All The Stars Align

Peter woke up with so much energy.

He felt like he wanted to run around the tower ten times. Maybe he would do that if his dad lets him.

Peter ran past his dad in the kitchen and went to go pass him again but Tony grabbed his arm to stop him. “Hey, speedy boy. Stand still for one second.”

Peter stopped running but he couldn’t stand still. He had so much energy. It must be the one bite of carrot he had last night.

“Listen for two seconds and then you can go run.” Tony let go of Peter’s hand and prepared for the excited scream to soon follow. “Do you want to go to Miami tomorrow-”

Peter was running on the spot in his excitement. “Yes! Yes! Please! Yesss!”

Tony laughed and went back to chopping up lunch. “Okay. That’s what I thought but listen. You and I are going tomorrow and then the next day Pepper will come and join us and we’re gonna stay for five days. The last day will be just us as well since she’s only staying for three days.”

Peter excitedly jumped up and down. He had so much energy and he was so happy. “Yes! Yay! And Peter and daddy days. Two days together!”

“Yeah, buddy. Both of us.” Tony wanted to have two days alone with his kid. He loved being with just Peter but having Pepper with them was pretty nice too.

He also wanted to go to Miami and have that time with Peter since after they get back, a routine is going to start right away with online school. Also the fact that he will be moving Peter into his own bed quickly after that, and he will be working with Rose on Peter’s separation anxiety and dealing with ways to get Peter to stop depending on him so much with showering, dressing and undressing and everything else.

He was excited but also nervous for all that but they would take it slow. It would be okay.

Peter stopped bouncing next to him because he remembered what he wanted to do before since it had been on his mind for the past few days. “Dad, I’m gonna go up to my room to text Ned. I haven’t told him about like the whole school thing yet so I wanna tell him.”

“Yeah, bud. Take your time. I’ll be here.” Tony proudly watched Peter run off. He was happy that his kid was doing that.

When Peter got to the top of the stairs, he started walking to his dad’s room out of habit but then remembered that his phone was in his bedroom so he walked back and threw himself onto his bed with a belly flop. He tried to do that on his dad’s bed but it was too high up so he could never get the jump right.

He dug in his nightstand for his phone but since he hasn’t been on it for the past week, it was dead so he plugged it in and waited.

It was snowing lightly outside but since they were so high up, it brightened up his whole bedroom and made it look like he was Elsa in her ice castle.

Peter checked his phone again and sighed. He was suddenly starting to feel super nervous because he had no idea how Ned was going to react. Of course his friend was going to be mad at him. There was no reason for Ned to not be mad because Peter hadn’t been a very good friend but still. Ned has to understand that he’s really struggling.

His phone buzzed on so Peter picked it up and quickly looked through everything that he missed. There were tons of spam emails as well as YouTube video notifications and a bunch of missed calls and texts from his friends.

He went onto Ned’s contact and was about to text him but he decided to FaceTime him instead.

Ned picked up on the third ring. “Hey.” Peter smiled at his friend but Ned didn’t look happy.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you forgot about me.” Ned said which surprised Peter. Ned never acted like this.

“Sorry, Ned. I’ve just been busy these last few days.” Peter told him and tried to see where Ned was. It didn’t look like his bedroom.

“What? Doing school work because I know that’s not the case since you’ve been gone all week.” Ned shot at him and it hurt to hear.

Peter narrowed his eyes at who he thought was his best friend. “Why are you acting like Flash? That’s not cool.”

Ned looked at him and sighed. “Alright. I’m sorry. I’m just mad at you, Peter. We’re best friends and you’re not being a very good friend lately. Ever since… never mind.”

Peter sat up in bed and felt his heart start to pound faster. “What were you going to say? Ever since…? Ever since what, Ned? Ever since May died? My last living family member. My fourth parent.”

Ned sighed. “I didn’t mean it that way. I just would have liked you to make more of an effort.”

“Well, my life doesn’t revolve around you, Ned.” Peter shot at him and looked down at his phone. He was starting to regret calling his friend now. Maybe Ned wasn’t the best friend he thought he was.

“I didn’t say it did. It’s just… you never come to school and you aren’t answering my texts or anything. I’m trying and you’re not.” What Ned had said hurt.

Peter felt his jaw start to ache from trying to hold in his tears. “I’m dealing with a lot right now and I’m trying to do… other stuff.” I’m trying to deal with my crippling separation anxiety from my dad.

“Yeah, well… it’s whatever, dude.” Ned looked off screen and it looked like he was playing video games. Peter didn’t even understand how he couldn’t even give him his full attention.

Peter stayed silent and looked towards his window. The sun was coming in and shining right on his bed where he was, making him feel warm.

“It just seems like ever since you went to live with Tony Stark and all the avengers, you spend more time with them and I’m a fan too, Peter, I’d like to hang out with Tony Stark too-”

“What?” Peter cut him off. He could not believe what he was hearing. “Are you being serious? You-you actually think it’s like that? Tony’s my dad, Ned. I-I don’t even… I don’t even think of him like that.”

Ned didn’t seem to know what he did wrong so he continued. “Yeah but he’s still Tony Stark and you-”

“You know what,” Peter couldn’t hold in the tears anymore. He felt them all rush out so he stood up and started walking out of his bedroom. “I gotta go.”

He choked on a sob and raced downstairs to go find his dad. Ned had made him feel like complete garbage. He made him feel awful for what he was going through.

He just needed his dad.

Peter raced downstairs and his crying made Tony look towards him, alarmed. He put his computer off to the side and sat up to gather his sobbing kid in his arms. “What happened, Peter?”

Peter collapsed onto the couch next to his dad and cried into his chest. Tony had no idea what the problem was, he had an idea since Peter went upstairs to talk to Ned but he didn’t know what could have happened.

“What’s wrong, baby?” He asked again and rubbed Peter’s back.

“Ned!” Peter cried out. “He-he d-does’dt- doesn’t t-tink wha’ I’m t’ying.”

Tony didn’t understand a word Peter just said so he continued to rub his back and tried to wait for Peter to calm down a bit more. After a few minutes passed by, he tried again. “What happened, Peter? Take a breath first.”

Peter lifted his head up and tried to calm down some more so Tony grabbed a Kleenex to wipe at his tears, snot and spit that was all over his face. “Tell me, Pete.”

“I-he- Ned said-said, he doesn’t even care w-what I’m going through-through with-with everything and he said-he said I haven’t been a-a good friend since May died and he doesn’t even care how hard everything is!” Peter dissolved into loud sobs at the end of his sentence and that hurt Tony so much.

He knew Peter was such a strong kid but he lost two sets of parents by age fourteen. He was going through one hell of a time and even though he was being strong, Tony knew he was still grieving all four losses. He was positive that was why he acted the way he did and wanted Tony to do everything for him.

“Oh, baby. I’m so sorry. That’s not very nice of him to say that stuff.” Tony wanted to slap Ned for making his baby cry like this.

Peter sucked in a shaky breath. “And-and he said I-I wasn’t being f-fair because he’s a big f-fan of-of you and the A-Avengers and I-I should let him see you more. Not- he’s not even saying you’re my dad and a-acting like I-I-I’m just a s-stupid fan of y-you.”

Tony felt sick. Who the fuck did Ned think he was. Acting like coming to hang out with Peter was a freaking meet and greet or something shit. That was not fair. Wow. He totally had a whole new look on Ned now.

“He’s the one being selfish, Peter. You are not selfish at all. I’m your dad and the rest of them, the Avengers are our family in a sense. He’s using your life as a way to get to them and that is not fair at all.” Tony reassured him and continued to rub at his back but Peter shook his head.

“He doesn’t-doesn’t even under-understand anything.” Peter sobbed out and felt his phone ringing on the couch but he looked away from it and buried his face in his dad’s chest.

“Do you want me to talk to him?” Tony picked up the phone and asked but Peter shook his head so Tony put the phone down. “It’s okay, baby. Don’t listen to anything he said. He’s not being fair to you and what you’re going through.”

Peter didn’t respond. He fisted his dad’s shirt and tried to calm himself down.

His phone was ringing again so Tony picked it up and handed it to him. “Do you want to answer it? It’s okay if you don’t.”

Peter nodded his head because he didn’t want to fight with Ned and have this added stress on top of him but he wanted to talk in his bedroom so Tony didn’t have to hear. He took the phone from Tony and stood up. “I’m g-gonna go upstairs.”

He left after that and hit answer so he could hear what Ned had to say. “What?”

“Peter. I’m sorry. Are you mad at me? I didn’t mean to make you upset.” Ned sounded worried but Peter didn’t care.

He wiped at his cheeks and sniffed. “Well I am mad at you.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean what I said.”

“Then what did you mean?” Peter asked him, having no idea what Ned was getting at. He said what he said and he wouldn’t have said it if he wasn’t thinking it and felt that way.

Ned was silent for a few moments before speaking. “I just… I don’t know. I guess I’m just kinda mad at you for ignoring me for so long and not really telling me anything.”

“You’re being so mean.” Peter wiped desperately at his eyes and choked on a sob. “I-I wasn’t even on my phone a-all week. And-and it’s too hard for me to go to school.”

“I know but you can at least tell me that.”

“Why?” Peter didn’t see how that would make any sense. “I’m not gonna text you every morning and tell you if I’m going to s-school, Ned. That’s not even in my mind on those mornings.”

“See? That’s what I mean. Friends communicate these things to each other, Peter.”

Peter wanted to punch a wall. “Fine. I’ll save you the effort. I’m not coming to school tomorrow or the next day or the next day because dad took me out. I’m never going back.”

Ned was silent for a long time, Peter had to check if he hung up. “You what? Why aren’t you coming back to school? What does that even mean?”

Peter narrowed his eyes at Ned. “It means that I have separation anxiety from my dad. I literally can’t go to school and function properly, Ned. I felt like I was going to die every time I went. And you would have understood that if you were really my friend but instead you just got mad at me every time I didn’t show up or went home early and you didn’t even care to ask me.”

Peter took a breath. That felt good to say.

He didn’t feel bad for the sad look on his friends face. “Oh. I guess I didn’t really know.”

“Yeah. Because you never cared. You know, you barely asked how I was doing after May died.” That never really bugged him since he had Tony and he never really thought about it but now he was thinking about it and Ned was more focused on the fact of who his father was rather than the fact that he had a father and wasn’t living in a foster home.

Ned looked down and avoided the camera. “I tried but I never really saw you and you never answered any of my other texts.”

“Yeah, I wonder why, Ned.” Peter said sarcastically. “It’s because my Aunt just died. And-and now I have separation anxiety from dad and I know it’s really bad but I don’t really care anyways. It doesn’t matter.”

“I’m sorry, Peter. It’s just… it’s hard because I don’t really understand what you’re going through. Um… I mean, I-I never like, lost a parent. And you lost four and now you’re Iron Man’s son and-”

Peter scuffed. “See? That’s what I’m talking about. Stop saying Tony Stark like that and calling him Iron Man. He’s just my dad. Peter’s dad. You act like… you act like I’m some poor little orphan who gets to spend a fun week living in Stark tower. This is my life, Ned, and I don’t think of him that way.”

Ned stared at him. “You used to. Remember? We used to be huge fans of him and watch mostly all of his interviews and speeches and stuff.”

Peter looked off camera and at a picture of him and his dad in Miami. Tony was holding him in his arms and staring at him with a huge smile on his face while he looked at the camera and smiled for the picture. When he looked at the picture he just saw dad. He didn’t see Tony Stark or Iron Man or a billionaire. None of that was important to him anyways, what mattered was that he had someone who he loved and who loved him back.

“That was before. Things-things just changed now, Ned. He’s just- I… I’m not even going to tell you any of it.” Peter didn’t want to tell Ned anything. He wasn’t embarrassed about what he did in front of his dad but if he thought of Tony as Mr. Stark still then he would not be acting the way that he does.

Ned looked sad but he didn’t push it. “I’m sorry, Peter. I didn’t realize the way I was acting was hurting you.”

“Okay.” Was all Peter said but he didn’t feel the need to say anything else.

“So… did your dad really pull you out of school then?”

“Yeah. We both agreed on it. I’m Uh, I think I’m starting online school next week.” Peter debated bringing up his therapist but he decided against it. He shared enough with Ned today.

“Oh. Can we still see each other though? And um, I’m glad that everything is okay now. I hope being out of school makes you happier.” Ned tried so Peter appreciated the effort.

“Thanks and um, sure. Maybe you can come over sometime next week.” Peter said.

Ned smiled at him. “Sweet but I was thinking tomorrow we could hang out since it’s Friday and all.”

“Well, actually I’m going to Miami tomorrow with my dad for a few days.” Peter told him and felt butterflies fill his stomach at the thought of getting to chill freely on the beach a day from now most likely getting his butt burnt.

“That’s so cool. You’re so lucky. What’s it like there? Do you guys like have a house or something?” Ned asked him but he sounded a bit sad and Peter didn’t know why.

“Uh, yeah. It’s a house with like no other houses around so I can literally do whatever I want and dad let’s me.” Peter grabbed the picture on his nightstand table to show Ned. “This was us I think the last time we went. It was so much fun and the oceans cool. I like being in the sand.”

“You guys look really happy. And Mr. Stark looks like he loves you a lot.” Ned smiled, happy for his friend.

Peter grinned and gently put the picture back. “Yeah. Obviously, I’m his kid.” Peter lifted his phone up more and stood. “Anyways, I’m gonna go now. I’ll text you in a few days when we get back. Bye, Ned.”

“Bye, Peter. Have fun in Miami.”

Peter hung up the phone after that and put it back in his drawer so he could go downstairs and join his dad on the couch. “How’d it go?”

“Good. He said sorry and we talked. I’m still a bit bad at him but I don’t care anymore.” Peter moved his dad’s arm so it was wrapped around his body more.

“That’s good, baby. Don’t forgive people that easily otherwise they’ll walk all over you and you won’t even notice until it’s too late.” Tony didn’t want to show Peter what the real world was like. There were some awful people out there.

Peter nodded. “I just want to be in Miami.”

“I know. We will be soon. Are you gonna be good on the flight?” Tony asked but Peter was usually always well behaved on the flight there but never coming back.

Peter thought about it then nodded. “Uh huh. I’m always good.”

Tony played with a curl by Peter’s ear and hummed. “That’s debatable.”

Peter swatted his hand away and lifted his head up. “Hey. Meanie. Meanie beanie.”

“What’s a meanie beanie?” Tony asked him, amused at his new random nickname.

Peter shrugged his shoulders. “I just named you that, dad.” Peter grinned and turned to look at the tv when he heard something that sounded an awful lot like Spider-Man.

Tony shut the tv off and tried to distract Peter since he didn’t want him to hear the news and them talking about Spider-Man. Peter didn’t need anymore guilt from not going out and he didn’t want Peter to get any ideas.

“Did you want to go pack now? Let’s go do it together.” Tony went to stand up but Peter was trying to grab the remote again.

“No. What were they just saying?” Peter picked up the remote but Tony grabbed it from him. “Dad. They were talking about Spider-Man.”

“Were they? Huh. Wait, guess what.” Tony faked his excitement to get Peter to focus on him. It always worked and maybe he took a bit of advantage of that.

“What?” Peter asked, curious to see what Tony was talking about.

“You have to follow me upstairs to see.” Tony pulled Peter off the couch and led him up but he had no idea what he planned on showing Peter. He would figure that out when they got upstairs.

He led him into his bedroom and into his closet but then remembered the lego set he had put in there but forgot to give to Peter a few weeks ago. Perfect. “I have a surprise for you. We can bring it to Miami with us tomorrow.”

Peter bounced on his feet in his excitement as he waited for his dad to show him what his surprise was. He loved surprises. “Yes! I can’t wait. What is it?”

He watched his dad take something down from the top shelf and saw what it was. “Woah. A lego set! For me?”

Tony smiled and handed it to Peter. It’ll keep him busy for a few hours. “Yeah, bud. It’s all yours.”

Peter examined the lego box with a huge smile on his face before placing it down so he could pull his dad in for a hug. “Thank you.”

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Peter got to work on his legos while Tony did some work on his computer and occasionally glanced over to watch his kid.

He loved to see the way Peter went into his own little world and the concentration he showed on his face while he put together his blocks. Tony loved to watch his kid.

Peter looked over at his dad because he felt him staring at him. “What?”

“Nothing.” Tony looked away and went back to looking at his computer screen.

“You’re looking at me.” Peter told him and turned his body so he could face his dad fully.

Tony looked back down at Peter. “So? Am I not allowed looking at my son?”

Peter shrugged. “Well, yeah but you’re doing it too much.”

Tony had no idea how Peter even knew he was looking at him. He wasn’t even making it obvious. “Alright, well sorry then. Continue building while I make my glances less obvious.”

Peter sighed loudly. “Can I go out as Spider-Man, dad? I really want to and-and I never really got to finish my hour last time.”

Tony hated this question. Why couldn’t Peter ask him for a million dollars or something. “No. Not today. We have to eat soon and pack.”

“But I’m not hungry and I can go out for like two hours. Please, dad. Please.” Peter begged and sat up on his knees so he could crawl over to his dad and give him his best puppy dog eyes.

Tony looked at him. He tried to think about what would happen if he said no. Then Peter would be mad at him and most likely through a fit and nothing would get done tonight unless he somehow tried to make it up to him.

“Please. Dad. I’ll keep you updated and stuff.” Peter was itching to go out. He wanted to go out so badly.

Tony sighed, knowing he was giving in and by the hope in Peter’s eye, he knew he was giving in as well. “Fine. But only for two hours because we have to pack and you’re gonna have to shower.”

Peter jumped to his feet. “Yes! Yay! Thank you, dad! Thank you.” After giving a quick hug to his dad, he took off running towards his bedroom but then remembered that his suit was in his dad’s lab so he ran back and bumped into Tony. “Oops. I forgot my suit in your lab.”

“Yeah, let’s go get it.”

Ten minutes later, he was changed and ready to go. Karen had already put on his suit heater which caused him to start sweating but as soon as he got outside, he was extremely grateful for it.

The cold air hit him hard. He had no idea it was this cold out but he got two hours as Spider-Man so he was going to take advantage of those two hours and protect the city.

Peter shot a web out and caught himself onto the side of a building. He attached to the wall and began climbing to the top which he liked to do to look out into the city and ask Karen for any updates.

Once he got to the stil, he squatted at the edge and smiled behind his mask. “Any crime for me today, Karen?”

“I am detecting a mugging about to happen in the alleyway to your right.” Karen supplied and so Peter was off. For some reason he expected Karen to not have anything for him. He was a tad rusty but that was okay. He would pick up on it soon enough.

“Thanks, Karen!” Peter took off in that direction. He jumped down just in time to get between a man and two other men who both had brass knuckles. “Do you guys even know how to use those? It’s a pretty dangerous weapon.”

Both men looked at him. “That’s why we have them. Get the fuck out of here.”

Peter gasped. “You swore. That’s not good.” He webbed up the man’s mouth at the same time as he webbed his hand to the wall and his feet for good measure.

“What? Are you like five? Get the fuck out of here.” The other one said so Peter looked over his shoulder to watch as the man who was about to get mugged, run away. Peter finished up the job and smirked to himself as he swung away. Still got it!

He continued to swing through the cold air, feeling free.

He liked the cold but he loved the heat and he would really appreciate being on a beach right now while he dug in the sand. He wished he could take Karen with him. “Hey, Karen, do you know what sand is?”

Karen laughed lightly. “Of course I do, Peter. Your dad has programmed me to know everything about anything and more.”

Peter grinned at the mention of his dad. “Yeah. He’s smart. I’m smart too though, Karen. Ask me a hard question.”

“What is the circumference of the sun?”

Peter grinned. Easy. “4.379 million kilometers. And Earth is 40,075 kilometres.”

“I am very impressed, Peter. Good job.” Peter blushed at Karen’s praise. It felt good.

He jumped off another roof so he could get a better view of the park ahead of him. There was no one playing in the snow and that made him sad. There should be kids playing at the park with their parents or their friends or something. Maybe he could ask his dad to take him later.

Peter went to jump off the building again when Karen spoke up. “Peter, I am detecting a small life form in the dumpster behind the alleyway.”

Peter gasped. “Like-like a baby?” He knew of a story once where someone had brought in a baby to May’s work after it was left to die in a garbage can.

“I cannot detect for sure.”

Peter felt a shiver run up his spine but not from the cold this time.

He slowly climbed down the side of the building and started making his way towards the back. He listened for any crying or anything but he couldn’t hear anything. “Karen? Can you tell me?” He really didn’t want to look inside the dumpster and see something lifeless.

“Because of the cold, it is hard to get a reading on what it is, Peter. I am sorry.” Peter sighed. He thought Karen was smart.

He walked closer to the dumpster and looked around. Last time he went behind the buildings, he fell and cut his leg open then bled so much he thought he wet the bed. Maybe he should just make a run for it? No, he couldn’t. He was Spider-Man so he had to look inside-

Peter’s thoughts were cut off when he heard something. He tried to remain as still as possible but then he heard it again.

A meow.

Curiosity got the better of him so he rushed over to the dumpster and tried to peek his head over to look inside but he couldn’t reach the top so he stepped on some boxes and climbed up the side. “Hello? Are you in there? Meow again, cat.”

Peter stayed still and listened.

Another meow.

A smile appeared on Peter’s face. There was a kitty in the dumpster and he was going to save him. He carefully looked around but there were garbage bags and he didn’t want to accidentally step on it.

Once he made sure he was clear, he carefully climbed into the dumpster and started to look for the cat but the meow sounded odd. Like it wasn’t fully a meow.

He then thought about the fact that it was absolutely freezing and the poor cat was probably so hungry. He moved a garbage bag and heard the meow again but it was a lot louder this time.

“I’m coming. I’m gonna help you but I can’t find you.” Peter stepped over what looked like a printer and moved another bag but underneath that bag wasn’t a cat.

It was a tiny orange kitten.

The sight melted Peter’s heart. “Hi. You’re so cute. You’re a kitten.” Peter carefully bent down and picked up the tiny, boney kitten.

It was shaking uncontrollably and looked so scared and desperate for some love. Peter hugged the kitten gently to his chest to try and generate some body heat so it wasn’t shivering so much.

He climbed out of the dumpster and squatted down to try and get a better look at the kitten. It was meowing at him and trying to wiggle its way out of his hands so Peter carefully put him on the cold concrete but it was now desperately meowing at him as if it wanted him to pick him up.

It reminded Peter of himself with his dad.

He scooped the kitten back up and held it in front of him. He was all dirty but it wasn’t anything a nice bath couldn’t fix.

As Peter stood up, he looked around for a daddy cat but he couldn’t find any. “Where’s your daddy, kitten? And don’t you have siblings?”

Peter walked around the dumpster but he couldn’t see any other cats. “Karen? Where’s his cat family?”

“I believe he was left here because I cannot find any other heat signatures.” Karen told him so Peter looked around one last time before looking down at the kitten against his chest. He had no idea what to do with him but he knew he couldn’t leave the poor, helpless animal out on his own and it’s not like he could go door to door asking if anyone wanted a kitten.

He wanted a kitten.

Peter made sure the kitten was tucked safely against himself then he climbed the side of a building. It was harder to do with one arm but he could do it.

“Okay. I got you safe so just… don’t move around or I might drop you.” Peter warned the kitten. “But I won’t drop you.”

With that, Peter took off.

Swinging back to the tower was incredibly hard. He almost dropped the kitten three times and he felt so bad for it since it was probably so scary. He knew how scared, confused and cold the poor thing was so he wanted to get his new friend home as quickly as he could.

He had no idea what his dad was going to say so he had to hide the kitten until he could figure something out.

Once he got back to the tower, he climbed in through the same way he left and tried to be as quiet as possible. “FRIDAY, don’t tell dad I have a kitten. Where is he?”

“Boss is currently cleaning the kitchen.” FRIDAY replied to his second request but not his first.

He tucked the kitten more under his arm and told it to be quiet. He had to make it upstairs or to the bathroom in the hallway.

Once the elevator doors opened, Peter made a dash for the stairs but his dad was walking out so he had to run towards the bathroom.

“Hey, Pete. You’re home ear- what’s wrong?” Tony watched Peter make a mad dash into the bathroom so he walked over to see what that was all about but the door was being slammed and locked. Never once had Peter shut the door when going to the bathroom. Not even when they first started hanging out. “Peter? What is it?”

Once Peter was out of sight from his dad, he put the kitten on the floor and stepped out of his suit. “Uh, nothing.”

Tony knocked on the door and tried to open it. “Peter, open this door right now or I will.”

Peter tried to think of something to say. “I pooped my pants. By accident. Give me a minute.”

Tony scrunched his nose up in confusion but he honestly wasn’t surprised. “Okay. Let me help you. Open the door.”

Peter started to panic. “No! I-I don’t want you to see me naked.”

“What?” Tony had no idea where that came from. “I don’t care, just open the door.” Tony knew something more was going on. If Peter actually pooped his freakin pants, he would not be locking himself in the bathroom.

Peter couldn’t hide the kitten anymore. He needed to get Tony away from the bathroom so he unlocked the door and opened it a bit.

Tony looked Peter over from head to toe then grabbed his arm to turn him around. “Did you actually…?” He pulled the back of Peter’s underwear back but there was nothing there. “You didn’t poo your pants.”

Peter shrugged. “No, I said I was going to…”

“No. You said you did.” Tony crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at his kid who was obviously hiding something. “Out with it.”

Peter looked around and tried to think about what to say. He was totally blank and couldn’t come up with anything so he decided to just tell his dad. “Fine. While I was out as Spider-Man I was talking with Karen and after she said I was really smart she said she was detecting something in the dumpster so I went to go look and at first I thought it was like a baby or something because the way she was describing it but then when I climbed inside I found a little tiny kitten and I-”

Tony’s eyes went wide. Peter would do that too. “No. You brought it home, didn’t you? Peter.”

Tony pushed the door open and there, sitting on the floor was a tiny, orange kitten that looked extremely malnourished.

“Peter.” He pulled Peter away from the bathroom because he’s positive that that thing has some sort of disease. “Tell me you didn’t touch that thing with your bare hands?”

Peter gasped at his dad. “It’s not a thing. He’s a kitten. And I love him.”

“Peter, no.” Tony tried to pull Peter away from the bathroom again but Peter was pulling against him. “It could have rabies or something. Don’t touch it.”

“He doesn’t. He’s my friend, dad. He was crying for me and I saved him and now you’re being so rude to him and he just wants someone to hug him.” Peter pulled away from his dad and stepped into the bathroom.

“Don’t touch it.” Tony didn’t like pets. He loved animals but he loved them from afar. He didn’t like the responsibility that came with having pets. People always said it was like having kids but he has a kid and he knows having a pet is nothing like that.

“He needs love, dad. Look how scared he is.” Peter squatted down to reach out for the kitten then it was meowing and walking towards Peter so before Tony could pull him back, Peter lifted the tiny animal into his arms and stood up. “See? Isn’t he so cute? He wants me to give him a bath, dad.”

Tony stared at the orange looking rat in Peter’s arms and cringed. “Okay. No. Give me the cat, Peter.”

“No!” Peter snapped. “He’s mine. I love him so much and he wants me to hold him. He doesn’t have anyone else, dad. I looked but his daddy cat was gone.”

Despite Tony’s internal panic, his heart melted. Peter didn’t have anyone else but a dad so his mind automatically went to cat dad and not cat mom. “Aw, Pete. Kittens stay with their moms. Not the daddy’s.”

Peter cuddled the kitten closer to his face and Tony cringed. “Then I’ll be his daddy.”

“No. I’m way too young to be a grandpa. Put the cat down.” Tony reached over to try and take the cat from Peter but both of them whimpered.

“He wants a bath. Can I bring him in a bath with me?” Peter pet it’s head and looked up at his dad.

“Ew. No. Give it to me. He’s probably starving so let’s go get it some warm milk and then we’ll set up some blankets in a box or something.” Tony took the cat from
Peter despite the protest.

When he had it in his hands, he realized how soft the thing was. He held it against his chest and looked down at it looking up at him with two tired but grateful looking eyes.

“Then he wants to come in the bath with me.” Peter continued saying and chased after his dad.

“He’s a baby, Pete. He doesn’t know how to swim plus he’s scared.” Tony opened the fridge to grab the milk and poured it into a bowl then put it in the microwave so it was warm. He had no idea how long the poor thing was outside for but it wasn’t like he had any kitten food to give it.

“Yeah. He’s just a baby.” Peter grabbed onto Tony’s arm and waited for him to place him on the floor so he could sit with him while he drank. “He wants me to hold him.”

“No, let him eat, baby. He’s hungry.” Tony placed the bowl and the kitten on the floor then pulled Peter up. “Go grab a towel from upstairs so we can make him comfortable.”

While he watched Peter run off, he tried to decide what he was going to do with the cat. He was going to have to take it to a vet or something to get someone to take care of it and possibly get it treated then sent to a forever home but he didn’t want to tell Peter that just yet.

The kitten was drinking his milk like there was no tomorrow and it was sad to think just how hungry the thing was. It would surely have starved to death or froze if Peter didn’t save it when he did.

Peter came running back down and making the kitten flinch but then it went back to drinking. “I’ll cover him.” Peter went to go do that but Tony bent down to stop him.

“Put it under his feet so it’s warmer.” Tony picked the kitten up so he could slide the towel under and then Peter and lying down so his knees were under his chest and he could look at the kitten drink.

“Hungry boy.” Peter pointed out and Tony laughed. “I love him so much. He’s a baby.”

“You don’t love him, Pete. You just met the kitten.” Tony was so glad he wasn’t having this conversation with Peter about an actual person. That would be too much for him and he wasn’t ready for that yet. Peter wasn’t allowed dating until after college.

Peter frowned. “But I saved him. And he was so happy when I did because he loves me. And I love him.”

“How do you know if it’s a boy? It could be a girl cat.” Tony leaned his head down to try and look but he didn’t even know what he was looking for.

“He’s a baby boy. Karen said him.” Peter answered and went back to staring at the kitten.

“We’ll ask the vet when we bring him then.” Tony brought up causally.

Peter looked up at him. “He stays here. With us.”

“He needs a vet to look at him and make sure he’s okay, bud. He could be really sick and in pain.” Tony explained and Peter gasped.

“Oh no.”

“Yeah, so after he eats and warms up, we’ll go drop him off at the vet.” Tony told Peter.

Peter sat up and stuck out his bottom lip as he thought about it. “But… then we’ll take him home after the vet looks at him?”

Tony sighed sadly. “No, baby. We’re going to Miami tomorrow. Where will he go while we’re gone?”

Peter moved so he could go and sit on his dad's leg and reached out to play with Tony’s necklace. “At the vet. Then after we get back and we pick him up and take him home with us.”

“I know you want to keep him but we can’t have a pet, bud. They’re too much work and what happens if we have to go to Malibu again or we want to leave somewhere for the weekend? We can’t leave him at home.” Tony tried to explain to Peter who looked like he was about to cry at any second.

“Then we take him with us.” Peter simply explained but Tony just stared at him.

“He’s not a dog, Petey. We can’t do that.” Tony cupped Peter’s cheek and then there was a tiny weight on his other leg so he looked over and saw the kitten climbing up on him and looking over at Peter.

“He loves you.” Peter said then leaned his head against Tony’s chest and moved himself closer to him. He reached out to pet the kittens head ever so gently and smiled when the kitten leaned into his touch.

Tony watched them. Maybe this would be good for Peter. Maybe this kitten could help him with everything going on in his life some way. Assuming the cat doesn’t die in the next few days. He wouldn’t tell Peter that.

Peter picked the kitten up and sat up more so he could look at his face. “He’s cute.” The kitten yawned and Peter cooed at it before hugging it against his chest. “Aww. Look.”

“I’m looking, Pete.” Tony reached out to pet the fur. It was cute but it did need a bath. He didn’t want to do that and potentially hurt the thing so that was better left up to the professionals. “Are you ready to go? Go put some clothes on and I’ll go grab a bag or something.”

Peter sighed and shook his head. “No. I don’t wanna go.”

The billionaire ran his hand through Peter’s curls. “Baby, we have to take him for a check up. He’s been outside for so long and he needs some help from the animal doctor.”

“Fine. But then I want to bring him back home with me.” Peter slid off of his dad’s lap and said with a pout. He didn’t want to get rid of his new friend because it wasn’t fair to the kitten. He deserved to have a happy life with people who loved him.

“We’ll see, Pete. Okay? Go get dressed and then we’ll go.” Tony didn’t expect today to end up like this. They were supposed to be packing and getting ready for Miami.

He picked the kitten up along with the towel and then he walked down the hallway to grab a box out of his office. The box wasn’t very big but neither was the kitten and he didn’t have anything else to put it in.

After the kitten was in the box, it started meowing so Tony set the box on the floor for Peter to carry on their way down to the car. Peter ran over to him and Tony noticed that his pants were on backwards. “What happened here? Fix them.”

“No. I don’t want to.” Peter kneeled down to look inside the box while Tony grabbed his winter boots and jacket so Peter could put that on and they could get a move on.

Once they were ready to go, the three of them made their way into the elevator and down to the garage. Peter placed the box on his lap for the drive and surprisingly the kitten was staying still. Tony thought that it had something to do with Peter petting it and keeping it calm.

Once they got to the vet, Peter ever so carefully carried the box inside and stared down at the kitten that was now meowing at him. “It’s okay, baby kitty.”

Tony smiled at his kid then walked up to the front desk. The woman was staring at him like the way everyone did whenever they saw him out in public. He was used to it. “Excuse me, my son and I were out walking and we found a kitten,”

Peter stood beside him and lifted the box up. “I found him in a dumpster and he might be sick.”

Tony pulled Peter’s head against his side before Peter gave away too much. “Yeah so we brought him back home and gave him some milk but I just want to make sure he’s not infested or anything.”

The woman got out of her trance and walked around the desk to look inside the box. “Of course. It’s a good thing you brought him in. Especially in this weather. You just saved his life. Let’s have a look at this little guy.”

She looked inside the box and smiled. “Oh. He is so young. He definitely needs me to get a check up by the vet just to make sure everything is okay.”

“When are they gonna come out?” Peter asked, not letting go of the box.

“I’m going to take the kitten to the back where the vet is, honey.” The lady explained to Peter but Peter wasn’t having it. He shook his head and walked back over to Tony’s side.

“Hand her the kitten, Pete. It’s okay. He might be sick, remember what we talked about?” Tony asked while he ran his head through Peter’s hair. He knew this was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

“How about this, I’ll go get the vet and he’ll come out here to say hello.” The lady suggested and Peter nodded so she walked away. It amazed Tony how Peter had that effect on people. Or maybe it was because Peter was his son.

The vet was walking out from the back and immediately went to shake Tony’s hand. “Hi. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Dr. Valon.”

After Tony greeted the man, he was kneeling down in front of Peter and looking in the box. “Did you rescue her?”

“It’s him.” Peter corrected.

“Well it’s always hard to tell when they’re this young but we can sure have a look.” He went to pick the kitten up and flipped it over before smiling at Peter. “Wow. You’re so smart. He is a boy.”

Peter nodded. “Can you tell if he’s sick or not because then he’s coming home with me and my dad?”

The vet looked up at Tony confused who was just as confused. “Oh. Do you plan on adopting him?”

Peter nodded his head. “Yeah. After he’s not sick.”

“Petey, we can’t keep him. He’s gonna go to another family who will love him.” Tony said, knowing he was going to make Peter start crying but they couldn’t have a cat.

Peter turned to look up at him. “No. We have to. We’ll love him.”

Tony sighed when he saw Peter’s bottom lip start to wobble and the box start to slip a bit so he helped support the box and gestured for the vet to take it from Peter. Peter immediately shot his hand out but as the box was in the vet's hands, he started crying freely now so Tony pulled Peter against his chest.

“It’s okay. How about we go home and do something together?” Tony suggested but Peter didn’t respond and weakly pointed towards the back where the kitten was brought. “Come, Pete. You know we couldn’t have a cat. What are we gonna do with a cat?”

Peter tried to wipe at his eyes but it wasn’t working. “P-play with h-him.”

“What happens when we have to go away overnight?” Tony knew they had an audience but he felt like he didn’t care. Peter was crying for a valid reason. He pulled Peter over to a waiting chair and sat him down then kneeled down in front of him.

Peter hiccuped a few times and looked towards the back. “S-Steve.”

Tony smiled but shook his head. “He doesn’t want to babysit a cat. Plus what if he’s busy? We can’t have a pet, Petey. Maybe one day when you’re older. Okay?”

“No. I want him.” Peter started crying harder and Tony was scared to turn around and see who was watching. “I-I found him whe-when he was crying for m-me.”

Tony sighed. Peter really wanted this cat. Maybe it would be good for him. Maybe this would help the both of them plus it wouldn’t be so bad cuddling up to the cat when it was clean and they knew for sure they wouldn’t catch any bugs from it.

“Okay. We can keep him. Alright, but he’s your responsibility. Meaning you have to feed him and make sure he always has water and play with him.” Tony couldn’t believe he was giving in but he was, plus he’s never had a pet before so maybe this would be fun.

Peter wiped at his nose and tried to stop crying. “R-really?”

“Yeah, so let’s wipe these tears away.” He wiped the tears off of Peter’s cheeks and cupped them. “Are you happy now?”

Peter nodded his head and threw himself into his arms. “Yes! Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you. Let’s go get him now.”

Peter stood up so Tony stood up as well to stop him. “No, Pete. He still has to stay here to get checked out by the vet. We will come to pick him up when he’s ready to come home with us.”

“Oh. But I need to tell him that. Please. Then he’ll be sad.” Peter turned to him.

Tony put his arm around Peter and went to go ask the lady but she was nodding her head with a gentle smile on her face and walking away to go grab the vet again.

A few minutes later, the vet was walking out with the kitten in his hands. “Is he going to be yours now?”

Peter nodded his head and reached out to take his kitten back into his arms. “Yeah. We’re taking him home after.”

“I’m so glad. Look, he loves you already. He’s not that happy with me.” The vet told Peter which caused him to giggle and lift the kitten up to press a kiss to its fur.

“No, Pete. Let the kitten get all clean first.” Tony cringed. He couldn’t help but reach over and wipe Peter’s mouth because gross. Typical of Peter.

“Yeah, maybe let’s save any kisses for after I check him out.” The vet agreed with Tony so Peter said his last temporary goodbyes to the kitten before handing him over and getting a small meow in return.

“Mr. Stark, all the vaccinations will be done on the kitten but would you like anything extra? Neutering? Declawing?” The lady asked him and he was caught off guard. He had a cat. He was a cat owner.

“Uh…”

Peter cut him off. “What’s neutering?”

“Uh…” Tony didn’t want to tell him at first but he didn’t know why. Reproduction was a part of life. “It’s so he can’t make babies anymore.”

Peter’s eyes went wide. “No! I want more babies. So we can keep all the babies.”

“No more babies. Uh…” He rubbed his eyes and looked back at the lady who was waiting patiently. “Yes to the neutering and no to the declawing. And is it possible to get it microchipped?”

“Yes. Of course and do you have a name at all? I’m guessing not yet.”

Tony turned to look at Peter who was looking inside the window glass at a bunch of cats up for adoption. “No. Not yet.”

“Alright, Mr. Stark, your new kitten will be ready for you to pick up in five days and we’ll have all the paperwork for you then.” She happily told him and he still couldn’t believe he was about to own a cat.

“Thank you so much.” He turned to grab Peter’s hand. “Say thank you.”

“Thank you.” Peter turned and waved to the lady then looked back at his dad. “Can we go to the park?”

“No, Peter. We have to pack but how about we get McDonald’s for dinner?” Tony suggested because he didn’t feel like cooking anymore. They didn’t have time now because he had to get Peter showered with hair washing and that always took twice as long.

“Yay! I love today. First we adopt a baby kitten and now we get McDonald’s.” Peter cheered and hugged Tony tightly. “Thank you. Thank you for letting me keep my kitten. I didn’t want him to go to another family because I love him so much.”

“Aw, Pete. Of course. I think he’s going to fit in perfectly.” Tony hoped that cat liked crying and screaming because that’s what it was like daily at their house. With the mixture of laughter of course.

He had to remind himself that it was only a phase and it’ll pass over soon.

The two of them got back into the car and drove to the McDonald’s that was down the street. Peter couldn’t contain his excitement and wanted the McDonald’s as soon as possible. “Can I get chicken nuggets?”

“Yeah, but something else too like a burger because I want you to eat more.” Tony pulled into the long drive thru but that didn’t matter when he had his favorite companion with him.

Peter tried to read off the menu. “Umm… more chicken nuggets?”

“You can get as many chicken nuggets as you want but you also have to order a burger or something.” Tony knew McDonald’s wasn’t the best way to fatten up his kid with healthy foods but Peter was on the smaller side and lately he’s been even pickier with food and even he was noticing Peter becoming skinnier when he picks him up.

“Um… the cheeseburger.” Peter answered because it came with a toy if he got that. “Can you ask them for the Iron Man toy?”

Tony smirked. He even had merch at McDonald’s. “Sure, buddy. Just for you.”

It turns out that Tony didn’t even have to ask for an Iron Man toy because they were giving him one anyways after seeing who was in the drive thru.

Tony went to go park the car somewhere so they could eat while sitting in the car. It was so cosy inside, especially knowing they were leaving for Miami tomorrow morning.

Peter pulled his toy out and looked it over. “Your head is so big. I like it.”

Tony took a sip of his coke and looked at it. “Woah. Well, we know they weren’t basing that off an actual model.”

With a giggle, Peter held the toy up to his dad’s head to make fun of him. “I don’t know. It looks pretty accurate the more I look at it.”

“Hey,” Tony whacked Peter’s hand away. “Rude. Let me see that.” He grabbed it from Peter and tried to see what the model make was. It didn’t look like any of his marks. “What Mark do you think this is?”

Peter sat up on his knees and looked over at the toy. “Umm… I don’t know. Maybe Mark 50 or something.” Peter reached into his bag and pulled out his chicken nuggets with ketchup.

Tony watched him pour his ketchup out and get some on the seat but he didn’t care. Before, he would have freaked out and wanted to get his car cleaned thoroughly inside and out but if he did that now, his car would be getting cleaned every hour since it’s a guarantee that Peter was going to make some kind of mess.

It didn’t phase him anymore.

Peter took a sip of his drink after he saw Tony take a sip of his then he was reaching out for Tony’s. “I want some.”

“No, it’s pop.” Tony had never given Peter pop before. He had no idea how he was going to react.

“Can I try? I’ve never had pop before.” Peter put down his own drink and tried to reach out for Tony’s again.

“You’ve never had pop before?” Tony didn’t believe that. He’s had to have had it at a classroom Christmas party or something like that.

“Uh… once May gave me orange pop but then she said I couldn’t ever drink pop again because I was up all night.” Peter remembered that night. He felt like he had so much energy.

Tony chuckled. “I could only imagine.”

Peter still tried to reach out for the cup. “Please. Just a sip because it looks good.”

Tony knew that one sip wouldn’t do anything and he also knew that Peter wasn’t going to like it. “Fine. You aren’t going to like it though.”

“Hmmm.” Peter reached for the cup so Tony held it out for him to take a sip but instead of swallowing, Peter’s face scrunched up and he was coughing it out, causing the pop to spill out of his mouth and all down the front of his clothes. “Ew. It’s spicy.”

Tony was shocked at first but now it was just funny and he couldn’t stop laughing. “Spicy? It’s not spicy, Pete.” He grabbed some napkins and wiped Peter’s face but he couldn’t stop laughing.

“I don’t like it.” Peter moved his head away from Tony trying to clean his face and reached for a chicken nugget.

“I told you you wouldn’t. Silly boy.” He ruffled his kids curls and took another bite of his burger. “Hey, bud? After we eat, do you wanna run over to Walmart to grab some more pool floats for tomorrow?”

Peter nodded his head even after he shoved a chicken nugget in his mouth.

After they were done, Tony drove to the closest Walmart but the only parking space that was available was practically all the way at the back so they had to cross the icy and snowy parking lot.

“Put your boots back on and don’t run because it’s icy.” Tony took off his seatbelt and got out of the car, almost slipping on ice already.

Once Peter got his boots on, he got out of the car and went to go walk around to the other side where his dad was but he realized he put his boots on on the wrong feet so it felt weird.

“It’s snowing out too.” Peter pointed out. It was such a beautiful evening with the snow falling down and the parking lot lights shining just enough so they could see where they were going while the sun was quickly setting.

“Yeah. So we have to be quick because it’s supposed to be a snow storm later tonight.” Tony didn’t know when the snow storm was supposed to get really bad but he hoped it stopped in time for their early flight tomorrow.

Peter walked next to his dad but he kept tripping over his boots because they were on wrong and it was hurting his feet. “My shoes are on the wrong feet.”

Tony looked down and saw that Peter did in fact have banana feet. “How did you manage to do that?” He didn’t expect an answer since there wasn’t much that could be done about it right now.

“I was rushing.” Peter answered and tried to keep up with his dad but he was walking too quickly and his boots weren’t being any help so when he stepped on ice, he couldn’t catch himself so he slipped and landed on his butt. “Ow.”

Tony turned around and saw Peter sitting on the snowy, wet ground so he quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him onto his feet and wiped off his butt and his legs to get as much of the dirty snow off as possible but it had already made his grey pants, dark grey on his butt. Great.

“It’s cold.” Peter tried to pull back his pants so Tony sighed and debated just heading back to the car now but they were already there.

“I know. It’ll dry when we get into the store. Stop walking like that and you won’t fall.” Tony grabbed Peter’s arm and pulled his hood onto his head but Peter was pushing it off so he just left it.

When they got into the store, it wasn’t any warmer but he wasn’t surprised. It wasn’t like they put the heat on in Walmart.

He wanted Peter to change his boots at the front but there was way too many people staring at them so they walked to the back of the store in the sporting section where the swimming stuff would be so they could change it there.

“Woah! They have dolphins, dad.” Peter looked up at all the pool floats in amazement. There were so many.

“Let’s change your shoes first.” Tony told him and unzipped his jacket because he was sweating now.

Peter ignored him. “I like the unicorn. Look, I can sit inside it.”

Tony kneeled down so he could change Peter’s boots himself. The things he does for his kid. “Lift your leg.”

As Tony was changing Peter’s boots, a voice was calling Peter and he immediately cringed at that because he hated bumping into people.

“Peter? I saw you down the aisle but I wasn’t sure if it was you or not.” The woman’s voice said and both Stark’s turned to look at her.

Tony recognized her immediately. It was Mrs. Vans, the school’s psychologist.

“Hi.” Peter shyly said and lifted up his other foot so Tony could change his other boot.

“What happened to your pants?” She looked at the back of Peter’s pants and looked sympathetic. Tony hoped she didn’t think he peed his pants or anything.

“I fell in the parking lot.” Peter told her.

Tony stood up fully and straightened out his clothes. “He somehow managed to put his boots on the wrong feet and apparently I was walking too fast.” He looked down at Peter and cringed. Oh no.

He was just realizing that he was that parent. No. Peter looked like a disaster. He had different colour stains all down the front of his white shirt. His pants were on backwards and wet. He had his hair sticking up in every angle and he was pretty sure there was paint and ketchup in it and not to mention the ketchup stains on his face.

No. He cringed. How could he let Peter leave the car looking like that.

“Oh no. That’s alright. Sometimes even I still get confused what foot goes where.” Mrs. Vans laughed warmly but Tony was embarrassed because he let Peter look like that.

He tried to flatten his hair down but Peter was trying to push him away. “You know, we were kinda in a rush to leave so he’s looking a bit of a mess right now.” He picked at a French fry crumb in Peter’s hair and sighed.

“Stop.” Peter pushed his prodding hands away from him and attempted to climb onto the shelf’s.

“That’s alright. It’s fun to get messy anyways. I’ll leave you guys to it. I’m really sad to see that you’ve left Midtown but sometimes we all need necessary changes in our life.” She smiled and waved bye one last time before leaving.

Tony liked her. He always has since he was a good judge of character and she genuinely had Peter’s best interests at heart.

“Pete, stop climbing. I will grab it for you.” Tony pulled Peter onto the floor and reached up for the inflatable unicorn. Interesting choice. “This looks fun. Are you gonna sit inside?”

“Uh huh. Can we get it?”

“Of course, Pete. Do you see anything else you want?” Tony held the box under his arm and watched Peter walk down the aisle. His pants were sagging and looked absolutely ridiculous. It was actually hilarious so he pulled out his phone and took a picture so he could send it off to Pepper.

“Um… no.” Peter didn’t want to buy something for buying sake. He didn’t see anything he wanted.

“Pull these up.” Tony walked up behind Peter and pulled up the back of his pants because he was low riding and not in a cool way.

“Uncomfortable.” Peter whined but then he spotted something that caught his eye and went to go see what it was exactly. He picked up the colourful box but sighed and put it back down since it wasn’t what he thought it was. “Never mind. I thought they were lego men.”

“Not lego men. You ready to go?” Tony ran a hand through his curls.

“Yep.”