To Build A Home

“Morgan, do not go on that.” Tony told Morgan as she went to climb up on the giant monkey bars.

Morgan looked at him but still made a move to climb on them. “Morgan. I said no.”

“But Peter did.” Morgan whined and stopped.

“No. He didn’t. He went on the other ones. You’re more than welcome to climb on those ones instead.” Tony pointed to the other side of the playground where the other monkey bars were.

He looked over at where Peter was trying to climb on the other side of the bars and it was quite high up. “Harley.” Tony called out but looked over at Harley who was texting someone on his phone.

He walked over to Peter and stood underneath him. “You’re not climbing on that side. Crawl over.”

Peter looked down at him and shook his head. “No. I want to climb on the other side of the slide this way.”

“No. Come down. Both of you are done at the park now because you’re not listening.” Tony looked over at Morgan who was now trying to climb on the monkey bars after he told her not to. “Morgan!”

Peter squatted down while the only thing that was holding him up was the tiny landing pad and his hands that were slowly sliding down. He let out a small scream and looked down at Tony.

“Just let go. Come here.” Tony held his arms up for Peter to get ready to catch him but Peter was making it more difficult. “Let go. I’ll catch you.”

Peter struggled to get himself half turned around so he just let go, causing Tony to have to catch him awkwardly in his arms with one hand holding his leg and the other around his chest.

Pepper walked over to them just then. “Pizza.”

Tony placed Peter on his feet and gave Pepper ‘the look’ that they would always share with one another when the kids became too much.

“Morgan! Pizza!” Tony called out then saw Morgan making a run for it towards the pizza box. Him and Pepper laughed at her love for food then followed Morgan onto the grass.

Harley and Peter followed them and sat down. “We should have been more prepared with a blanket or something.”

Morgan agreed with Pepper. “Yeah because now my bum will be itchy.”

“How? You have pants on.” Harley pointed out and looked at his younger sister. Morgan just shrugged.

Everyone grabbed a slice of pizza, including Peter who hesitated a bit at first.

“So,” Pepper took a bite of her pizza. “tell me what you guys got up to while I was stuck at work.”

“Peter climbed through monkey bars!” Morgan blurred out but Peter’s smile dropped, along with his pizza.

“I wanted to say that.” Peter looked at Tony with a pout on his face.

“You can tell me, Peter. I don’t know anything.” Pepper said to Peter then looked at Morgan. “Let Peter tell me. You can tell me what you did after.”

Tony looked at Peter. He knew it was hard for Peter to come from having no siblings to two siblings but he also thought that he could have possibly been babied by Rogers. It was the only explanation for Peter acting that way but it wasn’t like he was too worried about it. Peter was back and that was all that mattered.

Peter picked up his pizza again and looked at it. “Well… I wanted to climb across the monkey bars but I couldn’t and I was too scared so Tony helped me get across. And I fell sometimes but then I eventually did it.”

“Woah. That’s so amazing, Peter. I’m so proud of you.” Pepper clapped her hands and then Harley was pulling out his phone to show his mom the pictures. “Aw. These are so cute.”

Peter moved closer. “I want to see.” He grabbed the phone from Pepper’s hands and looked at the pictures but then Morgan was trying to grab the phone from him. “No. I’m still looking.”

“It’s my turn.” Morgan whined out and tried to grab the phone from Peter but he moved away.

“Morgan, wait until Peter is done and then you can have a turn.” Tony told his daughter who crossed her arms in a pout but he ignored her and watched as Peter held the phone in his hand and watched Morgan for a few seconds before handing the phone to her and sitting up on his knees by Pepper’s side.

Morgan took the phone from Peter with a smile and began looking over at the pictures just as Asier ran over to them and sat down by Peter.

“Asier. You’re all wet. Ew.” Peter pet the dog and then wiped his hands on his pants and moved away.

“He probably found a ravine to swim in.” Harley said and patted the spot next to him so Asier could move away from Peter who was clearly uncomfortable.

Pepper handed Harley a water bottle to feed the dog as Tony watched Peter watch the dog.

Peter yawned and looked over at Tony as he took another bite of his pizza then looked away.

“Are you tired, Pete? You didn’t sleep long last night.” Tony asked him and resisted the urge to pull Peter against him and cuddle him close, especially with him being extra tired.

Peter nodded his head slightly but didn’t say anything else as he continued to eat his pizza and drink his apple juice.

The family chatted some more together but Morgan and Peter were both silent as they ate their pizzas.

Tony wanted to take a walk and possibly go walk into the ravine up to their knees but it didn’t look like his two youngests were up for that adventure today and he didn’t want to overwhelm Peter with too much in one day.

“Let’s throw this garbage out and head back home.” Pepper stood up and brushed herself off while Harley grabbed all the garbage and Asier’s leash.

Tony held his hands out for Peter to take. “Come on, little man.”

Peter continued to sit on the ground. He shook his head and wobbled forward with over exhaustion.

“Yes. You can take a little nap at home. Stand up.” Tony grabbed Peter’s arms and pulled him to his feet, giving Peter a bit of a shake so that he woke up a bit more.

The whole way home was a very slow walk. Morgan stopped being tired once they got to the lights and Tony refusing to carry her. Peter on the other hand did not wake himself up. He stumbled the whole way home with continuous yawning and Tony felt bad for him because he was exhausted emotionally to begin with plus the fact that he got less than five hours of sleep last night and a busy day at the park.

Once they got home, Morgan grabbed her toys and Tony led Peter upstairs to try and nap but Peter refused. “Just for an hour. You need to sleep because you won’t last until bedtime.”

Peter sat himself down on the stairs and started to whimper so Pepper finished washing her hands and walked over to the two of them. “Come with me, Peter. Let’s put some tv on for you for a bit.”

Tony watched Pepper lead Peter into the living room and talk to him for a few seconds before she was putting on some show that he didn’t recognize.

Tony walked over to Pepper who was now in the kitchen and looked at Peter whose eyes were glued onto the tv screen as if he were being hypnotized and he often saw the same look in Morgan’s eyes when she watched her shows.

“He doesn’t like to be alone, Tony, and I’m pretty sure he has nightmares.” Pepper told him as she started drying some dishes and putting them away.

“What? How do you know?” Tony asked, having no idea how Pepper knew.

“A mother's intuition is always right.” Pepper told him. “Even if I haven’t used my intuition with him for seven years.”

“So… he’s scared of being alone then?”

“I know he is. I carried him inside me for nine months. A mother has a special bond with their children and I just know.”

“I have a special bond with him too, you know.” Tony added because it was true. “Peter is a daddy’s boy. Was. He… Morgan and Harley always go to you first but Peter went, goes to me first so we have a special bond too.”

Pepper paused what she was doing to look at Tony sadly. “Then go sit with your baby and get your daddy’s boy back. I’ll be here.”

Tony already had a plan to join Peter on the couch because he always wanted to stay close to him. He sat down next to Peter but not too close and watched the show for a few minutes but he had no idea what he was watching.

“Is this your favourite show?” Tony asked him, looking over at Peter who was trying so hard to stay awake.

“Yeah. It’s Craig of the creek.” Peter answered and continued to watch it so Tony joined him.

Tony expected Peter to fall asleep after the first episode but after the second one started and Peter was still awake, Tony pulled his computer out and decided to order Peter’s bedroom stuff now because he didn’t know when he was going to get another chance.

“We should get your bedroom stuff now, Pete.” Tony said and put the computer onto a pillow between them.

Peter rubbed at his eye and looked over at the screen and stared at it blankly.

“How about you pick out a bed first and then you can pick out the rest of your furniture so it matches.” Tony explained to him and went to the bed selection.

Peter started to scroll through some beds options for a few minutes before deciding on one. It had dark wood and bars by the headboard and footboard. “This one.”

Tony smiled because Peter picked something without so much as a complaint. “I like it. Good choice and now you can pick your nightstand tables and dresser.”

Peter did the same thing with picking both items but they didn’t really match the bed but it was what Peter wanted so Tony agreed and added it to the cart.

In total, it took less than thirty minutes for Peter to choose all of his bedroom furniture which was what fully put Peter to sleep.

He fell asleep on his side with his arm stretched out and placed on Tony’s lap so Tony kept it there because as much physical contact he could get with Peter was good since he knew it helped them regain that connection that they once had.

While Peter was sleeping, Tony finished ordering other stuff such as a mattress, lamp, carpet, curtains and little knickknacks for around the room.

Everything was coming later on today but Tony didn’t know if he would have the energy to set everything up so he might just have a couple of people do it for him so Peter could sleep in his own room tonight.

Morgan dumped out a bucket of her toys right by his feet and was making too much noise. “Morgan. Take that somewhere else. Your brother is sleeping.”

Morgan groaned then looked at Peter. “He looks sad.”

Tony glanced down at Peter’s face which did look sad. His face was scrunched up and looked like he was in pain so without thinking about it, he ran a hand through Peter’s hair a few times and then Peter was letting out a content sigh and his face was relaxing.

“You made him happy, daddy.” Morgan cheered happily which made Tony say to Morgan that she was being too loud.

“I know but you have to be quiet or go play somewhere else.” Tony told her.

“I want to play with Peter.” Morgan whined out but Tony shook his head.

“Not right now. He’s sleeping so try again in an hour.”

Morgan whined again just as Pepper walked over and sat down. “Morgan, go clean your bedroom please.”

With that, Morgan left, leaving Tony and Pepper alone with their sleeping baby.

“I got him to order his bedroom stuff. Wanna see? He passed out right after so I’m glad we got it done.” Tony handed Pepper his computer for her to look at it.

“Oh. These are nice. His nightstand doesn’t match but it’s cute. I like it. Is someone coming to set this up or…?”

Tony took his computer from her and shut it. “Yeah. Some people are coming around six so I want everyone out in the back by then because I don’t want them to see Peter.”

“Alright. Good, I didn’t think we could build it with three kids running around.” Pepper laughed weakly and laid her head on Tony’s shoulder, looking over at Peter who was sound asleep. “What are we gonna do about school?”

Tony didn’t even want to think about that right now.

They pulled Morgan and Harley out for a few days but planned to send them back on the following Monday and it was already Thursday.

Peter was a whole other story.

Would he be going to the same elementary school as Morgan meaning that two of his kids could be at the same school and one by themselves. It was too much to think about.

Pepper could sense his stress so she lifted her head up to press a kiss to Tony's cheek. “We’ll figure it all out in time. When Natasha comes, she said that she had some stuff for us to see so I’ll give her a call and see if she can somehow get his school transcripts for us to see then we will go from there.”

Tony always knew that she could help calm him down. “I’d rather he go to the same elementary school as Morgan. That way, we know they are both there and it might make him feel better that he has a sibling in the same school.”

“Yeah, I think that would help a lot-”

Pepper was cut off by a loud thud and both of them sat up and looked down at Peter who had rolled onto the floor. Peter immediately woke up, confused and reached up to grab onto his head.

“Oh, you’re okay. Come here.” Tony grabbed Peter’s hands to help him stand up and then pulled him back up on the couch where Peter immediately laid back down and went to bed.

Pepper looked over at Tony and smiled with a tiny laugh. “That was so cute. Check his head though.”

“He’s fine.” Tony said even as he moved Peter’s hair back a bit so he could feel for a bump but he was fine. “He’s okay.” He sat back with his hand still resting in Peter’s hair and looked over at Pepper. “We’re those parents now.”

“What parents?”

Tony gestured with his free hand. “You know… the parents who worry over their kids all the time. Put sunscreen on, Morgan. Hey, no running or you’ll hurt yourself.” Tony imitated the parents that they used to make fun of but now they were those parents.

“What? No. We still say those things to our kids but it’s just different now with Peter. I can’t lose him again.” Pepper whispered that last part because it was hard for her to say.

“I know. And we won’t.”

The two of them were silent for a few minutes with Tony’s hand still resting in Peter’s hair. “I think Rogers babied him.”

“Why do you say that?”

Tony tried to think about how to start. “Well… I know this is a huge adjustment on Peter but I just get that feeling. It makes sense. That man couldn’t have Peter start to venter out on his own right? Because Peter’s getting older so Rogers wanted Peter to depend on him for as long as possible. He doesn’t know how to tie his shoes, Pep. That should tell you something.”

Pepper thought it over. It did make a lot of sense but she didn’t know. “Possibly. At least we can teach him those things now. He saved that for us in a way.”

.
.
.

“Morgan, put your floaty on or you’re coming inside to watch through the windows.” Tony warned Morgan who was getting ready to jump in without anything.

Peter walked out of the house dressed in his new bathing suit that actually fit him this time. They were short green ones with palm trees all over it. “Are those ones comfy, Pete?”

Peter had an uncomfortable look on his face as he tried to pull them up a bit. “Still too long.”

“Too long. Those are shorter than shorts.” Tony didn’t know how Peter could get any shorter unless he put on a speedo.

“Yeah. I just don’t like the feeling. Morgan gets to wear comfortable ones.” Peter stopped trying to pull his bathing suit and stuck out his lips in a pout.

Tony looked over at Morgan’s bathing suit and shrugged. “Well… maybe I can find some bathing suit briefs. That’ll hopefully be better.”

“Yeah.” Peter said then stood next to Tony as he looked around for Harley but he couldn’t see him yet so he sat down on the armrest of Tony’s chair.

Tony showed him a picture of some online that Peter might like. “How bout these?”

Peter stopped chewing on his nails and looked at the picture. He didn’t understand how Tony pulled that up so quickly. “Yeah. Those are nice. Sometimes my dad just let’s me swim without any.”

Tony hated hearing Peter refer to his kidnapper as dad. He wanted to know when he should be correcting that but he would have to ask Natasha when she comes next. “Oh yeah. So you just swam in your underwear or something?”

“That too.” Peter said and stood up then walked to the edge of the pool, leaving Tony.

He didn’t know why that made him so angry. He felt this urge to protect his kids from that kind of stuff and yet there was Rogers, stealing everything from him. A parent is supposed to let their kids do that and now Rogers had those fun memories of his innocent kid. It wasn’t fair and it left him feeling jealous.

Tony stood up and walked towards the edge of the pool where Peter was squatting down and touching the water. “When did you used to go swimming, Pete?”

Peter shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. All the time. Me and my dad went like a few days ago when I got a sunburn on my butt.”

Tony felt the anger rise in him.

Part of him wanted to know every detail but another part of him didn’t want to know.

It hurt him so much to know that Peter and the man that he thinks of as his dad, were close. He hated that so much.

Peter looked up at him when Tony had no response but Tony had to walk away. He wanted to punch something. Preferably someone and that someone being Rogers.

Peter watched Tony walk away from him, not knowing what he said or did wrong.

Harley walked out just as Tony said something to him and went inside so Peter looked away after that.

“Jump in and I’ll catch you.” Harley told Peter and then jumped in himself. Peter looked over at Morgan who had a life jacket on and he wanted one too.

“Let me get my life jacket first.” Peter stood up to run and grab one from the pool shed. He searched for the red one at the back and put it on then ran back to the pool so he could jump in. “Now I’m ready.”

Harley was swimming away from him and into the deep end. “I’m not teaching you how to swim in a life jacket. Take it off and I’ll teach you how.”

Peter hesitated before jumping in himself and popping right back up on the surface. “I can’t take it off.”

“Dinner is ready in ten minutes guys.” Pepper called out as she brought out some dishes to place on the outside table.

“What about daddy?” Morgan asked.

“The delivery men are here so he’s with them but he’ll be down soon.” Pepper told her and disappeared back inside.

Peter lifted himself out of the pool just as Harley swam over and pulled him back in by the life jacket strap at the back. “I know you can do it. I want to teach you one thing, c’mon.”

Peter grinned. He shook his head at Harley and reached for the edge of the pool again and this time, Harley didn’t pull him back in when he climbed out.

“I dare you to jump into Morgan’s old float toy.” Harley dared him and pushed the yellow and green floaty more towards Peter.

Peter stood on the edge of the pool deck, preparing himself to jump in. “What happens if I don’t?”

“If you don’t… you have to take your life jacket off and let me teach you how to swim.” Harley told him with a smirk and when Peter shook his head, Harley pushed the floaty closer to Peter. “Then jump.”

Peter hesitated. He took a step back so he would make the distance and then he jumped and plugged his nose on instinct. When he opened his eyes next, he saw that he had landed into the floaty with his legs going right through the leg holes.

“I did it!”

“Woah! Nice job, Pete. I didn’t think you actually would.” Harley swam over to give him a high five and then he was looking inside to see where Peter’s legs went. “How are you fitting? Isn’t that cutting off your blood circulation?”

Now that Peter thought about it, it was. A lot. “Yeah.” He went to try and get out but he was stuck so he looked at Harley for help. “Can you help me? I’m stuck.”

Harley tried to pull him up but he couldn’t get a good grip since they were in the deep end. “Let’s swim to the shallow end first.” Harley said and went to swim but Peter started kicking his legs and freaking out because he was going to fall over and drown or he was going to have to get his legs amputated since there was no blood circulation.

“No. No! I can’t s-swim.” Peter tried to suck in a breath of air but now the life jacket was stopping him from getting any air into his lungs so he started kicking his legs more.

“Peter. Stop, I’ll help you but… you have to stop first. Calm down.” Harley tried to pull Peter towards the shallow end but because Peter was kicking too much, he tipped face first into the water so Harley lifted him back up only for Peter to start crying harder. “Morgan. Go get mom and dad! Hurry!”

Morgan was watching the whole thing with a panicked look on her face from the steps of the water so she got up and quickly ran inside to get help, not caring about the fact that she wasn’t allowed in the house when she was soaking wet.

“Help! Mommy! Daddy! Peter’s stuck!” Morgan cried and went to run upstairs to grab her dad but Pepper was immediately running down the hallway and over to Morgan.

“What’s wrong?!” Pepper screamed and ran outside where she knew Peter was. Her heart was racing a mile of minute, thinking of all the worst case scenarios as she ran outside.

She heard the crying first which was a good thing because it meant that Peter was alive. She then saw Peter sitting in one of Morgan’s old swim floaters which she didn’t even know why they still had.

Her heart was starting to slow down now as she took in the situation. She kneeled down by the pool just as Tony came running out of the house in a panic.

He ran over to the edge of the pool and kneeled down as well. “What happened?”

“I just… I dared him to jump in but now he’s stuck and-and he’s freaking out.” Harley rushed out in a panic of his own so Tony reached into the pool and grabbed Peter by the life jacket straps to lift him out.

“It’s okay, Peter. You need to breathe.” Tony tried to reassure Peter while also trying not to have a panic attack at hearing Morgan screaming for someone to help Peter. He had never ran so fast in his life.

Tony went to make Peter stand up but he wouldn’t so he continued to hold him up by the life jacket straps.

Pepper stood in front of Peter and cupped his cheeks in her hands. “Shh, it’s okay. You’re out of the water and we’ll take you out of this now.”

Peter tried to calm down by taking in a breath of air but choking on it. “It hurts! My-my legs are gonna get cut o-o-off.”

“Your legs will be fine but you need to calm down so we can get this off of you first.” Pepper reassured Peter and waited for him to start breathing a bit better so Tony carried him over to the grass and sat him down since Peter didn’t have much control over his movements right now.

“We need to take this life jacket off first.” Tony started to unbuckle the straps and helped Peter get his arms out of it but when he went to take it off, it was stuck then Tony noticed the strap between his legs which was impossible to get off now.

“Pep, try and pull this thing down so I can get the last strap off.” Tony instructed her so the both of them worked together with Peter leaning up against Tony’s chest and watched as they got the life jacket off so now he felt like he could breathe.

“Okay.” Tony sighed. “Next one.” He tried to decide on how to do this as he checked how tight it was on Peter’s legs. “Should we just butter up your legs?” Tony asked Peter who shook his head.

“How about some cooking oil?” Tony asked him which got a small giggle out of his kid so he counted that as a win. He cooed and wiped the tears or water droplets off of Peter’s face. “Aw, it’s okay. Don’t cry, bud. Look, it’s almost off.”

Peter nodded his head. “It hurts my legs.”

“I know. Um, Pep, I’m just gonna pick him up and you pull it off, okay?” Tony looked at her and saw that she was stressed but it was about everything leading up to this.

“Yeah. You got him?”

Tony picked Peter up and waited for Pepper to grab a hold of the floaty and start trying to pull it off. It was an uncomfortable plan but it seemed to be working.

Peter tried to reach down for his bathing suit that was slowly starting to come off along with the floaty.

“Wait. I need to get a better grip now.” Pepper said so Tony put Peter down for a few seconds. “Okay.”

Tony picked Peter back up, wishing there wasn’t a floaty between them so he could actually hold his kid properly but the only reason Peter was letting him pick him up was because of the floaty he was stuck in.

Tony placed Peter back on the grass once he saw his bathing suit coming off with the floaty. “Ooh.” He tried to tug them back up but they were stuck in the leg holes still so Tony would help him with that later. “It’s okay. Almost unstuck.”

“My fingers are hurting.” Pepper laughed out as she shook her hands.

“My legs have no feeling.” Peter said sadly, still worried about his legs.

“You’ll start to feel them once this is off.” Tony reassured him again and then lifted Peter up once more so Pepper could pull it off.

Once it got past Peter’s knees, Peter started to kick it off until it was fully off of him. “Yay!” Tony cheered and placed Peter back onto the grass, wanting to pick him up again because he missed picking him up so much.

Peter rubbed at his inner thighs. “Ow. It’s all red.”

“You’re okay. It’ll go away soon.” Tony said to him as he stood over him and reached down to fix his bathing suit and tug it back up.

“I want to put on something dry now because my legs hurt.” Peter went to rub between his legs again because it was burning from the rubbing of skin.

“Let’s go upstairs. I’ll find some cream for you.” Pepper told him and started walking so Peter followed behind her.

Tony watched the two of them walk into the house and looked around to see that his other two kids weren’t anywhere around. He went to go find them inside the house but then he saw the two of them walking out.

“Is Peter okay, daddy?” Morgan asked and ran up to him, looking up at her dad with watery eyes.

“He’s okay now so mommy took him up to change. How about we finish setting the table and wait for them?” Morgan cheered in response and ran back into the house. Tony then caught Harley’s eye and walked over to him. “Don’t feel bad. It wasn’t your fault and he’s okay now.”

“I dared him to jump, dad. He didn’t even want to.” Harley tried to turn away from his dad but Tony forced Harley’s eyes back on him.

“All that matters is that he’s okay now and you did the right thing by staying with him. I don’t want this to change the way you act around him. Both of you will eventually get into some kind of mischievous trouble so I don’t want this stopping you but just be more careful. I’m more worried about Morgan and Peter. Those two are going to be double the trouble.” Tony shook his head at his two youngests who he was sure would be giving him a lot of grey hairs with the trouble they will get up to.

Morgan ran out of the house at that moment, carrying a glass of juice. “I’ll help you, Morg.”

As Tony watched Harley help Morgan, he debated if he should go upstairs and check on Peter and Pepper or if he should let them have their privacy.

As much as he wanted to see Peter, he knew it was important for the two to bond together so he helped set the table with Harley and Morgan and sat down while they waited for Peter and Pepper to appear some time later.

Peter sat in the seat he was sitting at before and Pepper had a permanent smile on her face that made Tony smile along with her.

He thought at that moment that they would be okay.

.
.
.

It was already almost eleven at night but Peter was still awake and refused to go upstairs which was really testing both parents' patience.

Tony had to take himself out of the situation for a few minutes because Peter was taking his last bit of patience that he had left in him.

He knew that Peter was feeling so many emotions at once so he was confused and didn’t know what to feel which was why he was stuck between wanting to cry and wanting to start screaming in frustration, so Tony let Pepper handle it because she had slept some since Peter got back.

Pepper was sitting down next to Peter in the hallway as he pulled apart a basket that was on a table stand. Pepper took the basket from him. “Please stop that. It’s eleven o’clock. I know you’re tired but so are da- Tony and I. We want to go to sleep but first we have to put you in bed.”

Peter turned his back to her and curled up against the wall. “Then go to sleep. I’m not stopping you.”

“Yes you are, Peter.” Pepper watched him for a few seconds before sighing. “Alright. You are either going to walk up willingly or Tony will pick you up and put you in your room. What will it be?”

Peter kicked his legs out in front of him and looked up at Tony who was watching him from across the hall. He groaned but stood up anyways. Both parents counted that as a win.

They started following Peter up and didn’t say anything about the fact that he was walking up the stairs incredibly slowly.

By the time they got to the top, Peter ran his fingers along the side of the wall while he walked towards the master bedroom. Tony smirked because he definitely got that Stark stubbornness. Even Pepper had a bit of it now from being around all the Starks for so long.

“You have your bedroom set up now, Peter.” Pepper said as he went to walk into their room.

Tony and Pepper had purposely picked the bedroom closest to them for Peter to eventually sleep in when they bought the house. They wanted to have the thought of Peter close to them while he was gone and now that he was back, it was working out perfectly. His bedroom was right next to theirs with just a closet separating the two in between.

Peter shook his head and still made a move to go into their bedroom. “I’m leaving soon so I don’t know why you got me a room. That was stupid.”

Tony walked into the room after Peter. He knew Peter was struggling with all of these mixed emotions because he was the one who willingly chose everything in there for his room.

“We can talk about this tomorrow but right now, it’s time for bed so let’s go.” Tony grabbed onto Peter’s leg’s but Peter ripped it away from Tony and let out a scream.

“Peter, you’re acting this way because you’re over tired so let’s go to bed.” Pepper tried but she was exhausted and defeated.

“No! I’m acting this way because I hate you guys! I want to go back home to my dad and you’re keeping me here and I just… I just wanna go home.” Peter broke off at the end and started crying so Tony took that opportunity to grab his hand again and lead him towards his bedroom that was next to theirs.

When Peter walked inside, he started tugging on Tony’s hand to let him get out but Pepper walked in after them and shut the door. Peter fell to the ground in front of Tony and started to smack at his legs weakly.

It was Pepper’s first time seeing Peter’s bedroom. Everything was built and put together with the blinds and curtains up. His bed was next to the wall, on the same side of the door with his dresser being on the opposite side of that and his toy chest was by the window.

The set up was nice but it was still incomplete and still looked like a guess room with nothing in it that screamed Peter. Besides for Peter screaming on the floor.

Despite the screaming, Pepper smiled because just yesterday the room was completely empty. She often found herself going into the bedroom to try and picture what it would look like complete.

If there would still be a crib but that design slowly left as time went on. Then she pictured a toddler bed then as more time went on it moved to a big boy bed and now here they were.

It calmed her and made her feel relieved even with Peter in emotional agony on the floor.

With that peace of mind, Pepper went to go kneel down and talk to Peter but Tony grabbed him by the underarms and lifted him up onto his bed, rather roughly.

“Sleep.” Tony lifted up Peter’s kicking legs to pull the already washed sheets down and pulled them up and over Peter’s head. “It’s late and it’s time for bed, Peter.”

“Tony, stop. He’s scared.” Pepper sat down and pulled the blankets back down and let Peter sit up. She watched as Peter crawled out from under the blankets but then he was moving to get off the bed but he caught Tony’s eye and stopped.

Instead, he laid down against the wall with his knees tucked under him as he laid down on his stomach. He sucked in a breath of air and stopped crying but his eyes were still glued on Tony.

“Sleep good, Peter. We’ll be in our room if you need us.” Pepper said to him with a weak smile and then stood up. Peter looked at her and yawned and then reached over to grab his blanket from before that was placed in his room.

“I love you so much, Peter. I want you to know that.” Tony spoke with so much emotion in his voice that it had Peter believing it but he didn’t feel the same way.

After that, they both left the room but they left the door open. Peter didn’t even notice when Tony had turned his closet light on for him.

With that in mind, he held his blanket up to his nose and fell asleep.

In the next room, Tony collapsed onto the bed. “I am exhausted. I haven’t slept in over two days.”

“I know. Hopefully we have no awakenings until at least seven tomorrow morning.” Pepper said from the bathroom as she started brushing her teeth.

Tony stood up and walked into the bathroom to join her so he could get into bed as quickly as he could because he was exhausted but once all the lights were off and they were back in bed, he couldn’t fall asleep.

He turned over and looked at the time. It was 12:47am but now he felt as if he wasn’t going to fall asleep anytime soon.

He rubbed at his eyes and got out of bed so he could go check on Peter but when he got out of bed, Pepper was speaking. “Tony?”

“I didn’t mean to wake you. I’m gonna go check on Peter.”

“I was already awake. Maybe it’s best if you let him be alone for tonight. If he sees you, he might come out of his room.” Pepper sat up and ran a hand down her face.

Nothing seemed to change during all these years. Peter slept with them almost every single night for two years and then when they tried to put him into his own room, the exact same conversations were being said between the two.

Peter would scream and cry then Tony would want to go check up on him most nights and some nights he would even bring Peter back into bed with him.

“No. It’s okay.” Tony said then left the bedroom. He walked over to Peter’s and listened in for anything but he couldn’t hear any crying so he walked into his room and saw that Peter was in the exact same position up against the wall where his feet are supposed to be.

He carefully sat on the edge of the bed and watched his kid.

Despite how the night started, it sure did have a happy ending.