Tony walked into the common room and saw peter scrolling mindlessly though his phone.
"Hey Pete i'm surprised your not on patrol right now" tony asked raising an eyebrow in peter's direction
"Hey dad yeah i had homework i had to do by the time i was finished i was too tired to go out tonight i'll go out tomorrow" peter said shrugging his shoulders.
" kiddo its not even 5pm are you not sleeping?" tony asked concerned
"That's rich coming from you dad, i rarely see you in bed before 3 am, i didn't get much sleep last night." Peter said shrugging
"pete that's more of a do as i say not as i do scenario, why didn't you get much sleep?" tony asked worried
"I don't know Dad i just wasn't able to sleep, it's not a big deal, I'm going to go take a nap now will that make you happy? " peter said annoyed walking towards his room, tony followed.
"Pete you know you can tell me anything" tony said sighing
" I know dad thanks, wake me up when dinner is ready ok?" peter said before closing his door.
Tony knew something was up with peter in the last few weeks he seemed to be exhausted all the time and not as willing to go on patrol. Tony needed to figure out why.
"Hey Fri over the last few nights has peter not been able to sleep through the night ?
"Boss according to cameras Peter seems to sleep 2 to 3 hours before waking up in distress he doesn't appear to go to back to sleep after he wakes up either." FRIDAY stated.
Tony should of known, of course it was nightmares. Tony sighed he knew them too well.
"When did peter seem to start having nightmares FRIDAY? Tony asked worried
"it appears they started about a week after he stopped Adrian Toomes Boss" the AI answered.
Tony face palmed how he could be stupid and forget about his son stopping a weapon smuggler even after he told him not to. Peter and him got in there first real fight over it and tony took peter's suit doesn't mean it stopped peter he stopped Toomes in what looked like PJs. Tony sighed and knew peter didn't tell him all what happened that night so soon he have to ask him.
"Hey Fri alert me anytime peter has a nightmare" tony said walking to his lab
"Of course Boss" FRIDAY stated
He was crushed under huge piles of concrete he could hardly breathe. He was near tears before shouting out
"HELLO?"
"HELP!"
"Please I'm down here! I'm stuck, I can't move! I cant-"
Peter awoke with a gasp; his heart was pounding inside his chest. He pushed himself off the bed and walked into his bathroom and splashed water in his face. Its been weeks since he was trapped under the building by Toomes and he had nightmares about it almost every night. He hadn't told his dad about the building since he was worried enough after tony saw peter's bruises from fighting the vulture he would lose it if he knew. Peter's ears prickled and he glanced out of his bathroom and saw his dad looking in.
"Hey kiddo can i come in?" tony asked
"Sure dad" peter said walking out of bathroom went to sit on his bed.
"Pete you seem tense did i wake you?" tony asked
"no dad ive been up for awhile" peter lied
"kid stop hiding things please i thought we agreed no more secrets" tony said giving peter full focus " pete once you went to lay down earlier i definitely noticed your behavior has been a bit off not just today the last few weeks. But i finally figured out why with a bit a research i feel like an idiot for not noticing sooner your having nightmares about Toomes." Tony said looking very concerned
"uh dad its just a nightmare its not a big deal" peter said quietly
"well i told Friday to alert me when you have another, that's why i am here so i can understand more whats going on." Tony said
"dad you didn't have to do that ill be fine they go away eventually" peter said awkwardly
"not without help pete, kid i use to get nightmares all the time and i didn't want people to see me as weak so i didn't tell anyone about them but eventually they just got worse, they get better when you talk about them pete" tony said rubbing peter's back assuring
Peter sighed and nodded "your right i should i just didn't want to worry you" he said defeated
"peter i'll always worry about you i'm your dad, but what i worried about is i can tell something happened before you stopped Toomes that is haunting you." tony said
"He… sort..of.. dropped… a..building.. on ..me" peter mumbled
"The bastard did what now?" tony almost shouted
" he was in an abandoned warehouse when i found him he set his winged suit on me i dodged it every it never hit me but he was hitting the supports of the warehouse by the time i figured out it was his plan to escape it was too late, i was buried under tons of concrete. I screamed for help but no one was around to hear me so i eventually lifted the concrete off of me" peter said quitely
Tony pulled peter into a tight hug
"i'm so sorry pete that happened because you didn't have your suit its my fault" tony said with a sob.
Peter pulled away from tony.
"Dad it's not your fault i agreed to your terms if i wanted to be a hero. You are my dad you can take it away if you thought i was biting off more than i could chew i don't have to like it but it is not your fault its Toomes's." peter said looking tony directly in the face.
"pete thank you for finally telling me is this what your nightmares have been about?" tony asked
"yeah just reliving how helpless i felt before i actually was able to free myself" peter said indifferently
"pete you were able to move a building off of you which is amazing, you were not helpless. but anytime it a nightmare comes again ill be there for you"
"dad you don't got to-" peter said
tony interrupted him.
"peter trust me from experience its much easier to get back to sleep when you have someone to calm you down and keep you company, pepper is a damn saint for putting up with me" tony said smiling.
Peter nodded "Yes she is but she's lucky. And so am i for having you as a dad"
"pete i'm the one who got lucky" tony smiled and pulled peter into a hug.
Tony ordered a pizza and they watched movies in peter's room all night.
Halfway through the 2nd movie tony noticed peter nodded off so he decided to turn off the tv, and covered peter with a blanket. Tony was considering going to his lab when he heard peter sound like crying in his sleep. Tony sighed tinkering can wait peter is more important. Tony got back on the bed and pulled his son close instantly peter's cries stopped, he seemed to be sleeping more soundly. Tony played with peters curls for what seems like hours until sleep claimed tony as well.
