Am I ever going to stop whumping Peter and Tony?

No.

No I will not.

Presumed character death, so...

Yeah. I really like hurt comfort, as I'm sure you guys can tell.

Yeet.

"I never did thank you, you know. You saved my daughter."

Peter stared at the pacing man through the bars of the cell. "Then why are you keeping me tied up like some experiment?"

"You've got to understand, Spidey. It's nothing personal. Not with you, at least. And I regret hurting you, but it's the only way to get to Stark."

The teen shifted uncomfortably. "It's not gonna hurt him if you to hurt me. I'm just his intern."

"Sure you are." The man in front of him was middle aged, and looked for all the world like a friendly stranger you'd see on the street.

That's what made him terrifying.

It was a trap, of course.

When Tony got the distress call from Karen, he knew that it was a trap.

But he went anyway.

He wasn't going to leave Peter alone with some madman.

He would have gotten out, but then a gun was held to Peter's head.

“Get out of the suit.”

The deep voice came from behind them, and Peter felt the cold metal of a gun press to his neck. "Or I'll kill the boy now."

The Iron Man suit folded up back into Tony’s arc reactor, leaving the man vulnerable in a stained T-shirt and jeans. "Don't hurt him."

“Get on the ground, and put your hands behind your head."

Tony complied, putting both hands behind his head and kneeling on the cold floor.

“Cuff him."

Two other agents quickly put Tony in handcuffs, roughly shoving him to the ground once finished.

"Bring him to the cells. The boy to The Room."

"He won't be able to see you. Or hear you. I've essentially made him blind and deaf. You get to watch him die feeling like he's alone, just like my daughter. No comfort. It will be long, drawn out, and painful."

"You're a monster," Tony spat. "You're sick- he's a child!"

"So was my daughter."

"Let him go, or I swear I'll-"

His words were cut off by the door screeching open, and the limp body of the teenager being shoved in.

The soft cry of pain choked off as the guard kicked his ribs, replaced by muffled sobs, and ragged breathing.

"Goodbye Stark. Wouldn't want to be in your place for the next few hours."

After the voice cut out, no sound was heard save for Tony's frantic reassurances that Peter couldn't hear.

Clutching desperately at his own chest, Peter sank against the wall, breath rattling in his throat. "Please- please it hurts- someone-"

Sobs echoed around the large space as visibly black tinted blood flowed through the teen's body, climbing his neck. "I don't wanna die, please I don't wanna die-!"

Tony could do nothing except whisper useless words.

No words could take away the pain.

He hit the wall in frustration, chains jangling.

What he didn't see was that Peter had stiffened, head tilting to the side.

"T- Tony?" His voice was impossibly fragile, sounding like it would break at any moment. "Tony? Is- is that you?"

Tony was frozen, staring at him.

The vibrations.

He hit the wall again. 

And again.

Peter moved forward slightly, feeling his way along the floor.

The second he was close enough, Tony reached out and gripped the teenager's arms, pulling him into a tight embrace.

The teen let out a sob of relief, bringing up his hand to feel the scratchy goatee, and then burying his face in Tony's neck. "I can't- I can't see, Mr Stark- I can't see anything, and I can't hear anything, and it hurts- it hurts really bad."

Tony rubbed his hand soothingly up and down Peter's back, side of his face resting on Peter's head. "I know. I'm sorry, Pete, I'm so sorry-"

There wasn't really anything he could say.

His kid was dying. He couldn't see or hear Tony, and the only thing he could feel was agonizing pain.

10 minutes earlier.

Peter struggled weakly, eyes clouding over as Lucas Key injected him with a syringe full of something black.

"Sorry kid. Like I said. It's nothing personal."

All eyesight dimmed, and the other man's voice vanished.

He was left in a dark void, feeling only the cold metal, the roughness of the guards suits as they dragged him somewhere, the jolt as he was thrown onto a concrete floor, and the sharp stab of pain when a boot hit his ribs.

And the spreading white hot pain of whatever he had been injected with.

Sobs shook his body as he curled up against where the wall met the floor, hugging himself in a poor attempt at self comfort. "It hurts," he cried. "Please, it hurts!"

"Please-" he gasped out, to whatever could be listening, "please I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die-!"

Then he felt a thud on the wall behind his back.

It couldn't be the men who brought them here, but-

Raising his head, Peter stifled a sobbing gasp. "T- Tony?"

The vibrations came again, from slightly to his right, and in front.

It felt like a hand hitting the wall.

He gingerly pulled himself in that direction, hoping against hope that it would be his mentor.

Then strong arms were enveloping him, tucking him under their chin.

The scratchiness of Tony's chin against his forehead was comforting, so much so that when he felt it, he started crying harder.  "I can't- I can't see, Mr Stark- I can't see anything, and I can't hear anything, and it hurts- it hurts really bad."

Tony's gentle hand rubbed up and down his back, grounding him in the moment.

"It hurts-" he couldn't keep the pain from bleeding through into his voice. "Please, Tony,  make it stop-"

His mentor pulled him close, holding the shaking teen to his chest. "I know, I know it hurts- I'm sorry-"

Sobs echoed around the large space as black tinted blood slowly flowed through the teen's body, climbing his neck. "I don't wanna die, Tony! I don't wanna go!"

Tony's eyes were already darkening with tears as he cradled Peter against him. "Shh. It's going to be over soon," his voice was agonized, watching his kid in so much pain. "It's gonna be okay, Pete, I promise. Just hang on. Just hold on for me."

Then, before it would be too late, he pressed his lips to Peter's temple. "I love you."

Peter's breathing hitched, and he said something into Tony's shirt, grip tightening.

Minutes passed before the trembling  slowed, along with the wrenching sobs, leaving an eerie silence, save for Tony's uneven breathing.

"Pete?" Tony pulled back, dread tangling his thoughts. "Pete, please don't do this- please."

Black veins stood out starkly from the pale skin.

Dark blood trailed from the corner of his mouth. 

His eyes were half open, showing an inky black.

There was no pulse.

Tony thought he was dreaming.

It wasn't possible-

Shouldn't be possible.

His kid can't be dead.

Can't possibly be lying on the ground, eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.

Couldn't possibly be gone.

Not his Peter.

The dorky teen who loved life.

Who cried when he couldn't save everyone.

Who had bounded into his life with a bright 'Mr Stark!' and brightened his life with that smile.

Whose last words were love you.

"You're too late," Tony whispers when there's explosions, and a red, blue, and white suit. "You're too late."

There's a flash of red hair, of a bow and arrows, of a green giant shrinking to reveal the slight figure of Bruce Banner.

"How long has he been out?" There's brisk efficiency in the hard voice.

"Don't know."

"Get your head out of wherever it is now, and focus. We might be able to save him."

"No pulse. Stopped breathing hour ago." He lists it off emotionlessly, dazed eyes still staring at the boy in his arms.

"I can try to synthesize something back at the quinjet. We need an AED. His DNA might be working for us here. Steve, take the kid. Nat, take Tony. Clint, get the quinjet up and ready. Now! The longer we take the less chance he'll wake up at all."

Tony couldn't let go.

He physically couldn't open his arms, feeling as if it would be real the minute he let go.

Bruce seemed to understand.

Soon both of them were being carried out of the building in the arms of Captain America.

Tony passed out sometime between the jet and the building they'd been held under.

He woke up in the medbay.

Peter was lying on the bed next to him, and he was-

Breathing.

Cords and tubes ran in and out of his body.

The black veins were back to normal, and the blood was gone from his face.

There was an oxygen mask over his mouth, and his chest was rising and falling regularly.

The heart monitor beeped soothingly, slightly unsteady, but there.

The door opened, and Bruce stepped in, dressed in clean scrubs, with dark circles under his eyes.

"Bruce?" His voice was barely there, just a dry rasp.

His friend met his gaze reassuringly. "Hey Tony. How are you feeling?"

"Is Peter okay?"

Bruce didn't seem surprised by the question, moving to check the pupil response of the teen's eyes with a small light. "Yes. He's alive, which was already more than I was hoping for, but not only that." He set the light down. "He's healing. Rapidly. Yesterday he was so weak we had to restart his heart twice in five minutes. But he's alive, by some miracle."

"How?"

"Honestly, Tony? He should be dead. If he wasn't enhanced in this particular way- even Cap wouldn't have survived that. But the spider that bit your kid, it saved him. From what I got from the tests, the spider part of him goes farther than strength, agility, enhanced senses, etc."

Tony refused to move his gaze from Peter's lax face. "Meaning?"

"Meaning spiders hibernate. Not exactly the same principle, but when spiders are in danger, they shut down. Not exactly the same, like I said, but essentially. Anyway, that's what Peter did. His heart did stop, but his body immediately shut down. He was in stasis, basically."

"So?"

"So it gave me enough time to synthesize an antidote. I gave it to him via IV, and it'll keep him under while he heals."

Tony breathed a sigh of relief. "He's- he's really gonna be okay?"

Bruce smiled softly. "You've got a tough kid. Yeah. He's gonna be okay. He woke up when I gave it to him the first time. Panicked until I told him you were okay, then passed out again."

Bruce released Tony from the Medbay on the day after, with strict warnings against doing anything strenuous. 

All well and good, but I'm not leaving Peter's side.

So he sat there.

Eyes trained on Peter's face.

Hands clasped around one of Peter's own.

It was on the third day that Peter woke up.

His eyes moved first, gazing blankly at the ceiling. 

Then his fingers, twitching slightly.

He actually became aware of his surroundings when Tony was in the shower. 

Bruce was there, hovering over the machines that were beeping madly.

"T'ny."

The doctor jumped, spinning to face the teen. "Peter? Hey. How are you feeling?"

"T'ny. Wan' T'ny."

"He's in the shower. We didn't think you'd be awake yet. He'll be out in a few minutes."

"Nn. No. Wan' Tony."

The teen was getting anxious, heart monitor speeding up.

"Peter, calm down. I'll get him, okay?"

Tony had never showered so fast in his life.

He wouldn't have showered at all, not wanting to leave Peter's side, but he smelled like mold, blood, and two weeks of sweat and tears.

He was just getting dressed when Bruce knocked firmly. "Tony, he's awake, and panicking, and won't listen to me when I told him you were okay, so please get out here."

The second Peter saw Tony, he started crying. Full blown sobs that shook his body as he reached out, looking for all the world like a child reaching for his parent.

Tony dropped down on the bed, letting Peter cling to him, and hugging back just as tightly.

Over the teen's shoulder, he saw Bruce slipping away silently.

Peter didn't calm down.

Even when his breathing took on a decidedly raspy sound, he still cried, holding on to Tony as if the world was ending.

Tony wouldn't deny that he cried too.

But Peter couldn't seem to stop.

His breathing was rapid, almost hyperventilating, broken sobs falling through.

The older man rocked back and forth, resting his chin on Peter's head, rocking slowly back and forth. "Shh. You need to calm down, baby. You're gonna make yourself sick if you keep doing this."

He pushed Peter back slightly, enough to see his face, but the teen reacted, instantly holding tighter.

Tony lifted the boy's hand, placing it above his heart. "C'mon, Petey. Breathe with me. 1...2...3 in-"

Bruce came back with a syringe of something, injecting it into the I.V line.

The teen stiffened, trying to jerk away from it. "No, no- I don't wanna sleep-"

"It won't put you to sleep," the scientist said gently. "It's normal sedatives, which means it won't work fully on you. It'll just help you calm down."

"I don't wan' it," he gasped frantically. "I don't want it-"

Tony pulled him close, tucking the teen's head under his chin.

He could feel the slim body quivering, mouthing words desperately.

"Bruce, don't. It's too much like what they did."

The scientist's mouth opened in a silent o. "Then he needs to calm down, or I'll have to do it. We can't risk anything happening. This is already unprecedented."

Tony kept the teen close, whispering in his ear. "You need to calm down, baby. Okay? Bruce won't need to sedate you if you're calm. So take a deep breath-"

He kept up the stream of words, not caring what he said, focusing on the way Peter wasn't breathing as hard, wasn't shaking as if he would fall apart.

It's working.

"Pete?" There was a small noncommittal hum from the small tene in his arms.

"Can you look at me?"

Several seconds passed before Peter tentatively raised his head, eyes bloodshot, and cheeks stained with tears.

Late time I said this-

No.

I need to tell him.

"You know- you know I love you, right?"

Two shaky breaths, and a soft exhale. "Yeah."

The slim hand gripped a handful of his shirt, hiding his face once again. "Love you too."