Life Saver

Chapter 24 - Nightmares and Confessions

"Heh... I see..." He chuckles and he sits by the head of the bed, leaning back on the headboard. I keep my back towards him. It's quiet for a moment. "How you feelin'?" He asks all of a sudden.

"I'm feeling okay, I guess. My injuries are nearly completely healed." I say, slowly sitting up. I keep my face away from him. "Umm... Mr. Stark...?" I mumble.

"Hmm?" He hums.

"Are... Are you okay?" I look at him and we make eye contact for a moment, before he looks away.

"Yeah. Don't worry kid. I'm fine." He replies and I can tell he's lying.

"I may be a bad liar, but you also really suck at lying." I taunt.

"Trust me kid. There are a lot of things you don't know about me. And, I am a good liar." He says and I don't know if I should feel worried or not.

"Oh really? Because just now I could tell you were lying." I continue, a small smile appearing on my face. But Mr. Stark isn't smiling.

"I'm fine."

"Reaalllyyyy? Because I bet tha-"

"I said I was fine Peter. Now drop it." He says harshly and I feel embarressed and ashamed for how I acted.

"Sorry..." I mumble and he lets out a heavy sigh.

"It's okay. I shouldn't have raised my voice at you." He sighs and my eyes drift downwards and land on my hands.

The room is quiet. No one dares to say a word. Mr. Stark then gets up and walks over to the door.

"Try to get a little more sleep, alright?" He says, keeping his face away from me.

"Yeah, okay. Goodnight Mr. Stark." I say, laying back down and looking at him.

"Night kid." He says before leaving and closing the door. I lay on my back and look up at the ceiling.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid." I whisper-yell to myself, lightly hitting my head and waiting for morning to come.

.

I somehow managed to to fall asleep after laying in bed for about an hour. I am awoken by the alarm on my phone going wild. God, I wish I could just smash my phone to bits. But then I wouldn't have a phone anymore...

I turn the alarm off and slowly sit up, stretching my arms out. The sun is now shining through the window, giving me a sense of nostalgia. I hope I didn't make Mr. Stark too mad.

I quickly get out of bed to use the restroom before walking out of my room and into the living room. Since I set my alarm to go off around 7:30AM, Mr. Stark's probably not awake yet, so I walk over to the balcony and bath in the warmth from the sun for a few minutes until I hear Mr. Starks door open. I turn around and see Mr. Stark in pyjamas shorts and a tank top walking out, his hair all messy and he just looks overall tired. But not like how he look after waking up from the nightmare.

I didn't know he also got nightmares. I mean, I guess it comes with the job but... I've always seen him as this figure of light who can face any problem that's thrown at him. I know that's a very narrow way of looking at person but he's always been my idol and it just feel weird that I saw him so different from how he normally is. And to make it worse, I kind of upset him by taunting him.

Mr. Stark doesn't seem to notice that the balcony door is open and I walk back in, seeing him brew a cup of coffee. Right. He needs coffee to operate. After his coffee is done, he drinks the whole think without a pause and I'm just left standing there, watching him drink it.

When he's done, he puts the cup down and lets out a heavy sigh. I think this is my cue to greet him.

"Umm... Good morning Mr. Stark." I say and he jumps a little, but relaxes when his eyes land on me.