Chapter 1 - Here Without You
- Peter's first day in school, and how Pep and Tony are coping with it. (6,5)
"Aunt May, Aunt Pep, do I really have to go?" It broke Pepper's heart to hear him call her Aunt, but it was how things were supposed to be. 'Remember, it is all for his safety' she had to remind herself.
"Petey-pie, trust me, you'll have so much fun in school. Remember how you had fun in kindergarten?"
"But it got boring soon, Aunt May. I already knew everything." The little boy pouted, and turned to Aunt Pep, when he heard her speak.
"Maybe, but in Midtown Elementary, you will have so much to learn. It's an elementary STEM school, so they should keep even your way too smart self, on your toes."
"Pep, could you remind me, just one more time, what STEM stands for?" Granny kept forgetting that information.
"Aunt May, it stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math." Peter grinned at her.
"Sometimes, he's too smart for his own good."
"Like my Daddy?"
"Yeah, just like your Daddy." All six of the adults in the room nodded their heads, the aforementioned man included.
"Are you all going to drive me?" Peter asked, his brows raised in question.
"Of course, sweetie." Pepper said, she made Tony get one of those Mazda 5 cars, which had seven seats, since no one wanted to miss Pete's first day of school. Peter was talking their ears off the whole ride to the school, about some of the new things he had read. They all got out of the car, and Peter ran off as soon as he had seen Ned. Knowing that Ned's parents didn't have the money to pay for the STEM elementary school, Tony had to do something, electing to make the Leeds family believe it was a scholarship their son had gotten, when it actually was so Pete would have his best friend with him.
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"He was perfect today, Boss, Lady Boss." Tony had made sure that JARVIS had his eyes on Peter, wherever the kid went. Each of Peter's classrooms, without the school's knowledge might I add, had the AI, for protection.
"He is so grown up, Tony..." Pepper's eyes started tearing up
"I know, Pep."
"When can we take him back, Tony? It's already been three years." She searched his eyes for an answer. She didn't like what she could see.
"I don't know, Pep. It's not safe yet." He had started crying, as well. Both of them loved their son so much, but Tony knew they should make SI work on something other than weapons, before they can bring their son back home.
"So, you plan on stopping the work in the weapons industry in the next 4 years, for our son?"
"Yes, Pep, I promise. I will stop that. I need to make Obie come round to that decision, too, though." Tony knew he will do anything to take his son back, even if he had to stop being a billionaire.
- Pepper spends a hundred days with Peter, May and Ben, while all of them are worried sick.(7,5)
Day 1
"Is he really..."
"Yeah. Ben, would it be okay for Pep to stay with us?" Ben nodded his head. He didn't know why Pep or May would even think they would leave her all alone after her boyfriend had disappeared in Afghanistan, of all places. That night, for the first time since May and Ben were entrusted with Peter, Mother and son had slept together. Pepper needed Tony. She knew he's not dead. He couldn't be. She would have felt it.
A hundred days have made me older
Since the last time that I saw your pretty face.
Day 7
"The hell did you do to me?"
"What I did? What I did was to save your life. I removed all the shrapnel I could; there's a lot left and it's headed into your atrial septum. Here wanna see? Souvenir. Take a look. I've seen many wounds like that in my village. We call them the 'walking dead', because it takes about a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs."
"What is this?"
"That is an electromagnet hooked up to a car battery, and it's keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart."
A thousand lies have made me colder
And I don't think I can look at this the same.
Day 14
"We met once, you know, at a technical conference in Bern."
"I don't remember."
"No you wouldn't. If I had been that drunk, I wouldn't have been able to stand, much less give a lecture on integrated circuits."
All the miles that separate
Disappear now when I'm dreamin' of your face.
Day 21
"Aunt May, is Uncle Tony going to come back?" Peter was looking at her with those big, round eyes, filled with the innocence of a child. "Is he away, like my parents?"
Both May and Pepper sniffled. "He's going to come back, Pete. He has to. Uncle Rhodey is looking for him. Auntie Pep had sent her best detectives on that case. They will find him."
"Come here, Aunt Pep. I will take care of you, until Uncle Tony comes back."
I'm here without you baby
Day 42
"You still haven't told me where you're from."
"I'm from a small town called Gulmira. It's actually a nice place." The humble scientist answered
"Got a family?" Tony inquired, without being able to stop thinking about his own.
"Yes, and I will see them when I leave here. And you Stark?"
'When, huh? This man is very optimistic.' Tony thought. Maybe I should be optimistic, too. I also have a family to get back to.
"For the world no, but I actually do. I have a girlfriend, a son, and my girlfriend's family" Tony muttered. Yinsen understood why, it was necessary to protect the fact that Tony had a child, so he nodded his head in understanding, before loudly speaking.
"No. So, you're a man who has everything, and nothing."
But you're still on my lonely mind.
Day 84
"What could it generate?" Yinsen asked Tony, while looking at the arc reactor.
"If my math is right, and it always is, three gigajoules per second."
"That could run your heart for 50 lifetimes."
"Yeah. Or something big for 15 minutes." Tony couldn't help, but smirk. Soon enough, both of them will reunite with their families.
I think about you baby and I dream about you all the time.
Day 98
"Aunt Pep, I miss Uncle Tony. Will he come back soon?" Peter asked.
"I don't know, Pete. I don't know."
"Last night, I had a dream. Uncle Tony was my Daddy, he was somewhere in the desert, with a shiny thing in his chest, and he told me he will come back in two days." Peter said, as a matter of fact. Pepper's jaw dropped. She looked at May, as she excused herself, to call Rhodey, and tell him to continue searching.
I'm here without you baby
Day 99
"This was always the plan, Stark." YInsen muttered.
"Come on, you're going to go see your family. Get up." Tony couldn't accept this. The man had family to see. He had to come with Tony.
"My family is dead. I'm going to see them now, Stark. It's okay, I want this. I want this."
"Thank you for saving me." Tony managed to say
"Don't waste it. Don't waste your life." Yinsen begged, as he let out his last breath.
'I won't.' Tony thought as he got out.
But you're still with me in my dreams
Day 100
"Your eyes are red. Tears for your long lost boss?" Tony asked Pepper cheekily.
"Tears of joy. I hate job hunting."
"Yeah, vacation's over."
Peter ran to him as fast as he could.
"I knew you'd come back, Uncle Tony. I knew you would. I've missed you this much."
"I've missed you more, Pete. Let's go grab some cheeseburgers."
"See, Aunt Pep, there's the blue circle." The child mumbled, gesturing toward Tony's chest. Tony looked at Pepper, whose eyes went comically wide.
That night, Peter slept in a room with Tony and Pepper. Tony couldn't let either of them go.
And tonight girl, it's only you and me.
- Peter is happy about the fact his Uncle is Iron Man, and gets a ton of Iron Man merch.(7)
"Aunt May, look! Uncle Tony's on TV! Volume up, volume up! Oh, there's Uncle Rhodey with him."
"The truth is" He heard Uncle Tony pause. He moved closer to the TV screen, all ears. "I am Iron Man"
Peter's eyes widened comically, as he started jumping around the apartment, screaming how his Uncle is Iron Man. The same night, Tony and Pepper sent a package filled with Iron Man toys, clothes, and even an Iron Man watch, which Peter never took off.
- Peter gives everyone (but May) a heart attack. (7)
"Hey, May, Ben!" Tony greets from the door. "Peter! What's up? How's school? Do you have a girlfriend yet?" He picks the kid up, while Pepper is talking to May and Ben. The kid and Tony go to the living room, sitting on the sofa. Tony puts some fruits onto the table.
"Ohh, fruits!" Peter laughed, taking a banana and biting into it. "School is great. I've got a lot of A's. I had a Math test today, which I did in twenty minutes. Also, no girlfriend, Uncle Tony. Aunt Pep says I have to grow up strong and smart, before I get a girlfriend."
"Yeah, listen to Aunt Pep, she's smart. I'm so proud of you, Pete! I love you a lot!"
"I love you, too, Uncle Tony!" Peter says, his eyes filled with fruits.
"Pete, why are your hands so red?" Ben asked the child, while caressing his hair.
"Oh, Uncle Tony brought us fruits, and there was this red one I really like."
"Strawberries?" Ben asked, and Peter nodded. Ben's jaw dropped, as his heart started beating fast.
"Pepper, tell Happy to start the car!" Happy looked up at him, confusion plastered across his face.
"Peter just ate one of the strawberries Tony bought, while I wasn't looking."
"Tony, you brought strawberries? Did you know that there's only one thing on Earth that I'm allergic to?..."
" Allergic to strawberries, yeah, I know."
"Did it ever occur to you that our child might be allergic to them, too?"
"Tony, Pepper, Ben, calm down."
"How do you expect me to calm down he.."
"Madonna mia! I am a nurse, remember? I have epipen in the house. Also, Peter had already eaten strawberries once, when he was about 3 or 4, he probably doesn't remember, though. He's not allergic to strawberries, I have checked." Pepper still smacked Tony over the head for a good measure.
- "Happy birthday, Uncle Tony! Also, Mr. Vanko is an asshole. I like Aunt Nat, though."(8)
"Hey, Uncle Tony!" Peter greets him happily. "Those veins on your neck look weird. You should go to the doctor, to check that out." He grumbled.
"Hey Petey-Pie!" Tony greeted his son, he had to change the topic. "Why are you so smiley, what's up?"
"I got you something, with Aunt Pep's help." He smiled, knowing that, whatever it was, that the kid bought him, he would love it.
He took the present, which was wrapped around neatly, like all the gifts Pepper usually wraps. Inside of the box is a hand-made gift card, which his son made for him. On the cover, four figures were drawn, he turned the page, and saw the writing
Happy birthday, Uncle Tony!
Also, Mr. Vanko is an asshole.
I like Aunt Nat, though.
I love you and Aunt Pepper so much.
Tony laughed heartily. He opened the box and saw a designed watch, in which was a picture of their family.
"Thank you so much, Peter! I love it! And I love you so much!"
"Love you, too, Uncle Tony!"
- Pepper wishes to kill and kiss Tony at the same time. (8)
"Tony, you idiot!" She slaps him across the face once, as he returned home.
"What did I do now?" He asked, groaning.
"This is for not realising the boy you saved was our son." She slaps him once again, before kissing him. "And this is for saving him"
Tony didn't understand what she was talking about, until he remembered the kid in the Iron Man mask. Thank God he was there, or God knows what would have happened to Peter...
- Tony says his last goodbye to Peter.(8)
"Ben, I need to see Peter!" The sleepy Ben Parker opened door to a hectic, panicked Tony.
"He's asleep, Tones!"
"I know, Ben. I just, I need to say goodbye, in case I..." Ben nodded his head, gesturing for Tony to get in. Tony went straight to Peter's room, sat onto the edge of his bed, holding onto the boy's little hand, as he caressed his little head.
"Peter, I have loved you ever since Pep and I found out she was pregnant. She loves you, too. We are your Mum and Dad, so everything that we do, we do with you in mind. We do everything for your good and for your protection. You know, all people die one day, and it seems that my time might have already come. I love you, Peter. I love you, son. I want you to remember that, in case I don't return. I love you so much." Tony cried, he cried for about half an hour, holding his baby's hand. He kissed his forehead many times, until he knew he had to go. He kissed his head one, last time, before leaving the apartment and going further into the night.
- May, Ben, Peter and Pepper are holding their breaths for Tony once again(9,5)
"Uncle Tony is there! With the Hulk, Captain America, Aunt Nat, there's Clint, too! Oh my God, is that the actual Nordic God Thor?"
"Peter, calm down, the superhero boy band is fighting aliens and that's what you are focusing on?"
"I'm not going to focus on the ugly ass aliens, Uncle Ben."
"Peter!"
"Sorry, Aunt May!"
"Where did Tony go?" They waited, and waited. May was on the phone with Pepper. Suddenly Peter could see the Iron Man suit carrying a bomb into the hole in the sky.
"Uncle Tony, come down! The hole is closing up, come down! Why isn't he coming down?"
"The Boss is alive, don't cry, young Peter!"
"JARVIS, please don't lie to me!"
"I'm not lying to you, young Peter!"
Two hours later, when Tony came in with Shawarma for them, Peter couldn't stop crying from happiness
- Peter meets Harley, his Uncle Tony's saviour. (10)
"Peter, I'd like you to meet someone." Tony asked Ben and May to bring Peter to the Tower for the weekend so he could meet someone, they complied.
"Is it Harley the boy with the potato gun? Please, say it's him. Unless it's Thor, I'd like to meet him, too."
"Peter, right? You've heard of me?" The blonde boy asks Peter.
"Uncle Tony says you're as smart as me, that we could be great friends."
"Uncle Tony?" He looks at Tony, who just shrugs. "He told me a lot about you, too."
"Have you met Dummy, U and Butterfingers yet?" The bubbly Peter asked, which made Harley shake his head. Peter looked at Tony, who nodded his head at him, which made the boy drag Harley to the lab, Tony following close behind, wondering if he made a mistake by allowing two mischievous boys to befriend one another.