Looking at the stars
The family of four left their house and started walking on the trail in the forest with Morgan leading the way.
Peter was holding Tony’s hand so he could jump off of a rock or a log and Tony could lift him up by his arm to make him fly high.
“Daddy, make me go higher.” Peter demanded and grabbed onto Tony’s hand tighter.
“Okay. Hold on tight.” Tony waited for Peter to climb up onto the log and then when Peter jumped off, he lifted his arm up so Peter would go higher. It was cute to hear Peter’s excited screaming which made his heart melt.
“Daddy. I wanna make you do it too.” Peter told Tony and tried to lead him over to the log that he just jumped off of but Tony shook his head and laughed.
“I’m too big, bud. You can’t lift me up.” Tony let go of Peter’s hand and laughed at the face he was making.
“Oh. But I’m strong, daddy. I can lift you up all the way to the clouds and go up.” Peter lifted his arms up in the air and stood on his tippy toes to reach the clouds that were covered by the trees.
“I bet you can, baby. But daddy wants to stay on the ground with you.” Tony walked forward to lift Peter up and toss him into the air before settling him on his hip and catching up to the girls.
“Daddy, I wan’ climb the tree.” Peter pointed up at one of the trees and squirmed in Tony’s arms.
“No, Petey. I don’t want you to get hurt. How about we go run and catch up to the girls?” Tony suggested and hoped that it convinced Peter to stop talking about reaching for the trees and the sky. He wanted his kid on the ground.
“I race you!” Peter said excitedly and took off running. Tony ran a bit behind him. He knew he was being overprotective but he didn’t want Peter to trip and fall on the roots that were sticking out of the ground. He didn’t say anything but he was scared about it.
Peter slammed into the back of Pepper’s legs and started jumping up and down. “I win! I win! I beat daddy!”
Tony caught up to his kid and held his hand out for a high five. “Nice job, Pete. You’re so fast.”
Peter grinned. “Yeah! I the fastest ever.”
Morgan walked a bit up ahead and stood on top of a rock to point at something. “I see a stream! Can we go swim in it? Please?” Morgan jumped off the rock and ran over to her family.
Peter reached for Morgan’s hand and tried to walk towards where Morgan was pointing to but she was looking at Tony and Pepper with puppy dog eyes. She was good but not as good as Peter.
“Please. We’ll be careful and now I have someone to play with in the stream.” Morgan pleaded and Tony couldn’t say no to that. They spent the last nine years, almost ten, watching Morgan play by herself and playing with her own imagination but now she had a sibling.
“That’ll be fun but you have to watch your brother.” Pepper told her and then reached for Tony’s hand so they could watch their two kids run down the hill and over to the stream.
They had gone on millions of walks but they had never come across this stream before so Tony has no idea how deep or powerful the current was.
“Morg, don’t go too deep.” Tony warned her then helped Peter take off his shoes and his shorts so he was in his underwear and his top. He just hoped that Peter didn’t try to sit down otherwise he would have a wet butt for the rest of the hike.
“I won’t! Hold my hand, Peter.” Morgan held out her hand for Peter but Peter shook his head and stepped onto the water.
“No!” Peter started laughing at the cold water splashing on his legs and walked towards the tiny waterfall that was about a foot high. “Morgan, you gonna jump?”
“Not at this stream. It’s too deep and I don’t have my bathing suit.” Morgan told Peter and jumped onto a big rock.
“Help.” Peter made grabby hands for Morgan to help him up but Morgan shook her head. “Help.”
“No. You’re too little. This is my rock.” The nine year old said and went to sit down on the rock so she could put her feet into the water.
Peter didn’t like to be told no so he turned around and started crying while reaching out for Tony. “Daddy! Mor-Morgan say no!”
Tony had been watching the whole thing from the grass with Pepper but he didn’t want to bud in. “Oh baby. It’s okay. Morgan’s right because the rock is too big for you.”
Peter climbed onto Tony’s legs and shook his head. “No. I wan’ go on it.”
Tony smiled over at Pepper because they had a little drama queen on their hands. “How about I come in with you and help you onto the rock?”
Peter wiped the tears that had fallen down his face and nodded his head. “Yeah. I wan’ go there with Morgan.”
Tony stood up and lifted Peter to his feet but Peter was lifting his arms up, demanding to be held. “Hold my hand, Pete, so you can walk in the water with me.”
“Okay daddy.” Peter took Tony’s hand in his and started laughing when the water splashed on his legs. He looked up Tony with a grin and the sight made Tony’s heart swell since no matter how many days passed or how much he told himself that this was real, he still couldn’t get over the fact that Peter was really here with him and was his kid now.
“Morgan, daddy says I can come up too.” Peter told her and let go of Tony’s hand to raise his arms up for him with desperate sounds. “Up daddy.”
“Up you get.” Tony lifted his five year old onto the rock but held onto his hand so he could sit next to Morgan. “Hold onto your brother, Morg, so I can take a picture of you two.”
Morgan happily grabbed onto Peter with her arms wrapped tightly around him and Peter grinned up at Tony with his cute little baby teeth peeking through. Tony pulled his phone out of his pocket and snatched a bunch of pictures of his two babies and he knew that he had to get the pictures printed straight away so he could frame them up in the house.
Peter wiggled out of Morgan’s hold and held his arms out for Tony again. “I wan’ off rock.”
“Okay, come here, Pete.” The billionaire grabbed Peter with one arm since he was still holding his phone in his other hand. “Do you want me to put you down in the water?”
“No! Noooo!” Peter screamed right in Tony’s ear and Tony felt the ringing start. Peter definitely had a great set of lungs on him.
“Look at me boys.” Pepper called out to them and held the camera up to take some pictures of them. “Peter, are you making a silly face?”
Tony looked over at Peter who was sticking his tongue out of his mouth. Peter smiled shyly. “I makin’ a silly face.”
Tony attacked his stomach with a bunch of tickles because he loved the sound of Peter’s laughter. Especially his five year old laugh, it was so innocent and cute.
“Morg, are you ready to go, you little water monkey?” Tony asked his oldest child. He knew she would have gotten herself soaked since Morgan just didn’t care about getting wet, even in her clothes.
In hindsight, they should have worn bathing suits.
“Yeah! Let me just ring out my pants a bit.” Morgan started squeezing the water out of her pants and both adults shook their heads at their daughter. She was definitely something else.
“Me too!” Peter cheered and clapped his hands but Tony didn’t know what he was referring to since Tony had taken off his pants.
“I have to put your pants back on, monkey. Where are they?” Tony set Peter on the ground and grabbed the pants before Peter saw them.
Peter spun around to look for them. “I don’ know. Where they gone to?”
“I found them.” Tony held out the pants for Peter and smiled when Peter spotted them. “Put your foot in.”
Peter held onto Tony’s arm for support while Tony helped him back into his pants and then into his shoes. “I beat you, Morgan.”
Morgan slipped her own shoes on and glared at Peter. “I wasn’t racing you.”
Peter shrugged. “I still beated you.”
Morgan shrugged her own shoulders and continued walking down the path. Peter left Tony’s side to catch up to her but he tripped over a tree root and fell face first into the dirt.
Tony raced over to him but before he even got to Peter, Peter lifted his head up and started crying loudly. “Oh no. You’re okay, Petey. Let me see.”
“Daddy!” Peter cried out and lifted his arms up for Tony so Tony lifted him up and set Peter on his feet. Tony brushed the dirt off his face so he could see if Peter was hurt but there was no blood on his face which relieved him.
“Is he okay?” Pepper asked and kneeled down next to Tony to check over Peter’s hands but thankfully didn’t find anything but dirt so she wiped it off.
“Yeah, he’s okay. That just scared you, right Pete?” Tony asked while he wiped all the dirt and tears off his kids face.
Peter whimpered and nodded his head. “Yeah. I-I wan’ hug.”
Tony cooed and lifted Peter up with him while he stood up. “Aw, my baby. You’re okay. You were running so fast.”
Peter pulled away from Tony and nodded his head while he rubbed at one of his eyes with his fist. “Yeah. I fast.”
“You are very fast.” Tony added. He kissed Peter’s temple and placed Peter back down on his feet.
“Dad, did Peter fall?” Morgan ran back over and asked. She patted the top of Peter’s head and examined his face.
“Yeah, he just tripped but he’s okay.” Tony reassured her while also reassuring himself that Peter was in fact okay and he was still here with him.
The family decided to head back to their house since it was almost time for lunch and then a nap.
Peter and Morgan walked ahead of Tony and Pepper. Tony loved to watch Morgan try and help Peter onto a log and attempt to catch the five year old in her arms when Peter would jump off.
They were almost home when Peter ran over to Tony and lifted his arms up for him. “Carry me.”
Tony didn’t hesitate to lift his son up and set him on his hip. “Are you tired, baby? Do you want your nap now?”
Peter nodded his head and as if by Tony saying that made Peter aware of his tiredness so he let out a yawn and laid his head on Tony’s shoulder.
“I’m gonna go bring Peter up for his nap and then we’ll have lunch after.” Tony told the girls after they got home and into the house.
“Okay dad!” Morgan said as she washed her hands at the kitchen sink and Pepper got started on lunch.
Tony carried his half asleep five year old upstairs and into his and Pepper’s bedroom because he still had to finish putting Peter’s bedroom together.
“Daddy, my baba.” Peter looked around the room for his nap time bottle but that was just a one time thing that Tony gave to Peter because he was distraught and needed to calm down.
Now, Peter thought he was getting his bottle every time he went down for a nap.
“Do you want your sippy cup?” Tony asked him as he grabbed a pull-up from the box and walked over to the bed to see Peter sitting up and shaking his head with a pout. “You don’t need a bottle, Petey.”
Peter nodded his head. “I do.”
“No, only babies need bottles and you’re not a baby.” Tony told him but Peter’s eyes started to water.
It was so hard for Tony because he spent ten long years mourning his son and now he had Peter back and he was making his kid cry and he hated it. He wanted to tell Peter no and let him cry it out but he just couldn’t.
Ten years was way too long to mourn the loss of his child and now he had Peter back so he wanted to give in to all his needs. At least for a little bit.
“Baba Daddy.” Peter said, more desperately this time so Tony agreed.
“Okay. We’ll go get your bottle after you get changed.” Tony told Peter who smiled proudly that he won that argument. Tony knew if he didn’t stop soon and put his foot down then it would be harder in the long run but he was willing to make that sacrifice because he could.
Tony pulled Peter’s pants and underwear off and grabbed the pull-up to help him into it but Peter shook his head. “No, shirt off too, daddy.”
“Alright. Lift your arms up.” Peter did as instructed so Tony pulled his shirt off and tossed it in the laundry hamper with the rest of Peter’s clothes.
Tony helped Peter into his pull-up and picked him up after to go grab his bottle that he knew wasn’t necessary but to Peter it was.
“Oh, I thought you were going for a nap, Pete?” Pepper asked him once she saw the two boys walk back down the stairs but she saw that Peter was wearing his pull-up so she knew that he was going for his nap soon.
“Baba.” Was all Peter said as Tony shifted him onto his other hip and opened the fridge to grab the milk.
“Peter wants his bottle but I told him he didn’t need it.” Tony told Pepper even as she was grabbing a bottle for Peter.
She looked at Peter sadly and gently squeezed his leg. “That’s okay. He can have it if he wants. I’m sure he’ll grow out of it soon and if he doesn’t, we’ll worry about it then.”
Tony felt a bit better that Pepper was on board with it. Surprisingly, they had the same opinions on parenting so they worked together pretty well when it came to that aspect, with just a few disagreements along the way.
Peter watched Pepper pour his milk with wide eyes and started making grabby hands for it before the lid was even screwed on.
“Look at him, Pep.” Tony laughed because Peter definitely loved his bottle. He wondered if May and Ben had given it to him when he was this age before or if it was something new that Tony and possibly Pepper had introduced to him.
Pepper looked over at Peter and smiled at him then handed him his bottle. Peter took it and started sucking from it immediately with his eyes drooping.
Tony patted his butt and cooed. “We’ll see you later, Pep.” Tony gave her a quick kiss and then turned to walk upstairs.
He moved the blankets back and laid Peter on the bed then handed him his stuffed bear and laid down next to Peter.
Peter took the bottle out of his mouth to turn his head. “Daddy you stayin’?”
Tony brushed the curls from Peter’s face and nodded. “I’m staying right here with you.”
Content with that answer, Peter put his bottle back in his mouth and stared at Tony until his eyes drifted shut. Tony carefully grabbed the bottle and placed it next to Peter’s pillow so it wasn’t still in his mouth.
Tony rubbed Peter’s belly gently and smiled when Peter smiled a bit in his sleep. He continued to stare at Peter, still trying to believe that this was in fact real and that this was his life now.
He wasn’t sure how long he stayed there for. It was long enough for Peter to move positions three times and now he was lying on his back with his legs stretched out in front of him.
Tony pressed a gentle kiss to Peter’s forehead then left his bedroom and quietly shut the door. He knew he was being paranoid but he was so scared of leaving Peter alone when he slept or at all in case Peter disappeared again.
It was obvious to Tony that he was still suffering from some form of PTSD even after he got his kid back. He wasn’t sure if it would go away with time but right now he needed to make himself feel better by having some sort of evidence that Peter is still okay and alive when he’s put down for a nap and Tony isn’t there.
He went downstairs and started digging in the boxes that they ordered to the house a few days ago for Peter and didn’t get the chance to put them away yet.
“What are you doing?” Pepper asked him and put her book down.
“Did we order a baby monitor when we got a bunch of stuff for Peter?” Tony asked her and paused in his searching to turn around and look at her.
“No. We can go to the store and get one after Peter wakes up.” Pepper told him then stood up to walk over to him. “We should take this opportunity now that Peter is sleeping and Morgan is doing some math to bring these boxes into his bedroom and finish putting it together.”
Tony wanted to get them into a routine and to get the house set. He wanted it to look like a five year old was living there so many then that would stop his constant fears of Peter leaving him.
“Yeah, I also want to buy some picture frames and get rid of all teen Peter pictures.” Tony grabbed two boxes and stood up with Pepper following him up to Peter’s bedroom.
“I’ll empty this box and walk around the house to take all his pictures down so we can replace it. I know we have a lot of pictures of him already.” She said and kissed Tony then left.
He just sat on Peter’s bed and looked around the room. He still had so much to do. He had to build some more furniture as well as move all the boxes and plastic out. Then he had to bring in some toys and put a carpet down for him.
He still didn’t want Peter sleeping in his room by himself just yet. If it was up to him, he would keep Peter in his arms for the rest of his life but he knew he had to let Peter go so he could live a life.
It was still hard.
Pepper walked back into the bedroom about fifteen minutes later and sat on the floor. “All the pictures are gone and put in the basement. There was a lot more than I thought but I kept some baby ones of him up that you got from May’s apartment after… yeah.”
Tony nodded. He loved those pictures and had one of the pictures turned into a painting that was hung in their bedroom so he could look at it everyday. That would be staying up too but now when he lived at it, it brought him happiness instead of guilt and grief.
“I want to get some more safety precautions for the house. A baby gate for the top of the basement stairs and maybe one for the top of these stairs too.” Tony thought about some other things that might be needed. “Child proof locks on some cabinets and doorknobs to some rooms. Definitely for the front and back door.”
“Alright. I’ll make a list and we’ll go after he wakes up. Are you going to work on his bedroom right now?” Pepper stood up and asked him.
Tony thought about it. It was Peter’s bedroom so he wanted Peter and Morgan to help him. He got off the bed and pulled Pepper against his side. “No. I’ll wait. I’m gonna go check on little miss.”
Tony found Morgan sitting in her homework room. The room had zero distractions and had motivational quotes all around the room to help her stay focused.
Tony pulled up a chair and sat down next to her. “How’s the homework coming along?”
Morgan put her pencil down. “It’s not homework, dad. You and mom just want me to do stupid workbooks for no reason.”
“It’s not stupid and it’s not for no reason.” Tony picked the pencil back up and handed it to her. “While you’re out of school because of everything going on, mom and I don’t want you to fall behind and we want you to keep your brain fresh with a little bit of homework everyday.”
Morgan sighed. “You mean with everyone who died coming back? Like Peter?”
Tony didn’t like how Morgan worded that but she was right. “Yeah.”
“So… did everyone come back as a five year old like Peter did?” Morgan asked, curiously.
“No. Not everyone. Peter was fifteen years old before the snap, then ten years later, he came back as a five year old.” Tony explained to her once again. “So someone who disappeared when they were twenty five would come back-”
“As a fifteen year old.” Morgan finished his sentence for him.
“That’s right.”
“I wonder what everyone else is like all over the world. If like they are happy that some of them got their kids and parents back and stuff.” Morgan admitted and looked up at her father for his answer.
“Well, I don’t know exactly what’s going on all over the world but I do know that a lot of families are so happy to have their kids back or their parents, friends, but I also know that because those people are back, a lot more stress is added until things can get figured out.” Tony explained to his nine year old.
“It’s kinda like the whole world is on pause right now. You know how your school is closed for a month? Well a lot of schools around the world are also closed to get things sorted out in the meantime. As well as some jobs and other places.” Tony added and brushed a piece of hair behind her ear.
Tony hadn’t been watching much of the news because he doesn’t have time to with having a nine year old and now a five year old but he saw a few things here and there.
“Will Peter join my school after it opens again?” Morgan asked excitedly.
Tony still had no idea what the plan was for Peter’s schooling. Her five so he would be in kindergarten but Tony isn’t sure Peter or him is ready for that yet.
“I don’t know yet, Morg. He might be but we’ll have to see.” Tony told her and then pointed to her next question. “Let’s finish the rest of your math questions together.”
Morgan groaned. “Why doesn’t Peter have to do any of this?”
“Because he’s too young, Morgan.” Tony told her. He knew teen Peter was an incredibly smart kid so he amused that five years old Peter would be smart as well but Peter was still only five years old.
Morgan groaned one more time. “Can I go see him? I haven’t seen him in like… ten hours. I’ll just go look at him then come back down and finish my questions.”
Tony sighed but he couldn’t stop the smile from appearing on his face. “Alright. We’ll go look at him and then come back down here together.”
“Or I can take it upstairs with me and work while we watch Peter?” Morgan asked with her mischievous little grin that Tony knew she learned from him.
“Grab it. Let’s go.” Tony smiled and followed Morgan up the stairs. “Shh, we have to be quiet though.”
Tony quietly opened the door and looked at Peter who was still passed out. He had his thumb in his mouth and was sleeping on his side. He looked extremely comfortable so Tony hoped they didn’t wake him up.
Morgan got comfortable on the bed with her workbook and pencil while Tony sat down next to Peter and looked at his peaceful form.
“Dad? Is ten times seven seventy?” Morgan whispered and turned to look at him.
“Yep. Good job.” Tony whispered back.
It passed the two hour work of Peter’s nap but he still wasn’t waking up. Tony planned on giving him another fifteen minutes and if he wasn’t awake yet, then he would wake him up so they could go shopping.
“I’m stuck on the last question?” Morgan said, a little louder since Tony told her she didn’t have to whisper anymore after he turned the lamp on.
“What does the question say?” Tony asked but Peter started to rub his eyes and start to wake up.
Peter sat up in bed and pulled his thumb from his mouth. His eyes landed on Tony and he smiled. “Daddy, what’s that?”
Peter crawled onto Tony’s lap and grabbed his teddy bear with him. “That’s Morgan’s workbook. Did you have nice dreams?”
Peter nodded his head and shifted on Tony’s lap a bit. “Yeah. I dream there was a chocolate monkey and I eat him.”
“Woah. That’s so cool. Was he yummy?” Tony asked and Peter nodded his head.
“Was the monkey big or small?” Morgan asked more seriously so Peter crawled off of Tony’s lap and crawled over on the bed to try and sit on her lap. “Ew Peter. Your pull-ups all squishy. I’ll get you a new one.”
“It’s okay, Morg. He’s gonna put underwear on after because we’re going shopping.” Tony told her as he got off the bed to go grab some clean clothes for Peter.
Both kids watched Tony leave the bedroom and then Peter got off of Morgan and sat down across from her. “I wan’ see.”
“It’s just my homework.” Morgan told him and continued to write down the next answer.
Peter grabbed the pencil from her. “Mine.”
“It’s not yours, Peter. Give it back.” Morgan tried to grab the pencil grab from Peter but he moved away and shook his head. “I’m gonna smack you.”
“No.” Peter pouted and then started scribbling all over Morgan’s workbook.
“No! Stop! Peter! Daddy!” Morgan screamed as she watched Peter ruin her math page and all that hard work she put into it.
Tony ran back into the room because he thought someone was hurt but he just found Peter drawing all over Morgan’s math workbook with her pencil while Morgan screamed.
Tony walked around to the other side of the bed and picked Peter up then grabbed the pencil from his hands. “That was not very nice, Peter. That was Morgan’s math work.”
The smile fell from Peter’s face and he started crying. Tony placed him on the floor and watched Peter throw himself onto the floor to start crying and kicked the bed frame.
Tony sat down on the bed and carefully grabbed the ruined workbook page. “Oh Morgan. It’s okay.”
There were frustrated tears in Morgan’s eyes but To y didn’t blame her. As much as he saw that she loved Peter and loved having a younger sibling, she wasn’t used to actually having a younger sibling and that it came with stuff like this.
“He ruined it! I worked so hard!”
Tony looked at the page and then tried to make Morgan feel better. “It’s okay, Morgan. Look, I can still see all your answers and I can see that you got everything right and I’m so proud of you. You learned so much so you don’t even need this page anymore.”
Morgan grabbed the page to run her hand over it and then she sniffled. “Yeah. I guess so.”
Tony pressed a kiss to her head and stood up. “I’m always right, right?”
Morgan smiled weakly and nodded. “I guess so. Moms right more times though.”
Tony fake gasped. “Alright. You little traitor, you’re supposed to be on my side.”
Morgan grinned at him.
“Go get ready to leave while I talk to Peter about what he did.” Tony told Morgan and picked the still crying Peter up and set him on his hip.
Tony walked into the bathroom and set Peter on the counter top. “Peter. Let’s wipe all your tears away so we can stop crying.”
Tony grabbed a face cloth and soaked it with warm water then wiped Peter’s face until he stopped crying and started sadly hiccuping.
“What you did to Morgan’s workbook wasn’t very nice.” Tony said to him and Peter looked up at him with sad eyes. “She told you to stop so you have to stop.”
Peter nodded his head and reached for Tony. “Sorry daddy.”
“You have to say sorry to Morgan.” Tony said but he was glad Peter was such a good kid.
Peter nodded his head. “Yeah.”
“Okay. After you get dressed you can say you’re sorry.” Tony lifted Peter off the bathroom counter and set him on his feet so he could take off his wet pull-up and dispose of it.
He quickly wiped Peter clean while he tried to hold him still because Peter was trying to run back into the bedroom.
“I wan’ to pick my pants, daddy.” Peter told him and climbed up onto the bed.
“Okay, but you have to climb back down since all your clothes are down here.” Tony kneeled on the floor then looked up at saw Peter about to jump off the bed so he quickly grabbed him and set him on the floor. “You little monkey.”
“Chocolate monkey.” Peter added and rubbed his belly.
“Yeah, from your dream.” Tony grabbed a pair of underwear and helped Peter get it on then helped him with his top but he knew Peter would take hours to decide his pants so Tony had him pick between two options.
“Um… I wan’ the red ones! Daddy put on red pants with me!” Peter told him while Tony helped him into his pants.
Tony thought that that was adorable. “Alright, baby. Let me go change quickly in the bathroom so stay right here.” Tony grabbed the track pants and walked into the bathroom.
Peter walked over to the nightstand table and opened it to see what was inside. He found a bottle of cream and tried to open it up but he couldn’t so he continued to dig in the drawer.
Tony walked out of the bathroom with matching red track pants but he could not leave Peter unattended. Peter was digging in the nightstand table and was holding a bottle of lube.
Tony quickly snatched it from Peter and cringed. Oh no.
“Daddy I want the cream on my toes.” Peter tried to reach for it again but Tony set it on the high dresser and lifted Peter up.
“It’s not for you, Peter. No touching.” Tony told him and wiped his hands down while he walked down the stairs then set Peter on his feet and kneeled down to his level to remind him what he had to do. “Go say that you are sorry to Morgan for drawing on her math page.”
Peter ran over to Morgan and looked up at her. “Morgan. I sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
Morgan hugged Peter and patted his curls. “I forgive you but don’t do it again.”
Peter nodded his head and smiled. “Yeah. Don’ do it again.”
Tony looked at Pepper. “Did Morg tell you what Pete did?”
“Yeah.” Pepper swung her purse over her shoulder. “We should get him some colouring books. He barely has any toys of his own.”
Tony couldn’t agree more. They had to make this Peter’s house too.