The Ways We Drown || Peter Parker

Peter

Peter feels weird.

He wakes up to rocks and sand surrounding him, and he forces himself to open his eyes only to be met with the sight of the blinding sun.

Peter doesn't know how to explain it, but he doesn't think anything as he looks past the light and instead at the ocean that seemed to have appeared out of thin air.

The waves crash into the beach in an almost ruthless manner, and the sound is what grounds Peter as he lays there alone.

A feeling of calmness passes over as he focuses in on the blue waves in front of him, and it reminds him of the time he was eight.

Peter sits up then, connecting the repressed memory to what he was feeling now. While he couldn't remember the details of how he had found himself here, it all makes sense regardless.

He was drowning.

Peter tries to stand on his feet, working to save himself from the water yet falling on his knees as he's unable to keep himself upright.

It's difficult to breathe, and it feels so much like the time he was a child that he doesn't even question it. The ocean waves ring in his ears as he crawls away.

Peter should be freaking out, but even now he can't help but feel the calm state in the back of his mind. He remembers how the rest of the story goes, and that alone allows him to relax as soon as he starts panicking.

Ben was going to save him soon enough, he would wrap his arms around his shoulders and pull him before he can sink too low into the water. He'd keep his head above the waves by clinging onto his uncle and refusing to let go even after they've reached the shore.

Peter finally lets his body fall to the sand as he waits for Ben to arrive, and it's no surprise when he shows up only minutes later.

"Peter."

His name sounds so close yet far away at the same time, and Peter instinctively reaches his arms out in response. He tries to catch the voice before it can leave his grasp, and he thinks he succeeds when he feels someone holding on just as tight.

"Open your eyes kiddo, let me see you."

Ben sounds like he's on the verge of tears, and that is what inevitably convinces Peter to actually listen as he lifts his head up from the ground.

It takes a moment for his eyes to adjust to the sun, but when they do it's not Ben that he faces but instead Tony Stark.

Now Peter was just confused.

He blinks back at Tony, not realizing that he would not be able to keep himself afloat if it weren't for the man holding his straight.

Wait, not afloat- they were on land. Peter could tell from the way the sand brushed his toes as he squirms under the other's grip.

He focuses back on the man in front of him, trying to remember how they had gotten there in the first place. Meanwhile Tony has a look of relief on his face, and even with Peter's muffled brain he can see the affection in his gaze.

Peter shakes his head, knowing that he has officially gone insane after thinking that.

"So you're not feeling okay?"

He snaps his attention back to Tony, only to realize that he had been talking this whole time as Peter sat there with his mouth gaping open.

He snaps his jaw shut, trying for formulate an answer that should have been effortless but instead made Peter's tongue feel heavy.