Everything's Fine

IV

Tony unfroze from where he stood and ran towards Peter. "Peter! Wake up kid, it's just a nightmare!" Tony lightly shook Peter, trying to wake him up. Suddenly he bolted upright, breathing heavily. His eyes darted around quickly, wide with fear.

"Hey, Peter, calm down, it wasn't real, ok? It was just a nightmare." Tony attempted to calm the kid down.

"B-but it w-was real-l." Peter stuttered, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"What do you mean?" Tony's brows furrowed in confusion.

"H-homecoming," Peter whispered.

"What?" Was all Tony managed to get out.

Peter shook his head, more tears falling down his face. "I-I couldn't b-breathe. H-he collapsed a-a building on m-me." He flinched as he remembered that night. He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe. He was stuck.

Tony noticed the kid heaving for breath, shaking with each one. "Hey, Pete, look at me. Breathe with me, in, out, in." Tony slowly grabbed Peter's hand and put it on his chest. He rubbed circles on the kid's back, trying to calm him down. Peter's breaths slowly returned to normal.

"Mr. Stark?" Peter mumbled.

"Yeah, Pete?" Tony replied, looking at him.

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this." Peter choked back a sob, "I sh-shouldn't have gotten you involved."

"Stop. Peter, you're like a son to me. I don't care what's going on in your life, I will always be there for you." Tony pull the kid into a hug, something he would rarely do. Peter's body shook with sobs as he processed what the man had said, and for once during that day he was happy.

Peter eventually fell asleep in Tony's arms. He smiled. The kid looked so peaceful. He laid Peter down, carefully, as to not wake him. Suddenly he felt his eyelids becoming heavy, and looked at the time. Five o'clock. 'Maybe I should go to sleep..' Tony drifted off into sleep, the never moving from Peter's side.

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The clock read four o'clock when Peter finally woke up. He rubbed his eyes and looked around the room. He saw Tony laying in the bed next to him, still sound asleep. He noticed most of the blankets had been thrown off the bed, except for two. Peter sighed. 'I must've had a nightmare. Oh god, now he knows about them!'

Peter hadn't told Tony about them, and he never planned to. He didn't want him to think that he was weak. Peter also didn't want to bother the older man, he was busy enough as it was. He stood up with his blanket wrapped around him and walked out of the room quietly, he didn't want to disturb Tony.

Peter walked down the hall and into the kitchen, not expecting anyone else to be there. But the sight in front of him made him stop in his tracks. The Avengers were all laughing and attempting to make something in the kitchen, but it wasn't going well at all. Thor was trying to get his hands on a cooking utensil while Clint tried to take it from the God, yelling something about how he'd ruin it the second he'd touch it. Bruce was sitting at the table, laughing quietly to himself at the scene behind him. Steve was helping Natasha cook, the pair ignoring the noise and others behind them. Whatever they were cooking, it smelled good.

Peter didn't say a word, he just went into the living room and turned on the T.V., trying to find something to watch. He settled with Brooklyn nine-nine, a favorite of his. He smiled as the theme played, he loved this show. Then he heard someone yell from the kitchen, "Someone's in the living room!" And Peter knew he was in trouble.

He heard footsteps coming from the kitchen, and he
snuggled himself further in his blanket. When he looked up he saw it was just Bruce, the scientist stared at him curiously. "I-"

"We saw you and Tony sleeping, and we figured you were that Spider-kid. Of course we were confused but I figured something had happened and we let you two sleep. Tony is still asleep, I presume?" Bruce interrupted him, speaking carefully and calmly.

"Y-yeah, he's still sleeping." Peter whispered. He was overwhelmed and scared, the noise was too much for his ears.

"Alright, so you wanna tell us why you're here? If you're comfortable with that. I know you aren't here on some mission or something, it's Friday. Tony would never keep you from school," Bruce spoke calmly, as to not scare Peter.

"My A-aunt.." He mumbled, holding back tears.

"Ah." Bruce seemed to know exactly what had happened, even with little context. The scientist walked over to Peter and wrapped him into a hug, which surprised the Spiderling. He didn't care, he hugged Bruce back and started to cry again.

He felt Bruce smile, letting Peter cry into his shoulder. He didn't care that the kid was ruining his shirt, his aunt had died. Peter pulled away and looked at him, smiling slightly. "Thanks," he mumbled, "sorry about about your shirt."

"Oh, it's fine. I have plenty." Bruce patted the kid's shoulder and stood up, walking towards the kitchen. He stopped and turned his head, "Oh yeah, Nat and Steve are making some Russian dish, it has beef and potatoes, hope that's something you'll eat." After that he continued to walk to the kitchen, and he heard them all bombarding him with questions.

He listened to what they asked him, which was overwhelming.

"Is he awake?"

"Why's he here?"

"Is he ok?"

"Is it the Man of spiders?"

"Shush, you guys have no manners or respect! Yes, it's the kid. He's fine. Something happened with his aunt and I'm not sure how long he's staying here. I'll ask Tony when he wakes u-"

"Good morning kid." Peter jumped and looked up. Tony was awake, his hair was a mess and his eyes were filled with exhaustion.

"H-hey Mr. Stark." Peter stuttered, still a bit on-edge.

"Remember, call me Tony. Enough with the 'Mr. Stark' crap." Tony smiled, sitting down next to Peter. "After dinner we're going to talk about what happened last night, ok?"

"Ok." Peter mumbled, looking down.

Peter sighed. He didn't want to talk about anything.