Hey, my child
Peter didn’t want to have the physical therapist come over.
He was starting to feel extremely tired and just wanted to take a quick nap before heading out for a trip to Wendy’s. Now he had to go and workout, no thanks.
“Can’t she come another day?” Peter asked while he sat on the couch, wearing comfortable track pant shorts and a white long sleeve top. He was fine with getting carried around for the next few weeks by his dad, well, maybe he couldn’t go a few weeks without walking. That was way too long.
“No, she’s coming today and depending on the progress you make, we’ll decide when she’ll be coming next.” Tony explained to Peter as he laid out the mats that Pepper had ordered for him so Peter and the physical therapist could sit down there together.
Peter weakly tossed a pillow onto the ground and groaned. “I’m tired.”
“You can sleep after.” Tony told him just as FRIDAY spoke up.
“Boss, Dr. McClain is here.”
“Let her up, FRI.”
Peter immediately sat up and held his arm out for his dad. He hated meeting new people and he felt like he was doing that a lot these past couple of days. “You’re gonna stay with me the whole time, right?”
“Yeah, bud. I’m not going anywhere.” Tony reassured him and left just to greet her at the elevator, still in view of Peter. The elevator doors opened up just as he walked over there so he held his hand out for her. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Likewise. I’m Dr. McClain but you can call me Nora. Where’s Peter?” The women had giant blue eyes that stood out and practically glowed. Tony was mesmerized by them. Her hair was long and brown which made her eyes stand out all the more.
“He’s right over here. Since he got his casts off, he hasn’t wanted to try and walk on his leg because he’s a bit scared.” Tony explained to her but he knew that she already got a detailed explanation of all of Peter’s injuries so she knew what to expect and what to do.
“That’s perfectly normal. We will work together on it and go at his pace.” She said which Tony liked. He looked her up before letting the women into his home where his child was but he hadn’t met her before hand so he was grateful that she was patient which was extremely important in dealing with Peter.
“Hey, Pete. This is your physical therapist Nora McClain. Say hi.” Tony went to stand by Peter’s side so he felt more comfortable. He looked down at Peter who was biting on the tip of his finger and looking up at the new face with wide eyes.
“Hello Peter, it’s so nice to meet you. You can call me Nora.” She held out her hand for Peter but he turned his face into his dad’s legs and shook his head.
“He’s shy. He’ll warm up to you soon. Can I get you anything to eat or drink?” Tony asked as he lifted Peter up so he could sit him on the mats to get started.
“No thank you. Let’s get started now. I brought a few things for us to work with.” She gestured to her bag but Peter wasn’t even looking at her since his face was buried in his dad’s neck.
“I had a place set up for you guys but we can always change the location or I can get anything else that you may need.” Tony didn’t know how much space they needed, he had a fairly big set up of mats but maybe that wasn’t even enough.
As he led Nora over to the mats, he patted Peter on the butt and bounced him a bit so he lifted his head up.
“This is perfect. At least for now, we’re just gonna start simple.” She sat herself down on her knees on the mat.
“I’ll sit with you guys the whole time, Pete, but you have to let me put you down.” Thankfully, Peter lifted his head up and let Tony place him on the mats so he was sitting directly in front of Nora then sat down on the floor to watch the whole thing.
“Hi Peter. It’s so nice to meet you. It’s okay to be a little shy but I’m here to help you get back to normal. Do you miss running around and bugging your dad?” She asked which got Peter grinning. “Let’s say three facts about ourselves. I’ll go first. I was born in Italy, my favourite animal is a giraffe and I have three sons. Your turn.”
Peter shyly looked over at Tony before answering. “Um… I like watching movies with my dad. And… um, I like… chocolate and… I’m fourteen.”
“I like chocolate too. Let’s get started then, I’m gonna start by stretching out your legs so can you lay down for me?” Nora waited for Peter to lie down before she bent his knees and gently picked up his bad leg. “If you feel any pain, let me know.”
Tony watched her start rotating Peter’s legs and pushing them back and forth. This whole thing went on for about fifteen minutes but Tony found it hilarious since it looked like it was putting Peter to sleep. He yawned and lifted his arms above his head, meaning he was about to fall asleep at any minute and was getting ready to do that.
“Would you like to try and stand up now, Peter?” Nora asked, breaking the silence.
Peter shook his head. “No. It’s gonna hurt.”
“I promise you it will not hurt.” Nora stood up and gave a warm smile to Peter.
Tony saw the hesitation in him but he knew Peter had to get over his fear of walking after his injury. “I’m gonna stand up too, Pete. It’s not going to hurt you so just stand up.”
Peter sat up and looked down at his foot. All he could picture was the bear trap around his ankle and how much it had hurt him… how much blood there was and then the pain went numb with blackness. He was too scared. What if he was never able to walk again? Or run?
He needed to try so he carefully pushed himself up, putting all of his weight on his good leg. Once he was standing, he looked down at his leg and whimpered. “I don’t want it to hurt.”
“It won’t hurt, Peter. It’s all healed now. That doesn’t mean you can start doing crazy exercises but it won’t hurt to walk on it.”
With Nora’s reassurance and his dad standing with him, he slowly put his leg down and ever so carefully started to shift his weight. It didn’t hurt at all so he started taking a couple of steps forward, smiling at the lack of pain that there was.
“It doesn’t hurt. And I’m walking on it.” Peter exclaimed to his dad. He loved being carried around but it was nice to be able to walk again. Now he had a lot more freedom to move around the penthouse how he wanted. He could even walk to Wendy’s with his dad.
“That’s so good, Petey.” Tony was unbelievably happy. He wanted to cry, he was so happy. He knew how bad the injury to his foot was, he didn’t blame Peter for being terrified to walk on it.
He’s just glad that Peter could actually walk on it.
Nora ended up leaving after a short hour. During that time, Peter had made so much progress it was so impressive. He went from being too scared to even step foot on his ankle to walking around the penthouse.
Nora had given him strict instructions to not run or jump on his ankle or anything other than walking, as least for the time being.
That still wouldn’t stop Peter though.
“Can we go to Wendy’s now? I’m hungry.” Peter asked, jumping on his feet as he held onto his dad’s arm.
“Peter, stop jumping. What did Nora just say?” Tony put his hands on Peter’s shoulders to get him to stop jumping. He knew Peter wouldn’t be able to follow that simple instruction.
“Sorry. I’m just happy.”
“I know, Pete. How about you go wait on the couch while I quickly finish up with these dishes and then we can go? Sound good?”
Peter was already running towards the couch after Tony just told him not to. “No running, Peter.” He warned him but it was already too late because Peter was on the couch by now.
Peter threw himself onto the couch and leaned over the side to open up the side table drawer. He spotted his phone so he reached in for it. He had completely forgotten about Ned and his friends and he hadn’t spoken to them in so long. They were going to be so worried for him.
When he went to turn his phone on, not expecting it to have any battery after all this time, he was surprised to see that it turned on straight away. That was weird.
He opened it up and went onto his and Ned’s messages. There were twenty missed texts and four missed calls from Ned so he went to go read them all, starting from the top.
Ned: Hey! I don’t know what ur doing later but Wanna go see a movie?
Ned: Peter????? Heyyyy???
Ned: Where are you man?? It’s been like 5 days dude. Not cool
Ned: Peter Peter Peter dude it’s not nice to ignore your guy in the chair
Ned: Oh my god Ms. Potts just called my mom and told me that you’re hurt. I don’t know exactly what’s going on Peter but I hope you’re okkk
Ned: so it’s been 3 days without hearing anything but then Ms. Potts called me to update me on you. I hope you’re ok, you can’t leave me Peter, you’re my best friend
Ned: I miss you
Ned: So your dad gave me his number, how cool is that. I hope we can see each other soon but I know you need to rest. I’m glad ur ok dude
Peter read all the messages over again and again. It was nice to see that Ned cared for him so much, it was also nice of Pepper to get in contact with Ned, knowing his dad wasn’t going to do it since it probably didn’t cross his mind since he was busy next to his hospital bed the whole time.
Peter started to text Ned back.
Peter: Hi
Peter: I didn’t know my dad gave you his number I also don’t know what you know but I’m all better now
Peter: welllll almost. Dad still says I can’t run. Or jump :( but anyways what’s up
Ned texted back not even a minute later.
Ned: Oh my gosh! Peter! You’re ok! I was so scared dude! When Ms. Potts called my mom and said you were in a coma
Ned: Don’t ever do that to me again dude
Peter smiled to himself as he texted back.
Peter: I’ll try not to
Ned: What are you doing tonight? Can we hang out? I have school tmr but I know my mom will let me see you
Peter thought about it. He wanted to spend time with his dad but he also knew that Tony wasn’t going to let him leave his sight anytime soon so maybe they could all hang out together.
Tony walked over to him on the couch, bending down to press a kiss to Peter’s forehead. “Dad, can I see Ned today?”
“Today? It’s almost seven.” Tony answered him as he sat down on the couch.
Peter nodded. “I know but I wanna see him and he wants to see me.”
“How about we pick him up on our way to Wendy’s? Then I’ll drop him off right after.” Tony suggested and grabbed onto Peter’s feet when his boy put his feet onto his lap.
“Yeah!” Peter couldn’t wait. He texted Ned back to let him know what was going to happen and see if his friend was even allowed to go.
Once he made the plans with Ned, he went upstairs with his dad to change and then they were on their way.
Peter and Tony walked down to the garage after getting ready.
Tony had to bribe Peter into putting his winter boots on since for some reason Peter hated wearing them and always wanted to wear his thin shoes instead.
He was still a bit paranoid to have Peter walking on his recently healed ankle but even the physical therapist had said that it was important for Peter to walk on it, just as long as he didn’t start abusing his ankle by running.
Tony hesitated once they got down to the garage. Peter immediately walked over to the passenger seat but Tony didn’t want Peter ever sitting in the front seat again. If he was over protective before, he definitely was even more now.
“Hey, Pete. Come sit in the back because when we pick up your friend, he’s gonna wanna sit in the back with you.” Tony opened the back door of the suv so Peter could climb in, holding his arms out to help Peter but he was screaming at him. “Jeez. What?”
“I wanna do it by myself.” Peter turned around to give his dad a dirty look. He didn’t have a cast anymore so he didn’t need his dad to help him with every single little thing.
Tony held his hands up in surrender. “Okay then. Just say it, you don’t need to scream.”
Peter sat down and pulled his seatbelt across himself, buckling himself in and smiling over at his dad. “See? I did it. And I didn’t need any help.”
Tony smiled fondly at his kid. He loved him so much. “You sure did. You’re growing up on me.” As much as Tony knew it was going to happen and there was nothing he could do to stop it, he was so scared of his kid growing up. He wanted him to stay this age forever.
“Not now.” Peter told him. He wasn’t ready to grow up yet. He didn’t want to be an adult.
“I like the sound of that.” He pinched Peter’s cheek before double checking his seatbelt and shutting the car door. After he was buckled in himself, he started the car and pulled out of the garage.
The roads weren’t too busy since it hadn’t snowed in a few days so there wasn’t much traffic. Although they lived in New York so there would always be traffic.
Peter looked outside at all the cars. He missed being outside a lot but he didn’t realize just how much he missed it until now. “After we pick Ned up, can we go play in the park on the swings?”
Tony checked the temperature on the dashboard. “No, it’s too cold out, Pete.” Peter groaned and kicked the back of his seat. “You’re still recovering, Peter. I’m not letting you get sick on top of everything else.”
Peter sighed loudly. He looked out at the field where the park was as they were driving by and went to try and open the car door but it was locked.
“Peter! Did you just try to open the door?” Tony looked in the rearview mirror. There was a reason he put the child safety lock on the door and this was that reason.
“No.” Peter lied, looking away from his dad’s death glare. “Yes.”
“You do not open the car door while I’m driving. That is extremely dangerous.” It was hard for him to focus on driving while also scolding Peter for what he did but if fatherhood taught him anything, it was to learn how to multitask.
“Sorry. But when can we go to the park?” Peter asked. He didn’t want to go back home and stay inside for the rest of the night. He was sick of inside.
“How about tomorrow we can all go. You’ll dress up nice and warm and we’ll all go build snowmen in the park or something.” Tony liked that idea just as much as Peter did. He planned on putting 500 layers onto his kid but it was fine. As long as Peter stayed warm.
“Yeah! And Pepper can come too.” Peter was excited now. He couldn’t wait for tomorrow. He also couldn’t wait to see his best friend. “Can I have your phone to text Ned? I didn’t bring mine.”
Tony pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it back to Peter. They were still about twenty minutes away from Ned’s house.
Peter unlocked his dad's phone, loving the picture he had as his screensaver. It was the two of them on the beach in Miami, Pepper must have taken that picture of the two of them but he couldn’t remember from what time they went.
Just like Ned said, his dad had texted his best friend. Quite a few times. Peter quickly read the messages, smiling at how Ned was trying so hard not to fanboy over texting him.
Peter texted him.
Peter: Hi it’s Peter I’m just texting from dads phone
Ned: Hi Peter!! I’m so excited to see you! Are you almost here??
Peter: Not yet but maybe like ten minutes. I’ll text you when I’m there
Peter clicked off the messages to look through his dad’s pictures to try and find some more cute ones from Miami. He knew he had to scroll up a bit but the most recent pictures caught his eye.
There was a picture of him sleeping on his dad’s bed that was taken the night before last. It was weird to see himself sleeping but he looked really comfortable and suddenly started to feel super tired.
As he continued scrolling, he found a picture of him lying in the hospital bed with his dad leaning on him and holding onto his hand. There was just one picture of that and it was obvious that Pepper or someone else had taken the photo.
He couldn’t see his dad’s face all that much but he could see that he looked extremely sad and tired.
Peter felt bad. He didn’t mean to make his dad feel that way. He looked up at his own face and saw that he had a tube down his throat and a bunch of wires sticking out of him.
He didn’t want to look at that picture anymore but just as he went to click off, he saw that Pepper was trying to FaceTime him so he answered the call with a smile. “Hi Pepper. Me and dad are going to get cheeseburgers.”
Tony looked into the rearview mirror. “Is Pepper on the phone?”
“Hi Peter. I was just calling to see where you two went. The penthouse is so quiet.” Pepper said, smiling at hearing Peter’s happy voice.
“That’s because we’re not home.” Peter answered and shifted in his seat because he was getting bored now and wanted to be there already.
Pepper chuckled. “Yeah, so you guys are going to eat out then?”
Tony could hear the slight judgement in her voice but it went way over Peter’s head. “Yeah! We’re going to pick Ned up and then we’re going to get Wendy’s.”
“Oh you’re picking Ned up. Well, you guys have fun and I’ll see you in a few hours then.” Pepper said so they both said their goodbyes and then Peter was handing the phone forward.
“Can Ned come over after too?” Peter randomly asked. He was thinking about his unopened lego set that he had back at home and he wanted to build it with Ned.
Tony pulled onto Ned’s street and looked into the rearview mirror to see Peter. “Not today. It’s gonna be late and Ned has school tomorrow.”
“What day is it today?” Peter asked since he had no clue. He stopped keeping track of the days, days ago, maybe weeks. He lifted his feet up to kick the back of his dad's seat.
“Thursday and don’t kick my seat. It’s annoying.” Tony checked the time on the dashboard. It was already kinda late but since Peter already slept a lot today, he hoped Peter could even stay up for the next two hours.
Peter looked out his window and immediately recognized the house. He couldn’t even remember the last time he was there but he was happy he was there now.
Tony pulled into the driveway and handed his phone back to Peter. “Wanna text him that we’re here?”
Peter reached forward to grab the phone. He couldn’t contain his excitement since it’s been so long since he’s hung out with someone his age but even longer since he’s hung out with Ned.
Less than two minutes later, Ned was walking out of his house and towards the car. When he opened up the back door, Peter couldn’t hold in his excitement anymore. “Hi! I missed you, Ned. It’s been so long.”
Ned climbed into the suv and shut the door. “Peter. I missed you so much, dude. How’s your leg? Is your head okay? Oh and hi Mr. Stark. Thank you for picking me up.”
Tony turned back to smile at Ned then he pulled out of the driveway. “Hey, kid. No problem. Do you have to be home for a certain time?”
“Uh… my mom said I just have to text her when I’m coming back but not to stay out past eight thirty.” Ned looked over at Peter and rolled his eyes. “My mom said I have to go to bed at nine now. Isn’t that so annoying?”
Peter nodded. “I don’t have a bedtime. Only sometimes.”
“Yeah. Are you feeling okay? I was really scared when my mom told me what happened.” Ned’s smile dropped. Tony looked in the rearview mirror to see Peter’s reaction, just in case he needed to change the subject quickly if Peter didn’t want to talk about it.
He could read Peter like a book.
“I’m feeling better. I just got my casts off so I can walk now.” Peter took off his shoes to show Ned the foot that was crushed. “Look. You can’t even see the stitches.”
Ned leaned over the seats to look at Peter’s foot. “Oh yeah. Why did you need stitches? Does it hurt now?”
Tony hasn’t told Ned the full extent of Peter’s injuries since he thought that some of it was better left unknown to the kid. Before Peter had the chance to respond, Tony was speaking. “Hey guys, did we decide what we want to eat?”
Peter was quick to speak up. “Wendy’s! You want Wendy’s, right Ned?”
“Oh. Yeah! I love Wendy’s.” Ned responded and Tony saw him look back over at Peter’s foot but he didn’t say anything after that. Tony knew how easy it was to distract Peter but he could tell Ned was a little bit harder.
Soon, they were pulling into the Wendy’s parking lot and parking the car. It had started to lightly snow out but Tony wasn’t anticipating that so he didn’t come fully prepared to keep Peter warm.
Tony shut the car off and got out to open up Peter’s door for him since he had the child safety lock on it. “Put your shoes on. Why did you have to take off both your shoes and your socks?” Tony shook his head at Peter’s actions. His kid was just too much sometimes but he loved him even more for it.
“I wanted to show Ned.” Peter responded and put his feet together while trying to look out the opposite window to see where Ned went.
“Keep your shirt tucked down, Pete, okay?” Tony tried to pull Peter’s pants up higher but it was hard to do with him sitting down. He just didn’t want anyone seeing his pull-up.
“Yep. Yep.” Peter bounced up and looked over at Ned who appeared at Tony’s side. “Ned, is it snowing hard out?”
“Kinda. It’s not the packing kinda snow though, which sucks.”
“Peter, Ned can’t stay out late so hurry up.” Tony grabbed Peter’s bad foot to carefully put his sock and shoe on then did the same with his other foot. “It’s icy boys so be careful.” Tony practically lifted Peter out of the car and causally tugged his pants up and pulled his jacket down.
He let the two of them walk up ahead a bit so they could catch up and bond together but he never took his eyes off of Peter. He was only two feet away from Peter but he already felt like that was too far.
He was a tad worried about when Peter was fully recovered and then he no longer had an excuse to let Peter sleep with him every night and not work on any separation anxiety techniques with Rose. He didn’t think that he could do it, never mind Peter.
Once they got inside, ordered and took their seats at the back, Tony sat back to eat his cheeseburger and let the two catch up. Peter was sitting next to him with Ned across from them so he could have his kid closer to him.
Tony finished texting Pepper back who was not happy that they were out. He then put his phone away to listen in on the conversation.
“... even it was there too. It was crazy. And you can come over and help me build it next time. Maybe this weekend because we’re not doing anything. Right dad?” Peter turned to him and placed his ketchup covered hand on his thigh. Tony was used to this by now but he didn’t have any change of clothes now so he’d rather not get covered in all the foods they were eating.
“I don’t know, bud. How about we see what the weekend brings.” Tony didn’t think they would have time this weekend. He didn’t want Peter to be too overwhelmed with everything and he already knew that the physical therapist was coming over and so was Rose.
Peter chomped on a fry while Ned spoke. “How is home schooling going? That’s so cool that you’re doing that. Schools so boring without you but I’m glad you don’t have to come anymore because I know you were always so spacey.”
Tony didn’t like the thought of his kid going to school like that. He was so relieved he made the choice to take Peter out of school.
“Good.” Peter answered as he was doing some weird movement with his body, not being able to sit still.
“Relax for a sec, Pete. Just sit on your butt and eat.” Tony moved Peter’s legs out from under him but that didn’t stop Peter from moving. Tony didn’t know how he had so much energy all the time.
“Actually… I didn’t even start school yet. Me and dad and Pepper went to Miami a few days ago.” Peter told Ned then pulled his feet up onto the seat after taking his boots off.
“We went a few weeks ago, buddy.” Tony said, knowing Peter’s mind was all over the place right now.
“Oh. I forgot.”
Peter and Ned finished their conversation while Tony let the two talk. He didn’t want to join in on their conversation because he wanted Peter to get a chance to catch up with Ned but Peter kept bringing him into it so he didn’t have a choice.
It was already 8:15pm and time to drop Ned off, Tony was surprised that Peter hadn’t passed out yet but he knew it was going to happen once Peter was in the car.
“Are you boys ready to head out now?” Tony asked, gathering all the garbage from the table to throw it away.
“First I need to go to the bathroom.” Ned announced and stood up to leave. Tony looked over at Peter to see if he was going to follow him but he already knew what Peter’s next move was.
“I need to go too.” Peter went to crawl over Tony but Tony stopped him. “I need to go pee too.”
“No you don’t.” He said but saw Peter’s face drop and immediately regretted that. “But you can try. Let me throw this out first and then we’ll all go.”
While Ned went into a stall to use the bathroom, Tony saw Peter eyeing a urinal but Peter already had a pull-up on so he didn’t need to use it. He grabbed Peter’s hand and gently pulled him towards the sinks. “Wash the stickiness off your hands and face while he goes.”
Peter looked over his shoulder but Tony was already pushing him towards the sink and grabbing a paper towel so he didn’t let his son walk out of there looking like he just dug through the garage with his face.
Ned walked out at that time to wash his hands. “I’m so tired. I don’t want to go to school tomorrow.”
“Don’t go. You can come over and help me build my lego.” Peter told him then Tony quickly wiped Peter’s face while he was distracted.
Ned sighed. “I wish. I have two tests tomorrow and exams are coming up too which sucks.”
Peter wasn’t too concerned about how far behind he was because it wasn’t ever talked about but hearing Ned mention it, made him now realize that he was screwed.
“Oh. Good luck on your tests and stuff.” Peter didn’t want to think about his schooling, he didn’t even think he could sit in front of a computer all day without his dad.
“Thanks. You’re lucky you don’t have to take any more tests or anything like that.”
Tony didn’t want Peter thinking he wasn’t going to do anymore school work but he also could see the wheels turning in his head.
“Pete’s going to have to take more tests and exams eventually. Just not right now.” Tony told the boy while looking at Peter for his reaction.
“Oh. Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
Tony and Ned had started walking out of the bathroom but when Tony opened the door and turned around to look back at Peter, he was just standing there. “Come on, bud. Wanna make cookies when we get home? Or are you too tired?”
That got Peter walking. “I’m not tired.”
Tony knew he was lying.
The three of them made their way to the car but Peter had attached himself onto Tony’s side on the walk back. That was another sign that he was tired.
Tony opened up the back door for Peter to climb in but he shook his head and rubbed at his eyes. “No. I wanna sit in the front seat with you.”
“You can move to the front seat after we drop Ned off.” Tony told him, already seeing a meltdown coming on. He heard voices behind him and turned around to see two men with cameras, looking like they just found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
“Tony Stark. Are you and Pepper Potts getting back together?”
Tony rolled his eyes. He made it very clear when he first announced that he adopted a kid that he did not want to see any paparazzi following him around when he was out with his kid but every now and then, there was always someone.
“Come, Peter.” Tony grabbed Peter’s arm to lift him into the car.
“Peter, can you say hi for us?”
Peter weakly lifted his hand up to wave to them and Tony heard the shutter of the camera pick up its speed. “Don’t encourage them.” He gently put Peter’s hand down and looked over at Ned who was already in the car with his seatbelt on. “Sorry, kid. I didn’t plan on them finding us.”
Ned didn’t respond since he was staring out the door at the paparazzi.
Tony quickly shut Peter’s door and got into the car, started it and pulled out of the parking lot. He now had to ask Pepper to make sure those pictures didn’t get out and if they did, he wanted Peter’s face blurred.
“Mr. Stark?” Ned asked and it gave Tony a flashback to when Peter used to call him that. He found it hard to believe that Peter ever called him that, considering how far they’ve come in a short four months time.
“Yeah?”
“Do they always follow you guys? I mean, I never really see pictures of Peter or you on like the news or in magazines or anything. Well, I did once but Peter wasn’t looking at the camera.” Ned explained but then Peter was speaking up.
“You know that Lady GaGa song?” Peter asked him randomly, referring to the song paparazzi.
Tony ignored Peter’s random question and answered Ned. “That’s because I have a good team that is on top of all of the pictures that these vultures get of us. Sometimes the photos are sold just as long as Peter’s face is blurred or looking away from the camera.”
Tony couldn’t count the number of pictures he’s seen of him and Peter out in public with him looking straight into the camera and Peter looking up at him so the back of his head was all they got in the picture.
Although now Peter was waving at the cameras.
He planned on letting Pepper know as soon as they got back home so she could get right on it.
“Uh, Mr. Stark? Peter’s sleeping.” Ned pointed out.
He had been thinking about the paparazzi and the pictures the whole way to Ned’s house that he hadn’t even realized that Peter had fallen asleep. “Oh, that’s okay. Let him sleep.”
Ned nodded and reached out to gently pat the top of Peter’s head. “I feel bad. I know he’s still recovering and stuff.”
“Yeah, he’s okay. Don’t worry about him.” Tony was doing enough worrying for the both of them. It wasn’t Ned’s responsibility to worry about Peter since he didn’t need that added weight on his shoulders. “We’re here. I’ll tell Pete to text you tomorrow if you want.”
Ned was nodding aggressively. “Yes please. He’s never really on his phone anymore.”
Tony felt a bit bad for Ned since he knew the two were best friends but it was hard with what Peter was going through and how Ned couldn’t fully understand it. Tony still struggled to figure out what was going on in Peter’s head of his.
“I’ll tell him to go on it tomorrow to talk to you. Have a nice night, kid. Good luck on your tests tomorrow.”
Ned took off his seatbelt and opened up his door, giving one last glance back at Peter. “Thank you, Mr. Stark. Hopefully I can see you and Peter soon. Bye.”
Tony waited for Ned to get inside the house before he was pulling out of the driveway and heading home. He couldn’t wait to get Peter in bed so he wasn’t sleeping in the uncomfortable car although Tony had quickly learned that Peter could sleep anywhere he wanted at any time.
He just hoped he didn’t overwork Peter by letting him go out.
By the time they arrived back at home, Pepper was already waiting in the garage for them and not looking happy. He slowly pulled in and shut the car off but Pepper was opening up the back door before Tony even got the chance to take his seatbelt off.
“Fancy seeing you here.” Tony teased to try and lighten the mood as he got out of the car.
Pepper gave him a dry look. “He’s sleeping, Tony. Do you really think it was a good idea to take him out in the cold and this late at night?”
Tony didn’t expect that. He shut his car door and walked around Pepper to get his son out of the car. “He wanted to see his friend.”
“Oh so now you’re letting Peter make the decisions. If he wanted to be Spider-Man again, are you going to say yes to that?” She asked without expecting an answer but Tony wasn’t going to let that slide.
“Are you being serious right now? After everything that happened.” He couldn’t believe he was having this conversation with her. “Just because I agreed to letting Peter see his friend for a few hours doesn’t mean I’m gonna let him be Spider-Man again if he asks.”
He reached into the car to take his seatbelt off and carefully lift Peter into his arms so his head fell onto his shoulders and his arm supported his bottom with Peter’s arms and legs hanging weakly at its side.
“You shouldn’t have let him go out, Tony. Not at this time of night or in this weather.” Pepper followed him into the elevator causing him to sigh loudly.
“He’s mine, Pepper. Not yours or anyone else’s so I don’t see why I have to ask you or anyone about what I want to do with him. It doesn’t concern anyone else but me and him.” Tony appreciated the help around the house and the occasional time someone watched Peter for him but he didn’t think it was necessary for anyone to give their input on his parenting skills like Pepper was currently doing.
“Stop it. You’re acting like you’re all alone in this and you’re not. Especially now. After everything that happened.” She shot his words back at him. “Stop shutting Peter out from extra people in his life to stand in his corner. I’m not saying I’m gonna be his mom or Steve’s gonna be his second dad or anything like that, I’m just saying that you don’t have to do this thing alone.”
Tony didn’t think he was doing that. He accepted help when someone offered. Like when Pepper did all the laundry and cleaned the house or when Steve looked after Peter for him for a bit.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He admitted. The elevator doors opened so he stepped out and reached down to take Peter’s boots off of him.
“Yes you do. Just let me help out more. You’re gonna wear yourself down.”
He walked towards the couch to lay Peter on it so he could wrestle him out of his jacket. “What are you saying?”
She sighed. “I’m saying that you don’t have to be with him all the time. You’re allowed to take breaks every now and then. Let me get him ready for bed sometimes so when you come home, you don’t have to worry about that.”
Tony managed to get Peter’s jacket off of him and then he was lifting him back into his arms while he laughed at the ridiculousness of the suggestion. “That’s funny. Do you honestly think that Peter will let you get him ready for bed and put him to sleep? I’ll feel extremely bad leaving you with him in that situation. It just won’t work.”
“Well let’s see about that. I think I can do it.” Pepper sounded confident and it amused Tony.
“Fine. Tomorrow night I will go somewhere and leave you alone with Peter. He has to be in bed at least by nine so have fun with that.” He knew she wasn’t going to be able to do it but he wanted her to know that so he would let her try. He knew Peter. Peter absolutely despised bedtimes.
Bedtime in the Stark household was the end of the world most nights.
“Alright then. Tomorrow you leave and I’ll do everything.” Pepper sat on the bed once they got into his bedroom. He carefully placed Peter on it and reached out to straighten his body more.
“Have fun. I do not envy you one bit.” He didn’t plan on actually going anywhere. He was just going to go down to the lab and watch the whole thing from the cameras everywhere. Only he had access to that since it was through FRIDAY although he didn’t have access to the teams bedroom and bathrooms without their consent, not that he would want to look anyways.
“It’ll be fun. I’ll get to have one on one time with him too.” Pepper smiled, reaching over to run a hand through Peter’s hair.
Tony laughed. That wasn’t going to be fun for her.
He pulled off Peter’s pants so he could sleep more comfortably and went to take off his shirt as well but thought better of that since he didn’t want to wake him with all the movement. He then grabbed the monitor and attached it to his foot.
“Alright. Finally he’s in bed.” Tony took off his own shirt and walked into the bathroom. “I’m gonna quickly shower and stuff then I’m sleeping for twelve hours.” He knew he wouldn’t get that much. He would be waking up when Peter woke up.
“I can stay with him until you’re done.” Pepper said, getting more comfortable on the bed next to Peter.
“If you want.” He said as he shut the bathroom door and locked it out of habit because the last thing he wanted was for Peter to barge into the bathroom while he’s bearing all.
On the bed, Pepper watched Peter’s chest rise and fall with each breath he took. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him, wondering how many times Tony found himself stuck in the same situation.
Peter suddenly rolled onto his stomach and pulled his knees to his chest then sat up and rubbed at his eyes, starting to whimper.
“Hey, Peter. It’s okay, go back to sleep.” Pepper sat up and tried to pull Peter back down but he wasn’t moving and started to whimper louder.
“Mhm. No, don’ wan’ go on the horse. No.” Peter whimpered again and turned to look over at Pepper with half open eyes.
“Sweetie. There’s no horse. You’re just dreaming.” Pepper tried to coach Peter back to sleep but the more she tried, the more emotional Peter became.
Tony heard voices so he finished brushing his teeth and walked into his bedroom with just a towel wrapped around his waist. He was surprised to see Peter awake but even more surprised to see Peter with tears in his half open eyes.
“Hey, bud. You’re supposed to be sleeping.” He walked towards the bed and Peter’s head immediately snapped in his direction and crawled over to him.
“Not goin’ on the horse.” Peter mumbled, lifting his arms up.
Tony chuckled at Peter being delirious. “Alright. Come here.” He picked him up, placing one hand under his butt to support him and rubbing his back with his other hand.
“Not horse.” Peter whimpered.
“You don’t have to go on the horse if you don’t want to.” He reassured Peter, not knowing if he even understood him in his sleepy state.
Pepper got off the bed and walked over to pat Peter’s back. “Sleep good, you two. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
Tony watched her leave. Normally he would have wanted her to stay but he just wanted to be alone with his kid now.