DRAWING BY: pinkpipedream

PETER PARKER
Present traveling to the past

Everywhere I looked was covered in sand that was even reaching miles ahead of us, meeting the horizon as the sun started to settle into the night. The sound of the helicopter's wings rotating to keep us in the air filled our ears while I gripped Quentin's hand nervously.

"How do you even know where we're going when everything looks exactly the same?" I asked Obadiah skeptically who was currently flying the vehicle. We obviously knew we couldn't trust him but Quentin managed to snag a gun that he threatened Obadiah with.

Quentin's thumb rubbed up and down on the side of my pointer finger in an attempt to soothe my anxiety filled thoughts

"Just trust me." He insisted.

"Trust you?" I scoffed and Quentin moved his other hand to caress the side of my face with a faint smile.

"What other choice do you have right now?" Obadiah questioned with a raised brow and I sighed in discomfort.

He has a point.

Hours passed and it was completely dark now but I insisted we stayed in the air in order to get to Mr Stark as fast as possible. The glowing stars illuminated the night sky just enough to be able to see in front of us. By time we finally reached our destination, I was a sweating ball of nerves and unwavering anxiety. And pee.

Quentin's head was resting on top of my own with my face smooshed into his chest. "Wake up." He cooed and brushed my hair away from my eyes, "We're here."

Obadiah landed on the ground slightly far away from where Tony was being kept so that there was less chance of us being seen, "I'll wait here. You guys go in and get Tony then head back."

Quentin chuckled and harshly opened Obadiah's door, "You really think we're that stupid? You're coming with us." He demanded and yanked him out of the car while he protested.

"I'm going to get killed, I can't defend myself at all!" He cried while Quentin just rolled his eyes and started pulling us closer to the destination.

"You're going to get us all killed if you don't shut the hell up." He growled.

We ducked behind a tent and I scoped the area for any lookouts or people that would stop us.

I pulled the oversized sweatshirt that I had borrowed from Quentin over my head as I began to talk, "We're not using that gun to hurt anyone unless it's absolutely necessary." I dictated, pulling off the sweatpants. I glanced toward them to see Obadiah staring at my body and I gulped, blushing uncomfortably as I stepped into the legs of my suit in a hurry, "G-Got it?"

Quentin yanked Obadiah around harshly to prevent him from seeing me as I stood in my boxers with a red face, "Fine." He gave in and pretended he wasn't staring at me the entire time too.

I pulled my mask over my face when I was done, "I'm going to go in first, you can look out for people and step in if anything happens. If I get caught all the people sleeping in these tents will rush in there anyway." I instructed while Quentin shook his head.

"No way. I'm coming with you."

I huffed and started to glare at him, "Do you currently suffer from short term memory loss? Because I'm pretty sure we just had a conversation about you babying when I can handle myself."

"I'll stay here to be the lookout!" Obadiah exclaimed desperately.

Quentin and I immediately scowled at him and he quickly shut up, "No." We said in unison.

"Yeah. We had a conversation about it. A conversation where I explained to you why I need to protect you not for my own needs but also from Aunt May's orders." He frowned, trying to not be mean to me even though he was angry.

"I don't need your protection, Quentin." I deadpanned, "I'm literally more capable of handling myself than you!"

He narrowed his eyes at me, "I don't think the past has yet to prove that theory."

My lips parted in shock and I felt a small pang of hurt in my chest.

Am I really that useless?

I shot a web over his mouth and ignored him.

I know that I'd relied on him more than I should've before and I regretted looking like a child in front of everyone. Looking like the child they all claimed me to be and that I was too young to do what I do. I hit another web over to the wall of the cave where Obadiah said Mr Stark was. I didn't look back at Quentin and just peered inside the entrance. It looked empty so I went in.

I crawled on the ceiling quietly so that it'd be easier to blend in. It was dark with a few torches that left a dim light within the cold, murky cave. I crawled straight and kept going forward until I saw a passageway.

A few men were littered behind the partition. I didn't recognize any of them and was glad yet worried that I hadn't seen Shadow yet. I peered into the room and saw a few cameras that were scattered across the place. One of the men began shouting and my eyes widened as I saw Obadiah pop up on one of the screens.

He ran into the middle of all the tents with Quentin squeezing his arm viciously who was trying to pull him back. He was flailing his other arm and I could see his mouth open which I assumed meant he was screaming.

Asshole.

My fingers itched nervously and I had a desperate urge to go make sure he was safe until I saw a face I actually did recognize.

My heart squeezed painfully in my chest as I saw Mr Stark banging some tool onto the helmet of his unfinished suit. His face was covered in wounds and he looked sickly ill. I swallowed down the tears in my eyes that were full of relief and kept going.

I reached a door made of steel and flung a web, hitting the button needed to open the door. I winced as it made a sound louder than I intended.

We just need to rush. It's fine.

I jumped off the wall and onto the ground with one knee on the down, the other slightly bent with my foot catching me and a hand on the dirty floor to keep my balance.

I came face to face with the famous Ironman himself and felt tears rush to my eyes but thankfully my mask covered them.

Mr Stark didn't look up since he probably assumed I was one of the men who captured him, "It's about time, I'm absolutely famished." He spoke with a gravely tone underlying in his voice. He put down his hammer before looking up at me and gave me a weird look.

He took a confused step back when I walked toward him and held out a hand, "Come with me." I insisted and even though Mr Stark knew nothing about the situation, he took it.

I wrapped a web around his waist and pulled him up to the ceiling with me and he let out a surprised yelp. Dozens of men littered into the room, yelling in an unknown language and rushing around the room while they searched for Mr Stark.

He was panting beside me and poked at the web curiously. He opened his mouth to speak but I shook my head and covered my hand over his mouth. I used the other to pull my mask up until my lips were visible and mouthed, "Wait." To which he nodded.

Once they gave up and started to look in other places we dropped back to the ground. He stumbled forward in shock but I beckoned him to keep going.

We silently tiptoed out of where he was trapped and yanked us onto the ceiling whenever we heard voices. When we crawled by where I had seen the cameras, I checked to see Obadiah face down in the sand with blood covered all over his body. I whimpered in fear when I didn't see Quentin anywhere.

"Did you come here with someone?" Mr Stark whispered when he noticed my hesitation and the look of fear on my face.

"Yes," I whispered back, pausing with a blush before I finished, "With my... boyfriend."

I had met Quentin after Tony died so I never got to introduce them formally. I know that they used to work together but they didn't really know each other. I think that if they really tried that they would actually quite like the other.

At least I hope they would.

I didn't know if Mr Stark was homophobic because it was still 2009 and it had never come up in any conversation before so I turned my head, being too scared to find out his reaction.

"Sounds like a brave guy." He mumbled, "So do you."

I nodded humbly and murmured a "thank you, sir" aloud.

We managed to escape the cave without running into anyone else inside. But when we got out there were men holding gigantic looking guns scattered everywhere. I frantically scanned the place for Quentin and this time I was actually upset that I could see him.

The sand was burying his knees while his hands were raised in the air as a signal of surrender. But he didn't look scared. No, he didn't look scared at all.

I inhaled sharply at the sight and my grip accidentally slipped causing Mr Stark and I to face plant into the sand. I groaned and rubbed the specs off of my mask, gasping when I peaked up just to see all of the men running toward us.

I got a glimpse of Quentin with a worried, terrified expression on his face as he kicked the leg of the only guard watching him, distracted by the scene.

"It was nice knowing you, kid." Mr Stark chuckled bitterly, "I bet we would've gotten along really well if fate let us."

I smiled sadly under my mask and sighed.

I'm good enough.

I'm good enough.

I'm good enough.

More guns than I was capable of counting were aimed at us while the guys shouted words I couldn't understand at us. In fact, even if I did speak their language, I wouldn't have been able to understand. I couldn't hear or feel anything at all as I let my instincts kick in.

My sixth sense, if you'd call it.

When the first bullet fired, my web crashed into it mid air and aimed it at another man, causing it to go directly through his forehead. I sprung a web around Mr Stark and threw him toward the helicopter, hoping the sand would catch his fall.

Quentin fired his own gun at the men faced toward me and knocked them dead while I strangled three men with my webs all at once. I clashed two of their heads so hard that they fell unconscious immediately. So much adrenaline was running through my brain and I couldn't even feel guilt build up inside of me for killing them. That had never happened before.

There was one man left who stood across from us. His gun pointed directly at Quentin and in my mind it was like slow motion.

The bullet breezed through the air, inches from his chest as I lunged toward it.

I fell onto the ground and collapsed on top of him, "You idiot!" He smacked my arm, "You could've gotten yourself killed!"

"I would happily die for your overprotective ass." I mumbled, feeling safe now that I knew he was.

At least I was until as soon as I realized the single man was still alive and pointing his gun at us. Quentin tried to push me out of the way but I shoved him right back and braced myself for the impact.

I stared at the unknown man and my lips parted in shock as I saw Mr Stark run up behind him, slamming a piece of the unfinished Ironman mask against his head, causing the man to die instantly from the impact.

Quentin smacked me on the arm again, "Peter!" He screamed accusingly.

I was draped over him with my each of my hands stuffed into the sand beside his head as I crashed my lips against his. He kissed back just as furiously as I had kissed him and I moaned, finally relaxing after everything we had just been through, "If you ever even think about sacrificing yourself for me then I'll kill you myself." He mumbled against my lips, sitting up so that I was in his lap and rested his forehead against mine.

I opened my mouth to reply but Mr Stark interrupted with a laugh, "Never thought I'd see a magician tongue deep in a spider, but I suppose today is full of surprises."