Chapter 4
2008
3 days, 0 weeks, 0 months, 0 years
Tony pulled his laptop into his lap.
Him and Peter were in the living room, Peter’s attention firmly set on the film playing on the television. They’d watched most of the animated Disney films over the past couple of days since Peter appeared. It had been nice, simple, but Tony had been a little concerned as to how Peter would respond to Aladdin given the way that both the princess and Aladdin were at some point in the film trapped and hurt, either emotionally or physically, by Jafar – an adult she had been told she could trust growing up. He needn’t have worried so much as it turned out. Peter seemed completely enthralled by Jasmine and her pet tiger.
The first stop Tony made online was a clothing site. The kid had been wearing the same ill-fitting pyjamas for nearly thirty years, it was time for him to get something new to wear. Tony clicked on set after set of soft cotton pyjamas, adding them all to his basket.
He added ones supposedly for boys. One with a pattern of blue, orange and white stripes across a matching long sleeved top and pants. A pair of white ones with rockets and planets and stars in splatters of colour all over them. A set made up of plain green shorts and a grey t-shirt with a single drawing of a triceratops on the front in a matching shade of green.
He added ones branded as unisex. A long sleeved dark blue pair covered in little yellow rubber ducks. A pair with little red, yellow and green striped hot air balloons on a pale blue and white background. A simple yellow and grey plaid combo.
He paused for a second before adding a couple of pairs of stereotypically girls pyjamas. He only added two of these; yellow trousers and a blue top with red detailing, frills on the shoulders and a picture of Snow White on the chest; and a purple and green pair complete with ariel on the top and multiple small Flounders, Sebastians and Scuttles all across the pants.
If Peter didn’t like them then that was okay. He didn’t have to wear them if he didn’t want to.
By the time he had added some boxers and socks in Peter’s size and clicked check out, his basket contained nearly sixty items and totalled almost two thousand dollars. He didn’t even think twice before selecting confirm order with the fasted delivery option.
Then he looked at toys and other things to keep Peter entertained. Much like how he was with the pyjamas, Tony went a little wild.
Thank god money isn’t a problem for a billionaire.
He got crayons and colouring books, stuffed toys and bath toys. He got action figures and little army men figurines, little cars and dinosaurs and colourful building blocks. Everything that caught his eye was added to the order. He bought what felt like hundreds of childrens’ books, about dragons and robots and princesses and just about anything else he could find. The barbies and baby dolls he was more hesitant about but he got them all the same.
Just because Howard would never have let his son near anything even remotely considered to be girly didn’t mean Peter couldn’t enjoy them if he wanted to.
“Mr. Stark?”
Tony looked up to see the movie had come to an end and the credits were rolling. He turned to Peter who was wrapped up in a huge fluffy blanket Tony normally kept over the back of the sofa. His hair was all messed up and his eyes were wide and innocent. The sight made Tony’s heart squeeze almost painfully tight for a moment.
“Yes, Peter?”
“Nothing,” Peter replied. “Just wondering what you’re doing.”
Tony smiled.
“I was just ordering you some toys and some new pyjamas.”
The kid’s eyes lit up with excitement.
“Really?” he asked and his smile became impossibly fuller when the older man nodded in response.
He was really glad he was able to make Peter smile like that.