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It was a Saturday night, my husband and I, and our ten-year-old son Peter were watching a movie. I didn’t even know what it was called, let alone what it was about, but seeing Peter and Tony with big smiles on their faces made it worth watching. About halfway through, I hear my phone buzzing, and my eyes go wide when I see the caller ID- Maria Hill. It must be very important if she is calling me on my personal phone, especially at this time of day. “Hello,“ I say.
“Rogers you and Stark need to get here now.”
“Why?” I ask.
“Director Fury wishes to speak to both of you. HYDRA agents have broken into the SHIELD base and he wants you two there.”
“What about Peter?” At this stage Tony has paused the movie and both him and our son are staring at me with wide eyes.
“He’ll be fine, just get over here.” And with that she ends the call.

“Tony Director Fury wants us at SHIELD headquarters now.” I say to Tony’s perplexed face. “Why?”
“HYDRA agents have just broken in,” then I turn to my little boy Peter.
“Are you sure you are going to be alright Peter?? I can stay home with you if you want,”
“Papa, I will be fine, besides, it’s like only for an hour isn’t it? Besides, JARVIS is here to keep me company.” Steve sighs. He knows Peter can handle himself, but with the recent spike of HYDRA attacks on the tower and SHIELD, he can’t help but worry that someone will break in to rob them- or worse, hurt or kidnap Peter to get to them. “Peter will be fine, don’t worry Capsicle, come on let’s go before we are late to the meeting,” Says Tony. “Fine. Bye Petey, call me if anything happens, ok?”
“I will. Bye Daddy, bye Papa,” Peter says, giving us both hugs.

Peter’s P.O.V.

As soon as my dads had left the tower, I get an uneasy feeling in my stomach, like something bad was going to happen. Despite telling Papa that I was going to be completely fine, I am actually scared that HYDRA agents will use me to get my dads, or even SHIELD. “JARVIS?” I ask. I need to know that JARVIS is still with me, if only to ease up the tension in my stomach. “Yes young Peter?” is the immediate reply. Even with his robotic voice I can still hear the worry and care in the AI’s voice. “How much longer until Daddy and Papa get back?”
“Not much longer now Sir. Would you like me to put a movie on to take your mind of things?” I guess a movie could help, even if only a bit.
“Yes please JARVIS.”

About 10 minutes into Aladdin I can hear glass shattering onto the floor, gunfire filling my ears. “JARVIS, what’s going on?” I say frightened.
“There seems to have been a breach in security. Come now Master Peter we must get you to the safe room.”
“Where is that?” I cannot believe that this is actually happening. I wish that Daddy and Papa were here. They would protect me. But they aren’t here, so I have to do everything I can to protect myself. “ I will direct you, Master Peter, but you must not stop running, I will alert your parents now. Am I clear?” With a shaky voice I reply with a nearly inaudible, “yes.”
“Good boy Master Peter. Now, turn towards the kitchen…”

Tony P.O.V.

I was just as reluctant as Steve to leave our baby boy at home, but I knew better than to leave Fury waiting. Besides, JARVIS will alert us if anything bad happens- not that anything will. When we arrive at SHIELD the entire top floor is in ruins. We both freeze in shock. We both know exactly how hard it is to even get authorised access into SHIELD, let alone blow this place up!

“T…Tony” I hear a weak voice coming from the rubble. I turn around only to discover freaking Nick Fury is trapped under the rubble. Nick Fury! He never lets his guard down, like ever. “It… it was a t…trap. Get b-back to Pe…ter.” Then his one eye closes as he falls into unconsciousness. As Steve searches for any more survivors, I call over medics to look after Fury.

Just when I start to process what Fury said, I get a red alert from JARVIS, meaning someone is attacking the tower. Steve hears the alert and we share the same horrified look. “Peter.”

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Peter’s P.O.V.

“Now turn left towards the elevator. Go Peter!”

I follow JARVIS’ directions until I am at the elevator. As soon as I get in, JARVIS shuts the door shut so the HYDRA agent following me slams into the door, making me give a small cry of surprise. “I am taking you to the top floor Master Peter, and when you get there you must run as far as you can, ok?”
“B-but what about the safe room?” I question.
“I regret to inform you but the entire floor containing the safe room has been ruined in the aftermath of a bomb set off by our intruders.” I don’t know how these guys even knew about the safe room when I didn’t, but them having this much knowledge of the tower can’t be a good thing.
“T-then where do I go?” I am really scared now. Knowing that there was somewhere in the tower that I would be safe had given me hope when I was running away from my attackers. But now knowing that I had nowhere to run to where they couldn’t find me is very frightening.
“I will do the best that I can to keep them away from you Master Peter, but you must not stop running. I have notified your fathers and they will be here in the next 3 minutes, but in the mean time you cannot let them catch you, ok Master Peter?”
“Y-yes JARVIS.”

The elevator reaches the top of the tower and I shakily get ready to step out. “You know what to do master Peter?”
“Y-yeah. I th-think.” Is my nervous reply. As I wait for JARVIS to open the door, I get an unexpected shock when I hear him say, “Master Peter, I have to lower the elevator to a different level. This level is no longer safe.”
“W-Why not?”
“Approximately 8 HYDRA agents are waiting for you right outside this door.”
“What?” I exclaim shocked. I have officially never been more scared in my life. Before JARVIS can make the elevator change levels, the door is suddenly forced open by 2 HYDRA agents, each of them looking down on me with a murderous glint in their eye. Behind them are another 6 agents, all wielding gun and knives, two of them holding rope, duct tape, and a cloth probably used for a blindfold. I am petrified. I push myself into the far end of the small elevator and try to make myself as small as possible, sadly realising it was futile.

“Well, what do we have here? If it isn’t the little Stark-Rogers brat himself. I was wondering how long we would have to search this ridiculous tower to come across you,” says the one with the duct tape. He is not as buff as all the others, a bit shorter than them too, but he has something about him that makes me know that he is the leader. I give a small whimper, a single tear falling from my eye, but this only makes the agents laugh. “Don’t worry, brat. All we need is some machine parts from your daddy, and all the motivation he will need to give them to us, is his little baby’s life.” And with that the agents give out another small chuckle, before the leader tosses the agents that pushed the door open the tape and rope.

“Secure him,” he says, and walks away. The two buff agents creep closer to me, tape in hand, and grab me before I can do anything. “Help! Daddy! Pap-“ and before I knew it a rag is shoved in my mouth and a long piece of tape is being wrapped around my head and over my mouth about 5 times, impossible for me to take off. I can feel my hands being bound so tightly with thin rope that I think it is only a matter of minutes that I lose all feeling in them, the same being done to my ankles. Tears are falling now, and I can only pray that my dads heard my final plea, before I am taken from them, most likely to never see them again.

Steve P.O.V.

As soon as I see the alert from JARVIS, I knew that Peter is in danger. How could I have been as stupid as to leave my 10 year old boy alone when I knew that HYDRA were a lingering threat. Peter doesn’t deserve a parent as ignorant as me. He deserves someone that will properly care for him and will never leave his side in the face of danger. “We’ve got to get back to the tower,” Tony says, and even though he is wearing his Iron Man mask, I can tell that he is on the verge of crying. “I know,” I say, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. If we were going to save Peter, we need to be focused. Peter needs us.

We arrive at the tower in about two minutes, and I can already tell that unwanted intruders have been there. “Look Steve,” says my husband, and I follow his gaze to the roof of the tower where I can see a HYDRA helicopter perched on the helipad previously occupied by the Tony’s private Helicopter, which is now on its side, broken. I can see the anger in Tony’s eyes, and I need to calm him down before he does anything rash. “Tony, look at me,” I say, gently cupping his chin and turning it towards me. “I know you’re angry. I am too. But we have to stay strong, for Peter. For our little boy, trapped in there, surrounded by HYDRA agents wanting to hurt him, likely scared as hell. We have got to stay strong, to save him.” A tear slips from my eye as I think of how much danger our innocent little boy could be in, and turn this worry into controlled anger. Whoever took our boy had hell to pay. “Let’s go.”

We enter the bottom floor of the tower to immediately here JARVIS’ somehow panicked sounding voice. “Sir, Captain Rogers, I am so happy you have returned.”
“Where’s Peter, JARVIS?” says Tony.
“Sir, I am terribly sorry, I did everything I could, but they blew up the entire floor containing the safe room-”
“Just tell us where JARVIS,” I say calmly, trying to compress my rage at these HYDRA agents. Wrecking Tony’s helicopter, blowing up an entire floor, these bastards better hope that Peter is unharmed- but judging by how uncertain JARVIS is (I’m still not sure how Tony made a robot have emotions), it’s likely he is.
“Young Peter has been captured by the enemy.” While Tony turns and punches a wall, I keep my cool and quickly ask “What floor, JARVIS?”
“Top floor Master Rogers, I shall take you there.” And with that Tony and I run into the elevator and JARVIS takes us to the top floor.

Tony P.O.V.

After my brief fit of rage after hearing that these monsters had been targeting my son, I run into the elevator and we head up to the top floor. When we are almost to the top I hear the voice I have been wanting to hear ever since we arrived at SHIELD, but I am blinded by rage to have to hear my baby boy’s voice as a desperate cry for help. “Help! Daddy! Pap-“ then his young voice is muffled by what could only be a gag of some description. Bastards. I’ll kill them all. When the elevator door opens, I see red. Six HYDRA agents are all pointing guns and me and my husband, while two agents are surrounding my baby boy, one straddling him and holding his legs in place while the other secures too tight rope around his little ankles.
“Peter,” Steve says. I would say the same but I am too lot for words. My young boy, not even 11 yet, is lying face down on the ground, being straddled by a man more than 3 times his size, has his wrists and now legs tied so tightly it’s a wonder they haven’t already gone blue, and tape wrapped around his whole head. His whole body is shaking with fear underneath the man, and I can see he has been crying, and he still is. I’m surprised that he hasn’t died from a punctured lung or broke any ribs, although it’s hard to tell. Once the bastards finished tying his legs the larger one got off Peter and yanked him up by his hair to face them, pressing a gun against his head. His whole body is shaking and the muffled sobs and whimpers coming from him make me want to kill every agent in this room, right now. But I knew it wouldn’t be that easy. To get Peter back safely, we have to play their game, for now. But just watching as my little boy shakes with fear in the clutches of a villain makes me promise to myself, that they will regret ever laying a finger on my baby boy.

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Peter P.O.V

Once the HYDRA agent finished tying up my ankles he yanked me up by my hair so I was upright, keeping a firm grip on my upper arms so I don’t fall over, and turns me so I am facing two people standing just outside the elevator. I almost cry out with relief at who I see, the tape being the only thing stopping me from doing so. My daddy and papa are finally here. I could be saved! The cold barrel of a gun suddenly pressed against my temple reminds me that things are still far from over. As I start trembling at the thought of not going back to my daddies, I can only hope that Daddy and Papa will find some way to get me away from them.

“Mr Stark, Captain Rogers, what an honour it is to meet you.” Says the chilling voice of the lead agent. “I was hoping that we could meet under better circumstances, but I personally find this way-” he gives me a hard shake and I give a muffled whimper, the shake jostling my bruised, maybe cracked, ribs. “-A lot more…interesting.”
“What do you want?” It is my dad’s voice, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard him sound angrier with anyone before. Through my tears I see Papa putting a calm hand on my dad’s shoulder, probably to stop him from doing something rash. I know that Dad can get angry at times, especially when Papa gets hurt on a mission; Papa is usually the one to help Dad turn his anger into calmness.
“All we need are a few blueprints, that’s all.” Even from behind me I can hear the smirk on his face. “Blueprints for what?” My Papa says, his eyes not leaving mine.
“Nothing big, Captain, just you know, the latest Iron Man suit.” My eyes widen. Dad can’t give over the blueprints to the Iron Man Suit, he just can’t! Especially not to HYDRA. They will use the suit to cause mass destruction across the entire planet, maybe even outer space!
“How do I know you aren’t going to use those blueprints to wreak havoc on Earth?”
“That’s just the thing, Stark- you don’t. But as long as I have my adorable little piece of leverage here,” he presses the gun further into my head and I shut my eyes in pain, “you will give them to me. Unless of course, you want to be one less heir,” he says threateningly. I shake my head desperately, trying to tell my dads not to hand over the blueprints, but the agent just cups my chin in a death grip and holds it tight enough to probably bruise. “Quit it brat,” he whispers to me, “or you’ll never see your daddies again,” I am immediately petrified of the thought of losing my daddies and I freeze, breath hitching in my throat. I look to my daddies, and I see my Papa looking at me with a reassuring look, and my Dad looking at the agent who just threatened me with enough of a glare to almost make me quiver in fear.
“I’ll show you the way.” Says Dad through clenched teeth. He then leads the way into his workshop. My heart sinks as I realize they are actually going through with this. My Dad is going to give HYDRA access to the Iron Man blueprints. All because I was stupid enough to get caught. If I had run a little faster to get to where JARVIS was telling me, then maybe I wouldn’t have been caught.
When the agents start following Daddy, my Papa quickly runs towards me and the guy holding me, him almost getting there before the agent quickly replaces his gun for a knife, him pressing the cool blade against my throat. “Do you want me to kill him Captain? Because you know I will. I have plenty of other forms of leverage that I could easily replace this runt for, you being the next on the list, so don’t think that I won’t hesitate to slice open his tiny little neck. Am I clear, Captain?” I give a choked sob as the knife presses into my neck, and start struggling in the agent’s grip as my Papa is led away from me. My daddy is already to far ahead, leading HYDRA agents to the workshop to give them Iron Man blueprints.

Please someone save us.

Steve P.O.V.

“Nothing big Captain, just, you know, the Iron Man suit.” The HYDRA agent says with a smirk. My heart sinks. If HYDRA got their hands on the blueprints to the Iron Man suit, there’s no telling how much damage they will do. But seeing my little Peter trembling as a large man holds him in a death grip, tears falling from his eyes, I know that I would give up anything to see my little boy safe in a heartbeat. At the agent’s words I see Peter’s eyes widen, and he looks directly at my husband and I with complete and utter terror in his eyes. I see Tony’s eyes darken as he growls out to the agent, “How do I know you aren’t going to use those blueprints to wreak havoc on Earth?”
“That’s just the thing, Stark- you don’t. But as long as I have my adorable little piece of leverage here-” he emphasizes his point my ramming the gun further into my little boys, my heart breaking as it causes him to wrench his eyes shut in pain. “-You will give them to me. Unless of course, you want to be one less heir.” Did they just threaten us with Peter’s life? Oh, these guys are going to pay.

As the wave of different emotions goes through my head, I see Peter start to struggle in his captor’s grip. He looks up directly at Tony, directly at me, and desperately starts shaking his head. I know what that means. He wants us to reconsider giving HYDRA the blueprints. Before I can reassure him that everything will be alright, the agent holding him harshly grabs his chin and forces our baby boy to look into his gaze. He whispers something very threatening-sounding into his ear, and by the way Peter freezes up, it likely wasn’t something that is making this ordeal any easier on poor Peter. Christ! He’s only 10-years old! What kind of monster would involve a child, in this sick, twisted, war? I give Peter the most reassuring smile I can while I can tell that Tony’s jaw is hardening and he is glaring at the agent.

“I’ll show you the way,” Tony grinds out. He seems so hesitant and angry, but I know its not because he doesn’t want to give up the blueprints. If giving up the blueprints meant Peter would be safe he would do it without second guessing himself. Tony’s rage is purely coming from how these bastards are treating our 10 year old son like an adult prisoner that had gone to jail for numerous crimes. Tony starts leading the way towards the workshop, 3 of the agents following directly behind him with guns, 3 doing the same to me, and 1 pointing a gun at Peter as the lead agent drags him along, like he is no more than a rag doll. When I get the chance, I’ll show these bastards the full wrath of Captain America, no doubt Tony will bring out the suit as well. Probably all of the Avengers too. Peter has grown on every one of them and knowing that HYDRA are hurting and scaring him like this will make all of them lose all sense of control.
I need to get back to Peter. My little boy keeps on making small whimpers, and muffled cries of pain whenever the agent jostles him, so I need to get back to him to make him feel a bit safer. Two meters away from where Peter and his captor are walking, I see the agent holding him suddenly whirl around to face me. A switchblade, the sharp tip poised at my baby’s throat, has suddenly replaced the gun in the agent’s hand. Peter gives a muffled cry of shock as he is whirled around, his eyes filled with emotions that I would never wish to see on any child: sadness, terror, but mostly fear. Fear of being killed at the age of ten. Fear of being used against your parents as a child hostage. Fear of wondering ‘when is this going to end.’ No child should have to worry about that stuff, ever.
“Do you want me to kill him Captain? Because you know I will. I have plenty of other forms of leverage that I could easily replace this runt for, you being the next on the list, so don’t think that I won’t hesitate to slice open his tiny little neck. Am I clear, Captain?” Peter gives a heart-wrenching sob, and I feel my blood boil as I see small droplets of blood begin to fall down his neck. Bastard. Two HYDRA agents grab me by the arms and lead me away from my baby boy, and I can just view him whimpering and struggling, trying to get closer to me.

Oh yeah, these bastards are going to die.

Chapter Text

Tony P.O.V.

“-You will give them to me. Unless of course, you want to be one less heir,” says the agent, digging his gun into little Peter’s head. Peter face was contorted in pain, while that bastard agent just had a freaking grin on his face! As much as I hate to give HYDRA access to the Iron Man suit blueprints I see no other option but to lead them to the workshop. Peter starts desperately shaking his head as if to tell me not to do it, but then that bastard of a HYDRA agent harshly grabs his face and forces my baby to look into his gaze, whispering threatening words, which make my boy, freeze up in fear. I give the agent my worst glare ever, signifying the hell that they are going to have to pay for touching my boy.
“I’ll show you the way.” I am so angry right now, but I have to stay in control, for Peter. 3 agents point their guns at me and I lead the way to the workshop, trying to hide the true fear creeping towards me.

We start heading towards the workshop when I hear the lead agent shouting things about how he will kill Peter if he has to. I start to move forward towards them but the agent closest to me grabs my arm and pushes me towards the workshop. “Keep moving,” he grinds out, and it takes everything in me to comply. We reach the workshop and I watch as Steve is brought in his hands now cuffed, by baby boy being dragged by the lead agent the last two people to come in.
“Nice place you got here Stark. Very roomy. Now, where are the blueprints?” He asks calmly, yet the smirk on his face tells me all I need to know about how confident he is.” I can see Peter begin to sag in his captor’s grip; all of this must be taking its toll on Peter the hardest. “Let the boy go first.”
“Nice try Stark, but right now he is the only thing that guarantees you will give me those blueprints. Do I really have to injure this innocent boy further before you get how serious I am?” At the mention of injuries, my eyes get drawn to Peter’s neck, where I can see a small cut; tiny droplets of blood already dried up on his little neck. I can also hear how laboured my boy’s breathed are becoming, whether that is because of bruised ribs or asphyxiation due to the gag I can’t tell. I see red. These bastards has the audacity to injure my boy and think they can get away from it, well they have another thing coming; and it will be when they least expect it.

I head to the safe where I keep the blueprints and slowly edge towards it, not missing the agent haul Peter up as he sags further in his vice-like hold. Peter is only half conscious at this point, but the bloody bastard still had to antagonize him. “Better stay awake for this one, brat, this is the best part.” At this stage I have stopped walking and am watching the agent holding Peter intensely. The agent pokes his gun at me, but I pay it no mind. Peter drops his head forward, and it takes everything in me to not run over there right now as I watch the agent yank Peter’s head up by his hair and slaps him in the face. Peter whimpers, tears falling again, and I move at double the pace towards the safe. With fingers like lightning I unlock the safe and take out the multi-million dollar blueprints. The agent closest to me snatches them from my hand before I even have a chance to think, and quickly hands them to one of the larger agents. “My, these are impressive. Are you sure that these are really worth you son, Stark?” Doing what Steve taught me, I contain my anger and speak using my calmest voice I could possibly hope to manage, “Let my son go.” I notice that the agents blow up a large hole in the wall and start to escape, but I pay it no mind, not when this son of a b**** still has my son.
“Actually, Mr Stark, I’ve been thinking, I might just hold onto this one for a bit longer, he seems to be quite the charmer. I’m sure he’d lo-” the sharp thunk of a wrench right where the shoulder meets the neck stops the agent from finishing his sentence, the man instantly loosing his grip on Peter, and crumpling to the ground. Standing behind him is Steve, cuffs broken, wrench in hand, and anger written all over his face. With no one essentially holding him up, Peter lets himself fall, me rushing to his side and catching him before he hits the ground. Seeing whose arms he was in Peter cries again, though this time I think it was in relief, and I hug him close to my chest briefly, before sitting him in my lap while Steve and I try to undo his bonds. “Hush baby I’m here,” I say to him. Peter won’t stop shaking, and it’s taking everything to not go after those agents right now, but I can’t. I cut off the tape around his head, and as soon as I do the first word he says is “Daddies”, tears still streaming from his eyes, “It’s alright baby, your daddies are here.” With that, Peter succumbs to the oblivion that has been edging away from him for so long, his small body falling asleep in mine and Steve’s arms. All of us are still on the ground of the ruined workshop. I place Peter I Steve’s arms completely, before standing up and helping my husband up. We look at our little boy sleeping before the lead agent’s voice interrupts us, the agent in question still immobilized on the ground
“You might want to keep a close eye on that little one boys, we’re coming back, worse then ever, and we’re going after him.” How could we have forgotten about him? That bastard just threatened us with Peter’s life, again! At least now we can interrogate him to find out HYDRA’s plans, and we can ensure that he will rot in a jail cell for the rest of eternity. “You’re not going to touch Peter again. None of you are. And you are going to be spending the rest of your worthless life in a jail cell, so you better think twice before going after my son.”
“Don’t be so sure Stark” I walk over to him, and right before I knock him out, I mutter just to him:

“Stay away from my family.”

Chapter Text

Peter mumbled in his sleep.

There was a strange beeping sound, and he could hear his dads’ voices encouraging him to fully awaken.

“-Eter”

“-Eter, …-re you –wake?”

“C’mon –ete op- your ey-“

“Mm, Daddy?” Peter opened his eyes to see the concerned but relieved faces of his Daddy and his Papa

“Oh, Peter, oh baby, you’re okay, you’re okay.” Daddy immediately pulled Peter into a hug, which notified Peter of the oxygen mask that was pressed against his face. He moved to take it off but his Papa’s strong hand gently guided him away from it.

“You need to keep that on for now Petey.” Silence only followed.

Why was he here? Suddenly, a wave of memories crashed down on Peter, and he remembered everything. How he was tied up and held as leverage to make his Daddies give up the Iron Man blueprints. Peter felt fresh tears spring into his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

This made his dad and papa freeze. “Peter,” came his dad’s soft voice, “None of this was your fault, okay? Don’t apologize. We’re so proud of you, you were so brave.”

Peter shook his head. “N-no I wasn’t. I w-was s-scared, and w-weak. I d-don’t deserve t-to be c-called y-your son,”

His Papa’s voice cut in, “Peter, don’t ever say that. You were so incredibly brave, especially for someone your age. Your dad and me couldn’t be more proud of you. We love you, son.”

Peter sniffed and his eyes grew with fear, “But what about the b-blueprints. B-because of me, now HYDRA has them.”

“Firstly, none of what happened was your fault, okay Petey. We’ll face the HYDRA issue when we come to it, but for now, we need to focus on staying under the radar, and staying safe.”

“How long do I have to stay in here?” Peter hoped it wasn’t long. He hates hospitals.

“Not long Petey, just until your ribs are a bit better. After that we can go back home, and you can rest there.” His Papa gently squeezes his hand.

“mm Kay,” Dad and Papa smile.

“Get some rest Peter, we’ll be right here,” and with that, Peter lets himself fall into unconsciousness.

When Peter woke again, he was in a different room, his room.

“Daddy?” he says fearfully, still dreading being alone after the incident. “Papa?”

“I have alerted your parents to your awakening, Peter, they will be here in less than a minute,” FRIDAY’s voice gently says to him.

“O-okay, t-thanks FRIDAY,” Peter says, feeling a bit more safe at hearing the AI’s voice. Made him feel like he was safe. At home.

“Peter,” his papa’s voice brings him out of his trance.

“Papa!” his voice was full of relief as his lets his papa bring him into a warm embrace.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Steve mumbles into his shoulder.

Just then, Tony comes barrelling into Peter’s room, quickly joining the group, his face full of relief.

“W-what if they come back, w-what if they use me to make you do more stuff? I don’t want you to,”

“We won’t let them get you again Peter, we promise,” His dad’s soft voice says. “Now, do you want some food?” Peter’s eyes light up.

“Yeah! Can we have ice cream?” His dad lets out a small chuckle.

“I guess we could make an exception to the ‘no ice cream before dinner’ rule, does that sound good?”

Peter gives him a big smile, “Thanks Daddy! Let’s go!’’ and rushes to jump of the bed.

“Wow, easy there tiger, don’t want you to make your ribs any worse,” Steve says picking him up. Although his ribs were in the end only slightly bruised, they still didn’t want Peter to over exert himself. Peter only giggled and leaned into his father’s hold.

When they reached the kitchen, Clint, who was nursing a cup of coffee, studying some files, greeted them. “Hey, there’s my absolute favourite nephew and bravest boy in this entire universe! How’re you feeling buddy?” His warm smile eased Peter’s wariness, and he gave a small smile, and a nod in the affirmation, but nothing else. Clint didn’t mind though, he knew that this would take its toll on Peter.

“Why don’t you pick a movie, Peter, and me and your dad will get you some ice-cream. Sound good?” Peter gave a small nod and after Steve put him down went over to the living room. As soon as Peter left the room, Clint’s façade dropped and he turned serious. “How is he holding up?”
As Tony went over to the fridge to get the ice cream out for Peter, Steve gave a sincere look to Clint, “He’s okay. Feels extremely guilty. I tried telling him it wasn’t his fault at all, but I don’t think he believes me.”

“How could he think that what happened was his fault? He was so incredibly brave. He is definitely your son, Steve,” Clint said.

“I don’t know, but we have to lay low. The leader said they’re coming back, for Peter. And this time they’ve got the blueprints for the suit. I don’t want to take any chances; Peter isn’t going out of our sight.”

“Well we just have to be prepared for battle.”

“No Clint,” Said Tony. “They decided to bring our ten-year-old son into this. They haven’t just started a battle.” Tony finished making Peter’s ice-cream and turned back to Clint and Steve with a dark glint in his eye.

“They’ve just started a war.”

Chapter Text

By the time ‘The Lion King’ had finished playing, Peter had already fallen asleep. Even though he hadn’t had dinner, Steve and Tony decided it would be better for him to get some much-earned rest and let him be. After his Papa tucked Peter in, and both he and his dad kissed him goodnight, Peter was already asleep, and even if momentarily, felt peace with himself, and slept dreamlessly. It wasn’t for long though.

About a few hours later, Peter jolted awake. Sweat was pouring down his face, yet his whole body was shivering. He wrapped his blanket further around himself, and tried to go back to sleep, but suddenly an overwhelming urge to puke overcame him.

He sprinted to the nearest bathroom, which happened to be in his room, and emptied the contents of his stomach into the toilet basin. He sobbed as he started to go through the agonizing pain of dry heaving, and sagged against the wall, sweat flowing down his face.

“I have notified your parents, Peter, they will be here any minute.” Said the calm voice of JARVIS. “O-ok t-thanks J-JARVIS,” Peter chokes out, before turning and dry heaving again.

“Peter! Oh, baby, I got you, you’re okay,” It was his Dad’s voice, and not moments after hearing it the was pulled into a warm embrace, with both his daddies. “Sh** Pete, you’re so warm, I think you have a fever.” Peter then felt his Papa taking his temperature, and his worried voice not long after that. “Tony, he’s at 38.0 C (100.4 F), and by the looks of things, it’s only going up. Contact Bruce.”

Peter felt his Papa’s strong arms gather him up, and heard soft, comforting words to him. “It’s ok now Petey, Dr. Banner is coming, everything is going to be alright.”

With that, Peter succumbed to the oblivion of unconsciousness, feeling once again safe in his father’s arms.

Steve placed Peter onto his bed, and tucked him in with loving care. He felt his boy’s forehead again and nearly flinched back at how hot it was. But due to the fever, Steve could alarmingly see Peter’s small frame give of shivers every few moments.

“How do you think he got like this so suddenly?” he heard Tony enquire.
“I don’t know. It might be induced by his ribs, or maybe it’s just stress. I just hope he’s not like this for long, I hate seeing him like this.” This was followed by a few moments of the both of them gazing at their son’s shivering body, before JARVIS alerted them to Bruce Banner’s arrival.

“I came as quick as I could. How is he?” Banner immediately got out his supplies and proceeded to check over the unconscious child. “I don’t know. We just found him in his bathroom dry heaving over the toilet. He seemed fine before we put him to bed.” Steve started stressing and this time it was Tony who puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder and takes the place of the comforter.

“From what I can see it only seems to be a light fever. It might be from his ribs, or just a delayed reaction to how harshly he was treated back there. Either way, I think just lots of rest will help. I’ll give you a medication as soon as I can.” Bruce begins to pack up his supplies.

“Okay, well, thank you Bruce, for coming. I know it’s late,” Tony says, and him and Bruce begin to walk out of the room, leaving Steve at Peter’s side.

“It’s no problem. I just hope that we can be prepared for when those agents come back. If they even try to go after Peter this time, they are going to have to get past an incredibly smart AI, and all of the Avengers. I can’t make any promises about not bringing out the other guy if these HYDRA agents try to go after him.” Tony gave a small smile.

“Don’t worry pal; I won’t be stopping you, and I think now Cap won’t either.” With that, Bruce stepped into the elevator and left Stark Tower.

Meanwhile, since thanking Bruce, Steve had not taken his eyes off Peter, the man sitting on his son’s bedside and watching as the child dozes, his cheeks flushed and skin pale. “I’m so sorry Petey, I can’t help but feel this is my fault. I shouldn’t have left you. I can’t imagine what I would’ve done if you died, Peter, you mean the world to me. But I promise, no one is going to touch you again. Never again baby.”

Agent Mendon smirked in his chair. It was only a matter of time before one, or multiple of the Avengers came in to try and ‘interrogate’ him. He wasn’t nervous. All he would have to do would be to bring the boy into the conversation and then that will leave the two superdads too angry to think rationally. Of course, HYDRA will be going after little Peter again. Having the little brat in their clutches was the only way that they will be able to have the Avengers at their mercy.

He does admit that if the Black Widow, or any SHIELD agent came in he probably wouldn’t be as confident as if it was just the two leaders. But knowing the Captain and Stark, they would definitely want to know what goes down here as well, if not here than behind the two-sided mirror tat was not-so-subtly placed in the wall.

Suddenly, the door opens, and he was pleased to see both of the superdads stalk into the interrogation room and take their seat across from the handcuffed HYDRA agent. The Widow must be watching from behind the wall. “Gentleman, what a pleasure it is to see you again. How is the little tyke, might I ask? Still crying like a little wuss?” Mendon immediately wanted to rattle the two men before him, which would make this interrogation a whole lot easier for him, as it would make them angry and lose focus.

Strangely enough though, his little comment had no affect on either of the men, both maintaining blank faces and clam expressions. Then Stark decided to break the silence and spoke up. “Agent Mendon, since we all know each other well enough, I’m going to skip the casualties. What does HYDRA want with the Iron Man blueprints?” Mendon saw how they were going to play this. But it was only a matter of time before they cracked. He was going to have fun with this.

“What does HYDRA want with the Iron Man blueprints? What a stupid question.” Seriously, how idiotic could these people get? He saw Stark begin to get angry but Cap calmed him down. Good. He was already showing signs of losing it. He was enjoying this.

“Just answer the question, Mendon.” The stern voice of Captain America would have had any other person recoil in fear. But not him. Instead, he gave a light chuckle and replied sarcastically, “I think I’m going to let you boys figure that one out for yourselves. You’re smart, right Stark? You were the one that built the Iron Man suit in the first place. Surely you could figure out want an agency like HYDRA would want with the suit. 2+2, Cap.”

“And how does Peter fit into all this? Why drag an innocent, 10 year old boy, into all of this?” Cap’s hand was beginning to tremble with rage, and he knew that a couple more verbal hits would have him broken as well.

“Isn’t that obvious? We were forced to involve the boy because having his life in danger is the only way that you will give us what we want. All the threats to Stark Tower, SHIELD, heck, the bloody Avengers, and it is a scrawny little brat that makes you pull your head out of you’re a**es. What a joke. The so-called ‘Earth’s mightiest heroes’ are nothing but pathetic softies, who are going to be responsible for the death of millions of innocent civilians. Starting with the ones you love most.”

“Shut up!” Stark yelled. Mendon only smirked. Cap straightened up and then coolly asked, ” When are they coming back? We know they don’t have all the resources to build one, let alone multiple, and I don’t think they have the skills either. So when are they coming back, I know they are!” He finished with a hard slam of his hand onto the table, startling Mendon, but to his credit, he only flinched for a split second before his confident façade returned.

“I wouldn’t underestimate HYDRA, Captain. They might know have the full knowledge on how to perfect the suit, but Mr Stark does. Resources, while they do have many, they might not have all of them, but Stark Tower, or even SHIELD, seems to have a surplus of them. And, as previously seen, we have ways to make you give us whatever you want, all it takes, is little Petey-pie.”

“You aren’t going near him again,” Tony warned with a harsh tone. These agents torment Peter, hurt him, and make him sick, and then have the nerve to say they will do it again. These bastards are going to pay. Majorly.

“Well, I sure won’t,” Mendon raises his cuffed wrists to emphasise the point, “But the other agents will. They aren’t done with you yet. I’m not sure when they will be back, could be now, could be in a year. But when they do, they aren’t going to go easy. Boy will I enjoy this,” he gave a small chuckle again before getting a punch in the face by a fuming Tony Stark.

“You won’t get to enjoy this because you will be occupied by your life sentence for assault of a child, breaking and entering, and robbery. You and your fellow agents had the pure nerve to use a child as your means of destruction and havoc, which makes HYDRA nothing more than cowards. If they come back that makes them noting more than arrogant bastards, and if and when they come they will get the full wrath of not only us, but all of the Avengers. If they come back to fill their own selfish needs to control the earth, they won’t know what hit them. We’re done here.”

Then they both stalked out of the room, leaving Mendon lost for words, and a life sentence in prison ahead of him.

Chapter Text

The next few months after the interrogation went as normal as they could when you are an Avenger. Peter eventually got over his illness, him still getting small headaches every now and again. Steve and Tony only went on missions that were deemed ‘emergencies’ as it broke their hearts to see Peter’s reaction when they had to leave.

“You’ll be okay, right?”

“Yes, Peter, we won’t be gone for long, we’ll be fine,”

“Promise?”

“Yes baby, we promise,” Then they were left with the agonizing pain of watching Peter give a small nod then curl himself into a ball.

The mission went as smoothly as it could, both husbands only obtaining minor cuts and bruises. After showering and changing, the husbands immediately went to go and check on Peter, but an alert from JARVIS signalled to them unfortunate news. “Sir, Captain Rogers, I suggest you head to young Peter’s room immediately. His heart rate seems to be elevated to an alarming level and he seems to be experiencing some sort of trauma in his mind.”

Tony and Steve’s heart stopped. “Nightmares,” they gasped together. They had feared this. After the ‘incident’, Peter only seemed to get the beginnings of nightmares, but with Tony or Steve always there to comfort him, the night terrors died down as quick as they started.

Now though, with no one there to scare the nightmares away, the two Avengers could only hope that there baby was okay.
________

It was dark, and cold. The restricting presence of ropes on his wrists prevented any chance of moving. The vice like grip of a large man kept him in place. The first and only question that came to mind was:

Where were his dads?

He could he hear muffled conversation from the lead HYDRA agent and his fathers.

“In exchange for your pathetic son, you are going to have to give something to me,” the agents gravelly voice grounds out.

“Anything, please just let him go,” his Papa distressed voice gave Peter some relief, but not much, because this means that his dads are once again going to have to give up something valuable to save him. Again.

“I’m liking your enthusiasm, Captain. What me and my friends here would like, is for you and Stark, to hand in your suits and become our personal prisoners,” Peter felt his heart stop. Dad and Papa could not agree to that. No Captain America and no Iron Man means that the Avengers would have nobody to lead them, so therefore there would be no Avengers. And with no Avengers to protect the world, then anyone, including HYDRA, will have free rein over Earth, and complete control over it. Peter knew he wasn’t worth it.

Almost instantly, he could hear his Dad’s voice, “We’ll do it.”

He couldn’t believe it. Just like that, the two most influential Avengers were giving up their lives for him? A useless boy who only caused his dads trouble? Peter was not going to stand for this.

“No, Dad, Papa, you can’t! I’m not worth it, please don’t do this!” His parents didn’t even acknowledge that he spoke.

“Come on Tony, it has to be done,” And with that, Peter was roughly thrown to the ground, and his dads followed the HYDRA agents out of the building, forever.

“Daddy, Papa! Come back, please!”

“I’m sorry, please come back,”

‘’I need you,’’

“Please,”

“I’m sorry…”
_______

When Steve and Tony dashed into their son’s room, a sight that made them freeze in their tracks encountered them. Peter was tossing in his sheets, sweating profusely. He was tangled in his sheets and was whimpering in his distressed slumber.

“I’m sorry, please come back, Daddy, I’m sorry, Papa, please,”

The husbands immediately sprinted over to their son, trying to awaken him from his night terrors.

“Peter, baby, wake up, Daddy and Papa are here, come on buddy, we’re here,” All the two Avengers got were more heart wrenching sobs from their boy.

“No, d-daddy and papa g-gone,”

“No, Peter, we are right here baby, just wake up.” Peter shot up; tears tracks streaking down his pale cheeks. His wide eyes locked with his fathers’ and his expression went to relieved but confused.

“Daddy? Papa? B-but…” Tony and Steve brought him into a tight hug, and were quick to comfort their baby.

“It’s okay, baby, it wasn’t real. It wasn’t real…shh,” They rocked Peter back and forth until his sobs died down. Tony and Steve shared a look- they have to solve this. They cant let Peter continue to be traumatized by what those bastards did to him.

Peter meanwhile, was flourished with relief. His dads were alive. They haven’t left him. His own stupidity hadn’t led to his dads leaving him forever. The world still has Avengers.

And with that, Peter slumped into his fathers’ warm embrace, falling into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.