All The Stars Align

Tony sat on the bed while he watched Peter ever so slowly get his socks on.

It was painful to watch. He didn’t know why Peter was moving as if he was going in slow motion. He sighed and ran a hand over his face. “Peter. Just put them on. What’s with this slowness going on?”

Peter looked up at him and just stared so Tony kneeled down on the floor to make the process a hell of a lot faster by doing it himself. “Aren’t you excited?”

Peter rubbed at his eyes, Tony could still see that he was exhausted.

“It’s this really cool indoor playground thing. I don’t know but I wish I was your age so I could play in it with you.” Tony said as he moved to get his shoes on, hoping to make Peter want to go.

Peter looked back at him from where he was standing by the bedroom door then he walked over to Tony and swung on the bed pole with one arm, making Tony chuckle. “Then come with me. It’s okay if you’re old.”

Tony snapped his head up to look at Peter. “Old? I’m not old. Just for that comment I’m not going to buy you chocolate tonight.”

Peter’s eyes went wide. “Chocolate! You still have to get me chocolate.”

Tony ruffled Peter’s curls and stood up to leave the room with Peter following behind him. “I’ll buy you one chocolate bar, okay?”

Peter gasped and wrapped his arms around his dad. “Yay! Thank you!”

“Aw baby. You’re welcome.” Tony loved his boy so much. He could get literally anything in the whole world because his dad is a billionaire yet he’s getting excited about the one chocolate bar he will be receiving. He didn’t know how it was possible to love Peter anymore than he already did yet here he was.

Now that they were in the car and on the way to the jungle gym, Tony was starting to get his own separation anxiety from Peter and parental paranoia.

Peter’s safety was constantly on his mind when he would go out in public with his son and now he was dropping his kid off at a place he’s never been before and leaving him. He was starting to have second thoughts.

“Maybe he could sit in the empty boardroom like he did last time.” Tony suggested to Pepper who put her phone down to look at him. “I’m just saying, I’ve never been to this place before.”

“Tony, what is Peter going to do for three hours in that room? You really want to drag your fourteen year old kid into grown up stuff like this?” Pepper asked him seriously but she was right. He didn’t want to do that.

Yeah sure, Peter was the heir to his company but he wasn’t going to hand that over until at least sixteen years in the future. He wasn’t going to put all that pressure on a twenty one year old like this parents did to him when they died. No way. He wasn’t setting Peter up for a lifetime full of drugs and sex.

“Okay. You’re right. I would feel better if there was some type of security there though.” He looked over at her for a quick second. “Think you can grab two securities and pay them for babysitting duty for the day?”

Pepper was already typing away on her phone to make it happen. Of course the security at Stark industries would love to get paid even more to watch Tony Stark’s wild son for the day and she wasn’t being sarcastic.

Once they arrived at the jungle gym, Peter was already taking off his seatbelt and looking out the drivers window. “Are we here? How many people are inside?”

“I don’t know, bud.”

“Well, check the maps.”

Tony laughed. “No, I mean we’re here but I don’t know how many people are inside but look who I see pulling up.” Tony pointed at the Stark babysitters for the day. “Your babysitters.”

“Steve and Bucky?” Peter asked but Tony couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

“Okay, before we go in I want to talk to you about some important stuff.” The billionaire took his seat belt off and turned around to look at Peter. “Look at me, not at Pepper.”

“But you always stare at Pepper.”

“I-” Tony didn’t know what to say. Peter was a lot more observant than he gave him credit for. “I… don’t but that’s not the point here, the point here is that I’m going to drop you off and leave but I’ll be back in three hours.”

Peter let out a whimper and shook his head. “No. Don’t leave me.”

“Petey, I told you I would be. You knew that. Remember, I have to go to work but you get to play.” Tony feld bad. Peter was at such an awkward age where he could technically be left home alone for a couple of hours but he didn’t trust Peter to be left alone. “It was either this or you staying at home with Steve putting you to bed every night.”

Peter scrunched his face up. “Just you.”

“I know. And I am but now daddy’s gotta go to work and make money.” Tony teased him which got Pepper laughing.

“Oh. I know. How much are you gonna make today?” Peter asked him as he leaned forward to play with Tony’s tie but Tony stopped him.

He raised his eyes and looked over at Pepper because he honestly didn’t know but it didn’t work like that. “How much do you think?”

“Um…” Peter thought about it but he actually had no idea. May’s paycheck was always low but he can’t compare May’s paycheck and his dad’s. “Umm more than one hundred dollars.”

Tony nodded his head. “I think. Two hundred maybe.”

Peter nodded with those wide trusting eyes of his and that scared Tony so much because he was about to leave his kid. “Okay… serious talk. You will not leave this building unless Pepper or I am picking you up. No one else. No matter what they say. Don’t do that lost puppy sh-stuff.”

“Who has a lost puppy?” Peter asked, getting off topic.

“The pedophiles, Pete.” Tony answered him. “But there is no lost dog. Just, listen to me. Do not leave with anyone. Do not eat any strange food that someone tries to give you or any drinks.”

“But what if I’m thirsty?” Peter asked, slowly moving his way forward to the front seats.

“Well, obviously you’re gonna be thirsty so the two men that are gonna be watching you will get you a drink.” Tony knew that Peter wasn’t going to ask them for a drink or food or anything so he was going to have to tell them to get Peter to drink every once and awhile. He should definitely be sending these men on an all paid for vacation of their choice after this.

“And most importantly, if someone creepy comes up to you, what do you do?”

“Bite them and run away.” Peter answered but it wasn’t exactly the answer Tony was looking for.

“I mean, sure but maybe not bite them randomly like that. You… ignore them and run away. And if someone tries to touch you on your private spots, you?”

“Are my boobies my private spots too? Because I can’t touch Pepper’s boobies but she can touch mine.” Peter asked and lifted up his shirt which had Pepper bursting out laughing and Tony staring at this kid, trying to figure out where he played a part in this behaviour.

“Um, I mean,” Tony looked at Pepper who couldn’t stop laughing. “Yes. Don’t let anyone touch your boobies, Peter. Definitely not and put your shirt down.”

“Can we go swimming later?” Peter asked, changing the subject completely.

“What? No. Yes, we can but focus. Your private spots are what your bathing suit covers, we talked about this.” Tony grabbed Peter’s hand to get him to look at him and focus but he could tell Peter was in a silly mood.

“Skinny dipping! But what if I wear nothing? Then what’s my private spots?” Peter asked him seriously but Tony was done. Peter knew the stranger danger talk by now. “Huh?”

“It’s still the same places, Pete. But you’re not naked right now, are you? No- wait why are you actually checking?” Tony sighed and made a move to get out of the car. “Never mind. Let’s go inside.”

He opened the back door for Peter and walked around the other side of the car to walk in with Pepper. “Are you excited, Peter?” She asked him but Tony could tell he was excited and that made him so happy since Peter never got excited about leaving him.

“Yeah. I am.” Peter held onto his dad’s hand and then looked at everything with amazement when they walked into the building. There were bright colours everywhere with video games and a rope obstacle course in the ceiling. He looked down the steps and saw a huge jungle gym that he was itching to go in. “Woah! Look at that.”

Tony looked over but he had to get Peter in and leave since he was already running late. He walked over to the security guards that were going to be watching Peter for three hours and explained to them everything that they had to do while Pepper took Peter to get a wristband.

Once they were ready, Peter was appearing at Tony’s side and showing him the wristband. “Look. It’s red.”

“I can see that. Come over here because you have to take off your shoes.” Tony led Peter over to the pile of shoes, knowing that Peter most likely was going to leave here without shoes today because they will either get lost or another kid will take them.

“Give me a hug and a kiss. I’ll see you in three hours.” Tony squeezed Peter tightly and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I love you and be good.”

“I love you too. And I’ll see you in three hours?” Peter asked, just to be sure. He liked to double check all the time.

“Yep. Three hours. Have fun.” Tony stood up fully with Peter and watched him slowly make his way over to the giant play structure. He waved bye to him and watched him crawl in then he was gone. Tony already missed his baby.

Peter was feeling a bit anxious but he was excited to have some fun. He didn’t have to worry about talking to any adults since he knew there were no adults playing in the jungle gym with him.

He crawled through some of the obstacles and then was able to stand up. He looked into the middle of the pit and saw a giant ball pit which he was really excited to go down to but he had no idea how to get down there.

Peter decided to go up to the next level but then he rolled over some giant rollers and landed on another kid. “Ow!”

“I’m sorry.” Peter didn’t see him there. Why was he under the rollers like that anyways so it wasn’t his fault that he didn’t see him.

“It’s okay. Hey, do you know how to get down there?” The boy asked him, pointing down to the ball pit that Peter was excited to go to as well but he had no idea.

“I don’t know. I guess from one of the slides.”

The boy smiled at him. “Wanna go together then? I’m here with my sisters but they’re boring.”

“I don’t have any siblings.” Peter told him and then started rolling over some more of the rollers.

“Lucky.” The boy followed. “My parents are getting a divorce. That’s why we’re here. And we’ll be here tomorrow too.”

“Oh that sucks. My parents are dead.” Peter told him and went to crawl up another obstacle with the boy accidentally landing on his legs but it didn’t hurt.

“Oh. How did they die?” He asked Peter. Peter wasn’t sad to talk about it now, he never really was since it was just facts.

“Um, I was two so I don’t remember them much but it was a plane crash.” Peter told him, looking back at the boy to see his reaction.

“So do you live in a foster home?” The boy asked him and that made Peter’s heart skip a beat. That’s where he would be if it wasn’t for Tony. He would have no one to cry to and no one to hold him or give him endless hugs and cuddles or anyone to love him.

“No. My dad loves me. He adopted me but he’s at work right now.” Peter told him seriously because he didn’t want anyone to think he had no family.

“Oh. That’s good. My mom is cheating on my dad. That’s why we’re here.” He told him again and Peter nodded his head, not really knowing what to say to that.

“Wanna go down the green or blue slide first?” Peter asked once they got to two of the many slides.

“Um… we should go down both together just in case the slides end up in different spots.” Peter’s new friend said so Peter went to go sit on the blue slide, wanting to go down that one first. “I’ll go right after you.”

“Okay! Bye!” Peter went down but banged his head on the top because the slide was a lot faster than he expected.

He rolled onto a mat at the bottom but not landing in the ball pit and then before he could get out of the way, the boy was rolling over him and holding the front of his head too. “Ow!”

“Are you okay?” Peter asked him since it looked like he wanted to cry.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Let’s go find another slide.”

Peter spent the next thirty minutes playing with his new friend but then he got separated from him when a bunch of kids pushed the boy down a slide. Peter slid down after him but he couldn’t find him at the bottom.

He was a bit disappointed since he was having fun but he really needed to pee and he was thirsty but he didn’t want to go ask the security guards but he also knew he wasn’t allowed to go anywhere without them.

He slowly walked by them and thankfully they spotted him and were calling him over so Peter slowly made his way over to them. “Come drink some water, Peter.”

“I need to go pee.” Peter looked towards the hallway for a bathroom but he didn’t see any.

He saw one of the guards looking around and then was holding his arms out for Peter to lift him over the gate that was separating them. “I’ll take him first.”

Peter let the man lift him over the gate, knowing he could have climbed over himself no problem but he liked to get help because it made him feel comforted.

“Come this way.” The man was walking too fast so Peter struggled to keep up with him as they went to the bathrooms. The man checked in all the stalls first and then pulled Peter along. “You can go here.”

“Okay.” Peter looked back at him, not understanding why he couldn’t have gone to the bathroom himself. He goes all the time at school by himself, well, used to but he doesn’t want to think about school right now.

Peter finished and turned to pull up his underwear that always got rolled up. “The soap thing in this urinal is green but it’s always pink or blue.”

The security guard looked unimpressed. “Wash your hands after.”

“I’m still pulling up my pants. Can you tie them? But tie it tight but not too tight.” Peter lifted up his shirt and walked over to the man, wishing it was his dad because his dad was fun.

“Alright. Is that fine?” The man asked after tying it up and Peter nodded then dropped his shirt and went to wash his hands.

Peter ran out of the bathroom after, laughing when the man had to chase after him. He walked up to the other security guard who was handing him a green monkey cup with a straw. “Where did you get this? Is it for me?”

“Yeah. It’s water, kid.”

Peter happily took the cup and started drinking from it. He was definitely going to bring it home with him and he couldn’t wait to show his dad.

The boy that Peter was playing with before was running up to the other side of the gate and climbing up on it to look over at Peter. “I was looking for you. Where did you go?”

“Pee.” Peter told him and continued to drink his water and stare at the boy who was looking between the two men. “I’m done now.” One of the guards took his cup and then was lifting him back over on the other side of the gate so Peter could go play.

“I think I found a way to reach the ball pit but we have to climb up one of the slides since I don’t know any other way.” The boy ran towards the baby entrance so Peter followed him.

He was led to a dark blue slide that was almost pitch black inside. “Um… you go first.”

“Fine but I have to take my socks off so I can use my sweaty feet to stick.” The boy pulled off his socks and began climbing but Peter didn’t need to do that.

He climbed in a few seconds after the boy and continued to climb up but the boy was moving too slow. He turned around and looked at Peter. “How are you staying on without your socks?”

“Umm… because I’m sticky.” Peter answered him. This was nothing to him. He could stick on with one finger if he wanted to.

“Oh. Sometimes if I spit on my hands it’s easier.”

“Did you do that now?” Peter asked him, since he was going up behind him that would be a tad disgusting.

“No. But I’m slipping.” The boy started to slip down so Peter grabbed his hand and spun around so he was sitting on his butt and sticking to the slide by his feet to get a better angle to pull his friend up. “Thank you.”

“Now which way?” Peter asked, still not liking the fact that they still weren’t any closer to the ball pit. “We should try to go down this slide.”

The boy followed Peter but then Peter was letting him go first. “We can both go down at the same time because it’s big enough.”

“Yeah!” Peter sat next to the boy and went down together but when they got to the bottom, they weren’t at the ball pit which was frustrating but they were laughing at the fact that they both went down the slide together.

Peter sat up on his knees and continued laughing but then he heard a voice calling them over so they both snapped their heads to look over at the older man who was waving them over to him.

“Are you talking to us?” The boy asked and the man nodded so he stood up and went to go over to him but Peter didn’t move, remembering back to what his dad told him about strangers.

“Yeah. Tell your friend to come over here too.” The man said so Peter crawled to the end of the plastic and stood up to lean against the padded bar. “Do you boys wanna come with me so I can show you some cool games in the back?”

Peter’s friends' eyes were lighting up but Peter didn’t know about that.

“Yeah! Hey, he’s gonna show us some games.” The boy turned to Peter with a huge smile on his face so Peter walked over to the gate that was separating the three of them.

“Let’s go. You guys can be the first to see them.” The older man said and was holding his hand over the gate to help pull Peter and his friend out.

Before Peter could say anything, both security guards were running over to the three of them and one of them was reaching in to grab Peter and pull him over the gate. “What’s going on over here?”

“Oh nothing. I was just leaving.” The older man said but Peter frowned.

“What was he talking to you about?” The security guard asked Peter. Peter looked between his new friend and the older man who was practically sweating now.

“He wanted to take us to the back to show us the new games.” Peter told them and stood up on the bench, next to the security.

“Okay, man. You need to leave.” Peter watched the other security guard start to walk towards the old man but he was holding up his hands and backing away.

“Yeah yeah, I’m leaving.”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Peter continued to watch the two of them until they were out of view but he didn’t know where they went after that he so turned back to the security and started chewing on his finger.

“You boys can go play now. But no leaving this gate. That’s a rule.” He looked at Peter when he said that last part so Peter nodded and swung his other leg over the gate so he could continue playing.

“I wonder what games he was going to show us.” The boy said to Peter but Peter just shrugged. “Oh hey, what’s your name? I don’t even know it.”

Peter climbed up on one of the block stairs. “Peter. What’s your name?”

“Max.” The boy, Max said, following Peter up. “So, who are those guys? They look scary.”

“I’ve never met them before but they were already here when me and my dad came here.” Peter got to the top first but there was no space for them to stand up so they stayed crawling. “Wait! I can see how we can get in now!”

Peter stuck his hand through the net and pointed to an entrance on the other side. “We just have to get to that yellow slide. See? Then that’ll take us into the ball pit.”

“You’re right! Let’s go.” Max started crawling ahead but then he fell through a foam pit that came out of nowhere so Peter jumped into it. “Ew. I got it in my mouth.”

“That’s nasty. There’s probably poop on it.” Peter laughed and clumsily crawled over to the other end, turning around and watching his friend climb out.

“We made it! Do you wanna go down the slide first or me?” Max asked once they got to the top of the landing point.

“Let’s go together again.” Peter sat down and made room for his new friend then they were sliding down and finally ending up in the ball pit together. Peter stood up in it but he immediately fell back over because a kid was pulling his leg out from under him.

Peter pushed himself up and looked over at Max who had a kid standing on his back which had Peter bursting out laughing.

“Get off of me, Lily! Ow!” Max pushed who Peter guessed was his sister off of him but she was jumping back on him again. “Peter! We have to leave!”

Peter tried to crawl away from Lily who noticed him and was now trying to attack him. “Ahh! Max!”

“Get off of him, Lily! You’re so annoying!” Max threw a ball at Lily’s face which had her jumping off of Peter and attacking him again so Peter took that as his time to run but he was laughing too hard and someone was grabbing his ankle to pull him back in.

“Ahh!” He screamed and tried to grab onto something but he couldn’t grab anything but plastic balls. Peter turned around and saw that another random kid was dragging him in so he squirmed away from them and continued to get away with Max who was getting away as well.

They both fell out of the plastic curtains and onto their butts, falling down the steps and onto the carpet floor. The two of them laid there, belly laughing like crazy and trying to catch their breaths. It was so funny but having someone to laugh with who was the same age as him was really nice for Peter.

He doesn’t remember the last time he did that. It felt good.

Peter pushed himself up onto his hands and sat up. “Wait, how old are you?”

Max continued to laugh on the ground. “Fourteen and a half.”

Peter’s eyes lit up. “Me too! When’s your birthday?”

“May 28th. What about you?” Max asked and sat up with Peter.

“August tenth. So you’re older than me then.” Peter stood up and went to go climb up the steps but Max was going in the opposite direction.

“Let’s go up this way instead. We didn’t go on this side yet.” Max started running so Peter went to follow him but another kid who was much bigger than him ran right into him and sent Peter flying and landing on the ground.

Peter pushed himself up and looked at his arm that had blood dripping down it which had the tears coming since he hated seeing blood and his dad wasn’t even here so he needed to cry for an adult to help him.

Thankfully the two security guards had seen the whole thing so one of them was jumping over the gate and walking over to Peter to see if he was okay. The man picked Peter up and led him over to the other security guard, standing Peter up on a bench. “Let me see. Does it hurt anywhere else?”

Peter looked at his arm and looked away. “I want my dad.”

“He’ll come after his meeting but we’re just gonna clean this up and then you’ll be okay.” The security man said so Peter wiped at his eyes and grabbed his monkey water that was being handed to him.

“Are you okay, Peter? Your arm is bleeding.” Max observed, concerned for his friend. Peter just looked at him and then looked down to see a bandage being placed over his arm. He already felt a lot better since he liked taking comfort in people taking care of him.

“You’re all good now.” The man who helped him lifted him up and placed him back on the floor so Peter wiped at his eyes again and looked over at Max.

“Let’s go on that thing. It’s like a virtual roller coaster.” Peter pointed to the blue and orange two seater ride and tried to hop back over the gate with Max following him.

“The Typhoon Motion Theatre?” Max asked and jumped over the gate with Peter. “I think we have to pay for tickets though.”

Peter frowned. He didn’t have any money on him. “Oh. That’s dumb.”

“Go, kid.” The security man said so Peter thanked him and climbed on with Max, waiting for the screen to turn on.

“What one should we do?” Peter asked and tried to sit himself up so his head was on the headrest but he couldn’t reach it so he had to lay his head on the uncomfortable surface.

“Do the haunted mansion.” Max said and tried to get comfortable himself but he couldn’t so he had to lie awkwardly too. “It looks scary.”

“Yeah.” Peter pressed the mansion option and waited for the ride to start. He did not expect it when it did. The whole ride started shaking and it felt like he was going to slide off so he had to push himself up and then the ride actually started to lift up and start moving them around.

Once it was done, the two of them could not stop laughing. Peter stood up and dramatically stumbled over then he spotted the obstacle course in the air with the harness and the ropes that he’s never done before but he wanted to do so badly.

“Let’s go do that! I don’t know what’s it called but it looks fun.” Peter raced over to the stairs with Max following behind him.

“Woah! It’s so high up.” Max grabbed onto Peter’s arm excitedly and then the two of them were getting their harnesses on to be allowed up.

“Put your leg through.” The worker said to Peter but didn’t know what hole because there were like ten leg holes. “No, the other one.”

“Oh. This one?” Peter asked but then the worker was yanking his leg through and tugging him up on him a bit too tightly. “That’s too tight.”

The worker ignored him and tightened everything up so Peter tried to pull on the piece between his legs but it didn’t budge so he would have to deal with it. He looked over at Max who was getting hooked up to a wire.

Peter walked over to him so that the worker could hook him up to a wire as well and then they were climbing up the steps to get to the top where the ropes were. “You go first.” Max told him and Peter had no fear of heights so he jumped into the ropes but instead of landing on it, he bounced back up in the air from his harness.

Max started laughing at him and went to jump but he landed on the ropes perfectly. Peter frowned and kicked his legs out because it was too tight and he couldn’t even touch the ropes.

If only he could stand on it once then he could stick his feet onto the ropes and he would be fine. “Max, can you pull me down.”

Max grabbed onto his hand and pulled him down so Peter smiled. He was sticking onto the ropes now and he was so excited because it was the first time he was on a rope obstacle up in the air like that. Besides for being Spider-Man but that was a little bit different.

Once they got to the end, Peter jumped down first, smiling at the feeling of free falling for a few seconds before he was being pulled up by this harness. The worker came to unhook him and then was doing the same with Max before the two ran back over to go play in the jungle gym.

Peter started crawling up the block steps and turned around to see if Max was keeping up. When Peter got to the top, he looked over and saw a little boy who must have been about four and his pants were soaked.

Peter looked at Max who was looking at the boy. “Let’s go this way.”

Peter followed Max through some more form pits and down a slide that led them onto the second floor of the jungle gym but Peter felt a wave of comfort wash over him and he knew what that meant.

“Wait! I think my dad is here for me now.” Peter quickly crawled over to the nets by the entrance and immediately spotted his dad talking to the security guards. “Yay! He’s here! Come see him!”

Peter crawled over to the closest slide and slid down it with Max following behind him. He had to go down the big block stairs but since he was so excited to get to his dad, he slid down the last two blocks a bit too fast and landed on his butt but he didn’t care because his dad was there for him!

Tony saw Peter fall onto his butt, knowing that that was his kid. He was so excited to see him because he missed him so freaking much. Seeing Peter run towards him with a huge smile on his face was the best feeling ever.

“Dad!” Peter ran up to the gate and jumped in front of it so his dad could pick him up over it and hold him in his arms. “I missed you!”

Tony picked his kid up and held him close. “I missed you too, Petey. I missed you so much. Did you have fun?”

Peter pulled away from the hug so Tony set him on his feet. “Yeah! I made a new friend. His name is Max. He’s right there.”

Tony looked over at the boy Peter was pointing at. He had brown curly hair like Peter’s but the boy's hair was way curlier. He was staring at Tony with his jaw dropped so Tony waved at him which made the boy run over to them.

“Your dad is Iron Man? What?! That’s so cool. Hi Mr. Iron Man sir.” Max stared at Tony and wasn’t even blinking so Tony held his hand out for the boy to shake because it was always funny since kids never knew how to shake hands.

“It’s nice to meet you, Max. Did you boys have fun?” Tony asked him, pulling his own kid against his side. He hated being around so many kids because they always smelt. He sniffed a bit and smelt poop so he was ready to get out of there now.

“Uh huh.” Max nodded, still staring at Tony.

“Max’s parents are getting a divorce because his mom cheated on his dad.” Peter told Tony who just got whiplash from the random fact.

“Peter.” He warned and looked at Max who climbed up on the bench to sit on the gate.

“Yeah. Actually my mom is cheating on my dad with his best friend. He’s like my Uncle.” Max told him so Tony just nodded, looking over at the security guards who were looking just as lost as he was.

Peter pushed himself up on the gate. “Oh.” Peter then turned to look up at Tony. “I wanna show you the slides now, dad. Come.”

“No, Pete. Adults aren’t allowed in there.” Tony lied. He was pretty sure adults were allowed but the last thing he wanted to do was go in that thing.

“Aw.” Peter whined and swung from his arm. “Fine. Am I coming back tomorrow because Max is here too and I like Max?”

Tony ruffled his kid’s hair. “We’ll see. Maybe we will but say bye to Max.”

“Bye Peter. I’ll miss you.” Max waved bye to him and Peter did the same before one of the security guards was bringing over Peter’s shoes.

“Oh! I wanna show you my monkey cup. Isn’t it so cool?” Peter took a sip from it and shoved it in front of his dad's face to show him. “Look.”

“Wow. It’s so cool. Put your shoes on, bud. Pepper is waiting in the car.” Tony kneeled down with Peter who was sitting on the floor. “I’ll hold this so you get your shoes on.”

“What are we doing after this? Can we go swimming?” Peter asked excitedly so Tony grabbed his foot and shoved his foot in since Peter was extremely slow and quite annoying when it came to putting on shoes.

“Let’s go ask Pepper if we can. Maybe we can go to the ocean for a bit.” Tony suggested but it was like the poop was even stronger now. He looked over at two little kids running by and their butts looked a bit saggy. He bet it was them.

“Yay! I’ll ask her.” Peter grabbed onto his dad’s hand and walked towards the exit, waiting for Tony to say goodbye to the security guards and saying goodbye to them too.

The two of them headed towards the car so Peter ran over to Pepper’s side and opened up her door. “Can we go swimming at the ocean?”

“Oh.” Pepper looked up at Tony who walked behind Peter. “If that’s what you want to do.”

Peter was nodding his head excitedly but Tony was still smelling poop and he was starting to think it was Peter. “Do you smell that?” He asked Pepper who smelt the air.

“Smell what?”

“Did you go poo, Peter?” Tony asked him but Peter shook his head. “Do you need to go poop?”

Peter tested to see if he needed to go but he didn’t. “I don’t need to.”

Tony leaned down but it was definitely Peter. He smelt like actual poop. “You smell like poo. Did you go in your pants or something?”

“I didn’t.” Peter grabbed his butt, not understanding why his dad said he smelt like poo.

Tony moved his hands and grabbed the back of Peter’s pants to look inside. “Stop moving. You… let me see.” Tony turned Peter and tried to pull back his pants but he couldn’t see anything from that angle. He touched the bottom of his butt to see if he could feel anything but he couldn’t.

“Oh. Now I smell it.” Pepper looked up at Tony who was still trying to look inside. “Did he?”

“Hey. I didn’t go poo in my pants.” Peter crossed his arms and glared at Tony and Pepper. Tony let go of the back of his pants, still not believing him. He wouldn’t blame Peter since those bathrooms were disgusting but he would like Peter to admit it. “That’s rude.”

“Peter, you smell like poo-”

“Oh my goodness. He has poo on his shirt here. Okay. That’s disgusting.” Pepper grabbed Peter’s shirt to show Tony the huge poop smear that was definitely not Peter’s unless he went poo and took off his shirt to wipe his butt.

“Goodness. Lift your arms. I’m throwing this out.” Tony pulled the shirt off of Peter and walked over to the garbage can two parking spaces over to throw out. “That’s absolutely disgusting. You had someone else’s poop on you. Oh, and you find that funny.”

Peter nodded his head. “Yeah. It’s funny cause you thought I pooped my pants, poopy boy.”

Tony gasped. “I’m not poopy boy. You’re the actual poopy boy.”

Peter shook his head. “No. You are.”

Tony opened up the back door. “Get inside the car poopy boy.”

Peter stuck his tongue out at his dad but got in anyways. He smelt some poo in the ball pit so that’s probably where he got it from. He wondered if Max got poo on him too. That would be funny.

Tony got into the car and looked over at Pepper. “To the beach?”

“Beach!” Peter yelled in the backseat.

Pepper smiled at him. “Yeah. Let’s go. We don’t have a bathing suit or anything but that’s fine.”

“That’s fine. Pete can swim in his underwear but I do have to get sunscreen for him so we have to stop at a drugstore.” Tony thought about what else they would need but they didn’t need anything else because if they were going to go from store to store for beach things, they might as well just go back to Peppers apartment to get their stuff but they were being spontaneous.

The whole way to the drug store, Peter explained everything to them that him and Max did and even about the creepy man and about the bandage he got. When Tony was pulling up to the store, he put the car in park and grabbed his wallet. “I’ll be right back. I’ll keep the car running in case you decide to ditch me.”

Pepper rolled her eyes at him but Peter was shaking his head.

“Are you gonna go swimming too, Pepper?” Peter asked her, taking off his seatbelt so he could lean over the seat.

“I might put my feet in.” Pepper told the boy who was digging in the centre console for something. She knew she was going to end up getting soaked either way because how often will this day happen again?

When Tony walked back to the car, he came back with a lot more than sunscreen. He opened up the back door and placed the bags on the car seat. “I got waters, candy and I looked for a bathing suit but all they had were swim diapers.”

Peter looked in the bag for the candy. “Where is it?”

“I didn’t get any swim diapers for you.”

“No. My candy?” Peter asked him and continued to dig in the bag until he found it. “Yummy. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. And you also have your chocolate but I got that before and hid it.” Tony shut the car door and got into the driver’s seat.

“You did get sunscreen, right?” Pepper asked him.

Tony rolled his eyes at her and waited for Peter to buckle himself in his seat. “Yes, Pepper. I am responsible, you know.”

“Of course, Tony.”

The drive to the beach that they planned on going to which was the less busiest that Pepper could think of, took fifteen minutes to get to so when Tony parked the car, Peter was bouncing in his seat.

“We just have to get sunscreen on, Pete so take off your clothes.” Tony took off his seatbelt but then thought about what he just said. “But leave your undies on.”

“It’s okay. I don’t need my underwear on.” Peter told his dad but Tony was shaking his head.

“Yes you do. We’re at a public beach.” Tony got out of the car and shrugged off his shirt jacket and dress shirt until he was just in a tank top and dress pants. He opened the back door and grabbed the sunscreen bottle.

Peter looked into the trunk of the car and tried to reach for some of the stuff that was in there. “Come stand so I can put sunscreen on your legs.”

Peter bounced onto his butt and laid down on the seat, lifting his feet up to his dad. “I don’t wanna stand. I’m going to sleep.

Tony poured some sunscreen onto his hands and started rubbing it onto Peter’s legs. “Oh no. I guess no water for you then.”

“I will go in the water.” Peter told him and reached behind him to grab the box of candy.

“How will you go in the water if you're sleeping?” Tony asked him, hoping to keep Peter talking so he could get this done and let the sunscreen absorb for at least ten minutes.

“I was just joking.” Peter popped a candy into his mouth and looked over at Tony. “And sunscreen my butt.”

“No, because you’re not taking this off-Peter.” Tony pulled the back of Peter’s underwear back up and looked behind him to see if anyone was there. “Stop. Come stand up so I can get your top half now.”

Tony yanked him up and onto his feet to stand on the cement but Peter was jumping on his feet. “Hot hot hot!” Tony had to lift him back onto the car foot step to get in so he didn’t burn Peter’s feet.

“Sorry, bud.” Tony continued to put the sunscreen all over Peter, not caring if it wasn’t blended in properly.

“Now I’m almost as tall as you. Look, dad. I’m almost at your height.” Peter stood on his tippy toes and grinned. “Now I’m your height. Look!”

“Woah, you’re so tall. Look at you.” Tony turned him around to get his back and looked over at Pepper who had a towel. “Where’d you find that?”

“In the trunk. At least we have something.” Pepper opened up the other side of the door and grabbed the stuff they needed.

“There, Pete. All done.” Tony grabbed him so he wouldn’t burn his feet and then shut the car door and walked over to the wooden stairs to go down. “Don’t run ahead, Pete. Stay with us.” He said once he could put Peter down and not burn his feet.

The three of them walked down the stairs while Tony looked at everyone on the beach. It wasn’t busy at all which he loved but one phone call to the paparazzi could have the beach swarming with people in a matter of minutes.

“I wanna go in. Hurry!” Peter tugged on Tony’s hand so Tony stopped to take his shoes and socks off, really debating how bad it would be if he went in his underwear like Peter but he actually had goods to hide. So, he took off his tank top and followed Peter towards the water, stopping to roll up the bottom of his suit pants up to his knees.

Peter ran into the water up to his knees and squatted down so he could grab the sand. “Look!” He lifted up his hands to show his dad.

“Woah. That’s so cool. We should build a sandcastle later.” Tony nudged him with his foot.

“Yeah! After we swim.” Peter went to go stand up but he lost his balance and fell onto his butt just as a wave washed over him, causing Peter to get dragged back out a bit so Tony grabbed his arm to stand him up.

“Uh oh. You’re okay.” Tony wiped at his eyes and looked over at Pepper who was wearing a white shirt. He eyed her up and down. “Oh. You look nice.”

“Yeah. I can’t exactly take my shirt off like you so I just put this over my bra and underwear.” Pepper showed Tony which had butterflies in his stomach. Pepper in her underwear and a wet, white top. He was ready to see that.

He looked over at Peter who was walking more into the ocean before sitting down and jumping up in time for another wave to not knock him over. Tony was about to go in after him but Pepper followed Peter in so Tony just stayed back and enjoyed the view for a few minutes.

“Watch me put my head under without plugging my nose.” Peter shoved his face into the water and came back up right away. “Did you see?”

“Yeah, I did. Good job, Peter. You’re getting so good at swimming.” Pepper sat herself down in the water next to Peter. “Did your dad teach you how to swim yet?”

“No. He can teach me now.” Peter went over to Pepper so he could be closer to her.

“I don’t think the ocean is the best place for me to teach you, Pete.” Tony walked over to the two of them and then Peter was trying to sit on his feet so he let him. “Maybe in the pool later tonight we can.”

“Yeah! Sit down with us, dad. Please. I wanna sit on you.” Peter tugged on Tony’s pants and Tony really didn’t want to get that wet because it’ll be extremely uncomfortable but he wasn’t going to say no so he sat down and had Peter jumping onto him seconds later.

Peter laid his head on his chest and reached into the water to grab some sand to run it on Tony’s chest. “Oh wow. I love that. Thank you, Pete.”

Peter smirked and looked down then looked up at his dad who was just realizing. “Oh my goodness. Are you peeing on me?”

Pepper and Peter both started laughing but it wasn’t like it mattered since they were sitting in the water. “All done.” Peter wrapped his arms around his dad’s neck and then pulled away. “Sandy underwear. Can I put sand down your pants?”

“No thanks.” Tony would much rather not have sand in his butt, thinking back to that one time in Miami where he hosed Peter down outside before he let him come inside.

“Pepper, can I put sand in your hair?” Peter asked her and Tony could see her thinking about it for a few moments.

“No. I don’t feel like finding sand in my bed tonight.” Pepper picked up sand and let it fall back into the water while Peter watched her for a few seconds then grabbed some sand and put it in his underwear then looking at his dad.

“Do what you want, Pete.” Tony told him since it looked like Peter was waiting for him to say no. Tony watched him for a few minutes and then Peter was sitting up on his knees. Tony chuckled and patted the cloth. “You look so funny, Pete.”

“It feels funny. Watch this.” Peter sat back down at then up and watched the sand drip out from him. “Sand waterfall.”

Both adults were laughing at the innocent mind of Peter that Tony loved so freaking much.

They stayed in the water for a little while longer until Peter was dumping his sand out and standing up to go make sandcastles on the shore. “Come, dad. I want you to help me.”

The three of them got out of the water and followed Peter onto the shore where he sat down and decided that there would be the best place to make the sand castle. Tony sat down next to him and watched Peter who was frozen and had a look of discomfort on his face. He already knew what Peter wanted.

“I need to take this off now.” Peter told his dad and tugged on the front of his underwear but Tony ignored him in hopes that he would stop asking.

“Where should we start? I’ll start digging a hole first.” The billionaire began to dig the hole and grabbed Peter’s hands away from himself. “Can you help me? You dig a hole there.”

“Yeah! And then we can connect them together.” Peter got on his knees so he could get a better position to start digging in.

Pepper sat down next to Tony and watched the two of them but Peter was sighing and looking at Tony. “It’s too… soft. The sand in Miami is better to dig in. I wanna go there.”

That got Tony to chuckle. “That’s on the other side of the country, kid. After we drink one of our water bottles we can use that to bring some water from the ocean.”

“I’m almost done with mine, Peter. You can go grab it.” Pepper told him so Peter jumped up to go grab her water and handed it to her so she could drink it all.

“I want you to help me bring the water from the ocean, Pepper.” Peter looked down at her and was bouncing on the balls of his feet, hoping that she would come with him.

“Let’s go then.” Pepper held her hands out for Peter so he helped her up and ran towards the water with his water bottle. He tripped and landed face first into the water but pushed himself back up since he was fine. “Oh, are you alright?”

“Uh huh. I think I just tripped.” Peter walked into the water so he could fill his water bottle up. “And then we can come back in the water and swim for a bit.”

“Yeah. We can do that whenever you want to.”

“I want to swim now.” Peter told her then ran back over to his dad and dropped the water bottle so he could pull Tony up. “Ocean! Ocean!”

“What? I thought we were building sand castles?” Tony didn’t understand this random switch. He was enjoying sitting in the sun but then he remembered that now his enjoyment came from watching Peter and getting jumped on by him. He was no longer allowed to enjoy the sun.

“Not anymore. Get up. You’re so slow.” Peter pulled his dad up and ran backwards towards the water where Pepper was waiting. The wind was blowing her shirt up and Tony could see her butt that he wanted to grab so badly but he couldn’t.

He stood next to her as he watched Peter run into the waves and get knocked over by one but he was still laughing so Tony wasn’t worried. “I really want to shower, put on pyjamas and watch a movie altogether right now.”

Pepper leaned against him so he couldn’t help but wrap an arm around her and pull her body closer against himself. “That sounds nice. I’m really excited for that shower more than anything.”

“Same. Plus these pants are not beach attire.” Tony pulled at his crotch because it was extremely uncomfortable now that he was thinking about it. “So do you wanna go then?”

“Is Peter ready?”

“Peter will never be ready. I’m telling you, my boy was supposed to be an island boy but somewhere the stars crossed and put him in New York.” Tony would always believe that. It’s one thing to like the beach and water but Peter has a natural love for the simple island life. Maybe he would consider moving them permanently to the house in Miami. He liked that idea.

“Then you would never have met him.” Pepper said rather sadly and it made Tony’s heart hurt. He could not imagine a life without Peter. It was physically impossible to imagine because it wasn’t going to happen. He would never let it happen.

“He’s mine now. It all worked out.” Tony watched as Peter tried to stand up but he got knocked down by another wave. “Pete. Peter, it’s time to go now.”

Peter looked over at him and frowned then tried to run towards the ocean more so Tony went to go grab him because he knew Peter would keep running and he wasn’t risking that.

He grabbed his arm and picked him up so he could walk back to the shore and their stuff. “We’re gonna do something fun when we get home. After we shower.”

Peter tried to kick him to be put down so Tony dropped him in the sand. “I need to play in the ocean first but-but without these…” Peter looked up at Tony and tugged on his underwear so Tony sighed and looked around to see if anyone was watching them.

“Okay but wait, come here.” Tony grabbed the towel and shook the sand off of it and then walked towards the water with Peter walking behind him. “Sit in the water and take them off but just don’t stand up so no one can see you.”

Peter did as he was told but looked around the beach and saw that no one was looking anyways. “But I wanna go to the car like this.”

“No because there are people around.” Tony really wished they were at their private beach in Miami. He felt bad saying no since he knew this phase wasn’t going to last much longer with Peter but the last thing he wanted was to open up his phone tonight and see a news article with a picture of Peter’s sandy butt on the cover.

Peter turned on his stomach to stay under the water but it wasn’t his fault his body floated. Tony gently stepped on him to put him back under but then Peter was turning around so he could sit. “I don’t wanna leave. I wanna sleep in the ocean.”

“It gets super cold at night. Remember how cold it was that one time we tried to swim but ran right back into the house.” Tony remembered and Peter laughed at the memory. It was funny now but not for them in the moment.

“But it’s still bright out so we can stay until nighttime.” Peter stuck his feet up so he could crab walk in the water.

“No, we have to go now, bud. It closes in a few minutes and opens up later in the evening anyways.” Tony lied to him since he could tell Peter wasn’t going to get out easily.

“That’s not true.” Peter looked up at him with wide eyes but Tony wasn’t going to back down now.

“It is true. I saw the sign when we came in. This beach closes soon but you know what I do have for you.” Tony paused for dramatic effect. “Chocolate.”

Peter went to jump up but Tony stopped him. “Okay. Are you ready? Stand up and I’ll wrap you.”

“But what about the sand in my butt?” Peter asked because he put sand in his underwear before so the sand was everywhere.

“I- you’ll shower when we get home.” Tony held out the towel and shook it so Peter got the hint to stand up. “Stand up, Pete.”

“Wait. I’m peeing.” Peter started laughing at himself and looked down. “This is the fishes bathroom and sharks. And all the other animals living in the ocean.”

“You’re right, bud. Now you’re one with the animals. Let’s wrap you up now.” Tony held the towel out so no one could see Peter from the sides. The only one who could see him were the fish in the ocean but Tony wasn’t worried about them. He wrapped up Peter tightly and brushed his hair back with his fingers. “Hold onto your towel until we get to the car.”

“Then I can take it off?” Peter asked him so Tony grabbed the towel a bit tighter, not trusting Peter to hold onto it.

“You can take it off when we get into the bathroom at Pepper’s house.” Tony told him and walked over to Pepper who was all ready to go.

“Okay, and then I need to go poo.” Peter told him and kept walking.

“Yes, Pete.” Tony shook his head fondly at his kid and followed him up to the car. He looked to his left and noticed two guys that were looking at them but immediately looked away when he looked in their direction and if that told Tony anything, it was that they were only there for him and to possibly get some pictures.

Sometimes he wished that he was never famous. Especially after having Peter, he would love to go to a beach and not have people stare at them or try and take sneaky pictures.

Plus the fact that he wants to hide all of that from Peter so he can at least have somewhat of a decent childhood.