voidtreckerexpress | Good morning

Entry tags:

Good morning

Who: Tony Stark + OTA
Where: Dining Carriage/ Kitchen
When: Month Apple, Day 2
What: Come bug him while he's eating breakfast/ having coffee
Warnings: Language maybe?
Notes: I'll make a note on a tag if it contains Endgame spoilers, but I'll try to avoid them.

Oh god, it wasn't a dream.

Some habits died hard, like his internal clock that had him waking early to a dark cramped space that after some moments confused, he remembered to be his bunk on a train. Moving as quietly as he could, he gathered some toiletries and slips into the bathroom for a shower trying not to wake anyone. From there it's a change of clothes and then the hunt for the one thing that will keep him sane during this trek- coffee.

Wearing one of the red polo shirts he'd been given, Tony arrives at the dining car early. He leaves the wheelchair downstairs in the kitchen, finding for just the short journey upstairs he doesn't need it. While he was in the kitchen, he doesn't protest too hard when someone on kitchen duty fixes him an egg white omelet, toast, and coffee.

Upstairs, he finds a good spot where he could watch the door and settles in to enjoy his breakfast and ponder over the fact that this situation he was in might not actually be a hallucination after all. He sorely misses his tablet where he could check the world news like he usually did over breakfast, but these things happen when you're randomly kidnapped by a freaky train in middle of the void.

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Tony watches this trainwreck of a kid wobble about and put his head on the table before starting to laugh in earnest. This kid was too much for him!

"How late did you stay up with Gwen last night?" He asks, setting his coffee down before he laughs too hard and spills it. His expression changes immediately from amused to annoyed in a fraction of a second. "You don't need to be drinking that stuff anyway! You shouldn't really be drinking coffee either, but I'm not quite that big of a hypocrite." Yet. If he had a newspaper he'd roll it up and whack the kid with it.

Peter's breath catches in his chest, his cheeks immediately feeling warm Just what was Mr Stark insinuating? His head shoots up, his brown eyes wide and a look that's somehow a mix of embarrassed, shocked, indignant and just a hint of fear shows on his face.

"What? No! Mr Stark, it's not like that-I didn't-I was just-I just couldn't sleep, that's all." He states before bringing his arms up to rest on the table before burying his face in them.

"Can I put cream and sugar in it?" He asks, the question muffled through his arms.

One of Tony's eyebrows rise at the look Peter gives him and he draws his head back slightly. What the hell was that look for? What did Peter think he was saying? Can't he ask the kid about his new friend? Damn.

He blinks in confusion at the jumble of words that fall out of Peter's mouth, still unsure what the young man thought was going on here. Scratching his head, he watches as Peter covers his face in his hands. What the.. "I just figured you'd been up late talking to your new friend. She seems cool, that's all. Are you honestly trying to make me believe you two went to bed at some reasonable hour?"

The question about sugar had him shaking his head, but this time without risk of Peter getting scolded over it. "Knock yourself out there, kid."

Peter frowns from where his face buried and then pulls his head back up to determine if he thinks Tony is trying to trick him into-in to what? He takes a breath and sits up a little more.

"Oh." He lets out before just shrugging as casually as he can manage. "Yeah-I mean she is cool. She's great. Uh.. she fell asleep long before I did-I don't know what time it was when did-I just kept thinking about stuff." His mind probably shouldn't have jumped to that conclusion. He's just tired. That's all.

"I'm... gonna get some coffee then. Brb." He suppresses another yawn and pushes himself up from his seat to go and fix himself a cup, returning moments later with that and a fried egg on toast.

Tony watches the young man, still visibly confused about what just happened. However, when he started talking about Gwen, the older man can't help but smirk at it. The boy was clueless wasn't he? He wonders if Gwen is too. He can symapthize with the last line there about having a lot on his mind. Who, on this train, didn't? They were captives and didn't know where they were going. On top of everything else, it couldn't feel good that Tony was refusing to share with him what was going on and why he was so injured.

He waits patiently for Peter to come back before starting up the conversation again like he'd never left. "Was it just being in a new place or some of the old problems with your inability to sleep?"

Peter just shrugs in response as he takes a drink of coffee that he's added so much sugar and milk too, it might as well not be coffee at all anymore. At least he likes it. "Both, I guess. I mean, I never really-not in a new place-not the first night-but I'm usually up late anyway so I don't know."

He takes a fork and presses it into the egg on toast, the yolk starting to seep out where it's been broken so he spreads it lazily along the piece of toast.

"I'll probably be okay tonight. Glad to see you're feeling better though, Mr Stark."

Tony sighs. That was a pitiful attempt to convince him he was really okay. If it were someone else, he might get offended at the insult to his intelligence. As it was, he knew Peter and how private he could be about certain things like that. He just hopes eventually they'll find a way to help him sleep better.

"Thanks." Pause. "So, are we going to talk about girl some more or I supposed to pretend nothing's going on?"

He's not even sure what he's trying to convince Tony. He just knows that the whole subject makes him uncomfortable and he'd rather not talk about his issues with sleep. Something, Tony, thankfully seems to respect because he's changing the subject just Peter's taking a bite of toast.

He almost inhales it and has to quickly pull it away from his face.

"What? No! there's nothing going on-I mean-she's really cool and-and yeah, really pretty and smart-kinda awesome-well really awesome but I'm not-" He gives up and lets out a groan, he'd have let his forehead hit the table if not for the plate of toast and egg.

"...You're not gonna try to play matchmaker, are you?"

Edited 2019-07-04 23:01 (UTC)

Tony just watches Peter babble all flustered-like while smiling a big, knowing grin and sipping his coffee. The boy was entertaining, to say the least.

"Me? No. I'm not going to do a thing," he assures Peter. Why bother? It was clear what was already there- which was a little alarming given their situation. "I'm just.. kind of glad I get to see it." He wasn't for his daughter, after all. Visions of her and all that she was going to have to face without him goes rapidly through his mind, putting pressure on his chest. Fortunately it was't enough to actually cause an attack, but it was uncomfortable- like a reminder he wasn't whole and that there was something wrong with him.

His smile fades as does the rest of the color in his face as he looks at his coffee and sets it down. Unfortunately, his hand was shaking so bad that before he could fully get his fingers free of the handle, he knocks it over. His cheeks would flush with embarrassment if he was going pale. Fortunately, it was only half empty so it only hit the table top. "Shit!"

Peter didn't expect his question to lead to this and immediately jumps up-half caught between staying a moment and rushing off to grab some napkins. What had he said to get that reaction?

"A-are-are you okay, Mr Stark? It's okay-it's fine I'll grab some napkins-wait there." He rambles out and moves off to do just that so Tony won't have to get up.

Tony tosses his one napkin on top of the liquid, it of course going immediately useless. He feels a lot like that dissolving napkin. Peter runs off to clean up his mess. He has got to find a way to deal with this better and quit having these attacks. It wasn't doing anyone any good and making him want to find somewhere on this train to simply be alone.

He still looks a little shaken by the time Peter comes back, but he also looks way more irritated than whatever he was a minute ago. "Sorry, Pete." He tries, but he can't think of anything else to stay.

Peter returns with a bunch of napkins and immediately sets about cleaning up the coffee mess.

"It's okay, Mr Stark. Don't worry about it." He offers, sounding just as cheerful as normal but still a little tired. The coffee mopped up, Peter gathers the mess of napkins and then looks down at Mr Stark's cup.

"Uh... want me to get you some more?"

Edited 2019-07-05 04:00 (UTC)

"This fucking sucks," he growls in a low tone, more to himself than anyone around him.

He hated it. It was garbage. He wanted to throw the table, but obviously couldn't. He couldn't get himself to stop having these attacks or get Peter to safety or even be trusted with cups like a two or ninety year old! The question over if he wanted some more coffee- like he was an invalid who couldn't get his own drink- set him off. This time it wasn't anxiety, it was anger. In one swift motion, he rose up off his chair, picked up the mug, and flung it as hard as he could against the far wall.

Peter has no idea what it was he said that led to this reaction but he regrets it and he'd take it back if he could. His eyes go wide at the curse and then he jumps when Tony flat out throws the coffee mug-watching as it makes contact with the wall and shatters.

"Okay-okay, no more coffee." Peter states with his voice shaking perhaps just a little, looking back over at Tony, completely unsure what to do. He doesn't want to just leave the man alone but there's not really anything he can do.

He's half tempted to just go-leave Tony to figure out what ever he needs to figure out but he's not sure that'd be a good idea. Does he go or just sit back down and wait for Mr Stark to calm back down?

After a moment, he finally decides to sit back down, albeit one seat over from where he had been.

And now he was just left with the feeling that he was a really awful mentor to Peter for acting like that in front of the boy. Ugh.

He could hear the trepidation in Peter's voice and it was like salt in the wound. With a heavy sigh, he drops more than sits back onto the chair and rans a hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry," he begins, way quieter and calmer than he was a minute ago. Turning his head to look the young man in the eyes, he can see he scared him. He didn't want Peter to be afraid of him. "It's.. it's nothing you did. I'm just.. not myself right now. Can you forgive me?" He asks, holding his hand out but not stretching far enough to touch Peter without the boy bringing his hand toward Tony's.

And once again, there's a nagging feeling that Tony isn't telling him something. Peter would be concerned but he's proven himself to his mentor and he thought they were passed this. If there's something Tony isn't telling Peter there's probably a reason for it-no matter how annoying Peter might find that. He'd figure it out eventually.

"Yeah." Peter swallows, trying to hide just how bad Tony had just startled him. "Yeah, of course. Of course, Mr Stark." He takes a breath and looks down at his Mentor's hand before almost cautiously reaching over to grab it.

"S-so uh..." What was something he could do to try and help Tony calm down? A lame chemistry pun? "So, uh Potassium and Oxygen went on a date-I heard it went OK."

Tony just stares at Peter for a long moment. What. The. Hell. Pffft, he can't help it. He laughs and shakes his head. Giving Peter's hand an affectionate squeeze, he lets go. His intern was such a goofball, but he loved him.

"Do you have plan of getting into regular clothes or are you going to spend your day in your pajamas?" He was almost jealous he'd bothered getting dressed. He reaches out and tries to fix that hair though. "Didn't they give you a comb?"

Peter's well aware of how stupid that joke was but it made Tony laugh and helped to dissolve the tension (or at least he hopes it did). He pulls his hand back and takes another drink of coffee.

he pulls the mug away and gives Tony a look. "Cut me some slack here, Mr Stark, I've only been awake for like thirty minutes!" If even that. He pulls his head back a little so Tony can't mess his hair, grumbling under his breath.

"I'll comb it later."

Tony draws his hand back with his eyebrows rising. He hadn't expected Peter to snap at him over that bit of teasing, but perhaps the kid was more out of sorts because of his outburst than he'd let on.

Since he'd already apologized for his tantrum, he didn't feel inclined to do it again over such a minor slight. So instead, he just watches Peter without saying anything. Anything he'd say would likely not go over well anyway.

He's not upset, really. He's just tired and didn't get enough sleep last night. He realizes after a moment that he'd probably sounded a little more snappy than he had meant to. His face pales as could probably be predicted and timed, an apology is rolling out of Peter's mouth.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry Mr Stark-I didn't mean-I don't even know what time I fell asleep last night-so I'm kinda-crabby I guess." He admits before letting out a sigh and drinking more coffee. He really wishes they had some form of energy drink on this train.

"I really didn't mean it to sound like that-I was just trying to give you a hard time-which I shouldn't be doing. So uh... sorry for that too."

There we go! Does he know this kid or what?

That wary, slightly offended look he had on his face dissolves into a smirk. It was so Peter to react like this. In that instant everything was forgiven and he could relax again with the boy he enjoyed spending time with the most.

"It's okay, kid. Obviously, I've been having a rough morning too," he gestures towards the mark on the wall he made with the cup. "I'm worried about you though. You need to sleep more. It's not healthy to go as long as you do without some quality shut eye." He was such a hypocrite! When he was dealing with issues a few years ago, he had a period of time when he couldn't sleep either. Fortunately it had come to an end when Pepper helped him. They needed to get Peter similar help so he wasn't tortured by this any more.

"What can I do to help?"

Peter sets the coffee mug back down and stares down into tan liquid before offering a half hearted shrug. One of the nights he’d stayed at the penthouse he’d told Tony about his issues with sleep-why it was always so hard to fall asleep. Or, he hadn’t actually said the words. He’d more started to say them, chickened out and let Tony fill in the blanks.

“I don’t think there’s anything to do, Mr Stark.” He says honestly. “I mean-it’s been six years and I still can’t talk about it-not without thinking about it. And I mean I don’t usually think about it-about him but I can’t sleep so maybe I do in a way-I don’t typically have nightmares about him but then you can’t really have nightmares if you’re waaay over tired.” He sighs and take another drink of coffee, sinking into his seat.

“I never meant to-but May would usually just wake up on the bad nights and make hot chocolate. And then we’d sit on the couch and watch Netflix until I fell asleep-but that’s not really an option.”

Tony listens, feeling his heart wrench in his chest painfully at the reminder of what Peter was battling. He'd never told the kid this, but he'd found Skip a couple years ago and- god help him- he beat the hell out of that man. He hadn't even used. He just asked if the man remembered Peter and broke his nose, knocked out a few teeth, and came back home bloody and feeling more satisfied than he had in a long while. Skip would never do something like that again. Iron Man was watching him now and he knew it.

That didn't help their current situation though. Peter was still suffering from this event and there was little Tony could do about it. "You know you're always welcome to come and wake me up. You don't even have to tell me why, just come in and say we need to hang out. I don't know if there's hot chocolate in the kitchen but we could at least do tea- I saw that in there." He lets that sit for a moment before continuing. "Pete, we need to find a way for you to let some of that out. You're holding on to the trauma and it's not good for you. I'm not at all blaming you for it, I'm just saying I'm not willing to ignore it or the fact you're suffering. That's not okay. You don't deserve that and he doesn't deserve that kind of power over your life."

Peter lets out another sigh and rubs at his face. This is not a conversation he wants to have so early in the morning-nor does he really ever want to have this conversation. He gets what Tony is saying, he really does but he can't talk about it-even now his starting to feel the dread rising into his stomach and twisting into knots-effectively killing his appetite. They're dangerously close to talking about it and part of him wants to spit out an excuse and retreat back to his bed.

"Thanks, Mr Stark, really, but I'm sixteen. I should be able to handle this without having to go to an adult for comfort in the middle of the night-that's like the same as having to crawl into bed with my parents because I got scared." Which he's sure he did at least once-he can't really remember if he did it with his actual parents but he definitely crawled into bed with Aunt May and Uncle Ben several times when he was younger. And he still sometimes needed May to fall asleep.

"Um... so was I the last one awake?"

"So?" Tony asks, looking sincere. "Do you think you need to proof anything to me, Pete? Because you don't. I know you're strong. I know you're sixteen. And I know you eat candy like you're three. I don't care. Whatever you need, I'm not going to judge you about. Well.. maybe about the candy. I judge that a little. But not something serious. I hope you'd know that about me by now."

He wondered about the other question and shook his head. "I haven't seen Dread yet. By the way, you're on dishes duty for lunch and dinner according to Gwen when you didn't show up for breakfast."

Good morning

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cw: Vague mentions of Skip Westcott

CW: References to sexual assault and regular assault

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