We’ll keep counting stars
“Do you have any idea what we’re even doing today?” Harley asked Peter as he stood on the balcony in his birthday suit, voluntarily giving anyone who could see a show of his naked butt.
Tony was in the lobby buying snowboard boots for Peter since the ones they brought were somehow suddenly too big even though Peter insisted they fit in the store. Oh well.
Pepper was braiding Morgan’s hair while their sister had a full blown temper tantrum about her hair not ‘feeling right on her head’ so Harley was chilling with his naked bro on the balcony.
At least he wasn’t crying. So he could do whatever he wanted.
Peter leaned against the wall but screamed when the coldness touched his butt. He ran back inside, climbing onto the couch. “I already know. We’re going snowboarding in the mountains! And I’m gonna be so good at it.”
“Are you? Have you ever been?” Peter could’ve and they wouldn’t know, Peter had a whole life outside of them.
“No. Have you?” Peter stood up to go search for something to munch on in the kitchen.
“I went with dad when I was like 12 or 13.”
“Now I’m going. Cause you’re poo poo.”
“Okay.” Harley shoved his head as he walked by. He missed the days before Peter got kidnapped for the second time where he could have actual conversations with him. Now he was really hard to talk to with his regression. “Are you nervous to go?”
“No. Well, maybe a tad. A tiny tiny bit.” He shoved a cookie in his mouth. “Dad says it’s hard to learn but I’ll be good at it.”
“Yeah, you’ll probably be pretty decent. I can’t say the same for Morgan.” Peter was agile. He was quick with his body and fell but got right back up, he’d likely pick up on snowboarding fast once he found his balance. If he didn’t cry and throw a tantrum first, that often prevented him from accomplishing much.
Morgan on the other hand was slower, more clumsy and had a hard time picking up on anything physical. So if Harley were taking bets, Peter would be flying down the mountain today and Morgan would be sitting in the restaurant drinking a hot chocolate by lunch.
“I can help Morgan cause I’m a good brother.”
“Why do you say that like I’m not a good brother?” He asked, flicking Peter’s arm and earning himself a scowl from the younger boy.
“Cause,” Peter put his hands on his hips. “you’re an older brother. You’re not a kid.”
“You’re an older brother too.” Harley found the conversation amusing. He knew the way his family treated Peter, especially their dad. Of course Harley tried to treat Peter like an actual fourteen year old since he thought Peter deserved at least someone to do that for him, but it was hard when he acted the way he did.
“No. I’m just the baby. Not an older brother.”
“Oh. The baby, huh? That’s why you’ve got a pacifier in your mouth still?” Harley tugged on it but Peter didn’t let it go and turned his head, swatting Harley’s hands away. “You know even babies grow up and stop using pacifiers too.”
Shrugging, Peter leaned against the wall and tried to make out his older brother's face. Harley looked neutral which Peter didn’t like. He needed to read people and try to see what they wanted from him so he could give them just that. “Yeah… but not me. Dad says so.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah.”
“So you’re going to snowboard with a pacifier today?” Peter nodded. “You know, if the ski patrols see a pacifier in your mouth, they won’t let you on the big mountain with dad and you’ll have to go to the bunny hill alone.”
Harley watched Peter carefully. He didn’t know his brother as well as their dad did, he couldn’t take one look at Peter and know exactly what he was thinking or wanting but he was still his older brother and he still had that same thinking face he did when he was a three year old toddler. He was considering something in his mind right now.
“Oh. Then I can leave paci in my pocket and only use it when I need it.” Peter concluded. He looked unsure but before Harley could say anything else, the hotel door opened up and Peter ran to go see Tony. “Dad! You came back.”
“Of course I did. Where else would I go without you?”
“To the candy shop.”
“Definitely didn’t go to the candy shop.” Tony ruffled his hair as he walked past him, carrying Peter’s new snowboarding boots in his arms. “Come sit on the couch so we can see one last time if these fit.”
Tony heard sniffling and turned around to see his daughter walking out of the bedroom, her eyes red and cheeks flushed. When he left, she was crying on the bathroom floor because her hair wasn’t cooperating with her but they were running low on time because it was already 10am and they were still at the hotel when they planned to be on the mountain by ten.
But Tony couldn’t really blame Morgan for crying, Peter cried for two hours last night and kept Morgan awake so she was a bit sleep deprived.
Peter was used to the lack of sleep by now. Tony didn’t think Peter had ever slept through a full night without one wake up call. Ever.
Unless with Steve but Tony highly doubted that.
“Aww, Maguna. We’ll be outside soon. Don’t worry.”
Morgan cried louder as she leaned against him. “I’m just seeing if Petey Pies boots fit him this time.”
“What happened to the other ones?” She asked, sniffling.
“They were too big.” Peter told her, letting Tony buckle them up. “Cause then my foot would’ve fallen out and I would’ve been so cold cause then my foot would’ve turned to ice cause the mountain is cold.”
“Thanks for that, kid.” Tony tapped his thigh. “Stand up and see how they feel.” If these didn’t fit, Tony would give up and there would be no snowboarding today.
Peter stomped his foot. “Good. They fit good.”
Thank god. “Good good. Okay, let’s get these off, get you dressed and we’ll go.” Once Tony pulled the boots off, he got Peter dressed in warm but stretchy clothes and they were in the car, ready to go.
Tony didn’t really have too many expectations for today. If Peter threw a tantrum and didn’t want to snowboard, Tony would just take him down the mountain but if he liked it, perfect. Either way, it was hard to tell with Peter how things may go so having no expectations was the only way to go.
It was about a forty minute drive up the mountain to the ski resort but once they arrived, they were quick to get their stuff out of the car and meet up with their snowboarding instructor. Everyone would be snowboarding except for Pepper who was going to be skiing.
“Greg? Greg?” Peter tapped on the man’s shoulder, trying to get his attention. “Greg?”
“Peter, he’s talking to Morgan, give him a second.”
“No, it’s fine, little dude. What’s up?” Their snowboarding instructor was around 30 years old, he apparently has been skiing since he was three but then switched to snowboarding when he was ten and has loved every second of it, so much so that he wanted to teach others how to snowboard so he was going to be with them for today.
“Um… when-when we get on the mountain, um… is-is-is um, where-when we get on the mountain-will we-um, will we go down in the trees?” Peter got his words out, clearly distracted by everything going on but Greg was incredibly patient. When they booked him, Tony and Pepper felt it was only right to briefly explain their situation to them, letting him know Peter was healing from a recent kidnapping and he had certain behavioral issues. Greg was more than accepting and truly his patience was showing right now.
“Well, there are areas where people can snowboard through the trees but we won’t go in them today. Today we’ll go to the bunny hill to lea-”
“Noo! No bunny hill. I want to go to the big hill.” He had his pacifier in his pocket, he didn’t want Greg to see it and take him to the bunny hill like Harley said he would. “Big hill. Okay, Greg?”
Greg looked at Tony for permission and Tony just shrugged. “I don’t mind where you take them. I’ll come for the first run if that makes it easier.”
“Dad. You said we could snowboard together.” Harley paused in getting ready. He was looking forward to that since his parents told them about this trip.
“I know, we will. I just need to get your brother and sister situated.”
“You ready, little man?” Greg finished helping Morgan get ready then moved to kneel in front of Peter. Tony took him to the bathroom one last time and had to hope for the best on the mountain since he was in underwear.
“Ready Freddy. Ready steady. Can we race down the mountain?”
“Maybe. We’ll see how things go. But my number one rule is safety so that means you need to listen to me.”
Peter nodded. “Yeah. I have my listening ears on.”
“Good job.”
Twenty minutes later, the five of them were in the line for the chairlift and Tony was a tad scared. Peter already complained about his jacket restricting his movements on the wall over so Tony was slightly scared for today.
“I can’t walk like this. I want to carry my board.”
“You can’t carry it on the chairlift, buddy. You got this, I know you do.” Greg skidded over to Peter and helped him make it to the chairlift where he lifted Peter on when it came to them.
It was Tony, Morgan, Peter and Greg, in that order. Pepper and Harley were on the chair behind them and Peter was already complaining and whining.
“Peter, take a breath. It’s going to be fun. Snowboarding is fun.”
Peter cried out. “I don’t like my jacket. It’s too puffy. And my leg is itchy! I want Aiser.”
“Aisers at doggy daycare. We’ll pick him up later.”
“Is Aiser your dog?” Greg asked, trying to distract the boy. Now he knew why the Stark family were paying him extra for his time. This boy was going to be the death of him today.
“Yeah. I want him.”
“What kind of dog is he?”
“He’s golden. He got bited by a big big dog yesterday and went to the hospital.”
“Oh my.”
“Pete.” Tony shook his head at the awful description of the story. “Aiser is a golden retriever. A few weeks ago we were at the park and another dog came to attack Peter but Aiser stopped it and almost died. But he’s fine now and perfectly back to normal.”
“Nooo.” Peter threw his head back. “He’s still bald on his belly.”
“Oh yes. He is. But remember I told you that hair probably won’t grow back.”
Peter kicked his legs then started crying when he couldn’t properly do it with the board. “No! I don’t want a bald dog.”
“Hey, Peter. On the chairlift, we need to be extra careful so we don’t fall off. Remember you said you had your listening ears on?”
“I left them downstairs. I wanna go back home, daddy!”
“Petey. Stop crying in my ears. It’s hurting.” Morgan slapped his arm and that was the end of the line for Peter. He threw himself to the side and sobbed, crying to get off the lift and to go home. Tony was really regretting this trip right about now.
“Peter. Okay, wait until we get off the lift. Just take a breath. We’re almost off.” Tony couldn’t do much when he wasn’t even sitting beside him.
Greg lifted the bar and grabbed Peter’s arms as he stood up and got off the chairlift, holding Peter up so he didn’t fall while Tony did the same for Morgan then kneeled down in front of his emotional boy. “Hey hey. Take a breath. Tell me what’s wrong?”
“I wanna go home!”
“Well, we’re on the mountain right now so that isn’t an option.”
“I don-I don’t wanna be in Alberta! I-I-I wanna go ho-home. Daddy!” Peter sobbed. He was scared Steve was somewhere on the mountain waiting for him.
“Peter. You’re safe here. I promise you. And we’re going to have so much fun today. Let yourself have fun.”
“Noooo. I wanna go. Please! Please. I wanna g-go.”
“Peter. I’m sorry.”
“Urhhhhhhhg!”
Tony looked up at Pepper when she approached them. He didn’t know what to do.
“Dad. You promised we’ll go down the mountain together.” Harley had a feeling he wasn’t going to get what they came here for and he was so close to losing it if Peter ruined this for him.
“One second, Harley. Can’t you see him dealing with him at the moment.”
“Oh my god.”
Tony ignored Harley and stood up, lifting Peter onto his feet. “Go down the mountain once. If you hate it when you get to the bottom, we’ll go back to the hotel. But you need to try. That’s all I ask.”
“I can’t!”
“You can do more than you think you can. Just try and I’ll be so proud of you no matter what.”
“I hate this.” Peter grumbled. He cried as Greg got his feet strapped into the snowboard and then cried even louder when he fell onto his butt. “Daddy!”
“Baby. You got this.” Tony lifted him back up and held him up until they both got to the top of the mountain. Tony kissed the top of his helmet and let him go but he face planted two feet later.
“I’ve got him. I’ve got them both.” Greg immediately helped a crying Peter back onto his feet but Tony felt so bad to leave them.
“Look, if you feel way over your head, just call me. I won’t be angry or anything if you want to end the lessons early, Greg. Really. Call me if you need to.”
“Thank you but I’m up for the challenge. We both are, right, little man?”
Peter just cried harder.
“Okay.” It was so fucking hard to leave Peter but Tony had to. He didn’t want to but he needed to. Tony knew that part of the reason Peter was crying so hard was because he was there. In Peter’s mind, if he cried, Tony would give him whatever he wanted. Not today.
Tony had to stay strong.
“Alright. Good luck, Peter. You got this. I love you so much.” Tony went with Harley after that, snowboarding down the hill while Peter fell onto his back purposely, sliding down the hill backwards.
“Petey! Just try!” Morgan yelled to him. It was hard but she was standing up on the snowboard.
“I want my daddy!”
“Your dad is snowboarding down the hill. Let’s go catch up to him.”
“Carry me.”
“Nope.” Greg lifted him up. “Look, you can either make today a good day or a bad day. It’s up to you.”
Peter didn’t listen to him. He pointed down the hill. “I want my daddy.”
“Let’s go catch up to him then, Peter.” Greg held Peter from behind, helping him stay on his board while feeling the motions of snowboarding but Morgan fell behind them. “You got this, Morgan! Stand up!”
“I need help, Greg!”
“Okay! Slide down to me on your bum!”
“Okay, Greg!”
“I’m going to let go of you now.” Greg warned Peter but he lasted two seconds before falling into his butt and crying even louder.
“I can’t do this!”
“Yes you can. You need to try, little man.”
Peter flipped onto his stomach. “My jacket is too scratchy. And my boots are too big.” He licked some snow while he had the chance but then realized how thirsty he was. “I want milk, Greg!”
“Do you see any cows on the mountain?”
Peter purposely faceplated into the snow. “Urg!”
.
.
.
Tony was worried about Peter the whole way down the mountain. Him and Harley went down two times with Pepper and were on the chairlift about to go for a third time. He kept looking out for Peter but hadn’t seen them either times although it was a massive mountain so it would be hard to spot the boy he dressed in red and blue snowsuit.
Although he must admit that he was having fun with Harley. Pepper went to take a break for their third run, needing to use the bathroom and warm up a bit but Tony also knew it was to give him and Harley some alone time.
Harley wanted to do a black run but Tony wanted to do the blue hill Peter was likely still on. Greg hadn’t called, despite Tony thinking he would.
They were on the hill for about five minutes when Tony spotted Peter on his butt, likely crying. Morgan was lying on her stomach and Greg was helping her up.
Tony snowboarded over to Greg and Morgan. “Hey. How’s things going?”
“Oh. Hey. Pretty much the same as you left. Morgan’s trying and Peter hasn’t stopped crying.”
“Hi dad.”
“Hi princess. Did you guys only make it down this far?” They barely made it anywhere and that concerned Tony.
“No actually we made it down once and I asked Peter if he wanted to give it another try and despite him crying, he wanted to try again. He’s tough.” Greg helped Morgan to her feet, holding her for balance.
“He is tough. I’ll go help him.” He snowboarded over to his little boy, his heart breaking when he heard him crying. “Hey, you. How’s it going?”
“Daddy.” Peter’s crying became more desperate when he saw him. “I wan-wanna g-go home.”
“But you’ve made it so far.”
“No! I don’t l-like it.”
Tony kneeled down in front of him. “This is hard. I get it. But once you make it down the mountain, you’re going to feel like you can accomplish anything. Because you can, you’re more capable than you think you are, Peter.”
“It’s too hard. I can’t do it. I keep falling. And my bum hurts.” Peter wiped his tears with his wet gloves.
“Some things in life are hard, I know you know that better than anyone.” Peter looked at him with his big chocolate brown eyes and Tony wanted to scoop him up and take him back to the hotel but he needed Peter to do this, he knew he could. “Stop saying you can’t and just say you can and see what happens.”
“Noo. It’s too hard. And I don’t like my snowpants.”
Tony pulled him up, holding him from behind to help him keep his balance. “Stop thinking so much. Just shut your mind off. Nothing else on the mountain matters right now. Not school, not pacifiers, not potty training… not Steve.”
Tony felt Peter tense underneath him but he didn’t say anything.
“Shut your mind off, Peter, and just look where you want to go. Don’t look down at your board or you’ll fall. Look straight ahead.”
“I am.”
“Good. Now aim your shoulders where you want to go and let your body guide you.”
“I’m gonna fall!”
“Then fall and get back up. Falling isn’t the end of the world.” Tony loosened his grip on him. “Just keep your head up and see where you want to go.”
“Don’t let me go!” Peter panicked when he felt his dads grip on him loosen.
“I have to let you go so you can go down the mountain yourself but I’ll be right behind you. You got this.” Tony encouraged him, letting him go slowly.
“Dad, no! I can’t do it!” He panicked, leaning back automatically.
“Just say you can do it because you can. Believe in yourself, Peter.” Tony fully let go of Peter and now all he could do is watch him go.
Peter screamed and went to fall but caught himself. He tried to regain his balance, talking to himself. Might as well try. “Okay okay. I can do it. I can do it. I can do it.” He turned his body and gained some speed, feeling exhilarated for a few seconds before getting too scared he was going too fast and fell back. But those three seconds were enough to want to chase the feeling for more.
He just did that.
Peter turned around, beaming at his dad with a huge smile on his face. “Did you see me?! Did you see me?!”
“I did! Way to go! I knew you could do it!”
Harley snowboarded over to them, giving Peter a huge hug. “What the hell! You just snowboarded all on your own! What?!”
Peter beamed with pride. “I want to try again.”
“Okay. Go for it. Can you stand up on your own?”
“I think so.” Peter got into a standing position and turned around, snowboarding down the hill. He moved faster than Tony and Harley expected so Tony turned around to yell up the mountain at Greg.
“Hey, Greg! I’ve got Peter!”
He gave a thumbs up. “Perfect! I have Morgan!”
Tony followed both his boys down the hill now. He never thought today would end up like this, getting to experience this special moment with both of his boys was definitely going to be in the top twenty of his greatest memories ever.
Peter was a speedy little dude, not to Tony’s surprise.
Once he managed to find his balance, it was as if he’s been snowboarding for his whole life. He would go too fast, fall on his butt or face plant then get right back up seconds later and keep on going. He was going so fast that Tony and Harley couldn’t even keep up with him.
“Peter!” Tony called to him but couldn’t stop laughing. Was this even Peter they were following? But it didn’t actually surprise Tony. He was a quick learner when he wanted to be. It was almost hard to imagine this as the same boy who was so dependent on that damn pacifier in his pocket right now.
“Peter! Slow down!” Tony saw the end of the hill coming up and Peter was acting like he had just been given the keys to one of Tony’s Audis. Damn. Tony was never going to teach Peter how to drive.
“Peter!” Tony eventually caught up to him when Peter got to the bottom and sat down to wait. Tony didn’t know whether to be proud or concerned for how fast he was going. “Oh my god, Peter. Are you secretly in the Olympics for snowboarding or something.”
“Did you see how good I am? I beat you down. And Harley.”
“Yeah. Jeez.” Even Harley was impressed.
Peter was a fast little dude and literally learned how to snowboard by his second run. Harley was pretty impressed and proud of his brother, despite how the day started out.
He picked up on it so quickly but he probably held himself back on the first run, he was capable of quickly learning how to snowboard the whole time.
“I wanna do it again.” Peter sat down on his butt, smiling when Tony took a picture of him. “Now can we go?”
“Do you need to pee?”
“Um…” Peter tried to decide. “No. I want to go on the mountain again. Help me up. Let’s go.” Lifting his arms up, he waited for Tony to pull him up then unclipped one of his boots so they could walk over to the chairlift. “Are you coming too, Harley?”
“Of course. I want to watch my little brother rip up the mountain.” No way he was missing this.
Tony had to help him onto the chairlift but once the bar was down, Tony automatically grabbed an overprotective hand on Peter’s jacket in case he slipped out. “Are you happy, Peter?”
“Yeah. Snowboarding is fun. It wasn’t fun at first but now it is.” He leaned over the rail to peek down at the snowboarders and skiers below. “We’re so high up.”
“Which is why you need to sit properly in your chair. Lean back.” Tony didn’t want to have a heart attack so early on in his life, he didn’t need Peter slipping out.
Thankfully, the hyperactive child listened. “I didn’t like going down the mountain the first time. It was so hard for me to stay on my feet. But now it’s easy.”
“What changed?” Tony genuinely wanted to know, he wondered if what he said to Peter, about completely shutting off his mind, worked. He was falling nonstop when he told him, so maybe it did work. But Peter wouldn’t put two and two together.
“Um… I just learned how.” He shrugged then fixed his goggles a bit. “I wonder if Morgan is doing good too. She was falling a lot too.”
“I’m sure she is. Okay, we’re almost at the end, I’m going to lift the bar then you just wait till I help you off.” Tony made sure to grab him as they stood up off the chairlift, helping him stay on his feet then he clipped him back in.
“Let’s do a black diamond.” There were a few ways down the mountain with signs pointing to each. Of course Harley wanted to do the hardest one.
Peter was definitely not ready for that plus Harley and him were still pretty rusty. “Definitely not today. This is Peter’s second proper run. We’ll do another blue then see after. Maybe after lunch. Or tomorrow.”
The black diamond run and the blue run were right next to each other so when they chose the blue run, they accidentally ended up choosing the black diamond and started snowboarding down it, unknowingly.
The mountain was pretty empty for the first few minutes on it, with only two snowboarders passing by.
Peter was doing pretty well but this slope was way steeper than the other one he went on so he ended up cutting the snow and falling on his face. “Owww. Dad.” He said to himself. Tony was too far back to hear him anyways.
He spit the snow out of his mouth and turned back, seeing his dad and older brother in the distance. He was pretty far ahead of them.
Since he didn’t feel like waiting, plus he was feeling confident in himself so he lifted himself up, getting back onto his feet and continuing his path down the mountain feeling unbelievably proud of himself.
The mountain eventually split off into two paths, one way looked a bit rocky and the other way was through a bit of the forest so Peter stopped and sat on his butt, waiting for his dad and brother to catch up.
Tony taught him well. He was proud to see Peter waiting for him before continuing on. “You good?”
“Yeah. That way looks too hard. I wanna go this way.” He pointed towards the forest.
“You just want to snowboard in the forest.” Tony teased, he would’ve ruffled his hair if it wasn’t buried by a helmet. “You good with that, Harls?”
Harley was so freaking happy to be doing this with his dad and brother. In this exact moment, he felt like they were a normal family. Like what they might be doing if Peter wasn’t kidnapped. Peter wasn’t crying or acting like a baby and their dad wasn’t having to cater to Peter and was actually spending time with him. Harley was loving this.
“Let’s do it.”
“Pete, try to slow down in here. I don’t want you smacking any trees.” Tony warned and hoped he listened. Peter didn’t seem like he could control his speed too much, or maybe he simply liked going fast.
Tony should take him to the race track when he’s old enough to drive.
Maybe a bit older.
The three of them managed to get through the forest but towards the end, Peter cut the mountain, forcing himself to fall onto his butt. Straight ahead was a drop. Well, not a drop but a steep hill full of rocks and there was no way he could snowboard down that.
“Dad! Look!”
“Oh shit.” Tony leaned against a tree, looking back at Harley. How the hell were they supposed to get down that? “Harley, are you sure you took us down the blue run?”
“Uhhhh… I’m thinking not.” He sat down next to Peter where the three of them stayed for a few minutes, trying to come to terms with the fact that they were on a black run and had to snowboard down some rocks.
“We just have to go for it. I’ll go first, then Peter just come down on your bum slowly. Okay?” Tony sat on his butt since it was impossible to go down on your board without falling and smashing your face on the rocks below.
Peter skidded down slowly. “Oww.”
“You okay?”
“A rock stabbed by butt.”
Tony laughed. “Okay. Just be careful.”
They eventually made it through the steep drop of rocks as well as down the freaking black diamond run they accidentally went on. It had to be at least two hours later. Tony pulled his phone out a few times to take some pictures and videos of his boys but had been too distracted to even check the time.
And by the time they managed to make it down, Tony was starving but Peter was wanting to go on another freaking black diamond. Tony loved that he loved snowboarding so much but they needed to take a break.
“We will but we need to pee and eat something.”
“Noo. I want to do one more run. Just one more. Please, dad. Just one more.”
“No, Peter. Let’s go eat some lunch. And you need to go pee.”
“I don’t need to pee. And I’m not hungry. I want to go one more time.” Peter refused to walk into the building. He needed to do another run. He didn’t want to sit still.
“Peter.” Tony unclipped his board from his feet. “We will but we need to take a break.”
“Noo. No break.”
“At least he’s having fun.”
Tony looked over at the man. He was a snowboarding instructor according to his outfit and he looked like he saw kids throwing tantrums on the mountain way too much. Tony faked a laugh. “Yeah. Apparently too much fun.”
“It’s hard to get them off the mountain but it’s so worth it.” He gave Tony a thumbs up and left.
With a sigh, Tony grabbed Peter’s board. “If you don’t get up and take a break to eat lunch, we’re going straight back to the hotel. I mean it.”
“Mmm! Fine. But I want to carry my own board.”
It was hard to have Peter acting like an actual fourteen year old on the mountain then have him throw a tantrum in front of a bunch of people. Tony had to remember that he was still a child who was going through trauma and even if he got to shut his mind off on the slopes, he wasn’t doing that off the board. So yeah, it made Tony realize just how much Peter probably had going on in his mind.
Such a small boy fighting the biggest demons.
Tony had another fight with Peter trying to get him to keep his board outside with everyone else’s but once that was done with, Peter skipped into the lodge, looking for his mom and sister. “Where are they?”
“Mom says she’s on the third floor in the restaurant, at the back.”
“Okay!” Peter skipped up the stairs and once he spotted them, he tried to run to their table as fast as he could in his thick gear. “Hi!”
“Oh my baby. Hi.” Pepper pulled him onto her lap. “Are you having fun? Daddy showed me some pictures of you going so fast. My big boy is a snowboarder.”
“Petey! I’m watching a video of you going so fast. Good job.” Morgan showed him the video on her moms phone.
Tony took Peter’s helmet off, brushing back his sweaty hair. “We need to go pee.”
“I don’t want to go.” Peter tried reaching for the phone to watch the whole video of himself.
“Yep. You can look after. Let’s go.” Tony had no idea if Peter peed himself inside his snowsuit. He was betting on it and already spotted two gift shops he could buy some extra clothes in.
“I need to go too.” Harley pulled Peter off their moms lap, setting the phone on the table. Usually Harley didn’t help out with Peter in his difficult moods so it surprised Tony that he did now.
He wasn’t complaining though.
Tony held the bathroom door open for his boys to walk in and realized he probably should’ve taken off Peter’s jacket at the table. He sighed. Stupid mistake.
“Come, Pete. Leave the driers until after you finish peeing.” Tony held open a stall. It was a tight fit so Peter could pee with the door open, Tony would just block the view from anyone else.
“It’s so warm.”
“Yeah. Let’s get your jacket off.” As Tony unzipped his snowsuit and started to pull it down, he prayed Peter was dry underneath. Please be dry please be dry please be- “You’re dry. Good job, Pete.”
“Yeah.”
Tony pulled down his pants and underwear down then lifted him onto the toilet.
“I don’t want to fall in.”
“You won’t. Just go pee then we can go eat.”
“Noo I’m slipping in.” Peter whined, trying to sit up so Tony stepped further in to hold his hand, helping him through his strange fear of sitting on public toilets but then refused to pee standing up. Lose lose kind of situation.
Tony felt someone standing behind him but then he turned around, it was only Harley so he handed him Peter’s jacket to hold so he could use both his hands to get Peter off the toilet and dressed again.
“After we eat, can we go back on the black diamond run?”
“Yeah, if that’s what you want.”
“I do. I want to go so badly!” Peter was loving every second of today. It was so relieving to be on the mountain and not have to worry about his mind going a mile a minute with a million thoughts running through him.
Maybe one of the best days of his life.
.
.
.
Tony slammed the trunk of the car and got into the driver's seat. Peter was asleep the minute he was in his car seat, out like a light. He looked back at him, doing a double take.
“Where’s his pacifier?”
Pepper yawned. Everyone was so exhausted. “He put one in his pocket this morning. Did he use it today?”
“No. Not at all.” Tony couldn’t believe this. “Are you saying he’s sleeping without a pacifier? He actually fell asleep without the pacifier?”
“Wow. Apparently so.”
So Peter learned how to snowboard today and fall asleep without his pacifier. What a terrific day. A freaking unbelievable day, Peter was actually sleeping right now and nothing was in his mouth.
Tony actually couldn’t believe it.
Part of him wanted to give him a pacifier which Tony knew Peter would take to even in his sleep but he wanted to see how he slept without one. Crazy.
.
.
.
“I want to go in that store.” Peter tugged on Tony’s hand, pointing to a toy store. They passed by like 3 of them since arriving in the airport and Peter wanted to go into every single one. It wasn’t fair.
“We need to get through security then we can go in a toy store.” Tony told him for the tenth time. Why the hell did they have toy stores before the security check, probably to make parents’ life more difficult.
“Urg!”
So far things were going pretty well.
They finished up their trip in Banff which consisted of snowboarding during the day, then a quick nap for Peter and Morgan then dinner and swimming. It was so much fun and Peter was loving it but Tony was excited for the Maldives.
Tony loved tropical trips the best.
Plus Pepper's parents would be there which was so nice to have the extra help with the kids.
They managed the drive from Banff to Calgary airport and then their plane took them to Toronto for a quick layover to fuel before they flew to Dubai. It was a 13 hour flight so they managed to all sleep for about 80% of it which made the time pass by quickly.
Now they were in Dubai and had to get on a commercial plane to the Maldives which was going to be a five hour flight. With Peter and other people. Where Tony had to make sure Peter stayed in his seat for the full five hours.
This was what Tony was most stressed about for their travel days.
“Tony. Do you have the passports?”
“I put them in the diaper bag.”
“I will hold them.”
“Dad? Dad? I’m thirsty.” Peter was swinging from Tony’s arms, clearly having way too much energy. Although he did sleep for six full hours so it made sense.
“Give me a second, bubs.” He held the backpack for Pepper to grab all their passports out. “Harley. Hold Aiser because he’s sniffing that person's suitcase. Put your phone away.”
“I am holding him.”
“I want to hold him.” Peter told out of Tony’s grip but tripped and fell on his knees. “Ow. I hurt myself.”
“I’m hungry and I need to pee.” Complained Morgan. Poor girl slept through their breakfast and they didn’t have time to eat since they had to get off the plane and she’s been saying she’s needed to pee for the last hour.
“Can you hold it until we get through security? So soon.”
“I need to go now.”
Tony checked the time. He trusted Morgan could hold it, unlike Peter, so she would have to wait. They needed to get through security because their flight was in two hours and it was in another terminal.
“I need you to hold it for a little bit longer.” Tony swung the diaper bag back onto his shoulders and wheeled their trolly of suitcases to get them checked in. Aiser would have to get into his crate and be checked in as well so it was going to be a hard goodbye for Peter.
Aiser was like his safety net on flights, helping him feel safe and calm although now he was going underneath the plane. Tony tried paying for an extra ticket to keep him with them but they just wouldn’t allow it. Ridiculous but whatever.
“Peter, get up off the floor. We’re going this way.” Tony couldn’t do everything himself. “Harley. Can you grab his hand so he doesn’t wander.”
“Come here, Peter.”
“No. I don’t want to hold your hand.”
“He doesn’t want to.”
“Peter, come hold mommy’s hand. Let’s go. Stand up.” Pepper lifted Peter onto his feet and picked up his teddy bear, following Tony towards the baggage checks. “Do you think it’s going to be nice weather when we land?” She tried to distract Peter, wanting to keep him busy so he wasn’t wanting to wander.
“Um, yeah. It’s the Maldives. Will grandma and grandpa be there when we land? Or-or will they come after?” He tried to swing from his moms arms but she put a stop to that immediately.
“They’re going to be there already. They landed yesterday morning. Come stand here with Morgan so your dad can load up all the suitcases.”
“Did you hear that, Morgan? Grandma and grandpa will already be at the house in the Maldives.” Peter cheered. He took his sister's hand, holding it while they chatted about what they would get up to while watching Tony put all the bags onto the scale to send it away. “Bye bags.”
“Dad? Dad? Dad? Dad? Dad?”
“Pete, I’m talking to someone. Wait a second.” Tony just wanted to get there already. He would hope Peter would sleep on this flight but they practically just woke up and it was too early for a nap. He debated giving him some melatonin to put him to sleep but that would be like Steve. Although instead of melatonin it was actual drugs. Tony couldn’t do that to him and betray his trust.
“I just wanted to tell you grandma and grandpa will already be there.”
It was information Tony already knew but Peter felt the need to tell him anyways. Tony lifted his busy child up, setting him on his hip while he sighed all of Aisers documents.
“Very cool.” He responded, barely listening. “Pep, is Aisers AirTag on him?”
“Dad. It’s gonna be hot when we land. We can go swimming in the ocean.”
“Shh, one second, Pete.”
“Yeah. He’s wearing it.”
“Okay.” Tony went back to signing the papers but Peter grabbed a pen off the desk and scribbled on it. “Peter. No. Pepper. Can you take him? I just need a minute to do this.”
“I had him until you picked him up.” She complained to him, taking Peter over to one of the scales. “Stand on this and see how much you weigh.”
Peter jumped on it. “89 pounds!”
“Damn. You’re skinny.” Harley weighed about 110 at his age. Although he also started puberty by Peter’s age if he remembered correctly. Peter was just… behind he guessed.
“Let’s see how much we weigh together.” Jumping on, Morgan and Peter hugged each other. “183. We're so big.”
“No, just I want to see now. Get off.” He shoved his sister off then sat down to start taking off his shoes.
“No. Peter. Keep your shoes on.”
“But I need to see how much I weigh naked. I always do it naked at the doctors.” He explained like it made sense and pulled his socks off.
Pepper had to physically stop him before he stripped naked. “We are in an airport right now. Keep your clothes on for your fathers and my sake. You can be naked all you want in about seven hours. Just not here.” Once his shoes were back on, she pulled him off the scale and got him to sit by the trolly and eat a cracker.
They waited for Tony to finish with the paperwork and now it was time to say goodbye to Aiser for five hours.
“Alright guys, say bye to Aiser and say see you in the Maldives.”
“No. I want him to come on the plane with me.” Peter insisted, prepared to put up a fight.
“He’s going to meet us there. But remember I told you he needs to fly with the other dogs.” Tony knew this was going to be a hard goodbye for Peter. He lifted him up, setting him on his hip and pulling a pacifier out of his pocket, placing it in his mouth. “We’re going to see him after.”
“Noooo-”
“Hey, I saw you weighing yourself. How much do you weigh?” He walked over to the scale, turning his back so Pepper could deal with getting Aiser into the crate and sending him away.
“Um… 89.”
“Wow.” He was the same weight as the last doctor check up. That’s what being a picky eater does to you. “If you eat all the mangos on the trees here, you’ll come back and be 90 pounds.”
“No. Not mangos.”
“Coconuts?”
“Apples.”
“Apples don’t grow on the trees there, I don’t think.”
“Yes they do.” He cried, wiping at his dry eyes.
“Okay. You’re right.” It was easier to just agree with Peter. He hoisted him up higher and glanced behind them, seeing Aisers crate leaving. He waited until it was fully gone then he walked over to join his family. To his relief, now all the suitcases were gone which was 5 less things to worry about.
And also Aiser being gone was now another less thing to worry about too, even though he felt bad for thinking that. Aiser was a good dog but Peter took 100% of Tony’s attention and energy at the airport.
They walked to the airport security line and it wasn’t too long. Once they got through this, they could get some food to pass the time then Peter and Morgan could both pick out a toy for the flight.
Tony set Peter on his feet so he could get situated since it was their turn next. “Peter. Stay on this side of the line.”
“I want to touch that.”
“Peter. Stay here.”
“But I want to touch that.”
“Oh my god. Peter. Enough.” Tony wished he had a fucking leash on this boy. “Stop crawling on the ground. Get over here.”
“Tony, the boarding passes?”
“Yes. What?”
“Where’s the boarding passes?” Pepper asked again. The man was waiting to see them but Tony was trying to get Peter to get off the floor and come back over to him.
“In the diaper bag. Peter. Come here right now.” Peter crawled over to touch the red box then he crawled back over, immediately getting yanked to his feet by Tony. “Stay beside me and stop misbehaving or you’re getting a timeout as soon as we get to the Maldives.”
“No. I don’t want a timeout!”
“Then do as I say and stop crawling on the disgusting floor.”
Harley stayed behind his family and pretended he was travelling alone and that he didn’t know the four crazy people in front of him. The line up behind them was long and all eyes were probably on them. Nice.
“All electronics in the bins. Shoes off, jackets off, any jewelry needs to come off.”
Tony got his and Peter’s shoes off. Since he was only in a long sleeved shirt, Tony didn’t have to worry about that. “Pepper, you go first, then Morgan, Harley then I’ll send Peter.”
“I don’t want to go through there.” Peter pointed, grabbing onto Tony’s leg.
“Sir, his pacifier needs to be placed inside the bin.”
Tony looked at the man. “Seriously? It’s a pacifier.”
“Place it in the bin, sir.”
“Good god.” Tony would feel bad later for being rude but Peter was about to scream his heart out. “Peter, your paci needs to go into the bin.”
“No. Noooo.”
“Yeah, you’ll see it in a second.” He pulled it out of his mouth and pulled him over to stand in front of the security check while Harley got scanned. Peter screamed, reaching an arm out for it and if Tony turned around, he knew everyone would be staring at them so he didn’t dare turn around. “Shh shh. It’s going for a little ride.”
“Wan-wan’ it!”
“Okay. We have to walk through to go get it then.” Tony knew it was a lot for him, there were strange people all around, yelling and demanding directions at people and it was a lot at once.
“Noo!”
“Next! Walk through.”
“Nooo!”
“Go, Pete.” Tony walked up to the machine and pushed Peter in. “Go on. Walk in.”
Peter walked in but threw himself to the floor, chewing desperately on his fingers. He was so overwhelmed and terrified and on top of that his pacifier was yanked right from him with no explanation.
“Just come and get him, sir, we’ll do a physical check over here.” Thank god. Tony walked in, the scan beeped but he continued walking anyways. He lifted Peter up and took the pacifier from Pepper, giving it back to Peter. This was hell. He was starting to wonder if Maldives was even worth it at this point.
“Have him stand still and spread his legs apart.”
Tony put Peter on his feet, moving his legs when Peter continued crying, watching the man touch his legs then lift his shirt and then moved to his arms.
“I’m just going to scan this.” He explained, using a scanner to scan over Peter’s gold medical bracelet to alert anyone he had a life threatening allergy to fish. He then cleared him and moved onto Tony who he cleared pretty quickly once he found out it was a phone Tony left in his pocket by accident and not a bomb.
After it was done, Tony didn’t even bother putting Peter’s shoes on and carried him away from the security check, wanting to eat some fucking food and go to the bathroom alone to get 5 minutes of peace and quiet.
That was a thing as a parent, going to the bathroom was some quiet and chill time away from the screaming kids. And by kids, he means Peter. This boy was going to turn his head grey.
They walked in silence, everyone too exhausted to say something after that ordeal.
Morgan was the first one to speak up. “I really need to pee.”
“Oh shit. I forgot, uh,” Tony looked around and spotted a bathroom that happened to be next to a cafe or some kind of restaurant. “Pepper, can you take Peter and I’ll take Morgan?”
“Yep. Come with me, baby. You just caused the biggest airport scene in history I think with that tantrum.”
Peter didn’t care. He sucked on his pacifier, letting his mom put his shoes on and his dad walk away. He would’ve cried for him to stay but he didn’t feel like it so he stayed quiet, enjoying the comfort of his pacifier.
Harley was staring at him so he scrunched his nose and snapped his head away but when he peeked back over, he was still looking at him. “Stop.”
“I’m just trying to figure out where the cool, snowboarding Peter went. We had so much fun in Banff and now you’re causing scenes in the airport.” Harley wanted his fun brother back that he could hang out with instead of having to babysit.
Peter shrugged. He didn’t know. He was still the same person but on the mountain he didn’t have to worry about his life and all the things he was feeling. Sad, confused, angry, betrayed. Steve destroyed him. He took him from his family, not once, but twice, he drugged him, he lied to him, he told him his family was dead and it was his fault.
Steve made him into someone he’s not. And Peter didn’t know how to be the Peter he once was before being taken again.
When he was on the mountain, he was on the mountain and that was it. That’s all he had to worry about. But now his brain is running with a million thoughts in his mind and he didn’t know how to communicate how he was feeling so he simply looked at Harley and sucked harder on his pacifier, trying to calm himself down.
When Tony and Morgan eventually walked out, Peter stood up and went next to his dad. “Thirsty, daddy.”
“I know, we’re going to go get some food.”
“I was thinking, instead of sitting at a restaurant, let’s go pick up some quick food and go sit somewhere quiet to eat.” There was a kids corner off to the side that she saw was empty so that would be a perfect spot.
“Good idea. Um, should one of go with the kids over there and the other goes to order?” He looked down at Peter. He looked tired and distant but it didn’t look like he was going to start crying again. “Actually, let’s just all go.”
Peter leaned heavily against Tony’s legs and when asked what he was hungry for, he simply tried to tug down Peppers shirt so Tony lifted him into his arms and pressed a ton of kisses all over his face. “Don’t be sad. We’re going on vacation. Grandma and grandpa will be there.”
Peter smiled behind his soother and said something Tony didn’t understand but it was time to order anyways. Since Peter refused to choose something, Tony chose for him.
Pepper ended up getting a chicken sandwich, Tony got a beef sandwich, Morgan got pizza and Tony ordered Peter grilled cheese and Harley got the same as Tony but with spice. Tony liked spice but sometimes Peter wanted bites of his food and hated spice.
They were sat by the kids area and it was completely empty to Tony’s relief. He wanted some quiet time before the chaos of their flight.
“Our gate is down there but it's literally right there so we can just stay here until the flight. We have forty five minutes.” Pepper grabbed the grilled cheese Peter put on the floor. “Keep this off the floor.”
“S’not ’dare ‘Ken put it ‘dare.”
“Take soother out to eat so you can talk properly.” Tony took the pacifier out of his mouth, holding it in his hand. He watched Peter eye it, watching carefully to see where he was going to put it. “I’m holding it right here. Eat your food.”
He grabbed his sippy cup, drinking his milk from it as he moved to sit in his dads lap.
“Want a bite?” Tony offered him his sandwich but Peter shook his head. “Eat your food please, not just milk.”
“Mmmm.” He whined, arching off Tony’s lap and crawling over to go sit next to Morgan.
“Can I have a bite of your grilled cheese? You can try my pizza.”
Peter handed her the grilled cheese he’s been holding for the last twenty minutes for her to bite into but he didn’t want a bite of her pizza. “No pizza for me. Only milk.”
“Peter, please eat, do you want me to get you something else?” Tony was desperate for him to eat something. He couldn’t live off milk. “Do you want to try my sandwich?”
“Yeah.”
Yay. “Okay.” Tony was way too enthusiastic by that response. Pepper chuckled next to him. “It’s so yummy.” He held the sandwich up to Peter’s mouth, holding it so he could take a bite. “Good?”
“It’s chicken?”
“Sure.” Peter wasn’t too big of a fan of beef. “Yummy?”
“Uh huh.”
“Take another bite.”
“No. I’m full.”
“Because you’re filling up on milk.” Tony patted his belly. Yep, way too much milk.
Beside them, Pepper dug into the diaper bag and pulled out a diaper and rash cream, handing it to Tony. “He needs this on for the flight.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” He took it from her but set it on his lap until they were done eating.
“That’s Simba.” Peter said, pointing to the Disney lion on his diaper.
“Yep. It is. You wanna go get it on now since apparently you aren’t going to eat anything and you’re going to be hungry later?”
“I will eat. I’m eating.” He took a bite of his grilled cheese. “Your turn.”
This game again. But it worked to get Peter to eat. Tony took a bite out of his sandwich but Peter sat up on his knees, making a fake crying sound.
“Noo. You’re supposed to bite my grilled cheese.”
“I’m still hungry.” Morgan wiped her mouth, crawling on her knees over to her parents. Harley was sat off to the side scrolling on his phone, probably mentally preparing himself for what was about to come.
“I’m going to go get some snacks for the plane. I’ll take Morgan then you can go put a diaper on Pete.” Pepper made the suggestion. Their flight was soon and they had barely any snacks, at least not snacks good enough for Peter to fill up on on the plane.
Tony told Harley to stay with their things then got up, pulling Peter to his feet. “To the bathroom we go.”
“To put my diaper on?”
“Yep. Are you going to try to stay dry?”
“Umm… yeah. Okay?” He looked up at his father to see if that was what Tony wanted from him. He couldn’t tell.
Tony would rather change a diaper ten times then get up to take Peter pee ten times. “If you can, good. If not, that’s okay.”
“Yeah, cause I wear underwear now. I’m going to tell grandma and grandpa.” He was proud of himself. Plus he didn’t get sore rashes on his butt anymore.
Tony checked the stalls for a change table but couldn’t find one inside a stall. Great. Who designed bathrooms with changing tables on the outside where everyone could see.
Tony unrolled the changing mat and laid it down then lifted Peter onto it. “Look! There’s stars on the ceiling!”
“Oh yeah. So cool.”
“You didn’t even look.”
“Okay. Wow. Very beautiful. Just like you.” He squeezed his cheeks together then took off his shoes, track pants and underwear. “You don’t need these anymore.” Chances are, Peter wouldn’t be wearing underwear until they went back home. It would be a bathing suit during the day and a diaper at night.
“Bye bye underwear.” The door opened so Peter looked, trying to see behind Tony at who walked in. Tony didn’t even have to look, he covered a hand over Peter’s privates to prevent any creeps from looking until he needed both hands so he tossed his pants on him that Peter pulled off to use as a pillow. “Who’s that?” He pointed at the man at the sink.
“I don’t know. Someone waiting for their flight.”
“Like us.” Peter tried to roll onto his stomach but Tony stopped him so he continued to watch the man wash his hands but flinched when cold cream touched him. “Hey. That’s cold.”
“It was next to the ice pack for your milk. Sorry.” He continued to apply more anyways. “Keep your legs open.”
“It’s cold! Ahh!”
“Shh shhh. Peter. Don’t be screaming in a bathroom that echos.”
“It’s cold on my bum.” He reached down to touch it but Tony swatted his hand away. “Heyyy.”
“I’m almost done. Hey, look up at the stars again. How many do you see?”
“I don’t know. I’m not counting all those.” Someone from in the stall did a massive fart that caused both Peter and Tony to freeze and look at each other. Tony knew Peter was about to burst out laughing and he didn’t have time to stop it.
That poor man was probably so embarrassed and now Peter was belly laughing at his fart that just ricocheted off the toilet bowl.
“Shh.” Tony was trying so hard not to laugh. He quickly got a diaper on him, got his pants back on then grabbed everything and left with Peter. Tony had second hand embarrassment for that poor man. Peter was ruthless and was still laughing by the time Tony carried him back over to their family, diaper bag opened and stuff almost falling out, shoes in one arm and Peter in his other.
He set the boy on his feet and tossed his shoes down. “Peter. Shh. Stop laughing now.” Tony was laughing himself so he wasn’t very convincing.
“What happened?”
“There’s a dinosaur in the bathroom.”
“A dinosaur?” Pepper looked at Tony for clarification.
“A man farted so loud in the stall and Peter was laughing.” Tony explained while he pulled Peter down to get his shoes on.
Trying to get away, Peter kicked his feet out. “Noo, you laughed too, dad. It was funny.”
“It was funny.” Mainly because Peter’s laugh was contagious, otherwise Tony wouldn’t have laughed. Well, he would’ve tried not to.
“Oh my. Sounds really funny, grandma and grandpa would find it funny, how about we go tell them because our flight is starting to board.” Pepper already put some of their things back into the carry on and made sure the snack bag was accessible.
Things weren’t funny anymore. Tony shared a dreadful look with Pepper. This was going to be a difficult five hours. Tony hoped so badly that Peter made this easy for him. If they had another airport security experience Tony thinks he’d like to open the hatch and jump out.
Thankfully having kids meant they got to board first and didn’t have to wait in the long lineup.
They had first class seats so Tony had to book two sections that had three seats each although he was sure Harley would end up taking one whole section so Morgan would end up joining them once they were in the air.
First class was nice but not as nice as their private plane.
“I want to say hi to the pilots.” Peter saw the cockpit and tried to walk over to it but Tony grabbed his hand. “Noo.”
“You can see them when we land.” He pulled him towards him as he looked for their seats right at the front. “Can you lol for seat 11a and 12a?”
“No.”
It was worth a shot. Tony found it himself and slid open the sliding door, ushering Peter in. “Why’s there so many seats?”
“There’s only three.”
“No. There.” He pointed to the rest of the plane. “I wanna go sit down there.”
“Those aren’t our seats. Someone else is assigned to those seats.” Tony lifted him up onto the seat by the window but a second later he was climbing down and trying to walk out. “Peter. Please sit.”
“Where’s Morgan?” He squeezed past Tony and stood in the aisle, blocking people.
“Peter. Come back in. People are trying to board. Sorry.” He apologized to the woman Peter just cut off and she just smiled down at Peter. He really was irresistible to others. He had this aura that just screamed protect me and on top of that his brown curly hair was way too adorable and his big brown eyes and button nose with tiny faded freckles littering his cheeks that he got from Pepper, yeah, he was an angel sent from heaven.
Although that angel could also scream like a banshee and give Tony a run for his money.
“I want to see Morgan.”
“Dad? I want to sit next to Petey. Not Harley.” Morgan walked into their section, using her best puppy dog eyes but it was no match for Peter.
“Princess. You can as soon as we’re in the air but mom is going to sit next to him for take off.” Because I need the help. “Okay? But you can come join us in like twenty minutes.”
“No. Now.”
“Yeah. Come sit here.”
“No, Morgan. Please go sit in your seat.”
“I’ll come sit with you.” Peter and her walked out of the section to go sit in the one behind them, blocking the aisle of people and Tony knew he couldn’t allow that so he lifted Peter up.
“Pepper, can you give me his pacifier? And Morgan, go sit with Harley.”
“Excuse me.”
“Sorry.” Another person they were blocking. He walked into the section, sitting down and keeping Peter on his lap until they were unready for take off. “Hey, look, do you want paci.”
“Yeah.”
“Then you need to sit in your seat and be a good boy until we land or I’m going to take soother.” Tony hoped that threat worked. He had no idea. But they’d find out soon.
It wasn’t long before take off happened. Peter had taken off his shoes, his pants and one sock. He wanted to take off his shirt but settled on just his pants for now. “I want to sit with Morgan.”
“Here.” Pepper got a sippy cup of milk ready to help his ears with the popping.
Once grabbing it, Tony pushed Peter’s seat back a bit. “Drink your milk.”
“Where’s Morgan?”
“She’s sitting behind us.”
“But I can’t see.” He tried sitting up to look but the seatbelt stopped him and so did Tony. “Uuuuuhhhh. Let me look. I can’t sit here anymore. My bum hurts from sitting for so long.”
“You’ve been sitting for five minutes.”
“I need to poo.”
“Then go.” Tony knew he was lying. He also knew he wouldn’t poop in an airplane toilet or even step foot in the space so it would be in his diaper anyways.
Peter didn’t like that comment. He tried to roll onto his stomach but couldn’t and that’s when the crying started. Great. Five fucking hours of this.
“Hey, just take a breath, Peter. Look out the window. We’re going to land in the Maldives and swim in the ocean.” Tony tried his best to distract the boy but it wasn’t easy when Peter was in this headspace. It also didn’t help that he was crying and there were other people on this plane who had to listen to that.
Peter lifted his legs up, trying to kick the window for some reason so Tony held to hold his legs down which resulted in him screaming until they were up in the air.
The seatbelt light couldn’t have turned off fast enough.
“Okay. All done. We’re in the air now so you can stand up.” He unclipped his seatbelt, waiting to see what Peter was going to do. Tony watched him as he tried to decide. He stopped crying at least then stood up to look outside. Fixing his twisted diaper, Tony patted his bum. “Happy now?”
“Yeah. When do we land?”
“It’s just like flying in our plane, baby.” Pepper tried. Peter didn’t have to be so difficult but he was. For the past fifteen minutes he cried and nothing they did helped. But hopefully that was the last of it. “We’ll land in five hours. No need to cry. Okay?”
Peter chewed on his pacifier, staring at his mom as he probably considered her reasoning. He most likely wouldn’t listen to it though. Peter walked past both of them and slid open the door, walking out into the aisle to check up on Morgan.
At this point, Tony didn’t really care about people seeing Peter in such a vulnerable state because Peter didn’t seem to care and chances are, he’d never see these people again anyways. He followed Peter out, opening up the door so Peter could walk in. He immediately squeezed in next to Morgan.
“I’ll sit with you.”
“I heard him crying the whole take off.” Harley said to Tony but was looking at Peter getting comfortable with his sister.
“Yeah, he didn’t want to sit still. Pete and Morg, let’s leave Harley be and go sit with with mommy and order some food. I see the flight attendant coming by.” Tony pulled Peter up. “Harls, eat too. It’s going to be a long flight.”
“I want to say hi to the pilots.” Peter swung from Tony’s hands and Tony only let him because he was sure Peter would make a run for it down one of the aisles. “I want to say thank you cause they’re flying me to the beach.”
“You can’t see them. They don’t come out for safety.”
“But I want to.”
“And I want you to sit down.”
Tony saw the man sitting across the aisle from them staring at Peter and although it was probably because he was being loud and jumping around, Tony still didn’t like anyone looking at his kid, everyone was a threat in his eyes that he needed to protect Peter from.
He ushered both of his kids into the section and sat down in one of the seats, pulling Peter onto his lap but he crawled on the other one with Morgan, wrapping his arms around her neck and kissing her head. He was so affectionate it was precious.
And at least he wasn’t crying.
Tony would take whatever he could get.