All The Stars Align

The next morning, Tony woke up and checked his phone. It was just after six in the morning and he didn’t have to get Peter up till about seven if they wanted to make it on time for the first period.

He went on his phone and got an alert from Peter’s school saying that the school was closed today due to the weather. Tony felt huge relief wash over him.

After what he had to deal with last night, he couldn’t do the same thing this morning but that also meant he had to deal with all that last night for no reason.

Tony got out of bed and went into the bathroom to get ready for the day then he sat on the edge of the bed and brushed the curls off Peter’s face.

“There’s no school today, Pete. It’s closed.” Tony told Peter who woke up a bit and moaned. Tony decided to leave it at that. He covered the blankets around Peter more and left the bedroom.

He went downstairs and was surprised to find Pepper sitting at the kitchen island. “Hey. Pete’s school is closed today.”

Pepper turned to him. “Yeah. Did you see how bad the weather is out there? Everything is closed and my flight is cancelled.”

Tony was glad that her flight was cancelled because that meant that he got to have her for another day. “What do you want to do today?”

Pepper got up to make herself another tea as Tony made his coffee.

“Hmm, I don’t know. What do you have planned with Peter?” Pepper asked him.

“Uh, he’ll probably play with his legos for a few hours and I want to sneak down to my lab for a bit so do you want to babysit again?” Tony asked, hopefully. He knew that Peter would be fine if he knew he could go get Tony whenever he wanted.

“Yeah, I don’t mind. When will he wake up?” She asked him then they both took a sip at the same time.

“Probably at around eight or nine. The team isn’t here. They all left for some mission a few days ago and won’t be back till Monday so you’re on your own. I’ll be downstairs if you need me.” Tony told her and disappeared into the elevator.

He wanted to get in a few hours in his lab, blasting his music and not having to worry about anything for a few hours.

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Peter woke up and sat up in bed.

He looked around but he didn’t find his dad anywhere. He flopped back onto the bed and rubbed his eyes. What did Tony say about school? Was he not going to school today? He hoped not.

“FRIDAY? Where’s my dad?” Peter asked and kicked the blankets off of him.

“Sir is working in his lab.” FRIDAY told him and Peter smiled. Yay. No school. He crawled off the bed and went into the bathroom to go pee and brush his teeth then he ran down the stairs.

“Good morning, Peter. Did you sleep good?” Pepper asked, remembering what he was like the night before. He was surprised that Peter was embarrassed about it but she knew he was exhausted and simply just didn’t care.

“Where’s dad?” Peter asked. He jumped onto the couch next to Pepper and looked at her.

“He’s in his lab still. Are you hungry?” Pepper was already getting up to go make Peter some breakfast but Peter didn’t answer her question either.

“I’m gonna go say hi to him.” Peter jumped off the couch and walked towards the elevator but Pepper called him over.

“Peter, come eat something first.”

“No. I have to go say hi.” Peter pressed the button but it didn’t work so he pressed it again.

Pepper knew that Peter wasn’t allowed to leave the floor without someone with him while Tony was in the lab so she shut the fridge and walked over to Peter to take him down.

Peter knocked on the glass window once he saw his dad in his lab. Tony looked up at him and a smile broke across his face then the door to the lab was opening and Peter ran over to him.

“Hey, bud. Did you just wake up?” Tony put down what he was doing and ran a hand over Peter’s bed head hair.

“What are you working on?” Peter asked him, ignoring his question too.

“He wanted to come say hi to you so he didn’t eat anything yet.” Pepper told Tony.

Tony nodded at her and then answered Peter’s question. “I’m just tinkering with a few things.”

Peter stood between his dad’s legs so he could see the table better. “Can I help you?”

“Not right now. We have all day since your school is closed so go upstairs with Pepper and I’ll be up in an hour.” Tony grabbed Peter’s arm to move him away from the desk but Peter tried to grab onto the wires.

“I can help you with this. Remember I used to do this all the time before?” Peter went to reach for the other wires but Tony grabbed it from him and pushed him towards Pepper.

“I’ll see you in an hour. Go eat breakfast with Pepper.” Tony waved bye to Peter and watched the two of them leave before he turned his music back in and got back to work.

Later that day, Tony wanted to go back down to his lab after lunch and Peter wanted to join him but he had homework that he had to work on before Tony would let Peter down there with him.

“I already did it!” Peter tried to lie but Tony was looking at his empty math workbook.

“No you didn’t. I’m looking at your empty pages right now, Peter.” Tony pushed the workbook towards Peter more but Peter pushed it away.

“It’s stupid. I’m not doing it.” Peter crossed his arms over his chest

“Just answer the questions on this page and then you can come work in the lab with me, buddy. It’ll go by fast.” Tony pointed to the five questions on the page in Peter’s math workbook. Just by looking at it, he already knew what every answer was but Peter needed to do that on his own.

“I’m gonna do it in your lap with you.” Peter grabbed his book and his pencil but Tony stopped him.

“No, just do it here. You’ll get distracted in the lab.” Tony told him. He remembered all the times where Peter has worked on his homework in the lab and then nothing ever got done.

“But… I want to.” Peter sighed in defeat and looked up at Tony through his eye lashes to see if he changed his mind at all.

“I know. Finish this and then come down.” Tony stood up and tucked Peter’s chair in more so Peter could concentrate better.

Peter watched Tony go down in the elevator and sighed loudly. He didn’t want to do his math homework since he didn’t see why he had to. It was ridiculous and he was pretty sure that his teacher wouldn’t even check it.

Peter turned around and saw that the living room was empty. Pepper was there before but Peter’s sure that she went down to her office to do a few things first.

He slid off the stool and walked around the kitchen island to grab something to drink then he started putting a bunch of random numbers and words down in his notebook and left to go down to the lab.

He knocked on the glass door and pressed his face up against the glass.

Tony shook his head fondly at his kid and let him in. “Did you finish your homework?”

“Yeah.” Peter lied. He skipped over to Tony’s workbench and sat down on the stool that was there. “What are you working on?”

“Oh yeah?” Tony asked, knowing that Peter was lying. “That was really fast. How about you go get your workbook so I can check.”

Peter shook his head and went to grab Tony’s iPad that he was using but Tony grabbed the iPad from him. “Let me.”

“Go get your workbook please.” Tony said calmly and placed the iPad down.

“Mm!” Peter whined and jumped off the stool so he could leave the lab and get his workbook. When he got back down, he slammed it on Tony’s desk and Tony glared at him.

“Would you like to slam it a little harder.” Tony said sarcastically and grabbed the workbook. He didn’t even have to look at it long and he could already see that it was wrong. “This is all wrong.”

“No. I answered all the questions.” Peter pointed to the page as if Tony couldn’t see what he was looking at.

“I can see that, Peter, but you just put random numbers down, didn’t you?” Tony asked and tried not to laugh because that’s definitely what Peter just did.

Peter shook his head and looked away from Tony. “No. I didn’t.”

“Peter,” Tony said patiently. “I know you know this. Why won’t you take twenty minutes and do it properly?”

Peter quickly snatched the workbook from Tony. “It’s too hard. I don’t understand it and I want you to help me.”

Tony chucked. “I know you don’t need my help-”

Peter cut him off. “I do! Help me.”

Tony didn’t know why Peter wanted him to help. It wasn’t like Peter was stupid. He was the one of the smartest humans that Tony has ever met and Tony has met a lot of smart people in his life. A lot of stupid ones too.

“Okay. Pull up a chair and I’ll help you.” Tony gestured to the stool that Peter was previously sitting on but Peter tried to climb onto his leg.

“I wanna sit on your lap.” Peter attempted to crawl onto him but Tony stopped him.

“No, Pete. You can sit on me after. Sit here for now.” Tony reached over and pulled the chair up again for Peter to sit on it.

Peter stuck out his bottom lip but sat on the stool anyways.

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The next day, Tony woke Peter up and was so grateful that it was Friday because then he didn’t have to deal with nighttime or mornings for two days. That would be nice.

He was also hoping that it would be another snow day but no such luck.

Tony pulled the blankets off of Peter for the second time that morning and checked the time. It was 8:45am and Peter was up yesterday at 8am but Peter went to bed super late so there was that.

“Common. It’s time. Get up.” Tony pulled the blankets onto the floor and tugged on Peter’s ankles. “Wake up. It’s school time.”

Peter shook his head into the pillow and tried to use the other pillow to cover himself up with it. “No.”

“Yes. Wake up.” Tony grabbed Peter’s ankles and pulled him down on the bed so he could help to wake him up. “Do you want to get dressed in my bedroom or your bedroom?”

Peter let out a loud whine, not answering Tony’s question so Tony decided himself and left his bedroom to get Peter’s clothes since he knew that it would be easier that way.

He picked some more track pants which was all Peter ever wore but he didn’t blame the kid. He wished he could wear track pants every day. Tony then grabbed some underwear, socks and a shirt and sweater then walked back to his bedroom.

He placed Peter’s clothes on the bed next to Peter and rolled him onto his back. “Get dressed. We only have an hour before we have to leave.”

Peter shook his head and covered his eyes from the light. “No school.”

“Yes school. Get dressed. Am I doing it or are you?” Tony asked him, not ready to fight with Peter.

Peter kicked his legs out. “You do it.”

Tony sighed. “No, I’m not getting you dressed today. You do that yourself.”

“Then why’d you ask me?” Peter sat up and rubbed his eyes then threw his pile of clothes onto the floor and looked at Tony.

Tony picked the clothes up. “Get dressed. I’ll be downstairs.”

Peter watched Tony leave and then he tossed his clothes onto the floor again and slid off the bed to go into the bathroom to brush his teeth and go pee. Once he was done, he ran downstairs and opened the fridge to get some apple juice but Tony stopped him and looked at him.

“Where’s your clothes?” Tony asked, still seeing Peter in his pyjamas.

Peter stood on the kitchen drawer handle to reach for the glasses. “Can I have waffles today?”

Tony looked over at Pepper who was sitting on the kitchen stool. He wanted to know if she was seeing this as well. He turned back to Peter and grabbed him off of the handle. “You’re gonna break it. Stop standing on it.”

Tony grabbed one of the cups for Peter and handed it to him. “No. The blue one.”

“This is blue.” Tony looked at the cup in his hand but Peter was pointing to the other one. Tony sighed.

“That’s dark blue. I want light blue.” Peter explained and Tony didn’t see how it was a big deal.

The toaster popped so Tony placed the waffles on a plate and cut them up then put on butter and syrup on the side. He placed the plate next to Pepper's food and pushed Peter towards it. “Go sit and eat. Do you want some blueberries?”

Peter poured his apple juice and went to go sit down. “No.”

After breakfast was done, Tony and Peter both went upstairs to get Peter ready and then they were leaving to go to school. On the way there, Tony was trying to talk to Peter about it being Friday and they had a whole weekend to spend together, just the two of them since Pepper was leaving later today.

It did little to help because by the time Tony pulled the car into the school parking lot, Peter still didn’t want to go to school.

“Can we sit in here for a few minutes?” Peter asked, hopefully.

Tony shut the car off and took his seatbelt off. He planned on walking Peter into the school today to ask about this trip he had and if it was mandatory or not.

“Why do you wanna sit in the car?” Tony asked him, already knowing the answer.

Peter threw his head back and looked at Tony with tears in his eyes. “Because I don’t want to leave you.”

“I’m walking you in, let’s go.” Tony got out of the car and looked over to see some mom dragging her own kid into the school. He was glad that he didn’t have to physically drag Peter in since Peter would follow him either way.

“No. I wanna go back home.” Peter tugged on Tony’s hand but Tony pulled him back.

“No, Peter. We can go home after school.” Tony said then held onto Peter’s arm so they could cross the road. “You have me all weekend to yourself, okay? We can do whatever you want.”

Tony opened the door for the school but Peter shook his head and stood there. “I want you now.”

Tony reached forward to grab Peter’s arm. “Well you can’t have me now. Get inside.”

A man walked past them on their way inside the school so Tony hoped the man didn’t hear him being firm with Peter but he probably did.

Tony let go of Peter once he knew he couldn’t run anywhere since they were inside the school unless Peter wanted to run to class but Tony knew he wouldn’t be doing that.

He held the office door open for Peter to walk in but Peter shook his head. “Come, Pete.”

“I really don’t want to go, dad. Please.” Peter begged and Tony hoped so badly that Peter didn’t cause a scene. He tugged Peter into the office and saw that there weren't many people in there, just a student and two other workers.

Tony walked up to the receptionist desk but before he could say anything, the principal was walking out of his office and motioning then over.

“Come, Pete.” Tony pulled Peter through the office to the principal who looked down at Peter and frowned.

“Hello Peter. You don’t look very happy. Didn’t want to come to school today?” The principal asked.

Tony looked down at Peter and saw that Peter had the biggest frown on his face. It would have been funny with any other situation.

“No.” Peter spat out and the principal didn’t try talking to him again.

Tony decided to take over. “Peter came home with trip permission forms the other day and I just wanted to ask why his grade nine class is going with a grade twelve class?”

Principal Morita nodded. “Oh yes. So there are only going to be ten students from Peter’s class who are going with the grade twelve. Only the top students who were signed up. The two classes will be separate for most of the time so don’t worry about that.”

Tony still wasn’t sure if he wanted Peter to go on this. “Alright. Is it mandatory?”

Principal Morita went to respond but the office door was being kicked open so Tony turned around just in time to see a man walk into the office.

He pulled Peter closer to himself and looked over at the man as he pulled down his pants so he could expose himself to everyone in the office.

Tony immediately grabbed Peter so Peter wouldn’t see that. He wasn’t about to let Peter see something like that. No way in hell.

“Ow. What is it?” Peter tried to move his head to look but Tony held his head firmly so there was no way Peter looked.

Tony was a grown man himself and he was scarred. Yikes.

“Some old man just pulled down his pants, Peter.” Tony explained to his son and watched the principal rush towards the man.

“Excuse me, sir. You need to cover yourself. This is a school.” Morita spoke firmly but the man didn’t listen. Morita pointed to the receptionist. “Call the police-”

Before he could even finish his sentence, two police officers barged through the doors and grabbed the man. Tony looked over at the girl who must have been a year older than Peter who was crying out of fear from what just happened.

Tony’s heart broke for her. Maybe it was his parental instincts that were kicking in because he knew that if that was Peter, he would want somebody to comfort his kid.

“Hey, kid.” Tony said as he still held Peter’s head so Peter didn’t look. The girl looked over at him from where she was watching the commotion on the ground. “Come here. You don’t want to see that.”

The girl rushed over to Tony and Peter so Tony walked down the hallway, away from everything that was happening there. He let go of Peter’s face from where he was holding his chin to prevent him from turning his head to look.

“Why did he pull down his pants?” Peter asked Tony.

Tony knew it was because some people were just sick and wanted some innocent kids to see him. He’s just glad he grabbed Peter’s face before he looked.

The girl was trying to stop crying while she wiped her tears. Tony felt so bad for her. “It’s fine, kid. Uh, maybe you want to call your parents or something.”

Peter looked at her and then looked up at Tony. “Maybe she’s just crying because she doesn’t have boy parts.”

Tony tried not to laugh at Peter’s innocent observation. “I know you’d be crying if you saw that, Pete.”

Peter shrugged. “Did his pants fall down?”

The girl looked at Peter and wiped the rest of her tears but more kept coming. “No. He just pulled them down. I saw e-everything.”

Tony felt so bad for her. He had no idea what to do.

Thankfully, the school psychologist was walking over to them and wrapping her arms around the girl. “It’s okay. Let’s go into my office and call your parents, okay?” Mrs. Vans then looked back at Tony and smiled. “Thank you, Mr. Stark. Is Peter okay?”

Tony pulled Peter against his chest. “Yeah. I covered his eyes.”

She smiled, grateful and then left.

Peter turned to look up at Tony. “I don’t want to go to school even more now.”

“No way in hell are you staying today. Let’s go.” Tony walked down the hallway, having no idea where it would lead to. If only he just kept Peter at home today.

“We have to go back out this way.” Peter pulled Tony’s hand down the hallway where one of the side doors were.

“Will this lead to the parking lot?” Tony asked him, having never been to this part of the school before.

“Yeah. It’s just on the side of the school.” Peter answered and then went to push the doors open. “Yay! Freedom!”

Tony laughed at his kid and Peter let go of his hand so he could walk ahead of him. “Now we have a three day long weekend, kid. What do you want to do?”

Peter turned around to hug Tony. “Miami! Let’s go on the beach and swim.”

Tony continued to walk while Peter was hugging him. “Aw, buddy. It would be too hard to come back after just three days. We can go soon though, okay?”

Peter frowned and let go of his dad. “Fine. When we go home, can I go out as Spider-Man?”

Tony was suddenly in a bad mood. Peter was grounded from being Spider-Man for a week but that week was over today. Tony wondered if Peter knew that or if it was just a coincidence that he was asking today after a week of not asking.

“Not today, Pete. We can watch a movie when we get home.” Tony offered but Peter shook his head.

“Please, dad. I haven’t been out in so long.” Peter begged more desperately this time but Tony shook his head.

“Not today, Peter. Do you feel how cold it is outside? I know you’re extra sensitive to the cold.” Tony said then they got to the car and got in.

Peter was at it again. “I want to.”

Tony turned to Peter and snapped at him. “Well I don’t care if you want to or not; you’re not going out as Spider-Man.”

Peter looked surprised that Tony yelled at him and then he threw his head back and tried to open the door but Tony grabbed his arm. “Where are you going?”

“I’m leaving. You’re so rude to me. Let go.” Peter ripped his arm out of his dad’s grasp and opened the car door to walk away from Tony.

Tony felt all his patience leave his body. He got out of the car himself and caught up to Peter who was trying to get away from him. He grabbed his kid’s arm and pulled him back. “What are you doing? Get back in that car.”

“No. I just want to be Spider-Man and you’re stopping me!” Peter yelled as he tried to pull his arm out of Tony's grasp again.

Tony looked around to see if anyone was near them. “Do you want to say that a little louder, Peter. Lower your voice and get in the car. Right. Now.”

Peter just looked at Tony so Tony grabbed him by the arm and practically picked him up while he walked back to the car. He opened the back door and tossed Peter inside. “Why are y-you being so mean to me?!”

Tony picked Peter’s legs up and shoved him more into the car but Peter was lying on his back. Tony spoke in a low voice. “You’re fourteen years, Peter. You think I’m gonna let you be Spider-Man and be happy about it? I shouldn’t have ever made you a suit.”

Tony put the child safety lock on the door and slammed it. He felt horrible for what he said to Peter since Spider-Man was the whole reason they met but Tony wished he didn’t support Peter and his vigilante activities back then to encourage him.

He paused before he opened the car door since he knew that Peter was either going to yell at him or cry a whole lot. Maybe both. He took a breath then opened the door and got in.

He glanced back at Peter who was lying on the back seat with his feet up on the window and one boot off. “Sit up and put your seatbelt on.”

Peter shook his head and let out a whimper. “No. Let me be Spider-Man!”

Tony watched him in the mirror for a few seconds then went to open his door again to forcefully sit Peter up and get his seatbelt on. “Okay, then I will-”

“No! No! I’ll do it!” Peter all but screamed then sat up and quickly fumbled with his seatbelt.

Tony waited until Peter was ready then he started the car and drove home. It was a long drive filled with Peter letting out the occasional whimper every now and then but Tony didn’t say anything to him. He could tell that Peter was holding in his cry and he felt bad that he was the cause of it but he wasn’t going to let his child be Spider-Man right now.

Once they got home, Tony opened up Peter’s back door and grabbed his other boot and his backpack. They walked into the elevator in silence and same with the whole way up then Peter made a beeline for the stairs after kicking off his other boot and his jacket.

Pepper was sitting on the couch and looked surprised to see Peter run up the stairs so Tony sat down across from her and put his head in his hands.

“So he couldn’t go today either then?” Pepper asked.

Tony lifted his head up. “No. Actually some man walked into the office when I was dropping him off and he flashed everyone in there. I made sure Peter didn’t see anything but I didn’t want him going after that.”

“Oh my god. Who was the man? Did you see anything?” Pepper put down her book and looked at Tony concerned.

“Some crazy guy. I don’t know, the police were already there though and yeah, I saw everything so I’m glad Peter didn’t.” Tony could not have been more relieved. He didn’t know how he would comfort Peter after that if it turned out any other way.

“Oh I’m so sorry, Tony. Good thing Peter didn’t see anything. But then why is he crying?”

“Because he wants to go out as Spider-Man and I said no.” Tony simply explained to Pepper and stood up so he could go check on him. “I’ll be back.”

“Maybe give him some time to himself, Tony.” Pepper suggested but Tony just wanted to see his kid.

“No, I’ll just go see if he’s okay.” Tony said then walked up the stairs. He passed by Peter’s bedroom and saw that it was empty and so he went to his own bedroom and saw that the door was closed so he opened it and walked in to find Peter lying on the bed with the teddy bear under his nose.

He looked over at Tony and whined then turned away from him.

Tony walked over and sat on the bottom of the bed. “Peter. Do you wanna talk?”

“Mm-mm.” Peter turned his head to look at Tony and then turned back.

Tony reached out to touch Peter but stopped. As sad as it was, Peter didn’t want him there right now.

“Do you want me to stay with you?” Tony asked, sadly.

“I want to be left alone.” Peter said then put the bear back under his nose.

“Okay. Call me if you need anything.” Tony then got off the bed and left the bedroom. He was surprised that Peter wanted to be away from him but maybe it was for the better.

Peter felt the tears run down his cheeks again once Tony left. He hated that his dad wouldn’t let him be Spider-Man but part of him understood why. He knew it was because Tony cared about him and didn’t want anything to happen to him and Peter secretly loved that and even tried not to go out as Spider-Man as much because of that but he took the sacrifice for Tony so it was Tony’s turn to take the sacrifice for him and let him be Spider-Man.

It was frustrating!

Peter groaned and threw his bear at the headboard then got out of bed to go ask Tony again. He couldn't say no after he knew how badly Peter wanted to go. It wasn’t fair!

Peter went downstairs and saw Tony in the kitchen making coffee or something so he ran over to him and pushed him a bit which caused Tony to spill a bit of the water.

“What- hey? What are you doing?” Tony set down the water filter and turned to look at Peter who had a frown on his face.

“I want to go out as Spider-Man.” Peter demanded and left no room up for debate.

Tony eyed him for a few seconds then went back to making his coffee. “We talked about this and my answer is no.”

Peter grabbed onto Tony’s arm and shook it. “I haven’t been out in a week and you said after I’m not grounded from being Spider-Man I can go out and I’m not grounded anymore and I want to.”

Tony grabbed Peter’s hands and pushed them away so Peter would stop shaking him. “I don’t remember saying that. The answer is still no, Peter.”

Peter stomped his feet on the spot and sank down onto the floor then started crying. Tony looked down at him and watched him. He didn’t want to deal with this at ten in the morning.

“Please! Dad! Please!” Peter begged and weakly kicked Tony’s legs from where he was lying on his back on the floor.

Tony poured his coffee and took a few sips that burnt his mouth but he didn’t care. He looked down at Peter and sighed. “Peter, breathe. You’re gonna get yourself worked up.”

Peter shook his head and wiped his face that spread the snot onto his cheeks. “I can’t! I just- just wan’ be Spider-Man! Dad!”

Peter sent a hard kick into the kitchen cabinet so Tony put down his coffee mug and kneeled down because he knew he couldn’t let Peter get away with this kind of behaviour.

“Look at me.” Tony said firmly and grabbed Peter’s face to face him to look at him, ignoring the stickiness and wetness going on his hand. “You need to stop. No is no.”

Peter pushed Tony’s hand off of his face and cried out, “No! I want to be Spider-Man.”

“How can I let you be Spider-Man when you are crying on the floor like a baby. You aren’t showing me right now that I should let you be Spider-Man.” Tony said firmly. He needed Peter to understand that he was not going to give in to his tantrums this time.

“I want to!” Peter cried out again and tried to push the hand off that Tony had on his stomach.

“I’m not going to let you be Spider-Man when you act like this. Get off the floor and wipe your tears away or I will send you to your room.” Tony told him and stood up to go into the living room with his coffee where Pepper was watching the whole thing.

“No! Dad! Dad?!” Peter cried out once he saw Tony leaving him. He was just tried and didn’t want to go back to school on Monday and he was feeling anxious over everything.

Peter sat up and moved across the floor until he could see behind the kitchen island. He saw Tony looking at him on the couch and then stood up to go over there.

Tony just wanted Peter to stop. He wanted him to give up already and be his cute kid again instead of this miserable child who is always crying. He guessed that he kinda wished for it since he wanted to experience all of Peter’s ages but now his fourteen year old was acting like a five year old.

Once Peter was close enough, he threw himself back onto the floor by Tony’s feet and looked up at him while the tears fell from his eyes.

“Are you going to your room?” Tony asked him and Peter shook his head but didn’t stop. Tony watched him for about a minute and realized that Peter wasn’t going to stop. He didn’t know what he wanted since he knew it wasn’t actually Spider-Man.

But Tony had enough and as much as he wanted to pick Peter up and comfort him, he couldn’t because then Peter would win. “Alright. Get up and go to your room.”

Peter shook his head. “No!”

Tony stood up off the couch and reached down to pick Peter up, grateful for his spider bite making him extremely light since he knew he probably couldn’t lift him up while Peter fought him like this without his advantage. Also the fact that Peter was a very small kid to begin with.

“No! Dad! Noooo!” Peter screamed but it was no use. Tony picked him up and threw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carried him upstairs. Peter tried to reach out and grab onto something but he couldn’t get his hands on anything.

Tony walked into Peter’s bedroom and shut the door behind him. He placed Peter on the bed and sat down. “Peter. Just talk to me, baby. What’s going on inside that head of yours?”

Peter didn’t say anything but continued to cry so Tony sighed. He placed his hand on Peter’s belly to rub it and wanted to cry himself at how much Peter was shaking from crying so hard.

“Do you want to talk to me?” Tony asked and looked at Peter’s face but Peter was shaking his head.

“I wan’... I want be Spider-Man!” Peter cried out.

Tony shook his head sadly. “No you don’t. I’m gonna go downstairs and leave you alone to calm down.”

As soon as Tony stood up, Peter started crying even harder but Tony left. He shut the door behind him and leaned against it tiredly.

He felt like he was failing as a father and he knew he probably was.

Back downstairs, Pepper was watching him intently but Tony shook his head as he sat down on the couch. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Tony put his head in his hands and let out a huge sigh. He was so freaking tired. There wasn’t even a word to describe how tired he was right now. He once stayed up for seven-two hours straight and it was nowhere near how tired he was right now.

He heard banging coming from upstairs and then he heard the crying get louder and he wanted to join Peter in crying. He looked up and saw Peter running down the stairs with his face red and wetness covering his whole face with snot, tears and spit.

“Daddy. Daddy.” Peter cried out and reached out for Tony as he ran at him. Tony held his arms out for Peter and welcomed him into his arms.

He lifted Peter onto his lap so each of Peter’s legs were at his side and their chests were pressed up against each other. Peter cried tiredly into Tony’s shoulder as Tony rubbed his back.

“Shh, it’s okay, Peter. It’s okay. I’m here.” Tony whispered into Peter’s ear as he cried.

“Mm daddy.” Peter whimpered and grabbed onto the back of Tony's shirt.

Tony laid his head on Peter’s and looked over at Pepper who was standing up to give them some privacy. Tony was thankful for that.

He checked the time and saw that it was just past 11am so maybe him and Peter could take a nap together since the both of them desperately needed it.

“Are you tired?” Tony asked him and Peter nodded his head and rubbed at his eyes.

“Yeah.” Peter said sadly and Tony’s heart melted at it.

“Okay. Let’s sleep together for a bit.” Tony said and then moved on the couch a bit so he was lying on his back and Peter was half on him and half between the back of the couch. Peter laid his head on Tony’s chest and continued to whimper occasionally.

Tony wrapped his arms around Peter and looked down to see Peter’s legs on top of him. “Do you need to pee?”

“Mm-mm.”

“Don’t pee on me.” Tony warned because he didn’t want to wake up to that but he knew it wasn’t actually Peter’s fault if he accidentally did.

Peter nodded. “Mhmm.”

Tony and Peter both fell into a deep sleep within minutes of each other. Both of them both desperately needed the rest because of how Peter was acting; taking a toll on the both of them.

When Tony woke up next, it was almost three hours later but he was feeling a lot better than he had before.

He let his eyes adjust to the light and then lifted his head up to look down at Peter who was still passed out on top of him. Tony ran a hand over his soft baby hair a few times. He hoped Peter’s hair stayed so soft but he knew eventually his baby hairs would go away.

He put his head back down on the pillow and moved a bit since one of his legs was asleep. Peter didn’t even move and Tony was sure that it was because he was in a really deep sleep but it wasn’t bedtime yet so Tony needed to wake him up before he sleeps too long.

Tony took a few more minutes to just enjoy the silence and Peter sleeping peacefully. He didn’t know if Peter would wake up crying or be in a better mood.

He just had to take a chance so Tony rubbed a hand over his back to try and wake him up. “Hey, buddy. Nap time’s over. Time to get up.”

Peter didn’t move or show any signs of getting up so Tony tried again. “Wake up, Petey. C’mon.” Tony grabbed Peter by the underarms to lift him up a bit and Peter groaned after that. “Hey. Did you sleep good?”

“Mm.” Peter moaned and lifted his arms up to rub his eyes.

Tony smiled at him. He loved watching Peter wake up because he always feels like Peter looks like a newborn baby. “You slept for a while. And you drooled all over me.”

Peter shook his head and then lifted his head up and smiled at his dad. Tony felt like a huge ounce of relief had just been lifted off his shoulders because he knew Peter was in a good mood.

“Mm. Is it… is it lunchtime yet?” Peter asked and sat up a bit so he wasn’t holding himself up by his dad’s chest.

“Yeah. I can cook something. What do you feel like?” Tony asked and waited for Peter to get off of him.

Peter climbed off of Tony and slid onto the floor in front of his legos. “Um… chicken nuggets and fries.”

Tony got off the couch and stretched. He felt all the blood going back into his leg which was painful. “Okay. I’ll get right on that.”

.
.
.

After lunch, Tony could tell that Peter was in a much better mood which he was happy about.

No mentions of Spider-Man and no tears.

Tony got an idea and so he walked into the living room and sat next to Peter on the floor. “Guess what?”

Peter gasped and turned to him. “What?”

Tony smiled. “I have an idea.”

Peter gasped again and turned his whole body to face Tony. “An idea? What is it?”

Tony paused for dramatic effect. “How about we go for a drive before dinner?”

“Yeah! And it’s cold out so it’ll be cool to drive in the car with all the snow.” Peter said excitedly and bounced on his knees then stood up. “Let’s go now.”

Tony stood up as well and followed Peter towards the elevator doors. “Do you like to go on drives in the snow?”

“Uh huh. Especially when it’s nice and warm in the car but it’s cold outside.” Tony nodded his head to Peter’s explanation and put Peter’s boots in front of him and hoped that it didn’t start anything. “My shoes-”

Tony cut Peter off so he wouldn’t start that fight up again. “Do you have anywhere in mind you want to drive to?”

Peter put his boots on and thought about it. “Maybe somewhere not in the city. Like maybe that one place we drove on before with the trees on either side.”

Tony put his own shoes and jacket on while he waited for Peter to get his on. “Yeah. I know what you’re talking about. We can do that.”

The two of them went down to the garage and was about to get in the car but Peter ran to the driver's seat. “I wanna drive, dad.”

Tony laughed. He knew Peter would drive a hole right through the tower. “Ask me again in two years. In the other seat you get.”

Peter opened the car door and looked back at his dad. “Can I sit here? Please.”

“Fine. Climb in.” Tony watched Peter climb in and then sit in the seat as if he were about to actually drive the car. Tony looked down at his feet and laughed because Peter’s feet weren’t even close to touching the pedals. “See, you’re not big enough yet, bud.”

Peter tried to turn the steering wheel but it was locked and barely moved. “This is my first time in the driver’s seat by myself.”

Tony leaned up against the car. “Is it actually?”

Peter nodded. “Uh huh. Can I press the horn?”

“Go ahead, bud.” Tony smiled. He was glad that he got to see one of Peter’s firsts even if it was as simple as sitting in the driver's seat of a parked car. He liked that.

Peter beeped the horn and scared himself. Tony knew they would be doing that for the rest of the evening if he didn’t stop him. “Okay, all done. Jump over into the next seat so we can get moving.”

Peter crawled over the Center console and put his seatbelt on as Tony got into the car himself. Tony started the car and turned the heat on full blast because he knew that Peter would start freezing once they started driving.

It was still bright out but Tony knew that it would start to get darker soon.

“I wanna play some music.” Peter said as he leaned his arm over to plug the aux cord in. “Give me your phone, dad.”

Tony reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone out then handed it to Peter who paused at the home screen. “Why is this your home picture?”

It was a picture of Peter sitting on the beach in Miami with sunscreen marks all over his body making him look funny. Tony loved that picture of his kid. “Because it’s of you and I love you.”

“You should have picked a better one. I look like I’m covered in paint.” Peter said as he unlocked the phone and went onto his dad’s music app which had about 80% of Peter’s songs on there.

“That’s because I didn’t want you getting burnt.” Tony explained but he knew Peter wasn’t listening anymore.

“Do you want me to play Party in the USA or Dark Horse?” Peter asked seriously and Tony smiled because it’s been so long since Peter has asked him that.

“Party in the USA.” Tony answered and started tapping his fingers along to the beat of the song as he continued to drive towards the countryside to check out snowy trees.

The car ride was filled with Peter playing his music and Tony found that he actually liked all the songs. Peter had added most of them when they first met and Peter was comfortable enough to add songs and at first Tony didn’t want to listen to that garbage but he soon started to like the songs.

He would listen to some of the songs even when Peter wasn’t at the tower because it reminded him of the kid.

They had been driving in the countryside for a bit now and Tony wanted to talk to Peter so he turned down the music a bit and started talking. “I wanna talk to you about earlier today, bud.”

Peter leaned his head against the window then took it off immediately since it was too cold. “About what?”

“About what happened. With your little… tantrum.” Tony was understating it. Peter had a full blown temper tantrum that knocked the both of them out for three hours.

Peter shifted uncomfortably. “It wasn’t a tantrum.”

Tony wasn’t going to get Peter upset so he agreed with him even though he didn’t actually agree with him. “Okay. But do you want to talk about it? I know you didn’t get so emotional just over wanting to be Spider-Man.”

Peter shrugged and shifted so he was looking at Tony’s hands rather than his face. “I just… I don’t know. You never let me be Spider-Man and I really wanted to go out.”

Tony knew that wasn’t the truth. “I know that wasn’t the reason, Pete. Something else was on your mind.”

Tony waited patiently for Peter to speak. He knew something else was wrong but he wasn’t sure that even Peter knew so himself.

Peter started playing with the string on his track pants. “I don’t know. I guess… I guess I just wanted to be Spider-Man because I always used to go out when I was feeling like anxious about something.”

Tony took his eyes off of the road for a second to look at Peter. “Yeah? What are you feeling anxious about, buddy?”

Peter shrugged his shoulders and was quiet for a few seconds before his face scrunched up and he started to cry again. “School. I don’t like going to school anymore.”

Tony's heart was breaking when he heard Peter cry. He wanted to pull him onto his lap and comfort him but he couldn’t do that right now. “I know it’s hard but-”

“No!” Petet cut Tony off. “It’s so hard, dad. I-I… I’m waiting for it to get better and it’s not. My chest hurts so bad whenever I think about going back to school and… and I don’t like it.”

Tony stayed silent. He wanted to let Peter finish since Peter was letting everything out.

Peter brought his feet up on the seat since his boots were already off and Tony let him because he knew Peter was desperate for some comfort that he couldn’t give to his kid right now.

“I just want to not feel this way anymore.” Peter cried out and Tony felt himself literally crumble. That was so hard for Tony to hear his kid say.

“I want-I want to be with you all the t-time and I know I can’t so-so then my chest hurts and-and then I think about school and I feel like I can’t breathe but I can… and it’s just this feeling that I always have.” Peter explained the best he could and looked over at his dad.

Tony took a second to glance over at Peter. His kids face was all red and blotchy with wet cheeks and snot dripping out of his nose.

“Why are you crying?” Peter asked, concerned.

Tony looked back onto the road and lifted his hand up to wipe at his face. He had no idea that he was crying. “Because you’re hurting and it kills me to see that.”

Peter frowned. “Don’t say that.”

“Okay. It hurts me to see you hurting. You’re my baby and I just want to see you happy but lately I haven’t been seeing that.” Tony admitted. He had been forcing Peter to go to school and he knew that it just wasn’t working anymore.

He wanted to bring up the idea of homeschooling but he still wanted to think about that for a little bit longer. Just so he knows that he’s making the absolute right decision.

Peter wiped at his face but he was still crying. “I’m sorry. I know-I know sometimes I’m bad and I try not to be but I just am.”

Tony smiled weakly and moved his arm over to cup Peter’s face and brush his tears away. “Don’t be sorry. It’s just part of being a dad. Certain things I have to put up with.”

Peter laughed weakly and lifted his hand up to place it over Tony’s hand on his face. “Yeah. I just… I really don’t want to go to school, dad. It’s so hard. I-I go for one day and then I’m thinking about all the other days I have to go and it’s all I think about and I don’t want to think about that anymore.”

Tony took his hand away to grab Peter’s leg. “I know. I know. It’ll be okay. Okay? I promise you I’ll make it okay.”

Peter nodded his head. “I know you will.”

And Peter knew that. He knew his dad would fix everything.

Peter smiled and looked back over at his dad. “But can I say something?”

“Go for it.” Tony was curious as to what Peter was going to say.

“I need to go pee. Like really bad.” Peter put his feet down and grabbed between his legs so he could squeeze himself.,

Tony started laughing. That was his boy. It wouldn’t be a deep discussion without Peter saying something so Peter after they were done talking.

“Okay. Don’t pee on the seat. I’m gonna pull over.” Tony told him then checked in the mirrors to see if there were any cars behind them before pulling over.

He put his hazards on and watched a car drive past them. It wasn’t a busy street since it was in the country but there were still a few cars. Plus it was getting dark out.

Peter looked out the window and tried to see where he was going to go. There weren't any trees or bushes plus it was deep snow.

“Just go here. Open the back door so no one sees you and go there.” Tony explained to him and checked his mirror again for any cars.

Peter hesitated but opened up his door and shivered at the cold air. He put his boots on to step outside the car and looked back at his dad. “Well, face the other way so you’re not peeing in the car.”

“It’s cold.” Peter complained.

“I know. The faster you pee the faster you can come back in. And open up the back door so no one can see you.” Tony told him again. The last thing he wanted was for someone to drive by and see his kid.

Peter opened up the back door and then tugged his pants down so he could quickly pee and get it over with.

Tony checked in the mirror again and saw two cars drive by so he was sure that they knew what was going on but they wouldn’t be able to see anything from their angle.

Peter finished off and quickly pulled his underwear and pants back up then shut the back door and jumped into the car. “Ah! Cold cold cold!”

Tony laughed at his kid. “Yeah it is. You’re nice and warm now. You wanna go get a hot chocolate before we go home?”

Tony pulled out of the ditch that they were in and continued driving. Peter started bouncing excitedly in his seat. “Yeah!”

They drove about thirty minutes to get back into the city which was extremely busy as expected so it took a long time to get to the cafe that Tony wanted to take Peter to.

When they finally got there, Tony parked the SUV instead of driving through the drive thru. Peter looked at him excited but confused. “What are you doing?”

“We’re going in. Have you ever been here before?” Tony shut the car off and opened his door but paused to wait for Peter to get his boots on.

“No. Do they have donuts?” Peter asked and opened up his car door and jumped out of the car.

“Yeah. Maybe. I haven’t been here in years.” Tony grabbed onto Peter’s arm because he knew how he got in parking lots but Peter pulled his arm away and grabbed onto Tony’s hand.

“I wanna hold your hand.” Peter said because after their talk, he wanted to keep his dad close by.

“Okay, baby. Come here.” Squeezed Peter’s hand in his and walked across the parking lot and into the cafe. Tony loved this small cafe since there were never a lot of people in there. It was mostly old people who kept to themselves.

“Hmm. It smells good.” Peter announced and let go of his dad’s hand to go up to the counter to look at the menu.

Tony followed right behind him and watched his kid look at the menu. He already knew what he was going to get and he had an idea as to what Peter was going to get.

Peter turned around and bumped into Tony’s chest. “I want… the… the hot chocolate with whipped cream.”

“Do you want your donut?” Tony asked him, he thought for sure that Peter would get that as well.

“They don’t have any.” Peter said and looked back at the menu but then Tony turned him to see the pile of donuts behind the glass. “Woah. Hmmm. I want… I want the chocolate one and can you get the honey dip so I can have a bite?”

Tony chuckled and walked over to the cashier. “Of course, Pete.”

After they got their food and drinks, they sat down on the cafe stools together where they had the perfect view of the sun setting. Peter took a sip of his drink and stuck his tongue out. “Ah! Hot! Too hot.”

“Here, open the lid so it cools off a bit.” Tony opened the lid up for Peter and then someone was walking up to them.

“Peter? Oh my god, I can’t believe it’s you.” A man said, surprised.

Tony and Peter both looked up at him. Peter didn’t recognize him one bit. He had no idea who that man was. He moved closer to his dad and leaned his head up against his arm.

“Who are you?” Tony asked. He knew he didn’t know every single person in Peter’s life and he hated that for these exact reasons.

The man looked at Tony and held his hand out to shake. “I’m James. I used to be a good friend of Peter’s Aunt.”

Peter shook his head into Tony’s arm. He didn’t recognize him at all and he knew May would have told him if she was friends with any James.

“Okay. Well he doesn’t remember you. Sorry pal.” Tony looked at the guy, he isn’t surprised that someone is coming up to them and trying to take advantage of his kid. He knows that people heard on the news that he adopted a child and that that child had a life before Tony adopted him and that’s where people try to take advantage of Peter’s innocence and trick him.

The man looked between Tony and Peter for a few seconds and then left the cafe without saying another word.

Peter rubbed his cheek on Tony’s arm. “He wasn’t Aunt May’s friend.”

Tony rubbed Peter’s back. “I know, bud. You ready to go home now?”

Peter nodded his head and slid off the stool. “I’m ready.”