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They were outside the big donut spaceship, Peter falling, unconsciously, the sky darkening with the promise of a terrible storm.
"FRIDAY, talk to me."
No answer from his AI. Instead, Tony's suit stopped working and knockoff Squidward flew towards Peter, trying to get to him before Tony did.
They were both falling now and knockoff Squidward grabbed Peter and with all the force in the world, threw him face-first onto the ground.
When Tony landed on the grass with a great thud, his helmet fell off. He eventually managed to open his bleary eyes just in time to see Thanos over Peter's body, snapping his fingers as he bore his stare into Tony's soul.
"I don't want to go, Mr. Stark, please, I don't want to go." The kid, his kid was pleading, looking at Tony with those brown eyes. Those innocent brown eyes that have seen too much of the bad this world had to give.
Tony couldn't scream, couldn't move, couldn't do anything to save his kid. He could only watch it all happening as Peter dusted away, his pleas quieting down and Thanos cackling like the maniac he was.
Tony jolted up, sweat beading down his forehead, heart beating out of his ribcage, and his breath coming out in wheezes.
He looked over to the spot next to him and when he saw it empty, he scrambled up to the floor, readying his gauntlet at the first sign of danger. Then he remembered that Pepper was on a trip overseas.
The one time he goes to sleep at a somewhat reasonable time (12 AM as opposed to 5 AM and barely getting a blink of sleep) and it all goes to hell.
He got rid of the gauntlet, when he realized his hands were shaking, the memories from his nightmare rattling through his bones. He tried taking a deep breath, which only made him panic more.
Tony tried grounding himself, listing off the parts of the "Senses game" as he'd liked to call it, but it was unsuccessful. Every breath felt like trying to breathe underwater, heartbeat thundering in his chest so fast that he'd think he was having a heart attack if he hadn't experienced this before.
He slipped his phone into his hand and made his way to the kitchen downstairs. He couldn't go back to bed now that he was wide awake, having a full blown panic attack from the nightmare. He had to make sure his kid was all right. Alive. Before he could stop himself and make sense of the situation, he pulled up Peter's contact and called him.
He put the phone to his ear and closed his eyes as It rang one, two, three times and-
"Mr. Stark, are you ok? Why are you calling me at 3 AM?"
If Tony could breathe normally, he would've let out a breath of relief. His heart was still thumping and he worried that Peter could hear it. "Just uh- just wanted to check up on you."
"At three in the morning?" he questioned, suspicion thick in his voice.
"Um, yeah. I was about to head to sleep after working on some suits. Thought I'd check up on you." Before Peter could accuse him of lying, he asked, "What are you- what are you doing up?"
If he realized what situation Tony was in, he didn't say anything. He was just there for him.
"Watching a movie."
"Which one?"
Peter hesitated before replying, a hint of embarrassment in his voice. "Promise you won't judge?"
Tony let out a chuckle. "Promise."
This time there was a slightly longer pause before Peter continued. "Big Hero Six."
"Again?" He laughed, already feeling a bit better.
"You're judging! You broke the promise!"
"No, I'm not. I didn't, I- Kid, you've watched it a billion times. You made me watch it with you last month."
"It's a good movie, Mr. Stark! And I recall that you loved it as much as I did. You bawled your eyes out, don't think I didn't see."
The man sighed, his breathing slowly going back to normal as his mind began to slip out of the stressful thoughts that woke him up in the first place. Thank god his kid was all right. "What part are you at?"
"I just got started."
"What do you mean? What've you been doing all this time?"
"Well, for the past hour, I've been browsing, but nothing caught my attention. The hour before that, I tried sleeping, didn't exactly work out. And I got home at 12 after patrolling."
Tony pinched the bridge of his nose and internally groaned. "Kid, what'd I tell you about going patroling so late at night?"
"I'd just finished my homework. Plus, it's the weekend." Peter defended himself.
Tony could feel himself worrying again. He needed to stir away from this. Peter was safe, that's all that mattered.
He resorted to putting the phone on the counter on speaker mode and going to the cabinet to find something to make.
"So, how are your classes?" He asked.
Peter seemed surprised by the change of subject judging by the small silence that accompanied Tony's question. "They're going well. I have As in every class."
"That's good." Tony put a coffee pod into the machine and his cup under it. The mug was a gift from Peter. The teen gave it to him when he got to the compound one day.
They both had had a bad day and this gift certainty made it all better.
"I just had to buy it, Mr. Stark. Look, it's us on there!" He had said with such enthusiasm it made Tony's heart flutter at the gift. Sure enough, the white mug had an animated version of Iron Man and Spider-Man where the man had an arm around Peter's shoulder.
After that, Tony had decided that it was a movie day because they could just as easily work on their suits some other time. Plus, they deserved it with all the chaos that surrounded them. It was a day to relax and keep away the bad and bask in the good that came out of the day.
Tony smiled at the memories as the coffee was being poured into the mug when Peter's voice brought him back to reality. "Are you really making coffee right now? It's 3 AM. You're so addicted-"
"At least it's not alcohol," Tony interrupted. He knew caffeine was the last thing he needed, but he needed to be awake so no more nightmares of Peter dying could keep him up.
"Drink tea." The teen suggested.
Tony snorted. "What am I, an old man?"
"Do you really want me to answer that?"
"No" Tony quickly said. The kid could be a little shit when he wanted to. "And you're one to talk, I gave you tea when you were sick and you practically spit it all out."
"It tastes disgusting and you know it." Peter laughed.
Tony scoffed, going over to the counter and sitting on a stool as he waited for his coffee. "Then why are you asking me to drink tea?"
"Just don't drink coffee at this hour," Peter said, and Tony heard a zipper.
"What are you doing?" The man asked slowly.
"Just getting gum from my backpack."
"Really? At 3 in the morning? Your teeth are going to rot."
He heard a scoff through the other line. "You know what, if you're gonna be like this, I'm just gonna have to hang up on you."
"What? You do not hang up on Tony Stark."
"I do all the time. Goodbye."
Tony sighed as the phone call ended. This was the last thing he needed.
He's ok. He's ok. He's ok.
But, what if...
He shook his head, trying to get himself to think of anything else. Peter was fine. He just talked to him. He's ok. He was going to be ok.
Tony repeated these sentences to himself, but no matter how much he said it, the what if's never left his mind.
Everything that he was feeling moments before, came flooding back. FRIDAY's voice startled him.
"Boss, I suggest meditation will be the answer instead of caffeine. While the beverage might make you sleepy, it may worsen certain symptoms of anxiety from past experiences."
Tony huffed out a breath, shaking his head. "Really? Medi- That's... no, no thanks."
The last thing he needed was being alone with his thoughts, which was exactly what was happening right now as FRIDAY's voice was being drowned out by the voices in his head.
What if the nightmare I just had becomes reality? What if Pepper gets hurt overseas? That coat hanger looks like Slenderman. What if Slenderman comes to kill us?
Then he heard a bang on the window. Tony turned around a saw nothing.
It's not Slenderman, you idiot. He's not real. Ah, who am I kidding? Aliens from out of space who talk are real. Gods from other planets are real. Slenderman might as well be here in the compound where he could attack me.
Even with those thoughts, he found he couldn't move. He took a shuddering breath, closing his eyes, placing a hand on the granite kitchen counter.
So cold. Maybe I need a cold shower, so it'd calm me down. There's nothing outside, just the wind. It's just the wind. Peter's ok. He is fine.
Then the window opened and Tony snapped out of it, raising his fist as his red gauntlet encapsulated it.
"It's Peter Parker, Boss," FRIDAY said.
He finally saw him come into the light after he closed the window and Tony let out a breath of relief, the gauntlet deforming as he put down his hand.
"Peter, you know I have a heart condition. What are you doing here at 3 in the morning?" He asked sternly.
"Sorry, Tony. Just couldn't leave you here all alone. Are you ok?" Peter took his mask off, the strap of his duffle bag around his shoulders.
"No, I am most certainly not ok. You should be home. I thought we agreed on no surprise visits at this hour. You could have been hurt!"
Peter slipped the strap of his bag off his shoulder and flung it onto the couch. "Relax, Mr. Stark, I'm fine, but you're not."
"Pete, you don't have to take care of me. I'm the adult here."
"An adult that should not be having caffeine after a nightmare. It only makes anxiety worse." He reached for the cup and poured it down the drain. "I'm going to put a coffee ban in place."
"Hey, I pay good money for that coffee! Is that really necessary?"
"Yes, Tony." He proceeded to take every bag of coffee using FRIDAY for help and then stuck them to the ceiling with his web fluid. "Plus, you're a billionaire. You can buy some more."
"I'm really regretting making you call me Tony." He muttered.
"Too bad, so sad. You know you like it." Peter smirked.
He did. The first time Peter managed to call him "Tony," he'd been over the moon that the kid had finally taken to the man's first name.
After a few moments, Tony asked, "How'd you know?"
"I've had experience with it. Plus you gave it all away from that phone call. Come on, I know what you need. FRIDAY, put on 'Big Hero Six' on the TV, please." When he saw Tony open up his mouth to say something the teen only continued. "You can't expect me to watch anything else when I just started it. Besides, maybe it'll help you. It always helps me."
He sighed, giving in easily, too tired to argue. His body was so tired, but he didn't want to fall asleep just to get met by more nightmares. Especially not of his kid dying. He couldn't stomach the thought.
They got a few blankets and sat on the couch. The movie started off with the robot scene Peter had seen dozens of times. He never got tired of it. Maybe it was because it was close to Peter's situation, with his parents dying at a young age and living with May. Plus, Hiro was a superhero just like him.
Peter liked to think the Big Hero Six team was like the Avengers. Go-Go always reminded him of Natasha, badass and fierce as she was.
As they watched the movie, snuggling against each other, he heard his mentor's heartbeat. His very irregular, accelerating heartbeat. Tony gasped out, trying to get enough air into his lungs.
Peter sat up, crawling into his mentor's spotted view. "Hey, Tony, what do you need?"
The man only reached out to him and hugged Peter while Peter hugged back.
"Talk." Tony gasped out.
"Ok, I was out in patrol and-and I saw this old woman getting robbed-" Peter stopped mid-sentence. This story was more stress-inducing than anything and that's the last thing Tony needs right now. "So, you know how Ned and I were building the Death Star all those months ago? Well, he bought another lego set and it's the Star Wars ship and it's pretty cool..."
He rambled on and on about Star Wars until Tony's breathing and heartbeat slowed down eventually. He was left exhausted. The man had his eyes closed, the Tv's light shinning through until he drifted off to sleep, holding Peter tightly against his chest as he snored.
"I've got you, Tony," Peter whispered as he nodded off in his mentor's embrace, Big Hero Six playing in the background.