All The Stars Align

Tony watched Peter fall asleep on the couch.

It was half past nine in the morning and Peter was finally falling asleep after all of Tony’s hopeless efforts.

He was a tad concerned at the fact that Peter was going to fall asleep and mess up his whole schedule now since he wasn’t going to be tired tonight which meant another sleepless night for Tony. He was already exhausted. Both mentally and physically but it was fine, he was used to it.

It was the life of being a dad.

The elevator doors opened so Tony looked over and watched Rhodey walk out with a jacket on. Tony knew what that meant.

“Leaving so soon?” Tony asked. He barely got to spend anytime with his best friend alone but he knew it was a good thing that Rhodey was leaving. He was only here because Peter got hurt…

Rhodey looked down at Peter as he walked towards the living room. “I’ve been here for like two weeks. You were too busy to notice me, man.”

“I can’t leave Peter-”

“Relax. I’m just teasing you. I’m glad he’s okay. I’m glad you’re okay.” Rhodey patted Tony’s back and sat down next to him. “Promise me you’ll take care of yourself. Pepper said you didn’t sleep last night.”

Tony scuffed. “She’s partly to blame for that.”

Rhodey raised his eyebrows at Tony. “You know what… I don’t even want to know.” With that, he stood up but ran his fingers through Peter’s curls. “Don’t be so hard on your dad, little man. See you soon.”

“Bye. I’ll talk to you whenever I can.” Tony appreciated everyone coming to support him and Peter after his kid almost… but he was glad that was over now.

Even though no matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t going to be able to forget it.

Now, he could sit on the couch and watch Peter’s chest rise and fall. Alive.

That was the only thing that calmed him.

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It was around one in the afternoon when Tony saw Pepper walk down the stairs. She was dressed in track pants and a baggy sweater which he was happy to see because it meant she didn’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon.

“You slept late.” He commented but he knew Pepper was awake long before then.

“At least I slept.” Pepper walked behind him and opened the fridge. “And I’ve been up since eight. I’ve just been answering emails so I could stay here for a few more days.”

He turned to fully face her. “Oh really?”

“Yeah. As long as that’s what you want?”

“Obviously that’s what I want. I’m gonna wake Pete soon and then do you wanna go somewhere?” He didn’t have any plans until Peter’s doctor appointment today in the evening so they had a full day to do something fun.

He just hoped when he woke Peter up that his boy was in a good mood.

“It’s really cold out and there’s supposed to be a really bad snowstorm tonight so maybe we could go eat lunch somewhere.” Pepper suggested as she followed Tony into the living room to wake Peter up.

Tony liked that idea. If Peter woke up happy otherwise they weren’t going to be going anywhere.

“Yeah, Pete’ll like that idea. Hopefully he wants to wake up.” He took a seat on the couch by Peter’s head and rubbed at his back. “Wake up, Pete. It’s time to wake up.”

Peter whined and turned his head into the couch but Tony was pulling the blankets off of him, causing Peter to lift his head up.

“Yeah, you have to wake up.” Tony shook Peter again and watched as he slowly opened his eyes and looked around the room. “You can sleep at bedtime today. Do you wanna go out for lunch with Pep?”

Peter pushed himself up and rubbed at his eyes as he looked over at Pepper. “And you too?”

“Yeah, I’m coming. Let’s go get dressed and then we’ll go.” Tony stood up and grabbed a pull-up out of the box then waited to follow Peter upstairs.

Once the two of them were done, they met with Pepper downstairs and walked towards the elevator to get ready. Tony was feeling exhausted.

He felt like he had no energy to leave the tower but it was way too early to sleep and if Peter saw him sleeping, he would crawl up under him and join him. Tony needed Peter to sleep tonight.

“Where are we going?” Peter asked as he held onto Tony’s hand.

Tony looked over at Pepper. “Uh, did you think of anywhere? Let’s go somewhere fancy so it’s more quiet.” The more expensive it was, the more privacy they got since the hosts were used to rich and famous people going into the restaurants so they didn’t tend to stare or take pictures. Plus everyone else there was too focused on their own meal to pay attention.

“Yeah, we can go to the restaurant off fifth street. We’ve never gone there before.”

Tony loved that idea. He didn’t know when Pepper planned on leaving but he hoped it wasn’t anytime soon.

When they arrived at the restaurant, the clouds were dark and it looked like it was going to snow at any moment so Tony hoped the bad weather took a break for a few more hours so they could enjoy their meal and get home safely.

Tony opened up Peter’s backdoor and rolled his eyes at the fact that Peter had taken off both boots and his hat and was in the process of taking off his jacket. “Why do you always do this?”

Peter shrugged. “I need to pee.”

“No, you don’t.” Tony didn’t know why Peter was saying that since he knew he didn’t need to go pee.

“I do. I wanna go on the toilet.” Peter stuck out his bottom lip as Tony put his boots on him. “Dad.”

“Peter.” Tony went over this a bunch of times with Peter. He didn’t need to go pee. “You don’t need to pee. Get out of the car so we can go in.” He helped Peter out and grabbed onto Peter’s wrist so he didn’t run out.

“Let go. I wanna walk.” Tony rolled his eyes but didn’t let go. Peter could whine all he wanted.

“Peter, walk properly. We’ll go back home if you don’t behave.” He warned him and Peter immediately stood up straighter and started walking by his side. Tony pulled his jacket to cover up the back of his butt so nothing showed and stepped into the restaurant.

“Look! They have pet fish here.” Peter tugged on his dad’s hand so they could go check out the fish but Tony didn’t move. He didn’t want any attention drawn to them but with Peter that was slightly hard to stop. “Dad. I wanna go see them.”

“We will before we sit down but we have to get a seat first.” Tony looked towards the giant fish tank in the middle of the restaurant but before he could comment on it, a server was walking up to them.

“Good evening. Can I get you seated for three?” The server asked them. Tony saw her eyes linger over Peter with a smile, he still never got used to Peter having that effect on random strangers.

“Yeah. Thank you.” He pulled on Peter’s arm as they began walking but Peter didn’t move. “Come, Pete.”

“No, I wanna look at the fish.”

Tony sighed. “Alright. Do you mind if we stop to look at the fish first?” He asked the server. He knew she wouldn’t say no but she actually looked pleased.

“Of course.” She was taking a detour to stop in front of the large fish tank and walked next to Peter. “Do you have fish at home?”

Peter looked up at her shyly and stared for a few seconds before shaking his head and moving closer to Tony.

“Pets are a lot of work and that’s why we work extra hard to make sure our fish are happy and well taken care of.” She explained to Peter who continued to stare at her so Tony stepped in.

“Say thank you for showing us the fish, Pete.” He gently shook Peter and got a small thank you out of him but that was it. He wondered if Peter’s shyness would ever go away or if he would be shy well into his adult years.

“Dad, I wanna look longer.” Peter was looking back as they started walking so Tony grabbed onto his hand.

“We can say bye to the fish before we leave. Sit on the seat.” He helped Peter climb into the booth and got in after him with Pepper across from them. “Take off your jacket, Pete.”

Pepper took off her jacket as well and opened up her menu. “Have you ever tried cheesecake, Peter?”

Peter was in the process of taking off his boots while he looked at her. “Um… is it like a bunch of melted cheese all together? Once… before when I melted a whole cheese stick in the microwave and ate it but it wasn’t even good. I don’t know why I did that.”

“Oh, that doesn’t sound good. Cheesecake isn’t like that. I want you to try it.” Pepper went to show Peter the picture on the menu but Peter was going under the table and crawling over to Peppers side.

“I wanna sit next to you.” He announced, bouncing on the seat next to her and looking over at his dad.

“You don’t want to sit next to me anymore. Fine. I get this whole seat to myself.” Tony would actually prefer to have Peter sitting next to Pepper just so he didn’t have someone touching him for a little bit.

Peter tried his best to give him a dirty look and then looked at Pepper and pushed himself up on her legs. “I wanna see it.”

“See what?”

“Cheesecake.” Both Tony and Peter answered at the same time.

Pepper half smiled at Tony and pulled the menu in front of both her and Peter to show him the cake. Tony watched them from across the table, not being any part of the conversation between the two until Peter was being Peter.

“Dare me to lick it?” He asked, holding the menu out in front of his face.

“No. Don’t lick it unless you wanna get sick.” Tony warned and he saw Peter inching towards the menu so he grabbed it. “All done. You’re not allowed looking at the menu anymore.”

Peter sighed. “I need to pee.”

“No you don’t.” Tony slid the menu back over to Pepper and reached across the table for Peter. “Crawl back under and come sit next to me.”

Peter bounced on the seat. “No. I need to pee.”

“Peter.” Tony sighed. “You can’t know that, remember? Just come sit over here.” Tony waited for Peter to come but when he didn’t make any move, he spoke. “Alright. You stay there and I’m going to the bathroom.”

Peter immediately got under the table to move across Pepper. “I wanna come with you.”

“Stay here. I’ll be quick.” Tony tried to push Peter back into the booth but Peter wasn’t taking no for an answer.

“I wanna go too. I’m not staying here. And I wanna see the fish on the way there and back.” Peter was already tugging Tony in the direction of the fish so Tony shared a look with Pepper before leaving.

“Did you only wanna come to see the fish?” Tony asked him but the fish were in the other direction of the bathrooms so they had to take a detour.

“No and because I was gonna miss you and I need to go too.” Peter walked ahead of Tony once he saw the bathroom and pushed the door open. “It’s so dark in here.”

“It’s supposed to be like that. Don’t touch anything because it’s full of germs in here.” Tony hated going to the bathroom when there were other men in there with him and he especially hated going when Peter was with him and other men because he felt so uncomfortable with his kid exposed like that.

He went to pull himself out at a urinal but Peter was trying to tug his own pants down. “What’re you doing? Keep your pants on.”

“I need to go too.”

“Peter. You don’t. I tucked your shirt into your pants already and now I’m gonna have to do that all over again.” Tony turned around to stop Peter from taking off his pants since there was no reason for that right now. “Keep these on.”

“But I need to go.” Peter whined, causing Tony to sigh because if Peter would have just stayed with Pepper, he could have been out of there in two minutes and now, five minutes later, they were still in the bathroom and Tony hadn’t even gone yet.

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Tony checked the time. It was 9:45pm and almost an hour past Peter’s bedtime yet Peter wasn’t anywhere near ready for bed yet.

Tony watched as Peter jumped from couch to couch, singing some Christmas song. He was surprised that he wasn’t getting any complaints from the team on the floor under them from all the banging.

He was exhausted and wished he could transfer his exhaustion onto Peter and get Peter’s energy in return.

Pepper walked down the stairs and sat next to Tony on the couch. “So I have these natural body oils that help to relax and makes you super sleepy.”

That had Tony’s attention. He took the bottle from Pepper and read it over. “Is it all natural?”

“Yeah. You pour some into a bath and it’ll soothe him and relax his body to get him ready for bed.” Pepper explained and turned the bottle over so he could read the back. “I’ve used it before and it works.”

“Is it- Peter stop jumping now. Sit down. Is it safe for him though? Like his age? Is there an age limit on this?” He asked but Pepper didn’t get a chance to answer because Tony grabbed Peter by the back of his pants once he ran by. “Sit down. Peter, oh my god.”

Peter slid out of his pants, leaving Tony holding them out as Peter climbed back onto the couch.

“It’s safe, Tony. Just pour some in and hopefully it’ll get him sleepy.” Pepper patted his knee and stood up. “Good luck.” She whispered and left.

Tony tried to mentally prepare himself. He watched Peter do some weird pose on the couch and pushed himself up. “Up up. We’re going upstairs for bath time. Stand up.”

Peter looked at him. “It’s still early. Five more minutes.”

“Okay. Five minutes start now. Let’s walk upstairs in those five minutes.” Tony watched Peter think it over in his head so he tried something. “I’ll race you.”

That got Peter jumping off the couch and sprinting upstairs before Tony even got the chance to move but once Peter noticed he was way ahead, he ran back downstairs and walked up with Tony, talking a mile a minute.

“That’s cool.” Tony was half listening to him. Whatever Peter ate at the restaurant definitely had way too much sugar in it. “I’m gonna start the bath so take your clothes off.”

Peter followed him in but made no move to get undressed. “What’s in your hand?”

“Don’t worry about what’s in my hand.” He waited for the bath to fill up while making sure it stayed the right temperature since Peter usually sat in the bath while it filled up. “Hurry because I have to pour this in.”

Peter tried to grab it from him but Tony didn’t want him to read the label. “Hey. Stop moving it away from me. I wanna see what it says.”

Tony eyed him. “I’ll read it to you once you get in.”

Peter stomped his foot but once he realized that his dad wasn’t going to budge, he quickly stripped and climbed into the bath. “My turn to hold it.”

Tony shut the water off and started to pour it in. “Kick your legs to move it around.”

That was a mistake to say since as soon as he said that, Peter started kicking his legs out crazily. Water splashed over the side of the bath and onto Tony’s bottom half but Peter found it funny. “Stop, there’s more water on the floor than in the actual bathtub now.”

Peter giggled as he turned onto his stomach and tried to smell the water. “It smells good. Where’s the bubbles in my bubble bath?”

“I didn’t put bubble bath in. I put a secret ingredient into your bath.” Tony didn’t want to tell Peter it was supposed to make him sleepy and eventually calm down because he knew Peter would then fight against the sleepiness and he didn’t need that right now.

Peter rolled back onto his butt and stuck his legs out on the ledge. “Oh. Like Harry Potter magic stuff?”

“Yeah, kinda.” Tony reached out to tickle the bottom of Peter’s feet to get them back in the water and it worked.

Just as Tony was starting to believe that the oil Pepper gave him wasn’t going to work on Peter, he started to yawn a lot and slowly close his eyes.

Tony didn’t say anything since it was working and he was so relieved. Peter still tried so hard to stay awake, his eyes would shut and his head would fall forward but then he would wake himself up and start kicking his legs out in the water again.

This continued for about five minutes until Tony decided it was time to take him out of the bath and put him in the bed. He reached into the water to pull the plug and grabbed a fluffy towel off the toilet and held it out for Peter. “Stand up and I’ll wrap you.”

Peter lifted his arms up but Tony wasn’t leaning down to grab him so he stood up and was immediately wrapped in the towel and lifted out of the bath. Tony held him with one arm supporting his bottom and felt Peter lay his head on his shoulder.

He was going to buy truck loads of these magic bath oils.

Tony left the bathroom, turning the lights off and walking into the bedroom to pull back the blankets on the bed before gently laying Peter down and covering him with the towel the best he could but Peter was rolling onto his side.

Tony sighed. He had to get pyjamas on Peter but it was going to be hard without waking him up. He turned and grabbed a pull-up from the box and decided to just put that on him tonight since he didn’t want to wake risking him up after everything he did to put Peter to sleep.

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There was a lot to do around the house and Tony knew he couldn’t put it on hold anymore.

It was time to actually do the dishes, wash, fold and put away the laundry as well as clean up all the plates, bottles, wrappers and everything lying around the main floor that he’s been pushing off to the side for so long now.

Peter was asleep and hopefully stayed that way for a while so he could get to work.

He got started in the living room first, bringing all the day old dirty dishes into the kitchen and grabbing a bin to put Peter’s toys neaty away so they weren’t everywhere he walked.

He knew that as soon as Peter woke up, the toys and water bottles would be back out but he didn’t mind. It made the house look lively and like a kid was living there which he loved so much.

Tony picked up Peter’s gravity maze toy that was all under the couch so he had to reach under there to grab and found so much rotten, old food and crumbs under there.

So Tony stood up to grab the vacuum out from the hallway closet but something caught his eye.

It was an old box of baby photos of himself. He didn’t want to look through it but he didn’t know how it got there since he had shoved all of his childhood memories to the back of the closet.

Tony grabbed the vacuum out and shut the door so he didn’t get the urge to look through any of it. Maybe he would do that later, another day.

So Tony focused on getting the house cleaned up. He didn’t know the last time he cleaned so thoroughly, maybe it was the first time doing it but he felt good after. He felt accomplished.

He even brought out the mop and mopped the floors but now he wasn’t tired anymore and wanted to do some more cleaning so he went to go check on Peter and gather all the dirty clothes from his bedroom.

When he walked into his bedroom, he looked on the bed but it was empty. His heart dropped a bit but he didn’t wanna panic since Peter could easily just be in the bathroom or something so he turned the light on and walked in but Peter wasn’t in there either.

Now it was time to panic.

“Peter?” Tony walked out into the bedroom again and looked around quickly but Peter wasn’t in there so he raced out of his bedroom and started opening up random doors in the hallway.

Two of the doors had locks on them since there was electrical stuff in one room and the other had chemical cleaning supplies and laundry soaps so Tony had locked them up, meaning there was no way Peter could get in there but he still looked anyways.

After finding it empty, Tony raced into Peter’s bedroom to see if Peter had for some reason gone in there but it was empty as well.

“Peter? Peter?!” Tony went to race down the stairs to search like a madman throughout the penthouse but Pepper was opening her bedroom door and wrapping her robe around her.

“Tony? What’s wrong?”

“I can’t find Peter.” He explained in a panic. “I put him to bed and went to clean but I don’t know where he is now.” Tony ran a hand down his face and raced down the stairs with Pepper following behind him.

“Why don’t you ask FRIDAY? FRIDAY, where’s Peter?” Pepper tried but there was no answer.

“She’s down for maintenance repair until tomorrow afternoon. Fuck.” Tony knew he shouldn’t have done this. He has to put FRIDAY down only twice a year for maintenance and he shuts the tower down while he does it but maybe Peter got out somehow, maybe- maybe-

“Tony. Did you check your room? He’s probably there.” Pepper was already making her way upstairs again so Tony raced up after her.

When he walked into his room, he found the bed empty again and his heart dropped a little bit more. He was about to go look in his closet but then he got onto his knees and looked under the bed.

Relief washed over him when his eyes landed on Peter but he needed to hold him in his arms to know that he’s okay. He carefully grabbed onto his ankles and pulled him out, lifting Peter into his arms and standing up with him.

Peter started whimpering and waking up. “Mm.”

“Baby, why were you under the bed? I was looking for you.” Tony rubbed his back and looked over at Pepper, grateful that she told him to come check upstairs again.

Peter rubbed at his eyes. “Mm, I woke up and you weren’t here. So I got scared and hid from the monsters.”

“Aw, baby boy.” Tony pressed a kiss to Peter’s cheek but Peter was turning his head at the same time to look at Pepper. “Mm.”

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s a monster in the closet.” Peter pointed at where Pepper was standing, right next to the open closet door that was dark inside.

Tony hoisted Peter up in his arms more and walked towards the closet to look inside but Peter started freaking out. “No. Don’t! He’s in there. Don’t look inside.”

Tony looked over at Pepper before rubbing Peter’s back. Peter rarely had bad dreams anymore since he always slept with Peter but he wasn’t there tonight so it made sense. “There’s no such thing as monsters in the closet. Not my closet anyways.”

“Pepper’s closet?” Peter asked, wrapping his arms around Tony’s neck.

“I don’t have monsters in my closet either, Peter.” Pepper sat down on the bed and patted the spot next to her for Tony to sit with Peter. “Monsters don’t exist.”

Tony didn’t believe that. “Actually monsters do exist. There’s evil people in this world, Pepper.” He wasn’t going to bring it up but Peter came face to face with the monsters who hurt him just a few weeks ago.

Pepper eyed Tony. “Don’t scare him.”

Tony wanted to change the subject. He stood up and walked towards the door. “Your pull-up is practically dry, bud. You didn’t drink enough today so let’s go get your water bottle.”

Peter laid his head against Tony’s shoulder. “That’s because I can feel my pee.”

“Okay, I’ll change you after we get upstairs.” Tony set Peter on his feet once they got downstairs and began walking towards the clean kitchen that wasn’t going to stay clean for very long.

“No. Not in my pull-up. In my body.” Peter chased after his dad and lifted his arms back up because the floor was cold on his naked feet and he felt safe in his dad’s arms. “Lift me up.”

Tony ignored Peter’s first sentence and picked him up, awkwardly holding him as he filled up one of Peter’s water bottles for him. Peter saw which one Tony was filling up but he didn’t want that one. “No, not that one. That ones too hard to drink from.”

Tony looked at the cup. It was fine but it made sense why Peter never wanted this one since there was no spout to chew on so he grabbed a new one from the cupboard and sat Peter on the counter for a second.

“It’s cold. Dad.” He tried to reach his arms out for him again but Tony was too far now. “Daddy.”

“Give me a sec, Pete. I need two hands.”

“No, you don’t. Pick me up.” Peter lifted his feet up onto the counter so he could get his legs off the coldness but Tony still wasn’t making any move to pick him up. “Dad. Daddy. Daddy. Daddy.”

“Yes Peter?” Tony saw the time on the stove and saw that it was past 3am already and he still had Peter up.

“Pick me up.” Peter said again, lifting his arms up but Tony only stared at him.

“You’re pushy. Give me two seconds, Peter.” Tony finished looking for the bottle and started filling it up.

“One, two. All done.”

“Just for that, you can walk.” He didn’t know if it was because Peter was tired or what but he was going to give in.

“No, that’s not fair.” Peter crossed his arms over his chest and let out a puff of air, showing Tony that he was about to start crying so Tony was quick to hold his arms out for his emotional boy.

“I’m just teasing. Come here.” He lifted Peter off the counter with one arm and handed him his water bottle as he started making his way back upstairs. “You’re so emotional tonight, baby, what’s wrong?”

Peter rubbed at his eyes. “I’m not. Don’t say that.”

“Okay. Sorry. Let’s go back to bed.” He pressed a kiss to Peter’s cheek but Peter was moving his face again. “Stop moving your head or I’m gonna kiss you on the lips.”

Peter giggled and shook his head while still rubbing at his eyes. “You’re poo.”

“I’m poo? You’re poo.” Tony never thought he would have a conversation like this, yet here he was. It wasn’t the first time and he knew it wouldn’t be the last time.

“No.” Peter laid his head on Tony’s shoulder with a yawn so Tony was glad that he was walking into his bedroom.

Now they could both hopefully get some sleep together.

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Peter woke up first and rolled over in the bed to see his dad.

He sometimes woke up and his dad wasn’t there so he was glad that the man was there today but as he sat up, he felt pressure in his lower abdomen which was a feeling he hadn’t felt in a while but he’s been feeling it get more and more stronger over the past few days.

Peter shifted a bit to see if it was really what he thought it was and it was. He needed to go pee. He felt that he needed to go pee.

“Dad, wake up.” Peter sat up on his knees and shook his dad. “Dad. I have pee.”

Tony moaned and tried to push Peter off of him but Peter didn’t stop. “Go to sleep, kid.”

Peter groaned and flopped down onto the bed. “But I’m awake. And I want you to wake up with me.” He groaned and looked over at Tony. “I need to pee, dad. Pee.”

When Tony still didn’t acknowledge him, Peter tried again. “Dad, wake up because I need to pee.”

“Go then.” It was still dark in the room, thanks to the thick curtains and Tony wasn’t ready to wake up yet. Peter could wait.

Peter tried to focus. He never went pee on purpose before, it just came out but now he had to go on purpose and it felt weird. He felt the pull-up get warm after having only peed a little bit in it during the night.

After that, he rolled onto his side and waited for his dad to wake up but he couldn’t stop moving. He had so much energy and he wanted to do something about that.

Tony couldn’t fall back to sleep after Peter woke him up, especially since Peter was moving around like he was a fish out of water so Tony sat up in bed and looked over at Peter who was wide awake and lifting his legs up above his head, onto the headboard.

“What’re you doing?” He asked, not ready for so much energy this early in the morning yet.

Peter put his legs down and smiled. “You’re up.”

Tony moaned. “Much earlier than I want to be.”

He stood up and went into the bathroom to go pee and then opened the door to brush his teeth and look at Peter who went back to lifting his legs up on the bed.

After Tony was done, he took his shirt off and tossed it to the side before bending down to grab a pull-up from the box and the wipes. “Let’s go eat breakfast after you change. I’m gonna get dressed.”

Peter pushed the pull-up off the bed and waited for his dad to walk out of the closet again.

Tony was still exhausted. He felt like he got zero sleep last night. When he walked out, Peter was still in the same position so Tony sighed and walked to the edge of the bed, picking up the thrown pull-up. “Come lie down, Pete.”

Peter didn’t listen so Tony grabbed his ankles and pulled him down so he was lying in front of him but Peter tried to stop him. “No. I don’t need to. I needed to pee. That’s why I was trying to wake you up, dad.”

“You didn’t need to wake me up for that. I know you just go.” Tony felt like he wanted to go back to bed. His head felt all stuffy and he felt even more tired than he did before he went to bed.

Peter shook his head. “No. Like, I felt my pee.”

Tony didn’t know what Peter was on about. He reached down to feel the front of Peter’s pull-up and felt that it was full, like it was every morning. Or every few hours for that matter. “It’s full so stop moving so I can get it off so we can go eat.”

Peter groaned. Tony wasn’t understanding him. “No! I went in the bed after I woke up because you told me to. I said I need to go and you said to just go. So I did.” Peter crossed his arms and stared up at his dad.

Tony was way too tired to process what Peter was saying but he didn’t have time to continue the conversation since he had a pounding headache that needed a cup of coffee to get rid of so he finished what he was doing and made his way downstairs with Peter.

“Do you want cereal for breakfast?” He asked, hoping Peter said yes. Less work for him.

Peter nodded and immediately went into the living room to get started on his lego building but it was all cleaned up. “Dad, where did my legos go?”

Tony walked over with a bowl of cereal in one hand, his cup of coffee in the other hand and Peter’s water bottle tucked under his arm, thankful that it was spill proof.

Peter spotted his water bottle and grabbed that immediately so Tony put the bowl on the table and sat down, sighing loudly as he did so. He had a massive headache that he hoped went away soon. Considering they had a full day ahead of them. It wasn’t even 9 o’clock yet and Peter was half dressed with only a shirt on.

Peter took a bite of his cereal then patted the spot next to him. “Can you sit with me?”

Tony stood up and went to sit next to Peter but leaned up against the couch. It was way too early to be sitting on the ground but apparently not for Peter. “No. Right here.”

“I’m not moving. You can move if you want to sit next to me.” Tony took a huge sip of his coffee and watched as Peter butt scooted over to him and then sat up a bit so he could squat.

There was a giant pile of dumped legos on the floor along with some random toys scattered around the living room. How Peter managed to make such a mess in only a matter of minutes was beyond Tony.

Peter scooted closer to his dad and reached out for the lego piece that was near his thigh. “I can’t reach. Pass it.”

“What’s the magic word?” Tony picked up the lego piece that Peter had his eyes on but he wasn’t going to give it up that easy.

“Please. I want it.” Peter reached desperately for the lego piece so his dad handed it to him. He continued doing what he was doing while Tony grabbed his phone and took a few pictures of Peter.

He saw the time and froze. He was forgetting something but he didn’t know what it was. School? Work? Emails? A meeting? No, it was something important but he couldn’t remember. Dammit.

Tony looked over at Peter and his eyes went wide. The doctor's appointment. It was today. It was supposed to be in two minutes. He cancelled it yesterday since they got busy with other things and he didn’t want to cancel it again.

“Pete, get up. I forgot but we have to go.” Tony stood up and grabbed the track pants off the couch, holding them out for Peter. “Stand up.”

“What? What is it?” Peter didn’t like the anxiety he got from his dad rushing him like this. It reminded him of when he was in school and he didn’t like that. “Stop.”

“I forgot about your doctors appointment. We have to go.” Tony grabbed Peter’s arm to stand him up in front of him then helped him get his pants on. “We’re gonna be late already but that’s okay.”

Peter chased after Tony on the way to the elevator and grabbed onto his dad’s hand. “I don’t wanna go to the doctors. I wanna stay here.”

“It’s just a check up. We’ll be in and out of there in no time.” Tony pulled Peter out of the elevator and onto the MedBay floor once the doors opened up. He felt Peter move closer to him but he didn’t blame him, going back down there brought back a lot of unpleasant memories.

“Mr. Stark, Peter, if you could just wait in that room over there, the doctor will be with you shortly.”

Tony thanked the lady and led Peter into one of the MedBay rooms. He took a seat on the stool next to the bed but Peter was trying to sit on him. “You have to sit on the bed, bud. You’re the patient here.”

Peter shook his head shyly into Tony’s chest. “No. Wan’ stay with you.”

The father rubbed Peter’s back, trying to calm him down. “Don’t be scared, bud. He’s just gonna make sure everything looks okay.”

Peter still shook his head against Tony but Tony knew that Peter just wanted the comfort from him so he indulged in it until the door was opening.

“Good morning. How are we doing today?”

Peter didn’t take his head out of Tony’s chest and even went to sit on his knee so Tony answered for him. “Everythings going well. He has no pain.”

“That’s amazing. How’s he sleeping? Is he still taking naps?” The doctor asked as he sat on a stool and clicked onto the computer.

“Not so much anymore. Maybe every other day but his sleep schedule is all over the place right now.” Tony thought back to last night and cringed, yeah, definitely all over the place.

“It’ll take some time. Is he sleeping through the night? A full nine hours without waking up?”

“No.” Tony couldn’t remember the last time they both slept more than nine hours without Peter waking up and needing help to go back to sleep. “He wakes up about two or three times throughout the night. Should I be worried?”

“Not necessarily. As long as he’s not waking up in pain or because he’s uncomfortable then everything should be okay but I’m gonna check over his incision now and see how everything is healing. Can you lie down on the bed for me, Peter?” The doctor moved to grab some gloves and stood by the bed.

“Stand up, Pete. The doctors just gonna check you over. I’ll be here the whole time.” Tony encouraged him to get off his knee and walk towards the bed but then the doctor was picking him up and laying him down in one quick motion.

Tony chuckled silently at Peter’s surprised face but then went to stand by his side.

The doctor moved to Peter’s ankle and lifted it up. He carefully took Peter’s sock off to examine the still noticeable scars. Tony hated that they were still there, he hoped they eventually healed but he wasn’t sure.

“Have you been feeling any pain or uncomfortableness when you walk on it?”

Peter looked up at Tony. “Have you, Pete?” Tony asked but he already knew the answer was no.

“Uh-Uh.” Peter shook his head and then the doctor was moving onto his wrist, asking some questions before the major problem was next.

He walked over to Peter’s abdomen and looked down at him. “I’m gonna lift your shirt up and pull your pants down a bit so I can check your incision, okay?”

Peter lifted his arms up and nodded. “Is it gonna hurt?”

“Not at all.” The doctor went to touch around the faded scar that was there. Tony had been watching it closely and it was almost fully faded. “And have you been able to pee in the toilet yet?”

Peter shook his head. “I’m wearing pull-ups.”

“I can see that. Let’s see if you don’t have to anymore.” He pulled up a giant machine and grabbed a bottle. “I’m gonna look inside your belly with this machine. It doesn’t hurt at all.”

Peter moved away from the doctor and rolled onto his stomach so he could hold his arms out for his dad. “I don’t want to. I wanna go home now.”

“I’ll sit with you. It’s okay, he’s just gonna look inside your body.” Tony understood how scary that must sound to Peter so he hoped the doctor was better at explaining it.

“No. I don’t want to.” Peter refused to lie back down so Tony even tried to force him but Peter didn’t budge.

“I’ll be right back.” The doctor left the room, making Tony stare at the door in confusion but was coming back shortly after with another doctor. She had blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a smile that lit up the room instantly. “This is Dr. Robbins. She’s a pediatric doctor.”

Tony held out his hand to shake with hers. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Stark, and who do we have here?” She washed her hands at the sink and put on some gloves while Peter watched her.

“Peter.” He answered quietly.

“I’ve got things handled here, Dr. Hans.” Dr. Robbins sat down on the stool and wheeled it closer to the bed. “Peter, I heard a little boy lived here but I’ve never seen him. Have you been hiding this whole time?”

Peter smiled and turned his face into his dad’s chest.

“Oh no. He’s gone again. Well, I have a lollipop for Peter if he decides to show up again-” Peter turned to look at her so she fake gasped. Tony loved this doctor so much already. “There he is. As promised,” She took a blue raspberry lollipop out of her lab coat and showed it to Peter. “but, not until after your checkup. Can you lie down for me?”

Peter pulled away from Tony to lie down but he pointed at the machine. “I don’t want that here.”

Dr. Robbins looked at the machine and wheeled it back into the corner. “We can bring it over here for now. Can I pull your pants down a little bit?” When Peter nodded, she tugged his pants down a bit and Peter was already lifting up his shirt. “Your incision has healed so nicely. In a few more weeks, there won’t even be a scar.”

Peter nodded. “Yeah and my dad put cream on it before with the like big bandage.”

The doctor smiled. “That’s what dad’s are for. Now how has his pee been?” She asked Tony.

“Good. He drinks a lot so he’s peeing a lot.” Tony always checked in the pull-up for blood or anything but he didn’t know what else he was supposed to look for.

“And have you been peeing in the toilet, Peter, or just in the pull-ups?” She asked as she pressed on Peter’s abdomen.

“My pull-ups.” Peter answered her and looked over at his dad, reaching out to him.

“Have you felt the urge to pee yet? Like pressure in your lower abdomen?”

Peter nodded. “Yeah. Yesterday and this morning I said I needed to pee.”

Tony thought back to last night at the restaurant and the vague memory of Peter telling him this morning he needed to go pee.

“That’s very good. And did you go in the toilet?” She was asking as she wrote something down.

Peter shook his head and tugged on his pull-up. “No. I just went in the bed and the restaurant last night in my pull-up.”

Tony was suddenly feeling extremely awful. Peter was full on telling him he needed to pee and had asked to use a toilet but he didn’t let him and made Peter go in his pants. He felt extremely bad. “Aw, fu… oh no. I’m sorry, Pete. No, he’s been telling me he’s needed to go pee but I said he didn’t. Ever since his… injury, he’s been telling me he needs to go pee as an excuse so I’m used to just telling him to go in the pull-up.” He pulled Peter in for a half hug. “I’m sorry, buddy. That must have been uncomfortable. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t have to get up anyways.” Peter shrugged. He got to go and stay in bed with his dad this morning so it was fine.

Dr. Robbins smiled at Peter. “I’m gonna take a look inside now. I can’t see what’s going on in that tiny body of yours so my friend over there is gonna look for me. It’s not gonna hurt, it’s actually super cool and it tickles a little bit. Are you ready?”

Peter looked at the machine and went to roll over again but Tony stopped him and sat on the side of the bed. “It’s gonna be so cool, Pete. Just like some of my machines in the lab.”

She grabbed a bottle and showed it to Peter. “This is a little cold but it’ll warm up on your tummy soon.”

When she squirted it on Peter, Peter flinched but then she began rubbing the ultrasound over his lower abdomen. “Let’s see…”

Tony looked on the screen but he had no idea what he was looking for so he waited for the doctor to explain.

Peter watched the screen with curious eyes. “Is that my stomach inside?”

“No, you see this?” Dr. Robbins pointed to something on the screen and when Peter nodded, she continued. “This is your kidney. It got hurt before and it wasn’t able to function properly but now, it is. I can see that it’s fully healed which means that you should be able to pee in the toilet now.”

Tony ran a hand through Peter’s curls. He was so relieved to hear that. Part of him was terrified that Peter might never be able to pee on his own again but now he was extremely relieved. “Did you hear that, Pete?”

Peter nodded. “Yeah. But did my other kidney come back?”

She shook her head sadly. “You still have two kidneys but one kidney was so hurt that we had to take half of it away.”

“Where did you put it?” Peter asked her.

“It’s gone to medical waste.”

Peter gasped and started rubbing at his eyes. “You-you threw it out?”

Tony chuckled at Peter’s emotional state over his kidneys. “You don’t need it. You’re peeing by yourself now. No more pull-ups.”

Peter continued to rub at his eyes. “I wanna wear them at night. So I don’t have to get up and so I can stay in bed in the mornings too.”

“You lazy bum.” Tony hoped this wasn’t a problem now. He would have to see just how many times Peter needs to go pee and how many times he doesn’t feel it for the rest of the day to decide if he needs it at bedtime.

The doctor turned off the machine and wiped down Peter’s stomach before taking off her gloves and handing Peter his lollipop. “You’re all clear to go, Peter. Mr. Stark, encourage him to go to the bathroom and keep reminding him to go. It might take a few days to get used to having to use the toilet again. If you have any questions, I’ll be more than happy to answer them.”

Tony shook hands and thanked her before she left then turned to Peter. “Aren’t you happy? This is such good news, bud.”

Peter was more concerned over his lollipop but it didn’t surprise Tony. “Look. Wanna lick?”

“No thanks. Let’s go tell Pepper the good news.” Tony lifted Peter off the bed and headed towards the elevator. When they arrived on their floor, Peter was running out but Tony wanted to immediately find Pepper.

“Where did you guys go? I was looking for you.” Pepper asked, passing by Peter to walk towards Tony.

“We went to the doctors. Guess what.”

Pepper copied his smile. “What?”

“Peter’s all cleared. His kidneys have fully healed and he doesn’t need pull-ups anymore. He can go pee in the toilet.” Tony proudly explained to Pepper who hugged him tightly. Tony knew it was a ridiculous thing to be proud of to some people but his kid had been using pull-ups for weeks and now he could go back to underwear and Tony was beyond proud of him.

“That’s amazing! Oh my gosh.” She pulled away from Tony to congratulate Peter but he was too busy playing with his legos. “Aren’t you happy, Peter?”

Peter didn’t look at Pepper. “I’m hungry.”

Tony hoped Peter didn’t fight him on this. Peter didn’t fight him too much on wearing pull-ups to begin with so now he was scared Peter got too dependent on them.

He sat down on the couch and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I think we should celebrate today’s good news with some take out. What do you want, Pete? You pick.”

Peter bounced up from his spot on the floor and smiled. “Yay! Ummmm… I want… I want Chinese food. It’s so yummy.”

Tony felt like that too, now that he was thinking about it. He went to go order that on his phone while Peter watched him for a bit before going back to his lego on the floor. Tony had to order practically the whole restaurant every time since he was feeding the Avengers and they ate a lot. Especially Steve and Bucky. Those two needed to eat a lot and maybe Peter too someday.

While Tony was in the process of ordering things, he decided to order a pack of new underwear for Peter and hopefully get him excited about wearing underwear again. He also ordered him a new lego set to match his lego man themed underwear.

Peter was busy playing in the living room by the time Tony heard the elevator go off so he went to go see what arrived first, hoping it was the underwear and the lego.

Pepper was distracting Peter so Tony was able to grab both items and carry them upstairs into his bedroom to place them in the middle of the bed.

He then went downstairs and saw Peter staring at him. “Where did you go?”

Tony held his hand out for Peter. “I have a surprise for you. Follow me.”

Peter curiously stood up and grabbed onto the offered hand. “What is it?”

“A surprise. You have to wait and see.” They walked upstairs together, Peter was automatically heading down the hallway to go to Tony’s bedroom so Tony let him lead the way.

When Peter walked inside, he pulled away from his dad to run over to the bed. “A new lego set?!” Peter crawled onto the bed and grabbed the lego set to hold it on his lap. “It’s so cool. Woah, it even has the tiny pieces that I don’t have in my other sets.”

Tony sat next to him. He knew Peter was going to ignore the underwear but it was comical to watch. Tony pointed to the age limit at the top that read 16+. “Technically you’re too young to play with it but I decided you deserve it.”

Peter hugged the box to his chest. “Thank you. I love it so much. I’m gonna go open it right now.”

“Wait.” Tony stopped him. “Look what else I got you.”

Peter began climbing off the bed again. “I saw. I don’t want it.”

Tony stood up to block the door so Peter couldn’t leave. “It’s a package deal, kid. Put the underwear on or no lego set.”

Peter narrowed his eyes at Tony. “No. You can’t make me.”

Tony decided what to do. He didn’t want to scar Peter into never wanting to wear underwear again but he needed to get him out of the pull-ups. He picked Peter up and carried him over to the bed to sit him on his lap.

“Let’s put your legos to the side for a second.” Peter held on tightly to the box but Tony got it out of his arms. “I know it’s a big change for you now, Pete, and maybe it’s a little scary now but we’ll do it together, okay? Can you tell me what you’re thinking.”

Peter rubbed at his eyes and leaned against Tony’s sturdy chest. “I just… I don’t want to leave you and-and I heard you and Pepper talking and you said after when I don’t need to wear pull-ups anymore then I have to sleep in my own bed and I don’t want to.”

Tony now knew why Peter wanted to wear pull-ups at night times only. “Let’s not worry about that right now. Let’s be happy about the fact that your kidneys are working and you can hold in pee so we don’t need these anymore.”

“I already went pee anyways. Just now.” Peter told his dad. He didn’t care, he wasn’t going to sleep in his own bed no matter what he had to do.

Tony stopped himself from sighing. “That’s okay but let’s try not to do that again, okay?” Tony reached over and grabbed the pack of underwear off the bed. “I’m gonna open these and you get to pick which one you want to wear.”

Peter rubbed at his eyes again. He watched as his dad opened the pack and rolled them all out. He didn’t want to pick because he didn’t want to wear it but he didn’t want to fight with Tony so he picked the dark blue ones with the tiny people on it.

“Good pick. I like those ones too. Do you need help putting them on?” Tony asked to make the transition easier.

Peter shook his head even as Tony stood up and sat him on the bed. “I wanna try tomorrow. I don’t want to put them on.”

“Let’s put it on together. I’ll help you.” Tony grabbed the waistband of Peter’s pants and pulled them off followed by his pull-up. He held the underwear out for Peter to put his legs through but Peter nervously shook his head.

“No. I don’t want to.” Peter went to turn around to crawl away but Tony grabbed his ankles and the underwear. “No! Nooo!”

“Okay.” This was harder than Tony thought. He was going to give in but he couldn’t because then Peter would know that he would eventually give in if he screamed loud enough and Tony didn’t want that.

He sat down and pulled Peter onto his lap to hold him down so he could get the underwear on. “Peter, it’s not that big of a deal. Why are you crying?”

“I don’t want them on!” Peter cried out so Tony sighed and stopped what he was doing.

“You’re okay. There’s no need to cry right now.” Tony wasn’t going to give in. Not now. “Our food is coming and we’re going down to eat it with the team but we’re not going anywhere unless you put your underwear on.”

Peter arched his back on Tony’s lap to try and get him to let go but Tony held him firmly. “We can sit here all night.”

Peter crossed his arms over his chest. “Fine! Then we’ll sit here all night.”

It didn’t take long for Peter to start wiggling off Tony’s lap again but Tony forced him to stay still.

“Stop! You’re… hurting me!” Peter screamed right into Tony’s ear but Tony didn’t say anything.

Peter stopped crying right after, proving to Tony that he was only crying to get what he wanted. Peter began playing with Tony’s fingers that were wrapped around his stomach. He began laughing at something but when Tony didn’t acknowledge him, Peter began crying again.

“Fine! I’ll p-put it on!” He screamed. Tony was quick to stand Peter up in front of him and hold the underwear out.

“I’m glad you decided to listen, Peter. Now we can go have fun instead of staying up here.” Tony told him as he grabbed the track pants. He looked at Peter’s face and saw that he had a huge pout so he chuckled and stood up.

He was surprised when Peter was chasing after him and hitting him on the arm. It didn’t hurt but Tony wasn’t going to allow Peter to hit him and get away with it.

Tony turned around and in one motion, he picked Peter up and sat him roughly on the chair in the corner of the room. “You do not hit me. I do not want that to happen again. Do you understand me?”

Peter bursted into tears and reached up for him. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry, daddy! I-I didn’t-didn’t want to sleep by myself!”

Tony had no idea what that had to do with Peter hitting him so he let Peter hug him. “Alright. Don’t worry about that. Put your tears away and we’ll go eat.”

Peter sucked in a breath of air while looking up at Tony to try and see if he was still mad at him. He decided to grab onto Tony’s hand and go downstairs with him.

Pepper was waiting on the couch for them once they got down. Tony shared a look with her that told her why they took so long was because it wasn’t easy. That may be an understatement. Tony was drained.

They all headed into the elevator to go meet the team for dinner.

When they got down there, Peter was in a much better mood already. “I wanna see my kitten.”

Steve was the first one to greet them at the elevator as they walked out. “The food arrived so I set it up on the table for everyone. We’re just waiting for you guys.”

Tony patted Steve on the shoulder, silently thanking him for that as he walked by.

Peter walked up to Steve. “Where’s Mimzy?”

“Nice to see you too, Peter.” Steve held his arms out for the boy, missing holding him after not seeing the child for days. Peter let Steve pick him up before he was asking him again.

“Where’s Mimzy?”

Steve walked into the dining room where everyone already was but something felt different on Peter. He squeezed his butt and looked over at Tony as Peter spoke out.

“Steve is squeezing my bum, dad.” Peter told on him because only his dad was allowed to do that.

Tony looked at Peter in Steve’s arms. He trusted Steve with Peter so he wasn’t alarmed but he was incredibly grateful that Peter wasn’t scared to tell him. “Come sit with me then.”

Steve’s eyes were wide as he spoke to Tony quietly. “He’s not wearing a pull-up.”

“Oh.” Tony chuckled. That’s what Steve was feeling for. “We went to the doctors today and Peter was cleared. He doesn’t have to wear pull-ups anymore.”

“Only at night.” Peter added.

“What?! That’s amazing, Peter. Wow.” Steve ruffled the boy's hair before placing him on his feet.

“The kids potty trained!” Sam cheered but Tony was eying him because he didn’t like that sarcastic comment.

“Watch out, Stark,” Clint warned him. “before you know it, Peter will be growing up on you. Time is a bitch.”

“Language.” Both Steve and Tony warned at the same time.

Tony was tired. Emotionally and physically drained and he wasn’t enjoying these comments. He pulled Peter onto his lap to have him close and thankfully Peter didn’t fight him on it.

Tony cut up chicken balls for Peter who grabbed it off the plate without using his fork. He let him since he didn’t have the energy to force the fork into his hand.

The conversation around the table started up but Tony and Peter weren’t a part of it. Usually Tony would have tried to force himself into the conversation but he was too exhausted to do anything right now. He didn’t know why he was feeling this way, he felt even worse than this morning.

Tony grabbed Peter and tried to put him on the chair beside him but Peter whined. “No. I wanna sit on you.”

“Alright. Stop jumping around so much and just sit still.” Tony helped Peter get more comfortable so he was leaning against his chest and grabbing the food with his hands. Tony watched him, he was going to have to shove Peter into a shower again before bed.

Tony focused on the conversation going on across the table but it was boring so just as he was about to start talking with Pepper, he felt something warm spreading across his lap.

His first thought was that it was Peter’s food falling on him but it was too much wetness. He looked down just in time to see Peter’s grey track pants turning dark grey and Peter looking down at himself.

Tony was quick to pick Peter up and set him on his feet next to him. “You just peed on me.”

Peter looked up from his legs. “Oops. I didn’t feel it.”

Tony looked at his own pants that were soaked on one leg. “Alright. Let’s go change.”

He stood up and glanced up at everyone at the table who was staring at them. “We’ll be back.”

“Potty training problems.” Clint mumbled but that had Tony pausing to look back at the archer. He didn’t appreciate Clints comments this evening. The man was trying to make fun of Peter in an inconspicuous way that probably went way over Peter’s head which made it even worse.

“Shut up, Birdbrain. He’s fourteen. He’s not being potty trained.” Tony gave the man a dirty look that told him to shut the hell up.

He turned and grabbed onto Peter’s wrist to start leading him into the elevator.

“I’m sorry.” Peter said once the doors were shut. “I didn’t mean to.”

Tony was rubbing at his eyes but Peter misinterpreted that for Tony being angry at him. “It-it just came out, dad. I’m sorry.”

“What? It’s okay, Pete. I’m not mad at you, it was an accident.” Tony pulled Peter closer to him, not caring about both of their wet pants.

“Why did Clint say I’m being potty trained?”

Tony hated Clint right now. “He’s just being dumb. You know how silly he can be sometimes.”

Peter shrugged. “I guess. Are you mad at me?”

“No, baby. Not at all. I’ll never ever be mad at you for something like this.” Tony didn’t know how he could ever get mad for something Peter couldn’t control, he knew his body was still recovering and that was going to take some time.

Everything was going to take some time and Tony was okay with that.