All The Stars Align

Peter was in a bad mood.

Tony hated when Peter was in a bad mood because that meant that he was in a bad mood and then none of them wanted to do anything but sit and stay mad at absolutely nothing.

At least Peter had a reason to be in a bad mood now.

He had gotten a last minute call from Pepper telling him that he had to go to Malibu for two nights and three days to deal with some mishap with the company.

Tony was pissed. And Peter was pissed.

It wasn’t something that he could do from home, over the phone or over emails. He needed to be in Malibu as soon as possible.

It had been two days since Rose came and she was supposed to come later that day but now Tony has to cancel that because Peter was being impossible and Tony was so close to breaking down.

It was two in the afternoon and he got the call a few minutes ago then told Peter.

Tony put his suitcase onto the bed and walked back into his closet to grab some clothes but when he looked back over, Peter had kicked his suitcase onto the floor.

Tony walked back over to pick his suitcase up and put it back on the bed, only for Peter to start trying to kick it off again. “Stop it.”

“No. You’re not leaving. You’re staying here.” Peter said and gave Tony a dirty look.

Tony rubbed his eyes and looked at the door. Steve was supposed to come up in a few minutes and take Peter downstairs where he was going to be spending the next three days.

Tony felt sick to his stomach just thinking about it. Peter and him were together literally all the time and now he had to leave his baby.

His own separation anxiety was hitting him hard and he didn’t think that he could do it.

“I have to go. I have a company to run.” Tony let Peter kick his suitcase onto the floor as he walked back into his closet.

Peter turned onto the bed and screamed into the mattress then looked back up to see if his dad was looking at him or not. When he saw that Tony wasn’t looking, he slid onto the floor and started crying, hoping that it would stop Tony from leaving.

He didn’t know if he would survive two nights and three days without his dad. He was his constant. He was in his daily routine and the person he went to for everything so he couldn’t just get that ripped away from him like that.

“Can you bring my suitcase to me?” Tony asked him but Peter just looked at him while he cried. “Peter. I know this is hard but we both know that I was going to have to leave eventually.”

Tony walked over to Peter to grab his suitcase from him and Peter tried to reach out for it but he was too late so he crawled towards the closet and then stood up.

“Don’t go. Please stay.” Peter cried against him and slid down to his feet and wrapped himself around one of Tony’s legs.

“I have to. You know I do.” Tony hated this. He hated it so much.

Peter shook his head and started coughing because he was crying so hard. “T-t-then quit your job!”

Tony sighed and shook his head then threw a bunch of clothes into his suitcase, knowing he’s going to forget something important and have to buy it tonight at the hotel or wherever he stays.

“I can’t do that, Peter.” Tony tried not to cry at seeing his kid like this. It hurt.

Peter sat up, grabbed the clothes that were in Tony's suitcase and tossed them out of the closet. “Don’t leave me.”

Tony ignored him, mainly because he didn’t have enough time to comfort him right now. He continued on doing what he was doing with his crying child at his feet.

Peter threw himself back down onto the carpet in the closet and then started to kick his pants off out of anger and because he was out of ideas and wanted his dad’s attention.

Peter kicked his pants off and tried to pull off his shirt while he was lying on the ground. Tony watched him for a few seconds, debating what he should do when his phone rang.

He picked it up and saw that Pepper was calling. “Pepper. This isn’t going to be possible. I can’t come.”

Pepper could hear Peter crying in the background, it was impossible to not hear. “I know. But you have to, Tony. If you don’t, everything is gonna get fucked up in the future and then it’s going to be one hell of a mess to cover up.”

Tony ran a hand down his face and looked down at Peter who wasn’t even aware that he was on the phone. He was grabbing his underwear and going for that next so Tony groaned and wanted to throw his phone. “I can’t. He’s stripping all his clothes off right now in my closet because he’s crying so hard.” Tony bent down and grabbed the waistband of Peter’s underwear and pulled it back up. “Stop it. Right now.”

“No! I hate you. If-if you leave then I’ll die!” Peter cried out so Tony stood up and turned his back to him. Peter knew what he was doing and it was working. “I’ll die and I’ll l-leave you ‘cause you’re leavin’ me!”

Tony shook his head, facing away from Peter. “He’s trying to get you not to leave. He knows how to hit your buttons, Tony. But you need to come. Whatever you have to do, come. I have to go.”

Pepper hung up the phone, leaving Tony alone with a screaming child on his closet floor.

He couldn’t leave Peter like this and fully go into work mode in Malibu while he knew Peter was miserable at home, waiting for him.

Plus, he knew how these things went. They say three days but then something else comes up and two weeks later, he’s still there.

Tony knew what he had to do. He kneeled down next to Peter and fixed his underwear and grabbed his inside out pants that were thrown.

“Stop crying and listen to me.” Tony unfolded Peter’s pants. “Breathe, Peter.”

Peter looked over at him and made no move to calm down so Tony just had to come out and say it. “You’re coming with me. Okay? Breathe. Stop crying. It’s okay.”

Peter cried a little bit harder and continued to lie there. Tony knew that he heard so he grabbed his suitcase and stood up to finish getting ready.

Steve walked into the closet, wishing to be anywhere else but there. “Oh. Thank you. Can you help him pack his bag? I’m bringing him with me.”

Steve almost looked relieved. “Yeah. Come, Peter.”

Peter sat up and sucked in a breath of air. He stood up and grabbed onto Steve’s hand before letting go to wipe away the tears on his cheeks.

Tony was so grateful for the silence.

“What happened to your clothes?” Steve asked him, looking down at the mess on the floor and Peter just in sagging underwear.

Peter pointed at his dad on the way towards his own bedroom where he pulled his suitcase out of his closet and sat on the floor. “You do it.”

Steve didn’t know why he was about to take orders from a fourteen year old boy but he was so he opened up Peter’s drawers and started putting his shirts inside.

Peter grabbed his bathing suit and put that in as well because maybe they would go swimming at the hotel at night time. He was excited that he was going with his dad.

Peter shifted over to Steve and grabbed some more things that he wanted to bring and then stood up when he remembered that he had one of his favourite blankets for the plane on his bed.

Steve walked into the bathroom and then walked out with his toothbrush and toothpaste. He put those in then looked at Peter confused. “Where’s Your deodorant?”

“I don’t wear any.” Peter told Steve. Aunt May had bought him some when he was twelve but he hated the slimy feeling under his arms so he never put any on and he never smelt so he didn’t need to.

Tony walked into the room with his suitcase. He took one glance at Peter and was already grabbing pants and a shirt from his dresser and walking over to Peter to physically dress him himself.

“Does Peter wear deodorant?” Steve asked Tony.

“Huh? Um, no.” Tony never even thought of that. He had never bought deodorant for Peter and never saw Peter put any on but he never ever smelt. Weird. “No. He doesn’t need it I guess. Stand up.”

Tony pulled Peter to his feet and pulled his saggy underwear and pants up on him then started doing the top while Peter started to fight him. “No. The blue top. The blue one.”

“We don’t have time, Peter.” Tony said even as he turned to grab the blue top because he didn’t have time to fight with Peter winning anyways. “You put it on. Is everything ready to go, Steve?”

“Yeah. I think so. Got shirts, pants, underwear and socks.” Steve answered as Tony threw a couple more underwear’s in then zipped it up. He couldn’t think of anything else that they would need.

Worst comes to worst, they’ll get it when they’re there.

“Thank you.” Tony told Steve as he picked up Peter’s suitcase and brought it over to the hallway. “Put your socks on and let’s go.”

Peter quickly put his socks on and followed his dad down the stairs. He was forced to put his boots on even though he didn’t want to but Tony threatened to leave him there so Peter quickly put his boots on and got himself ready.

Happy was already waiting for them in the garage so the two of them headed down there with Tony extremely stressed out and Peter already getting impatient. Tony wondered if he could put Peter to sleep on the plane so he could get some work done.

“Thanks, Hap.” Tony said as Happy took the bags and put them into the trunk of the car while Tony grabbed the bag that he remembered to pack for Peter with a StarkPad in it. “Get into the backseat. Here.”

Peter took the StarkPad from his dad after he got his seatbelt on and immediately stopped talking so he could turn it on and see what games were already downloaded.

“Any chance you wanna come with us for babysitting duty?” Tony asked as he climbed into the passenger seat and turned around to glance at Peter who had his attention elsewhere.

Happy scuffed. “No.”

Tony pulled out his phone and started to read the emails that he was getting and all the text messages. He wasn’t sure what happened at his company yet but whatever it was, things were going to get crazy once he landed.

“Do you have any idea what’s going on?” Happy asked Tony as he drove around the traffic to get to the airport faster.

“What do you know already?” Tony asked and put his phone down to try and regain his composure. He was already extremely stressed and he wasn’t even in Malibu yet.

“Pepper told me there was a leak of some sort.” Happy explained what he knew then pulled onto the busy highway. Tony groaned at seeing the traffic up ahead.

“Yeah. Supposedly some of the Stark tech blueprint got leaked to places like Hydra. An inside job I think.” Tony said then looked in the backseat because he didn’t want Peter listening to what he was saying.

“I didn’t know Hydra was part of it. Does the team know?”

“Steve knows. Natasha and Clint are on a mission and won’t be back for another week and Sam joins them in a few days.” Tony was buried under all the stress. He didn’t know what it was going to be like when they landed in Malibu because he couldn’t bring Peter with him but he also couldn’t just leave him at the hotel.

An hour later, Tony and Peter were on the plane and had been for quite some time so now Peter’s StarkPad was starting to get boring and he just wanted dad’s attention.

Peter placed the device onto the seat next to him and looked at his dad who was sitting across from him. “Dad?”

“Hm?”

Peter frowned then crawled over to his dad and got on his knees in front of him to slide his head under Tony’s phone so he could see what his dad was doing.

“Not now, Peter.” Tony told him and lifted his phone up to see Peter’s head resting on his knees. “Go back on your phone.”

“But I forgot my phone. That’s my StarkPad.” Peter corrected him. He sat up straighter and stuck out his bottom lip. “Dad.”

“Peter, I have to work. This isn’t a fun trip to Miami, okay? I’m going to be working all day and probably all night too so you need to find something to occupy yourself with.” Tony didn’t mean to snap at his kid but he couldn’t have Peter distracting him right now.

“Mm!” Peter whined and crossed his arms. Tony looked away from him and called Pepper to tell her that Peter was coming since he had yet to do that.

She answered on the third ring but then hung up and changed it to a FaceTime call so Tony held his phone out in front of him. “Good. You’re on the plane.”

“Yeah and guess who’s also on the plane. Pete’s here too. I had to.” Tony whispered the last part to her but it wasn’t much of a whisper over the plane engine.

“I know. It’s okay. So I’m going to pick you guys up from the airport and I was thinking that you could stay with me at my place?” Pepper asked him and as stressed as Tony was, his heart skipped a few beats at that. He’s only been to Peppers apartment twice before and both times was when they were dating and looking for a quiet place to do some adult things.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah. We’d love to, right Peter?” Tony asked and looked over his shoulder but Peter wasn’t there. “I don’t know where he went.”

“That’s fine. So then you can stay with me. We have the first meeting that is at nine at night so that gives us two hours to get settled and I don’t know where Peter will go but we’ll figure it out.” Pepper told him and just the fact that they were staying with her made him relax so much more.

“Yeah. I don’t know about that yet. With the travelling and time zones, it’ll be around midnight for us by the time we have to go to the meeting so I can just put him to sleep somewhere.” Tony hoped that Peter didn’t put up much of a fight with that. It was illegal to leave Peter home alone overnight so he doesn’t know what to do.

“We can figure it out.” Pepper said but then saw Peter pop up from behind the seat and grab the phone from Tony. “Hi Pet-”

“Dad’s being mean. Don’t talk to him anymore.” Peter told her then walked to the other sets of seats and sat down on the floor. He looked over at his dad who was watching him so he stuck his tongue out at him.

“Oh really? What’s he doing?” Pepper asked, amused.

“He’s telling me to stop bugging him and he’s ignoring me.”

“Peter, give me my phone.” Tony held out his hand but Peter didn’t make a move so Tony stood up and walked over to him which caused Peter to start screaming with his high pitched scream of his. “Shh. Stop screaming.”

Tony tried to grab his phone from Peter but he held it against his chest which left Tony no choice but to pick up the whole child and carry him back over to his seat.

Tony deposited Peter onto the seat next to him and poked him in the side so Peter let go of his phone which worked. “Stop misbehaving or I’ll have no choice but to pinch your butt.”

Peter shook his head at him and then climbed across the seats to sit himself on his dad’s legs. “I wanna say hi to Pepper.”

“You already did.” Tony told him and flipped the camera so Pepper could see Peter.

“I wanna say bye to her then.” Peter said and leaned forward so he could see the screen so Tony flipped the camera back. “I can’t see.”

“I’m showing you right now. Ow.” Tony lifted up Peter’s leg when he tried to squeeze in next to him to get comfortable. “Say bye Peter and then you say bye to me so I can do some work.”

Peter grinned and shook his head. Tony couldn’t wait until he fell asleep.

Peter did not fall asleep but Tony was happy about that because now the longer he stayed awake, the more tired he would get for their meeting later on that night. Tony still didn’t know how he was going to do that but he would figure something out.

The plane landed so Tony grabbed his phone and computer while Peter watched the workers open up the plane door. “Peter, step away from the door until I get there.”

Peter listened to him which Tony was grateful for. The heat was already hitting them and Tony had no idea how he had forgotten that they would be living in blissful heat for the next few days.

He was already dying to go swimming but he wouldn’t have any time.

The two of them got off the plane and saw Pepper so Peter grabbed onto Tony’s hand in his excitement. “Pepper’s here too!”

“Yeah, go run and say hi to her.” Tony gently pushed his son off, feeling his heart warm when Peter ran over to Pepper and embraced her for a hug.

“Ohh hi Peter. How was the flight?” Pepper asked after Peter pulled back from their hug and grabbed onto the necklace that she was wearing.

“Hey, this one looks like one that my dad has.” Peter pointed out and examined it closer.

Pepper smiled fondly at the boy’s actions. “That’s because we have similar one’s.”

Tony couldn’t wait any longer. He pulled Pepper into a firm hug, pressing his face into her neck and breathing in the scent that had always helped calm down. Peter had his own scent too but Pepper’s was always the first scent that he would go to. He felt her body pressing up against his and squeezed her just a little bit tighter.

When he pulled away, he moved his hands down to her waist and looked into her eyes, wanting so badly to lean forward and press their lips together but he didn’t.

“Hey.” She said, pushing herself a little bit closer, knowing exactly what she was doing.

“Dad?” Peter asked, ruining the mood. “Look at Pepper’s necklace. She said that you have a matching one? Is it at home?”

Tony’s eyes moved down to Pepper’s chest and smiled at the necklace that they had each gotten each other years before. “Oh, I see what you did there.”

She smirked and patted Tony on his chest then walked away from him. “How are you, Peter? Tell me what’s going on with you.”

Peter followed her around to the trunk where the workers had brought their bags over. “Does your house have a swimming pool?”

Tony joined them to put the suitcases in the trunk because he was a gentleman and wasn’t about to let Pepper do it or his child.

“There’s a private pool on the main floor that we can go swimming in some time.” Pepper answered him then reached out to pinch his chubby cheeks. “How hasn’t Tony eaten you up yet, you’re so cute.”

Peter felt his face flush red so he grabbed his dad’s arm to hide behind him. “You’re embarrassing him, Pep.” Tony cooed, pulling Peter’s head back to squeeze his cheeks together, making his lips puff out and Peter groan.

“Stop it.” Peter pushed Tony away from him but he couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face so he ran over to the back door and opened it. “Dad, I want you to sit in the back seat with me.”

Tony was already walking over to the passenger seat to sit next to Pepper. Peter sat on top of him for five hours straight so he wanted a little space.

“I’m sitting next to Pepper.” Tony said, turning around to see the pout on Peter’s face. “Oh, Pep, do you mind putting the child safety lock on the door.”

“Go inside, Peter. I have a surprise for you when we get home.” Pepper told him which had Peter’s eyes lighting up.

“What is it?”

“A surprise but we have to get into the car first.”

That got Peter jumping into the car and getting his seatbelt on. Pepper got into the driver’s seat and looked over at Tony who was staring at her. “What?”

“Please say the surprise isn’t a giant bag of candy?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “No. It’s a twenty foot rabbit.”

“Okay.” Tony sat back and shook his head amused. “When are you going to let that go? And I still don’t understand how you didn’t like it?” Tony turned to look in the back seat at Peter. “Peter, would you be happy if I got you a twenty foot stuffed bunny?”

Peter gasped and nodded his head. “Yes!”

“See?” Tony looked at Pepper. “Peter would have appreciated it.”

“That’s because I’m not a fourteen year old boy.”

“Fair enough.” Tony looked in the back seat at Peter again. “You’re not getting one so don’t get your hopes up.”

They arrived in front of Pepper’s penthouse and then Peter started to complain in the backseat. “Dad. I want to take my pants off.”

Tony turned around and saw how red Peter’s face was from the humidity. “Not right now.”

“But I’m hot.” Peter complained and slowly started to pull his pants down while waiting for Tony to stop him.

“Peter no. Wait until we get inside so you can change.” Tony took off his seatbelt since they were already there. It’s been years since he’s been inside Peppers house and part of him is feeling a bit nostalgic to go back inside. So many pleasant memories were made there.

Peter took off his seatbelt as well so Tony turned around to glare at him. “Is the car stopped?”

“But you took off yours.” Peter pointed out, throwing himself across the backseats and looking at Pepper from his angle, wanting to know what her surprise was.

“Kids copy your actions, Tony.” Tony looked over at Pepper. She did have a point so he let it slide. They were about to get out of the car anyways.

He got out of the car and went to go grab the suitcases out of the trunk before he opened the door for Peter so when he opened the back door, he wasn’t the least bit surprised to see that Peter was still lying down on the seats. “Let’s go up.”

“I’m too hot to move. I want to change my pants first.” Peter complained and slowly started pulling down his pants so Tony quickly grabbed the material and pulled it off of Peter so they could change quickly and get upstairs.

“Pep, can you do me a favour and grab the blue shorts from Peter’s bag?” Tony asked, trying to block the view from anyone walking by.

“And my underwear?” Peter asked but slowly went to take it off. Tony went to stop him right away, not understanding Peter’s need for stripping when they get somewhere hot.

“Look at all the people around, Peter. Someone will see your butt. Keep those on.” Tony looked at Pepper who was still digging in the suitcase.

“It’s too sticky.” Peter complained and went to try and take it off again but Tony pushed his legs forward so he couldn’t.

“Did you pee yourself or something?”

“No.”

“Then you don’t need to have a whole wardrobe change in the car.” Pepper handed Tony Peter’s pants so Tony tossed them at his kid. “Thanks. Sorry for this, he’s just… well, this is normal for us.”

Pepper laughed and leaned against the car to look inside at Peter who looked like he was on the verge of tears and her heart broke. “What’s wrong, honey?”

“It’s too sticky and he’s rude.” Peter tried to pull the pants up but they ended up slipping out of his hands with a snap.

“Maybe it’ll help if you weren’t lying down. I don’t know about you but I don’t normally get dressed lying down.” Pepper stepped aside, gesturing for Peter to get out of the car.

Peter sat up and slowly moved out of the car to pull up his pants but Tony didn’t like that because people could see so he grabbed Peter’s pants and pulled them up himself, lifting Peter off the ground because they weren’t moving on his sticky skin.

Pepper was giving Tony a tired look while Peter was already trying to pull them at uncomfortable angles. “Okay. All better now, Peter.”

“No. I want them off. It’s too tight.” Peter tried to stick his hand down his pants so it could stop squeezing him but Tony was shutting the back door and moving Peter along.

“It’s fine. You can change when we get upstairs.” Tony grabbed Peter’s suitcase and thankfully Pepper took it from him so he could bring his own up and Peter.

Once they started walking, Peter’s mood changed so now he was excited to see Peppers house and to see his surprise.

It was when they got into the elevator where Peter started pulling uncomfortably on his pants again. “It’s too tight on me.”

“What’s the problem, Peter?” Tony was annoyed now because he just bought the pants for Peter and they were fine. Peter was just trying to take them off and it was frustrating.

“You pulled them up too tight.” Peter glared at him and tried to pull at his pants again but Tony wasn’t going to fall for it.

The elevator doors opened up onto Peppers floor and Peter’s mood changed once again as he ran out and looked around at everything with wide eyes. The place was nowhere near as large as the tower but Tony loved it.

There were huge bay windows that looked out onto the ocean that Peter was running up to to look out but the sun was already going down so they couldn’t see much besides the lights but that was just as beautiful.

It was different from the last time Tony was there. He remembers the couch was black because they may have made quite the mess on it. More than once.

He likes the white better since they brighten up the place.

“It looks so nice, Pep. Now we get to see where you live.” Tony told her then starting opening up Peter’s suitcase to grab his bedtime stuff since he had to start getting Peter sleepy.

“Thank you. I took some ideas from the tower actually.”

“Oh really? What ideas?”

Peter ran over to Pepper and tugged on her hand. “Can I see my surprise now? Please?”

“Oh course. Follow me.” Pepper led Peter down the hallway and Tony followed out of curiosity as well. They walked into the other living room and sitting there was Peter’s surprise.

“Surprise!”

Peter’s eyes went wide and he covered his mouth with his hands. There, sitting on the ground was a giant lego set box with a red bow on top and next to that was a fluffy bean bag chair with another red bow on top.

Peter excitedly ran over to both items and sat on his knees. He picked up the lego box and turned over to look at Pepper. “It’s a fisherman’s market! I love it. And it even has the little fishes too. And poles!”

The excited fourteen year old put the lego box under his arm and touched the fluffy bean bag chair. He liked the feeling so he rubbed his face against it and turned around so he could have a seat on it. “It’s so soft and comfy. I love it so much. Thank you, Pepper.”

Pepper walked over to Peter and leaned down in which Peter didn’t hesitate to hold his arms out and hug her.

Tony watched from the side.

He could not get the smile off of his face. He didn’t ask or even expect Pepper to get something for Peter. That was all on her and he loved her so much for that and watching the two of them made him wonder if he should make it work between the two of them.

Peter needed a strong male figure in his life and that was him but he needed him for when his body starts changing and all that fun stuff that he’s already behind on although Tony was in no rush.

But having a strong female in his life is also really important.

Tony also wondered when Pepper got all that for Peter.

He didn’t have time to ask her though since Peter was starting to open up the box and Tony didn’t want him to get into that tonight so he walked over to Peter and took it from him. “You can play with this tomorrow but right now we have to get ready for bed.”

Peter looked up at his dad and then turned around to look outside at the windows. “It’s still bright out.”

“Yeah but we’re jet lagged, remember? So it’s three hours in the future for us.” Tony explained to Peter in a fun way and put the lego box on the table but Peter was sitting up to look at it again.

“I just want to open it to count some pieces.” Peter said and went to reach for the box while Pepper turned her head to hide her laughing.

“You can do that tomorrow. Let Pepper show us around.” Tony pulled Peter up and Pepper stood up as well to show them the bedrooms.

“I want to see your bedroom.” Peter said, walking over to Pepper and looking up at her.

Pepper glanced at Tony before walking to the end of the hallway and opening up a door. “This is my room.”

Peter walked inside and immediately climbed up on the bed to feel how soft the pillows were. He then looked around at the layout, noticing that it was similar to his dad’s bedroom.

He caught eye of the bathroom and slid off the bed to look inside. “I want to see the bathtub.”

Peter walked inside and his jaw dropped. “Woah. It’s so shiny.” Peter saw what he guessed was the shower and walked into it to look out at the window. “But how do you shower so no one sees you naked?”

Tony walked over to shower that he’s been in before. With Pepper. But he was too drunk to think about that before. “That’s a good question.”

“No one can see inside. Plus we’re so high up.”

“But… but what if you were in the shower and then the window cleaner was cleaning the window?” Peter turned away from the window to ask.

Tony raised his eyebrows at her. Good question.

“You guys, it’s tinted. We can see out but no one can see in.” Pepper rolled her eyes at the two of them that were meant for each other. No doubt about that. She saw so much of Tony in Peter and even Peter in Tony.

“No more questions mr. Let’s go see our room then you can shower.” Tony walked out of the shower, pulling Peter along with him.

“I hope ours doesn’t have a window because I don’t want anyone to see me naked.” Peter said and then started laughing at what he said after he thought about it.

“Really? What happened to you wanting to bare all down there in the car?” Tony teased his kid but Peter just pushed him off and walked into the guest bedroom.

“Bed!” Peter yelled. He climbed into the high up bed and stood up to grab the poles that were on each side of the bed. “This bed is like the beds that kings have.”

Tony was already trying to determine how to block one of the sides so Peter doesn’t roll off.

“Monkey bars!” Peter let go of the wood and went to jump up but Tony was grabbing the back of his pants and pulling him down. “Hey.”

“Let’s go test the shower out.” Tony pulled Peter off the bed and towards the bathroom that he doesn’t think he’s ever been in before.

The bathroom wasn’t as nicely designed as Peppers since it was a guest bathroom but it was still extremely nice.

Peter ran into the shower and observed it. “No windows so no peeping Toms.”

“Yay. How about you test it out now? Take off your clothes and I’ll go get your suitcase.” Tony tried to get Peter to hurry up so he can become sleepy just in time to fall asleep for their meeting in just over an hour.

“No, I want to see the rest of the house first.” Peter went to step out of the shower but Tony didn’t let him. This was where he had to be before he got into pyjamas.

“Not tonight. Remember I told you? Pepper and I have to go to work so you need to sleep.” Tony held the shower door closed with his knee while he was on the inside.

Peter banged weakly on the glass. “No.”

“I’m gonna go get your pyjamas and toothbrush then I’ll be back but when I come back, I want you to be in the shower.” Tony opened the shower door to walk out with Peter following behind him.

Tony turned the shower on for him and gave Peter his firm dad look before leaving the bathroom.

“This phase will be over soon.” Pepper reassured him as the two got out of the bathroom and headed towards Peter’s suitcase.

Tony rubbed at his eyes. “Yeah. I’m having mixed feelings about it though. Part of me likes it because I missed out on so much but the other part… I’m exhausted. And now I have to force him to shower, force him to get his pyjamas on and make him sleepy so we can leave. Plus get ready myself.”

“I’ll help. I’ll do whatever I can to help you the best I can.” Pepper picked up the handle on Peter’s suitcase to roll it back to the room so Tony could roll his back.

“Wanna do everything tonight? That would help out.” Tony shook his head. “Sorry. Plus I don’t know how Peter would react to you going into the bathroom.”

“I can help after that.”

Tony laughed dryly then kneeled down to get what he needed out of Peter’s suitcase. “Well… he likes to air dry for about an hour after. Or for as long as I let him.”

“Well we don’t have an hour tonight so I will tell him that.” Pepper kneeled down and placed her hands on top of Tony’s. “I’ll get it. What does he need?”

“Uh, blue pyjamas, underwear but bring out two so he can pick when he refuses to put it on. Toothbrush and toothpaste.” Tony was so incredibly grateful for this woman.

He pushed open the bathroom door and was happy to see Peter had taken off his clothes so he picked them off the floor and threw them into the laundry hamper.

“I’m not washing my hair.” Peter complained from inside the shower where he was sitting down to scrub his feet with the shower loofa he found.

“That’s fine. Are you almost done?” Tony asked, leaning against the counter and looking towards the shower.

“No.” Came the single response.

“You have two more minutes.” Tony checked the time on his watch.

“No.” Peter said again but Tony ignored it.

After the two minutes were up, Tony knocked on the glass door. “I still have soap on my feet!”

“Well rinse it off and get out.” Tony grabbed onto the door handle. “Can I open it?”

“Yes.” Peter said angrily but Tony opened it nonetheless. “See? I can’t get out now.”

Tony grabbed the shower handle and pulled it off. “Use this because we don’t have time, Peter. Pepper and I have to go.”

Peter looked up at him with sad eyes and Tony could see how exhausted he was. “And me too?”

“Yes, baby. Sit on here so I can rinse your feet.” Tony sprayed the shower bench to show Peter where to sit and then he rinsed his feet off.

“I have some towels here.” Pepper said from the doorway.

“Thanks, you can just put it on the counter.” Tony then looked down to Peter who was trying to scrub the soap off. “All done. All the soap is gone now.”

“It’s not.”

Tony sighed loudly. “Peter. Would there still be soap if we were back at home. No. I’m turning this off.” Tony sprayed Peter down quickly and shut the water off then hung the head back up and went to grab a towel.

“I don’t like you.” Peter pouted from the glass door.

“Well I’m not a big fan of you right now either.” Tony wrapped Peter in a towel and walked out into the bedroom where Pepper was sitting on the bed.

Peter bumped into Tony’s back and then walked around him to crawl onto the bed. “Craig of the creek.”

“No, we don’t have time to watch anything because we have to go soon.” Tony grabbed his pyjamas and placed them next to Peter, debating if he should wrestle Peter into them and create screaming or try to get him to put them on.

“What are we doing, Tony?” Pepper asked him and he already knew what she was referring to.

He covered his face with his hand to try and remember what his plan was. “Uh… I’m gonna put Peter in an empty, quiet room next to the board room so he can sleep and I’ll have FRIDAY to watch him.”

He looked back down at Peter who was looking between the two, ready to pass out.

“Now I just gotta get him dressed.” Tony held out an underwear in each hand. “You have to wear underwear tonight so which one do you wanna wear?”

Peter kicked his leg out of the towel. “I don’t wear underwear’s to bed.”

“I know but since we’re going out, you have to just in case your pyjama pants fall down.” Tony tried but Peter kicked his other leg out and shook his head.

Pepper walked over to the other side of the bed and grabbed both underwear’s from Tony then sat down next to Peter. “Your dad and I have a very important meeting that we have to go to that I know he told you about. We have to leave in twenty minutes so you choose what underwear you want or I will pick.”

Peter looked at Pepper and then looked over at Tony for him to do something but he remained silent. He eyed her for a few seconds before looking between his options and pointing to the red pair.

She placed the red pair next to him and stood up. “Alright. I’m going to go get ready really quickly and then I’ll be back.” Pepper left the room after that, leaving Tony and Peter both dazed.

Tony loved that.

He wished Peter listened to him if he did that but instead he just gets shunned.

“I know you don’t like this but the other choice was you staying at home with Steve.” Tony explained to him as he grabbed Peter’s pyjama bottoms and laid them out. “Get this on while I get my clothes out of my suitcase.”

Peter slowly sat up and kicked his towel off as he slowly put his underwear on but then he looked over at Tony and saw that he wasn’t looking so he quickly shoved his underwear under the towel and put his pyjama pants on so he didn’t have to wear any underwear.

Tony looked over at him once he laid out his suit on the bed and smiled. “Are you tired?”

Peter shook his head, knowing that he was about to get some cuddles. Tony checked the time and looked towards the door then made his way over to the bed.

Pepper wasn’t back yet so Tony could cuddle with Peter until she can take over to let him get ready.

Tony laid down and held his arm out for Peter to get into their signature cuddling position which was probably third of Tony’s favourites. Peter tucked his head on his chest and Tony wrapped an arm around him.

His hand started to gently massage at Peter’s hair, knowing that this would put Peter to sleep.

Peter moved his head closer to his dad and moved his hand up to his mouth to bite at the tips without even realizing what he was doing.

Pepper walked back into the room, less than ten minutes later but looking gorgeous. Tony felt his heart skip a few beats.

She was wearing a black skirt with a black blouse and he had to look away before his imagination got the better of him.

“Okay, Pete. Pep will sit with you until I’m done and then we’ll leave.” Tony went to sit up but Peter started whining for him to lie back done. “Close your eyes and try to sleep.”

Tony stood up and handed Peter’s pyjama shirt to him to put on but he wasn’t so Tony put it over his head and let him do the rest.

Pepper laid down on the other side of the bed but kept her legs off. She looked over at Peter and smiled. “You look so tired.”

Peter fell face first onto the bed so he had his knees bent like a yoga pose. “Not.” He mumbled into the mattress.

Pepper reached out to scratch at his hair like his dad had been doing to him and so he shut his eyes, feeling himself start to drift off.

When Tony walked out of the bathroom, dressed in a suit and his hair done, he forgot how uncomfortable it was to wear a suit and how badly he wanted to just crawl into bed with his kid and sleep.

He smiled at the scene on the bed and walked over to the other side to pat Peter’s back. “Up up. We’re gonna bring a blanket, pillow and your bear so grab him.”

Peter lifted his head up. “And my water bottle.”

Fuck. “I forgot to bring it.” Fuckfuckfuck.

“But I need it.”

“I have a bunch of water bottles.” Pepper was already getting up but Tony shook his head silently at her. She sat back down, understanding.

Tony moved the towel so he could hang it up but Peter’s underwear fell out. Tony picked them up and then looked at Peter who was staring at him.

“Did you hide these?” Peter shook his head and sat up a bit. Tony didn’t believe him so he moved forward to grab Peter’s pyjamas so he could check and saw nothing there. “Peter. Put these on.”

“No.” Peter went to crawl off the bed but Tony pulled his legs back towards him. “No!”

“Put these on or I will do it for you.” Tony warned him and grabbed a pillow, blanket and Peter’s bear then left the room with Pepper but he stood by the door to listen.

Pepper waited with him, both of them staying silent as they waited. After about a minute, Tony was opening the door to see Peter walking towards it with blood shot eyes.

Tony pulled the back of his pyjama pants back to see if Peter actually put it on and sighed in relief when he saw that he did. “I forgot socks.” Tony walked back into the bedroom to grab Peter socks and then they were leaving with a tired and miserable Peter.

Now that they were in the car, the problem was going to be keeping Peter awake until they got into the Stark building in Malibu that wasn’t nearly as big as the tower.

Tony kept glancing back at Peter every couple of minutes and saw that he was trying so hard to stay awake and would drop his head then jerk it back up. He felt so bad for having to drag Peter along but he didn’t have any other choice.

He would have kept Peter at home if it weren’t for their separation anxiety but then again, a lot of things would have been different if it weren’t for the separation anxiety but in a weird way, it was almost like it had made them both closer.

It helped them bond and now their bond was unbreakable.

They pulled up to the Stark Industries building so Tony rounded the car and opened up Peter’s door. “You can sleep once we get inside.”

Tony leaned over Peter to unbuckle his seatbelt and then grabbed the pillow, blanket and Peter’s bear to take up with them.

“Where are your shoes?” Tony asked him after he saw Peter try and get out of the car with just his socks on. He tried to remember if maybe Peter didn’t even put shoes on but Tony knew that he did because he was the one who had to do it.

“I took ‘em off.” Peter rubbed at his eyes and let out a puff of air, letting Tony know that he was about to start crying again out of over exhaustion.

Tony saw them on the floor of the car so he reached down to grab them and lifted up Peter’s foot to slip them on easily and then they were on their way inside.

It was hectic in the building.

Since he never comes to that location, everyone was staring at him, pausing to look at Peter before they carried on with their work. Back at the tower, everyone expected to see him there because he lived there so almost every single person had seen him in passing so it wasn’t anything new but here, all eyes were on them.

The three of them made their way into the elevator, following Pepper since she knew exactly where to go.

The floor where the meeting was taking place was the most busy Tony had ever seen. It was as if it was 2pm and not 12am at night, although he was still working on a different schedule than everyone else.

“Mr. Stark, Ms. Potts, they are ready when you are. Just in that boardroom ahead.” Hunter, Pepper’s office assistant told them.

“Thank you. Do you know if the boardroom next to it is empty?” Pepper asked him as she grabbed a bunch of folders off his desk.

Hunter looked down at some papers and then pointed to the boardroom right next to the one that they were supposed to be in. “No one is scheduled to go in there until tomorrow at three. I can make sure no one goes in there before then.”

“Thank you, Hunter.” Pepper thanked him and then turned towards Tony and Peter who was already getting papers shoved in his face to sign. “Peter can sleep in here until we’re done.”

They made their way into the room and shut the door behind them. It was a normal board room with two grey couches by the window, against the wall which was where Tony ushered Peter over to.

He laid one blanket down over the couch and then put Peter’s pillow down. “Take off your shoes and sleep now, Pete.”

Peter didn’t have to be asked twice. He kicked off his shoes and laid down on his stomach with his knees tucked to his chest. Tony handed him his bear to help him fall asleep and stay asleep and covered him with a blanket then sat down to rub his back.

“Pepper and I are gonna be in the room right next door if you need me. I’m right behind this wall, okay? You sleep and I’ll come in to check on you soon. Shut your eyes.” Tony whispered to him and leaned down to press a kiss to his cheek.

He pulled his Stark monitor out of his pocket and set it up so it was facing Peter. He designed it years ago so he could keep an eye on his melting liquid crystals back when he was designing his Iron Man suit but since then, he’s upgraded it to keep an eye on something much more important.

Tony double checked Peter’s watch vitals on his phone to make sure that everything was okay and that he could have a constant running night vision video of Peter sleeping while he was in the meeting.

Just to calm himself down to know that Peter is in fact okay without him, sleeping in a new place which can trigger so many things for Peter that he didn’t want to have to deal with.

Also because Peter is most vulnerable and anyone could just walk into the room and try to hurt his son but now, they can’t because Tony will be watching him.

He stood up after everything was set and looked at Pepper. He was exhausted but now they had to have a meeting that was probably going to take them well into the next morning.

He shut the lights off but it still wasn’t completely dark because of the lights coming in from the hallway under the closed blinds and door.

“Alright.” Tony locked the door so no one could get in but also so Peter couldn’t get out and start wandering. “Let’s do this.”

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Tony’s ass was numb from sitting for so long so he stood up and started pacing around the room to get some movement in him.

They had been sitting for two hours, arguing at each other back and forth about what to do about this situation and how to get their personal files back before plans started being made with the wrong hands it got into.

Tony sat back down and checked the time. 1:53am. He looked at the video of Peter on his phone. Peter was still passed out on the couch but he had changed positions a total of four times.

Peter had kicked the blankets off of himself and was lying with his arms above his head.

Despite the situation he was in, he smiled fondly at his baby.

Another twenty minutes past of them getting nowhere. Tony was beyond exhausted. He looked down at his phone on his thigh and watched as Peter turned over to try and get more comfortable but then he rolled off the couch and face planted onto the floor.

Tony was already getting up to leave the room. “We’ve been around this for three hours so let’s take a fifteen minute break and come back.”

He then opened the door and rushed down the hallway to the door where Peter was in and unlocked it. Peter was sitting up on his knees and rubbing at his eyes and it surprised Tony that he wasn’t crying or anything from his sudden awakening.

He sat down on the couch and immediately picked Peter up to pull him onto his lap. “Shh, you’re okay. Close your eyes.”

Peter looked up at him followed by a yawn and then he was snuggling his face into Tony’s chest and shutting his eyes.

Pepper quietly walked into the room after him and walked over to them. “I’m gonna grab us some food. Should I get him something?”

“No. He’s going back to sleep anyways.” Tony watched her leave and then carefully laid Peter back down, brushing his curls off his face.

This was going to be a long night.