All The Stars Align

“Are you coming with me to drop Pepper off at the airport or are you staying here?” Tony sat on the bed and asked Peter who was still sleeping.

They had a late night last night doing absolutely nothing but Peter was in a good mood so Tony let him stay up late.

Peter rubbed his eyes and rolled over on the bed. “Uh huh.”

“You wanna come?” Tony asked. He hoped that Peter chose to come so he wouldn’t have to worry about leaving Peter at home alone even if he was sleeping. The team didn’t get back until Monday so they still had two more days.

Peter nodded his head and stretched. “I’m coming.”

“Okay. Get dressed and meet us downstairs then you and I will go get breakfast somewhere after.” Tony pulled the blankets off of Peter since he knew that would help get Peter out of bed.

Peter groaned and slid off the bed then he pulled his pants off and went into the bathroom to go pee and brush his teeth. He took his pyjama shirt off and got dressed with the pile of clean clothes that was sitting in the laundry basket in his dad’s bedroom then he ran downstairs and over to his dad.

“Hey, bud. You look comfy.” Tony wrapped an arm around Peter and pulled the back of the waistband of his pants. “These are on inside out.”

Peter looked down and shook his head. “Nu-Uh. It’s on right side out.”

“Okay. Whatever you say. Go get your stuff on.” Tony patted Peter’s butt and pushed him off towards the closet to get ready.

He looked over at Pepper who was finishing off her tea and putting the cup in the sink. “Can’t you stay for a little bit longer?”

Pepper shook her head and caressed Tony’s face. “I have to go to Malibu for a few weeks.”

“Yeah. Maybe I’ll fire you so you can stay here with Pete and I.” Tony joked. He would never do that.

“You couldn’t last two days without me taking care of your company.” Pepper teased and walked over to where Peter was.

Tony watched her walk away and then followed her but he stopped and leaned against the doorway to watch the two. He loved watching his kid and Pepper interact since it made him so happy that his two favourite people in the world got along.

Pepper grabbed Peter’s shoes that kept reappearing and she put them on the top shelf.

“No. I need those.” Peter stood up to grab them but Pepper grabbed Peter’s wrist and sat him down on the bench.

“You don’t need your shoes because it’s snowing out. Put your boots on.” Pepper pushed the boots right under Peter’s feet and looked up at Tony. She smiled at him then stood up to get ready herself.

Tony walked into the room and ruffled Peter’s hair while he slipped into his own snowshoes and jacket. He loved how it came so easy to Pepper and how she already knew what to do with Peter.

“Pepper?” Peter said to get her attention. “Me and dad are gonna go to McDonald’s after you leave.”

Tony chucked. “I said breakfast. I never said McDonald’s.”

Peter and Pepper both ignored him. “That sounds like fun, Peter. Do you guys have any other plans for today?”

Peter stood up to get his jacket on. “I don’t know. Maybe we’ll watch a movie or something.”

After they were all ready, they made their way down to the garage and got in the car. Pepper and Tony chatted along the way while Peter went onto Tony’s phone since he didn’t bring his own phone with him, he didn’t even know where it was.

They were pulling up onto the runway so Tony put the car in park and got out so he could give a proper goodbye to Pepper.

Tony opened up Peter’s door as well, knowing it was locked. Peter got out of the car and looked over at the airplane. He wanted to go on it so badly to go to Miami with his dad.

He walked over to Tony and tried to pull him away from hugging Pepper. “Dad? I wanna go on the plane.”

Tony wrapped one around Peter but ignored him. He pulled away from Pepper and looked at her lips. He wanted to kiss her so badly but he couldn’t so he pulled away from her and pulled Peter against his chest. “Say bye to Pep, Pete.”

“I wanna go with her.” Peter said, pointing over at the plane.

“Oh. You wanna go with Pepper and leave me here?” Tony teased.

Peter turned around to look up at Tony. “No. I wanna go with you. We can go to Miami.”

“Peps going to Malibu, Pete.” Tony told him.

Peter whined. “I wanna go too.”

“No, Pete.” Tony was about to say that Peter had school but he didn’t feel like getting into that.

“How about you walk me onto the plane?” Pepper suggested and Peter nodded his head then grabbed Tony by the hand.

They walked onto the plane but instead of Peter saying bye, he sat down on one of the seats. Pepper walked over to him and sat in front of him. “Your dad is waiting for you. Can I have a hug before you leave?”

Peter got off the seat to hug Pepper and sat down on the side of her seat with her. He smiled at Tony and waved his hand over. “Come sit with us.”

Tony rolled his eyes. He wished so badly he could have that door shut behind them and join Pepper in Malibu but he had to bring Peter to school on Monday and a bunch of other commitments.

“Not today. Come here.” Tony held his hand out for Peter but Peter shook his head and leaned his head on Peppers shoulder.

“I’m staying. We’re gonna go swimming.” Peter stuck his tongue out at Tony and Tony knew that this would not be easy now.

“Okay. Bye Peter. I’ll see you in a few weeks alright? Be good to Pepper.” Tony said in hopes that Peter would follow him off the plane. He walked down a few steps and waited there for Peter to come but after a few seconds, Peter wasn’t there.

Tony walked back into the plane and saw Peter standing there looking extremely scared and confused. Tony held his hand out for him again. “Come. Let’s go get breakfast.”

Peter sat back down with Pepper again. “No. I wanna go to Malibu. I’ve never been.”

Tony walked closer to Peter to grab him but Peter started screaming to get him away. “You’re not going today. Stand up.”

“I am.” Peter shook his head and tried to kick Tony away but Tony grabbed his arm and pulled him into a standing position but then Peter tried to throw himself onto the floor so Tony picked him up and held him uncomfortably.

Pepper stood up to help but there wasn’t anything she could do. “I’m sorry, Tony. I shouldn’t have offered him to come onto the plane.”

Tony shook his head. “It’s okay. It’s fine. He just gets like this.”

“Please let me go!” Peter screamed and grabbed onto the airplane seat but Tony pried his hands away from it and hoisted Peter up in his arms.

“Bye Pep. I’ll call you later.” Tony said over the crying and left the plane. He walked down the steps and carried Peter over to the car then opened the back door and sat Peter down.

“You need to stop. Take a breath and calm down.” Tony spoke firmly since this behaviour was ridiculous. He knew Peter was acting this way because he let the kid get away with it and enough was enough.

Peter coughed and lied down in the backseat so Tony waited for him to calm down. “I can’t!”

Tony looked at him. “You can’t what?”

“Calm down!” Peter yelled and choked on another cough.

Tony pushed Peter’s knees to his chest so he could sit down then he pulled Peter onto his lap and rocked him. “Shh, it’s okay. Just breathe.”

Peter started to calm down and fisted the front of Tony’s shirt through his jacket. “I wanted-I wanted to go.”

Tony hushed him and brushed the curls out of Peter’s face. “I know but we can’t go to Malibu since we have so much to do this week and next week.”

Peter rubbed his face on Tony’s shirt to rub his tears and snot away. “No. I want to go.”

Tony sighed. He looked up and watched the plane start to race down the runway and watched until it was up in the air then he leaned his head on the car seat.

He looked down at Peter who looked exhausted and it was not even 9am yet. “Are you tired, baby? Do you want to go eat then go take a nap?”

Peter nodded his head and rubbed at his eyes. “Yeah.”

Tony squeezed his leg then lifted Peter up a bit so Peter could get off of him first. “I wanna sit in the front seat.”

“Okay.” Tony agreed and shut the back door then got into the driver's seat and waited for Peter to hop into the passenger seat. “Any suggestions?”

Peter rubbed at his eye again and yawned. “Hmm? Maybe Randy’s Cafe?”

Tony smiled. “Okay. Let’s go.”

On the way to breakfast, Peter was in a slightly better mood which Tony was happy about but what happened on the airplane made him really realize that he had to get Peter a therapist.

He was taking his time with searching for one since there had to be a lot of steps to take before he found the perfect person to come into their home and see everything. Although now he knew that he couldn’t take his time anymore, something had to be done soon. Within the next week.

Tony was also going to decide whether or not he was taking Peter out of school by the end of the week too. He wanted to try one last time although his decision was already made.

Once they arrived at the cafe, Tony did a parallel park in front of the store and Peter’s eye was immediately caught by a dog tied up outside the shop.

“Dad! A puppy! Look at him. Mmm.” Peter looked at the dog through the car window and was already getting out.

“Peter. Wait for me. The dog could bite you.” Tony grabbed Peter’s arm to try and stop him since he knew that Peter would go and stick his face right in the dogs face.

“He won’t. He’s a good boy.” Peter opened his car door and waited for Tony to walk around to the other side of the car. “I want to pet him.”

“How do you know it’s a him?” Tony asked, amused. Every animal that Peter saw was a him.

“Because I just know. Where’s his owner?” Peter stood in front of the dog and squatted down in front of the dog to look at it. It was a golden retriever and was tied up to a sign but Tony knew that the owner was close by.

“They probably went into the store for a sec.” Tony told him and went to go walk inside. “Come. You can see him later.”

“No. I wanna stay out here with him.” Peter looked up at his dad and gave his best puppy dog eyes. “Please dad. I want to. I’ll stay right here.”

Tony sighed. He was only going to give in because he was terrified of Peter throwing an inevitable temper tantrum. “Fine. I’m going in but stay right here.”

Peter nodded his head and looked back at the dog. “Yeah. Aww you’re so cute. I love you.”

Tony rolled his eyes at Peter and went inside the cafe. It wasn’t that busy but there was still a lineup so he kept his eyes on Peter the whole time.

Back outside, Peter went to go pet the dog when someone walked up behind him. “Hey kid. Do you like my dog?”

Peter looked up at the man and nodded his head. “Uh huh. He’s cute.”

The man chuckled. “He’s a she, actually. And she just had puppies. Do you want to come see them?”

Peter looked up through the window of the cafe but he couldn’t see anything because it was so bright outside. He looked back up at the man. “Um… well my dad is inside.”

The man nodded his head and smiled weakly. “That’s okay. My car is just right there, see that yellow one? The puppies are in the backseat.”

Peter hesitated. He wanted to see the puppies but he knew he wasn’t allowed to leave the window view although the car was right there so he would be fine.

“Okay. How many puppies are there?” Peter asked as he stood up to follow the man.

“I have six of them. They’re so cute.” The man walked over to his yellow car and unlocked it then opened the back seat revealing a box full of puppies wrapped in a blanket.

Peter gasped and went to go closer to look at them. “I love them. They’re all so cute.”

The man leaned against the door of his car and smiled. “Yeah, kid. How old are you?”

Peter looked over at him and hesitated. “Uh… I’m fourteen.”

Back inside the cafe, Tony took his eyes off of Peter for one second to order at the front and when he was in the middle of ordering, he looked back outside the window and froze. He didn’t see Peter.

He tried to lean over the counter to see if he could get a better view but he could see a dog and no Peter so he left the cashier and rushed out of the cafe.

His eyes immediately landed on Peter looking into the backseat of some rusted up yellow car with a middle aged pervert standing behind him. Tony saw red.

He ran over to the two of them and pulled Peter by the arm to get him away from the man. “Hey! What the fuck is this?!”

Peter caught his balance after being roughly grabbed. “Dad, no. He has puppies.”

Peter tried to point at the puppies in the back of the car but Tony grabbed his arm and held him against his chest.

The man was staring at Tony in shock. “Woah. Iron Man. Uh, Tony Stark. I didn’t know that was your kid.”

Tony felt his heart pounding in his chest. Was Peter actually that naïve where it was that easy to kidnap him? The thought terrified Tony.

“Puppies, dad.” Peter tried to point at the puppies again but Tony didn’t care.

“Look, man. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know he was your kid.” The man held up his hands in defence. “My dog just had puppies and so I’m trying to sell them. Kids are the easiest targets.”

Tony turned around to leave. He could tell the guy was telling the truth but it was a huge eye opener for him. He looked away from the man and he could see him visually relax on the corner of his eye.

“We’re leaving.” Tony grabbed Peter by the upper arm and walked back towards their car. He could feel his blood pumping through his veins and he felt sick.

He opened up the back door and practically lifted Peter inside which caused Peter to start crying because he knew he was in trouble.

Tony walked around the other side, got in and locked all the doors. He took a few calming breaths and ignored Peter crying since he couldn’t deal with that right now.

The drive home was fast. Tony drove home on autopilot and didn’t even realize he made it home until he pulled into the garage. He shut the car off and looked over at Peter who was crying and lying down on the seat meaning that he didn’t put his seatbelt on the whole ride home.

“Dad! Daddy. I didn’t do anything. I wasn’t bad.” Peter cried out but Tony only shook his head. The fact that Peter didn’t realize what he did was wrong, terrified him even more.

“You did do something wrong.” Tony grabbed Peter and shook him a bit then pulled him out of the car. He shut the back door and brought Peter into the elevator.

“I didn’t! Dad! Dad?!” Peter sank down to the floor and grabbed onto Tony’s legs so Tony put his head in his hands.

He was a horrible father. He didn’t feed Peter breakfast. He let him stay up late and woke him up early then promised him food and didn’t give him any. He let someone almost kidnap his son because he wasn’t paying attention and, to top it all off, he let Peter lie down in the backseat with no seatbelt on.

He knows that Peter needs patience and understanding otherwise Peter acts like this and it’s his own fault.

Tony leaned down to lift Peter up so he was standing up. “I’m sorry. Come here.”

The elevator doors opened so Tony brought Peter over to the mudroom where everything was and he sat him down to take off his boots and his jacket then did the same himself.

“I’m sorry. I’m gonna make breakfast and then we’re gonna talk.” Tony spoke slowly and cupped Peter’s face gently.

There was snot running down Peter’s face along with tears. Tony stood up and pulled Peter to his feet to lead him over to the couch.

“I need a hug!” Peter cried out so Tony turned back around and sat down on the couch. Peter threw himself into Tony’s arms and cried into his chest. Tony didn’t understand how Peter could go on for so long.

It was like Peter was spending more of his days crying than he was doing anything else and it broke Tony.

“It’s okay, Pete. It’s okay.” Tony rocked Peter gently and then Peter was quieting down. He kissed the top of his head and put his hand on his forehead to see if he was getting sick since lately it’s just been awful with all the crying and screaming.

“My stomach…” Peter lifted up his shirt and whined. “It hurts.”

“It’s probably because you’re hungry. I’m sorry. I’m gonna go make some food.” Tony grabbed Peter and sat him on the couch then went into the kitchen to get breakfast together. “FRI, put on Craig of the Creek for Pete.”

“Yes Boss.” FRIDAY replied and Tony could hear the show start to play so he hurried up in the kitchen.

He made pancakes with chopped up fruit and filled up Peter’s water bottle then placed everything onto the kitchen island and sat down with his own plate.

“Come, Pete. It’s ready.” Tony looked over and saw Peter running towards him with a blanket wrapped around him.

“I wanna sit on your lap.” Peter said and stared at Tony. Tony knew he wasn’t going to get out of this one.

“Alright but lose the blanket.” Tony waited for Peter to drop the blanket and climb onto his lap before he wrapped an arm around Peter’s stomach.

Peter dragged his plate over to himself and grabbed his water bottle. “Cut mine up.”

“Okay…” Tony grabbed the fork and knife and cut up Peter’s pancakes before doing the same to his.

Peter ate about three of the four pancakes and turned around on Tony’s lap once he was done.

Tony only ate two pancakes since he wasn’t that hungry because he filled up on his coffees. He took Peter’s water bottle from him but Peter whined and reached for it again so Tony handed it back.

“I wanna talk to you now, Peter, and it’s very serious.” Tony patted Peter’s thigh as he spoke.

Peter shook his head. “Mm-mm.”

“We have to. Hop off.” Tony went to stand up which forced Peter to stand up as well. “Come with me.” Tony led Peter over to the living room and sat down on the couch.

Peter tried to sit back on him but Tony stopped him. “No. You can’t sit on me right now because it’s serious time.”

Tony reached forward to hold Peter’s hand while he tried to think of the right way to bring this up to him. “Do you remember the dog, Peter?”

Peter nodded his head and leaned back on the couch so he could drink his apple juice more peacefully.

“And I told you to stay where I could see you but then that man walked up to you and you left with him.” Tony tried not to freak out at what could have potentially happened.

Peter took his drink from his mouth to speak. “He said he had puppies because his doggie had babies.”

Tony shook his head. “I know but you can’t trust people when they say stuff like that. These kinds of people are evil and they depend on kids who are innocent and gullible so they can trick them.”

Peter frowned. “What’s gullible?”

“It’s… it’s when someone believes everything that someone tells them even if it’s not the truth.” Tony explained to Peter. Peter was the definition of gullible. Tony knows that he can tell Peter that the tower is made out of gummy bears and Peter would start licking the floor.

“Oh.” Petey looked down to play with Tony’s hand and his ring.

“I know you know better than that, Peter. I want you to understand that if a man or even a woman comes up to you and they tell you they have puppies in their car or ice cream, you do not go with them.” Tony reached over to lift Peter’s chin up with his finger so Peter was looking at him.

“If you really want to go with them then you come to me first and ask. And I will always say no because I know that there aren’t actual puppies or ice cream.”

Peter shook his head stubbornly. “But-but the boy had puppies.”

Tony sighed. “He did but that could still be a lure and what if there were no puppies and you went to his car and instead of seeing a bunch of puppies, he threw you into his car and drove away?”

Peter frowned. He didn’t want to think about that. “I would scream.”

Tony shook his head. “No. It wouldn’t work because I wouldn’t hear you since you would already be gone.”

Peter felt his bottom lip start to shake. He didn’t want to think about someone taking him from his dad. “No.”

“Yes Peter. That’s what would happen. He would take you and do bad things to you and then I would never see you ever again.” Tony felt like crying himself just at the thought of someone hurting his son. Someone taking advantage of his innocence and making a mess of it. “All because you wanted to see the puppies I won’t be able to hold my son ever again.”

Peter felt himself shake with a sob and then he was shaking his head and crying. “No.”

Tony was glad that Peter was crying now since it meant that he got through to him and that Peter understood what could happen if he trusted the wrong person. “Yes Peter. Do you understand why you can’t do that now? There’s a lot of evil people in this world who pray on kids like you.”

Peter shook his head again and Tony knew he was exhausted so he opened his arms for his kid and pulled him onto his lap. “I need you to understand what I’m saying, Peter. What happened today can never ever, ever happen again.”

Peter wrapped his arms around his dad’s neck and nodded his head. “Yeah! I don- don’t want someone to t-take me away from you!”

Tony patted his butt. “I know. Me neither.”

They stayed like that for a few minutes with Peter quieting down and going deadweight in Tony’s arms. “Do you want to have a nap for two hours?”

Peter nodded his head. “With you.”

“Not with me but I’ll be here the whole time.” Tony stood up and laid Peter down on the couch before he had the chance to protest. “Do you want this?” Tony held the half empty apple juice bottle in front of Peter and Peter nodded his head and reached for it so Tony grabbed the blanket and covered Peter with it.

He sat down on the edge of the couch and caressed his face. “I’ll wake you up in two hours. Rest your eyes and I’ll be here the whole time.”

Peter’s eyes were already closed and Tony knew that he would be asleep in just a few minutes.

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The next day was off to a pretty good start.

It was Sunday and Tony was already dreading what tomorrow was going to be like with Peter going back to school but he didn’t want to waste the day away thinking about that.

Tony had a lot of time to do more research for a therapist for Peter during his nap time yesterday and he got it narrowed down to five people that he sent off to Pepper so she could narrow it down a bit and help Tony out and then it was interview time.

Since then, Peter woke up in a good mood and he didn’t have time to do anymore research since he spent the rest of the day with Peter and cuddling together. His and Peter’s favourite thing to do.

Now, he was flipping through the tv to try and find something interesting to watch while Peter played with his legos.

Peter stood up and jumped onto the couch. “Oh daddy?”

Tony hit a random channel and left it on some cartoon. He looked at Peter and already knew what he was going to ask for. “Oh son?”

Peter leaned closer to his face. “Can I please go out as Spider-Man?”

“Sure.” Tony said, surprising himself. It was just before lunchtime so he had the perfect excuse to get Peter back early and he was in a pretty good mood because it was past 11am and Peter hadn't shed one tear.

Peter’s eyes went wide. “Really?! I can go out as Spider-Man?”

Tony nodded just head. “Yeah. But it’s really cold out so keep your suit heater on at all times. And do not go pee outside. If you need to go, come back home and I’ll give you more time. Also I want you back at one.”

Peter jumped off the couch with a squeal. “Yay! Thank you! I love you! I gotta go change!”

Peter went to run towards his bedroom but then remembered that his suit was in the lab so he turned around and ran towards the elevator. “Dad! Come! Suit! Lab!”

Tony laughed as he stood up and made his way towards the elevator. “I’m coming.”

Peter started stripping down to his underwear inside the elevator and so Tony picked up his son's clothes and walked out into the lab. “It’s hanging up. Go get it.”

Peter ran over to where his suit was hanging up and he grabbed it then ran back into the elevator and put it on.

“Do you need to go pee?” Tony asked, just in case. He didn’t want what happened last time to happen again.

“No. Wait.” Peter tried to see but shook his head again. “No. Take me up, FRI. I want to fly!”

Tony ran his hands through Peter’s curls just before he slipped his mask on. He went with Peter to go down a few floors from where he jumped off the tower so he wasn’t so high up.

“Remember to turn your heater on.” Tony warned him.

“It is on. Bye dad. I’ll see you at one.” Peter quickly hugged Tony and then climbed up onto the edge of the balcony.

“I love you. Be safe!” Tony watched Peter jump off the side with his heart in his throat. He watched Peter for a few minutes until he was out of view but he didn’t understand how he let his kid do this.

He didn’t think that Peter was in the right mindset to go out as Spider-Man. Swinging around and having fun was one thing but when you’re dealing with criminals with knives and guns, that’s a whole other thing and Tony knows that Peter isn’t ready for any of that yet.

But there isn’t anything Tony could do right now.

He went back to his floor and tried to busy himself with cleaning up the kitchen and doing some laundry until he got bored at about 12:30pm.

He knew that Peter was going to be back soon but he was bored and anxious so he did what anyone who had a superhero as a son would do; join him.

Tony put his suit on and saw Peter’s whereabouts on the screen then he flew to him. It took Tony less than five minutes to get to Peter and when he found him, he was squatting down on the edge of a rooftop.

Tony cringed at the position since anything could make Peter lose his balance and fall over but Tony knew that if that happened then he was right there to catch his kid.

Tony hovered above him for a few minutes, waiting for Peter to make a move but Peter just sat there. After about five minutes, Peter leaded forward and leaped off the roof then shot a web and started swinging.

Tony watched his kid for a few seconds then timed it perfectly so when Peter went to swing to the next roof, he swooped down and grabbed Peter then flew back into the air.

“Ahh! Get off!” Peter screamed and tried to get out of Tony’s arms but then he turned around and saw who it was and Tony could feel him relax in his arms. “Dad! You scared me!”

Tony laughed and continued to fly higher. “That was the point. Having fun, Spider-Man?”

Peter shifted in Tony’s arms so he could wrap a leg on either side of him and wrap his arms around his neck. “Yeah! No bad guys though.”

“That’s good and you can’t hold onto me like that, bud.” Tony grabbed Peter’s leg to get it off of his hip. He knew Peter couldn’t attach to him like that because if anyone saw them like that it would scream that he’s holding a child in his arms and Spider-Man most definitely wasn’t a child.

“Why not? I like to.” Peter hugged Tony tighter.

“Nope. Because Spider-Man doesn’t get held, bud. Peter Stark does so get your clingy legs off of me.” Tony playfully smacked Peter until Peter stopped clinging onto him then Tony turned him around to change his position.

“I want to swing from you again. Remember like I used to do before?” Peter asked and tried to turn his head to look at the Iron Man mask.

“I remember. Okay, are you ready?” Tony asked and got ready to drop Peter since he knew Peter would easily shoot a web at his leg.

“Yes! Drop me!” Peter screamed excitedly so Tony hesitated but dropped Peter and then he was shooting a web at his leg immediately so Tony started to fly.

He could feel the pull on his leg and it brought back so many memories of when he would pick Peter up and swing around with him like this.

He would admit that it was nice to be out there with his kid. It was nice to forget about everything going on in their life for a few minutes to just enjoy being with Peter.

“Go faster!” Peter yelled and Tony could hear him giggling through the comms. He smiled and picked up his speed.

Peter attached another web to his father's leg so he could swing from a better angle but even with the heater on full blast, he was still really cold especially being so high up in the air now.

Peter groaned and let himself swing just by holding onto the web. “Dad? I’m cold.”

“Ready to go home?” Tony asked but he was enjoying his time right now. He was glad that Peter was asking for more hours.

“Yeah! Lift me up.” Peter demanded. Now that he had his dad here to do all the work, he didn’t feel like swinging home.

“One sec. Let me get to a roof.” Tony flew down and landed on top of a roof then dropped to the ground in front of Peter. “You tired, little spider?”

Peter jumped off the ground and landed on his dad. “Tired and hungry so carry me back.”

Tony rolled his eyes behind the mask and manually moved Peter’s position so he wasn’t sitting on his hip then he took off.

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Later that night, Tony was getting ready for bed with Peter and he wanted to go down to the lab since they had a really good day.

Peter hasn’t cried once. No temper tantrums, no tears, no whining, well, there was a bit of whining but that came with having a fourteen year old.

Tony was feeling good and refreshed and so he wanted to go down to his lab for a few hours but he didn’t want to ruin the beautiful day with a crying fit.

He sat down on the edge of the bed while he waited for Peter to walk out of the bathroom. He contemplated what to do but first he had to see how tired Peter was because then maybe he could sneak away after he fell asleep.

Peter ran out of the bathroom and landed on the bed face first. “Tired. Wan’ sleep.”

Tony smiled. “Then come lie down. The pillow is calling your name.”

Peter sat up and crawled under the blankets but when he looked at his dad, he knew he wasn’t staying. Peter reached a hand out and made grabby hands for his dad. “Come.”

Tony took Peter’s hand in his and lied down on top of the blankets. “I’m gonna go down to the lab but I don’t want any tears. You did so well today with no tears at all.”

Peter frowned. Tony knew that the reason why there were no tears was because he said yes to every single thing that Peter wanted and now he was about to say no so yikes.

“But… it’s bedtime.” Peter tried to reason. He lifted his hand up to grab Tony’s arm and tried to tug him down on the bed but Tony stopped him.

“It’s your bedtime but I’m not tired, baby.” Tony reached over on the bed to grab Peter’s bear and put it on his chest. “Look, you have your bear. Close your eyes and sleep. I’ll be downstairs.”

Peter tried to sit up but Tony pushed him back down. “No, Petey. Close your eyes.”

Peter’s face scrunched up and Tony knew that he was about to start crying so he wanted to stop that before Peter started. “No. No crying tonight. What do you want?”

Peter whimpered and rubbed his eyes. “I want you to sleep with me.”

“I told you I’m going down to my lab tonight. Do you want me to play some rain sounds?” Tony asked and could see Peter thinking about it.

“No. I wanna come down with you.” Peter sat up again and this time Tony didn’t push him back down. “Let’s go down.”

“You have school tomorrow, Peter.” Tony said but he didn’t even try to stop Peter from getting out of the blankets.

“I know. I’ll just come with you for a little bit.” Peter crawled to the edge of the bed and sat on his knees. “Stand up, dad.”

Tony sighed. When did he become such a pushover parent? He knew he shouldn’t be allowing Peter to act like this and call the shots but he didn’t know how to say no and avoid a temper tantrum. He just needed Pepper to interview those people so they could get some help.

“Okay. Let’s go.” Tony reluctantly sat up and walked over to Peter who was holding his arms out for him. Without even thinking about it, Tony picked Peter up and went to go carry him but he didn’t know why he was doing that. “No, if you’re coming then you’re walking.”

“Aww.” Peter whined but walked nonetheless.

Once they got down to the lab, Tony picked Peter up by his underarms and carried him over to a workbench. “You will sit here. There’s tiny pieces of dirt and glass on the floor and you’re not wearing any shoes so if you get up, I’m taking you right back upstairs.”

Peter nodded his head. “Okay. What are you working on?”

Tony pulled up his own stool and sat down. “I’m working on… some coding. Boring stuff.”

“I wanna help.” Peter grabbed the keypad and clicked on the coding errors. “You have to do all this?”

“Yeah. You don’t know how so stop touching.” Tony moved the keypad away from Peter since he tried to teach the kid how to do it once but realized that he couldn’t sit still for that long so he gave up and decided to teach Peter when he’s older.

“I can. Let me try.” Peter reached for it again but Tony grabbed a bunch of loose wires and put it in front of Peter. “What’s this for?”

“Strip them for me.” Tony explained and put his head in his hand. He wanted Peter to go to sleep so he could be alone. After about five minutes, Tony was worried that instead of bringing Peter down here to fall asleep, he was bringing Peter down here and waking him up.

So he held his arms out for him. “Come, Pete.”

Peter didn’t hesitate to hold his arms out for Tony so he could get lifted onto the man’s lap. Tony moved his legs so he was seated on him with his legs on one side and Peter’s head resting on his chest. Tony held him with one arm supporting his back and grabbed the wires from Peter with his other hand.

“Watch me de-code some boring stuff.” Tony told him and looked down so he could see Peter move his head so he could see what Tony was doing on the computer screen.

Tony hoped that it helped get Peter tired enough so he could bring Peter to bed then come back down and less than twenty minutes later, Peter’s eyes were shutting closed.

He waited a few more minutes until he was sure that Peter was asleep before he hoisted Peter more into his arms and carried him to bed.

Now all he had to do was hope that Peter didn’t wake up and find out that Tony tricked him.

.
.
.

“I said no.” Peter tossed the sweater at Tony from where he was sitting on his bedroom floor.

“And I said yes.” Tony shot back. He placed two sweaters in front of Peter and sat back down on the kid’s bed. It was already 8am and Peter wasn’t crying yet but was in a horrible mood. “Pick an outfit and get your clothes on then come down for breakfast.”

Peter eyed Tony and mumbled something that Tony couldn’t understand but he didn’t bother asking what he said since he honestly didn’t care.

“I’ll be downstairs and leave you to it.” Tony told him and then left the bedroom. He planned on giving Peter fifteen minutes and if he’s still not down then he was going to be mad.

Peter waited for his dad to leave the room then he sat there and pulled at his carpet for a few seconds. He looked over at his suit that was still in his bedroom from yesterday.

He didn’t want to go to school but going out as Spider-Man for a few hours and then calling his dad to pick him up would work. Well, as long as Tony didn’t get a notification saying he’s in the suit.

Peter finished getting dressed, he put on some underwear and pants and then grabbed the sweater that he threw before and put that on over his shirt.

He grabbed his suit and shoved it at the bottom of his backpack then zipped it up and ran downstairs. “Hungry hippo. I’m a hungry hippo.”

Tony looked over at Peter and smiled. His kid was fully dressed and happy. That was a good sign.

“Pancakes for my hungry hippo. Do you want apple juice or grape juice?” Tony asked after he put the plate in front of Peter.

“Grape. My syrup.” Peter called out so Tony grabbed it for him.

“It’s coming.” Tony grabbed the syrup and a smaller bowl since he knew Peter didn’t like it when his food touched his syrup on his plate.

When Peter was done, they headed down to the car and got in. Tony thought that it was weird that Peter was okay with going to school. Every single day he has been putting up some kind of fight and now Peter was just openly okay with going.

Tony pulled up to a red light and looked over at Peter. “Are you excited about going to school, bud? You haven’t been in awhile.”

Peter looked over at Tony and shrugged. “I’m not excited. I hate school. Why would I want to go?”

Tony looked back at the road. He wasn’t expecting that but he still didn’t know why Peter wasn’t crying. “Okay. It’s just…a different kind of day then.”

Peter scrunched up his nose. “What? Why?”

Tony hesitated. He didn’t want to exactly tell Peter why because he didn’t want to make him feel bad for throwing all those tantrums. “No reason.”

Peter looked back out the window. It was still cold out but it was a little bit warmer than it was yesterday so he would sneak down an alleyway and change into his suit.

From there he could be Spider-Man for a few hours and just hope that his dad didn’t get an alert.

When they pulled up to the school, Tony could sense that something was wrong. Peter was acting really weird and he didn’t know why. He had been acting weird ever since he got dressed and ate breakfast.

“I’m not going in with you today.” Tony told him and eyed Peter suspiciously.

“Well… if I want to come home then I can text you and you’ll come right?” Peter asked and reached over to grab onto Tony’s hand.

“Yep. I’ll come right away.” Tony grabbed Peter’s head so he could kiss his cheek and then he let him go. “Have fun.”

Peter smiled at him and reached into the back seat to grab his backpack then he opened the car door and got out. “Bye dad. I love you.”

“Bye, kid. See you.” Tony waited for Peter to shut the door and walk towards the school but he just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Peter was being super weird.

He put the car in drive and slowly drove away but right as he was about to round the corner, he saw Peter run to the side of his school and disappear.

“What the fuck.” Tony whispered to himself. What the hell was his kid up to?

Peter made sure his dad drove away before he ran down the steps of his school and over to an alleyway that was a bit down the street.

He felt the same rush as before when he used to run out of school after school was over and he used to change into his suit. He knew Tony didn’t like him changing in alleyways anymore but what Tony didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

Peter found an alleyway that he’s never been in before and he started to take off his jacket and sweater, shivering at the cold.

He tugged his pants down and quickly pulled his suit out of his backpack so he could hop into it right away.

Back in the car, Tony followed Peter and he already knew what the kid was trying to do and it pissed him off. Did Peter actually think he could get away with that?

He parked his car and shut it off just a couple feet from the exit of the alleyway that Peter ran into. He put his glasses on and slammed his car door shut and walked into the alleyway and watched Peter for a few seconds, completely oblivious to the fact that he was behind him.

He wanted to scream at Peter for a million reasons. First it was absolutely freezing out and Peter had stripped down to his underwear in an alleyway where anyone could see him and attack him.

Tony was about to lean up against the wall but thought better of that since the wall was absolutely disgusting.

“Hey.” Tony said which caused Peter to scream and turn around but he lost his balance and fell onto a garbage can lid that was full of dirty water. Tony cringed.

“Ew. Uh.” Peter lifted up his hand that also fell into the nasty garbage can lid that he was sitting in and it smelt. He looked up at his dad and knew he was in trouble.

Tony walked over to Peter and grabbed him by the underarms to lift him out of that cesspool. He cringed so badly at the smell and the fact that that liquid was now on his son and could get him sick so he grabbed the back of Peter’s underwear and tried to squeeze some of the water out.

“Dad. W-why are you um, here?” Peter asked and cringed at the feeling between his legs. He was sure that it was some homeless person's bathroom.

“You have no idea how much trouble you are in Peter Stark.” Tony grabbed Peter roughly by the arm and then lifted up the suit that was around Peter’s ankles so he could get the rest on so no one would see him.

Peter felt his bottom lip shake but Tony was trying to put his suit on and he wanted his underwear off. “Wait, lemme-”

“You are absolutely ridiculous.” Tony pulled Peter’s hands away from his underwear. “You actually think it’s okay to take that off right here?”

Peter didn’t say anything while the suit was being put on him. Tony pressed the spider on his chest and handed Peter the mask while he picked up his kids things and grabbed him by the arm to get him back into the car.

There was no one around since it was near the school but they just got lucky. Tony looked up and saw two cameras that he would have to take care of later.

He opened the back door and grabbed Peter’s arm so he could get into the car. “Dad! No!”

Tony slammed the door without saying anything. Peter was in huge trouble for what he did but Tony didn’t know how to punish him. He couldn't tell Peter not to hang out with his friends since he doesn’t do that anyways. Peter is never on his phone so he can’t do that.

He debated sending Peter to school today just to punish him that way and not pick him up but school should never be a punishment and he knew that it would make it even harder for Peter to go to school in the future.

Not that it can get any harder than it is now.

Tony opened up his car door and got in. He turned around in his seat and saw Peter trying to get out of his suit. “Keep that on until we get home.”

Peter pulled off his mask and looked at Tony with tears streaming down his face. He stopped trying to get out of his suit and let out a sob. “But my underwear is uncomfortable.”

“Okay. Take it off.” Tony started the car and drove away. It was the second time in just a few days where Peter was sitting in the backseat and crying with no seatbelt on.

“Do you have any idea how dangerous what you did is?” Tony asked. He wasn’t going to save this conversation for when they got home because he was livid and he wanted Peter to see that.

Peter shook his head and covered his hands over his face. He regretted what he did so much because now his dad was going to hate him.

“I asked you a question.” Tony spoke firmly and looked in the rearview mirror to see Peter still shaking his head. Tony pulled into a parking lot and put the car in park then leaned over into the backseat and grabbed Peter’s arm. “Sit up and get your seatbelt on. Right now.”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t- I wanted…” Peter trailed off and cried harder but Tony didn’t care.

“Sit up and get your seatbelt on.” Tony said again in a low voice to get Peter to listen.

“My underwear!” Peter cried out and Tony did feel bad about that but they would be home soon.

“It wouldn’t be wet with sewage water if you didn’t disobey me.” Tony said and waited for Peter to sit up and get his seatbelt on before he put the car in drive and pulled away, forgetting to get his own seatbelt on.

“Dad! I’m sorry!” Peter tried to lean as close to Tony as his seatbelt would allow him.

“Are you though, Peter? Because I don’t think you are.” Tony was a tiny bit hurt that Peter disobeyed him even though Peter knew that he didn’t want him changing in alleyways anymore.

Peter choked on a sob and said something that Tony couldn’t understand.

“Enough Peter. You knew I didn’t want you to change in alleyways and you still did.” Tony looked in the mirror and saw Peter leaning forward so he decided he would save the rest for when they got home and after Peter washed himself.

It was a long and loud car ride but when they got home, Tony got out of the car and grabbed everything then shoved it into Peter’s backpack and waited for Peter to climb out.

“You’re gonna go straight into the shower and then we’re gonna talk.” Tony and Peter both went into the elevator and went upstairs but Tony pushed Peter into his bedroom.

“No! Your room!” Peter screamed and grabbed onto the wall so Tony couldn’t get him into the room.

Tony dropped Peter’s stuff in the hallway so he could use two hands to pick Peter up. “Yep. Into your own bathroom because I’m not happy with you.”

Peter tried to go stiff so Tony couldn’t lift him up which made it harder for him but Peter was still extremely small and no more than seventy five pounds so it was easy for Tony.

“Peter. Stop. It’s just a shower in your bedroom.” Tony pushed open the bathroom door and turned the lights on.

“I hate my bedroom! I want yours!” Peter tried to get away now that Tony wasn’t holding him anymore but Tony used his leg to slam the door shut.

“Boss, the team is back and want to speak with you.” FRIDAY said and Tony shook his head.

“No, FRIDAY! Tell them to wait!” Tony yelled over the crying and let go of Peter fully to turn the shower on. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He was working up a sweat. “Take these off and get in or you’re gonna get some kind of disease.”

“Don’t leave me!” Peter cried out but Tony was already opening the bathroom door.

“I am. I’ll bring you fresh clothes in once you’re in the shower.” Tony slammed the bathroom door shut and tired not to listen to the scream that followed.

He grabbed Peter’s backpack and took his clothes out of it to put them in the laundry room and put his suit back into his backpack so that Peter could see him taking the suit out and taking it from him.

Tony wasn’t going to ground Peter from being Spider-Man again but he was going to be a lot more strict on it.

After about five minutes, Tony grabbed some clean clothes and walked into the bathroom. There wasn’t anymore crying which was good and Peter wasn’t on the floor so that was also good.

“I’m putting your clean clothes on the counter.” Tony told him and Peter looked out and looked at Tony then went back to showering.

Tony sat on the bed and waited for Peter to walk out dressed in underwear and a T-shirt but Tony didn’t comment on it. He assumed that Peter was trying to test him and tell him to put pants on.

“Come. Let’s talk.” Tony patted the bed but Peter shook his head and stood there. “Okay. Stand then. I am very upset with you, Peter. What you did was incredibly dangerous and stupid and I thought you were smarter than that.”

Peter walked over to his bed and climbed on top and lied down. “I’m sorry. I wanted to be Spider-Man.”

“And I let you be Spider-Man yesterday and if you were good today then if you asked, maybe I would have let you go out after school too.” Tony explained calmly. He knew Peter didn’t do well when he got yelled at and in all honesty, Tony hated yelling at his kid.

Peter put one of his legs on the wall and the other on the bars at the end of his bed. “No. I just,” Peter sighed. “I didn’t want to go to school.”

“So which one is it, Peter?” Tony asked and moved Peter’s leg off the bed post.

“I don’t know.” Peter shrugged his shoulders.

“So you’re lying to me then? I don’t like it when you lie to me, Peter, and you’re a horrible liar so I’ll always know.” Tony was very hurt. Peter was lying to him on top of everything else.

Peter shook his head and covered his face with his hands. “No. I’m not. I didn’t wanna go to school so-so I saw my suit and put it in my bag! I’m not lying, daddy!”

Tony felt himself break down on the inside. He loved it whenever Peter called him daddy but sometimes it was hard to hear since Peter mostly said it when he was sad and vulnerable.

“Okay. I believe you but, hey. Look at me.” Tony waited until Peter removed his hands from his face. “I want you to know that what you did was extremely dangerous. Never mind how cold it is but someone could see you change into your suit and find out your identity. Someone could see you change into your suit and attack you when you least expect it and you won’t be ready to fight.”

“I’d sense a bad guy there.” Peter pouted.

“And what? Are you gonna fight them with your Hulk undies on?” Tony gestured to the underwear that Peter was currently wearing.

“No.” Peter weakly kicked his dad’s thigh in protest but he knew his dad was right. “But… Aunt May let me.”

“I’m not Aunt May. I’m your dad.” Tony simply said which caused Peter to look up at him with a frown on his face.

“I didn’t mean to. Don’t be mad at me.” Peter put his other leg on Tony’s thigh and gently kicked him. “Daddy.”

Tony's heart broke. “I’m not mad at you anymore. You just scare me sometimes, Peter, because you’re so innocent and you don’t know how cruel this world can be.”

“But…” Peter didn’t say anything else and Tony knew it was because he didn’t know what to say.

“I just want you to know that you are never ever, ever allowed to change your suit in an alleyway again. If you do, I will take your suit and shred it right in front of you. Do you understand me?” Tony knew he was being a bit harsh, judging from the scared look on his kids face.

Peter nodded his head. “Yeah. I won’t.”

“Okay. Come give me a hug.” Tony held his arms open and Peter didn’t hesitate to throw himself into his dad’s arms. Tony hugged his son for a few moments and then pulled away. “I’m going to leave you alone for a bit. I think you need some alone time right now to think about what you did.”

Peter shook his head aggressively. “No. I’m good. I don’t. Dad! I don’t want alone time!”

Here we go again, Tony thought to himself but he thought it was necessary. He was letting Peter get away with too much.

“Stay here for thirty minutes and think about what you did.” Tony didn’t know if he was doing it right but he read it in a book that Steve gave him for learning how to discipline children.

Peter shook his head and slid off of Tony’s lap when Tony went to stand up. “No! No! I don’t need to think! Daaaddd!”

Tony groaned and lifted Peter back into the bed. He grabbed his backpack and took his suit out of it. “I’m taking this.”

Peter threw himself onto the floor and screamed then he stood back up and tried to fight with Tony to get out of his room but Tony blocked the doorway. Tony slid through the crack in the door and shut it but held the doorknob because Peter was trying to get out.

After about three minutes, Peter gave up so Tony walked downstairs and tossed the Spider-Man suit onto the couch then went into the elevator to see what the team wanted from him.

When he got out of the elevator, he realized how badly his head was pounding and how emotionally and physically tired he was.

“Tony? We wanted to discuss the mission with you.” Steve called out to him from where everyone was sitting around the kitchen table.

Tony sighed. He could never get a break. “Alright but made it quick because you got twenty five minutes before I have to get back to my kid.”