Snickers Secret
"Uh, dad?" Peter asked, staring out at all the fascinating rides and tempting gift shops.
"Yes, Pete?"
"Where are all the people?"
Tony scoffed and pushed his glasses up his nose. "I bought out the whole day for us. I didn't want any fans to interrupt us." Tony wrapped an arm around Bruce. "Plus, Brucie, here, isn't good with crowds."
Bruce shrugged Tony's arm off. "Although buying Disneyland for a day is a bit much, I appreciate that we'll be the only ones here."
Tony smiled brightly and set Peter down. "Well, go for it, kid! Just make sure to have one of us always with you."
Peter rolled his eyes. He was a big boy; it was his 7th birthday, for christ's sake! It didn't matter. Having the park to themselves meant no long lines.
"Tonyson, where shall we go first?" Thor asked, his booming voice cutting the silence of the empty amusement park.
Peter was used to the way Thor spoke, so he simply stared up at the God. "I want to go on the California Screamin' first, then we can head to Splash Mountain!" Peter answered and grabbed Thor's hand and dragged him. He knew he wasn't actually pulling Thor, but Peter liked to imagine he was.
When Peter managed to find the ride, he frowned. He could see the measurement requirement; 4'0, and Peter knew he was not that tall. He should've been, at seven years old, Peter should be tall enough to meet the requirement, but he was little. Doctors said that to give it time for Peter to grow, but it was annoying. He blamed his dad. Tony was short when he was a boy, and now, Peter was suffering for it.
Stupid genetics.
"What is wrong?" Thor asked.
"I'm too short to ride," Peter grumbled, motioning to the sign with a ruler drawn on. "Come on, there's gotta be other rides I can get on."
Before Peter could pull Thor to some other ride, Thor perked up and said, "Wait, here."
Peter couldn't ask anything because Thor was already walking away and heading into the closest gift shop. The guy behind the counter was too flustered and was downright a puddle when Thor flashed him his golden retriever smile that he let Thor walk out without paying.
Thor approached Peter with a smile and hands full of snickers chocolate bars. He pulled Peter in between two buildings and dropped to a squat.
"You know, that's stealing, right?" Peter questioned, allowing Thor to grab his ankles and take off his red sneakers. "What are you doing?"
"We are making you taller."
Peter's eyes widened. "Is that legal?"
Thor shoved two snickers bar on the heels of Peter's shoes, then motioned for Peter to put his foot back in. "Yes." He didn't sound sure.
Peter tried to walk like he didn't have chocolate bars in his shoes, which was hard. For one, it was uncomfortable, and two, he'd never done it before. They walked up to the operator guy, and he looked down at Peter then up at Thor and sighed.
"Line up, kid," the guy said, and Peter swallowed, standing against the measurement and held his breath. "All right, follow me."
Peter stared at Thor, eyes wide and mouth open; he couldn't believe that actually worked. Peter trailed after Thor and got into the ride. The worker pulled the safety restraint lock over Peter; well, it engulfed him is a more accurate description. The thing was huge, and the worker looked at Peter quizzically but shook his head and left to the control panel. Staring out in front of him, Peter wasn't sure if he should go along with this plan. There's a reason for a height requirement, right?
Before Peter could flag the worker down or say that he didn't want to ride, the machine was already moving. The guy must've gone through all the safety precautions and rules while Peter was overthinking. Great.
"This shall be fun!" Thor boomed, and Peter couldn't help but think that if something did go wrong, the God of Thunder next to him would be perfectly okay.
Peter gripped the handles on either side of him and counted his breaths. This would be fun, yeah, fun.
It was not fun.
The first few seconds were okay, they hadn't gotten to the top just yet, and above his own screams, Peter could hear some of his uncles screaming to his left, probably enjoying a ride. Thor was simply laughing, used to the wind slapping him in the face at 50+ mph. Then they started going up, and Peter's knuckles were turning white from his tight grip on the handles. The ride stopped right before the drop, and Peter, stupidly, cast a glance to the ground, and a small whimper left his mouth. He had underestimated how high they would go.
"Thor, I-" Peter's words melted into a high-pitched scream as the machine angled down, and they went hurtling down while Peter's body slipped upwards.
Thor's arm thrust out and grabbed Peter by the shirt, holding him down. Peter kept screaming, but it was out of fear of Thor letting go of him and slipping out of the ride and hurtling through the air for a split second before falling to his imminent death.
Fortunately, Thor's hold on Peter didn't ease up and held him inside the ride for the 2 minutes and 36 seconds-yes, Peter counted. Once the machine started slowing down, signaling the end, Thor let go of Peter.
Peter was quiet as Thor helped him out, and the words of the workers were muffled in Peter's ear. He didn't know if it was because he screamed so much or if he was traumatized. Probably both.
"Peter?" Thor asked, and Peter looked around. They were out in the middle of stores and cart stands. When had they gotten here?
Peter looked up at Thor. "I-I, uh." That was all he could muster at the moment.
Thor nodded. "Okay, how about we get some food in you, and we'll keep this a secret, yeah?"
After a burger, ice cream, and cotton candy, Peter was okay, but he didn't want to go on any rollercoasters just yet. At the end of the long day, Peter looked back on the incident and chuckled.
Tony, who was carrying Peter, noticed and turned his head to look at Peter. "What's so funny?"
Peter looked behind his dad's shoulder to see Thor talking with Steve. "Nothing, just a snickers secret," Peter mumbled and rested his head back on his dad's shoulder. "I had fun."
"Good." Tony sounded proud of himself. "I'll tell you all about your uncle Steve screaming like a little girl on all the rides."
Steve, with his superhearing, heard Tony and stopped his conversation with Thor to yell, "I was not screaming like a little girl!"
Everyone laughed and poked fun at each other, and Peter allowed himself to fall asleep to the banter.