When It’s Meant To Be

Peter age 9

Tony could read Peter like an open book.

He knew what Peter was thinking before he said it. He had a close bond with Peter that couldn’t be broken so he knew that Peter was having mixed feelings about his first sleepover.

Tony was too.

He had never been away from Peter overnight before without him being at home with Pepper. Now, neither of them were going to be there and Tony was secretly feeling just as uneasy as Peter was.

Pepper walked into the bedroom where Tony was cuddling Peter on his and Pepper’s bed, trying to soak in every last second before he didn’t see Peter for a full night and day.

Peter was hesitant to leave his arms, Tony could tell.

“So I packed you two pairs of everything just in case. I have your toothbrush and toothpaste as well as RoRo and your blanket.” Pepper explained, patting the fully packed bag.

Peter threw his leg over his dad’s stomach to get more comfortable. “Thanks. I just want to stay here for a few more minutes.”

Tony patted his butt and smiled. He didn’t want Peter to go but he wasn’t going to stop him from going. It was his very first sleepover after all.

“Call me if you need me and I’ll come.” Tony reminded him.

“I know, daddy. But I’m not gonna need you. I’m not a baby.” Peter declared but it went in through one of Tony’s ears and out the other.

“You’re my baby. No matter how old you are and don’t you forget it.” Tony pressed a kiss to the top of Peter’s head just as Pepper was pulling Peter’s ankles.

“Time to go, Peter. You don’t wanna arrive too late.”

Peter reluctantly sat up and slid off the bed, turning around and laughing at his dad's face. “You look funny. You look like a wolf.”

That got both parents laughing even though they didn’t understand what Peter meant. They never really knew what he meant but Peter always got them laughing until they couldn’t breathe.

“What do you mean?” Tony asked, unable to stop laughing.

Peter leaned over the bed and giggled. “Because you just do.”

“Okay, enough comparing daddy to animals and more getting ready. Chop chop.” Tony got off the bed and easily picked Peter up, flipping him so he could hold him upside down and attack his exposed tummy with tickles.

Pepper playfully rolled her eyes. “Alright boys, enough. Put Peter down, Tony, before all the blood rushes to his head.”

Tony gave one last tickle attack to Peter before reluctantly putting him on his feet. He was going to miss Peter like crazy. Even though it was only for one night, he didn’t think he was going to be able to sleep until he knew Peter was safely at home in his own bed.

Peter rarely slept with them anymore. It was a hard habit to break and took years but now Peter was sleeping in his own bed and only ever slept with his parents when he was sick or had a nightmare. Or if it was raining out.

Tony loved rainy nights for that reason.

When Pepper handed Peter his bag, Peter’s smile fell and it hurt Tony to see. “If you don’t wanna go anymore then you don’t have to, baby. No one is forcing you to.”

“No.” Peter rushed out. “I want to. I do.” He turned to look up at his dad, trying to make Tony believe him so Tony did. He could still see that Peter was scared but that was all a part of life.

The three of them went downstairs and got into the car. Peter's friend didn’t live too far from where he lived but it wasn’t close enough to walk even though him and his dad rode their bikes even further distances when they went to Italy during the summer months.

Peter looked out his window and watched the cars drive by.

He would love to be heading to the airport right now instead of going to his friends house. He liked his friend, it was his best friend but he still loved going to Italy with his parents.

When they arrived at the house, Peter felt anxious.

He didn’t want to leave his mom and dad and he especially didn’t want to sleep somewhere without them but he didn’t want to tell them now and sound like a baby.

Instead, he forced a smile on his face and got out of his car seat, grabbing his overnight bag with him.

Tony wrapped an arm around his shoulders as they walked to the front door. Peter wanted them to take a long time to answer the door but as soon as they rang the doorbell, the door was being opened revealing Atlas, Peter’s best friend.

“Hi Peter! Hi Peter’s mommy and daddy.” He pulled Peter’s arm and led him into the house.

Peter dropped his bag and followed Atlas inside while his parents talked to Atlas’s mom. He knew his mom and dad wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye so he tried to have fun in the meantime.

“My mom got me a new StarWars board game and-and it even has real action figure pieces! Wanna see?”

“Yeah.” Peter sat on his knees on the living room floor to look at the new board game. “Woah! It even has Luke Skywalker! That’s so cool!”

“Peter, we’re leaving now, buddy.” Tony called out and Peter felt his heart drop.

He sucked it up and went to go say bye to them. He hugged his mom first, letting the hug linger for longer and then he hugged his dad, wanting to be picked up but he knew he would refuse to be put back down.

Tony pressed a kiss to the top of Peter’s head. “I love you and be good. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

Peter squeezed his dad back a little tighter, not wanting to let go. “I love you too, daddy.”

Tony saw the way Peter’s bottom lip shook. “Are you okay, baby?”

“Uh huh.” Peter nodded. He was fine. He could do this.

He waved bye to his parents and joined his friend in the living room again before he started crying. He wanted to distract his mind.

The evening went well. Peter had so much fun playing board games, building forts and eating candy. They even got to eat dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets at dinner time.

It was when nighttime came that Peter started to feel the separation anxiety start and it came on strong.

He finished brushing his teeth and went into Atlas’s bedroom to grab his pyjamas from his bag.

“You’ve been so quiet. Do you miss your mom and dad?”

Peter didn’t want to admit it so he lied. “No. I’m fine. I’m just tired. I was up early with my dad today.”

“Oh. I thought we could try and pull an all nighter tonight.” It was only 9pm and the boys would both be exhausted by ten but they still wanted to try.

Peter shrugged and changed into his pyjamas. They smelt like home and he wanted to be on the couch with his dad, getting his hair played with. He held back the tears.

Atlas turned his light off and grabbed a flashlight, turning it on so he could see his way to the bed to join Peter in it.

Peter tried so hard to hold back the tears but as soon as he was laying down in the strange bed without his parents with him, the separation anxiety became too much and he wanted to go home.

He sat up and let out a sob, rubbing at his eyes. “I want daddy.”

Atlas was alarmed. He tried to rub his back and reassure him but it wasn’t working. “I’ll go get my mom!” He rushed out of the bedroom and ran down the stairs.

While he was gone, he slid out of the bed to grab RoRo from his overnight bag and hugged it against his chest to try and self soothe but it was too hard.

He needed his dad.

Atlas’s mom walked into his bedroom and turned the light on, sighing in sympathy with Peter. “It’s okay, Peter. I’ll call your parents right now. They’ll come and get you.”

As she went to do that, Peter tried to stop crying but he couldn’t. He just wanted to be in his dad’s arms.

Atlas ended up falling asleep on the couch in the fifteen minutes it took for his parents to arrive. Peter wasted no time running down the hallway once he heard the knock at the door.

He ran up to his dad, demanding to be picked up.

“Oh, buddy.” Tony half expected Peter to call. He even told Pepper that. She wanted to have a date night since they were child free for the first time in years but Tony said because he had a strong feeling they wouldn’t have a child free night after all.

He lifted Peter into his arms and felt Peter lay his head against his shoulder, hiccuping every so often.

“Thank you for calling me. I knew he wasn’t ready but he still insisted on coming.” Tony said to Atlas’s mother as he rubbed Peter’s back.

Pepper pressed a kiss against Peter’s check then turned to the woman. “Thank you for having him.”

With Peter safely tucked away in his fathers arms, they walked down to the car and Tony got into the back with him, securing him into his car seat and holding his hand.

Peter felt at home now that he had his mom and dad with him. He played with his dad’s fingers. “Can I sleep with you and mommy tonight?”

Tony couldn’t say no to that request. “Of course, baby.”

Maybe the night didn’t turn out so bad after all.

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Peter age 11

“C’mon! C’mon!” Peter yelled, overly excited to go swimming in the ocean. “I wanna go swimming!”

Tony grabbed the sun screen and some beach towels and ruffled Peter’s hair on his way out of their vacation house in Italy. They began going every summer for two months since Peter was four and they had some of the best memories there.

“I’m coming!” Tony looked at Pepper who was putting her hair into a tight ponytail. “Are you coming?”

“Of course.” She ran ahead with Peter and turned to look back at Tony. “Now we’re waiting on you.”

Tony watched the two people he loved more than anything run ahead, holding hands and laughing hysterically. He loved that sound.

Especially Peter’s giggles. Those were his absolute favourite.

He finally arrived at the beach with them and dropped all their stuff into the sand, not caring about anyone stealing it since it was their own private beach.

Peter was already running into the water so Tony chased after him. He picked Peter up, flipping him upside down which got a bunch of giggles from Peter.

“A wave!” Peter yelled through his giggles, just managing to warn his dad before it came and his head went under the water.

Tony already saw it coming. He lifted Peter up higher so the wave could pass and then he gently dropped Peter into the shallow water. Peter crawled away from him and towards his mom. “Pretend I’m a crab and I’m gonna eat your toes.”

“You’re too silly, Peter.” Pepper pretended to scream as Peter attacked her feet but she quickly grabbed him and pulled him against her chest so she could hug him tightly. “I got you. Now pretend I’m an octopus and try to get away.”

All Peter had to do was hold his arms out for his dad to save him.

The sun quickly started to set so the three of them made their way back to the house to swim in the pool until the sun fully set but Tony went inside to shower and change into clothes while Pepper watched Peter swim.

He was an excellent swimmer. This time, Peter grew up around water and was able to keep his head above water since he was four although he was never allowed to swim unattended or be near water without an adult present.

Tony knew how quickly accidents could happen.

Pepper put her book down and stood up to carry the empty glasses into the kitchen. “Come out of the pool and come inside with me. I’ll be quick.”

Peter whined loudly. “It’s cold inside.”

“You have to get out anyway so let’s go.” Pepper stood at the edge of the pool and looked down at Peter.

Peter groaned but got out anyways. “Can’t I just wait for you out here? I won’t jump in. I promise.”

Pepper reluctantly agreed. She didn’t want to have any tantrums tonight since they were having a really good time plus she would be in and out. Super quick.

“Alright. Stay here. I’ll be back.”

Peter watched his mom leave. He looked towards the water and sighed. He was extremely impatient and just wanted to swim but he didn’t want to break his promise so he waited.

When his mom still wasn’t back after two minutes, Peter squatted down near the water and tried to grab his pool ball but he couldn’t quite reach it.

He moved closer when he suddenly lost his balance and fell in.

He jumped in the pool plenty of times before but all of those times had been intentional. He wasn’t expecting this to happen so he was discombobulated in the water.

For some reason he couldn’t figure out which way was up and what was down and that caused him to start to panic faster so he swallowed water and started coughing under the water.

Peter tried to kick to step onto something but he couldn’t find anything to pull him up so he went under again.

Tony walked down the stairs and spotted Pepper in the kitchen so he looked around for Peter to take him up for an early shower before bed. “He’s out early. Where is he?”

Pepper pointed to the back door. “He wanted to swim some more so I told him to wait outside the pool while I put the dishes away.”

Tony nodded and walked outside to watch Peter swim for a little bit longer but when he walked out, his heart dropped and adrenaline rushed through his veins.

Peter was in the pool, under the water and thrashing around. Peter was drowning.

Tony didn’t waste anymore time. He jumped into the water and grabbed Peter. Lifting him out of the pool and lifting himself out of the pool himself.

He quickly assessed Peter. Trying to determine if he needed to do cpr or not. “Peter. Peter? You’re okay. Just breathe. Breathe, Peter.”

Pepper heard the commotion and ran out, she screamed and dropped to her knees next to her boys. “Oh my god! Peter. Oh god.”

Tony roughly patted Peter’s back to help him cough up the water. “Cough it up. You’re okay.”

Tony was shaking but he couldn’t feel anything. His only focus was making sure Peter coughed up all the water and was breathing.

He grabbed Peter and turned him onto his stomach, leaning him forward to help him get all the water up.

After a lot of violent coughing, Peter began crying which was the most beautiful sound to both parents.

Tony still didn’t hug him though, he needed to make sure that Peter was okay first.

“Good job, keep on coughing it up, baby. You’re okay. We’re here.” Pepper encouraged him while wiping at the tears pouring down her cheeks.

Tony wasn’t able to tell if he had tears pouring down his cheeks or if it was the water dripping down his face. He was willing to bet it was both.

Peter reached out desperately for Tony so he picked Peter up, standing up and walking into the house. “Pepper, can you grab a towel and his pyjamas? No shower tonight. I just want to get him in bed.”

Once Tony had dried Peter off and got him changed into pyjamas and himself dried off and changed, he had Peter cuddles against his chest in bed, holding onto him tightly.

Pepper rubbed Peter’s back. “It’s okay now, Peter. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you.”

Tony kissed Peter’s head and reached out to hold Pepper’s hand, silently telling her it wasn’t her fault. They were still learning as parents after all and sometimes had to learn things the hard way.

They were raising a child and Tony knows he’s had his fair share of mess ups.

All that mattered was that Peter’s okay and alive at the end of the day.

“Daddy, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall in. I just- just lost balance.” Peter whimpered.

Tony pressed another kiss to his head. “It’s okay, baby. It’s not your fault. You’re okay.”

Peter nodded against him. He was safe now.