Except one night they’re all eating take-out in the compound, and for the life of him Peter can’t remember how they managed to get onto the topic, but they start talking about fears. At first, Peter just shakes his head, denies it, he’s Spiderman, he’s not afraid of anything- but then he hears Steve speak, really quietly, and admit that he can’t stand being in water. Not after the plane crash. 

And then Thor speaks up. He tells them all that he’s absolutely terrified of being alone. He can’t stand it, and sometimes it takes as little as a day of solitude before he has to find someone, anyone to talk to, or he feels like he can’t breathe.

Then Natasha tells everyone she’s afraid of dogs, her face blank, her fists slightly clenched, and she doesn’t explain any further, and no one asks. Clint tells them all he has a horrible fear of needles. Every time he needs an injection, he vomits. Bruce? Bruce has panic attacks in large crowds. He tells them all he has to skip out on charity galas and parties because he’s so terrified, sometimes.

Then Peter looks at Tony, and expects nothing, because really, it’s Iron Man. He’s been through everything, and he doesn’t even bat an eye at any of it. He’s the one Peter could never have finding out about his own weakness. Because Tony trusts him, Tony respects him, and if he knew Peter was so afraid of something so trivial, he’d surely-

“I’m scared of the dark,” Tony shrugs, looking down, and Peter just… stops.

The dark. Something as simple as the dark, and Tony is… Tony is afraid of the dark. 

Iron Man is afraid of the dark.

Tony raises an eyebrow at Peter, and he realizes he’s staring. He looks down quickly, feeling like his heart is about to beat out of his ribcage. 

That’s the day that he discovers something very, very important.

at work I called out his coffee order and he was like “that’s not how women usually call out my name ;) ;) ;)” so I just blinked and said “I’ll try to sound more disappointed next time then” then walked away