A knock sounded on Peter's bedroom door just as he finished the last equation of the problem set in front of him.
"Kid, can I come in?" Tony's voice came from the other side of the door.
"Sure." He answered.
His dad walked in, a tense expression on his face. He wondered if it was from the same thing that'd put a similar look on Pepper's face.
"Doing your math homework?" Tony asked when he got close enough to see the open textbook and the sheet of paper with the completed problem set to the side of it.
Peter nodded. "I just finished it."
Tony ruffled his hair. "Want me to check your answers?"
"No I got it." Peter said, trying to fix his mussed up curls.
His dad watched him fondly for a moment, amusement warring with worry on his face.
Peter frowned. "Is everything ok?"
"Everything's fine," Tony answered quickly, "but there's something I need to talk to you about."
Peter's heart leaped to his throat. Had Tony figured out Peter's plan to change his name? Was he unhappy about it? But how had he found out? Pepper wouldn't have told. Had someone else? Or was it just his dad's uncanny ability to somehow know everything that happened in his Tower? Maybe FRIDAY had squealed?
"Um what-what's up?" He asked, trying not to sound as nervous as he felt.
His dad sighed, sliding his homework off to the side so there was a clear spot on his desk where he could sit down.
"Watch any TV recently?" Tony asked.
Peter blinked. That was not at all what he'd been expecting.
"Um I watched a few episodes of Love it or List it last night."
"I thought I told you that show would rot your brain."
"I like it."
Tony shook his head with a sigh, but Peter could tell he didn't actually care.
"What about today? Did you watch anything today?"
"No. Why? Did something happen?" Had some sort of world catastrophe occurred that he was unaware of?
"Yes…and no." Tony answered.
"Wow that's cryptic." Peter joked, trying to lighten the solemn mood that'd fallen over his room. "Are you actually going to tell me or am I supposed to guess?"
Tony took a deep breath as if to bolster himself before he answered, "Someone leaked a photo."
"Ok…" That answer was just as vague.
"A photo of us."
Peter's mouth fell open as he tried to absorb the words and what they meant. "What? But who would—? When did—?" He could only get out clipped, incomplete fragments, but his dad seemed to understand all the same.
"Some government aide leaked the photo of us together on the couch after the Accords signing. The press is having a heyday with it." Tony answered.
Peter winced. Oh. That was bad.
Tony continued, "It's playing on all the major network stations. Everyone wants to know who you are and what your connection is to me."
Peter frowned, staring blankly at his math homework for a moment as he tried to process the news.
"What-what does this mean?" He asked, looking up to meet Tony's worried eyes.
Tony licked his lips and answered slowly, "It means…we're going to have to be a lot more careful in the future to not be seen together."
"But why? If they already know who I am?" Peter didn't really understand. Why did they need to be careful if the cat was already out of the bag?
"No. They don't know." His dad shook his head. "The photo isn't very good quality. I can barely tell it's you. They just know I was sitting with some kid."
Peter scrunched his nose, not really loving that description. "So what are we going to do about it?"
"Nothing. We're going to do nothing and let it run its course and eventually it'll die down. We're not telling anyone who you are or what your relationship with me is. But like I said, we're going to have to be careful. We can't go out in public together for the time being. One good photo and they might be able to figure out who you are."
"And that would be bad." He said, but it came out more as a question.
Tony frowned as he answered, "Yes Peter, that would be bad. If the press found out you were my son, they'd hound you nonstop, and it wouldn't be for only a couple weeks. It'd be forever. The unfortunate curse of being a Stark."
Peter swallowed hard, thinking of the paperwork he'd just signed to officially make himself a Stark.
"And that wouldn't even be the worst part." Tony explained, looking stricken. "Certain people might see you as a tool they could use to try to get to me. You'd never be safe, and I don't want that for you."
"They could try," Peter smiled, trying to reassure his dad, "but I'm Spiderman. I'm not so easy to get to."
"Don't underestimate the crazies." Tony shook his head. "It's not a risk I'm willing to take."
"So, if we're not going to do anything about it, then why are you telling me?" He asked.
"Because I want you in the loop. In case things come up or go wrong, I want you to know how serious it could be."
"Ok. I guess that makes sense." Peter's brow furrowed as another thought struck him. "Wait. Is this the emergency Pepper got called back to deal with?"
Tony nodded.
Peter immediately felt guilty. Because of him, because of something to do with him, Pepper had needed to run back to work to deal with the fallout.
Tony must've seen the guilt on his face. "Don't worry kid. Compared to some of the things I've put her through, this is nothing. And the game plan's simple. We're doing nothing. We're not confirming or denying anything or making a statement. It's literally no extra work for Pep."
"I don't know." Peter mumbled. "She looked pretty stressed."
Tony waved a hand in dismissal. "She'll be fine. Believe me. The woman's as tough as nails."
That got a smile out of him. "I know."
"Good." His dad ruffled his hair again and he groaned in fake complaint. "You're done with your homework, right?"
"Yeah." It wasn't exactly a lie. He'd done the problem set he'd been working on, but he still had a mountain load to do by the end of winter break.
"What do you say we go down to the workshop and work on the new updates to my suit?"
"I'm in." He stood, always eager to work on the Ironman armor.
Tony got off the desk and wrapped an arm around his shoulders as they walked out of his room and to the workshop together. It should've been comforting but Peter still didn't feel completely at ease. Even though Tony had tried to reassure him, he couldn't shake the troubled look on his dad's face from his mind.
"Hey Ned." Peter answered his phone as he laid on his mattress. Tony had sent him to bed an hour ago but he still hadn't been able to fall asleep. The phone call was a welcome interruption from staring at the ceiling.
"Dude you're on TV! You're famous!" Ned erupted in excitement.
Peter groaned and rubbed his eyes.
"Have you seen the news? Like literally everyone is talking about you. I'm friends with a celebrity!"
"I haven't seen it yet but I've heard." Peter sighed. "And no one can know it's me Ned. You have to keep it to yourself. You can't even tell your parents, got it?"
"Oh man." Ned whined. "Are you serious?"
"Yes. I mean it." Peter reiterated. "Tony will flip if someone finds out that I'm the one in the picture."
"You don't think someone's going to figure it out?"
"I don't know. Tony didn't seem to think so. I guess it's not that great of a picture."
Ned hummed. "Yeah it is pretty blurry. I might not have even known it was you except I knew it was you."
Peter snorted.
"That sucks though dude. I thought I was going to be famous by proxy." Ned said with disappointment.
Peter grinned. "I don't think it works that way."
"I already had an awesome tag line idea for my twitter."
"Uh huh."
"Do you want to hear it?"
"Sure. Why not?"
"It was going to be, 'Best friend of Ironkid. Friend of the Avengers.' What do you think?"
"I think maybe keep working on it." Peter laughed. "And my name wouldn't be Ironkid."
"Are you kidding? The media's not all that creative. If they found out you were Ironman's kid I'm pretty sure they'd dub you Ironkid."
Peter made a face in disgust. "Oh god I hope not. That's reason enough to make sure they don't find out."
Ned laughed over the phone.
"So I guess for now I have to stick with secretly being Spiderman's guy in the chair?"
"And Peter Parker's best friend. Sorry."
"It's all right. I like that role better anyway." Peter could hear Ned's honest smile in his voice. "Besides, we both know I probably do better work behind the scenes than out in the spotlight."
"Yeah and it might sound fun at first, but it would totally suck to not be able to go anywhere without being recognized."
"Yeah you're right. Although, I bet we could get some sweet Comic-Con tickets if people knew who you were."
"Tony can get those for us anyway." Peter rolled his eyes. "And if no one knows who I am, we can go and not get mobbed, and actually have fun."
"I guess you have a point." Ned agreed.
Peter heard muffled voices coming from across the speaker of Ned's phone.
"Um sorry dude but my mom says I have to go to bed." Ned said. "I'll call you tomorrow."
"Ok. Good night Ned." Peter said with a smile.
"Good night."
Peter plugged his phone back into the charger and set it on the nightstand. Fatigue leadened his eyelids, and he closed his eyes as he settled into his soft pillows. Talking to Ned had at least helped him finally destress. Sleep was no longer so hard to find.
"How does that feel?" Ross sneered at him as he stabbed a knife straight into his thigh.
Peter couldn't hold back a cry of pain. He instinctively tried to grab the offending object but he couldn't move his arms. They were tied behind him as he sat helpless in a chair.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" Ross said with grim pleasure as he slowly twisted the knife.
It burned. Electric shocks of agony danced through his leg.
"Stop." He moaned and crumpled forward at his waist, but he only had enough slack to make it a few inches.
Ross snorted in amusement.
"You want me to stop? Oh no. We're just getting started." Ross said and ripped the knife out of his leg. It hurt almost as much as getting stabbed in the first place and Peter cried out again. He panted as blood bubbled from the wound, too much too fast.
Ross leaned forward and placed the edge of the blood coated knife on his bare chest.
"No." He pleaded. "Please."
The corner of Ross's lip twisted up in a crazed smile and he pressed down.
Peter watched as blood flowed out and around the knife as it carved into his skin.
"No!" He tried to thrash away but he couldn't as Ross trailed the knife across his chest to form a burning line of red.
Peter couldn't help it. He was crying now. It hurt. And there was so much blood dripping down his chest and out of his leg. He was going to die. Oh god. Ross wasn't going to stop. He was going to keep going until he slowly killed him.
The man placed the knife a couple inches below the line of open skin and repeated the process, forming another crimson line of open flesh. Peter didn't want to look but he couldn't help it. The cuts were deep enough he thought he could see flashes of white bone underneath.
"Stop. Stop! Please." He begged through his sobs.
Ross ignored him and continued the process, dragging the knife over his skin to make a third line.
Peter screamed. He didn't want to die. He didn't.
"Help! Someone please! Help!" He yelled hoarsely even though he knew it was hopeless. He was all alone with Ross.
"No one's coming to save you." Ross taunted. "Not even Daddy."
Peter whimpered at that. He wanted his dad. Ross carved another slice across his front.
"Dad!" He screamed this time, clenching his eyes shut at the pain. He knew it was pointless and that Ross was right. Tony wasn't coming to save him, but he couldn't help instinctively calling for him. "Dad! Help! Please. Dad!"
Ross gripped his shoulders and gave them a firm shake. Why had Ross stopped hurting him? Peter's eyes snapped open in confusion.
Instead of Ross, all he saw was a darkened figure leaning over him, holding his shoulders.
"You're all right." The figure soothed. Not Ross. Peter blinked and immediately recognized his dad. He took in the rest of his surroundings. He was in his room. In bed. He spread a hand across his chest but there was nothing there. His leg was fine too. Nothing hurt. It'd all just been a bad dream. Ross didn't have him anymore. Right. Tony had saved him. And Ross was dead.
Tony sat perched on the edge of the bed and Peter wasted no time in sitting up and wrapping his arms around the man.
"You're all right." His dad repeated softly into his hair.
Peter closed his eyes and melted into the comfort.
"I'm sorry." He mumbled. He had no idea what time it was, but Tony was wearing pajamas so Peter knew he'd woken him up.
His dad shushed him and rubbed a hand over his back.
After a long minute of silent comfort, Tony said, "You were calling for me."
Peter knew it was a question as much as a statement. His dad was offering him a chance to talk about his dream but he wasn't going to force it.
"I was back there." Peter whispered into Tony's chest. "Ross had me."
Tony made a sound of displeasure but Peter continued, "He was hurting me and he wouldn't stop and I couldn't get free and no one was coming to save me and I just wanted you."
"I'm right here." Tony said, squeezing him even tighter. "You're safe."
"It felt so real." Peter mumbled.
"It wasn't." Tony tangled a hand in the hair at the back of his head. "You're not there. And Ross is gone. He'll never hurt you again."
"I know. It's stupid. I'm sorry."
"It's not stupid." Tony said firmly. "What you went through was traumatic. Someone took you, held you hostage, and hurt you. I'd be surprised if you weren't having nightmares about it. Hell, I'm having nightmares about it."
"You are?" Peter pulled back and saw the truth in his dad's eyes.
"Yeah." Tony tried to smile as he palmed his cheek, but he just looked sad. "Of course. Someone took you from me and hurt you as a way to get to me. That's the very definition of my worst nightmare."
"Really?"
"Yes. Really." Tony rubbed a thumb over his cheek. "You're the most important thing to me. How many times do I have to tell you that before you finally start to believe me?"
"Lots." Peter said and grinned. "Maybe because I like to hear it."
Tony let out a short huff of amusement and dropped the hand on his face so he could ruffle his hair. "You seem better."
"Yeah." He agreed. He did feel better. With his dad so close, the fear from his nightmare seemed miles away now instead of lurking in the room. "Thanks."
"Think you'll be able to get back to sleep?" Tony asked. "It's still pretty late."
"I think so." He said even though he wasn't sure. The yawn that escaped him a couple seconds later seemed to contradict his doubts.
Tony nodded and stood, fluffing his pillow for him and then gently guiding him backward to land on it. Once he was settled, his dad pulled the covers up to his chin and brushed the hair off his forehead before lightly pressing a kiss there.
"Get some sleep." His dad whispered.
Peter hummed in response, eyes already drifting closed. He expected to hear the door click shut as Tony walked out, but instead, a few moments later, he felt the other side of his bed tip. Peter cracked his eyes open and watched with a frown as his dad crawled into the other side of it.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"Shh go to sleep." Tony said, reaching a hand across the space between them to place it briefly over his eyes to close them. "I'm keeping the nightmares away."
"Mine or yours?" Peter joked.
Tony chuckled. "Both."
"Night dad."
"Good night kiddo."
"I love you." He mumbled as sleep pulled irresistibly at him.
"I love you too." His dad said back and Peter could hear all the fondness and love infused in the sentence. "Now go to sleep."
Peter hummed tiredly in agreement. With his dad next to him, a sense of safety encompassed him, and he had no trouble slipping quickly back to sleep.
A/N: Thanks for all the wonderful comments! They really help make me put in the effot to write even when it's the last thing I feel like doing right now with the stress of everything going on. Hopefully this chapter can act as a form of temporary escapism... Stay safe! Wear masks!