I Promise

Tony woke up holding Peter in his arms, head resting on his chest. Tony’s legs were asleep, but he could care less. Peter was safe and comfortable, that's all he could hope for right now. He sat there, just holding him, for a long time, staying as still as possible until Peter started to shift. “Morning kiddo,” he said softly. Peter looked up and after making eye contact, the hint of fear he had washed away and he gave Tony a small tired smile. Tony smiled back, and then gently lifted Peter placing him beside him on the bed, propped up a bit against the headboard.
Tony got up and stretched out his mostly numb limbs, enduring through the inevitable pins and needle sensation. Peter was still groggy and waking up when it finally dissipated.

Tony went to use the bathroom and then grabbed a cup of water for Peter. He handed it to Peter, who took a few sips and said, “Thank you.” Although his voice wasn’t great it was an immense improvement from yesterday.

“No need to thank me kiddo. How are you feeling, how’s your voice?”

“Better.” It was just one word, but it lit hope in Tony’s chest.

“Good, I’m glad. Are you up for talking a bit today or do you want to rest your voice a little more?” Tony really wanted to know more about Peter, and the story that led to where they are now, but also didn’t what to push him.

Although it hurt to talk, after not being able to for a full year, Peter desperately wanted to. It made him feel less trapped. “I can talk.” He replied, his voice still a bit grating.

“Ok, but if your throat starts to hurt too much or you don’t want to answer a question for any reason, you can stop, no questions asked, I promise.” Tony assured.

“Ok.” Peter replied simply.

“Can I ask you what you remember from before Hydra?” Tony did not miss the flinch Peter made at the name of the organization.

“Uh, th-the orphanage.”

“Ok, what age were you when they took you?” He made sure to say ‘they’ instead of Hydra.

“Nine.” So far everything he remembered was matching up with the file they found.

“How long did they have you?” Tony asked with sadness in his voice.

“Um,” Peter looked sheepish like he was embarrassed of what he was going to say next. Tony was patient and waited, but what Peter said made him freeze and curse himself for being so stupid, “what year is it?” His voice was small when uttering the words.

‘Of course Peter didn’t know what year it was. Hydra probably had him locked up with no way of telling time for god knows how long’ Tony thought grimmly. “2019” he said as gently as possible.

“Five years?” Peter said, his voice cracking with emotion. It wasn’t an answer, it was a question. It was like he didn’t believe it, like he didn’t want to believe it. His eyes filled with tears as he looked up at Tony, almost begging him with his gaze to say he was wrong.

Tony got back on the bed and wrapped Peter in his arms, “Yeah kiddo, I’m so sorry.” His voice broke as well. Peter just cried and Tony held him while brushing his hand through his curls to give a sense of calm and safety. Once Peter had calmed down a bit Tony said gently, “Let’s take a break, ok?”

“Ok.” if possible his voice was even softer, yet still a bit gravelly.

They sat in silence for a while, until Tony spoke once more, “Do you want to try some broth? It’ll be much better than water.” He tried to lighten the mood a bit.

“Ok”

“Ok” Tony said back, “FRI? Can you send up some chicken broth?”

“Yes, Boss. Also Helen had asked be to send up a sandwich with anything for Peter. She has asked me to make sure you eat, if not I will have to inform her.” FRIDAY replied.

Tony rolled his eyes, but was glad he had people looking out for him too. They waited, Peter still sniffling every so often, and then there was a knock on the door. Tony as usual looked towards Peter who gave a nod and then Tony said, “Come in.”

Helen came through the door with a tray in hand as well as a new IV bag, she smiled “Good morning Peter; Tony.” Peter wiped his eyes and waved and Tony gave a small nod with a smile. “I thought I would bring up your food since I need to connect a new IV bag anyways.” She directed the next sentence towards only Peter, “While you both eat, may I check the tube and connect the new bag?” Peter nodded.

Tony was a bit confused, although he knew Peter had just had a rough awakening to how long he was gone, he was talking. But now he was just waving and nodding. He chalked it up to the overwhelming emotions and throat pain, but the confusion still lingered in the back of his mind as well.

Helen handed Tony the tray and Tony set it down on the nightstand. He picked up the bowl of broth first, it was hot, but not too much so that it would hurt Peter. He handed the bowl to Peter who took it with both hands. Tony then grabbed a pillow and placed it on top of Peter’s legs, “You can put it on top of there so you only have to hold it with one hand.” Peter nodded and did so. Peter then grabbed the spoon and lifted it to his lips, his hand shook a bit, from nerves or from weakness Tony wasn’t quite sure. But when Peter actually put the spoon in his mouth, he closed his eyes and all the apprehension in his expression washed away. He savored the first flavor he had tasted in a year and relished in it. He opened his eyes to the soft smiles of Tony and Helen and blushed.

Tony saw the redness in Peter’s cheeks and laughed, “So the broth is a hit.”

“Seems so,” Helen added, “now it’s your turn to eat while I set up the new bag.” She gave Tony a pointed look, gazed at the sandwich and then back at him.

Tony wasn’t going to argue, he was hungry after all. He picked up the sandwich and began to eat. He couldn't help the happiness that he felt as Peter joyfully ate the broth, but also felt a pang of sadness that something as simple as broth could make Peter feel that way. Just another privilege Tony has taken for granted.

After Helen replaced the IV bag she asked, “Would you mind if I lifted your shirt to take a look at the GI tube?” Peter still, even knowing Helen would not hurt him, seemed a bit scared, but nodded his head nonetheless. “Thank you.” Tony put down his sandwich and took the bowl of half eaten broth from Peter. Helen put the pillow aside and gently lifted his shirt. “The tube looks good for now, hopefully we won't have to use it much anymore since you are starting to eat.” She said while putting his shirt back down. “May I look at your legs?” Peter nodded, but looked even more apprehensive. Helen removed the blue and red throw blanket from his legs and rolled up his sweatpants, “No visible change that I can see. Bruce and I are close to finishing the anesthetic, once that is done we can go ahead and remove the tube, as long as you can eat enough orally by then, as well as help fix your legs.” She unrolled his pants, replaced the blanket, and stepped away with a small smile.

“That's good news,” Tony said for Peter's assurance.

“I will let you know if there are any updates, for now I expect you both to finish your meals.”

“Yes ma’am,” Tony said with a salute that made Peter giggle, effectively lightening the mood.

Helen turned and left the room, empty IV bag in hand. Tony reached over and picked up the bowl and once more handed it to Peter, as well as put the pillow back on his lap. He then picked up his own sandwich. “How’s the broth?” Tony asked, taking a bite. He already knew from Peter’s expression when first tasting it, but still wanted to ask.

“Good,” he replied with a small smile.

Tony debated on asking his next question, but decided to ask anyway, “Can I ask you a question bud?”

Peter’s smile dropped, but said “Yes,” and looked at Tony as if to give him all his attention.

“You were talking earlier and you're talking now, why didn't you talk with Helen?” He said it gently so as to not sound like he was accusing.

Peter looked down embarrassed, Tony thought he had made a mistake, but then Peter looked back up and used the hand that he used to hold the spoon to point at Tony, “Safe.”

Tony's heart swelled at the one word. One word that showed he was doing something right. One word that Peter has probably not felt for five years, maybe even more, until now. But he also needed to make sure Peter knew Helen waa safe too. Tony smiled at Peter, but then said, “You know Helen would never hurt you right?”

Peter looked down again, “She’s a doctor.” Is all he said.

“I know, but she is a good one. She would never do anything to hurt you, no one in this whole tower would, I promise.” Peter nodded but still looked skeptical. Tony knew trust was not something that can just be asked for, it had to be earned. They would have to work up to that. “Do you want to keep talking like earlier?” Tony still had so many questions.

“Sure,” Peter responded, still a bit warily.

“Just remember what I said, we can always stop.” Peter nodded. “Can I ask you a bit about what happened in those five years? Again you can say no.” He knew it would probably, almost certainly, be hard for Peter to recount the events of his captivity.

“It’s ok,” Peter's voice was even better than this morning, probably because of the broth. “The first part was experimenting.” He didn’t make eye contact with Tony.

Tony felt anger well up inside him, “Experimenting?”

“They were trying to mess with my DNA.” ‘Spider’ Tony thought. “I wasn't the only one.”

“What?” That definitely surprised Tony as they found no one else in the building where they found Peter.

“There were many other children being experimented on.” Tony felt sorrow and was also infuriated at the fact the Hydra experimented not only on Peter but other innocent children. Peter kept talking, “One day what they did worked on me. I was really sick for a few days after and then I had new abilities. After that they called me The Spider.”

Tony dreaded his next question, “What happened to the others?”

“Don’t know, I was moved to another location after it worked. I never saw any of the others again.” His voice was distant like he was hollow.

Tony tried to move on from the topic of the rest of the children, “You said you had new abilities, like what?”

“I am super strong, have really good hearing, I can stick to things, and I have a… sense.”

“A sense?” Tony said confusedly. He understood the strength after Peter had accidentally fractured his hand. The hearing made sense as well since Steve and Bucky both had enhanced hearing. The sticking to things was new, but what confused him the most was this ‘sense.’

“Like I can sense when there is danger. It didn’t always work since I always sensed danger when I was there, but it worked better on missions.” Peter explained.

Tony was so happy that Peter was talking, and could physically talk in full sentences, full paragraphs even, but the more Peter spoke the more angry Tony got at Hydra. He was trying to keep his anger at bay for Peter’s sake. “What do you mean by missions?”

“Um, they first had to train me, but I fought them, so they used a-” His breath hitched, “a ch-chair.” Tony froze, he knew exactly what Peter was talking about. Bucky had talked about it, and whenever he did his voice always wavered like he was afraid, just like Peter’s.

Peter noticed Tony’s internal panic, “Are you ok? Your heart rate is really fast.” he said worriedly.

‘My heart rate?’ Tony thought, but then remembered that Peter had just verified Helen’s enhanced hearing theory. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, sorry. I just, I know what you're talking about.”

“You do?” Peter said, surprised.

“Yeah have you ever heard of the Winter Soldier?” Peter gasped.

“Yes,” he said in a whisper, “I was supposed to be better than him.”

Tony’s eyebrows furrowed, “What do you mean?”

“They said he failed and turned against Hydra, they tried to make me better, so I couldn't betray them.” Peter said sadly, like leaving, and being saved, was wrong.

Tony hated that Peter, or more like hydra, used the ‘betray,’ like Peter did something wrong. “What happened?”

“Whenever they… erased my memories and made me compliant, I would stay under their control until something snapped me out of it or it wore off and I fought back, then they would do it again. When I got really bad they put the muzzle on. One time I fought really hard and injured my handler, after that they put the muzzle on and said as punishment they would keep it on for a year and added the tube so I could survive.” The more Peter talked the more it seemed like he was reading off of a script.

Tony was going to kill Hydra, he was going to hunt down every last one of them! He had never felt this much hatred in his entire life. But something still did not add up, “But when we found you you weren't in any shape for missions.”

Peter seemed to snap out of his distant state at that sentence. His eyes blurred once again, “I tried to escape, they found me in the woods, as punishment they-” He cut himself off, starting to breathe faster. Tony was about to stop him for continuing, but then Peter spoke before he could, “they broke my legs so I couldn’t run and strapped me to that table. I don't know how long I was there, but they used me as research and a test subject. Learning more about my abilities.” Peter was now crying, “They stopped addressing me. They acted like I wasn’t there, except for the procedures. No one directly talked to me for months, until you.”

Tony couldn't believe what he was hearing, it was the most awful thing he had ever heard. And yet it made sense finally when he thought back to when he found Peter. Peter kept looking confused every time he talked to him, he even looked around to see if Tony was talking to someone else in the room at one point. No one had spoken to the poor boy in god knows how long.

Tony was snapped out of his thoughts by Peter’s voice after he had calmed down a bit, “How do you know the Winter Soldier?”

“He is a friend of mine,” Friend was definitely not the word, but it was the closest thing without explaining all the complicated events to Peter, “but I know him as Bucky Barnes.”

“Was he okay after Hydra?” Peter asked with a hint of fear.

“Like everyone, he has good days and bad days, but yes. He has everyone in the tower to help him, just like you do.” Tony thought for a minute, debating an offer. He made a decision, Peter would probably want to see that there is a life after Hydra, “Do you want to meet him?”

Peter looked like he was also debating, “Does he want to meet me?” His voice was soft, but there was hope woven within it.

Obviously Tony did not know for sure, but he assumes that Bucky would want to help Peter in any way possible. He probably knows exactly how Peter is feeling, and although Tony wants to know and help, there is no way he will ever fully understand. “I bet he will, would you like me to ask?” Peter did not say anything else, he just nodded, eyes filled with curiosity and hope. Tony smiled, “FRI?”

“Yes Boss” FRIDAY’s voice filled the room.

“Would you ask Bucky if he wants to meet Peter?”

“Will do.” There was a pause for a minute as they waited for a response. During this time Tony took the now empty bowl of broth along with his empty plate and put it back on the tray on the nightstand. “Mr. Barnes says, yes he would.”

“Now?” the question was directed at Peter, again for some reason, probably nerves, Peter did not speak, but nodded. “FRI, tell him to come up.”

“Yes, Boss,” FRIDAY replied.

“Alright, if it gets too much and you want him to leave, tap my hand three times. I will make up an excuse, ok?” Peter nodded. Then there was a knock on the door, Tony looked towards Peter, who once again nodded. Tony called out, “Come in.”

The door opened.