Peter shot up in bed, his shirt damp with sweat and his limbs tangled in his sheets. The nightmares had been getting worse, especially since that... first night. Every time Peter fell asleep, he saw that man. The one he couldn't save, laying in a puddle of blood. It was the one trauma Peter couldn't heal.

The other traumas were easy. For the most part, Peter's wounds healed over night. After the first week of being Spiderman, he'd discovered that a bruise was gone in a few hours, same with scrapes and minor cuts. A broken rib was usually better by the morning after, and concussions were gone by the time Peter was drifting off. The gun shot wound from his first night out healed a little slower, meaning he had to sneak around for a good 3 days before he could wear just a tee-shirt without fear of his dad noticing the tight bandages and thick layer of gauze.

Tony did notice, though. He noticed every time Peter flinched when someone slapped him on the back or when he went whole nights without sleep because of nightmares.

As soon as Peter trudged out of his bed room, his eyes red and puffy from waking up throughout the night from bad dreams, Tony noticed. He was wearing a sweat shirt again, this time to cover a deep stab wound he'd gotten the night before.

"Peter, it's going to be pretty warm today, are you sure you want to wear something that bulky?" Tony had to talk over the sound of sizzling bacon and eggs, a Saturday morning special.

"I like this sweatshirt," Peter said with a shrug. "It's comfy."

Tony hummed.

"And, like, you know, they say to wear layers so you can be prepared for anything, right?"

"Who's 'they'?" Rhodey asked with a smirk.

"People." Peter spoke a little too quickly for Tony's liking.

"You've been kinda jumpy, bambino, is everything okay?"

Peter nodded quickly. "Yeah, of course. I'm fine."

"Was it another nightmare? You can always tell-"

"No, jeez! Get off my back, dad, I'm fine." The word 'me' died on Tony's tongue as Peter snapped at him.

The family fell into an uncomfortable silence, none of them knowing what to say. Peter had been acting strangely lately, from snapping in the mornings to getting cagey when his father tried to hug him. Not to mention the odd night when Peter woke up screaming and lock his door, refusing to let anyone in or to let anyone help.

"So, Peter," Pepper started. "How's school?"

Peter shrugged. "It's school. I don't know, I guess it's okay."

"I saw your light was on a couple nights ago pretty late," she said. Peter tensed slightly, his face paling a little. "Were you up late doing homework?"

Peter jumped on the excuse Pepper had given him. "Yeah! Yeah, we- uh, we had a paper due. In history."

"What about?" Rhodey jumped in.

"Nnn-Napoleon."

"I thought you were doing American history." Tony scrunched up his face.

"I am," Peter said, pushing his Eggo's around his plate as he waited for Tony to finish the eggs. "We just had a paper that was free choice topics."

"And you chose Napoleon?"

"Yes." Peter scooted his chair back. "I'm going to go see Ned, okay? We were going to go see a movie."

Tony watched as his son took off. He barely got a wave passed the elevator doors before they were closed and Peter was out of sight. The man let out a breath and let his head fall into his hands heavily. "Ugh."

"It's going to be okay," Pepper said, putting a hand on Tony's shoulder. "He's a good kid, Tones, he's probably just going through a phase."

"Or a girl," Rhodey chimed in. "It could be a girl and he doesn't want people to know."

"Or it could be a bad grade that he doesn't want you to find out about," Pepper added.

Tony glared. "Or it could be drugs! Or alcohol! You guys know how my dad was, and how I was before Mary... What if I did this to him? What if he got my twisted, messed up genes and now he's hooked on something and-"

If it wasn't for the way Tony was twisting at his hair, or the way his eyes were swimming, Rhodey might have laughed. "This is Peter we're talking about. Peter, the kid who still sleeps with his teddy bear and keeps a night light on. I'd bet money he wasn't getting high."

"Besides," Pepper started. "You are nothing like Howard, and you've been clean for over 15 years, and you are a model father. Peter isn't getting anything from you besides love and an intellect so great, it rivals even yours."

Tony gave them a sad smile. "He used to be so open with me. All of a sudden he's up half the night, sneaking out, won't give me hugs or let me cuddle with him on the couch. He's getting snappy, he's lying..."

"He's 14." Rhodey laughed.

"Honestly, I think it's going to be okay," Pepper said with a smile.

Tony returned it. "I hope so."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With Peter out of the house, and Pepper, Happy, and Rhodey all off to do some work, Tony was at a loss for something to do. He tried to keep Peter off his mind, but he just kept coming beck to his son. Ever since that stupid illness, he'd been acting strangely.

The man scrubbed away at the kitchen counters even after they were shining. He went through the fridge (twice) and reorganized Pepper's office, much to her dismay. He even did Peter's laundry.

Tony was running out of things to do in the penthouse, so he decided to cut his loses and head down to the gym. If nothing else, he could run a few laps, do a few pull ups, maybe throw a few punches. The gyms had been entirely redone when the team moved in, now complete with a full track, a boxing ring, and pretty much every workout machine imaginable. They even had some special chair Steve used to keep his butt perky - or at least that's what Clint told Tony.

When the billionaire got down to the gym, he found that the rest of the team was already there.

"Hey."

The team all chorused back.

"What brings you down here today?" Thor asked as he lifted some weights. "I can't remember the last time I saw you working out."

Tony rolled his eyes as chuckles went around the room. "Ha, ha. I'm just down here because I have nothing else to do."

"What, did everyone else go out and forget to invite you?" Steve asked.

"No. My son went to a friend's house and everyone else had work today." Tony didn't really know what he wanted to do, so he settled on some stretching.

Natasha looked over at Clint. "How is Peter? I saw him yesterday and he seemed a little... tense."

Tony didn't even try to hide his flinch at the mention of Peter's name. "He's okay. He's working hard at school, staying up late with homework and stuff. Sees Ned a lot."

"I heard Rhodey and Happy talking the other day, Happy said he was having nightmares?"

Tony shook his head. "I said he was fine. He's having a hard time right now, but he's 14. It's normal."

Clint decided it was his turn to speak up at that point. "I was thinking that if you needed someone to talk to about being a parent, I totally understand how difficult teens can be, and-"

"My son isn't difficult, Barton!" Tony nearly shouted. "I'm... I'm going to go back upstairs and clean the inside of my old piano or something."

Tony let the gym door slam behind him and he huffed down the hall. "Tony!"

The man turned, surprised to see Natasha following him out. "Hey."

"Tony, Clint was just trying to be nice."

"He needs you to come clean up after his mess-ups?"

Natasha's face turned hard. "No. He's just a friend of mine, and we're all trying to get along here. He was trying to bond with you."

"Yeah, well I don't know how he messed up his kids, but mine is fine." Tony scoffed to himself, crossing his arms and reminding himself all too much of Howard.

Natasha matched his crossed arms. "You can get pretty pissy about your son."

"And you can get pretty mean about me being a father! I've told you once, Natasha, I've told you a hundred times. I'm a packaged deal: me and Peter. You're not getting just Tony, you're getting Tony Stark, the dad." Tony and Natasha had been having the same argument over the past few weeks. They hadn't been out on another date since Peter got sick and Natasha was starting to feel a little like Tony had led her on with no intention of a second date.

"You don't think I know that?" Natasha countered. "Why the hell do you think I like you so much, Tony? You're a brilliant man, and you're funny and caring and kind. You're a dad, a single one at that, and you're raising one of the most polite kids I've ever met! You're someone to be proud of, and I want to be the person who gets to be proud of you. You just- just-" Natasha ran an angry hand through her hair. "You don't know how to be happy! You've spent 14 years scared out of your mind that if you choose to be happy again, you'll lose it. If you love someone like you loved Mary, you'll lose her, and maybe Peter, and that's too big a risk for you to take."

"You don't think I know how to be happy?"

"No."

Tony leaned forward slightly, his eyes fiery and his face flushed. "You think I'm afraid of happiness? That I led you on for some sick thrill of controlling things?" Natasha nodded.

Tony shook his head. "I'm perfectly happy to be happy, believe it or not. I've spent 14 years learning to be happy with what I have. A son, a best friend, a security guard, and a business partner. I've learned the art of happiness like a dog learns to sit."

Natasha shook her head. "I don't believe you."

"Try this on for size." Tony leaned forward and kissed Natasha hard, his hands cupping at her cheeks. She leaned in to meet his lips, her own hands finding his shoulders and wrapping around the back of his neck.

They broke apart after a moment, breathless. Natasha's eyes found Tony's, and she giggled a little. Tony smiled.

"I really like you."

"I like you, too."

Tony sighed and closed his eyes. "Do you want to join me and Peter for dinner tonight? I'd like to tell him that we are going to be seeing each other a lot more, even if it makes him a little crazy. Well, more crazy than he had been lately."

Natasha let a smile light up her face. "I would love that. And, for the record, I've met Clint's oldest a couple times, and she went through a similar thing around this age. It's a weird time, man, their bodies are basically destroying them from the inside out and they want to kiss everyone. I honestly wouldn't stress too much about it, but if you want someone to sit up at night and worry with you, I can do that."

Tony laughed and twisted his fingers through Natasha's. "It's nice to have someone to worry with."