A light in the dark

The nightmare

The kid being a little genius was just the cherry on top, Tony sometimes felt proud of Peter and his knowledge of science. The whole inventing the webshooters for example... It hadn't taken long for Tony to figure out the whole Spiderman thingy. Although that had actually caused him more anxiety and worry, which is why he'd installed a system in Friday that would report any sights of Spiderman in public cameras all over the city to report back to him in case Spiderman was in any kind of trouble.

Tony smiled a little to himself and trailed along the hallway to his bedroom and slid into bed, leaving his door open in case he would be needed.

He was running in some kind of forest. It was dark and kind of damp. Trees and roots and twigs everywhere, he had only one goal. Find May. She screamed out his name in fear. Peter had never heard her this worried. Had Greg done something serious this time?

"Peter!" She cried,  Peter ran as fast as he could, "Please.. I can't take it much longer!"

He ducked and jumped and nudged every branch that came his way. He has close now. He could hear her sobs.

"May?!" He called out, breath stuck in his throat. Flicking his head left and right, trying to spot her.

"I'm over here!" He looked to his left again, but she was nowhere to be found. Gosh this couldn't be happening.

Peter shifted and turned on the sofa, all twisted in the blanket. Sweat running down his forehead made his hair all damp.

Another scream from May came from the treecrowns this time. And then silence. Oh no. He'd been too late. May... She was gone?! She had stopped crying. Just as Peter was about to call out her name again, the whole world shook and the trees with it.

"Sir, Mr. Parker appears to be in distress. He is not awake yet but his vitals are showing signs of distress."

Tony groaned and dragged his hand over his face. He knew he had taken on some kind of responsibility when he chose to be the one to pick Peter up from school and be the one to tell him. But he didn't know he'd signed up for this whole other emotional side of things.

Tony pulled his sheets off and was already on his way to the sofa when he could hear Peter mumble in his sleep as he twisted and turned.

"Hey!" Tony shook Peter by his shoulders, "Kid, wake up."

Peter's eyes flew open with his breath caught in his throat. The kid looked absolutely terrified.

"Hey, it's okay.." Tony sat down on the sofa and looked down at him. He noticed the tears forming in his bloodshot red eyes and the sweat all over his body. He felt his forehead and bit his lip. Kid was cold and shaking like a leef.

"Is May..." Peter's voice shook and his chin trembeled. He couldn't breakdown in front of Tony Stark, he knew this was probably not something the man enjoyed doing. He was kind enough to let him stay the night, but comforting him after some bad childish nightmare?

"Yeah, buddy. I'm sorry.." Tony whispered back and looked at him concerned. Peter was thankful that he didn't see any pity in the man's eyes. Peter looked away and started sobbing lightly, enough tears to make them run down his cheeks.

Tony had no idea what to do. All of those things that people thought of him was right. He could never take care of a kid. What if he messed him up? He supposed the only thing he could do was what he would have liked someone to have done for him when his own parents had passed and left him to be an orphan.

Peter's light sobbs turned into a more shaking and trembling cry. Shit, Tony thought. He picked Peter up into a hug and decided to just hold him there. Peter was slightly surprised and embarrassed but those feelings quickly went away as he realized his whole body was shaking abnormally.