Author's Note: This is the chapter that's teased about in the summary ;) It's purely Steve & Peter, because I love it when they interact.
"Captain Rogers, Nightmare Protocols have been activated."
It was summer break, and Peter was spending most of his weekends at the Compound. Tony was currently away on a business trip for Stark Industries, so FRIDAY alerted Steve of Peter's distress.
"How is he doing, FRIDAY?"
"Peter has an elevated heart rate and has been crying out in his sleep."
At this, Steve got up and made his way to Peter's room. When he got to Peter's door, he knocked it gently first before going in.
"Peter?" He asked quietly as he came in, a little unsure of himself. This was the first time Steve was handling this alone. When he got close to the bed, Steve saw that Peter's face was twisted, almost as if in pain, and he was whimpering in his sleep. Steve knelt by the bed and put his hand on Peter's shoulder, giving it a little shake. Peter must've been about to wake himself up, because his eyes shot open and he let out a gasp. He reoriented himself to his surroundings and looked at Steve.
"Captain Rogers?"
"Hey there, Queens. How are you doing? Seems like whatever it was must've been pretty intense"
Peter seemed hesitant, as if he was trying to figure out how best to answer the question. When it came to Steve, he knew that while Peter was mostly comfortable around him, there was still a touch of hero worship there that made Peter reluctant to appear vulnerable in front of Captain America.
It may have been sheer force of will on Peter's part, but he had mostly calmed himself down. "I'm fine. Sorry for waking you."
"It's no trouble, Peter. Trust me, I'm no stranger to this kind of thing. Did you want to talk about it?"
"Mmm…not really. If I don't have to, I mean."
"No, you don't have to. Are you gonna be alright? If you need me to stay here, I'm fine with sleeping on the floor."
It seemed like Peter wanted to take Steve up on his offer, but then he shook his head. "No, that's okay. I'll be fine. Thank you, though."
Steve still felt like he should do something more. Then an idea popped in into his head. "I know something that might help you out. I'll be back in a minute, ok?"
Peter nodded and Steve went back to his and Tony's room. He grabbed his Iron Man teddy bear off the bed. Tony had gotten it for him a while ago, presumably as a joke, and for the most part the bear stayed tucked away on Steve's side of their walk-in closet. However, the first time Tony was away after that, Steve found himself haunted by his own memories and took the bear out, wanting to hold on to something other than Tony's pillow. Since then, Steve usually slept with the bear whenever Tony wasn't there. He never told Tony about this, as admittedly he was a little embarrassed. He was also pretty sure that Tony didn't even realize he still had it.
Peter was still awake when Steve returned, and he called for FRIDAY to turn up the lights just enough to see. Peter eyed the bear in Steve's hands.
"I am almost 17, I'm not a little kid." Peter said defensively.
Steve figured he'd better hurry up & explain himself before his idea de-railed. "Well, technically I turned 100 last week." He said with a smirk. "You don't have to take it, but I've found that it helps when you don't want to be alone."
"Captain America sleeps with a teddy bear?"
"Not all the time. But Captain America is still susceptible to fear and loneliness just like anyone else. And none of that makes you childish, Peter."
As Peter considered that, Steve tried for one more selling point. "You know if you squeeze it, its arc reactor lights up for 30 seconds." Steve had FRIDAY turn off the lights and he squeezed the bear so the only illumination in the room was the soft blue glow of the bear's arc reactor. This seemed to finally persuade Peter and he took the bear from Steve's grasp.
"Thank you, Steve" Peter called out as Steve was making his way back to the door. Steve paused at that. He could count on one hand the number of times Peter called him by his first name. Perhaps Peter saw a little less of Captain America and a little more of Steve Rogers in that moment.
"You're welcome, Peter." Steve replied and went back to his own room.
Things were quiet the rest of the night.