All The Stars Align

After Tony left Peters bedroom he went down to his lab.

When he got to his lab he sat on a stool and put his face in his hands taking deep breaths. He tried to calm himself down because shit this was hard.

He knew that Peter was suffering but he had no idea what to do about it, he didn’t know how to handle him.

Maybe peter would be better in a foster home, someone could take care of him there, someone who knew how to take care of kids because shit, Tony couldn’t do this. He can’t.

He took a few more deep breaths trying to calm his mind, he honestly had no idea what to do.

He can’t just send Peter away. That isn’t fair to the kid, and he would miss him too much.

He knew he obviously wasn’t gonna give peter up for adoption but this was just so hard.

Tony slammed his fist on the table out of frustration and made a loud bang that even scared himself.

He stood up and started to pace around the lab when his phone rang. He answered it without even checking to see who was calling.

“Hello?”

“Tones? I haven’t heard from you in almost a week, what’s up man?” Rhodey. God he missed his best friend. Rhodey was always there for him, no matter what stupid thing he did he would always have Tony’s back, no matter what.

“I... Ive been busy” Tony knew he had to tell Rhodey what was going on but he decided to do it in person.

“What do you mean? What’s going on Tones, are you okay?” Rhodey sounded kinda worried.

“Umm... yeah... no, just, can we talk, in person. Can you come over on Wednesday and we can talk?” Tony knew Rhodey would be there for him no matter what.

“Yeah man, I’ll come over Wednesday. I’ll see you then” Rhodey hung up the phone and left Tony with his racing thoughts.

Tony put his head down on the cool table and he had a headache he could feel starting up. He remembered he had to call the lady from the funeral home back up so he decided to just get it over with.

On the third ring she picked up “Hello?”

“Hi this is Tony Stark calling about May Parker.”

“Ah yes, Mr. Stark. I’ve been waiting for your call. So I just have to ask you a few questions then the funeral will be ready”

The lady asked Tony some questions he really didn’t want to answer but he had to for Peter. After an hour on the phone the funeral was ready for Wednesday morning.

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After Tony left Peters room, Peter was alone once again. He didn’t mind this time because he just wanted to sleep, he just wanted to sleep and never wake up again. He hated feeling like this. It’s not fair to him, but life’s not fair so what are you gonna do about it, Peter thought. He tried to fall asleep but his stomach was hurting him. When was the last time he ate? Maybe he should go eat something. But he didn’t feel like eating, he just wanted to sleep.

Peter groaned and rolled onto his stomach then started to cry out of all the emotions he was going through.

He hated everything.

He heard a knock at the door and he was actually a little bit happy Tony was there. At least someone was there for him.

“Come in” Peter said but his voice betrayed him and it was obvious he was crying.

“Kid?” Tony walked into the room and sat down next to Peters head. Peter turned to face him and he held his hand out to him for comfort.

“Come here buddy” Tony picked Peter up by the arms and lifted him up as if he weighted nothing and put peter on his lap then was shifting back and forth in a rocking motion. Peter cried harder once he was in Tonys lap but he did begin to calm down a bit more as Tony started rocking him.

Hmmmm. Peter thought, this is nice and relaxing. He’s really gonna miss this when Mr. Stark gives him away.

Just as the thought crossed Peters mind he froze up and tried to get out of Tony’s lap but Tony just held him tighter until he stopped trying.

“Kid, what’s up” Tony looked down at Peter on his lap.

“N-nothing” Peter shook his head but leaned up more against Tony’s chest, “I’m hungry”

“Perfect!” Tony said a little loud and Peter jumped a bit then moved to get out of Tonys lap to stand and Tony let him go.

“What do you want kid?” Tony put his hand on Peters shoulders and led them into the kitchen.

Tony knew that something was bugging Peter but he didn’t want to keep asking him. He didn’t really know how to get the kid to talk because he’s never dealt with something like this before. Tony walked to the kitchen with Peter following behind him. He started opening up cupboards to try and see what he could make the kid but he couldn’t see anything the kid might like.

“We need to go grocery shopping I guess” Tony said then turned around to face Peter who sat himself down on the kitchen stool and was looking at him.

“Do you have grilled cheese?” Peter asked hesitantly playing with his sweater sleeve.

“Yeah I guess I could make you some.” Tony started to make a grilled cheese for Peter that ended up being harder than he thought it was to make. Twenty minutes later (it should not have taken that long) Tony made Peters grilled cheese. He placed it in front of Peter then sat beside him on the stool.

He watched Peter take a few bites that made it look painful to eat.

“Hey Pete?”

Peter looked over to Tony questionably and chewed his food.

Tony began to speak again not really wanting to talk about this “so um... your aunts funeral is all planned. It’s gonna be on Wednesday so the day after tomorrow” Tony looked at Peter and saw that he was looking at his lap sadly with tears in his eyes. He saw some tears fall into his lap then he got up and ran to his bedroom. Tony was gonna follow him but decided to just give him some space. Shit. He looked at Peters food and saw that peter barely had four bites. God, he was stupid. Why couldn’t he have waited until after Peter ate to tell him when his aunts funeral was gonna be. So stupid.

Tony decided to go check on Peter after about twenty minutes leaving him alone. He walked to Peters room and knocked on the door. “Hey bud, can I come in?” Peter didn’t answer so Tony walked into Peters room.

When Tony opened the door he saw a lump on the bed that was shaking. Peter was under the covers crying.

“Peter” Tony said sadly and walked closer to Peter but his voice startled Tony and made him flinch.

“No! Go away! G-go away! Please” Peter said between sobs but stayed under his blankets.

“Peter I just-“ Tony spoke but Peter cut him off.

“L-leave. Please”

“Alright fine” Tony said sadly then walked out of Peters room and down to the lab.

When Tony got to the lab he couldn’t help but want to cry. Why is this so hard? What am I doing wrong? Tony thought as he put his hands on his face and took a few breaths to try and calm his mind. Maybe I shouldn’t be doing this? Maybe I’m not what Peter needs? Tony thought to himself.

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After Tony left Peters room, Peter listened until he couldn’t hear Tony anymore then began to cry loudly. He hated this. He hated this so much. He wanted nothing more than for Tony to hold him and tell him that everything’s gonna be okay, but it wasn’t gonna be okay, pretty soon Peter would have to leave and he’d rather not let Tony in and then give him something more to miss.

Peter cried until there was no more tears left to cry. He cried until he was exhausted and he was barely keeping himself awake.

One day more then I’m gonna have to say goodbye to aunt May forever, Peter thought, and that was his last thought before he was unconscious.

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Down in the lab Tony was trying to fix his gauntlet that he has been working on for the past few days that he just couldn’t figure out how to fix. Peter would know, Tony thought sadly, he looked over to where Peters little work station was. How he left it on Thursday night before aunt May called him telling him to get home right away or he was gonna be grounded because it was late and he had school the next day. He wasn’t supposed to see Peter until tomorrow after school but now here he was.

He worked until his eyes began getting heavy and blurry so he went up to the kitchen to get something to eat.

When he got to the kitchen he saw Peters barely eaten food so he picked it up and threw it out in the garbage. He wondered what Peter was doing, he glanced at the time and saw that it read 2:56am.

“FRIDAY, what is Peter doing?” Tony waited for FRIDAY to answer.

“Peter is currently asleep in his room”

“Does he appear to be in a deep sleep?”

FRIDAY was hesitant before answering. “No. Peter appears to be having a mild nightmare”

Tony shook his head feeling bad for Peter as he made his way into Peters room. This poor kid, why can’t he get one good sleep?

He walked to Peters room and walked in without knocking. He saw that Peter was having a nightmare but it didn’t look that bad. He didn’t want to wake him up because he knew Peter needed sleep and he didn’t want him to not be able to fall asleep after.

He walked up to Peters bed and got on his knees in front of Peters face. He brushed his hair back with his fingers gently and Peter stopped the whimpering sounds that he was making and leaned into Tony’s hand. Tony thought that Peter looked fine and although he wanted to stay and make Peter stay asleep with no nightmares he knew that the kid didn’t want him there so he turned and walked out of the room to his own then he fell asleep.

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It was 9:34am when Tony woke up. It was the last day before Mays funeral and he had to get himself and the kid ready. Mentally and physically.

He got out of bed and made his way into the washroom to get ready then went to the kitchen to get a coffee.

“FRIDAY, is Peter up?”

“Yes. Peter has been up for the past two hours”

“Did he have any more nightmares last night?”

“Yes. Peter had a nightmare and has been up ever since” FRIDAY sounded like she didn’t even care about Peters nightmare.

Why didn’t he wake me up? Tony thought then grabbed his coffee and sat on the couch to do some work on his StarkPad.

It was 1:12 in the afternoon before Tony’s butt started to get numb and he needed another coffee so he went into the kitchen then remembered that Peter hasn’t eaten anything in almost two days.

He grabbed his coffee then marched to Peters room and knocked. He heard a small ‘come in’ then he opened the door.

“You have to eat. Get up” Tony didn’t mean to sound so rude but he wasn’t letting the kid kick him out this time. He needed Peter to eat something.

“I’m not hungry” Peter didn’t even look at him but was lying on the bed staring at the wall.

“I don’t care. You have to eat something Peter”

“No. Leave me alone-“ Tony cut Peter off then walked over to him and ripped the blankets off.

“Nope. Not gonna happen. Now get up” Tony grabbed Peters arms but Peter weakly pulled away. Good thing the kid is really light. Tony thought as he lifted Peter up by the underarms to get him to stand on his feet while Peter whined ‘no’ the whole time.

Once Tony got Peter standing up he put his hands on his shoulders and lead Peter into the kitchen to make him some food.

Tony pushed Peter onto the kitchen stool and began to make some pancakes.

Once the pancakes were done with barely any words exchanged between him and Peter he placed a plate in front of Peter and Peter just stared at them. Tony watched him for a few seconds before he spoke “eat” he demanded.

“I told you I’m not hungry” Peter pushed the plate away and went to get up to walk back to his room but Tony walked in front of him to stop him.

Not this again he thought as he sat down on the stool and grabbed Peter closer to him so he could pick him up and sit him on his lap. Peter struggled to get out mumbling something about not being hungry but Tony had enough “Peter stop. Just please eat your food” Tony put his arm on Peters stomach and lifted his other one up to pick Peter up more so he didn’t slip off.

Peter stopped moving and lifted his hands up to his eyes to stop his tears from falling. Tony brought his hand that lifted Peter up and he caught his tears then put his hand in Peters hair. Peter made a content sound and began to swift on Tony’s lap so that he legs were on one side of Tony and he put his head on his chest. Tony continued to rub Peters hair with one hand then moved his other hand to support his back.

After a few minutes Peter seemed to have calmed down so Tony removed his hand from Peters hair and ignored the weird sound that Peter made and reached over to grab the pancakes. He ripped a piece off and put it on his mouth then made a ‘yum’ sound.

Peter giggled a bit then lifted his head off of Tony’s chest and moved the plate closer to him then cut one piece off and began to eat. After a few bites he slid off of Tony’s lap and sat on the stool next to him.

They ate in silence for a few minutes until most of Peters pancakes were all gone. Tony watched him eat and Peter just took slow bites but eventually managed to eat most of it.

“Okay so, we have to get ready for tomorrow” Tony said sadly as he took Peters plate over to the kitchen sink.

“O-okay” Peter looked down at his lap and then Tony walked over to him and brought him into a hug. Peter began to cry as Tony rubbed Peters back up and down.

They stayed like this for a few minutes until they eventually moved to the couch where Peter fell asleep then Tony carried him to bed.

The next day was going to be really hard.