Pepper had an early morning council meeting, so it was up to Tony to drop Peter off at school. The genius didn't sleep much at night because he was working until the early hours on a new product for SI, but he was still going to accomplish his task. Because, it was important for him to finally prove to his girlfriend how serious he was about her and her son.
Tony has known about Peter's existence since Pepper started working for him. However, he didn't meet him until about a year after he got together with Pepper. The redhead was very indecisive about letting him into her life, which the mechanic understood, he himself was afraid of how his presence would affect her son. It had been a long journey that hadn't come without a few obstacles, but Tony liked to think they were doing pretty well. He liked the family he had and knew he had to do everything he could to keep them.
So when he parked outside the school, he had to make sure he did everything Pepper would do.
"Wait," he blurted out, grabbing Peter's sweatshirt sleeve to stop him from getting out of the car. "I still feel like we forgot something."
Peter had to chuckle at that. This is what it looked like when you sent two people with ADHD to do something.
"Relax, would you? I got everything I need," he tried to reassure him. He really liked Tony, and he could see how hard he was trying. His mom saw it too, so there really wasn't any need for him to analyze everything all the time.
"Do you have that essay you worked on with Pepper?"
"I handed it in yesterday," he replied patiently, though he would have liked to get out of the car and go to school.
Tony nodded. "What about that project we've been working on all weekend?"
"I have it in my backpack. I appreciate it, but I should go so I won't be late," he said, knowing it would work because Tony wouldn't let him be late. Not after the fiasco where he took him to Germany instead of school to fight Captain America. It was quite a miracle that his mom didn't leave Tony after that.
"You're right," he agreed, rubbing his eyes. He was tired and couldn't wait to have coffee, he didn't even have breakfast with Peter. "Wait, did you have breakfast?" he asked as he realized he hadn't paid attention to breakfast as he had barely gotten out of bed, and he knew Peter tended to skip meals at times despite his fast metabolism when he should be eating far more.
"I may not have breakfast," muttered reluctantly Peter who was somewhat late in the morning because, like Tony, he had trouble getting up after the evening patrol.
"Unacceptable. Look in your backpack," said Tony, who had various protein bars stashed around everywhere just for these occasions.
Peter did as he was told, pulling the breakfast bar out of his backpack. "Hey, there's chocolate chips in this!"
Tony rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I am not an idiot. I know how to trick my son into eating his fiber."
"Thank you! See you later, dad," he said goodbye to him and finally got out of the car.
And while Peter carelessly continued to school, Tony was left sitting in the car in absolute shock. He had to wait a few minutes for him to get at least a little bit back to normal before he could go home. The road, which used to go by very quickly, now stretched endlessly.
When he finally arrived back home, instead of going to their floor, he pressed the elevator button for the floor where Pepper's office was located. He knew that she wouldn't be joining him anytime soon, but he also knew that he wouldn't be doing any work in the workshop anyway.
He didn't know how to feel. A part of him was happy. He had spent enough time with Peter to not think of him as a son. He just wouldn't have thought that the kid would see it the same way. Him. Why would anyone want him to be their father? And then there was another part of him that was afraid of what Pepper would say. His beloved Pepper.
"Tony, you're hyperventilating, I need you to slow down a little," a woman's voice suddenly spoke next to him, and he felt a gentle touch on his shoulder.
He looked up and immediately felt his heart slow as he looked into the bluish-green eyes he loved so much.
Pepper gave him a caring smile and sat down next to him. She was very surprised to find him sitting on the smaller couch in her office. And an even bigger surprise was the condition he was in. She immediately wondered if something had happened with Peter in the morning, but surely Tony would have let her know right away, so it had to be something else. Maybe it was just the memories of the Battle of New York or the fight with Steve got to him again.
"See? That is better," she said softly as his breathing returned to normal. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Peter called me dad," he blurted out nervously.
Pepper froze for a brief moment at his words. Her first impulse was to go into defensive mode, as she always did when it came to her son. But she knew Tony didn't mean any harm by that. She knew the man next to her very well, so she shouldn't even be surprised that this situation happened.
"Listen, Tony, I know you didn't want this. I can see how much you care about Peter. And I know we haven't talked about it, so we should probably do it now. If you don't want to be Peter's dad, I understand. It's important to me that you care about him and that I can rely on you," she said, though it was breaking her heart a little. From what she witnessed every day, she would say that Tony was already Peter's father, but if the man next to her didn't want to call it that, they didn't have to.
It took Tony a few seconds to process her words. "Wait a minute, you kidding, right? If I don't want to be Peter's dad? Of course, I want to be his dad."
"Oh, I am sorry, I just thought that wasn't what you wanted based on your reaction," Pepper explained apologetically, apparently misunderstanding.
"It just..." he breathed out. How should he tell her? He was never good at talking.
"Just say what's on your mind," she guided him and took his hand.
Tony took a deep breath. "I want to be Peter's dad, but is it something you want? Or Peter?"
"Since he was the one who called you dad, I'd say he probably wants you to be his dad," she teased him a little.
"Yeah, but what if... I think I called him my son, maybe he just carried away with it," he mumbled.
"Well, that doesn't sound like Peter," Pepper reminded him. “And as for me, I'll be more than happy if you want to be his dad. I see you as his dad already."
"But he's got a father over there somewhere, right?" he didn't resist the question.
"The man who has the same DNA as Peter is definitely not his father. I know it, and so does Peter. Everything I told you about him, I also told Peter," she said in a stern yet gentle voice.
Tony nodded. "And you're really not angry?"
"Why would I be?" she didn't understand.
“I just want to make sure we're on the same side here. I don't want to take Peter away from you or something like that."
"Love, you're starting to overthink it again. I know you don't want to take Peter away from me. Like I said, I know you care about him and I see you as his father myself. You helped me a lot when the spider thing happened. I couldn't have done it without you," she said, giving him a quick chaste kiss.
"Don't underestimate yourself, Pep, you did it with me," he encouraged her.
“A family reunion? Cool," said Peter instead of greeting, who as always, headed to his mother's office after arriving from school.
"Hello to you too, munchkin," Pepper teased him, happily accepting his hug and kiss on the cheek in welcome.
Peter couldn't resist an eye roll. "So, do you have to work or we can go to the workshop?" he asked Tony.
However, the man to whom this question was asked did not answer, because with the arrival of Peter, the panic reappeared. Pepper, who was still holding his hand, felt him stiffen and sighed a little. Sometimes these two were really hard to live with.
"Before you go, I heard you call Tony a dad this morning," she said to rip off the patch quickly.
One pair of brown eyes looked at her in fear, which belonged to Tony, and the other pair of brown eyes looked at her in confusion, which belonged to her son.
"No, I didn't," he objected, but it sounded more like a question.
He quickly thought about their journey to school. He had been thinking about Tony as a father lately, but he was very careful to keep it only in his thoughts. He liked him, but he knew he couldn't claim Tony's attention like that. Even though he knew Tony cared about him, it didn't change the fact that he was just the son of the woman he loved.
Thank you! See you later, dad. Well, shit.
"Oh my god! I am so sorry, it just slipped out. I am gonna make sure it doesn't happen again," he assured the older man, stepping nervously on the spot.
Just as Pepper was about to say something, Tony beat her to it.
"Why are you apologizing?" he asked confused.
But Peter said nothing to that. He just looked down.
"Tony, why don't you wait for Peter in the workshop?" Pepper suggested, giving her partner a meaningful look.
The mechanic just sighed but left. He knew that whatever was on Peter's mind, Pepper would handle it.
She tapped the couch next to her and waited for Peter to join her. "You know, you and Tony are so alike sometimes it's hard to even remember he's not your biological dad," she said with a small smile.
"What do you mean?" he asked, giving her a hopeful look.
"I found him here panicking. He told me what happened and then I found out why he was panicking. Probably for the same reason why you apologized. You need to talk about it, but maybe you'll be reassured that he panicked because he didn't know if you'd even want him as a dad."
"For real?" he gasped in disbelief. "And I thought he wouldn't want me as his son!"
"Who wouldn't want you as their son?" she said emotionally.
"What do you think about that? Are you okay with me wanting to have Tony as my dad?" he wanted to know because just like he was her priority, his mom was always his. She raised him all his life by herself and always made sure she did the best for him. Even if it meant it wouldn't be the best for her.
"Of course, I am, sweetheart. And now you should go talk to Tony. I still have work to do so I can be home for dinner in time," she smiled, ruffling his curls.
"Okay, I will try my best," he promised and got up to leave.
"And Petey, can you tell your dad that he doesn't have to worry about him taking you away from me because you'll always be a mama's boy?" she smirked.
Peter's entire face turned red. "Mom! No, I am not gonna say that. I am fifteen, for god's sake!" he said in frustration and quickly left her office.
Pepper smiled to herself. She was glad that the two of them would finally clear things up between themselves. She believed that it would only strengthen their family. And Peter could say whatever he wanted, he would always be her little boy.