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He can’t breathe. His legs are shaking and there is red everywhere. Red. Orange. Everyone disappears into dust. And Peter feels it coming from miles away. His spidey sense goes off frantically inside his head and Peter feels it.
He screams, his body is pulling itself apart, there is pain everywhere, and when he looks down he sees his hand turning into dust and oh god it hurts-
His scream gets caught into his throat and Peter frantically pushes his blankets away when he gets tangled into them. His breath is coming out in puffs and his heart is beating so fast in his chest, he’s sweating and there are tears coming out of his eyes and Peter really doesn’t want to think about Titan, oh wow he’s thinking about it now.
“Peter, your heart is elevated and your breathing is irregular, would you like me to call for help?” Friday’s voice echoes inside his room.
“N-No, I’m good Friday, it was just a nightmare.”
“As you wish.”
Peter thinks back to the day when everything was normal. Well, normal as it could be. There was trauma, yes, but nothing could compete against the fact that Peter died. He turned to ash in Tony’s arms and Tony could’ve done nothing to stop it.
He startles when there is a soft knock on the door. He clenches his blanket in a tight grip and nervously gulps. It’s 2:06 A.M. who was up at this time?
“Pete?”
Peter let’s out a sob when he hears Steve’s soft voice coming through the door. Steve is the second person to Tony who Peter trusts a lot. Him and Steve has become particularly close after.. well after what happened a year ago.
In a scramble to open the door, Peter stumbles but catches himself. He opens the door and throws himself into Steve’s chest, whimpering when Steve tightens his arms around him and drags him closer.
Steve. Steve is a warm presence against him and Peter misses Tony so much that his heart hurts. It hurts. To the point, Peter thinks he’s going to throw up.
However, Steve is here. And for Peter that’s enough.
“Hey, buddy,” Steve says soothingly, “Did you have a nightmare?”
Peter nods against his chests. The tears aren’t going to be stopping any time soon but his eyes start to drop and he sags against Steve. Steve lightly chuckles and gently carries Peter into bed.
There is a slight inconvenience when Peter refuses to let go on the tight grip he has on Steve and whimpers in his sleep.
Steve’s heart positivity melts and lays down on the other side of the bed. Peter rolls over and buries himself into Steve’s chest, sighing when Steve plays with his hair.
“I lov’ you, Tony,” Peter slurs in his sleep and Steve feels his heart aches so much that it physically hurt.
It’s not Tony.
Steve will never be Tony, Peter realizes as he stands in the cemetery the next day.
Here lies Anthony Edward Stark.
A father, a hero and a beautiful soul.
But he’s here.
And it’s all that matters.