Bruised But Not Broken - Irondad/spiderson

Nightmares

The booming voice echoed through the dark halls, causing the darkness around me to thicken. I felt a sense of unease as I couldn't quite place where I was. Suddenly, a loud stomping sound grew louder and louder, reverberating off the walls. I braced myself for whatever was coming my way.

As the haze cleared, I saw a familiar face - Flash. In seconds, he shoved me to the ground and began pounding on my face relentlessly. As the blows connected, I heard the laughter of the looming faces of people I cared about, including Aunt May, Mr. Stark, and the other Avengers. They gathered around me, happy to see me being punished.Desperate for help, I whimpered, "Please, help me." But there was no kindness or support to be found.

"You're too weak!" Aunt May yelled with a smile.

"You think we would help you?" laughed the Avengers collectively.

"What makes you think you're good enough to stay at my house?" sneered Mr. Stark.

Each word shattered my heart into a million more pieces. I shoved Flash off me and ran as fast as I could, but their voices followed me, mocking me with cruel words like "weak," "pathetic," and "unwanted."

------------------------Stark POV

"Aw, he's so sweet, Tony," Nat spoke as the kid returned to his room.

"Yeah, Tones, he seems like a good kid," Banner agreed.

"Alright, alright, I get it. Shoo off to bed, the lot of you," I laughed, motioning them to leave me.

"Maybe this intern thing won't be so bad," Pepper said, coming over to me and embracing me in a hug.

I let out a hum of agreeance, and we walked down to our bedroom to turn in for the night. Well, Pepper was going to sleep, so I sat at my desk and started tinkering with some new parts for DUM-E.

The blue light from my core illuminated my desk enough for me to tinker with the wiring. As the night stretched, I moved on to more small tasks from the day and upgrades and updates in my AI system. Hours passed as the night got darker. I could hear a slight sound from across the hall, like someone laughing? I stood up and walked to the doorway to listen closer. It wasn't laughing; it was crying.

I hesitated momentarily, wondering if I should investigate, but my curiosity got the best of me. Slowly, I made my way across the hall to the source of the sound - Peter's room.I opened the door to find Peter curled up on his bed, tears streaming down his face. My heart sank at the sight of him in such a vulnerable state.

"Kid, what's wrong?" I asked softly, taking a seat next to him on the bed. After seeing his face up close, I could tell he was having another nightmare. Does this kid have bad dreams every night? I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, shaking him awake. Just before he wakes up, I can make out words he's mumbling this time. He said my name? And Aunt May's. Was he scared of me?

As my arms woke the boy, his eyes shot open, and his body pushed into the corner of the bed against the wall.