Spider-Man: Unmasked

Chapter Thirty-Two

"Tony, we need to go. Visiting hours are almost over."

"...Yeah, okay. Let's go."

Peter was confused. Where was he? What had happened? He could barely remember a thing from the fight with Ultron, except that it was, well, a fight with Ultron.

He let out a small groan and his eyes opened as he heard a creak from the door. There stood his dads, who were now looking back at him, eyes wide.

"Dad?" He croaked. "Pops?"

He saw tears begin to form in his Dads' eyes as they shut the door and rushed over to him.

He was immediately wrapped in a bear hug by his Dad. A bit surprised, he hugged tightly back.

"Tony, be careful not to crush him," Steve said gently, resting a hand on Tony's shoulder.

Tony cleared his throat and nodded, standing back up. He leaned into Steve's touch and looked back down at Peter, tears in his eyes.

"Right. Sorry, Pete. How are you feeling?" Tony asked, him and Steve sitting back down.

"Alright... a bit confused, really." Peter looked around, taking in his surroundings. He was in a hospital room, and it looked like it was evening.

"What happened?" He asked, looking back at his dads. He tried to sit up but instantly regretted it. He winced as he felt a sharp pain in his side. He looked down and saw it all bandaged up. "Did we destroy Ultron?"

Steve looked down. Tony spoke up. "Yes, but... not before the city began its fall."

Peter shot up, letting out a little yelp from doing so. "What? Is everyone okay?"

Tony nodded quickly. He laid Peter back. "Yes, everyone is fine, except..."

Peter immediately remembered who wasn't fine.

"Pietro," he muttered, looking down. That had been when Peter had been shot. He felt like there was a hole in his chest. He couldn't save him.

"Peter, we know that look," Steve said, resting a hand gently on Peter's shoulder. "Don't blame yourself. It was his choice."

Peter shook his head but quickly went to change the subject. "What happened after... you know..."

Tony looked at Steve. "Your Pops was there, he knows more than I do."

Steve nodded and fidgeted a little. "You insisted on walking back to the lifeboat by yourself, while I..." he cleared his throat. "You had just been shot and so you... you passed out. Before I could go and grab you, a robot got to the core and the city fell. With you on it."

"You fell off of the city and into the water before Thor and Tony did anything," Steve continued slowly. "After Tony and Thor - er, vaporized the city, Tony rushed down underwater and grabbed you. He flew you onto the helicarrier and you were rushed into their medical bay."

Peter's mind was spinning. He was lucky to be alive. "How long have I been out?" He asked hesitantly.

"A day or so."

Peter's eyes widened. "Man, with the weeks I missed with Ultron, that's a whole bunch of homework I'm gonna have to make up."

Tony laughed shortly. "You just woke up from a long nap after defeating a killer-robot and that's all you're worried about? Homework? Jeez, where have we gone wrong, Steve?"

Steve laughed. "I don't know, Tony. I just don't know."

Peter laughed as well, feeling at peace. It felt nice just to laugh as if the events from before didn't matter. As if they had never happened.