The Home That Built Me

Peter found it difficult. He was getting frustrated since he couldn’t catch his balance and he kept falling into the water before he even fully stood up on his surfboard. 

He was tired and frustrated and wanted to give up but his dad wouldn’t let him. 

Tony stood in the water, leaning against Peter’s surfboard while Peter whined on it. “I wanna stop. I’m tired! And my legs hurt.” 

“You said you didn’t want to stop until you caught a wave.” Tony knew Peter could do it, he just needed a pep talk and a little push. 

Peter whined again. “That was before I couldn’t do it. Now I’m tired and I want a popsicle. A purple one.” 

“You can have a purple popsicle after you catch your first wave. I know you can do it.” He turned Peter’s surfboard around. “Lay on your stomach and paddle out, remember to go under the wave as it’s coming to you so you don’t get slammed by it. You got this, baby.” 

Peter wanted to make his dad proud so he paddled out until he found the perfect wave. He wasn’t sure he was going to find one at first. The ocean was rough and the waters were dark plus he was already exhausted but he still wanted to try so he gave it all he had. 

He found his wave and got into position and whispered to himself. “I can do it. I can do it. I can do it.” He then stood up and jumped onto the board to get better positioning with his feet and before he knew it, he was riding the wave. “I’m doing it! I’m doing it!” 

Tony cheered Peter on. “I see you! Good job, Peter!” 

Peter was so overwhelmed with joy. He couldn’t believe he caught his first ever wave and his dad was right, he felt like he was on top of the world and he could accomplish anything. 

He made it to the beach and jumped into the sand, running over to jump into his dad's arms. “Did you see me?! I did it! I did it!” 

Tony picked Peter up and tossed him in the air a bit. “I saw you, Peter. We all did and we’re so proud of you.” 

Peter looked at the rest of his family. He was so happy to be with them, it was definitely the best birthday he’s ever had even though it wasn’t his birthday just yet. 

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Peter chased after Morgan around the backyard. He couldn’t stop laughing but the laughing was making him run even slower so he eventually gave up and laid on the grass, laughing like crazy. 

He was so exhausted. 

They spent the whole day trying to surf in the ocean. Peter couldn’t get the hang of it at first but then he started finding his balance and he caught his first wave and couldn’t stop. He tried to chase that high he felt all day but he was exhausted. 

“Peter, Morgan, come shower before bed.” Tony called out to them as he picked up a few of their toys and tossed them to the side until tomorrow. “Hurry, hurry. We gotta shower before the sun goes down.” 

Morgan and Peter looked at each other and then both made a mad dash into their holiday house. Peter ran into his parent’s bedroom where he found his older brother and mom talking on the bed together. He stopped running once he knew he was the winner. “I win! That means you have to do anything I say.” 

“No, we didn’t say any of that.” Morgan crossed her arms over her chest briefly but just as Tony walked into the room, she laughed and ran outside to their outdoor shower. 

Tony and Peter both walked out, following after her. “Daddy,” Peter tugged on Tony’s bathing suit. “I wanna take a bath in there.” He pointed at the bath that looked a lot like a cereal bowl. 

“Me too.” Morgan insisted. 

“You guys can both take a bath together but rinse all the sand and grass off yourself in the shower first.” Pepper told them. She placed a stack of towels down on the bench and walked over to turn the shower on. 

Both of their youngest squealed excitedly and then raced to take off their bathing suits and stood under the shower spray. Peter opened his mouth to gather water in his mouth and spit it out at Morgan, giggling at himself. “That’s funny.” 

Since Tony was still wearing his bathing suit, he wasn’t worried about getting wet so he sat on the tiny stone chair next to the shower. “You’re like a sprinkler, Pete.” 

Peter turned to him and did the same thing to him so Tony stood up, picking Peter up and holding him against his side. “Oh yeah, you asked for it,” He stood under the water, putting Peter’s head under briefly just to get him back. Tony was so happy, he used to dream and beg God for a moment like this with Peter and his whole family. 

Just a year ago, he didn’t have Peter. He was grieving ever so badly for his boy and now, he finally had Peter back in his arms, right where he was supposed to be. 

He wanted to freeze time and never ever leave this moment. He would later be grateful for all the pictures and videos Pepper got of them together and one would later be framed in their house. 

“I love you so much, Peter.” Tony kissed Peter’s cheek and couldn’t help himself so he pressed a ton of kisses all over Peter’s face. 

Peter giggled. “I love you too, daddy.” He wrapped his arms around Tony’s neck and looked over to Morgan who was already about to climb into the bath so he quickly wiggled out of his dad's arms. “Hurry. Bath. Bath.” 

Tony placed Peter on his feet and followed him a few feet over to the bath. Pepper added flowers to it that the house staff left for them. It made the bath look like a professional photo shoot that Tony knew Pepper would turn it into. 

Peter climbed in after Morgan and picked up a flower. “Can I eat this?” 

“Don’t eat it. It’s just to make it look pretty.” Pepper placed another flower near Peter to get a better picture but Peter was picking that up too. She looked over to Tony, fondly. He just shrugged, Peter was going to do what he wanted to do and they couldn’t stop him. 

Pepper got a few good pictures of them but neither of them wanted to pose for pictures so she put the camera away and just sat there to enjoy the time with her family on their first family vacation. 

Peter picked up the flower and sat up on his knees to put it on Morgan’s head. “You look like-” 

“A princess?” Morgan asked excitedly. 

“No. I was gonna say a green troll.” 

Tony and Pepper started laughing but it wasn’t funny to Morgan. “Hey, I’m not a troll. You look like… a crab then!” 

“Crabs are cute.” Peter insisted. He picked up another flower and went to put it on Morgan’s head but Morgan pushed his hand away. 

“Pete, leave the flower in the water. She doesn’t want it.” Tony gently moved Peter’s hand away but ended up taking the flower out of the bath water. 

Harley walked out to join them in their outdoor bathroom party and sat on a rock. “I was outside and I saw a giant lizard. It was huge.” 

Peter gasped. “I wanna see it!” 

“No, it ran away.” 

Peter frowned and sat up on the ledge. “Then when will I see him again?” 

“There will be tons more lizards to see, buddy.” Tony reassured him. “The jungle is right there so we might even see one out here one day.” 

Peter peeked over the bathtub. “I hope so. Can we bring one home after? He can meet Aiser and be friends with him.” 

“He wouldn’t survive back home in New York.” Tony explained and ran his fingers through Peter’s wet curls. Peter frowned. “It’s because of the climate. He needs constant heat to survive.” 

“Because they’re cold blooded and lay eggs.” Peter added on then climbed out of the bath to go look in their outdoor shower bathroom. “We should get a net and catch one.” 

Tony walked over to him, kneeling down to try and find some moving around in the bushes. Tony saw one in the morning when he woke up but Peter had yet to see one. He spotted something moving and pointed at it. “Look. There. Do you see it?” 

Peter leaned against his dad and spotted it sitting on a rock. “Yeah! I see him. Let’s name him marshmallow.” 

Pepper took a picture of the two, wanting to frame it in their house once they got home. 

It was definitely a moment to remember. 

“Do you think we’ll find any inside the house?” Asked Peter, standing up and turning around to walk inside the house. 

Morgan got out of the bath and wrapped a towel around herself. “If we find one, we can catch it and keep it as a pet.” 

“No. Just look at it then let him go cause what if he’ll miss his mommy and daddy.” Peter got a flashback of the past year and turned to grab onto his dad’s hand, leaning against him. He chewed on the tip of his thumb and turned to look up at Tony. “We can only look at him then let him go, right? We’re not keeping him?” 

Tony picked Peter up and kissed his cheek. “I love you so much. But yeah, we won’t keep him.” He grabbed a towel and walked into their bedroom. “They’re super fast though so you can’t catch one.” Tony stood in front of their bed and placed Peter on his back then leaned over him to blow raspberries on his stomach, getting a ton of giggles out of him. 

Peter tried to squirm away, laughing so hard. “Daddy! S-stop! It tickles!” 

“What? Keep going?” Tony did one more and stopped, letting Peter ride out his giggle fest. 

For the rest of the night, the Stark family sat in the living room and told stories of their day, laughing at the little moments they had together. 

When it was time for bed, Harley went into his bedroom but Peter and Morgan wanted to sleep in between their parents so that’s exactly what they did. 

Peter climbed into bed so he was sleeping beside his sister and dad. He stuck his thumb in his mouth and threw his legs over Tony. “Pat my stomach.” 

Tony patted Peter’s stomach and never wanted to shut his eyes because his reality was so much better than his dreams.