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When Stephen first heard of it, he had just gotten out of surgery.
Tony Stark inside exploding SI building.
And like that, his whole world stopped. Everyone’s eyes were trained on him, but he couldn’t stop himself from watching repeatedly the live feed of the building surrounded by smoke.
His heart began racing, what if he was still in the building? Will they get him on time? His lungs and heart were fucked up, he could go into cardiac arrest-.
He hadn’t realized he was hyperventilating until a pair of small hands gripped his arms and pushed him into the nearest closet.
Christine looked at him worriedly, squeezing him to try and make him focus on her. “Stephen, Stephen he’s alive. Tony’s alive and they’re bringing him here okay? Please tell me that you’re listening to what I’m saying.”
“H-he’s alive,” he choked on his own voice.
“Yes, he is!” she nodded frantically knowing she didn’t have much time before she had to leave him. “Take deep breaths okay? They’re bringing him and other scientists who were there to get treated here because even if they’re alive they’re badly hurt.”
“What have t-the paramedics s-said?” he asked weakly, he still had the image of the smoking building on replay.
Christine’s face sobered up like it always did when she had to talk to hysterical families. “All we know is that he’s unconscious but not in a critical state. We have the OR all set up and I promise that we’ll do everything we can-.”
“No, I’ll do it.” He said wiping his face hastily, “No one knows his conditions better than I do.”
“Stephen that’s unethical and on top of it you’re in no state to operate. If something goes wrong, you’ll freeze up.”
“I’m the best surgeon in this-.”
“That doesn’t stop you from being emotionally compromised,” she snapped. She looked at his red rimmed eyes, and the slight quiver of his lower lip. He was a mess, but she was ready to play dirty, enough to at least get him to stop wanting to do the surgery. “Besides, Peter is going to need you when he gets here.”
“Peter? Why is he coming here?” He was starting to panic again. There was no way for Peter to have gotten hurt during the explosion if he was at school. Unless… “Oh my god, Tony took him with him?!”
“What?! No, no, no Peter is completely safe. Pepper picked him up from school,” she said running her hands through his forearms soothingly, deepening her breaths so that he could copy her. “At first they thought it was an attempt and they didn’t want to risk it but apparently the explosion was an accident.”
“Shit,” he breathed out in relief, holding back the tears.
“I have to go get ready; will you be okay?” she looked at him.
“I have to, for Petey.” He pulled away to wipe his tear-stained cheeks and try to make himself look more presentable.
Christine gave him one last nod before leaving the utility closet to head over to the OR. A few seconds later Stephen left as well but instead heading over to the waiting room. The moment he stepped into the area a pair of squeaky sneakers made their way to him.
“Papa!”
“Petey,’’ he kneeled down to pick him up, the boy’s arm coming to wrap around his neck. He believed Christine when she told him Peter was fine but to actually hold and see it for himself helped ease some of the pressure in his chest.
“Aunt Pepper said daddy is in the hospital and that that's why we’re here,’’ he started rambling. “B-but the tv said there was an explosion.’’
Now Stephen could really see how distressed Peter was about all this. The boy hated hospitals as much as his father and to have seen the footage from the accident…”Who the hell thought it was a good idea to leave the news on?’’ he snarled in the direction of the nurses’ station where a few of them were probably trying to get in on the gossip. At Stephen’s tone though they straightened up and those who were not needed fled. Even the Stark’s security team looked momentarily chastised.
“I told them to turn it off as soon as we saw. We were a little…’’ the words seemed to have failed Pepper as she sat in the corner chair. It was obvious to him how affected the woman was and he felt like an asshole for lashing out. Before he could apologize Peter spoke up.
“Is daddy going to die?’’
Stephen’s whole body tensed up as well as everyone else in the room. “What? No! Daddy is going to be fine baby, I promise.’’
Tony came back to his senses to the sound of beeping. Odd, he didn’t remember any machine in the lab that made that sound- oh.
Today he was supposed to visit the SI lab to check in on the progress of the new surveillance and defense equipment they were supposed to launch in two months when a loud curse word filled the room and then a piercing ringing as everything exploded.
He glanced around the room, taking in all the machines he was hooked on. His gaze followed the tubes all the way from the machines to where they were connected with his body. There, he was met with more bruises and bandages.
Tony felt his body crash against the metal table as his body hit the floor. His whole body hurt, making the simplest of movements feel as if he was on fire. He tried looking around but he couldn’t see anyone else, the whole place was filled with black smoke. He opened his mouth to call for help but the words were stuck in his throat.
His chest felt too tight and every time he took even the smallest of breaths it was doing him more damage than good. His breath was coming out in shaky pants and it was becoming harder to get clean air into his lungs.
Logically, he knew now was about the worst time to have a panic attack but dying of suffocation was not on the top of his list. Still, as tears streamed down his cheeks, he couldn’t keep the panic at bay. He started thinking back to everyone he would be leaving behind;his bots, his friends, his husband, his kid- “Not like this, please, not like this,’’ he choked.
Tony was gasping for air on his hospital bed, face pale, and fingers twisted on the sheet. He couldn’t stop himself from going back, the present and the past were becoming more confusing until a familiar hand squeezed his.
“You’re okay sweetheart, you’re safe.’’
“Steph,’’ he croaked looking at the man now standing by his bed.
“Hey,’’ Stephen gave him a watery smile. “I went out a moment to check on Peter and when I came back you looked like you had trouble breathing so I turned on the oxygen mask.’’
He hadn’t even noticed the oxygen line, he wondered what else he hadn’t noticed. He looked up at Stephen, taking in his tired demeanor, “You look like shit.’’
“You don’t look so good yourself,’’ he chuckled. His right hand was holding on tight to Tony’s hand as if he was afraid he might slip past his fingers. “God, I love you. Don’t scare me like that again.” He whimpered, kissing his hair.
“I’ll try to stay away from any explosive device,’’ he tried laughing it off before he pulled the other man down for a deep kiss. “I love you too.’’