Helpless

6: Chaotic Sensory Overload

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.