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Tony paced and paced around his room in Avengers headquarters. He stepped so firmly in the same circular motion for so long he was sure he’d leave a groove in the floor. The reason for all of this stress was Peter. But when was it not? Ever since Tony had known the kid, he was forever worried about everything the kid might come across. He was constantly going over every possible insanely dangerous situation that might not even have a 0.000001% chance of happening and still obsess over and analyze it until he could think of a sure thing he could equip in Peter’s suit to prevent him from getting harmed. And even though Tony goes through all this trouble the kid still manages to get banged up. A lot.
And with this rough patch right now, with himself and Pepper taking a break and all, Tony is very easily upset. Almost all of the different Avengers (the ones he was still talking to at least) had asked Tony why he wouldn’t just cut the kid off. Why go through all the stress and drama of trying to keep a teenager safe, happy, and in line with the rules. But honestly, sometimes it seemed like Peter was the only one there for him. Yes, Peter came with a lot of stressed attached to him, but he also came with a lot of comfort, humor, and even though Tony might not always realize he needs them, hugs.
He cared for Peter very much and that caused him to get worried over the smallest things to do with him. And yes, Peter has been late for curfew when staying at the Avengers headquarters before, but three hours? I mean, he has been maybe one or one and a half before when tricky robbers meet him on his swing home but three hours? Tony would’ve been fine with two, with some questions definitely and possibly a trip to the ER just to make sure he was okay, but this was insane. The kid knew well not to test Tony’s patience and heart like that.
Tony decided to call again, for the twentieth time. And for the twentieth time, he was sent to voice mail. “Peter this really isn’t like you! Call me in two minutes or I’m coming to find you!” Tony knew he sounded really mad, and maybe the kid deserved to feel frightened of his temper, but deep down, Tony knew he wasn’t mad. He was worried beyond belief and just needed to know that Peter was okay.
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*buzz* Peter’s phone made a vibration after receiving a notification of another voicemail. “Well, I guess he’s not giving up anytime soon.” The masked figure said in a mocking voice as he stood over the frightened teen gagged and chained to a table. Peter made a muffled noise in fear as the intimidating man came closer and gripped him by the neck to pull him closer to his masked face. Peter choked in desperation; he didn’t know what to do to escape this man’s grasp. But his voice of reason was clouded by insane fear of what would happen next. “Don’t worry little one, he’ll never take you from me.”
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“That’s it Pete, you’ve crossed the line.” Tony muttered to himself when his promised two minutes were up. He suited up to find his precious little friend. Tony expected to be able to pull up Peter’s whereabouts instantly. That’s why he put a tracker in his suit. Imagine his surprise when NOTHING came up. Blank. Not even past whereabouts. The last known location was when Peter left HQ. “How could this happen!?” “Friday! You’re sure you searched everything?”
“Yes” The robot replied in a currently infuriating emotionless voice.
“What about the city traffic cams?”
“Already checked. Nothing.”
Tony paused in midair to gather his thoughts. Where on earth could this kid have gone off to?
“Can you track his phone?”
“All tracking capabilities have been turned off.”
“What about the phone’s last known whereabouts.”
“Right up till Mr. Parker left HQ.” Tony shot a blast of energy up into the air in anger. His only job right now was to find and protect this kid and he was blowing it.
“Peter, wherever you are, you’re gonna be okay and I’ll be there soon.” Tony whispered longingly into the cold lonely night.
“I don’t think he can hear you—”
“I KNOW!”
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“So my little pet, these are the rules. There’s the obvious, no trying to escape. No talking or gesturing in any way unless a question or statement ends with “answer”. And I expect you will treat me and my team with the utmost respect. Never forget how much you don’t matter. I’m not afraid to kill you. Are we in agreement?” Peter stared in silence. He didn’t want to make the villain think he wasn’t showing respect by not answering but he didn’t want to break a rule by answering a question not ending in “answer”. Peter considered the thought that maybe the cruel man forgot his own rule, so Peter shakenly quickly nodded his head once. Suddenly he felt the surge of electricity flow through his vanes! He felt as though he had never screamed louder in his life! Every single bit of his body throbbed and screamed its own sorrow as he was put through the completely unexpected torture. And just as quickly as it came it all stopped. Peter felt himself shaking from the after math.
“Now you know what happens if you break a rule.” The man laughed happily at Peter’s suffering. Once the man was able to catch his breath, he looked Peter right in the eyes yet again. “You see this?” The man said while waving what looked like a TV controller in his hand like a parent holding a toy while goofing around with their toddler. Peter knew better than to say or do anything, so he stared in silence and waited for the man to continue. “This is controller, yes it was originally meant for television sets but this one has been modified to control an object with more stubbornness an annoyance; You.” The man reached out for Peter’s neck again Peter flinched thinking the man would grip it, but the instead he brushed the side of it a pressed hard in a particular spot. Peter felt something small, round, and cold on his neck. It hurt as though it had wires that felt like needles attached to it that were sewn throughout his body.
“This chip allows me to control everything in you. I can make you feel pain that isn’t there. I can make you see and feel things that aren’t real. I can even turn you off and back on. It makes you so much easier to handle I honestly don’t know why Stark hadn’t thought of it first.” Peter stared into the man’s cold emotionless eyes in fear, anger, and disgust. But he also had a longing to ask him a question. Peter guessed the man assumed this much by the way he was looking at him. The man let out a delightful laugh. He sat down on a stool next to the table Peter was strapped to and looked at him as if he a was kind old friend that Peter could trust. If anything, this made him scarier to Peter than before.
“What is your question puppet? Answer.” Peter waited a moment just to be sure, than spoke ever so softly.
“Why do you want me here sir?” Peter knew it wasn’t for black mail because the man would’ve called Tony by now. And he knew it wasn’t for labor because he literally had been strapped to this table for the whole time, which had to have been at least two hours.
“Oh! I expected a much more complicated question but alright. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed yet quite how incredible of an experiment you are. I’m not sure if Tony did it or what but it is very fascinating and could rake in lots of cash.” At first Peter didn’t fully understand what the man was saying. Instead of stupidly asking another question he decided to take advantage of the silence and ponder the statement. He then concluded that the man was curious how Peter’s powers worked and possibly how he had gotten them. Peter himself didn’t fully understand but had no interest in finding out how the man would retrieve the knowledge he wanted.
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“Three days. Three days.” Tony kept mumbling this to himself as he sat hunched over his computer desperate for even the slightest hint of where this precious kid might be. Peter had officially been missing for three days and Tony obviously hadn’t slept a wink during them. Even if he had wanted to sleep Tony knew he wouldn’t be able to. Peter always told him that there is no use in purposefully not sleeping while trying to solve a troubling question because a fresh mind could help you see the things you can’t when you’re obsessed with it. But Peter wasn’t there to badger him about it, so Tony stayed awake with a coffee by his side as he desperately searched for his loved one. “You can’t just make a kid vanish.” Tony also had said this phrase a few times as well. He said it with assurance as if he was certain he'd find something any second. But he really said it to give himself confidence that there was an answer to the question of where Peter was. The only discouragement was if he’d find his kid … or a corpse.
This thought chilled him to the bone, and he tried not to think about it too deeply. But on the other hand, he considered the possibility only as punishment for his own careless actions. How could he possibly have waited so long to try to find Peter? Sure, he and Peter had had talks before about him letting Peter have a bit more freedom. Peter made it clear that when Tony acted like a helicopter parent, he felt like Tony didn’t trust him. And he does trust him, with all his heart! So, he decided to give Peter a little more wiggle room to make mistakes and learn from them. How could he have possibly been to stupid! He knew that mentally beating himself up for something he had already done wouldn’t help the situation, but he couldn’t help it. Peter was fine and with him three days ago.
Tony started to believe that he needed to approach this situation with a different tactic. Trying to digitally locate Peter wasn’t working and there was no point in continuously looking in the same spots and refreshing websites; He was just wasting time. He started to wonder if there was any other way to find him. Suddenly he had a brilliant idea.
“So do you think you could do it?” Tony asked Wanda. He knew that Wanda possessed the very similar powers to the Mind Stone. If she had a way to space out a find a way to communicate with Peter’s mind than maybe, he could tell her where he was.
“Possibly. But it might take a while.” Wanda said not very sure of herself.
“How long is a while?” Tony asked in a frantic manor.
“It could be days, even weeks. There are a lot of people in this world Stark.”
“Fine, if you hear anything PLEASE let me know.”
“You have my word.”
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Peter was finally alone, but he wasn’t any less terrified. The man said he left to prep something, whatever that something was Peter didn’t want to know. All he could think of was how much he just wanted to rip off his chains and break out of this miserable place. But no matter how hard he tugged he couldn’t break them off; he could feel bruises and burns forming on his wrists and ankles. He suspected that they were made of Vibranium because that was possibly the only thing he couldn’t break. He felt like crying, but that would only make him feel more vulnerable. He had never felt so delicate in his whole life. He was so used to having to always put on a brave face and act like an adult in front of Tony so he wouldn’t think he couldn’t handle it, especially when he was hurt. If Peter acted the way he felt like when he got injured it would only make Tony worry fifteen times more than he had to. Peter honestly didn’t quite know why Tony cared for him so much. He understood that he helped Tony a lot when it came to missions and creating new tech, but all that wouldn’t make Tony worry about him the way that he did. At first Peter thought Tony worried like that about everyone, and he might, but he certainly wasn’t even a quarter close to how open he is about it when it came to Peter.
Sometimes Peter felt like he a Tony really had a special bond. Peter had never really had a strong father-figure in his life. His father was abusive, and his uncle was gone. Peter had Aunt May, but their relationship was different, and recently she has been very busy with work. Peter felt that Tony noticed Peter’s feelings of neglect because during this rough patch Tony had offered to let Peter stay at HQ just for the time being, not permanently, but for as long as he needed. Peter couldn’t believe the opportunity and promised he would be on his best behavior to both Tony and May. He hadn’t even been there that long and then this happened! He felt a want for Tony. He always seemed to know what to do even in cray situations. He wanted nothing more than to see the Iron Man suit to bust through the wall and have Tony take off his mask, check him over, and then delicately yet firmly whisk him away. Tony had a way about him when it came to handling Peter when he knew he was injured. He held Peter strongly so he knew he could let all his weight rest in Tony arms. But he was also very gentle so Peter knew he was safe and so Tony wouldn’t hurt him anymore then Peter already was.
Peter felt sudden rush of fear as the door to the room opened and the man came out, holding what looked to be a very sharp, very long knife. The man tilted his head the way a toddler does when they are curious about something, and he began playing with the weapon by waving it left to right. “Are you ready?”
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Five hours later and Tony had heard nothing from Wanda. He began pacing again, this time with a drink in hand. He knew that Peter would’ve been disappointed that Tony turned to drinking for comfort but as he always said to Peter, ‘desperate times called for desperate measures’. Tony had told Friday to re-test and re-test all of the different cameras and tracking devices that he could possibly think of that would work to track this kid. He was just putting his glass in the sink when his phone buzzed with a text message. “I found him”—Wanda.
“Where is he?” Tony exclaimed with excitement and fear.
“Well, I’m not sure. Every time I tried to communicate with him, he’d just shut me out. I thought maybe, if you’d let me, I could send your consciousness to his to talk.”
“Like, I’d be in his mind?”
“In basic terms yes.”
“Will this hurt him?”
“No, not him. But it could hurt you.”
“I don’t care about that. Send me.” Wanda was shocked at first. In the beginning she had even debated helping him. But Vision had convinced her that if Peter was involved Tony meant no harm. But she certainly didn’t expect Stark to value Peter’s safety over his own. Everything she knew to expect from Tony’s personality was from his protective impulses with Ultron and everything Steve had told her before their fight at the airport in Germany. She had never expected to see this man act this way, especially about a child. She had to help him, and she would.
“You might feel a slight shock.” Wanda warned she placed her hands on both side of Tony’s forehead. Tony didn’t care about what happened to himself, he just needed to see Peter. Wanda was right, he felt a sudden shock in his head and then it was like he wasn’t in his body anymore. He felt himself speed through what felt like an ocean of marshmallow fluff. Suddenly all the rushing stopped, and Tony found himself in a room with walls of mirrors. He felt like he was there, but at the same time he didn’t. It was like he was in a dream, but he knew he was in a dream. Tony looked around and saw himself in one of the mirrors. He noticed he looked very well put together, much better than he knew he looked in real life. And he noticed he was wearing the same outfit that he wore when he first met Peter. Tony then remembered that he literally was inside Peter’s mind so he must look how Peter imagines him to be. He then looked around for Peter, Wanda mentioned something about Peter blocking her out, Tony hoped dearly that he wouldn’t have to wait to long to talk to him.
“Peter? Kid can you hear me? Peter?” He called out. He felt very trapped in this space. He also felt very off put as the room kept shaking as if it were under pressure. His instincts were telling him he needed to get out, but he refused to even consider that thought without seeing Peter. Tony noticed one of the mirrors was slightly cracked open, it was a door. He tried to step forward, but it was like he had bowling balls attached to his feet. “Peter! Come on! Help me out, I just want to talk to you! I’m not gonna hurt you! It’s me! Tony!” Suddenly the room stopped shaking. He then heard a creek noise and watched as the mirror door opened slightly more. It was open enough to show Tony he could go through but it wasn’t so wide that it made Tony feel like he had to come in. He couldn’t put his finger on how he knew what it was, but he understood he was feeling Peter’s, well, feelings. Peter wanted and needed Tony but didn’t want Tony to know that. Tony himself didn’t know how to take that. Of course, he eagerly walked through the door, hoping to show Peter he did truly want to be there for him and help him.
Tony walked through the door, it looked very similar to room he was previously in. Except there was something way more important in it. “Peter!” Tony ran up him. Peter curled up, crying in the corner. Tony knelt in front of the poor child. Peter had his arms wrapped around his legs, which the pressed up against his chest and his face in his knees. “Hey, hey! Pete, look up at me. You’re okay.” Tony gently placed his hand under the teen’s chin and slowly lifted his head up. Peter’s cheeks were red hot and stained with tears. He looked absolutely terrified and greatly injured with cuts and bruises all over himself. “What happened?!” Tony asked him with desperation in his voice.
“I’m sorry if I scared you. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I’m so sorry Mr. Stark!” Then Peter kept crying. Tony didn’t know what else to do except lightly push Peter in his direction. Peter greatly accepted this act of affection and leaned into Tony’s chest. Tony really wanted to ask Peter so many questions, but he had to calm him down first. Peter only called him ‘Mr. Stark’ when he felt he had done something greatly wrong against his wishes. Tony could only assume it was an attempt to show Tony that he did in fact respect him.
“Peter, this isn’t your fault. I’m not mad.” Tony whispered quietly in an attempt to be soothing as he rested his head on Peter’s. Tony let out a quite sigh of relief when Peter’s crying quieted down and then stopped. Peter continued to breath heavily, when he replied,
“You’re not?”
“No! Of course not!” Tony said with a light laugh. Yes, he had been mad at Peter before, but not an ounce of himself thought that any of this insane mess was the child’s fault. Peter sat up slowly and looked into his mentor’s eyes. Tony could see the brokenness, pain, and disbelief. Previously Tony had been smiling with pure joy that he had found Peter. This look wiped his smile right off. “Who did this to you?” Tony asked with a straight face. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes, he could feel them burn to run down his cheeks but he could not let himself break in front of this already broken version of the happy peaceful kid he had seen three days ago.
“I don’t know his name.” Peter said with a shaky voice. Suddenly the mirror in front of Tony but behind Peter lit up with an image. It was of this tall gauntly man with messy short brown hair. He was wearing a lab coat and a doctor’s mask, leaving only his eyes and rather large forehead to be the only things in sight. He had dark evil brown eyes. You could tell there was no empathy or possibly even any emotion in this man. Tony had never seen him before. Tony had no doubt that this man was the cause of all of the pain and suffering Peter had endured. And the idea of Peter spending one more minute alone with him made Tony want to vomit and/or punch something.
“I don’t need a name, it’s fine.” Tony said quickly after he got a look at Peter’s face. He looked as if he was trying so hard not to cry again, Tony had never seen him so vulnerable. “Do you have any idea where you are?”
“Umm…” Peter was pondering when suddenly a muffled sound of a low sounding male voice boomed through the room.
“Gha! Why is the signal in Iowa so bad!?”
“I think I heard him say something about Iowa a few minutes ago.” Peter said after it finished playing. Tony got the feeling that Peter couldn’t see or hear the different images and phrases playing around them. Granted Tony just noticed them, he was paying attention to Peter. But since all of these things were going on in Peter’s head, Peter might not realize at least that Tony can see and hear them too.
“Okay, Iowa, I can work with that.” Suddenly the sound of loud angry footsteps boomed through the room. The room then again began to shake. Peter suddenly gasped in fear.
“He’s coming!” Tony opened his eyes to find himself back in Wanda’s room sitting in a chair. Peter was probably being hurt right at this very moment and there was nothing he could do about it. But at least he had a rough idea of where to go from here.
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“What were you doing?” The man asked while towering over Peter, cocking his head to one side and stared at the child like a toy he was planning to play with. “Answer.” The man said with a much more serious and frightening voice while he straightened his head.
“Nothing sir.” Peter replied not even being able to look his captor in the eye in fear of punishment. Suddenly the electricity sparked back to life. It flowed through his veins, and it felt like he was burning from the inside out. He screamed again as he felt the overwhelming pain. When it all stopped, Peter looked at the man. The villain looked angry than anything else.
“No lies. What were you doing? Were you communicating with someone?” The man looked like he had just had a bright idea. He laughed with joy when he saw the petrified look on Peter’s face; the man knew he was right. “Now that IS fascinating! Why I’ll just have to take a peek in that little head of yours!” Peter’s eyes widened with fear, he felt himself begin to shake because he knew he had no way of protecting himself. “Won’t that be fun?!” The man yelled with joy. He gripped Peter’s head in his hands and held him tight, VERY tight. Peter could feel his nails through the man’s gloves digging into his cheeks. The man’s eyes and face twitched with excitement. “This is going to be so much FUN!”
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Tony immediately left for Iowa. He knew that the smarter way would be to come up with a plan AND THEN go, but he couldn’t wait any longer. Peter was being hurt, he had to get there NOW.
Tony searched every building he could think of. From the looks of the background in the images in Peter’s mind, wherever he was, the building was abandoned. None of the buildings had any heat sources in them, nun except one. “Friday? What is this place?”
“The Clarinda Treatment Complex. Built in 1884 originally intended to house alcoholics, drug addicts, the criminally insane, and those with mental illness.”
“Alright, well, let’s check it out.” Tony entered the building and turned his nano tech suit back into a jacket. As much as he wanted to be in the suit ready to shoot down the monster that hurt Peter, the suit would plainly make to much noise as he walked around the abandoned hospital. From what he gathered from the information Friday put about The Clarinda Treatment Complex, the abandoned hospital used to be open to the public, but to many people tried to squat there so to limit activity they stopped letting people in. Tony walked around aimlessly through the rooms and rooms of beds. Each floor looked more locked up than the last, he assumed the crazier someone was, the higher level they were on. It got to the point where some of the rooms had no windows and straps on the beds. Eventually Tony made it to the operation floor. Unlike the walls, the doors didn’t have windows so Tony decided he would peek inside one. He could feel his hand shaking as he rested it against the door preparing to push it open. Peter could be behind this door, quivering in fear and covered in injuries. Tony almost felt scared to open the door, he wasn’t sure if he was ready to see his precious kid in such a beat-up state. For a moment, he wondered if his heart could take the stress, but then he couldn’t believe what he was considering. Peter needed him and he was scared to look at him? What kind of a person was he!? He shoved all thoughts away with the statement that Peter needed him, everything else could wait for later. Tony pushed open the door to find that no one was in there. Tony let out a stressful sigh and went to the next door.
Without a moment to lose, he pushed open. Peter was lying on a table with his hands and feet lying in undone Vibranium straps. “Peter!” Tony shouted. He knew he had to be quiet in fear of being discovered, but he couldn’t keep it in. Tony rushed over to the child’s side and felt himself gag, Peter was covered in deep cuts, bruises, and stitches. Tony saw a particular stitching that looked painful. “Oh Petey, I’m so sorry.” Tony lightly brushed over it in an attempt to sooth the poor child. But when he did, Peter didn’t flinch. He was also abnormally … cold. In fear Tony quickly checked his pulse by pressing two fingers against Peter’s bruised and cut wrist … nothing.
Tony felt his face go pale and cold sweats starting to form all over his body. “Friday?” Tony said in a shaky voice. “He has no pulse sir.”
“No … no. NO!” Tony stumbled back in surprise and fear and felt himself collapse on the floor. Tony let the tears he had been bottling up poor out. He felt them run down his cold cheeks, he felt his body begin to shake. Peter was gone, and there was nothing he could do about it.
“Ahh! So, it was right! You did come! Gotta admit, didn’t think someone like you would care so much for something like that.” Tony stopped, he stood up, he knew who was behind him.
“What?” Tony said blankly and coldly without even turning around.
“Yeah, it was just so annoying and worthless and –” Tony clenched his fists, he had had enough. He pulled the strings on his jacket forming the Iron Man suit, turned around, jumped, and repulsed himself into the man and pushed him against the wall. Tony gripped the monster by the throat and held it tight.
“HOW COULD YOU?!?!?!?!? IT?!? PETER IS THE MOST INCREDIBLE KID I’VE EVER MET AND YOU TREATED HIM LIKE A FITH GRADE SCIENCE PROJECT!!! YOU THINK YOU MADE HIM SUFFER? WELL, I’M GOING TO SHOW YOU WHAT PAIN REALLY IS!!” Tony, blinded by pure anger, through the man across the room. He then grabbed him again and repeatedly slammed the man into the concrete floor. Tony could see that he had broken the man’s nose and many of his teeth. And he was just getting started. He gripped that monster by the arm and flung him through the doorway into the hall. The villain banged his head against the wall with a thud and Tony again picked him up and slammed him as hard as he could into the wall. Tony gripped him by the neck was preparing to through the man out the window, but he heard the man whisper something through Tony’s grasp. “WHAT?” Tont said coldly just waiting to have just something more to fuel his anger.
“I can bring him back.” The man choked out. Tony’s eyes widened and he dropped the man on the floor. Tony pulled out a gun arm from his suit and pressed it against the man’s head.
“What do you mean ‘bring him back’? He’s DEAD!” Tony shouted in anger, fear, and slight disbelief.
“He’s not dead. He’s just turned off.”
“He’s not a robot you creep!”
“Well… I’ve made my own personal, err, modifications to it- I mean him.”
“What did you do?” Tony asked coldly in a disgusted voice.
“He has a chip in the right side of his neck. It was wires that lead up to his brain. It allows me to essentially control him.” Tony couldn’t believe the look on this man’s face, he looked proud of himself, as if what he had just said something that wasn’t incredibly terrifying. “There is a compartment on the side of the table containing a remote” he continued. “The red power button on the top left side should wake him up.”
“And if that doesn’t work?”
“Well than I’m sorry, I guess I broke your toy.” Tony had enough he re-gripped the man’s throat and crashed his body through the window. “WAIT! I-I-I DIDN’T MEAN IT! JUST A- JUST A BAD JOKE IS ALL!” Tony watched with a blank stare as he let go of his grip and watched as the man screamed and plummeted down the building through the air and hit the ground.
Tony turned around and ran back into the room where Peter was lying helpless, seemingly dead on a table. Tony stepped out of his suit and walked slowly toward the table. He squinted his eyes and turned his head toward the floor. He couldn’t help it, he couldn’t stand to see Peter beaten, broken, bruised, and gone. Tony, trying his hardest not to look at Peter’s face, used his shaking hands to find the compartment the monster had mentioned. He opened it and pulled the remote out. He pressed the red button down and saw the little light on the remote turn from red to green, as if he had just turned on his TV. Tony felt a smile appear on his face and he looked up at the child, only to see his lifeless eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. Tony’s face went blank, and he collapsed on his knees. He held his head in his hands and felt his tears roll down his cheeks. “I’m so sorry Peter! I’M SORRY!” he gasped for air. His heart felt like it was pounding in his throat. He held his own arm firmly to his chest to stop it from shaking. He felt like screaming, he was just about to, but then … he heard something … come from up on the table.
Tony lifted his head up and got back on his feat and saw Peter with his eyes squinted, coughing and wincing to breath. Tony quickly rushed his arm underneath Peter’s back and helped him sit up. Tony lightly patted Peter’s back and waited patiently till he regained a steady breathing pattern. Peter fluttered his eyes open and stared painfully and longingly at him. “Tony?”
“Yeah.” Tony said smiling and feeling slight tears of joy fill his eyes. “It’s me kid.” Tony cupped Peter’s head lightly in his hands. “Do you feel okay? Any major chest pain? Broken bones?” Tony felt like listing more injuries he was sure the child had, but he felt a sudden loss for words. Peter was alive!
“I’m fine Tony. Really.” Tony couldn’t wait another second. He pulled Peter into his arms and rested his head into Peter shoulder. He felt Peter do the same. Tony felt like he could sit there, holding the kid for days. He held Peter closer and felt the teen’s warmth cover his body. He lightly pressed his lips against the boy’s cheek and then whispered,
“I love you, Peter.’’ Peter smiled, so relieved to be back with Tony.
“I love you too.”