(Broken Heart) - My Arms Will Hold You
Peter woke up to warmth. He wasn’t used to that. There were warm fingers running through his hair and Peter could hear someone’s heartbeat and breathing right beside him. He knew who this was, and he could feel his heart breaking. Because this meant that he had started hallucinating. Peter had thought he could hold out. That despite every inch of pain he was receiving, he could hang on to his mind. He felt a lump in his throat and tears welling in his eyes. He didn’t want to wake up, didn’t want this dream to end.
“Hey, buddy? Pete, are you awake?” Peter choked out a sob as the hand in his hair stopped, and he felt a thumb brush over the tears on his face. “Are you in too much pain? Do you need to lay in a different position?”
Peter opened his eyes to see Tony fussing over him, readjusting the blanket and checking him over again. Tony saw Peter’s eyes and stopped moving.
“Hey bud.” He whispered, Tony’s eyes holding a thousand different emotions.
“Mr. St’rk?” Peter’s broken voice came out in barely a whisper. He went to reach his hand up, but he cried out at the sharp jab of pain in his shoulder.
“Sh - sh- I know, I know. Just don’t try to move, okay?” Tony’s hand pushed Peter’s arm back down on the bed. “Hey, how about we get you some food and water, yeah? It’s cold, but at least it will give your metabolism something to work with.” Tony stood, stopping when Peter grunted.
“Don’t- please don’t-” Peter’s voice broke off, as the tears continue to come. Toyn stopped, seeing the blatant distress on the teens face and turned back to him.
“Hey, listen - listen - I’m not going anywhere, okay? I’m not going to leave you again. I’m sorry.” He whispered, his voice breaking as he knelt beside his kid. “I’m so sorry. I tried to find you, we looked everywhere. I’m - you took care of Morgan, Pete. You - God kid I knew how good you were, but - I have no words. You are the best of us. I’m going to grab your food and I’ll be right back.” Peter turned his head, squeezing his eyes shut as the hands left this head.
His whole body shook, and he knew. He knew that when he opened his eyes again Tony wouldn’t be there. He was going to be gone. Back with Morgan, and Peter would be here alone. Because why would Tony be here? Why would Tony leave his safe, warm home to be here in the Hell hole?
“Peter? Look at me bud.” Tony’s voice. Warmkindcaringsafehome. “I need you to eat some of this. There’s potatoes, why don’t we get you some of them. Do you want some water first?” Peter just watched Tony, confusion written on his face.
“You’re here?” And if someone had come into the room and ripped Tony’s heart straight from his chest it would have felt better than this. Because yeah, Peter had saved Morgan from pain, and Tony would spend a thousand life-times repaying the kid for that. But the look in Peter’s eyes - the brokeness and lack of trust - they were ripping Tony to pieces.
“Oh, yeah - yeah buddy. I’m right here. It’s me, I’m right here with you bud.” Tony ran his hands over Peter’s face.
“Thank you - thank you for coming.” Peter wept. Tony bit his bottom lip as he bent down, pulling Peter’s head up against his shoulder and kissing his forehead over and over again.
“Don’t - you don’t have to thank me, Pete. I’m sorry it took so long.” Tony said. “Here, I need you to eat some, okay?” He said, grabbing a spoonful of the potatoes when he notices Peter giving a slight shake of his head.
“I’ll throw ‘p.” He muttered, and Tony just felt his stomach falling. For the first time he truly took stock of the kid. He was sweating and warm, and he looked so pale. The bags under his eyes making him look like he was one step away from death’s door. Tony had only caught a quick glimpse of the kid’s bare shoulders, and the amount of bruising was concerning to him. He needed to get the kid out of here.
When Hammer had offered for Tony to turn himself in, without any type of communication or tracking device, he had known he would take it. Natasha had said she was close to finding the location, so he had decided it was more than worth it. So it was a waiting game. They would be okay soon, he just had to keep the kid going.
“Hey, Pete I need you to just take a couple of bites for me, okay? You have to get a little bit of food in your body, okay? A few bites and some water and I’ll let you sleep.” Peter looked at Tony, fever hazed eyes full of dread but overwhelmingly trusting.
“Ok’y.” The kid croaked out as Tony fed him a couple of bites. Peter took the food, swallowing down the dry and cold mashed potatos as he did his best to ignore the way his stomach flopped. Tony managed to feed the kid three bites before Peter shook his head, his face managing to look even more pale than it already had.
“M’ g’nna-” Then Tony was pulling the kid over, turning his body so he didn’t asphyxiate himself. Peter threw up straight onto the ground, the vast majority of it’s contents being bile. The kid cried through the pain and disgust, humiliation breaking through him. “M’ s’rry.” He muttered over and over. Tony rubbed his back until Peter went boneless in his arms.
“Okay, okay - you’re okay.” Tony said as he laid the kid back down, grabbing the glass of water. “Here, just get some water. We’ll call it a day - just drink some water.” Peter obliged, gulping too quickly as Tony pulled the cups from his lips. “Take it slow, take it slow.”
When the glass was empty he laid Peter back down before he climbed in beside the kid, pulling him close to his chest.
“I don’t-” Peter started, but Tony shushed the kid - his fingers finding the soft locks that he loved so much. “I don’t know how I’m going to make it out of here.” The kid’s voice was completely defeated, holding none of the usual spark that it did.
“I’m here now. You’re going to be just fine.” Tony said, thinking that Peter was going to fall right back asleep. Instead, the broken brown eyes found his own.
“What if I’m done? What if I’ve just fallen into this hole, and I can’t get back out?”
“Well, then I’ll climb right in behind you. And we will find our way out together, Pete.”