All The Stars Align

As it turns out, Tony wasn’t being given much of a choice.

The plan was to go down to the lab and let Pepper get Peter ready for bed and put him to sleep, just so he could prove to her that it couldn’t be done but then he woke up to a bunch of emails from work saying that he had to go in.

So Tony was already in a bad mood.

Since he owned the company, he got to say when he went into work and when he didn’t and after having a kid, he rarely ever went in but there were times, it was rare but occasionally there were times, like now, when he had to go into work.

Tony didn’t want to leave Peter. He didn’t ever want to leave Peter but especially not now.

Pepper walked into his closet as he was tying up his tie and quietly shut the door. She was dressed in pink pyjama pants and a white sweater. He envied her.

“This is going to be one hell of a day.” He complained, wanting to skip ahead twelve hours. He didn’t want to wake Peter up to say goodbye so he had to sneak out of the house and feel extremely bad for whoever had to tell Peter the news.

“I know. You have that to look forward to. I’ll be here, so will Steve and Rose is coming later today as well. I can have her come sooner if it’s really bad.” Pepper leaned against the dresser in the middle of the closet and held her hand out for Tony to take, sensing his stress and anxiety. “He’ll be okay. It’s just one day.”

Tony wasn’t so sure. Peter was going to freak out when he woke up and probably be pissed at him when he got home. “It won’t be. He’s going to miss me and I just… call me when he wakes up so I can talk to him.”

“You know he’ll hear your voice and it’ll make him even more upset that you aren’t with him.” Pepper knew Peter. She knew how he got and what the damage a simple phone call could do.

“If he wants to talk to me, I’ll leave the meeting to talk to him. If you don’t, I’ll have FRIDAY put a call through.” Tony put his suit jacket on and walked past Pepper to open the door and kiss Peter bye.

He wished he didn’t have to leave. Peter looked so comfortable. He kicked the blankets off of himself so he had one leg out and one leg in with his arms raised above his head. Tony sat down and leaned over his sleeping son to press a gentle kiss to his forehead.

He pulled his phone out to make sure the foot monitor was on properly and detecting his heartbeat before standing up to leave. “When he wakes up, make sure to turn the monitor off before taking it off of him. Otherwise I’ll get an alert saying that his heart stopped beating.”

“I will.”

Tony looked at Peter one last time before leaving the bedroom to meet Happy outside. “Remember to have him call me whenever he wakes up. He probably won’t wanna eat but he has to.”

“Tony. You’re not taking a flight halfway around the world. It’s important for him to know that you can’t be with him all the time. It’ll be okay.” Pepper rubbed his back but her words or touch didn’t comfort him one bit.

“Just… okay. Call me if you need anything. I’ll come back if you need me to.” Tony didn’t care how mad they would be, he’d leave the meeting in a second if he had to.

Pepper didn’t look impressed so Tony knew she had no idea what she was in for.

.
.
.

Peter woke up and immediately stretched and rolled over in bed. He rubbed at his eyes and kicked all the blankets off of him but when he looked over, his dad wasn’t next to him in the bed which caused him to groan.

Pushing himself up, Peter crawled towards the end of the bed and slid off. Since he didn’t have to go to the bathroom, he grabbed a blanket and left the bedroom to find Tony, wanting to cuddle up on him on the couch before breakfast since he was starving.

Pepper was making her way up the stairs by the time Peter was making his way down. He pointed towards the living room with his free hand, wanting her to tell him where his dad was.

“Good morning. Did you sleep well?” Pepper asked him, pausing at the bottom of the stairs.

Peter gave a slight nod and walked down the stairs, stopping in front of her to sit on the steps and slide the rest of the way down, step by step. “Where’s dad?”

Pepper picked up his dragging blanket for him as she spoke. “Your dad woke up early today because he had a last minute work meeting in Philadelphia so he’ll be back later tonight.”

Peter felt his heart drop. His dad wasn’t in the penthouse. He wasn’t even in the same city. A million different things started to run through his head. His dad could die. He could get into a car accident on the snowy roads or the car could flip…

“No. Where is he?” Peter asked her, shaking his head in denial. No way.

Pepper bent down to be at his height level as he sat on the stairs. “Peter. Your dad went to Philadelphia for work but he’ll be back home to see you later tonight-”

With that confirmation, Peter threw his head back and fell down the rest of the stairs, crying on the floor, wanting his dad to be there.

Pepper didn’t expect that outcome but she wasn’t surprised. She knew she just had to distract Peter and he would be fine. She’s seen Tony do it all the time. “It’s okay. Stand up and I’ll make you whatever breakfast you want.”

Peter kicked his legs out at her and choked on a loud sob. She looked down at his pull-up and sighed. Tony wasn’t there to do that and she didn’t know if Peter would be comfortable with her helping him. “FRIDAY, can you see if Steve can come up?”

“Of course, Ms. Potts.” FRIDAY replied.

She tried to get Peter to calm down and at least sit up while she was waiting for Steve to come up but by the time Steve got there, it was as if Peter’s crying got even worse.

Peter heard the elevator ding and stopped to see who was walking in but only cried harder when it wasn’t the face he wanted to see. Steve heard the crying before he even walked out of the elevator.

“Tony’s gone?” He asked, having heard nothing from the two for the past two days.

Pepper nodded as she stood up, already feeling a headache coming on. “He had to go to Philadelphia last minute and won’t be back until tonight.”

Steve looked down at Peter. He always felt so bad for the child whenever Tony left, knowing Peter struggled a lot with being without his dad but the selfish part of him was excited that he got to take care of Peter and have one on one time with him.

“Do you mind helping him change into proper clothes while I make breakfast? The box of pull-ups is in Tony’s room on the floor.” Pepper told Steve but it wasn’t going to be that hard for him to miss it.

Steve leaned down and lifted Peter up. “Hi Peter. You’re okay. What’s wrong?”

Peter leaned his head on Steve’s shoulder, feeling sick. He pointed over his shoulder towards the living room again but Pepper didn’t say anything which caused him to start crying harder. He wanted his dad.

Steve walked into Peter’s bedroom to grab some comfy clothes before going into Tony’s for the pull-ups. He grabbed grey track pants and a red shirt then went to grab underwear before stopping, remembering that he didn’t need that so he grabbed socks and left.

Peter cried against his shoulder, having no energy to lift his head up. He rubbed at his eyes once they got into his dad’s bedroom and tried to suck in a breath of air to stop crying but it was hard.

“You’re-you’re taking me to see dad?” Peter asked, leaning against Steve’s legs once he placed him on the floor.

“Your dad will be here later, Peter. He’s gone to work for a little bit.” Steve told the distraught boy, not knowing the details of when Tony would be back exactly.

Peter started crying harder, wanting to hear a different answer. It wasn’t fair, he had no idea this was going to be happening today and he knew that if he was told before, he would have cried to his dad and then he would get his way but now that wasn’t the case.

Steve grabbed the sides of the pull-up and was quick to get Peter cleaned up while the boy cried for his dad. It broke Steve’s heart every time but there was only so much he could do to help him.

Once he was done, he stood Peter back up and grabbed a clean pull-up. “Do you want to try going pee first?” Steve asked, not entirely sure what Tony usually did or if Peter could even try. He was aware that his kidneys weren’t functioning properly right now.

Peter shook his head. “No. I can’t.”

Steve nodded, having assumed as much. “Okay. Can you step into it, Peter?”

Peter reached forward to grab onto Steve’s arms for balance as he stepped into the pull-up, letting Steve do all the work. “I want-I want dad.”

“I know, Peter. He’ll be back soon. How about we do whatever you want to do today?” Steve suggested as he pulled the shirt off of Peter and helped him into track pants and a clean T-shirt.

“To go to Philadelphia.” Peter told Steve, letting the man manhandle him into clothes. He wasn’t going to make it easy for the man if he didn’t get what he wanted.

“I can’t do that. Pepper’s making breakfast so let’s go downstairs.” When Steve stood up, Peter threw himself onto the bed then slid off of it and landed on the ground in a fit of tears. Steve looked down at the boy, the problem was that he didn’t know what to do for Peter.

The only thing Peter wanted was Tony and he couldn’t give that to him.

“Let’s go. Up we get.” When he picked Peter up, Peter went deadweight in his arms so Steve struggled to hold onto him, feeling like he was carrying a bag of jello. He was glad that Peter weighed next to nothing for him so he had a better hold on the boy.

When he got downstairs, Peter’s crying didn’t stop, it actually seemed to get worse. Pepper looked over at them and held her arm out to hand Steve a water bottle. “Here. Give this to him. Did everything go okay up there?”

“Uh… yeah.” He answered then tried to sit Peter in the stool but Peter wasn’t sitting up by himself. “Peter. Sit up straight.”

As soon as Steve let him go, Peter threw himself to the side, smacked his head off the table and fell onto the floor. He let out a high pitched scream followed by a cry as Steve immediately bent down to pick him up and Pepper raced across the kitchen island.

“Oh shit. Is he okay?” Pepper asked, letting Steve pick him up and examine his head.

“I think he bit his tongue. There’s blood coming out of his mouth.” Steve mentally cursed at himself for letting Peter go when it was obvious he wasn’t going to sit up on his own.

Pepper was already wetting paper towels to give to Steve but there was so much going on at once. The waffles that she was making started to burn so she had to quickly pop the toaster and take them out, throwing them into the sink. “Ah fuck.”

“Rose is here and is requesting access to the floor.” FRIDAY had mentioned which had Steve looking up.

“Let her up.” Pepper had said.

“I thought she wasn’t coming until later?” He asked, trying to wipe the blood off of Peter’s chin but it was mixed with tears and snot and was rubbed all over his face.

“I called her to come now.” Pepper told him as she grabbed the waffle box out from the freezer and slammed it on the table.

Steve didn’t know how he felt about that. He was looking forward to spending some one on one time with Peter and possibly getting to paint or colour with him but now he knew that Rose was coming so he wouldn’t get a chance to do that.

Peter rubbed his eyes and tried to move on Steve’s lap, snapping his head to see who was getting out of the elevator when he heard it open. He saw that it wasn’t his dad which caused him to let out a gut wrenching sob and throw his head back, smacking Steve in the shoulder blade.

“I see that we aren’t off to a good morning.” Rose said, walking in and immediately going over to Steve who had Peter on his lap. “What happened there, Peter?”

Peter used both hands to wipe at his face which had all the blood and snot going everywhere so Steve stood up. “He smacked his face off the table so I’m just going to take him into the bathroom to clean up.”

As he lifted Peter up to bring him into the bathroom, he heard Rose and Pepper start talking but he paid no attention to that and tried to focus on cleaning Peter up since he was feeling partly responsible for the bloody mess.

Peter sat on the counter, trying so hard to calm down but he was struggling so much. A million thoughts were running through his mind about his dad and whether or not he was okay.

He didn’t know why Tony just left him, especially after everything that they’ve been through the past few days, weeks even. Now his dad was gone and he felt sick.

“I-I want dad. Tell-tell-tell him to come home.” Peter begged Steve, wanting him to fix it and make everything better. He was finding it so hard to breathe even and he was so scared.

Steve felt bad. He gently wiped Peter’s face clean but that was all he felt he could do to help since Peter was missing his dad and Tony wasn’t there. “I’m sorry, Peter. I know this is hard for you. How about we try giving him a call after you eat breakfast?”

Peter rubbed at his eyes, feeling exhausted even though he just woke up. “Not hungry. I wanna talk to him now though.”

“You have to eat first.” Steve knew Peter was still healing so he needed some energy but he also had a super fast metabolism. Maybe even as fast as Steve’s when he’s older.

Peter didn’t like that answer so he couldn’t stop the burst of tears that started again. He was unable to hold back the sob that escaped his lips as Steve picked him up and set him on his feet. Peter didn’t want to walk but he wanted to call his dad so he let Steve lead him into the kitchen where the other two adults were.

“I made you some breakfast, Peter. Please sit down and eat it.” Pepper pushed the plate towards one of the island stools for him but he shook his head and walked around to try and take her phone off of her.

“I wanna call dad. Steve said so.” He asked, feeling her back pocket for her phone which was where his dad always put his.

“Peter. Stop it.” Pepper turned around to grab onto Peter’s hands so he could stop grabbing her butt. Tony was right about Peter having absolutely no idea what personal space means. “You can eat your breakfast first.”

“I told him that.” Steve had said, leaning against the table to see what Peter was going to do next.

“Please. I want to.” Peter begged her. He needed to hear his dad's voice.

Pepper held Peter’s hand to walk him to sit on the stool on the other side of the kitchen island. “I told you that we can call him but you have to finish your breakfast first.” She knew Peter wouldn’t be eating if she let him talk to Tony first.

She didn’t even want Peter calling his dad since she knew how it would end and she would be stuck with the aftermath of that.

Peter shook his head aggressively. He couldn’t eat because he felt sick and they didn’t understand that but his dad would but his dad wasn’t there and that was frustrating him because he didn’t know how he was feeling or how to explain it to anyone so the tears started again, causing another loud sob to escape his mouth.

He sat on the edge of the stool and reached desperately across the table to where Pepper was since he knew she had her phone. “I need it!”

“Peter, how about you take a few calming breaths because you’re getting too worked up.” Rose suggested, moving Peter’s chair closer to the table so he didn’t fall off.

Peter looked at the plate in front of him and without thinking about it, he whipped it across the room, causing the food to go everywhere but he didn’t care. He found it hard to express his emotions without his dad there to help him and he was struggling with that.

“Peter.” Pepper gasped, freezing in place because she had never seen Peter act out this way before.

Peter already threw himself onto the floor by the time Steve got to him. Peter kicked one of the stools at him but it fell over before it hit Steve so Peter grabbed another stool and kicked it at Steve using his spider strength.

Steve caught it immediately but he did not look happy. After placing the stool down, Steve bent down, lifted him up in one motion and carried him over to the couch. Peter grabbed Steve’s arm, pushing it away from his body while also using his spider strength.

Steve stood him on his feet and bent down so he was at Peter’s height level. “Stop it. I know you want your dad but he’s not coming back if you act like this.”

That had Peter screaming because he couldn’t help it. He was trying so hard to stop crying and say how he was feeling but he was struggling and didn’t know how to calm down. “I-I can’t!”

Steve continued to stare at him so Peter grabbed his arms and tried to push him away but Steve was stronger. A lot stronger. “You’re strong, kid but you’re not as strong as I am so stop.”

Peter felt like he was using all of his energy but it was no match for Steve so he stopped and threw himself back onto the floor, only for him to be scooped back up and placed onto the couch.

After some time of crying into the couch, he felt it dip and a hand being placed on his lower back. “Can you sit up and look at me?” It was Rose.

Peter turned around and looked up at her, placing his feet on her legs to try to push her away but she stopped him. “Can you tell me how you’re feeling right now?”

That only had Peter crying harder because he didn’t know. “I-I-I wan-want my dad.” He cried out.

“He will be back tonight.” She rubbed at his leg. “Do you know what you’re feeling or is it too hard to express with words?”

Peter sucked in a breath of air and rubbed at his eyes. “I-I…” He looked over into the kitchen to see both Steve and Pepper watching him. “I want my dad.” Peter sobbed out, reaching a hand out to no one because no one was there to hold it.

“If you eat your breakfast like Pepper had-”

“No!” Peter kicked his legs out and rolled onto the floor, kicking his pants off in the process because he didn’t know what else to do but he felt like he was dying.

“Drink some juice and try to breathe, Peter.” Rose sat next to him, rolling him onto his back and holding his water bottle out for him so Peter immediately reached for it and began drinking, grateful for the coolness on his throat.

The room went silent for a few moments as he drank from his water bottle and tried to soothe his raw throat from all the crying and screaming.

After he was done, he dropped it to the side and rubbed at his eyes. Rose picked up his bottle and rubbed his stomach softly as she spoke. “Are you feeling tired?”

Peter whimpered because he was feeling sleepy but he knew he couldn’t go to bed without his dad, he didn’t care how tired he was. “Call my dad and tell him I want him.”

“Pepper and Steve already told you that you have to eat your breakfast first.”

Peter didn’t want to hear any of that. He rolled back onto his stomach and pushed himself up with his arms, followed by more crying. He stood up but tripped over the pants around his ankles that he had kicked off.

Pepper sighed as she watched Peter throw himself down onto the floor for the hundredth time in the hour. The crying broke her heart since she knew Peter had his separation anxiety added onto the fact that he was healing from almost dying and spending over a week in a coma. Her heart broke for the boy.

As much as she didn’t agree with it, she would follow Tony’s wishes and what Peter wanted so she pulled out her phone and walked over to him. “Peter. Stop crying and we can call your dad.”

Peter wiped desperately at his eyes but he didn’t stop crying. “I can’t!”

“Peter, just breathe. You’re going to call your dad right now but how will he be able to understand you if you’re crying like that.” Rose stood up and held her hand out for Peter to take which he did but he didn’t stand up fully and fell down again but Rose lifted him up by the arm. “Use your feet, Peter.”

Steve picked Peter up and carried him over to the couch, sitting him down. “You can talk to your dad but you have to eat after.”

Peter wasn’t listening to Steve, he was more focused on where the phone was so he could talk to his dad. Pepper pulled up Tony’s contact and pressed his number then put the phone on speaker and put it on Peter’s lap.

“Hey. Is Pete ok-”

“I want you to come home. Now.” Peter picked up the phone and cried into it. He thought it would make him feel better by hearing his dad’s voice but he felt even worse. He just wanted to be held in his arms and fall asleep.

“Aw, Pete. I’ll be home tonight. How about you paint me a picture with Steve?” Tony suggested but that had Peter screaming into the phone and throwing it onto the floor.

Pepper looked at Rose to shake her head because this was too much. She couldn’t get a read on Rose's facial expression but she assumed that she was thinking the same thing as her.

She stood up to pick up the phone and take it off speaker so she could talk to Tony. “He just threw the phone.”

“Put him back on. Did he eat breakfast yet?” Tony sounded worried but he wasn’t there to help the situation and the phone call would only make things worse.

“He didn’t eat anything.” Pepper told him, turning her back to Peter who was lying on the floor and desperately reaching for the phone. She knew that Tony no doubt heard the crying in the background.

“Can you try? I know he won’t want to but he has to eat.”

“Tony. I tried. Steve tried and so did Rose. Rose got him to drink some juice. That’s it. This has gotten way out of control. I told you what would-”

Tony cut her off. He didn’t want to hear it. “Put him on. I’ll talk to him.”

Pepper didn’t respond to him but passed the phone back over to Peter and put it on speaker. “Dad? I-I want you to come home. Please!”

Tony’s voice softened. “I will. Soon, baby boy, but not yet, okay? Can you eat something?”

Peter banged his head onto the floor repeatedly because he felt like he was dying. Steve lifted him off the ground so he could stop and sat him back onto the couch, grabbing the phone and holding it out so Peter couldn’t throw it again. “What time will you be home, Tony?”

“Uh… around nine tonight. Just… I can tell he’s not gonna stop. I’m just gonna come now-”

Pepper took the phone from Steve. “Tony. No. Stay there and finish what you have to do. Peter will be fine. He needs to learn you can’t be around all the time.”

Tony didn’t say anything for a long few seconds, not liking what Pepper had said. “Call me if he’s still like this in an hour.” With that, he hung up the phone.

Since there wasn’t much they could do, they let Peter cry it out, expecting him to eventually stop but he didn’t. Not until he cried himself to sleep on the living room carpet.

Pepper picked up the pants that Peter had kicked off himself and neatly folded them. She picked up his water bottle and placed it on the table before sitting onto the floor next to Peter’s sleeping form.

“I don’t know what to do about this. Tony is so stubborn when it comes to Peter.” Pepper looked down at Tony’s son, her heart broke for the both of them, not knowing what to do to help.

.
.
.

Peter woke up a little over two hours later. He wasn’t even up for more than a minute before the tears started again.

He was reminded of how his day was going without his dad and how awful he was currently feeling.

He pushed himself up and looked around the room to see who was there to stand in as a substitute to comfort him and the first person he saw was Steve so he stood up and made his way over to the man, grabbing onto his shirt and crying into it.

Steve rubbed at his back, not knowing what to do. They tried and were obviously helpless. “Would it be such a bad thing to call and tell him to come?” Steve asked Pepper, not wanting to say Tony’s name and get Peter crying harder for his dad.

Pepper just stared at Peter, lost in thought.

She tried, they all did. Peter wasn’t going to stop crying until he was with Tony and that much was obvious. She shook her head in defeat before pulling out her phone and walking out of the kitchen to talk to Tony.

“Yeah?” Tony answered the phone.

“You should come home. Peter hasn’t stopped crying and we won’t eat or calm down.” She explained to him, listening in as she could already hear Tony moving around in the background.

“Okay. I’m coming home right now. Tell Peter I’ll be back in two hours.” With that, Tony hung up the phone.

Pepper placed her phone on the kitchen table when she walked back into the kitchen and walked over to Peter who was now in Steve’s arms and crying violently. “I called your dad and he’s coming home right now. He’ll be home in two hours, okay?”

Peter nodded, hearing what Pepper said and although he felt relief wash over him, he was finding it extremely difficult to calm down.

They all eventually moved to the couch and put on Peter’s show but he wasn’t the least bit interested in it since the elevator was much more entertaining to watch. He was sat on Steve’s lap with his back pressed up against his broad chest and found it a little bit comforting the way Steve was bouncing his leg.

Peter heard Pepper’s phone buzz so he turned to look at her. “Tony’s here. He’s coming up in the elevator now.”

That was all it took for Peter to jump off of Steve’s lap and run over to the elevator, waiting impatiently in front of it. He listened in and heard voices but he wasn’t able to make out what they were saying but he knew it was his dad and his eyes started to burn with more tears.

He didn’t even know why he was crying now because Tony was coming home to him. There was no reason to cry but he was.

When the doors opened, Tony didn’t even have time to step out of the elevator before he was greeted by Peter who was throwing himself into his arms and reaching up desperately for him.

He was home almost seven hours earlier and by the sounds of Peter’s cries and the way he was clinging onto him, he wouldn’t have lasted another hour without making himself sick from all the crying.

“Shh, I’m here now, baby. I’m here. It’s okay.” Tony lifted Peter up into his arms and walked out of the elevator. He knew he wasn’t going to be putting Peter down for the rest of the day but he was okay with that.

“I-I missed you.” Peter could barely get out those words. He was crying so hard and Tony knew he had to calm him down.

“I know but I’m here now.” When he walked into the living room, Happy sat down on the couch next to Pepper who was staring up at Tony but he didn’t look at her, he knew what she was thinking. He spotted Peter’s water bottle on the table and reached down to pick it up. “Hey, bud, where are your pants? Did they fall off?”

Peter shook his head. “I did it.”

That didn’t surprise him. He was used to Peter getting really upset and completely stripping. “Who needs pants anyways. You wanna go upstairs and change?”

Peter nodded against him and that was all Tony needed to carry him upstairs, grateful that he was home but his heart broke for Peter. Nothing they seemed to be doing was working and it was incredibly frustrating. Tony knew he had to go back to Philadelphia one day this week to finish up with a few things so he was going to have to leave all over again.

Although he wasn’t going to worry about that right now.

Once he walked into his bedroom, Tony turned the light on and walked towards the bed. “Lie down, Pete. Are you tired?”

Peter started whining when he went to lay him down. “No. I want you to hold me.”

“I will, Petey, but I have to change your pull-up first. When was the last time you changed?” Tony asked which had Peter looking down at it but not answering. “I’ll be quick. Lie down.”

Peter did as he was told and watched Tony grab a pull-up out of the box then he grabbed wipes. “No. I don’t want it.”

“It’s okay. We’ll be quick.” He knew all the emotions were running through him and something as simple as what he was doing was going to set Peter off. Tony pulled the wet pull-up off and tossed it to the side so he could grab the wipes.

“Peter, what’s wrong?” Tony asked him. Peter’s crying was getting even worse and he had no idea what the problem was. He finished wiping him and secured a fresh pull-up on him then sat down on the bed so he could pull Peter onto his lap. “Shh, tell me what’s wrong, baby.”

Peter wrapped his arms around him. “I-I missed you and-and you just left me.”

“Aww, baby. That’s because I had to go to work. We talked about this.” Tony turned Peter so he was cradled in his arms. “I know it’s hard for us but it’ll be okay.”

Peter rubbed at his eyes. “I just… I don’t like it when you’re gone.”

Tony stood up to lay Peter back down. “I know you don’t. We’ll work on it.”

Peter started crying even harder. “No. I don’t want to work on it.”

“Peter. Calm down. What is it? Why are you so worked up?” Tony didn’t even have time to change out of his suit yet and Peter was already getting worked up over the tiniest of things.

“I just… I missed you.” Peter cried out, reaching up to wrap his arms around Tony’s neck. “I don’ like it when you leave me.”

“I know, buddy. I’m here now. It’s okay.” Tony hated hearing Peter cry, especially when he didn’t know what to do about it but he was mostly feeling bad since he knew it was his fault. That much was obvious.

“I’m hungry.” Peter told him, rubbing at his eyes and reaching over on the bed for his water bottle.

“Okay. Let me change first and then we’ll go downstairs. Do you need to go pee- never mind. Just… wait here.” He was already ready for bedtime and it wasn’t even eight yet.

Peter laid down and watched Tony go into the closet and shut the door. He felt a lot better now that his dad was home but he still felt awful. After a minute passed and his dad was still in the closet, Peter threw his water bottle at the door.

Tony opened the door seconds later and looked at the thrown bottle on the ground and Peter who looked extremely suspicious. He knew that bottle didn’t just fall out of his hands like that. “Did you throw this?”

Peter stared at him.

“Peter? I asked you a question.” Tony didn’t even have time to put his shirt on but that wasn’t important right now. While he was on the way home, he was watching the cameras and saw how Peter was acting.

Tony walked towards the bed but Peter was quickly trying to hide under the blankets before Tony got to him. “Noooo!”

“Peter. Stop. I’m home now so you can stop the crying and stop this behaviour.” Tony stood on the side of the bed and watched Peter try to bury himself under the blankets. He couldn’t tell if the kid was laughing or crying but he hoped he was crying since if Peter thought this was funny, he wasn’t going to be happy about that.

“Peter Stark. Enough. I don’t like your behaviour right now so stop it.” Tony raised his voice a bit, trying to be firm.

Peter pulled his head out of the blankets and pointed his pointer finger at him. “I don’t like your behaviour.”

Tony wasn’t going to tolerate that. He walked towards the other side of the bed, ignoring Peter’s screams and crawls to get away from him then grabbed his ankles and pulled him down on the bed. He went to pinch his butt as a warning but the pull-up was too thick so he lifted Peter up, grateful for his lightweight.

He sat on the bed and stood Peter between his legs, grabbing onto his hands firmly. “You do not talk back to me that way. Do you understand? I will not allow you to talk back to me.”

Peter tried to sink onto the floor but Tony was forcing him to stand back up. “No.”

“I’m not playing with you, Peter. You are acting extremely bad right now and I don’t like it. You do not- look at me.” Tony cut himself off to get Peter to look at him. He had red shot eyes and snot pouring down his face but he wasn’t going to let this slide and teach Peter that his current behaviour is okay because it wasn’t. “You do not talk back to me. I am your father and I won’t let it happen. Say sorry.”

Peter tried to turn his body away from Tony but Tony held him firmly. Peter was the only person on the earth who could talk back to Tony Stark and not get an ass whooping after, expect Pepper.

“Sorry! M’sorry.” Peter cried out, trying to fall into his arms but Tony still planned on making him pick up the water bottle that he threw.

“Good. I’ll hug you after you pick up the water bottle that you threw because you don’t throw it.” He pointed towards the closet door but Peter started crying again as if it was the end of the world. “Just pick it up and I’ll hug you.”

“I need a hug now!” Peter fell to the ground and cried on Tony’s foot.

Tony knew he had to stay true to his punishment and not give in, although he wouldn’t consider it much of a punishment. Just strict reinforcement.

“Stand up. I’ll be here until you do it. It’s not that hard, Peter.” Tony didn’t understand why Peter was making such a big deal about it. All he had to do was pick up the water bottle and simply put it on the dresser but of course to Peter that was the end of the world.

Tony shut his eyes and put his head in his hands. He was so tired. He didn’t know how long he listened to Peter cry for and made no move to do anything before he stood up and grabbed onto Peter’s arms, carrying him over to the water bottle.

“Pick it up.” He told him, hoping so badly Peter would listen to him.

Peter sat on the floor and stared at the bottle so Tony tried again. “Pick it up.”

This time, Peter reached for the bottle and placed it on the dresser than looked up at Tony. Tony felt like he could cry in relief. Finally.

“There we go. Was that so hard? That’s all you had to do.” Tony didn’t hesitate to lift Peter up and pull him into his arms, walking to the other side of the bed to finish getting both of them ready. “Do you want pyjama pants on or track pants?”

Peter wiped his snot off on Tony’s bare shoulder but Tony wasn’t even phased by it. It if was someone else’s kid doing that to him, he would have freaked out and cringed but with Peter it was okay.

“No pants.” Peter answered and tried to wrap his legs around his dad so Tony let him cling onto him while he grabbed track pants out of what he hoped was a pile of clean laundry.

“Put these on yourself so I can put my shirt on.” Tony pried his clingy kid off of him and dropped him onto the bed but Peter made no move to put his pants on. “Hurry. We have to go eat.”

“I’m not even hungry anymore.” He lied, crawling over to the headboard to do a handstand on it. “Look.”

Tony didn’t have the patience. Peter was making simple tasks the hardest things. “Get down. You didn’t eat anything today. Your body is still trying to heal, how are your kidneys supposed to heal if you aren’t eating?”

He pulled Peter to stand in front of him and held his pants out while Peter stepped into them. “Does Pepper have chocolate for me?”

“No. You’re not getting chocolate.” Tony stood up and grabbed his phone off the nightstand table, seeing a bunch of emails that he was going to have to respond to in the next hour. “Walk. Let’s go.”

He clicked on the first email to skim read it as he walked down the hallway. He was already feeling so exhausted and now he had to deal with all these emails on top of getting Peter to eat since apparently his kid was starving himself without his presence there.

When Tony looked up, Peter was sliding down the stairs on his butt and despite his thinning patience and annoyance, a smile came to his face. As simple as the action was, it reminded Tony that Peter saw the world through such innocent eyes and it helped Tony to let go a lot of his work stress.

“Come, bud.” He held his hand out for Peter at the bottom of the stairs and led him into the kitchen where Pepper, Rhodey, Steve and Rose were. “Is everyone having a party in here?”

“I’m in here.” Came Happy's voice from the couch. Tony looked over at the man, wondering why he was still there since he usually went home to watch his Downton Abbey shows.

“What do you want, Pete? A healthy option or I’m not making it.” Tony let go of Peter’s hand and opened up the fridge, turning around to look at Peter who was now jumping onto the kitchen island table.

“Ummm… cheese pizza?”

“That isn’t healthy. Try again.” Tony looked over at Rhodey who was eating a pack of Peter’s yogurts and then looked back over at Peter because he knew his kid could eat about fifty of those in one sitting.

“I want one too.” Peter pointed to Rhodey which had Tony groaning.

“Can you leave. Now he’s gonna want to have one of those too.” Tony looked over at Rhodey but his friend just shrugged.

“Then tell him no, Tony.”

Tony didn’t know why that simple sentence upset him so much. He would have picked Peter up and left but he needed to make something for his kid to eat.

He tried to calm down by pinching the bridge of his nose because he was losing it. He was going to explode any minute if he didn’t calm down.

Thankfully, Rose took over for him. “Peter, what’s something healthy that you feel like eating?”

Peter chewed on his pointer finger as he thought. “Umm… I don’t know. Dad? Ask Pepper if she has any chocolate for me.”

Tony didn’t know if he could stay in the presence of anyone else any longer so he walked out of the kitchen and hoped someone grabbed Peter so he couldn’t follow him. He loved his kid, but he couldn’t stand to be with him at that moment. Peter was really pushing his buttons.

Peter watched his dad leave the room without him. “Where’re you goin’?” No response. “Wait. I wanna come with you.” Peter turned to climb off the counter and chase after his dad but Rhodey grabbed his arm.

“Leave him, Peter. Your dad needs some space. How about you cook with Rose.” Rhodey let go of Peter’s arm and went to leave the kitchen after that to join Happy because he didn’t like dealing with Peter without Tony around.

“I’ll just go with him then after I’ll cook.” Peter told Rose and slowly started walking in the direction Tony went in but Rose gently took his hand.

“Your dad needs a little space right now. You and I are going to decide what you want to eat today.” She pulled Peter towards the fridge but Peter started pulling back so she grabbed his arms firmly and leaned down to be at his height. “If you don’t want to decide what to eat, I will pick for you but you can either stay in the kitchen or go to the living room. Those are your only options.”

Peter wiped dramatically at his dry eyes. He hated his dad so much for leaving him. “Living room.”

“Alright. I don’t want to see you leave my sight.” Rose grabbed his hand and tugged him into the living room, all eyes on them and her accomplishment to actually get Peter to listen to someone. She forced him to sit down on the couch then squatted down in front of his knees. “Stay here until your dinner is ready, Peter. It’s important that you eat because you didn’t eat anything today.”

Peter watched her get up and leave then pushed himself up using Happy’s thigh and looking at him. “I would listen to her if I were you, kid. Sit your butt down.”

Peter looked over at Rhodey to see if his dad’s best friend would help him but he just stared at him so Peter crawled over Happy’s lap to reach for the remote. “I want it.”

“Peter, Happy’s watching tv right now. That is very disrespectful.” Rhodey tried to grab the remote from Peter but Peter held it against his chest and was using some of his Spidey strength to hold it there.

Rhodey eyed Peter. He looked in the kitchen for Steve to get him to take it from Peter. “Steve? Can you take the remote from Peter?”

Steve did not look happy as he walked over. Judging by Peter’s face, he didn’t look happy either. “Give me the remote.”

“No.”

Steve didn’t hesitate to lean down and force Peter’s arms apart. The kid was strong, he would give him that, but Peter wasn’t nearly as strong as Captain America. Maybe not yet.

As soon as Steve got the remote from Peter, he started crying and kicked his legs out which was Rhodeys cue to leave. “Alright. That’s it for me. When Tony comes back and he goes to bed, call me so I can actually have a conversation with my friend.”

Peter watched Rhodey leave but he didn’t even have time to move out of the way before Rose was grabbing him and forcing him to sit up. “Put your tears away. You grabbed the remote from Happy while he was watching tv. You need to have some quiet time right now, Peter.”

Rose pulled him to his feet and walked him over to a sofa bed on the other side of the room. She sat him down in it and squatted down in front of his knees again. “You will stay here for five minutes.”

With that, she left.

Peter sucked up his tears and watched her walk back into the kitchen. Pepper was looking at him so he looked away and threw himself off the sofa, onto the floor.

He pulled at a string under the sofa, watching it rip some fluff out so he stopped and sat up to see if anyone saw but no one was looking at him. Peter saw that everyone was busy doing something so he quietly started crawling towards the hallway where his dad went down.

Since he was crawling on the floor and no one was looking for him, Peter was able to make it to the other side of the room and down the hallway, towards the stairs that led down to the lab.

He knew he wasn’t allowed down there without an adult with him but it was worth a shot. Plus he didn’t think it was fair for his dad to leave him like that.

“FRIDAY. Open the door.” Peter stood up and whispered, making sure no one saw or heard him.

FRIDAY didn’t respond but the door opened up for him so Peter pulled it open and quietly headed down the stairs. Once he got to the bottom, he sat on the bottom step and looked into the lab.

Tony was sitting at his desk with his head in his hands. He didn’t seem to even realize that Peter was there which meant that FRIDAY didn’t tell him and he was too deep in his thoughts to hear Peter come down the stairs.

Peter stood up, feeling really bad for his dad.

He slowly opened up the glass door and hesitantly walked into the lab. When his dad still didn’t see him, he stopped a few feet away from him and spoke up.

“Dad?”

Tony flinched and snapped his head to look at Peter. “Oh fuck. You scared me.” Tony wiped at his face and tried to calm his racing heart, automatically reaching an arm out for Peter to come to him.

Peter ran into his dad’s arms, lifting his legs up to be placed on his dad’s lap. Tony ran a gentle hand over his face, giving him a weak smile. “How did you get down here? All the doors are baby locked.”

Peter narrowed his eyes at him. “Because I’m not a baby.”

“You’re my baby.” Tony confirmed, squeezing Peter’s cheeks together so his lips pushed out.

“Stop.” Peter whined, turning his head away from his dad's hands. He didn’t like when his dad did that to him because it always made him drool.

“FRIDAY.” Tony began, curious to know who opened the door for Peter upstairs. “How did Peter get down to my lab by himself?”

“I opened the door for him.” FRIDAY replied, sounding proud of herself. “Both of your vitals were reading that you both needed each other so I let Peter down.”

Tony gave Peter a knowing look, noticing how his kid immediately avoided his eyes and chose to grab onto his necklace to start playing with it with a shrug. “What? I missed you… you left me and I got in trouble.”

“You didn’t get in trouble because I left.” Tony tapped Peter’s nose. “You got in trouble because you’re being bad today.”

“No. I’m not.”

“Yeah. You are.” Tony didn’t even want to hear what Peter did while he was gone. What he saw on the cameras was enough but he wasn’t very happy with Peter. “What are we going to do, Peter? We can’t keep doing this.”

“Don’t know.” Peter didn’t want his dad to keep trying to fix things. He was happy the way things were.

“Do you think we should start putting you in your own bed at nights-”

Before Tony even got the question out, Peter was shaking his head and there were tears pouring down his cheeks. “Noooo. I don’t want to. I wanna sleep in your bed. It’s our bed.”

“I know you want to but we have to break the habit soon. What, you wanna be twenty five years old and still sleeping with me?” Tony asked but he already knew what the answer was going to be.

“Yes. Even when I’m your age.”

Tony shook his head. “I don’t think so. Your own kids will be jumping into your bed with you then.”

“No. I don’t want any kids. I just want to stay your kid forever.” Peter leaned his head down on Tony’s chest, causing the older man’s heart to combust.

“Oh, Petey. I love you so much but you’ll always be my kid. Even when you’re one hundred.” Tony rubbed at his back and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “We still have to work on it eventually-”

Peter pushed himself up and shook his head aggressively. “No. If you try to put me in my own bed I’ll scream and I won’t stop screaming until you put me back in our bed.”

Tony knew Peter wasn’t bluffing and that scared him. “What if we just tried one night?”

“No!”

“We can start simple-”

“No!”

“Peter-”

“No!”

Tony was being reminded why he even came down to the lab to begin with. “Hey. Stop it. Can you talk to me for one second?” As much as Tony loved Peter and knew these moments were limited because Peter was growing up, it sometimes frustrated him when he couldn’t have a serious conversation with Peter for more than five minutes before it turned into silly talk.

He was definitely looking forward to the day where he could have a grown up conversation with Peter but he knew that it wouldn’t be for another few years. So he was going to enjoy the time he has with his Peter now, knowing he was going to look back on these days and miss it so much.

“I can’t. I’m telling you I don’t want to sleep in my bed and you’re saying all this stuff I don’t care about.”

Tony grabbed Peter’s wrist. “You watch your attitude. You’ve had it all day today and I will not tolerate it.”

“How do you know I’ve had it all day today when you haven’t even been here?”

Tony practically gasped. Peter never spoke to him like this. “I will send you to your room right now if you keep this up.”

Peter eyed him then crossed his arms. “No! I don’t think you will because if you do then I’ll die!”

Tony knew what Peter was doing. He was testing him. His kid was smart and knew that the separation anxiety worked both ways so now Peter was using that against him to get what he wants. “That’s it. Stand up.”

Tony stood up, picking Peter up with him and forcing him onto his feet. He grabbed his wrist and started leading him towards the elevator with Peter falling dramatically in front of him and trying to stand up.

“No! What’re you doin’?” Peter cried out once Tony dragged him into the elevator. “You’re hurting me!”

“I’m barely touching you.” Tony lightened his grip on his wrist a bit but continued to hold onto him. He wasn’t going to let this slide, Peter had never spoken to him this way before and he hated it. That wasn’t the Peter he knew. That wasn’t his kid.

“Yes you are! Ow!” Peter smacked him to free his wrist but Tony wasn’t letting go. He wasn’t going to praise bad behaviour.

When the elevator doors opened, all eyes were on them immediately because of Peter’s crying which Tony hated but he had to make Peter listen to him and understand that what he was doing wasn’t going to be tolerated.

Peter fell onto the floor and refused to walk so Tony picked him up in one motion and held him with one arm to carry him up the stairs, ignoring all the stares he was getting.

When they got to Peter’s bedroom, Tony walked in and placed Peter on the bed, holding down his legs so he couldn’t kick him and pinning his arms to the side. “You need to calm down. I know you can’t be alone right now so I’m not going to leave you but you will stay in this room until you calm down.”

Peter cried even harder but stopped struggling so Tony let him go and stood up. “You will not talk back to me the way you were. I will not allow that. Even though I wasn’t here because I was at work, I still know that your behaviour was absolutely ridiculous.”

Peter rubbed at his eyes while he cried so Tony shut the bedroom door which had Peter immediately sitting up to see if he left. After seeing Tony still in the room, he fell back down onto the bed and continued to cry.

Tony didn’t know how long this was going to take so he took a seat at Peter’s unused desk chair.

He’s gotten used to the crying. He hears it at least two times a day but it still makes him either want to bang his head against the wall or pick Peter up and tell him that everything was going to be okay. Now, he wanted to bang his head against the wall.

The crying continued for a solid twenty minutes and at this point, Tony was on the verge of being impressed with Peter’s lungs and wanting to do something about it.

He leaned forward in the chair and spoke. “Peter. Calm down. How about you just talk to me now.”

Peter sat up and started hyperventilating. “I-I-I can-can’t calm d-down!”

Tony should have known. He let it continue for way too long. “Alright. Come here.”

Peter struggled to sit up but when he did, he stumbled into Tony’s arms, sobbing against his chest. “Just breathe. You’re okay. You just got yourself too worked up.”

“I-I need my water b-b-bottle!” He cried out, turning his head to shove it closer to Tony’s chest, soaking his shirt in the process.

“Okay. We’ll get it soon but I need you to breathe first. One breath in. Hold it. And out.” Tony exaggerated his breathing a few times until Peter was copying him and getting his breathing under control. “See? Try it one more time. You’re okay, Peter.”

Peter continued to do some deep breathing, following Tony’s breathing until he had stopped crying so hard and stopped his shaking. Tony rubbed his back, trying to pull Peter away from him so he could look at his face.

“Mm! Stop!” Peter whined, fighting against him.

“I’m just trying to see your face. You have snot everywhere.” Tony cringed at the wetness on his shirt since he knew it was a mixture of everything.

“That’s your fault. You made me cry.”

“I didn’t make you cry. I didn’t tell you to behave the way you did, that’s on you.” Tony didn’t know if what he was doing was the right way to go about things but he also knew that he couldn’t have left Peter alone for his punishment because that was the whole reason Peter was acting the way he was.

“You’re so mean.” Peter didn’t try to pull away from him but it still hurt Tony to hear. He was trying and Peter wasn’t making it easy on him.

“You can stay in your room until tomorrow morning if you want. That’s on you but I expect you to apologize to me.” Tony pushed the hair off of Peter’s face, wanting Peter to look at him but he was trying so hard not to.

At first it looked like Peter was going to continue with his bad behaviour but then he was giving Tony his puppy dog eyes that Tony always fell for. “M’sorry. I just… I missed you and-and I didn’t know that you weren’t gonna be here after I woke up. So I was sad.”

“Sometimes I’m gonna have to leave, Peter. I know it’s really hard but that’s just how life is.” He knew Peter knew that out of all people. He was trying to not make life so hard for him. “After you’re fully recovered, you gotta start online school. Then once we get into a good routine, we’ll work on you sleeping in your own bed with the help from Rose.”

Peter had already started crying again when Tony said that. “No. No, I hate that. Stop it.”

“It has to happen-”

“No!”

Tony sighed. He could tell Peter was exhausted and definitely hungry. “Okay. You’re over tired. Let’s wipe your face and go eat dinner then straight to bed.”

“Not tired.” Peter complained even as Tony stood up and pulled him into the bathroom.

Tony had no idea when the last time this bathroom was used. Peter rarely ever used it since after awhile, he basically moved into his bathroom so they shared that now.

He grabbed a face cloth and wet it with warm water to gently wipe down Peter’s face, fighting against him as he moved his head away. “There’s no pull-ups in your room. Let me see if you need a new one.”

Peter tried to move away from him. “No. I don’t.”

Tony felt the front of it and went to bring Peter into his room for a quick change but Peter was shaking his head and fighting against him. “No. No, I don’t want to.”

“Alright. I’m not forcing you too. You’re the one who has to sit in it.” Tony had plans to bring Peter to bed in one hour or so anyways so he’d change him then. “Let’s go eat dinner and I want you to apologize to everyone downstairs for your bad behaviour.”

Peter attached to his side. “Mm.”

Tony walked down the stairs with Peter’s hand in his. When they got to the last step, Peter tried to lift his arms up for him but Tony lowered them. “After. Let’s go see everyone first.”

Peter wanted to start crying again but he felt he had no energy to do that. He lifted his hand up to his mouth to start chewing on his finger while apologizing to everyone. “M’sorry for being bad. Didn’t mean to.”

“Thank you for apologizing, Peter. That was very nice of you.” Rose said to him, making Peter shyly turn away from her. “I’m going to go now but I’ll see you in a few days.”

Peter nodded, giving her a tiny wave so Tony said bye to her and watched her leave. Once she was gone, he turned to look at Pepper. “Why’s she leaving?”

Pepper helped Steve set the table as she answered him, not looking happy. “I decided that there’s no point in her coming until you decide to let her help.”

Tony scuffed. “I am letting her help. I’m not stopping her.”

Pepper slammed a glass onto the table, causing Peter to jump. “No. You’re not, Tony. She comes and no process is made because you take Peter and hide him from her.”

“What?” Tony knew he didn’t do that. “I don’t hide him from her. When have I ever done that?”

Pepper rolled her eyes and filled up Peter’s bottle for him. “Not literally. You have to encourage Peter to talk with her too.”

Tony grabbed the water bottle from Pepper and led Peter over to the table because he wasn’t talking about this right now. “Yeah, whatever.” He pushed the food in front of Peter. “Eat.”

Peter was starving after not eating all day plus the food looked really good tonight so he picked his fork up and started eating, not liking the fact that his dad was in such a bad mood.

Pepper slammed her plate onto the table and looked at Tony. “You know this can’t continue.”

He stared at her. “Are you serious? How do you expect me to start to fix things when Peter’s still in pull-ups?! His fucking kidneys might never heal because they should have healed by now. So yeah, the fact that he’s sleeping with me every night isn’t on the top of my list on things to worry about right now.”

That had everyone going silent at the table.

Pepper stood up and left, leaving her untouched food at the table.

Tony watched her go upstairs but he didn’t care. To be honest he didn’t care about anyone right now but Peter. He was sick of people telling him how to raise his kid and what to prioritize.

Peter turned to him. “You made her cry.”

Tony shook his head, picking up Peter’s fork to feed him so he ate and stopped asking questions. Peter willingly took the bite and reached for the fork, feeding himself now.

The table was silent.

Tony didn’t have an appetite anymore so he waited for Peter to finish eating so he could take his kid upstairs and hide away for the rest of the night and most likely all of tomorrow too.

They had nothing planned, no doctor appointments or physical therapy or any responsibilities they had to attend to so Tony planned on not seeing anyone all day tomorrow and hopefully the day after that as well.

He looked over at Peter after a few minutes to see how much more food he still had to eat but Tony saw that his eyes were closed and he was slowly starting to fall forward on his plate.

Tony took the fork from Peter’s hand so he didn’t accidentally stab his eyes out then he stood up to grab a cloth so he could wipe his face down but as soon as he stood up, Peter was falling face first into his food, fast asleep.

Tony quickly grabbed a cloth and went back to the table to lift Peter’s head up and wipe the food off his face but Peter tried to move away in his half asleep state. “I know. I’m almost done.”

He picked up both his and Peter’s plate to take it into the kitchen, looking up at Steve quickly. “Thanks for cooking, Steve.”

“Of course. Do you need help with him?”

“Nope. I got it.” Peter was lifting his arms up for him so Tony lifted him into his arms, not thinking twice about it.

Tony carried Peter upstairs and laid him on the bed so he could give him a quick change and then Pepper was quietly knocking at his bedroom door. Tony looked up at her but focused back on Peter.

“Can I come in?” She asked, not making a move to step into the room yet. She always walked in without asking so this showed that they were in a pretty big fight right now.

“If you want.” He said then put the cream away and wiped his finger off with a wipe then kicked the diaper box into the corner.

Pepper walked towards the end of the bed and leaned against the footboard. “Did he just fall asleep?”

Tony pulled back the blankets on the bed and grabbed Peter’s sock monitor. “He fell asleep while eating. He’s still healing so it’ll take some time for his body to fully recover.”

Pepper sighed. “I know. You’re twisting my words around, Tony. I didn’t mean… I know he’s still healing and I know it’s gonna take some time for everything-”

“You know what?” Tony rubbed at his eyes, throwing Peter’s pyjama pants to the side since he didn’t feel like putting those on him tonight. “I’m really tired so I think I’m just gonna shower and go to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

It looked like Pepper wanted to argue but she didn’t. “Okay. Sleep well then.”

Tony watched her leave, too tired to do anything about it.