Peter awoke later feeling much better. Thanks to his heightened Spider Senses, any cuts, bruises, or burns healed much quicker than usual. His legs burn with energy, and his feet touch the floor before he can stop them. He looks around the small room, noticing that the holographic wall is back in place.

He walks around the room for a while, running his hands along the walls and attempting to climb. Nothing works, not surprisingly. There seems to be no way out from the inside. Sighing, Peter turns to stare at Tony. He's still asleep in the bed, lying peacefully. Peter has no reason to wake him up, considering this is probably the first time he's gotten good sleep in weeks. Figures that it's at the exact moment that both of their lives are threatened. Still, he can't bring himself to create any noise at all. Instead, he just sits on the ground and stares at the room.

A while later, Tony stirs slightly. Peter's head snaps to focus on him, his heartbeat jumping at the movement and slowing as he realizes that everything is okay. Gosh, being here as fried his nerves. He's so much more jumpy than he's ever been before, and it's starting to really freak out his brain.

"Peter?" Tony croaks, attempting to sit up. Peter moves towards him, grinning slightly. His grin immediately disappears as he senses that something is seriously wrong.

"What's wrong, Mr. Stark?"

"I feel like absolute sh-" his eyes glance at Peter before correcting to "crap". Normally, Peter would tease him about almost cursing in front of a teenager, but he's too worried to even say anything. This is stage one. Stage one. The words bounce through his head like a hyperactive bouncy ball on steroids.

"Don't look so happy, kid." Tony mutters sarcastically under his breath, wincing as he leans against the wall the bed is against.

"How do you feel... exactly?" Peter says, trying to keep the worry from his voice.

"Sore throat, headache, weak, the whole deal."

"How bad?"

"God, kid. Gimme a minute to wake up." Tony leans his head against the wall and closes his eyes. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, he tilts his head back up. "Sorry, Peter. I just feel really horrible."

"Can I see your neck?" Peter moves towards Tony. "Where the man injected you." Tony just grunts and turns so that Peter can easily see his neck. Peter recoils at seeing it, sucking in a breath.

"What?" Tony says worriedly.

"It's really inflamed." Peter says. And it is. It's swollen and red, and the veins are a bright red, vividly showing in his neck.

"How bad is it?" Tony stares straight ahead, not wanting to hear the answer.

"I don't know..." Peter says, wincing at how horrible his tone sounds.

"Pete..." Tony warns.

"It's pretty bad."

"Well, wonderful." Tony sighs and sits back. "Pete, if I... die from this,"

"You won't." Peter crosses his arms over his chest.

"You can't control that, kid."

"I'll do whatever it takes to get you out of here alive, Mr. Stark."

"Thanks. But-"

"Mr. Stark?" Peter cuts him off.

"Yeah?"

"You know..." Peter hesitates. Should he really tell him? Tell Tony everything he's feeling? If either of them die, he might as well take a stab at it.

"I... love you." It sounds weird at first, but the words fit perfectly in his mouth. He sees Tony's face brighten with a smile.

"Kid, I love you too."

"And, I know that you didn't pull me from the best circumstances, but I'm glad you did. These last few months with you have been the best of my life, and getting to live with you? Just... wow. Talk about a dream come true. I guess what I'm trying to say is that... you're like my dad."

"And you're my son." Tony winks at him and opens his arms. Peter gingerly hugs him, grinning into his shirt. Just as Peter pulls away, the door slides open and the man walks in. Instantly, Tony drapes a protective arm across Peter's chest, shielding him from the man.

"Hello, hello!" The man purrs, stepping into the room.

"Goodbye, goodbye!" Tony says back, shifting his grin into a glare.

"In a bad mood are we? Feeling a little under the weather?" The man grins slyly as Peter lets a low growl escape his mouth.

"Nope! I feel fine." Tony laughs. "I could get up and dance right now if I wanted to."

"Sure." The man rolls his eyes. "You know, I have a simple solution for you two." Tony makes an outraged face and covers Peter's ears. "Hush! Not in front of the easily excited child!" The man stares Tony down, before continuing.

"Kid?"

"Yes?" Peter slowly peels Tony's hands from his ears.

"Do you want to help save Mr. Stark?" Peter thinks for a moment, before Tony starts madly coughing. He pushes his head up, eyes red and watering, staring at Peter. "Pete. Don't." Swallowing the lump in his throat, Peter turns to the man. "What do I do?"

"I really need just one thing from you." A sneaky smile overtakes the man's face. "Your willingness to do what you're told."

"If that's what it takes." Peter swallows again. He can see Tony's expression out of the corner of his eye, both angry and shocked.

"Wonderful!" The man claps his hands together as if he's heard the best news in the world. "I'll be back in a few minutes with our next exercise."

The second the door shuts, Tony starts to talk. "Why would you do that?"

"I'm helping you, and no matter what they do to me, it'll be better than seeing you like this." Peter gestures to Tony with tears starting to glaze his eyes.

"God, kid." Tony says nothing more but pulls Peter into as tight of a hug as he can. The man walks in and Tony watches his steps, still holding Peter.

"Mr. Parker? Right into this chair." The shimmering wall slides away, revealing a chair with thick chains snaking around it. Peter pulls away, and with a shuddery breath, situates himself into place on the chair. The man snaps and the chains move, tightening Peter to the chair. He stiffens at the movement, closing his eyes and jerking against the back of the chair.

"Now, if you'll just relax." The man coos as he reveals a syringe from the tray next to him.

"What the hell is that?" Tony springs forward, but there's something invisible between him and Peter. A wall. He struggles and shoves against it with all he's got, but it does nothing. He can see and hear everything happening in front of him, but he can't do anything to control it.

"Just a little thing I cooked up." The man says. "Don't worry, it won't have lasting effects on him." the needle punctures Peter's neck, and he lets out a squeak before the liquid is pushed into him and his head slumps over.

"No, c'mon, I'll tell you what you want to know." Tony pleads, staring at the man, his palms flat against the wall.

"Too little, too late." The man sings, staring at Peter. "It should be any second now." As if on cue, Peter starts to shake his head like he's waking up. A low cry escapes his lips, and his brow furrows.

"Mr. Stark." He murmurs, causing Tony's heart to wrench.

"Mr. Stark!" Peter screams loudly, desperately. "Stop!" He starts convulsing, his body shaking against the chains. Tears fall from his closed eyes as he screams his throat raw. Sometimes, he calls Tony's name, others he just screams. Tony covers his ears as tears fall from his eyes. His heart cracks, crumbles, and leaps towards Peter. All he wants is to hold Peter, rock him back and forth and tell him everything will be okay.

And then, everything goes quiet.

"How interesting!" The man grins, producing another syringe from the table. "Let's go for round two!" And as Tony yells at him to stop, the needle is already in Peter's neck.

At first nothing happens, then Peter's breathing starts to grow ragged. He's crying, screaming for help. For someone to save him. Tony starts to scream, matching Peter's cries. He yells for the man to stop, to leave him alone, but nothing changes, until the room falls silent again.

"And the final round!" The man treats it as a game, showing Tony the syringe with an evil look on his face. Tony just lets out a choked noise as it goes back into Peter's neck.

"Listen," Peter says, his voice heavy with tears. "I understand you're mad. But he's not involved with this. Nothing between you and me has to do with him. So, put the gun down, and I'll listen to you. I'll follow you. I'll stay with you, I promise. Just, put the gun down." He tries to say it in the calmest voice, but the tears crack his words in several places.

"Mr. Stark," Tony's name makes his spine stiffen and his heart crack again. He feels as if he's falling apart.

"It'll be okay. I promise. I'll get you out of here. I promise, okay? Just... don't leave yet. Hold on, I promise." Peter's voice cracks as a wave of sobs heave his shoulders up and down. "I won't let her hurt both of us." And just like that, Peter's eyes open suddenly, his cheeks stained with tears and his eyes more hollow than before. The man snaps, and the chains fall on to the ground.

"You guys could use some time alone." The man snickers and leaves through the door. Peter rushes to the wall, and places a hand on it. His face falls as he realizes that there's a barrier between them.

Tony pushes his hand against it, matching his to Peter's smaller handprint. They rest their heads against the wall, and soon Tony breaks the hard silence.

"What was that? What did you see?" Tony says quickly. Peter takes in a sigh before responding. "Those were some of my fears."

"Fears?"

"Yeah. The things that I try to force away, but... can't. I mean, usually..." his voice trails off as he evidently thinks back on them. "Did I scare you?"

"If I'm being honest, kid, I'm not sure my nerves could take much more. Every scream, my heart broke right along with it. I'm just glad that it's over."

"Me too."

"So, what are your fears?"

"Oh, uhhhh..." Peter sighs into the darkness. "Can I tell you later?"

"Of course. Whenever you're ready, underoos." Then, they go back to silence. If he was being completely honest, Peter really just wanted to wait until he could be closer to Tony. It sounds like he's a little kid, but being close to him makes Peter feel as though he's safe, and revisiting his fears alone? He wasn't crazy. He'd need his dad by his side to help him fight through it.

At some point in the night, Peter falls asleep. Nothing can cause Tony to fall asleep, and he dissolves into coughing fits every several minutes. His throat burns and his head pounds with each breath. His joints feel as though they're being stabbed, and his feels tight and swollen against his chest. God, wouldn't death be better than this?

And suddenly, the wall is gone and Peter falls from resting his weight onto it. His head slams into Tony's stomach, causing Tony to shoot upwards in pain and Peter to cry out.

"Well, the wall's down, I guess." Tony says quietly.

"Are you feeling any better?" Peter pulls his head off Tony's lap and sits up.

"I'm feeling a lot-" Tony tries to make it sound convincing, but starts coughing. His fit lasts for a few minutes, and he closes his eyes. "It's getting worse, kid."

"Then let me get you out of here!" Peter says desperately. "I'll just... I can tell them..." He closes his eyes tightly.

"No."

"Please, Mr. Stark!"

"I'd rather die before I let you put yourself in harm's way. End of story, no more conversation about it."

"Fine." Peter huffs, before standing and grabbing Tony's arm to help him up. "But you can't stop me from taking care of you." Tony rolls his eyes, but Peter can't see him in the darkness. He lets Peter help guide him to the bed across the room. He hates being coddled, but he's so weak, that he can't protest.

Once Tony is situated, Peter realizes another big problem: food. Because of his Spider Senses, he needs to eat more than the average person. They gave them each a few sips of water yesterday and a piece of bread, but it wasn't enough, and Peter's senses are starting to screw with his head. Like, he can't stop thinking about the things that he was forced to think of earlier.

He's sitting on the floor right by Tony's head when it attacks. The panic attack grabs his senses and crushes his wind pipe. He starts to hyperventilate, trying to focus the images from earlier from his head. They pound through his head. Death, worry, fear. Slamming through his chest, through his head. He can't breath. Can't breath. The room starts to spin. Everything wobbles.

"Kid!" Tony grabs him by the shoulders and shakes him. Heavy breathing. Can't see, can't feel. Everything spinning. Peter squeezes his eyes shut, his gasps for air ruining any chance he could have of talking to Tony.

"Look at me." Tony cups Peter's face in his hands. Peter is still breathing heavily, but opens his eyes slightly to stare at Tony.

"Breath. Breath, kid. In. Out. In. Out." Peter tries to regulate his breathing, but his mind takes him back to the memory at the building. Everything falling, his hopelessness. No one there to help him. His eyes shut again, and he's gasping for breath again.

"Peter, grab my hands." Tony releases Peter's face and holds his hands over Peter's. Peter grabs Tony's hands in his own.

"Squeeze them. Hard." Tony instructs. Peter follows.

"I'm here, okay? I'm with you. I'm not leaving you. I'm here. You're not alone." Peter keeps squeezing Tony's hands. Slowly, the memories start to fade away, and his breathing starts to even out into long, jagged breaths. Tears fall from his eyes and he jumps into Tony's arm, leaning on him for support.

"Hey." Tony says softly, petting Peter's hair. "You're fine. You're fine, you're with me."

They stay like that for a while, before Tony leans against the bed. Peter starts talking, even though his face is buried in Tony's chest, his nose gently resting against the blue light from the arc reactor.

"The first thing I saw was my worst nightmare." Peter takes a breath.

"You don't have to tell me if-"

"No. I need to tell someone." Tony opens his mouth to protest, but closes it and lets the kid talk.

"I saw you, and me." Peter sighs. "It was weird, like I was viewing everything from an outsider's perspective. But anyways, it was you, and me. You were... telling me things. You were trying to get rid of me, telling me that you didn't care about me. That you... used me to make yourself look good." His voice becomes small. "And then, you kicked me out."

"Where in the world did you get the idea that I was using you to make myself look-" Tony closes his eyes for a moment before opening them with realization. "Flash."

"Yeah." Peter takes in a breath that Tony can feel against his chest. "The second one was an actual memory."

"From when?"

"When you took my suit, I went after the vulture."

"I know."

"Well, you don't know that I was fighting him, and the roof of a warehouse came down and crushed me. I was stuck underneath this giant piece of cement. All the things on the roof, they were crushing me. I couldn't breath, and no one was there to help me. I... almost died."

"God, Peter." Tony wraps his arms around the teen's shoulders, hugging him as tightly as his drained strength will allow.

"I barely managed to get out of there, and I... have panic attacks because of it."

"That's what that was about?"

"Yeah."

"What was the last one?"

"I'm not actually sure about that one. That one was like watching a movie, but I'd never even thought of it before. I think... gosh, it sounds crazy, but I think it's the future."

"You kept assuring me that it would be okay, that nothing bad would happen. What happened?"

"I saw Aunt May, you and me." Peter says slowly. "We were in my house, and I was chained to something. I couldn't move, and you came to help me. Aunt May had you against a wall with a gun pointed at you." Tony's blood runs cold. This can't really be the future, right?

"I told her to stop, to not touch you, but she shot you. In the shoulder. I got out of the chains and went to you, but I didn't see if you lived or not."

"It's okay, kid. It's probably not the future, that would be impossible. Plus, I would never even let you get close to Aunt May."

"Thanks, Mr. Stark."

"And having panic attacks aren't great, but they're okay to have." Tony worries about how to phrase this. "I have them alot, too."

"About what?"

"Oh, a lot of things. Potential scenarios, memories. Flying into that wormhole with the Avengers in New York, losing my friends. Recently, the biggest one has been a situation that I've played over and over in my head. I keep imagining a situation where I'd have to choose between you and Pepper."

"But that wouldn't happen!"

"I know, but I still can't imagine what I'd do in a situation like that."

"Thanks for telling me, Mr. Stark." Peter snuggles into Tony's chest, and falls asleep quickly.

Just like every night, Tony's mind wanders to Pepper. Surely, they've been gone at least a week. The Avengers probably aren't going to come for them, but they must have told Pepper. Hopefully. He can imagine Captain America either trying to create a plan to rescue them, or partying on Tony's grave. Really, either of them are totally potential situations.

After a while, he starts to play with the idea of escaping. How could they do it? The doors open seemingly from the outside, but then how does the man leave from the inside? Suddenly, an idea sparks Tony's brain.

"Kid, wake up." Tony gently pushes Peter awake. Peter mumbles sleepily before opening his eyes.

"What's going on?"

"I think I know a way out."