All The Stars Align

“Pete? Where did you go?” Tony had left the room for two seconds to take a phone call and when he walked back into his bedroom, Peter was nowhere to be seen.

“Peter?” Tony called out again as he walked into the closet. He was about to turn on the light when Peter jumped up with a scream and scared the living daylights out of him. “Ah fuck! Jeez Peter.”

Peter started laughing evilly. “You swore. Now I’m gonna start swearing and take after your bad habits.”

Tony pushed him playfully and left the closet to sit on the bed. “If I hear you swear then I’ll wash your mouth with the soap in the kitchen.”

Peter followed him and climbed onto the bed, sitting with half his body on Tony’s lap. “That’s poisonous and if you do that then I’ll have no choice but to call the children’s social services on you.”

Tony looked at Peter. “Well if you do that then it’s strike three for me and they’ll take you away from me then I’ll never see you again.” Tony joked but then the smile fell from Peter’s face.

“No.” Peter whined.

“I’m just joking, Pete.” Tony said immediately so Peter didn’t start crying.

“Well… do you actually just have one strike left?” Peter asked, scared of the answer.

Tony laughed. “What? No. I’m just joking. I don’t get three strikes. I get four.” Tony laughed again. He was going crazy staying in the bedroom for so long. “I’m just joking. You mr, are not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me.”

Peter grinned. “Forever?”

“Forever and ever, baby boy.” Tony replied.

Peter clung onto him tighter but Tony needed some space now. “Okay. Off of me. Give dad some well deserved space.”

Peter let out a whimper. “What? Why?”

“Because… I need some breathing room. You cling onto me like an octopus.” Tony commented and went to stand up but Peter latched onto his leg. “Why are you being so clingy today?”

“Because I love you.” Peter simply said.

“Okay. I love you too but hey, how about you go change out of that onesie that you’ve been wearing for about thirty hours now.” Tony suggested since Peter definitely needed a change. Plus it’ll give him some time to go shower himself.

Peter let a loud whine. “It’s comfy.”

“I’m sure it is but you gotta change out of it and I’m gonna go shower so I’ll see you later.” Tony ruffled Peter’s curls and then went into the bathroom before Peter had the chance to say anything to him.

Peter waited until he heard the shower turn on then he went to his bedroom to change into something other than his onesie. He couldn’t be more happier that he had over two weeks off and that he got to spend those two weeks with his dad.

He unzipped his onesie and stepped out of it, kicking it to the side. He jumped onto his bed and reached over for his phone so he could text Ned but when he went onto his phone, he saw a bunch of random numbers texting him.

It was nothing like before but he didn’t know these people and they apparently knew who he was which was not okay with him.

He turned his phone off and got off the bed to continue getting dressed in some comfy clothes since he knew they weren’t going to be doing anything that day.

Tony walked into his room and bit later, he was surprised to see that Peter wasn’t in his bedroom when he got out of the shower and surprised to find him in his own bedroom.

“Hey, bud.” Tony said, leaning against the doorway.

Peter didn’t look up at him. “Hi.”

“What’re you up to?” Tony asked and walked into his room so he could sit on the unused bed and lean against the bed frame.

Peter crawled over to him from his spot by the end of the bed without even thinking about it. “I got a bunch of texts from random numbers.”

Tony didn’t like the sound of that. “Let me see.”

Once he had Peter’s phone in his hand, he began looking through all the texts from the unknown numbers. No one was saying anything bad but they knew who Peter was and that scared Tony since he didn’t know who they were. They could be someone from his school or a random pervert old man texting him.

“I’m gonna get your number changed, alright?” Tony pocketed Peter’s phone so he didn’t look at the texts anymore and made a mental note for sometime today to get Peter’s number changed.

“Fine. That’s so annoying.” Peter complained.

Tony patted his thigh. “Yeah it is. Hey, so I was thinking, what do you say we fly to Miami today and stay for about a week?”

Peter sat up and was nodding his head aggressively with a huge smile on his face. “Yes yes yes yes yes! I want to go back! Yes!”

Tony matched his smile. “Okay, good. It’s gonna be a bit colder than when we went a few weeks ago but it’ll still be warm.”

Peter nodded his head and began getting off the bed so he could start packing. “What day are we gonna stay till? Can we still till the end of January?”

“You mean December?”

“No. I mean January. We can stay there for a full month and swim in the ocean and the pool all day.” Peter responded while he began pulling everything out of his drawers.

“No, bud. You have school.” Tony brought up but he didn’t want to talk about that at that moment so he changed the subject. “Peppers gonna fly with us today, is that okay?”

Peter nodded his head and Tony sighed in relief. “Yeah, I like Pepper. She smells good.”

Tony bursted out laughing. “She does smell good, doesn’t she?”

Peter nodded. “Where’s my suitcase?”

“It’s in my room but I’ll get it in a sec,” Tony still needed to talk to Peter about some of the team coming as well. “But I wanted to ask you if you’d be okay with the team coming?”

“Yeah! I can show them around the house and the ocean. Oh and the pool and all the floaties.” Peter explained excitedly and Tony was happy that Peter was okay with everyone coming. He planned on them leaving after New Years anyways so he had a few days to have Peter all to himself.

“Okay. That’s good. I’ll go tell them while you continue to pack your stuff.” Tony stood up and went to leave his kids bedroom but Peter got up to follow him. “I need you to stay here.”

Peter stuck out his bottom lip. “No. I wanna go with you.”

“Okay, come, we’ll get Pepper on the way then she’ll come help you.” Tony said because they needed Pepper to help them pack anyways, especially Peter.

Tony knocked on her bedroom door and she was opening it seconds later. “Hey.”

“Can you help Pete pack while I go downstairs and tell everyone we’re leaving for Miami today?” Tony put his hands on Peter’s shoulders and tried to keep him still but Peter was trying to peek into Peppers room.

“Yeah, of course. Come, Peter. Let’s head to your bedroom and I’ll help you pack.” Pepper smiled at Tony and gently grabbed onto Peter’s wrist. “Do you have your suitcase?”

Peter looked back at Tony while Pepper led him down the hallway and into his room. “Um, it’s actually in dad’s bedroom so let’s go get it.”

The two of them went into Tony’s bedroom and Peter was jumping onto the bed, his favourite place in the world.

“You look comfortable.” Pepper commented as she made her way over to Peter by the bed rail.

Peter leaned against his bed rail and hugged the blankets around him. “Yeah, I am. This is my side and that’s dad's side but usually I sleep on that side too.”

Pepper nodded in understanding. “Oh okay. So you sleep on both sides then?”

“Yeah.” Peter grabbed more blankets and then he watched as Pepper walked into Tony’s closet and began looking for something.

Peter stood up, dragging all the blankets with him until he was standing by the doorway of the closet. Pepper turned around to look at him and smiled at how adorable he looked with his chubby cheeks and curls peeking out from the blanket. “Aw, look at you.”

Peter turned away so they could go back to his other room. Once they got back, Peter clung onto the blankets and fell to the floor. “Are you sure you wanted to bring that in here?”

Peter nodded. “Yeah. Now we can sit on it while we pack all my clothes and then I’ll help you pack your clothes too.”

Pepper sat down as she laughed. “Okay! Where do we start?”

Tony walked in at that moment but he wanted to watch the two of them for a few minutes so he peeked his head around the corner since they both had their backs to him.

Peter moved closer to her. “Once when me and dad were in Miami, before when we went, I um, I thought that I didn’t need to bring a lot of um, like all my clothes because, um… because we would be swimming the whole time and…”

Peter trailed off and went to reach out to grab onto his swimming trunks. “These are the ones that Happy brought me.”

Pepper was trying to keep up with Peter’s conversation. He seemed to be having three at once. “What were you saying before?”

Peter started folding his bathing suit as he thought. “Ummm, I forgot. How many clothes should I pack now? I only have three pairs of swimming pants but maybe I should just bring one this time.”

“Did you-”

Peter was interrupting her, “Because dad said I would just leave them around everywhere anyways.”

Pepper nodded, she got to understand what Tony went through everyday. “I think you should pack all three.”

Peter thought about it. “Hmmm, maybe I’ll pack just two. What ones do you like better?”

Tony took that time to walk into the room. Peter looked up at him and held his arm out in a silent invitation for Tony to sit next to him.

“What are you guys up to?” Tony asked as he sat down and then Peter tried to sit on him but ended up almost sitting on his kneecap. “Ow. Sit next to me.”

“We’re packing Peter’s suitcase.” Pepper answered.

“You guys didn’t get very far.” Tony observed but he knew exactly what it was like to try and get Peter to do something.

“I’m gonna go pee. I’ll be right back.” Peter got up to go into the bathroom, tripping on the blankets in the process.

“Close the door please.” Tony called out to him because he didn’t want Pepper seeing anything.

Pepper looked over at Tony once Peter was in the bathroom. “He was having about five conversations at once.”

Tony nodded, “Yeah. He does that. It doesn’t phase me anymore.”

“He seems really distracted.” Pepper pointed out but Tony shook his head.

“He’s always like that. He either talks about ten things at once or his conversations about one thing last a few minutes before he’s moving onto the next topic.” Tony explained to her because it’s what he’s been dealing with since he met Peter but it did get a tad worse after May died.

“Was he like this before he came to live with you too?” Pepper asked him, concerned.

“Uh, kinda. Not as bad. Now his mind just wanders a lot. It’s fun to watch him or try to get him to talk about something serious for longer than ten minutes.” Tony couldn’t count the number of times he’s tried to do that with Peter out of pure boredom. It was fun and harmless.

Peter ran out of the bathroom after that and sat between the two.

“So, Peter,” Tony started. “I talked to everyone and they’re all coming and leaving on the 2nd in the morning and we’re leaving on the fifth in the night.”

“And my school starts again on the seventh?” Peter asked sadly.

“No, I double checked and it starts again on the eighth.” Tony told him. It would give them two days to get ready for the new year.

“Oh. Okay.” Peter thought that was a little better but not much. He moved away from Tony so he could finish packing his stuff with the help from Pepper.

Tony stayed just to watch his son and his ex girlfriend interact. It was weird to think of it that way but he was so happy that they got along.

With Pepper there to help them, they had their bags packed in under an hour. Pepper had made sure the two of them had everything that they needed before she left to go pack her own bag.

An hour later, Pepper, Tony and Peter were waiting in the garage for everyone to meet them down there. Tony was putting all the bags into the trunk while Pepper and Peter climbed into the car.

“Why aren’t you going to come sit back here with me?” Peter asked Pepper when she sat in the front seat instead of the back with him. He knew that this was the usual sitting arrangement when Pepper came with them anywhere but he wanted that to change for the ride to the airport.

Tony leaned against the open back door where Peter was and grabbed his seatbelt. “Because Pepper is sitting in the front with me. Put your seatbelt on.”

Just then, everyone walked out of the elevator with all of their bags. “Some of you guys can put your bags in the back seat with Peter so you have more room in your car.” Tony said to them.

Bucky and Steve went to go do that while Sam and Natasha put their bags into the other car that Natasha would drive. “Steve, come sit with me.” Peter asked because he really wanted someone to sit next to him since he wasn’t sitting next to his dad.

Steve peeked his head into the back seat. “I can’t, buddy. There’s no room but I’ll sit next to you on the airplane.”

Peter grinned. He couldn’t wait to sit on the plane with his whole family, well, almost his whole family.

Once everyone was in their cars, they were off and headed to the airport. They left around seven in the evening so it wasn’t as late as they left before.

Peter was looking out the window once they got to the airport and couldn’t stop himself from bouncing excitedly in his seat. He was so excited and the fact that he was with his whole family made it even better.

The last time he went with his dad was extremely fun as well but he was excited to be in Miami with his whole family now.

They all got out of their cars and grabbed their suitcases then made their way into the airplane. It was going to be a cozy flight but Peter was okay with that because he loved cozy things.

They were an hour into their plane ride, Peter was sitting on the ground on his dad's feet to try and give them a massage from his weight while Pepper chatted with Tony.

“Does that feel good?” Peter asked him.

“Yeah, a little to the left.” Tony paused in his conversation to say to his kid. Peter was the perfect weight to put some pressure on his feet. It felt really good.

Peter continued doing that for a few more minutes until his attention was on something else. Steve had opened up a pack of Oreos and was about to not offer him one.

Peter crawled across the plane aisle and popped his head up from Steve’s legs. “Can I have one?”

Steve smiled at him. “Sure. Have as many as you want.”

Peter sat up and sat himself so he was half on Steve’s lap and half on the plane seat. “Have you ever tried the vanilla ones?”

“I didn’t even know they had vanilla Oreos.” Steve admitted.

Across the plane, Tony watched his kid ditch him for someone else. He knew that would happen when he planned on bringing the whole crew with them so he was really going to look forward to his few days with his kid alone.

The next few hours on the plane was spent with Peter moving between everyone so Tony knew he was getting bored but since Peter had to stay seated during landing, he grabbed Peter and forced him into the seat next to him so he could hold his kid before he was running off again.

Two cars were waiting for them at the airport when the plane landed so they all piled into the same order they were in before.

Tony could tell how excited Peter was to be back. He had a feeling that deep down Peter was an island boy. Maybe one day when Peter’s older he can take him to a proper island and they could go snorkelling or scuba diving together. That’s definitely only when Peter is older though.

They pulled up to the house which was interesting to pull up when it was still partially bright out. The front was really nice which Tony was really seeing for the first time.

“Dad, why are we here first?” Peter asked as he got out of the car and ran around to the trunk to grab his suitcase so he could go swimming. It was a bit colder than when they were here a few weeks ago but that was okay.

“Because, Pete, your dad is an excellent driver.” Tony walked around the car and pressed a kiss to Peter’s head. He opened the trunk and had to take a step back because Peter was pulling his suitcase out.

“Pepper, last time when we came here it was dark out so we couldn’t go swimming until the next day but since it’s still bright out we can go now because the lights will come on.” Peter said to Pepper since she had said in the car that she was dying to go swimming.

“Let’s go get changed into our bathing suits and then we can go swimming.” Pepper couldn’t help herself, she ruffled Peter’s hair and then looked over at Tony who was smiling fondly at her. “Are you joining us?”

Tony shrugged. “Why not.”

They grabbed their suitcases and went inside, the others still weren’t there yet so Tony was sure they took a wrong turn somewhere.

Him and Peter went straight into their second bedroom and Peter flopped onto the bed. “I missed this bed. Mmm the sheets smell so good.”

Tony walked by and patted Peter’s butt. “Yeah, the maids came in to wash them. Get your butt changed so we can go swimming.”

Peter lifted his head up and got off the bed so he could get his bathing suit out of his suitcase. “Do you think everyone else will come swimming with us?”

Tony grabbed his own bathing suit out of his suitcase while he answered. “I don’t know. You might have to beg them.”

Peter nodded. He was good at that. “Hey, I don’t have to put sunscreen on.”

“Not tonight you don’t but every other day you do. Do you have your bathing suit?” Tony asked his kid who was way too hyper.

“Oh yeah. Yeah, it’s right here.” Peter started to pull his clothes off to get changed so Tony went into the bathroom to get changed himself.

When he walked out, Peter was doing somersaults on the bed. Tony rolled his eyes at him. “Are ready, monkey?”

“Yeah! I’m gonna see if Pepper’s done.” Peter jumped off the bed and went to go knock on Peppers door but she was walking out before he got the chance.

“I’m already ready. You guys take so long.” Pepper said to Peter while Tony felt frozen. Pepper was wearing a rather tight and showing bikini. He might have to go take some time to himself for a bit.

She looked at him and caught him staring at her so she gave him a look and started walking down the stairs while Peter was talking a mile a minute about something he wasn’t paying any attention to because his attention was focused on Peppers butt.

They walked outside and thankfully the pool was ready since Tony had someone come to clean it and get it ready for their arrival a few days ago.

Peter ran to the stairs of the pool and walked onto the first step. “It’s so warm.”

Pepper followed him in next but she continued walking into the pool and then went under. Peter watched her in awe because he could never do that.

He stepped down onto the second and third step but then he was running out of the pool. “I want my life jacket.”

“You don’t need it, Pete. We’re both here.” Tony told him and walked over to the pool steps too. Peter shook his head and did a little job in place.

“No, I want it.” Peter whined out. He liked the feeling of floating and feeling safe.

Tony kicked off the wall and swam into the deep end with Pepper. “Hi.” He smiled at her but then Peter was whining again. “Are we gonna go inside now?”

Peter shook his head. “No.”

“Then stop. You don’t need your life jacket. Come here and I’ll hold you.” Tony swam to the edge of the pool and held his arms out. “I’ll hold you, just come.”

Peter hesitated but walked over to the edge of the pool and sat down with his legs in the water. Tony went to pull him in but Peter screamed. “Don’t pull me!”

“Okay…” Tony let go of his kid and waited for Peter to ever so carefully slide halfway in.

“Grab me.” Peter said as he held himself awkwardly halfway in. Tony laughed and grabbed Peter then turned him around so he could hold him in his arms more comfortably.

Tony didn’t know why Peter was suddenly so scared of the water. Last time he would doggy paddle with nothing on until he started to go under so Tony would lift him up.

“Do you wanna go swim around?” Tony asked him but Peter shook his head.

“No, I want you to hold me.” Peter said then wrapped his legs around Tony’s waist and put his head on his dad's shoulder. Tony always melted when Peter did that.

“Let him swim to me and we’ll see how far he can go.” Pepper said and swam away from the two of them a bit.

Peter shot his head up and let his legs fall to the side. “Yeah! But you have to hold me after.”

Pepper laughed and agreed while Tony’s heart was melting. “Alright. Off you swim my little fish.”

Peter doggy paddled over to Pepper but half way there he started to panic. “My… my pants are falling off and…”

Peter’s head was going under so Tony went to race to grab Peter without even thinking but Pepper was closer so she reached out and pulled Peter above the water and into her arms.

Peter spit the water out and rubbed the water out of his eyes with a shocked expression on his face.

“Are you okay?” Pepper asked him and Peter nodded while still trying to get the water out of his eyes by rubbing them. He turned around to look for his dad and saw Tony swimming over so he reached out for him.

Tony took Peter into his arms and held him against his chest. “What happened buddy?”

Peter smiled shyly. “My bathing suit fell down and I couldn’t move my legs.”

Tony laughed at the situation now. He walked forward in the pool since he was up to his chest in the shallow end now to look for the floating bathing suit.

“Where is it?” Tony asked Peter since he still couldn’t see them anywhere. Maybe they sunk to the bottom.

“Around the ankles. Let me…” Peter struggled in Tony’s hold to grab hold of his bathing suit and tug it back up but he eventually got it.

“Wanna go get your life jacket now?” Tony asked him and Peter nodded his head so Tony walked until Peter could touch the ground.

Peter ran inside to go grab it and then Pepper swam over to Tony, feeling horrible. “I shouldn’t have told him to swim to me.”

“What? That’s not your fault. His bathing suit wasn’t on tight enough so it would’ve happened one way or another.” Tony learned that earlier on. If Peter was happy when something fixable like that happens then it’s okay.

“I just feel bad.” Pepper said sadly and lifted herself out of the pool so she was sitting on the edge.

Tony tried so hard not to check her out. “It’s fine. He’s fine.”

Peter then came running out wearing his life jacket. “Everyone else is here already. Steve isn’t wearing his bathing suit and neither is Bucky.”

Steve and Bucky walked out of the house and over to Peter. “We’re sorry, Peter. We’ll swim with you tomorrow but we’re really tired now so gonna head up to bed.” Steve explained to Peter.

Tony and Pepper looked at each other and tried not to show that they knew. Tony looked at Steve and raised his eyebrows at the man while Bucky hid his grin.

Peter sighed, completely oblivious to what was going on. “Aw. But you guys have to watch me jump in first.”

“We’ll watch you tomorrow, Peter. Good night.” Steve rushed out but Peter was grabbing him by the hand, Tony bursted out laughing.

“No, please watch.” Peter went to jump into the pool but stopped at the edge. He was scared now. He hesitated again and went to jump but then regretted it so he ended up falling in weirdly.

He floated back up to the top because of his life jacket and smiled. “Did you see?”

“We saw. Good night you guys.” Steve said and then started walking back inside with Bucky but Peter stopped them again.

“But you didn’t see my flip yet.” Peter called out to them but they were already inside.

Peter stuck out his bottom lip and sighed then swam over to his dad. “Aw. It’s okay, baby. They’ll see it tomorrow. They’re just really tired from the plane ride.”

“Yeah. I guess. Are they gonna sleep together?” Peter asked and caught both Tony and Pepper off guard.

“What?” Tony asked him, concerned.

Peter grabbed onto the edge of the pool. “Like roommates. Like me and you sleep together every night.”

“Oh. Oh yeah, something like that.” Tony made a face at Pepper and grabbed Peter into his arms so that Peter was facing him. “Please stay this young forever.”

Peter sighed dramatically. “I can’t control that. I just grow up.”

Tony let go of Peter and put him back into the water. “I can control that. I’m gonna put you in a bubble and hide you away from the world.”

Peter shrugged his shoulders. “Hmm okay. If you say so.”

Natasha walked out dressed in her bathing suit followed by Sam dressed in his bathing suit. Sam has a look on his face like her just found out an important secret and Tony had an idea about what it was about.

“You would not believe what Steve and Bucky are doing-”

“Hey. Nope. Look who’s here.” Tony interrupted Sam to say. He was supportive of Steve and Bucky but he did not want Peter to hear about what they were doing.

Sam stopped talking and looked at Peter. “Oh wow. You look so cool in that, kid. Can I wear it after you?”

Peter started swimming over to Sam who was getting into the pool. “You don’t know how to swim?”

Sam laughed and did a mini dive into the pool. “I can swim beautifully kid. When is your bedtime? I thought you’d be in bed by now.”

“No, dad said I can stay up as late as I want.” Pete lied.

Tony bursted out laughing. “I don’t recall saying that. But Sam's right. You got ten more minutes.”

Peter threw his head back but then found that he liked that so he continued to do that. He then started to float there with his legs and body floating with the help from the life jacket.

Sam noticed Peter’s bathing suit and swam over to him. “Woah. I wish I could wear a bathing suit like that. You look so cool, dude.”

Peter grinned at Sam. “Thanks. My dad got them for me.”

“Yeah, I would think so. Wanna check out mine?” Sam did a handstand in the water for Peter to see his swimsuit.

Tony looked over at Natasha. “Is he drunk?”

“Yeah. He drank like three shots in the car on the way over.” Natasha told Tony, unimpressed.

“How did he even get alcohol? Did he pack it?” The last thing Tony wanted was for there to be alcohol around the house for his sake and Peter’s sake.

“He packed a full bag of it.” Natasha told him so Tony made a mental note to talk to Sam about it tomorrow.

“Alright well, I’m bringing my kid up to bed now so I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” Tony started to get out of the pool as he called Peter. “It’s time to go to bed, bud. Get out.”

Peter ignored Tony so Tony walked to the edge of the pool in the deep end and bent down to grab Peter by the life jacket handle to drag him towards himself. He kept holding it as he walked along the pool edge to drag Peter in the water over to the swallow end.

“Wee!” Peter laughed at the motion so Tony tried to make the best of the situation but he always got so annoyed when Peter didn’t listen to him.

“Walk out yourself. Come on.” Tony said to Peter and saw that Peter was going to swim back to the deep end. “No, Peter.”

“Yes, Peter!” Peter started to swim in the opposite direction of the stairs so Tony walked back into the pool and grabbed Peter before he could get any further.

“No swimming for you tomorrow.” Tony told him as he held him with one hand and walked back up the steps of the pool.

“No. No! I’m sorry. No, dad!” Peter suddenly regretted what he did now because now he didn’t get to swim.

Tony ignored him as he walked up the steps of the pool and put Peter on his feet. He unzipped the life jacket and the buckle while Peter was trying to push his hands away from him.

“Dad, no. Please.” Peter grabbed onto Tony’s hands to try and stop him from bringing him into the house but Tony was stronger than him without Peter using his Spidey powers.

“Are you gonna walk?” Tony told him while still holding Peter who was trying to fall to the ground.

“Yes.” Peter said then stood up fully so Tony let go of him.

He tossed the life jacket on the chair and started walking towards the back door with Peter following him slowly behind.

Once they got upstairs, Peter was already in a better mood but all Tony wanted to do was fall asleep without having anyone kick him all night.

“Dad? I want to go swimming tomorrow.” Peter told him while Tony was getting a towel out for Peter to shower.

“If you get into bed without a problem then I’ll let you go swimming tomorrow. Meaning no taking six hours in the shower rubbing shaving cream on your body or anything else that isn’t showering, then into bed.” Tony warned him and turned the shower on to get the process started.

“And don’t forget drying off, getting on my pyjamas and brushing my teeth.” Peter said cheekily but Tony shut the bathroom door without responding otherwise Peter could go all night.

Less than ten minutes later, Peter was walking out of the bathroom freshly showered and with the towel wrapped around his shoulders. Tony patted their bed where his pyjamas were and disappeared into the shower himself. “I’ll be right back. Don’t wander anywhere.”

Peter got himself dried off and changed into his pyjamas just as Pepper walked into the room. “Where’s your dad?”

Peter pointed to the bathroom door and crawled onto the bed, moving back the blankets so he could cuddle under them. He yawned once he put his head down and waited patiently for Tony to come back out.

“Are you tired?” Pepper asked him and came to walk over to the side of his bed to caress his face.

Peter leaned into the touch and nodded his head. He closed his eyes because what Pepper was doing was really relaxing for him.

Tony then walked out of the bathroom and was shocked to see Pepper there with his son. “Oh, hi.”

She smiled over at him and then Peter sat up and was reaching for Tony. “Come.”

“I’m coming.” Tony told him but went to walk away from Peter to walk Pepper to her room which was right next to theirs.

“No you’re not! Come.” Peter let out a whimper and started to kick the blankets off of him.

“I am.” Tony forced out. Peter was so demanding whenever Tony had to leave which was annoying at times like this.

He gave a look to Pepper and then said goodnight and shut the door. He shut the lights off and walked over to his side of the bed. “Move over you leach.”

Peter smiled and rolled away so Tony could get into bed. Peter immediately latched onto him once Tony was laying down and he started to rub his head on Tony’s chest. “Mmm, my dad. Just mine.”

Tony smiled at his kid and wrapped an arm around Peter’s shoulders. “Yeah, baby. I’m all yours.”

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The last few days passed by in the blink of an eye.

Peter had been getting up extra early which was good and bad in Tony’s opinion. It was good because it was easier to get Peter to fall asleep in the night but it also meant he got barely any time alone with Pepper. It was okay though since he would choose to hang out with Peter over anyone else any day.

It was New Year’s Eve which was crazy because every single New Years for Tony’s entire life, he had gone to parties, hooked up with random woman and got so drunk he would pass out before the clock struck twelve but now he was in Miami with his son and his family and he couldn’t be happier.

There would be no getting drunk for him because he wanted to be there for Peter, be present in the moment.

Steve and Bucky had gone out to get a bunch of last minute New Years decorations and Tony had to admit, the house looked pretty decent.

It was just after nine o’clock at night and Peter was already showing signs of falling asleep so Tony wondered if he would make it.

They were all on the beach running around with glow sticks, Tony was sitting with Pepper and watching Peter getting thrown into the air by Steve. They were all the way down the beach but Tony could still hear Peter’s giggles and he loved that sound so much.

Tony spoke to Pepper while he still kept his eyes on Peter. “This is gonna be mine and Peter’s first New Years together. Time is passing by so fast, soon it’s gonna be our fifth New Years together and he’s gonna be so old.”

Tony didn’t want to think about that. No. No way. Peter was going to stay this age forever and there was nothing anyone could do about that. He would invent a time machine to stop Peter from getting older.

“Well, you know what they say. They grow up so fast.” Pepper said and snapped another glow stick so she could see Tony’s face more in the dark.

Tony laughed sadly. “Yeah. I get that now.”

Pepper sat up and she could look down at Tony. “I love the way you are with him. You’ve grown into such an amazing man and I love watching you two together. He loves you so much and I know you love him even more.”

Tony nodded. He didn’t really know what to say to that because she told him that all the time but he still loved it when she did.

“I just wish we got a little bit more time to talk about stuff.” Pepper said with a smile on her face. She ran her hand on Tony’s chest which got his attention.

He looked away from Peter and up at Pepper while his heart was beating a mile a minute. “Oh yeah, talk about what kind of stuff?”

Pepper shrugged and moved closer to Tony’s face. He glanced down from her eyes to her lips then back up at her eyes again.

“Like… you and me.” Pepper whispered to him and leaned crossed the distance between the two of them until their lips were touching.

Tony felt his heart flutter as he kissed Pepper back. He put his hand on her hip and turned her over so she was laying under him now.

They continued kissing for a little bit but then Tony was pulling away from her and sitting up. He knew he shouldn’t be doing this. But he wanted it so badly.

Without another thought, he leaned back down and continued to kiss her as if no time had passed between the two of them. Their hands were wandering on each other just like all the other times.

Once upon a time they were both in love with each other but then things changed.

Tony knew he was a much different person back then. He was an immature mess. He was different now, he had a son.

He pulled away from her before they went any further and he sat up with a dumb smile on his face.

She sat up as well and pulled her knees to her chest so she could rest her head on them and look over at Tony.

“I’m glad it’s dark out.” Tony admitted. The last thing he wanted was for Peter to see them kiss and start asking questions.

“Can you ask Steve to watch Peter for a bit?” Pepper asked, then reached her hand out to hold Tony’s hand.

Tony wanted to say yes, he really wanted to but he couldn’t. He didn’t know if he had any room in his life for a relationship with everything that is going on with Peter and his separation anxiety.

He looked down. “Can we take a rangecheck?”

Pepper laughed and laid back down. “Of course.”

Tony felt bad. If it was any other situation he would have jumped at the offer but it was different now. He laid back down and turned so he could face her. “Can I ask you something?”

Pepper nodded.

“After we broke up, a year and a half ago, have you been with anyone else since then?” Tony was scared of the answer. He knew he couldn’t get mad if Pepper slept with anyone else but he didn’t want that.

She turned to face him. “I went on a few dates but that’s it. It’s kinda hard to find someone to date when I’m constantly picking up after you.”

Tony laughed and laid his head back down again. “So… just kissing then? That’s it?”

Pepper leaned closer to him and smiled. She knew how protective and jealous Tony could get. “That’s it. I promise you.”

Tony kissed her again and smiled through the kiss because he had wanted this for so long but he never got the chance with everything going on.

Pepper pulled away from him and sat up and Tony was going to go back on her but then he saw Peter running to them in the distance.

Tony sat up and pulled his legs up as Peter ran over. Peter threw himself to the ground between them and cuddled up against Tony.

“Did-did you see Steve throw me into the air?” Peter asked him.

“Yeah. I saw it all.” Tony brushed some curls off of Peter’s face.

“I um, I-I I forgot.” Peter laughed at himself then laid down. “I’m tired but I wanna stay up.”

Tony rubbed Peter's belly. “Did you stay up last year?”

Peter shook his head. “No. And the year before that and the year before that and all the years but when I was ten I stayed up till two because I had a nap and now I didn’t have a nap.”

“It’s only nine, how about you sleep for a few hours and I’ll wake you up?” Tony suggested so Peter thought about it.

“Are you gonna stay here with me?” Peter asked, already getting comfortable on the beach.

Tony laughed at how innocent his kid was. “No, I meant like on the pool chairs or something.”

Peter sat up. “Oh. Okay. Are you gonna come with me?”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Tony stood up and helped pull Pepper up and then Peter was reaching his hands up as well so Tony rolled his eyes and pulled Peter up too.

“No. I mean carry me.” Peter said and tried to jump in front of Tony to get the man to carry him.

“No. Get out of here.” Tony playfully said but Peter was giving him puppy dog eyes so Tony sighed and lifted Peter up a bit so he was barely off the ground.

Peter tried to lift his legs up but he couldn’t and Pepper laughed at the two of them. “Dad. Higher.”

Tony ignored Peter and continued to hold him the way he was until they made it to the backyard. Tony let go of Peter then sat himself down on the pool chair and waited for Peter to follow him.

“Come lay down.” Tony patted the seat and then Peter was rubbing his eyes and laying down.

“Don’t forget to wake me.” Peter said to Tony. He didn’t want to miss his first New Years with his dad.

Tony brushed his hand through Peter’s hair. “I promise I won’t.”

Pepper sat down on the pool chair next to Peter and watched the two of them. Tony's attention was focused on Peter so he didn’t look up at her.

Peter lifted his arms above his head and his legs moved so they were in his signature butterfly stretch position. Tony still had no idea how that was comfortable to sleep in but considering how many times Peter slept in it, it must be.

Everyone started walking up from the beach a few minutes later so Tony waved them off to be quiet. “Shh. Pete’s gonna sleep for about an hour so he can stay up for New Years.”

Steve silently cooed at the boy. “We’ll be quiet.”

Tony moved his hand away from Peter’s face because he was asleep now. He quietly stood up so he could go into the kitchen to get some water but Pepper was following him.

“Hey.” He turned around to wrap his arms around her but everyone could see them from the window if you looked in so he didn’t.

“Wanna take me up on that rangecheck now?” Pepper asked him, moving closer to him.

Tony looked outside and saw Peter sleeping on the chair still and knew that Peter would stay asleep so he didn’t see why not now. “Yes. Let me just… stay here.”

Tony left the house and rushed over to Steve who was sitting on one of the pool chairs next to Bucky. “Can you watch Peter for a little while? I’m gonna be upstairs.”

Steve looked confused but agreed anyway so then Tony was rushing back into the house and running upstairs to go into Peppers room with her.

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Tony walked back outside a little later and sat down next to Peter who was still sound asleep on the pool chair.

It was just after 11:30pm so Tony decided to wake Peter up now so he could get ready for the count down.

“Hey, bud. Wake up.” Tony placed his hand on Peter’s belly and shook him awake. Peter slowly stretched his legs out and looked up at his dad.

“Mm hi.” Peter said and then must have realized what time it almost was because he was shooting up. “What time is it?”

“It is… 11:37. Almost time.” Tony stood up and grabbed a party hat to put on Peter’s head. “There you go.”

Peter grabbed the party hat off his head to look at it and then put it back on. He ran inside where Sam was so he could show him his hat.

Tony noticed that Sam had been drinking a lot since he got there which is odd because Sam rarely ever drinks.

Pepper walked outside a little bit later and smiled at Tony then walked over to Peter who was trying to convince Natasha to put the party hat on.

“Do I get a party hat?” Pepper asked Peter who beamed at her and then ran off to go get one for her.

“You match with dad's hat. Mines red so I match with um… Steve.” Peter looked around to see if he matched with anyone else and then he was sitting between Tony's legs on the chair.

Tony wrapped his arms around Peter and kissed the top of his head.

In a few minutes they would be saying goodbye to a year that would always be one of Tony’s favourite years of his entire life.

This was the year he became a dad. This year brought him so much pain and happiness. Pain because he had to watch his kid grief and break down on his bed while he mourned his dead Aunt. Happiness because he got to call Peter his son.

He got to adopt his baby boy and get to experience so many things with him, some bad and some good but that was okay. Tony learned so much in the past few months and he wouldn't change anything for the world.

They were going to be going into a new year soon which would bring him and Peter so much more memories and Tony couldn’t wait for every second of it.

The countdown started on the tv so Peter jumped up from the chair and started jumping excitedly in front of the tv.

Tony stood up as well and watched the countdown. He was feeling a bit sad to be saying goodbye to the year after all the good things that it brought him.

It started to countdown from ten so everyone started to countdown out loud.

“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one! Happy New Year!” Everyone Said in sync with each other.

There were fireworks going off in the background from other people celebrating but Tony’s attention was focused on his kid in front of him.

Peter turned around and looked up at Tony with so much love in his eyes. “Happy New Years, dad.”

Tony smiled at his baby. “Happy New Year, my baby boy.” He picked Peter up and held him close to his chest.

Peter wrapped his legs around his waist and laid his head on Tony’s shoulder.

Peter was saying goodbye to a year that he would never ever forget. He lost someone important in his life but he gained the best person of all, Tony.

Peter pressed his face further into his dad's neck and refused to ever let go of him. Tony was his and he didn’t want to ever let him go. “I love you.”

Tony squeezed Peter tighter. “I love you too, baby.”

Tony transferred Peter onto his hip so he could still hold his kid but also move to hug Pepper. “Happy New Year, Pep.”

Pepper hugged both of them at the same time since Tony was holding Peter. “Happy New Year you two.”

Peter wrapped his arms around Tony again after hugging Pepper. He didn’t want Tony to put him down now so when Tony went to put him back on the ground, Peter whined out. “No. Carry me.”

Tony couldn’t argue with that. He was more than glad that Peter was barely above seventy pounds because of the spider bite. He hoisted Peter back up on his hip and held him while everyone else cheered around them and watched the fireworks.

The best year of his life was over but now he was on to many more of those.