Chapter Text
Awareness came back to him slowly. Noises pierced the darkness, but he couldn’t make any sense of them. A high-pitched ringing started and faded in and out. He tried to turn his head to escape it, but it followed him. The world around him seemed chaotic and tense but he couldn’t figure out why. What had happened? Where was he?
“Kid?” A voice finally penetrated the obscurity. “Are you coming back to me?”
The voice seemed nice. It gave him a warm fuzzy feeling in his chest to hear it. And it made him feel safe. Maybe he’d just slip away again for a little while.
“Hey! Pete! No, no, no. Wake up kid!” The voice got sharper and now it was punctuated by movement. Someone was shaking his shoulder.
He groaned. He just wanted to be left alone.
“There you go. Come on Pete. Open your eyes.”
Oh. Was that why everything was shrouded in darkness? His eyes were closed? So all he had to do was open them? How did he do that again? It took a few tries, but he finally got his brain to make his eyelids rise in a slow flickering motion.
Tony sat, crouched at his side, leaning over him. That’s whose voice he’d been hearing. He felt like an idiot for not immediately recognizing it, but his thoughts seemed slow like each one had to travel through a vat of molasses before it could coalesce.
“There he is.” Tony smiled but it looked too tense to be genuine.
Peter just blinked up at him.
“Kid?” Tony frowned and leaned in closer so their faces were only inches apart. “You with me?”
With him where? Was he supposed to be somewhere?
“Can you say something so I know you’re with me?” Tony pestered him as his palm brushed Peter’s hair back off his forehead.
“M head ‘urts.” He mumbled, his answer coming out garbled. He thought that’d get Tony off his back, but if anything, it seemed to make him even more frantic.
“I know. I know buddy, but I need you to stay with me, ok?”
“M ‘ere.” He tried to reassure Tony but speaking those couple sentences seemed to sap all his energy.
He didn’t realize his eyes had slipped closed again until he heard Tony’s panicked voice, “Hey, hey, this is no time to sleep. Wake up kid. Open your eyes.”
He listened but groaned his displeasure.
“Yeah I know. No fun. But those assholes bashed the hell out of your skull, so I need you to stay awake.”
His brow furrowed. What assholes? He had no idea what Tony was talking about. In fact, he had no idea where he was or how he’d gotten there. He tried to look around, but it was hard to see around Tony. Even though the man had settled back on his knees, he was still close enough to block out most of his view that way. He tried to look the other way, but when he moved he thought for a second his head was going to keep going and roll right off. He winced, and after all that effort, the only thing he saw anyway was a cement wall inches from his face.
“Where ‘re we?” He asked, his lips still not quite forming all the words correctly.
“You don’t remember?” Tony asked, eyes intense.
He tried to wrack his brain, but he had no recollection of how they’d gotten here. Were they on a mission? His head throbbed in time with his heart and thinking made it worse, so he stopped. He gave his head such a minuscule shake he wasn’t sure Tony would even notice it.
Tony swallowed hard and Peter saw the worry on his face before he schooled his expression. “That’s all right. That’s fine. Just…we’re in a bit of a situation, but it’s going to be fine.”
Ok. If Tony said it was going to be ok, then Peter trusted him. A distant part of him recognized that he should be freaking out over the situation, but he couldn’t muster even a modicum of anxiety, which in and of itself was odd for him.
He closed his eyes with a sigh.
“Hey, keep those peepers open.” Tony squeezed his shoulder.
He pried his eyes back open, eyelids starting to feel heavier.
“M tired.” He complained.
“I know but you just need to hang in there for a little longer.” Tony glanced over his shoulder. “The team should be back soon and then we’ll get you back home before you can say Spiderman.”
The team? So they had been on a mission? But what kind of mission would be enough to get Tony to come out of retirement?
Before he could decide whether it was worth expending the energy to ask, a ring of gold sparks appeared a couple feet behind Tony. Dr. Strange was here too? Tony followed his gaze and a second later Dr. Strange stepped out, giving Tony a short nod, “Stark.”
“Strange.” Tony responded.
“I heard my presence was requested.”
Instead of a sarcastic comment, Tony just nodded and said, “We need to get the kid back home.”
Dr. Strange peered over Tony’s shoulder to look down at him. “What happened?”
“His head and the concrete wall had a little disagreement. The wall won.”
Dr. Strange frowned. “That’s unfortunate.”
Tony snorted. “That’s one way to put it.”
“I’ll take him.” Dr. Strange offered, coming closer.
“No no. I’ve got him.” Tony put his arms under Peter’s knees and shoulders and lifted.
The change in altitude made his head spin and he fuzzed out for a few seconds.
“Peter.” He came back to Dr. Strange saying his name while he used his fingers to pry one of his eyes open. “Can you hear me?”
He groaned in acknowledgement and the man pulled his hand away from his face.
“We should go.” Dr. Strange said, directing the statement to Tony, as he started waving his hands to make the gold portal to take them home.
“Hang in there kid.” Tony told him and Peter tried. He really did. He never wanted to let Tony down, but an exhaustion like he’d never felt before pulled at him, and he couldn’t fight it any longer. The last thing he saw before he gave in and closed his eyes was Tony’s worried face illuminated by a shower of sparkles.