All The Stars Align

“You have to pour the paint into the tray first.” Tony told Peter as he was taping up the door frames with the green tape. They had already finished moving everything into the middle of the room and covering everything with plastic.

“To the top?” Peter asked as he squatted down to pour the paint in. It looked like blueberry yogurt so he was tempted to eat it and kept having to remind himself that it was in fact paint.

“Uh… no. About halfway so you can put the roller in.” Tony explained to Peter and finished taping up the last of the frames. He walked over to Peter to watch him pour the right amount in and picked up his own roller. “Have you ever painted a room before?”

“No but I watched my old neighbour do it once from the hallway.” Peter put the paint can down and rolled his roller in it.

Tony liked learning new things about Peter even if it was simple things such as him having never painted before. He still hated the fact that he never did and never will get to see what Peter was like in his terrible twos or at age five or ten. He suddenly had an urge to dig up the rest of the videos and pictures of baby Peter.

“Oops. It dripped onto the floor.” Peter said, pulling Tony from his thoughts.

“It’s okay. It got onto the plastic.” Tony looked down to see the drop of paint there but it was fine.

They started painting in comfortable silence for a few minutes after that. Tony could tell that Peter was trying hard to concentrate and get the hang of the motions.

“I can’t reach the top so can I climb up the wall?” Peter asked while he contemplated climbing up the wall. He would have to re paint over the part where his feet got into the paint.

“Absolutely not. You know you’re not allowed climbing walls.” Tony looked at where Peter wasn’t able to reach the top of the wall so he would have to go over that later. “It’s fine, bud. I’ll do it after.”

Peter shrugged. He dipped his roller into the paint again and went to continue painting the next wall. “You should be a professional wall painter.”

“Why’s that?” Tony asked, curiously. He loved these completely random conversations with Peter.

“Because you can fly up in your suit and paint all the corners of the room easily.” Peter answered as if he gave it a lot of thought. Tony wouldn’t pass him to have been thinking about that for the whole time they were silent.

“That’s true. And I could insert some paint into where my flares go and spray paint out of there.” Tony looked over at Peter to see him turn to him with wide eyes.

“Yeah! That would be so cool! Are you gonna do it?” Peter walked closer to Tony and waited for his answer. That would be really cool to see.

“No, why would I need to do that when I could just paint walls with my little helper?” Tony winked at Peter and moved his roller to tap Peter on the nose with it, leaving a bit of blue paint on his nose.

“Hey!” Peter swatted the roller away from his face and started laughing. He wiped the paint off of his nose, leaving some still on there but Tony wasn’t gonna tell him. “Now I have to put some on you.”

Peter moved his roller to put paint on Tony’s nose but Tony stopped him by grabbing his arm. “Oh no you don’t.”

Tony grabbed the roller from Peter and managed to turn him around so he could pin Peter’s back to his chest and poke him in the stomach.

“Ah! D-dad! Stop! It t-t-tickles.” Peter laughed out. He weakly pushed against his dad but Tony wouldn’t let him go.

“What? Keep going? You want me to put more paint on you?” Tony teased Peter then grabbed his roller and pretended to roll it over Peter’s painting shirt.

Peter gave a rather loud scream near Tony’s ear so Tony let him go before he lost his hearing.

Peter over exaggeratedly fell to the ground in a fit of giggles. The sound was Tony’s favourite sound in the world and he never wanted to stop hearing it.

It took the two of them over three hours to paint in the room. Peter got bored just as Tony expected him to, which caused Peter to start getting silly and painting up his arms so Tony had to send him into the kitchen to get some food. Peter then laid on the floor and drank a juice box while Tony finished painting the room.

The bedroom already looked so much brighter. The old, dark curtains were gone so the sun was shining through completely since there was nothing up to block it.

The blue also added a calm presence to the room which was what Peter needed. All they had to do was wait for the paint to dry overnight and then put the shelves and everything up.

Tony also wanted to order Peter new bedding so it would hopefully make him want to sleep in his own bed by himself but he knew that was pushing it.

Later that evening, Tony had gone down to the storage closet where he kept all of his old family pictures and a lot of his parents' stuff as well as now Peter’s family pictures and pictures of when his son was younger.

He was craving to look at some baby Peter pictures so that’s where he was. He found the bin where he put most of the pictures and videos and then carried it out into the living room where Peter was playing with his science kit that Pepper got him for Christmas.

He looked up at Tony when he walked into the living room. “What’s that?”

Tony placed the heavy bin on the floor and sat down next to Peter. “Baby pictures of you.”

Peter sat up on his knees to open the bin up. “My baby pictures? Do you have them all?”

“Yep. Every single one. Remember we looked at a few before?” Tony asked him but that was a while ago plus they only looked at one or two photo albums.

“Umm… yeah. I want to look at this one first. It’s when I was a baby.” Peter pulled out the thick album and went to go sit closer to Tony to lean against him.

Tony put his arm around Peter and watched him flip through the album. It was photos that he’s never seen before of when Peter was a newborn baby. The first picture was one of him and the doctor holding him up, he was covered in blood and other stuff so Tony assumed that it was right after he was born.

“Ew! That’s nasty.” Peter flipped the page quickly after seeing himself like that and landed on the next page which was pictures of him getting weighed.

“I was so small. Ben always used to say I looked like a doll when I was born because I was smaller than other babies. And cause I was cute.” Peter grinned and leaned his head against Tony’s arm for a second before lifting it back up.

“You’re still cute.” Tony wished he was there when Peter was born. To hear his first cry, to cut the umbilical cord and to experience his baby take its first few breaths. He knows for a fact he would never put Peter down.

“Not in the picture. I look so ugly and slimy. May said that they slapped my bum to get me to cry. She wasn’t there because just the doctors were but I guess my real mom told her.” Peter frowned. He always felt weird talking about his real mom and dad because even though he spent the first two years of his life with them, he doesn’t remember them at all. He doesn’t even know if the one or two memories he does have with them are real memories or stories that he’s heard from someone else.

He just feels like he’s talking about strangers when he talks about them. He guesses that if he could have one back, it would be his mom because sometimes he wonders if he would have been a daddy’s boy or a mommy’s boy. Now, he’s definitely a daddy’s boy.

“That’s how they get newborns to cry, bud.” Tony told him, having no idea how he even knows that.

Peter flipped through more pages but it was mostly him lying on the weighing table and getting measured so he tossed the book to the side and grabbed another book from when he was three or four.

“Did you know that I wasn’t potty trained until I was like four?” Peter asked and pointed to a picture of him when he was four and wearing a diaper.

“I did know that.” Tony was proud of himself for knowing that knowledge. May told him the whole story a few times and promised to one day show him some videos but she never got around to that and then death got in the way.

“How?” Peter turned him to ask.

“May told me. She said how difficult you were because you didn’t want to sit on the toilet.” Tony told Peter and playfully pinched his side.

Peter squirmed into him and then tried to crawl on Tony’s lap but Tony stopped him. “What are you doing?”

“I want to sit on your lap.” Peter said as he tried to push against his dad but he wouldn’t let him.

“Then I can't see the pictures. Sit next to me.” Tony grabbed Peter’s leg so he could lift him back onto the floor and dropped him there.

Peter crossed his arms with a fake pout but then he was leaning back against Tony. “Tell me more stories that you know.”

Tony’s hand found its way into Peter’s hair as he thought of a story. He wished he was telling a story from memory but it was just what was told to him.

“Um… I know that when you were little you didn’t know how to pronounce the letter f and you would replace it with the letter s so you would run around and point to everything saying, “these are are my sriends”.” Tony could just picture Peter saying that. He knows for a fact that Peter had the best heart as a kid too and would try to make everything feel loved.

“Oh. Did I say that to my toys too?” Peter asked as he looked at the pictures in front of him when he was four.

“Yeah.” Tony actually had no idea but he assumed that’s what happened. He likes to think he’s right but knowing Peter, he’s right.

“Tell me more.” Peter moved himself so he could lay his head down on Tony’s lap and look up at him.

“Alright. Well, um… oh! When you had to get ready for school, you used to hate the way your socks would feel on your feet so you used to throw a huge temper tantrum.” Tony just remembered that story now. He feels better knowing that he’s not the only one who had to deal with Peter’s temper tantrums.

As much as he hates the temper tantrums because it exhausts him, part of him is glad that Peter has them so he gets to experience that and knock more things off the dad checklist.

“I remember that.” Peter started laughing and sat up. “And I used to lock myself in the bathroom so no one could get to me.”

Tony hoped Peter didn’t ever do that with him. “You little gremlin.”

Peter laughed and moved Tony’s hand away from him. “I’m not a gremlin. I’m gonna go sit away from you if you call me that again.”

“No you won’t. Give me the next album.” Tony held his hand out for Peter to give him another photo album.

For the next hour they looked through baby pictures of Peter. Peter would tell a story from a picture that he remembered but since most of the pictures were from when he was a toddler, there wasn’t much to remember.

After Peter started to get bored, he remembered what Tony said to him before. “Hey, remember how you said we could go in the hot tube? Can we go do that now?”

Tony completely forgot about that. “Oh yeah. Okay, let’s go get our bathing suits on and then we can go.”

They both made their way upstairs and changed into their bathing suits. Peter jumped onto the bed and waited for Tony to come out of the bathroom.

“I forgot to check your stitches, Pete. Let me see them before we go swimming.” Tony grabbed Peter’s leg and rolled up the bottom of his swim shorts. He smiled when he saw that it was completely healed with a tiny scar that would no doubt go away in a few days. “Woah! Look at this, it’s completely healed.”

Peter pulled his leg closer to himself to look at it. “Woah. That was kinda fast. Sometimes my spider powers still take awhile to heal things but that was fast.”

Tony rolled back down his shorts and grabbed two towels. “That’s good. Probably because you got so much rest.”

Peter didn’t say anything back since he was already sliding off the bed and racing down to the hot tub. Since the door was locked, he had to wait for Tony to come and unlock it. “Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!”

“I’m coming. The water isn’t going to go anywhere.” Tony made it downstairs and opened the door but they were hit with the freezing cold immediately.

“Ah! Too cold!” Peter refused to move so Tony grabbed his arm and pushed him outside so they could shut the door. “Cold cold cold.”

“I know. I just have to open the cover.” Tony quickly opened the cover of the hot tub and stuck his hand in it just to see how hot it was. The steam was hitting him and so he wasted no time in getting in. “Hurry up, Pete, before your feet stick to the ground.”

Peter ran over to the hot tub and climbed up the steps to get in as fast as possible. He threw himself into the water but he couldn’t touch the ground so he immediately went under so Tony reached forward and grabbed his arm, pulling him onto one of the seats.

He wiped the water out of Peter’s eyes and brushed his hair back. “You good?”

Peter nodded. “Uh huh. That was deep. I can't touch.”

Tony let go of Peter’s arm with his other hand. “Yeah. It’s really deep so be careful. You’re only allowed in here if someone else is in here with you or watching you, okay?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

Tony laughed and grabbed Peter’s arm again. “No, not you think so. What does that even mean?”

Peter went to go sit on his butt on the seat but then went under again because the seat was too deep. Tony grabbed both of his arms and pulled over onto his lap a bit but also still holding him up in the water.

“Peter. What are you trying to do?” Tony couldn’t stop himself from laughing. Peter was drowning left right and center.

“I can’t sit anywhere. Let me sit on your lap.” Peter tried to get comfortable on Tony but Tony carried him easily over to a seat that was higher than the other seats.

“Sit here. Look, you fit perfectly. It was made for you.” Tony let go of Peter and sat himself down in the seat next to Peter but it was a lot deeper. He wanted to close his eyes and just rest but he didn’t want to take his eyes off of Peter since he knew from experience that Peter could get into trouble in seconds.

Peter slid off the seat and used Tony’s arm to stay above the water. “I want to sit on your lap.”

“No, Peter. Sit on your own seat.” Tony had Peter clinging onto him all day so he just wanted at least five minutes without having anyone touch him.

“No. You’re comfy.” Peter made himself comfortable on his dad’s lap and laid against his chest.

Tony sighed in defeat. “Okay. But no moving around too much or I’m throwing you into the deep part.”

Peter started laughing at that. “Fine. But I get two moves. And I want to use one of my moves right now.”

Before he had the chance to protest, Peter was shifting on his lap so Tony quickly put his hand over his crotch to protect himself from any knees that were going to hurt him.

“Ow. Even with my hand protecting myself you still find a way to knee me there.” Tony said and moved his hand away when he knew it was safe to do so.

Peter sat with one leg on either side of Tony’s lap and tried to put his head on his chest but there was too much water there so he kept his head up.

He reached over and tried to stick his finger in one of the holes that he saw on the side of the hot tub. “Are these for the jets?”

Tony turned his head to look at where Peter was pointing at. “Yeah. We’re not gonna turn them on though since I don’t know how powerful they are.”

Peter was okay with that. He didn’t like jets anyways after what happened to him in that hotel bathroom.

Peter let out a yawn and went to lay his head against Tony’s chest again but there was too much water there so he couldn’t do that.

Tony could tell that Peter was getting tired. He didn’t know what time it was but it had to be nearing bedtime soon so he grabbed Peter’s wrist that had the bracelet on and tapped the top for a time to appear.

“Hey, I didn’t know my bracelet did that. That’s so cool.” Peter grabbed his wrist to look at the bracelet that his dad made him. He liked the feeling of it on his wrist since it made him feel safe.

“You didn’t? It does a lot of other things too but look at the time, it’s time for bed.” Tony lifted Peter off of him and put him back on the seat.

“No. Five more minutes.” Peter didn’t want to go out in the cold. His hair had already started to freeze on the ends so he didn’t feel like getting out of the water.

“No because five more minutes is gonna turn into ten and then twenty and then you’re gonna fall asleep so up.” Tony got off of his seat and walked over to the stairs of the hot tub, preparing himself to get out of the hot water.

He quickly got out and grabbed his towel but the towel did little to help him since it was freezing from being out there. “Let’s go, Peter. It’s freezing.”

Peter crawled over the seats of the hot tub and stuck his hand out but it was way too cold. “No. It’s too cold.”

Tony held Peter’s towel up. “I’ll wrap you up right away.”

Peter debated what he wanted to do. It was way too cold out of the hot tub and he knew his bathing suit would stick to him and freeze so he pulled it off of him and threw it into the water then went to go into the towel but Tony was stopping him.

“No, go get your bathing suit before you get out.” Tony put the towel back down and shifted on his feet that were about to freeze to the ground.

Peter threw his head back but went to grab his bathing suit anyways and climbed out of the hot tub, reaching his arms out for the towel that Tony immediately wrapped him in.

“Cold cold cold cold.” Peter jumped up and down while Tony closed the hot tub and then opened up the back door.

“Don’t run because it’s slippery so you’re gonna fall.” Tony warned Peter as he locked the door but obviously Peter didn’t listen to him.

“I’m not gonna fall.” Peter said back to his dad as he started running towards the stairs but a second after he said it, he slipped on his feet and fell backwards onto his butt.

Tony’s breath caught in his throat as he watched Peter slip but he saw that Peter didn’t hit his head so that was okay. He walked over to Peter's side and grabbed his towel to help him. “Told you. Are you okay?”

Peter grabbed his head. “Ow.”

Tony moved his hand away from his head. “You did not hit your head. Stop it.”

Peter grinned and then made another dash for the stairs but this time he thankfully didn’t fall down. Tony had previously planned on going down to his lab to work the night away but he was feeling relaxed and just wanted to shower and crawl into bed.

He got to the top of the stairs and went in the direction of his bedroom where he knew Peter would have gone. He found Peter sitting on the bed and about to turn the tv on so Tony quickly grabbed it from him before anything could turn on.

“No stop. I’m watching my show.” Peter went to grab the remote from Tony again but Tony put it on top of the dresser so Peter threw himself down onto the bed.

“Go get ready for bed and then we can watch an episode.” Tony put the towels on the floor and went to go grab new ones while he gave Peter a chance to go into the bathroom.

When he walked back into the bedroom, Peter was still lying on the bed and didn’t look like he was going to move anytime soon so Tony went to go grab him. “Go into the bathroom and shower then I’ll give you the remote.”

Peter shook his head and pushed Tony’s hands away from him and went to go crawl up on the bed so Tony grabbed him by his ankles and dragged him back down then lifted him up with one arm to put him in the bathroom.

“I’m going downstairs to get my phone and if I come up and you’re still not in the shower, I will take away all of your legos tomorrow.” Tony held onto Peter’s wrist and bent down so he was face to face with him.

Peter ripped his wrist out of Tony’s grasp but Tony didn’t care. He just hoped Peter listened to him. He didn’t want to take away his legos but it was the only thing he could think of and if Peter didn’t listen to him then he had to follow through.

So Tony left his bedroom and went downstairs to grab his phone. He took a lot longer than what was necessary just because he needed some silence.

He loved Peter so much but he needed some time to himself and not just five minutes here or ten minutes there, he needed a good couple hours to himself and not have to worry if Peter is catching the kitchen on fire or drowning in the hot tub.

It’s the first time where he’s really felt like that. Most of the time he’s fine after he gets a few minutes of silence but he feels drained.

After about five minutes, Tony went back upstairs and heard that the shower was on so he walked into the bathroom and leaned against the counter. “I’m glad you listened to me, Pete. Thank you.”

“Can I have my remote back after I shower?” Peter walked over to the entrance to look at his dad.

Tony rubbed at his eyes. “After you brush your teeth and get your pyjamas on, you can watch one episode and then you go to sleep.”

“Two episodes?” Peter asked and Tony sighed then walked out of the bathroom. He was exhausted mentally and really needed some him time.

Peter finished up with his shower and dried off then brushed his teeth while he attempted to get his pyjama pants on with one hand. He finished brushing his teeth and ran out of the bathroom with his pyjama top in his hand.

Tony looked at him. “Are you tired?”

Peter did a somersault onto the bed and lifted his legs up into the air. That answered Tony’s question. “Nope. Now I can watch two episodes.”

Tony tossed the remote at Peter. “One episode, Peter. I mean it.”

Peter ignored him but Tony didn’t care. He just wanted to shower himself and change into his pyjamas. He took a lot longer than what was necessary in the shower just to get some more quiet time.

He finished getting ready for bed in the bathroom and mentally prepared himself for the next hour until hopefully Peter fell asleep.

“Turn the tv off after this episode, FRI.” Tony ordered as he climbed into bed. Peter didn’t say anything but Tony knew he would be complaining about it once the tv turns off.

Tony laid down and faced Peter who was watching the tv and had both of his arms over his head and was playing with a few of his curls which Tony knew he did when he was content.

He moved the blankets on top of Peter so he was covered up more but Peter pushed them off of him. Tony covered him up again so Peter let out a whine of annoyance. “Stop.”

Tony stopped after that before he got a kick by his kid who wasn’t in the mood. It still amazed Tony how quickly Peter could change moods. It was crazy.

A few minutes later, the tv was turning off and Peter immediately sat up. “No. Another one. Where’s the remote?”

Peter started feeling around on the bed for the remote which ended up with him throwing the bedding on the floor.

“Peter. Stop it. I said you can watch one episode and you watched one episode so lay down because it’s time to sleep now.” Tony sat up to grab the blankets that fell but Peter kicked them back off so Tony grabbed his arms and forced him onto the bed. “Stop it. I’m not playing with you, Peter.”

Peter struggled under him but he never used his spidey powers with him which Tony was grateful for since without Peter’s super strength, he was very weak compared to Tony.

“I want to watch one more episode.” Peter struggled to say as Tony held him down.

Tony let him go but kept his hand on Peter’s stomach to warn him. “No. Do not get up or I’m putting you to sleep in another room.” Tony knew that Peter’s room was unsafe since the paint was still drying in there but there were other rooms upstairs for Peter to sleep in.

Peter shook his head. “No. I’ll stay.”

Tony eyed him for a few seconds and then let him go to put the blankets back on the bed and shut the lamp off.

“Can-can I sleep with you?” Peter asked quietly.

Tony looked over at him. “You are sleeping with me.”

“No! I mean with you, you’re too far now.” Peter sat up in bed and inched closer to Tony.

“Okay, come here.” Tony held out his arms and pulled Peter closer to him once Peter was in reach. “Shut your eyes, Petey.”

Peter whimpered against Tony’s chest. “Where’s the remote?”

“Shh, it’s time to sleep.” Tony whispered, hoping that if he ignored Peter then Peter would eventually fall asleep which happened a few minutes later.

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Tony brought Peter down to Steve’s floor and sat with him on the couch for a bit until he gained enough courage to stand up and actually leave him.

He had to leave the tower and get a few things but after that, he planned on coming back and having an hour or two himself doing whatever he wanted just for his peace of mind.

He knew that Peter was not going to like that idea at all so Tony hoped that Peter didn’t find out that he was chilling on their floor by himself. He stood up off the couch to go and talk to Steve about a few things.

Peter was watching Bucky and Sam play a video game so he only looked up at Tony to see him walk into the kitchen then he looked back at the tv.

Steve was in the kitchen getting lunch started when Tony walked in there and leaned against the counter. “So I’m trying to start Peter off in his own bed today.”

Steve paused his carrot cutting and looked up at Tony. “That’s good, Tony. I hope it goes well.”

Tony shrugged. “We both know it won’t go well but I have a plan and I need to leave the tower for an hour or so and I need you to watch Peter.”

“Yeah, of course.” Steve went back to his cutting. “You know I always love to watch him.”

Tony appreciated that. He didn’t know what he would do without Steve at times. “I also need you to watch him for an hour or two after I get back because I am exhausted.”

Steve looked over at Tony and raised his eyebrows. “Woah. I know you’re actually tired because you’re admitting it.”

“Yeah, if you haven’t noticed by now but I have a hyperactive kid who is just go go go go go and I’m slowly losing it so I just… need some time alone for a few hours.” Tony knew that Steve understood him so he didn’t know why he felt the need to explain himself.

“Tony, I know how hard it is for you sometimes. I’ll watch him for as long as you need me to.” Steve put the carrots into a bowl and went to wash his hands.

They both walked out into the living room where Peter was and as soon as Peter saw the two of them, he looked up at Tony with wide eyes, almost as if he knew what was about to happen.

Tony kneeled down in front of him. “So I have to leave for a few hours and-”

“No. Don’t go.” Peter was cutting him off and reaching forward to grab onto Tony’s arms.

“Pete, I have to. I’ll be back soon.” Tony cupped Peter’s face and went to stand up but Peter grabbed his hand to stop him.

“No, dad. Stay here. Why do you have to go?” Peter felt his eyes burn and he didn’t care if he was going to start crying at this point. He didn’t want his dad to leave him.

“I have to go do some shopping.” Tony told him while he pulled his hand away from Peter and stood up fully. “I’ll be back soon, Pete.”

“No! Don’t go.” Peter stood up and ran to Tony’s side who was already making his way to the elevator. Peter sunk down to his knees and grabbed ontoTony’s legs desperately. “Stay! Please!”

Tony could feel a headache building. He grabbed Peter’s hands and kneeled down so he could be at his height. “Give me a hug bye and I’ll see you in a few hours.”

Peter kicked his legs out and shook his head. “No! You h-have to stay. Dad!”

Tony kissed Peter’s head and looked up at Steve desperately for him to come take Peter. Steve walked over to the two from where he was standing there and watching them. He felt bad for Tony because he could see how hard it was for him to have to deal with this aspect of Peter’s separation anxiety.

“Come with me, Peter. I need your help to cook lunch.” Steve kneeled down and gently tried to grab Peter’s hand but he had no luck.

“You’re gonna have to pick him up.” Tony told Steve since he knew Peter could go all day like this.

“Okay. Say goodbye, Peter.” Steve said to him and then he was grabbing Peter by his underarms and pulling him off of Tony.

“No! Dad! Let me go. Dad!” Peter cried and reached out for Tony but he was waving goodbye to him and going into the elevator. Peter threw his head back as he watched the elevator doors close.

Steve was trying to make Peter stand up but it was no use since Peter was refusing to use his legs. Steve then picked Peter up into his arms and held him with one arm over Peter’s stomach.

He made eye contact with Sam and Bucky in the living room and shook his head then looked away and continued to walk into the kitchen.

“Peter, I’ll let you pick what dessert you want.” Steve told him and lifted him up to sit him on the kitchen island but once Steve let him go, Peter was sliding off and running back to the elevator doors.

He pressed the button and walked inside once it opened then watched Steve quickly rush over to him but the elevator doors were already closing. Peter felt relieved so he wiped the tears off his face and waited for the elevator to bring him down to the garage where he was sure his dad went.

The elevator opened up and the garage door was just closing so Peter ran out of the garage and went to run out of the gate that led to the garage.

He saw his dad's car about to turn onto the street but he stopped him. Tony must have seen Peter running up to his car because he was getting out of the car and taking off his glasses. “Peter? What’s this?”

Peter ran up to Tony and hugged him. “Don’t go.”

Tony rubbed Peter’s back. “You’re acting like I’m leaving the country for a week. I’m just going to the store.”

“I’m gonna come with you.” Peter demanded. He wiped his nose on Tony’s jacket and stepped on Tony’s shoes since he was barefoot and the ground was freezing.

“No. You’re not. Where’s Steve?” Tony could feel Peter clinging onto him tighter but he didn’t see Steve anywhere.

“He’s gonna stay here while we go shopping together.” Peter moved to open the back door but Tony stopped him and looked up to see Steve jogging over to them.

“Sorry, Tony. He made a beeline for the elevator and I couldn’t get to him.” Steve didn’t hesitate to grab Peter off of Tony which caused Peter to start screaming. At least Tony knew that Peter would put up one hell of a fight if he was ever kidnapped.

“It’s fine. Just keep an eye on him. Bye Peter.” Tony waved bye to his kid and got back into his car. He didn’t feel bad for Peter because he desperately needed some time to himself.

“I’ll walk! I’ll walk!” Peter screamed to try and get Steve to put I’m down so he could run away.

“Are you actually going to walk?” Steve asked him, not believing the child one bit.

“Yes!” Peter screamed so Steve put Peter on his feet. Peter took his chance to make a run for it again but Steve was faster and grabbed Peter’s wrist. “Let me go.”

“Stop it. You lied to me, Peter.” Steve bent down to be at Peter’s height. He held onto Peter’s wrist tightly while Peter attempted to rip himself away from Steve but failed.

Peter suddenly remembered that Steve was super strong but so was he so he used some spider strength to get away from Steve. Steve looked at Peter in shock and had to readjust his grip.

Peter used more of his spider strength to pull himself away from Steve but Steve was a lot stronger than him.

Steve was feeling just how strong Peter was. It was extremely hard to imagine that such a tiny boy could be so powerful and he would admit that he was actually struggling a bit to hold onto Peter but he was still way stronger than the fourteen year old.

“You’re not gonna beat me, Peter. Maybe one day when you’re older than me but you don’t stand a chance right now so stop.” Steve used his other hand to grab Peter’s leg so he could carry the child into the elevator.

“Hey! Ow! You’re hurting me.” Peter let Steve carry him into the elevator and then he grabbed Steve’s arm and bit him without even thinking about it.

Steve looked down at Peter in surprise. He didn’t know Peter was a biter. “Does your dad ever send you to your room when you’re bad?”

Peter glared at Steve. “No.”

“What does he do then?” Steve let go of Peter’s leg but continued to hold his wrist.

“Nothing because I’m never bad.” Peter lied. He tried to pull himself away from Steve again but he had no luck.

“Really? Well if I was doing what you’re doing, my mom would have put me over her lap.” Steve said to Peter then the elevator doors opened so he pulled Peter out.

“I sit on my dad's lap all the time.” Peter said to Steve but he was sure everyone already knew.

“I know but that’s not what I mean.” Steve walked into the kitchen and simply lifted Peter back onto the counter and stood in front of him to see if he was going to stay.

“What do you mean then?” Peter asked curiously.

“I mean when I was bad, my mom used to spank me.” Steve explained to the boy while he washed his hands.

“Oh. That sucks.” Peter shrugged. He would hate it if his dad did that to him so he’s grateful that he doesn’t.

“Yeah. It did. So are you gonna help me cook or do you want to go play with Sam and Buck?” Steve gave Peter his only options. He preferred it if Peter stayed with him since he likes spending time with Peter alone. It makes him want to have his own kid.

“Hmm, stay with you. And I want to make um, brownies. For the dessert.” Peter’s mouth was already watering as he thought about that. Yum.

Steve and Peter ended up making lunch and brownies together and then Peter followed Steve into the laundry room to get some house work done.

Peter thought about his dad every second and kept asking Steve when Tony was coming back but it was better than being at school since he knew that he was at home with his family.

A little over three hours later, FRIDAY was announcing that Tony was coming up in the elevator so Peter ran down the hall and over to the elevator to wait in front of it.

He bounced on his feet while he waited for his dad to show. As soon as the doors opened, Peter jumped into Tony’s arms. “Dad! I missed you. Pick me up.”

Tony hugged Peter back. He had to admit that as much as he enjoyed his quiet time, he did miss Peter a lot. “Hey, bud. How was Steve?” Tony asked as he lifted Peter up and held him. Peter wrapped his legs around his waist so Tony didn’t have to do any of the heavy lifting.

“Mm, good. I missed you. Where did you go?” Peter asked and rubbed his head on Tony’s shoulder like a cat.

Tony smiled at Peter’s antics. “I went to get a few things but tell me what you did. I want to know everything.”

Tony carried Peter into the kitchen and sat him on the counter but stayed in front of him so he could press a kiss to his face. “I missed you.”

Peter smiled. “I missed you more. Look, me and Steve made um, brownies and soup.”

Tony saw the stack of brownies and grabbed one. “Hmm. These are good. I should get you to cook for me more often.”

Peter giggled and reached his arms out again to hug his dad.

Steve walked over to the two of them, smiling at how much love radiated off if the two of them. Tony looked over at babysitter Steve. “How was he?”

Steve leaned against the counter. “He was good after about ten minutes after you left.”

Tony was glad he didn’t have to deal with that. He was going to ask Steve what Peter did since it was important for him to know but then Peter was letting go of him and speaking. “And also me and Steve did some laundry and made all the beds.”

“I’m talking to Steve now, buddy.” Tony rubbed Peter’s knee and ignored the pouting. “So he was fine after then?”

“Yeah. After he used some super strength to try and run from me and then he bit my arm.” Steve explained to Tony, he had been waiting to tell Tony that ever since it happened.

“Peter.” Tony turned his head to look at Peter who was looking down since he knew what he did was wrong.

“What?”

“You know you’re not allowed to use your Spidey powers on anyone.” Tony used his pointer finger to tip Peter’s chin up.

Peter shrugged. “Except the bad guys.”

Tony sighed. “Why are you biting? Where did that come from?”

Peter shrugged again. “I just did it.”

Tony looked over at Steve who was watching the two of them.

“No biting. You’re not a dog.” Tony honestly had no idea what to say to Peter. He always tells him off in the moment but never after and it feels odd doing it after.

“Sorry.” Peter reached forward to hug Tony but Tony stopped him.

“Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to Steve who you bit.” Tony said to Peter and took a step aside to let Steve take his place.

“Sorry Steve.” Peter gave Steve a quick hug and then pulled away.

“It’s alright.”

“I can't promise it won’t happen again with him.” Tony told Steve since he honestly had no idea if Peter would act that way again, probably. “How about we go upstairs and finish putting everything in your bedroom now that the paint is dry?”

Peter smiled big. “Yeah!”

Tony and Peter went upstairs to their floor and all the way to Peter’s bedroom. Tony walked in and double checked if the paint was dry before they put the shelves and everything else up.

“Do you wanna put the pictures into the picture frames while I put the shelves up?” Tony asked him, taking the shelve out of the box so he could quickly build it.

Peter grabbed the stack of pictures of him and his dad and then grabbed the picture frames and sat next to him. “I think I want my bed up against the wall instead of in the middle of the room.”

Tony looked up at the bed and tried to picture it. “I think that’s a good idea, bud. It’ll look nice and you’ll feel more comfortable, right?”

Peter nodded and looked through the pictures. He picked out a bunch of frames since he wanted to have a bunch of pictures of him and his dad all over his bedroom. He wanted to be able to look at the pictures while he went into his bedroom to change or get something.

He fitted the pictures into the frames, some with Pepper as well since she was his family now and one picture with him and all the Avengers.

“That’s so weird.” Peter said, breaking the silence.

Tony was putting the last screw onto the shelf while he looked over at Peter. “What’s weird?”

“This picture. It’s just weird because I grew up liking all the Avengers and I always wanted to meet everyone and now I’m putting a picture of me with them up in my bedroom. It’s just weird.” Peter looked at the picture while he explained. Never in his entire lifetime did he think that this would ever happen but then again, he didn’t expect to lose two sets of parents and become Spider-Man all before he turns fifteen.

“Yeah, life works in pretty crazy ways. I wouldn’t have it any other way though, just so you know.” Tony reached forward to ruffle Peter’s soft baby curls.

“Me neither.” Peter smiled at his dad.

“Alright. Let’s put this shelf up.” Tony grabbed the hammer to attach the shelf to the wall and then the two of them dragged all the furniture back into their new spots.

Peter’s bed was up against the wall in the corner of the room, facing the window. Tony liked his bedroom layout a lot better, it looked like a kid actually lived in the bedroom now instead of just a temporary room. Well, almost. They still had to put the bed bedding on and put up the curtains, pictures and bring some of Peter’s toys up.

“How about you decide where you want the pictures while I put the curtains up.” Tony grabbed the new curtain rod and put it up easily. The curtains were white and blue stripped that brightened up the whole room and would go with Peter’s galaxy bedding.

“Can I put some pictures on the nightstand table and the um, the shelf?” Peter asked as he stood in front of his nightstand table, deciding what picture to put there.

“You can do whatever you want, bud. It’s your room.” Tony told him and stepped away to get a good look at the new curtains. “Like ‘em?”

Peter turned around to look at them. They went perfectly with his new paint job and his new bedding. “Yeah! I love them. This blue almost matches my blue on my walls.”

Tony smiled down at Peter. He was glad that Peter liked his room so hopefully it would make Peter want to sleep in his bed.

“Okay, let’s get this bedding on. Want to grab it for me?” Tony started to take the old bedding off and threw that on the floor then grabbed the new bedding and made the bed.

Peter crawled onto his bed as Tony was putting the comforter over which caused Peter to start laughing. “Do it again.”

“Okay.” Tony lifted their blankets up so they fell onto Peter. “Are they better than your old ones?”

“Yeah! I love them.” Peter lifted the blankets off his head and looked up at Tony. “Thank you.”

Tony laid down on the bed next to Peter. “Aw, you’re welcome, baby. I’m glad you like it.” Tony rolled over and grabbed the stack of picture frames off of the table.

The pictures were all from the time when they first met and Peter was thirteen, all the way to Miami. Tony looked through them all and smiled at each picture that held their own special memories.

Peter grabbed the picture that Tony was looking at and crawled over him so he could put it on the nightstand table. “I want this one here. Do you like it?”

Tony moved over a bit so Peter could sit on the bed without falling off. “Yeah, it looks nice there.”

Peter looked back down at the other pictures in his hand and slid off of his bed so they could decide where to put them.

The two of them continued to put up the rest of the pictures and some of Peter’s action figures and his built lego sets on the shelf before heading back downstairs to hang out with the team for dinner.

Tony was waiting for the perfect opportunity to slip away from Peter without him knowing so he could run upstairs to put some things on Peter’s bed. Tony was leaning against the kitchen counter with Peter and eating another brownie that was so good, Tony was almost certain that they were laced.

“You’re eating more brownies than dinner, Peter.” Steve told him as he put the dishes into the dishwasher.

Peter grinned but then dropped his brownie onto the counter. “I have to go poo now.” Peter announced and ran off down the hallway.

Tony was used to him announcing that and then running off so he wasn’t phased but Steve looked like he was trying not to laugh while also looking surprised. “I’m gonna run upstairs really quickly to put the things I got for him on his bed so if he comes out just tell him I went to the bathroom too.”

Tony then rushed into the elevator and up to put the present on Peter’s bed as fast as he could so Peter didn’t notice him gone.

He got back down to Steve’s floor and thankfully Peter was still in the bathroom so he didn’t have to worry about Peter asking him where he went.

“Peter’s calling you.” Sam told him before he went to sit down.

“Is he still in the bathroom?” Tony asked, confused.

“Yeah, probably needs his butt wiped or something.” Sam teased but he was the only one laughing since Clint understood because he had kids.

“I don’t wipe his butt.” Tony rolled his eyes and walked down the hallway. The bathroom door was half open so Tony just pushed it open. “What is it?”

“I need toilet paper.” Peter told him and placed the empty roll on the bathroom counter.

Tony walked into the bathroom and opened up the cabinet to see if he could find any toilet paper. “Did you use the whole roll?”

“No. There weren't any already and I’ve been sitting here but you never came.” Peter told him and tried to look into the cabinet for any possible rolls.

“Why didn’t you just check before you went poo?” Tony laughed and then pulled out a roll and handed it to Peter.

“Because I didn’t think of it. Thank you.”

Tony laughed at his kid and left the bathroom, shutting the door fully this time. He walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch.

He felt Sam looking at him so he looked over at the man. “What?”

Before Sam could answer, Peter was running down the hallway and jumping right next to Tony on the couch. “Let’s watch Craig of the Creek!”

Tony reached for the remote and turned on the channel that he knew off by heart now. Channel 51. Peter’s eyes were immediately glued to the screen and Tony knew they were going to be for a while so he wrapped his arm around Peter’s shoulders and pulled him against his side.

“What’s Craig of the Creek?” Sam asked and moved to sit down on the couch instead of the pillow he was sitting on on the floor.

“It’s some cartoon that Peter watches about these kids who run around their neighborhood.” Tony answered and then pulled out his phone to check some emails.

After the episode was over, Tony grabbed the remote and changed the channel before another episode started to play. “Hey. Put it back on.”

“No, I have a surprise for you but you have to come upstairs with me.” Tony told him and tossed the remote.

Peter sat up to turn to him. “What is it?”

“It’s a surprise.” Tony told him. He pushed Peter off of him and stood up, stretching his back out.

Peter stood up with him and grabbed onto his arm. “What kind of surprise is it?”

“Say goodnight to everyone.” Tony ignored Peter’s question but Peter ignored him so Tony physically turned Peter around and lifted his arm up to wave bye to everyone.

Peter laughed at what Tony was doing and pulled his hand away. “I wanna go see my surprise.”

“Okay, let's go see it.”