Chapter Text
It was the Battle of New York all over again. It was the Chitauri. Steve knew it was. Despite it being years since then, Steve could still remember each and every last detail of their armor and tech thanks to a super soldier's memory.
So the aliens they were fighting now...Steve knew they were the same. However, this time, there was no hole in the sky they were coming from.
One second New York was going about it's normal day and then the next, the skies were full of aliens.
Steve and Tony heard the screaming from the tower and FRIDAY played the news channel playing live footage of the attack. Steve thought he was back in time for a moment seeing the television until Tony grabbed his wrist and pulled him along.
They were suited up and fighting in no time, along with Natasha, Clint, Sam, and Bucky. Thor and Bruce were both off-world together, but they could have really used the help.
Steve was on the ground fighting alongside Bucky as Tony and Sam took the sky and shot down as many flying aliens as they could. Clint and Natasha were somewhere around taking care of these like they always did.
Steve was trying to remember how they beat these things the last time. He didn't remember any weaknesses. They just kept killing them until the portal was closed.
"Iron Man, do you have a visual on where they're all coming from?" Steve asked through the comms when he had a break from fighting. It only lasted a second before he had to knock out the next one charging him.
"Negative, Cap. No more wormholes in the sky for me to fly a nuke through," Tony's voice crackled back through his ear piece and maybe to anybody else, he would have sounded like his usual snarky self but not to Steve. Steve was married to the man for over two years now, in love with him for over five; he knew him well enough to know he was scared.
"Even if there was, you wouldn't be going through it," Steve said.
"Don't worry. This time you've got me and the raccoon. Of course, we'll win."
"I'm not a raccoon, bird brain," Bucky snapped as he choked out the nearest alien with his metal arm.
"Can you two stop flirting and fight? We're already short a Hulk and god."
"But at least you're not short the other spider!"
When the new voice responded to Natasha, Steve felt his heart drop into his stomach. There was one person that Steve didn't want anywhere near this and that was his kid. "Spider-Man, what are you doing here?"
"Fighting a bunch of bad guys, duh!" Peter swung right by Steve and Bucky, into a swarm of more aliens. Steve knew Peter was strong and could handle his own, but this was different. He was still worried they were going to try taking Tony away from him again and now he had to worry about Peter too.
"And what about school?" Tony asked, sounding just as worried. Great, all they needed was for both of them to be off their game worrying about Peter.
"On lockdown! You know I can't stay still for very long." He laughed as he flipped through the air and webbed two of them together.
"Fine-- just stay back and web them up. No getting close to them," Steve said, unable to keep the worry from his voice. He usually wasn't this overbearing when Peter assisted them, but now he couldn't help but feel petrified at the idea of losing his son or his husband in this fight.
"Got it, Captain!" Peter chirped as he continued webbing any aliens that he could.
The fight continued on, and Steve prepared for the worst. He thought it would last maybe hours. But it didn’t. It barely lasted a few more minutes after Peter arrived. Steve was so focused on making sure Peter wasn’t being pulled down from a web and Tony wasn’t falling from the sky (or flying into a wormhole) that he didn’t realize it was all over until he knocked out the Chitauri in front of him and no more took its place.
He lost his ear piece a few moments ago when he was blasted across the face by a broken car door, wielded by a Chitauri. Glancing around the street, there was a distinct lack of gunfire and chaos. There was a silence. New York looked like it was just as much of a mess as it was in the last battle, but Steve didn’t care.
He didn’t care that things were on fire, and cars were upside down, and buildings were destroyed, and every one of the Chitauri were suddenly gone. He didn’t care about anything but finding Tony and Peter.
He ran through the rubble, right past Bucky who was trying to get his attention. “I’ve got to find them!” He yelled, flipping a car off of its side. He wasn’t sure why he looked under that particular car, expecting to see either of his boys.
There was no sight of either of them in the 30 seconds he had been searching, and he was already shaking.
It wasn’t until he heard the familiar sound of Tony’s suit did he stop some of his worrying. Tony landed in front of him and his mask lifted, revealing his own worried face. “Peter with you?”
Steve’s heart leapt into his throat. “No, I thought he’d be by you. I haven’t see him since…” Steve trailed off when he realized he didn’t know when was the last time he saw Peter. How long ago in the fight was that? Was that before or after he last saw Tony? Did something happen?
“Did you guys see that?!” A blob of red swung past them, flipped in the air, and then landed in front of them. The blob of red turned into the Spider-Man suit. “I was kicking ass up there!”
“Peter,” Tony said, letting out a loud breath of relief. “We were so worried.”
Peter glanced between the two of them and even though they couldn’t see Peter’s face, they saw the way his eyes changed on the mask. “I was a little worried up there too, but I had it handled. Don’t worry.”
Steve trusted his son in battle and usually, he wasn’t this anxious. He wanted to stop worrying. But he couldn’t. The worry stayed with him long after the battle ended.
He knew Tony felt the same way no matter how many times Peter told them he was okay. Maybe that was just being a parent, or maybe...maybe it was something more.
The battle was long over hours ago. Everyone was checked up in the infirmary and no one was hurt. They still weren't quite sure what was behind all of that, but it seemed to be over.
There was no reason for him to be so shaken still. He'd fought worse before. But as Steve laid in bed that night, he still felt uneasy.
Tony must have been too. "You can't sleep either?"
Steve turned his head to look at him. He was curled up on his side, facing Steve. "Something feels wrong," he said, knowing that made zero sense.
"You feel uneasy too?" He reached a hand towards Steve and Steve took it immediately.
"Something about that battle shook me up," he admitted in a whisper. "I don't know what. Or why."
"Maybe it's memories of the first battle with them? They were here then because of Thanos...kinda makes you wonder why they're back."
"Thanos is gone," Steve said quickly. "He's not coming back."
"No," Tony agreed, but Steve couldn't tell if he agreed completely. "But it still brings back the memories of everything that happened."
Before Steve could reply to that, their bedroom door slammed open and Peter was rushing into their bed. He couldn't get between them fast enough. His breathing was labored as he struggled to hold back his whimpers.
Steve was instantly on Papa Bear alert. His own fears didn't matter a bit when Peter was upset. He rubbed Peter's back as he tried to settle between them. "Hey, bear, you're okay."
Peter shook his head, letting out a whine.
Tony looked over him at Steve and they held a strong gaze for a moment. They weren't the only ones shaken up from today. "Do you want to talk about it, bambino?"
Peter hooks his head even more. "No!"
"Okay," Steve was quick to calm him down. "We'll just lay here with you. Feel like falling asleep again?"
"Dunno. It was scary."
"Nightmare, huh?"
"Y-Yeah."
Steve pressed a kiss to the top of his head as he wrapped his arms around him and Tony too. They were curled up in their signature Dad sandwich. "Well, Dad and Pops are here now," Steve promised. "We won't let anything hurt you."
Peter relaxed in their hold and even Steve felt safer. Safe enough to close his eyes and fall asleep once he heard Tony and Peter's heavy breathing.
When they were all together, he felt safe to let his guard down. And maybe that was the plan all along and that's why he didn't expect to get caught in the nightmares that were waiting.
Literally.