Chapter Text
Peter Parker had always been a shy kid.
Someone might have said it was because of his lack of parents, and that getting thrown into a world without them had made him scared and confused. Someone else would perhaps say it was because of his betrayal from an old babysitter, and said betrayal had scarred him for life to the point where he didn't know who he could trust. Someone even may think it's because of his uncles death, watching the man he came to love as a father bleed out in front of him as he begged for him to stay, the blood never really gone in his head.
Peter would like to say it's all three.
But the emotions that was behind this barrier of shyness, the feelings that he shared with his aunt behind closed doors and dark nights, both of them curled up in May's bed, was way stronger than him not wanting to say hi to people.
Grief...
pain...
depression...
It was all jumbled together in his brain, in his lungs when they screamed for air, on his skin when phantom touches would catch him off guard and would make him walk right into a panic attack, in his eyes when he would scrub and scrub and scrub at his hands to get the blood away, not realizing it was all in his head.
It had always been with him, ever since the day uncle Ben had sat him down and told him mom and dad will never come home.
Peter was good at hiding them, good at plastering on a big smile and fake laugh while he was actually screaming on the inside, begging for a relief. It's what he'd done when he first had met Tony, playing the energetic child who was forcing his fanboy to keep calm when he was actually not impressed at all seeing Tony Stark in his living room. Maybe he would have been, once upon a time, but it was hard feeling any excitement at all when he could see all the lies that had flown out of Tony's mouth the moment he opened it.
"So, when-when's my next, you know like, 'mission'?"
"Mission? oh we'll... call you."
"Yeah?"
"yeah."
Lie. He was ghosted for two months.
Of course he didn't blame Tony of that anymore, he knew the man already felt guilty enough when any vulture related stuff was brought up. Plus the fact that their relationship had grown way more after Peter had almost died on that beach, which in turn made things between them way more comfortable.
Peter liked this Tony, the Tony that had stopped pushing Peter away and instead made them to what they are now, the one who would sing an arm around his shoulders and press a kiss at the side of his head, it gave him what he'd missed for such a long time in his life, the feeling of having a father.
Sure, he'd had uncle Ben, but Ben had always been just that, an uncle, the goofy family member who told funny stories to the children and played along with them whenever they got mischievous. Ben had never been his dad, Richard Parker had been that, as he always would be, but that didn't stop him for seeing Tony in those lines too.
And okay, to be honest, he didn't see Tony as his dad either. He'd thought of how it would feel to call him dad, but the word somehow never made sense in his head. Tony was Tony, not his father, but his Tony, it's what he called him, after numerous of times of Tony practically begging him to "For the love of God, kid, please stop calling me Mister Stark" Peter had learned to warm up to "Tony" and essentially, what he called him had almost become a time stamp on how close their relationship was.
Mister Stark: His mentor
Tony: His father-figure (But not dad)
And well, it probably only made sense in his brain.
Tony had given him something he'd been missing, he'd given him closure, a safe-space, somewhere Peter could go whenever his thoughts became to loud and the world became to dark. A place that wasn't on top of a roof, standing at the edge and wondering what would happen if he just stepped off, letting the force of nature drag him down until he hit the ground and maybe the thoughts would finally disappear.
Peter's head was... lighter now, a feeling he never thought he'd ever experience again, the pit in his stomach didn't grow, or the tears that used to burn in his eyes had disappeared. Everything was quiet, lighter, he remember the first time he'd realized he could do something he'd never thought he'd be able to do again.
He could smile without it being forced.
The thought had made a bubbly laugh escape him when he'd come to the realization, he remember shooting out of his bed and scrambled his way to May who'd been watching TV and practically thrown himself on her, hugging her a bit too hard with his enhanced strength, but May had laughed and he had smiled and everything had felt aright again.
Which is why, when Peter wakes up in his bed and can almost feel excitement digging in his bones the moment he opens his eyes, he knew his mind has started to heal.
He can feel that weird movement in his body that just wants to get up and dance and laugh and live his life like there is no tomorrow. He can feel the muscles in his face slowly turning into a smile.
And God, is it a nice feeling.
He gets himself dressed as usual, deciding to wear Tony's old MiT Sweater he may or may not have stolen as he heads out of his room. He makes a few graceful steps to the kitchen, feeling like he's in a goddamn musical or something, only to find May making pancakes by the stove with Freddie Mercury singing at full blast on the radio. He smiles at her, her face lighting up like the sun as she pulls him into a hug and kisses his forehead.
"Morning, sweaty." She greets him. Her gaze incredibly warm.
"Morning." He yawns, breathing in her familiar scent before taking a seat at the kitchen table "Aren't you suppose to be working?"
May grins, almost a bit mischievously as she flips another pancake "Nope, Christine lost a bet to me, so now she's covering my shift." She says gleefully.
Peter huffs "What bet?"
"Well, apparently Rick the security guy has had heart eyes at boss's secretary for a while now, and Christine made a promise to cover one of my shifts if Rick didn't ask her out at the end of the week." She explains.
Peter snorts. "I assume he didn't."
May grins. "Nope, almost did the last day before... Well... let's just say he decided to take a nap at the base of her feet." She says, winking at him. Peter huffs, smiling despite of it.
It was nice, seeing May like this, there weren't many times she got to have a day off, mostly because it was usually her who was the one covering shifts, and God did it feel nice, finally being able to see May breath again. May must have notice his unusual happy demeanor, because the moment she lays eyes on him after she's put the pancakes down on the table, a spark lights up in her eyes. She doesn't acknowledge it though, instead she just takes a place at the table and joining Peter in his pancake eating.
They sit and talk for a few minutes, the air filling with the scent of breakfast as the sunlight is sipping through the small window between the both of them. The thin snow layer is glistering outside on the streets, a few shops and warehouses already putting up Christmas decorations, even though it's not even December yet.
It's a calm morning, no big monsters attacking the city, no unpaid bills laying on the table that'll send May into a anxiety attack, even Tony has been weirdly happy the last few days, probably from the fact that the whole accords problem is finally solved and the relationship with Cap isn't hostile anymore. It's this small quirks, that's probably the reason to Peter's mood today, and he wished it could stay like his forever.
Ten minutes later, he's dressed and ready for school. May kisses him on the cheek before he's out the door, feeling like he's ready to take on the world or something.
He walks the usual rode to the subway, Hamilton blasting in his ear as he watches the world do it's chords. The store owners opening for the day, Mrs Archer walking her three dogs, a sleep deprived businessman drinking coffee at a buss station like his life depends on it.
Good ol´ New York, he thinks as he fastens his pace.
His phone vibrates once when he's five minutes into his walk, frowning, he pulls it up to check what it is.
Today, 07:15 AM.
Tony:
Hey bud
Pizza night at the tower with the earth's
mightiest heroes tonight
what do ya say?
Today, 07:16 AM.
Me:
Not sure, May's home tonight
Today, 07:16 AM.
Tony:
Bring her too! Pep needs more women to
share whine with anyway ;)
Today, 07:16 AM
Me
Yeah alright! :)
Peter smiles to himself. Yeah, this is sure one hell of a good day, he thinks, retreating back to the holy rap of fictional founding fathers.
As he arrives, Ned is waiting at his locker, Peter smiles at him, and he can see something like confusion behind Ned's eyes, but the boy instead smiles back, proceeding to tell him about his five minute talk with Betty he had yesterday.
Michelle joins them too when they're walking towards their first class, she bumps him on the shoulder and kisses his cheek, Peter rolling his eyes when Ned starts making gag noises besides him. Even so, the pressure at his sternum that could linger for days, is almost nonexistent, it makes something like hope warm up inside him, a hope for everything to be alright again,
He should have known better.
Because when lunch comes around, he almost wished it hadn't.
They're sitting at one of the benches in the cafeteria, Ned currently in the middle of a rant about how the new Star Wars films is a huge disappointment compared to the older movies. Peter sits and half listens, holding Michelle's hand under the table as he taps on the side of her soft skin, he's using Morse code, even though Michelle can't read it, but he's tapping out H.A.P.P.Y and L.O.V.E Y.O.U, because that's exactly what he feels for the moment.
Ned is suddenly getting louder when he starts talking about the third movie in the new franchise, and Peter is about to tell him to calm down a little, when the hair on his arms suddenly stands up right. His back goes rigid in alarm, electricity traveling through his spine, warning him.
DangerDangerDANGERDANGER!
Peter's breath comes in fast as he clasps a hand at the back of his neck and quickly looks around, but the room is quiet, Flash and his goons sitting a bit further away from them, some freshmen students putting up posters next to the door. It worries him. He grips Michelle's hand hard to get her attention, she turns her head towards him and kicks Ned under the table to get him to shut up when she notice Peter's change in demeanor.
"Pete?" Michelle asks.
Peter swallows. "Something-something's happening I can't-" He retreats his gaze at them, their faces gearing up in a alarm when they see the panic in Peter's eyes.
They don't have time to react, before the big glass door to the cafeteria suddenly slams open as a bundle of guards comes storming in, all wearing big chunks of heavy gear with big guns in their hands. The whole room is interrupt with screams and gasps, all of the students backing away all little from the guards.
They're aiming their guns at the kids, and a wave of protectiveness searches through him, his instincts telling him to bring out his web shooters and knock them down. Spider-Man saving the day all over again, but he can't. He doesn't know what they want, they can be all from terrorists to kidnappers, and if they're kidnappers, bringing up Spider-Man would only worsen the problem.
Tony told him that, right after he got a false ransom note from some kidnap wannabees who thought they didn't need to show any proof to Iron-Man that his intern was, in fact, with them.
(It was pretty fucking hilarious, since Peter had literally been sitting next to him when he'd gotten the call)
Because if they knew he was Spider-Man, they wouldn't make it easy for him to escape.
Peter watches every move they make, trying to calculate what they want, when a man suddenly steps forward. He isn't wearing any armor, brown hair and stubble beard with blue eyes. Peter's eyes widen when recognition suddenly slams into him.
Because right there, in front of him,
stands Quentin Beck. A guy Peter thought was behind bars.
And yet, he's somehow standing there, hands at his sides as his eyes glows dangerously. He snaps his fingers once in the air, making all of the guards change posture and stands a bit straighter, their guns no longer aimed at the kids.
"Alright everybody, calm down, calm down, no one will get hurt if this goes to plan so everybody just relax, okay? good." He says, voice filled with faux gentleness and dripping with sarcasm.
Beck grins. "Good, good, really good," He eyes the frightened students, "Alright!" He claps his hands, "I have a few requests right now, so I'm gonna need everyone to follow them unless you want a bullet in your head, is that clear?" He doesn't wait for an answer, just simply grins as he continues, "Perfect, now. Peter Parker!"
Kidnappers it is, then.
Everyone turns to stare at him, and Peter can hear his own heart picking up speed. "Ah, there you are!" Beck triumphs as he looks at where everyone's staring. "I'm gonna need you to come up here, please" Peter pauses, before he starts to take a few steps forward, desperately avoiding the look on everyone faces.
He's a few feet away from Beck, when three of the guards comes rushing towards him, grabbing his arms and drags him towards the psychopath. Peter makes a show of struggling, but he lets them pull him towards Beck before they let him go, only for Beck to grab him instead, his right arm around his stomach as he presses Peter's back against his side, one of the guards pointing a gun at his head. A stream of gasps and frightened sounds escapes the crowd, and Peter can see Michelle and Ned looking worryingly at each other.
Beck's breath is hot and sticky against his ear as he says something to the crowd, but Peter doesn't pay attention too it, instead his hearing is overwhelmed by the sound of his own heart who have seen to make it it's life's goal to tell his brain that yes, I am beating like a maniac for some god knows why reason, and decided to make you deaf for a moment too.
He would roll his eyes if he didn't see Ned staring at him like he's dying or something.
His hearing snaps back to the present when he feel Beck lean into him. Peter tries to ignore him and instead gives his friends an assuring look, pouring as much, "It'll be okay." in his eyes, but good lord is it hard when an adult man is currently invading his comfort-zone way too much and his heart beating like it's about to rip out of his chest.
Peter keeps staring straight ahead as Beck starts talking. "You know, you are a hard person to find, Peter," Beck mumbles close to his ear, the hair on his neck standing up, "Your super friends really didn't want to lose their little boy-toy, didn't they?" Peter makes a disgusting face at him, "Or what do you say?" Beck is suddenly whispering;
"Spider-Man"
And just like that, the calm motion of everything will be okay is suddenly thrown out the window.
The blood drains from his face as he glances at Beck in fright when he realizes what the man knows. Beck smirks. "Thought you would get away that easily, didn't you?" He mumbles. Peter swallows, but tries to glare at him at an attempt to hide the way his hands are currently trembling with fear.
"Whatever your plan is, you won't get away with it." He says, voice filled with venom.
Beck huffs. "You're way too naive in this, Parker," He says. Peter keeps glaring at him, before Beck is suddenly using his left hand to fish something up from his pocket. "But I do know, that you're smart," He grunts a little, "So tell me, do you know what this is?" Peter frowns when he sees a small, black and red device. It's no longer than a pen, maybe a bit thicker, but the end of the device is glowing red.
"No." He says, not taking his eyes off the device.
Beck smirks. "Really? huh, well it doesn't really surprise me, I'm sure Stark has probably burnt all of the blueprints to this thing, anyway," he says, holding the device in the air in front of them both as he turns it around. Peter's eyebrows rise in surprise. Beck chuckles when he sees his confusion. "Oh yes, you're precious Stark made this thing, although it never ended up on market. A shame really, but luckily I managed to get my hands on it."
Peter forces himself not to roll his eyes, instead just glaring at the guy holding a gun at his head on his right. He tries to stall this, long enough so that the police or Tony can come and get these assholes to prison. He could overpower them, everyone, especially since he knows this is about Spider-Man, but he's not sure if it's worth revealing his identity to the whole school. No one else is in danger, and it's enough for him to backtrack.
"What do you want?" He asks instead, finding his gaze on Ned and Michelle rather than Beck. There's still worry in their gazes, but Michelle mouths a,"you will be okay." in his direction, which makes a wave of calmness wash through him.
But the feeling is cut off, when Beck suddenly says in his ear, "To send Stark a message." Peter frowns in confusion and alarm as his senses goes wild, he snaps his gaze towards Beck, only to see that he now has the device against his ear, and before he can react, a high pitched noise goes of in his eardrums.
He panics for a moment, trying to make his hands press against his ears, only to find that he can't. And then it's not just his hands anymore, his back goes rigid, his arms falls to his side, boneless, and God he can't move, he can't move, he can't-.
A whimper escapes his forced shut mouth, before his legs buckles underneath him as he falls against Beck. Beck shushes him as he grabs him, like the sick fuck he is. Multiple gasps escapes from the crowd, frightened screams from Ned and Michelle and what sound weirdly like Flash as his leveled on the ground.
His eyes meets Ned's for a second, and all of the earlier assurance is completely gone now, instead replaced with a look of terror. His friends is suddenly screaming, both trying to run forwards as they're crying his name. The guards are quick to pull up their weapons though, aiming them towards their heads.
They stop dead in their tracks before two teachers are pulling them backwards, but their still screaming. He wants to give them some kind of assurance, but his face is slack, frozen, he can't move a goddamn muscle and it's freaking him out.
His vision becomes blurry, and his senses doesn't even react before he suddenly fills a prick at the side of his throat. There's more screams, more noises, but it's fading, he realizes way to late that they probably sedated him with something. His eyelids becomes heavy, the darkness spreading as it pulls him out of consciousness. And the last thing he thinks is just a sad:
This wasn't how the day was suppose to go.
Tony is in his lab when Steve marches in, fully armored and looking one second away from killing someone. And well, he's not exactly unfamiliar with the soldier marching in at any given hour and sending him on some mission or whatever, but what is unfamiliar, however, is what looks like legit fear in Steve's eyes, which immediately sets Tony on alert.
He turns around in his chair to give Steve his full attention, screwdriver still in his hand as he greets the soldier. "What's up, Cap? Please tell me Thor isn't walking around naked again." He tries to joke, but it just falls flat, when it looks like Steve's eyes are almost popping out of his skull.
The captain swallows. "Tony, we believe Peter has been kidnapped," He says, staring straight into Tony's eyes as Tony freezes in his seat. "I- I don't know how they did it, but they took him at lunch, and apparently also knew about the watch somehow which they took off, and God I don't-" Steve's words died on his tongue when he saw the fear well up in Tony's eyes.
And yeah, Tony's pretty sure he just had the heart attack of the century hearing those words.
"What?" He practically yells, his mind having trouble to even processing what the fuck Steve just said. Because no, Peter didn't get kidnapped, Peter didn't get captured by a stranger and taken to an unknown place against his will, Peter didn't do anything else than just be...Peter. And yet, somehow, Steve is standing in front of him and clearly saying that, well Stark, you just lost the kid who somehow got you out of drinking and has May Parker as an aunt, What the fuck are you going to do now?
Steve sighs. "Look, I'm sorry Tony, but apparently this group of guards just came marching in on the kids during lunch and somehow managed to take Peter with them when they left, And-" Steve stopped, dragging a hand over his face.
Tony raised an eyebrow at him "And...?"
Steve stares at him "I believe they may have taken him because of Spider-Man."
Tony blinks.
No.
No they couldn't-
How would they-?
Distantly, he feels the screwdriver he had been holding getting pulled away from his hands, probably because of Dum-E, but Tony doesn't react, he just stares blankly at the soldier for a moment before he suddenly stands up, and begins marching out of the lab.
"FRIDAY, I need all of my people at the school now, tell them to not stop looking before they can tell me where the hell Peter went, understood?!" He barks at the A.I as he started running towards the closest balcony.
"Tony, wait," Steve interrupts, making Tony turn to look at him. "If you're gonna do this, you're gonna have to stay calm." He says.
Tony scoffs "I'm not the one kidnapped for the moment, Steve." He says, even though he knows what Steve means.
"I know, but Peter needs you right now, don't let rage consume you just... take it easy, we'll find him, okay?" It was kind of nauseating how the soldier could pretty much calm anyone down with just a simple words, but Tony was not in the mood to thank him for it.
"Of course we will." He says instead, before he's running again, not hearing the soldier's response. He taps the device on his chest twice as he get's closer and closer to the balcony, and just as he has the sky over him, the suit engages around him, the nanobots crawling along his body before his sight is visioned with the familiar display. It calms him, for just a moment, before he's speeding up to Peter's nerd school.
"Don't worry, Pete, I'll find you." He says into the helmet, and for once, praying for this to go well.
Tony's losing his mind, he must be, because somehow the guy he's currently looking at on the security screen, is none other than Quentin fucking Beck.
And the guy is smiling, smiling when he watches the horrified kids scream, smiling when Peter gets pulled towards him by the guards, smiling when he's holding Peter at gunpoint, whispering stuff in the kid's ear that makes Peter look beyond terrified. He's holding a device, and Tony's sure the universe was laughing at him when he realized it's the Sonic-taser, the same taser Obadiah had used on him, when he'd paralyzed him
when he'd tried to kill him.
Rage consumed his body when he saw Beck push the button on the device, only for Peter to seconds later go stiff, his eyes haunted with fear. He wanted to punch Beck for doing this, he wanted to make him bleed for even thinking about taking his kid, he didn't know what would happen to Peter, he didn't know what had happen to Peter, but if even one of the kid's locks was out of place, Tony would make sure death would be a mercy to Beck when they find him.
The last thing the footage shows is Beck looking right into the camera, and the guy actually has the courage to smirk at it, as if they're just playing a game.
Tony is two seconds away from punching the screen in pieces, when a hand is touching his wrist. He looks back to see Natasha standing behind him, she levels him a "Don't" look, which Tony grumpily obeys.
"Is there any other footage of where they came from? Like a car or at least a direction?" Steve asks the security guy who keeps an eye on the schools monitors. Apparently he'd been knocked unconscious when Beck's men had stormed in.
The guy shakes his head. "No, I never saw anything on the screens before it was to late, and I'm pretty sure the guys must have deleted the footage when they knocked me out cus' the picture goes black if I try to rewind it, only the parking lot has working cameras but... There isn't anything suspicious there either. Sorry." He says. Steve, Nat and Tony looks at each other, before they all decides it's hopeless.
Steve sighs. "Well, thank you for your time, just... Call us if you find anything else, okay?" The guy nods, and Tony is almost impressed by how unfazed he looks in a room full of Avengers.
"Come on, I heard Peter's friends are still here, we can talk to them." Natasha says, nodding her head towards the door.
Tony looks at her, surprised "Friends? Peter's friends? Are they still here?"
Natasha nods, "Yes, I heard they want to help." She says, and Tony's pretty sure he can almost see a smile on his face. It calms his nerves down, only for a fraction, and he can feel his thoughts getting lighter, like there's actually hope in this after all, and God do they need that right now.
They exit the room and starts walking down the corridor once they're done looking at everything, not saying another word as they make their way towards the outside of the school, where families and police are gathered, blocking of the area and hugging their (no doubt) traumatized children.
Michelle and Fred, Ned, whatever, are standing with their families closest to the entrance, their parents talking frantically over their heads as the teenagers look worryingly at each other.
Tony clears his throat when he's in front of them, making both of their faces snap towards him, and Tony had to suppress a cringe when he saw the pure terror in their eyes. They stare at each other for a few moments, before Michelle breaks the ice.
"Stark, please tell me you've found peter." She says, jumping to her feet.
Tony can feel his focus falling apart "I-"
"Mr Stark, Peter's fine, right?" Ned interrupts (he's pretty sure it's Ned)
"You're going to find Peter, won't you?"
"Stark, I swear to God, if Peter isn't fine then-"
"Michelle," The woman who is no doubt Michelle's mother says "Let the man talk."
They're both staring at him again, but quiet this time, and Tony wants nothing more to just sink into the ground.
(who knew Tony Stark would be scared of talking in front of two teenagers and their parents?)
He takes a deep breath. "I-I'm sorry, I don't know where he went, but my team's looking and so is the Avengers, I promise we'll find him, alright?" He knows it's not enough, he knows they want him to just find Peter already, but it's the only thing he can provide them, a half-assed assurance that can be crushed at any moment because Tony is an idiot, who never thought of the possibility that maybe Peter needed a little more protection than just some old broken watch he fixed and decided to put a tracker in.
Michelle sighs. "No we're sorry, I mean you're Tony Stark, we know you will, I would have already punched you if I didn't believe it." She says. And weirdly enough, Tony feels calm by her words.
He sighs, nods, and decides to stop sulking around and get to work. "Alright, thanks," He takes a deep breath. "I am gonna need you two at the tower, though, if you want to help, and I want you to tell us all the information about what happened in that cafeteria, okay?" They both nod, determination filling their features. "Good." He nods, "And don't worry, Peter'll be fine." They both look at each other nervously, but gives him a tight nod anyways.
Tony smiles reassuringly, before turning his gaze. "Happy? Take these two and their parents to the tower, would ya?" Happy nods in response, opening the door to the car parked only a few feet away from them, gesturing for the teenagers to hop in. They take one last glance at him, before obediently crawling into the car, Happy jumping into the driver seat before starting the engine as the car slowly starts backing away from the place.
Tony watches them drive away, the weird confidence he felt just minutes ago immediately draining from him. He stands there, petrified, feeling his thoughts kicking in because fuck, how was he suppose to fix this? May is counting on him, Peter's friends is counting on him, Peter, tiny, innocent, big-hearted Peter Parker is counting on him.
He can't fail them, fail him, Peter is probably just sitting around and waiting for Tony, thinking that he'll probably be out in a few days, but what if he doesn't? God, what if Tony can't find him? What if Beck is hurting him? What if he'll find Peter but it'll be too late? He can't lose Peter, he can't lose him, his child, his world, he can't-
"Breathe Tones, come on man you gotta breathe." Someone's shaking him, but he can't figure out who it is. There's hands on his shoulders, grounding him, he can hear voices, and God he's having a panic attack, he, Tony Stark is having a panic attack because the guy he thought was out of the picture a long time ago is back, and he has taken his child, his pseudo-son right in front of his nose.
"Tones, come on look at me, it's me, Rhodey, you're having a panic attack so you just gotta breathe, okay?" The voice, Rhodey says. He's right, he needs to breathe, he can't save Peter if he doesn't breathe.
All he does is taking heavy breaths for a long time, feeling his head get lighter and lighter as he calms down. The world comes to around him, he can hear everything again, the families comforting their children, policemen scrambling around the area blocking it off and investigate.
He opens his eyes to see Rhodey standing (or rather kneeling) in front of him, which in turn makes him realize he's sitting on the ground. Natasha and Steve are talking to some police officers further away, but casts not so subtle worried glances at Tony every now and then.
He looks back at Rhodey, his friend, his fucking love of his life next to Pepper, who's currently watching him with more concern than he's ever seen him before.
Tony sniffles, "Rhodey, Rhodey he's-"
"I know Tony, I know." Rhodey cuts him off. And before Tony can do much else, there's arms wrapping around his shoulders. Rhodey holds him, tight, holding him up like the fucking angel he is.
Tony bits back a sob, feeling fucking pathetic sitting there on the ground and holding onto his best friend for dear life. But Rhodey doesn't let go, they just sit there, hugging.
For a moment, Tony feels like that little kid from college, right after a call he had with Howard that only existed of his father screaming at him for twenty minutes. Rhodey had held him like this then too, putting Tony's head under his chin as a hand cradled it. And for the first time in years, Tony had let himself break down, the voice of his father's drunken screams never leaving his head.
"God he's gone, Rhodey, he's-"
"He's not gone, Tones, you just haven't found him yet." Tony doesn't answer, but of course Rhodey can read him like an open book. He pulls back, looking him straight in the eye as he says, "Tony, whatever your mind is telling you right now, this isn't your fault, okay?" Tony sighs, not believing him in the slightest.
"Rhodes-"
"Nope, nu uh, this isn't your fault, do you hear me? The only way for it to be your fault would be if you knew Beck would do this and didn't stop him, so, did you know?"
Tony pulls back, looking at Rhodey like he's crazy "What? of course not!"
Rhodey gives him a look, "Then this isn't your fault." He says sternly.
Tony stares at him, debating whether Rhodey is the reason to why he's alive, or if he's just been manipulated for the last twenty years. At last, he gives in, much to Rhodey's delight, and makes a move to stand up so he can at least save some dignity. Rhodey holds onto his arms as he helps him up, patting his back. Tony wipes some dust of his pants, straightening his shoulders as he looks around.
The area is almost completely blocked by a bunch of police officers standing between the Avengers and the families, mostly to keep the people away from ruining the investigation, much to Tony's relief. He straightens himself a bit more, before he starts walking towards where Nat and Steve are standing, Rhodey following him a few feet behind.
They turn to look at their direction when they here them coming, both trying (and failing) at hiding their concerns, which Tony just rolls his eyes at.
"Tony," Steve says. "You alright?"
Tony waves a hand, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Natasha just raises an eyebrow at him, which Tony does his best not to cringe under. He clears his throat. "You find anything else?"
Steve and Nat shares a look, before they both are shaking their heads.
Steve sighs. "I'm sorry, Tony. However Beck got in unnoticed with a bunch of armed men we don't know, but we think he paid of some people"
"Payed off?"
"Or threatened," Natasha cuts in, "You'd be surprised how deep Beck's community go."
Tony stares, feeling like he just aged ten years as the words dawn on him. "Do you know anyone who is?"
Natasha shakes her head. "No, but we think some of the people at the school must have been."
Tony sighs, dragging a hand over his face as he thinks. "Can we check that somehow? like, blackmail them or whatever."
Steve raises an eyebrow at him, "Blackmail?"
Tony glares, "I don't know, but at least find out who else is behind this so we can find Peter before Christmas!" He barks.
The soldiers shares a look with each other, and Tony can feel his temper increasing.
"Alright, we'll take everyone in the staff to the police station to interrogate them, hopefully we can bring some children too, see if they want to testify." Steve says.
Tony nods, feeling drained.
"And Tony," Natasha says, Tony turns his gaze towards her. "Don't lose yourself over this, I know you're scared but Peter needs you right now, you gotta keep a clear head."
Tony stares at her.
Keep a clear head? Yeah he could do that, he would run around with straight thoughts and sobered mind if it meant Peter would come back, but it wouldn't work right now, he knew that, there was nothing to go of, no clues, no ransom notes, no hint to where Beck could possibly have taken Peter that hadn't been found by FRIDAY or the police yet.
Sure, it had only gone half a day, but Tony was suppose to have found him now, because this was Beck, a psychopath who never saw anyone else except himself, who thought that holding a gun in front of everyone's faces would keep the world in peace.
Plus, Beck was smart, no matter how hard that realization was, he used to be a former employee for Stark Industries for crying out loud, and he knew how to keep himself away from radars and especially Tony's tech, since he had literally been there upgrading them.
God, Tony felt like an idiot, why did he ever trust that guy with anything that was remotely related to him and the company?
"Tony?" A voice suddenly says, bringing him back from his thoughts. He blinks a few times to see the two soldiers and Rhodey look worryingly at him, even though it should be Peter anyone worries about.
"Yeah, I'm- I'm alright." He says, keeping his voice away from cracking. They didn't look convinced, but Tony didn't want to deal with that right now. Because the only thing that would ever matter as long as Peter would be gone, would be to find him.
Please for the love of God, let me find him.
Please don't take him away from me...
There's darkness, he can't hear much except a high pitched noise in his ears, making a headache form in his scull. He doesn't know where he is, but he can feel someone stroking his hair. Peter frowns, but immediately relaxes into it when he realized it's obviously Tony, maybe he got hurt on patrol or something?
"T-T'ny." He mumbles. The hand in his hair goes still, and Peter's pretty sure he can hear a low chuckle coming from right. He peels his eyes open, squinting when his vision is invaded by a bright light. The hand has been removed completely, which makes confusion grow even more inside him.
"T'ny." He tries again, his eyes trying to adjust to the light. The chuckle comes back again.
"Nope, sorry kiddo, you're precious Stark isn't here right now." An unfamiliar voice says. Peter frowns, having a hard time to process what he just heard. Precious? Precious Stark?
Panic shots through his veins when he suddenly remembers who was talking to him. Beck, Quentin Beck, the guy who probably scared a hundred kids for their life.
Peter opens his eyes completely, his head snapping to his right to look at where the voice was coming from, and Peter feels rage bubble inside him when he sees the annoying face of Tony's ex-employee. Beck is grinning at him, looking way to pleased with himself. He tries to glare, but he can still feel that paralyze thing slacken his movements. Beck just keeps chuckling before his hand is in Peter's hair again, peter flinches away, trying to get up and just get the fuck out of here, when something around his wrists stops him.
Peter looks down to see he's sitting in a chair, his wrists and legs cuffed with some kind of metal around them. His chest is cuffed too, but what makes him panic more, is the electric wires attached to the cuffs, all red and green and blue spirals ending at something behind him. He can't see what it is, but his heartbeats are already going 200 M.p.h as he looks around the room.
It's pretty small, the only light is the light-bulb hanging over him. It's dark but Peter can almost make out what looks like a video camera a few feet in front of him.
Oh good, he's plan is to give Tony a heart attack, just great.
Beck is suddenly moving besides him, standing up and pacing the room. Peter just looking at him with one eyebrow raised, trying to hide the fear that's currently tearing him apart inside.
"Any reason for this kidnapping, or were you just lonely?" He asks, watching Beck snap his gaze towards him. Beck's still smiling, which makes an unpleasant feeling well up in his stomach.
"Oh I'm not lonely, but I do enjoy you're concerns." Beck says
"So what do you want, then?" Peter asks, just wanting this shit show to be over.
Beck laughed, "Oh I want a lot, actually," He walks until he's a few feet in front of Peter, hands behind his back which no doubt means the dialog is coming.
Just great.
"You know, I used to work for Stark, once upon a time. I was proud, proud to work with one of the greatest companies of the generation, knowing that I get to work for a company who has the power to change the world, "
But what I didn't expect, was that nothing of what I invented would make me the man on the horse." Beck is suddenly walking towards him. "I spent, years working on a project that would change the world, who would become the weapon that would make America untouched by any other countries because of their fear," He snarls.
"Those drones was supposed too keep an eye on everything that's happening in this land, there wouldn't be any more aliens invading this planet, or robots that paranoid geniuses would create and destroy the world," Peter glares at him as Beck is suddenly just inches from him.
"But instead, your little daddy Stark decided to make them a- a what? therapy experiment? something that any therapist in the world could do the exact same job? Trust me Petey, you couldn't trust Stark even if he puts his hands on a bible." Peter presses himself against the chair when Beck is right in his face.
"So why the hell am I here? Don't you think this is something you talk about over a cup of coffee?" Peter snarls, glaring at the man who's uncomfortably close.
Beck huffs. "You're here, because Stark needs to learn how it's like getting your world taken away from you," Peter's senses suddenly flares up again. "So I'm gonna make him learn that." He says dangerously.
"What do you-" Peter only has half a second to see what beck's holding, before a knife is suddenly plunged right into his abdomen. Pain flares in his body, the metal searches into the his side, tearing the flesh as blood starts seeping out, Peter screams, or at least he's sure he does, because the only thing his mind is registering is the unimaginable pain slicing through the skin. He sobs, feeling the knife get turned left to right in where it's planted, another wave of pain filling his body.
He breathes heavily, gasping for air as the cuffs around his body keeps him from falling over. Peter squeezes his eyes shut, he can feel the blood coating his pants, and he almost throws up because God, It hurts.
Beck is smiling at him, watching his agony as if it's some sort of trick show, and Peter wants to murder him.
He starts walking, circling him like predator taunting it's prey.
"You know, Stark always told me, 'sometimes you gotta run before you can walk'," Beck chuckles a little. "I myself thought it was stupid, I mean, how do you succeed in something if you haven't even learned the basics yet? huh? How... Can you possibly, do something without creating it first?" Beck was getting louder and louder as he talked.
"I mean, I never learned how to build a circlet board when I was four, I never had the money to go get drunk and just sit on top of a donut watching the world fall apart without any of it bothering me, No, I needed to start from scratch, I needed to somehow get enough scholar ships to end up in a good college if I even wanted to dream about becoming something bigger!" Beck yelled, punching a fist into his chair, making Peter cry out.
"And despite all of that, I got to the top, I worked my ass off for six years at Stark Industries, I did every little thing it took to just make Stark see me, and nothing worked! He stole my life work, he stole the thing that would get my name into history books, and represented it as just a side project, something stupid!" Beck spits. "He took my world, he took my future, and I'll make sure to destroy his."
Pain slices through his body again as Beck grabs the knife and yanks it out of him. Peter screams, tears streaming down his face as his body gasps for breath. He sobs, his whole body shaking.
Beck suddenly grabs his face, turning it roughly upwards so their gazes meet. Peter whimpers, trembling as he looks right into ice-cold, brown eyes "So get comfortable, Peter, you and I will be here for a while." He says, releasing his chin.
Beck turns on his heels, walking out of the room with a loud bang as he closed the big metal door. Peter sobs, the ache in his stomach growing stronger, he feels sick thinking about it, thinking about what he just heard.
He tries to look around the room, rolling his head along the chair. He spots what looks like a control panel to his right, he's sitting in the middle of the room, behind him is no doubt a energy source of some sort, if the wires is something to go after. He almost starts sobbing again when he thinks about what their usage is for, but he immediately pushes that thought down.
He takes one last look before closing his eyes, feeling the helplessness well up inside him.
Before he drifts off though, he whispers one final thing into the air.
"Tony, please find me."
Of course, no one answers.
Tony sits in the dark. He sits, and he's holding a glass in his hand, he sits and drinks from it, feeling the burning liquid wash down his throat.
He doesn't care.
The only thing he cares about is the footage playing in front of him, the recordings of the kidnapping, and Tony's pretty sure he's losing his mind.
He watches as Peter get's paralyzed, he watches the fear, the panic, the helplessness Peter's beautiful brown, doe eyes never should carry, and God, he's going to murder Beck for even thinking about putting those feelings there.
The thing is, Tony knows how it feels, he knows how it feels like, to be completely and utter helpless as the person having control over the device can do whatever the fuck they want with you. He doesn't know if he should feel reviled over the fact that Peter got tranquilized before those feelings got to their fullest, because God, if Peter had experienced them, Tony can't believe what kind of memories that would trigger. (He dutifully ignores the voice of Peter saying "Skip" in the back of his mind)
The guilt is welling up in his throat, consuming him. He can't believe this happened, he can't believe he let Peter get taken, he was suppose to protect him, and he failed. He fucking failed.
Distantly, he hears the door to his lab opening, but he can't bring himself to look who it is.
His hold tightens around the glass until his knuckles turns white, and he can hear someone sigh heavily behind him.
He doesn't care.
"Tony, you can't let Beck win this." A voice says, or rather Pepper says. He turns around, putting the glass back on the table as he looks at her. Clenched jaw, stern eyes, but Tony can see worry and fear linger behind them.
"I'm not letting him win anything." He grunts.
Pepper raises an eyebrow at him "Tony, why do you think he took Peter?"
"Because he likes to traumatize children?" He suggests, taking another sip of his drink.
"Because he wants to hurt you." Pepper explains.
Tony doesn't answer.
Pepper sighs. "Look, Tony, you may know this, but Beck hates you. Yes, he's a psychopath, and yes, he may not have the mental stability to classify as a functioning human being, but that doesn't mean that he won't do anything in his power to hurt the person he claims hurt him." Pepper looks into his eyes as he still doesn't answer. She takes a few steps forward until she's in front of him, she grabs his hands, rubbing a thumb over them sweetly as he stares into his fiancee beautiful eyes.
"And if you ever want to find Peter again, you can't run away to your lab and hide there forever, because Peter needs you. I know this is scary, I know you're probably blaming yourself in twenty-two different ways right now, but you can't afford doing this to yourself." She says sternly. Tony sighs, his eyes burning with tears as a sob starts to build up in his throat. Pepper senses his verge of breaking down, because the next thing he knows, she uses her hands to push Tony's head against her abdomen, running her fingers in his hair.
And Tony... breaks down.
He sobs, tears streaming down his cheeks as pathetic wales leaves his mouth. He's never felt so useless before, and he can feel the shame welling up in his body as he hears his father's voice far back in his head.
"Stark men are made of iron."
He doesn't care anymore, all he cares about is to get Peter home.
There's only ever been a handful of people who Tony Stark would ever let be seen like this in front of. Rhodey, Happy, Pepper, and now Peter. They were his rock, and everyone who even knew the slightest bit of Tony was highly aware he would do everything in his power to keep them safe. Even if it meant destroying everything in his path to keep it that way.
But right now, he doesn't feel like that. He isn't Iron-Man anymore, he isn't Tony Stark anymore, he's just Tony, a man who just lost his child and want to scream to God and demand him to answer why the fuck this even happened.
But instead, he breaks in his fiancee's hold as they sway slightly back and forth, Dum-E beeping nearby in concern as he watches his creator sob and clinging to the woman he loves for dear life. Pepper bends down and kisses his head, Tony never noticing her own strays of tears as she sees a deconstructed web-shooter laying on a working bench.
He hasn't cried like this for ages, the closest he's ever been had been on his own in a lonely workshop, after Rhodey had hit the ground when they'd been fighting Steve's team and the doctors hadn't been sure if his best friend would make it or not.
Tony had gone down to his lab and just started to destroy everything that he could get his hands on, especially the equipment he'd been upgrading to the team that just wouldn't stop acting like five year old's. tearing apart suits, hammering with all his might on thrusters and Sam's goddamn red-wing.
He'd screamed until his throat was raw, and punched glass until his knuckles became red. Dum-E and the other robots had all huddled in a corner, and Tony had only broke down crying and curling up in a little ball when his eyes had landed on the terrified robots. He'd felt lost, hurt, betrayed, and a whole other feelings that kept tearing him apart from the inside and squeezing his heart until it became a bloody mess.
That had been the first time he had listened to Peter's voice messages. The kid had only made one, but he still sounded like the brave and giddily boy he was today, only a bit more awe-struck and naive. Tony's chest clenched every time Peter asked about the next "mission", it reminded him how he had literally lied to the kid just to not disappoint him when they were face to face. He felt selfish, but he'd feared that he would only fuck up Peter even more if he would let the kid in.
And God had he been, so, so, wrong.
He started to get to know the kid more after the whole vulture shit-show, inviting him into his lab and actually get a use of the kid's knowledge and cleverness. They got closer, and Peter got less nervous and more confident in Tony's presence, to the point where they are now.
But the thing that still haunted him, was that he knew Peter had been far from okay with being left in the darkness those first months, even though the boy had assured him multiple times after Tony had ended up on the floor after a guilt stricken panic-attack and he'd mumbled "I'm so sorry, Peter." over and over that he didn't blame him, that he'd understood Tony's decision of wanting to protect him, but he'd seen the slight undertone of what looked like almost betrayal when Peter had connected the dots to himself what Tony was saying sorry for.
Of course, Peter said he didn't blame him, he had even said he forgave him when those first words hadn't been enough.
But at that moment, alone in the middle of a breakdown, when he'd gotten the video from an annoyed Happy, he had felt the tension leaving his body as he listened to the definition of pure innocence filling the air. He smiled every time Peter's voice would go three octaves higher when he explained something he loved, which happened almost every time the kid had saved a cat from a tree or caught a run-away dog. He felt calmer, knowing that the future held way better heroes it could ever ask for.
Way better than what it had.
He still punches himself every time he realizes he almost took that away, when he'd taken Peter's suit and the kid had begged him to let him keep it, when the words that still haunted his mind had come out of the kid's mouth;
"But I'm nothing without this suit!"
"If you're nothing without this suit, then you shouldn't have it."
Peter had always been everything, and now the world seemed to want to take that away again.
Sure, it's not like he hadn't been expecting this, he'd even given Peter lessons himself what to do if you get kidnapped, always making sure the kid would keep himself calm if he ever got into another person's hands. He'd explained how Spider-Man was off the table unless it was the only way to get out of there alive, and even though Peter had been resentful when Tony'd told him, the kid had agreed and promised to do as Tony had explained if something would ever happen.
And now it had happened, but the difference in this was that Tony knew Beck wouldn't let Peter go that easily, they all knew that.
And unfortunately, this wasn't the first time Beck had decided to be a pain in the ass, just last year FRIDAY had caught Beck sneaking in into the R&D department, she hadn't been able to see what he'd been doing, so Tony had just assumed he simply hadn't gotten that far before the police had arrived. It's what had gotten him to jail in the first place, and later, Spider-Man would find a whole lair with the same drone technology in an empty warehouse outside the city, Beck's name plastered on everything.
The thought sent another shiver up his spine, because that means revenge also played a part in this whole fucking mess.
"Tony?" Pepper suddenly asks, snapping him out of his thought in the process. "Are you gonna do this?" She asks determinedly.
Tony lifts his head to stare at her, she drags a hand over his hair, scratching his scalp. He takes a deep breath before he stands up, wiping away his tears. Pepper steps away a little as she smiles courageously at him.
Tony looks around the room, his gaze landing on the web-shooters laying innocently. He walks towards them, grabbing them in his hands as he examined them. Somewhere, in the back of his mind he can hear Peter's voice triumphing cheerfully, saying:
"Look, Mr Stark! They're working!"
"Or course they work, Pete, you made them."
He smiles at the memory of how red Peter's cheeks had gone that day.
I'll get Peter back, I always will.
A wave of determination fills his features, his shoulders squaring up as he looked up at Pepper, a new found hope blooming inside him. He smiles alluringly at her.
"Let's get go our boy back."
He doesn't know how long he sits there, his lungs fighting for air as the pain in his stomach grows stronger. He knows it won't kill him, his powers will no doubt fix it until the end of the day, but it still feels like his skin is being torn apart over and over again.
Peter shudders, the blood who's now arrived to his crotch is making his pants stick uncomfortably to his skin, and the smell is already being awful thanks to his enhancement. His senses are still screaming, and Peter doubts they would ever shut up as long as he's here, a groan escapes his body at the thought.
But Tony would find him, he always did. Soon, he would rip open that door, destroy these goddamn cuffs around his body, and make the pain in his stomach leave, just like he always did, like he always would. Tony would save him, and Peter let the thought linger for a moment, he was almost sure he could hear Tony's voice break through the empty room.
"Pete, you gotta let go, I'm gonna catch you."
He'd said those exact same words when he almost fell of a building, his suit malfunctioning when the Avengers had been called to defeat another super villain of the week.
Tony would catch him, just like he always did.
Soon, he would come and rescue him and there would be like no time has past at all, like Beck never happened, like the knife had just appeared from another drunk mugger that managed to get his upper hand on Spider-Man. Soon, he would blow Beck's ass to kingdom come and help Peter out of the chair and guide him to the quinjet. Soon, Peter would fall asleep only to wake up with a familiar hand in his hair, another around his wrists as soothing words would greet him when he opened his eyes.
Soon he would be home, and everything would be alright again.
Peter sits there, eyes roaming lazily back and forth around the room, his thoughts and the pain in his side being enough to keep him from boredom. He twiddles his wrists a bit under the cuffs, taking a deep breath before he pulls at them with all his might, but whatever drug he has in his system, or metal the cuffs are made of, it's strong enough to leave him panting when he strains his whole body to try and break them, more pain flaring up in his body from the wound.
He squeezes his eyes shut, feeling the room getting brighter and the sounds getting louder. He can feel the bruises slowly forming on his wrists thanks to the tightened cuffs, he can hear the small buzzing of a machine coming from the behind him, he squeezes his eyes even tighter, but the light seeps through his eyelids anyway.
A headache is forming behind his eyes, the sounds and the light and the smells all snapping in on him as his breathing starts to become heavier. His ears catch what sounds like an animal pounding through snow, high above him where the ground must be. He can't hear any cars or people, only the sound of the wind and leaf-less twigs hitting each other by it. He tries to focus on it, tries to block the on going sensory overload taking over his mind.
Tony was usually the one helping him deal with his overloads, the man would always keep a few feet away from him during those episodes, carefully placing two sound canceling headphones on his head when Peter couldn't bare himself to move without throwing up.
He'd sit close to him, not touching but close enough to always assure Peter he's there, working on his tablet or watch something on the muted TV while Peter would lay next to him on the couch. It kept him calm, listening to the sound of his Tony's heartbeat as it lulled him to sleep.
Tony always had a bit different heartbeat than everyone else's, it was steady, but with every beat always contained another, weaker one:
Thump-thump......thump......thump-thump......thump......thump-thump......
He guessed it was from Tony's time with the arc reactor, the device probably sending his heart out of rhythm and leaving behind an extra beat. Peter had always loved it, it was a way for him to distinguish his mentor from everyone else, knowing that Tony was alive as long as he could hear that pattern.
Peter wished for nothing but to have Tony here, or May, just so he could feel safe for a moment, Beck had no doubt brought him way out of the city, even he wasn't that stupid not to. The thought sends an uneasy feeling in his stomach.
But Tony would save him, The team would save him, they always did.
So, Peter let his eyes close, the darkness spreading around him as he falls into an easy sleep, the last words his brain thinks calming him a bit as he slips into unconsciousness.
"Don't worry, Tony will catch me."
"Just like he always does."