#obviously this is a different version of P!Peter's escape than the other snippets

[ask-ursa-tonypeter]

I've actually got two questions, and didn't know whether to separate them. Oh, well. I've been wondering, what will happen eventually for Pyrate Peter and Tony? I can imagine that this a spoiler that you will explore in next works, so I understand if you can't answer, but man, I just can't help thinking. It's such a bomb waiting to go off. Not just the feelings involved; the way Peter is basically all in but might be too young to recognize it as love, or to even realize how messed up the power imbalance would be and the shady circunstances in which they first came to make out - and then Tony, who is getting deeper and deeper into the mud, sliding down with no chance to crawl back up, trying to convince himself that he's not gone on his baby brother. But also the whole morality of it and the aspect of Tony taking advantage of Peter, seeing it even as a game. On top of all of that you still have Howard and Maria, and the whole problem that would be dating your brother while being one of the most famous families in the country. It's just not the fact of Maria and Howard finding out, like that one ask talked about, but just the notion that any road might lead to complicated branchs and difficult avenues. What would a happy ending look like for them? Would they be able to keep up the charade their whole lives? Would Peter feel groomed and go no contact? So many questions... Then, the second one, more of a prompt than an actual question. If you have any plans for continuing Kidnapped!au, I'd love to see the exact conversation Other!Peter has with Pyrite!Tony when Other!Peter and Pyrite!Peter make it to Pyrite!Peter's reality of origin. Like, the shovel talk, the warning; the I hope this goes without saying, but you are never touching him again. Would he threaten him? Use a little bit of Spidey intimidation tactic? I love Pyrite so much. Best Starker AU ever.

[[🐻ursa interlude🐻

Aww thank you I'm so glad you enjoy this universe! I admit the Pyrite boys take up a LOT of space in my brain haha so it makes me happy when other folks are interested. The things you talked about here are indeed a lot of the things that will be discussed in the sequel, which, mild basic premise spoilers, will follow the brothers as their relationship changes/develops over the years! Lots to dig into there and I hope you enjoy the eventual outcome 👀

Aaaand as far as the kidnapping AU, wellllll:]]

"Tony, can you show me Pete's room? He asked me to make a few changes," Peter said.

Tony— this younger Peter's Tony, Peter Stark's Tony, and it would've creeped Peter out a little that they were brothers even before knowing everything else—rose to his feet, looking appropriately haunted as he struggled to tear his eyes away from where Pete was still huddled with his parents on the couch, all of them with shaky hands and red-rimmed eyes and unsteady voices even hours later.

He was such the perfect picture of a caring older sibling, shellshocked by his little brother's return, that it was hard to imagine him doing the things that Pete had quietly told Peter about back in that warped version of Stark Tower.

But it was hard to imagine a Tony being the cruel dictator Peter had seen with his own eyes in that world, too, and after managing that situation, Peter wasn't feeling charitable.

It was convenient that the Stark family home had such long, isolated hallways. Peter closed the door behind them when they reached Pete's room anyway, but not because he was afraid of being overheard.

"Pete doesn't want your parents to know this, but he asked me to tell you," he said in response to Tony's vaguely questioning expression. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed, and continued, "I'm proof enough of the whole multiverse thing, yeah? So we're going to skip the part where you don't believe me when I tell you that the guy who kidnapped Pete was another Tony Stark."

Peter didn't say anything as he watched Tony's expression shift from incomprehension to shock to— there it was: horror.

"He— but then he— what does that mean?" Tony shook his head, wild, and it was fascinating to see any version of him thrown this off-balance. "No, no, that's—"

"Yeah, no," Peter interrupted, pushing off the wall. "We're skipping that part, I said. What it means is that the whole time Pete has been gone, the creep that he's spent every single day with for the last year, the creep that's been keeping him prisoner and abusing him and forcing him to do stuff he didn't want to do, the creep he's been living in fear of being murdered by, looked exactly like you, plus thirty-odd years. That's what it means."

Tony stared at him with a kind of numb dismay that seemed genuine enough, but Peter stayed quiet, eyebrows raised and waiting for a response. He wasn't going to rush in with softening disclaimers or rug-sweeping platitudes. He'd told the truth, and it was Tony's turn to talk.

He saw the change on Tony's face once he realized Peter was letting the words and all of their implications dangle there on purpose. Tony flinched back, and he had the audacity to look offended as he said, heated, "I wouldn't—"

"You wouldn't?" Peter's voice was sharp, cutting off Tony's defensive protest at the knees, and it was gratifying to watch his eyes widen with the recognition that Peter knew.

"Yeah," Peter said, and maybe it was a point in Tony's favor that he didn't shrink away as Peter stalked closer. "Me and Pete had a lot of time to talk while we were figuring out how to get us both home, you know? So I really hope that this goes without saying, but—"

He laid a heavy hand on Tony's shoulder, and leaned in close when he said, "You are never going to touch him again. Understood?"

So much about this Tony was jarring and unfamiliar. His family tie to his Pete. The things he had done. The youth of his face; the way he was closer to Peter's age than to the Tony that Peter knew. The way he stared at Peter, pale and frightened, because Peter's Tony had never had a reason to be afraid of him.

But Peter knew what regret looked like on Tony. He knew what self-hatred looked like on Tony— the furrow in his brow, the downturned corners of his lips, the crack of helplessness in his eyes that wasn't resignation but rather the desperation to fix.

So when Tony finally, finally nodded, silent, just a tiny wobble of his head with his eyes trained on the floor, Peter let his hand drop away from his shoulder.

"Good," he said, and he stepped back with a firm nod of his own. "Because Pete doesn't want to blow up another part of his life, and he deserves to have what he wants, but I'm going to be staying in touch. And I'm not going to let him get hurt again, and neither is anyone else in this house. Yeah?"

Tony nodded again, his eyes squeezed shut, and this time he managed to whisper, "Yeah."

And that was something. Peter didn't know how much it meant that Tony was agreeing with him; that he felt guilty. He'd wondered before— if he'd had the opportunity to talk to Westcott afterwards, would he have felt guilt? Would he have bowed his head with shame and been unable to meet Peter's eyes, like this unfamiliar Tony?

He didn't know. He couldn't know, and he wasn't sure he would've felt strong enough to take the opportunity even if he could. But this was what Pete had said he wanted, and Peter wasn't going to take another choice away from him if he could help it.

"Awesome," Peter said, and he cocked his head. "Pete said he wants to move his room closer to your parents'. I'll do the heavy lifting, but help me pack up the little stuff?"

Tony's head jerked up as he was clearly startled by the ask, but it only took a few beats for his expression to wash out with relief— relief and focus, and oh, Peter recognized that too.

"Okay," Tony said weakly, and he cleared his throat. "I— yeah. I can do that."

Peter watched as he moved with renewed purpose, packing trinkets and framed photos into boxes with scrupulous care and thrumming with the energy of having something to do with his regrets. His eyes were still downturned and his shoulders hunched with shame, but— nothing could've been more familiar to Peter than a Tony who was doubling down on fixing something he thought he had broken. And if Peter was still suspicious— still planning on keeping close tabs on Pete, still ready to dig up more insight into Tony's true feelings and exact intentions surrounding his little brother— that was enough to have him hoping that maybe, maybe, maybe things would be okay.