Precious Things can break
Peter didn’t want to go see Karen today.
He didn’t sleep very well so he woke up in a pretty irritated mood. He clung onto his dad, constantly staying at his side for the majority of the morning. He didn’t want him to leave to drop Morgan off at school so he made his mom go instead, not even wanting his dad to leave him for the short amount of time it took for the school drop offs in the morning.
Both of his parents drove him to his therapy session like they always did but he was feeling a bit anxious, knowing his parents weren’t going to be in the room with him this time.
He was going to have to do it himself and he wasn’t ready. Not yet. But he knew he would never be ready for it so he had to rip off the bandage and get it done and over with so he could start healing.
Peter said his goodbyes to his mom and dad and watched them leave the room, leaving him alone with Karen.
“How are you doing today, Peter?” She asked, getting started slowly.
“Good.”
“Was the ride over good? I know it’s quite out of the way for you so that can get a bit boring.” She laughed softly and it brought a small smile to Peter’s face.
He relaxed a bit and had to remember that he’s done this before. He could do it again.
“So, how are you sleeping at night? Are you having any nightmares?”
Peter thought about it. “Well, no… only because I’m still sleeping with my parents.” He admitted. “I don’t wanna sleep alone. Not yet.”
“You don’t feel ready to sleep alone yet?”
“No. I just… I just sleep better with them.”
“What are you afraid of?” She asked. “Of sleeping alone, what are you afraid of happening?”
Peter didn’t know. He played with the loose string on his pants. “I don’t know. I’m scared of… waking up and I’ll be back with… him. With Uh, with Steve I guess. Or I’m scared I’ll like, have a nightmare and wet the bed. Again.”
“You’re safe. Steve can’t get to you anymore.” Karen reassured him but it wasn’t like Peter didn’t know that already, he did, but his dreams play tricks on him. “And you know if you wet the bed, your parents would never be mad at you for that.”
Peter nodded. He knew. He had plenty of experience with that but that still didn’t make him feel any less embarrassed or guilty for doing it.
“What’s on your mind right now?”
Peter was scared to talk.
He didn’t want to say the wrong thing even though he trusted her. He had been going to see Karen for a long time, and then he got better so he stopped. He wanted to stop again but he had to get to that point of recovery first.
“Um,” He started. He liked how Karen didn’t make him feel rushed. He was just feeling really anxious without his parents next to him. “I am just feeling that I miss… Steve. And- and I wish he wasn’t dead.”
“Do you know why you feel that way, Peter?” Karen asked him.
Peter shrugged but he did know why. “I just… it’s not what you think. I want him to still be alive because… I know I’ll get better,” He lifted up his eyes to look at Karen for reassurance that he would in fact get better. “And when I do, I want him to know that. Like… I want to tell him because I hate him for everything.”
Karen nodded to show that she understood. “Because you want him to know that he didn’t win?”
Peter thought about it. It felt… unfinished. Like he wouldn’t be getting a happy ending no matter how hard he tries and then all the trying feels like it’s for nothing and it makes him not want to try. “I just wish I could also say goodbye. Like for good.”
“It’s okay to feel that way. What brought it on?”
Peter shrugged again. He picked up one of the toys on her desk to hold it to take away from the tension. “Harley.”
“Did Harley say something to you?”
“No.” Peter thought back to yesterday and then his breakdown last night. “Just what he did.”
“What was that?” Karen asked him, sitting back in her chair to mirror Peter’s position. She was told before talking with Peter that he had a really hard night.
“Uh, well, me and Morgan and Harley were play fighting like we always used to do before but Harley didn’t kick or punch me like he was to Morgan and it made me feel bad emotions then later I asked why and he said cause-cause he didn’t wanna hurt me after I got kidnapped…” Peter broke off into cries, his voice going a few octaves higher with the last few words. He rubbed at his eyes. “I loved play fighting and… Steve took it away from me. Like everything!”
Karen wrote a few points down and continued. “Did you tell Harley how you felt?”
“Yes!”
“And what did he say?”
Peter pulled his knees to his chest and stuck his thumb in his mouth. “Nothing. He just said sorry and gave me a hug.”
“You can’t control the way that your family is going to react to this. They are going through their emotions just like you are going through yours. You can’t control that but what you can do is tell them how their behaviour is making you feel and maybe you guys can work something out.” Karen suggested. “Talking things out helps a lot, don’t you think?”
Peter shrugged and sucked harder.
“What do your parents do that make you feel bad?”
Peter immediately thought of his bottle that they never let him have. “My bottle. They don’t put my milk in it anymore and it makes me sad. And mad. And like I want to kick them in the face.”
Karen nodded. “Would you like me to bring them in here so we can talk about it together?” Peter didn’t respond. “It will help.”
“Fine.”
Karen stood up and Peter listened to her call his parents into the room but Peter stayed curled up on the chair and kept his thumb in his mouth. He saw both of his parents sit down on either side of him on the corner of his eyes.
“I think it’s important that we talk about the bottle. Peter told me how he feels when you guys take it away from him or don’t let him have it. Would you like to tell them, Peter? Or do you want me to?” Karen asked him. Peter shrugged. He felt bad for what he said but he couldn’t take it back.
He sighed and pulled his thumb from his mouth. “I feel sad and mad when you don’t let me have it and it makes me want to kick you guys in the face.”
Neither of them reacted how he expected them to.
Tony looked at Karen briefly. He didn’t know what to say sometimes. “Well… that’s fair. But… your mother and I are only doing what’s best for you. We aren’t trying to hurt you.”
“Well, you are.”
That hurt Tony to hear. He looked at Pepper, not knowing what to say.
“Peter, your father and I love you so so much and we aren’t doing any of this to hurt you. We are doing it because we love you and you may not understand right now but one day you will understand why we do everything we do.”
Peter didn’t care about the future. Right now he wanted his bottle because it brought him comfort but he wasn’t allowed and that hurt him.
“What are you thinking right now, Peter?” Karen asked him.
“I’m thinking that I’m mad.” No one said anything so Peter thought about it some more. “I just… I hate that I have to start over. It’s not fair. I was-everything was so good before.”
Tony grabbed his hand and squeezed it, trying to reassure Peter that everything would in fact be okay.
.
.
.
Like always, having Peter talk to Karen was a good thing and it proved to be a lot of help but it took a toll on Peter.
Each session ended differently. For the most part, Peter was quiet and tried, sometimes he cried and was extra emotional throughout the rest of the day and other times, he fell asleep. Like now, he was asleep in the car before they even got onto the highway.
Tony turned down the music so it was a quiet background sound to help Peter stay asleep. He checked the time, it was still too early to pick Morgan up from school but not late enough to go home just yet.
Pepper seemed to notice that too. “I have to get a few things from Walmart so I can run in while you stay in the car with Peter?”
“Yeah, we have to kill about an hour. It’ll give him enough time to sleep before we pick Morgan up.” Tony turned off the next exit and it brought back so many memories. Last time, they held off a bit before taking Peter to therapy because they needed to build a relationship with him first and now they already had that strong relationship.
Tony stayed in the car with Peter while Pepper went in. He glanced back at Peter, cringing at the awkward angle his head was bent at but it was comfortable for Peter. He went onto his phone to answer a few emails while Peter slept but then he heard Peter start whining so he put his phone away and turned around to look at him.
He didn’t want Peter to wake up just yet. Pepper just went into the store and Tony wanted Peter to stay asleep so they could stay there longer. He held his arm out for him, “Come sit up here with me, Pete.”
Peter rubbed at his eyes and didn’t hesitate to take off his seatbelt and climb into the front and onto his dad’s lap. Tony helped get him comfortable and move his legs to either side of his. Peter laid his head on his chest and stuck his thumb in his mouth for extra comfort.
“Try to close your eyes, baby boy.” Tony gently brushed his hand over Peter’s eyes to get them to close. He patted his bum rhythmically to help soothe him back to sleep and within seconds, Peter was asleep.
It felt good to have Peter tucked away safely in his arms but it was a reminder of all the hard work they were going to have to put in again. Of course Tony wasn’t complaining but Peter hadn’t cuddled him like this very often before he was kidnapped.
Tony understood that Peter was growing up and finding who he was as a little person, trying to find some independence so the last thing he wanted to do was sit in his fathers lap and cuddle with him. Those times were rare but special, only saved for when Peter was sick, over tired or in need of cuddles and attention and Tony was grateful for each of those rare moments only now, it wasn’t so rare and it upset Tony why Peter was back to this.
It was hard on the whole family. Tony could see that but he wanted Peter to get better first. There was no race, he just put all his attention onto Peter and he knew that wasn’t fair. Harley missed out on his whole childhood basically, going from having a brother, a best friend to play with to having no one.
It happened in the span of a few hours and then when Morgan was born, Harley was a changed person.
Tony and Pepper went from having two kids to one. The hardest thing they ever had to do.
He held Peter closer to himself, hoping Pepper took her time since he didn’t want Peter to leave his arms but she eventually came back and walked over to the passenger seat to put her bag in. She cooed once she saw Peter passed out in his arms. “He woke up so I brought him up here.”
“Aww, he looks so peaceful.” She cooed. “I’m gonna load everything into the trunk then we’ll go pick Morgan up.”
Tony got out of the car, careful not to move Peter too much. He opened up the back door and tried to sit Peter down but Peter whined and clung onto him. “Shh. Let go.”
Peter opened his eyes and looked around. “Mm. No.”
“It’s okay. We’re gonna go pick up Morgan now so we can go home. Do you wanna try and sleep some more?”
“No.”
“Okay, that’s fine.” Tony sat Peter back in his seat and brushed the curls out of his face. “I’m so proud of you.”
.
.
.
Tony placed Peter’s lego bin on the kitchen counter after cleaning it up for what felt the like millionth time. “We need to get out of the house.” He told Pepper. “The kids have way too much energy and I need a break.”
Pepper finished washing all of Peter’s and Morgan’s water bottles and turned to Tony. “We could take them for a walk?”
Tony liked that idea. “Yes. A long walk.” He didn’t know why he didn’t think of that sooner. He walked upstairs to go find the younger ones. They were in Morgan’s bedroom so Tony knocked on the door, not waiting for a response before opening it. He found Peter lying on Morgan’s bed while Morgan sat over him and put his hair into ponytails. “What’s going on in here?”
“I’m doing Petey's hair because it’s so messy.” Morgan explained as Tony watched her put in yet another elastic.
Peter played with one of Morgan’s old drawing boards for school and looked like he was content to just lie there. Tony was surprised since he knew Peter absolutely hated when Morgan tried to get him to do anything that he thought of as girly.
“That looks good, Morg. You’re looking so handsome, Petey.” He sat on the edge of the bed and Peter immediately put his legs on his lap for Tony to tickle his feet. “We’re gonna go for a walk as a family so let’s clean up in here, go pee and go get our shoes on.”
Peter sat up and crawled over Tony’s lap to leave but Tony grabbed his waist. “Hey, you made this mess too. Help Morgan clean it up.”
Peter stopped trying to leave and looked around the room. He crawled over to the mess of dress clothes on the floor and put them back into the treasure chest where he took them out from. He then grabbed all of Morgan’s dolls and they’re accessories and put that in as well.
“There. I didn’t make the mess there,” He pointed to the dollhouse. “I only did here and there and I cleaned that up.”
“Good job, Peter. Go pee before we go.”
Peter ran out of Morgan’s bedroom and went to go into Harley’s but he spotted his mom walking into her bedroom so he went after her instead. He climbed onto the bed and started jumping on it to get her attention.
“We’re going for a walk, Peter. Are you ready?” Pepper changed her shirt in her closet and walked out. “Hey. Stop jumping on the bed.”
Peter did a bum jump to stop. He sat up on his knees and looked at his mom. “Is Aiser coming?”
“Of course. He always comes on our walks.” Pepper put her hair into a ponytail as Tony walked in and shrugged at Peter.
“Buddy, what happened? I thought you were gonna go pee and get your shoes on?”
“Uhhh,” Peter chewed on the tip of his thumb. “I don’t need to go. I just want to go now.”
“Can you try? Morgan’s going and I’m gonna go pee before we go too. Once we go for our walk, there’s gonna be no bathrooms to go in.” Tony grabbed Peter’s ankles and pulled him off the bed to carry him into the bathroom. “Try. Let’s see if you can go in thirty seconds. Do you think he can, Pep?”
Pepper pretended to gasp. “Oh, I don’t know. Let’s see.”
Peter grinned. He kicked out of his dad’s arms and walked over to the toilet to try and go. He finished as fast as he could and walked into the bedroom to prove to his parents that he could do it.
Tony winked at Pepper. They always figured out a way to trick Peter into doing the things he doesn’t want to do without starting a fight.
“Harley, we’re going for a walk. Let’s go.” Tony called down the hallway but Peter was running towards his bedroom door. “Knock first, Peter!” He warned him, not wanting to see what Harley may or may not be doing behind his bedroom door.
Peter of course didn’t knock and walked in. He found Harley at his desk so Peter ran over. “Dad says we’re going for a walk. C’mon c’mon, Harley.”
Harley logged off his computer and reached over to grab Peter, picking him up and holding him upside down. “I got you now. You can’t escape from me.” Peter giggled and screamed while Harley carried him down the stairs.
Tony’s heart almost fell out of his chest as he watched Harley carry Peter down the stairs like that. “Please be careful with him, Harley.” He almost didn’t breathe until Peter was placed on the ground.
Tony sighed and took advantage of Peter being on the ground so he could grab Peter’s shoes and put them on him. Normally he would make Peter but Peter was in a silly mood and most definitely wouldn’t. He wanted them to leave before it got dark out too.
Aiser grabbed his own leash and brought it over to Tony to join them but Peter reached for it. “I wanna walk him. Not you.”
“Then you can’t be silly because he’ll pull you.” Tony knew Aiser never pulled Peter when he was the one holding onto the leash but he still never knew.
Peter walked outside the house after Harley opened it and started running down the sidewalk. “Hey, Peter. We haven’t even left yet and you’re acting crazy.” Tony quickly got his other shoe on and jogged after Peter. “Peter, stop. Do we have to go back already?”
Peter sat down on the sidewalk. “Noooo. I’m sorry! Can I still walk?”
“Yeah, but there’s cars all around us and other people so you can’t run out like that.” Tony kneeled down and pointed at the road. They lived on a quiet street but that didn’t mean cars still couldn’t hit Peter if he wasn’t careful. That was the last thing they needed.
The rest of the family walked over to them so Peter stood up and continued to walk ahead. Morgan walked next to him, just to be close to her older brother. “When we get to the park, wanna run?”
Peter looked back at his dad. “Are we going to the park?”
“I don’t know where we’re going. We’re just gonna walk.”
Peter walked back to hand the leash to his dad since he didn’t want to walk Aiser anymore. As soon as Tony had the leash, Aiser started tugging on it, wanting to walk next to Peter so Tony had to speed up a bit.
“Stop walking when we get to the road.” Pepper warned Peter and Morgan up ahead.
Peter ran up to press the button, making everyone’s hearts drop, thinking he was going to run out on the road. Tony walked up to him and grabbed his hand to cross the road with him, not trusting Peter enough to cross by himself.
Once they got across, Tony let go of Peter and he turned around to look for Morgan. “Let’s run across.”
“We should go walk down in the ravine. It’s a nice walk down there.” Pepper suggested and pointed to the entrance across the field. “You guys can run but don’t walk in until we get there.”
Peter and Morgan both started running so Tony let go of Aisers leash so he could run with them. Also because Tony knew Aiser would keep Peter safe if god forbid anything happened to him. He hated how he thought like that but it was how they lived now.
Peter beat Morgan to the entrance of the forest and turned around. Everyone was still way behind him and he didn’t want to wait so he jumped onto the pathway. “Let’s go ahead. They’ll catch up.”
Morgan grabbed Peter’s arm. “No. We have to wait. Someone could take you again if no one sees us.”
“Let go of me.” Peter yanked his arm out of Morgan’s grip. “No one’s gonna take me again because Steve is dead and Bucky is in jail.”
“What?” Morgan didn’t know that. She didn’t want that to upset Peter but she still didn’t want him to walk into the forest so when he tried to go again, she pushed him.
Peter fell face first into the concrete and slammed his chin onto the ground then immediately started crying. He lifted his head up and tasted blood so he started crying harder. Morgan walked around to look at him, panicking since she didn’t mean to push Peter down and hurt him.
Once she saw Peter’s bloody face, she started crying as well, terrified that she hurt him badly. “Help! Help!”
They all ran towards them, with Tony getting there first and immediately picking Peter up. He saw Morgan push him and heard the crying but he didn’t know how bad it was until he was looking at Peter.
There was some blood on his chin and coming out of his mouth but it wasn’t a broken nose like he thought. “You’re okay, Peter.” Tony reassured him and looked at Morgan. “He’s okay. Calm down because you’re scaring him.”
Tony walked over to a picnic table and sat down, sitting Peter on his knee. “Shh, you’re okay, Peter. Why are you crying, it’s just a little cut.”
Peter threw his head back and wailed so Tony took that opportunity to look inside his mouth to see where the blood was coming from. He saw a bite mark on his bottom lip from his teeth biting into it when he hit his face.
Pepper grabbed tissues from her pocket and used a bottle of water to wet it. “Is it bad?” She asked Tony. He shrugged, not wanting to say it in front of Peter.
It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t a tiny cut either. “He’s okay, right, Peter? You’re tough.”
Pepper gently wiped away the blood on Peter’s chin to see how bad it was. “Hold it there, Tony.”
Tony held the cloth to apply pressure onto Peter’s chin, hoping the blood stopped while Pepper grabbed more Kleenex.
“Is everything okay?” Tony looked over at the two police officers on bikes that parked beside them.
“Yeah-” He went to say but Morgan cut him off.
“I h-hurt him! Don’t arrest me! I didn’t mean to make him bleed!” Morgan sobbed out. “It was an accident that I pushed him!”
The two police officers looked towards Peter who was still screaming like he got his leg chopped off. Tony thought that they must look like a crazy family right now so he didn’t blame the police for riding on over.
“He’s okay, Morgan.” Harley said, extremely embarrassed over the whole situation and his younger siblings crying bloody murder and attracting everyone’s attention.
“We’re not going to arrest you.” One police man reassured Morgan then got off his bike and grabbed a first aid kit from the bag on his bike. “Here, let me take a look.”
Tony moved Peter on his lap so he was facing the police men more. “He just bit his bottom lip when he fell and scraped his chin.”
The policemen grabbed some gauze and tried to apply it to Peter’s chin but Peter pushed him away and that’s when Tony saw his palms and cringed. So he definitely put his hands out first since they took most of the damage. That’s good, otherwise Peter’s face would be so much worse.
“Here, clean his hands with this.” The police gave him a water and soap mix.
“Thank you.” He took it from him and turned Peter’s palms over. “I’m just gonna clean it, Peter. It’s okay.”
“No! Noooooo.”
Tony forced Peter’s hand into place and poured the water onto it then dabbed the blood off, doing the same with the other hand. He stood up and went to stand Peter on the seat so he could do his face better but Peter aggressively stomped his feet to be back in his dad’s arms.
Tony suddenly felt extremely vulnerable with Peter acting the way he does out in public. He wiped the tears off his face and brushed his curls off his forehead.
“Thank you for helping. He’ll calm down soon, I think it just scared him.” Pepper thanked the officers one last time before they got back onto their bikes and rode away.
Tony watched them leave then looked down at Morgan and held his arm out for her. “We’re not mad at you, Morg, Peter’s okay but you can’t push him. That wasn’t very nice of you.”
Morgan climbed onto the seat so she could see Peter. “I’m-I’m sorry, P-Petey. Don’t be m-mad at me. It-it-it was an accident.”
Peter looked at his hands briefly then stuck his thumb in his mouth, giving it a few sucks to calm down before pulling it out. “It’s fine.”
Tony rubbed his back. “Do you feel better now?” Peter nodded. Tony was glad that Peter couldn’t see his face, he looked awful. “Do you wanna continue our walk or go home?”
Peter pointed to the forest. “I wanna walk.”
“Okay. Let’s go.” Tony placed Peter on his feet and continued walking, keeping an extra close eye on Peter.
Within minutes, Peter was smiling and laughing. He grabbed Morgan’s hand to lead her over to the stream of water. “I’m gonna push you in.”
Morgan grabbed onto a tree. “No. Don’t.”
Peter pretended but he almost slipped into the water himself so he screamed and ran back onto the path and over to his dad. “I almost fell in.”
“Oh no. Then we’d really have to go home.” Tony ruffled his hair and then Peter was running off again.
Every time Peter ran around a corner and Tony lost sight of him for one second, his heart sped up a little bit. He knew Peter was going to be okay because of course, why wouldn’t he? They were all there. But that didn’t mean anything and he knew that, he knew that Peter was taken from him before, Peter was taken in front of hundreds of people before so nothing would stop someone from taking Peter again.
Tony couldn’t think that Peter was safe because the sad truth was, he wasn’t safe outside their home. Tony hated that but it was the sad truth.
They walked over to a small open area of a field with part of the ravine breaking off and turning into a small pond and Peter ran over to squat down in front of it and dip his hands in. “It’s so cold.”
“You know how dirty that water is?” Harley asked, walking beside him but not touching the water.
Peter looked up at him. “It probably looks like your bath water when you get out.”
Tony bursted out laughing. Peter was always full of surprises.
“Nice one, Pete, but unlike you, I don’t take baths.”
Peter frowned. “Me neither. I took a shower yesterday. Tell him, dad.”
“Peter’s right, Harley.” Tony shoved his hands in his pocket. His kids were way too funny. He looked over at Morgan to see where she went but he didn’t see her anywhere. “Where’s Morg?”
Pepper looked around but she didn’t see her either. “Oh, I don’t know.”
Tony looked over at his two boys just to double check Peter was there then he went to walk around the bush but Morgan walked out holding a handful of sticks. He went back to watching his kids play together, grateful that they went for a walk.
“Don’t you think it’s weird?” Pepper asked him.
“What’s weird?” He asked, wrapping an arm around her waist.
Pepper leaned against him. “Morgan leaves our sight and we don’t panic but if we don’t see Peter for a second, we start freaking out.”
Tony thought back to what just happened. He didn’t see Morgan and didn’t know where she was but he was calm about it. If that were Peter, he would have gone crazy.
“Yeah… I guess we’re just so used to Peter getting taken away from us.” He doesn’t like that but he's used to it. “One day, maybe we won’t freak out every time we don’t have our eyes on him and then we- hey, Peter, don’t hit your sister with that stick. Put it down.”
Peter grinned but put the stick down anyways and smiled innocently.
“Then we won’t have to- Peter. Stop.” Tony sighed. He couldn’t even finish his conversation with Pepper because Peter was trying to attack Morgan. He walked over to him and grabbed the pebbles from his hand. “Drop it. Do not throw things at your sister.”
“I can throw it at Harley?”
“No.”
“At you?”
“No.”
“At mom?”
“Peter, no. Stop. Play nicely.”
Peter grabbed onto his hand, trying to test him but Tony gave him a firm look so Peter stopped and turned back around to help Morgan dig in the mud. He grabbed some and rubbed it on her shoe, just to get a reaction out of her but she only laughed.
“Peter, I’m watching you.” Tony warned but Peter didn’t even look at him. Tony turned to face Pepper and raised his eyebrows at her. “He’s trying to test us.”
“Let him. He’s trying to see how far he can push us. He’s just learning, Tony.”
Tony nodded. It made sense but it was incredibly difficult when they also had two other kids to take care of.
Peter stood up and wiped his hands on his pants. “Petey, let’s wash our hands in the water.” Morgan walked over so Peter copied her then he turned to Harley.
“Piggy back ride! Piggy back ride!”
“Okay, hop on.” Harley turned around so Peter could jump up. It used to be Peter’s favourite thing to do when he was younger so he was taking full advantage of it now.
“We’re gonna start walking home now, guys. It’s getting dark.” Pepper pointed out but Peter turned to look at her.
“No. It just looks dark because we’re in the forest. I wanna walk some more.”
“You’re not even walking, lazy butt.” Tony pointed out then laughed. “I can see your actual butt, Pete. You’re low riding.”
Peter giggled, not making any move to pull his pants up so Tony grabbed the pants and tried to tug them up then pulled his shirt down over it, hoping that worked.
They got to a hill so Peter kicked his legs out to be put down. “I wanna ride Aiser up.”
“Absolutely not. He’s not a horse, Peter. You know that.” Tony playfully ruffled Peter’s hair then pushed his head away. “Go run up it and burn some energy so you sleep well tonight.”
He let go of Aisers leash so he could run up the hill with Morgan and Peter but once they got to the top, Peter laid down. He was exhausted and couldn’t walk anymore.
“Are you trying to be a speed bump, Peter?” Tony shrugged at him lying on the ground. Peter whimpered. “What?”
“I’m too tired to walk. My legs hurt and I need you to carry me.” Peter lifted his arms up but Tony wasn’t going to give in.
“No, you have two working legs. Let’s go.” He pulled Peter to his feet but Peter collapsed back down. “Stand up. Use your feet, Peter.”
Peter went limp. “I want the stroller.”
Tony gently laid Peter back down. “We don’t have it. Can you walk, Peter? The faster you get up, the faster we can go home.”
Peter stuck out his bottom lip and shook his head so Tony roughly lifted him up and began walking. He was glad Peter was small for his age and was so light but he wasn’t going to carry Peter the whole way home.
“I love you.” Peter whispered in his ear and it brought an immediate smile to Tony’s face.
Tony turned his face to kiss Peter’s cheek. “I love you more.”
“No. I love you more.” Peter tried to hoist himself up so he was more comfortable.
“I love you more than I love my coffee.” Tony said, laughing at Peter’s wide eyes.
“I-I love you more than… I love you more than I love my… um, my legos!”
Tony gasped. “That is a lot.” He loved Peter so much it was crazy. “I still win though.” Tony whispered in his ear which had Peter nuzzling his face into his neck.
The little moments like this was what Tony loved more than anything. Of course the fun stuff like going on vacation made a lot of fun memories that he would look back on but moments like this, was the most important thing to him.
Out of all their kids, Peter was the most affectionate one who loved to show his love and appreciation for his family, occasionally whispering I love yous into their ears or writing out little notes telling his family how much he loved them.
Tony loved that so much about him, as well as all the other things that made Peter, Peter.