad, he was shaking Peter trying to get him to wake up. If she thought Cindy didn't look good, well Peter just always had to up the anty. There was blood, everywhere. She could see a huge gash in his left side snaking around towards his back, his shirt had rose a little and she could make out major bruising on his abdomen. His arm looked just as broken as Cindy's leg and there was liquid coming from his nose, she was positive that it wasn't snot. Before she could watch on some more, a paramedic grabbed her arm and led her over towards one of the numerous ambulances that they had parked outside the bus.
Nelson wasn't new in the paramedic world, not by a long shot. He's been doing this for nearly ten years, him and his partner raced to the scene that they received as a multiple car accident. He's seen thousands of car wrecks and it never got easier to see. You think that it would, he was just better at blocking it out while he was helping, but later, when he was in the privacy of his home he was known to have a breakdown or two.
They were a bit behind on arrival, as there were other paramedics already at the scene. Each ambulance already seemed to have people inside, they were squishing at least 2 students inside each. They were given orders to assess the students that needed to get stabilized before they were transferred off the bus. Nelson entered the bus, it was crumpled up on the side that it laid on, it was obviously the point of impact. He looked at other paramedics who were tending to students and he made his way to two students, one who seemed distraught but okay and another who was unconscious.
Nelson knelt beside the distraught kid, "Hi, I'm Nelson. Can you tell me your name?"
"Ned. I'm Ned- my friend he needs help. Please," he was forcing his words through sobs.
Nelson was already assessing Peter, rubbing his knuckle on his chest to see if it would arouse him, "What's your friends name?"
"Peter. Peter Parker, please he- I'm- he hasn't woken up. I'm scared."
Nelson nodded for his partner to take over Ned as he was obviously in major shock. Angela, Nelson's partner, led Ned off the bus. She took him to an ambulance that already had three students and draped a shock blanket over his shoulders, she looked him over for any injuries or a concussion. Ned was lucky, he only had a couple bruises and superficial cuts.
"Ned," Mj's voice cut through his shock induced haze, "Peter?" Ned shrugged. There really wasn't anything to say.
Tony had dropped Peter off at school the earliest he's ever been. It was five in the morning when they arrived to meet the rest of the decathlon members. Tony had an uneasy feeling all throughout the morning, he brushed it off as his dad nerves, he hadn't gone over 24 hours without seeing Peter since the undoing of the snap. Of course he let Peter go to sleepovers at Ned's place, but that was only during weekends. This was a big trip, they were going to be going by bus and then spending three days in Chicago before they head back, in total it was basically five days. Tony wanted to tag along as a chaperone, but Pepper calmed him down and promised a few date nights alone. He sent Peter off with a hug and a kiss that embarrassed Peter to no end. "Have fun underoos!" He shouted after Peter as he got on the bus, causing him to get a one finger reply. Peter hated the attention that he got from Tony being his adopted father, he was glad he was still a loser according to Flash. It kept things relatively normal in school.
Tony was getting Morgan up for her own day of school when he got a notification from his watch.
"Play it Friday."
"Peter's vitals have dropped significantly."
Tony stopped his help with Morgan, her shirt half way on. "What?!"
Tony ran to the kitchen and told Pepper he had to go, he didn't give an explanation except for a rushed "Peter."
He ran off the balcony as the suit traveled up his form and he was off.
"Give me coordinates, what happened Fri!"
"It appears that a semi truck t-boned the bus that Peter was on."
Tony swallowed and exhauled through his nose hard. He couldn't vomit right now, he would choke. "Show me his- show me his vitals."
A screen popped up showing Peter's current vitals, it was bad. It was very bad. His heart rate was too slow and his oxygen levels were dropping. "I can detect a head injury, multiple contusions, 5 broken ribs, broken ulna and radius of the right arm, major bleeding on the left side of abdomen and his left foot has multiple broken bones. I am unable to determine any internal damage, but I can guess he has a concussion and internal bleeding, as well as a possible collapsed lung."
"Fuck," Tony's head was spinning, "more juice Friday."
"You are going at optimal speeds."
"God dammit! I said give me more fucking juice!"
"Yes sir."
Nelson hooked up a breathing mask to Peter's face, as well as put him in a neck brace. "Ughmph," Nelson looked down at his patient and was overjoyed to see that he had woken up.
"Hi Peter, you were in a wreck. I'm Nelson, I'm going to help you, alright?"
Peter looked dazed out of his mind, his fingers twitched at his sides.
"Can you tell me your name?" Nelson clearly knew his name, Ned had given it to him and he already addressed him. He needed to ask Peter in order to assess his cognitive functions. Nelson took a penlight and shined it in both of Peter's eyes, his pupils were blown up to cover his irises and they were unfocused. He didn't receive a response from Peter. Well he did kind of, Peter lurched forward and vomited. His movement was limited because of his injuries and the neck brace, so Nelson tilted him by the shoulder so he wouldn't choke on his own vomit. It was more blood than bile, which Nelson took as a bad sign. Internal bleeding, he noted.
"Peter can you hear me?"
"Augh," Peter was trying to talk, he really was. It was extremely difficult to form words right now. He felt so floaty? And cold, he definitely felt cold.
Some one, another paramedic who offered the name "Chris" came in with a backboard. Peter was the last one left on the bus, Nelson didn't notice the other kids being cleared, he was only focused on helping Peter. "Alright, on my count. One. Two. Three-" Together Nelson and Chris tilted Peter onto the backboard. It resulted in Peter quitely screaming from being jostled. Nelson didn't have time to be sympathetic or offer comfort, they had to get him moved and they had to do it now.
Peter started crying as they made their way off the bus. He was in excruciating pain and he was beyond confused. He felt so alone.
Ned and Mj sat together on a curb, their ambulance had been taken over by Cindy Moon and was now gone. They were waiting for their parents that were called about thirty minutes ago, paramedics only allowing students with minor injuries to be taken by their parents.
Mj had her hand clasped into Ned's, a tight grip that begged to not be let go. Ned kept glancing at the bus that didn't look like a bus anymore. Peter was still inside with paramedics tending to him, it made him nauseous thinking that he was still too unstable to move. He didn't even know if he had regained consciousness yet, all he knew was that he wasn't dead, otherwise they would've moved him by now.
There were reporters on the scene, interviewing witnesses and students that were traumatized. Flash was talking to some girl that was running a story on Fox News, his ego was too big to even think about declining. Mj wondered how they could film cameras, while there was a kid actively dying in the bus that they were taking recordings in front of. She knew Peter was dying, why else hadn't they moved him? There was a paramedic that kept running things from the ambulance and onto the bus, obviously trying to stabilize him. A chill went up her spine when she heard a faint scream that came from inside the bus. Peter.
Ned stood up, bringing Mj with him. He started towards the bus and stopped when two paramedics exited carrying Peter on a backboard. There were tubes and wires covering his bloody body, he felt air reach his lungs when he realized Peter was crying. That was a good sign, it had to be. He was awake.
Ned let go of Mj's hand and rushed to meet the paramedics who were now attaching his backboard to a gurney in order to transport him into the ambulance. Peter was moaning on and off, it made a chill run up Ned's spine.
A loud metal sound colliding into pavement, made the paramedics stop their actions. Iron man. The Iron Man, who was turning into the Tony Stark, was walking up to them.
"Pete. Oh god, Peter!" Tony ran up to Peter and grabbed his hand, "hey, hey I'm here buddy, I'm here."
The paramedics snapped out of their stupor and started loading the gurney into the ambulance. Tony got in along side of them. They didn't question it, they knew that Tony was the kid's dad, it was all over the news. The news was probably eating this up right now, it was rare they saw Tony Stark in such a state of distress. Camera's were pointing in the direction of the duo and paramedics. Ned tried to get in, he really needed to see his friend, he had to. Just as he was going to step up, a paramedic stopped him with a hand. "I'm sorry kid, you can't come up." The doors were shut in his face and then it took off with the sirens blaring.
Ned melted to the ground, screaming and crying. Nothing felt right. Mj was by his side in an instant, "Ned, breathe. You need to breathe."
"I can't," Ned fisted his own shirt, "I can't breathe. Peter- he needs me."
"Right now you need to breathe, we'll meet Peter at the hospital."
They never saw Peter again.
Things were chaotic in the ambulance. Tony didn't know what was going on, there was too much movement. He just sat stock still, holding onto Peter's hand, squeezing it rhythmically. Peter's hand was limp in his tight grip and freezing. Peter kept crying and moaning, Tony tried comforting him but it was all moving too fast.
Tony noticed some clear liquid coming out of Peter's ear, out of all the things that were damaged on his baby, it was the one thing he was focused on. "What's that?" He pointed frantically at it.
Nelson looked at what Tony was looking at, he was going to lie or say nothing. But he knew people liked to hear the truth in these situations, "It's cerebral fluid."
Cerebral fluid? Oh god that's- that's not good. Tony put his head between his knees and threw up. "You gotta fix that- the- the-," Tony waved his hand around towards Peter's head, " the fluids."
"We're doing everything we can Mr. Stark."
"He's crashing." Devices started beeping and Peter closed his eyes, the crying stopping with the crash. "Peter keep those eyes open!" Someone called out, Tony wasn't sure who.
God it was happening at too quick of a pace for Tony to keep up, one second Peter had a mask on, the next they were shoving a tube down his throat. Someone started doing chest compressions and that's where Tony spiraled some more. If they were giving him chest compressions it meant his heart wasn't working and the tube meant he wasn't breathing. It meant his kid, his beautiful kid was dead for the time being.
They arrived at the hopsital, with no luck to revive. The paramedic doing chest compressions was untop of the gurney and continuing his movements as they transferred Peter into the building.
"Sir, sir you can't go back there."
"Like hell I can't, move!" Tony was seething. The lady wasn't moving, so Tony did the only logical thing, he pushed her, hard. He was going to get in trouble, possibly arrested, but that wasn't important right now. He rushed up to be by Peter's side again. He didn't even remember letting go of his hand, when did that happen?
The chest compressions weren't doing shit, so they moved onto a defibrillator. They moved things out of the way that would cause more harm to his body and backed away.
"Clear!" Different voices rang out at seperate times. Then he was shocked. His body flopped up and landed onto the bed, but nothing changed, he still didn't move and the monitors weren't stopping.
"Recharging," as they recharged, another person started doing the chest compressions. It was a nurse, she looked like May. God did Tony need May right now. "Clear!" Again nothing.
They did it two more times, along with the chest compressions. That's when they called it, "Time of death, 9:17 AM." The nurses stood around, taking a breather and mourning the loss of a child.
Tony wasn't having it, "Fucking do something!" Tony got in their faces, "Help him! He's dying- he's- he's dying."
"Mr. Stark, I am so sorry-"
"No! Do. Your. Fucking! Job!" Tony walked to Peter's body, nurses were taking off the defibrillator stickers and turning off the devices that made noises. He broke down at the sight of Peter's slack face. He gently picked up Peter's body and sobbed. "Oh god- Pete-" Tonys breath hitched and suddenly he couldn't breathe, it's not like he deserved to breath. Breathing shouldn't be a luxury that he got, when his kid couldn't even do that. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry buddy."
Why did he get to live in a world where he got to watch his child die twice.
▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎
Peter's funeral was a closed casket, Tony couldn't bare looking at his kids face. Not when he wouldn't open his big brown bambie eyes ever again. After the service, the Starks stood in the front by his casket so people could come up and pay their respects. Pepper was holding Morgan, Tony knew he was too weak to do that. The funeral had a big turn out, so many students from Midtown showed, as well as Peter's best friends, who Tony couldn't look at either. The avengers came and silently stayed in the back, to not make it about them. Mr. Delmar and his wife and kids came, Mr. Delmar shared a couple stories during the service, making the room fill with quiet laughter and somber crying.
Ned got up to share some words as well, but broke down half way and left the podium to go back to his seat next to his mom. Mj stared at her shoes throughout, she loved Peter. That was something that she never got to venture into, it was something she was going to take to her own grave, much like how Peter took secrets to his.
Peter didn't die fighting crime or saving civilians. He could take pride in knowing that Ned was safe all because of his instinct to push him, but he died not knowing. All he knew was that his dad was holding his hand and even though he was feezing, the single touch of Tony was the warmest he felt in his entire life.
▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎
The semi-truck that hit the decathlon team had run a red light, not because he wasn't paying attention or because he was drunk, but because his breaks weren't fast enough. Desmond Clever would mourn Peter Parker for the rest of his life, knowing he was the one that cut his life short.
Tony paid him a visit while he was in jail and cussed him out, he wanted to do so much more than that. He knew Peter wouldn't want that, it also wasn't Desmond's fault.
Tony paid a big some of money towards the semi-truck business, so they could figure out their brake problem. It was a serious issue, he hadn't realized the problem was so big until it took his world. After Tony invested his time and money into trucks, the annual number of accidents caused by semi-trucks went down significantly. He knew that Peter would be proud.
▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎
The world found out about Spider-man's death two months after the accident. Tony didn't want the kid to have any connections to the fact. They roused up a fake story of Spider-man getting ill and that's what caused his months disappearance, then he succumbed to his illness. It felt weird lying to the public about it and it brought up so much pain for Tony and his family, but he knew Peter didn't want to take credit for Spider-man.
The city took it upon themselves to show Spider-man that they cared. They opened up a memorial in central park, many leaving gifts and flowers and even money. Many shared to social media, happily telling their own stories of their run ins with the web slinger, how he helped with their groceries or lost dogs. One little girl said that he saved her from getting hit by a car, it made Tony ball like a baby for hours.
Tony opened a homeless shelter up in Spider-man's name, Peter was always giving his money to help people on the street. It just felt right.
Tony also opened 'The Peter Parker-Stark Foundation', it was a non profit organization that helped kids who were orphans. Giving them school supplies and funding for anything science related. It gave those kids opportunities that they never thought would be possible.
Peter touched so many hearts, just as many as Spider-man. His grave site was full of letters and gifts, just like Spider-man's memorial. He was buried next to Ben and May, squished between his parents as well. It was where he belonged. Tony really hoped that he was with them, he found comfort in knowing that all the Parker's were finally reunited.
▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎
Tony took his family to Chicago a year and a half after the accident. It was Peter's birthday and he wanted to do something in his honor. Peter really wanted to see Chicago, he was beyond excited, but he never made it. So he packed up an SUV and they headed down i 80, the high way that made him want to die everytime he saw the name of. As they were driving and making it past the crash site, Tony would never forget where it was, he noticed something. He slowed down to the shoulder of the highway and parked the car. They all stepped out and looked on at a makeshift memorial for Peter, it was in the place where the crash used to be.
It held a cross that was in a patch of grass that had Peter's full name, along the bottom were teddy bears and letters and starwar's memorabilia. That wasn't what made Tony cry. It was the fact that on the cross hung a metal and when Tony picked it up it read Peter's name, along with his school name. It was the decathlon metal that Peter would have won, his team went to nationals the year after Peter's death and won in his honor. There was a little note in sharpie on the back of the metal.
'We did it Peter! We won! - Ned.'