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“Slow down there, Pete.” Tony laughed as he dodged a hyper teenager who was running back and forth from the living room to the kitchen, preparing snacks and drinks for the team’s movie night. Tonight was Peter’s turn to choose the movie and surprisingly it wasn’t Star Wars related this time.
“I need to have everything ready for the team when they come back from their training!” Peter fretted as he set a bowl of popcorn in each spot where an avenger would sit. Peter, Tony, Rhodey, and Pepper were in the penthouse preparing movie night while the rest of the team were in the training room.
“They won’t be up here for a while, buddy. Probably another thirty minutes to an hour.” Tony told him, regretting it as soon as he saw Peter’s face fall in disappointment. “Why don’t we watch an episode or two of The Mandalorian to pass time?” Tony suggested, smiling when Peter’s grin returned.
Peter bolted over to the couch and situated himself in his usual spot next to Tony. Tony felt a warm fuzzy feeling in his chest as he sat next to the boy, pulling him into his side and starting an episode of The Mandalorian.
Pepper and Rhodey joined the two on the couch, watching the show silently except for when Peter or Tony spoke up to make a comment on a scene. Natasha had come up to retrieve a few water bottles, promising Peter they would be up in twenty minutes before leaving again.
It was halfway through the next episode when Peter felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand in a warning. Peter’s head shot up from where it was resting on Tony’s shoulder, his body going stiff.
“Friday?” Peter called out, only to hear no response from the AI.
Tony noticed this and sat up, “What is it?” he questioned, looking around as if there was a threat. That’s what Peter’s spider-sense was telling him but he didn’t know where the threat was.
Not until there were people filing out of the elevator and door to the stairwell, large and high tech guns in hands and wearing black armoured outfits, masks covering some faces while others were left bare.
Tony shot up from the couch along with Rhodey and Pepper. He reached out and tugged Peter behind him, shielding him from the weapons being pointed at them and ushering Pepper closer to his side.
“Mr. Stark?” came Peter’s small, frightened voice. He didn’t have his suit and Spider-man didn’t work outside of uniform unless absolutely necessary, one of Tony’s rules.
“Stay quiet and stay behind me, do not draw attention to yourself.” Tony whispered to him, keeping him blocked from the bad guy's view.
“Evening, Stark.” a muffled voice came from one of the men wearing a mask. He stepped forward, his goons keeping their guns raised and pointed at the small family.
“...Evening?” Tony returned. “I’d love to sit down and chat but since you just broke into my place, guns and all, you’re not really welcome here.” Tony quipped, face hardening.
“Save your little quips for another time, we came here for one thing only. Whether you give it to us or not will depend on whether you get out of this in one piece or several.” the man cut to the chase, meaning business. Tony knew that no matter what this man said, he was lying and would shoot them as soon as they got what they wanted anyway.
“Well depends on what you fellas want,” Tony eyed them warily. He hid his hand behind his back, poking Peter in the stomach to get his attention. Peter got the hint and tapped on Tony’s watch, turning it on and opening his and Steve’s messages, quickly sending a distress signal.
“We want the passwords and codes to all databases, along with fifty million dollars and access to accounts and files.” The man demanded.
“Greedy much,” Tony mumbled. “Yeah, no can do. Sorry, buddy.” Tony shrugged. The man only grinned under his mask, moving his hand up to pull the mouth part down, revealing his face. There was a long scar stretched from his cheek, over his lips, and ending at his chin. “Ouch that’s a pretty bad booboo, want me to kiss it better?” Tony pouted mockingly, only fueling the man's anger.
“We had a strong feeling you’d resist. That’s why we’ll be giving you a little bit of motivation.” the man shook his head with a look of disappointment before waving his gloved hand toward his men.
A man holding only a pistol stepped forward, striding toward the small family. Tony tensed up and took a step back, pulling and pushing Pepper and Peter with him. The man shoved Tony aside and grabbed Peter’s arm, yanking him away from his father-figure.
“Hey! Let him go!” Tony protested as Peter cried out, nearly tripping as the man pulled him back over to the leader. Tony stopped short when all the men aimed their guns at him, threatening that if he tried getting closer they’d shoot.
Tony had no problem with having guns being pointed at him, but as soon as he saw the man who had grabbed his kid pull him to his chest and place one hand in his hair and shove the hand holding the gun under Peter’s chin, Tony realized that sight was ten thousand times worse than having a gun pointed at himself.
Peter let out a whine as the barrel was pressed against his jaw, the man's hand in his hair pulling his head back so his neck was exposed. Tony could see Peter’s Adam's apple bobbing as he gulped in fear. Pepper was clinging to Tony’s arm in fear for Peter’s life meanwhile Rhodey was watching cautiously.
“Now, care to try that again?” the man grinned, stepping toward Peter, trailing a finger along the boy's jaw and down to his neck. Tony twitched and bit the inside of his cheek.
“Don’t touch him,” Tony growled. The man grinned maliciously and raised a brow, as if expecting something.
“Fine, j-just… let the kid go.” Tony reasoned, trying to keep his voice strong. He looked over at Peter and could see that the teen was trying to keep himself calm but he could easily see the quick rise and fall of his chest from his panicked breaths.
“Not until you give us the passwords,” the man cooed, tucking a stray brown curl behind Peter’s ear. A man approached Tony with a notepad and pen. Tony took it hesitantly.
“Mr. Stark, don’t!” Peter protested. A choked gasp escaped him when the hand in his hair moved down to wrap around his throat. “Don’t do it.” Peter gasped out. Tony glared at the gunman. He was going to tear him apart limb by limb.
Tony ignored Peter’s words as he shakily wrote down the correct passwords, too scared to risk tricking them and giving them the wrong password. What if they tested it in front of him and when it came up as the wrong password the first thing they would do is shoot Peter. No, he couldn’t risk that.
As Tony was writing the passwords he could hear the two men taunting Peter, mocking his fearful whimpers.
“He’s quite cute, isn’t he?”
“Maybe we should keep him for ourselves.”
That made Tony poke a hole through the page with the pen when he pressed too hard. He finished writing the information down and angrily shoved the notepad back to the other man, clenching his fists.
“There. You got it. Now, give my kid back.” Tony growled, noticing the tears in Peter’s eyes and his slightly red face from the grip around his neck.
The leader grabbed the notepad from his goon, reading over the information before handing the pad back. He began laughing maniacally. He looked at the man holding Peter and motioned with his hand.
“Rid him in another room, we’ll spare Stark that trauma.” the man ordered, smiling as if he were doing Tony a favour. The family’s eyes widened in fear as the man began dragging Peter away. Peter screamed, struggling in the man's arms only for him to smack his gloved hand over his mouth, muffling his screams.
“You said you’d let him go!” Tony roared. He had been so stupid to trust that he’d been telling the truth.
“I lied,” was all the man replied with, showing off his sharp yellow teeth.
Suddenly a thwip was heard and a heavy thud hit the floor. Peter scrambled away from the man that had been dragging him away who now had an arrow sticking through his skull, his body and eyes lifeless.
Gunfire went off as the Avengers burst through the doors and Clint dropped from the vent. The room burst into chaos. Tony shoved Pepper down behind the couch, throwing a blanket over her before running toward Peter. He stopped short when he saw a man with a high tech weapon aimed at Peter.
“Catch,” he smirked before powering up the gun and shooting the ground in front of Peter, sending the teen flying backwards and smashing through the glass window that looked over the city. Peter’s scream could be heard as he hurtled 1130 feet down toward the road below.
“Peter!” a chorus of shrieks could be heard from the Avengers.
Tony’s suit which he had called on as soon as the gunfire started enveloped his body. He didn’t waste a second before shooting out through the window and toward Peter’s falling form.
The sight of Peter’s small body plummeting to his death would forever be imprinted in Tony’s mind and he knew it would visit him in his nightmares.
He could hear Peter’s panicked cries as he got closer. The boy had his hand outstretched, wiggling his fingers while reaching for the older man to grab and pull him to safety. Tony pushed himself to move faster as the road got considerably closer.
Tony’s arms wrapped around Peter’s body 20 feet above the ground that Peter would’ve hit had Tony not been there to catch him. Peter immediately wrapped his arms around Tony’s neck and legs around his waist, latching onto him because his life depended on it.
“I’ve got you, kiddo. I’m not letting go.” Tony hushed him.
Tony shot away from the road and toward a nearby rooftop. He wouldn’t return to the tower until he was told that those monsters were no longer in the building. Tony landed on a rooftop and let himself sink to the ground with Peter in his arms.
“Hey, bambi. You’re okay. I’ve got you. We’re safe, you’re safe.” Tony murmured reassurances, trying to calm Peter’s sobs. Peter loved swinging from building to building and free-falling. But that was when he had his web-shooters and he knew he’d be able to catch himself.
He hadn’t been able to catch himself this time and that terrified him.
“Can you look at me, Petey?” Tony asked as he pulled out of the embrace but still holding onto Peter’s shoulders. Tony frowned when he got no response, Peter’s head remained leaning against Tony’s chest. “Peter?” he repeated gently.
He slid his hands off of Peter’s shoulders to cup his face in his hands, lifting Peter’s head off of his chest. First thing he noticed were Peter’s wide eyes and dilated pupils which didn’t seem to be focusing, instead staring distantly at his chest. His skin was pale and he was sweating and shaking while his breathing was erratic. Tony quickly realized that he had gone into shock.
“You’re okay, Pete. Just deep breathes,” Tony encouraged before closing his faceplate again. “Are they out?” he questioned, his tone cold at the mention of the men who threatened his kid.
“They’re out and being brought into shield custody.” came Caps response. Tony nodded, he’d be having a very violent word with them later.
“Peter went into shock. Have a garbage bin ready in case he throws up, get some blankets and pillows set up as well.” Tony told them and scooped the unresponsive boy into his arms before gently and not too quickly flying back to the tower.
Once he was back Pepper had finished making a nest like bed for Peter on the couch, a garbage bin sat beside it along with water bottles. Tony flew through the broken window and landed gently on the ground.
He walked over to the nest of blankets and pillows and set Peter down onto it. Peter continued staring off at nothing, his chest still rising and falling rapidly. Tony stepped out of his suit and joined the team gathered in the living room, waiting for Peter to come back to them.
After about five minutes of waiting suddenly Peter gasped quietly before lurching forward where Rhodey quickly lifted the garbage bin. Peter wrapped his arms around it and threw up into it. Whimpering at the gross feeling and taste. Tony rubbed his back as he emptied his stomach into the bin.
When he was done emptying everything from his stomach Natasha handed him a water bottle which he took with a quiet ‘thank you’. He took small sips, careful not to drink too much just to throw it up again.
Once he fully regained awareness the first thing he did was throw his arms around his father/hero. Tony pulled him into his lap with a sigh of relief. Tonight had been one of the scariest if not the scariest moment in his entire life. He wouldn’t be letting Peter near any windows for a long time.
“Thank you for catching me.” Peter’s voice was muffled by Tony’s shirt.
“I’m sorry for not being able to do anything sooner,”
“There wasn’t much you could do, either I would’ve been shot or thrown out of the window. Only one of those options had an alternative ending.” Peter laughed, trying to lighten the mood after the terrifying experience they just had.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Tony smiled, burying his face further into Peter’s windswept curls.
“Aren’t I always?” Peter giggled, earning an eye roll from Tony. The pair stayed in each other's safe embrace for a little longer before Peter spoke up again. “Movie night?” that elicited a laugh from the whole team.
Of course, nothing got in the way of this boy’s movie night. Not even being thrown out of a window.
“Movie night.” Tony agreed. Peter looked at the broken window.
“We should probably get that fixed.”