Not Gone But Forgotten || Peter Parker

Chapter Two

It takes a few hours for the drugs to wear off of Tony.

He watches with a close eye as Tony begins to stir on his lap, and he's pleased to find some color back on his face after hours of waiting. Tony lets out a pained grunt and slowly opens his eyes, only to squeeze them shut seconds later. It vaguely resembles an infant opening their eyes for the first time, and the imagery causes a small chuckle to rise out of Peter, despite the situation.

That is what finally causes Tony to open his eyes completely. He takes one good look at Peter and offers a lazy smile in his direction before sensing that something was off. He glances forward at the grey ceiling, then the cell walls, and Peter counts eleven seconds before Tony fully registers what was going on.

He jumps out of Peter's lap in a rigorous manner, only to haphazardly lean to the side once he was up. Peter is on his feet in an instant, catching Tony before he face-plants into the unforgiving ground.

"How about we relax for a second?"

Tony shakes his head in response, yet still allows Peter to help him sit back down. Once he is rooted on the floor, he takes another look at Peter, this time checking for injuries. There was something confused and desperate in his eyes, and Peter feels nothing but guilt as he hears Tony's heart-rate begin to unnaturally pick up.

"Mister Stark, I don't think you're relaxing."

Finally, Tony finds his voice.

"What are you doing here?" Peter decides to ignore the bite in his tone.

"I'm not sure, but there was a woman here earlier that seemed pretty upset with you."

"Did she say what she wanted?"

"I was kinda hoping you would know."

Tony pauses to consider this before examining Peter. He notices tension in the boy's shoulders that should never be there. With that thought in mind, he forces himself to take a calculated, measured breath to gain control of the mess they were in.

"Okay, that's okay- how long have I been out?"

"Um, probably an hour or so, I'm not exactly sure."

Tony nods, and his facial features twist together in a way that Peter has never seen before. The next words that come out of his mouth are so quiet that if Peter didn't have super hearing he would have never heard it.

"Do they know about Spider-Man?"

Peter shakes his head and watches with curiosity as Tony seems to visibly calm down.

"Good, let's keep it that way."

Peter is ready to agree, but he is distracted when his Spider-Sense goes off. He has no time to warn Tony as the door slams open, and seconds later he's being roughly pushed to the side so Tony was standing in front of him, shielding his body away from the woman and two bodyguards.

Automatically, Peter notices a purple bruise on the woman's forehead and he can't help but smile, feeling a rush of pride in his chest.

Tony is unrecognizable from a few minutes prior. He stands tall and confidently as the visitors approach the cell, and Peter can't help but feel in awe of how quickly Tony is able to command the room, despite being on the losing end.

"And to what do I owe the displeasure?"

The woman simply glares in response, "we need something from you."

Peter can't see Tony's face from where he was standing, but he assumes that he rolls his eyes, "you and half of the universe, get in line."

"Now is not the time to play daft with us, Stark."