ART BY: pinkpipedream

QUENTIN BECK
Present traveling to the past

Peter made me sit on the opposite side of the room as he talked to Tony because he was scared I'd hulk out or something. And to be honest I probably would have if he tried anything.

"Kid, I don't know what you're talking about." Tony insisted, "I never left my room last night. You can asked the girl I fu-"

"I believe you, I believe you!" Peter rushed out with a red tint to his cheeks that I smiled at.

He's so precious.

"That's utter bullshit." I chimed in and leaned against the wall with crossed arms, "Look at your neck, look at Peter's." Peter gave me an irritated glance as I walked toward the two of them and ignored his wishes. Tony and Peter both looked in the mirror behind them with perplexed looks on their faces, "See? Bullshit." I muttered.

"He's telling the truth." Peter persevered and I groaned.

"The evidence is right here." I stepped closer and trailed my thumb down the faint bruising that was on his throat. He shivered when my skin came in contact with his and I smirked to myself at how sensitive the boy was.

"Those are just hickeys from your magic act last night." Tony rolled his eyes and Peter's face resembled a tomato.

Ok, that is partly true.

"And how do you explain your own bruises?" I raised an eyebrow and was silently proud that I was the one who put them there. What can I say? I'm a sadistic fucker sometimes.

He turned around and placed a hand on my shoulder, "I don't know. I'm being honest, I was in my room the entire time." He promised. I shoved his hand off of me and went to snap until Peter got between us.

"If you don't knock it off right now then I swear to god, last night will be your last magic act with me." He threatened with a laugh bubbling up his throat and I huffed in defeat.

"I'm sure there are many other people willing to be my assistant for the night." I mumbled under my breath and he narrowed his eyes.

"Excuse me?"

Tony cut in, "I'm copywriting my magician jokes that you two stole from me so go get your own." He demanded and I felt the need to knock the smug look off of his face, but I was scared that Peter really would stop being my assistant- I'll stop now. Sorry.

"Can we please just get back to the subject now? We have more important matters to attend to." Peter complained.

"You mean like Tony spewing bullshit?" I glared at him and he scoffed in return.

"Quentin." Peter scolded and I shut up.

Damn. I was whipped.

"I have a theory about what happened." Peter began and started to pace back and forth, "Shadow's been here way longer than us, right? So it seems pretty far fetched that we got to Mr Stark before he did- not to mention he's been there before and we wasted time finding Obadiah."

"So what are you saying then?" I questioned and he stopped in his tracks with a worried look in his eyes.

"I'm saying... what if Shadow is behind this? What if he found some way to control Mr Stark's mind?" He spoke thoughtful and fiddled with his hands.

"But Tony's acting pretty normal right now." I pointed out, "He's being an asshole like usual."

Peter gripped my shirt in his hands and yanked me close to him, "What if it's like a switch then he can turn on and off?"

"And he could turn it on whenever you're vulnerable." Tony muttered from behind us, "I'm dangerous."

Peter went to walk toward him but I wrapped my arms around his waist from behind, my chest against his back and he mumbled something about me being clingy.

"You're not dangerous, w-we can find some way to figure this out. I want you to stay with us." Peter said hopefully. I knew he just wanted to spend more time with Tony since it would be his last chance ever again.

"I'm a threat, Pete. Lock me up until we win so you're safe from me." He pleaded and Peter shook his head furiously.

"We need you with us." His frown made my heart skip a beat in my chest and I felt the need to replace it with his cute little smile again.

"He can stay here and have some of the workers try and fix whatever's wrong with him. Everyone here is a genius so it shouldn't take too long." I told him and he sighed sadly.

"As much as I hate to admit it, "Tony walked closer to us and put a hand on his shoulder, "He's right, kid."

"I hate you both." Peter grumbled while Tony and I chuckled. My arms wrapped tighter around him and I pressed a reassuring kiss onto the crook of his neck, causing him to shudder. He wiggled out of my arms and started to fumble with his hands again. I noticed that it was an action he did whenever he got nervous or anxious about something.

Things between us were still a little bit rocky. I was acting normal, like nothing happened because I wanted him to forget. I wanted to forget. Hearing him say he wanted to break up with me left an ache in my chest and my stomach churned. Peter, on the other hand was acting strange. He grew tense whenever I touched him and even though he was teasing me like usual it felt different. I didn't know how to explain it, but it just felt different.

"I guess that's just what we'll have to do then." He muttered and flung himself onto one of the couches, "But why was this his plan? Why not just kill me himself?"

"I think he realized that fighting you physically isn't a battle that he'd win." Tony mentioned while I sat down next to Peter. He was sprawled over half the couch and looked up at the ceiling.

"He wants to hurt you from the inside out." I whispered, gently pulling his head to rest in my lap while I stroked his soft hair, "He knows how much Tony means to you and if he breaks you down emotionally then it'll be easier to take you down physically." I realized aloud.

"Why can't life just be easy for once?" Peter voiced and squeezed his eyes shut in frustration. I could tell that he was blocking out his emotions recently- or at least attempting to. He probably didn't want to look sensitive in front of everyone and especially me. He thought that I'd judge him or think lesser of him for being open with his feelings when in reality it was one of the things I loved most about him.

"So what's the game plan after this? We have no idea how or when he's going to strike next." Tony groaned, sitting on the loveseat across from Peter and I.

"You're bound to be the how." I said to Tony, rubbing my thumb delicately over Peter's bottom lip while he stared up at me, "We just need to figure out the when."

The three of us shot ideas at each other back and forth for what felt like hours but still had nothing.

"I still don't understand how I have any part in this." Tony grunted and stood up to stare out of one of the wide windows in the room.

"Because you're Ironman, we already told you that." I focused my attention on him and watched as he pinched the bridge of his nose in agitation.

Tony huffed, "I don't know anything about this Ironman character that you all claim me to be."

"It's like you're from the past or something." I said sarcastically while he rolled his eyes.

"Didn't you say I was supposed to become Ironman after I escaped from captivity?" He ignored my comment, "Doesn't that mean I lost that part of the supposed future I have?"

I paused, "We didn't exactly consider that."

"Maybe that's the solution!" Tony gasped and gazed at me with wide eyes, "I need to become Ironman, I need to finish building the suit."

I opened my mouth to talk but Peter interrupted, "Azaria said that Shadow's plan was to bring Ironman back to life and then make Mr Stark watch as he fired missiles at New York." He mumbled quietly in thought, "I think he wants us to bring him back to life."

"Why wouldn't he just do it himself?" Tony asked.

"That's the thing," Peter shot up from the couch with wide eyes, "He took us back in time, so far so that you wouldn't really know how to fight yet in order for him to beat you easily. But he must've known we would follow him... he wanted you to be weak but he since he had to go so far back, we hadn't met yet. He wants us to spend time with you and have a bond so that it hurts to watch me die! Tha-"

Tony lunged at him and tackled Peter to the floor as I was trying to process the new information. I shot up but Peter threw Tony off of him and pinned him down to the ground, "I know you're here Shadow!" He screamed as Tony struggled against his grasp, "I figured it out already and your plan isn't going to work!"

I felt the room start to tremor and dashed toward Peter to keep him close but the floor suddenly broke in half, causing us to separate.

"Peter!" I screamed and desperately looked around for a way to cross but there wasn't one.

"I mistook your intelligence." Tony spat at Peter as his eyes faded completely black, "This wasn't the way I planned for you to die but it's still a torturous one nonetheless."

Shadow's talking through him.

Tony flipped Peter so that he was holding him to the ground but Peter flipped him right back around. They wrestled on the floor and Peter was visibly not hurting him on purpose.

"He has to pay, he has to pay, he has to pay!" Tony screamed and his voice grew louder every time. Thoughts frantically ran through my mind but there wasn't any way I could cross over the gap.

"Quentin!" Peter cried when Tony punched him square in the jaw. I felt my blood boil but if I couldn't save him from the battle myself, then I'd have to encourage Peter to do it on his own.

"You told me that you don't always need my help!" I shouted, "You told me that you're strong enough to handle your own and that I need to stop babying you!" I cupped my mouth with my hands so that he could hear me over the sound of the tower crumbling, "You can do this on your own, Peter!"

Peter could easily have him dead in seconds if he wanted to. But the thing was that he didn't. He loved him.

"I can't hurt him!" He wailed while gripping Tony's hands so that he couldn't punch him again, "This isn't Mr Stark, this isn't him!"

"The right choice is never the easy choice, but everyone is counting on you. May, Ned, MJ, Happy!" I yelled while he scrambled away from Tony, "I'm counting on you!"

Peter was choking back any fear or tears that wanted to escape. His face looked strained and tired as he tried to find it in himself to fight back, "The real Tony is counting on you." I hollered as loud as I could.

Peter raised his fist to strike Tony back but he gasped and shrieked, "Quentin!"

I heard a loud click and the press of cold metal press against the side of my head, "I really underestimated all of you." The real Shadow chuckled evilly, "You ruined my original plan but I think I've just come up with an even better one."

Tony grabbed Peter into a choke hole and held him under his arm. He could've gotten out but he was too entranced with the fear that he finally let cover his face once he saw me.

"Take this." I didn't respond and he huffed, yanking one of my hands into the air. My lips parted in shock as my heart pounded in my chest. He handed me another gun and guided it to point right between Tony and Peter.

"You get to pick which one you'd like to kill." He smirked and I felt my entire body go numb as tears poured down Peter's beautiful face.

A/N
I AM SO SORRY