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Chapter Text

Peter sat on the uncomfortable stool and stared at the same dark brown and old looking door he's been staring at for the last few months. Or at least Peter thought it was several months now. Out of hopelessness he stopped counting the days after 41 days. Now he wished he didn't. He lost his feeling of time. If he knew what day it was, it would at least give him something to do. He would know if he missed his birthday already or he could calculate how many hours, minutes or seconds went by since he's been captured. It would give him something to do besides just sitting and waiting for the man, Hunter, to come back with his next sick concept of torture.

Peter came to hate sitting. If anyone asked him what his worst kidnapping scenario would be a year ago he would've probably thought of chains connected to his wrists, pictures of him hanging from the ceiling and barely standing on his tiptoes in some pitch black cellar. Certainly not sitting on a wooden chair in a dusty but well illuminated room. But sitting drove him crazy. He wanted to stand up and run- or probably lie down since his body wasn't in any condition to run, seeing how rare it was for him to get some food.

All of his bones seemed to hurt from the hours he spent sitting in the same position. If he could at least stretch his arms a little. That wasn't possible though since the same cuffs held his wrists and ankles in place since he woke up chained to that stool what felt like ages ago. They were made of some special material because even when he was in the room for the first few days and tried fighting for his freedom he wasn't able to break them. He still had so much more strength at that point but it had been useless to try. All he did was hurting his wrists until they were bleeding. Now he wasn't interested in what the cuffs were made of anymore. It didn't matter anyway. He couldn't escape them. Nobody would come to save him either. He'd lost that hope so long ago that the whole concept of one of the Avengers, let alone Tony, saving him seemed almost ridiculous now. Mr. Stark, not Tony. Or dad. Peter almost snorted at the thought of calling Tony his dad. A few months ago, before he got captured, and after spending more and more time with him, Peter actually slipped up a few times and called him Dad. He would've been embarrassed about that but the smile on the older man's face was worth it. Peter used to think that Mr. Stark genuinely cared about him. Now he knew better.

The sun already began it's journey to the horizon when Peter heard heavy footsteps from the floor outside the room. He didn't really pay attention to it. It was Hunter again anyway. Who else would it be… Peter sarcastically thought.

Suddenly, the door was thrown open and crashed into the wall with a loud bang that disturbed the previous silence. None other than Iron Man stood in the doorway, not moving for a few seconds before he took a careful step into the room. Peter just glanced at him for a moment before sighing. His tired gaze wandered to the camera that was installed on the ceiling in the corner of the room. Peter always thought that it looked oddly modern in the old and dusty room.

When Peter began speaking, his throat was raw from not using it in a while and his voice was void of emotion.

“Really, Hunter? The hologram trick again? Getting kinda old, don't you think?”

His gaze fell to the dirty wooden floor. Even though he went through this scenario almost daily, it was still painful to watch the perfect hologram replica of Mr. Stark. If it was under much different circumstances, Peter would probably be fascinated by it's realistic design and futuristic technology.

But the circumstances weren't different so he didn't care. Peter looked up again when the Mr. Stark hologram lifted his Ironman mask to reveal his worried and confused gaze. The boy couldn't stand to keep looking so he spoke to the camera again.

“Your plan is really good”, he said, still in a monotonous manner, “Making me see Mr. Stark, hoping that he's real only to go through the realization that he won't save me again and again… yeah, it's clever. There's only one problem.”

Peter smiled towards the camera, but it was not happy, instead it looked bitter and almost cruel. He'd clearly given up every bit of hope he once had.

When hologram-Mr. Stark made a move to step closer after stepping fully out of the Ironman suit, Peter continued to explain.

“Your plan is too perfect. Because you are right. Mr. Stark won't save me and you made me see it. The hologram won't work anymore. Actually, I should almost thank you.” Peter grinned again, although it looked more like a grimace than a real smile. Of course he got no answer. Hunter never answered, no matter how much he had screamed or begged or cursed.

“Kid…”, Mr. Stark said, and he sounded shocked and heartbroken.

The man slowly reached his right hand out to the boys general direction and took another step towards him.

That was unusual, Peter noticed, as the holograms normally didn't speak. It was the first time since that fateful day he got taken away that Peter heard his mentor's voice. His eyes watered without his consent. The torture can get worse after all. Hunter always has another trick prepared.

“Touch me”, Peter challenged. He spoke to the hologram-Mr. Stark for the first time, seeing that he still had his arm outstretched.

“Get it over with. I have things to do. Walls to stare at…”

Peter only managed a sarcastic comment, anything else would have brought even more tears to his eyes. Sarcasm developed to be his defense mechanism. Though looking at the hologram's face made it hard for him not to break out in tears. He looked so broken… which was actually weird, Peter noticed. The previous holograms never looked like that. Maybe Hunter improved the software or researched Mr. Stark's facial expressions or…

Peter's thoughts came to a screeching halt.

He was touching him.

The hologram carefully laid a hand on his shoulder. He could feel it.

But… that doesn't make sense… he weakly thought.

His whole body was rigid and he didn't even dare breathing for a few seconds and when he did again, it sounded strangled and heavy. Peter didn't dare hope yet. It felt so real, but it couldn't be, maybe he had hallucinations?

But then Mr. Stark also put his other hand on his shoulder and he looked into Peter's eyes, a single tear felt onto his leg and Mr. Stark said: “I'm really here, Pete.”

Peter broke.

A violent sob ripped from his throat and he struggled with all his might against the cuffs that connected his wrists to the chair. His breathing went uneven when more sobs followed the first one.

Tony hurried to kneel behind the stool and Peter didn't see what he did there, but he heard a few metallic clicking sounds and then the cuffs were off and Tony stepped back into his line of sight. Peter wasted no time to stand up and fall into Tony's waiting arms. Tony pressed the boy against him and guided them both to kneel on the ground.

Even though Peter tried to say something- he wasn't sure what exactly- all he could get out of his mouth were sobs and audible gasps for breath.

Mr. Stark- Tony, he's here, he came to save me after all. Peter thought.

He clutched his mentor's shirt as if he would disappear any second and pressed his face into the older man's shoulder. Tony just hugged him back and struggled not to let any more tears fall as he made some soft shushing noises, trying to calm Peter down and provide some comfort. For a while they just sat there holding each other.

A few minutes later Peter still cried but he managed to get out a full sentence without sobbing.

“Please”, he whispered in a pleading voice, “Please say this isn't a dream again. Please…”

Tony's heart broke even more but he forced himself to answer in a steady voice.

“I promise. This is real. You're going home with me”

Chapter Text

Tony was the first of them managing to pull himself together. It felt like they spent hours sitting on the floor just hugging each other when in reality it was only a few minutes.
He gently grabbed Peter's shoulders and pushed him away a little to get a better look at the boy. Peter instantly made a noise of protest and tightly clutched the front of Tony's sweatshirt. In response he got a small but sad smile from the older man before he let go of his shoulders to softly wipe the tears off of Peter's face with his thumbs. Thankfully, the boy stopped crying and only let out an occasional sniffle.

"Let's go home, Pete", Tony quietly suggested.

Peter noticed in that moment how incredibly tired his mentor and father figure looked. There were obvious bags under his eyes and he looked about ten years older than last time Peter saw him. Sure, he knew that he was gone for a while, but it couldn't have been that  long. 

“Hey, think you can walk?” Tony asked and

Peter realized that he completely ignored Tony's earlier statement about going home. He quickly nodded. Which made him dizzy. Peter wondered how long it was since Hunter gave him some food. 

It must've been a while, he realized. When Hunter came in with some bread the day before, Peter greeted him with a ‘ Jeesh, thanks for the high quality food your majesty, what did I do to deserve such generosity?'  in his best ‘sarcastic Tony Stark’ voice. The sarcasm gave him a short sensation of control. He didn't regret what he said, even though he had to watch Hunter turning around and marching out of the room with the bread and water still in his hands. 

Speaking of Hunter…

Tony stood up and gently pulled Peter to his feet. He looked calm and relieved, seemingly oblivious to the possibility of Hunter storming into the room any second. 

Peter held onto Tony's wrists, partly because he was still dizzy and partly because he felt the need to touch Tony to be sure he was really there.

“Mr. Stark!”, he nearly yelled in panic as he looked up to Tony worriedly. 

The man in question raised an eyebrow since he wasn't used to Peter speaking to him in such a formal manner anymore.

Before he was able to respond, Peter already talked again. 

“Hunter, he probably already saw us through the camera and now he's gonna come here, oh God, what if-” 

“Kid.”, Tony's voice suddenly sounded strangely sober. 

“What if he has weapons?” Peter continued way too fast, “I mean you have the Ironman suit but he has those really strong cuffs and, oh man, the hologram tech so who- who knows what else and-” 

“Peter.” Tony tried again, still in the same tone, but a little louder this time. It worked, Peter stopped his worried rambling and looked at him with big eyes full of concern.

“Huh?” 

Tony sighed. “You don't have to worry about him anymore.”

Peter didn't understand right away, so he just stared at his mentor in questioning silence until something clicked and he realized what Tony was trying to say. "You killed him?”, he asked, voice unsure. 

That idea felt strange to him. His kidnapper, the man who had ripped his whole life apart was all of a sudden not existing anymore. Peter actually didn't feel any different with that knowledge. Sure, he wasn't in any direct danger anymore but other than that he still felt the immense relief and joy of having Tony there, the real Tony that actually came for him. And he felt the broken pieces of what once was his trust and even faith in the back of his mind.

Tony watched Peter's facial expressions carefully. 

“Huh”, the boy just said. 

Instead of talking more about Hunter, Tony asked if Peter was injured. To his relief he answered that he wasn't.

-----------------------------

They walked through the house Peter was held in and the boy realized just how big it was. Sure, he recognized the floor with the shabby bathroom but when they left this floor and kept walking through the hallways filled with dust and old boxes, it dawned on him that he was being held in an old manor. 

Tony had his arm around Peter to keep him steady while walking and the Ironman suit followed behind them on it's own. Both of them didn't talk until they reached the jet Tony took to reach Peter's location. They boarded the plane and Tony silently motioned for the boy to take the seat beside him after taking the front seat to fly his jet himself. They reached the tower after only a five minute flight. The sun was already going down so it must've already been early evening, Peter noticed, since it was summer. 

“I didn't realize I was so close all this time…” Peter noticed after Tony landed the jet and they went into the building.

When he looked up to his mentor the man looked surprisingly guilty. Before he was able to question it though, he accidentally stumbled over his own feet and would've fallen if it wasn't for Tony catching him.

“Alright, we are gonna visit the medbay right away”. Tony muttered, steadying the boy with his arm around his middle.

The elevator ride was silent again with Peter leaning heavily against a worried Tony. When the elevator doors opened it revealed a Korean woman already waiting for them.

“Peter, this is Dr. Helen Cho”, Tony introduced them, “she will look you over.” 

Peter silently waved at her, not feeling up to have a conversation with a stranger right now. Dr. Cho didn't seem to mind and smiled back. 

“Let's get started then, Peter”, she said before turning around to lead the way towards the nearest room. Peter began to follow her. Without Tony to hold him up, he was shaky on his feet and now that he focused on himself he also noticed how he was shivering, even though the room didn't feel too cold. As soon as he noticed that Tony didn't move from where he stood when introducing them, he turned around and looked at his mentor, silently questioning his lack of movement. 

“Tony? Why aren't you coming?” Peter realized that he sounded small and childish but he couldn't help it. 

Tony himself didn't seem any less insecure about the situation. 

“I thought you'd like to have some privacy while Dr. Cho checks you out.” It sounded like a question even though it wasn't one. He waited for Peter to answer nonetheless.

The boy in question quickly shook his head.

“I would like it if you were there, too”, Peter told him while avoiding Tony's eyes. They both looked relieved when Tony catched up to Peter and put his arm back around the younger boy's shoulder.

Chapter Text

Having Dr. Cho looking him over wasn't so bad at first. She asked him a few questions while he sat on the hospital bed with Tony standing next to him. 

“Is there a possibility of dehydration? When was the last time you got to drink something?”, she asked at first. Her voice was professional but kind. 

It was a question he could safely answer, Peter decided. 

“I drank some water this morning.” 

That didn't seem to be a sufficient answer because Dr. Cho kept looking at him expectantly. 

“I got toilet breaks two times a day.”, Peter elaborated, “So I always drank water from the sink in the bathroom” 

Dr. Cho nodded and wrote something on a clipboard she seemed to have grabbed out of nowhere. But considering how he was slightly dizzy and kind of unfocused he probably just missed how she grabbed it from somewhere. Before she was able to continue with her questions, Tony spoke up next to him. 

“Wait a minute”, Tony held his hand up to stop Dr. Cho, “I've seen the house he's been held in. It was old. Like, really old. I doubt that this psychopath invested in new pipes…” 

There was a moment of silence when Dr. Cho considered what Tony said. 

"If there were any problems with the water, I'll find out when I see the results of his blood sample. I have to look at the results in detail anyway to figure out the possibility of having been drugged.", she told Tony. Then she turned back to Peter. "Speaking of blood samples, let's do that right now so we got it out of the way" 

Peter nodded and held out his arm for Dr. Cho. In that moment he was glad that he was still wearing his now dirty and worn out shirt. If it was something long-sleeved, he probably would've had to undress and he definitely didn't want to do that. 

Dr. Cho worked quickly and efficiently so she was done after about two minutes. Tony just continued to stand beside Peter with one hand on his shoulder. 

"Now Peter, I would like you to put your shirt off if that's ok?" Her request sounded easy enough but Peter began to shake slightly. He wasn't looking forward to this. His fingers trembled when he grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head. Clutching the piece of clothing in his hands he prayed to whatever gods were out there that they wouldn't look at his back. 

Dr. Cho looked him over while nodding. Tony just stared at his way too prominent ribs with a deep frown on his face. Then Dr. Cho took a few steps forward to look at his back and hesitated for a second.

"Where are those scars from?" 

Peter just closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Of course Dr. Cho would see them.

"Wait, what scars?", Tony asked quickly and hurried to take a step backwards to get a look at his back too. After a moment of dead silence he spoke with a carefully controlled voice. 

"What happened, Pete?"

Peter swallowed audibly. Tony had his arms crossed in front of his chest and his whole posture was tense. Even if his voice was calm, Peter was able to see right through it. 

Taking a deep breath to calm his rapidly beating heart, he began to explain in a small voice. "Hunter. He… ugh… he needed someone for his holograms. Someone who was important for me, you know? But I wouldn't tell him anything. So one day he came in with a whip." 

There was a heavy silence in the room. Peter looked up from the floor after a while to see how Tony reacted. Someone who didn't know him, like the many people out there who only knew Tony Stark as the person the press made him out to be would think that he was completely unbothered by what Peter just told him. His posture was still the same and he didn't say anything. But Peter knew better.

After the events of what people now called the "civil war", Tony kept up the official story of Peter being his personal intern. That way, Peter got to work with Tony in his lab two times a week. At first Tony kept their relationship rather professional while Peter tried his hardest to get over his fanboying for the Superhero. With time though, they got closer. Instead of going home right after working in the lab, Tony would invite Peter to stay for dinner or to watch a movie and instead of having to walk to the Stark tower after school, Tony more often than not picked him up himself. With time the two of them got close enough for Peter to have his own room at the Stark tower where he often stayed for the weekends. Hell, Peter even called Tony dad on accident a few times. 

Therefore it was almost natural for Peter to be able to read Tony's thoughts and emotions. He was kinda glad that he was still able to do so, even after not seeing the man for months. 

Dr. Cho got him out of his thoughts by speaking up again. "Well, they healed well so the only thing I would do is using a cream to reduce the scarring but otherwise you should be fine. What is way more important right now is the fact that you are heavily underweight. How much did you get to eat?" 

Peter actually was glad that their conversation went into a different direction, even if it was still about him. So he focused fully on Dr. Cho after hurriedly getting dressed again.

"I got some bread and water every day. But I think with my fast metabolism you could say it felt like, close to nothing? Oh, and I didn't get anything yesterday or today because I pissed him off." 

Why he added the last part, he didn't know. It was unnecessary information but saying it out loud lit a tiny spark of pride in the middle of his helplessness.

Dr. Cho nodded and wrote something down again. "Are you experiencing dizziness or do you have problems seeing clearly?" she asked then. 

Oh. Right. He did feel dizzy all the way here. 

"Umm… I guess I feel kinda dizzy when standing and walking? But I don't have problems with my eyes!", Peter quickly assured. To bring his point across he waved both of his hands in front of him in a denying motion. 

Dr. Cho wrote something down again before putting the board away and turning to Tony, who has been suspiciously quiet in the last few minutes. 

"Aside from obviously being underweight, Peter seems to be undernourished.", she explained to Tony who still hid his thoughts behind his expressionless face. The only sign that he was even listening were his small nods. 

"Getting only bread once a day means that he lacked all the important nutrients for months. Since he got used to eating only tiny amounts, especially considering his fast metabolism, it would only backfire to give him huge amounts of food suddenly. For the next two weeks Peter should eat three meals a day, but small ones. He isn't allowed to skip any of them, even if he might really want to. Furthermore it should be only healthy foods to get back on track with the lack of nutrients as soon as possible. I will send you a list with foods of different categories that he should eat. Every meal should have one food from every category. The amounts are listed as well." 

Peter was only partly listening at this point. He found that he was unbelievably tired all of a sudden and the prospect of being able to sleep in his own bed again sounded so heavenly that Peter nearly teared up just thinking about it. It was only when Dr. Cho turned back to him that he snapped out of his thoughts.

"Peter", she looked at him sternly at this point, "You probably really want to rest but you need to eat something beforehand and let the food settle for a few minutes before doing so. You are already lightheaded and sleeping now without having eaten anything would do more damage than good, ok?"

Even though he disliked the plan, Peter nodded. A worsening condition wasn't something Peter particularly desired. 

About twenty minutes later Peter found himself in Tony's huge kitchen area, his upper body resting on the table he was sitting at. The tiredness spread through his whole body at this point and he desperately wanted to just sleep. But Tony's endless stream of words kept him from falling asleep right there. Since they left the Med bay Tony talked and talked without a pause about the list Dr. Cho had sent him, about certain foods and his disliking for certain dishes. For Peter it was obvious that the hero desperately tried to avoid unwanted thoughts in his head right now. Probably thoughts concerning the scars on his back. 

Apparently Tony's body had suddenly developed chlorophyll during his absence and thus did not die yet, because he had absolutely nothing in his fridge. Therefore he just got someone to deliver nearly every food on the list to him in a matter of 15 minutes. A situation that, at least for Peter, was amusing but not surprising. He probably would've protested but he was just too tired to even speak up. The fact that Mr. Stark actually came for him and got him out of this hell still didn't really sink in for him. It felt like a dream and if it was then he would enjoy it… as soon as he had a good long nap. 

At one point Peter must've actually fallen asleep. He woke up to a plate of food getting placed in front if him while someone said his name in a soft yet slightly panicked voice. 

Mr. Stark, he realized after a few seconds. 

Said man sat down next to him. 

"I gathered all my cooking skills to make this, Pete. You better eat up.", Tony said with a tender look on his face. Peter knew it was meant to be teasing to cover up his soft side but it didn't really work well. Not with Peter.

Too tired to really care and too relieved to have something else than bread for once, Peter ate the whole plate of food without even noticing what he was devouring. Not that the portion he got was too big to begin with...

What did Dr. Cho say?, Peter silently wondered, I probably don't want to eat the three meals a day? Boy was she wrong… 

If Peter was less tired he probably would've noticed that Tony finally stopped his constant stream of one sided chattering and instead settled with silent staring. 

Peter muttered "Thanks for the meal, Tony" before resting his face beside his now empty plate again. 

"Don't be silly." Tony shook his head. "Let's get you into a bed before you pass out on this uncomfortable table again. Come on"

The boy whined a little but followed Tony, who took his wrist in his own hand to drag the tired boy along. Peter only realized that they had passed by his room when they stood in Tony's private bedroom. Before he had enough time to voice his questions, however, Tony gently shoved his mentee into the bathroom attached to his bedroom and closed the door behind the boy. 

"Go take a shower", he called through the door, "I will get you new clothes". 

While Peter took a shower, nearly falling asleep multiple times even though he was standing upright, he heard the door to the bathroom opening and then closing again soon after. He didn't waste too much time, showering as quickly as possible in order to finally sleep in something other than a stupid chair again. 

After stepping out of the shower and drying himself with one of Tony's soft white towels, Peter discovered that beside a pair of boxers, Tony brought him one of his sweatpants as well as a grey sweater that, Peter only realized after a minute, was Tony's own sweater. Not only in the sense of ownership but it was actually a custom made piece of clothing. The back was decorated by the word 'Stark' printed in big, bold letters while the upper left corner of the front read 'Tony' in smaller letters. 

Peter smiled the whole time he dressed and noticed that his eyes actually became watery. Wearing that sweater made him sentimental in a way he himself wasn't able to fully describe. The only thing he knew was that it was a good kind of tears. He was warm and comfortable in a soft oversized sweater, able to walk around freely and sleep in a soft bed. 

Sniffling softly he wiped the tears away with the back of his hand before making sweater paws and leaving the bathroom. 

Tony sat on his bed and looked at Peter expectantly, patting the other side of the bed in invitation before Peter was even able to consider leaving the room for his own. And who was Peter to not follow Mr. Starks order?

So he walked over and laid down on the soft bed next to his mentor. He wanted to say a lot of things, ask a lot of things, but he was out cold as soon as his eyes closed.

Chapter Text

Peter woke up and the first coherent thought on his mind was that he was oddly comfortable and warm. His second thought was that he wasn’t in his usual upright position on that cursed chair. Before he could properly panic though, he opened his eyes and saw Tony laying right next to him, watching Peter silently.

Right. Tony came for him. He found him and brought him to the tower. He saved him after all and now the man was laying there and quietly looking at Peter with an expression of wonder in his eyes.

Peter opened his mouth, ready to say something. Instead he felt a sudden tear roll down his cheek and what ultimately left his mouth was „May is dead.“

Tony swallowed audibly but he didn‘t look surprised. Of course he would know, Peter scolded himself quietly there is no way he can‘t know since he searched for you.

Leaning up on one elbow and using his other hand to wipe a the single tear off Peter’s face, Tony looked at him with a serious expression.

„The neighbors heard the gunshot and called the police. It was too late for your aunt. And you were nowhere to be found" the man shifted his gaze to the mattress in between them, „I organized her funeral since I know that you don’t have any living relatives. I didn’t want to decide anything without your consent but- well I couldn’t exactly ask you. She’s buried with your uncle. I assumed that you and her would want that.“

Peter nodded, more tears falling from his eyes at the words. He tried to speak but at the first attempt, his voice broke. So he tried again.

„It all- it happened so fast, you know? I was sitting on the couch and suddenly-“ he swallowed hard and wiped more tears off his face. New ones followed them instantly.
„Suddenly there was a gunshot. I jumped up and ran to the kitchen, where May was. I saw her lying on the ground and then I suddenly blacked out. I dont know why my spider sense didn’t warn me…“

Tony didn‘t reply, instead he softly pulled on Peter’s arm as an invitation to move in for a hug. Peter gladly accepted. He rested his head on the man’s chest, tears still running down his face. His hands grasped fistfuls of the Tony’s sweater while he cried into his chest, occasional sobs leaving his mouth. Even though it was not the first time since Tony found him, being able to have affectionate physical contact after such a long time felt at the same time both heavenly and overwhelming to a point where it just made Peter cry even harder. He remembered all the endless, countless times he saw hologram Tony entering his room. The way a small part of him , against his better judgment, hoped that it would actually be Tony. The pain he felt deep in his soul whenever the anticipated touch of his mentor turned out to be nothing but air, a trick played on him yet again. Really, the longer Peter thought about it, the more did his current situation seem unreal to him. Simply too good to be true.
So Peter continued sobbing into Tony’s chest, letting out all of his overwhelming feelings about his loss, as well as the fact that he made it home for real. That Tony was solid underneath him.

It took Peter about half an hour to stop crying and calm down. All the while Tony softly combed through Peter’s hair with one hand while hugging his back with the other. He himself had tears in his eyes at several points. But there was no room for regrets and guilt now. The past couldn’t be changed, not even by the great Tony Stark himself, and right now he had to focus on helping Peter out to his full capability, even if he was terrified of doing something wrong.

„Come on Pete, let’s get up and eat something", Tony finally said while notching the boy softly and getting into a sitting position. Peter nodded silently, then reached over for the nightstand where a pack of tissues was located. He wiped his face and blew his nose before stretching and following Tony into the huge kitchen area.

In the back of his mind, Peter wondered what would happen now. May really was dead. And Tony was right, she was his last living relative. He had nowhere to go. And he didn’t want to assume that Mr. Stark would allow him to stay here in the tower with him. Sure, the man obviously cared enough for him to search for him for months, hug him, let him cuddle him, but actually letting a teenage boy with abandonment issues move into this multimillion dollar tower, pay for him and watch over him? That seemed less likely to Peter.

Tony’s voice pulled him out of his anxious thoughts. "Lets get some breakfast into you, kid.“

The thought of food should have been appealing, seeing how he worked on a serious minimum of it for months, but it wasn’t.

„I’m not actually hungry…“, he murmured when he saw Tony checking out the list of recommended foods that Dr. Cho handed him the day before. Suddenly he understood what the woman meant the day before when she told them that Peter had to eat, even though he didn’t feel like it. His body was probably used to the tiny amount of food right now, so eating more wouldnt be easy.

Tony looked at him for a few seconds. It seemed like he tried to silently convey the same thing that Peter himself just thought. He suddenly moved to ruffle the boy’s hair affectionately, Peter leaning into the contact.

„How about you press yourself a glass of orange juice while I prepare something for you?“ Peter nodded at the suggestion and moved to the side of the counter where an automatic fruit squeezer stood.

They ended up preparing breakfast for both of them after Peter insisted that if he had to eat, Tony also had to. Tony agreed easily, and they both ended up having freshly pressed orange juice (plus a coffee for Tony) as well as fried eggs together with bread and avocado. It was really good, but Peter had to force himself to eat, he did not feel hungry at all.

After they had their breakfast, Peter just prepared to ask some more more questions about the time he was gone, when Friday spoke up out of nowhere, making him jump.

„Boss, Ms. Potts is on her way up to meet you.“

Before any of them could say anything, the door of the private elevator slid open after a ping, and Pepper, dressed in her usual business attire, stepped out. She looked around the room and spotted both Tony and Peter in the kitchen area. A smile lit up her face.

„I heard that you’re back Peter, but I didn’t really believe it until seeing you just now", she said, „It’s good to have you back."

Peter, who stood up to greet Pepper, as he was taught to do by his aunt, smiled brightly. When Pepper opened her arms in invitation, Peter happily went for a short hug.
„It's good to be back Ms. Potts! Although it still feels a bit unreal… but mostly really good!“

Pepper smiled at Peter for another moment, then she turned to Tony, who was watching the two of them with a slight smile.

„You!“, Pepper accusingly pointed a finger at Tony, „you have a meeting in 20 minutes. Now that Peter is back I cannot allow you to miss a single one of them again.“ After being quiet for a second, she added „And shave beforehand.“ With that, she turned around after quickly waving goodbye to Peter and took the elevator back to whatever other level of the tower she was busy in. Looking at Tony now, Peter had to agree. The man’s trademark beard looked a bit messy and too long, as if he didn’t have time to take care of it frequently. He probably didn’t, since he must have been busy with not only his whole business but also trying to find Peter. Then Peter thought more about the interaction he had just witnessed. He knew that Pepper and Tony had broken up before Peter got kidnapped, and seeing them now made him guess that the two of them did not get back together. It made him a bit sad actually. Peter and Pepper didn’t spend a lot of time together, but whenever they met, Pepper was very kind and welcoming towards Peter, so he easily took a liking towards her.
While Peter watched Pepper disappear, Tony touched his beard briefly while sighing.

„Well, there goes nothing. I actually gotta go to that meeting or Pepper will seriously have my head and we can't have that.“ He turned to Peter, „I will go shower, shave and go to that meeting quickly, ok? It probably won’t be long, an hour or two maybe. You’ll be fine here, yes? Just-don’t disappear ok?“

Tony’s gaze turned more serious during that last sentence, and even somewhat worried, so Peter just nodded silently, even though the „where would I go, it’s not like I have anywhere left" was already on his tongue. This is Tony, he reminded himself, there is no need to be sarcastic with him like with Hunter.

Tony seemed to be content with his nod and went off into his bathroom after squeezing Peter’s shoulder briefly, from where he emerged a good 15 minutes later, shaved and dressed in a suit, with his hair still half damp. After another quick assurance that he would be back before Peter knew, the man was gone, leaving Peter to look out of the glass facade, not yet realizing that the next two and a half hours would hold a lot in store for him.