"mistake" • spiderchelle

thirty seven

Benjamin and Mary are five weeks old

•••

Tony walked up on the stage, and stood in front of the podium. Like any other press conference, there were reporters, photographers, news stations, and magazine writers filling up the room. You couldn't avoid getting your picture taken if you tried.

It took the huge crowd a few seconds to calm down. Tony looked down at his notecards Pepper prepared, even though she knew he wouldn't use them. He set them down on the podium, and planned to forget about them.

Before starting, Tony looked to the side of the stage and made eye contact with Peter. Peter looked nervous and sad. Tony gave him an, its gonna be okay, looked. He received a small smile from Peter.

Tony looked back at the crowd, "Today I'm here to address the disappearance of Spider-man." The crowd grew loud again, but quickly quoted down again.

Tony took a deep breathe. "Spider-man is okay. He wasn't killed or kidnapped." Tony looked back at Peter for a second, then returned his attention back to the crowd.

"About nine months ago, he decided to take some time off. He had things going on in his personal life, but those are for him and not to be shared." He looked back at Peter, who was now holding Mary. Michelle was standing beside him with Ben. Nap time must have ended early.

"During his time off, something unexpected happened," he took a deep breathe, "He was driving home, when another vehicle hit his car. Due to impact, a part of his spinal cord broke. It caused permanent damage. Something not even his advanced healing could fix."

Tony glanced at the small family, Peter had his head down, and Michelle was rubbing his shoulder.

"The damage to his spinal cord caused nerve damage. It paralyzed both his legs." He expected the crowd to burst with questions, but they were all too shocked, so he continued.

"Spider-man is alive, but he won't be swinging through New York anytime soon. Maybe if some miracle happened, he'd be back in action, but right now, he's medically retired. Thank you."

Tony walked off the stage and went for Peter. He leaned down and hugged his son, careful not to squish Mary.

"I guess it's official. No more Spider-man," Peter said, his tone giving off how he feels. "Maybe one day there'll be another one," Michelle said, a small smile on her face.

"I don't know. I don't want them to get hurt," Peter said, looking down at Mary.

"Let's order shawarma," Tony suggested, trying to lighten the mood. "That's sounds amazing right now," Michelle said. She hadn't had shawarma before living in the tower, shocking everyone, so they all insisted she try it. Turns out, it's one of her favorite foods now.

•••

finally did the press conference lmao.

keep up with the begging bold thing because there will be a lot more time jumps now.

what do you think about a field trip chapter? i thought it would be hilarious and cute if they had a field trip to the tower and some how crossed paths with their kids and the class is like wtf???

-Nat