[Peter's brain kind of feels like it's short-circuiting a little, when Mr. Stark finally talks. Like, he doesn't feel like he's blue screening in some psychotic break or something traumatic, but there's this — this wall of denial. Or maybe just this wall of numbness, at least, because nothing's processing naturally right now. He takes a few steps forward and can't exactly parse what he's experiencing right now. He's not sad. He's not anything, not yet.
He just... asks, with a sort of awe:]
Mr. Stark, am I dead?
[Because if he's dead, then — but he's here. He's alive. People don't... they don't usually have to worry about this kind of thing, when they're dead. That's supposed to be the one good thing about dying, right? The fact that you die and you don't have to actually think about the being dead part. Unless there's a cool after-life, and even then, you're too excited about there being a cool afterlife to feel anything. Should he be freaking out? He thinks he should be freaking out.
Okay, there's the feeling, curdling in his stomach. Nausea's like a 2-ton brick in his gut.
Is he dead? He's — he's really dead, isn't he? Mr. Stark didn't wanna say it; why would he?
He pales, not waiting to let Tony confirm it. He folds his arms and says, like someone who just realized they left the water on in the front yard:]
no subject
He just... asks, with a sort of awe:]
Mr. Stark, am I dead?
[Because if he's dead, then — but he's here. He's alive. People don't... they don't usually have to worry about this kind of thing, when they're dead. That's supposed to be the one good thing about dying, right? The fact that you die and you don't have to actually think about the being dead part. Unless there's a cool after-life, and even then, you're too excited about there being a cool afterlife to feel anything. Should he be freaking out? He thinks he should be freaking out.
Okay, there's the feeling, curdling in his stomach. Nausea's like a 2-ton brick in his gut.
Is he dead? He's — he's really dead, isn't he? Mr. Stark didn't wanna say it; why would he?
He pales, not waiting to let Tony confirm it. He folds his arms and says, like someone who just realized they left the water on in the front yard:]
Oh, fuck.