Bless The Broken Road

A Thin Line Between Love And Hate

It was nearing one in the morning as Tony sat in his lab, reading over the file Fury had sent him through his emails. They'd just gotten back from England that evening with Tony's mind still reeling at the fact that Captain America— the guy his father had been obsessed with and the original hero— was back. According to the files, he'd been found somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean after 66 years of being frozen there.

Tony sighed and rubbed his face, he could feel the dread building up as he continued to read Steve Rogers File. Ever since the incident last year with his Palladium Poisoning, Fury had been on his back about the so-called Avengers Initiative. It seemed Steve Rogers was the perfect candidate. Tony almost hated himself for actually wanting to meet the man.

"Dad?" The quiet voice of Peter pulled Tony out of his thoughts as he spun around in his chair to see his son standing at his lab's door. Peter was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, his hair a mess as he yawned.

"What you doing up, buddy?" Tony frowned as Peter walked closer, quickly climbing into his father's lap like usual. "It's one in the morning."

"Couldn't sleep," Peter lied, snuggling closer to his father. He laid his head on Tony's shoulder, looking sleepily at what was on his Dad's screen. "Whose that?"

"No one," Tony quickly turned the screen off, running a hand through Peter's curls. "Could you really not sleep or did you have a bad dream?" Peter didn't reply, confirming Tony's thoughts. "You want to talk about it?"

Peter shook his head, sighing into his Dad's neck. Tony just let out a breath, continuing to run a hand through Peter's hair. This was the 6th time in three weeks that his kid had woken up from nightmares in the middle of the night and still Peter refused to talk about what was bothering him.

"You can talk to me buddy, you know that right?"

Peter nodded. "Yeah, Dad."

"So why don't you?" Tony kept his voice low. He didn't want to make Peter think he was mad at him or anything, he just wanted to know what was going on in his son's head.

"Because i don't know what my nightmares are about," Peter whispered, snuggling his face further into Tony's neck and wrapping his arms around him tighter. Tony suddenly realised that pressed between his chest and Peter's was the beloved Mr Bear toy. That was how he knew it must be bad, Peter had long since grown out of the age where he carried his toy around everywhere.

"Well, what happens in them?"

Peter shrugs, sniffling slightly. "It's dark."

"Okay," Tony contemplated the words. "That seems fair, you've always hated the dark. What else happens?"

"I don't know," Peter leans out of his neck to look at his father with round, teary eyes. "People are talking around me but i don't know what they're saying."

"You can't hear them?"

Peter shakes his head softly. "I can't understand them."

Tony frowns, brushing a strand of hair out of Peter's face. The boys cheeks are red and his eyes look glassy, as if he was going to cry any second now. "Do they sound happy? Angry?"

"They sound scary," Peter whispers, a few tears slipping down his cheeks. "They grab my arm like this," he motions to gripping his wrist in a death grip. "And it hurts."

"You're safe Bambi," Tony pulls his son into his embrace again so Peter was laying on his shoulder. "Those people can't hurt you— not with me around, okay?"

"It's always so dark, Dad," Peter's voice trembles and Tony can feel some tears go through his top to his shoulder. He shushes his son, rubbing a hand over his back in calming motions.