All The Stars Align

Tony was watching Peter’s tv show with him cuddled against his side. Pepper was sitting on his other side but they were barely touching.

Tony looked over at her and saw that she was already looking at him. “What?”

“Nothing.” She shrugged. “You just look like you’re enjoying the show.”

Tony chuckled but Peter was telling them to hush so he whispered, “I watch this show about five times a day so if I don’t force myself to like it then that’s gonna suck.”

Pepper laughed but then Peter was telling them to be quiet again so they shut up until the show ended. Peter groaned and face planted onto his dad’s lap then looked up at Pepper.

“Why are you pregnant?” Peter asked her so innocently but both Tony and Pepper were practically jumping out of their seats.

“Peter.” Tony warned but then got a bit scared because he wouldn’t be surprised if Peter somehow knew because of his spidey senses telling him.

Pepper blinked over at Tony and then back at his kid. “Um… well,”

Tony’s heart was beating so fast as he remembered what they did on New Year’s Eve. This could not be happening. “Why are you saying that, Peter?”

Peter pushed himself up and tried to touch Pepper’s belly but Tony moved his hands away. His kid had absolutely no filter. “Because that’s what someone told me. And that I’m gonna have a baby brother.”

“What? Who told you Pepper’s pregnant?” Tony asked, somewhat angry but not at Peter. He was prepared for more news articles coming out saying that Peter is going to be a big brother. Tony couldn’t handle anymore kids.

“I don’t know. Some teacher at my school.” Peter sat up fully to sit on his dad’s leg. “Is it a boy?”

Pepper’s mouth opened in shock and looked back up at Tony before answering Peter. “Peter, honey. I’m not pregnant. Whoever told you that lied. How would they even know before you?”

Peter sighed and leaned against his dad’s chest. “So it’s not a boy?”

“There’s no baby, Peter. Nothing is in that stomach.” Tony told his kid and pushed him down so he was lying against his arm.

“Except pizza! And olives since I made Pepper eat some.” Peter tried to sit up but Tony held him down. “Let me up.”

Both adults were laughing at him so Tony pushed Peter up and rolled him over to pinch his butt which caused Peter to scream.

“Ow! That hurt!” Peter yelled and grabbed onto his butt.

“Relax. I didn’t do it that hard. Go play somewhere before bed.” Tony rolled Peter off the couch but Peter looked up at him and gave him puppy dog eyes. He was still trying to recover from his minor heart attack that Peter just gave him and Pepper not outright denying it at first. That was scary.

“But I want to stay with you.” Peter begged his dad and tried to climb back up on the couch but Tony pushed him away.

“No, because I’m gonna talk with Pepper for a bit.” Tony told him, feeling a bit bad since he was pushing Peter away but he needed some adult time.

Peter jumped onto the couch. “You go away and I’m gonna talk to Pepper.” Peter tried to kick his dad away but Tony grabbed his feet and pulled him forward.

“You’re an octopus. Go stick onto someone else.” Tony tried to lift Peter up but he was holding onto the couch tightly.

“Pepper!” Peter made grabby hands for her while she laughed weakly and watched the whole thing.

Tony gave up. “Please Peter. I need to talk to Pepper so how about you go take a bath or something.”

Peter threw his head onto his dad’s chest and sighed loudly. “Nooooo.”

Tony gave Pepper an apologetic look and stood up, lifting Peter onto his feet with him. “Okay. Let’s go. I’m gonna run him a bath and then come back down.”

“Are you gonna stay?” Peter asked, grabbing onto his dad’s arm and looking up at him with big eyes.

“No.”

“But what if I drown?” Peter pulled away from Tony to crawl up the stairs.

“FRIDAY will watch you.” Tony told him as he followed his crab child up the steps.

“No. I don’t want FRIDAY to watch me.” Peter whined and sat on top of the stairs to wait for his dad to catch up.

“FRIDAY watches you all the time.” The billionaire said to his son who gasped. “You already knew that. Stop stalling and get into the bathroom.”

Peter did a crab crawl towards Tony’s bedroom and then stood up to walk into the bathroom. Tony followed him in and started the bath. He knew that Peter was old enough to do this himself but he also knew that Peter liked the security of Tony doing it for him.

“Do you want me to bring your pyjamas in?” Tony asked after he poured the bubble bath in and Peter sat on the edge of the tub.

“Mm-mm. Can you grab the basket?” Peter asked and leaned forward to feel the temperature.

“Yeah, and then I’m leaving so come back downstairs when you’re done.” Tony placed the basket next to the bathtub but Peter threw his head back. “What?”

“I want you to stay for five minutes.” Tony shook his head at Peter’s request. “Please. Then you can leave.”

“Pepper’s waiting, bud, so you take a bath and then come back downstairs.” Tony told him, waiting for a meltdown to start but it didn’t which Tony was extremely grateful for.

Peter looked like he was thinking about what to say so Tony left before Peter changed his mind on that meltdown.

“Sorry about that. Peter was being Peter.” Tony threw himself down on the couch and shut his eyes. He couldn’t wait to shut his eyes and sleep.

“I understand. Are you guys going up to the Compound tomorrow?” She asked and ran a hand through his hair which almost caused him to moan.

“Uh, yeah. We’ll probably drive up sometime after we wake up.” Tony answered, understanding why Peter loved it when he played with his hair.

Suddenly, Pepper was taking her hand away from his head so he sat up straighter and ran a hand through his hair with a light chuckle. “Peter’s too funny. I can’t believe he actually thought you were pregnant.” He looked over at Pepper, noticing her weak smile. “Good thing you’re not. That would have been the absolute worst.”

Pepper was crossing her arms and leaning further away from him so he raised his eyebrows at her. “What?”

With a shrug, she began speaking. “I don’t know, Tony. Would it actually have been that bad?”

“Hell yes.” Tony couldn’t believe Pepper was actually saying this. “It would have been the absolute worst timing ever.” When Pepper looked like she wanted to say something but didn’t, he continued. “I already have a kid. I can’t have two kids.”

“So having a baby with me would have been the worst possible thing to happen to you then?” Pepper asked him with so much hurt in her voice. He had no idea where this was coming from. He had a quick thought that maybe she actually was pregnant but she couldn’t be… they used protection. Not that that always worked 100%.

“What? I didn’t say that. Pep, you know what I’m going through with Peter. I already feel like I have a baby, he needs me almost every hour of every day so…” He sighed. He didn’t even understand why he was having this conversation. “I love you. I always have, even if I was stupid about it before. I just… I can’t have another kid. That just wouldn’t work out right now. Maybe not ever.”

Pepper nodded but he could tell that something was still wrong. He didn’t know what since he was an expert in all things Peter, Pepper was a bit harder to read.

“I know, Tony. I know Peter is your whole entire world and I understand what you guys are going through but… I just,” Pepper trailed off and sighed again. “I just thought, maybe, it would be a good thing if I was pregnant. I don’t know, give Peter a little brother or sister. Preferably brother since that’s what he wants.”

Tony was starting to get annoyed. He used to picture him and Pepper getting married and having a baby but they never got the timings right. He was… different, immature back then. Now, he had a child of his own that he wanted to give 100% to.

A baby would take all of that away.

Who knows what it would do to his and Peter’s relationship and Peter’s separation anxiety. He could just picture Peter resenting the new baby. He definitely didn’t need or want any added stress.

“I have always loved you, Pepper, and I always will but Peter is my son. I don’t want any other kids. Who knows what the future will bring but right now, he’s a definite no.” He was being honest. There was no dancing around the bush here. This was a whole life they were talking about, two lives if he was taking Peter into consideration which he was and always will.

She grabbed his hand again and squeezed it, giving him a weak smile. “I know, Tony. You don’t have to explain anything to me. Peter is your life now. I just wish that I could be more a part of that.”

Tony was taken back. He loved how Peter and Pepper got along so well but… he liked being Peter’s go to person for everything. He also selfishly didn’t want to share his kid, even if it was with Pepper.

Although Peter did deserve someone else in his life, another person to turn to. “Alright, well… now that I have you alone for a little bit until Peter gets out of the bath, I wanna talk to you about two things before Peter comes back down.” Tony sat up straighter so he could face Pepper.

“So the interview with the therapist, I love her. She’s perfect and I want her.” Tony wanted to tell Pepper as soon as he got back from the interview but he couldn’t with Peter there. He planned on sitting Peter down and telling him the news tonight.

“Oh my god. I’m so happy you like her, Tony. That’s amazing.” Pepper cheered and pulled him in for a quick hug.

“Yeah, she was so kind, patient, caring and she showed so much genuine interest in Peter. I still need to go over everything about our situation but I’ll do that over the phone once you get her to sign all those documents.” Tony felt so much better now that they were moving in the right direction. It was what they needed and they needed it desperately.

“Yes! I’ll get on it right away to have her come here for Monday.” Pepper squeezed Tony’s knee. “Oh I’m so happy for you guys, Tony. This needs to be done.”

Tony couldn’t agree more. If him having to run Peter a bath was anything to go by.

“Yeah and there’s one other thing,” Tony hesitated. He wanted Pepper to be on board with his plan but it was happening whether she was on board with the idea or not. “I’m taking Peter out of school.”

Pepper blinked a few times, Tony didn’t expect her to be happy with the plan straight away.

“I really care about your advice and opinions, you know I do, but this is my call this time. Peter can’t keep living like this. I can’t keep living like this.”

Pepper placed a comforting hand on his thigh. “I think it’s a good idea, Tony. You know Peter better than anyone else and if you know that this is a good idea and that it will benefit him, then I’m on board with the idea.”

Tony had to try and see if he heard that properly since he was expecting Pepper to fight him on the plan a bit. “Yeah. I know it’s the right decision. He’s crying every night and every morning, begging me not to send him to school and then he only goes for like two hours. He’s not learning anything, there's way too much stress on his little body and I know with help from the new therapist, things are going to get better.”

Pepper was nodding her head, agreeing with him which took a lot of stress off of Tony to know that she was on board with him. “You know him best. I think this is the right decision. Have you told him yet?”

“No. Not yet. I’ll tell him after he gets out of the bath so do you mind leaving for a bit when he gets out?” Tony knew she would understand. She always did.

“Of course, Tony. I have some things I need to get done anyways.”

Tony leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Thanks.”

Just then, they could hear banging from upstairs so Tony knew Peter would make an appearance soon. He just hoped that Peter decided to put his pyjamas on.

Less than a minute later, Peter was running down the stairs and jumping onto the couch, landing on Tony. Tony groaned when Peter landed on a rather sensitive spot and moved Peter’s knees off of him. “Do I smell good?”

Tony smelt Peter’s skin. “Hmm. You smell so good. You always smell good, surprisingly.”

Peter grinned but then smacked his dad on the chest before lying his head there and sticking his leg out at Pepper. “Smell.”

“Pepper’s not gonna smell your leg because she has to go do some things now.” Tony put Peter’s leg down and shifted him so he was sitting on the couch next to him. “I have to talk to you about something very important.”

Peter’s smile faded. “Oh. Am I in trouble?”

Tony still loved how Peter asked that every time he said he had to talk to him. “No, bud. Say goodnight to Pepper because you won’t see her tomorrow since we're going to the Compound.”

“Why aren’t you coming to the Compound?” Peter asked her as she stood up.

“Because I have to go to some meetings and some boring work stuff.” Pepper leaned down and pressed a kiss to Peter’s forehead without even thinking about it and looked up at Tony for his reaction.

Tony tried to keep a poker face but he loved that little gesture that Pepper did.

“Boring. Are you gonna have to go to bed early now?” Peter asked so Tony covered a hand over his mouth to get him to stop talking or else Peter wouldn’t stop with the questions.

“Okay. All done. Goodnight, Pep. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Tony waved bye to her, seeing her start laughing as she walked away.

Peter pulled his father’s hand off his face. “Why are you going to see her tomorrow but I’m not?”

“Because I’ll be up before you.”

“Why?”

Tony looked over at Peter and made a face at him. “Too many why’s. Zip it.”

Peter grinned. “Why?”

“Okay, I’m going to do the talking so you listen.” Tony grabbed Peter’s legs and moved him so he wasn’t sitting directly next to him. “It’s serious time so you have to not be silly.”

Peter nodded his head aggressively which made Tony debate whether he should have this conversation with Peter now or wait until he’s not acting so silly.

He decided to tell him now so he wouldn’t have to keep it a secret for much longer but he wanted to tell him about his therapist first.

“So, do you remember how we talked about a nice person coming here to talk to you about everything? A therapist.” Tony asked him to start them off.

Peter leaned against the couch and started playing with the waistband of his pyjama pants. “Uh huh.”

“Well, that’s where I was earlier today and that’s why Pepper is in New York for a few days because we were interviewing your new therapist and she’s so nice.” Tony couldn’t help the smile from appearing on his face. He was so happy that they were finally going to be getting the help that they so desperately needed.

“Oh. Did you meet her today?” Peter asked, not really sure how to feel about the situation. He knew he needed to get some help but he didn’t know if he wanted help. He liked depending on his dad for everything since he missed out on doing that for so many years of his life.

“Yeah, I did. Her name is Rose Donadieu. She’s nice, funny, so patient and she wants to help us deal with everything.” Tony calmly explained to Peter who was still on the fence about everything.

Peter put his feet together and found interest in that so he didn’t have to answer. “Oh.”

“She’s going to be coming on Monday, okay?” Tony reached out and rubbed Peter’s foot.

“Oh. But… but are you gonna stay with me the whole time?” Peter hesitantly asked and looked up at his dad, nervously.

“Of course I will.” Tony reassured his son. “I’ll stay for as many of the visits as you want me to. Until you feel comfortable on your own.”

Peter nodded his head. “Okay. I just don’t like meeting new people sometimes.”

Tony knew that. Even when he first met Peter, it took awhile for the thirteen year old to warm up to him and then when they would go out in public and someone came up to talk to him, Tony always noticed Peter trying to subtly hide behind him. He always found it adorable.

“I know, bud. It’ll be okay. She’s so nice.” Tony said again to make Peter a little less nervous but either way, Peter is going to be scared to first meet the woman. “Alright. I need to talk to you about something else. It’s super important.”

Peter looked like he wanted to run away with all these important talks but Tony was holding his foot so he couldn’t get very far if he tried.

“So, Pete, I know that school is hard.” Tony started and felt Peter tense and looked down more at his feet. “It’s always so scary and stressful, right?”

Peter nodded his head so Tony continued. “Well… I have been thinking, actually for a few weeks now but today just made me make a final decision and I was thinking if you would like for me to take you out of school?”

Peter shot his head up to look at his dad with hopeful yet fearful eyes. “W-what? Are-are you being serious?”

Tony kept a straight face and nodded. “Yeah. I don’t think that what we have going on is helping anyone. You’re throwing fits every night and every morning and then you barely go to school for an hour.”

Peter looked down in shame because he didn’t know if his dad was mad at him or not. “I’m sorry.”

“What, no baby.” The billionaire reached forward to lift his kids head up so Peter was looking at him. “Don’t be sorry. I’m not mad at you and I never will be. I’m just saying that we can’t keep living our lives like this anymore so we need to fix that so we’re both happy.”

Peter nodded his head and leaned it against the couch to continue to listen to his dad.

“I know that this is what should happen but I want to know if it’s what you want too. If you want to stay in school, that’s okay and we’ll figure something out.” Tony looked at Peter and waited for his answer.

“Yes. I want to. I-I don’t want to be s-sad all the time and-and always think about when I have to go to school next and leave you.” Peter couldn’t help it, even the thought of school had his eyes burning and tears falling down his cheeks so he wiped at his face with his fist.

“I know, baby. So then it’s a yes? You want this?” Tony asked to make sure.

Peter nodded his head and choked on a sob so Tony pulled him against his chest. “T-thank you. Thank you, dad.”

“Aw, baby. Of course. Things are going to be okay.” Tony promised him.

Peter nodded his head and shut his eyes, feeling like he was floating in the clouds with how happy he was. It was like a huge boulder had been lifted off his shoulders that he had been holding since May died. It was all gone now. He could finally breathe clearly and now he knew things were going to get better.

Tony kissed the top of his head. “But… just because you aren’t going to school, doesn’t mean you won’t be still doing some school work. We will figure something out and we still have a bit of time but you will be doing online school. I can get you a tutor to come in and help you with English or anything else you need but I’ll be here too to help you with a lot.”

Peter wiped his face against his dad’s shirt and pulled away, nodding his head. “O-okay. I like that.”

“I’m glad, bud. It’ll take a little while to figure out a routine but that’s okay. We’ll figure it out together.” Tony reached forward to cup his face. “But, we still have to work on a lot of things because we can't go backwards and make the separation anxiety any worse. If I have to leave and you’re working on your schooling, that’s your time to do your mandatory school work.”

Peter looked like he was trying to think about how that would go and he looked reluctant but Tony knew it would be okay. Extremely hard at first but it’ll eventually be okay.

“Okay. So then I’d do online school here? And-and I can do it in my bedroom or-or in the living room?” Peter asked after a few seconds of thinking it over.

“Yeah. You can do it whenever you want. Even on the toilet if you decide you want to.” Tony said to get a laugh out of Peter which he got and he loved.

“Ew. That’s nasty.” Peter pushed his hand away and crawled into his arms. “Thank you. For doing this and letting me not go to school anymore because it was always too hard and I didn’t like it.”

Tony squeezed Peter and kissed his head. “Of course, baby. It shouldn’t have taken so long for me to make the decision and I’m sorry for that.”

“It’s okay. Now we both know that it’s the right decision.”

Tony nodded. “Yes. And if you decide you want to go back for grade ten or eleven or twelve, it’s never too late for that, okay? You just tell me when and if you want to go back and I’ll sign you back up but I know right now, school isn’t a good place for you.”

“Uh huh. Thank you.” Peter shut his eyes to try and listen to his dad’s heartbeat and relax until Tony was sitting up with him.

“Of course but how about we go get ready for the Compound tomorrow? We have to pack because I want to leave after we wake up.”

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The next morning was easy to get Peter up which Tony hadn’t had in a long time and it was a huge weight lifted off of his shoulders.

“Good morning, bed head. Look at those curls.” Tony smiled at Peter but he mumbled something and flopped face first onto the bed. “Alright then.”

Tony placed his clothes for the day on the bed. “Do you want to eat breakfast here or on the way there?” Peter mumbled his answer with his face in the bedding. “What? I can’t hear you.”

“McDonald’s egg McMuffin.” Peter sat up with a smile on his face and looked up his dad. “And apple juice but I want it in my water bottle.”

“So then we’ll need to bring it. Get up and get dressed so we can go.” Tony moved the blankets off of Peter but of course Peter had to be stubborn about something because it wouldn’t be a morning without Peter making things ten times more difficult.

“I’m gonna wear my pyjamas then change halfway there.” Peter told his dad and Tony just stared at him.

“You’re not changing in the car.” Tony grabbed his ankles, pulling him off the bed. “Get dressed.”

“Please. Then I can sleep on the way there.” Peter crawled back to the top of the bed and Tony sighed.

“No. I’m gonna go bring our bags downstairs and then you mr are going to get dressed.” Tony pointed a warning finger at him because he didn’t want him to lose his patience at eight in the morning.

Peter stuck his tongue out at him as he left the room but Tony didn’t give into it. He sighed loudly and threw himself back onto the bed because he was still tired and he wanted to sleep some more but now that he thought about it, he was hungry and could definitely go for some McDonald’s with his dad.

He felt excited just thinking about the fact that he was going to be with his dad all weekend at the Compound and he didn’t have to think about going to school on Monday and ruin his mood, making him feel sad and anxious.

With that thought in mind, Peter ran into the bathroom to go pee and brush his teeth then he took off his pyjama pants and just put on his underwear and track pants because he wanted to keep his pyjama top on.

When he went downstairs, Tony was standing by the elevator and looking rather pleased. “At least you got halfway dressed.”

Peter gave a sharp nod and slipped his boots on. “I like my pyjama top.”

“I can see that. You aren’t wearing your pyjama pants under that, are you?” Tony eyed Peter’s pants since they were looking a tad too big on him.

Peter pulled down his waistband to show Tony. “No. See. And then we’re getting McDonald’s, right? Are we gonna go to the one near the bank or the one on the highway?”

“Whatever one you want but we have to leave so stop talking and get your coat on.” Tony shook Peter’s coat in front of him and tried to remember if Peter was always like this. He tried to think back to when he first met Peter and if he always took this long to get ready.

He remembers how easily distracted Peter was and how he used to find it funny. How he used to go pick Peter up from his old apartment on Friday night and Peter used to drag him into his bedroom to show him what he’s been working on or some lego sets he built throughout the week.

It sometimes took over an hour to actually get Peter out the door. So so far, Peter hasn’t grown out of that ‘distracted and taking twice as long to leave somewhere’ phase yet.

An hour later, they were pulling onto the highway with their McDonald’s and apple juice. There was music playing quietly in the background and there was a light snow dusting falling down on the car.

“I feel like swimming.” Peter sighed and rolled his head over so he could reach out and hand his dad’s arm. “Your hands are hairy. And why’re they so veiny.”

“I- what?” Tony started laughing since he was having to answer extremely weird questions. “I don’t know, kid. I just am.”

Peter tried to grab his other hand but it was on the steering wheel so Tony moved him away. “And you have big hands. Look at my hands compared to your fat hands.”

Tony held his hand up to Peter’s hand which was much smaller than his but he already knew that. “Your hands will get bigger as you get older.”

Peter frowned. “That’s not fair because that means you can hold like twenty grapes and I can only hold maybe eleven grapes.”

“Why would we need to hold so many grapes in our hands?” Tony asked, amused.

“So we can eat them. So can we go swimming when we get there? Like right when we get there we jump into the pool and swim.” Peter lifted his head up and leaned closer to his dad.

“We can go swimming but we have to change first.” Tony told him and turned up the music a bit. They still had about an hour until they arrived at the Compound but everyone else was already there.

Tony was excited for Peter to meet Clint’s kids. He knew that Peter was the second youngest of all the kids there but he liked that. He liked having the youngest kid and everyone else’s kids be older than his.

When they arrived, Peter was bouncing with excitement and practically dragged him up to their room to get changed.

Tony had no idea how Peter remembered exactly where to go.

“I want my blue bathing suit.” Peter said as he stood in the bathroom, dressed in his red bathing suit.

Tony looked down at him. “Too bad. I didn’t pack your blue one.”

Peter threw his head back. “But I want the blue ones because they have the little turtle in the corner and these have nothing.”

Tony fake gasped. “Oh no. Now we must drive back to the tower to go get the turtle trunks.” Tony would never understand why things like this were such a big deal for Peter.

“That’s okay. I’ll use these ones this time and next time you pack them.” Peter told his dad and Tony ruffled his hair.

The two of them then went down to the pool and saw that Clint was there with his wife and three kids. Peter paused from where he was about to run in but stopped once he saw that everyone was already there.

Tony put his hand on his back and forced him to walk forwards. “Why are you so shy? You know Clint.”

“Because.” Peter said and tried to put his head against his dad but Tony wasn’t wearing a shirt so Peter couldn’t hide anywhere.

“There he is.” Clint exclaimed and stood up off the pool chair to go greet the father and son duo. “I thought you guys weren’t going to come since you took so long to get here.”

Tony eyed Peter dramatically. “Because of this little one here.”

Peter pushed his face more into Tony’s side and let out a low whine so Tony made a face towards Clint that told the other father that Peter was going to be shy about meeting the archer’s kids.

Clint got the message and walked back towards the pool to gather his kids. “Hey guys, Peter’s here.”

Two of them looked towards Tony and Peter as they made their way over to the pool chairs. “Woah, Cooper, you look about three feet taller than I last saw you.” Tony said in awe as he looked at Clint’s oldest son.

Cooper chuckled. “Yeah, I had a growth spurt.”

Clint put his arm around his son who was just a few centimetres shorter than him. “He’s nineteen now. Can you believe that?”

Before, Tony would think of someone who was nineteen a full on adult but now he saw them as a child still. Peter would be nineteen in just five years and Tony didn’t want to think about that at all.

“Hi Tony. It’s nice to meet you, Peter.” Lila said and stepped towards the two of them to stand next to her father.

Clint put his arm around her as well. “Yep. And she’s going to be seventeen in two weeks. Time is passing by too quickly.”

Nathaniel came running up and bumped into his father's legs, demanding to be picked up. Clint picked up his youngest and tossed him into the air before setting him on his hip. “And my three year old. Do you remember Tony, Bee? And this is his kid, Peter.”

Nathaniel looked over at Tony and grinned then made grabby hands for the man so Tony had to take his hand away from Peter to lift the toddler into his arms, wishing so badly he got to experience Peter at this age. He always felt like he was missing out on so much.

“Hi Nathaniel. You grew so much too.” Tony cooed. “Look at you.”

The toddler was looking down at Peter and then reached out to pat his head. “I have ‘da b’ue car over ‘dare.”

Peter looked over towards where the toddler was pointing to and saw a blue car floaty in the water and got the sudden urge to climb into it. He turned back around and tugged on his father’s arm. “Let’s go swimming now.”

“Alright. Take your shirt off.” Tony tugged on Peter’s shirt because he knew Peter would forget about that and go swimming in his T-shirt.

“You come in too.” Peter told him after he took off his shirt and placed it on one of the pool chairs.

“I am, bud.” Tony walked over to Laura who was reading a book on the chair. “Here’s your kid.”

She held her hands out for the toddler and laid him down in front of her. “I’m just gonna put another swim pull-up on him and then do you wanna take him in? Clints too distracting in the water now.” She rolled her eyes at her husband as he pulled off the swim diaper.

“Yeah, I don’t mind.” Tony told her and felt Peter walk over to his side.

“Why’s he wearing that?” Peter asked as he watched Laura put the swim diaper onto the three year old and Tony cringed at Peter’s question and the fact that he was staring.

Laura didn’t seem to mind. “Because otherwise he’ll poop in the pool.”

“Ew. That’s gross.” Peter started laughing at her response then Tony lifted you the toddler once he was ready and walked into the pool with the three year old and his fourteen year old.

“B’ue car!” The toddler screamed, kicking and screaming for the blue floaty.

Peter tried to take the three year old from his father’s arms. “I want to carry him.”

“No, Pete. I’ll carry him.” Tony didn’t think that would end well, considering that Peter didn’t know how to swim.

“I want to put him in the car.” Peter grabbed onto Tony’s arm and put his feet onto Tony’s leg so he was hanging there.

“How about you help me put him in?” Tony suggested so Peter didn’t get upset and thankfully it worked.

Peter grabbed the blue car once he could reach it and went to let go of his dad but he slipped under the water since he couldn’t touch the bottom anymore. Tony quickly grabbed onto Peter’s arms and pulled him back above the water.

“Do you want a floaty too?” The billionaire asked Peter who wiped the water from his eyes and shook his head. “Well too bad.” Tony didn’t want Peter to slip under again so he would put Peter in something.

“I don’t want it.” Peter said as he clung onto Tony and tried to grab Nathaniel who was splashing Peter. “I want to hold him.”

Tony handed him to Peter but was still holding onto the two of them so they wouldn’t go under. Peter was looking at the toddler's face and then smiled at him and put him into the car floaty. “Do you like it?”

“No!” The toddler yelled happily and hit Peter on the face.

Peter pulled himself away in shock and looked over at his dad with a sad look on his face. Tony cooed but reached his arm out for Peter anyways. “He loves it, Pete. He’s just a toddler so it’s okay.”

Peter frowned but then went back over to Nathaniel as Clint swam over with his oldest son. “Is he giving you guys a hard time?”

“He smacked me.” Peter said to Clint.

“Yeah, he does that.” Cooper told Peter then spun his brother around on the floaty, causing Nathaniel to start giggling.

“Be nice to Peter, Bee.” Clint told Nathaniel and went to spin him around again.

“Can we go into the deep end so I can jump in?” Peter asked his dad, turning around to look at him.

Tony wiped the dripping water from Peter’s face as he spoke. “I’m gonna get out for a bit but you swim with Cooper and Nathaniel.”

Peter shook his head and stuck out his bottom lip. “No. Please swim with me.”

Tony grabbed one of the life jackets that were floating in the pool and he pushed one of Peter’s arms through it. “Look, you have this so you swim while I watch you, okay?”

“But… I’m gonna be swimming all by myself.” Peter said sadly as he put his other arm through.

“You won’t, Pete. Everyone is still here so put the other strap between your legs on and then you can go jump in.” Tony reassured him and lifted his leg up under the water so he could do the strap up and then let go of Peter. “Go swim.”

“Okay! Watch me!” Peter swam into the deep end and hoisted himself above the water then squatted down at the edge. “Dad! Look at me!”

“I’m looking, Peter.” Tony got out of the pool and walked over to one of the pool chairs while he watched Peter stand up and prepare himself to jump in.

When he did, he floated right back up to the top and immediately searched for his dad. “Did you see me?”

“I did. Good job, Peter. Look at you go.” Tony proudly said. He loved watching his kid do practically anything.

For the next hour, Tony watched Peter swim around in the pool. He loved watching Peter take his attention off of him and swim without any worries. Nathaniel had fallen asleep on his mom and Peter was swimming with Cooper, laughing nonstop.

The rest of the day was spent by the pool for both families. They even ordered some pizza and fries for lunch which they also ended up eating for a small dinner since no one was that hungry for anything too big. It was nice and relaxing and such a beautiful time to be able to spend altogether.

Since it was getting late, Tony got off the pool chair and held out a towel for Peter who had decided he wanted to take off his life jacket. “Time to go now, Pete.”

Peter ignored him. “Throw me again, Cooper!”

“It’s time to go to bed.” Tony said again and looked over at Clint who had a sleeping toddler in one arm and a bunch of towels in the other hand.

He walked past Tony and sighed with understanding. “Coop, bring Peter out for Tony.”

“Thanks.” Tony said to the other father, knowing that Clint understood his struggles with Peter.

Tony looked over at Cooper piggybacking Peter over to him. “Thank you.” Tony said to the boy then pried Peter off of Cooper. “Cooper shouldn’t have to carry you out. You listen to me.”

Peter shook his head. “No.”

“Excuse me. Are we going to go back home?” Tony grabbed Peter’s arm and bent down so he was at Peter’s height.

Peter eyed him then scrunched his face up and tried to get out of Tony’s grip. “No. I’m sorry.”

Content with Peter’s response, Tony let go of him and picked up Peter’s shirt. “It’s time for bed now, Peter.”

“Not tired.” Peter mumbled then grabbed one of the floaters and went to go back into the pool but Tony grabbed him. “Hey. Let me go.”

“Peter, everyone is gone now. I said it’s time to go up so we can go to sleep and if you’re still not tired then we can watch your show but it’s time to go.” Tony said to Peter while keeping his patience because he knew that this phase wouldn’t last and it was only a matter of time before Peter stopped acting like this.

“Please.” Peter begged but Tony stood his ground.

“No. It’s time to go up.” Tony said again then let go of Peter to grab the other towel but when he turned around, Peter was tugging down his bathing suit. “Keep it on. What’re you doing? We still have to walk up to our room.”

“Yeah but it’s wet and itchy and I want it off.” Peter told his dad and paused to look up at him.

Tony just stared at him for a few seconds, debating if he wanted to say no and deal with Peter’s reaction after or saying yes and risk people seeing them on their walk to their room.

“Fine. Here’s your towel.” Tony wrapped the towel around Peter’s shoulders and grabbed his wet bathing suit. “Keep that on until we get up.”

“It smells good. Like…” Peter paused and looked up at his dad.

“... laundry?”

“Yeah.” Peter started chewing on the edge of the towel and it brought back so many memories for Tony when he used to do the same thing when he was younger.

“You’re so cute, Pete. Why are you so cute?” Tony pulled Peter against his side and squeezed him. He loved his little human so freaking much.

“I don’t know.” Peter shrugged his shoulders once Tony let him go and then he ran up ahead to open the pool door for his dad. “I’m holding the door open for you, dad.”

“I can see that. Thank you.” Tony walked through the door and pulled up Peter’s towel a bit. “You’re sagging a bit there.”

“Then maybe I shouldn’t wear it.” Peter said with sass and turned his back to Tony as he walked away. Tony raised his eyebrows at his little one.

“You little bugger.” Tony teased and walked behind Peter all the way up to their floor and into Tony’s bedroom.

After Peter showered, Tony went in quickly and walked out of the bathroom to find Peter lying in the middle of the bed with his teddy bear in his arms and him watching his show contentedly.

“Sleep good, Petey.” Tony shut the lamp off and crawled into the bed, tugging Peter closer to him but Peter pushed away.

“I need water.” Peter lifted his head up and said.

“You don’t need water, baby, close your eyes and sleep.” Tony turned to face Peter but could only make out his outline in the shadows.

“I do. I want it in my cup to sleep with.” Peter pulled the blankets off of his dad, causing Tony to groan and sit up.

“Your cup is back at home, Pete.” Tony was so tired and missed the days when he could get into bed and go straight to sleep. Now there was negotiation and negotiation with Peter.

“Aw!” Peter threw himself down onto his dad's chest so Tony laid down again and patted Peter’s butt. “Don’t touch my bum.” Peter sat up and demanded.

Tony didn’t move his hand away. “Why not?”

“Because that’s my bum.” Peter replied and went to go crawl up more on his dad’s chest but Tony stopped him before he got too crazy.

“Okay, I’ll stop but you have to go to sleep now.”

Peter rolled over so he was more comfortable but still sleeping half on his dad. “What if I’m not tired?”

Tony sighed. “Well, are you tired?”

Peter paused to think about it for a few seconds. “Well… my eyes are tired but my body isn’t and my body wants to run.”

“How about you just shut your eyes and tell your body to go to sleep so then we can run tomorrow.”

“I want to now.” Peter whined and went to go sit up again but Tony pushed him back down and covered his eyes with his hand.

“Shh, it’s time to sleep.” Tony whispered and held his hand there even though Peter was struggling and trying to get his hand off but after just a few minutes, it finally worked.

Now that Peter was quieting down and almost asleep, Tony wasn’t even that tired anymore.

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“Piggyback ride again! Piggyback ride again!” Peter yelled as he followed Cooper around the living room.

Tony was eating Peter’s pretzels on the couch with Clint and Nathaniel while he watched his kid chase Cooper around. He was glad that Peter was clinging onto someone else and not him for a few minutes since he just needed some well deserved space for a little bit.

“Okay, Wait.” Cooper grabbed Peter’s arms to try and get him to calm down. “You have to stop jumping first and then I’ll give you a piggyback ride.”

Peter was practically vibrating with excitement as Cooper hoisted him onto his back and started to walk around the place with Peter.

Tony tossed another pretzel into his mouth and turned to look at Clint. “Can Cooper babysit for me sometime?”

“Yeah, get him out of the house.” Clint scoffed and then tossed his own pretzels into his mouth.

“Bring him down to Manhattan for a few days so he can see the city. That’s why he’s always at home, there’s nothing to do but hang out with Nathaniel.” Tony said. He’s been to Clint’s farm and it was beautiful but he never saw himself as much as a farm boy.

“He’s finishing school soon so I’ll bring him down in the summer.” Clint told Tony and then Cooper was carrying Peter back into the living room and walking over to the couch to dump Peter onto Tony.

“Oh. Thanks for that, Coop.” Tony said sarcastically. He loved Peter but it was nice to have some space from him for a bit.

“No problem, Tony.” Cooper smirked at Tony and dug his hand into the bag of pretzels. “I gotta do an assignment anyways so see you later, Pete.”

Peter waved bye and grabbed the remote from the table to put on his Craig of the creek show. Tony pushed Peter off of him and stood up to get started on lunch while Clint picked Nathaniel up and grabbed a diaper and wipes off of the table.

“I’m just saying, you’re lucky you missed out on the diaper and potty training phase.” Clint told him as he laid Nathaniel on the floor and pulled his pants down.

Tony didn’t feel the same way. He actually wished he went through that phase. He wished he went through every phase possible with Peter because that’s what parents do. He always felt and most likely always will feel like he was robbed from a full life with Peter.

That’s why a huge part of him is so happy and glad that Peter acts the way he does at times because it makes him feel a lot better about the life he missed out on with Peter.

“Still doesn’t mean I haven’t gotten peed on by him before.” Tony said, remembering all of the times that Peter has gotten every single kind of bodily fluids on him. Multiple times.

Clint started laughing. “Yep. But somehow not as disgusting when it’s your own kid.”

Tony couldn’t even imagine someone else’s kid throwing up on him or getting their pee on him. He would cringe so hard. But when it’s Peter, he barely bats an eye because that’s his kid.

“Yeah, that would be absolutely disgusting.” Tony cringed just thinking about it and looked over at Peter who was lying on the couch and licking the pretzel salt from his fingers.

He loved his kid so much.

While Tony was cooking lunch, Clint came up to him with a bowl filled with some yellow looking chunky stuff. “Get that away from me.” Tony backed away and said.

“I’m gonna prank Peter.” Clint said but Tony didn’t like the sound of anyone messing with his kid.

“What are you gonna do?” Tony asked, already prepared to say no if any harm could potentially come to his kid.

“I made this fake vomit-”

“Oh no.” Tony shook his head but that wouldn’t work Peter so he would consider it.

“It’ll be funny.” Clint said so Tony looked over at Peter who was lying on the couch and watching his show. “Do you think he’ll be mad?”

Tony thought about it. He actually didn’t know how Peter would react. He thinks that Peter might freak out at first and then go and find him so he could fix it for him. “No. I think he’ll just come find me after.”

“Here I go.” Clint then walked over to the couch and sat down.

Tony was cutting up some veggies that he knew he was going to have to force Peter to eat while he watched the scene unfold. Clint started to make gagging and moaning sounds which caused Peter to lift his head up to look at him.

“Why are you doing that?” Peter asked, looking at Clint.

Clint rubbed his stomach and scrunched his face up. “I don’t feel that good.”

Peter sat up a bit more and looked Clint up and down. “Maybe because your stomach hurts.”

Clint just nodded his head and didn’t say anything else so Peter eventually put his head back down and continued to watch his show which was when Clint took a sip of the chunky liquid and started to make gagging sounds.

He then gagged loudly and spit the fake vomit all over Peter. “Uh, I’m sorry, Peter! I just felt so sick.”

Peter gasped and sat up on the couch with the fake vomit running down the side of his neck and all over the front and side of his shirt. “Ew. That’s nasty.”

Clint started to laugh so he covered his mouth. “Oops.”

Peter started to make crying sounds but he wasn’t crying. He sat up straighter while holding his arms out like a bird learning how to fly and continued on making the sounds. “Ew. Why’d you do that?”

“I’m sorry, Peter. I just felt so sick.” Clint said and then went to gag again but Peter shook his head and stood up.

“I don’t like it.” Peter whined out and turned to look over at the kitchen, spotted his dad and slowly made his way over to him. “Clint vomited on me.”

Tony cooed at Peter's face and reaction. “Oh no. Did he?”

Peter nodded his head and walked closer to his dad. “Yeah. Help me.”

Tony looked over at Clint who was silently laughing on the couch. Once Clint looked over at him, Tony eyed him until he came over to the kitchen. “I’m just joking, Peter. I’m not sick. It was fake vomit.”

Peter squeaked. “Huh? But that’s nasty.”

“Yeah. It was just a prank. I’m sorry but it was funny.” Clint laughed out then pried Peter’s wet shirt off of his chest before letting go.

“So it’s just fake?” Peter asked but he was still standing uncomfortably.

“Yep. Pranked.” Clint ruffled Peter’s curls.

“What was in it?” Peter asked him.

“Go change, Pete. You smell bad now.” Tony told him and pushed him out of the kitchen but Peter walked right back in.

“I need help.” Peter grabbed onto Tony’s arm and tried to tug him forwards.

“You don’t. Just go change your shirt.” Tony took his arm away from Peter but regretted that right away because Peter stuck out his bottom lip. “Fine. Clint, you go because this is your fault.”

Clint washed his mouth out in the sink and shook his head. “I have to go now. Your turn daddy Stark.”

Tony eyed Clint but watched him walk away anyways. He turned the stove heat down and started walking out of the kitchen. “Alright. Come my little monkey.”

Peter walked up the stairs uncomfortably and then lifted his arms up once they walked into Tony’s bedroom which was basically Peter’s now too.

“You lazy bum.” Tony said even as he lifted the wet shirt off of Peter and tossed it into the laundry hamper.

Peter went to change out of his pants as well but Tony stopped him. “Why are you taking off your pants? It didn’t get on them.”

Peter threw his pants into the laundry hamper. “Because I want to put on other pants instead.”

Tony didn’t say anything since he knew how Peter was. “Wipe yourself clean with this.”

“You do it.”

“Peter.” Tony put the wet cloth down and looked at Peter who was too dependent on him. “You can do it yourself. You have two working arms.”

Peter pushed the wet cloth away from himself. “No, I want you to do it. Please.”

Tony wanted to give in but he knew he couldn’t. “No, Pete. You have to because you’re old enough now.”

Peter shook his head and tried to grab the cloth from his dad so Tony let it go and watched Peter throw it into the sink. “I like it when you do it.”

“Okay. You can sit in here until you do it yourself.” Tony went to walk out of the bathroom but Peter grabbed his hand.

“No! No.”

“How old are you, Peter?” Tony asked him because Peter was acting far younger and Tony didn’t want to give into it every time.

Peter grabbed his arm and wiped at his dry eyes. “Stop it.”

“I’m not doing anything. You’re the one who’s not listening.”

Peter looked back at the cloth and Tony then back at the cloth again. “I just want you to.”

Tony had no idea what to do in this situation. He wished for it to be Monday already so Rose the therapist could come and help him in these kinds of situations.

He wanted to give in because it would be the easiest thing to do and get Peter to not start freaking out for absolutely no reason but then he gives into Peter’s dependency on him and it isn’t always good.

But he also didn’t want to deal with any tears. “Okay. Fine, but just this once.” Tony grabbed the cloth from the sink and wiped down Peter’s face and his side where it was, knowing this wouldn’t be the last time.

“Then we can eat.” Peter said, bouncing out of the bathroom and throwing himself down on the bed.

“Put on some pants and a shirt first.”

“Are you gonna change too?” Peter asked and walked into the closet to grab some clothes off the hanger. He pulled off a sweater that was his dad’s.

Tony watched him as he answered. “I don’t need to.”

Peter didn’t respond. Instead, he put the sweater on and hugged his sweater paws against his chest. “I love it. And it smells like you, dad.”

Tony internally cooed at the sight of his kid practically drowning in his oversized sweater. He sometimes forgot just how tiny Peter was until he had to bent down to his level or when he’s folding his clothes.

“You look so comfy.” Tony pulled the sweater paws on Peter and went to fold them up so he could actually grab onto things. “Let me make this a bit easier for you.”

Once one hand was done, Peter put his other hand up for Tony to do the same on that side. “And then can we eat ice cream after lunch?”

“We can eat whatever you want after.”

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Tony could see that there was already a huge difference in Peter.

It was Sunday evening and they were heading back home after spending the whole weekend at the Compound with Clint’s family, who Peter absolutely loved.

Peter didn’t have school the next day, and never will again if that’s what Peter wanted although Tony was more than certain that Peter would eventually go back in grade ten or even eleven but Tony didn’t want to think about that at all.

He liked his kid’s age and wanted to freeze this moment in time forever although Tony was really looking forward to when Peter gets older to actually do a lot of things since he was still too young at the moment.

Tony could wait. He was more than happy to wait.

He glanced over at Peter in the car who was eating some kind of slushy, causing it to drip down the front of his shirt which would definitely be staining.

Tony thought about all the other times when they drove back home from the Compound on a Sunday night and how tense and stressed out Peter was because he had to go to school the next day and now, he had a permanent smile on his face which could be from the slushy but Tony was positive that it was because Peter didn’t have a heavy weight holding him down on his shoulders anymore.

“Are you excited for tomorrow?” Tony asked him.

Peter wiped his mouth on his shirt and looked over at his dad. “Excited for what?”

“For your new friend to be coming over.” Tony answered but he already knew that Peter knew that.

Peter frowned. “No. She’s a fatty.”

“Peter. That’s not nice. Plus you don’t even know what she looks like.” Tony gently pinched Peter’s thigh.

“She’s poo.” Peter said with a grin so Tony narrowed his eyes at his naughty child.

“That’s silly talk. No more.” He said seriously because he wouldn’t have his kid speak like that.

Peter sighed loudly and reached over to grab onto Tony’s free hand that wasn’t on the steering wheel. “But… will you stay the whole time?”

“I’ll be there the whole time, Petey.” Tony reassured his kid once again because he knew that Peter needed that reassurance.

“Okay. That’s good. Because I wouldn’t want to do it without you, dad.” Peter said, looking over at him then going back to his sugar filled drink.

Tony reached over to ruffle Peter’s hair and was feeling excited as well as nervous as for what the next day will bring.