I Met You in a Dream - Starker

Chapter 1

Tony Stark was in love.

Head over heels, only happens in movies kind of love.

There was no doubt of it in his mind. He may have had very little experience with the subject in the past, but he knew the symptoms; he knew the feeling. And all signs pointed to him being in love with Peter Parker.

The racing heart rate whenever Peter intentionally made contact with him. The butterflies whenever the boy smiled at something he said. The tightness in his pants when…well, anyway.

Tony never would have imagined he would grow so fond of a man nearly 30 years his junior. He assumed he was long past the desire of picking over college-aged coeds or a mid-life crisis. It was also not something he had thought possible after returning to the land of the living only to find his wife, the only significant other he had ever loved, had moved on.

But then Peter had shown up a year ago in the midst of battling the villain of the week, eager to fight and even more eager to help Tony.

Despite being so particular on not exposing his identity to anyone, Tony had managed to get him to confess with very little effort during their first meeting.

While the concept of love at first sight was absurd, Tony knew there was something there the moment he got his new eyes on that face. With haphazardly placed curls, a faint blush on his cheeks, and large doe eyes staring right back at him, Peter was the embodiment of perfection. A word repeated itself in a loop as he gazed at the boy’s physique: Need.

And while the past Tony Stark would do everything in his power to bed such a person, he was far more interested in the idea of keeping someone around for the long haul. A one-night stand wasn’t unheard of, but the moment Peter opened his mouth a year ago to prove that he wasn’t just a pretty face, Tony knew he was gone.

Tony knew the attraction was not one-sided in the slightest; once they developed a routine of working together as superheroes and lab partners, he could feel the endless smitten stares on the back of his neck. He could see the faint rosiness of the boy’s cheeks each and every time they brushed hands. They danced around each other, desperate for fleeting touches or attention from the other.

But he was still so young.  So, Tony bided his time. He had it all planned out; if Peter hadn’t found someone more appropriate by the time he graduated college, he would sweep him off his feet in some elaborate, over-the-top pronouncement of love and ask him out to dinner. Until then, he would be patient for the first time in his life. Because he knew that once he had Peter in his arms, he would never let go. 

A full year had passed since their fortunate meeting after Tony’s resurrection, and the man had continued to fall deeper in love with his mentee each and every day. He would cross off the days on the calendar locked in his mind, waiting for the school year to finish.

However, not everything in the world works out as scheduled.

“Were you expecting someone?” Peter asked abruptly during one of their regular lab sessions. Tony’s eyes glanced at the fine hairs standing on end on the boy’s arms, a clear sign that he was on high alert. His gaze then followed Peter’s to the door of the private lab that they had begun to share, but saw nothing.

“No one unauthorized can get in this lab,” Tony reminded him calmly, having full faith that his AI would have sounded the alarm if there was an actual intruder.

“It’s—something else,” he muttered, eyes still locked to the entrance, breath held and a tight grip on the edge of the lab table. Tony’s brow furrowed as he examined his mentee; he couldn’t remember a time he had ever seen the boy look so unsettled and on edge. “It’s like—some kind of energy.”