Tony woke up to blackness, and the inability to move. It was terrifying at first, but then as his senses returned he realized that he was in his suit, which was only slightly less terrifying. Lights started to flicker and a display came up.

"Multiple injuries detected," a robotic voice spoke up. He groaned.

"Oh, hey Mr. Stark. You're awake," That was Peter's voice. It sounded strained and he could hear the kid breathing fast.

"Kid?" he asked. "What happened?"

"The building fell," Peter told him. His voice still sounding off. He grunted slightly. "We're trapped."

"Are you okay?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good," Peter announced, but not very convincingly.

"Friday, give me a report."

"You have a mild concussion and many lacerations. The building lost structural integrity during the fight pinning you and Mr. Parker. Help is on the way."

Tony was amazed that he had come out of a collapsed building with so few injuries. His suit was tough, but not that tough.

"Why can't I move?" Tony asked.

"The suit was damaged in the initial impact. I am working to repair vital functions."

"Can you lift off the mask?" he asked.

Instead of responding the mask simply retracted and what Tony saw wasn't at all what he expected.

Peter's face was directly above his, his arms stretched out on either side of Tony's head, holding him over Tony in a plank position. His face red and strained, his eyes watering. It took a moment to process but Tony came to the jolting realization that Peter was holding up the rubble of the building on his own.

"Kid?" he asked.

"I'm okay, Mr. Stark. But I don't know how much longer I can hold this," a grunt slipped through his lips. Tony's mind was working frantically. Peter's arms trembled under the weight of the building.

"What the hell?" he murmured, still in shock over the information and the fear of knowing that if Peter's arms collapsed, he was a dead man, they both were.

"You're doing great, Pete." He encouraged weakly. "Friday, how much longer?"

Instead of a response he heard shouts from somewhere above his head.

"Tony! Spider-Man!'

"In here!" Tony shouted. He still couldn't move his arms. Still was completely useless. Peter's arms shook violently until he fell to his elbow on one, pushing him up against Tony.

"Sorry, I'm sorry Mr. Stark," he whispered exhaustedly.

"You're doing great, fantastic, kid."

"Come on, Spider-man," Peter whispered to himself before pushing his arm back up.

"Pete," Tony murmured. "Did you catch the building?" he asked.

"I couldn't... I couldn't let it hurt you."

Tony couldn't believe what he was hearing or seeing. He was Iron Man. The man of iron. He was in the armored robotic suit. He was the adult. But he was the one not being flattened by a flesh and bone young boy.

"Are you hurt?" Tony asked, not wanting to make Peter talk more than he needed too, but also terrified out of his mind for more than one reason.

"I..." Peter started. "I don't know..." he sounded scared. "I'm sorry... Mr. Stark."

"Sorry for what, you didn't do anything wrong."

"You told me not to go after him," Peter said forlornly. "You told me to stay in the neighborhood."

Tony frowned. He had invited Peter on this mission, he had asked him to come.

"Pete, what are you talking about?" he asked.

"The Vulture. You told me to leave him alone, and I didn't listen. He knocked the building down on me and I'm trapped now. I'm stuck..."

He was delirious, Tony realized, whether from the strain of holding up the building or some injury Tony couldn't see.

"Toomes is in jail, Pete. You put him in jail. You beat him."

Peter looked confused. "Oh... right... that... that was before. I was trapped... I didn't have my phone... it was in his car, and you took my suit, but I got out, cuz I'm Spider-man"

He sounded like he was giving himself a pep talk, but Tony held onto what he said for later.

"That's right, you're Spider-Man."

"Systems restored," Friday chirped in his ear. Tony could move his arms again. Moving carefully so as not to disturb Peter he placed his hands against the beam on Peter's back, pushing up with his reinforced strength. Peter relaxed a little, but the suit didn't have enough juice to take all the weight.

"Hold on, Pete. They're coming for us."

Peter was gasping but managed a nod. Suddenly a large piece of rubble above their heads was moved and light poured in.

"Peter! Tony!' A familiar voice called, it was Rhodey. "This whole thing's going to come down any second.

'Grab the kid!" Tony yelled. His face plate snapping shut.

"No!" Peter shouted, pushing harder against the beam. "It'll crush you," he wept.

"Pete, it's going to be okay, I promise. We're both going to get out of here. Do you trust me?" he asked.

Peter was openly crying now, tears dripping off his nose onto Tony's mask, but he nodded.

"Okay when I say go, you grab the kid," Rhodey didn't hesitate, just gave him the affirmative as he wrapped two metal hands around Peter's wrists.

"Now!' Tony yelled pushing against the beam with all his might. Rhodey whipped the now exhausted teenager out from under the rubble. Without Peter holding it up Tony had less than seconds to move. Activating the repulsors on his feet the suit slid him out from under the worst of the rubble. He skid against the pavement, like a stone skipping on a pond, jarring his already damaged head, until finally he stopped in the middle of the street. Rhodey flew over with Peter in his arms, placing him carefully on the ground beside Tony.

Tony gave the order and the suit retracted, it was too depleted to do much else at this point.

"You did great, kid. You saved me." Peter trembled all over but let out a relieved laugh.

"We saved each other, Mr. Stark."

Back in the compound they sat in twin beds in the medical center each getting checked out for minor injuries. Tony had a concussion, Peter a few cracked ribs. That kid was tough. When the doctors had finally let them alone for a minute, giving them a chance to breathe, Tony moved from his bed to sit on Peter's.

Peter sat up, grimacing as he did so, until Tony lay a hand on his shoulder and he fell back. That made Tony laugh. Kid could hold up a whole building but let himself be pushed around by Tony.

"You... you said something in there, I wanted to ask you about."

Peter looked confused, as he tried to wrack his brain for what he might have said.

"Something about the vulture knocking a building down on you?" Tony asked.

Peter's eyes widened and then he dropped his head sheepishly. "Oh... that."

Tony swore under his breath. He really had been hoping it was just Peter's delirium that had made him think he was fighting the vulture. Not traumatic memories resurfacing.

"It was that night, the night the plane crashed on the beach?" Tony asked.

Peter nodded.

"Right after I took your suit?" Tony asked again.

Peter nodded, then his head snapped up. "It wasn't your fault though," Peter insisted. "You were right to take away the suit, I wasn't ready and I was being stupid."

"Yeah..." Tony nodded. "You were, but..." he sighed. "I gave you that suit, because I knew you were going to do stupid things, and I wanted to be able to help you if it ever got over your head... and then it did and I couldn't help you."

Peter thought about that for a moment and then shrugged. "I'm Spider-Man," he said. "With or without my suit. I'm Spider-Man," he looked up at Tony. "You taught me that...and..." he looked away. "If you hadn't, I don't know if I could have done what I did today."

Tony nodded, the moment getting uncomfortable for the two of them.

"Wel... thanks for keeping me from being a pancake... Spider-Man."

Peter smiled. "Anytime."

AN: Not one of my best, but I'm glad to get this one out, as it's been on my mind since I first started reading Spider-Man fanfiction.

Stay healthy, stay safe.

God bless!