A/N: 1.3k views... ahh!! Sorry for the delay, I made it a bit longer to compensate! Inspired by a convo in the comment section of ao3 so point your blame there! Happy July to y'all! 

I haven't added warnings before as i assume you know what you signed up for BUT IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPIDERS, DON'T READ THE SECOND HALF OF THIS CHAPTER, PLEASE!
Edit: also, there's a sensory overload experience described, please proceed with caution if that triggers you x

With absolutely no warning whatsoever, Peter starts coughing.

Tony looks up in alarm as his son starts shaking, spluttering, and sucking in air like he's about to be thrown into a vacuum.

"Pete? Pete, breathe!" Tony yells uselessly, straining in his stupid metal restraints. He wonders if these stupid chairs had just been built around them because he hasn't seen any indication of them being able to open or unlock so the two of them can get up.

But Peter can't breathe so, soon enough, his eyelids flutter and his head droops forwards.

Tony curses, not even caring that he sounds worse than that stupid Barbie video Peter had shown him a few weeks ago. He doesn't get the chance to do much more than take another breath because a man comes in, one that he hasn't seen before, and stands in front of Peter, blocking Tony's view.

"Hey, Monobrow! What are you doing? Leave him alone!"

As expected, Tony's shouting does nothing to stop the man – now dubbed as Monobrow in Tony's mind on account of said facial feature being the only one Tony had glimpsed – and he's forced to sit still as the man does whatever he'd come in to do. Every cell in his body is aching to do something, to stop the man, to save Peter, but he can't so he just grits his teeth and breathes through his nose to try and calm himself down.

If it had been anyone but Peter, Tony would have risked making fun of Monobrow and taunting him until the attention had shifted back to him but he can't risk aggravating people who think keeping his precious teenager locked up in one room is okay.

It could be seconds or an hour later when Monobrow turns back to Tony with a small smile. "What do you think he'll say first?"

"What?" Tony asks, trying his best not to explode, his palms sweating from having clenched his fists too tightly.

"If you guess right," Monobrow continues as if Tony hadn't glared at him with the heat of a million stars, "we'll give you both a proper meal."

Tony subconsciously licks his lips at the thought but then shakes his head to snap himself out of it. "And if I guess wrong?"

"We'll up the stakes and try again, genius."

That doesn't sound good. Even if it was coming from the human embodiment of innocence, that sentence can never mean anything but trouble. Lots of trouble.

Tony shuts his eyes for a moment, wondering if he can do this and prove he's not utterly useless to Peter right now. After a moment of hatred for these people and remorse for their situation, Tony settles on his decision and clears his throat, "Mister Stark."

Monobrow just raises his monobrow.

"I think 'Mister Stark' will be the first thing he says when he wakes up," Tony repeats, swallowing heavily and hoping he hasn't missed anything again.

"Very well." is all monobrow says before leaving, leaving Tony to stare at his kid and hope he wakes up soon.

He doesn't.

With each passing second, Tony starts to fidget more and more, drumming his fingers on the chair and tapping his bare feet on the cold floor. He even starts to bite different parts of his lips in turn after a while, trying his best not to cry as he sees Peter, someone who's usually quite literally vibrating with energy, barely moving.

It feels like centuries before Peter starts to shift, his finger pinky finger twitching and his head jerking upwards.

"Pete? Come on, that's it, keep going!"

Peter must have heard him because he nods weakly and lifts his head up all the way, his eyes clearly rotating under his eyelids. Tony could kiss someone, he's so happy, but he focuses on getting Peter to wake up fully and figure out what they'd done.

"Come on, kid, open your eyes for me," Tony says as brightly as he can.

He doesn't, not at first, but Tony isn't surprised because that's completely understandable, he's a kid whose last memory is probably him slipping into unconsciousness for no reason whatever. When he does gather his strength and open his eyes, Tony's heart drops.

Something's wrong.

Where his eyes are usually a beautiful brown colour that looks deeper than a forest and silkier than chocolate, they're now an alarmingly dark shade of black.

Tony can't see very well but something akin to contact lenses seems to be in both of his eyes, something opaque that Monobrow must have put in when Peter had been unconscious. Oh, how he hates people and their cruelty sometimes.

"Pete? Pete, are you okay? Can you see?" Tony asks, frowning.

"I can't see!" Peter cries, shaking his head and squeezing his eyes shut again as if he can reboot his vision.

"Pete! Calm down, you're going to be okay! Peter, come on, listen to me!" Tony can almost hear the panic washing off Peter and he wishes he could move so he could console him.

"I can't see, I can't see, I can't see..." Peter mumbles to himself despite Tony's attempt to reassure him but still, Tony can't blame him, knowing that having one of your senses taken away from you is severely disorientating.

He waits until Peter's breathing returns to more or less a healthy rate before trying again. "Pete? Are you okay? You have to listen to me, buddy, I'm here..."

This time, he finds it more than odd that Peter hasn't replied yet. He's usually more than overeager to reply to anything he says, even when the two of them are having an argument. They always listen to each other, it's one of their agreements, and they never let the other go unheard or feel ignored. Which is why he worries on his lip before asking, "Peter? Can you even hear me?"

Either Peter is far too deep in his panic to muster the energy to reply or something is even more wrong than before. He decides not to jump to conclusions and tries one more time, yelling: "PETER!"

Nothing.

Peter doesn't even wince.

"Hey! What's going on! Monobrow, get back here! What have you done?!" Tony's voice is too hoarse for him to carry on shouting so his anger dissolves into coughs at the end of that question and he gasps, his eyes watering.

"Mister Stark?"

Oh, shoot.

Tony's heart deflates.

"Mister Stark, are you there?" Peter's voice is small, scared.

If only he'd asked that first. Tony shuts his eyes and swallows, remembering that he'd been warned something would get worse if he didn't guess Peter's first words correctly. He'd thought he'd been so smart with his guess but no, he'd gone and messed it up because he hadn't realised what they'd done. He should have known, he should have guessed that nothing with these people can ever be so easy.

"Pete, I'm here, I promise I am..." Tony whispers, knowing that it makes no difference how loud he talks when the person he's trying to communicate with can't hear him, or anything else for that matter.

"Mister Stark, please, I can't see!" Peter cries, blinking rapidly as he does.

He doesn't know what he feels anymore. A small part of him is thankful that Peter still believes in him, still believes that there's hope for them, but the majority of his mind is screaming, hating himself for being so unable to do anything and wishing that he could change things so Peter could be safe like he deserves to be.

His tears are ready to start flowing when Monobrow comes back in with a smirk. He's carrying a box that Tony can't see into so, naturally, he's on high alert instantly. "What is that?" Tony asks urgently.

Monobrow shrugs and places the box on the floor before opening the lid and picking something up. Tony gasps, struggling again. "Don't! He doesn't like them, please! Don't do it!"

"It's your fault-" Monobrow gently strokes the spider as if it's a kitten- "for not knowing your son well enough."

"That's not fair!" Tony yells when Monobrow holds the spider above Peter's foot. "I didn't know you'd blinded him!"

Peter shrieks as soon as the spider's feet touch his skin. His eyebrows scrunch together and he squeezes his eyes shut, crinkles appearing as he holds his breath. Tony yells in frustration as Peter stiffens, clearly uncomfortable with the idea of an arachnid slowly climbing up his leg.

"You should have," Monobrow replies as he pulls another spider out of his box.

Tony knows that, he knows he should have guessed correctly, he knows he should have done something to stop this from escalating, he knows he's responsible for everything they're putting Peter through, he knows he'd be more than lucky if Peter even looks at him after this is over, if this is ever over, and he knows he's failed to protect his son.

Peter whimpers when the second spider is placed on his shoulder, the arachnid immediately crawling along his collarbone and around his neck. Tony breathes a sigh of relief when the first spider travels from Peter's knees to the chair but his relief is quickly crushed when a third one is placed on that very spot, making up for it. This one climbs onto Peter's hand and Tony can see the way Peter tries to hold his hand still, his fingers shaking with fear as eight legs walk across the skin there.

The fourth one is placed on his other arm but it stars to climb up and Peter lets out a small whine, pressing his lips together so tightly, they turn into a white line. One is still climbing over his fingers, looking like it wants to go into his nails, and causing Peter's hands to twitch intermittently.

"Stop it, please!" Tony begs, knowing Peter is about to cry. He can't help thinking back to when he'd teased Peter for his fear of spiders, knowing that he can never joke about it anymore. He hates these men for taking away his opportunity to joke with his son.

Monobrow just shrugs. "If you can guess what he'll say first this time, I'll get rid of them."

He opens his mouth to reply but freezes when Monobrow lets another spider loose on Peter's jaw. Tony can't breathe as he watches Peter's eyes scrunch up further, a small whimper escaping him when the spider crawls over his trembling lips. Peter's barely breathing, a small tear escaping his eye despite how tightly he's keeping them shut, and Tony's remaining faith in humanity starts to disintegrate.

"Please, leave him alone, he's just a kid..." Tony's voice is broken, desperate, and he doesn't care in the slightest.

Peter's still vibrating with the effort of not moving but one more spider on his head - oh, how Tony wants to slowly, painfully eviscerate Monobrow for that - is all it takes for his resolve to break, a strangled scream escaping him as he shudders frantically, shaking his head hard enough to give anyone else whiplash and wriggling as much as he can to try and dislodge the unwelcome explorers. Only half of the spiders are startled enough to be thrown off so Peter starts crying, choking on his sobs because he doesn't want to open his mouth.

"You still don't want to guess?" Monobrow taunts.

Tony growls at him, gritting his teeth, but then he exhales heavily and licks his lips. "I don't know, I don't- I can't- Uh, he could- uhm, he might say 'please' but I don't- I'll just go with that, I hate this, I'm so sorry Pete but please say something, kid, come on..."

Peter doesn't say anything though, he just sobs as his tears are thrown from his face by the force of his violent attempts to rid himself of the spiders. Tony's racing over his pleas for Peter to say something, anything, preferably the word 'please', but they quite literally fall on deaf ears, which is now yet another part of their situation that Tony fails to understand.

Only when one of the few remaining spiders crawl over his left eye does Peter squeak in fear, letting out a heavy sob before finally unfolding his lips and crying out: "Please, please, enough, please! Mister Stark, please! I don't like this, please, Mister Stark, help me!"

Peter shrieks again as the same spider that had crawled over his eyes now falls onto his ear, then shakes his head as hard as he can, brokenly sobbing once more. "Please, I can't see, Mister Stark... I'm sorry, I can't do it, I can't do it, please, help me... Mister Stark?"

He screams as one of the spiders finds its way under his shirt at the back of his neck. "Mister Stark!-" he sobs- "Are you still there, please-" another sob- "Please, help me, I'm sorry-" he arches his back, screaming again- "Make them g- go away, please, puh- please, Mister Stark, why aren't- why haven't you said any- anything?"

Tony wants to curl up and cry or sink down and die, both seem less painful than this.

"I am saying something, Pete, please, I'm sorry," Tony whispers uselessly, tears pricking at his eyes. He then turns to Monobrow with a glare. "Get rid of them, I guessed right, now get rid of them, please!"

"The famous Tony Stark, begging?" Monobrow grins but gets something else out of the box, a canister. He doesn't wait for a reaction out of Tony before spraying it all over Peter.

Peter screams, tensing and wriggling, but the spiders flail and fall to the floor, dead. Even when the last spider - Tony counts as they fall to make sure it's all of them - falls to the floor, Peter doesn't stop screaming, still shaking and thrashing as if there are still dozens and dozens of legs crawling over his skin. Tony wants to console him but there's nothing he can do if Peter can't see or hear him.

"What was the point of that?" Tony asks, shutting his eyes for only a second because he doesn't want to see Peter in pain but he can't risk them doing something else while he's not watching.

Before Monobrow can say anything, Connor from before walks back in, clearly smug about something. "Don't question our game unless you understand our thinking."

"I can't understand anyone who'd do something like this to a child so I'll question your stupid game all I like," Tony grits out, shifting his gaze back to Peter, who's now gently sobbing, still shaking harder than an adamant sapling in a hurricane. "Haven't you done enough?"

Connor snorts as if amused. "You each get one meal and then it's your turn, genius."

Tony's heart is racing but he just swallows his fear and shrugs. "I'm not scared of you."

Monobrow steps in front of Peter, who flinches and whimpers, which shows that the senses that haven't been blocked have flared up to a painful level. This must be worse than a sensory overload for him because it has to feel like there's something missing for him and his skin receptors must be screaming at him, with none of his other senses to dull or distribute the intensity. Tony's heart snaps inside of him once again and he curses everything he can think of as he tries to see what they're doing. Peter doesn't stop whimpering until he starts yelling, his hands and feet jerking in their restraints because of whatever Monobrow is doing.

He forgets about Connor watching him, he forgets about the threat he'd been given, and he forgets about everything else when Monobrow steps away from Peter, who gasps and breathes heavily, stumbling over sobs as he relaxes enough to stop shaking but not enough to calm down.

"Pete? Pete, come on, buddy, can you hear me?" Tony asks urgently, licking his lips again, his mouth dry from his earlier pleas.

Peter coughs before taking a deep breath and opening his eyes; Tony sighs with relief as he sees the beautiful brown eyes he'd missed so dearly.

"Mister Stark?" Peter blinks, seemingly better, but then he looks down and sees the dead spiders on the floor, his face immediately crumpling as he starts crying again.

"Pete? No, kid, come on, look at me, you're okay, hey!" Tony's not even sure if his words are coming out, he just needs Peter to stop crying, he needs Peter to be as okay as he can be after something like that.

"I'm s- sor- ry, I tr- tried so har- hard to be br- brave," Peter gasps between cries, his chest heaving as he starts to panic again.

Tony blinks away his own tears - but badly as he ends up crying anyway - and leans forwards as far as he can. "Peter, come on, it's okay, that was brave, so brave. You did good, kid, it's okay."

This time, he knows Peter can hear him again because the teen looks up with guilt and fear in his eyes. "Are- are you sh- sure?"

He sees Connor raise an eyebrow and can't help admitting to himself that he's really not sure, he doesn't know anything right now. Trying not to show how much he hates himself, Tony smiles. "Of course I am, Pete, when am I not, huh?"

Peter nods weakly, his sobs melting away a little as his breathing deepens and he looks over Tony, looks over him as if he's no longer a man stuck in a metal chair watching his son cry but a source of inspiration and strength for anyone who's just been traumatised. The sheer volume of hope in Peter's eyes scares Tony as much as it reassures him because he's not sure he can deliver this time and he doesn't think he or Peter can make it through without lifelong scars if this goes on much longer.

Well, at least they get a meal now; food is meant to help everything, right?

Another reminder that one of my best friends is in a really difficult position so let me know if you want to commission a fanfic from me and help out! 

Sorry for the pain and thanks, that's all for now <3