Irondad Oneshots

Your Feelings Are Real

Sixteen year old Peter Stark was sad and anxious. He wasn't sure why, he didn't have anything specific to be sad or anxious about but here he was.

He'd spent the entire day in his room, leading Tony to believe something was going on. The father didn't pursue answers, however, because he'd told Peter thousands of times to come to him when something's wrong. He'd checked on his boy several times that day, hoping he'd talk, but he wasn't ready yet.

Around midnight, though, Peter couldn't take it anymore. He went into his dad's lab quietly and approached him.

"Hey kiddo. Can't sleep?" Tony asked, setting down the tools in his hands when he saw Peter walking towards him.

Peter didn't say anything, he just fell against his dad and buried his head in his shirt. Tony wrapped his arms around his son and just held him.

"What's going on in that head of yours today, honey? You can tell me, I won't judge or criticize you." Tony spoke softly, rubbing his hand up and down Peter's back.

"I don't know. I just feel sad and anxious and I don't have a reason to be! I can't figure out why I'm like this and I want it to stop!"

"You don't have to have a reason to feel what you're feeling, bud. Your feelings are real and validated, no matter what." Tony assured him, carding his fingers through his son's hair.

"I don't want to feel like this anymore. Please just make me stop feeling like this." Peter begged, burying his face further into his dad's shirt.

"Okay, kiddo. What can I do to help you feel better? Do you want to go lay down and watch movies together? It can be sad movies to cry it out or happy movies to make you laugh." Tony offered, pressing a kiss to his son's head.

Peter nodded slightly, not moving from his dad's embrace.

"Happy movies or sad ones?" Tony asked, walking slowly towards the lab door while keeping Peter close to him.

"I don't know." Peter spoke softly, keeping himself connected to his dad.

"You wanna watch Star Wars?"

Peter shook his head 'no.' "Nothing."

"You don't wanna watch anything?" Tony asked as they got onto the elevator and went to their floor.

"No."

"How about we just go lay down then, huh? That sound okay?"

Peter nodded as the elevator dinged quietly, stopping on their floor. Tony picked him up in his arms and the teenager practically wrapped himself around his dad as if he were a little kid again.

Tony carried his son to his room and sat down on the bed. Peter situated himself so his head laid against Tony's arc reactor and he began to cry.

"You're okay, sweetheart. It's okay to feel sad and not know why and it's okay to cry when you feel like that. Let it out so you can start to feel better." Tony murmured comfortingly.

"I-I'm sorry." Peter cried, fisting the material of Tony's Black Sabbath shirt.

"Sorry for what?"

"For not being tough enough...or strong enough....I'm crying like a baby for no reason!" Peter spoke through his sobs.

"No, no, no. You have nothing to be sorry for. You are tougher and stronger than anybody I know, and I know a lot of people. You're not crying for no reason. Feelings get bottled up inside you and eventually they need to come out and that's okay. Let all your bottled up sadness come out." Tony assured him, holding him tight in a hug.

Peter continued to sob against his dad's chest, being held and whispered assurances to by Tony.  Eventually, he fell asleep still holding tight to his dad's shirt. Tony smiled at the sleeping figure on him, wondering how he could be so lucky as to have this sweet boy as his child. He commanded FRIDAY to turn the lights off and fell asleep beside Peter.

In the morning, Peter woke up and rubbed his eyes. He looked at his dad, who was still sleeping, and he felt better. Maybe he did just need to let everything out. He sniffled before curling back into his dad's side, Tony automatically wrapping an arm around him.

"Love you, bambino." Tony spoke softly with his eyes still shut.

"Love you too." Peter mumbled before falling back asleep.