Running with the monsters
Peter was feeling good.
He was so excited since the week was halfway over and his older brother was going to be picking him up from school.
He couldn’t wait.
He was counting down the hours until he got to see his big brother which made time go by slower but it was okay because it would all be worth it once two o’clock hits and he can jump into Harley’s car after school.
The last time he’s seen Harley was over two weeks ago when he threw a tantrum to try and get Harley to stay like he does every time Harley has to leave for school although this time Harley was going to be staying home for three whole months since his school was done.
Peter could not wait.
He grabbed his English text book and binder then shut his locker and went into his next class. He spotted his friend Atlas sitting in his seat so he took the seat next to him and smiled. “Hey.”
Atlas smiled up at him. “Hey, Peter. Did you try the cookies in the caf today?”
Peter pulled his books out of his bag as he answered. “No, why? Were they good?”
Atlas chuckled. “No. They tasted like poo.”
Peter laughed. He heard the bell ring and checked the time on the clock. Just one more class and then he was going to be able to see Harley and he couldn’t wait.
Last night, Peter crawled into his parents bed again just to be close to them. He liked sleeping between them and they didn’t mind so he was probably going to do it again tonight, plus his dad promised him his favourite dinner that he was going to order in tonight for him.
It was Harley’s favourite dinner as well so it was a win-win.
Peter bounced his legs in his seat. He couldn’t sit still. He was just so excited.
Class was almost halfway over so Peter started to work on all his homework so he didn’t have to do any tonight but then the phone was ringing and his teacher was looking at him.
“Peter, someone is here to pick you up at the office. You can take your stuff and leave. I’ll see you tomorrow and make sure to finish chapters one and two.” His teacher gave him a warm smile that Peter returned.
He quickly shoved all his stuff into his bag and skipped out of the class in his excitement. Harley must be here early and couldn’t wait to see him. Peter didn’t care. He missed his brother so much and couldn’t wait any longer to see him.
He planned on play fighting with him when they got home.
Peter walked into the office and looked for the familiar face but he couldn’t spot him. “Uh, my teacher said to come down because I’m leaving early.”
The receptionist looked over at him and smiled. Peter didn’t recognize her so she must be new. “Are you Peter Stark?” Peter nodded. “He already signed you out and told you to meet him out front. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
Peter thanked her and waved bye before he was skipping happily out of the school.
He pushed open the front doors, wanting nothing more than to just run into Harley’s arms and tell him about everything but he didn’t spot his car. Peter frowned.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket to see the text from Harley but there wasn’t any text.
“Peter?”
Peter snapped his head up at the unfamiliar voice. It was a tall man with sunglasses and a cap on. Peter took a step back.
“You’re dad can’t pick you up. He told me to come so I’ll drive you home.” The man said and Peter felt his heart speed up.
“Uh… I’ll just c-call him.” His hands were shaking. He turned to walk away but the man was grabbing his arm so Peter yanked it back. “Let me go.”
“Peter, your dad is waiting for you. We have to go.” The man didn’t let go of his arm and that’s when Peter screamed. He didn’t know who this man was but he just knew that he had to get away so he threw himself onto the ground and dropped his phone in the process.
“Let me go! Get off!” Peter tried to remember the self defence classes that him, Morgan and Harley took a few years ago. The only thing he could remember was that whoever is trying to grab him will be bigger and stronger so if he can’t fight back, throw himself to the ground and go deadweight so it’s harder for the person to pick him up.
Peter does it to his dad all the time and his dad always complains that it’s impossible to pick him up when he does that while Peter laughed but now he wasn’t laughing, he was screaming.
The man covered a hand over his mouth and picked him up easily, holding him against his side. He leaned down to pick up Peter’s phone and looked around for anyone but no one was there.
Peter tried to scream harder but his mouth was being covered so he bit the hand as hard as he could which resulted in him being dropped onto the ground.
The fourteen year old didn’t have time to think about it.
He stood up on shaky legs and stumbled forward before he actually managed to turn and start running back towards the school but he didn’t get very far.
His backpack was being grabbed and it sent Peter flying back. Peter yelped. The man picked him back up and held him around his chest and his legs so Peter couldn’t move.
He knew it was only a matter of minutes before Harley would arrive and he just had to fight until then but he couldn’t. He was overpowered and scared.
The man walked across the parking lot and towards a dark blue car with a sticker on the back. Imagination is more important than knowledge. It was the same car from last week. He was being followed this whole time. Peter screamed one last time but it was too late.
He was being thrown into the backseat and the door was slamming shut. Peter pushed himself up and tried to pry the door open but he couldn’t. He banged on the glass and screamed.
“No! Let me go!” Peter cried out as the man got into the car, started it and drove out of the school parking lot and onto the busy streets. Peter cried harder as he watched the school disappear from his sight.
.
.
.
Harley had been waiting at the front of the school for almost fifteen minutes.
Peter was never late for pickup time. He was always one of the first kids out of the school and raced to the car, throwing himself into the arms of whoever was picking him up.
Harley had been looking forward to that for over two weeks and now Peter was making him wait but something was off.
He checked his phone but no texts from Peter yet. Harley called his phone once again and groaned when there was no answer. He shut his car off and got out of it to walk into the school and into the office.
“Excuse me. Can you page Peter Stark. I’m his older brother and I’m here to pick him up but he hasn’t come out of the school yet.” Harley said to the receptionist sitting there.
She smiled warmly at him. “Peter Stark” Harley nodded. “Oh. His dad picked him up about twenty minutes ago. You just missed him.”
Harley sighed. Miscommunication making him wait for no reason. “Alright. Thank you.”
That was a waste of time. Harley walked out of the school and made his way back to his car. He started it and drove to go pick Morgan up now but he called his dad first. He groaned when he didn’t answer so he left a message.
“Hey, dad. You could’ve told me you were picking Peter up. I waited for like fifteen minutes. I’m gonna pick Morg up and we’ll be home soon.” Harley turned off his phone after that and pulled into Morgan’s school parking lot.
As always, she ran to the car and jumped in the back. “Harley! I missed you!”
“I missed you too. How was school?” He put the car in drive as Morgan looked in the passenger seat and frowned.
“Where’s Peter?” She asked, sitting back to put her seatbelt on.
Harley rolled his eyes. “Dad picked him up and didn’t even tell me. Can you believe it?”
Morgan giggled. “Peter’s so lucky. I bet they went out to get donuts. They did yesterday and didn’t even invite me.”
Harley laughed. It was no surprise that Peter was attached to his dad's side all the time and going on little trips together without inviting anyone. Those two were inseparable.
Once they got home, Harley shut the car off. He was itching to see Peter. It’s been way too long and FaceTime just doesn’t do justice.
He opened the door and was greeted by Aiser jumping up on him. “Hey, buddy. I missed you.”
Tony called out from the kitchen. “Hey, Harls. Let’s see how much you’ve grown since I’ve seen you.”
Harley playfully rolled his eyes. “I’m more curious to see how much my little brother grew. Where is he? I’m so excited to see him.”
Tony walked towards Harley. His heart dropped. He looked around but he didn’t hear or see Peter. “Where is he?”
Harley hung his jacket up and shrugged. “I don’t know. I just got here. You picked him up.”
Tony’s face paled. “No. You said you would. I told him you were going to pick him up. That’s what we planned, Harley.”
Pepper walked down the stairs and a smile broke out across her face as she looked at her first born. “Hi Harley. Give me a hug.”
Harley weakly hugged his mom back because he was more focused on where Peter was. Pepper noticed something was wrong. “What’s wrong? Where’s Peter?”
“Harley forgot to pick him up. I’ll go get him.” Tony shook his head and quickly went to go grab his jacket and keys but Harley stopped him.
“I didn’t forget, dad. I waited outside his school for fifteen minutes and when he didn’t come out so I went in. The receptionist said his dad picked him up. He’s not at the school.” Harley explained and it was when he saw the life leave his dad’s face that he knew something wasn’t right. Something was wrong.
Tony braced himself against the wall and tried to breathe.
“What-what’re you saying? I didn’t pick him up.” Tony pulled out his phone, his hands shaking like crazy to call Peter’s phone but there was no answer. He called again.
“Oh god.” Pepper said, covering a hand over her mouth. This wasn’t good.
Peter was gone.
Again.
.
.
.
Peter tried to kick at the door but he eventually grew tired and stopped.
He didn’t know how long they were driving for but it was a long time. They were pulling off somewhere so Peter sat up to look around but he didn’t recognize where they were.
It seemed to be the middle of nowhere.
The door was being opened and the man was grabbing Peter, pulling his backpack off of him and throwing it out of the car. He rolled Peter onto his back and pinned him down so he was leaning over him.
Peter held his breath. He looked up at the man and shook under him.
“You don’t remember me, do you, little bear?” He asked and it had Peter whimpering.
He took off his glasses and cap and tossed it to the ground of the car. Peter recognized him from the pizza shop last week but he had a feeling that wasn’t what the man was talking about.
“You’ve grown so much since I’ve last seen you.” He ran his hands through Peter’s hair and when Peter went to try and kick him, he pressed a firm hand down onto Peter’s hip, holding him still.
Peter cried. “Let me go! Please. I-I want my dad. Please!”
“Oh, little bear, your daddy wants you too. He missed you so much while you were gone.” The man got out of the car and stood up straight so Peter laid there, frozen for a few seconds, trying to process what was happening and decide what to do.
The man’s phone rang so he immediately answered it and shut the car door. Peter sat up to try and open it but it was locked. He looked around for his own phone and when he spotted it on the floor of the passenger seat, he paused.
He had to grab it. He had to call his dad and tell him where he was but the windows weren’t tinted and the man was staring right at him.
Peter stared at the phone. It was so close yet so far.
All he had to do was go into his dad's contact and press call. He could either do it quickly or very slowly but either way, he only had one chance so he couldn’t screw this up.
Peter looked at the man. He made eye contact with him and then he was throwing himself over the seat and grabbed his phone. He didn’t have time to crawl into the back so he had to remain half upside and thrown over the seats while he unlocked his phone and pressed the call button on his dad's contact.
It answered on the first ring. “Peter?!”
“Daddy! I-I- no! Nooo!” The back door was being opened and the man was grabbing his legs. Peter held onto the phone. It was his only hope.
“Give me that. Give it!” The man demanded but Peter held it against his chest and tried to get away but there was nowhere for him to go.
He screamed as loud as he could as the man wrestled the phone from him and pressed the end call button. Peter’s hope chattered along with his phone.
It was broken into a million pieces on the ground under the man’s shoe. Peter screamed louder then there was a hand being placed over Peter’s mouth.
“Shut up! Shut the fuck up!” He yelled through gritted teeth.
Peter stopped. He’s never been more scared in his entire life. He had a feeling he knew who was behind this but he was terrified to know the truth.
“Shut up. Just…we’re switching cars. You are going to lie in the back seat and not make a sound or so help me god I will strangle you.” Then man squeezed Peter’s thigh and Peter closed his eyes tightly in pain.
He heard another car pulling up but he was too scared to open his eyes. He was being pulled out of the backseat of the car and placed onto his feet so he snapped his head up and his eyes opened.
Peter looked around desperately. For anyone to see this and help him but there was no one there. They were in some parking lot at the back of a small shop.
It was a black truck that pulled up and a man walked out. He was old. Old old. His hair was grey and he looked like he had pure evil in his eyes.
The man who was holding onto Peter’s arm, stuck his hand out for the man to shake. “Ross. Where’s my money?”
The old man, Ross, smiled down at Peter. “He’s a cute kid. No wonder they’re paying so much to get him back.”
The man holding onto his arm squeezed harder. “I hate kids. I’m only doing this for the money so where is it.”
“In the back.” Ross said, pointing to the back door. “As promised, Rumlow. Half a million now and half a million once the kid is delivered.”
Peter looked up at Ross with wide eyes. As much as he hated the man holding onto him, Rumlow, he would much rather go with him than the old guy. The way he smiled at him made him feel sick.
Ross patted his back. “Remember not to hurt him. That’s part of our deal.”
Rumlow dragged Peter over to the back door and opened it. He grabbed a black bag out of the car and opened it up, grinning. Peter tried to look at what was inside but he couldn’t see what it was.
“Get in.” He picked Peter up and pushed him to lie down so Peter listened. “How long?”
Ross smirked. “I wouldn’t be able to help myself with him. Good luck.”
Rumlow slammed the back door shut and pointed his finger at Ross’s chest. “That’s why I’m the one transferring him. You’re sick. I want the rest of my money when I get there so I better fucking get it.”
Ross began walking away from him. “You’ll get it. And don’t think you’re an angel just because you wouldn’t have fun with the kid like I would. You’re just as bad as me.”
Rumlow spit and opened up the driver’s seat door to get in. He turned around to look at Peter who was sitting up so he quickly grabbed his wrist and bent it back, causing Peter to scream out in pain.
“Lie the fuck down or next time I won’t stop until I hear a snap.” He grumbled and roughly let go of Peter’s wrist, causing him to fall face first into the seat and cry.
He wanted his dad so bad. He wanted his mom and Aiser and Morgan and Harley. He missed his blanket as stupid as he felt for wanting it. Peter cried harder. He was so scared.
.
.
.
Tony couldn’t wait around.
He went to the school to talk to whoever was in charge and ask them why the fuck his kid was allowed to leave with a strange man after Tony specifically gave everyone there special instructions not to let his son leave with anyone. Ever.
Now look where he was.
Natasha arrived just in time to pull him back so he didn’t punch the principal in the face. She got the security footage from the front of the school and then they left.
Once they got home to watch it, Tony raced into the bathroom and threw up. He couldn’t do this again. He couldn’t lose his kid again.
He simply wouldn’t survive it this time. His body could not lose his child again.
The only reason Tony was alive was because of Peter. Peter was his answer to everything and now he was gone.
Kidnapped. Again.
Tony emptied the rest of his stomach into the toilet. When he was done, he rinsed his mouth and walked into the living room where Natasha, Pepper and Harley were waiting for him with the footage ready to play on the computer.
Tony looked at Harley. “Leave. You’re not staying.”
“I’m twenty years old, dad, I’m not-”
Tony pinched the bridge of his nose. “I swear to , fucking god, Harley. leave. You’re not watching this.”
Harley left after that and Tony nodded at Natasha to press play.
He watched Peter skip out of the school and looked around. He pulled his phone out and then a man was approaching him and Tony’s blood drained from his body at the same time it looked like Peter’s did.
The man spoke to Peter for a bit then grabbed him and Tony looked away.
He felt sick. His poor baby. He needed to find him and he needed to be okay.
It was when the man dropped Peter when Pepper got up and left the room. Tony knew Peter didn’t get away. If he did, he would be holding his kid in his arms right now. It was like watching the end of his life played out in front of him and he knew the outcome.
The man grabbed Peter again and then he was taken off screen. Tony stared at the screen still.
Natasha looked at him. “We’re gonna find him, Tony. We did last time.”
Tony snapped at her. “After seven years! I’m not going seven years without my kid again. I want Peter back in my arms by the end of the day. I don’t fucking care.”
He was about to go find Pepper when a dark blue car showed up on the screen. It was gone in a second so Tony rewinded and hit pause. “Oh my god. That’s the car. That’s the fucking car. Oh my god.”
Natasha zoomed in on the sticker on the back. The same sticker. “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” The license plate was about two inches off the screen. Two inches that could change everything.
Tony went to grab his phone to call the police again and let them know they had a lead but his phone was ringing just as he picked it up and it was Peter. His heart sped up.
“Peter?!” He needed to hear his baby’s voice. He needed to know that he was alive and okay.
“Daddy!” Came Peter’s fearful voice. Just from that one word, Tony could hear the strong emotion and fear in his baby. “I-I- no! Nooo!”
Tony put his end on mute just in case whoever was causing Peter to scream didn’t know he managed to get his phone. He held his breath and listened.
“Give me that. give it!” Came the voice of a man and he sounded mad.
Tony took a step away from his phone and ran a shaky hand through his hair. “Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god.” He whispered as he was forced to listen to the phone call.
There were muffling sounds coming from the other end and Tony could assume it was Peter trying to fight the man off. The muffling sounds stopped which were followed by blood curdling screaming coming from Peter.
The line went dead after that.
Tony picked up a vase and threw it across the room. “Fuck! Trace it! Trace the call and find out where Peter is.”
Pepper walked up to Tony and squeezed his arm. “Get him back, Tony. Get our baby back.”
Tony was going to do everything he could to bring Peter home safe. Even if that involved trading his own life for Peter’s.
.
.
.
Peter managed to stop crying.
He was sadly hiccuping after being told to shut up so many times and smacked on the leg but it didn’t actually hurt. He didn’t think it was supposed to hurt. It was just supposed to be a warning.
The sun was starting to set which had Peter freaking out. He was going to be spending a night away from his parents and no way to contact them.
He knew their numbers off by heart but he had no access to a phone.
Peter felt the truck slow down and then it was pulling onto a dirt road and stopping. Peter continued to lay down, in fear of his wrist getting broken by Rumlow.
The car shut off and Rumlow got out but Peter still remained lying down. He looked over and could see a bit where they were from the front window. They were in the parking lot of an abandoned gas station. That caused him to start breathing faster.
Peter heard voices. More than one.
The back door was being opened and Peter sat up, expecting to see Rumlow or even Ross but he felt all the life leave his body at the man who took everything from him.
Steve.
Peter screamed and tried to crawl to the other side of the car. This couldn’t be happening. There was no way this was happening. Maybe-maybe he was drugged and he was seeing things. This was some kind of sick joke.
“No! Nooo! Get away from me!” Peter cried harder.
Steve was smiling at him and it brought back way too many memories that he was trying so hard to forget.
“Hi baby bear. Daddy missed you so so much. I never stopped trying to get back to you.” Steve climbed into the truck and Peter screamed impossibly louder and made himself appear incredibly small. “Come my boy. Give your daddy a hug. Didn’t you miss me?”
Peter shook his head. “No. I hate you! Go away. Please.”
Steve’s face hardened. Peter knew that look. It meant he did something bad and Steve was going to guilt him into feeling awful. “Peter Rogers. Oh no. You watch your attitude, young boy.”
“I’m not Peter Rogers. You’re not my dad.” Peter tried to move back but Steve continued to inch closer. “I know now. You lied to me and I hate you. I wish you would go away!”
Steve sighed. For a minute Peter thought Steve was going to leave him alone but he moved closer to Peter, reaching across the seat and pulling Peter’s legs towards him.
“No. No no no nooo! Stop! Steve! No!” Peter screamed out and Steve let him go so fast that Peter was falling back and smacking his head against the car door.
“What did you just call me?” Steve asked, narrowing his eyes at Peter.
Peter was shaking so badly he couldn’t stop.
Steve grabbed his wrist, pulling him closer. “Don’t you ever call me Steve. I’m daddy, baby bear. Okay?”
Peter nodded, terrified of what might happen.
“Call me daddy, baby bear.”
Peter stayed silent so Steve began moving. “Okay. Then you need to be punished-”
That brought back way too many memories. “No! No. Please. D-daddy. Okay. Okay, I’m sorry, daddy. I’m sorry.”
Steve’s face broke out into a genuine smile. He pulled Peter in for a hug and rubbed his back. “I love you. And I missed you more than you will ever know. I know my baby bear missed me too. Let’s go home.”
Peter released a sob at that. He wanted his real dad and his mom.
Steve pulled him away and scanned his body. “Peter, who dressed you this morning? These clothes are too big for you.”
Peter shook his head. “I did. I-I don’t need help anymore.” He felt like he had to tell Steve that but it only made Steve angry for a split second.
He started shaking his head. “You do need help. It’s easier if I do it for you. Don’t worry about it.”
Peter looked over and spotted Bucky handing Steve a bag while he smiled at Peter. “Hi Peter. I told you we’d get you back. It was harder than we thought. You were kept hidden away from us by the bad men for so long. Isn’t that so unfair?”
Peter nodded. He knew if he didn’t he would get in trouble. Steve unzipped the bag and pulled out a long sleeved blue shirt with a dinosaur on the front. He then pulled out matching thin long pants that were green and blue followed by underwear with trains on it.
That had Peter crying again. He couldn’t do it. He wanted to kill Steve. He hated the man so much but once again, he had full power and control over him.
Steve grabbed the bottom of Peter’s shirt. “Arms up.”
Peter looked at Bucky who was watching him with a proud smile on his face. Peter wanted to punch him. He knew Bucky was strong, maybe even stronger than Steve but Bucky would never hurt him.
Once Peter’s shirt was off, Steve gently pushed him down. “Lie down, baby bear. Daddy will get you changed and then we can go home.”
Peter stared at the ceiling of the truck and accepted his fate. He was going to be babied once again. He was still struggling with recovering from the first time. He was going to be done for now.
He felt Steve start to undo his jean buckles so he looked down and quickly tried to push his hands away. “Please. I-I don’t need help. And-and I want to keep my jeans on. Please.”
Steve shook his head at him and pushed his hands away. “These are too uncomfortable, bear. And you need help. I’m here to help you. It’s just easier this way.”
Peter didn’t have a choice. He let Steve pull his jeans off and covered his hands with his eyes as he began crying. Everything that he worked so hard to recover from and get better was being thrown away right now.
Steve grabbed the elastic on his underwear and tugged it down before Peter had the chance to stop him. “Wait- no.”
Steve cooed. “You’re still my little boy, Peter. Daddy loves you so much.”
Peter tried to cover himself but Steve was pushing his knees to his chest and grabbing his ankles to put the underwear through.
Steve lifted the underwear up Peter’s legs. “Lift your bum.”
Peter lifted his hips up, letting Steve pull the underwear up on him and feeling like he never got away. Like he didn’t learn how to dress himself and that Steve had been doing it all this time.
He began crying again so he covered his face and let Steve manhandle him into his clothes like he always did. Peter was then being lifted up and placed on Steve’s lap.
Peter tried to move away from him but Steve was stronger. He leaned down to whisper in Peter’s ear. “I’ll never let you go, baby bear. Never again.”
That had Peter going still. He just laid there.
He only looked over when he heard a lot of movement beside them and saw Bucky securing a car seat into the middle seat in the back. Peter looked down at his lap and cried.
“Please. I-I wanna go home.” He begged the kidnapper that he once loved and believed to be his father.
Steve shushed him. He grabbed his hand and tucked his fingers in then brought his thumb up to his lips. “Suck your thumb. We’re going home now.”
Peter moved his head away. He was not doing that. He didn’t want to start that habit again.
Steve didn’t force it since Bucky was handing him a bottle and poked it at Peter’s lips. “Open up. You’re gonna drink your milk and fall asleep so we can take you home. Remember like last time?”
Peter tried to sit up but Steve held him down. “No. I’m not! I’m fourteen! I’m-I’m not a baby!”
Steve was clicking his tongue. “Of course you’re not a baby, Peter. But you need help with things and it’s just easier if I do it for you. You take too long and you need help, right?”
Peter nodded, so used to agreeing with everything Steve wanted him to believe but he wasn’t going to continue to do that. “No! I said no! I’m saying no. I’m not a baby and babies drink from babas so… no.”
Steve was pulling Peter down so his arms were pinned to his side and his legs couldn’t move. He brought the bottle up to Peter’s lips again. “Open and drink your milk. I don’t appreciate your attitude. Drink it all.”
Peter opened his mouth and went to grab it so he could hold it but Steve pushed his hands away and held it himself.
While Peter drank the milk, he thought about his dad and where he was. If he was looking for him yet. At least Peter now knew he had a dad to look for him.
Tony was coming for him. Peter knew it. He had to.