Chapter Text
Pietro jerked awake, a scream half formed on his lips. He had gotten used to Hydra treatment that he could now unconsciously hold it in. He had woken up from a bad dream. One of many since he had come back from the dead.
In this dream, he had been running away from Ultron, somehow too slow to make much progress as the robot caught up to him. Luckily for Pietro, he had woken up right before Ultron could get his hands on him.
Taking a deep breath to calm his racing heart, Pietro sat up in bed, only to freeze when he felt how damp he was.
“Nononono. Not again,” Pietro muttered as he shoved the covers away from his legs. He was futilely hoping that it was just sweat that he had been feeling but deep down he knew what it was. He knew what had happened. The smell of urine filled the room, as if removing the covers had released the smell into the air. Pietro choked down a sob.
He had just wet the bed again.
Muttering a few curses in Romanian, Pietro climbed out of the bed and began stripping it. He knew where the clean sheets were – from weeks of practice – and wanted to make sure that the bed was clean before anyone found out. He would be beyond mortified if any of his new team mates found out that he had wet the bed.
While he cleaned up the mess, Pietro couldn’t help but think back to the first time that he had woken up to wet sheets since coming to the compound. It had been a month after his release from the hospital and Pietro had been lucky that he had woken up just in time to stop himself from wetting the bed even further. Unfortunately for him, from that day onwards, it had been downhill from there. First it was every few days but soon the frequency increased until there wasn’t a night that he woke up dry. There were even nights were he woke up twice, both times wet.
Prior to his death and subsequent revival, Pietro had only ever wet the bed with he was still young. It had been between the time after the parents had died and they had started high school. Pietro had been relieved when he finally stopped wetting the bed. He thought that it had stopped for good. That he wouldn’t have to worry about wet sheets again. Looked like it had been too good to be true.
Pietro wiped his tear-stained face, before pulling off his soiled pants and underwear and adding them to the pile of dirty sheets sitting by the door. He ignored the wet spot on the mattress as he stalked his way to the bathroom to take a shower. He didn’t take the time to enjoy the water or anything, not wanting to reward himself of doing something so childish. He was an Avenger for crying out loud. Why did he have to ruin it by being a baby?
What if they kicked him out because of this? What if they forced Wanda to leave as well? Certainly they wouldn’t want to work with someone who could even hold his own pee, let alone clean up after himself without crying.
He had only been in the compound for two months, having been resurrected four months prior but still stuck in the hospital. Despite the short months that Pietro was in the compound, he learnt quickly that everyone had a purpose and worked hard to be on the team. That and there were no kids in the Avengers, further hammering home the idea that Pietro would be kicked out.
Pietro leaned his face up under the water in order to wash the tears away, ignoring the panic that filled his chest at the thought of having to keep his eyes closed while alone in the shower. When he was done, he hopped out of the shower, roughly dried himself and changed before going to grab the soiled laundry.
It was still late at night, too late for any of the avengers to still be up so Pietro risked sneaking out of his room. The laundry chute was at the end of the corridor, outside of the flat that he shared with Wanda in the Avengers compound. He didn’t expect to bump into anyone, not when the weeks prior had gone without problems, which was why he let out a small squeak when he collided with Steve Rogers.
“Whoa, easy there, buddy,” the older man said as he steadied Pietro. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”
“It’s nothing,” Pietro waved him off, hoping the super soldier would not notice the bundle in his arms. Luck wasn’t on Pietro’s side as he watched the captain’s gaze lower to the sheets. Pietro could spot the exact second when it clicked in Steve’s head what was going on. It wasn’t like he couldn’t smell the pee with his super soldier senses.
Pietro wanted to run and hide, preferably die again, but he was just so tired. He didn’t even have the energy to speed away like he knew he could. All he could do, was stand there with tears building in his eyes., mortified at having been found out. Scared at what this could mean for his future with the Avengers.
“Oh, hey don’t cry,” Steve said, his voice sounding so soft that it made Pietro want to cry even more. “Let’s deal with the sheets and get you something warm to drink, okay?”
Pietro could only nod silently with tears running down his cheeks as Steve took the sheets from him, dropped them down the laundry chute before taking his hand and guiding him to the communal kitchen. Like Pietro had previously suspected, there was no one else up and about at that time of the night – which made him wonder why Steve was up.
Steve placed him at the kitchen counter as he went about making hot chocolate for them both. While he worked, Steve regaled Pietro with a story of what his mother used to do when he was younger and couldn’t sleep, either from nightmares or illness.
“Never had much money, so hot chocolate was always out of the question,” Steve said, spooning the powder into two mugs. “So, she would sit with me in bed and either tell a story or read one from the books we got from friends, neighbours, and/or the library. Sometimes I’d even get a little snack to nibble on while she read. That was one of the few times I actually didn’t mind being sick and all.”
Steve’s voice and movements were soothing, enough so that Pietro was quickly reduced to just sniffling once in a while.
“Do you…” Pietro trailed off, not sure if Steve would appreciate being questioned. The older male simply raised an eyebrow as he set Pietro’s mug down in front of him.
“Do I?” Steve prompted, leaning on the counter across from Pietro, his hand around his own mug.
“Do you do this often?” Pietro whispered, indicating to the mugs of hot chocolate. “You seem to know your way around.”
“One of the benefits of the serum is that I don’t need that much sleep,” Steve said with a slightly embarrassed chuckle. “The other side effect is that I’ve gone through so much and have perfect memory that my dreams become vivid jumbled up messes of the past and present, enough so that going back to sleep isn’t appealing.”
Pietro nodded, understanding what he meant. Steve didn’t have to say that he had nightmares for Pietro to understand what he meant by sleep not being appealing. Nightmares was the whole reason he was sitting with Steve at ass-o’clock in the morning.
“Would you like to watch something on tv?” Steve asked, nodded towards the living room.
Pietro nodded without thinking. While he didn’t mind being in Steve’s company, he wasn’t sure how long they could keep up the conversation. Before that moment, Pietro hadn’t actually interacted with Steve much outside of team meetings and training. He had of course seen the man around the compound, but he had never needed to speak to him one on one. Not to mention that Pietro was kind of scared of him.
Steve had always been this figure that Pietro couldn’t touch. The Super Soldier. Captain America. Even during their fight in South Africa with Klaue, Ultron and the Avengers, Pietro had been scared. It was only his sister and their shared anger that fuelled him through that fight. Now that he knew the man (and the other avengers) a bit better, he was actually glad that they hadn’t been fighting to kill him.
“Maybe there’s something interesting on tv, if not I’m sure Friday can play something,” Steve said as he stood up straight. He waited until Pietro had also gotten up before heading towards the biggest couch in the living room.
Pietro tentatively sat down on the couch and watched as Steve got a blanket and wrapped Pietro in it. It made him feel warm and confused inside. Warm because no one had ever done that for him before and confused because he didn’t know why Steve was treating him like that. Shouldn’t he be annoyed or at least disgusted after finding out Pietro had wet the bed?
While Pietro had lost himself in his thoughts, Steve had gotten comfortable on the couch with his own blanket and had turned on the tv. It didn’t take him long to find something for them to watch.
It was clearly an old show judging by the style of the cartoon, but Pietro still found himself enjoy it. Wrapped up in a soft, fluffy blanket, and drinking hot chocolate, Pietro was dozing off as he watched a group of men and a dog chase a bird.
Pietro felt his eyes drifting shut as Steve gently tugged the mug out of his hands. He didn’t even find the energy to whine about the hot chocolate that he didn’t manage to finish as he felt himself being picked up and carried off to bed. He definitely didn’t notice when a soft kiss was placed on his forehead, right before he fully fell asleep.