Pull Us Back

the nightmares

When Steve saw the moving trucks outside of the tower, he started crying. Was he being kicked out? Was Tony leaving? What the actual hell was happening? It was like he was trapped in one of his reoccurring nightmares where he watches Tony die over and over before they could ever even make up and Steve was powerless to do anything.

When he turned around from the window, what he absolutely wasn't expecting to do is to see the tiny kid from about three days ago. "M-Mr. America? Are you okay?"

Steve wiped his eyes quickly, laughing softly at the name. "I'm fine. Why are you here?"

Peter's face went pale. How was he going explain to Captain America he's Tony Stark's lost fifteen year old son? A hand rested on the teen's shoulder. "C'mon, Pete, let me show you your room."

Steve almost wilted at the glare coming from his boyfriend. "Wh-Why is he moving in?"

Tony hissed back, "Wouldn't you like to know?" He practically dragged the young teen away.

Steve's eyebrows furrowed. He couldn't even know why a random child was moving into a tower he also lived in? This was just getting ridiculous. He just wanted the chance to even explain himself!

Natasha entered the room, water bottle in her hand and her other arm outstretched with coffee. "I was going to tell you Tony's son was moving in, but I didn't think you'd believe me."

Steve's jaw dropped. "Tony has a son?"

Nat shrugged. "Apparently the mom never told him about Peter."

Steve sat down with his coffee, just letting the warmth of the drink soak into his hands. He stared into the black coffee before tilting his head back and swallowing it all.

"I'm going to go train if you wanna join me, Steve," the red head offered, shrugging her shoulders.

He sat the mug down, cracking his fingers. "Why not? I don't have anything better to do."

Meanwhile, Peter was staring with awe at his new room. It was twice as big as his old apartment alone. Peter's fingers started drumming against his thighs, anxiety swelling up at the fact that any of his current reality could actually be happening to him. What did he do to deserve it? He just flung himself around Queens, stopping guys who were trying to break into their own cars.

"Peter? Do you like it?"

Peter tried to force out a smile. "I love it, M-Mr. Star- Dad- Mr. Dad Stark."

Tony actually laughed for the first time in weeks. "If you're comfortable, you can call me Dad, Pete."

Peter tried not to cry because if he started he wouldn't be able to stop then he'd have to explain to Tony Stark that he dreamed of the day where he actually met his father and his father loved him. With a shaky voice, he muttered out, "O-Okay, D-Dad."

"You okay, Peter?"

Peter couldn't help it. From the weeks of pent up emotion, he started to cry. He didn't even quite know why. He just started crying. Tony, meanwhile, had no clue what to do. Does he give him a hug? Kids like hugs, right? Tony pulled him into a hug, patting his head. Peter just cried harder. Why is he crying? God help Tony. He had no clue how to handle a kid!

Peter pulled away, cheeks red from both crying and embarrassment. "S-sorry..."

Tony furrowed his eyebrows in worry. Peter's identical eyes to Tony's were rimmed with red. His fingers tapped rapidly against his thigh like Tony's did. His hair fell in his face lazily in his face like Tony's did when he was too stressed or tired to fix it.

It truly reminded Tony of himself. And that absolutely terrified him.

"Hey, it's okay!" Tony tried to smile, but the dryness of his throat crept up to his lips. "I-It's getting late, you should get to sleep soon, it's a school night."

"Yessir." Peter smiled softly, creeping into his room. "Goodnight... dad."

The door shut and Tony rushed down to his lab and started on some research. He had no clue how to raise a teenager... so he was sinking down to the level he never thought he would go to. He was going to read parenting blogs. He went into incognito mode on google and typed in How to raise a teenager.

As he read article after article about building up a teen's confidence and communication, his head started to throb. He was going to kill this kid before he turned sixteen. He felt terrible. Peter seems like such a sweet kid and he was mess up his entire life. Tony was just an idiotic, drunk, playboy billionaire. He didn't even know he was a dad. He probably passed on his worst genes, like his anxious tendencies and proneness to addiction. He was going to ruin this kid. He felt a weight press on his chest. Jesus Christ, not now, not ever.

"M-Mr. Stark?" a shaky voice basically whispered from from behind him. Tony whipped around to see Peter standing at the door, blanket wrapped around his shoulders, light hiccups and coughs laced into his uneven breathing. Tony stood up and rushed towards him, grabbing his shoulder lightly, holding his head in his other hand.

"Peter, what happened?" he asked gently.

Peter hiccuped again. "N-N-Nightmare."

It was more than a nightmare. It was like a night terror. He kept replaying the same scene, over and over and over. Every time he'd try to do something different, Aunt May would scream louder. The smoke would get thicker. He's become more useless to help. He died. He died and Aunt May died and MJ died because she came to try to rescue himself. And it was all Peter's fault. His shitty old computer caught fire and killed his Aunt May.

"Peter? Pete?"

Peter was forced out of his zoned out state and collapsed against Tony. He started hiccuping and coughing through his gross sobs. Tony tried to keep him calm, stroking his hair and shushing him.

"I-I-I'm s-s-sorry-"

"Hey, hey, it's okay, Pete."

"D-Do you think you could sit with me until I fall asleep? It's okay if you can't-"

"Of course I can, come on. Let's get you to bed."

They climbed the stairs together. Tony tucked him into bed and watched over him until he was fast asleep. Tony was so worried about him having another nightmare, he fell asleep in the little wooden chair in the corner of Peter's room.

"Goodnight, Peter," Tony said quietly.

Half asleep, Peter mumbled back, "'night, Dad."

Maybe Tony's a little more ready than he thinks.

Word count: 1126

Happy pride month (: -CJ