All The Stars Align

Peter jumped off the bed and ran into the bathroom where his dad was. “What’d you doing?” 

“Shaving.” Tony told him as he continued to make sure the shave was perfect. 

Peter looked up at him, watching the hairs fall into the sink. “Can I try?” 

Tony paused. He never knew why Peter was so fascinated every time he shaved. Tony honestly wished he never had to shave again in his life. It was annoying and time consuming. “You don’t have any hairs to shave.” 

Peter scanned over his body with a frown. “Can I shave your face?” 

With a chuckle, Tony shut off his razor and looked down at Peter. “I’d rather not walk out of this bathroom looking like a clown. Can you just give me five minutes? Go bug Pepper in her room.” 

“But I don’t want to. I wanna stay in here with you.” Peter looked around the bathroom. He spotted a bag of things so he walked over to it and opened it up, finding only wipes inside. He groaned. “I’m bored. I don’t have any toys here and you’re not playing with me.” Peter stomped his foot just to show his dad how angry he was at him. 

“Pete, please.” Tony was trying to go as fast as he could but it was hard when he had to keep looking over at Peter to make sure he doesn’t get into anything he shouldn’t. “Five minutes and then we’re gonna do something really fun that I think you’re gonna like.” 

That got Peter’s curiosity peeking. “Really? Like what?” 

Tony put his razor down and turned around to pick Peter up and sit him on the counter. He grabbed the first thing he saw which was a bottle of body wash and put it in Peter’s hands. “Read the label out loud to me and by time you’re down, I’ll be done.” 

Peter began reading and Tony tried to go as fast as he could. Multitasking. That’s all parenthood was. Just different kinds of multitasking. 

Once Peter was done reading, Tony was finished. He put his razor away, making sure to put it in the bag so it wasn’t temping to Peter. He then took his shirt off and walked into the bedroom with Peter following him. “Can you go in my suitcase and grab me a shirt? Please and thank you.” 

Peter walked over and looked inside. It was kinda funny to him how his dad was there longer but didn’t have nearly as many clothes as he himself had. He wasn’t the one who packed his bag anyways. He grabbed a grey shirt and handed it to Tony. “This one?” 

“Yeah. Thanks.” Tony put it on and grabbed his phone for the time. He had something super exciting planned for Peter today and he was probably more excited than Peter would ever be for something like this. “Do you need to pee?” 

Peter shook his head, not even testing to see for sure.  

“Go try.” Tony said. He didn’t know why Peter always fought him so hard on this. Just one of those strange things about Peter that he didn’t understand. “Peter, try to go pee and then we can go.” 

“Nooo.” Peter whined. “I don’t need to.” 

Tony stared at him, trying to decide if Peter was telling the truth or not. It was sometimes frustrating for the father. “Fine. But don’t say you need to go pee as soon as we get to where we’re going.” 

Peter shrugged. It was better than Tony having to forcefully sit him in the toilet. He grabbed his phone and sunglasses then left the room. 

Peter ran down the stairs, excited over nothing in particular. Tony loved Peter’s big personality so much. He could tell the boy they were taking him to the garbage dumb to watch how it works and Peter would jump with excitement. 

“Are you excited, Peter?” Pepper asked from where she was waiting by the front door for the two boys. Before, she would have gone upstairs to see if everything was okay but having spent two nights with Peter alone, she knew first hand how hard it was with the boy. 

Peter couldn’t contain his excitement. “Yes! Where’re we goin’?” 

Tony ruffled his hair and put Peter’s shoes in front of him. “We’re going to a secret place. Step in.” 

Once they were in the car, Tony put the car in reverse and was about to drive away but Peter spoke up, quite desperately. “Wait! I need to pee!” 

“Okay.” Tony sighed and looked over at Pepper, rolling his eyes. “Let’s make this quick.” 

The two of them left Pepper to go back into the house. Peter was about to sit down to take off his shoes but Tony pushed him. “Keep them on. We’re just going pee.” 

“You need to go pee too, dad?” Peter asked, walking alongside his dad. 

Tony rolled his eyes again. “No. I’m just coming with you to keep you from getting distracted. Move those legs, kid. Pepper’s waiting.” 

Peter tried to walk upstairs but Tony pulled him along. “There’s a bathroom down here. Hurry.” Peter almost tripped over his feet and Tony immediately felt bad. He let go of his arm to let Peter walk at his own pace. He didn’t want to rush Peter for something like this but Peter took a painfully long time. 

“I’ve never been in this one before.” Peter said, looking with wide eyes around the bathroom and going to investigate everything inside. 

“Yeah, go stand. Sit, squat, whatever you want. Just pee. I’m gonna be right back.” Tony waited until Peter was situated and then he left him to walk down the hallway to grab his charger from the kitchen. He might as well since he’s there anyways. “Are you going?” Tony called out from the kitchen. 

“Yeah!” Peter answered back. He looked towards the bathroom counter and tried to reach for the blue bottle but he was leaning too far and fell off the toilet, banging his head on the corner of the cabinet. 

“What was that?” Tony asked, having heard a sudden bang. He already started making his way towards the bathroom. When he walked in, he found Peter sitting on the floor and holding his head. “What happened?” 

“I just fell.” Peter answered, moving his hand away from his head to see if he was bleeding. It hurt but not enough to cry. 

Tony kneeled down to check. He wasn’t too alarmed since Peter seemed fine and wasn’t in any kind of pain. “Let me see,” He carefully looked at the tiny bump that was forming but other than that it was fine. “You’re good.” 

Peter put his hand to his head to check for any blood again but he didn’t find any still so he guessed he was okay. Tony flushed the toilet and checked the time. “Come on, buddy. Let’s go because Pepper’s waiting for us.” 

Peter was quick to stand up and pull up his underwear and pants then ran to the front door so they could leave. “Now I’m waiting for you.” 

Once they were in the car, Tony finally was able to back out of the driveway without any more interruptions. It was the perfect day to do what they had planned. The sun was shining and it was warm out, perfect sweater weather. 

Tony had no idea how today was going to go but he was definitely more excited than Peter even though Peter didn’t even know what he had planned. Pepper knew but the surprise was really only for Peter. 

Once Tony pulled onto the track, he parked the car and turned to look back at Peter. “Do you know where we are?” 

Peter chewed on the water bottle lid as he looked out his window but he didn’t recognize anything. “No.” 

“We’re at a race track.” Tony said, not able to contain his own excitement for any longer. “I’m gonna take you out and you’re gonna drive a car.” 

Peter squealed with excitement and bounced in the car seat. “Oh my gosh! Seriously?! I can drive a car?!” 

Tony nodded. “Yep. You’re gonna sit in the driver's seat and I’ll sit in the passenger seat.” Tony would be nervous if he wasn’t in the car plus they weren’t going on the road, there was literally nothing for Peter to hit. 

Peter looked back out the window. “Yay! I’m so excited! Let’s go now!” 

Tony got out of the car and opened the back door up for Peter. “You ready to go? We’re gonna go to those cars over there then I’ll teach you a few things before we get in.” 

The three of them walked over there and met up with two men who worked there and were going to be helping them get set up with the cars. 

Peter grabbed onto his dad’s hand when they got close enough to the new faces. He was so excited but he was still extremely shy. 

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Stark.” 

Tony shook hands with both men. “Likewise.” 

Since he wanted to be the one to teach Peter what to do and show him how all the controls work, the men handed Tony the keys and walked off. Tony guided Peter over to the car and opened the driver’s door. “Don’t be nervous. I’ll sit in the passenger seat and be here the whole time.” Tony said, sensing Peter’s nervous energy. 

Pepper put on a sun hat and sunglasses then patted Peter on the back. “You boys have fun. I’ll be sitting on the bench over there reading my book.” 

Tony smiled at her then turned to Peter. “Okay, this one here is the break. This one here,” He placed his foot on it. “is the gas. You don’t need to push it all the way down because it’ll go really fast.” 

Peter watched on. Now that he was standing in front of the car and about to get in, he was scared. “What if I crash?” 

“You’re not gonna crash. Sit inside.” Tony had a strong feeling Peter was going to back out last minute. Tony didn’t want to leave until Peter at least tried to drive the car. Tony’s own father had taught him to drive a car at a young age, Tony remembered he was about nine and by the time he was twelve, he was driving a car when his family went to Italy. 

Of course Peter was different. Tony grew up way too fast since his own father didn’t like kids and wanted him to be as mature as possible. It’s a huge reason why Tony baby’s Peter, at least why he thinks he does. 

He never expected to ever have kids but on the rare occasion he thought of having kids, he always wanted a son. This was just one of those reasons, to have a little mini him and that’s exactly what Peter was. 

Peter pushed his dad. “You sit first.” 

“No, because I’m sitting in the passenger seat. Come,” Tony grabbed his wrist and pushed him in the driver's seat. “Try and touch the gas.” Peter tried but he couldn’t reach so Tony moved his seat closer and up. “There. Now try.” Now that Peter could touch the gas, Tony grabbed the seatbelt for him, wanting to make sure it was on properly. “Usually no one is ever sits close to the steering wheel but since you’ve got short legs, we have to make due.” 

Peter glared up at him. “My legs aren’t short. I just haven’t grown yet.” 

“I’m just teasing you. Now, here are the keys. I’m gonna get into the passenger seat then we’ll start driving.” Tony shut his door and walked around to the other side of the car. He felt weird since it was the opposite, Peter was supposed to sit where he was sitting. 

“How do I turn it on?” Peter asked. He looked over at his dad and watched him get his seatbelt on. Peter handed him the keys. “Can you do it?” 

Tony shook his head. “No, I have you to do it. Put the keys into the ignition and turn it.” 

Peter looked at the ignition but he didn’t make any move to put the key in it. “But… then will the car go fast? I don’t want it to.” 

“No, because you’re in park, see? Then when you’re ready, you press your foot all the way down on the break and put the car in drive, then you’ll slowly release from the break and slowly put your foot on the gas. Sound easy?” 

Peter wildly shook his head. “No. It sounds confusing and hard.” 

“It’s not. After today, you’re gonna beg me to let you drive. It’s so much fun.” Tony didn’t think so, Peter was okay with free falling off a fifty story building but was too scared to get behind the wheel of a car. “Just try it. It’s easy.” 

Peter hesitated but started the car and once it was on, it all became so much more real and he panicked. “Oh no. I don’t want to do this no more.” 

“No. It’ll be fun. I’ll be here the whole time, baby. Now put your foot on the break.” 

Peter went to put his foot down on the break but accidentally put it down on the gas, causing the car to rumble and it scared Peter. “No! Stop it!” 

Tony bursted out laughing. “Kid, that’s the gas. That one is the break.” 

“Hey, stop laughing at me.” Peter pouted. 

“Sorry.” Tony wasn’t sorry, it was way too funny not to laugh. “Now, the break. Let’s try again.” 

Peter put his foot on the break this time. “Now what?” 

“Now, put the car in drive.” 

Peter looked down and put the car in drive. He looked over at his dad for directions. “Now what?” 

“Now slowly put your foot on the gas.” Tony was so proud of Peter and the car wasn’t even moving yet. 

Peter put his foot on the gas but not slowly. Both of them were pushed back into their seats and Peter screamed. 

“Put your hands on the steering wheel.” Tony told him, he didn’t think he even had to tell Peter that but Peter was driving with his hands on his lap. He had to reach over and grab the steering wheel to make it go straight. “Take your foot off the gas, Pete. Take it off.” Tony had to physically lift Peter’s leg off the gas to get him to stop. 

Once the car slowed down, Tony put the car back into park to calm his racing heart. 

“Sorry.” 

“No, it’s fine. I’m actually impressed. You managed to get the car up to sixty in two minutes. Wow.” Tony should have expected that. 

“That was kinda fun.” Peter giggled and grabbed onto the steering wheel. “Can I drive again?” 

Tony broke out into a smile. He was so glad Peter was having fun, even if Peter just almost gave him a mini heart attack. It was fine. “Yeah! Let’s do it but this time, keep your hands on the steering wheel and slowly put your foot on the gas.” 

Peter went to do that but he didn’t go anywhere. “Why’s it not working?” 

“You have to put the car in drive first.” 

“Oh yeah!” Peter did that and then pressed on the gas, much slower this time but still jerking the car. He started turning the wheel around and Tony didn’t know why. 

“Why are you turning around?” He asked, driving the steering wheel so Peter couldn’t turn anymore. 

“I wanna go over there.” Peter pointed out his window to a random spot on the track. 

“No. We’re going straight. Turn the wheel this way.” 

“Oh. Okay.” Peter turned it but accidentally turned it too far. “Like this?” 

“No, back the other way.” Tony tried to direct him but Peter was struggling, unable to do it. 

Peter went to press the break with his other foot but since he was using two feet, he got confused and accidentally pressed the gas too hard, making the car speed ahead. “Ahhhh!” 

“It’s okay. Just press the break. Press the break. Peter.” Tony took the wheel from Peter again so he didn’t flip the car accidentally. He didn’t think that was possible but Peter was a horrible driver. He had zero coordination. 

“I don’t know how! Which one is the break?!” Peter yelled, not removing his foot from the gas so Tony had to grab his thigh to physically move it off the gas again. 

Once the car slowed down, Tony put it back into park. “Woah. You like going fast I can see.” 

Peter whimpered. “I’m no good. I don’t like this.” 

“Of course you’re not gonna be good, it’s your first time behind the wheel. You just gotta practice. It also helps when you’re actually tall enough to properly reach the pedals.” Tony shrugged, maybe that should have been a sign Peter was too young and small for this but Tony didn’t want to wait any longer, he was so excited. 

“But I wanna be good.” Peter whined. 

“You’re not gonna be a NASCAR racer on your first try, Pete. Let’s go again.” Tony went to put the car back into drive but Peter stopped him. 

“No! I’m scared.” 

“Just try once more.” Tony didn’t want the fun to stop just yet, they haven’t even been on the track for an hour. 

Peter didn’t want to. He crossed his arms over his chest. “No. I say no.” 

Tony sighed but that didn’t mean they had to stop. “I’ll come sit there then you can sit on my lap and steer.” 

“Yeah!” Peter loved that idea. He quickly took off his seatbelt and jumped out of the car, bouncing on his toes as his dad walked around the car and sat in the driver’s seat then held his arms out for Peter. 

Peter got himself comfortable as Tony moved the seat back and lifted his legs so they were parted, allowing Tony’s leg to control the gas and breaks. “Hands on the steering wheel.” 

Peter does so. He’s way too excited that he can’t stop himself from excitedly bouncing, wanting to start driving already. “Turn it on!” 

“It is on. Ready?” 

“Yes!” 

Tony put the car in drive and pressed on the gas, unlike how Peter did it. Peter began steering like he was playing Mario Kart and it made Tony chuckle. He grabbed the bottom of the steering wheel to make it go straight. “Keep it straight and when we get to the turn, turn the wheel left.” 

Peter took his hands off the steering wheel to look out the window at Pepper, waving to her. “Look! It’s Pepper.” 

“Yeah, I can see that. Focus here, Petey. You’re driving.” Tony fixed the wheel once again and pressed a bit harder on the gas. It was so funny to him since Peter had so much coordination as Spider-Man but as Peter, he was clumsy as hell. Especially in the car, he didn’t even know his left from right. 

Peter put both hands back on the steering wheel and moved it so it shook the car, causing him to burst out laughing. “This is silly.” 

“Turn now, not too fast.” Tony grabbed the bottom of the steering wheel to help Peter turn it properly but let go to let him do the rest. Once they were driving straight, Tony pressed the gas more to go really fast and Peter let out a loud scream. Tony laughed but that only encouraged Peter to do it again and louder. “Shh, shh, baby. You can’t scream and drive.” 

“I just did.” 

“Okay, sassy pants. Want me to go super fast?” 

Peter nodded. “Yes! Go as fast as it can.” 

Tony grabbed the bottom of the steering wheel so Peter didn’t suddenly turn it then he went all the way to 120 and took his foot off the gas to slow down. He loved hearing Peter laugh the whole time and he would do it all day if he got to hear that but it was starting to rain so they had to put an end to it now. “Was that fun?” 

“Uh huh. I wanna go again.” 

Tony pulled the car to a stop and went to put the car in park but he wanted Peter to do it. “Put the car in park now.” 

Peter tried to look down at their feet but Tony pointed to the console. “No, it’s here, remember?” 

“Oh yeah.” Peter grabbed it and put it in neutral but Tony had to stop him again. 

“Other way. See where it says P?” 

Peter pointed at the P and moved the console in that direction. “Yay. I’m gonna go tell Pepper I drove a car.” He opened the car door and slid off his dad’s lap so Tony had to shut the car off and take the keys out. At fourteen, Tony may have been responsible enough to drive a car around town by himself but at fourteen, he didn’t even trust Peter to stay home alone, never mind drive a car by himself. 

Tony took Peter’s hand and led him over to the tree Pepper was waiting under. “How was it? It looked like you guys had a lot of fun.” 

Peter ran over to her side and took her hand as they walked back to the car. “Yeah! I even drove it by myself but then after I drove it in dad’s lap since I didn’t want to drive it all by myself. It was fun.” 

“Wow. I got some cool videos of you guys.” Pepper said, “Let’s get another one now. You two stand against the fence.” 

Tony loved taking pictures with Peter. Most of the pictures on his camera roll was just of Peter so he wanted more with his boy. Even though he had about a million with him. It was never enough. 

Peter walked over to Tony’s side and lifted his arms up. “Pick me up.” 

Tony picked Peter up, holding him against his hip as he pulled Peter’s face closer to his for the picture. He then put Peter back in his feet for more pictures. 

Overall, today was a perfect day. 

.

.

.

Tony was already going to miss Pepper. 

He looked out the airplane window at the clouds down below. They were landing in Malibu to drop Pepper off then flying back to New York to start online school and more therapy. 

Tony wasn’t looking forward to it. Of course he would much rather stay in Malibu with Peter and Pepper but he had a responsibility back in New York. A responsibility that he was most definitely not looking forward to but… it had to be done. 

He was sitting on a chair with his legs outstretched and Peter fast asleep on his legs like a baby monkey hanging on a tree branch. Peter was lying on his stomach with his legs on each side of Tony’s legs, sound asleep. 

It was cute at first but now it was getting kinda uncomfortable for Tony. He also was amazed how Peter even fell asleep in that position. 

He was staring at Pepper who was sitting on the opposite side of him. She hadn’t noticed him staring yet but when she did, she put her book down and smiled. “What?” 

“Nothing.” He shrugged but continued to stare at her. He had fallen so much more in love with her over this past week and it was refreshing to know she cared so much about Peter. 

“What?” She asked again, a hint of curiosity in her voice. 

He shrugged again. “Nothing… I just, thank you. For taking care of Pete while I had to come out here and then flying out here with him. I love watching you two together.” 

She leaned forward to squeeze Tony’s ankle. “Anytime, Tony. He’s a good kid. You’re raising a pretty amazing boy.” 

Tony loved hearing people compliment his son. “Thanks. He is. I think we really needed this trip. Just to… get away for everything for a bit. It was nice.” 

“Yeah, now back to reality. Work. School.” 

Tony didn’t want to think about that right now. He rubbed at his eyes. “I feel like I want to keep putting it off. I mean, he’s only missed a few weeks of school. Like a month and a bit but online school is going to be hard for him too and I want us to be ready to start. Like on a good schedule. Preferably without him still wearing pull-ups to sleep.” Tony gestured to the one Peter had on now and sighed. Parenting was hard. 

“You’ll know when he’s ready to start school. When you go home, sit down with him and set a date soon. Maybe let’s say next Monday for example. Then you can order new school supplies with him and make it fun.” Pepper suggested but it was easier said than done, she knew that. “As for the pull-ups, does he still need them?” 

Tony honestly didn’t know. He knew at this point it was a comfort item for Peter rather than anything and if so, he didn’t want to take that away from Peter. He also didn’t want the temper tantrums either when he said no to him. 

“I don’t know. The doctor said he didn’t but I think he still does.” Tony thought about all those times he told Peter to use the toilet and that the pull-up was only for an accident just in case but then Peter woke up wet each one of those times. He didn’t know and to test it, would be extremely difficult and messy. 

“Want me to try talking to him about it?” Pepper suggested but Tony wasn’t so sure. He didn’t want to pressure Peter into stopping if he wasn’t ready. 

“It’s fine.” He looked down at Peter who was still passed out. “I’m gonna wake him up anyways. I’m just… not going to rush it or force him to do anything. It’ll happen when it happens.” Tony would try and get Peter to stop but he wasn’t going to force him to do anything. That was too much stress on the both of them. 

He picked Peter up by his arms and lifted him up so he was now on his lap. Peter woke up from the movement and looked to see who was holding him before laying his head down on Tony’s shoulder to try and sleep some more. 

Tony turned him around so Peter’s back was pressed up against his chest, preventing Peter from sleeping comfortably although Tony knew Peter could and would fall asleep if Tony let him. 

“Hey, no more sleeping or you’re gonna be up all night.” Tony rubbed his exposed stomach and felt the front of Peter’s pull-up. “It’s dry. Good job, bud.” 

Peter gave a sharp nod. “Yeah, I need to go now though. Do I go now…?” Peter turned to look up at his dad for permission. 

“Quickly quickly go to the bathroom.” Tony lifted Peter off his lap to watch him run off to the bathroom. He sighed in relief when he saw Peter make it inside. “Perfect timing. Imagine if I didn’t wake him up.” Tony was glad he did when he did. 

When Peter walked back out next, he made a beeline for his dad’s lap and grabbed his phone from the seat next to them. “Can I play games on your phone?” 

“Yeah, what’re you gonna play?” Tony asked even as he watched Peter go onto his phone and immediately go to the camera to take pictures of himself. He wasn’t surprised, his camera roll was full of Peter selfies but he kept every single one. 

Peter flipped the camera and took a picture of his legs then pulled his feet up to take pictures of his toes. “Can you put this one as your screensaver?” He asked, shoving the phone in his dad’s face. “I like it.” 

Tony pushed the phone away. “Ew, I don’t want to see your toes every time I go onto the phone. I want to see your beautiful face.” He squished Peter’s cheeks together and pressed a kiss to his temple at the same time. 

“Hey, that’s not funny.” Peter laughed out, smacking his dad in the arm and sitting up on his lap. Tony pulled him back down and lifted his legs up so he was cradling him like a baby and had full access to kiss his face. “Ahhh!”  

“What? I’m allowed to kiss you.” Tony teased then went for another kiss to Peter’s cheek but Peter moved his head and puckered his own lips so Tony moved away quickly. “You slobbery child.” 

Peter wiped at his mouth and laughed evilly, causing both Tony and Pepper to start laughing at the sound Peter just made. Since he got a reaction out of them, Peter did it again, breaking out into a real laugh after. 

Tony stood him on his feet, playfully pushing him away but Peter pushed back. “No!” Peter screamed with a grin. “I’m gonna sit on my seat.” 

“Oh yeah?” Tony asked. “Where’s your seat?” 

Peter pointed to his lap. “There.” 

To tease Peter, he crossed one leg over the other and crossed his arms. “Now you can’t. You have to sit there.” He pointed to the empty seat next to him then watched to see what Peter was going to do. 

Peter debated jumping onto his dad’s lap but there was no space for him to get comfortable so he turned and went to climb onto Pepper’s lap but Tony was quicker. He reached forward to grab Peter and bring him back onto his lap. “I’m just joking. I want you to sit with me.” 

Peter reached towards Pepper for a brief second then turned around on his dad so he could wrap his arms around his neck. “Me too.” 

He grabbed onto the phone again and shifted around once more to sit with his back pressed up against his dad’s back and his legs stretched freely. 

Pepper and his dad started talking but he ignored them in favour of putting all his focus into the game. He wasn’t paying attention to anything around him so when the plane started to get lower and his ears began popping, he opened the window blinds to look out. “Hey, are we home already?” 

Tony rubbed his belly. He knew it was going to be hard for Peter to say goodbye to Pepper since they have gotten significantly closer over the past week and a half in Switzerland and with Pepper taking care of him. “No, we’re in Malibu to drop Pepper off. Remember I told you? Then we’re gonna fly to New York.” 

Peter sat up some and looked at Pepper. He didn’t want Pepper to go. He liked having her presence around and now she was leaving. “No. Don’t go.” 

Pepper looked at Tony sadly then at Peter. “Can I have a hug bye? I’ll see you soon.” 

Tony knew she shouldn’t have said that. Goodbye hugs weren’t something Peter was good with. He freaked out and most, if not all of the time it was someone else having to deal with Peter’s crying but now it was going to be him. On a plane. 

“No.” Peter whimpered and wiped at his eyes that were filling with tears. He made his way over to Pepper to climb onto her seat and wrap his arms around her neck. “Why-why can’t you come back to-to New York with us?” 

“Because I have my apartment here and this is where I do most of my work.” Pepper explained, feeling really bad for Peter. She knew how his separation anxiety worked with the people he was close to and depended on. 

Peter pulled away to rub at his eyes and look at her. “Then why- why can’t you work in New York? Work is there too.” 

Tony waited until the plane had landed before standing up to try and pull Peter off of her now. “We will see Pepper so soon, buddy. Next thing you know, she’ll be at our door.” 

“No.” 

“Bye, Peter. Give me one last hug.” Pepper squeezed Peter, pressing a kiss to his cheek and letting go so Tony could lift him off of her. “Bye bye.” 

“Nooo!” 

Tony lifted Peter up, holding him against his side so it gave Pepper the chance to stand up and gather her things. “You’re okay. I’m still here, Peter. Aren’t you glad I’m not going anywhere this time?” 

Peter didn’t respond. He only cried harder as Pepper grabbed her suitcase and hesitated to walk over to Tony. “Bye, Tony. I’ll call you soon.” 

He gave her a one arm hug since the other arm was currently busy holding a distraught Peter. “Bye, hopefully things will be quiet so we can talk tonight.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek and pulled away but Peter wasn’t done with her yet, he reached out and latched onto Pepper’s shirt, tugging it towards himself and pulling the front down, exposing her to Tony. 

Peter wasn’t able to see anything since he was facing the other way and Tony quickly placed Peter on his feet to pry his hands off of Peppers shirt. “Peter, careful. Look what you did- actually, don’t look.” 

Pepper laughed awkwardly as she fixed her shirt, pulling it back up and making sure she wasn’t exposed anymore. “Okay, then.” 

“Sorry, Pep.” Tony chuckled, rubbing a hand down his face. Peter was something else. He grabbed onto Peter’s arms to pull him to his feet. “Say bye bye Pepper, Peter.” He forced Peter’s hand to wave, causing Peter to involuntarily scream through his teeth out of annoyance so Tony immediately stopped. “Now I’m stuck with a cranky kid. Bye, Pep.” 

She waved bye, offering Tony a smile of sympathy as she left the plane. Tony didn’t want to go near the door, knowing potential workers would be there and possibly see Peter. He didn’t want that so he picked Peter up, struggling with the way he was flopping his body around and placed him in the seat Pepper was sitting in. 

“We’ll see her again, Peter. It’s not like this will be the last time.” 

Peter slid onto the floor and crawled over to his dad’s legs where Tony immediately picked him up and cuddled him against his chest. After a minute or two, Peter settled down and pressed his ear close to his dad’s chest. “Mmmm.” 

“What, baby? Do you feel better? We’ll see Pepper soon.” He reassured him, rubbing circles against Peter’s lower back with one hand and simultaneously patting his butt with the other. 

Peter looked out the window, watching them fly into the clouds once again. “I don’t like saying goodbye.” 

Tony knew that. Everyone who was close to Peter knew that. “That’s okay to feel that way. But it’s always temporary.” 

Peter didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “May was temporary. And so we’re my parents. Then I never saw them again.” 

Tony was suddenly feeling really bad. He obviously knew Peter’s parents died when he was two and May died just a few months ago. Peter’s been through so much in his short little life. 

“It’s not going to be like that again, Peter.” Tony reassured him and continued his hand motions, hoping to offer some comfort. 

He knew how hard goodbyes were for Peter but he didn’t realize it was so hard for Peter to say goodbye to anyone but himself. Apparently now Pepper fit into that category now too. Although Tony was sure it would be anyone who spent a lot of time with Peter and took care of him. 

Peter shook his head at his words. “No, you don’t know that. How can you know that.” 

“I know that because you’re my kid and I’m gonna make sure you aren’t left alone. You’ll always have someone here for you.” Even if I die. 

Peter shook his head again and sat up more so he could look into Tony’s eyes. “I just want you. No one else.” 

Tony pulled him against his chest again. He may be Iron Man but that doesn’t make him invisible to threat and danger around him, if anything, it was attracted to him. He was still going to do everything in his power to make sure he makes it home to Peter every time. 

“I promise you, Peter, I’ll always come home to you.” Tony pulled Peter away so he could lock eyes with him and Peter knew that he’s being serious. “I love you.” 

“Mmm.” Peter wrapped his arms around his neck. “I love you too.” He released a sigh and moved so he was sitting sideways on his dad’s lap this time so he could lay down with his head cradled against Tony’s arm. He got comfortable and sighed again. “If I fall asleep, can you wake me up?” 

Tony brushed the curls off Peter’s face. “Are you feeling sleepy?” 

Peter thought about it. His body was tired but his eyes weren’t. “Maybe half and half. I just don’t wanna sleep cause I wanna stay with you.” 

“Aww, you’ll still be here with me even if you do fall asleep.” 

Peter tried to sit up but Tony pushed him back down. “Hey, let me sit up.” 

“What will you do?” He asked, not wanting Peter to move on him every ten seconds since it was quite painful when Peter dug his knees into his man spot. 

“Uh…” Peter didn’t know. He just wanted to move around so he sat up and opened the window block. “Will we be home soon? I wanna play with my legs.” 

Tony checked the ETA on the tv screen. “About one more hour. Think you can make it that long?” 

Peter groaned loudly and threw his head back. “No.” 

As it turned out, Peter could wait that long since Tony was there to distract him. It was easy for him since everything Tony pretended to be excited about, got Peter excited as well. 

He grabbed Peter’s track pants and handed them to him. “Put these on. We’re landing now.” 

Peter kicked them away with a mischievous grin. “No.”

Tony shrugged, acting like he doesn’t care to get Peter to do what he says. A dad hack he learned not too long ago. “Fine. Then your legs will freeze once we go outside the airplane, have it your way.” 

Peter thought about that. It was cold out and he didn’t want his legs to freeze so he grabbed the thrown track pants off the floor and put them on, jumping up to get them on properly. “I don’t know where my socks are.” 

Tony looked around the plane briefly and spotted them under one of the seats so he bent down to pick them up and handed Peter his shoes as well. 

Once the plane landed, Tony grabbed his and Peter’s suitcase and walked down the steps, waiting for Peter to follow him out. “Hold onto the railing because it’s raining out and you’ll slip.” 

Peter jumped down the step and stuck his tongue out. “It’s not raining, it’s spitting out.” 

Tony rolled his eyes. He got onto the ground and put down the suitcase so he could roll them to the awaiting car. “Peter, be careful. You’re gonna fall.” 

He turned around just in time as Peter slipped and had to grab onto the railing to catch himself. Tony wasn’t surprised. He pretended he didn’t see, knowing Peter made a bigger deal than things were if he saw since he tried to get comfort out of it. 

Peter ran over to his side. “I almost fell.” 

“Oh, I didn’t notice.” Tony lied. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah.” Peter ran over to the car, clearly having too much energy from being cooped up in the plane for almost ten hours. Maybe Tony could take him to a park and let him run around like a dog. 

He loaded the bags into the trunk and walked around to the passenger seat to get Peter in. “Hey, come here.” Peter ran over and climbed in, immediately kicking off his shoes. “Do you wanna go grocery shopping? All the food in the fridge is probably bad now so we can go get some stuff.” 

Peter nodded excitedly. “Yeah! I want umm… can I get yogurt drinks?” 

“Yeah, you can get anything you want? Fingers and toes in?” Peter gave a sharp nod so Tony then slammed the door and walked over to the driver's seat. 

It was weird to be back in New York. Tony still felt like he was in Switzerland on their mini vacation but they were back to reality now. Not that Tony didn’t like his reality, he loved it. 

When they got to the grocery store, it stopped raining but the ground was full of mud and puddles and Tony or Peter weren’t dressed for the weather. 

Tony got out of the car first to make sure Peter didn’t run off but of course Peter had other ideas. No matter how many times Tony told him not to, Peter saw a parking lot and always decided to make a mad dash through it. He managed to grab Peter’s arm before he got the chance. 

“Ow! Let go of me! I wanna walk.” Peter pulled against him and practically threw himself to the ground. “I don’t want to hold your hand.” 

“Relax, kid. Don’t run in the parking lot and I won’t have to hold your hand.” Tony warned him and made sure Peter wasn’t pulling against him so he could let him go without accidentally sending Peter flying back. 

Peter briefly crossed his arms with a pout but stopped after a few seconds and was smiling again. “Dare me to jump in the puddle?” 

“No. Do not.” Tony went to grab his arm but stopped since there were a ton of people around and he really didn’t want anyone staring at them anymore than they already were. 

They walked onto the side walkway between the cars and stopped just at the crosswalk to get into the store. There was a giant mud puddle in the way so Tony jumped over it no problem but Peter wouldn’t be able to without using his Spidey powers so Tony held his hand out for him. 

He grabbed Peter by the arm and lifted him over it, lifting him off his feet and placing him on the ground next to him. “That was fun.” 

Tony fondly rolled his eyes. “Wasn’t it? And you’re not even muddy. Win-win.” 

“Yeah.” Peter agreed. They walked into the store and Tony grabbed a shopping cart, going into the fruits and vegetable section first. They didn’t eat nearly as enough fruits in the house as they should. It was definitely hard when Tony had a picky eater on his hands. 

Peter walked ahead and began touching all the wet produce. “Dad? Dad, let’s wait till it rains all the water on the fruits.” 

Tony grabbed some strawberries and grapes. “We don’t know how long that’ll be. Let’s go down the junk food aisle.” 

“Yay. I wanna get the banana bars.” Peter ran ahead but almost bumped into some man so Tony pulled him to stand next to the shopping cart. 

Peter used to hate going grocery shopping with Aunt May since she used to drag him out and try to buy him what he wanted but they could never afford any extra stuff so even if she said he could get something, he always said he didn’t want anything. He didn’t fully understand how money works since he was used to May struggling his whole life but now, Tony could buy anything he wanted so Peter didn’t think about it. 

“Can you stop walking behind me? I can’t see you there.” Tony told him, getting slightly annoyed that Peter couldn’t stay in front of him. Even if he was staying a few feet back to let Peter wander on purpose. 

Peter slowly walked up beside him and tugged on his jacket. “I need to pee.” 

Tony didn’t like using public bathrooms. Especially with Peter since he touched every inch of everything. “Can you hold it until we get home or do you need to go badly?” 

Peter squeezed his legs together. “I need to go badly.” 

Tony thought about it. He wasn’t going to make Peter hold it but he really didn’t want to go into the bathroom. Peter looked up at him curiously. “I can just go now…” 

Tony actually thought about it but he wasn’t going to allow that. “No. You shouldn’t even be wearing it. I forgot to tell you to take it off before we left the airplane.” 

Peter shrugged. “Then where will I pee?” 

“In the toilet, kid. Let’s go find one.” They walked out of the aisle and Tony looked for the washroom sign then headed in that direction, past the toys that distracted Peter and had to promise him they’ll be back to. 

Tony left the shopping cart outside and kicked open the door, pulling Peter in. “Don’t touch anything. You’ll probably get aids.” 

“What’s aids?” 

“A dangerous sexual disease that will kill you.” Tony simply explained while half holding his breath. He kicked open the last stall and held it open with his knee to pull Peter in. “Be quick.” 

Peter turned around to try and look out the stall. “I wanna go in that one.” 

“Someone’s in there already.” Tony lied. “Hurry, Pete. We have to be quick or the ice cream will melt.” 

Peter gasped but went to bend down to look under the stall. “Hello?” 

“Oh my god. Don’t touch the floor.” Tony quickly grabbed Peter’s arm to pull him up. “I thought you needed to pee.” 

“Um, I do.” 

“Then go.” 

Peter pulled down his pants and went to sit down but Tony had to stop him again. “That’s gross, there are so many germs on that seat. Stand, Peter.” 

“Noo.” Peter threw his head back with a whine. “You’re so bossy.” 

“I just don’t want you to get sick.” 

Peter stared at his dad, giving him a dirty look before turning around to stand. He wished he was at home so he could do what he wanted. Plus it smelt bad in the washroom. He quickly finished and pulled his pants back up, stepping out of the stall after his dad moved to the side but then Tony was tugging on the back of his pants. “Hey.” 

“It’s all twisted.” 

Peter continued walking out of the bathroom, wanting to go look at the toys now like Tony promised. 

Tony wasn’t in any rush to leave but the longer he was out in public with Peter, the more anxious he began feeling, knowing anything could happen and Peter could get hurt. 

Peter sat on the floor to look at two lego sets, trying to decide what one he wanted. “What one should I get?” 

Tony didn’t even look at the options. “Get both.” 

Peter frowned and turned towards his dad. “Dad, look. You’re not looking. Daddy?” 

That got Tony’s attention, he looked down at Peter and looked at both the lego boxes. “Ummm… the rainforest one. It looks like it has bigger pieces.” 

“That doesn’t mean anything. Choose it for another reason.” 

“My reason is so you won’t eat it or shove it up your nose again.” Tony eyed Peter, grabbing a few more toys off the shelf he knew Peter would want to play with. “Wanna sit in the buggy while I finish shopping?” 

“Yeah!” Peter lifted his arms up so Tony lifted him into the shopping cart, sighing in relief so he could get the shopping done as quickly as possible. Peter leaned against the bag of flour as a pillow and looked at the lego box at the same time as the lightsaber sword. 

Tony walked down all the aisles, going as fast as he’s ever gone before now that Peter was in the cart. All he had to do was push it along and toss food items into the cart, making sure not to hit Peter in the face. 

Once they got to the cashier, Peter sat up on his knees, wanting to get out. “Dad. Out.” 

“One second.” Tony placed some food onto the conveyor belt but had to stop to walk around the cart to get Peter out. 

“Dad? Dad.” Peter whined, getting impatient. 

Tony picked him up, placing him on the floor. “Can you help me put the food on?” 

“Uh huh.” 

Tony was so relieved to be getting out of there finally. Peter was testing his patience and it wasn’t his fault, it was Tony’s fault for being so overprotective and paranoid when it came to everything about Peter. 

When they got home, Tony started unloading the groceries but it wasn’t even five minutes since they got home when Pepper was calling him. He was going to ignore it and call her back when he wasn’t so busy but he remembered he told her he would call when they landed. 

He reached across the counter and put it on speaker phone. “Hey. Sorry, I got busy with Peter.” 

“Did you guys go grocery shopping?” Pepper asked. 

Tony put the milk and yogurt in the fridge as he answered. “Uh, yeah. We did. How did you know?” 

“So I’m guessing you haven’t seen the article?” 

Tony’s heart dropped. He tried to think of everything him and Peter did. Peter went pee but no one was in the bathroom, did someone somehow get a picture? Did Peter’s pull-up show accidentally? He was so scared. 

“No. I didn’t. What article?” Tony looked it up on his phone and it was already out. “What the fuck. What’s this?” 

Pepper sighed. “It came out so fast. I didn’t even get the chance to stop it. You haven’t been seen out in a long time, especially with Peter. Everyone was waiting for this.” 

Tony stared at the pictures they got of him and Peter. “This was barely two hours ago.” 

“One of my assistants had to tell me. No one knew.” 

It was a picture of Tony lifting Peter over the puddle. One of the pictures was from behind so only the back of Peter’s head was visible and the other one was from the front but they blurred Peter’s face. 

The caption of the pictures read: Tony Stark roughly yanks sons arm. 

“I was lifting him over a puddle.” Tony tried to defend himself. He doesn’t care about people judging him as Tony Stark but when they bring Peter into this and questioning his parenting abilities, that hurts. 

“I’m trying to take them down but… there’s a lot.” 

Tony looked at the other captions that were showing up. 

Father of the year award… does not go to Tony Stark. 

Tony Stark's child cries in pain as he’s roughly lifted into the air by his arm for not listening. Is Tony Stark an abusive parent? 

How does Tony Stark respond to his crying child, he yanks his arm and yells at him to listen. 

Should Tony Stark have his parental rights revoked? 

Tony can’t read anymore. He put the phone down and put his head in his hands, leaning against the kitchen counter. 

“None of it is true, Tony. You’ve been in the spotlight long enough to know that these stories get twisted.” 

Tony shook his head. This was different. It wasn’t like another story coming out of him cheating on Pepper, this was his child. 

“Should I say something? Speak publicly about it?” 

“To clear it up? What would you say?” 

Tony lifted his head up with a sigh. “I don’t know. That I was lifting him over a goddamn puddle, am I not allowed to do that anymore?” 

“I don’t think you should say anything, it’ll just put more attention onto it.” Pepper said but Tony wasn’t sure and then something caught his eye. 

He zoomed in on the picture to be sure. “Can you see Peter’s pull-up? He’s wearing one but… it wasn’t mentioned. It wasn’t obvious. I forgot to get him to take it off before we left the plane since I’m just so used to it now.” 

Pepper was silent for a few seconds as she looked. “No. I can’t see it. It’s fine, Tony, it’s not obvious. You were the only person in that store who knew. It’s fine.” 

Tony ran his hand down his face. Those news articles were really awful, he hadn’t come across one like that in a long time. “Okay. Yeah, you’re right. Look, I gotta go, I sent Pete upstairs to change and he’s still up there so I’m gonna go check on him.” 

He hung up the phone after that and went upstairs to see what Peter was up to. 

Tony first walked past Peter’s bedroom, not expecting him to find him in there but then he walked into his room and into the bathroom, finding Peter with his hands in the toilet, half naked. “What’s going on?” 

Peter jumped from the sudden voice. “Oh! Nothing. I just dropped something in here and I can’t reach it.” 

Tony didn’t even want to guess what it was. Or how Peter managed to drop something down the toilet. He debated just walking out to finish what he was doing but he didn’t want to come up next with Peter’s whole body in the toilet somehow. He definitely wouldn’t put that past him. 

“What is it?” He asked, walking over to the toilet. 

Peter was squatting down in front of it. “Uh… just something.” 

Tony looked around the bathroom for anything missing but he couldn’t find anything. “Tell me. What did you put down there?” 

Peter looked away. “It just dropped. I didn’t mean to-” 

“Peter.” 

“Your razor.” 

Tony snapped his head to the counter and now that he knew what to look for, he saw that his razor was gone. It was an electric one so it was definitely a goner. “How did that even happen?” 

Peter shrugged the best he could with his hands down the toilet. “I don’t know.” 

“Well, did it just walk over here and decide to go for a swim?” 

“... Yeah.” 

Tony pulled Peter’s hands out then rolled up his sleeve and had to prepare himself to put his hand in the toilet. It was clean, he’s done it before but just something about shoving your hand in toilet water was not fun. 

He shoved it in, feeling around and pulling his favourite razor out, tossing it in the garbage and immediately washing his hands. “Peter, why were you touching it? I told you no.” 

Peter crossed his arms over his chest. “No. I’m allowed.” 

“No, you’re not.” Tony dried his hands on the towel. Really it was his own fault for not putting it away and out of sight. “I thought I sent you up here to change, what happened?” 

Peter leaned against his legs. “I just forgot. I’m hungry.” 

“Okay.” Tony shut the bathroom light off and walked out of the bathroom. “Let’s go eat some dinner before we get ready for bed.”