Thomas helped his dad work on his current project, although he never told him what his true intentions were. Thomas was determined he could figure out more about his odd dreams through the research, but he couldn't tell Bruce. To be honest Thomas wasn't even sure himself if it was something worth worrying about. On his own time he would look it up online and made sure he had Jarvis delete all his research in case anyone went looking later on. His research however went nowhere.

Thomas yawned unaware he and his dad had been working well into the evening.

"So if we put this on you, for example, I should be able to see what you see when in your sleep." Bruce was fixated on the screen in front of him.

Thomas was glad his dad hadn't turned around as he was sure he flinched. If his dad saw what was going on than he would surely end up getting more attention than he wished.

"Umm…wouldn't that be considered an invasion of privacy?" Thomas hoped he sounded more curious than afraid.

"Not if you volunteer for it…"

"And you're not going to volunteer for it?"

Bruce turned to face him now. "I can't"

The words seemed so simple yet to Thomas he was almost sure there was more meaning behind them than Bruce let on. He waited for Bruce to continue and after what seemed like a long amount of time he was starting to think he wasn't going to.

"The only time I sleep well is after the big guy..." His voice betraying his sadness.

Before Thomas could stop himself he volunteered himself and as soon as the words left his mouth he wished he could take them back. Surely his dad sleeps sometime; the human body can't survive without sleep. Even if he only slept for two hours, it was enough to at least test his theory.

"I'm not going to force you to do it if it makes you uncomfortable, Thomas. I just know it'll be more difficult to get results if it was left up to me." He looked away. "I don't think anyone would want to see what I go through at night anyways." His voice so soft Thomas knew he wasn't meant to hear it.

"What would happen, hypothetically speaking, if my dreams were actually reality?" Thomas had considered the possibility, but pushed it aside because it was not something that should be possible. Of course, surviving an explosion with the amount of gamma radiation Bruce endured shouldn't have been possible either.

Bruce turned back to him slowly like his was considering Thomas' words carefully. "Out of curiosity I'm sure, but what sparked the curiosity?"

Thomas pressed his lips together and turned away knowing he wouldn't be able to lie to his dad's face, not convincingly at least. "I saw something online about it. That and the idea of seeing the future."

"I don't think that will be a concern." Although Bruce knew Thomas had more on that topic but decided to keep it to himself. "However, if you want, we can talk about it later?"

Thomas was almost certain if he couldn't hide his odd dreams well enough that would change from 'can talk about it' to "WILL talk about it'. Thomas sighed. He figured it would happen eventually, he was almost certain it had happened before; through when it came to his past family he couldn't remember much.

"How about this…" Bruce could tell the thought of someone seeing what he saw at night was both physically and mentally stressing Thomas out. Something he could relate to. "…I go first and if things go okay… you can uh…go after…"

Thomas considered this. Of course he would probably end up spending more time in the chair than his dad would, but he knew this was the best Bruce could offer. Bruce didn't want to go at all, so for him to offer going up first and allowing Thomas to witness what he knew where his nightmares, was a big thing.

A small smile tugged on Thomas' lips as he turned to nod at his dad. Together they both had secrets that would finally be opened to each other.

Thomas sat and stared at the black screen for about two hours before it lit up with a scene. He spent most of that time going over the instructions Bruce had given him about and watching the opposite screen with the state of his mind as it slowly slipped into the rapid eye movement phase.

The scene started out normal. Bruce was in a busy place, people milling about to their own business. He could tell however, that it was nowhere Thomas could recognise. The signs above the stores where in a different language and the buildings where all squished together.

"Jarvis, where is this place?" Thomas knew the unconscious mind could make up places that didn't exist however he felt this was somewhere his dad had been at one point. All the stores had minute details the mind surely didn't think was important however they variety of patterns and colours of fabric were clear in the stalls. The texture of the breads and fruits were in such great detail Thomas felt he could simply reach through the screen and grab them. Even the stones of the brick street seemed to have more detail than he would have given thought to. Thomas knew this was probably not just a dream but a part of his life that haunted Bruce for a long while.

Thomas felt almost guilty now, watching something his dad obviously wished to forget. It almost felt like he was protruding his dads mind. Of course the guilt turned into fear as he realised that he was next in line.

"Based on the landscape and Dr. Banners files I would have to say Brazil."

Thomas had never been to Brazil, nor had Bruce, yet he was apparently wrong. Then of course there was the question on his dad having a file. A file of what? Did the rest of his family have files too? Did he have a file? He shook the thought off and watched the screen.

Bruce was running through the busy streets and hidden alley ways checking his back every once and a while. Then there was the importance of the watch that kept getting screen time as well. The pursuit continued for a while and Thomas was starting to notice the numbers on the watch were relevant to heart beats per minute. He watched intently as he Bruce was now cornered. He waited to see what would happen next and even took in the details of the faces of those that had cornered him. Of course Thomas knew none of the people but he tried to memorize their faces anyway. The watch took the screen again and the number 189 moved up to 192 than the screen went black.

Thomas freaked out for a second thinking he had done something wrong or maybe missed a step up but upon looking at the screen behind him he found that the rapid eye movement phase had moved. He had to wait for the cycle to repeat.

Thomas sat back and waited what he knew would be any time between 15-30 minutes before the dream would continue. He also hoped he would be able to see what kept his dad up most of the night. He thought about reading the files that had been mentioned earlier however Jarvis mentioned that the only person with access to them was Tony, of course. However Jarvis did mention that if he asked, Tony may grant him access to them.

The screen lite up again however, Brazil was no longer the location. With the buildings tall and evenly spaced out and busy streets, Thomas knew it was a city. Being able to read the street signs helped him pin point the location to somewhere in the USA.

There was a girl with fair white skin and long dark brown hair and warm blue eyes, one Thomas, again, didn't know. The screen flashed seemingly telling the story, the once detailed scenes now only fuzzy pictures that lasted a few seconds before the next. A pair of large green hands than the girl lying on the floor, eyes closed, limbs bent in different angles. The scene changed again before Thomas could determine if the girl was still alive. Thomas froze when the scene moved to a picture of him and Natasha lying on the floor the same way the other girl was the green blob in the corner, undoubtedly hands. He could tell they were both dead before the screen went black again. Thomas didn't need to turn to know Bruce was out of his subconscious.

Looking over at Bruce, Thomas couldn't help but notice the sheen of sweat that plastered his hair down and the fact they made eye contact for a brief second before he avoided contact all together. Thomas tried to find some words of comfort, but they all died in his throat. He knew Bruce was afraid of hurting people while the other guy was out to play, but he never knew it was what kept him up at night. Thomas similarly knew the other guy wouldn't hurt him or Natasha, but Bruce obviously thought differently.

The room became uncomfortably silent as time ticked on. Bruce silently left and returned with a cup of tea than moved to the chair Thomas had evicted by the screens. Thomas sat on the make shift bed watching as he kicked his feet back and forth.

"I'm sure you'll forget all about it after seeing the shit I think up." Thomas leaned back and flopped onto the bed. "Sometimes I wake up terrified, too yet all I see is just…" Whatever happens to be going on when I'm asleep. Obviously he couldn't say that, no matter how much he wished he could. The only way he could get someone to believe him was if they saw it for themselves. Thomas shot a nervous glance at Bruce before he lay looking at the ceiling.

It took Thomas a long time to be able to get to sleep. It wasn't because he wasn't tired, he truly was seeing as he had been up for 17 hours before they even put Bruce in. He was afraid of what he and in turn, Bruce would see. He didn't know what pulled him out or if he could actually interact with people. He only really tried once. Slowly reality slipped away and he found himself in the living room of the Avengers tower.

Once getting a good look around Thomas wished he had gone first. It was early enough in the morning where there were people actually up. Steve sat in one of the chairs watching an old cowboy movie with a bowl of fruits and nuts sitting in the seat beside him. He reached into the bowl his eyes never leaving the screen. From where he stood, Thomas could probably slip from the room unnoticed, well he would be unnoticed regardless, however he hoped he could get through this without Bruce catching on he was not actually visible. Or maybe Bruce wouldn't. It took Thomas a long time to finally realize what he was seeing was actually reality.

Quietly Thomas slipped into the kitchen where he found Clint and Natasha sitting enjoying their breakfast together.

"…last I saw him, he was with Bruce working late doing research on something about sleep." Natasha took another spoonful of her yogurt and oats.

Clint chuckled. "Poor guy must be tired out of his mind…"

Thomas quickly fled from the room silently cursing himself. He knew the two assassins would have been quiet if Thomas was actually there. They also would have noticed his presence no matter how quiet he had been. So much for being subtle. Thomas silently hoped his dad hadn't noticed his flaw.

He moved through the halls hoping to keep out of sight of anyone. He passed by mirrors in which when he looked, he couldn`t see himself. He was doing fine almost sure he was safe if he stayed in the empty halls by the lab when the door behind him opened. He froze. The labs were where Bruce was. What an idiot! Obviously Bruce would come looking as he probably knew the hallway better than anyone. He turned very slowly on his heels, his eyes pressed closed. Maybe if he was lucky, Bruce would think he moved to the next stage of his sleep cycle. Just stay in the lab please. Don't go looking for me.

"Thomas?"

Of, course he couldn`t see the screen, he was at the door not the desk. His eyes opened to see Bruce standing in the middle of the hall looking down the hallway. He was see through, but it didn't help Thomas' nerves at all. Why hadn't he wakened? When Tony was close to seeing him, he was woken.

"You're here aren't you? If I bring the screen here I'll see myself standing here right?"

Of course Bruce would have figured it out. He wouldn't be a genius if he hadn`t, it just complicated things now. Of course he could deny it, seeing as Bruce didn't have the screen. He couldn't interact with anything as far as he knew so maybe lying about it wasn't a bad idea.

Thomas moved past his dad back into the lab and looked at the screen. His heart sank. On the next screen over Bruce had Jarvis open the camera footage of the rooms Thomas had just fled from. Bruce caught on a lot faster than he thought. His hand fell into his hands. How do you explain something like this? How long had this been a problem? He tapped the screen and to his amazement the screen went black. Why can I interact with the screen? It didn't matter, if he could shut it off…

"Go ahead. I have it all recorded."

Thomas found Bruce standing behind him, his eyes, unknowingly on Thomas'.

"Why didn't you say anything before hand?" He momentarily waved his hand in dismissal realizing Thomas couldn't respond. "You did, I just didn't catch on." He pushed his hand through his hair.

Thomas looked over to where his body lay. An eerie sight as it didn't even move to breath. He moved from the seat and set the screen back up so Bruce could see what he planned next. Might as well test the limits of this experience. He tried to push the mug of tea onto the floor where he watched his hand pass right through, exactly as he expected it to. This way he may not be bombarded with so many questions. He could give answers by showing Bruce what he already knew.

The next question to answer, his shadow. Thomas moved to one of the glass walls that out looked the city. The sun was low in the sky making the view hurtful on the eyes as the neighbouring buildings reflected the light in. Thomas however had no effect, probably because he didn't have eyes right now. Slowly he pushed his hand toward the glass. Just before it touched everything went black.

Thomas was surprised to see when he opened his eyes Bruce wasn't lingering around him ready to ask questions. Instead he sat with his eyes focused on the screens. Re-watching the footage maybe? Pushing himself up to a sitting position finally got the attention from Bruce.

Thomas opened his mouth to say something but Bruce beat him to it.

"We are going to be having a long talk about this. I am going to want details."

Thomas let his head fall forward, his chin resting on his chest. He knew it was coming, he had just hoped he could have pushed it off a little longer.

"Where do I start?"

AN: So now the secret is out! As always if there is something you are interested in let me know and I'd be happy to try and write about it. Just keep in mind it may be a few chapters from now as I have a good idea on where I'm leading this right now. :D