Marvel one-shots and short stories

Peter Parker/Otto Octavius, nightmare/panic attack

Some head cannon might be here, I couldn't remember all of the details of these movies in the moment.

Otto suddenly woke, his metal arms swirling around, trying to find the danger that must have woken him.  Instead of finding any threat, they zeroed in on the person next to him in the bed.  Peter Parker.  Otto's boyfriend.  He was currently tense, shaking, sweating, and mumbling under his breath about people named 'Gwen' and 'Harry'.
Not recognizing either name and uncertain of what to do, Otto simply shook the younger man.
"Peter.  Wake up!" Otto said insistently, causing Peter to snap up, almost headbutting Otto, and scrambling away from the man.
"What's wrong?" Otto asked, watching the man from a distance.  Otto noticed that, along with the heavy, near-hyperventilating panting, Peter was also glancing all over the room, taking in everything.  Evaluating threats.  When Otto realized this, he lowered his metal tentacles to a less threatening position, trying to make himself seem less of a threat.
"Can't-Gwen-He just-I couldn't-" Peter cut himself off when he couldn't get a full thought out and instead seemed to get pulled back into his nightmare, shaking.  Otto moved closer slowly until he was right in front of Peter, the younger man looking up at him.
"Breath with me," Otto said simply, taking Peter's hand and placing it on his chest so that he could feel as well as see the deep exaggerated breaths he was taking.  This had never happened to Peter before while Otto was around, but he knew what to do.
Peter was trying desperately to calm down his breathing, but he couldn't stop shaking both from the cold and from his fear.  After several minutes, Peter finally started to breathe slower.  During this time, Otto kept whispering reassurances to the younger man, helping him count his breathing and calm down.
"Th-thanks," Peter said eventually, still shivering from the cold.
"Can I hug you?  Is that okay?" Otto asked, not wanting to trigger the panic attack again.  When Peter nodded his consent, Otto wrapped his large arms around Peter's thin body.
"Thanks," Peter said again, gripping Otto's shirt and sounding much more confident than the first time, but still not one hundred percent.
"Of course.  Do you want to talk about what happened?  Maybe over some food?  When was the last time you ate?" Otto asked, knowing that Peter couldn't always afford to feed himself enough for his still-growing metabolism.
"Couple of days.  I got fired 'cause I was late again." Peter said, letting Otto lead him over to the kitchen and sitting at the table.
"You know that you can come here whenever you want and I'll give you food," Otto said, exasperated that his boyfriend always seemed to choose to go hungry instead of asking for food.
"I know.  I just feel weird when I have to ask for help." Peter said, looking down.
"I know.  That's one of the things we need to work on.  But for now, here.  Eat," Otto said, setting a plate with three sandwiches down in front of Peter.
"Thanks," Peter said, starting to eat them slowly.
"So," Otto said after letting Peter get through one full sandwich and start on the second, "do you want to talk about what happened?"
"Um," Peter started, setting down his sandwich, "can I trust you?  Like, really trust you."
"Yes.  No matter what you have to tell me, I won't judge.  I'll only try to help." Otto assured him, even though he was confused as to why Peter would doubt his trustworthiness.  He had always been honest and trustworthy in their relationship.  He had told Peter upfront about who he was and what he had done.  He had kept their relationship completely secret from everyone when he was asked.  He, in short, had not done anything that he could think of that would warrant doubt.  Peter had also never questioned his trustworthiness.
"Ok.  Well... this is potentially awkward... I'm... spider-man," Peter said his name at the end in a whisper, looking down at the sandwiches, very purposefully avoiding the gaze of Peter's boyfriend and Spider-man's enemy.
"Really?" Otto asked, the word slipping out before he could think his answer through.
"Yeah," Peter said quietly, standing up and jumping onto the ceiling, holding on.
"Wait--the sticky part isn't your suit?" Otto questioned, still shocked at the fact that he was face-to-face with his enemy, but the curious part of the scientist was in charge at the moment, leaving his metal tentacles held back.
"Yeah.  I got bitten by a radioactive spider and got superpowers with spider DNA that's intertwined with my human DNA." Peter explained.
"Well, come down off the ceiling," Otto said after taking a moment to process everything.
"Why?" Peter asked hesitantly.
"Because I want to talk about this and you're getting footprints on the ceiling," Otto said.  Peter instantly dropped down when he realized that he was getting the ceiling dirty, but he stayed in a neutral defensive position, looking at Otto curiously.
"So... are you going to try to kill me?" Peter asked quietly.
"No.  I'm going to ask you about your nightmare." Otto said calmly, sitting back down and gesturing for Peter to do the same.  Peter sat down quickly, criss-cross applesauce to try and conserve heat in his still shivering body.
"It was... pretty normal for me," Peter said shortly.
"That's not normal.  You woke up screaming and then you were terrified and having a panic attack." Otto objected.
"Yeah.  Since you were there it ended a lot quicker than normal but it is normal for me." Peter explained.
"Ah.  What was it about?  Is there anything I can do to help?" Otto asked.
"You can't do anything to help.  Being here with you normally keeps the nightmares away, though.  Today was a bad day so I came over, hoping that I wouldn't dream like that.  I was wrong."  Peter said sadly.
"Was it a dream about Peter stuff or Spider-Man stuff?" Otto asked, trying to understand.
"Well, the line between those two keeps blurring, and I miss shifts.  I used to miss school for it." Peter said.
"What was the dream?" Otto inquired, still trying to get down to the root of the problem.
"It was about Green Goblin," Peter said shortly.
"You only truly fought him once, did you not?" Otto asked, confused as to why the young man would have nightmares over that and not the countless villains who had fought him many times.
"His name was Harry," Peter started, "and he was my best and only friend before he stole DNA from Spider-Man, my DNA, and experimented on himself, leading to the creation of the Green Goblin.  When I was fighting with him, I told my girlfriend at the time, Gwen, to leave and let me fight him on my own.  She was, at that point, the only person I'd ever loved like that.  She didn't listen, of course, she never did.  And she got in the way and Har-Green Goblin," Peter corrected, "he pushed her down a tower and I was too slow to catch her.  She died in my arms.  In the dream, that all happens, but then she stands up and is joined by my parents, uncle, Harry, Dr. Connors, and her dad, and they all taunt me and make me watch their deaths." Peter said, finishing his explanation with a deep breath.
After a few moments of silence, he risked glancing up at Otto.
"Are you going to say anything?" Peter asked.
Instead of answering, Otto stood suddenly.  At the same time, Peter rose up to the tips of his toes, ready to react to any move Otto would make.  Otto simply walked up to Peter and hugged the shivering man.
"I only have one question," Otto said while still hugging him.
"Hm?"
"Why are you still shivering so much?" Otto pulled away chuckling at his boyfriend.
"I don't thermoregulate because of the spider DNA, and the increased metabolism with less food doesn't help.  But are you going to react to what I said?" Peter demanded.
"Yes," Otto said, sending one of his tentacles to wrap around the small man, turning on the heaters, causing Peter to immediately melt into the warmth.
"So warm," Peter whispered.
"Yes," Otto said again, chuckling again before continuing, "can you tell me about all the people who you listed?"
"Oh, sure.  Well, I told you about Gwen.  I had to kill Harry.  My parents died when I was little, and that was my fault because they were killed for not telling them how to use their research, for which I was the answer.  Dr. Connors turned himself into a lizard man with my help, even though I didn't know he planned on using it without more testing, and so I had to kill him after he stabbed Gwen's dad.  My uncle died in my arms because of my inaction." Peter explained, cuddling with the warm tentacle that was still wrapped around him.
"Oh, Peter," Otto said, bringing his boyfriend closer to him to hug him again, "why didn't you just tell me?"
"I was scared that you'd be angry and hurt me," Peter said.
"I have hurt you.  I've tried to kill you.  I'm so sor-" Peter cut Otto off.
"No.  You've never hurt Peter Parker.  You've hurt Spider-Man, but not me." Peter said strongly.
"Is there a difference?" Otto asked.
"Yes.  There has to be." Peter said.
"Why?  Why don't you hate me?" Otto asked, doubting himself.
"Because Peter Parker can love Otto Octavious.  But Spider-Man can't love Doc Ock." Peter explained.
"That... makes sense.  Can I ask you some more science questions?" Otto asked, fully prepared to geek out over his boyfriend.
"Uh, sure," Peter said.
They spent the rest fo the night and the next day getting to know one another again, as Spider-Man and Doc Ock and as Peter Parker and Otto Octavius.