A/N: 2.43k views and 173 votes? Thank you guys so much!

Shout out to Trekkiehood for dedicating a chapter of their amazing fic 'different kinds of torture' to me, inspired by this fic, go check that out if you need something to read!!

Hydration game: take a sip every time I find another way to say their voice is not normal or that someone makes a sound of pain. You'll need a new drink by the end *sighs*

I am more sorry than Tony is right now for updating so late, a lot of stuff came up, it had to be rewritten because it got lost, and.. well, life. Could have been earlier today but I only had time to update on ao3 before I had to leave... But these excuses are wasting your time so, enjoy!!

Tony must have passed out from fatigue at some point because he wakes up to a dull headache and stinging wrists.

He glances down to see little cuts, tiny little scratches, around his wrists like odd bracelets.

After analysing them and coming up with nothing that could be a cause - other than handcuffs, which doesn't make sense to him - he looks up to see Peter squinting at him with a hope that fades as soon as their eyes meet.

"Pete? What- argh, I'm- ah, I'm sorry..." He trails off, blinking.

"Let me guess, you're dizzy?" Peter asks, his voice tired.

It's only then that Tony notices Peter's tears are gone, as are the spiders that were littered at his feet. He frowns. "How long was I out?"

Peter grits his teeth, exhaling shakily. "Not long," he mutters eventually, clearly lying.

Tony knows he has to choose his words carefully but he can't decide why he should be careful, there's just something about Peter's expression that tells him something is wrong, something has happened that he's not aware of, so he goes with: "Where did the spiders go?"

Bad question.

Immediately, his son's hesitant smile morphs into a complete frown and Tony knows he's ruined his chance at keeping their hopes up even before Peter says: "You don't even remember that bit? Just great..."

He then mutters something about racoons and glasses but Tony's too busy evaluating the comment about his memory.

"Remember what bit?" Tony asks slowly, rolling the words over his tongue as if they're a poison aimed directly at his emotions.

Peter's gaze snaps up, his eyes mercifully still their natural colour, but he says nothing, biting his hip and curling his fingers as if he's in pain.

He doesn't get to say anything though, because, once again, someone walks in and interrupts them. It's Connor.

Thinking that he's here to give them their promised meal, Tony says nothing as he approaches.

But he just stands in front of Tony and takes something out of his pocket, a little black box no bigger than his thumb.

"That can't contain a very substantial meal," Tony says, nervous but trying not to show it.

Connor's smirk is the worst thing he's ever seen, full of a smug malice.

Tony resists the urge to flinch as Connor comes closer but shuts his eyes on instinct when he doesn't stop, his hands reaching for Tony's face. Nothing happens for a second so he opens his eyes again, instantly regretting it when Connor takes the opportunity to try and put something in his left eye.

He thrashes but it's pointless, he can feel the cold material settling over his eyes, he can feel the darkness threatening to take over his vision, and he can feel the pain that erupts as soon as Connor lets go of his eye and takes hold of the other one.

He almost wants to scream but he doesn't want Peter to hear that so he clenches his fists and tries not to move, tries not to make a sound. By the time Connor's gone, Tony can't see, everything is black. He squeezes his eyes shut before opening them again but nothing happens, it all stays dark.

Groaning, he realises this is what Peter must have gone through.

That doesn't help him though, he's still just as confused and alert, his skin prickling with every sound that hits his ears - he can still hear, unlike Peter, oddly enough.

"Mister Stark? It's okay, just calm do-ammpff!"

"Pete?" Tony asks, frowning. That didn't sound good.

He doesn't hear anything else, only a strangled noise of protest, after which there's silence and heavy breathing.

"Pete? Are you okay? Kid, come on, talk to me," Tony pleads, not caring how pathetic he sounds.

His only reply is an almost nonsensical whine.

Then silence.

But not for long.

Tony hears the sound of metal clicking, possibly something being unlocked, before there's a muffled yelling that sound an awful lot like Peter.

"Pete? What's going on, kid?" Tony asks urgently, blinking as if that can somehow get his vision back.

He hears another smug, condescending laugh and wracks his brain to try and associate that ridiculous sound with a name. He finds it unusually difficult, as if someone had shoved a hand into his memory and rooted around without consideration for his sanity or the rest of his mind.

"Have you ever been held captive before?" A cold voice asks.

"Of course, who do you think I am?" Tony scoffs, assuming the question is for him because surely they can't have expected Peter to answer that.

Thankfully, he'd assumed right this time.

The cold voice that he immediately recognises as Scowl this time says: "Then you must know what happens when you try to escape."

Tony's heart drops just as he frowns in confusion. The last time he'd tried to escape, he'd had all the bones in his left foot broken. That had taken weeks to heal and the last thing Tony would rather die than let Peter experience that kind of pain.

He swallows his fear and clears his throat. "In case you haven't noticed, we're pretty stuck in these chairs. I don't think we've tried to escape yet."

Peter whimpers quietly, but not quietly enough for Tony to miss it.

"Pete? What is it? Are you okay?"

He only gets a muffled noise in response. It takes him a second to realise why Peter isn't saying anything despite usually rambling as a coping mechanism, at which point he scowls darkly.

"Have you gagged him?!" He can hear the rage in his voice but he doesn't care, he doesn't know what to do with this revelation, he's lost in the guilt for not saving Peter from this.

"We're going to ruin him," A cold, icy voice whispers silkily, softly, slowly, right next to his ear.

There's a moment of silence before he hears something swing through the air. This is followed by the horrible sound of wood hitting skin and Peter yelling, still muffled by what Tony now knows is a gag.

"Stop that!" Tony yells before he can stop himself, cursing the stupid darkness veiling his vision.

Nobody says anything but the muted thud rings out again, making Peter cry out. By that, Tony can gather it's something like a cane they're hitting him with, probably hitting the soles of his feet if what they say about punishing him for trying to escape is true.

"Your boy is pretty weak today, huh?" Connor asks, his voice still right next to Tony's ear, causing him to jump yet again.

He recovered quickly, shaking his head in hope to hit Connor but failing. "Shut up. He's stronger than all of you combined!"

Another hit.

This time, Peter practically screams and Tony can hear him trashing, clearly trying to get free. He can't take it, he can't understand why they're punishing a child. Peter yells again and Tony winces, squeezing his useless eyes shut.

"Why are you doing this?" He asks, well aware that he sounds like he's dying. "He hasn't even done anything!"

The next hit is louder, more fierce, and Tony can almost feel Peter's stifled scream. Two more in rapid succession make his broken heart break even further and he clenches his fists, trying not to cry because Peter can see him, Peter needs him to be brave.

"When did we even try to escape? You're not making any sense!" Tony shouts as Peter groans, wanting to get their attention away from his son.

"Haven't you been listening to your pathetic kid?" Scowl asks, sounding as if he's breathless. Tony makes a note of that, reminding himself to return the favour to him when the two of them get out of this mess.

Tony flinches when Peter screams again, breaking into half a sob near the end of it. Still, he tries to smile as best as he can. "You're going to have to explain a little better than that."

Peter seems to mumble something, three muffled syllables, but then screams again as Scowl hits him twice without a break in the middle.

"Stop it!" Tony yells, his toes curling at the thought of how much pain Peter must be in.

The three syllables again. And again.

Before they can be repeated a third time, Scowl scoffs, sounding both fed up and gleeful as he does. Tony is alert immediately, fearing the worst, and rightly so. A split-second's silence is followed by a rapid succession of dimmed but heavy thuds that are accompanied by Peter howling in pain.

The sound worms its way to Tony's heart and rips through any resolve he had left, causing tears to slip from his eyes and slide down his face.

Peter starts sobbing and, even through the gag, the sound echoes around the room.

"That should do it," Connor says, laughing; Tony wants to kill him, painfully.

"Now for the other foot!" Scowl replies, sounding far too cheerful.

Tony's whole body freezes. He'd thought it was bad enough before but knowing that was all one foot - he can't bring himself to feel happy to have guessed that part right - makes everything so much worse. Peter's feet must be bruised and bleeding from all that, which means any plans he could have made to escape are all useless and ruined now.

"Please, please don't," Tony begs, keeping his eyes shut because he literally can't see the point of keeping them open anymore.

He hears Peter whimper sharply, then the sound of something metal being fastened, which he assumes is the restraint on the chair. The restraint for the other leg - or at least, he assumes that's what it is - is unlocked and Peter starts repeating his three syllables again, barely breathing.

Forcing himself to swallow the wet lump in his throat, Tony breathes as deeply as he can, trying not to panic. "Pete, hey, it's going to be okay," he promises, knowing it must seem more like a lie at this point.

It's so much worse when the first hit lands this time because Peter's already crying and that makes his scream sound so much more broken this time around. He's still intermittently chanting his three syllables between pained howls and agonised whimpers.

"Leave him alone!" Tony yells, well aware that he's crying.

A hand is placed on his shoulder and he thrashes, almost growling in frustration, rage and grief. Connor's laugh rings in his ear, followed by a quiet drawl: "He really does look beautiful when he cries, if only you could see it..."

The words that spring to Tony's mind are far too profane for him to say in front of Peter so he just rolls his shoulders again, trying to dislodge the hand gripping him there. It doesn't work, of course, but he hopes the message gets across nonetheless.

"Do you know what he's saying?" Connor asks, his voice maddeningly smooth and confident.

Tony shakes his head, squeezing his eyes shut when Peter screams once more, the sound full of pain and despair.

"Are you sure you can't-" he digs his fingers into Tony's skin, making him wince- "guess?"

Confusion fills Tony's mind before he gets the point of Connor's emphasis and wants to throw his heart of a cliff because that would hurt less. Now that he knows what he should listen out for, he can hear it, he can feel it drilling into his skull, he understands how useless and disappointing he must be to Peter right now.

Because Peter, somehow still believing in him despite everything that's happened and is still happening, is calling out his name.

As if on cue, Peter yells again. Now that Connor's pointed it out, he can clearly make out the cry of "Mister Stark!" in the noise Peter throws out.

"Pete, I'm so sorry, I'm so, so sorry. I'm here, I will always be here. Please, hang on, Kid, I'm so sorry," Tony rambles, falling over his words but needing to say it, needing to let Peter know he's still here, he's not going anywhere, he wouldn't go anywhere even if he could.

Peter whimpers weakly when Scowl laughs and the sound of wood hitting skin stops, his voice utterly broken and understandably exhausted.

Tony holds his breath as he heard the sound of what he thinks is the restraint being put back on Peter's ankle and waits as he hears the receding footsteps, waits until he's sure this isn't a trick or that they'd just taken a break for some reason.

Connor finally lets go of his shoulders, making him wince, and walks around him, then says: "I hope you aren't afraid of your darkness, Mister Stark."

The way he uses the name is crude, cruel, and, admittedly, clever. Tony knows he'll never be able to hear that name in the same way but it's not like Peter will suddenly stop calling him that so he'll have to deal with it each time, he'll have to carry on despite reliving this every time.

Peter lets out a soft, weak and muffled mumble before his voice fades to restless breathing, suggesting that he's finally passed out.

"If he ever wakes up," Connor calls, already sounding far away, "you can ask him about your failure to escape."

Tony has enough energy to shout: "Wait, I still can't see! You can't leave me like this!" He knows he sounds pathetic but his dignity is in ruins anyway and he wants to know when Peter wakes up, if Peter wakes up.

A laugh echoes around him. "It's not like you were of much use even when you could see!"

Then a door slams and he's alone in the dark silence.

Tony groans, knowing that Connor is right, that he has a point. Any and all of his attempts to help have been pointless so far so why would this make a difference?

A selfish part of him wants to be able to see so he can tell how Peter is doing and what state he's in. But a larger, louder part of him knows that he can't do anything to help Peter, especially now that the poor boy won't be able to walk - or properly speak, unless his vocal chords are miraculously somehow still functional - and so they'll just have to carry on waiting, hoping.

Restless, Tony opens his eyes and stares into the induced blackness pressing in around him, suffocating him. Letting his tears fall, he makes another note to install nightlights everywhere if they ever get out of this.

He hates these men for ruining not only their present, but their chance at a future.

Thank you to everyone reading or commenting, I love seeing your reactions, from swearing to thanks to requests for more! You guys are legends and I smile when I see the notifications! <3

If you can donate anything to my friend to help her situation get better, let me know and I shall write a fanfic for you!!

The next update may be equally as late as I have to finish the fics for the Big Bangs (there are deadlines that I'm a bit behind oops) but I'll try not to leave you hanging too long! Feel free to yell at me if I take forever! :)

My Loki shimeji has been an absolute menace while I've been writing this -and cloning himself so he's in the way of everything- so it's possible there are typos. Please forgive me and, if you do point them out, try not to be too harsh. Thank you.

PS. Yes, I know I use way too many commas and that these A/Ns are v v long. * shrugs *

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