And Then There Is You

Peter was having a blast so far. 

His grandpa and he arrived at the golf course and after getting a bite to eat, Howard drove out to one of the furthest sections on the green belt and put the golf cart into park. 

“Alright, let’s test out your skills. Let’s switch seats.” 

Getting out of the cart, Peter ran around to the other side and jumped up, grabbing onto the steering wheel, shaking it back and forth. “Does it go fast?” 

“It only goes about 15 miles an hour.” He points to the petals on the floor. “Put your foot on the brake.” 

“Which one is that?” 

Howard snaps his head up to look at the boy. “You can’t be serious? Tony knew how to drive my car at twelve.” 

Peter’s smile falters a bit. “Oh. I-I was never taught how. Um, the legal driving age is sixteen. So… I’m not allowed.” 

Howard still doesn’t look impressed. “So your father doesn’t take you out practicing?” 

Peter looks down. “Um… no. We’ve just been busy. It’s not his fault.” 

Howard is silent for a few moments then he points at the bigger petal. “Put your foot down on that one. That’s the brake. You never want to start a car without having your foot on the brake.” 

“Why?” 

Howard seems annoyed that Peter even asked. “Just… because. Pay attention, this is a simple vehicle. There’s only drive, reverse, neutral and park.” 

“What does neutral mean?” 

Howard grunts. “Don’t worry about that. You’ll only need drive and park.” 

“But what if I want to reverse it?” Peter asks, looking up at the older man. He wonders if this was how his dad learned how to drive a car. Peter thinks his dad is a good driver, May… wasn’t so much, she always parked far away since when she would park close, she tended to scrape some cars by accident. 

“You won’t need to.” 

“Do you-do you think I’ll be as good as my dad one day? At driving?” Peter asks in a hopeful voice, bouncing a bit on his seat. 

“Maybe. If he teaches you this stuff. What has he been doing with you anyways? I’m sure you do work in his lab with him. Correct?” 

Peter nods. “Uh huh. But… not so much anymore. I used to lots when I was twelve but then…” He trails off. He doesn’t want to talk about how May died and the last thing Peter wanted to do was work in the lab. Thankfully Tony understood that and so they spent a lot of time watching tv on the couch or baking something that barely turned out edible in the kitchen. It always felt safe. Peter smiles at the memories. 

Howard thankfully doesn’t ask more. “Alright. Let’s get going. Is your foot on the brake?” 

“Yes.” 

“Good. Now put the car into drive and slowly release the brake.” 

Carefully, Peter puts the cart into drive and ever so slowly releases his foot off the brake, turning to his grandpa when it starts to move forward. “I did it. Look, we’re moving!” 

“Now put your foot on the gas. Slow-” 

Peter slams his foot on the gas and he flies back in his seat, losing his grip on the golf cart. Howard yells something then leans over to press his foot on the brakes, bringing them to a safe stop. 

“That was a start.” Howard says, rather calmly. 

But Peter’s heart is beating so loudly and so quickly in his chest. His hands are shaking and he feels like his life just flashed in front of his eyes. He doesn’t want to drive anymore. 

He also can’t seem to hold in his tears because a few seconds later, his cheeks are wet and a broken sob escapes his lips. “That was s-scary!” He cries, bringing his hands up to his eyes to rub them. 

Howard stares at him for a few moments, feeling helpless. “Don’t cry. Nothing happened.” 

Peter only cries harder. They could have hit a tree or another golf card or the car could have flipped and he’d be pinned underneath it and the fireman would have to pull him out only to be announced dead at the scene and now he’s all alone and sitting in a hospital chair, crying because his Aunt May was dead and never coming back to him and- 

“Stop crying.” Howard snaps. 

Peter jumps. He turns to look up at the older man, moving a bit closer. He just needs a hug and some comfort. “I-I-” 

“Just… stop crying. You’re freaked out for nothing. We barely drove ten feet.” He clears his throat and straightens his back. “Put the tears away and let’s try again.” 

Peter tries to stop crying but he can’t. He got himself too worked up and now he feels like he knows what it felt like when his Aunt died and he’s suddenly back in the hospital room all alone, not knowing where he was going to go or if he would ever be loved and taken care of by somebody ever again. 

Howard gets out of the golf cart and walks around, taking Peter’s arm to pull him out then he leans down to be at height level with the child and places both hands on his arms, giving him a firm shake. “Take a breath and man up. You’re not a baby, there’s no need to act like this. I’m not mad at you. Calm down so we can try again.” He lets go and straightens up. “You wanted to learn to drive today, didn’t you?” 

Peter’s shaking so badly and he can’t stop crying. “I-I want my dad.” 

Howard shakes his head, shrugging. “Well, I’m here. Wipe the tears away and get back on that cart. Let’s go.” 

Peter suddenly feels something warm spreading in his underwear and then down his legs. He looks down, watching his pants grow darker in colour then he lets out another sob and looks back up at his grandpa, hoping he wasn’t mad. 

“I-I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry!” 

Howard groans. “And yet you did.” He runs a hand through his hair, something Tony does when he’s super stressed, then he turns around and gets into the driver's seat. “Driving lessons over. Let’s go.” 

“Are you m-mad at me?” Peter squeaks out, slowly walking to the other side of the golf cart and hesitates before sitting down. 

“No. I’m disappointed in you.” He says, beginning to drive back the way they came. “I think your father will be too.” 

Peter looks down. He didn’t think Tony would be but Howard is Tony’s father, he’s known him for 43 years so of course he knows him more. He sucks in another shaky breath, trying to stop crying. “M’sorry, grandpa.” 

Howard doesn’t say anything. He parks the golf cart where they got it from and he takes the keys out, gesturing for Peter to follow him. When they walk inside, Peter feels immensely uncomfortable as he stays close to his grandpa, trying to place his hands in front of his crotch to block the obvious signs of his accident. 

“Abbiamo finito presto. Mi serve un paio di pantaloni in più per mio nipote.” Howard says to the older man at the front desk. 

Peter briefly makes eye contact with him then looks away when the man looks down at his pants, seeing his obvious accident. 

“Vedo. Ho paura che non vendiamo pannolini.” He chuckles at Howard and turns around to grab a pair of white, jean looking shorts. “la nostra taglia più piccola.” He says, placing the pants on the table. “Tornerai con i tuoi amici, Mr. Stark?” 

Howard takes out his wallet and responds to the man, something that Peter obviously can’t understand but he doesn’t think that he wants to anyways. 

“Let’s go, Peter.” 

Following Howard outside quickly, he stops when they arrive at the truck and Peter hesitates, looking between the truck and his grandpa who was holding the shorts in his hands. “Will we go back out on-on the golf cart?” 

“Did you want to?” 

“Um… no.” 

“I thought so. Change and then we’ll go home and maybe once you’ve calmed down, you can help me cook lunch on the barbecue.” He hands Peter the pants and turns to leave, probably to give Peter privacy. 

Looking around, Peter spots four men on the golf course, separated by a small pond and the green court, Peter thinks they’re too busy to see him so he places the white pants on the ground and unbuttons his pants, trying to tug them down but it’s too tight and he’s already wet and sticky. 

Grunting and then whimpering, Peter manages to get it down to his ankles where he has to take his shoes off to pull them off, he grips onto the truck for balance but the door opens and he falls back, landing on his butt.

He begins to cry again, just needing some comfort at this point. 

Walking around the truck, Howard doesn’t look impressed. “Get up.” 

“I-I need help.” 

He sighs, looking around as if looking for anyone else to help him. He then walks over to Peter and pulls him up by his arm and picks up the shorts. “Take those off.” 

“It’s stuck!” Peter cries out, lifting each leg up and down to attempt to get it off. “I need help.” He repeats, using the hand that wasn’t holding onto the truck to wipe the rocks off his butt. 

Howard doesn’t reply to his request and instead stands there, looking uncomfortable as he resists the urge to yell at the boy. Taking him out was a huge mistake. 

After struggling some more, Peter eventually cries out after getting one foot out. “I want my dad!” 

“Well… we’re going home now. Put the tears away because it isn’t helping anyone out right now.” 

Peter nods, trying to stop. “O-okay.” 

“The faster you do this, the faster we can get out of here.” He grabs Peter’s arm when he’s about to fall over again, looking down at the boy. “Hurry.” 

“Okay. M’sorry.” Peter picks up his wet pants and underwear. “Um… is it garbage?” 

“No. Toss it on the floor of the truck. Your dad can deal with you when we get back.” He hands him the white golf pants. “Put these on now.” 

Taking it with shaking hands, Peter takes it from the man and steps into them, pulling them up and buttoning the top, sniffling when it rubbed against his irritated skin. “It hurts.” 

“Well, if you didn’t pee yourself like a baby then we wouldn’t be here, would we?” 

Peter gets into his car seat and sniffles, shaking his head. “No. I want my dad.” 

Ignoring what he’s been repeating, Howard drives away. “Do you do this a lot?” 

“Do w-what?” Peter asks, feeling really tired now. He just wants his dad, no, he needs him. 

Howard scuffs. “Pee yourself. Awake.” He asks, looking in the rearview mirror at the boy. 

Peter shrugs, wiping at his red, puffy eyes. “No…” 

Howard shakes his head at the boy. “At least I did something right as a father, Tony was never like this, you know.” 

Peter nods, not really paying too much mind to what the man was saying but he felt incredibly bad for what he did and now he’s afraid that maybe Tonys going to be mad at him. He wipes at his eyes again when more tears fall. “Don’t tell dad. Please. I-I don’t want him to be a-angry at m-me. Please.” 

“I’m going to have to. Part of growing up is taking responsibility for what you’ve done, Peter.” He then remains silent for the rest of the car ride, so Peter doesn’t try to talk either. 

When they arrive at the house, Peter feels his heart speed up. Tony was going to be so disappointed and angry at him. Howard was right. He looks to his soiled clothes on the floor and wonders if he can get rid of them somehow without his dad seeing… 

When he looks up, he can see Tony walking outside the front door, a huge smile on his face. He immediately looks down at his lap, wiping more tears away. 

Tony walks up, happy to see them back but a little surprised that they are back so soon. “Hey, dad. Everything went well?” He asks as he approaches the truck, frowning at his fathers face. 

Howard doesn’t look impressed so Tony begins to think that Peter didn’t ‘perform’ as well as Howard  had expected. 

“Peter had an accident.” 

“An accident? Is he okay? Why didn’t you call me?” Tony quickly opens up the back door, expecting to find Peter hurt and bleeding but he’s just sitting there, looking down and crying. His heart hurts at the sight. “Hey. Peter? What happened? Are you okay?” 

Peter looks at him briefly and nods. There’s no getting out of this now. 

Tony notices that he’s wearing a different pair of pants. “Why did you change?” He asks him but when Peter doesn’t reply, he turns to his father. “Why is he wearing different pants, dad?” 

“Like I said, he had an accident. He peed himself on the golf course.” He says, crossing his arms over his chest. 

Maria gasps and goes to approach the truck, feeling awful for the poor boy. 

“Oh, buddy.” Tony reaches over to unbuckle him from the seatbelt but Peter begins to openly cry, not able to hold back anymore and just praying that Tony doesn’t scold him for it. Both for crying and peeing himself. 

“I’m sorry! I-I-I did-didn’t mean to!” He cries, covering his hands over his face, sobbing into them. 

Tony’s heart breaks for him. He doesn’t know what happened and what caused this… “It’s okay, Pete. Let’s go inside and get you cleaned up.” 

“Are-are you m-mad at me?” 

“What? No. I’m not mad. I’d never be mad at you for something like this.” Tony holds his arms out for Peter, lifting him out of the car and holding him against his chest to walk inside. He walks past his father, giving the man a dirty look. He has a strong feeling this was Howard’s fault. 

Taking Peter upstairs and into their room, he shuts the door behind them, locking it and goes into the bathroom, sitting on the edge of the bathtub and placing Peter on his feet in front of him. “Hey. I’m not upset with you, Peter.” He says, wiping the tears off his rosy cheeks. “Can you tell me what happened?” He waits for a response but Peter just looks at him and sniffles. “This isn’t like you. I’m not mad, but I need to know what happened.” 

Peter looks down. “I-I’m not a good driver. Grandpa… he yelled at me.” 

“He yelled at you?” Peter nods. “What did he say?” 

“He-he said to stop crying. That-that I wasn’t a b-baby. I was just scared cause… the golf cart went fast.” 

Tony tries to put pieces together but he has a feeling that he is going to have to ask his father what really happened out there. And he was going to be having some words with the man. 

After getting Peter changed into comfy clothes and into bed with his iPad, Tony leaves him to go downstairs and talk to his father. He finds him outside by the pool talking to his mother so Tony joins them and sits down on the pool chair opposite the man. 

“Tell me what happened.” 

Howard sits up. “I’ll tell you what happened and I’m going to tell you that that boy needs help that I don’t think you can give him.” 

“Dad, he just lost his Aunt, he has no family, his parents died when he was three, his Uncle died a year before I met him and his Aunt a year after that. He goes to therapy. He was doing perfectly fine before today. So tell me what happened.” 

“Tony. Go easy on your father.” 

“No, mom. Stop defending him. Peter peed his pants today. He’s never done that the entire time I’ve known him. Two days after we’re here, dad takes him out and he pees his pants.” He tries not to get too worked up. “So tell me what happened, dad.” 

“Alright. We were on the golf course and I taught him how to begin driving, he puts the cart into drive and slams on the gas. That’s it. Then he starts freaking out. I tell him to stop crying and calm down,” 

“Oh my god.” Tony shakes his head at the ridiculousness of that. 

Howard continues. “then I realize he’s not going to stop crying, he asks for you, so I get out to switch seats with him and he pisses himself. That’s it.” 

“You’re unbelievable, dad.” Tony looks towards the house, deciding in that moment if he should take Peter and leave. 

“Me? It’s your son who’s thirteen and peeing himself. In the bed and during the day.” 

Tony tries so hard not to punch the man. He deserves it but Tony knows he can’t. He may be an awful father but Tony would still never lay his hands on him. “He’s going through so much trauma at such a young age. It’s normal for him to wet the bed. And he’s never wet himself during the day… until today.” 

Howard opens his mouth to speak but Tony cuts him off. 

“You’re an awful father. Awful. I know you know that, and I know I’ve told you before. You always wanted what was best for you, and not me. I tried so hard to make you proud growing up and I have no idea why I did that.” Tony pauses to pinch the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. “But I thought that you might actually be a good grandfather to the only grandchild that you’re going to get. But you’re the exact same.” 

“I’ve done everything for you growing up. I gave you whatever you wanted-” 

“I didn’t need whatever I wanted. I just needed you to be a father and actually be there!” He yells then takes a breath to stop himself. “You don’t like Peter because you see him as weak. Because he cries and seeks comfort from me. And I actually give it to him. Just admit it, dad. Admit it.” 

Howard just stares at Tony for a few moments then replies. “Fine. I think you baby him too much. I think you treat him like a baby when all he needs is some tough love. I guarantee that he wouldn’t have pissed his pants today if you didn’t coddle the boy.” 

Even though Tony asked him to admit all that, he’s still pissed to hear it. “I treat him the way that I know what’s best for him and for what he needs. I’ll admit that he’s a sensitive boy, but that’s even more reason to give him the affection that he needs.” Tony stands up, he’s done here. But not without saying one more thing. “And I’m grateful that you treated me the way that you did growing up, because I may be new at this whole dad thing, but at least I know how not to treat my son. Thanks to you. And I pity you, you have no idea how good it feels to know you’re doing a good job and to hold your child and hear them tell you that they love you. And you’ll never know that feeling.” With that, he turns to walk away, walking back upstairs and going into the bedroom, finding Peter sitting up on the bed, not playing on the iPad he gave him. 

Tony takes a seat on the bed, sighing. “Were you listening?” He doesn’t truly know how well Peter’s listening abilities are yet. They were going to go to the Compound and test out all his abilities with some of the Avengers two weeks after May died, not knowing she was going to die, then it just hasn’t happened. 

Peter shakes his head. “No. I heard you walking up the stairs. What-what did you say to grandpa? I-I don’t want you to be mad at him. It’s my fault. Not his.” 

Peter is way too good for this world. “He told me that he yelled at you. Is that why you peed yourself?” 

Peter looks away. The way Tony says it like he just spilt some water makes him embarrassed. “Um… yeah. Cause… cause the car, it went really fast and it scared me. It… it made me… think of Aunt May… then-then suddenly I was back at the hospital and-and I thought if that’s how scared she was and-” Peter breaks off into sobs so Tony pulls him into his arms, hugging him tightly. 

“Oh, baby. I’m so sorry. I know it just have been so scary for you. I’m sorry I wasn’t there.” He rocks them back and forth for a few moments then stands up, bringing Peter’s tiny body with him to walk towards the window to look out it. “I promise you that May wasn’t scared. I know that she was thinking of you, and that means that her last thoughts would have been happy ones.” 

Tony doesn’t know that. In fact, he thinks that May would have been sad to know that she would never see Peter ever again and if he would be okay but what Peter doesn’t know is that May had asked Tony a few months before to take Peter in godforbid anything bad happen to May. 

Saying yes immediately, Tony never would have expected to be taking on full responsibility for said little boy only three months later. 

But he wouldn’t change that for the world. He kisses Peter’s temple and squeezes him tighter. “I love you so much.” 

Peter sniffles and wraps his arms around Tony’s neck, trying to hoist himself up so Tony does that for him, leaning his head on top of Peter’s. 

“I love you too. I’m… sorry. For-for peeing my pants. They’re… dirty now.” 

Tony forgot about the pants. “Where are they?” 

“Um… the car.” 

“Did you change by yourself?” He asks, wanting to know what part his father played in it. 

“Yeah… but grandpa helped me. A bit. He just said to hurry up… I just tried to.” 

Tony feels so bad. He hugs Peter tighter. “I’m sorry. I should have come. I’m so sorry, baby.” 

“Don’t be. It’s okay, dad.” 

There’s a knock at the door and before having time to say anything, it opens and Maria walks in, looking at the two with a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. 

“Peter, while you were gone, your father and I bought you a surprise. Would you want to come check it out?” Maria asks, walking over to the two boys and placing a comforting hand on Peter’s back. 

Peter looks at her, his arms tightening around Tony's neck. “Yeah.” 

Tony places Peter on the floor, not surprised at the hand that immediately latched onto his shirt. “I’m going to give you a hint, you’re going to need to wear your bathing suit. Can you go get changed in the bathroom?” 

Peter hesitates. “Come?” 

“I’ll be right here waiting for you. Be quick.” 

Reluctantly, Peter leaves, keeping the door half open just in case he needs his father, feeling extra clingy after today's events. 

Once Peter’s in the bathroom, Maria takes Tony's hands. “What you said to your father hurt me, Antonio. To hear how much you were hurting when you were a little boy. I wish I had known. I’m sorry, my baby. I know that your father was… absent. But I believe that he did try. He loves you more than anything. Please don’t hold a grudge, baby.” 

Tony squeezes his moms hand. “Mamma, ti voglio bene. But dad and I will never have a good relationship. If he wants me to let him see Peter, then he needs to stop trying to give him tough love. That’s why he peed his pants today.” 

Maria nods. “I understand, ragazzino. I hope you don’t keep us from seeing Peter after this trip?” 

Tony wants to consider it. “Not you, mamma. Dad needs to show me that I can trust him alone with my son.” 

Maria kisses Tony’s cheek. “I understand. Let’s have a good day today. I want to spend time with my baby’s baby.” 

Tony smiles. “Alright, mom. I’m going to go take his wet clothes out of the truck before it cooks in the hot sun. Remember he can’t swim, ma.” He kisses her and peaks his head into the bathroom to see what was taking so long and laughs when he sees what Peter has gotten into. 

Opening the door fully to show his mom, laughing harder. “Peter, I think that might be a little too much sun screen.” 

Peter stops to look at him. “It just came out too much.” 

Maria steps beside Tony. “Do you want me to help you, sweetie?” Peter nods and hands her the sunscreen bottle. “I don’t think we need anymore of this.” 

Laughing still, Tony shakes his head fondly at Peter. His whole chest and legs are covered in thick white sunscreen. “Thanks, mom. I’ll meet you guys in the backyard.” 

Peter watches his dad leave but he feels safe with his grandma. She smiles warmly at him, kneeling in front of him to rub the sunscreen on his face. “You have such a handsome little face.” 

He smiles. 

“Such a cute boy.” She thinks that he looks a bit like Tony did around this age, the big brown eyes, wanting to get into so much mischief, the curly brown hair, although Peter’s is much curlier than his fathers was. She will have to ask Tony about his paternity test again… “Any guesses on what your surprise may be?” 

Peter feels like he’s getting a massage as his grandmother rubs the sunscreen all over his body, giggling when she touches his ticklish stomach. “Umm… something that’ll get me wet?” 

She laughs. “Clever boy. Let’s go see.” She stands up and wipes the rest of the sunscreen off her hands then Peter’s grabs ahold of her hand, walking down with her. 

Peter jumps down the last steps, landing gracefully on his feet then he lets his grandma lead him outside and over to the field where he spots a big blow up slide that’s screaming in colour for him to go over to it. He hesitates though. “Is that it?” 

“Yeah. What do you think?” 

Peter skips next to her. “I love it! Is it for me?” 

“Yeah. I think us adults may be too big for it. You like it?” She asks, letting go of Peter’s hand once they reach the blow up floaty. It can go in the pool as well but Tony had told her to keep it on the grass for now. 

Peter stays close to her side. “Yeah! I love it. Thank you, grandma.” He touches the side of it. “Can I go in?” 

“Of course you can.” She watches on, feeling almost as excited as Peter is, happy to watch him climb over the inflatable edge and stand in the water, hesitating at first. “You on, climb up.” 

Peter doesn’t move. He turns and wonders where his dad is first, listening for his heartbeat and hearing him just inside the house so he jumps out and skips towards the house. “Dad! Did you see my surprise?” He asks, jumping up and making Tony catch him and hold him in his arms. 

“I did. I blew it up.” 

“With your mouth?” 

Tony laughs. “No. With a special machine.” When he walks over to the inflatable slide, he placed Peter inside it. “Go climb up and slide down. Show us how it works.” 

Excitedly, Peter climbs up the stairs, not slipping due to his Spidey abilities. He then jumps down instead of sliding, making Maria gasp and grab at her heart but Tony is used to Peter’s reckless behaviour. Wait until he gets comfortable enough here to jump from couch to couch with a glass table beneath him. 

Peter grins, swinging a leg over to straddle the side. “Dad, come do it with me.” 

“Oh, bud, I don’t think it’s for adults.” 

“Yeah it is. Please.” He gets off and grabs his dads hand, noticing that he was already wearing a bathing suit so he must have been expecting to join him. “Climb up with me.” Instead of taking the stairs, Peter grips onto the yellow barrier between the stairs and the slide and attempts to climb that. 

“Careful, Peter. Take the stairs.” Maria yells from the ground but all Tony does is shrug at his mom. Peter is going to do what he wants to do. 

Not able to climb to the top due to him not getting a good enough grip, Peter slides down and ends up in the water below. “Dad, my Spidey powers don’t let me get a good grip. It’s too wet.” 

Maria leans against the side, pushing the hair off Peter’s face. “What’s your Spidey powers?” 

Tony’s heart drops. “Some cartoon he watches. Come here, Pete. Climb up this side in three seconds, can you do it?” 

Jumping to his feet, Peter quickly scales the stairs. “I did it! Hurry, I want to go down!” Peter jumps at the top, leaning against the net behind him. 

Normally, Tony would be scared of him falling back but due to his Spidey abilities, Peter barely weighs more than fifty pounds, making him light so Tony hopes that his parents don’t lift him up for that reason. 

Once Tony climbs to the top, he sits down, tugging Peter’s swim shorts to bring him closer. “Don’t you want to go down with me? Come sit on my lap.” 

“No, I want to do a flip down.” 

“Absolutely not.” 

Peter jumps onto his butt, laying down on his back and lifting his feet over his head. “Please?” 

“No. I don’t need to take any trips to the hospital.” Peter laughs and rolls onto his stomach so Tony uses that new position to pinch his butt cheeks, causing Peter to yelp. “Let’s go down or I’ll do it again.” 

Laughing, Peter sits up. He climbs onto his dad’s lap and brings his dad’s hands to hold him around his tummy then they slide down and Peter screams, standing up at the bottom. 

“Dad, let’s go again together! Hurry!” 

Tony stands up and watches Peter climb up, slide down then climb up again. He’s already ready for a cold glass of lemonade and to chill by the pool. 

“Dad!” 

Maria pats Tony on the back. “You know he’ll sleep well tonight. Go tire him out.” 

After sliding down a few more times, Tony grows tired. He doesn’t know where all of Peter’s energy comes from so he gets out before Peter can beg him to go up again. 

“Dad! Again.” 

“I’m tired, kid. You have too much energy for me.” 

Peter jumps out with him and takes ahold of his hand. “Okay. We can take a break and play somewhere else. Wanna go swimming?” 

Tony let’s Peter bring him over to the pool where Howard comes walking over to them and Peter half hides behind Tony, trying not to make it obvious but failing at it. 

Tony’s eyes linger on his father, waiting to see what he wants, then he stands in front of Peter and looks down at him, pausing for a few moments that makes Tony wonder if he’ll even say anything. “I owe you an apology, Peter.” He starts, seeming to trail off for a few seconds before continuing. “I see now that I shouldn’t have gotten upset with you and for that, I’m sorry. I don’t want your time here being spent with you scared of me or upset with me.” 

Peter nods. “Okay. It’s okay. I’m not mad at you.” 

Tony places a hand in Peter’s head, ruffling his curls. He’s so proud of him. Such an amazing kid. He’s just grateful for the apology, even though it was somewhat forced. “Thanks, dad.” 

Howard pats Tony on the arm and walks away, saying over his shoulder. “Lunch will be ready in fifteen minutes.” 

Peter spins around until he’s leaning heavily against his fathers legs. “Can we pleaseeeeeee still swim until lunch? Pretty please.” 

“Ohh Peter!” Maria rushes over to them, carrying a bag and Tony already knows what it is. “Your father and I bought this for you today. Open it up.” 

Taking the bag from her, Peter pulls it out, smiling. “A life jacket. For me?” 

Tony doesn’t think it’s much of a present and rather a precaution. “Yeah, it’s for you to wear so you can go swimming in the pool whenever you want without an adult. But that still means you have to ask an adult before you can go in the pool. Life jacket or not.” He adds. 

Peter wraps an arm around him. “Thank you, dad. Thank you, grandma. I’m gonna jump in now.” He puts his arms through and let’s Tony zip it up and tighten the buckle between his legs then without hesitation, he runs and jumps in the deep end, grinning proudly. “Did you see me?!” 

“I did. Good job.” 

“He’s quite the daredevil.” Maria admits to him and sits on the pool chair. 

You have no idea, Tony wants to say. Instead, he sits on the chair beside his mom, keeping his eyes on Peter. “He has a lot of energy. And doesn’t seem to be afraid of anything. Besides the dark. And being alone.” He adds. 

“He reminds me a lot of you when you were his age. And looks quite a bit like you too.” 

Tony shakes his head, smiling. “He’s not my son biologically, mom. I promise you.” 

“But did you take a test? Sometimes those can be a false negative. I’m not saying I’ll love him any less… but he just… reminds me a lot of you.” 

“He’s not my blood, mom. I took the test. More than once. Trust me, he’s not my blood.” It still doesn’t change the fact that Tony loves Peter more than anything in this world. 

Maria squeezes his hand. “But he’s still a Stark now. And that comes with a lot of responsibility. Have you told him that he will be the heir to Stark Industries one day?” 

“No. But… I’m sure he knows. He’s way too young for that conversation yet, mom.” 

“You were eighteen when you started sitting in on board meetings and helping to make decisions regarding our company, Antonio.” She tells him. “Sooner or later, the day will come.” 

“He’s only just turned thirteen, mom. That’s still five years away, if I even decide I want him being exposed to that so young. I never had a choice.” He admits, remembering how much he hated those board meetings, taking him away from his friends and his life. He’s not going to expose Peter to that. 

Maria nods. “It’s not a decision you need to make now. I’m just telling you.” She stays silent for a few moments, then both watching Peter swim from one end to the next, stopping to help a bug out of the water. “What’s his background? He is Italian, is he?” 

“His biological mom was Russian and his biological father was Italian. His Aunt was Italian too but he wasn’t biologically related to her.” He tells her, knowing his mom was proud to hear that Peter has Italian in his blood. 

“So why doesn’t he speak Italian or at least understand it?” 

Tony sighs. It wasn’t that big of a deal. “Mom, I don’t know. His parents died when he was three and I guess his Aunt and Uncle were too busy raising a child than to worry about teaching him Italian. They never wanted children.” 

Maria looks sad at this information. “His Aunt spoke Italian?” 

“Yes. To him, I don’t know.” 

She nods. “I want you to speak Italian to him. The younger a child is introduced to a language, the easier they can pick up on it.” 

Tony shakes his head. “Mom, I don’t care that he doesn’t speak Italian. He’s perfect the way he is.” 

“I’m not saying he isn’t, Antonio. A Stark should know Italian, that’s all. He’s going to carry on the family name one day when he gets married and has children.” She says to him and it frustrates Tony that his mother is so set on things like this but he can understand to some extent. 

Tony’s not an idiot. He knows how important it is that as the only son of Maria and Howard Stark, that he himself has a son. 

“I know, mom. But he’s thirteen.” He repeats. “My only focus right now is giving him a healthy childhood that isn’t full of loss and trauma.” 

Maria squeezes his hand before letting go. “I understand, Antonio.” 

Tony thinks it’s the end of the conversation since none of them had said anything as they watch Peter try to gather all the bugs in the pool, getting them out. 

Then his mother looks over at him. “What’s his religion?” 

The question takes Tony by surprise. “Um… he’s not religious. Not saying he’s an atheist,” 

Maria gasps at the word. 

“but he doesn’t follow a religion.” Not that Tony knows of… how can he not know this about his son? 

“Well, we are strong christians, Antonio, and I strongly want my grandson to be too.” 

Tony nods, he knows that. “It’s not like I ever followed any religious beliefs growing up, mom, and I’m still your son and the owner of Stark Industries.” 

“Antonio, you know how important this is to me. For your son, my grandson to be apart of the same religion as us.” 

Tony sighs. “Mom. We aren’t going to church. It doesn’t matter.” 

“Are you going to raise him to wait for marriage?” 

Tony snaps his head to her. “Mom. I’m not talking about my son’s virginity with you.” 

Maria sat up to fully face Tony. “I expect that you will raise him to follow that and he saves himself for marriage.” 

He turns to her for a second. “You know I didn’t.” 

She shakes her head, mumbling something under her breath. “That was a mistake that I regret. But you can prevent that same mistake with Peter. I’m telling you to. You know I did with your father, I want Peter to, Antonio.” 

Tony doesn’t feel uncomfortable very often, especially not since he’s become Peter’s father since the boy clearly has no filter, but he’s done with this conversation. 

“I’m not going to tell Peter what to believe.” 

“Yes you will. You’re his father.” She takes Tony’s hands. “Just raise him to wait for marriage. As a Stark, I want that for him. End of discussion, Antonio. I will talk to your father about this and he will agree.” 

Tony shakes his head. He looks back at Peter, thinking about him going down the same road as him. Sleeping with a bunch of different women, sometimes two a night. Feeling so worthless once the morning comes around so he turns to drugs, anything to forget about how pathetic he felt for even just a few hours. 

His playboy years… fuck. 

He does not want that for his son. Peter who’s so perfect, so innocent and young, Tony just wants to protect him. Maybe the way that he turned out, made his mother regret not raising him to wait for marriage. Not that it would matter now anyways. 

Tony looks at Peter, can’t help but smiling whenever his eyes land on him. He’s so proud of him that no matter what Peter does, Tony will always support him. 

Even though his mom does have a point. 

It’s not like he’s telling Peter what to do… but still, Tony doesn’t know what May wanted for Peter in that area. He feels bad for possibly going against what Peter’s aunt wanted, but Peter is his now so it’s his responsibility to make these decisions for his son. 

Not that Peter cares about that now… but when he’s older, Tony just hopes Peter follows his and his parents wishes. 

Maybe he’s being selfish but the thought of Peter sleeping around with a bunch of different women made him feel crazy. 

He sighs. “Alright, mom. That’ll be a talk I’ll have with him and raise him that way. You’re right.” Although it was weird to discuss his thirteen year old son’s virginity with his mother, he knows she’s right. The last thing that Tony wants for Peter is for him to turn out like he did. 

He stands up to kiss his mom on the cheek then walks to the edge of the pool, squatting down. “Hey, Pete, come out and get dried off for lunch.” 

Peter swims towards his dad, grabbing on the ledge to look up at him. “Five more minutes.” 

“No, lunch is ready and you need to reapply sunscreen so you don’t burn. I can see your cheeks and nose getting rosy.” In one swift motion, he grabs the hook on the life jacket and lifts Peter out of the pool, unbuckling the straps off his life jacket then wraps a towel around him. “You’re turning into a fish. Look how wrinkly your skin is.” 

He lifts him up, pressing a bunch of kisses all over his face. When he gets to the outdoor table, Tony looks at what's for lunch, seeing barbecue chicken with roasted vegetables and corn. He hopes Peter will even eat that. 

“Sit him down, Tony, where are you taking him?” Maria asks, patting the seat next to her. Of course she wants Peter next to her. 

“We will. We’re just going to the bathroom first.” Walking inside the cold house, Peter shivers against him. “I don’t need to pee.” 

“Why? Because you went in the pool?” 

Peter giggles shyly. “Yeah.” 

“I figured. But I still need you to try and then I don’t have to worry about it.” He says just because of Peter’s incident. He then opens the bathroom door and places Peter on his feet, taking the towel from him. 

“Can I pee through my bathing suit?” 

“Ew no. Why would you do that?” 

“Because,” He tugs on the material stuck to his skin now. “It’s sticky.” 

“Want help?” 

“Fine. Don’t scratch me.” 

Tony rolls his eyes, bending down to tug the bathing suit down a bit. “Why would I scratch you?” 

“Cause last time you did and I had a scratch on my leg. See? It’s healing still.” He says, pointing to an area hidden by his bathing suit. 

“Kid. I don’t see anything. And that was an accident. There. Now pee and let’s go eat.” He encourages, standing back up but Peter tugs his bathing suit again. 

“Nooooooo! Not like this!” He attempts to tug it down more but it’s stuck and he screams. Tony sees that Peter’s about to have one of his freak outs so he steps in before it gets too bad. 

“Okay. Tell me what I can do to fix it.” He says, kneeling down in front of him. 

Crying, Peter stomps his feet, tugging on his bathing suit and jumping in frustration when it doesn’t do what he wants. “Off! It’s stuck! Ahhhhh! Off off!” 

“Okay. Okay.” Tony tugs the bathing suit off of him, helping him step out of it and looking up at Peter’s face to see if he was calming down. “Does that feel better?” 

Peter rubs his eyes, taking in a breath now that he wasn’t freaking out. He nods. “Yeah…” 

“Okay. Take a few seconds to calm down. Do you feel better?” 

Peter wipes at his tears and nods. “Yeah. I don’t like that bathing suit. I want to throw it in the garbage.” He reaches for it but Tony pulls it away and he screams, sinking to the floor to start sobbing. 

“We’re not going to throw it away. It’s a good bathing suit and it just needs to dry.” He can see that Peter is getting himself too worked up so he tries to remember the steps that his therapist taught him. “I can see that your emotions are really big and difficult to deal with right now. Would you want me to leave to give you some space or do you need a hug?” 

Peter cries, kicking his legs out every so often and bringing one up to kick the toilet. Tony knows he has enough strength to break it and when he gets in these moods, he loses control of his strength. Like Fury once told Tony, he’s too young and too strong for his own good. Fury was adamant that Peter is on their side because he could easily be turned into a powerful weapon if gotten into the wrong hands of the wrong people. 

Tony promised to keep him safe no matter what. 

But he can’t keep Peter safe from himself and he was warned by Fury, Steve and Natasha that Peter has too much power that he doesn’t know how to control and one day he might just overpower even Tony. 

He knows he has to teach Peter how to control his abilities but that was really hard when still grieving his Aunt. 

After a few moments though, Peter sits up and reaches for him. “A hug.” 

Pulling his oh so innocent son into his arms, Tony stands up, taking the towel and bathing suit with him. “Let’s go find a better bathing suit upstairs.” 

Maria walks inside, spotting them walking upstairs and looks at them, confused. “Lunch is ready. What’s going on?” 

“Just give us a minute, mom, Peter and I just need a few minutes.” Tony took the boy upstairs and into their room, feeling slightly overwhelmed doing this alone with no help. Sure, his parents were downstairs but Peter has only known them for two days so far, and plus they don’t know how to handle Peter when he gets in his moods. 

Pepper was pretty good at handling him, since Peter knew the woman before May died and she watched Peter for a night here and there when Tony or May couldn’t, but Pepper isn’t here now. It is just him and Peter. 

Tony sets him on the bed, looking at the angry face Peter’s supporting. “Do you want to be alone for a bit?” He asks, scared of the answer. 

Peter shrugs. “No. Why? You don’t want to stay with me?” 

“I do. But I just thought that you might want some alone time.” Tony sits on the bed next to him, putting a hand on his foot. “I know you don’t have your own room here or any of your toys, but if you need your own space, just tell me and I’ll-” 

“Noo. I never said I needed my own space. Don’t say that.” He whines, flopping down onto the bed with a loud groan. “I’m hungry.” 

“Okay. Alright.” Standing up, Tony picks up a soft pair of cotton shorts and another bathing suit. “It’s up to you what one you want to wear.” 

Peter looks at both items then at his dad. “Aren’t we gonna still swim later?” 

“Do you want to?” 

“Yes.” Peter snaps. 

“Hey. Watch your tone with me. I’m just asking. So you want to put the bathing suit on. Here.” Tony tosses it at him and kicks the suitcase out of the way. He should really put these things in the drawers, judging by the mess already in the room. He bends down but Peter throws the bathing suit back at him. “What was that for?” Peter shrugs, rubbing his eyes. “Are you tired? You look tired.” 

“I’m not!” 

Tony sighs. Yep. That explains a lot. He goes into the bathroom and grabs a pull-up from the box then walks back out, opening it up and sitting on the bed. The fact that Peter was still lying down told Tony that he needs some quiet time. “I think it’s best if you rest for a little bit. I’ll set some lunch aside for you to eat when you wake up. Hmm?” 

“What time is it?” 

Tony checks his phone. “It’s… just after noon.” He reaches out to rub his leg, padding his belly with the pull-up. “If you sleep now, you’ll wake up and you’ll feel so much better. If you force yourself to stay awake, today isn’t going to be much fun.” 

As if on cue, Peter yawns, rubbing his eyes and lifting his feet up to slide it through the pull-up. Once it’s on, he yawns again, still rubbing his eyes. 

Tony can already tell that he’s about to pass out any minute now so he gets up to turn the light off, shuts the curtains and puts on the sound machine with white noise. 

“I’ll be here when you wake up. Just try to get some rest. You’re still jet lagged so I know you’re still tired. Shhh shhh.” He pats his stomach, moving to rub his back when Peter rolls onto his stomach, closing his eyes. Tony waits a few more minutes until Peter doesn’t wake up when his hand is removed, then he heads downstairs, leaving the bedroom door open just in case he needs to hear Peter. 

He would probably be up to check in on him in 30 minutes anyways. 

Tony walks outside and sits down. “Sorry for the wait.” 

“Where’s Peter?” 

“Sleeping.” 

Maria stops what she’s doing. “Sleeping? Is he feeling sick?” 

“No, mom, he’s just tired. He naps every now and then.” He cuts up his chicken, taking a bite. “Look, he gets quite emotional sometimes. Remember how I told you he can go from zero to one hundred in seconds, well, he just did. I told him he needs to take a nap and he was asleep in seconds.” 

“What happened? He didn’t look happy when I saw him in the hallway.” Maria asks, concerned. Tony was used to this behaviour though. 

“Nothing happened. Peter-” Tony looks over at his father, daring him to judge. He knows he will. “his bathing suit was sticking to him and instead of saying ‘hey dad can you help me take off my bathing suit’, he freaked out and he was already tired so… yeah.” 

“He was running around a lot today. I’m surprised he didn’t fall asleep sooner.” 

Tony looks back at his dad. “Say something. I know you want to.” 

“Why are you trying to start something? I know you won’t like what I have to say so I’m not saying anything at all.” Howard snaps at him and Tony knows he’s right but he also doesn’t care. 

“You don’t agree with the way I parent him.” He states, matter of fact. 

Howard takes a bite of his food. “I just think you coddle him. If he’s going to take over Stark Industries when he’s an adult then I think you have to toughen him up a bit.” 

“Is that what you did with me?” 

Howard looks proud now. “You’re one of the wealthiest men alive, Tony. You inherited a million dollar company and transformed it into a billion dollar company and that’s not including the Arc Reactor. Hmm, Iron Man.” 

“We aren’t going to discuss Iron Man at my dinner table, Howard.” Maria gave both her husband and her son disapproving looks. 

“Mamma, Iron Man is a part of me. I know you don’t approve of me being him, but… it is what it is.” 

“Non approvo che tu ti uccida.” She shook her head. 

“Mamma, I’m not going to kill myself. I’m protected when I’m in the suit.” 

“And Peter? Are you really going to risk him losing his father? The only one he has left.” She asks, crossing her arms over her chest. 

Tony reaches across the table to hold her hand. "Amo Peter. Non lo lascerò mai senza padre.” He insists, giving his moms hand a squeeze then pulling away. “I promise you. And I promised him too.” 

Howard chimes in. “Did you bring the suit, Tony. I haven’t seen it yet.” He ignores the look his wife gives him. 

“Papà, I always have it. But I’m not showing you. It’s a prototype and I don’t want Peter to see it here.” 

Howard looks around. “I don’t see any little boys around. Bring out the Iron Man.” 

“niente, papà.” He says. “At least not today.” 

“I didn’t see you carry the suit in, where is it?” 

Tony holds up his wrist. “It’s right here. I just press the button. It’s nanotech. Peter actually helped me design it. But… it’s not fully functional yet. I just haven’t had the time to work on it lately.” 

“It’s that small watch?” His mom asks, looking at it. 

“Yeah. The point is for it to be small, mamma.” 

Howard takes Tony’s wrist and presses it. “Seems broken.” 

Taking his hand out of his fathers grasp, Tony chuckles. “You think I’d make it functional for anyone to bring the suit to me? The only one who can call the suit besides me is Peter.” 

“You gave Peter access to your suits, Antonio?” His mother asks, sounding angry. She is only half right. 

Tony down plays it. “No. He doesn’t have access to my suits, he’s thirteen. He can call a suit to me, if he ever needed to.” 

“And how do you know he won’t for the fun of it?” 

“Because he knows better than to fool around with that stuff.” He answers his father and checks the time while he’s at it. They are done with lunch and it’s been 30 minutes since he’s been with Peter so he stands up to go check on him. “I’m going to go check on Peter. I’ll be right back.” 

“No. Please, allow me.” His mother stops him and stands up. “You stay here and I’ll go.” 

Tony reluctantly sits back down. “Okay. But be quiet and please don’t wake him up. Just make sure he isn’t having a nightmare and that he’s breathing properly.” His mom gives him a knowing look and leaves to go upstairs, leaving Tony with his father.