On Our Way To Nowhere

Peter ran up ahead and continued running even after he heard his dad telling him to stop. He just wanted to see what the white shiny thing was. 

Peter climbed over a log and pushed his way through some vines then looked up in surprise at what he was seeing. It was part of the plane. The front half; it looked like. 

Tony caught up to Peter and grabbed him roughly by the arm. “Hey, did you hear me calling you? You do not run off like that. You don’t know what’s out here. You stay by my side at all times.” 

Peter was caught off guard by his dad using his strict dad voice. He almost never used it on him. “I’m-I’m sorry, daddy. I’m sorry. I won’t but I just wanted to see what this was.” 

Tony looked away from Peter and up at the plane that was standing up in a fixed position. His eyes widened at the sight. Even though the plane was a private plane and already small and it was now half a plane, it was still huge to look at. 

“We should go inside it and see if the pilots are stuck. They might need our help.” Peter pulled on his dad's arm and went to go walk towards the plane but Tony pulled him back against his chest. 

“No. It’s not safe.” Tony could already tell that the pilots were dead. There was no way they survived that crash. 

“But what if they need our help?” Peter tried to argue but Tony wasn’t having it. 

“No, Peter.” 

“But daddy.” Peter pulled Tony's arm again so the man sighed. 

“Fine. I’ll climb in and check but you stay right here. Do not move from this spot. If you move or try to wander off then I’m taking your water gun away when we get back.” Tony realized that he had no threats to make to Peter on the island. It wasn’t like he could take away Peter’s inhalers as punishment. 

“No, don’t.” Peter complained so Tony was going to use that threat a lot. He led Peter over to a tree. 

“Then stay here. I’ll be right back.” Tony kissed the top of Peter’s head and walked back to the plane. It already smelt bad inside. Between the crash and the mugginess, the smell was awful. 

He had to use the plane seats as stairs to climb up to the cockpit. “Are you still there, Pete?” Tony asked him to make sure Peter was okay since he didn’t have his eyes on him. 

“Yeah!” Peter called back. 

Tony managed to climb to the cockpit but the door was locked so he looked around for something to open the door with. There was a fire extinguisher across from him so Tony kicked the case and caught the fire extinguisher as it fell. 

“What was that, daddy?” Peter asked, concern in his voice. 

“Nothing. I just kicked the fire extinguisher off the wall.” 

“Why? Is there a fire?” 

Tony rolled his eyes, “No, Pete.” 

He started hitting the fire extinguisher over the door handle until it broke off then he tossed it onto a seat and opened the door. The smell that greeted him told him everything he needed to know. 

“Ah fuck.” He whispered to himself. He brought his tank top up to cover his nose from the smell of the two dead bodies. 

He climbed into the cockpit to try and check for the black box and the radio. He’s never seen a dead body in this situation before, sure at funerals or when his grandmother dropped dead on the kitchen and he found her dead body but this… this was different. 

“Are the pilots there, daddy? Are they okay?” Peter asked him from the ground. 

Tony didn’t want to tell his innocent eight year old son what he was looking at so he lied. “Uh, they’re not here, bud. They uh, they must have gotten out.” 

“Oh. Maybe we can go look for them.” Peter yelled back to him and Tony felt horrible for lying to his kid but he had to. He couldn’t tell him. 

“Maybe.” He yelled back then reached for the black box. The black box hadn’t been destroyed which was a good thing but it was useless to him. He pulled himself up by one of the chairs, the pilot's head falling to the side so Tony quickly moved his hand and started to work the radio. 

“Mayday, mayday. This is Tony Stark. My plane crashed on some… island. I’m here with my eight year old son, Peter Stark. It’s May fifteenth, two thousand and seventeen. If you are hearing this then please send help.” Tony repeated the message a few times on all the channels that he could get to work but that’s it. There was no one picking up the receiver and he couldn’t take the whole radio out of the plane because then it became useless and he didn’t want to bring Peter up here. 

“Are you still there?” Tony asked him and heard Peter respond immediately. “Okay, I’m gonna try and take apart some of the radio to bring it back to the beach.” 

“I can come up to help you-” 

“No! I said stay there.” Tony felt bad for snapping at his kid but he had to. He grabbed as much of the radio equipment as he could and shut the cockpit door once he was done. 

Climbing down the airplane was hard to do with one hand. He eventually made it to the ground and appreciated the fresh air. 

Once Peter saw him, he left the tree and ran to his side. He was looking at everything that Tony had in his hands and tried to grab some things from him. “Are you going to build a radio?” 

Tony nodded. “I’m gonna try. Do you wanna help me?” 

Peter nodded his head excitedly. His favourite thing to do was help his dad in his lab and sometimes his dad would pull him into his lap so he could help out. 

The two made a pretty good team together. 

They continued to walk towards the beach where Tony had spent the night away from his kid. He was surprised that he actually arrived right at the exact place. Almost. They had to walk down the beach a bit but that was okay. 

“Hey guess what, bud.” Tony told him once they started walking down the beach. 

“What?” Peter asked him. Tony loved seeing that smile on Peter’s face and he hoped it never faded. He would do everything in his power for it not to fade away. 

“I found your blankie.” 

Peter’s eyes widened. “Seriously?! I wanted him last night but I thought he was lost.” Peter ran to grab Tony’s hand again. “Let’s go, daddy!” 

“You go run, baby. I can see you from here.” Tony told Peter and then watched him run off towards where the suitcases were. 

Peter ran over to his suitcase and threw the top open to begin digging for his blankie but he couldn’t find it. “Where is he?” 

Tony made it over to Peter and started unzipping his own suitcase. He had slept with it last night, for probably the first time in his life using a comfort item to fall asleep and then he put it in his suitcase so it was safe. 

“He’s in here.” Tony said and then Peter started digging in there for it. He pulled it out and was hugging it to his chest straight away and rubbing his face against it. 

Tony smiled at him. Everything was worth it, getting to see his kid smile and hum in contentment. “Are you happy?” 

“Mmhm.” Peter held the corner of his blanket to his nose so Tony knew he was going to be doing that for a while now. 

Tony laid down in the sand and looked up at the clouds. Peter found his way against his side and placed his head on Tony’s chest. 

Even just for a short amount of time, Tony was happy. Nothing in that moment mattered because he had his kid back with him and everything was okay even for a few minutes. 

A little while later, Peter was starting to fall asleep on his chest but judging by the sun, it was about later afternoon and he didn’t want Peter to fall asleep until nighttime. 

“There’s a mini waterfall in the opposite direction that we came from, let’s go to it and get rid of that bladder infection of yours.” Tony said to him and sat up. 

Peter followed him but kept his blanket by his nose still so Tony gently grabbed it from him. “Let’s keep this here until we get back. Look, I’ll put it in my suitcase again.” 

Peter watched his dad safely put his blankie away and then they were walking down the beach. 

“Do you think we’re dead?” Peter asked out of nowhere, breaking the silence. 

Tony did not expect Peter to say that. No child should ever have to ask a question like that. 

“Why do you say that?” 

Peter shrugged. “I don’t know. Because our plane crashed. And… it’s kinda nice here. Like, the ocean and stuff and even though I shouldn’t be right now, I’m happy. And I get to be with you.” 

Tony didn’t know what to say to that. He didn’t necessarily believe in heaven just because he didn’t like to think about dying. He used to be okay with it before Peter was born but now he wasn’t and that was okay. 

“We’re not dead. I know that for a fact.” Tony spoke with conviction. 

Peter wasn’t too convinced. “But how do you know that?” 

Tony thought about it. The absolute terror when he woke up and Peter wasn’t with him. Having to suffer alone while he had no idea where his son was, that wasn’t heaven. 

“Because, if this was heaven then don’t you think that you wouldn’t have been all by yourself last night. You wouldn’t have a bladder infection and this wouldn't hurt,” Tony pinched Peter’s arm and laughed when Peter yelped out in pain. 

“Hey! That hurt!” Peter glared at his dad who was laughing at him. 

“It was supposed to, kid.” Tony continued to laugh at Peter’s face. “But we’re not in heaven because we’re not dead.” 

Peter let go of his arm and lifted his arms up to his dad. “Then give me a piggyback ride.” 

Tony stopped walking and prepared for Peter to jump onto his back. “Alright. Get on you little monkey.” 

It was harder to walk in the sand with the weight of an eight year old on his back but Tony was grateful that Peter was smaller for his age so he could carry him easier. 

“Okay. Rides over. We’re going into the jungle now.” Tony told him and waited for Peter to slide off his back. 

“Is it like a small waterfall?” Peter asked him, curiously. 

“Kinda. It’s a bit taller than I am.” Tony explained to his kid. He watched as Peter went to run ahead but then he fell and tripped on a tree root. Tony was actually surprised that it didn’t happen to Peter earlier. 

“You’re okay. Stand up.” Tony rushed to Peter’s side and bent down to help Peter up. If one thing he learned from being a father is that Peter will react how he reacts. If he freaks out and shows that it’s a big deal then Peter will freak out. 

“Ow.” Peter scrunched his face up and grabbed his ankle. 

“You’re okay.” Tony grabbed him by the arms and lifted him so he was on his feet. “Just some dirt.” 

“I tripped over the tree roots.” Peter turned around to look at where he tripped and saw all the odd looking tree roots. 

“Yeah you did.” Tony brushed the dirt off of Peter’s legs and hands and then started walking again so they didn’t pause for long and get Peter worried about it. “The waterfall should be somewhere around here.” 

Peter was cautious as he was walking next to his dad and kept grabbing onto his arm for support. Tony was trying to figure out which way to go while also making sure they didn’t wander too far off and get lost. 

“Come this way, Pete.” Tony called out to Peter so he didn’t go too far in the wrong direction. 

“Oh. I’m coming.” Peter jumped over a log and grabbed onto his dad's arm for support. “Do you think there are any wild animals in the jungle?” 

Tony chuckled. “I know there are wild animals in the jungle.” 

“But… like big ones. Like giant snakes or-or monkeys?” Peter said with some excitement to his voice as if he was happy about the potential of there being those wild animals on the island. 

Tony was terrified of that. Him and Peter would be considered a threat or a yummy meal to the animals, maybe both. Tony knew that they wouldn’t stand a chance going up against a monkey so he hoped they were alone. 

“I hope not, bud. That would not be good.” Tony admitted. He didn’t want to scare Peter but it was important for him to understand how dangerous the situation that they were in was. 

“Look, bud,” Tony started. Peter was walking in front of him so Tony could keep his eyes on him. “it’s very dangerous where we are. Do you know why?” 

“Because our plane crashed? And we're in the middle of nowhere and no one is gonna come to get us?” Peter explained as if it was the most normal situation ever which scared Tony. 

“We’re gonna get rescued soon, Pete. It’s just taking longer for someone to find us.” Tony tried to reassure him. He didn’t know why it was taking so long for them to get rescued. Someone should have come the hour the plane sent out a distress signal. 

Peter jumped onto another log so Tony held just hand out on instant for Peter to grab onto. “Why hasn’t anyone come yet?” 

“I don’t know, bud. Maybe they’re just working extra hard on trying to pinpoint exactly where our location is.” Tony told him but in all honesty, he had a really big feeling that the island they landed on hadn’t been discovered yet and that was the only reason for them not being found. 

“What if we make a sign? Like a really big one on the beach for someone to see it from a plane. And then they’ll come and save us.” Peter suggested innocently. 

Tony knew that if a satellite couldn’t pick up on the island then it definitely wouldn’t pick up on a message in the sand. He wanted Peter to have hope though and he also needed something for them to stay busy. “Good idea, bud. Maybe we can get started on it a little bit later. Today we have to build a tent to sleep in.” 

Peter smiled widely. “A tent? Like for camping?” 

“Yep. We have to bring some of the airplane wreckage out to the beach and build a tent.” Tony explained to him. 

The area was starting to look really familiar so Tony knew they were close to the water. He stopped walking and grabbed Peter’s arm back so he could try and listen for any water sounds. 

“Shh. Listen if you can hear any water.” Tony told him and then tried his best to listen. Peter was the first one to speak up. 

“I hear something. It’s… like a waterfall.” Peter told him and pointed in the direction that it was coming from. 

The two of them started walking in that direction.