Chapter Text
It had been a day spent in the same way as the other 4,025 days he’d been there (not that he could remember that far back, mind you).
Peter woke up in his room when the bright blinding lights above him turned on, the cold hard slab beneath him familiar enough to not cause much discomfort as he continued to lie there in waiting.
A tray was slotted beneath his door an hour later, containing the usual bland porridge and water for breakfast, which he methodically drank down before placing it on the floor again and continuing to sit on his concrete slab, staring at the door as he waited patiently to be collected.
He’d become used to the brain numbing tediousness of sitting in silence doing nothing.
Waiting, waiting, and more waiting. Every day.
It was, in ways, both better and worse than the experiments. The experiments hurt, and the rough hands pulling him this way and that left his skin feeling dirty and bruised. But, it was something. And while he was in the lab he could keep hope knowing that soon- after his daily training where they exercised his strength- he could go back to his room. That it would be over for the day and he’d be given a shower and dinner (on Fridays he even got yard time with the other experiments). Whereas in the mornings, there was only the dreaded anticipation of what today would bring.
It was another two hours until the guards were given their orders to collect him. The thick metal door buzzing as it was unlocked before being pushed open, revealing two armed men. They didn’t say anything as they walked over to Peter and manhandled him to his feet, knowing that the teen was used to this routine as he willingly held his hands out in front of himself to be cuffed.
He was escorted down the dimly lit corridors, passing the other cells with some newer and less compliant test subjects. One of them was screaming as she was beaten by a guard, and Peter couldn’t help but grimace. He was glad he was a good test subject now. He didn’t often do things that got him hit anymore, and he never did them purposely, most of the time he didn’t even know what he’d done to deserve it. He strived to be good.
His heart involuntarily sped up as they arrived at the labs. The ‘doctors’ were already there, but paid him no notice as the guards chained him down onto the metal table before leaving.
Peter made sure to keep his breaths steady as he waited. Patient. Calm. Then the experiments began and he couldn’t help the tears that started falling, but he tried to stay as quiet as possible.
Today they were continuing with experiment Spider-2.97. They’d managed to do something strange to Peter’s body a a year ago, that completely changed how he healed and felt. Since then his lab sessions had become longer, as not only were they combined with constant torturous experiments on what his body could do differently, he also had to do training in the exercise room after. Right now they were playing with electric shocks to see how high a voltage he could take (yesterday he passed out from shock at the unfamiliar agonising feeling, but today they seemed to have hope that he could hold out for longer).
After what felt like an eternity of the voltage periodically being turned up, and after Peter passed the point that would kill a normal human, they finally let him go. Not wanting to permanently damage their property. They declared Peter unfit for training when he collapsed as soon as his feet were allowed to touch the ground, so he was taken straight to the shower room to be hosed down.
There were two other experiments already in there, one of them severely bloodied and bruised and Peter found himself wincing in pity.
A strong jet of cold water sprayed him, knocking him to his knees. Peter hugged himself to try keep warm as he heard the man controlling it laugh at the pitiful sight he made before purposely spraying his face.
Eventually it stopped and he was pulled back into the hospital gown he always wore and was cuffed to be taken back to his room. That was when things began to diverge from the normal routine.
Screams and yells and the sound of gun fire echoed from outside. The guard holding Peter up shoved him back to the floor as the speakers wired to the ceilings blared for backup. The five guards who’d been keeping an eye on the three experiments all ran out of the shower room, locking the door behind them.
Peter and the two others started crying, looking at each other in panic at the sounds outside. They eventually huddled together in the corner of the tiled room, so sure that whoever had caused such a disturbance was there to kill them as they heard gun fire and screams of pain closer to the door.
Then, something started pounding against it. A bang, bang, bang, before the hinges gave way and it came falling down.
They shrieked fearfully as it crashed.
A tall blond man stood in the doorway, breathing heavily after the fight he’d just had as he held a metal shield out in front of him. He looked at the three half starved and beaten kids curled up together on the water soaked floor, and raised his hands in a show of peace.
Then, he went on to say the words that would resenate with Peter for the rest of his life. “You’re free now.” The blond man said, stepping into the room. “We’re going to take you guys home.”
~~~~~
Peter’s eyes fixed on the man that the others- who later introduced themselves as Steve, Nat, and Clint- had explained was his father.
His full name was apparently Peter Benjamin Stark, born fourteen years ago on August 10th to Tony Stark and Mary Parker, but she wasn’t around anymore. And this was his dad.
He was nervous. A new kind of nervous that he had never felt before. He didn’t remember the man who’d just walked into the room. He didn’t remember ever being outside of the OSCORP labs. A few of the experiments there arrived when they were old enough to remember what before was like, and in yard time they’d told Peter about their parents and what it was like outside in the real world. Peter had always assumed that his parents gave him away, so he was confused and worried about what would happen now that he was back. Had he been bad? Had his father sent him away and if he had would he even want him back?
He gaped at the man, his father, as he stared at Steve in annoyance from being disturbed, either not noticing or not caring about the teen’s presence. Would his father want him? Would he recognise him?
“Ah! There he is,” Steve smiled, “Come sit down, Tony.”
Tony huffed out a breath as he sat next to Steve, finally noticing Peter as he eyed the gaping teen critically. “What is this? Why is there some random kid in Avengers Tower?”
“Tony,” Natasha began (Peter liked her the most so far, she’d been really nice to him), “You know Fury asked us to infiltrate a lab named OSCORP due to their questionable experimentations.”
Peter stiffened up a bit at the words. The three had tried to explain to him and the others how immoral what had happened to them was. But Peter didn’t really understand, it was all he’d ever known.
“Okay,” Tony replied, not following. “So, does the kid need medical attention or something?”
“No, Tony,” Steve replied. “As you know our goal was to reunite everyone who was experimented on with their families and,” he pinched his nose, “How do I say this?”
The three Avengers all looked at each other. “Hey, how about you introduce yourself?” Clint suggested, turning to look at Peter.
The teen’s eyes widened a little, but he nodded compliantly, always willing to follow orders. He politely held out his hand for Tony to shake like the older kids who still remembered their past lives did when they introduced themselves to him. “My name is Peter.”
“Peter,” Tony repeated incredulously. Peter noticed his jaw clenching, and a pit of fear that he’d done something wrong to annoy the man settled on his stomach.
“The DNA test we ran matched yours,” Nat explained.
“Matched?” Tony’s head snapped to look at the red head, a small bit of hope and fear flickering across his face as he quickly turned his attention back to the teen, studying him even more intently this time.
“This is Peter Stark,” Steve said, “Your son,”
“My son?”
The heroes looked at each other with small smiles on their faces. Nat stood up, ushering Steve and Clint with her, “Let’s give them some space,”
“Peter…” Tony breathed out. The teen continued to stare at him with widened eyes, completely unsure of how he was supposed to act in this situation. Did he apologise?
Before Peter could respond, Tony lunged at him, burying him in a hug. “My son. My baby boy,” the man mumbled into his ear, his voice sounding tearful and choked up. He squeezed Peter, kissing his forehead and cheeks. Peter just remained stiff and still, completely startled. He didn’t remember ever being hugged like this before, but he guessed he should return it so he hesitantly wrapped his arms around the man in the same way.
“I thought,” Tony sobbed out, “I thought you were dead,” he cried, as he rubbed Peter’s back. It felt quite nice, reassuring. “I missed you so much. Not a day went by that I didn’t think about you. God, I love you more than words could describe, bambi.”
“Bambi?” He asked faintly, tilting his head in question. He didn’t know what that word meant, but he felt like he should.
“It’s what I used to call you, when you were little,” Tony explained. “Because of your beautiful, bambi eyes.” He brushed Peter’s bangs out of his face, looking at him with so much love the teen couldn’t possibly fathom it. “You’re already fourteen now,” Tony chuckled sadly. “I’m so sorry I lost you, baby. I’ll never, ever lose you again. I promise.”
Lost?
“Thank you?” Peter questioned softly, assuming that that was the best thing to say. He winced when Tony sighed. What had he said wrong?
“It’s okay, baby,” Tony comforted, again rubbing his back. “I know you don’t remember me much, if at all, but I remember you. You were, and still are, the sweetest little bundle of joy.” Tony squeezed Peter’s hand, “Nothing will ever take you away from me again!”
They hugged for a while longer, long enough for Peter to relax into the embrace and realise that he quite liked it. That he felt safer than he ever had before wrapped up in the man’s arms having his hair played with. It was weird, and new, but it didn’t hurt.
After that Tony went on a tangent about all the things he’d need, wiping the tears off of his face exasperatedly before leaving to grab something called a tablet. He settled Peter on the couch with it, fretting over the teen being comfortable to the point that the boy began to feel nervous to so much as move from the position he’d been wrapped up by blankets and pillows in.
Tony helped him find things for his room, explaining to him what everything was and what he’d use it for, looking sad whenever Peter didn’t understand why he was getting all these things.
With something called ‘same day shipping’ and a talking voice that seemingly came from the ceiling, Peter had a room set up before the sun set.
His room was massive, with floor to ceiling windows that gave him an amazing view of New York. He’d never seen anything like it before, he didn’t have windows in his old room and in the yard the fence had been so tall he couldn’t see past it. In the center of his new room was a large bed with two nightstands on each side. On the left there was a closet and bookshelf and resting in the corner of the right wall was a desk complete with a chair and a lamp.
According to the man it ‘wasn’t much’ but to Peter it was like something out of a dream.
“Thank you, Mr Stark, sir,” he beamed, completely awed that this was where he’d be sleeping from now on. He didn’t think he’d ever be bored again with those windows to look out of while he waited to be collected in the morning. “At the lab we were treated as experiments, not people. We were only given a slab as a bed. This is more than I could ever ask for!” He explained all that to show how truly grateful he was for the man’s generosity, but for some reason it made Tony look sad again.
Peter couldn’t seem to say anything right today.
“Geez kid,” Tony frowned, before pulling him into another hug, this time Peter going easily with it knowing what was happening. “I’m glad you’re home, bambi. And please, enough of the ‘Mr Stark’ crap. I’m your dad, kiddo. Of course, you don’t have to call me as such, but at least call me Tony.”
“Okay, Mr Tony,” Peter replied obediently. He was trying so hard to be good, but nothing he did seemed to be what the man was looking for as he shook his head at the response.
“Kid, I-” Tony let out a small laugh, “Alright. That works for now.” He patted Peter on the shoulder as he pulled away from the hug, “Let’s get some food in you and then it’s bedtime, alright?”
“That sounds great, Mr Stark, I mean, Mr Tony,” Peter amended, giving Tony a half-smile. He hadn’t had dinner yet, and the last thing he’d had was the porridge at 6 am so it was safe to say he was very hungry now. He was glad he was still being fed, he’d been worried that he was going to be punished or dinner would be forgotten today since he’d missed his routine dinner at 4:30 pm.
For dinner Tony gave him something called pizza, which tasted absolutely amazing in comparison to the soup he usually had. Tony had watched him in amusement as he hummed happily as he ate it, face awed at how good it was. He wondered if other people knew about pizza, because it seemed like something everyone should try. He could only manage one and a half slices before having to stop as it made him feel sick.
After they finished, Tony sent him up to bed despite it only being 6. The teen usually lay on his slab for a few hours after dinner until the lights turned off at 8 allowing him to sleep, but he went along with it anyway. Tony even gave him some new clothes to wear to bed. The second pair of new clothes he’d been given that day! The jeans he’d been given by Clint earlier and the sweat pants Tony gave him to sleep in were weird in comparison to the hospital gown he was used to wearing. They covered his legs so he wasn’t constantly cold, and he quickly found himself liking them more. He lay down in his new bed, finding himself just as amazed at how comfortable and cosy it was as he had been to taste the pizza. Why didn’t everyone sleep in beds? They were way better. He imagined that this was what the fluffy white clouds in the sky felt like.
He lay sprawled out on the bed for a good ten minutes, just cherishing how soft it was, until Tony came in to tuck him in.
The man puffed out his pillows before lifting the covers for Peter to slide beneath them.
“Mr Tony?” He asked as the man ran his hands over the covers to flatten them out.
“Yes sweetie? What do you need?” The man asked, his voice softer and kinder than anything Peter had ever heard before. It made him feel safe enough to ask questions.
“Why do I have to go to bed so early? It’s only afternoon,” He realised that being with new people and in a new environment would be cause for some changes to his routine, but it was still very jarring. Did everyone normally go to sleep before 7? Was this what he should be expecting from now on?
He was still so confused by everything that had happened today. That he’d been taken from the labs to his father and apparently would never be experimented on again. And now he was going to sleep on a mattress under a warm snuggly blanket and his dad was being caring enough to tuck him in because he apparently loved him.
Tony brushed his fingers through Peter’s curls, the teen fighting from closing his eyes at the nice feeling.
“You need to rest, little one,” Tony finally said. “When Steve, Nat, and Clint entered into the lab they drastically changed things for you. You probably weren’t expecting to end up here of all places.”
“I wasn’t expecting to end up anywhere,” Peter replied matter of factly. “I thought they were going to kill us.” He was still a little shook up from the morning. He hoped the other experiments were okay.
Tony nodded, making a choked sob sound, “Yeah? Well you’re here now.” he smiled, “Anyway, when these things happen, it tends to drain people. Kid, I can tell just by looking at you – you’re exhausted.”
Peter shrugged. He was always tired, daily experiments were draining and it was hard to get a good nights sleep on concrete. He didn’t usually go to sleep when he was tired though, only when his room’s lights were turned off incase he was needed again (before he’d gone to sleep early and a guard burst into his room and started yelling and hitting him).
“There’s no shame in resting when you need to. In fact, I’m probably gonna hit the hay soon myself,” Tony explained. He pressed a kiss to Peter’s forehead, “Don’t fight it bud. It’s okay. You’re safe. You can rest now.”
The words rung in his head on repeat long after his father left him for the night. He was… safe now?
~~~~~
Tony did a lot of things over the next few days to keep it that way. To keep him safe. Peter was rarely allowed to be alone, the only exceptions were when he was in the bathroom or sleeping in bed, but even then the door had to remain open so Tony knew he was okay.
He wasn’t allowed to leave the penthouse, which was disappointing but he wasn’t really surprised. Tony also said that soon he could start online school, to learn new things without having to leave the building, which sounded fun. He wanted to learn stuff. His father also gave him a phone and a laptop which he was completely fascinated by. But he was confused, because FRIDAY had explained to him that the internet was full of limitless knowledge yet sometimes when he tried to Google things about the outside world that he was curious about it would tell him that that page was blocked.
He assumed it was just another thing he was doing wrong.
About a week into his time with his father, the man gave him a watch that he’d made that would track his location, vitals, and other such information to ensure that he was safe and never taken away again.
Peter had thought nothing of it until the woman who had insisted he call her Auntie Pepper objected. “You’re going overboard!” She’d exclaimed in shock when she heard about the watch’s lock feature. Only Tony could take it off. “He’s your kid, not a prisoner!”
The teen had really thought nothing of it until she compared it to being a prisoner, which is the word he’d heard the avengers use when talking about what OSCORP had been doing to them. Was this not what people did? Was his dad tracking him not just a good thing he was doing to keep him safe?
Tony ignored her, “I’m doing what’s best for him!” The man exclaimed. Peter didn’t say anything at all when Tony locked the device onto his wrist, just stared at it nervously as Pepper blew up at his dad and Tony ushered him off to his room so that he didn’t have to hear.
His dad was just protecting him. He didn’t want to lose him again after just getting him back. This was completely reasonable, Peter was sure. And he didn’t want to be taken away again back to OSCORP so he never once complained about the device. He was just being kept safe.