Peter Reid

Chapter 7 ~ Keep Breathing

Peter's POV

          Peter was nervous as Spencer left them, pulling out his phone. Every action Tony made, made him jump and look towards the door. After the fourth jump, the billionaire sighed. "I know we never me for you. But kid, I promise I'm not going to hurt you." Peter finally looks away from where Spencer was and at Tony. "Now, I've been told what you do and don't remember. So, I'll try not to overwhelm you. But if you want to leave, that's fine. One word from you and Happy can take you home. I'll back off, I promise."

Peter looked at his hands guiltily. But he let out a deep breath and shook his head, "Mr. Stark, I... I have these dreams. Spencer says it's my brain trying to jumpstart itself. From the dreams, I know you asked me to be an Avenger. That you had a press conference prepared but I was too scared to accept. You had trust in me, you let yourself believe my lies even though they could be easily seen through." Peter sighs, twisting his fingers anxiously.

"You knew that there was a press conference?"

The shock in Tony's eyes made Peter pause. "I thought you knew that. I have great hearing Mr. Stark. If I focused hard enough, I could hear your heartbeat. I can hear through walls, even ones that were soundproofed."

Tony smiled, "and here I thought you were a terrible liar."

Peter couldn't stop the small smile on his face. "I guess I'm not that bad..." The older man sat on a rolling chair.

"What else have you remembered?"

Panic crawled into his chest, "I dream of screaming for help under a building, destroyed over me... But I know that it's not from the accident because when I talked to Spencer, he told me there was no way I was awake under there. So... I have no clue what it's from, no clue what I'm remembering."

The door swung open, and Spencer walked in but Peter kept his gaze on Tony. The man looked uneasy but comforted by the information. "When we first met, it was because I needed your help taking down a rogue Captain America. I believe you hadn't been Spider-Man for long... I took you to Germany, we fought against Cap and his buddies. Then I brought you home. I gave you a new suit and my number. For me, I was just going to monitor you, try to keep you safe. Keep you away from the bigger threats." Peter felt Spencer sit down next to him on another rolling chair. "You proved to me that you were brave, stupidly so. There was a man-"

"Toomes?" Peter guessed and Tony gave a surprised nod.

"You fought him, against my orders. You were a hero, but you didn't get out unscathed. He dropped a warehouse on you. I had taken your suit away during that time because I thought you were in over your head. I was hoping you'd stop when you lost the suit. But you were too brave to let that stop you..." They were all tense as Tony talked. "I stepped up after that, I tried to be a good mentor. The only reason you told me was to explain the panic attack you had when we went down to my underground garage... Pete, I never wanted anything like this to happen to you. I'm sorry that you got hurt again."

Peter's eyes watered and suddenly there was a flash of cold. His vision was dark, and it felt like he was underwater. Something was wrapped around him... he was drowning. Then two arms picked him up and he was limp in Iron Man's hands. He could breathe again.

"Peter? Talk to me?" Spencer was saying cutting through the memory. As he blinked, he saw both Tony and Spencer kneeling in front of him. They were eye level with him, Tony had a hand on his arm while Spencer's hand rested on his shoulder. "You with us?" Spencer asked.

He gave them a small nod and they both relaxed a little bit more. But Peter couldn't shift his focus from the lake. "The lake, what- what happened at the lake?"

Tony looked at Spencer, silently asking a question, he gave a small nod back. "Toomes when he first- when you both took notice of each other. You fought but he had the surprise factor. He dropped you, he tried to kill you. Then your parachute went off automatically and you got tangled in it. I was able to send a suit to rescue you, but kid, you almost drowned. I told you to focus on the little things. To focus on petty crimes, but you were too stubborn."

Tony's hand was twiddling a tool, but he didn't move from in front of Peter. It was as if he was worried that once he moved that he'd lose Peter. Peter grabbed his hand and Tony looked startled at the contact. He gently brought Tony's hand to his heart and rested it gently on his chest. "I'm right here, Mr. Stark. I'm alright, it's going to be okay. We can get through this," Peter grinned, and Tony pulled him into a hug. Just like when Ned and MJ laughed with him, he felt like his heart was full.

As Tony pulled away Peter just smiled, "I thought we weren't there yet?" It came from his mouth and his forehead creased. What was that about?

Tony let out a laugh, "You tried to give me a hug once. I'm not much of a touchy person, so I said that to you. I can be an asshole at times."

Peter nodded but the small little quote made his brain hurt. Spencer stood, "why don't we watch a movie and have dinner? You feel up for that?" He said to Peter who gave him a grateful smile and they moved on to a conversation about movies. Tony was more relaxed, and Peter was too. He was still missing a lot, but he knew that Tony was a good friend.

Hello!!! A very short chapter but alas it's the best I got... not really I just felt like it was a good stopping point. ANyways hope you enjoyed it and let me know if there's anything you'd like to see. I'm thinking about giving Spencer a love interest but it would be in the background and not really important. Thoughts?

Love y'all~!!!!!