All The Stars Align

“No. I don’t want her to come.” Peter crossed his arms over his chest. He refused to get dressed or eat or do anything if Rose was coming since he knew exactly why Rose was coming over.

Tony sighed. He didn’t want her to come either since he knew the reason why she was coming but it had to be done. Tony knew it did. As much as he didn’t want it to be done.

Peter had to sleep in his own bed tonight.

Tony had kept putting it off and off and then something would come up like Miami or Malibu and right when he was actually going to begin with it, Peter got injured.

Now, Peter was fully healed. It’s been a month since his injury and it was time.

Tony knew it was time he just didn’t want it to be time.

It was Friday and next week Peter was going to have his first online class. That was going to be absolute hell.

Tony already felt defeated and Peter wasn’t even dressed yet. They slept in for a bit then cuddled and Tony told him they had to go to a last minute convention centre together at noon then he told him about Rose coming and Peter flipped.

“No. No! No! Nooooo-”

“Okay! Enough.” Tony didn’t know what to do. They’d been arguing for ten minutes now. He took a breath. “Peter. I love you so much but Rose is coming because you need to sleep in your own-”

“Nooo! I hate you! I hate you so much! I want you to go away.” Peter kicked his legs at Tony until he forced him to stand up off the bed.

“Peter. Stop, please. Just-just get dressed. You need to take your pull-up off first of all-”

“No! It’s my pull-up and I wanna keep it on.” Peter grabbed the blankets and pulled them back over his head. Tony gave up. He couldn’t do this.

He left the room, leaving Peter to sulk and no doubt get a rash. He didn’t care about that right now. Tony made his way downstairs and spotted Rose talking with Pepper on the couch. Tony avoided eye contact with Pepper since he went to sit with her while she did the pregnancy test this morning and she refused to do it.

“Peter’s sulking. I’m done with him for the day. You can go deal with him.” Tony sat down on the couch and turned the tv on. Out of habit, he turned on Peter’s cartoon and started watching it.

Rose gave Tony a warm smile. “Is he in your room? I’ll go up.”

Upstairs, Peter stayed under the blankets. He didn’t care how long he had to stay there for. He was protesting.

He heard someone walk into the room so he concentrated on the heartbeat. It wasn’t his dad or Pepper meaning it was Rose and he didn’t want to talk to her. Ever again.

He felt the bed dip near his feet so he curled into a ball.

“Peter, I know you’re under there. How about you let me see your face?” Rose had said.

Peter lifted the blankets down and gave her a dirty look. “Go away. I don’t like you.”

“That’s okay. But I’m not going anywhere. We are going to have a little talk. I hear that you’re giving your dad a hard time.”

Peter sat up, annoyed. “No. I’m not. I don’t like you.”

Rose didn’t seem phased by that and that annoyed Peter even more. “Peter, I know you don’t like it but you have to sleep in your own bed. It’s important that you don’t depend on your dad to help you fall asleep and to be able to self soothe.”

Peter narrowed his eyes at her. “Everything that you’re saying is going in one ear and out the other.”

“Peter, I know you don’t want me here but I’m going to work with you and your dad. Are you dressed. I can see that you don’t have a shirt on.” Rose stood up and looked down at Peter.

Peter didn’t want her here. He kicked all the blankets off of him and turned around so he could lift his head up on the headboard. “La la la la! I’m not listening to you!”

With that, Rose left the room to go back down in the living room. “Peter isn’t going to get dressed and I don’t know if you feel comfortable with me helping him so I’ll leave that up to you.”

Tony prepared himself to go back upstairs. “Alright. I’ll go up in a few minutes.”

“Why is he wearing a pull-up? I thought you said he was in the clear.” Rose asked him and Tony mentally swore. He could feel Pepper looking at him but he didn’t want to look at her.

“He wears them at night.” Tony said, peeking a look at Pepper who did not look impressed.

“Did his doctor say he needed them at night?” Rose asked.

Tony was already about to get up. He knew he shouldn’t be letting Peter wear them. “No. I made that decision.”

With that, Pepper was sighing loudly and Rose started talking. “Peter doesn’t need to wear pull-ups anymore. Don’t encourage him to wear them, not even at night. You’ll turn him into a bed wetter if you do because he’ll get so used to just going when he feels the need to.”

Tony wanted to argue that but he didn’t have any good compelling arguments. “Well… he barely makes it to the bathroom during the day so at night it’s just easier.”

“Easier for you?” Rose asked. “So you don’t have to deal with the crying when you say no?” Tony didn’t say anything because she was right. “Look, he’s lying in bed and he’s so warm and tired and comfortable when suddenly he needs to pee… but that’s okay because he can go in the bed no problem and you’ll help him in the morning. He’s lazy. He doesn’t need the pull-ups.”

That made sense. Tony didn’t want to think of it that way but it was the sad truth. “I think he still needs them.”

“I think you need him to still need them.” Rose pointed out and it made Tony turn to face her accusingly. “It’s not your fault. You missed out on the diaper phase when he was a baby but because of Peter’s accident, you got to experience that and now you’re not ready to let it go so you give in. That’s why I still see boxes all around the house.”

Tony stood up and wiped at his face. “I’m gonna go help him get dressed.”

He couldn’t believe that woman. That wasn’t true. He still thought Peter needed to wear pull-ups. He still didn’t have full control over his bodily functions yet and therefore, needed some sort of protection down there.

Tony shook his head, annoyed. How dare Rose say he was letting Peter wear the freaking pull-ups for his own needs. That was absolutely ridiculous.

He walked into his bedroom and saw Peter lifting his legs up in the air so he reached over to feel the pull-up, feeling that it was full. “Did you pee in it while you were awake?”

Peter nodded and sat up. “Uh huh. After I woke up and you were still sleeping.”

Tony thought he did during the middle of the night while he was unconscious. “Come here.” He grabbed a pack of wipes and opened it up. “Come. I’m not asking you again.”

Peter slowly made his way over but before he could crawl away, Tony was grabbing his legs and pulling him closer so he could pull the pull-up off and quickly wipe Peter clean. “You don’t need to wear these anymore. Get dressed while I throw this out.”

“I do. Tonight I will.”

Tony decided not to respond. He picked up underwear, pants and a shirt and tossed them on the bed. “Get dressed. I’m gonna sit here and wait.”

“I need help.” Peter said, kicking the clothes off the bed but Tony grabbed them before they could fall off. “Stop.”

“No. You stop. Peter, you know how to get dressed by yourself. What did you do in gym class at school? Did you lie there and wait for your teacher to help you?” Tony asked, not expecting an answer.

“Yeah. I did.” Peter lied and Tony turned to face him. He eyed Peter for a few long seconds, trying to calm down so he didn’t throw Peter into his room and lock the door behind him.

Instead, he roughly grabbed Peter and stood him up so he was standing in front of him. He grabbed his underwear and held it out for Peter to step in. “Now you pull it up.”

Peter leaned against him with a whine.

“Peter, you’re acting like you're crippled and I don’t like that. You’re a healthy boy with two perfectly fine working legs and two perfectly fine working arms. Pull up your underwear by yourself.” Tony was tired. He honestly didn’t mind helping Peter for the most part but he needed Peter to do it himself.

Peter continued to lean against him so Tony rubbed his back. “Then-then why did you help me before?”

“Because you were hurt before. Remember when you had your casts on? You needed help and if you need help again then I’ll help you but you don’t need help right now.” Tony explained softly while continuing to rub Peter’s back.

Peter tried to sit up on his knee but Tony didn’t let him. “I want to sit on you.”

“No- okay, fine. Just for a minute.” Peter was climbing up on him in a second and wrapping his arms around Tony’s neck, trying to force him to lie down. “Peter, stop. I’m not lying down.”

“It’s nap time.” Peter giggled but Tony wasn’t playing right now. He slid Peter off his leg and stood him back up. “Hey.”

“Get dressed. C’mon, I’m tired and I wanna go downstairs so I can chug two coffees while you jump on someone else.” Tony grabbed Peter’s pants for the next item. “Pull up your underwear.”

“I like it when you help me.” Peter whined out, going to lean against Tony again but Tony knew they could do this all day.

“I know and if you really need help I’ll help you but you’re a big boy, c’mon. Up up.” Tony watched Peter pull up his underwear without a complaint this time.

“It’s too tight.” Peter tried to stretch the fabric but it was fine. “I want it off.”

“I just got these for you. It’s fine. Pants now. I’ll help you step in this time and then you’ll get dressed by yourself.” Tony repeated the same process with the shirt and pants but Peter knew he wasn’t going to give in his time so he ended up doing the process mostly by himself which Tony was extremely proud of.

“Good job, baby. I’m so proud of you! You did it all by yourself.” Tony pulled Peter in for a tight hug and a kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you too. Can we eat ice cream?” Peter had been asking for ice cream for two days now and Tony didn’t want to give him any yesterday but they would be eating a lot today.

“Remember how I told you we’d be going to that conference later?” Tony waited for Peter to nod. “Well we’re going to be eating lots of ice cream there.”

“Yay. And chocolate ice cream?”

“Yep.” He stood up, walking towards the door with Peter following behind him and starting to talk about everything but nothing at all. Tony loved these conversations.

He ordered a suit to be made for Peter a few days ago and it hadn’t arrived yet so he hoped it came soon although he wasn’t sure if Peter was going to want to wear it which was going to be extremely frustrating.

Peter stayed attached to Tony’s side the whole time while he made breakfast and then sat next to him on the couch with his feet in Tony’s lap.

Rose was sitting on the opposite couch. Rose was going to talk with Peter alone today and then come back before bedtime but Tony didn’t think Peter was going to let him leave his side today.

Peter ate his pancakes with his hands, effectively getting stickiness all over himself.

Pepper handed Tony a cloth so he wiped Peter’s face and hands. “Wipe my feet too.”

Tony rolled his eyes but wiped Peter’s feet. “I’m gonna go down to my lab for a few minutes while Rose talks with you.”

Peter shook his head. “No. I want you to stay with me.”

“No, I’ll be ba-”

“No! No, I need you to stay. I don’t want you to go anywhere.” Peter grabbed onto Tony’s arm and hugged it between his legs. “Stay. Please.”

“Alright. I’ll stay then.” Tony looked at Rose for her reaction but she didn’t say anything or react in any way.

“Peter, I just wanted to talk to you about a few things.” Rose began and waited for Peter to look at her but he was too busy playing with Tony’s necklace.

Tony nudged him. “Kid, listen.”

“So what have you gotten up to these past few days?”

Peter shrugged. “Played. And watched tv.”

“I heard that you got a new lego set and some new underwear for getting out of your pull-ups. That’s so exciting, don’t you think?”

“Uh, yeah. And-but dad took my legos away.” Peter explained to her.

“Hey, why don’t you tell Rose why I took it away.” Tony added in so Rose didn’t think he was a curl person taking toys from little kids.

Peter smiled shyly. “I ate a yellow piece and put another one up my nose. And then dad went like,” Peter made a blowing sound. “and blew into my mouth so it came out.”

“Wow. Why did you eat it and put it in your nose? That’s super dangerous.”

“Danger is my middle name.” Peter said, making Tony and Rose both laugh. Peter was getting more and more sassy each day, definitely picking up on his father’s personality a little more every day.

“In that case I think safety should be your last name.” Rose said, making Peter laugh before getting back on track. “Have you been able to get outside at all?”

Peter thought about it. “No. I mean… Uh, did we?” He turned to face his dad.

Tony reached out to brush the curls off Peter’s face without even thinking about it. “Yeah. Remember we went to the park and played in the snow with everyone?”

Peter gasped. “Oh yeah. I forgot.”

Rose went to speak again but then Peter’s eyes were going wide. “My pee! I need to go.”

“Okay. Go go go. Run.” Tony pushed Peter off the couch and watched him run off, hoping he made it this time. “Pull down your pants before you sit on the toilet!”

“That’s good. He’s going in the toilet.” She said as if she knew what had been going on with Peter’s bodily functions and that annoyed Tony.

“He peed on me the other day, peed in his pants as well and wet the bed.” He told her to prove his point that Peter still needed pull-ups.

“He’s trying to get back in the habit and listening to his body’s needs. That’ll take some time.”

Tony just nodded and was about to get up to go check on Peter but Peter was running back to him. “Are you dry? Did you make it?”

Peter nodded with a huge smile on his face. “Yeah!”

Tony reached out to feel between Peter’s legs just to be sure and beamed when his hand came back dry. “No way! Good job, Petey baby. I’m so so proud of you.” Tony pulled Peter into his arms and pressed a bunch of kisses to his face. “Oh I love you so much.”

“Yeah! I didn’t go in my pants this time.” Peter felt proud of himself and the fact that Tony was proud of him and all his love made him want to try harder to do it again.

For the next half hour, Rose spoke to Peter about how he was but it was hard for Peter to focus since he just woke up and needed to have some stimulation first.

She was quick to leave and Tony wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he was happy about that. A little after she left, Happy was arriving with Peter’s suit.

“Oh, let’s see how it came out.” Tony took the suit from Happy and unzipped it from the bag, holding it up and practically cooing at how small it was. “It turned out so nice. Pete, come see your suit.”

Happy was already dressed in his own suit and looked over Peter’s. “It’s so small. Where’s the kid?”

There were loud footsteps running at them so Tony held the suit up for Peter to see. “Look? Check this out.”

Peter had melted chocolate all over his face and hands so Tony quickly held the suit away from him. “Hey. Back up. Don’t touch anything with those hands.”

Happy grumbled and went to go wait in the living room.

“See? You scared Happy off. Happy's scared of messes so let’s go wash up and get ready.” They weren’t leaving for another hour but Tony knew it was going to take an incredibly long time to get Peter ready.

The two of them made their way upstairs and into Tony’s bathroom. Tony carefully made sure to lay the suit on the bed then followed Peter in.

“I’m gonna get dressed first and then I’ll help you get dressed but I don’t want you to touch your suit.” Tony explained to Peter while he wiped his face and hands clean. Peter took a bath last night so he was clean but Tony wanted to take another shower himself. “You can take off all your clothes and watch tv on the bed if you want because you need to get undressed anyways. I’ll be quick.”

Tony was quick in the bathroom. He was so used to the routine of getting ready for events like this that he could easily get ready in under fifteen minutes if he was by himself but now he had a kid so it was going to take even longer.

He managed to get his hair gelled back nearly in only five minutes.

Tony then wrapped a towel around his waist and went into the bedroom. He found Peter looking like he was ready for bed, drinking from his bottle and twirling a curl in his hand while he watched tv. “Where’d that bottle come from? It’s probably so old.”

Peter looked at him but didn’t respond so Tony went into his closet, shutting the door and locking it so he could put a suit on.

When he was done, he prepared himself to get Peter ready which was going to be crazy. Maybe he could have Happy do it. Tony chuckled to himself, Happy would probably quit on him right then and there.

“Time to get dressed, kid.” Tony walked into the bedroom and looked at Peter. “I’m gonna help you get dressed, aren’t you happy.”

Peter nodded, moving to the end of the bed with his water bottle still in his mouth. Tony saw that it was empty and tried to take it from him. “You drank it all, bud.”

“No! I like to chew it.”

“Okay then. Stand up and put your pants on. You also need to wear a tank top under everything so you need to put your water bottle down for a sec.”

Tony helped Peter get everything on and Peter was even cooperative and actually helped Tony by lifting up his legs.

Peter’s suit was dark grey with a white dress shirt under it and a blue tie as well as a vest under the suit jacket that Peter fought him hard on.

“Let me tie your tie around your neck.” Tony tried but Peter pushed him away every time. “Peter, you’re gonna look ridiculous without a tie.”

“I don’t care. It’s too tight and it’s gonna choke me.” Peter went to crawl away but Tony had him pinned between his legs which only resulted in Peter whining.

“It’s not gonna choke you. Look, I’m wearing a tie and so is Happy.” Tony showed Peter his tie but Peter shook his head.

“Not Happy. I didn’t see him wearing one.”

“He is. FRI, tell Happy to come to my room.” Tony waited for the man to walk up but he walked in already grumbling about something.

“I’m not helping you get the kid dressed.” Happy said, walking into the room and taking in the scene. “What?”

“See, Pete? Happy’s wearing a tie too.” Tony pointed out so Peter cranked his neck to look at him.

“Oh. I still don’t wanna.”

Tony sighed. “Peter doesn’t wanna wear a tie.”

Happy looked extremely uncomfortable. “We have to leave in twenty minutes, Boss.”

Tony nodded. “Okay. Let me just put your tie on, Peter, because you’ll look so handsome. Please.”

“No. No no no no. I don’t want it.” Peter tried to get away again but he was trapped between Tony’s legs.

“I’m gonna put it on just to see and if you don’t like it you can take it off.” Tony was quick to put it on Peter while he moved his head around and squirmed then he sat Peter up and helped him put his vest on. “Oh you look so handsome, bud. Look at you.”

Peter whimpered then looked down and tried to pull his tie out. “No, keep it tucked in. Stand up so I can get your suit jacket on.”

Peter let Tony finish getting him dressed and then Tony was cooing at him. “Look at my baby. You look so handsome, buddy. You’re gonna get all the girls one day.”

“Yeah.” Peter looked down at himself but then Tony was taking back what he said.

“Too bad you’re not allowed to date until you’re thirty five. Do you understand me?” Tony asked, being 100% serious.

“Okay.” Peter agreed and followed his dad into the bathroom.

“Stand in front of the mirror and don’t move.” Tony grabbed his hair gel and a comb but Peter was already moving. “Stop. Look at yourself in the mirror.”

Tony had to push Peter against the counter and hold him there with his leg so he didn’t run away or move. Every time he put something in Peter’s hair, Peter was going up to touch it which made Tony have to start all over. “Hey, grabby hands, stop touching.”

Peter practically started vibrating in front of him.

It was extremely hard but Tony managed to get Peter’s hair gelled back properly and then freed Peter and washed his hands. “Please don’t touch anything.”

Tony was a bit nervous. He didn’t know how tonight was going to go. He didn’t know how Peter was going to react to everything.

Tony walked into the bedroom and found Peter looking at himself in the body mirror. “You look so handsome, baby.”

“I know.” Peter said, making Tony chuckle.

“Turn around and smile so I can take your picture.” Tony held his phone up and if there was one thing that surprised him about Peter was that he was not camera shy at all.

Peter posed for a few pictures and then demanded to see them. “I like those.”

“Yeah, me too.” Tony wasn’t even looking at the pictures, he was looking at Peter and thinking about the fact that he loves him so much. “You ready to go?”

Before they left, Tony grabbed a change of clothes for Peter just in case they needed it since he never knew.

Downstairs, Peter ran ahead so he could show Pepper. “Look. I look so good.”

“Oh wow. You look so handsome, Peter. Are you ready to go?” She asked, looking Peter up and down to check him out. She pulled out her phone and held her phone up to take a picture of him. “Tony, come pose with Peter.”

Tony loved taking pictures with his kid so he went over to him and pulled Peter against his chest. Pepper snapped a few photos but they were already extremely late.

The one day that Tony was going to allow Peter not to put on his jacket and coat was the one day Peter wanted to wear it. “We don’t need to because we already have our dress shoes on and we’ll be in and out of the car in a second.”

Peter began taking off his shoes that Tony fought him to put on and tied them up. “Stop it. Those stay on. Let’s go now.”

He grabbed onto Peter’s arm and led him down to the front lobby where the limo was waiting out front for them.

Happy opened up the door for him so Tony gently shoved Peter in and got in after him. Peter was able to fully stand up in the limo which Tony was jealous of since his back hurt until he sat down. “Hurry and sit.”

“I wanna sit sideways.” Peter took a seat across from Tony and looked around to the seatbelt so Tony got up to go sit next to him to stop Peter from getting up every second.

“There’s no seatbelt. Just… sit.” Tony looked over at Happy who sat across from them and gave him a tired look.

“How far is it? Where are we going again?” Peter asked and went to turn around on the seat but Tony held him down, using his own arm as a seatbelt.

“It’s about forty minutes away so please sit still.” Tony pulled out his phone to give it to Peter so he would stop acting crazy for the drive.

Tony hoped everything went fine. He was only going to show his face and hear about some new industrialists inventions to see if anything caught his eye. He was originally going to leave Peter at home but he didn’t want the tears and this way Peter could listen to some of the speakers.

When they arrived, there were tones of journalists standing outside with cameras, waiting to get some good quotes or pictures to use. Tony knew they would be after him and Peter right away.

“Pete, don’t talk to anyone and just keep your head down until we get inside.” Tony moved over to let Happy go out first. Once everyone saw Happy, they knew who was coming out next so the yells were getting louder. Tony just wanted to get inside.

Tony put his sunglasses on and got out first and turned to get Peter out. “It’s okay. Let’s go.”

Peter didn’t make a peep. He almost tripped once but Tony was holding onto his arm the whole time. When they got inside, Tony took a breath but he didn’t have time to say anything since they were being surrounded again.

“Mr. Stark, I thought you wouldn’t be making it tonight.”

Tony turned to see one of his least favourite rich guys. “Alex Wilson. I haven’t thought of you in months so I can’t say the same for you.”

Mr. Wilson chuckled and patted Tony’s arm then kneeled down to be at Peter’s height, even though Peter was taller than the man now. He held his hand out and smiled. “What’s your name?”

Peter awkwardly stuck his hand out to shake with the man. “Peter.”

“Peter. And how old are you?” Tony already wanted to get Peter away from this man. Most of the men he worked with either hated kids or loved kids because they were paedophiles.

Mr. Wilson was showing too much interest in his kid and for those reasons, Tony would rather someone hate Peter because he’s a kid. At least that way he knew no one was going to be looking at Peter as an object.

“I’m fourteen and a half.” Peter answered him.

“You know they’re young when they’re using halves.” The man chuckled so Tony gave a fake laugh and pulled Peter along.

“Alright. Bye now.” Tony led Peter over to a quieter part of the room but he was being attacked again by more men.

“Mr. Stark, I didn’t expect to see your face here tonight.”

Tony shook hands with the man. “Just here for the presentation.”

The man looked down at Peter and completely ignored him then went for Happy’s hand to shake. “Mr. Hogan, it’s been awhile. You guys enjoy, I gotta go.”

Tony couldn’t help but laugh. That man was actually scared of Peter. He found it funny. He’s worked with most of these men for years and knows that they either don’t have children or don’t talk to their kids until they’re at least twenty four years old.

They probably looked at Peter as if he were a baby. Tony looked at him that way too so he didn’t judge them.

Peter tugged on Tony’s arm. “I want ice cream. Where is it?”

Tony looked around the room. He didn’t necessarily know if they had ice cream here, just alcohol but he would get ice cream for Peter. He walked over to the bar, handing the man some money to go find some ice cream for Peter.

He spotted a group of men that he wanted to go talk to quickly. “Hap, can you stay with him for a second. I’ll be right back.”

Peter watched his dad go but he was too nervous with all these adults around to chase after him so he stayed by Happy’s side. “Climb up on this chair and sit here, kid.”

Peter listened to Happy, climbing up onto the stool and sitting on his knees as he waited patiently for his ice cream.

Tony made sure to position himself so that he was facing Peter while he spoke to these men. It was nice to be speaking with men his own age since he’s only been speaking to a child nowhere near his age for months, not that he was complaining.

The bartender came back with a bucket of ice cream and scooped it into a bowl for Peter. Just as a man was coming to sit next to him.

“A vodka.” He said then looked over at Peter and smiled. “Hey. Are you lost or something? You shouldn’t be at a bar, kid.”

Peter took a bite of his ice cream and looked at the man. “I’m just eating ice cream.”

“I can see that.” He smiled as he watched Peter and then quickly glanced around. “Hey, I could help you find who you came here with.”

“I already know where my dad is.”

Happy stepped into the conversation now. “I suggest you get the hell away from him right now.”

When the man looked at Happy and realized who he was talking to, his eyes went wide for a split second before trying and failing to compose himself. “Oh, man, this is Stark’s kid? Look, I didn’t know.”

Happy watched him leave and disappear into the crowd. He looked back at Peter who looked completely oblivious to what just happened. “Oh kid. You’re too naive.”

Peter shrugged. “Okay. Can I have more ice cream?”

“How about you lick your cheeks because you have a whole bunch there.” Happy said even as he reached over to grab a napkin.

Tony appeared back at Peter’s side just as more ice cream was coming their way. “Who was that guy talking to you?” Tony asked but Peter shrugged so he looked at Happy and shared a look with him. “Okay. You ready to go inside?”

“Can I bring my ice cream in?” Peter asked and looked up at Tony. Tony grabbed the napkin to wipe his face the best he could.

“Sure. Let’s go before it starts.”

Happy stood by the door while Tony led Peter over to their table at the front. It was a large round table with a bunch of other guests sitting around it.

Each table had about ten people sitting around it and there were over twenty tables so it was a large room. They two of them got to their seats just in time for the lights to turn off of the stage lights to come on.

“Eat your ice cream and listen.” Tony whispered and tucked Peter’s chair in.

The first speaker began so Tony had to multitask by listening to them speak as well as pay attention to Peter who was practically bouncing next to him.

Peter ate his ice cream while he looked around the table at everyone. Most of them were old men who either smiled weirdly at him or immediately looked away. There were only two girls and that was all he could see.

He finished his ice cream and sat on his knees to look around the room. He saw someone staring at him so he stared back for a few seconds then got bored and looked away.

“Pete, sit on your bum. What’re you doing?” Tony whispered and tried to sit Peter back down. It had only been twenty minutes and Peter was already bored.

Peter sat back down on his bum and looked at the guy sitting next to him who was staring at his legs. “What?”

The guy looked away so Peter stared back at him until Tony was stopping him. “Listen, it’s interesting.”

Peter groaned loudly. “I’m bored. Can I go back to get more ice cream?”

“Shh. No. Later.”

Peter lifted his feet up onto his chair and untied his shoe laces. He felt the man’s eyes on him again so he snapped his neck up to look at him. “Stop looking at me.”

“Peter, shh.” Tony pulled Peter’s chair closer to himself and sighed but let Peter play with his shoes.

“Hey kid,” The man who kept staring at him said so both Tony and Peter turned to look at him. “how does it feel to have Tony Stark as your daddy? You’re basically a billionaire now. How does that feel?”

Tony didn’t talk about money with Peter. It wasn’t important and didn’t define their relationship at all. That wasn’t important. “You don’t need to talk to him.”

Peter sat up more to face him. “He’s just my dad.”

“Do you even know how much a billion dollars is, kid? Tell me-”

“Stop talking to him or I’ll activate my billion dollar suit and punch you in the face.” Tony threatened and looked into the man’s eyes. He hoped he shut him up. It annoyed him that these men see Peter and think they can take advantage of him because he’s a child. It pissed him the fuck off.

Tony went back to listening to the presentation but he was so wound up that he had a hard time focusing so he pulled Peter’s chair closer and ran his fingers through his curls. “Why can’t you sit still?”

Peter arched his back in the chair. “This is boring. I wanna run.”

“You can run later. Stop moving so much.” Tony tried to focus again but then Peter was taking off his suit jacket and making way too much noise. “Shh.” He helped Peter get his stuck arm out but then Peter was going for his vest and if Tony didn’t stop him now, Peter would be nude in a matter of minutes.

“Keep this on. You don’t need to take it off.”

Peter was whining incredibly loud so Tony held his arms out. “Okay, come sit on my lap. You can hold my ring if you want.”

Peter didn’t hesitate to crawl onto his dads lap and lean against his chest. Tony bounced his knee to hopefully help with Peter’s crazy energy.

Tony let Peter slide his ring off and play with it for a bit. “Can I keep it on my finger?”

“Shh, whisper, Peter.” Tony looked around to find Happy. He didn’t know if they should leave now or wait a little bit longer.

Peter sighed and then sighed again so he could be louder. He then pulled his tie out and started tugging on it. “I don’t want to wear it anymore. It’s too tight and itchy.”

“Keep it on.” Tony knew Peter wasn’t going to listen to him so he let Peter take it off by tugging it upwards and playing with it for a bit before it was coming off. “Stop moving. Do you want to go back in your chair?”

“No!”

“Shhhh. Zip it.” Tony could sense a bunch of heads staring at him already. Peter was ruthless.

Peter arched his back in Tony’s arms and tried to slide down so Tony held his hands tighter around his stomach but then Peter was pulling his tucked shirt out of his pants.

“Stop it. Stop undressing.” Tony tucked it back in but it looked so bad now.

Peter sighed again but then he was doing a full body flinch. Tony ignored it, knowing Peter did that when he was extremely restless. Peter did it again so Tony was done.

They couldn’t stay anymore. “Okay. We’re gonna go.” He lifted Peter back onto his chair so he could pick his ring back on, grab Peter’s tie and stand up.

To top it off, Peter stood up in his chair and reached his arms out for Tony so Tony grabbed him with one arm, lifting him off the chair and setting him on his feet. “Walk to the exit. Quickly, Pete.”

Peter spotted Happy and ran over to him. Tony felt everyone looking at him so he paid them no mind and quickly got out of there.

“Woah. Okay then, that didn’t exactly go how I planned it to. Pete, you are the most hyper child I know. What’s up with that?” Tony asked, eying Peter and just realizing that he wasn’t wearing any shoes. “Where are your shoes?”

Peter shrugged and took a seat on the floor, stretching his legs out as if he were now all of the sudden tired. “I don’t know.”

“I’ll go get them.” Happy said, walking through the doors into the room again.

Tony pulled out his phone to check the time. It was almost three. “Would you get off that floor. It’s disgusting. Do you need to pee?”

Peter sat up on his knees and looked around the room. He saw two people staring at him in the distance but he didn’t care about that. He was more focused on where his chocolate ice cream was.

“Can I have more chocolate ice cream?”

Tony was going to say no but he didn’t want to go home yet. “How about we go to an ice cream shop and get some there instead?”

“Yeah! Yay!”

.
.
.

Peter was sitting on the far end of the couch with a permanent frown on his face.

Ever since Rose arrived over an hour ago, Peter was moody and distant.

Tony didn’t blame him. He felt like being moody and distant too but he was the grown up so he couldn’t. They were waiting for eight to hit so Tony could take Peter up and get ready for bed then have him lying in the bed by nine.

It was 7:57pm and Tony was not looking forward to this night but a routine was important. Usually, Tony would want to put on Peter’s tv show to let him watch it before he went to bed to relax but Peter refused to do that tonight.

Tony checked the time on his phone and stood up. It was time.

“It’s time to get ready for bed, Pete. Let’s go.” To Tony’s absolute and utter surprise, Peter willingly got off the couch and went to Tony’s side.

“I don’t want her to come.” Peter said, pointing at Rose who was sitting at the kitchen table with Pepper and quietly talking.

Rose turned to face him. “I’m not coming up with you and your father, Peter. I’ll see you in an hour.”

Peter stared at her but Tony was turning him around and then the two headed upstairs with no words said between them. Tony looked down at Peter. It was so weird to walk in silence with Peter since Peter always talked a mile a minute. He didn’t like the silence.

When they got into the bedroom, Tony walked to go plug his phone in as he spoke. “Take off your clothes and go in the shower. I’ll wait out here.”

Peter slowly walked towards his dad and leaned against the bed, rubbing at his eyes as his face scrunched up before he started crying. “I don’t want to sleep in my bed. I really d-don’t want to. Dad.”

Tony rubbed Peter’s back. He was waiting for this to happen. “It’ll be okay. I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep.”

Peter sobbed. “No… ‘cause then after I fall asleep, you’ll leave.”

That was true. Tony didn’t want to admit it though. “It’s okay, bud. It’ll get easier.”

Peter continued to sob. “Why can’t I just sleep with you? Please.”

It was a broken cry that Tony hadn’t heard in a long time. A very long time and it broke his heart badly.

The cries that he’s used to is when Peter doesn’t get his way, the fake cry Peter does for attention with no tears and his tired cry. Tony could decipher between all three and this one, this one was the worst.

“I don’t know. You just have to, okay?” Tony honestly didn’t know why. He didn’t understand why they couldn’t work on the other stuff and have Peter still sleeping with him. He assumed it all connected somehow but he honestly didn’t care.

Both of them weren’t going to be getting anymore sleep.

Tony stood up since he knew Peter would stay here all night if he didn’t make the first move. He led Peter into the bathroom and turned the shower on. “I’ll wait in here, okay? You’re okay, Peter.”

Peter tried to stop crying and sucked in two breaths of air that he choked on so Tony rubbed his back again. “Just breathe. I’m still gonna be here.”

Peter ripped his body away from Tony.

“Hey. What?” Tony asked, alarmed.

“You don’t even care!” Peter yelled and wiped vigorously at his eyes.

“Yeah, I don’t care. That’s why I’m sitting here right now. But obviously I don’t care.” Tony said sarcastically but he didn’t know if Peter would understand that so he softened his voice. “I do care. I love you and I want what’s best for you and this is it. Pete, you can’t keep sleeping with me every night. It’s not healthy.”

“No, I like sleeping with you and-and I always do then Rose comes and she says I can’t anymore and you immediately agree with her and you didn’t even ask me what I want.”

Tony felt like he hadn’t heard Peter actually tell him how he’s feeling in a long time. He always screamed or cried at him. “I’m making the tough decisions because I’m the adult. You don’t understand now but one day you will.”

“I don’t want to understand. It’s not fair.” Peter sucked in a shaky breath of air and tried to rub at his eyes to stop crying again but it didn’t help.

“Can you go in the shower now? I’ll stay with you.” Tony tried but he couldn’t make out what Peter was feeling exactly. Peter looked like he was either going to start yelling in anger or throw himself to the floor to start crying.

Tony waited patiently to see which one it would be.

Peter looked towards the bathroom door. “I don’t want Rose to come in.”

“She’s not coming in. It’s just you and me.” Tony waited for Peter to make a move but he didn’t. “Take off your clothes, it’s getting late.”

When Peter still didn’t make any moves, Tony stood up and went to walk towards the bathroom door. “Alright. I’m gonna wait out here for you to finish up.”

“Wait. Don’t leave.” Peter was quick to stop his dad from leaving.

“I’ll be right outside if you need me.” Tony reassured Peter and left the bathroom. He waited until Peter got into the shower then he went into the hallway to grab clean sheets and pillowcases. Since Peter hadn’t slept in his bed for possibly months, Tony washed all his bedding for him beforehand.

A few minutes later, Peter was walking out of the bathroom with his towel wrapped around his shoulders, immediately seeking out Tony.

“Dad.” Peter whimpered and went to go stand in front of Tony who was sitting on the bed with his legs thrown over the side. “Please. I don’t wanna sleep in my room.”

Tony brushed Peter’s curls off his forehead. “You have to. It’ll be okay.”

“Please. Please. I’m scared. I don’t want to.” Peter didn’t know what else to do. He was waiting for Tony to give in by begging him and if he still didn’t give in, he would start screaming.

Tony reached over to grab the pyjamas off the bed. “I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep. Put your pjs on.”

Peter rubbed at his eyes again. “But… but I like to know that you’re still next to me even after I fall asleep.”

“I’ll be right down the hall from you in here.” That got Peter crying even harder so Tony lifted the bottom of his towel up to wipe at his face. “Put your tears away now. You’re okay.”

In all honesty, Tony didn’t plan on going to sleep tonight. He didn’t know how long it was going to take him to put Peter to sleep but he knew he was going to be too wound up after that.

He held Peter’s pyjama pants out for him again but Peter was turning around to look back at his box of pull-ups. “No, you don’t need those anymore.”

“I do.” Peter whined and went to turn around to grab one but Tony grabbed his arm a little too hard which had Peter losing his balance and falling onto the floor so Tony quickly stood him back up.

“You’re okay. Stop crying, Peter. You’re okay.” Tony hated hearing Peter cry because it broke his heart but it also irritated him sometimes when Peter did more of a whine than a cry just because. Like now. Tony started to feel his patience thinning. “Okay. You know what…” He stood up to grab a pull-up and held it out. “you can wear one tonight.”

He just hoped Rose didn’t see and comment on it.

Maybe he was giving in so he didn’t have to deal with the crying but he didn’t care if it brought Peter some comfort tonight.

Once Peter was dressed in his pyjamas, he rubbed at his eyes. Tony grabbed his phone and Peter’s sock monitor off the bed then stood up. “Let’s go into your room now. I still need to make the bed.”

Tony had to force Peter into his bedroom by dragging him by the arm. Peter tried to dig his heels into the ground every step but Tony was just grateful the crying stopped for now.

He shut Peter’s bedroom door once inside the room and began putting the sheets onto the bed but Peter was trying to pull them off. “Hey. Stop.”

“I told you I don’t want to sleep in my room.” Peter whined out and went to reach for the sheets again so Tony quickly picked him up and roughly sat him in his desk chair.

“Sit here. I don’t want to see you getting up until I’m done.” Tony felt like he was losing his mind and he didn’t even have Peter in bed yet. This was going to be an extremely long night.

Peter swung his legs in the chair and watched his dad. He wanted to stand up but he knew if he did he would get in trouble. “I need a bed rail.”

Tony stopped to realize that Peter was right but he didn’t have a bed rail for Peter. The only one he had was on his bed and he couldn’t take it off because Peter was going to sleep in there again soon.

“It’s fine. I’ll get you one tomorrow night.” He answered then threw the pillows onto the bed and then the blankets. Tony pulled out his phone to check the time. 8:53pm so they were ahead of schedule already. “FRI, tell Rose to bring up Peter’s water bottle when she comes up.”

He looked over at Peter and saw the dirty look his kid was giving him but it made him look extremely cute, even if Tony was a bit annoyed with him but he didn’t want to be. It was sometimes hard for him to remember that he had to look at things through his kids eyes and how he sees things.

He definitely had to have a lot more patience.

Tony pulled back the blankets and went to turn the light off. “No. It’s too dark.”

“Okay.” Tony walked towards the dresser to turn on the nightlight in Peter’s room. “Is that better?”

Peter shook his head and pointed towards the door. “I wanna go sleep in your room.”

I do too. “We can’t tonight. Come lie down.”

Peter stood up and slowly walked towards Tony but didn’t make any move to climb into bed so Tony quickly picked him up and laid him down which resulted in screaming and crying from Peter.

There was a knock at the door so Tony opened it up, knowing who it was. He saw Peter sitting up on the corner of his eye so he pointed at him. “Hey, lie back down.” He then took the bottle from Rose. “Thank you. So how’s this going to go?”

“I’ll stay to observe how it goes but you need to be the one to put him to sleep. The first time he gets up, tell him it’s time to go to bed. The second time say it a little firmer and after that, don’t say anything at all because then you’re going to initiate conversation.” Rose explained to him and shut the door behind her. “I know it’ll be hard but you can do it.”

Tony took a breath. He didn’t want to do this but he had to.

So, he walked back towards the bed where Peter immediately lifted his arms up for him. “I wanna sleep with you. I wanna sleep with you.” He said desperately, taking in that this was now real and he wasn’t getting out of it.

“Lie down. It’s time to sleep now, Pete.” Tony laid down on the bed as well but was half sitting up so he could put Peter to sleep.

Peter didn’t let Tony lay him down so Tony sat up himself and forced him to lie on his back then tried to put his water bottle in his mouth. “Shh, it’s time to sleep, bud.”

Peter cried harder and repeatedly shook his head so Tony couldn’t put the water bottle in. He felt Peter trying to force himself to sit up again but Tony forced him down which had Peter screaming in frustration. “Shh, it’s time to go to bed.”

“I do-don’t w-wanna sleep in here!” He cried out and began kicking the blankets off of him and there was nothing Tony could do to stop that.

“I’m still here. Just try to shut your eyes.” Tony knew he wasn’t supposed to be talking to Peter right now but he couldn’t just ignore him.

Peter eventually stopped and rubbed at his eyes for about a minute where Tony just watched him. After that, Peter went to try and sit up again so Tony lifted him up and forced him onto his stomach so he could pat his back.

“Close your eyes.” He said, seeing Peter’s eyes blinking.

Peter didn’t try to get up anymore and the crying stopped a bit. Tony was so grateful. Maybe tonight wouldn’t actually be so bad.

He continued patting Peter’s back for about thirty minutes but Peter’s eyes were still open and playing with a string on his blanket so Tony moved it away from his tiny hands.

He didn’t understand why Peter wasn’t closing his eyes. It had been well over an hour at this point and Peter’s eyes were still blinking which was frustrating him now.

Tony decided to stop patting Peter’s back so he lifted his hand up and straight away, Peter was lifting his head up and moving to sit up.

“Peter.” Tony sighed in defeat. “Please go to sleep.”

“I want to sleep in your bed.” Peter said again and Tony felt like everything he just did was a huge waste because Peter was sitting up and didn’t look the least bit tired.

“Just lie down and close your eyes.” Tony helped Peter lie down again, thankful for only a few whines and no tears. He held the water bottle up to Peter’s mouth but he was desperate now. “FRI, can you ask Pepper to bring warm milk up in a water bottle for Peter.”

Peter looked around his ceiling and then was trying to sit up again and this time, Tony let him because he didn’t know what else to do.

A few minutes later, Pepper was walking in and handed it to Tony without saying a word. Peter looked at it in Tony’s hands. “Nuk.”

“Yeah, here. Drink it.” Peter willingly laid back down and grabbed onto his water bottle to start drinking from it. He played with his hair in contentment like he always did but since he didn’t have his tv to watch, he moved his legs all over the bed, making himself climb up on his dad.

It was when Peter rolled onto his stomach and kept his head up that Tony decided to stop him from moving. He made Peter lie back down on his back and held his nuk for him.

About more than halfway done, Peter moved it away from his mouth and turned over to look at his dad. Tony just stared at him. He didn’t know what else to do. He was about to go downstairs and pour the whole bottle of sleep medicine into his milk to get him to fall asleep. He was desperate.

When Peter went to sit up once again, Tony held him down and covered his hands over his eyes to force them shut. In the beginning, he could feel Peter’s long eyelashes ticking his palm but then it stopped.

Tony waited a few minutes then decided to take his hand away and saw that Peter was in fact asleep.

He didn’t know what to do so he waited a few more minutes then ever so carefully sat up and moved to get off the bed.

As soon as he was off, he turned around and saw Peter’s head snapped up and was looking at him. Tony wanted to cry. At that moment, he wanted to cry.

Peter wasn’t going to fall asleep. Simple as that.

He held his arms out for him because Peter simply was not going to go to bed. Peter immediately crawled into his arms then reached down for his nuk so Tony handed it to him and looked over at Rose. “He won’t go to sleep. I don’t know what else to do.”

Rose stood up. “You have to keep trying. He’ll eventually fall asleep.”

Tony shook his head because he wasn’t so sure about that.

“If you take Peter to your room right now to sleep with you, he will know that next time, all he has to do is stay awake a little longer for you to give in.” Rose explained to him and Tony sighed because he knew she was right.

“Alright. Let’s lie back down, Pete.” Tony checked the time on his phone that was on the table. 3:23am.

As soon as he went to lay Peter down, he started to cry loudly but Tony didn’t comment on it.

He got back into his same position as before and lifted up his shirt to rub at Peter’s stomach. He was grateful that Peter was wearing a pull-up tonight since he drank two full water bottles so he didn’t even want to think about what would happen if Peter wasn’t wearing one.

The crying continued.

Tony tried to get Peter to stop but at this point, he knew Peter was going to cry himself to sleep but Tony had to remember that the first night was going to be the hardest. Hopefully.

After another twenty minutes, the crying stopped and Peter was falling into unconsciousness.

Tony knew he was actually asleep now since he felt his breathing even out.

He couldn’t help but fall into the pillow in relief.

He did it.