All The Stars Align

It was already Pepper’s last day in Miami and Tony was a bit disappointed. Time always flew by whenever they were in Miami, making days feel like minutes.

They had one more day to themselves which sucked since now they had to go back to cold New York and go back to their crazy life. Not that Tony would change his crazy life with Peter for anything else.

He loved it, despite himself being exhausted almost all of the time.

He turned around when he heard Peter make his way out of the bathroom and tugging up his bathing suit. “Are you hungry?”

Peter shook his head. “I want a popsicle.”

Tony opened up the freezer to get that for his kid. He knew Peter was feeling a lot better after the first night Pepper was over and he basically cried himself to sleep because of the pain. He wasn’t forcing Peter to eat anything that he didn’t want to eat, even if it was popsicles for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Who was he to tell Peter it didn’t hurt and force him to eat when he clearly didn’t want to.

He handed Peter a popsicle which was going to be his lunch if Peter didn’t want to eat anything else, which he wouldn’t.

Pepper walked down the stairs with her suitcase and a sad look on her face. “Well… this is it. I’m off once again while you guys get to stay here and enjoy the ocean.”

Tony wiped down the counter from all the sticky popsicle wrappers. “Yeah, just for one more day and then we’re leaving too.”

Peter walked over to lean against his dad. “No. We’re staying here forever.”

Tony shook his head fondly as he pushed Peter against his side. “No. We’ll come back though. Maybe in a month or something.”

Peter grinned and went back to sucking loudly on his popsicle. It used to annoy the hell out of Tony when he did that. He remembers once when he first met Peter and picked him up from school, he took the kid to get popsicles at an old shop on the way to the Compound and Peter was sucking up a storm.

He had told Peter to stop and eat the popsicle property but Peter didn’t. He had just looked at Tony innocently and told him that’s how he eats popsicles so Tony let it go.

Now, he isn’t phased by it at all. In fact, he actually finds it quite cute now.

“Remember, you have a new little friend to pick up when you get back home.” Pepper told Peter then pressed a kiss to his forehead and stood up straighter.

Peter couldn’t wait. He had a new little kitten back at home waiting for him and he couldn’t wait to go see him again and take him home.

Tony was glad that Pepper didn’t hate the idea of them having a kitten. Peter was the first one who told her and she didn’t believe the fourteen year old until Tony had confirmed it.

It was the perfect little addition to their family and who knew, maybe it would help Peter with his separation anxiety in a way.

“You gotta think of a name, Pete. We can’t name him kitten.” Tony ran his fingers through Peter’s hair to brush his long curls off his forehead but then Peter turned around and rubbed sticky popsicle all over him. “Ew. Keep that away from me.”

“We can name him Baby. Because he’s a baby.”

“But he’s gonna grow into an adult cat soon so we can’t name him Baby, Petey.” Tony pinched Peter’s cheek and got more stickiness on him. He didn’t know why he didn’t learn, Peter was covered in some sort of sticky juice or something almost all of the time.

Peter tried to think of a new name but he came up blank. He would have to wait and see what fits his new kitten after they pick him up tomorrow.

He stepped aside to let Pepper say goodbye to his dad and give him a hug, totally oblivious to the chemistry between the two.

“Bye. Call me when you get to Malibu.” Tony pressed a kiss to her cheek, moving a little closer to her lips but Peter didn’t notice since he was clueless about that kind of stuff.

“I will. You guys be safe and put lots of sunscreen on.” She pointed at Peter especially.

“We will. Notice how he doesn’t have one burn on him. I’m a good dad.” Tony shrugged, he liked to think he was a pretty good dad, at least Peter definitely thought so.

“Yeah. Not even on my butt like last time.” Peter pulled down the back of his bathing suit a bit and both adults just smiled fondly at him.

“Let’s not let that happen again.” He didn’t want another night of that. Peter had refused to sleep and said that he wanted to stand up all night. He was sad but funny.

After they walked Pepper to her car and said their last goodbyes, Peter ran back into the house and towards the backside so they could go swim some more. “Now that Pepper’s gone you have to teach me how to swim.”

Tony had tried to teach Peter while Pepper was here but Peter kept getting distracted and telling Tony to throw him into Pepper’s arms like that would have ended well. So he decided that he would try to teach Peter how to swim on their last full day.

He knew he couldn’t teach Peter how to swim in one day but it was worth a shot. Then, the next time they come, they will stay for longer, just the two of them and Peter will no longer need his life jacket.

Still, Tony wasn’t in any rush to get Peter to stop wearing his life jacket since he found it cute and it kept Peter’s head above the water.

“Yeah. Jump in.” Tony walked into the pool and walked to the edge of the shallow end before it dropped off.

Peter hesitated. “I think I want to put my life jacket back on.”

“No. Just sit on the edge and slide in then. I’m here, Pete, and if you haven’t already noticed, I’m a pretty good swimmer.” He thought he was pretty decent. He trusted his skills. Sure, he wouldn’t beat an Olympic swimmer in a race but he was a good swimmer anyways.

He patted the edge of the pool to gesture Peter over to him. “Come, Pete. You can touch the ground here.”

“Barely. The water goes up to my neck.” Peter explained as if he was saddened by the fact.

“It’s okay. I’ll be here so jump in.” Peter still looked hesitant so Tony sighed. “How about you jump in and if you still want to, you can put your life jacket on?”

Peter thought about it before nodding and sitting down at the edge then he threw himself into the water and immediately went under so Tony grabbed his arms and pulled him back up. “Yay. Wasn’t that fun? You did it without your life jacket.”

Peter wiped the water out of his eyes and smiled proudly at his new accomplishment. “Yeah. Let me see if I can touch.” He held onto Tony’s hands but put his legs straight and looked up so no water got up his nose. “I can touch! Just on my tippy toes though.”

“Do you want to try swimming to the bottom to grab one of your pool torpedos?” Tony had asked, lifting Peter up with one arm so the child could hear him without his ears under the water.

“Um… no. I just like to play with them but not now.” The new pool unicorn floaty floated by so Peter excitedly tried to jump into it and lifted his arms up for his dad. “Pick me up. I want to go inside.”

Tony did as he was told and lifted Peter up to try and get his legs through the holes. “Put your feet through. I’m not doing that part.”

“I’m trying but it keeps moving.” Peter started laughing because it looked funny but he was finally sitting in his new floaty and kicked his legs so he could go into the deep end.

“Is that thing even comfortable?” Tony asked, trying to imagine how uncomfortable that thing would be for him. He didn’t even want to think about that but Peter seemed to be enjoying it.

“Yeah. I like it. And I can sleep in it.” Peter showed Tony by leaning forward so he could rest his head against the head of the unicorn then pretended to start sleeping and snoring.

“Oh good. He’s finally asleep. Now I get to go build sandcastles all by myself.” Tony pretended to whisper out and laughed when Peter snapped his head up.

“No! I’m just faking it. I wanna come.” Peter rocked in the floaty to try and get out but he had yet to do it by himself yet so he reached his arms up for his dad. “Help me. I wanna come with you, dad.”

Tony grabbed onto the plastic handle and pulled Peter into the shallow end so he had better leverage to lift him out of it. “Put your legs straight. Why are you bending them like that?” He stepped on the wing of it since Peter was making it difficult for him. “Your bathing suit is falling off if you don’t grab it.”

“I don’t want to.” Peter didn’t mind. He liked being free anyways. Especially at the beach.

Tony sighed. When did Peter ever listen to him for that anyways, or for anything.

“Can I bring the unicorn to the beach?” Peter asked and climbed out of the pool but went to go reach down and grab it.

“Sure, bud.” Tony grabbed some sunscreen and phone off the ground that was practically melted in the sun so it was going to be like putting hot paste on Peter but oh well. As long as it did its job.

He followed Peter down to the ocean while he got stuck dragging the inflatable and some sand buckets that he found at the back of the pool shed. “Are you going into the water?”

Peter stopped and debated on what to do but he decided against it for now. “No. I wanna build a sandcastle with you. We can make like dig out an area around the castle so we can put water in it.”

Tony dropped the stuff in the sand but stopped Peter before he sat down and got sand all over him. “I gotta put sunscreen on you first. Come stand here.”

“Then we can start building.” Peter went to bend down to grab the bucket but Tony was pulling his arm back up.

“Just stay still for two seconds and then you can sit in the sand.” Tony quickly finished up and made sure to get his shoulders and face especially then he wiped his slimy hands on his own bathing suit since there was nowhere else to wipe it.

“Sit next to me.” Peter patted the sand next to himself so Tony sat down there but not even two seconds later, Peter was moving over so he was across from him to start digging.

“When should we add the water in?” Peter asked and picked up the bucket to start filling it with some more sand.

“We have to build the castle first. You’re getting ahead of yourself.” Tony made a flat surface and watched Peter carefully dump the bucket of sand onto it.

Peter crawled over to his dad’s side and leaned against him. “Now we can-” He looked over and spotted Tony’s phone so he grabbed it off the floaty and held it up. “Let’s take selfies together.”

Tony always loved it whenever he left his phone alone with Peter and later saw a bunch of funny pictures of him. Sometimes he left his phone alone with Peter on purpose when he wanted a laugh.

“Let me hold the phone. I got the better angle anyways.” He took the phone from Peter with one hand and wrapped his other arm around his kid to pull Peter closer against him.

Peter was sitting up on his knees next to his dad and wrapped an arm around his neck. He loved taking selfies with his dad, especially selfies on the beach.

He smiled widely at the camera and then leaned his cheek against the top of his dad’s head. “And now a silly face.”

Both of them made a bunch of silly faces which Tony loved the best. Peter was reaching for the phone after to look at the pictures as he sat down on his dad’s leg. “I like them. You look funny.”

Tony looked at the pictures and smiled. He was definitely getting those framed and hanging it in his bedroom. “You have crazy curls. Look at you.”

Peter giggled and slid off of his dad’s lap so he could finish looking at the pictures himself then handed the phone back to his dad to finish building the castle. He wanted it to be bigger but he knew if he stacked another castle on top then it would just make the one under that crumble.

Tony took a video on his phone of Peter digging a hole and then dumping sand into his bucket. He liked to try and live in moments like this the best that he could but sometimes he wanted to look back on videos like this to relive in the moment whether that be while they’re on the plane tomorrow or five years from now.

“Dad?” Peter asked him.

“Yeah, baby.”

Peter sat up more and dumped a pile of sand between his legs before wiggling out of it. “Can I go get some ocean water and bring it to our castles now?”

“Yeah.” He filmed Peter standing up and running towards the ocean with his bucket to grab some water and then running back before stopping the video so he could help out now and really live in the moment.

The two of them continued playing by the ocean and finished their castle that didn’t turn out nearly as nice as they thought it would have but they still took a bunch of pictures in front of it after.

Since no one was there to take a picture for them, Tony set his phone up against the floaty and hit record so he could screenshot their best poses after. It was Peter’s idea and he loved it.

After they were done, the sun had already started to set so Peter yawned and sat inside his unicorn with his legs over the edge. “I’m tired.” He complained and exaggeratedly threw his arms over his head.

Tony stretched his legs out in front of him and tickled the bottom of Peter’s sandy foot. “You are? It’s still early, bud.”

Peter blinked lazily at him.

“Was it all our hard work? Building sandcastles isn’t easy, you know.” Tony teased but he was being serious. It was hard work.

Peter giggled and moved his head so he could lean over to hold his dad’s hand. “I’m still tired.”

“I know. You’re growing a whole tooth. You need your rest.” Tony squeezed Peter’s hand. He knew that was the reason why Peter was so tired. The poor kid had woken up in the middle of the night for the last three and was crying about his tooth hurting him so Tony had to grab him another cold cloth with some ice to chew on but of course it took an hour or so for Tony to fall back asleep so he was tired as well.

He could go for an early night.

“Do you wanna head up and shower and get ready for bed now? We can put some Craig playing in the pond on if you want.” Peter smiled but playfully pushed his dad.

“Craig of the creek, dad. You know that.” Peter shook his head, disapprovingly at his dad. “You’re silly.”

“I did not know that but thank you for telling me.” He smirked at Peter but was waiting for him to make the first move to get up. “Are you gonna stand up?”

Peter grinned and shyly hid his face behind the floaty. “I want you to carry me.” Tony gave him a look. “Please? I’m tired. And-and I need my rest because I’m growing a tooth and all so,”

Tony could not believe he raised this little munchkin. “Alright. Come here.” He stood up with a groan but barely had any time to catch Peter as he was jumping up and jumping into his arms so Tony hoisted him up onto his side and kissed his cheek. “You have a sandy butt going all over my arm.”

Peter shook his head and rested it against his dad’s shoulder, letting him do all the work. He knew he didn’t weigh that much and that Tony didn’t struggle to carry him so he was taking full advantage of that.

“I’ll grab this tomorrow.” Tony just moved the floaty off the beach a bit and made a reminder to grab it tomorrow before they left. They weren’t leaving until the afternoon so they would definitely be going onto the beach.

He wrapped his other arm around his island boy and pressed more kisses against his cheek. “I love you so much, Petey. So so so sooooo much.”

Peter wrapped his arms around his dad’s neck. “I love you so so so much. I love you all the so’s.”

Tony grinned. “And that’s why I love you.”

Peter lifted his head up and tilted it. “That’s the only reason?”

“One of the many many many many many reasons.” He told Peter who was still staring at him so he adjusted him in his arms a bit and felt a bunch of sand fall off of him. He was definitely not letting Peter anywhere near the bed like this.

“That’s what I thought, you silly daddy.” Peter poked him on the nose which caused Tony to start laughing.

Tony walked into the backyard and opened up the back door but paused to check and see if he had his phone which he thankfully did. He walked inside but was immediately hit with the air conditioning which caused Peter to whimper against him.

“Cold.”

“I know. You’ll be in a nice, warm shower soon and then into your comfy pyjamas unless you choose not to wear any tonight.” Tony didn’t want to have another fight like last night. Peter had wanted to wear just his underwear even though Tony told him it was going to be cold with just underwear and who ended up being right, not Peter.

“No. I want my Iron Man onesie.” Peter told his dad on his way to the kitchen to grab some things.

“I didn’t pack them but those would be too hot. Just wear the ones I packed. I packed like five pairs for you.”

Peter started kicking his legs out so Tony placed him on the floor. “I’m tired.”

“I know. We’re going up now, baby. Do you want the wet cloth for your teeth? How’s your mouth?” Tony opened up the fridge to grab two bottles of water and paused to look at Peter who was swinging from the kitchen cabinet. “Off. Does your teeth hurt?”

“No.” Peter answered and stopped what he was doing so they could head upstairs. He wanted to rinse all the sand off of him since it was starting to get itchy and uncomfortable now.

For some reason he didn’t mind any sunscreen or sand on him when he was outside but as soon as he went inside, he hated it and wanted it off immediately.

Tony hoped that Peter didn’t wake up again tonight but he wouldn’t be surprised if it happened. It was just really hard to have to deal with that, knowing that Peter was hurting and he couldn’t physically take his pain away.

The two of them headed upstairs so Tony tossed the water bottles onto the bed and ushered Peter into the bathroom. “Go shower and make sure to rinse all the sand off.”

“I wanna bring my unicorn floaty in the shower with me.” Peter told his dad and sat himself on the shower built in seat.

“It wouldn’t even fit or be fun. You’re silly.” He ruffled Peter’s curls and left the bathroom to do absolutely nothing while he waited for Peter to finish up. He didn’t want to walk around the bedroom too much and spread sand everywhere so he shut the curtains and waited for Peter to finish.

“Cold cold cold. Where’s my pjs?” Peter ran out with his towel wrapped around his shoulders and climbed on the bed.

Tony pointed to the pyjama options he laid out then went to walk into the bathroom. “I’m gonna go shower and brush my teeth so I’ll be out soon. Put your show on.”

Peter watched his dad leave then crawled over on the bed to find out what pyjamas he wanted to put on tonight. He decided on the grey lego man pyjamas because they were the most comfortable, being warm and cool at the same time. Plus they didn’t fall off of him in his sleep somehow.

He pulled them on and got off the bed to grab the remote off the dresser but Tony had put it so high up so he had to use his spidey powers to crawl up the wall a bit so he could reach it. What Tony didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt him.

It was obvious that his dad hated whenever he used his Spidey powers anywhere that wasn’t Spider-Man. He didn’t know why since it was a part of who he was, maybe Tony just had a hard time seeing him crawl on the ceiling. Oh well.

He crawled back onto the bed and moved the blankets back so he could get comfortable and lay down. His teddy bear was on his pillow, waiting for him so he grabbed it and hugged it against his chest while he waited for his dad to finish up in the bathroom and come cuddle with him.

Tony walked out a few minutes later, already dressed in his pyjamas which were a tank top and track pants. Usually he would just sleep with underwear on but he stopped doing that once Peter started sleeping with him.

“I’m gonna shut the light off. Did you go pee?” He shut the light off and asked, knowing he had to remind Peter since he seemed to hold it until the very last second.

Peter didn’t answer him because he was too focused on his show so Tony asked him again. “Pete, did you go pee before bed?”

Peter moved his head so he could still see the tv when Tony got in the way. “Yes.”

“I don’t believe you. I’m gonna put this on pause so you can go.” He reached for the remote but Peter screamed at him. “Peter. No.”

“I went pee already. I don’t want to get up.” Peter whimpered out for the remote so Tony handed it back to him and sighed. He had to take his word for it and hope he didn’t have any wet awakenings.

“Okay.” He wiped his sandy phone off and plugged it in then got into the bed with Peter. It was relaxing with the only light coming from the tv screen. Peter moved closer to him so he could lay his head on his chest and Tony wrapped an arm around him, pulling him even closer.

He loved simple nights like this. Sadly, they were pretty uncommon back at home since the nights were usually filled with crying and screams. He wondered why Peter was fine in Miami. Was it because Peter knew it was temporary? Maybe he was genuinely happier here?

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Peter woke up to a pounding in his mouth. He whimpered and sat up in bed on his knees, facing the headboard.

He grabbed at his mouth and whimpered louder so his dad could wake up and help him.

After a few loud whimpers, Tony was waking up and immediately knew what was wrong so he went into dad mode. He sat up and turned the lamp on to get some light into the bedroom so he could actually see what was going on.

Peter was crying and holding onto his mouth so he sadly sighed. This poor kid couldn’t catch a break. He couldn’t remember what it was like when his molars came in, maybe it was different for everyone or maybe it was extra painful for Peter because his spider powers were either forcing it to come in faster or possibly not letting it come in.

When they got back home he would have to see if it continues and if it does, he’ll book an appointment with a dentist.

“Hurts.” Peter whimpered and Tony was already getting out of bed to grab the wet cloth and an ice subs in it.

“I know, baby.” He kissed his forehead and pulled away. “I’ll be back. I’m gonna go get the cloth.”

Peter didn’t respond but Tony went to go do that. He made quick work of gathering all the supplies he needed and then left to get back to his kid.

He could hear his painful whimpers from down the hallway and his heart broke so he picked up his pace and made it into the bedroom. Peter was already reaching out for the cloth and Tony didn’t hesitate to hand it to him.

“It’s okay. It’ll pass soon.” He got back in bed and rubbed Peter’s back but then Peter was falling onto his chest out of pure exhaustion.

It took another hour for Peter to fall back asleep and two hours for Tony.

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“Ten more minutes and then we have to get ready to leave, Pete.” Tony called out to Peter as he swam in the pool. He had already gotten ready to leave but he wanted to give Peter some extra time to swim since the closest to swimming they were gonna get was going to be the bathtub.

“Okay, dad!” Peter climbed out of the pool and ran back towards the deep end so he could jump in.

Tony watched him. He didn’t have much luck with teaching Peter how to swim. It was actually a lot harder than he thought since Peter barely showed any interest in wanting to actually take off his life jacket and learn how.

Tony didn’t blame him. It wasn’t like they were in any rush for anything.

After the ten minutes were up, Tony started to put all of the pool toys into the pool shed and walked to the edge of the pool. “It’s time, Pete.”

Peter’s smile fell. “I don’t want to go. I’m having too much fun.”

Peter grabbed onto the edge of the pool and floated, letting his life jacket keep him above water. Tony didn’t want to go either. He never did.

He bent down and reached his hand out to lift Peter’s head up. “We’ll come back soon and when we do, I promise you we’ll stay a lot longer than just five days. Sound good?”

Peter thought about it before a smile broke out across his face. “Fine. I guess I’ll swim after we come next. Which will be when?”

Tony shrugged and stood up. “How about I let you know. We have a little kitten to pick up so let’s go.”

Peter started swimming towards the shallow end instead of climbing out from the deep end just to prolong time. He was actually really excited to pick his new kitten up. He wondered if the kitten had grown at all. He was so weak and fragile looking when he last saw it so hopefully it got a bath and isn’t sick anymore.

He stepped out of the pool and went to go run into the house but Tony stopped him. “Pass me your life jacket first.”

“I don’t want to shower.” Peter complained. It wasn’t even bedtime yet and he didn’t have any sand on him so he didn’t see the point.

“If you don’t want to then you don’t have to.” Tony tossed the life jacket into the shed and closed it the double checked that he got everything.

He really didn’t want to go back to cold New York. He didn’t know what to do because he loved it in Miami so much and so did Peter but he knew, deep down that they couldn’t move out here. No matter how much they seem to love the idea of it.

Peter had to get better. That was the most important thing. He knew it had been on his mental list for a long time but he had to get Peter into his own bed, he had to set him up with a routine for school and to see Rose and dealing with the whole separation anxiety thing.

It was just so frustrating for the father since he didn’t want to rush anything but he had his nagging feeling at the back of his mind telling him that he had to rush everything and he hated it.

The whole ride to the airport, Peter kept thinking about his kitten. He knew that if he didn’t have that to go back home to then he would be extremely upset and would be crying and begging his dad not to leave but he was happy.

He had a kitten. He actually had a kitten and he loved him so much already.

Peter ran onto the plane and threw himself down on the seat and Tony didn’t think he had ever seen Peter so excited to get on a plane before. “Are you excited to go home, Pete?”

Peter bounced on his seat and nodded his head excitedly. “Yes! I want to see my kitten. Do you think they gave him a bath?”

Tony sat down across from Peter and put his legs up on the seat. “I don’t think they put him in a full bath but they probably wiped him down.”

“He wants an actual bath. I’ll give him one tonight.” Peter stopped bouncing to get up and sat next to his dad. “He’ll love it.”

“Cats don’t like water, Petey. Maybe he can watch you take your bath but he won’t want to come in.” Tony put his own seatbelt on and gestured for Peter to do the same.

Peter pulled his seatbelt across his lap and tightened it. “Why doesn’t it go around your shoulders like in the car?”

Tony tried to catch up with the change in conversation. “Um… because the airplane seatbelts just prevent you from flying in the air and hitting the ceiling if we hit bad turbulence.”

Peter nodded and Tony prepared himself for the million and one questions that were going to follow. “So… if I wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and we hit the turbulence then I would fly?”

“No. If it was really bad, you would just smack the ceiling.” Tony answered.

Peter was silent as he thought about another question. “But what if I stuck to the ceiling and then the turbulence hit?”

Tony stared straight ahead as if he was staring into an invisible camera. “I don’t know. Your bones will probably get crushed.”

“Oh. And then I would fall back down into my seat and put my seatbelt on after.” Peter leaned forward so he could touch his feet but he was just hanging there by his seat belt digging into his stomach. Tony cringed at the position.

Peter sat up and tried to reach for Tony’s pockets. “Can I play some games on your phone?”

“Yeah. My phones in my back pocket, one sec.” Tony sat up a bit and pulled his phone out. Peter immediately snatched it from him and pulled his feet up on the seat to get comfortable.

Tony leaned his head back. He knew that was going to keep Peter busy for the next forty minutes or so and he was in charge of the entertainment after that.

After they landed and got into the car, Peter couldn’t stop vibrating with excitement. Tony loved seeing his kid so happy but he was sure some of the excited shaking was from the cold.

It wasn’t nearly as bad as when they left since it wasn’t windy or snowing out but there was snow and ice on the ground and it was freezing cold. He had Peter change on the plane into some track pants but he didn’t have any warm tops so he wrapped Peter up in his jacket to go from the plane to the car.

“Let’s go get my kitten now, dad. I wanna see him.” Peter cheered but they had to make a few stops first.

“We have to go to the pet store first to get a few kitten things, Pete. He needs food and all that.” To be fair, Tony had no idea what kittens needed but he would let Peter go crazy with getting whatever he wanted.

“Yeah! And he wants a kitten climbing thing. Like those things that cats can climb on. Can we get him one?” Peter asked. He couldn’t stop shaking his legs because he was so excited to see his kitten and pet his soft fur.

“Of course. We’ll get the best one there.” Tony told Peter and reached over to ruffle his extra curly hair. He could still smell the chlorine off of him and it made him miss the warm beach and pool already.

Tony pulled into the parking lot where the pet store was and went to find a parking spot. He looked over at Peter’s beaming face and thought that this was all worth it just to see his kid happy.

“Don’t run out. Wait for me, bud. I know you’re excited but there’s cars here.” He warned Peter before he got out of the car and grabbed onto Peter’s arm so he didn’t run ahead. “The pet store isn’t going anywhere, stop running, Pete.”

Peter pulled on his dad’s arm but almost slipped so Tony pulled him up and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Peter. There are moving cars all around us and they won’t be able to stop right away because of the ice so slow down.”

The fourteen year old wasn’t paying any attention to his dad because he was more focused on looking towards the pet store. Tony knew he couldn’t get through to Peter anymore so he grabbed his hand and walked across the parking lot, keeping an eye out for the cars.

He held the door open for Peter and let go of his hand to let him run in and look around at everything. Tony grabbed a shopping cart since he knew they would need that.

Peter spotted the cat climbers and looked at the selection. “They’re all so cute. But he’s too small to climb any of these. He’ll fall and hurt himself. Maybe I can teach him how to climb walls.”

Tony choked on his spit. “No. Peter, stop. And he’s a cat, if he doesn’t climb it now then he will in a few weeks and he’ll be so happy.”

“And he won’t fall?” Peter wanted to clarify.

“Absolutely not. He has his nails.” Tony reassured him and looked at all the options. He liked the biggest looking one since the fur ball could spend more time in it. “How about we get this one?”

Peter looked at the one he pointed to and smiled. “Yeah. I like that one. How will we fit it in the car?”

Tony chuckled. “This one's just for show, bud. We’ll grab it in the box later.”

“Okay.” Tony watched Peter take off down one of the aisle’s and followed him with the cart. They ended up getting food bowls, a ton of toys that Tony knew was going to add to the messy penthouse. They also got cat tunnels and tents and all kinds of kitten food.

Peter almost fell three times while they carried everything to the car and put it in the backseat since the trunk was currently filled with their suitcases. Tony didn’t even want to think about all the laundry he was going to have to do once they got home but at least he could do that while Peter played with the new kitten.

“Did you think of a name yet, Pete?” Tony asked while they went on their way to go pick the cat up at the vet.

Peter had no idea what he wanted to name him. He thought of something like Mr. Scruffles but he wanted something cuter like an actual name.

“I don’t know yet. Maybe when we pick him up and then I’ll know.” Peter drew a happy face with the fog on the window and Tony smiled at that.

“I think you will. If not then we’ll think of a name together.” Tony pulled into the vet parking spot and shut the car off. He had called them to let them know that he would be coming to pick their kitten up about an hour ago so he hoped that that gave them enough time to get everything ready.

“Ahh! I’m so excited, dad! I can’t wait to see him.” Peter excitedly ran over to his dad to try and get him to hurry up. “Do you think that he’ll remember me?”

Tony pulled Peter closer to himself to give him a side hug. “I think so, Petey. You saved him so he probably missed you so much.”

Peter couldn’t wait anymore. Tony opened the door for Peter to walk in first but he more of ran in and Tony followed in behind him.

Peter ran up to the front desk and peeked over. “Hi. I’m here for my kitten. He’s orange.”

The same lady from before smiled warmly at Peter and stood up. “Yes, of course. I’ll go get him. He’s so excited to see you.”

As the lady left, Tony couldn’t help but have it dawn on him that they were going to own a kitten. They were going to own a kitten that eventually turned into a cat and was going to be a part of their family for many years to come.

Peter grabbed onto his hand to try and contain his excitement but he couldn’t. When the lady walked out with a small box, Peter squealed.

She carefully handed Peter the box and opened it up so Peter could see his new pet. “Aww. He got a bath. He’s so clean.”

“We washed him down with a warm towel.” She explained to Peter and helped him lift the kitten out.

Peter held it up and then hugged the now meowing kitten against himself. “He got bigger, dad. Look how fat he is now.”

Tony chuckled. “He did. And he doesn’t look sick either.”

“Yeah, we de-wormed him as well. He is also approximately seven weeks old so do you have any kitten food for him? Soft and hard?” The lady asked Tony.

“Yeah, we actually just got a bunch of stuff for him.” Tony answered but Peter was shoving the kitten into his face. “Pete, I’m talking to someone.”

“He’s so cute. And he loves you too.” Peter answered but went back to hugging the kitten. “Does he need his milk?”

The lady was smiling fondly at Peter but stopped a bit when Peter looked at her. “You can give him some milk if you want to but usually kittens stop drinking their mommy’s milk at around eight to ten weeks so he’s just a bit early.”

Peter started giggling when the kitten started crawling onto his back and sniffing his ear.

Tony took that as their cue to start leaving. “Thank you so much for everything.” He thanked the lady and pulled his wallet out so he could pay for everything that was done.

“Of course. If you need anything else or have any questions, you have our number and we’ll be more than happy to help you out.” She smiled warmly and placed the card machine in front of Tony then turned to Peter. “Good luck with your new kitten, Peter. He’s so lucky to have you.”

Peter didn’t respond so Tony turned around. “What do you say, Pete?”

“Thank you.” Peter responded and stood up to tug on his dad’s hand. “Dad?”

“Yeah?” Tony asked even as he was typing his card number through. Peter watched him type in his code and tugged on his hand again. “Yes, Pete?”

“Do I put him in the box now?” Peter asked once he had his dad’s full attention.

“Yeah, we gotta get him into the car and back home.” Tony helped Peter put him back in.

“And then we can show him around the house. After I go poo because now I have to go.” Peter admitted out loud and Tony cringed. He looked over at the woman and saw her trying not to laugh at what Peter had so bluntly said.

“Okay, Pete. Say thank you.” After saying their thanks and goodbye, they were stepping back into the cold and rushing into the car.

Tony tried to get home as quickly as possible because he didn’t want the cat to get scared and because Peter currently needed to poop and he didn’t know how long he had been needing to go for. He also didn’t want to get into a car accident so he drove quickly but safely. He trusted his driving skills more than anyone, besides for Happy since he was an amazing driver as well.

Once they got home, Tony wanted to bring everything up in one trip so he brought both suitcases into the elevator and loaded it up with everything they got from the pet store.

“Hurry dad. I actually really need to go.” Peter tried to cross his legs but it wasn’t helping and he just wanted to be on the toilet now.

“Sorry, I’m coming now. FRI, take us up quickly because I don’t feel like wiping any butts today.” Tony teased which got himself a smack from Peter. “I’ll take the cat, you go.”

As soon as the doors opened up on their floor, Peter handed the box over and made a dash for the bathroom so Tony held the box in one hand while he took everything out of the elevator and waited for Peter to come back so he could leave that up to his kid.

Peter ran out of the bathroom a few minutes later and took the box from Tony. “My turn. Come here. You’re so cute. Yes you are.”

Peter pulled his kitten out of the box and gently set him on his feet. “He’s so happy, dad. Look at him.”

Tony couldn’t help but think the cat was cute and the way it stuck close to Peter was adorable. “He’s super cute, baby. Let’s set up his food area and his litter box so he knows where that is.”

“Yeah.” Peter picked the kitten up with one hand and grabbed some of the bags so he could look inside. “His food bowls are so cute. Do you like them, kitten?”

Tony smirked at his kid. He was too precious for this world. “Did you think of any names yet?”

Peter paused. He had thought about it a little bit but having his kitten with him and holding him in his arms just confirmed it. “I think I wanna name him Mimzy. Do you like it?”

“Mimzy.” Tony repeated to see how it sounded. “Mimzy. Yeah, I love it. How did you think of that?”

Peter shrugged. “I don’t know. Well, before, I used to love this movie called The Last Mimzy and I think it fits him perfectly. And because they’re both so cute.”

Tony kneeled down and pet Mimzy that was all over Peter. “He loves you, bud. Look at that. You guys are gonna be best friends.”

Peter grinned. He loved that so much.

For the next hour, they set up Mimzy’s water and food bowls, his litter box which was in the storage room since Tony didn’t want that thing anywhere else but the storage room so after debating with Peter for a bit, that’s where it went.

Peter had wanted it to go in the bathroom so they could pee and poop at the same time and Tony gagged. That was disgusting.

They had also started on building the cat climber but it got late and time for bedtime so Tony decided to call it quits for the day. “We can finish this another day, Pete. How about you grab Mimzy's bed and carry it up for him.”

“No. I want him to sleep with me and you, dad.” Peter whined from where he was lying on the kitchen floor and letting the cat crawl all over him.

“No. We don’t even know if it’s potty trained. It might pee in the bed and I’m okay with you doing that but cross the line when it’s a cat.” Tony pointed his finger at Peter who sat up and gave him a dirty look.

“I don’t pee in the bed.”

Tony raised his eyebrows at him. “If you say so. But seriously, Pete, I know you love him but for now, he sleeps in his cat bed.”

Peter kicked his legs out and laid back down so Mimzy jumped off of him from Peter’s sudden outburst but Tony knew that the cat had to get used to that. “I want him to.”

Tony kneeled down and grabbed Peter’s hands. “I’m saying no. You can cry about it or you can come upstairs and get ready for bed with Mimza.”

“Mimzy! Not za.” Peter pulled away from Tony and rolled onto his stomach to cry into the cold floor. Tony watched him, wishing they were in Miami because Peter never acted like this in Miami.

He checked the time and saw that it was 10:23pm. He didn’t know how it got so late but it had to have been because Peter was playing with Mimzy and having so much fun so he didn’t realize he was so tired until now.

He stood up and bent down to pick Peter up but Peter was crying harder and trying to kick him away so he carefully placed Peter back on the ground so he didn’t bash his head and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“I’m gonna call Rose if you don’t stop.” He said, not bluffing at all since he didn’t know what else to do and she wasn’t here and wasn’t coming until Monday evening. It was Friday.

“No! Don’t.” Peter rolled onto his back and looked up at Tony to see if he was bluffing or not.

“Are you going to come upstairs?” He asked, giving Peter his last chance.

Peter simply shook his head so Tony started to dial her number while Peter watched on with wide eyes. She picked up on the third ring. “Hi Tony. Is everything okay?”

“Hi. Uh, I’m just here with Peter and he’s throwing a tantrum on the floor and I don’t really know what to do.” Tony explained while Peter watched him but he didn’t know if he should be saying that in front of Peter because then he was going to know that he didn’t know what he was doing and take advantage of that.

“Alright. Did you tell him it was bedtime?” She asked him.

“Yeah. He’s- take your fingers out of your mouth.” Tony cut himself off to say to Peter who had both of his pointer fingers in his mouth. “Out. That’s dirty. Um, yes. I did tell him.”

“Alright. Well, it’s late and he’s tired so that’s why he’s acting like this and he’s also trying to test you to see how far he can push you. He wants to get a reaction out of you so what is he doing right now?”

“He’s lying on the kitchen floor.”

“Okay, so tell him that it’s time to go to bed and to get up, if he doesn’t, tell him that you’re going to go to bed and leave. He will eventually follow you and if he doesn’t, wait ten minutes and then go bring him upstairs and tell him that you’re taking away something from him tomorrow then take a toy or something away.” Rose explained to him and Tony already felt so much better having her on speed dial for when times like this happened.

“Alright. Okay. Thank you so much.” Tony looked down at Peter who had a huge pout on his face. He thought it was adorable but he couldn’t give into it.

“Of course. Call me if you still need some help and if not then I’ll see you two on Monday. Good luck.” With that, Tony hung up the phone and shoved it in his pocket.

He grabbed both of Peter’s hands that were back in his mouth and held them firmly. “Is your mouth hurting you?”

Peter shook his head. “Does your teeth hurt right now at all?”

“No!”

Tony sighed. “Okay. It’s time for bed, Peter. We can play with Mimzy more tomorrow but we all need to go to sleep now so stand up and go get ready for bed.”

Peter didn’t make a move so Tony stood up. “Alright. You sleep well on the kitchen floor. I’m going to go get ready for bed but just so you know, the penthouse is haunted at night. So if a ghost drags you away, don’t scream because I don’t wanna get woken up.”

Tony didn’t know if he should have said that. He actually quite felt bad as he walked away, he heard Peter start crying and chasing him so he won this round.

“No! Don’t leave me, dad. I’ll come with you and I’ll be good.” Peter begged and grabbed onto Tony’s arm. Tony knew it wasn’t fair of him to do that to Peter but it worked and whatever worked, he counted as a win.

“Okay. Let’s go upstairs then. Do you wanna grab Mimzy's bed or am I?” He asked since he wasn’t having another temper tantrum.

“Me.” Peter said and ran over to the living room where all of the stuff was. He grabbed the bed and hugged it to his chest back over to his dad who was now holding their new kitten. “You found him.”

“Yeah, he’s tired. I told you he wanted to go to sleep.” Tony handed the cat to Peter and then all three of them headed upstairs.

“Where should we set him up, dad?” Peter asked and looked around the room. He looked down at Mimzy who was purring loudly and looking up at him. “Aww. He’s so cute.”

Tony moved some clothes off the window seat and patted the spot for Peter to place the bed there. “Here seems like a pretty good spot, don’t you think?”

Peter liked that spot. He didn’t want his kitten to be placed on the floor to sleep so he was glad that he could sleep there. He set up the bed and made sure it was comfortable for him. “There you go, Mimzy. Now you can sleep here and I’ll sleep there with my daddy.”

Tony cooed. He loved Peter so much. “Okay, come, Pete. Go shower and brush your teeth. Do you want your water bottle tonight?”

Peter nodded his head. He slept better when he had it with him since it relaxed him. “Yeah.”

“Okay, buddy. I’ll go get it and I’ll be right back.”

Forty minutes later, they were both in bed with their new kitten already fast asleep in its own cat bed. Peter grabbed his water and sat up so he could watch his new kitten. “He’s so tired, dad.”

Tony gently tugged on the curls at the back of Peter’s neck. “He is. Is my baby sleepy?”

Peter put his water bottle in his mouth and nodded. “Uh huh. Tickle my back.”

Tony got more comfortable and waited for Peter to rotate around so he could tickle his back. He really hoped Peter didn’t wake up in the middle of the night with tooth pain.

It was so hard to get Peter back to sleep after that and he just wanted one night where Peter slept through the whole thing.