All The Stars Align

“Clean this up and then we’ll head downstairs.” Tony told Peter as he pointed to his legos on the living room floor. Tony had gotten used to the mess that came with having a kid by now but he liked for the house to look somewhat decent.

Peter, who was freshly showered and dressed in a matching tracksuit that Tony may or may not have forced him to put on, sat himself down on the floor to clean up the mess that he made. “Are we going to eat dinner with everyone now?”

“After you finish cleaning up.” Tony told him. He texted Pepper back while he stood there, waiting for Peter to finish cleaning up. He hadn’t actually realized how late it was, the day came and went so quickly he lost track of time.

It’s not like they had to go anywhere tomorrow or wake up early but he still wanted to get Peter to bed at a reasonable hour.

“I’m all done.” Peter announced. He was glad that someone had already cleaned up most of the legos from before because he hated cleaning up.

Tony glanced up from his phone to check out the now cleaned up mess. “Good job. Let’s go see everybody. It’s been so long so make sure to give Steve a big hug because I know he missed you.”

Peter missed the team as well. It’s been so long since they were all in the same room together so he was excited to see them again.

When the two of them walked out of the elevator, Peter spotted Steve and ran over to the man with open arms, wanting to be picked up. “Steve!”

The super soldier turned just in time to bend down to catch the running child into his arms and lift him up. “Hi Peter. Woah, have you already grown since I’ve seen you last?”

Peter shrugged his shoulders and wrapped his arms around the man. “Dad said I’m not allowed to grow so no.”

Tony walked up behind the two and patted Peter’s back. “You got that right. No growing allowed for you.”

Peter lifted his head up from Steve’s shoulder to grin at his dad. “No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Hi Peter.” Clint said, walking into the kitchen and pushing by Tony to get to Peter who was still in Steve’s arms.

“Hey bird brain. Nice to see you too.” Tony rolled his eyes. It seemed like everyone liked his kid more than him since no one had acknowledged him yet.

Clint ignored Tony and held his arms out for the kid. “My turn, Cap. I’ve been around boring adults for too long and I miss my kids so give me Tony’s kid.”

Peter let himself be transferred into Clint’s arms but he didn’t mind since he loved the attention and loved to be carried so it was a win win.

“Peter. I’m so glad that you are light. What’s new with you?” Clint asked him as he carried him over to the couch and sat down, forcing Peter to sit with him. He missed his kids and Peter was a kid so he was going to use Peter for his comfort and he also cared about Peter so it all worked out.

In the kitchen, Tony watched Clint carry his kid off. It was nice to be kid free for a few minutes and let someone else entertain Peter. He turned to Steve who was getting dinner ready. “Where’s everyone else?”

“We Uh, we just found out about an hour ago actually that Banner and Thor are here.” Steve admitted, looking over at Tony for his reaction.

Tony stared at Steve in disbelief. Bruce was coming? One of his closest friends and science buddy. He hasn’t seen Bruce in almost two years. He also hasn’t seen Thor in… who knows how long but that man is a god and doesn’t age so he didn’t know what was up with that.

Peter also hasn’t met either of them which Tony was excited about. He wanted to show his kid off to Bruce.

“Why am I just finding out about this? Where are they now?” Tony asked, feeling a bit annoyed that no one told him and he was left out of the loop.

Steve continued stirring the pot as he spoke. “Natasha went to go talk with Fury at S.H.I.E.L.D so I don’t know what else is going on.”

Tony looked around the room but Sam and Bucky were still missing. “Did Sam and Buck go as well?”

“No. Fury just wanted Natasha because he wanted to talk to her about other stuff but we don’t know when Banner and Thor are arriving.” Steve grabbed the pot and dumped it into the strainer in the sink.

“Okay. Why are they coming all of the sudden? That means they’re here for a reason.” Tony didn’t like the sounds of that. If Bruce and Thor were randomly coming to Earth then that meant something was coming. Another war maybe?

“I don’t know, Tony. Nat said it was nothing and they were just coming for a visit.” Steve told him as he continued to move around the kitchen, getting dinner ready.

Tony scuffed. “When have they ever just come for a visit.”

“Whatever it is, Natasha will handle it for now because dinner is ready.” Steve grabbed the food and started bringing it out to the dining room table while Tony eyed him suspiciously for a few moments.

He didn’t think too much of it and went to walk over to the living room but Clint was carrying Peter in upside down. He rolled his eyes at the action and stood by the sink to get Peter to wash his hands.

“No. Wash your hands first, Pete.” Tony said so Clint walked over to the sink and lifted Peter into his feet.

“I’ll do it, daddy Stark. He’s mine for the rest of the night.” Clint told him and Tony chuckled.

“Want to put him to bed too.” He asked rhetorically. He knew Peter would give Clint hell.

“Nope. That’s the one thing I don’t miss. Bedtime is hell.” Clint poked Peter in the stomach which caused him to move away and giggle.

Tony sat down just as Bucky and Sam we’re walking out. “Oh I didn’t know you guys were joining us. Not that we have dinner like this often.”

“Yeah, well, maybe you guys will now since I heard Bruce and Thor are coming back soon.” Tony said, a bit pissed that no one told him still.

Sam sat down across from Tony. “Sure. Don’t those two always come at the most random times.”

“Yeah and they wreak havoc while they’re here.” Tony scuffed and looked over at Peter who had somehow gotten the whole front part of his sweater soaked in the process. That was Clint’s problem.

“Nat went so we’ll see but there were no alerts or anything so nothing extra terrestrial.” Steve added in and sat down at the head of the table.

“For now.” Sam said what Tony was thinking.

Clint lifted Peter up and sat him on the chair next to Tony then sat himself down next to him. “Woah, Pete. You sure are getting treated like a king.”

“As I should be.” Peter said with a serious face which made it even more funnier.

Tony grabbed Peter’s plate and started putting little bits of everything on it since he knew if he loaded it up all at once then Peter wouldn’t eat it. Parenting hack he figured out almost before Peter even came to live with him since Peter was an impossible eater.

Peter went to reach for the juice but he didn’t know it was already full so it spilt on the table and onto his lap, soaking his pants in the process. “Oops. I didn’t mean to.”

Tony didn’t react. He knew what Peter was like. “It’s okay. It was an accident.” He grabbed a napkin to wipe down the table and some of Peter’s pants but Peter had to go change so he went to stand up but Clint stopped him.

“It’s alright, man. I got it. Come, Peter. I’ll go change with you.” Clint stood up to go upstairs with Peter which Tony was so grateful for. That was such a relief.

“Okay. Are you gonna help me?” Peter asked, taking Clint’s hand so he could jump off the chair.

Tony looked over at Clint since he knew Peter would get distracted easily. “Just changing and coming right back down. His clean underwear is in my room if you need it.”

“Got it.” Clint called out and followed Peter into the elevator. “How did you manage to get your top and pants soaked in a matter of minutes?”

Peter pressed the button to make them go up faster but he knew that FRIDAY did all of that anyways. “Wanna see the lego set me and dad were building?”

“No, you can show me later but we just gotta change you quickly.” Clint stepped out of the elevator and waited for Peter to follow him but Peter was running ahead. “It’s gonna be like that then. You better run, kid.”

Peter tripped going up the stairs but he got back up and made a run for it into his bedroom then tried to crawl onto the bed but Clint was picking him up and laying him on the floor. “I almost beat you. Almost.”

Peter shook his head and tried to roll onto his stomach so he could crawl away from the man but Clint wasn’t letting him move. “No! Let’s race again, Clint.”

“No. You have to get changed. Where are your pants and shirts?” Clint let go of Peter to look into his dresser drawers but that was a huge mistake since Peter took that as an opportunity to stand up and run out of the bedroom. “What.”

Clint groaned and stood up to follow Peter in the direction he went in. Now he knew why Tony looked so relieved to not go up with Peter. He was starting to regret it but he secretly loved it since he missed his kids way too much.

“Kid, you know I can hear you, right?” Clint turned the corner of Tony’s bedroom. He’s never been inside before or have even seen it since he never had a need to until now.

There were clothes all over the floor and it was all Peter’s judging by the size and colours. There was a teddy bear on the bed with a bed rail and that just screamed Peter.

“You can’t catch me!” Peter jumped onto the bed just as Clint grabbed his ankle and held him down. “Ahh! No!”

“Peter, we have to go eat. Don’t make me get your dad up here. Because I will.” He said seriously and Peter’s face went straight.

“I don’t want to get dressed.” Peter told him, knowing it always worked for his dad. If he refused to get dressed, then his dad just did it for him so he didn’t have to make any moves to do it himself.

“How about you show me how fast you can get changed and I’ll time you?” Clint suggested, knowing it worked with his youngest son but it may work with Peter with his maturity and age regression going on there.

Peter slid off the bed and walked over to the pile of clean clothes. He ruffled through to find comfy track pants and a long sleeve first. “Okay. But I say when to go and when to stop.”

“Alright.” Clint pulled out his phone and watched Peter.

“Okay…” Peter stood up and began pulling his pants down to get a head start. “Start!”

Peter pulled his pants off and his sweater then sat on the floor to get his clean pants on but paused to check if his underwear was wet. It was but he couldn’t add more seconds to the timer so he got his pants on and then grabbed his shirt to quickly put it on.

“Stop! I’m done!” Peter ran over to Clint to pull the phone closer to him to see what his time was.

“Two minutes and forty five seconds.” That was painful to watch for Clint. Peter’s way if getting dressed was awful. He put his pants on halfway then went to his top and then back to his pants again. Not fun to watch.

Peter groaned. “Aww. I want to have a better time. Let me try again.”

“No. We just came up to change so we have to go back downstairs and eat dinner now.” Clint put his phone into his pocket and made sure that Peter could see before he began walking out of the room, not looking back to see if Peter was following him or not.

When they got downstairs again, Peter ran out of the elevator to go tell his dad his time. “Dad, Clint timed me getting dressed and I got two minutes and forty five seconds.”

“Wow.” Tony turned to look at Peter and saw that his pants were all crooked and rolled up uncomfortably so he fixed it for Peter. “That’s such a fast time. Come eat your dinner now.”

Peter jumped onto the chair and looked at his plate. There was chicken with some weird looking sauce on it, some veggies, potatoes and some other stuff that Peter didn’t recognize.

He grabbed his fork and dug into the potatoes. “Mmm! It’s good.”

Tony moved Peter’s juice out of the way so he wouldn’t spill it again and kept an eye on what Peter ate so he could keep adding more.

Tony continued his chat with Steve and Sam while he half listened to what Peter was talking about with Clint. Just as he was about to add more food onto Peter’s plate, he felt a hand on his thigh and looked down to see Peter’s greasy hand on his track pants. “Pete, get your hand off my leg. Here. Wipe them.”

He grabbed Peter’s wrist and wiped whatever food had gotten onto his hands and then wiped his leg but it was only going to come out in the wash. “Can you… here, eat with your fork.”

Peter shoved a piece of chicken into his mouth and sucked on the sauce before spitting the half chewed piece onto his plate.

Tony watched him do it and a few years ago, he would have gagged but not now. He’s been thrown up on, peed on, wiped poo, this was nothing to him. “Eat it. Don’t just suck the sauce off.”

Peter shook his head and dipped his finger into the mashed potatoes. “Yummy.”

“Peter, please use your fork to eat. Are you a caveman?” He asked, trying to remain patient.

With a grin, Peter nodded his head. “Yeah.”

“Cavemen aren’t allowed at the dinner table so pick up your fork please.” Tony waited for Peter to do that and then he was adding more food onto his plate.

“I wanna feed you.” Peter grabbed his fork and a piece of chicken then moved his fork towards Tony’s mouth so Tony moved his head away and took the fork from Peter.

“I got a better idea. I’ll feed you so open up.” Tony faked his excitement to get Peter to open his mouth and it thankfully worked so he fed him the chicken and waited for Peter to chew and swallow and not spit it out. “Woah. Look at you go. Good job.”

“Now your turn.” Peter went to grab his fork but Tony shook his head. “Gimmy. My turn.”

“No, Peter, because I’m using my fork which you should be too.” Tony held Peter’s fork out to him to see if he would take it. He didn’t understand why such simple things were so hard for Peter to do sometimes. Tony knew that Peter wanted the attention and wanted all of his focus on him so maybe that was it.

Peter took his fork and sat up on his knees. He ate another chicken but spit it out after sucking all the sauce off then looked over at his dad to see his reaction.

“No more. That’s disgusting.” Tony grabbed Peter’s plate from him and went to stand up. “You’re all done now.”

“No. No!” Peter screamed and stood up on his chair.

“Sit down. You are going to eat and not play with your food.” Tony warned him so Peter sat down and reached out for his plate again. Tony placed it in front of him and added more food then sat down himself.

Peter took a nibble of his chicken but he didn’t want his dad to be mad at him so he sat up on his knees and stuck out his bottom lip. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, daddy. I need a hug.”

Tony couldn’t say no to that so he wrapped an arm around Peter’s torso and pulled him against his side. “I know. It’s okay.”

“I wanna kiss.” Peter leaned his head against his dad's arm so Tony could press a kiss against his cheek. “And another hug.”

Shaking his head with fondness, Tony wrapped both his arms around Peter, knowing that his kid knew how to pull on his heart strings. And it worked every time.

After a few moments of them hugging, Tony pulled away from Peter and tapped his leg. “Eat now please and then we can have dessert.”

“Okay.” Peter grabbed his fork and popped some chicken in his mouth while he chewed it dramatically and looked at Tony to make sure the man saw him. “All done.”

“Good job. Can you eat another piece?” Tony pointed to another piece on his plate so Peter grabbed that one as well but looked off in a different direction as he ate it.

After the dinner was finished and they moved onto dessert, Steve got a call so he left the room to go answer that, away from the noise but Tony kept his eye on the man, knowing who was calling him.

“Look dad, big bite.” Peter shoved a giant spoon full of ice cream and brownie into his mouth, proudly showing his dad.

“Is it good?” Tony asked him but his attention was somewhere else. He didn’t know if Thor and Bruce were even on Earth or what was happening with that and it scared him since he knew that trouble followed those two on unplanned visits.

“Uh huh. Wanna bite?” Peter held his spoon out for his dad so Tony took the spoon from him to take a bite.

“That is good. Who knew Steve could bake such a yummy brownie.” Tony couldn’t remember the last time he ate a brownie. He always thought of that as child food but now he had a child so he had no excuse not to eat it.

Peter continued eating his brownie so Tony half watched him and half watched for Steve to reappear. He felt himself start to get a bit nervous and he didn’t know why. One of his good friends was coming to visit him and he should be excited but it was his job to protect Peter from anything that can hurt his baby and now a potential threat was coming.

So yeah, he was feeling a bit anxious.

He heard someone walk into the room so he looked up and saw Steve walking in. Tony tried to read his face but he couldn’t, both Steve and Natasha were really hard to read and he was always really good at reading people and their actions.

When he first met Peter, the very first time, he had known the kid for approximately ten minutes and knew Peter was nervous and excited at the same time but even with that, he knew the kid was extremely hyper and couldn’t keep still and boy was he right about that.

Now he’s raising that super hyper and wild child.

“So,” Steve began, gaining the attention of everyone in the room but Peter. “Natasha called and said that they’re all coming over now. There’s no reason they’re here, they just said that they wanted to come for a visit.” Steve caught Tony’s eyes and sighed. “It’s nothing new, Tony. They’ve come unannounced for no reason before other than to say hi and stay for a day or two.”

Tony knew that. He just felt this unease within him when it came to Peter and his safety.

“We’ll see.” Tony leaned forward on his chair to look at Peter better. “Hey bud, someone’s coming over to meet you.”

Peter took the spoon out of his mouth and looked at his dad. “Who?” He felt a bit anxious now because he hated meeting new people and who was supposed to be meeting him when it was almost bedtime. That told him it was an adult and he didn’t want to meet an adult that he didn’t know. And in his house. No thank you.

“Thor and Bruce Banner.” Tony told him, waiting for Peter to start freaking out.

Peter’s eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. “What?! Are you serious? Oh my gosh! Dr. Banner is coming here! And Thor! I love Thor!” Peter jumped off his chair, completely forgetting about his half eaten brownie and bounced on his feet while staring at the elevator. “Are they coming soon? When are they coming? I’m so excited!”

Tony loved seeing his kid get excited, which thankfully happened a lot with Peter.

“Soon but let’s wipe your face and hands first.” Tony grabbed Peter’s plate and stood up to go into the kitchen with Peter bouncing behind him. “Roll up your sleeves first.”

“When are they coming, dad?” Peter asked while he washed his hands in the sink and looked eagerly at the elevator.

“I don’t know. Maybe in a few minutes.” Tony honestly had no idea but he knew that FRIDAY would tell him before he lets anyone up.

“Then I can see them.” Peter finished washing his hands and went to go run away but Tony grabbed his arm and pulled him back so he could wash his face. “No.”

“Let me wash your face. You have chocolate on your forehead even.” Tony wet a dish cloth and rubbed it over Peter’s face to get it clean as Peter kept moving his head away in annoyance. Tony wondered if Peter would ever be a clean eater. The kid ate like an actual baby with food all over his face and clothes. He knew of adults that ate that bad, to some extent but not as bad as Peter so maybe Peter would never be a clean eater. Was he supposed to teach Peter how to eat properly?

“Okay, all done. Did you want to change?” Tony asked him and pointed to the chocolate all over Peter’s shirt.

“No. My underwear dried already.” Peter said then ran into the living room where everyone else was. Tony stood there confused. Did Peter not change his underwear when it was wet with juice? Did Clint not tell him to?

He walked over to the living room where everyone was and pulled Peter’s waistband of his pants back. “Is it still wet?”

“No.” Peter said but let his dad feel anyways while he looked at the remote.

Tony felt his underwear and shook his head. “It’s damp, Peter. That’s so uncomfortable.” Tony looked over at Clint. “Really? You couldn’t have checked and told him to change his underwear as well?”

Clint looked genuinely sorry. “Oh man, sorry. That’s my fault because I said I’d time him.”

Tony didn’t care. If Peter didn’t say anything before then it probably wasn’t that uncomfortable. “It’s fine.” Just as he sat down on the couch, FRIDAY was speaking.

“Thor and Dr. Banner are here with Ms. Romanoff and are requesting access to the common floor.” FRIDAY spoke.

“Yeah, let them up, FRI.” Tony went to stand up but Peter froze and turned on the couch so he could hide his body from view but still peek over the couch. “Are you shy now, Pete?”

Tony knew Peter was. He was an extremely shy kid but wasn’t embarrassed to throw a full on meltdown in a grocery store. Weird.

“I’ll hold your hand.” Tony held out his hand for Peter but he shook his head and brought his own hand up to his mouth to chew on his fingers. Tony looked over at everyone who was making their way over to the elevator to greet their new guests. “Okay. I’ll go say hi and you can come when you’re ready.”

Tony left Peter to go greet his science buddy and the god of thunder. As he was walking over, the elevator doors were opening up and the three of them walked out. He forgot how massive Thor was.

“Hey, buddy. It’s been way too long.” Tony walked up to Bruce first and pulled him in for a quick hug.

“Uh,” Bruce laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, it’s been Uh, awhile.”

“Stark. It has been some time.” Thor walked over to Tony and pulled the man in for his own hug, squeezing him a bit too hard.

“Yep. Watch it, buddy. Don’t want my ribs breaking.” Tony patted the guys arm a bit harder than necessary, knowing that Thor was probably barely feeling it.

“How long are you guys here for?” Steve asked after greeting them.

Thor walked more into the common room and looked around. “We will see.” He smiled and patted Steve on the shoulder just as loud footsteps were making their way towards the group.

Tony turned around to see Peter running towards him so he let Peter hide behind him. “A child. Your child, Stark?” Thor asked, seemingly pleased to see Peter.

“Yeah, his name is Peter. Come say hi, Pete.” Tony tried to pull Peter out from behind him but Peter didn’t move. “He’ll come around eventually.”

Bruce walked over to Tony, interested in Tony’s kid. “I heard you had a son, Tony. I didn’t know if it was true or not.” He looked down at Peter the best he could and stuck his hand out to shake. “Hello Peter. My name is Bruce Banner. I’m an old friend of your dad’s.”

Peter stuck his hand out to shake with the man. “Dr. Banner. I know you. You-you studied Gamma rays which have the smallest wavelengths and the most energy of any wave in the electromagnetic spectrum. I did an essay on you.”

Bruce’s eyes widened a bit and Tony felt his heart swell with pride. “Woah. Did you get that intelligence from your dad?”

Peter shyly hid himself more behind Tony again. He was just so excited but he had to warm up to the two of them first.

Thor kneeled down in front of Peter but was still much taller than him. Thor was naturally massive and Peter was so tiny so the comparison was crazy to see. “Stark son. You look mighty. As I am.”

Peter bounced happily at that. “You’re my favourite ever. Can-can I see your hammer?”

“Yes. You may.” Thor stood up and walked over to the elevator to grab his hammer. He swung it around and showed Peter who had wide eyes, looking like he just shit himself. “Perhaps one day you will be worthy enough to wield my hammer.”

“Yeah!” Peter smiled and looked at the hammer while Thor swung it around.

Tony remembered back when everyone tried to lift the hammer at the party. He wondered if Peter would be able to wield it because of his innocence and purity. Maybe.

Thor placed his hammer down and walked back over to Peter. As he stood in front of him, Peter had to crank his neck to look up at the man and Tony almost choked on his saliva. Peter was almost as big as Thor’s leg. His one leg alone was bigger than Peter’s entire body.

“You look like a fine young child. Are you smarter than Stark already?” Thor asked and without asking Peter or Tony, he lifted Peter up by the underarms and held him out in front of him.

Peter immediately reached for Tony but then stopped once Thor held him against his side so Peter stared at him with wide eyes, trying to comprehend what was happening. He was being carried by Thor, the god of thunder.

Tony looked over at Natasha who was watching Thor carry Peter into the kitchen. She just looked at him and went to go sit in the living room so Tony followed the god who just stole his kid away for him.

Sam chuckled and nudged Clint. “Looks like Tony has some competition now. He’s jealous.”

Tony narrowed his eyes back at the archer. “Shut up, bird brain.”

Thor was opening up the fridge and looking for food while holding Peter on his side with his other arm. “We have food for you guys on the table if you want.” Tony said. He had ordered up a huge meal for the two of them, knowing that Thor could eat almost ten times as much as the average man.

Thor looked in the direction of the table. “I am always ready to eat a feast.” The god moved towards the table while still holding onto Peter. Tony looked at his kid who looked comfortable but awkward at the same time, like he didn’t know where to put his hands.

“Do you wanna come with me while Thor eats, Pete?” Tony asked Peter who might be too shy to tell Thor was he was uncomfortable although Tony knew that Peter loved being held.

“I quite like the young Stark, Stark.” Thor replied for Peter and manoeuvred him so he could hold Peter more comfortably. The action was so natural it made Tony wonder how Thor had learned how to hold a child. Although Peter was rather easy to hold in Tony’s opinion since he kinda just clung on.

He looked at Peter who was looking down at all the food so Tony left the two for a bit to let them talk. He walked over to the rest of the group and sat himself down on the single sofa chair.

“So Bruce,” Tony budded into the conversation. “is there anything else that you two just elected to not tell us?”

Bruce crossed a leg over the other and gave Tony his attention. His eyebrow raised in the way that told Tony he didn’t feel comfortable, maybe Natasha picked up on it as well. “No. I just Uh, decided to come back to Earth for a bit. I have a lot of research I’ve been dying to do and I can’t exactly do it on Asgard.”

“Well, you know you always have a place here.” Tony told him. If he was being honest, he couldn’t wait to put Peter to bed and go work with Bruce in the lab.

Bruce was the only other person who could keep up with him in the lab but Peter was a child and still needed supervision as well as the fact that a lot if not most things in the lab were off limits for Peter.

“Thank you, Tony. Actually I’m going to go down there right now. If you guys don’t mind… I’m just, not really feeling up for anything else right now.” Bruce hesitated but stood up and went to go over to the elevator but Tony stopped him.

“Don’t you wanna eat something first? We basically ordered a whole restaurant.” Tony stood up to chase after the man. Okay, maybe he was a bit too excited that his science buddy was back. It’s been a long time.

Bruce shook his head. “I’m good. But thanks. I’ll see you um, later.”

“Yep.” Tony put his hands in his pocket and watched Bruce leave so he then went to go check up on what Thor was doing with his kid.

He found Peter sitting on the kitchen counter with chocolate sauce poured down the front of his shirt and on his pants. He just shook his head fondly at Peter. It was going to be bath time and bedtime soon so he would deal with that then.

“Is that good? You look like you’re enjoying that.” Tony asked Peter who looked a bit surprised to see him. He quickly relaxed and smiled timidly since he knew he wasn’t allowed to eat straight chocolate sauce.

Peter went to go take another squirt but Tony stopped him. “No more. Too much sugar.”

“Thor got it for me in that cabinet.” Peter pointed to the corner cabinet that had the baking goods such as icing, chocolate chips, sprinkles and so much more.

“Young Peter could not reach so I grabbed it for him.” Thor replied and shoved a whole piece of pork into his mouth. Tony blinked at him.

“That’s okay.” He said and turned to stand in front of Peter. “Hey, Pete, it’s bedtime soon.”

Peter shook his head. “I’m gonna play with Thor and show him my room.”

“Yes! I will look at Young Peter’s sleeping chamber and see the toys in there.” Thor proudly stated and went back to eating.

Tony liked Thor. He was a good man and very powerful and he seemed to be good with Peter but he didn’t think Thor could take care of Peter since Thor wasn’t exactly responsible. Not that Tony blamed him, Thor didn’t know any better.

Peter looked up at Thor and smiled shyly at him. “How old are you? Aren’t you like a hundred years old?”

“I am much older than just a hundred years old. I am fifteen hundred years old. In Asgard years.” Thor said to the child and shoved another spoonful into his mouth. “How old are you, Young Peter?”

“I can show you on my hands.” Peter held up ten fingers and then put four up just as Thor looked at his hands.

“Four. A young one.”

Tony chuckled and Peter shook his head. “No. I’m fourteen.”

“You sure are mighty for your age, Young Peter.” Thor lifted Peter back up without Peter getting a chance to react. “Shall we go to your sleeping quarters?”

“Yeah! I wanna walk up.” Peter told Thor, not knowing how the god would react. He wiggled his legs a bit to be put on the floor which Thor did and followed him into the elevator.

Peter paused and turned around to hold his hand out for Tony. “Dad. Come.”

Tony wasn’t going to come but maybe he could get Peter to go to bed and hang out with Bruce for a bit. So he followed the two into the elevator and let Peter run ahead, dragging Thor along with him towards his bedroom.

“This is my bedroom but I wanna show you my dad’s bedroom that is always my bedroom.” Peter paused in front of his room before dragging Thor down the hallway into his and his dad’s bedroom. “That’s my side.”

Thor looked around the room and settled his eyes on the window so he walked over to it and looked out. “The view is quite nice but the view from my bedroom on Asgard is much better. Perhaps I can take you one day.”

Peter climbed up onto the window seat but he still wasn’t even close to being as tall as Thor was. “Yeah! And my dad can come too, right?”

Thor looked at Tony who was standing by the doorway. “Oh yes. Both of you are welcome at any time.”

“Yay!” Peter leaned against Thor, silently demanding to be picked up again and when Thor did just that, Tony was surprised that the god picked up on the social cues from Peter. “Can you throw me onto the bed? I wanna go high.”

Thor didn’t even hesitate before he was getting ready to launch Peter but Tony didn’t want that. He really didn’t need any injuries tonight. Or ever. “No. How about Thor gets you ready for bed tonight, Pete? It’s bedtime now.”

Peter thought about it. He only liked his dad to get him ready for bed but maybe he could trick Thor and get to stay up later. That might work.

“I think I can handle quite responsibly. You know when I was on Asgard, I was tasked with even bigger responsibilities than putting a child into bed.” Thor proudly explained while Peter and Tony just looked at each other.

“Okay. Well, he needs a shower, make sure he brushes his teeth, goes pee and gets his pyjamas on then into bed.” Tony explained to the god but he knew Thor wouldn’t get passed showering. Peter was extremely difficult.

“Simple bedtime.” Thor walked into the bathroom with Peter and set him on his feet while Tony waved bye to Peter from the doorway.

Tony was going to leave but he just wanted to stay and see how Thor was going to get on so he quietly sat down on the bed and made sure that neither of them saw him.

Thor put Peter on his feet and started the water while Peter started undressing but stopped at his shirt. “The water’s too hot.”

“This is the average temperature that I shower in. Would you like me to set it colder for you, Young Peter?” Thor asked but he was trying. He looked down at the young boy and saw him nodding his head so he turned the temperature down and waited for Peter’s approval.

“Very well, Young Stark. I will be in the kitchen if you need me.” Thor left Peter after that and Tony chuckled. It was a good thing he stayed since he knew Peter wasn’t going to get in that shower or even finish undressing without more encouragement.

He was right.

Seconds later, Peter was walking out of the bedroom and then his eyes were landing on Tony and he smiled. “Hi.”

“Hi. Can you finish taking off your chocolate clothes so I can put them in the wash?” Tony asked, not making any move to stand up. He thought about what tomorrow night was going to be like with Rose here with them.

“I want Thor to help me.” Peter pointed longingly at the bedroom door where Thor left.

“You don’t want your dad anymore?” Tony teasingly asked. He put a fake pout on his lips and walked into the bathroom to check the water temperature so Peter didn’t burn himself.

“I do. So can you help me?” Peter asked, grabbing onto Tony’s arm and trying to swing from it.

“You can do it yourself, Pete. I know you can.” Tony sat down on the bathtub ledge and waited for Peter to make a move but he didn’t. He continued to stare at Peter who stared back so Tony gave in. “Fine. I’ll help you a bit and then you have to do the rest.” He grabbed the sides of Peter’s pants and tugged them down a bit but didn’t do anymore since he wanted Peter to do it. “Your turn.”

Peter grinned and tugged them down a little bit more. “Your turn.”

“No. No, Peter. You have to do it yourself. It’s not that hard. Just…” Tony gestured to Peter’s pants and mimicked pulling them down. “Pull them off.”

“I need help.” Peter whined out and sank down to the floor. He rolled onto his stomach and hid his face in his hands. If his dad wasn’t going to help him then he wasn’t going to shower.

“You don’t need my help for this.” Tony watched Peter. He knew how this went. Peter could stay like this for hours if he didn’t give the kid what he wanted. So he leaned down and grabbed the back of Peter’s pants and pulled it off, turning Peter onto his back in the process. Although he wasn’t going to let Peter get off that easily.

Peter happily let Tony pull his pants off but then he was standing up and leaving. “Wait! Where are you going?”

“I’m going to put these in the dirty laundry while you take off your underwear and go in the shower.” Tony explained to him and stopped by the door to see Peter rolling onto his side and start crying.

Tony left after that. He felt bad but Peter couldn’t depend on him to get him dressed and undressed. He had to do those things by himself. As he walked into the laundry room at the end of the upstairs hallway, he tossed the dirty clothes into the hamper, hating the giant pile that stared back at him.

He really had to get on top of that. Maybe if he had time tonight then he would do it but that was a big if.

Waiting for five minutes, Tony finally decided to go check on Peter but he could still hear him crying so that meant he was still on the bathroom floor. With a sigh, Tony rounded the corner and when Peter laid his eyes on him, he lifted his arms up for his dad.

Tony kneeled down in front of him. “Peter, you have to go in the shower. It’s getting late.”

Peter nodded his head and tugged on his underwear. “I need help!”

“No, I know you can do it yourself. Show me how you do it.” Tony tried to encourage his kid but Peter was a Stark; stubborn as hell.

“No! Please help me.” Peter begged his dad and looked up at him with his best puppy dog eyes. Tony didn’t want to give in but he was always finding reasons to give in so he sighed and tugged the Iron Man underwear’s off then stood up, pulling Peter up with him.

“All better now?”

“Yeah.” Peter wiped at his tears and held his hand out for the temperature of the shower. “I don’t want to wash my hair.”

“You don’t have to. Just wash your body. I’ll go get some clean pyjamas for you.” As Tony left the bathroom, he double checked that Peter was actually getting in since he didn’t want to have to force him to shower after everything else.

Once he tossed the dirty underwear into a random spot on the floor like he did with most clothes, he sat down on the bed and pulled his phone out of his pocket. It was 9:23pm. Already past Peter’s bedtime and he still had to do the whole bedtime routine.

He laid down on the bed and shut his eyes, waiting for Peter to finish up in the shower but he almost fell asleep by the time Peter had finished. “Dad? Are you sleeping?”

Peter walked over to him and climbed up onto the bed, curling into a ball and laying his head on his dad’s chest. The action completely melted Tony’s heart. How did he get so lucky? He would really like to know the answer to that question.

“I’m not sleeping, baby. Just resting my eyes.” Tony went to sit up but Peter pushed him down like he had done to his kid so many times. Peter then covered his hand over his eyes and sushed him. “What’re you doin’?”

Peter continued to hold his hand over his eyes, another thing that Tony had done to him countless times. “I’m putting you to sleep.”

Tony went to sit up again so Peter climbed onto his stomach and sat himself down. Tony groaned at the action but didn’t try to push Peter off of him because it was too funny.

“You have to sleep.” Said Peter before he was taking his hand off of Tony’s eyes and bracing himself on his dad’s chest. “Time for bed.”

Tony lifted his head up at his kid. “It’s time for you to go to bed. Not me.”

“Mm-mm.”

“Mm-hm.”

“No.”

“Peter, my child. Go to sleep.” Tony held onto Peter’s back as he sat up so Peter wouldn’t fall back and hit his head. Peter slid down onto his lap and still tried to get Tony to lie back down.

“Lie down. I want to sleep with you.” Peter tried again but Tony didn’t budge so he sighed and decided to lay his head on his dad’s chest.

“Are you tired?” He asked the boy, hoping that Peter would say yes.

“Where did Thor go? He was just here and then he left. Maybe we should go find him.” Peter went to go slide off of Tony’s lap but Tony didn’t let him go. Instead, he placed his hand under Peter’s butt to support him and stood up.

“Let’s get your pyjamas on and then we’ll go find him.” Tony put Peter on the ground and fixed the towel around his shoulders. “Iron Man ones?”

Peter squatted down to look through his selection. “I want to wear my Hulk pyjamas.” With a grin, Peter grabbed his comfy Hulk pyjamas and sat down to get them on.

“Fine. Tomorrow night you have to wear Iron Man then.” Tony told him but Peter smirked and shook his head. “No? What?”

That caused Peter to start giggling. “I’m not. Or the night after or the night after.”

“Alright. I see how it is.” Tony shook his head at Peter but he knew his kid was just being silly.

Peter pulled his feet through the pyjamas, trying to move extra slowly so he didn’t have to deal with bedtime and going to sleep. He didn’t want to miss out on any fun and he wasn’t even tired.

Tony stood up and went to go shut the curtains but Peter turned to look at him. “Get dressed.” He said then walked over to his closet to grab all the dirty clothes off the floor in there.

Peter laid down, bored of getting dressed. He lifted his legs onto the dresser and tried to open a drawer with his feet, laughing when he got it opened so he started doing the same for another one when Tony walked around the corner to see what Peter was doing. “Look, dad! I opened two drawers with my toes.”

“All done. I want to see you getting dressed.” He spoke firmly but even with saying that, Tony kneeled down to do the rest for Peter because it was getting too late. He grabbed the sides of his pyjamas and pulled them up. “Lift your bum.” He ordered and pulled the rest all the way up then grabbed Peter’s top and put that on over his head. “All done. Let’s go find Thor.”

As Peter went to go leave the room, Tony remembered something so he grabbed the back of Peter’s pants. “Oops. I forgot about teeth brushing.”

“No.” Peter went to run away anyways so Tony grabbed his arm and pulled him against his side so he could carry him into the bathroom. “No.”

“You don’t want your teeth to rot, do you?” Tony got Peter’s toothbrush ready and handed it to him but Peter went to run away again so Tony pinned him up against the counter with his leg and shoved his toothbrush into his hands. “Show me how you do it. FRI, can you set the timer for two minutes.”

“Yes, Boss.”

Peter put the toothbrush down so Tony picked it up and moved it up to Peter’s mouth. “Look in the mirror. Look. Open up.”

Tony started and then handed it to Peter to do the rest. It was slow but at least it was getting done. “I’m done now.”

“No. Not yet. Get the back of your teeth.” Tony grabbed the toothbrush from Peter to do it for him, knowing that Peter skipped out on a few nights since he forgot and knew Peter would never remind him.

After Tony was done, he let Peter spit and rinse with his Dixie cups then he moved his leg so he wasn’t pinning Peter anymore. He quickly rinsed his toothbrush and walked into the bedroom where Peter ran into. “Do you need to go pee?”

Peter shook his head.

“Please try.” Tony stood by the bathroom door, not moving. He tried to remind Peter as much as possible but it was still hard for him since Peter refused to go for some odd reason.

“No!” Peter snapped at his dad. He didn’t want to try. He just wanted to go downstairs and play with Thor.

Tony didn’t say anything. He followed Peter downstairs and found Thor eating Peter’s mini yogurts in the fridge. At least Tony had to do the grocery shopping order tomorrow so he would have to order a lot more of those yogurts considering Peter ate like ten a day.

“Thor, you didn’t come back up.” Peter told him as he joined his side. Tony still couldn’t get over the size difference. Woah. Was Peter actually that small or was Thor just that massive? Maybe both.

“Oh, I am sorry, Young Peter. These… yogurts are very good. We don’t have them on Asgard but we do have something similar. A lot stronger and less sweet.” Thor told the boy and finished off the last pack.

Peter watched him. “Wanna play?”

“No, it’s bedtime. Do you wanna take him up to bed, Thor?” Tony asked the man. He knew Thor wouldn’t be able to do it but let the god try. Maybe even the god of thunder was no match for Peter.

“Yes! Come along, little one. I shall put you to sleep.” Thor lifted Peter up without asking him again but Peter didn’t seem to mind at all and happily swung his legs on either side of him.

Tony grabbed Peter’s face and pressed a kiss onto his cheek. “I love you. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

Tony knew he would be seeing Peter in an hour or so, depending on how long Thor could last with Peter’s stubbornness.

“I love you.” Peter waved bye to his dad as he was carried away from him. He wasn’t sad since he didn’t plan on going to bed. He was going to play with Thor.

Peter wiggled his way out of Thor's arms once he got a ride upstairs then he was running into his dad’s bedroom and jumping on the bed. “Thor! I’m gonna jump off and you have to catch me. Okay?”

Thor walked towards the edge of the bed and held his arms out for the boy. “Jump high, mighty Peter.”

Peter grinned. He used some of his spidey powers to get some proper air and threw himself up. The god of thunder caught him easily and tossed him up in the air, catching him again which Peter loved so he demanded Thor to keep on doing it.

After a few minutes of that, Thor placed Peter in the bed but Peter sat back up. He wasn’t going to be able to sleep when he was this excited. “Again.”

“You are mighty but also a child and Stark had told me to put you to sleep so I must put you to sleep.” Thor pulled the blankets back but Peter pulled them back over the pillows.

“No. It’s not bedtime yet. Dad said… he said after we play for twenty minutes.” Peter lied, hoping that Thor fell for it.

“I do not recall Stark saying that. It is time for bed. Climb in.” Thor pulled back the blankets and easily lifted Peter up and placed him in his bed but Peter shook his head and grabbed onto the footboard of the bed.

“No! Wait! Wait, I wanna tell you a secret.” Peter grinned up at the man who was a lot bigger in person. He was so massive. “Please.”

Thor sat down next to Peter to hear what he had to say. “What is the secret?”

“The secret is that… I’m Spider-Man.” Peter bounced a bit on the bed in his excitement and covered his hands over his mouth.

Thor had heard of that name before but he wasn’t aware of who exactly that was. “Does that make you like Rogers?”

Peter nodded and then shrugged his shoulders. “Um… well, I guess. I’m sticky.” Peter held his hands up to clench and unclench them. “See? And I can climb walls and I’m super strong.”

“You can climb walls?” Thor asked. Peter smiled because he couldn’t wait to see the look on Thor’s face when the man saw him walk across the ceiling.

“Yeah! Watch this.” Peter made his way over to the wall and braced himself on it before starting to climb. His dad never let him climb walls in the house so he was happy that Thor was letting him. Peter turned around to see if Thor was looking over at him and he was so Peter continued to climb until he was on the ceiling.

“That is very impressive.” Thor told him, standing up to get a better view of the boy. “Even I cannot do that.”

Peter let go of his hands and reached under him for Thor to catch him. “I’m gonna let go now!”

Thor was quick to catch the boy and set him on the bed but Peter was jumping off. “Very brave, Young Peter. I do think that your father wants you to sleep now.”

Peter ran to the bedroom door and looked back at the god. “Try and catch me first!” He yelled then took off down the hall. He made it all the way to the living room before Thor was grabbing his arm and lifting him up. “Ahhh! No!”

Thor was carrying him back upstairs but Peter couldn’t sleep without his dad. “No! I need my dad. FRIDAY, I want dad! Let me see him.”

FRIDAY was responding a few seconds later. “Boss has allowed you to access Bruce’s lab with Thor.”

Peter smiled. “Yay. I’ve never been in Bruce’s lab before. Take me down!”

Thor obayed the child, taking commands from some child like he was a peasant. He was a mighty god! But he took a liking to the young boy.

Thor carried Peter down in the elevator which led them into Bruce’s lab which Peter had never been in before. He’s been in his dad’s lab, obviously, and some of the other labs in the tower but never Bruce’s.

As he got carried out of the elevator, Peter wanted down so he could look around better but Tony was walking over and stopping him. “No. You have no shoes on so you can sit with me or sit there.”

Peter pointed to the stool next to Bruce so Tony easily picked him up and sat him in the chair.

“Young Peter, refused to go to sleep and was requesting to see you, Stark. He must have missed his father as he was getting sad.” Thor told Tony and walked over to Bruce who barely looked up from what he was doing.

“He must have.” Tony replied quietly and rubbed the back of Peter’s head, knowing he wasn’t tired in the slightest. Great. “Were you giving Thor a hard time?”

Peter thought about it before nodding his head and looking at his dad. He didn’t mean to but he was too excited to sleep.

“Young Peter was showing me his tricks.” Thor told Tony who was now very confused.

“Tricks? What’s that supposed to mean?” Tony asked both Peter and the god. He saw Peter get that mischievous look in his eye which told him that Peter wasn’t being good.

“He climbed onto the walls and ceiling. I do believe he is extremely mighty.” Thor told Tony which had Bruce looking up to see what was being discussed. “He is Spider-Child.”

“Spider-Man.” Peter corrected.

“Wait. You’re the Spider-Man?” Bruce asked, taking off his glasses and standing up to look at Peter.

“Uh huh.” Peter nodded his head and looked over at his dad who had the cease on his forehead which told Peter he was stressing out. Maybe he wasn’t supposed to tell them that. “Oops. I mean… I’m not Spider-Man. I know Spider-Man and-and I’m not Spider-Man.”

“It’s fine, Pete. You’re a horrible liar. The secret is out.” Tony didn’t think it was that bad that the two of them knew, he trusted them but he didn’t want to get a lecture from Bruce who was looking at him in that unimproving way that he did.

“Is that true, Tony? Peter is Spider-Man?” Bruce asked, almost scared of the answer that was about to come.

Tony knew he couldn’t avoid it now. All the other avengers knew and even though that was a stressful conversation to have with them since they didn’t agree with Peter being Spider-Man but Tony didn’t either and there wasn’t really anything he could do about it.

He didn’t want Peter to hate him for taking the suit away so yeah, he let his fourteen year old kid be Spider-Man.

“Yeah.” He finally admitted, looking down in shame for what the truth was.

Bruce looked at Peter who was playing with a pen on the desk, taking it apart. He didn’t agree with Peter being Spider-Man, obviously not. He just met the child but he could tell that Peter was in fact a child who didn’t belong in any fights, especially with the avengers.

Tony looked up at Bruce who still hadn’t said a word. He found his friend looking longingly at Peter who paid no attention to anything going on around him but Tony knew he was listening in, he should give Peter more credit for that.

“Look, I-”

Bruce cut Tony off. “No, it’s your business, Tony. He’s your son but I just don’t agree with it. I’m sorry.”

Tony didn’t say anything. Bruce was right, everyone was right.

He didn’t blame the man for not agreeing with him. You’d have to be a complete idiot to agree with Peter and his vigilante activities.

“Alright. Well… I’m gonna bring him back up to bed and leave you down here.” Tony stood up and went to carry Peter over to the elevator but Peter shook his head and tried to push him away. Tony internally cringed since Peter’s age was showing, not helping the little talk they just had. “Come here.”

Peter whined out and tried to grab onto the desk but Tony grabbed his hands and held Peter under the arms until they got into the elevator where Peter sunk onto the floor.

“I should be going back to the group.” Thor said, clearly uncomfortable with Peter’s outburst.

Tony wasn’t going to stop him but he would have wished he said it in his head because now Peter got that idea in his head.

“Me too. I’m going to say goodnight to everyone.” Peter grabbed onto Tony’s hand to lift himself off the floor and ran out of the elevator, over to the group who was still all awake and sitting on the couch. “What are you guys doing?”

“I like your pyjamas, kid.” Clint said, smiling at Peter’s Hulk pyjamas.

Peter walked over to Clint to show him the design up close. While he was doing that, Tony took a seat next to Steve and sighed.

“He’s up late.” Steve pointed out as if Tony didn’t already know that.

Tony scuffed and patted the spot between him and Steve. “Come sit here, Pete. Let’s stay with everyone for a bit before bedtime.”

Peter walked over to Tony and sat down in the spot Tony was patting but he was immediately getting back up to look over at Bucky whose metal arm was gaining his attention. “Bucky? Can I touch your arm?”

A slight smile was appearing on the ex assassins lips as he held his arm over Steve for Peter to touch. It was no secret that Bucky was fond of the boy, everyone was in their own little way.

Peter sat up so he could sit on Steve’s knee while examining Bucky’s arm so Tony let him. He was tired and wanted to be kid free for a few hours to get stuff done.

“If I bite it, will you feel it?” Peter asked, as serious as he could be. Tony shook his head. That was his kid.

“No.” The man answered so Peter moved his head closer to bite the arm but Tony decided to bud in now.

“No. That’s not nice, Peter. You can’t just bite someone’s arm. Sit down.” Tony grabbed the back of Peter’s pyjama pants but accidentally flashed him to Steve so he let go and grabbed his hips to drag him back onto his spot.

Thor walked into the living room and placed his hammer on the table. No one reacted but Peter’s eyes lit up at seeing it for the second time. Tony felt him practically vibrating with excitement next to him.

“I do believe that Young Peter has yet to test my mighty hammer.” Thor proudly smiled and sat down. “For being the child of spiders, that is definitely worthy of me.”

Peter grinned.

“Go on.” Thor gestured for Peter to try and pick up the hammer so Peter stood up shyly. Tony actually had no idea if Peter was going to be able to lift it or not. Strength had nothing to do with it.

“I can try to lift your hammer?” Peter asked, just to be sure. He couldn’t stop bouncing on his feet from excitement. He could not believe this was actually happening.

“You can try.” Thor sat back, always pleased to watch someone new try and lift Mjolnir.

Peter looked back at Tony for reassurance and when he nodded, Peter walked over to the table and grabbed onto the handle as carefully as he could as if it would shatter if he wasn’t careful with it.

He then lifted the hammer up but it didn’t budge one bit.

Peter went to try again but the hammer still didn’t budge. He was a little discouraged but he didn’t expect to be able to lift the hammer anyways. He was sure it came with many responsibilities that he wasn’t ready for. Wouldn’t that mean he would have to go live on Asgard with Thor? He didn’t know.

“That’s okay, Young spider-boy. Perhaps one day when you are older and much more mighty.” Thor said cheerfully to try and make the child feel better.

Peter let go of the handle and sighed sadly. He then looked up at Thor. “But I’m still super strong.”

Thor was suddenly more interested now. “Let’s see if you are a match for me.” Thor stood up, towering over Peter in the process and holding his arms out.

Peter walked over to Thor to stand in front of him. He hesitated but reached his arms up so he could try and use his strength to push Thor’s hands together. He didn’t use his full strength but he did have to use some of his spidey strength to move Thor’s arms.

“This child is strong. Stark, you have a very strong young one.” Thor told Tony while looking extremely surprised about Peter’s strength.

On the couch, Tony beamed and felt the proudness blossom in him. He was so proud of his kid.

“I shall use more strength.” Thor held his arms out again so Peter got into position and started to try to push Thor’s arms together but he was too strong now. “I can feel the strength but it is okay. One day you might be as strong and mighty as me.”

Peter rubbed at his eyes and beamed at the god of thunder. That was nice to hear. Although all of that made him tired so he went to go find his dad and get some sleepy comfort from the man.

“Tired.” He mumbled against Tony’s chest so Tony pulled Peter tighter against him, relieved that his kid was tired so he didn’t have to wrestle him into bed.

Or maybe he would just have Thor do that… either way, the two of them said their goodnights and headed upstairs.