All The Stars Align

Tony tossed and turned for about an hour but he couldn’t fall asleep.

He turned on the lamp and tried to stare at Peter, hoping that would make him fall asleep since the peace he got by knowing Peter was alive and okay was usually enough to put him to sleep but not tonight.

With a quiet sigh, he turned the lamp off and left the room to go make himself a coffee since he knew he wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight or even try to.

Maybe it was the fight he had with Pepper or maybe it was the fact that he was stressing over what he was going to do about Peter’s schooling that he had yet to start or about the fact that their separation anxiety was getting worse but he didn’t want to do anything about that until Peter was fully healed.

Or maybe he was using that as an excuse to not try to fix their separation anxiety.

He would love to see what life would look like for them in five years time. Five years isn’t a long time to him but Peter would be nineteen and would look and act totally different and Tony didn’t want Peter to grow up.

Maybe he was scared of it because he wasn’t ready so he was holding onto all the moments he got to have with Peter right now.

He missed out on so many years of Peter’s life that he would love to be a part of but he can’t now… unless he invented a time machine.

Tony took a sip of his coffee while sitting in the dark living room with just the light coming from the lamp he turned on. He left his phone upstairs so he couldn’t waste time on that so instead, he grabbed his StarkPad and pulled it onto his lap to do some reminiscing.

He went back to when he first met Peter when he was only thirteen and it brought back so many memories.

He was looking at a selfie of the two of them at the back of one of his cars. Happy must have been driving and although Tony couldn’t remember exactly where they went or what they did together but he does remember that he loved Peter so much already and had already started thinking of him as his kid, if the look on his face was anything to go by.

Tony clicked on another picture of the two of them.

It was taken in winter and so Peter was bundled up with just his face visible. Tony remembers that day like it was yesterday.

Peter ended up overheating because Tony dressed him up in too many things so he had to strip him of everything in the car. It was funny.

“I took that picture.”

Tony was startled by Pepper’s voice behind him. “Shit. You scared me.”

“Sorry. Can I sit?”

He moved over a bit. “Yeah.”

She sat down, close but not touching him. “I couldn’t sleep and I’m guessing you couldn’t either.”

“No. I Uh, just have a lot on my mind right now.” He didn’t have to tell her since it was obvious to probably everyone but Peter that he was stressed. He liked Peter’s complete obliviousness at times like this.

“Peter’s gonna be okay.” She said with conviction.

He laughed dryly. There was no guarantee that Peter’s kidneys would heal. He lost half of one and the other was severely damaged.

“Then why isn’t he better now? It’s almost been two weeks. It shouldn’t take that long.”

Pepper pulled her feet up onto the couch. “Maybe it’s mental. He knows once he fully heals you’re going to start putting him into his own bed and he’ll start schooling so maybe… unconsciously it’s taking him longer to heal because he doesn’t want to.”

“I’d rather sleep by myself than have to wear pull-ups.” Tony laughed but stopped himself.

“You’re not Peter. And he doesn’t seem to care all that much.” Pepper observed. She thought the boy would be embarrassed and try to hide his temporary situation but Peter couldn’t care less and did what he wanted.

“Yeah. He’s Uh… I don’t think he’s ever been embarrassed in his entire life.” Tony couldn’t think of a time where Peter got embarrassed. Back when they first met, Peter even went poop in the lab and clogged the toilet by using so much toilet paper and wasn’t the least bit embarrassed by the situation and even found it amusing while Tony tried to unclog it.

That was one of the many many reasons why he loved that boy so goddamn much.

“That’s a good thing. His personality is beautiful, Tony. And he’s definitely gonna get all the girls when he’s older.” Pepper playfully smacked his arm but he didn’t find it funny.

“No. He’s not allowed dating or even looking at girls until he’s thirty.” He didn’t care. He was going to be that dad and he couldn’t care less.

She reached over to squeeze his hand, getting more serious now. “I’m sorry, Tony. I shouldn’t have said what I said or implied that you’re a bad dad.”

He didn’t agree with her since he was having his own doubts. “Well… my fourteen year old is struggling both mentally and physically right now so I don’t think I’m doing too good of a job at the whole dad thing-”

“Stop. Stop it right now. Peter had to go through more trauma in his short little life than anyone should even have to think of. He lost two sets of parents and now he’s beyond terrified of losing you. You are an amazing father. Watching you parent him is… the most beautiful thing I have ever witnessed in my entire life. So don’t you ever think you’re doing a bad job.”

He didn’t say anything but it felt really good to hear.

“You two were made for each other and I know that you were always supposed to end up together. He was supposed to come into your life just when you needed him and when he needed you. The stars had to align before you met.”

Tony smiled. He felt his eyes burn with unshed tears because he was reminded of the overwhelming love he had for the boy asleep upstairs.

“That’s funny. Rhodey said something to me awhile back about that.” He guessed it was true. Peter came into his life right when he needed him and not a minute later.

“It’s true. Even when he’s pushing your last buttons, you guys are everything to each other.”

Tony never liked to think about what would have happened or where Peter would be without Spider-Man sometimes because even though Spider-Man isn’t or never was the reason why Tony loved him, it was the reason why they met.

Without Spider-Man, Tony wouldn’t know Peter and May still would have died so, where would Peter have gone? That thought terrified him but it never had to be answered so he didn’t think about it.

“Thanks. I kinda needed this.” He could always count on Pepper for being there for him and picking him up. That’s why he loved her so much.

“Always, Tony.”

He pulled her into his arms but looked towards the stairs and saw Peter walking down, looking half asleep but he was excited to see him.

“Look who’s coming.”

Both adults watched Peter sleepily walk towards them and when he was close enough, he held his arms up to be held by his dad. “Hey, baby. Why’re you up?”

Peter rubbed at his eyes. “You’re up.”

“You need sleep.” Tony felt Peter’s pull-up and added, “And a new pull-up.”

Peter turned so he could lay his head on his shoulder.

Tony patted his butt, laying his head on Peter’s. “I love you so much, Pete. So much.”

Peter responded by humming but Tony would take it. He didn’t have to hear it to know that Peter loved him, the fact that Peter was about to fall asleep on top of him was proof enough.

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.
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“It’s really cold out so you have to put extra layers on.” Tony told him, holding out a pair of thick track pants for Peter to step into.

Peter looked at the pants as if he was offended by them. He wanted to go out but he didn’t want to have to put so many layers on.

Tony didn’t want a meltdown.

They had a really good day together. The physical therapist came over and did some work with Peter for over an hour and everything was looking really good. His ankle was almost fully back to normal and didn’t look like it was going to require extensive treatment later on in life, obviously thanks to Peter’s spider healing. His kidneys were a different story but they had a doctors appointment in a few days to check up on things.

Now, it was nearing seven in the evening and Peter had convinced (begged) everyone to go to the park and play in the snow with him. So that’s where they were going to go but Tony was struggling to get Peter dressed as always.

“Pete, you were the one who wanted to go and now you don’t wanna go anymore?” Tony asked, putting down the track pants because Peter clearly didn’t want to put them on for some odd reason.

Peter fell onto the floor and lifted his legs up on the coffee table in the living room. “I don’t wanna wear a million layers of clothes.”

“It’s to keep you warm. And it’s only like three layers, kid. Stand up.” Tony held the pants out again but Peter didn’t move.

The elevator doors were opening so Tony looked over his shoulder and saw Steve and Rhodey walk out, already dressed and ready to go. Rhodey looked amused at the situation as he walked closer to his best friend and his nephew. “You guys are taking so long. We’re about to leave without you.”

Tony didn’t say anything. He still had to get Peter dressed and get dressed himself.

Rhodey sat down on the couch, next to Tony.

“I don’t want to put on any thick clothes because then I’ll be too hot.” Peter told Rhodey, not moving from his spot on the floor.

Rhodey just stared at him so Peter stared back. “Okay… stand up. I’m gonna take you outside like this and you’ll see how cold it is then maybe you’ll want to get dressed.”

Tony watched Rhodey stand up and lean down to pick Peter up in one motion and lift him up to his feet. Peter looked extremely surprised and confused since he wasn’t used to anyone doing this with him except his dad and occasionally Steve.

Rhodey grabbed onto his hand and quickly led him towards the elevator with Peter having to run next to him to keep up with his fast paces. “I don’t want to. No.”

Peter tried to reach out to Tony who was still sitting on the couch and watching.

“So then you can stay here while we all go. If you don’t wanna get dressed then you can’t go.” Rhodey leaned down to be at Peter’s height level, holding him firmly so he had no choice but to listen. “Are you gonna get dressed now?”

Peter tried to fall to the floor so Rhodey would stop yelling at him but his grip on him was too hard. “Yes!” He yelled out of annoyance and once Rhodey let go of him, he ran back into the living room to be in the safety of his dad’s arms.

Tony didn’t like other people parenting his kid but it was nice to get some help. “Stand up so you can get dressed.” Tony told him, running a hand through his messy curls, feeling his hair was getting greasy and that Peter needed a shower once they got home.

Peter slid off the couch and laid on the floor, waiting for his dad to do all the work for him.

“Does he need a new pull-up?” Steve asked from the other side of the living room.

Tony got onto the floor as well. “Nope. I just changed him.” He reached over to grab Peter’s arms to sit him up and then grabbed his feet and tugged Peter closer to himself. “Put your pants on.”

Thankfully, Peter listened this time. He shoved his feet through and laid down to buck his hips up to get it on.

“And your sweater to go over your shirt.”

Peter put his sweater on at the same time as Tony stood up and now grabbed his snow pants. “I’ll help you with these so step into it.” Tony tried to bunch up the material but it was too thick so he had Peter sit down to get his legs into it and then was lifting Peter up and pulling up the snow pants as well, accidentally lifting Peter off the ground.

He wiped the sweat off his forehead because getting a kid dressed was a workout. “Okay… Uh, neck warmer on next.”

He shoved that over Peter’s head, followed by his jacket, hat and mittens. When he grabbed Peter’s boots, he thought of something that they might need while they were gone. “Rhodes, can you grab like two pull-ups out of the box there?”

Rhodey opened up the box, finding nothing in there. “It’s empty.”

“Uh… FRIDAY. Can you ask Pepper to bring down some pull-ups from the box in my room and order two more boxes.” Tony told her, hoping they had enough since they already went through so much.

He looked back at Peter who was following behind him but his heart absolutely melted in that moment. Only Peter’s face was visible and he could barely walk because of his thick snowsuit and it made all the stress Tony was feeling just melt away. He loved this little boy so much.

“You look adorable, Pete.” Tony cooed.

Peter walked up to him and sat down to have his boots be put on him. “It’s too puffy.”

“It’s okay. Once we get outside you’ll be happy you’re all warm.” Tony kneeled down to get Peter’s boots on, smiling at the fact that his boots were so tiny. All of Peter’s clothes were tiny but his shoes just really proved how small Peter was and Tony found it so cute. “All done. Can you stand by yourself?” Tony asked, completely amused by the situation.

Peter rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up, looking up at Tony. “Can we go now? I wanna build a snowman with you.”

“Yeah. Watch me get ready in less than a minute.” Tony playfully pushed Peter but it had him losing his balance and falling back so Tony quickly grabbed him. “Woah. Okay… just stand here.”

It took Tony less than two minutes to get ready himself although he wasn’t wearing nearly as many layers and had on thin snow pants that didn’t even look like snow pants instead of what Peter had on.

Pepper walked down the stairs holding pull-ups and wipes in her hand. “Here you go. Aww, you look so cute, Peter. Are you cozy?”

Peter nodded. “Uh huh.”

She slipped her boots on and pulled on a jacket after handing Tony the supplies. He didn’t have anywhere to put them so he would just bring them to the car and keep them in there if he needed it, well, if Peter needed it.

“Is everyone ready to go?” Steve asked, making his way over to the elevator from where he was silently watching the humorous scene from the couch in the living room.

“Yeah! I’m ready.” Peter waddled into the elevator, making Tony smile at his kid who was too damn precious.

They arrived in the garage with Bucky, Sam, Clint and Natasha standing by one of the cars, looking extremely impatient. Tony knew he didn’t have to explain to them what took so long since it was obvious at this point.

Tony opened up the back door and grabbed Peter’s arm to get him into their car. “Can you get in by yourself?” He asked, seeing as Peter could barely walk on his own.

“I want Pepper to sit in the back with me.” Peter had to turn his whole body to look at her. She gave him a smile and walked to the other side of the car to climb in the back.

Rhodey was hopping in the passenger seat so Tony helped Peter get in the back and made sure he was buckled in before getting in himself.

Rhodey and him engaged in conversation while Pepper and his son started talking in the back. He was half listening to both conversations since he liked to be a part of the conversations with his kid but he knew he had to give Peter that space.

When they arrived at the park, Tony wanted to immediately turn away because it was busy.

There was a huge field that surrounded the park that wasn’t this busy just a few days ago at this time. No one else seemed concerned at how busy it was so Tony didn’t say anything.

Peter would be safe and no one could hurt him. He was probably the safest he could be right now with all the Avengers with him to protect him.

The car pulled up beside them just as Tony was getting out. “I want you boys to know that I plan on keeping a safe distance from any snowball fights.” Natasha said, stepping out of the car.

Tony opened up the back door to grab Peter out but the boy was already jumping out and walking out into the parking lot so Natasha had to grab his coat so he didn’t step in front of a moving car. “Watch it, Peter. You can’t just walk out like that.”

Tony grabbed Peter’s arm. He was used to Peter doing that and it never got easier to witness. “I know you’re excited but you have to stay close to us and not do something like that.”

Peter was trying to pull away from him. “Okay. I wanna go over there.”

“That’s where we’re going so be patient.” He pulled Peter to the other side of the car to meet Pepper there. “Are you gonna run away from our snowball fight like Nat is?”

She shut the door and turned around to face them. Tony watched her strawberry blonde hair blow in the cold wind and wanted to press their lips together right there.

“I’m joining in because I want to win. Are we playing on the same teams because you’re too scared to go against me?”

“Woah. It’s gonna be like that then.” Tony followed Pepper across the parking lot and towards the field, extremely grateful that he dressed Peter up in so many layers.

“I wanna be on a team with Pepper.” Peter let go of his dad's hand so he could fall into the snow and grab some to shove it in his mouth. Tony stopped to watch him, taking a mental picture of the scene in front of him.

“Come, Peter. Let’s go build a fort together.” Pepper held her hand out for Peter but he was too busy eating snow so she went over to him to help him up.

“So what? You’re just gonna take my kid and leave me?” Tony called out to them while he watched them walk away. All he got was Peter waving bye to him.

“Don’t worry, daddy. I’ll be on your team.” Rhodey patted his shoulder but Tony pushed him away.

“Don’t call me that. It’s kinky.”

Rhodey followed after his best friend. “What? Peter calls you that all the time.”

Tony had to stop to look at Rhodey because he wasn’t sure if he was being serious or not. “Are you serious? It’s cute when he does it but when you do it… it’s just weird.”

“Fine. Either way, I’m on your team.”

Peter turned back to look at his dad talking with Rhodey. He let go of Peppers hand so he could fall down into the freshly fallen fluffy snow.

Steve walked over to him and lifted him up. “You’re gonna get sick if you stick your face in the snow like that.”

“Nooooo. Put me down. I won’t get sick.” Peter whined out, making his body go stiff so Steve would put him down.

Steve placed Peter back on his feet, watching the boy fall to the ground again and shove his face into the snow. He let him, deciding there was nothing he could do about it.

After about twenty minutes of each team attempting to build forts and make snowballs, Peter was getting distracted and looked towards the park.

There were a bunch of kids playing at the park and he wanted to join them since it looked like the slides were extra fast with all the snow snowing down on it.

He stood up to run over there, not moving that fast because of his thick snowsuit. He tripped just as he made it there and struggled to stand up.

“Uh, you okay, kid?” A man asked, walking over to Peter. Peter raised his arms up slightly since he needed help getting up so the man helped him stand. “Where’s your parents?”

“Uh… over there.” Peter answered and pointed off in the direction that his dad was before resuming his running towards the slides.

Peter tried to use his spidey powers to stick to the climbing equipment but his boots and gloves were way too thick so he pulled his gloves off and started climbing.

Tony was already making his way across the field and over to the park once he saw where Peter was headed. He wasn’t surprised and couldn’t get mad at his kid for wanting to play but the overprotective side of him didn’t want Peter to play at the park. He didn’t know why, he hated that he felt like that.

“Pete, where are your gloves?” Tony asked, seeing that Peter had no gloves on.”

Peter shrugged. “I took them off so I could climb.”

Tony spotted them on the steps so he walked over to pick them up. “Come down so I can put them on for you. Your hands are gonna freeze.”

Peter sat down on the slide and turned to go down on his stomach but before he could run away, Tony was there and picking him up. “Nooooo! I wanna climb without them.”

Tony took off his own gloves so he could get Peter’s on which was an impossible task. “You can climb with them on. Stop trying to move your hand away from me.”

“Stop trying to put my gloves on.” Peter shot back but Tony wasn’t going to have his kid talk back to him like that.

“Watch it. I will take you back to the car and you can watch everyone else play if you talk back to me again.” Tony warned. Peter was a good kid and never talked back to him but he had been noticing Peter start to do it more and more so he was going to nip that in the butt now.

Peter stomped his foot. “You’re poo poo bum.”

Tony grabbed Peter’s arm and started tugging him across the field. “Okay. You’re done. Say bye to the park.”

“No! Nooooo! Ahhh!” Peter tried to pull his arm away from Tony but he couldn’t so he threw himself on the ground. “No! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Daddy! I’m sorry!”

Tony didn’t want the night to end badly since they were having so much fun and they just got there. He stopped and kneeled down into the deep snow. “Okay. Stop crying and talk to me. Are you going to listen?”

Peter nodded, reaching over to grab some snow with his bare hands and eat it. Tony tried so hard not to laugh.

“M’sorry, daddy.”

“I’m not giving in because you called me daddy. But I want you to listen, Peter. When I say you wear your gloves, you wear your gloves and if I see them come off again, you’re going in the car.” Tony gave him his final warning and stood up.

A few minutes later, Peter was playing with Pepper in the snow with Tony talking with Rhodey a few feet away.

“It’s good that he’s not attached to your side right now.” Rhodey had said. Tony only knew it was because Peter knew he was right there, watching him.

“Yeah. For now I guess.” Tony turned to face Rhodey. He knew his best friend wouldn’t lie to him. “Do you think it’s bad that I don’t want to do the whole sleep separating thing?”

Rhodey didn’t look surprised that he was asking that. “I think you want what’s best for Peter and you may think that letting him sleep with you every night is gonna help him but I don’t think it will, Tones.”

“Why not?”

“Because… I think it’s fine now, or every once in a while but it might be too hard if you keep waiting any longer. He knows he’s going to sleep with you every night and one day, he won’t be. That’s gonna be hard. For the both of you.”

“I really wished you said something else.”

“What? What you want to hear. I’m being honest, Tones. It’s too much, the separation anxiety that you guys have.” Rhodey shoved his hands in his pocket. “I think he’ll always have it. To some extent.”

Tony thought so too.

It was hard to imagine what life would look like for them a year from now, or five years. Peter might always have separation anxiety from him. It won’t always be so bad but he’ll definitely always have it. Even just a bit.

“And I think he heard us.”

Tony looked away from Rhodey to see Peter staring at them from a distance. They were far enough for Pepper to not hear them but Peter had super hearing, Tony sometimes forgot about that.

And now, it looked like Peter heard everything they were just talking about.

“Fuck.” Tony left Rhodey's side and crossed the distance between him and Peter. “Hey. Are you listening in on my conversation?”

Peter was sitting in the snow and piled more snow on top of him as he spoke. “I heard my name. So I listened. If Rhodey doesn’t want me to sleep with you then he can go away.”

Tony kneeled down and lifted Peter’s head up to look at him. “He just wants what's best for you.”

Peter scrunched his face up in confusion. “Aunt May used to say that her old boyfriend wanted what was best for me too but I only saw him like four times a month. She lied and you’re lying.”

Tony didn’t even know May had a boyfriend, not that it was important now. “I’m not lying, Peter. I don’t know if Aunt May was lying to you, I’m sure she wasn’t but I am not lying to you. Rhodey’s my best friend and we’re family.”

Peter still didn’t look like he believed him. “Then why are you gonna listen to him?”

“I…” He didn’t want to tell Peter that he wasn’t going to listen to Rhodey since the plan was to eventually get Peter into his own bed. “It’s important that you sleep in your own bed one day. Not tonight or tomorrow night but it’s something we’ll work on one-”

“No. I say no. I already told you I don’t want to.” Peter turned on his stomach to push himself up with his thick snowsuit.

Tony didn’t know why he felt like a school student being yelled at by his teacher. He grabbed Peter’s arm so he couldn’t walk away from him. “Listen to me, Peter. I’m the adult and you’re the child. You listen to me and when I say you’re sleeping in your own bed, you’re sleeping in your own bed. Do you understand me?”

Peter tried to pull his arm away. “No! I won’t. If you make me sleep by myself then I’ll die. And I’ll never come back to you because I’ll go to heaven-”

“Enough! You better stop or I swear to god, Peter, you will regret it.” Tony felt his breathing start to hitch. He knew Peter knew what he was doing and how he was using that against him.

He waited for Peter to say something else but he didn’t.

Tony let go of his arm and straightened his back out to walk away, unzipping his jacket because he felt like he was having a heart attack. His chest felt extremely tight at the all too recent memory of Peter lying in a puddle of his own blood on the hospital floor while the doctors worked to bring Peter back to life.

His kid was dead. Peter died and although Peter didn’t have any idea what it was like for Tony, Tony felt like he died too.

Now Peter was using that against him.

Pepper appeared by his side, looking extremely concerned. “Tony. What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Tony rubbed a hand down his face. “I’m fine. I-”

He heard Peter start crying so he turned around and saw Peter standing there, crying. It was his fault, he knew that and every time Peter cried, his heart broke so he turned and walked back over to Peter, pulling him in for a hug.

“You’re okay, Peter. Why are you crying?”

Peter cried even harder now that he was in his dad’s arms. “You-you yelled at me.”

Tony sighed. “I didn’t yell at you-”

“Yes you did!”

“Now that was a yell and don’t interrupt me when I’m talking to you.” Tony was starting to think that this whole park adventure was a big mistake. Peter was obviously way too tired.

“I didn’t!” With a loud sob, Peter lifted his arms up for his dad so Tony pulled him in for another hug.

“Stop crying. You’re okay. Do you want to go play with Steve for a few more minutes before we leave?” He suggested, wanting Peter to fully calm down before he puts him in the car.

“Yeah. I want you to come play with me.”

Tony let Peter lead him across the field and let himself fall into the deep snow, laughing in the process. It always amazed Tony how Peter could go from crying bloody murder to happy in less than a minute. He definitely didn’t miss those mood swings growing up but his were definitely different.

Ten minutes later, Peter was in a better mood, playing in the snow with Steve and Clint while Tony watched them. He was feeling a lot better as well but he wanted to go home now.

He saw that Peter had snot dripping out of his nose so he grabbed the tissues from his pocket and walked over to Peter to wipe his face.

“Stop moving.” He wiped the snot away but Peter was trying to lick it. “Ew-stop. That’s disgusting.” After he was done, he put the snot tissue in his pocket to throw out later. “Okay everyone, it’s time to go home now.”

“No. Nooo!” Peter screamed, throwing himself down into the snow again.

“Yeah. Let’s go or we’ll leave you here.” Tony didn’t want to argue. Peter was testing his last bits of patience this evening.

“I wanna stay and play.” Peter looked at his dad and saw him step towards him so he quickly tried to crawl away but Tony got to him first.

“Time to go. The park is closing.” He lied. He was trying everything to not leave with a screaming kid thrown over Steve’s shoulder.

“No. It’s not.”

“It is so let’s go.” Peter shook his head again so Tony sighed. He had an idea that he hoped would work. “Okay then. You stay here. It’s gonna be cold out tonight so if you decide you want to come home, you better start walking pretty soon. Bye, Pete. See you whenever you decide to come home.”

With that, Tony left. Thankfully everyone else followed along and said their goodbyes to Peter before walking towards the cars.

Peter didn’t move. He sat in the snow and watched everyone walk away from him. Tony looked back to see if Peter was coming or not but he wasn’t. Surprisingly.

“Looks like you’re getting a kid free night.” Sam patted his shoulder just before climbing into the other car with everyone else.

Pepper opened the back door. “He’s not coming, Tony. Go get him and send him to his room for the rest of the night.”

He didn’t want to do that. He wanted to have a happy night with Peter and possibly cuddle on the couch watching some stupid cartoon.

“Just wait.” He opened the drivers door and got in so he could start the car and as soon as Peter saw the car start, he started crawling towards them in the snow.

Tony watched, shaking his head at the ridiculousness of the situation so he got out of the car and walked over to Peter. “Stand up. You’re not a baby so walk.”

Peter stopped to look up at him before attempting to stand up but struggling to do so with his thick snowsuit. “I need help.”

After watching Peter struggle a little more, Tony walked over to him but instead of helping him up, he picked Peter up to carry him the rest of the way towards the car.

“Dad, can we get McDonald’s?” Peter asked once he was in the car and started trying to take off his gloves.

Tony slammed the door on him, ignoring Peter.

“Dad? Dad? Can we get McDonald’s? Dad?” Peter asked again, more desperate this time. “Daddy? Daddy? Daddy-”

“No, Peter. You’re being bad so no McDonald’s for you.”

Peter kicked the back of his seat. Tony ignored it but it was a long car ride home.

Everyone but Pepper and Rhodey disappeared onto the common floor, mainly because Peter exhausted everyone during that outing.

Tony took off all of his snow stuff before he helped Peter with his so he didn’t work up a sweat. “Hey, don’t move anywhere because you’re covered in snow.”

Peter stopped moving. He was on his hands on knees on the floor, staring straight ahead. Tony looked to see what he was looking at and saw the tv remote on the floor.

“Lie down. I’m taking this off quickly then straight into the bath.” Tony forcefully laid Peter on his back to start unzipping his jacket and snow pants.

“What about dinner? I’m hungry.”

“We’ll eat dinner after bath time. What do you want?” He asked as he pulled Peter’s boots off, taking off one of his socks in the process.

“Um… chicken nuggets and French fries.” Peter didn’t make any move to help Tony take his stuff off him. He liked his dad helping him like that.

Tony pulled off his snow pants but his track pants came off along with it. “I’m sweaty. My legs are hot.”

Peter lifted his legs up so Tony went to put his track pants back on but Peter rolled away and ran into the living room to grab the remote.

Tony put everything away but gave Peter a warning. “Do not turn the tv on because you have to go in the bath.”

Peter acted like he didn’t hear anything as he turned the tv on so Tony finished putting all the stuff away then walked over to his kid who wasn’t listening whatsoever and pulled the remote out of his hands. “I said no. You have to listen to me, Peter.”

Peter tried to kick him away so Tony grabbed his foot. “Enough. You need to stop.”

That only made Peter angrier so he tried to push Tony away with his hands but Tony was faster and grabbed onto his wrists, holding them out in front of him. “I’m stronger than you so stop and listen to me.”

Peter eyed him before he was using his Spidey strength to pull Tony’s hands down. Tony had never and will never allow Peter to use his spidey strength on him.

“That’s it. You’re done.” In one motion, he stood up, picking Peter up easily and holding him under his arm to carry him upstairs.

Peter cried the whole way up but Tony wasn’t having it anymore. He wasn’t going to let Peter behave the way he was. This random behaviour seemed to come out of nowhere and Tony hated it.

He placed Peter on his feet once they got into the bathroom but still held onto him so he could pull his pull-up off along with his shirt. “Sit on the step until I say you can move.”

Peter sat down on the bathtub step but continued to cry while Tony filled up the bath, pouring some coconut oil in it to help with the redness he saw between Peter’s legs from not having a change for multiple hours, that was on Tony.

He left the bathroom to grab clean towels and returned shortly after that to Peter crying in the same spot he was before. “You’re okay, Peter. You don’t need to cry.”

That only made Peter cry harder so Tony stopped talking about it. “Get in the bath.” He shut the water off and sat on the step so he could stay with Peter. “What?”

“You’re being m-mean to me.” Peter told him, trying to turn away from Tony but only doing that to get a reaction from the man.

“You’re not behaving very well this evening so you’re going straight to bed after dinner.” Tony hated the way Peter turned to look at him as if he just told Peter he was leaving him for a week. Everything was the end of the world to Peter.

“I’m not tired, dad.” He cried out which just told Tony how tired he truly was.

“You’re overtired, baby. You’ll feel better when you sleep so go into the bath now. I’ll stay with you.” Tony knew he had to be patient. Peter’s body was working extra hard to recover and Tony may have let Peter push himself too hard by allowing him to go to the park.

“I want my water bottle. With milk.” Tony grabbed a washcloth and dipped it into the warm bath water to clean Peter’s face with it.

“Okay. I’ll get it for you before bed.”

Peter was in and out of the bath in under twenty minutes. Tony was trying to get things done as quickly as possible so he could put Peter to bed but he knew if he rushed things too much, Peter would freak out and not do anything.

Tony sat on the bed and held a clean pull-up for Peter to step into but Peter thought it was funny to blow raspberries at him. “Peter, stop. You’re spitting in my face.”

Peter did it again so Tony grabbed his arm firmly. “Enough. Why aren’t you listening today. Step into your pull-up so we can go eat dinner.”

Peter responded by blowing another raspberry at him so Tony stood up, picking Peter up and laid him down on the bed, completely stripped of all his patience for the day. “Stop it! Right now. I will not tell you again. You need to listen, Peter. You’ve been extremely bad today and I had enough.”

Peter didn’t start to cry like Tony expected him to but instead, his face froze and he looked extremely shocked at what just happened.

It was hard for Tony to punish Peter since there wasn’t anything he could hold against him. He didn’t hang out with friends, didn’t go on his phone, didn’t play any video games that often. Tony had no idea what to take from Peter.

He knew he couldn’t punish him by locking him in his bedroom alone or making Peter sleep alone since Peter depended on him for that so he assumed it would be some sort of mental abuse if he did that.

He was quick to put the pull-up on and then tossed Peter’s pyjamas on the bed. “Put those on. I’m not doing it for you.”

Peter rolled onto his stomach then sat up on his knees and looked at Tony. “I don’t want to.”

Tony was done. He was so done with Peter and couldn’t wait until he shut his eyes. “Okay. I don’t care. You can eat dinner in nothing then. Let’s go.”

When Tony went to grab Peter’s hand, Peter pulled away from him once again. “Noo! I want you to put it on me.”

“I don’t think you can see that I’m done with you tonight, Peter. You’re…” Tony trailed off. He regretted saying that as soon as the words left his lips. “I didn’t mean that. I know that you’re tired and I’m trying to help you but you’re making it harder for the both of us.”

Peter stared at his dad. He didn’t know why he was acting the way he was. He was just feeling all of these emotions at once and he didn’t know how to control them so he was taking it out on his dad.

“I need you to eat your dinner. Can you do that?”

Peter nodded and raised his arms up to his dad. Tony grabbed his pyjama top then lifted Peter up, supporting his bum on their way to the kitchen. He hoped Peter could even stay awake for dinner since his kid was resting his head on his shoulder and wrapping his arms around his neck, silently letting Tony know that he was exhausted.

When Tony got downstairs, he sat Peter on the kitchen counter so he could start dinner but Pepper appeared behind him. “It’s almost ready. I cooked it all while Peter was in the bath. Are you hungry, Peter?”

Peter rubbed at his eyes so Tony stood in front of him to put his pyjama shirt on then pulled Peter back into his arms to hug him. “Thanks. He’s about to pass out so I hope he stays awake to actually get some food in him.”

Tony grabbed a glass from the cabinet and went to open the fridge but suddenly Peter was lifting his head from his shoulder. “Dad.”

“Yeah?” Tony asked him, he thought Peter had fallen asleep for a second there.

“S’... mm, my dinner.”

Tony smiled fondly. Peter was drunk on pure exhaustion and probably had no idea what he was talking about.

“It’s coming. Open your eyes. You have to stay awake.” Tony grabbed a dish cloth and wet it with cold water so he could wipe it over Peter’s face, wanting him to wake up so he could eat dinner.

Peter started whining and then Pepper was grabbing the cold cloth from him. “He’s tired, Tony. Let him sleep.”

“No, because then he won’t eat and he’ll be hungry.” Tony knew that Peter was underweight and he hated that, he wanted for his kid to be getting every single meal and more.

“He won’t starve.” She said as if it wasn’t a big deal to Tony and placed both Peter’s water bottle and plate on the table before taking a seat.

Tony was quick to follow, sitting Peter on the empty chair but he had to catch his head from snacking against the table. “Wake up.” With a gentle shake, Peter opened his eyes a bit but just to look at Tony and try to reach for him. “You can sleep after you eat. Open your mouth.”

Tony grabbed a piece of chicken nugget and tried to put it in Peter’s mouth but he wasn’t eating it.

“Tony.” Pepper said, a challenge to her tone. “Stop. He’s going to choke. It’s not a big deal if he doesn’t eat, he’s exhausted.”

“No, he’ll wake up because he has to eat.”

“Tony.” Pepper said again, leaving no room for argument. “He’s asleep.” She looked down at Peter who was half leaning against Tony and half trying to hold himself up. “Peter, your dad’s gonna fly to Miami for a week without you. You’re gonna be here all alone.”

Tony waited for Peter to wake up but he was dead to the world. “Okay. I’ll take him up and come back down.” In one quick motion, he stood up and lifted Peter into his arms, heading towards the stairs.

Since Peter was already asleep, Tony didn’t have to worry about sitting with him, he just had to place him in bed and get him covered with the blankets.

There was supposed to be a big snowstorm tonight with strong winds and freezing temperatures so Tony wanted Peter to be in as many layers as possible so he grabbed the pyjama pants and managed to get them on Peter.

After he was done, he made sure Peter’s monitor was on his foot before making his way back downstairs to spend some alone time with Pepper.

He found her wrapping Peter’s dinner and putting it in the fridge. “Sorry I made you cook only for him to pass out on us.”

She turned to him with a smile, he looked away, knowing the butterflies in his stomach were going to become too much to handle.

“You didn’t make me do anything. I’m helping you out.” She dumped the water out of Peter’s cup and placed it in the sink. “It’s okay to get help, even if you need a break from your hyper child, just ask.”

It was easier said than done.

Tony wanted to feel like he could do everything but he couldn’t.

He walked over to the sink so he could stand next to her, wanting nothing more than to turn her so their bodies were pressed together.

“I um…” He cleared his throat and looked away. He was suddenly feeling extremely unsure.

“Is Peter sleeping?” She asked, shutting the tap off and turning around to gently force Tony’s face towards her.

“Yeah. He’s gonna be out for awhile-”

Tony was cut off by Pepper pressing her lips to his. “Shh. Let’s not talk then.”

.
.
.

Tony ended up falling asleep in Peppers bed after multiple rounds of doing adult stuff.

He didn’t plan on waking up anytime soon but FRIDAY was waking him up.

“Mm, what?” Moaning loudly, Tony rolled onto his back and opened his eyes. It took a few seconds for him to remember the night he just had.

“Peter is awake and is in distress.” FRIDAY replied for the second time and that had Tony jumping out of bed.

“Uh fuck. Where’s my pants?” He looked around the dark bedroom to try and find some underwear or pants or something to cover himself up so he didn’t roam the halls like Peter did.

He moved the blankets off the bed, causing Pepper to stir but she wasn’t Peter, she could get herself back to sleep unassisted.

When he finally found his pants, he put them on without anything underneath and left Peppers bedroom, making sure to shut it on his way out.

He really hoped Peter didn’t suspect anything but he knew he wouldn’t, he was extremely grateful for that.

When he walked into his bedroom, he found Peter sitting in the middle of the bed and whimpering loudly. Once he saw Tony walk in, he let out a sob and reached his arms out for his dad.

“What’s wrong, Pete?”

Peter rubbed aggressively at his eyes so Tony pulled his hand away and sat down next to him, only for Peter to crawl closer to him. “My-my tummy hurts! It-it woke me up and-and y-you weren’t here.”

“Your tummy hurts? You didn’t eat any dinner, baby, you’re probably hungry.” Tony knew it was just because Peter was hungry, his body burned through food fast so that’s why Tony was so persistent on Peter eating dinner earlier. Little did he expect that Peter would be waking up in pain because he missed a meal.

Peter rubbed at his eyes again. “Yeah, I’m hungry.”

It was weird taking Peter downstairs in the middle of the night to eat dinner but his kid was in pain. “Alright. Let’s go eat something, let me just change first.”

Tony walked into his closet and shut the door so he could put on proper clothes and listened to Peter whimper on the other side of the door for him. “FRI, time?”

“It is 4:34am, sir.”

Tony sighed. That was way too early but he had a strong feeling Peter wasn’t going to go back to bed.

By the time they both got downstairs, Peter had become intensely more agitated and was trying so hard for Tony to pick him up.

“You need to wait, Peter, because I need to warm up your dinner.” Tony grabbed Peter’s arm to move him out of the way but that only got Peter to start crying even harder and kicking his leg out at Tony but he ignored it.

“What’s going on?” Pepper said, walking down the stairs in a silky robe.

Tony paid her no mind. “Peter woke up hungry and miserable.”

She walked over to Peter and kneeled down to rub a hand over his belly which shut him up a bit. “You’re not feeling well, Peter?”

Peter shook his head and looked up at her.

“That floor doesn’t seem all that comfortable so how about you come sit at the table with me.” Pepper didn’t wait for Peter to respond. She easily pulled him to his feet and led him over to the dining room table to sit him down.

“You sit first.” Peter pointed to the chair, waiting for her to sit down first so he could get some more comfort from her.

“Alright.” She sat down and was surprised to have Peter trying to sit on her lap and trying to lay his head against her chest. Tony watched his son cuddle up against Pepper and couldn’t help but smile, despite the situation they were in.

After Peter’s food was warmed up, he grabbed his water bottle and plate then joined the two at the table. “Come sit with me, Pete.” He didn’t give Peter much of an opinion before he was taking Peter off of Pepper. “Eat your food and you’ll feel better, Pete.”

Peter reached out to grab a piece of the chicken nugget that Tony cut up for him before. “My stomach still hurts.”

“Well one bite isn’t gonna make it better.” Tony lifted his foot up onto the opposite chair to get more comfortable since he had a feeling they were going to be there for a while.

Peter grabbed his water bottle off the table and started to chug it down but now he was going to fill up on that and Tony didn’t want that. “Eat your food, baby.”

“But I’m thirsty and my tummy hurts me.”

Tony lifted up Peter’s shirt to rub his belly, hoping that Peter’s pain would go away soon. He grabbed the fork to try and feed Peter but he was turning his head. “Open. You have to eat.”

“Not when my tummy hurts.” Peter shifted on his lap to get more comfortable.

“Do you need to go to the bathroom?” Tony asked him and he couldn’t even remember the last time he had to ask Peter that.

Peter rubbed at his eyes. “No. I’m- I don’t feel like eating when my tummy hurts me, dad.”

Tony put the fork down. He didn’t want to force Peter to eat but now he was starting to think that this stomach ache was coming from something other than being hungry and it started to scare Tony.

He looked over at Pepper. “Do you think it has anything to do with his kidneys?”

“I don’t know. Do you want to bring him down to the MedBay?” She suggested and it was the last thing Tony wanted to do.

He still couldn’t get the images of his son's lifeless body lying in that bed.

“What does your stomach feel like, Pete?”

Peter thought about it but then he was arching his back on Tony’s lap and whimpering. “Like… pain. It’s hurting me now.”

Tony rubbed at his stomach but he didn’t want to start freaking out since it may just be a normal stomach ache and nothing to do with his kidneys. “Let’s go to the bathroom. Maybe you have to sit on the toilet, baby.”

Peter whimpered. “I don’t have to. I want to stay with you.”

Tony stood up and lifted Peter into his arms with him. “I’ll stay with you.” He planned on giving it fifteen minutes and if nothing changed, he would call the MedBay.

Tony pulled up a stool to sit on it while Peter sat on the toilet. He hoped they weren’t there for very long but he already gave away the hope of ever going back to bed again for tonight.

He got a total of fifteen minutes of sleep since him and Pepper went a few rounds, Peter barely got a total of four hours.

This was going to be a long day.

Peter leaned forward. “Ow. It hurts. My tummy…”

“I know. It’ll pass. You need to go to the bathroom, bud.” Tony tried to rub Peter’s back as he was bent over but it was hard from his angle. “Sit up, baby. You’ll only hurt yourself more.”

A whimper escaped Peter’s mouth. “I-I don’t needa go.”

Tony sighed. He didn’t know what to do since Peter had been saying he didn’t need to go but he figured that he did need to go and it was just a matter of time.

“I don’t. I wanna go downstairs.”

Tony sighed again. He took off Peter’s pants and partly wet pull-up from around his ankles then stood up. “We’re not going downstairs. The sun hasn’t even come up yet.”

Peter stood up and followed Tony in the bedroom where Tony quickly helped him into a clean pull-up and shut the bathroom light off, causing Peter to whimper again. “Go lie down. We aren’t going downstairs.”

“I want to.”

Tony wasn’t going to fight. He crawled into the bed and laid on his side, propping himself up with his arm. “Alright. It’s dark down there so make sure you turn on some lights so the monsters don’t take you away from me. I’ll be here.”

Peter stood there and looked at him. He stayed where he was for about a minute before running over to Tony’s side of the bed and crawling on.

“Do you want your pyjama pants on?” Tony asked. He could see them on the other side of the room but he was too lazy to get up so he hoped Peter said no.

“Wanna go downstairs.” Peter said again, rolling over so he could sit up in bed.

Tony rolled onto his other side and shut his eyes. “I said you could. There’s scary monsters in the dark though.”

“Mm!”

“Shh. Go to bed.” Tony pulled the blankets over himself and hoped Peter went to sleep since he really wanted to go to bed, he was exhausted.

Peter sat up to look over Tony’s body. “Dad?”

“Sleep, Peter. Dad’s tired.”

“But I wanna go downstairs with you.”

Tony sat up and in one motion he grabbed Peter and forced him to lie down by moving him further down on the bed and putting a hand on his chest to stop Peter from getting up but that only made Peter start to cry so he sighed.

“Stop crying. You’re okay and we’re not going downstairs.” Tony held Peter down until he stopped trying to get up.

“Let go. I wan-I wanna sit up.” Peter cried out. “Daddy.”

“Just because you call me daddy doesn’t mean I’m going to give in. You’re gonna be so tired today, Peter. Just shut your eyes.”

Peter grabbed Tony’s hand and screamed then tried to roll over but Tony was grabbing his arm and forcing him to lie back down. “Go to sleep. It’s bedtime.”

That only had Peter crying even harder but Tony was used to it. He wasn’t going to give in because if he did then he would lose and he wasn’t giving Peter this win.

Parenting was fucking hard.

“Move your hand.” Peter tried to get Tony’s hand off his chest but he couldn’t.

“If I move it and you get up, I’ll put you in your bed.” Tony warned him but he hoped he didn’t go too far. He had no plans of putting Peter in his bed even if he did move. It was just an empty threat.

Peter went still.

He didn’t move even after Tony moved his hand off his chest.

“I want you to close your eyes.”

Peter turned to look at him. “I’m not tired.”

“You didn’t sleep, Pete.” Tony tried but then Peter was turning onto his stomach and sitting up.

“I need to pee.”

Tony grabbed Peter’s arm. “No you don’t. Lie down.”

“I need to go pee.”

“Go in your pull-up. You don’t need to pee so you don’t need to get out of bed.” Tony knew Peter was using every excuse in the book to get out of not going to bed and it wasn’t going to work on him.

Peter looked towards the bathroom then threw himself face first onto the bed. He stayed like that for a few seconds then he was lifting his leg up onto the headboard and laughing.

Tony sighed. He was going to have to deal with this for so long. He was so tired.

“Peter. Kid. Go to sleep. Please.” Tony pulled Peter’s leg down before he got a butt to the face.

“No. No no no no. I wanna stay awake.”

Tony got out of the bed and held his arms out for Peter who immediately let Tony pick him up. Tony didn’t know what else to do but he had an idea.

He grabbed a blanket to wrap it around his kid and carried him down the hallway. He felt Peter tense when they passed his bedroom and immediately relaxed once they passed it. “Where we goin’?”

“We’re gonna go somewhere cool.” Tony walked into the elevator and tried to push Peter’s head down onto his shoulder but Peter was too alert. “If it’s not snowing out, we can look up at the stars through the big bay window.”

“Can we go for a drive? I wanna drive.” Peter turned to look at Tony.

“Nope. Plus you can’t drive.”

Peter threw his head back. “No. You drive. I sit.”

“Not tonight, Pete.” Tony walked out of the elevator and onto the floor above theirs which was small and empty but it had a bulletproof glass that looked out onto the city. Well, all the windows in the tower were bulletproof. His floor was double glass and same with the avengers floors.

Tony stopped at the window and tried to hoist Peter up a bit but he was wiggling to be put down. “No. Put your head down and try to relax.”

“I wanna see.”

“You can see. Look.”

Peter whined and made his legs go straight which was almost impossible for Tony to hold Peter so he put him down. Peter dropped his blanket and went to shove his face up against the cold window. “Are we above our floor or below?”

“Above.”

“So it’s colder up here than down there, right?” Peter asked, turning to look up at his dad.

Tony nodded. “Yep. Also because it’s empty up here and we have the heat on downstairs.”

Peter banged weakly on the glass. “Can we go play in it? It’s snowing.”

“No.” Tony sighed and held his arms out for Peter but he was shaking his head. “I came up here to make you sleepy. Why aren’t you tired?”

Peter didn’t answer him which made it even more frustrating.

What a night it was going to be.