Tony staggered backwards. This moment, the one unraveling before his very eyes, was everything he had feared. His chest feels tight, like it’s closing in to crush his lungs and his heart. He starts to gasp for air, and everything around him sounds like it’s floating in water, suspended in an alternate reality where Tony can’t hear anything clearly. His eyes shut as he falls to the ground, bent over and trying to get the means to breath. It’s not working.

Through the muddled sound around him, Tony hears Peter’s nervous voice ask, “What’s going on? Is he alright?” He doesn’t hear Aunt May’s response, because Pepper is quickly at his side, speaking instructions into his ear. A few minutes later, and Tony is shaking so terribly that he can hardly stand upright on his own. New York, Iran, the death of his loved ones flash through his mind. But nothing, nothing, compares to this.

“Can we please invite them in?” Peter pleads with his Aunt. Always compassionate, even when he doesn’t know the person.

“I don’t see why not.” Aunt May sweetly smiles down at Peter. She steps aside so that Pepper can assist Tony into the house and onto the couch. Even though he feels that he may pass out, he sits up straight and keeps his eyes trained on May. There is no way he’s going to let her try anything.

Tony is still shaking, and is unable to say much.

“I’ll get you some water.” Peter rushes from the room and comes back with a cup of cold water. He holds it out for Tony to take, but upon seeing how vigorously his hands are shaking, lifts it to Tony’s lips.

A small gasp slips from Tony’s mouth as he gently sips the water Peter is helping him with. He tells himself not to cry, but when Peter draws the cup back and smiles brightly at Tony, he can’t help but let the tears roll down his face.

“Is he okay?” Peter turns worriedly to Pepper.

“He’s had a long day.” Pepper bites her lip and her eyes sparkle with tears.

“Peter, darling,” Aunt May’s voice drips with sickening sweetness as she turns to Peter, “would you mind cleaning your room? Your appointment is going to be at the house today, and I have a feeling that our guests will be staying and occupying the Living Room.”

Peter brightly smiles at his Aunt and heads from the room and down a tight hallway.

“What did you do to him?” Tony snaps at May the second Peter is gone.

“I just restored him back to what he was before you ruined him.” May smiles smugly at Tony.

“He’s a teenager!” Tony cries. “You’re a lunatic! He was happy with me!” His voice breaks with a sob.

“Don’t you see, Stark?” Aunt May laughs slightly. “He’s happy now! In fact, after erasing everything damaging from his brain-”

“You tampered with his brain?!” Pepper lunges across the couch to seize Tony after he springs towards May.

“Brains aren’t an exact science, you absolute idiot!” Tony realizes that Peter can hear every word of the angry conversation, but Peter’s super hearing surely would allow him to hear it anyways.

“It seems exact enough to do what I did.” Aunt May shrugs.

“Oh, stop it.” Pepper protests, glaring at May. “We all know that this isn’t about Peter.”

“Of course it is. Why else would I go to such lengths to get my nephew back from you people?”

“I don’t know, maybe a personal vendetta against me and my family?” Tony growls.

“Oh, that.” Aunt May rolls her eyes and smiles like Tony just told a cheesy joke.

“Yes, that.” Tony matches the pitch of her voice, lacing the words with a venom to give it a mocking air.

Without warning, Tony launches from his seat. Pepper jumps up too, but upon seeing that he’s heading for Peter’s room, leaves him alone and sits back down. She starts a low conversation with May.

He heads down the hallway, glancing at the different images tacked up on the walls. There’s one of Peter and Aunt May when Peter was a small child. Peter is smiling a large, toothless grin, while holding a blue ribbon and a complicated-looking science project.

There’s another of Peter’s first day of middle school. Another of Peter and Ben. Peter and Aunt May eating dinner at Peter’s favorite restaurant. Another of Peter holding the certificate Tony had given him for the “Stark internship”. Tony stops in front of that one, noting the proud look displayed on Peter’s face. Tony is surprised that May left it up, as it’s an easy tie back into Peter’s old life. Still, Tony can’t help but smile at the memory. He and Peter had stayed up past midnight, fabricating it to make it look official, but not too official. Authentic, but not fakely so. There had been a lot of junk food eaten, a lot of laughter, and a lot of mistakes and energy-drink driven hilariousness.

He continues down the hall after a second, and knocks lightly on the door that must be Peter’s. Tony can hear a soft music from behind the door, and it pauses after the knock. The door opens, and Peter stares at Tony.

“Mr. Stark… right?” Peter says with a grimace. Just hearing Peter say his name makes Tony want to break down in tears. But he can’t start crying again. He’ll definitely freak out Peter.

“Yeah, kid.” Tony smiles sadly at Peter.

“You wanna come in?” Peter spreads the door open so Tony can come in. “You look like you need to talk about some stuff.”

“You don’t think your Aunt will be too mad?” Tony teases slightly, stepping through the door. Peter looks confused. “I thought you guys were friends?”

“Ah, just a joke.” Tony takes a seat on the bed, watching as Peter settles in the desk chair across the room so they can look at each other.

“So, how come you came to our house in the first place?” Peter says, twisting in the seat so it spins.

“I… lost something important to me. I thought maybe your Aunt might have it.”

“Did she?” Peter’s big, anticipating eyes stare at Tony.

“Sort of.” Tony smiles and looks down at the musty carpet.

“Is that the only thing wrong?” Tony forgets Peter’s intuitiveness sometimes. He’s glad that whatever May did to him didn’t take that away.

“Well, this thing that’s really important to me, is really, really important to me, you see.” Tony sighs. “I’ve been searching for it for almost four months. And then, just a few days ago, I figured out that it could be here, with your Aunt, and now she can’t help me. In fact, it seems that she got rid of it a little while ago.”

“Well, what was it? Maybe I can search through the trash cans for it or something.” Peter says.

“It’s alright kid, I wouldn’t ask you to do that for me.” The tiniest of smiles crosses Tony’s face.

“No, I would love it! It would give me an excuse to go outside the apartment.”

“What do you mean?” Tony starts to become worried.

“Well, I’m hardly let out of the apartment. Aunt May says it’s because I don’t know Italian, but I learned it fluently months ago. And whenever I ask, she always gets really angry. So I stopped asking. When she’s angry…” Peter shudders just at the thought.

“She doesn’t let you go outside?”

“Only for my appointments, and if I’m super lucky, to get the mail.”

“Kid, that’s… That’s not legal.” Tony can’t express how angry he is at that. Of course she wouldn’t let him outside! That’s why he was so hard to track!

“It isn’t?” Peter pulls a face, and then looks back up at Tony. His face goes blank, like something forcefully wiped away his bewildered expression. “Oh well. I would never turn her in. She’s never hurt me, so I don’t have a reason to do anything to her.”

An idea crosses Tony’s brain. “How is Spiderman going here in Milan?”

“What?” Peter looks confused. “What’s a Spiderman?”

Tony’s heart shatters into a million tiny pieces. How could that woman, that absolute witch, take something that Peter loved so much?

“Well, do you feel bad leaving the Stark internship behind?” Tony tries again.

“I mean, I don’t really remember it, to be honest.” Peter scratches the back of his neck sheepishly. “Everything before Milan is super fuzzy.”

“Does that mean you don’t miss Ned and MJ?” Tony says, desperately. He’s throwing a life preserver out for Peter to grab onto. Somehow, he’s missing every time.

“I don’t know anyone by those names.” Peter gives Tony a strange look. “Are you sure that you’ve fully recovered from that panic attack?”

“You know what a panic attack is like?” Tony gives Peter a look. He knows that Peter has them because of Iran. This is a good test if Peter is truly gone, as trauma never seems to really go away for good.

“Well…” Peter hesitates, leaning in close to Tony. “If I’m being honest, I have them all the time. But my Aunt doesn’t know. Besides, if she knew, she would only schedule more appointments, and I absolutely hate them.”

“What triggers them?”

“I don’t even know. I think it’s stuff from before Milan. You know, the stuff I can’t remember. I just feel like everything is closing in, and I always hear this gunshot, and the sound of glass breaking. And crying. But that’s probably normal.” Peter looks up from his fixed look on the ground to stare at Tony.

He remembers something. And that’s a start.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Tony says casually, “why do you hate your appointments so much?”

“I always leave there with an enormous headache, I can’t remember what happens, and everything that’s already fuzzy gets even more fuzzy.”

“Do you think…” Tony bites his lip slightly. “Do you think you could write down the address for me? I probably could use a good appointment after today.”

“I don’t recommend it…” Peter says skeptically. “But sure.” He quickly scribbles out the name and the address and gives the paper to Tony.

A second after the paper is safely tucked into Tony’s pocket, Aunt May comes into the doorway to tell Tony that the Doctor is there and it’s time for Peter’s appointment.

“I hope you find what you’re looking for.” Peter smiles brightly at Tony.

Feeling the paper in his pocket, Tony genuinely smiles back. “I will, kid. I promise.”