Tony groans as FRIDAY reminds him to wake up. He snuggles in closer to his wife and tries to fall back asleep. He is just about asleep once more when Pepper nudges him gently. Tony whines. "Noooo." he says, his voice muffled from Pepper's shoulders. "Lemme sleep."
"You have a meeting with Fury today," Pepper reminds him gently. "If you miss it then he'll come here."
Tony lets out an irritated huff before sitting up, his eyes blinking against the sudden light in their room. "This sucks." he concludes, his eyes wandering over to the alarm clock on his bedside table, the time reading 7:04.
Pepper laughs. "I know," she says with mock sympathy. "Can you believe it? You have to wake up before nine AM! Oh the horror!"
"You're mean." he says with a pout. Pepper chuckles and presses a chaste kiss to his lips.
"I'm sorry baby," she says. "But you gotta get up. I don't want Fury storming into our house yelling because you ghosted him at four thirty in the morning. Again."
Tony groans once more before forcing himself out of bed and into the shower. He quickly got ready, brushing his teeth, putting on a suit, and finding the perfect tie that says 'I don't want to be here, it's too early in the morning for this shit and also fuck you'.
He decided to go with the beige one.
Tony pouted as he downed his second mug of coffee. Peter wasn't awake yet and Tony didn't want to wake him up. He was pretty sure Peter has been having trouble sleeping, but he hasn't said anything and Tony didn't want to push just yet.
The relationship between him and his son had improved remarkably over the past few months. It'd been almost three months since everything went down with Hydra and they had slowly been getting closer and closer.
They still had their fights and occasional setbacks, but for the most part it had been getting better. Peter still didn't regularly call Tony 'Dad', but every now and then he would and that always made Tony's day.
He had talked to May about it and she had told him that Peter was trying to get more open when it came to calling Tony 'Dad' but he still struggled. But no matter what Peter called him, Tony decided, he would still be happy.
"Meeting?"
Tony looked up to see Steve returning from his morning jog. Tony just grunted in response and poured himself another cup of coffee. Steve chuckled and walked past him, pulling out a water bottle and downing it in a second.
(Tony hated whenever he did that. It was unnatural. No one should be able to drink that much water so quickly.)
"When are you supposed to be there?" Steve asked, tossing the water bottle in the recycling can.
"First of all---pick that bottle up and reuse it. We're trying to save the environment here," Tony said, pointing at the crumpled plastic in the bin. Steve knew better than to start that argument again and just picked it up and refilled it with more water. "And second of all---too damn early. It's not even seven thirty and that pirate wants me to be there by eight."
"Tony it's seven forty-five." Steve said with a frown. Tony looked back at the clock and frowned.
"Oh shit." he said in monotone, continuing to slowly sip from his coffee mug. Steve stared at him for a few seconds, an exasperated expression resting on his face. Tony raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Aren't you going to get going? You're going to be late." Steve said. Tony shrugged.
"Eh. I'm always late," he said. "I'm also fashionable. Hence the term fashionably late. I coined that one."
Steve opened his mouth to refute that but thought better of it at the last second. Instead he merely shook his head, offered a goodbye and promptly left the kitchen. Tony scowled at the place where the super soldier had just been standing.
"Coward." he muttered under his breath. He'd been hoping that Steve would ask about what that phrase meant or at the very least disagree with him so that Tony could prove him wrong and delay his meeting by another half hour.
But instead Steve decided to bite his tongue and leave Tony to rush out of the tower to make it to the airport in time to see Fury's disapproving glare.
"You're late." he said, gesturing for Tony to follow him onto the helicarrier.
"Maybe you're just incredibly early." Tony said with an impish grin. Fury just glared harder.
"Shut up and sit down Stark." he said. Tony stuck his tongue out at Fury when his back was turned only to freeze when he said, "I saw that."
"How?!" Tony cried. "You only have one eye!"
Fury breathed in deeply. "I am a goddamn super spy. I can tell when a bratty kid decides to stick his tongue out at me behind my back."
Tony just sunk into the chair and crossed his arms defensibly. "I'm not a kid." he muttered under his breath. Fury just raised an eyebrow. "What's this meeting about?"
"Do you want the good news or the bad news?" Fury asked. Tony opened his mouth to say bad news when Fury cut him off. "That was a joke. The good news first." Tony just glared as Fury turned around to show a screen rising up from the floor.
"Barnes is doing well in his healing," Fury said. "He is almost completely free of conditioning."
"That's the good news?" Tony asked. "Then what's the bad?"
"Hydra is being quite the pain lately." Fury said. Tony scoffed.
"When aren't they?"
Fury glared. "They seem to be exceptionally pissed that their favorite doctor was killed under questionable circumstances."
Tony froze. His hands clenched at his sides as he forced himself to remain impassive. "Oh?" he said in a disinterested tone. "And?"
"And they're punishing us by being more obvious about their evil-doing." Fury said.
"Sounds to me like they're helping us," Tony said. "Isn't that what we wanted? For them to be easy to catch?"
"Not when there's too much for us to catch," Fury sighed. "We don't have enough manpower to go to every single suspected Hydra case."
"So what do you want me to do about it?" Tony asked with a raised eyebrow. Fury leveled him with a glare.
"This is your mess, so I want you to fix it."
____________________________________________
"So good to see you 2176." the Doctor said with a twisted smile. "I missed you so much, you know. Are you ready to have some fun?"
"How...h-how are you here?" Peter stuttered, looking at him with wide, terrified eyes.
"Oh Peter," the Doctor said, shaking his head at Peter and leveling him with a condescending smile. "You didn't really think I left, did you?"
"Please..." Peter said softly.
"It's time for your punishment 2176."
Peter shot up with a scream, his heart pounding against his chest. Peter instantly curled in on himself, tears working their way into his eyes. His body shook and he wrapped his arms around his knees and held himself even tighter.
Peter sobbed into his knees, a feeling of helplessness rising in his chest. Even after all these months of being safe and well-provided for he was still suffering from nightmares. Peter felt utterly pathetic. Some kind of superhero he was, right?
Peter loosely grasped his hair and tugged in frustration, his breathing picking up as he thought about the nightmare. It'd been nearly three months since everything went down at the Hydra base and Peter seemed to be getting better.
He thought he was getting better.
He was supposed to be getting better.
Was there something wrong with him? Was he broken? Why did he feel like the world was closing in on him just from having a nightmare about a man who literally could never hurt Peter again? How pathetic could you get?
"--eter! Peter you need to calm down! Peter stop it, you're hurting yourself!" Peter flinched back when he felt something touch his arm.
He scooted back as far as he could and looked up, his fear-filled eyes frantically searching the room for a threat. Some of the panic loosened at the sight of Tony sitting on his bed, looking at him with concern.
"T-Tony?" Peter asked, his teeth chattering.
"Yeah it's me, bud," Tony said softly, gently scooting closer to Peter. "Are you with me?" Peter nodded, his head resting on his knees as he attempted to control his breathing.
"'M sorry." Peter mumbled against his knee.
Tony tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Why are you sorry, Pete?"
"I didn't mean to wake you up. I told FRIDAY not to." Peter admitted. Tony stared at him with wide eyes.
"You asked FRI--- actually, we're going to put a pin in that." Tony said, looking weary as he pulled his hands through his hair. "Peter, I need you to listen to me. Can you do that?"
Peter picked at the fizz on his pajama pants but nodded silently.
"Peter if you are ever in distress. That means a nightmare, a bad day, even stepping on a lego, I want to be able to help." Tony said softly. "Peter you are never a burden. You are my son and I love you. Please don't hide your pain because you think you'd be a bother."
Peter never told anyone that he did that. Peter wondered if he should be surprised that Tony figured that out about him. He decided not to, after all, Tony was the embodiment of a helicopter dad. Peter nodded again, not trusting his voice to remain steady.
"Did you have a nightmare?" Tony asked softly. Peter nodded and Tony held out his arms. Peter stared at them for a second before hesitantly scooting over to him. Tony wrapped his in a tight embrace and Peter instantly relaxed into the hold. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Peter didn't but his breath hitched and he found himself nodding. Peter swallowed back the tears and spoke, his voice shaking harder than his hands. "I just feel so s-stupid." he said. "I shouldn't...I shouldn't still be so a-afraid all the time. What's w-wrong with me?"
Tony's grip on him tightened. "Peter there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. Do you hear me? Nothing." he said. "You went through so many horrible things and if I could trade places with you I would do it in a heartbeat."
"But you can't." Peter said softly, instantly feeling guilty for saying so. (Even if it was the truth) Tony just let out a heavy sigh and lifted his hand to gently run through Peter's curls.
"I know." he said sadly. "I know, baby, and I'm so sorry. But that doesn't mean I can't help you."
"Am I..." Peter's breath hitched in the back of his throat and Peter found himself choking on his words. "Am I broken?"
(Tony felt like he'd just been stabbed through the heart at those small words and he tightened his grip on Peter further, as if his embrace could protect his son from further pain.)
"No. Never." Tony replied instantly. "You are not broken. You've been hurt. It's okay to be hurt, Peter. The nightmares, the flashbacks, the panic attacks, all of that just means that your body is trying to cope. Sometimes you can't cope on your own..."
Peter tensed. "I don't need therapy," he said sharply.
"It might be helpful. Therapy really helped me deal with a lot of the stuff I went through. Maybe you should consider it---" Tony tried but Peter shook his head.
"You just said I'm not broken." Peter said, pulling away from Tony's embrace. "You said... you s-said it. Therapy means I am... It means that I'm giving up!"
"No it doesn't Peter." Tony said, gently holding Peter's hands. "It takes a big man to admit they need help. There is nothing wrong with accepting help."
"I'm a Superhero!" Peter cried. "Superheroes don't get therapy!"
"And what am I?" Tony asked with a raised eyebrow. "Chopped liver?" Peter bit his lip and looked down. Tony sighed. "Peter, I won't force you to get therapy. I'm just asking you to consider it."
Peter had. He already decided he didn't need it. Peter could deal with his problems on his own. He was almost an adult anyway! "I don't need it."
Tony just nodded silently. "Do you think you can go back to sleep?" he asked, changing the subject.
Peter instantly felt the chill of the cold cell in his memories. He shook his head, his hands beginning to tremble. Tony, seeing Peter was on the edge of another panic attack, quickly leaned forward and and tugged Peter back into a gentle hug. "Can we...c-can we just watch a movie or something?" Peter asked, instantly regretting asking.
Obviously Tony wouldn't want to do that! He needed sleep too, Peter! Be considerate for once---
"Of course!" Tony said. Peter let out a gasp when he was suddenly moving. Tony had leant down and picked Peter up, carrying him out into the living room. If Peter weren't so emotionally exhausted he would have protested to be treated like such a child.
But he was so Peter remained silent.
Tony settled them comfortably on the couch as the TV began to play Lilo and Stitch. Peter relaxed against Tony, his heart slowly starting to beat normally once more. As they continued to watch Peter felt more and more comfortable.
About halfway through the movie Tony started to snore. Peter muffled his giggle behind his hand at the sight of Tony's head tilted back off of the couch and a small dribble of drool making its way down his cheek.
Peter felt his own exhaustion start to creep in shortly after Tony fell asleep. Peter moved slightly so that his head was resting on Tony's chest. Here, in Tony's arms, Peter felt safe. Knowing that Tony would be there if he had another nightmare gave Peter the confidence he needed to go back to sleep.
Peter bit his lip and looked up at the sleeping man next to him. "Goodnight Dad." Peter whispered softly before getting comfortable and closing his eyes.
Peter fell asleep to the comforting thrum of Tony's heartbeat.
A/N I just want to point out that what Tony said is absolutely the truth. Getting therapy does not mean you are broken or you are giving up. It means that you are being very strong in admitting that you need help. #Noshame #TherapyHelps