Irondad Oneshots

Bleeding Out

Trigger warning: self-harm

Peter Stark felt hopeless. He couldn't quite figure out what it was that was going on, but it just felt like everything was crashing down on him. He was giving up on everything; his grades were dropping, he was barely eating, he slept all the time, and mutilated his arms and legs with a blade every damn day. And the real kicker here was, nobody seemed to notice anything was wrong.

Fury was using his dad for more missions lately and then, when Tony returned, he'd spend hours in his lab working on suit repairs and improvements. He tried to spend time with Peter, but there just weren't enough hours in a day. Besides, he assumed Peter would come to him if something was wrong.

But here Peter was, alone in the middle of the night on his bathroom floor, bleeding out after cutting too much and too deep. He didn't mean for it to happen, he just started cutting to help with the loneliness and the sadness and the anxiety. But then he couldn't stop.

"Peter, you seem to be losing blood rapidly. I'm alerting your father." FRIDAY spoke as Peter dropped the blade onto the floor.

"Don't." He spoke softly. "Just tell Dad I'm sorry and I love him."

Tony was almost home from a mission when FRIDAY spoke through his helmet. "Boss, Peter is losing blood rapidly on his bathroom floor. He says he's sorry and he loves you."

"What? FRIDAY, what happened?" Tony asked, his heart beating rapidly. He felt his anxiety heighten as he sped up.

"It seems he made cuts on his body repeatedly."

Tony made a choking sound as his voice got caught in his throat. Did Peter mean to kill himself? How didn't he see anything was wrong? He needed to get to him faster. "Call Peter."

Peter's phone rang, he knew who it was. He used nearly all of his remaining energy to grab it off the counter and place it on speaker before letting it fall to the floor beside him. "I...I didn't mean....to die yet..." Peter said between staggered breaths.

"Pete, I need you to stay awake. Talk to me, buddy. I'm almost to you." Tony spoke quickly as the building came into sight.

"I didn't mean to...cut so much....I don't want to die... not tonight, Dad....I love you....."

"I love you too, Pete. You're not dying tonight, you have my word on that, kiddo." Tony said as he flew to Peter's window and busted through. He opened the bathroom door and saw his pale and lifeless son bleeding out on the blood-covered floor.

"FRIDAY, get Bruce up here now." Tony demanded as he exited his Iron Man suit. He grabbed towels and began trying to apply pressure to the wounds. It was difficult however since there were so many so he focused on the deepest ones as he waited for Bruce.

"I didn't mean to." Peter said breathlessly. "I just wanted....the pain to stop."

"Hey, it's okay. You're going to be just fine." Tony assured him, giving him a smile to tell him he was sure of it.

"What happened?" Bruce asked as he walked in and saw all the blood.

"I messed up." Peter said, more to Tony than to Bruce.

"I'm gonna fix you up, Peter." Bruce promised. "Tony, carry him to the Medbay, I'll keep pressure on the cuts as we walk."

Tony picked Peter up gently as Bruce held towels tightly to his wrists. The feeling of Peter's blood-soaked shorts and t-shirt made Tony nauseous. His baby had done this to himself, had been doing it to himself for who knows how long, and he didn't notice. He wanted to break down then and there, but his son needed him now.

Peter hadn't been crying until they got to the Medbay and Bruce started cleaning the cuts.

"It's okay, honey. You're going to be okay." Tony assured him from his chair by Peter's bedside as he ran his fingers through his son's hair.

"I'm going to start stitching the deepest ones." Bruce told them both. "Pete, hang in there. You'll be alright."

As Bruce stitched the cuts that required stitches and patched up the ones that would heal themselves, Tony continued to run his hands through Peter's hair and whisper assurances in his ear. Peter just listened to his dad and let the tears run down his face, not caring anymore.

"Alright, we're finished. Pete, you're going to be tired from the blood loss, that's normal. Just rest for now. I'll give you two some time alone." Bruce said when he finished before leaving the room.

"I don't want to talk about it." Peter spoke softly, knowing his dad had questions about the cutting.

"Okay, you don't have to talk right now. Just listen to me, Petey. I'm going to help you. From here on out, please just come to me instead of hurting yourself. You don't even have to say anything, just come to me and we'll stay together until you trust yourself again." Tony promised.

"What about the missions?" Peter asked.

"Fuck the missions, you're more important." Tony smiled. "I love you, kid."