"Hey bud, Peter?" A metal arm carefully grasped the boys shoulder and shook him awake.

"Wha'sup?" Peter lifted his head off the counter, forcing his heavy eyelids open. "Sorry uncle Bucky," he rubbed at his tired eyes, "didn't mean to fall 'sleep."

"I know kid." He ruffled the teen's hair before taking a seat next to him, chuckling lightly. "Are ya up all night partyin' or something?"

"No, just really tired this past week."

"Nightmares?"

"I- yeah sorta… more like m-memories. Bad ones."

Bucky's eyebrows furrowed in concern as his grip on his nephew's shoulder tightened. He knew exactly what Peter meant - having been a Hydra prisoner himself. Every memory with them was a bad memory.

"Wanna talk 'bout it?" He asked, genuinely concerned for his youngest teammate and nephew.

"I…" Peter did not want to talk about it. Not at all. But if his suspicions were correct then it wasn't just him that was in danger. His family and anyone within the tower could be at risk. "You know how Dr. Strange taught us about the multiverse and different dimensions?"

"Yeah, it was during the debriefing a couple months ago. After that crazy octopus monster fell into Time Square from some other reality."

"So there was something… something that Hydra let loose. But it wasn't from our dimension." Peter wrung his hands anxiously before tucking them up into the sleeves of his MIT hoodie. "They used some machine to tear a hole in our reality that allowed them to access another dimension."

"What?" Bucky gasped. "How did they manage to build a machine that could tear a hole in reality? That seems way above their pay grade."

Peter scratched the back of his neck as his nerves went haywire. "I'm… I figured it out. I got th-the machine to-to work." Shame bubbled up inside him and he was quick to explain his actions because he didn't want Bucky to hate him or think he worked for Hydra. "They made me. The scientists gave me basic blueprints and I took it from there. I swear I had no idea what they were doing. Honestly, I did-didn't know I-."

"Hey, calm down. It's okay. Just take a deep breath." The soldier reassured. "I know you didn't help them willingly." He put both hands on Peter's shoulders when his breathing picked up. "Just breathe kid."

After a good ten minutes of reassuring on Bucky's part and dozens of failed attempts to imitate the soldiers deep, rhythmic breathing, did Peter finally calm down. He'd barely gotten his breathing back before stuttering out an apology that Bucky immediately dismissed.

"Don't sweat it pipsqueak. I understand." He ruffled the teen's hair again. "Now explain to me more about this monster."

Tony paced back and forth, folding and unfolding his wings as he went. His husband sat quietly in the corner of their bedroom, lips pulled into a frown, eyebrows pinched together. The only thing going through their minds was their baby boy, Peter.

It'd been over a week since the last zoning out episode - as Scott had dubbed it. Peter's nightmares had been getting worse; so bad in fact, that the poor kid had only gotten three hours of sleep over the past four days. The only thing stopping Bruce from sedating him, was that Peter's metabolism burned through drugs in a matter of minutes, leaving any sedative or medication useless.

"What the Hell can we do?" Tony stopped abruptly and turned to the tall blond, frustration and worry seeping into his voice. "I thought the extra therapy sessions would help! The extra training made him more tired but he still couldn't sleep. The relaxing yoga bullshit Friday showed me did nothing! Not even the stupid nature walk you insisted on helped!" He tugged at his hair so hard it started to come out. The dark brown strands falling to the floor.

"Hey, hey," Steve took his husband's hands in his own, quickly stopping the self-destructive behavior. "Please don't hurt yourself honey." He pulled the smaller man against his chest and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. "We'll figure this out. I promise you."

"How? How are we going to fix this when we don't know what's wrong to begin with?" Tony gripped his husband's shirt between his fists. "He's hurting. Our baby!"

"I know honey, I know." Steve tried to keep his composure but his voice wavered, revealing how terrified he truly was. "But Peter is strong. So smart and brave. He gets that from you."

Tony chuckled humorlessly. "He's also got insomnia and a major hero complex. Neither one are ideal. Both of which he got from me."

"There's pros and cons to most everything."

"I suppose." Tony sighed. "But you know what…" he trailed off, a look of deep concentration on his face before his features positively lit up, "I've got insomnia!"

"I know Tony, I sleep with you." Steve deadpanned.

"No- I know that. But you were just saying that there's good and bad to everything right?"

"To most things." Steve nodded. "But I don't see how having insomnia is good."

"No, no I'm not saying that. At least not completely" Tony led pulled his husband into the elevator as he rambled. "But it may be helpful."

The elevator doors opened up onto another private floor which encased the billionaire's private labs. Tony pulled Steve into the nearest one and began digging through drawers and boxes that were strewn about haphazardly.

He began mumbling to himself while he tossed wires and tools aside. "I know it's in here… not those."

Steve just stood back, trusting his husband with whatever he was doing but also knowing better than to get in the way.

"Ha!" Tony exclaimed, holding a small dome-like object in his palm.

"What's that?"

"Something that's going to help Peter."

"Really! Honey, that's great! But… what is it?"

"It's a camera," Tony grinned, "one that not only works as a microphone, records visuals and sound, but also picks up heat signatures. I've got thousands of these as extra security throughout Stark industries. I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner."

"You think this will pick up what we're missing?"

"Definitely." The confidence in his voice reassured Steve. The billionaire was the best when it came to technology and engineering. "While Friday is incredibly intelligent, has millions of resources embedded in her complex database and is literally the most secure system ever," he rolled his eyes at the blond's pointed look, "besides the Wakandan stuff that's equally good; she isn't designed to track heat signatures."

"Might I remind you, Boss, that you were the one that designed me."

Tony scuffed while Steve chuckled. "Anyway," the billionaire glared half-heartedly up at the ceiling, "once I get a bunch of these installed, I can connect them to my computer and-"

"Then we can keep an eye on Peter. See if anything's out of the ordinary." Steve surmised, pleased with his husband's impeccable handiwork and sharp mind. "You're a genius doll."

"Please, tell me something I don't already know." Tony used his snark to avert Steve's attention from the pink lighting up his cheeks.

Steve smirked and pecked the smaller man's cheek.

"Steve, Tony." The winter soldier practically ran into the couple in his haste. Knocking into one of the kitchen cabinets instead. His breath was coming out in short pants as he tried to calm down. The information Peter shared with him was both startling and disturbing, bringing up flashbacks of dark and twisted memories. After leaving Peter in Clint's - somewhat - capable hands he went in search of his other teammates.

"Woah Buck, take a minute and relax okay." Steve's large hands settled on Bucky's shoulders. "Just breathe."

"I-" he took a deep breath, "I need to… I need to talk to you both." He looked from Steve to Tony then back to Steve. "It's im-important."

"You don't gotta work yourself up, looks like you just ran a marathon." Tony nodded up towards the ceiling. "Just ask Friday and she'll get us." He smirked when Bucky's face pinched into a glare having realized his mistake of not accessing the AI before sprinting around the tower.

"I forgot." He huffed, standing up straighter. "Either way, you're here now aren't ya?"

Tony sat back down and sipped from his coffee "If you say so ice sickle number two, shoot."

"It's about Peter. He-"

"Is he alright?" Tony cut in at the same time Steve yelled, "What happened?"

"Nothin'." Bucky pushed both men back into their seats before sitting down himself. "Little punk is with Katniss. But I talked to 'em earlier. 'Bout the nightmares and… hydra." The temperature seemed to drop ten degrees with that one word. "I don't remember much from when I was… there. Just snippets of information. Shuri said things might trigger my memories, a person or a word. Somethin' like that anyways. But when I talked to Peter… I remembered something. Something bad."

Steve's eyes were filled with nothing but understanding. "I know this is difficult. Just take your time Buck." Tony nodded wordlessly, ready to offer what support he could give.

Taking a deep breath he continued. "Once, before I was sent on a mission I heard some of the higher ups, my handlers, talking about opening a gate. I didn't know why or to where. But when I returned to the base everyone seemed to be in a frenzy. It seemed like all of their scientists were in one place." He chuckled humorlessly, "one scientist was bad enough let alone two dozen."

"Did you ever see Peter?"

Buck tried to give the billionaire a reassuring smile though it probably looked more like a grimace. "I never saw him. But I knew of him, his code name was… little monster."

"Those fu-"

"I know honey." Steve quickly took his husband's hand, massaging it gently. "I know."

Bucky waited to continue until Tony gave the go-ahead. "I was stationed by the main lab but nothin' happened and within a few days everythin' was back to normal. Pretty sure I was transferred after that." He scrubbed at his eyes and leaned forward on his elbows. "I asked Peter how he was feeling," a fond smile grew on his lips when he thought of his nephew, "I love the runt and I didn't want him falling asleep in his cereal so I tried to get him talking. He told me about his nightmares… and what's causing them."

"He did? That's great. We've been trying to talk to him but-"

"Nothing's been working." Tony finished his husband's sentence. "He just clamps up."

"Peter remembers a lot more than me. He doesn't want to bother you two."

"But we're his dads!"

"The therapist said Peter might withhold things from us because he wants to protect us." Once again Tony was grateful for Steve's level head. "Keep going Buck."

"The gate was actually a portal; a portal to another dimension that they forced Peter to build. He didn't know what hydra was going to use it for so he built in a self destruct mechanism that would kill the machine after its first use. Effectively shutting the portal. Turns out the machine didn't just shut down, it exploded."

"That's my boy!" Tony pumped his fists proudly. Both super soldiers grinned, equally proud.

"He stopped hydras attempts to access other dimensions but something came out of the portal before it closed. Lots of them actually."

"Lots of what?"

"I'm not really sure."

Napoleon Dynamite played on the fifty inch flat screen TV mounted on the living room wall. The team sat spread out around the room; soda and snacks in hand. Bucky and Sam were laying on the floor directly in front of the TV while Bruce, Steve and Tony occupied the beige wrap around couch.

Although the movie was one of their favorites, no one was paying much attention to it. Everyone's focus was on the youngest teammate who was half asleep on the ottoman.

Steve's fingers were lightly holding onto his husband's sweatpants, watching his son's chest rise and fall. He was beyond relieved to see Peter resting.

He was laying on his side, wrapped up in fleece pajamas and an old quilt that once belonged to his grandmother, Maria. His back was to the couch giving Tony access to his wings. Only Tony, Steve and occasionally Natasha could touch them.

Grooming was necessary maintenance when it came to their wings; keeping the feathers clean and angled correctly to aid in flight and avoid discomfort. But it was also a way to bond. Growing up, Tony never had anyone to help him groom. Mutants were rare to begin with and Howard always demonstrated his dislike for Tony's 'condition' even going so far as to avoid going out with him in public. Jarvis and occasionally his mother were the only ones willing to help. Now, he had Peter. The only other person that experienced what he did and understood.

Gingerly, he ran his fingers over his son's feathers, combing out little bits of debris while carefully angling any crooked feathers back into place. Sighing contently, Peter unfurled his wings. Basking in the affection and safety of his dad.

Unlike his own, Peter's feathers were more delicate, slightly brittle and a dull brown color. His wings were the correct size - his wingspan measured seventeen feet across and he could fly easily - but his feathers were weak due to being starved his entire life and kept from the sunlight. Only now were they starting to hold pigment and strengthen; no longer painful to the touch. As always, Tony was gentle. Humming quietly as he cleaned the feathers.

Fifteen minutes later when Tony was done grooming, Peter had completely dropped off to sleep. Friday instinctively turned the TV volume down. It was getting late but no one made a move to leave. The men's goal of getting Peter to sleep was complete but no one wanted to leave him alone. Stark tower - along with the other avengers strongholds - was one of the safest places in the world.

But what if the enemy was already inside?