Archive of Our Own ^beta

0.

The first time Tony saw Peter sleepwalk, he had no idea what it was.

Which, by the way, was because the kid’s nocturnal habits were a detail he had neglected to tell Tony until after the man had to figure it out for himself.

He was working in the lab late one night, hours after Peter had gone to bed, when the door slid open and the teenager wandered in, bumping his shoulder against the doorway as he went.

Tony chuckled fondly at his clumsiness. Even with enhanced senses, Peter was always tripping over his own feet. “Hey, kid. It’s past your bedtime, y’know.” When he got no response, he sighed tiredly and set down his work, spinning his stool so he was facing the teenager. “Can’t sleep?”

Nothing. Not even a twitch in his direction. Peter just shuffled along, head tilted slightly downward and hands hanging loosely at his sides.

“Peter?” The teenager stopped in front of his workbench, picked up his webshooter in strangely lethargic hands, and stared at it. “You alright?”

He swayed a little, and Tony rushed to his side, hands braced out to catch him if he took a sudden nosedive. As soon as he was relatively sure that the kid was going to stay upright, he cupped his chin and tilted his face up. Peter’s eyes were half-lidded, and he looked right past Tony’s shoulder at the far wall without actually seeing anything.

“Buddy?” He waved a hand in front of the kid’s face. It wasn’t like he really expected a reaction at this point, but it was still unnerving when it didn’t come. “F.R.I.D.A.Y.? What the hell is wrong with him?”

“Mister Parker appears to be sleepwalking.”

He let out a breath, feeling a little giddy with relief. “Just sleepwalking? Thank god. Sleepwalking I can deal with. I thought he’d been possessed or something.” He tucked a loose strand of hair behind the kid’s ear and tried not to be alarmed by how motherly the action was. “Do I wake him up?”

“It is inadvisable. Most sources suggest leading him back to bed, if possible. From there, he should resume regular sleep on his own.”

“To bed it is, then.” He slipped the webshooter out of the kid’s hands and slid an arm around his waist, gently tugging him towards the door. “C’mon, bud. It’s nighty-night time for Spider-babies.”

He came easily, dazedly shuffling beside his mentor as the man brought him all the way back to his bedroom.

Tony pushed the door open as subtly as he could. Even though he knew that it was notoriously difficult to wake a sleepwalker, he still felt strangely concerned with disturbing the teenager. Everything about the situation triggered some deep, visceral protective instinct in his gut.

He had to look after the kid. It wasn’t a choice, it was a fact. Something as undeniable and inescapable as the need to breathe or the rise of the sun.

And the first step of looking after the kid was getting him back into bed. He shot a quick glance over his shoulder, surprised by the distance and complex turns that stood between Peter’s bedroom and the lab. “Did he do that whole walk on his own?”

“It appears so.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. paused, and Tony imagined that she was whirring through mass amount of data about sleepwalking. “It is a route that Mister Parker takes on a regular basis. Sleepwalkers are known to stick to activities and routines that are second nature to them.”

“Huh.”

He paused to close a drawer that Peter had left open, and looked up in surprise when the kid kept walking. He shuffled to the bed and flopped onto his mattress as if he’d never gotten up in the first place.

“Is he, uh,” Tony stared for a second, torn between concern and amusement, “is he okay?”

“Yes, Boss. He appears to be exhibiting perfectly normal behavior.”

“Well,” he turned off the lights and headed back towards the lab, shaking his head fondly, “Something tells me that normal is gonna be pretty relative with this kid, FRI.”

--

1.

After Titan, Peter’s sleepwalking went from a once-in-a-while type of thing to an almost-every-night type of thing.

F.R.I.D.A.Y. hypothesized that it was the stress. Apparently, trauma and PTSD could trigger sleepwalking, especially in people who were already prone to it.

And, since Peter was spending more and more time at the Compound since everything with Thanos went down, Tony developed a system to handle it.

It was a pretty simple system. F.R.I.D.A.Y. would alert him if the kid was up for longer than ten minutes, or if he was getting into anything dangerous, but the former rarely happened and the latter, never. The kid would just get up, wander around, then crawl back into bed and be out like a light.

Peter always stressed about it being a problem, but Tony honestly thought it was pretty cute.

He was about to go to bed himself when F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s voice interrupted him.

“Boss,” if he didn’t know any better, Tony would say that the AI almost sounded amused, “Mister Parker appears to be exhibiting some interesting behavior.”

He snorted. “He’s sleepwalking, isn’t he?”

“Indeed.”

“Is he in his room?”

“Yes.”

He stood up and headed that way. “I’ll go put him to bed. I’m not doing anything, anyways. What’s he doing that’s so strange, anyway?” A flare of panic shot through him. “It isn’t dangerous, is it?”

“I do not believe so, Sir.”

He pushed open the kid’s door and let out a bark of laughter.

Peter was standing by the TV, and he seemed to be unplugging pretty much everything he could get his hands on. The remote was on the floor, batteries removed and scattered carelessly beside it. For some reason, his backpack was open and all of his papers were strewn out on his desk. A quick glance in the closet showed that he’d taken out every single one of his t-shirts and put them in a surprisingly neat pile.

He kind of hated that the whole scene was so endearing.

“Nice night to be out and about, I see.” He slid himself between the kid and the TV. “What’re you up to, huh?”

He hadn’t expected an answer, so he nearly jumped out of his skin when the kid actually spoke.

Peter shifted back and forth a bit, head tipped forward and voice a drowsy murmur. “‘S a big deal.”

Tony stared for a second. “F.R.I.D.A.Y.? Is he… talking?”

“Yes.”

He rolled his eyes. “Is that normal?”

“Yes. Some sleepwalkers can engage in entire conversations.”

“Huh.” Tony redirected his focus to the kid, curiosity in overdrive. “Hey, Pete. You know who I am?”

“‘S important. Secret. ‘S an… an important secret.”

“Alright, buddy. An important secret. I’ve got it.” He gave his arm a gentle tug. “Wanna go back to bed, Pete? We can talk about your secret in the morning.”

“Bed?”

Oh. Oh. Was Peter actually processing some of what he was saying? “Yeah, kid. Bed.” He paused, thinking. An idea popped into his head. “Who’s your favorite superhero, Peter?”

The kid swayed drowsily, eyes glazed and nearly shut. “Iron Man.”

He grinned widely as he led him towards his bed. Take that, Steve. “That’s a good choice.” He tried to think of something the teenager would most definitely know if he was awake. “Hey, kid? What’s the Pythagorean Theorem?”

“‘S… a squared ‘n b squared ‘s c squared.”

Okay. That was… impressive. And very nerdy. And absolutely fucking precious.

“Nice job, Pete.” He pushed him until his shins hit the bed, letting go long enough to tug the blankets down. “Wanna get in for me? Bet you’re tired. You can go back to sleep.”

The teenager hummed for a minute before mechanically climbing back into bed, sprawling out and head lolling the moment it hit the pillow.

Goddamn it. This kid really needed to quit with being so obnoxiously cute. Tony had a reputation to uphold, after all.

Despite the thought, he carefully settled the covers over Peter’s shoulders, wiping a bit of drool from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve before he could process how gross and parental the action was.

He also grudgingly decided that after everything, giving into the urge to brush the bangs away from the teenager’s forehead before slipping out to let him rest really wasn’t so bad.

It wasn’t like anyone besides F.R.I.D.A.Y. could see them, anyway.

As soon as the door to Peter’s room shut behind him, he glanced up at the ceiling with a ridiculous smile.

“Hey, F.R.I.D.A.Y.? Save that footage.”

Peter Parker has me wrapped around his finger at all hours of the day, and I can’t even bring myself to give a damn.

--

2.

The Avengers were all back in the Compound.

It was nice, having everyone home, even if some of the past tensions were still settling out.

Peter had been spending a lot of time with them, too, which Tony would shamelessly admit was his favorite part. He’d told the surviving Avengers stories of the teenager while they were working to undo The Snap, but there was a big difference between talking about how fantastic the kid was and getting to show off the real thing.

In all honesty, he couldn’t get enough of it.

But tonight, he’d sent the kid to bed early. He’d had a particular rough patrol earlier in the day, and Tony could tell he wasn’t getting much sleep as it was. So, he’d banned him from the Avengers movie night, much to Clint’s poorly disguised amusement, and told him to go get some damn rest.

They were just starting their second movie when Clint snickered and pointed.

“Uh oh. Someone’s about to be in so much trouble.”

Tony’s eyes snapped away from the screen and landed on the teenager swaying in the doorway. It took all of two seconds for him to recognize what was going on.

This was not his first rodeo, thank you very much.

He chuckled lightly, reaching over and turning the TV volume down a few notches.

“Hey, kiddo.” He cooed, voice soft. “Really wanted that movie night, huh?”

Steve’s brow furrowed as he studied Peter’s posture. “Is he alright?”

“Yeah, he’s fine. Just sleepwalking.”

Clint stared in surprise, making a comic show of adjusting his hearing aid. “I’m sorry. He’s what?”

Tony didn’t rise to the bait. He was too busy worrying that the kid would topple over. Which, yes, F.R.I.D.A.Y. had assured him was highly unlikely countless times, but he still couldn’t shake the nagging concern.

“Sleepwalking. He does it a lot.”

Peter chose that moment to move. Tony muffled a snicker at how quickly the collected Avengers scrambled to pick their feet up out of the kid’s way as he ambled through the room.

“You’re on a mission tonight, aren’t you buddy?” Peter stumbled forward until he bumped into Tony’s knees. “Hi. You need something?”

A slow blink, followed by syllables so loose and slurred that he only recognized the word they were meant to form because it was so undeniably familiar.

“Tony.”

Clint snickered. “Awe, look. Kid needs his dad.”

Tony ignored the joke and reached out to set a steadying hand on Peter’s waist. “You awake, squirt?”

The kid didn’t answer. Instead, he moved to climb onto the couch, clumsy in a way that told Tony that he was most definitely not awake. He helped him along as best he could, pulling one of his knees up and over the cushion when it got caught on the edge.

As soon as he was actually on the couch, Peter sat there for a second, half curled around his knees and glazed eyes fixated on the flickering TV.

Then, he crawled into Tony’s lap.

The older man was so stunned that he didn’t even react. Rhodey had to shove a pillow into Clint’s face to quiet his howls of laughter, and the rest of the Avengers were only marginally more sensitive. Steve was the only one who didn’t laugh, although he did fix the pair with one of the fondest, dopiest smiles Tony had ever seen.

The kid curled into a ball, knees pushed up against Tony’s ribs and face pressed into his neck. He gave a sleepy sigh as he nestled in closer, and Tony’s face burned red.

It wasn’t necessarily that he minded the kid invading his personal space. Hell, they’d ended up in almost this exact position after Peter had come back on Titan. It was just that he was a little self-conscious about the kid invading his personal space in front of the entirety of the Avengers.

They were never going to live this down.

At least the kid got to zombie his way through the worst part of the shame. If he were awake, Tony knew that he’d be beyond embarrassed.

“You know,” he cleared his throat, “there’s a good bit of open couch space right beside me, kiddo.”

“Tony.”

Man, the kid really was fixated tonight. Usually, he wandered pretty aimlessly. Even if he was feeling talkative, their conversations were disjointed and confused.

“Okay, Pete. You can have Tony.”

“Mine.”

God, he was really beginning to regret that upgrade he’d given Clint’s hearing aids right about now. The archer was practically in tears.

Still, he couldn’t help the murmured reassurance. “Don’t worry, kid. Tony’s all yours.”

Peter went comfortable limp on his next exhale, and Tony couldn’t help the little chuckle that he let out into his curls. He sleepwalked out of his room, into an elevator, down three separate halls, and past multiple Avengers so that he could crawl into my lap, claim me as his own, and fall asleep in my arms.

He wanted to be mad, but there was something so fucking endearing about the whole thing that he felt like he might burst.

Without really thinking about it, he curled one arm around the kid’s body, pinning him closer, and brought his free hand up to the pulse point on his neck, content to focus on the steady thud-thud, thud-thud, thud-thud of Peter’s heartbeat against his fingertips.

“Is he actually asleep now?”

Tony glanced up at Steve. “Oh, yeah. He’s off in dreamland, and I get the consequences.”

Clint snickered, but there was a tint of deep love in his voice. “Kids are like that. They get all the fun, and you get all the trouble.”

Tony shrugged, eyes lingering on the soft lines of Peter’s face. Like Clint says. He’s just a kid. A trusting little kid who seeks me out for safety even when he’s asleep.

“As long as the trouble’s far away from him, I guess I don’t really mind.”

--

3.

“Tony? Honey, wake up.”

Tony jolted up in bed at the sound of Pepper’s voice, scrambling for the arc reactor that housed the nanotech for his suit in a rush of disoriented panic. “Shit. What? You okay?”

“Easy, Tony, you’re alright.” She caught his wrist and gives him a soft smile. “Everything’s okay. You’re in the Compound and you’re safe. I’m safe. Take a breath.”

He choked in a gasp and nodded. “I-I’m fine. What, uh, what’s…?”

“Another breath, Tony.” She gave his wrist a light squeeze when he followed her instructions. “F.R.I.D.A.Y. was trying to wake you.”

“I’m sorry to disturb you, Boss, but I believe that Mister Parker is in need of assistance.”

He sighed and kissed Pepper on the cheek in apology. She just made a shooing hand gesture as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. “I understand.” She winked. “Duty calls.”

God, he loved her.

“Is he sleepwalking again?”

“Yes. He appears to have injured himself.”

He was on his feet in an instant. “What? Where is he? How bad is he hurt?”

“He’s in his room.” He made a beeline for the kid’s door, thankful that he’d put his room so close to his own. “I believe he tripped.”

F.R.I.D.A.Y. had already released the kid’s lock, so he slipped right into the dimly lit room. Peter was sitting a few feet away, back pushed against his dresser and glassy eyes fixed on some distant spot.

“Did he fall here?”

“Yes, Boss.”

“Where’s he hurt?”

“I believe he landed on his left wrist.”

Tony knelt quietly in front of the kid, smiling comfortingly despite knowing that he wouldn’t process the gesture. “Hi, bud. Got yourself in a bit of a situation, huh?”

He blinked slowly, but otherwise sat completely still. He didn’t even react when Tony took his already swelling wrist in gentle hands and rotated it, wincing.

“Well, that’s not great, is it?” He couldn’t tell if it was broken or not without an x-ray, but the kid had, at the very least, sprained it pretty badly. “Don’t worry. F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s gonna call Brucie, and we’ll get you all fixed up. You’re okay.”

He pushed himself to his own feet first, then learned over and hooked his hands underneath Peter’s armpits. He tugged until the teenager stumbled dazedly to his feet, content to let his mentor guide him all the way to the MedBay. By the time they got there, his eyes were almost completely shut.

Bruce was waiting for them, a look of exasperated amusement on his face. “What happened?”

“Kid took a nighttime tumble.”

The scientist gave an absent nod. “Take him to the bed we usually use and push at him until he gets in. Hopefully, he’ll fall back into normal sleep. We’ll x-ray his arm and wake him up then if we need to.”

Tony nodded, spinning Peter around and leading him over to the thin MedBay mattress.

“Look here, kid. Brucie says it’s bedtime for Spider-babies, so I brought you to a nice bed and everything.” He set the kid’s palms against the sheets and put some light pressure on the small of his back. “Crawl up there and go to sleep for me, alright? Else Bruce might get angry, and we don’t want that.”

Tony kept a steadying hand on Peter’s back as he crawled onto the bed. Within a minute, he was tucked underneath his covers and snoring lightly.

Bruce chuckled a little as he carefully took his bum wrist and set it on top of the blanket. “You said he does this a lot?”

“Yeah. Used to happen just a couple times a month, but it’s been a lot worse since Titan.”

“Hm.” The blue light of F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s biobed scanners swept over the kid’s arm. “You should talk to Sam about it. He’s got a lot of experience with PTSD. He might be able to help.”

Tony felt a little stupid that he hadn’t thought of that himself. “That’s… a good idea.”

Bruce shot him a wry smile. “Well, I do come in handy every once in a while.”

F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s synthetic voice cut through the room. “Mister Parker appears to have a distal radius fracture that needs to be set. With his healing abilities, I estimate that he will be fully healed within one to two weeks.”

“Oh, he’ll love that.” Tony run an anxious hand through the kid’s hair, purposefully fluffing up a few of the curls. “Do we cast it?”

Bruce nodded. “I’ll go get the supplies. Can you wake him up and let him know what’s going on?” The scientist chuckled. “He can choose his cast color and make everyone sign it in the morning.”

“He’s sixteen, not six.” Tony joked, knowing full well that the kid would be ridiculously excited by the prospect of having the Avengers sign his cast.

Once Bruce had headed off, Tony brushed a more forceful hand through the curls lingering on Peter’s forehead.

“C’mon, bud. Wake up for me.”

The teenager’s eyelids flickered open, and Tony grinned when his gaze latched right onto his face.

“Huh?” Peter shifted, then winced. “Uh, ouch?”

He cringed in sympathy. “Yeah. Sorry about that, kiddo. Looks like you had a little accident on one of your nocturnal expeditions.”

It took the kid’s half-asleep brain a few seconds to process that. When it sunk in, however, his cheeks reddened in embarrassment. “I fell over while I was sleepwalking?”

He tried really hard not to laugh at the kid’s expense, but he wasn’t exactly making it easy by looking so much like a kicked puppy. He clicked a button, and the biobed slid into a more upright (but still reclining) position. “Yep. Broke your wrist while you were at it.”

Peter stared at the offending appendage in surprise. “I didn’t wake up?”

Tony shook his head. “You don’t actually feel pain when you’re sleepwalking.”

The kid’s eyebrows knit up in confusion. “How do you know that?”

“Did some research.” He tried for a shrug that he hoped was nonchalant. “Wanted to make sure that F.R.I.D.A.Y. was fully equipped to deal with you, just in case.”

“Yeah.” Peter grinned. “It was F.R.I.D.A.Y., of course.”

Bruce slid back in pushing a small metal medical table. “Hey, Peter.”

“Hey, Doctor Banner.” The kid ducked his head shyly. “Sorry about,” he gestured at himself with his good hand, “all this.”

“Don’t be. It’s not a problem.” He started setting up an IV bag. “I do have to set the break, though.”

“Oh, yay me.”

Tony squeezed the back of his neck. “You’ll be fine. We synthesized those super-kid drugs for a reason.”

“Tony’s right. We didn’t make them for our own amusement, after all.” Bruce nodded to Peter’s good hand. “Mind if I have that arm for the IV?”

Peter was a trooper through setting up the catheter, especially considering the fact that Tony knew he hated needles. He just grit his teeth and didn’t flinch once.

Bruce gave his leg a supportive pat as he opened the IV line. “Well done, Peter. Worst part’s over.”

Tony snapped to get his attention. “Hey, while you’re still coherent. What color cast do you want?”

“Oh, uh, green?” He glanced at Bruce. “Is that alright?”

“Perfectly alright.” The scientist tugged on a pair of rubber gloves. “Just sit back and relax, Peter.”

A few minutes passed with Bruce shuffling around medical supplies and Tony playing absentmindedly with Peter’s hair as the kid got progressively drowsier.

“I’m going to start, now.” Bruce’s voice was somehow soft and upbeat at the same time. “Let me know if any of this hurts, Peter.”

The kid just hummed in response, flexing his fingers slowly.

There was a more-than-a-little unpleasant pop as Bruce shifted one of the bones back into place, and Tony cringed, glancing down at Peter in concern. “You doing okay, buddy?”

“Huh? Oh… oh yeah. Just… I feel really weird Mister Stark.” The kid giggled a little, rolling his head around on the pillow until his glassy gaze found his mentor’s. “‘S that normal?”

“Totally normal, bud. Enjoy it. Lots of kids your age are paying top dollar for this.”

More giggles. Fondness swept through Tony like a riptide. “F’r broken wrists?”

He brushed a gentle hand through the kid’s hair and steadied his head as it wobbled. “For the super-kid drugs, Pete.”

“Oh.” For a moment, the kid’s eyelids drooped. Then, they shot open. “‘M I… ‘M I high, Mis’er Stark?”

Hell, even Bruce was chuckling now. “High as a kite, kid. You’re welcome.”

“Mm.” He turned his face into Tony’s palm, grinning lazily. “Thank you.”

He grinned fondly and shot his next words to Bruce. “How’s it going?”

The scientist shot him a thumbs up. “He’s doing great. I’ll cast it in a second.”

Peter chose that moment to try to sit up. Tony jumped to press him back down again. “Whoa, buddy. Quit that.”

“‘M I gonna miss school? Can-Can’t miss school. ‘S important. May… May says ‘s important.”

He shushed him as best he could with a voice shaking with amusement. “Shh, Pete. You’re okay. It’s summer. You,” he took a quick pause to huff out a little laugh, “you don’t have any school for another month. Just relax.”

Thankfully, the kid actually took Tony’s advice and dozed for the rest of the casting. He barely even reacted to Bruce taking out the IV, since Tony distracted him with rubbing circles on his cheekbone with the pad of his thumb.

“He did great.” Bruce praised. “Model break and a model patient. He’ll be back to webslinging before either of you know it.”

Tony tucked the sheet higher up under the kid’s chin. “Thanks, Bruce.”

“There’s no need to thank me. Peter’s never a problem.” Bruce paused to glance at the teenager’s face. “You can take him back to bed once he sleeps the drugs off. With his metabolism, it shouldn’t be too long.”

“Got it.” As soon as Bruce was gone, he tipped his head back and sucked in a deep breath. “F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”

“Yes, Boss?”

He kept his voice quiet, mindful of the kid napping just a foot or so away. “Set a reminder. I need to work on Peter’s watch. I’m going to add a feature that alerts me or May the moment he starts to sleepwalk. We’re not doing this ever again.”

“Understood.”

--

4.

Tony, Steve, and Rhodey were lounging in the kitchen, chatting quietly over mugs of hot chocolate, when Peter shuffled in.

He leaned back and watched as the kid bumbled over the fridge, opened it, and stared. Steve let out a little chuckle.

“Is he sleepwalking again?”

Tony nodded, setting his mug down. “Yeah. I’ll take him to bed in a second. I like to see if he goes on his own first.”

The door to the fridge swung shut, and Peter moved on to the cabinets. He pulled out a bowl (the red one, his favorite) and took two steps into the middle of the kitchen, cabinet door still hanging open behind him.

Then he just stood there, head handing low enough that his messy curls flopped in front of his half-lidded eyes.

“What’s, uh,” Rhodey swept his gaze up and down the teenager, “what’s he doing?”

Tony was unperturbed. “Oh, that just happens sometimes.”

“He just… stops?”

“Yep.” He pushed away from the counter. “I’ll take him back to bed now. Else, he’ll stand there Blair Witch style for a lot longer than I have patience for.”

Steve seemed contemplative. “You’ve dealt with this a lot.”

“It’s pretty common, yeah.” He tapped the side of the kid’s chin lightly. He had no idea if it helped him register his presence, but it sure made Tony feel better. “Hey, buddy. You okay?”

“Hm. ‘S an equation.” A wide grin spread across his face. Oh, so it’s a talking night. “‘N equation for… for homework.”

“Homework, huh?” He could hear Rhodey muffling a laugh behind them. “Were you doing homework before bed?”

“Homework for… for the math man.”

“Math man, huh? Sounds interesting.” He pulled the bowl out of the kid’s hands and set it on the counter. “Is he nice?”

Peter didn’t answer his question, but Tony didn’t really mind. He’d gotten used to the kid’s weird switches of thought when he was sleepwalking. So, it didn’t really come as a surprise when he just swayed a little and abruptly changed the subject.

“Mothman.”

Rhodey walked up beside him, smirking down at the incoherent kid. “Did he just say Mothman?”

“Apparently.” He cupped the side of Peter’s face gently. “You dreaming about Mothman, Pete? Y’know, we really gotta limit those Buzzfeed Unsolved episodes before bedtime.”

“This is crazy.” Rhodey waved a hand in front of the teenager’s face and looked surprised when he didn’t get a reaction. “He’s like a zombie.”

Tony noticed Steve crowding in on his other side, watching Peter with a weird sense of fascination on his face. “Does he know where he is?”

He shrugged, feeling strangely annoyed by his friends’ presence. “Sort of. The rational part of his brain is snoozing, but his motor skills and emotional processes are still working.”

Rhodey snickered. “You ever tried messing with him? It’d almost be too easy.”

He snapped before he could really think about it.

“Which is exactly why playing pranks on the sleepwalking kid is off limits. F.R.I.D.A.Y. will tell me if anyone does, and I promise that the consequences won’t be pretty.” He shot a glare to each of the men, who rushed to raise their hands in a show of surrender. “Now give him some space. He’s not a zoo exhibit.”

He always felt oddly protective of Peter when he was like this. He was just so vulnerable. He didn’t like the idea of the kid being in a position that made him so easy to manipulate. It wasn’t like he chose to be like this. It was out of his control, against his will.

And that made Tony feel a responsibility to him. Peter may not be coherent, but he was. He could have F.R.I.D.A.Y. lock all the balconies, take the kid back to bed, humor his slurred rambling, and help him keep at least a little bit of his dignity.

“Alright, sleepyhead. C’mon.” He used gentle hand against the small of his back to give him a push. “Say goodbye to Steve and Rhodey.”

“Smith song.”

“That’s right, buddy.” He had no idea what he was on about, but the kid wasn’t moving and he was hoping that placating him might help. “We’re gonna go now, okay?”

He’d read that some sleepwalkers were very resistant to being guided back to bed, but he’d gotten lucky with Peter. The teenager usually seemed perfectly content to allow himself to be led pretty much anywhere.

Which was why he was so confused by his staunch refusal to move, now.

Rhodey cocked his head. “Does he usually do that?”

“No.” Tony gripped Peter’s shoulders and bent so they were at eye-level, like it would help. “Pete?”

Then, without prompting or any kind of warning at all, Peter wrapped his arms around Tony’s middle and set his head on his shoulder.

He let out a surprised laugh, arms moving to circle him on instinct alone. “Are we sleep hugging now, too?”

“Need to… to go down.”

“Okay.” He ran his fingers through the kid’s mess of curls. “We can go down, Peter. What do you need to do?”

“Get.”

“You need to get something?” He took and experimental half-step back, and was more than a little amused by the iron grip Peter kept around him. Yep, definitely trapped. “We can get it in the morning.”

“Important.” He was pretty sure that the only time Peter spoke slowly was when he was asleep. It was actually a little bizarre the hear the kid’s voice used so lethargically. “Tony ‘s important.”

His heart clenched so suddenly that it hurt. “Do you need to get Tony, Peter?”

“Mm.”

“Tony’s right here, Pete. You’ve got him on lock.” He let out a soft laugh. “Literally, bud. I can’t move.”

Steve’s voice was thick with amusement. “Do you need help?”

“Nah. He’s already been up for a while. He’ll either let go on his own or actually fall asleep right here. It’s not a big deal.”

“Does he do that? Fall asleep in random places?”

“All the time. F.R.I.D.A.Y. wakes me when he does that. Weirdest place was tucked between the washer and dryer. Still don’t know how he got there, or why.”

Steve hummed. “Running around after him sounds like a chore.”

“I don’t mind.” The kid’s grip started to loosen, and Tony shifted in anticipation of taking all his weight. “He’s gonna doze off right there, by the way.”

“Is he?”

“Yeah. I can tell.” He shifted Peter slightly so that it would be easier to pick him up, cupping the back of his head gently. “You tired, buddy?”

“Down?”

He smiled fondly. “Yep. Down.”

“M’kay.”

The moment the kid slumped against him with a soft sigh, he bent his knees and swept him up into his arms. “Alright. I’m taking the baby to bed.” Rhodey snickered and Steve just smiled into the heel of his palm. “Be back in a minute, and probably with a significantly achier back.”

Rhodey waved. “Have fun with your kid, Tones.”

He was so focused on not jostling Peter that he didn’t even notice his best friend’s joking tone. “Always do.”

As if on cue, Peter nestled closer into his neck and mumbled a jumble of complete nonsense. Tony wasn’t even sure that anything that came out of his mouth were real words, but he definitely picked up on a slurred version of his name.

He carried the kid the rest of the way to his bedroom while trying desperatly to ignore the warm fuzziness in his stomach.

--

5.

Peter got appendicitis.

Which, first of all, Tony hadn’t even known that super-kids could get.

And, second of all, really fucking sucked.

The only real bright side was that once Tony got Cho to the Compound, the surgery was quick. He couldn’t have been sitting in the MedBay for more than an hour before Bruce was tapping on his shoulder and shooting him a sympathetic smile.

The words that had been tumbling around his head ever since he’d first seen Peter’s face pinched up in pain fell out in a frantic mess.

“Bruce!” He leapt to his feet, heart racing. “Is he okay? Is Peter okay?”

“He’s perfectly fine.” The scientist didn’t even try to comfort his friend, which Tony appreciated. The only thing that would get him to calm down was Peter, and Bruce knew that. He headed right down a hallway with the billionaire hugging his heels. “It actually went really well. It was definitely appendicitis, but we got to it before anything could rupture. He’s recovering right now. He’ll probably wake up for a little bit soon, and I thought you’d want to be there for that.” He pushed open the door to one of the rooms and let Tony walk in first. “Did you call his Aunt?”

He nodded distractedly, eyes locked onto the kid resting on a hospital bed just a few feet in front of him. “Yeah. She’ll, uh, she’ll be here once she finishes her shift. Couple of hours. She told me to thank you and Cho for looking after him.”

“It’s our pleasure.” Tony moved right to Peter’s bedside, brushing a gentle hand through his bangs. He looked too small, too delicate. The thought of anyone, even people he trusted as much as Bruce or Cho, cutting into this innocent kid made his stomach twist. Bruce’s voice barely even registered through the volume of his churning thoughts. “With his healing, he’ll be out of here in no time. We’ll try some clear fluids once he wakes up properly, and move onto solids from there. Once he’s eating, we’ll pull his IV and pain meds and he’s free to go home.”

“Good, yeah.” He felt distracted, untethered. “Yeah. That’s, uh, that’s really good.”

Tony’s eyes drifted, and he brushed a finger along the thin oxygen cannula running across Peter’s face. Bruce rushed to explain before he could even think to voice the question.

“His blood oxygen dropped a little during surgery. It’s pretty common, but we put him on oxygen just to be safe. You can take it off if it bothers him when he wakes up.” Bruce leaned against the wall, arms crossed casually. A part of Tony hated the scientist for being so calm when he felt so unhinged. “I doubt he’ll notice, though. He’ll probably fall back asleep pretty quickly.”

“But he’s okay?”

Bruce laughed, but not unkindly. “Like I’ve said before, yes. Appendectomies are very routine.” He paused, eyes flickering up to one of the monitors. “And if his vitals are anything to go by, you’ll be able to ask him for yourself in a minute.”

Later, Tony would deny any suggestion that the way he spun back to Peter was ungraceful. As it was, pride was the last thing on his mind. “Is he waking up?”

Peter answered the question for him by opening his eyes to tiny slits, hands curling lazily into the mattress.

“Mis’er Stark?”

“Hey there, kiddo.” Tony reached for his hand and gave it a soft squeeze. “Right here.”

He returned his mentor’s squeeze with one of his own. The gesture was undeniably weaker, but it made something hard and painful soften in Tony’s throat. “Said they were gonna… gonna steal my appendix.”

He shushed the kid gently, thumb brushing across his forehead in comfort. “It’s out, Pete. Surgery’s already over.”

“Oh.” His eyes drooped, and then reopened. “‘S good. Don’ want it.”

“You don’t want your appendix?”

“Mhm. Sucks.”

He laughed. Peter’s fine. He’s just a little sleepy and one organ lighter. “Then it’s your lucky day, cause Bruce probably has it in a jar somewhere.”

“‘S in a jar?” He tried to blearily sit up and look around, but a gentle push from Tony was all it took for the teenager to slump back onto the mattress in defeat. “C’n I see it?”

He chuckled again, shaking his head in muted astonishment. “You’re the weirdest kid I’ve ever met.”

Bruce stepped up beside Tony and gave the kid a little wave. “Hey, Peter.” He smiled kindly at him. “Is it okay if I ask you to do a couple of things before you go back to sleep?”

Peter’s eyes were already shut. “Mhm.”

“Can you take a few really deep breaths for me?” The kid did, and Bruce noted it on his chart. “Well done. Did that hurt at all?”

“Hm? No.”

“Good. Tony’s going to ask you to do that every time you wake up, alright? It’ll help prevent pneumonia, so it’s really important that you do it.”

Peter gave a weak tug at Tony’s hand. “M’kay.”

“How’re you feeling? Are you in any pain?”

“Not in pain. Jus’ tired.”

“Then I’ll let you rest. Is it alright with you if I steal Tony for a second?”

Peter’s eyes flickered open just slightly. “Coming back?”

He gave the kid a soft smile. “‘Course I’ll be back, bud. You won’t even notice I was gone.”

“M’kay, then.”

Tony reluctantly followed Bruce out the door, mouth running as soon as it shut behind them. “So he’s still good, right?”

“He’s doing great.” Bruce patted Tony’s shoulder. “He’s taking deep breaths, his oxygen levels are back up, and he’s able to answer questions pretty intelligently.” He nodded towards the elevator. “Go take a break, grab something to eat, update the team, and then come back. He’s not going anywhere.”

He shot a nervous glance back at the room. “You sure?”

“Absolutely sure.” The scientist paused as he moved to walk away. “Oh, and if the kid still wants to see his appendix when he’s actually awake, let him know that I did save it. I was going to study it to see if I could learn anything about how the spider bite affected his DNA. He can help me, if he’d like.”

Tony chuckled the whole way up to the kitchen.

Most of the team was there, and they nearly bowled him over in their haste for news on Peter. Up until that moment, Tony had barely even recognized how much the teenager meant to them all.

Then again, he wasn’t really surprised. The damn kid was like a disease. He got into your veins and there was no way to get him out.

At this point, Tony didn’t even want to.

He was leaning against the counter, waiting silently for the coffee to finish brewing, when there was the unmistakable sound of Steve shouting in surprise and a bang.

He rounded the corner just in time to see Peter (Peter? What the hell was Peter doing here?) bump back against the wall, eyes wide and fist flailing out in a half-hearted attempt to protect himself. Steve raised his own hands placatingly, wincing. “Whoa, son. You’re alright.”

It hit Tony all at once. The rapid blinking, the sleepy confusion.

Peter had been sleepwalking, and Steve had just woken him up.

He pushed past the soldier roughly. The rational part of his mind understood that it was just an accident, but Peter looked beyond startled and that made all thoughts of fairness take a backseat. “Hey, Pete. You’re okay.”

Peter pawed at his eyes blearily. “Mis’er Stark?”

He took the acknowledgement as his cue to come closer. He set a careful hand on the teenager’s shoulder and was relieved when he didn’t flinch away. “Yep. Just me.”

Steve took a half-step towards them. “Is he alright?”

Tony reacted before he could think it through. “Fuck off, Rogers.” He twisted back to Peter. The kid was blinking slowly, hand pressing into his side. Hell, he already looked most of the way back to sleep again. “C’mon, bud. Let’s get you back to the MedBay, okay?”

“Mis’er Stark?” Peter’s hand fisted in his sweatshirt. “How’d I get here?”

He pushed the kid down the hall. “Just one of your nighttime wanders. Don’t sweat it. Captain Killjoy’s sorry for startling you.”

“I am sorry, Tony. I didn’t even-”

“I know, Cap.” He took a deep breath. Calm down, it was an accident. “I know. Just… later, okay? I need to check that he didn’t pull his stitches.”

Peter leaned into him. “My stomach hurts.”

“I bet. You lost an organ earlier.”

“Wha’?” The kid stumbled a little and Tony struggled to right him without tugging at the incision site. “Where’d it go?”

“Don’t worry about it, Pete.” He glanced at the ceiling. “F.R.I.D.A.Y.? Tell Bruce what happened.”

“Right away.”

“Oh, and FRI?” He readjusted his hold on Peter. “Why didn’t you tell me that the kid was up? He can’t just be wandering around after surgery.”

“I’m sorry, Boss. I was running routine diagnostics in the MedBay systems. My cameras were down.” The AI paused. “It won’t happen again.”

He didn’t give her an answer. He just held the kid a little tighter and aimed for the MedBay with a one-track determination.

Bruce was waiting for them when they got there, brow creased in concern.

Tony spoke before he could. “Can you look at his stitches? And he must’ve ripped out his IV, so you’ll have to check that, too.”

“Of course. Let’s get him back in bed.”

They’d only taken a few steps when Peter let out a little whimper. Tony rounded on him all at once. “What’s wrong, Pete?”

“Just…” the kid gave a suspiciously wet sniffle, “really hurts, Mister Stark.”

He whipped his head up. “Bruce?”

“He yanked out his pain meds, and his metabolism’s quick enough that he’s burning through whatever was left in his system. We’ll get a new IV and hook him back up.” The scientist nodded to the bed. “Get him up there and we’ll get him sorted.”

The process was quick. Within fifteen minutes, Peter was curled back under a blanket, pumped full of the extra strong stuff and stitches thankfully intact.

“That’s it.” Bruce pressed one last button on a monitor and stepped back. “He’s fine. No harm done.” He sighed, sounding a little guilty. “I’ll have someone stay with him from now on. I didn’t even think about the fact that the anesthesia could worsen his sleepwalking. That’s on me.”

“It’s fine.” Tony watched the kid’s heartbeat flip and fall on the monitor “Like you said, no harm done. And don’t worry about finding someone to watch him. I’ll do it.”

“You sure?”

“He knows me the best. It should be me.” He let his eyes fall onto Peter’s face. “I know how to handle him when he’s sleepwalking, too. Only person that’s better than me is May, and she won’t be here for a few hours yet.”

Bruce nodded, lingering by the doorway. “Alright. Well, call me if he needs anything.”

“I will.”

The door clicked shut, and Tony adjusted Peter’s IV with shaking hands.

“Kid,” he sighed, absently twisting one of the teenager’s curls through his fingers, “you’re going to be the end of me.”

--

+1.

Titan swept out around him, a collage of broken parts and rubble. Some dark, terrifying part of his brain told him that he was going to break here, too. A forgotten piece of a forgotten world, rusting and rotting and rattling in the wind.

Red dirt swirled in the air. He could feel it in his lungs, in his eyes, in his nose.

He wanted to go home.

“Something’s happening.”

His head jerked to look at the nice bug lady (Mantis?), mouth open in preparation to say yes, I feel it too, but then she was just… gone.

Scattered, disassembled, broken.

And then went the blue man, and then Big Peter, and then Doctor Strange, and then…

Painpainpain. God, his body was vibrating with it. Terror and fear and horror and pain.

He couldn’t see straight. He couldn’t think straight.

He was breaking. He’d known. He’d always known. You don’t come home from a planet so heavy with echoes of the lost. You don’t come home from a planet so burdened with unmarked graves.

“Mister Stark?” His legs started to wobble. His nerves felt dead, useless, broken. Brokenbrokenbroken. “I don’t feel so good.”

He vaguely registered his mentor spinning to look at him. He stumbled forward, desperate for… for something. He couldn’t remember what. All he knew was that he looked down at his hands and saw ash flaking off his fingertips, and he wanted Mister Stark.

“You’re alright.”

He says I’m alright. I have to be alright. He’ll make me alright.

I-I need to get to him. I need to get to him because he’ll catch me and he’ll fix me.

“I don’t-I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t know what’s-”

The breath got knocked out of his chest as he slammed into Tony’s arms, but he didn’t care. He felt his mentor rock under the weight, pulling him up and holding him close.

Fix me. Fix me. Fix me.

He scrabbled already numbing fingers against his shoulder blades. He thought he begged, but the thoughts ran together. All he really knew was that one minute he was being held, and the next he was lying on his back, staring at the dark Titan sky.

Not my sky. Not my home.

Breaking. Breaking and breaking and breaking.

He looked at Mister Stark’s face. His eyes were heavy with a knowingness that only just dawned on Peter.

He can’t fix me. He can’t fight what can’t be undone. None of us can.

(“And if you died… I feel like that’s on me.”)

He gasped in a breath.

“I’m sorry.”

The last thing he felt was ash crawling up his neck, and then he tipped over the edge and the world went dark.

But then his eyes snapped open, a choked off scream on his lips and a soft comforter tangled around his legs.

I’m at the Compound, he thought, I’m at the Compound and Mister Stark brought me back and it was just a stupid dream.

But his rationalization didn’t stop him from staggering out of bed and letting his feet carry him blindly to the one person who he knew would always bring him home.

It wasn’t until the door swung open and the light from the hallway shone on his sleeping mentor that he realized just how fucking stupid he was.

But by then, it was too late.

“Pete?” Tony yawned, pushing clumsily at his comforter as he sat up. “Again? That’s twice in one night. Nearing a record.”

A… record?

He opened his mouth to speak, but Tony kept talking as if he hadn’t expected Peter to respond in the first place.

“You’re lucky Pep’s outta town, or you would’ve scared the crap outta her.” Tony was speaking in a tone that was soft and coaxing. Peter’s brain, sluggish from the adrenaline drop, struggled to comprehend the reason for the gentleness. “You’re alright. I’m gonna walk you back to bed now, okay? Look at you. Even brought yourself over for me to do it. Maybe Asleep Peter is learning.”

It hit Peter all at once.

He thinks I’m sleepwalking.

He froze in place. Should he pretend? He already felt stupid for stumbling into his mentor’s room because he had a nightmare. He could just… fake it?

The whole idea was scrapped the moment Tony got close enough to see his face.

The older man’s eyes widened in surprise. “Or is it Awake Peter that’s learning, huh?” He gave him a little smile. “Hey, kid. Didn’t realize you were actually with me.”

Tears burned in his eyes, and he couldn’t stop the suspiciously wet sniffle that pulled at his face. “‘M sorry.”

“Oi.” Tony caught the first tear with the pad of his thumb. “What’re you apologizing for?”

“I d-didn’t mean to-to come in here.”

Tony looked surprised. “Did you sleepwalk and wake yourself up? That doesn’t usually happen.”

All he could do was shake his head, sobs shaking his chest. “N-No.”

“Okay.” Tony grabbed him and guided him over to the bed. “That’s okay. No sleepwalking at all, then. But you are crying. So, what’s up?”

His mentor steadily increased the pressure on his shoulders until his knees buckled and he sank onto the mattress. “It’s stupid.”

Tony used both his hands to wipe at his wet cheeks, seeming to be completely un-weirded out by the whole thing. “Tell me anyway.”

“I just had a nightmare. I’m fine now.”

“Oh, Peter.” Suddenly, he was being tugged into a full embrace. His mentor’s hands threaded through the hair at the back of his head. “It’s alright. It’s over. You’re back. You’re safe.”

He knows what it was about. Then again, what else could it possibly have been? What else will it ever be again?

He could feel the weightiness in the air. “You’re a lot more comfortable with, like, hugs now.” Peter could feel Tony’s breaths puff against his hair. “Is it because of,” he swallowed, “because of Titan?”

“Partly because of that.” His mentor laughed. “Partly because you can be very clingy when you’re sleepwalking.”

“Oh, god.” He could feel the embarrassment rushing up his face. “Really?”

“Really.” Tony pulled back just a little, tapping his bicep with a light finger. “You wanna stay here tonight?”

He felt tentative, alight with childish hope. “Can I?”

“Absolutely.” His mentor pulled away and nodded to the head of the bed. “Plenty of room.”

Somehow, Tony ended up somewhere near the middle, while Peter tucked himself against the edge, trying to limit every one of his breaths so that they wouldn’t move the mattress too much.

Tony let him have approximately 60 seconds of silent stress before reaching out and snagging the back of his t-shirt. “You don’t have to curl up all the way over there, Pete.”

He started. “It’s okay. I don’t wanna, you know, invade your space or anything.”

“For god’s sake,” Tony patted the space right next to him with a huff and gave his t-shirt a tug, “get over here, kid. I’m missing sleepy you right about now. At least he knows what he wants.”

Peter rolled over and shuffled a little closer, trying to swallow the lingering discomfort down his throat. “Does he?”

“Yep.” He opened his arms, a welcoming smile on his face. “So c’mon, kid.”

There was something familiar about being curled up in Tony’s arms. Like they’d done this before. Then again, from what his mentor was saying, he guessed that they probably had.

“You know,” Tony murmured, “I spend a lot of time looking after Asleep Peter, but that doesn’t mean I’m not just as happy to deal with Awake Peter, too. You’re both my kid.”

He smiled and let out a rush of breath. Everything was okay, now. As long as Tony was here, the nightmares couldn’t touch him. “Thank you.”

“Don’t have to thank me, kiddo. Just remember it.”

Peter would, too.

He’d cling to it like a lifeline.