All The Stars Align

Tony walked into his bedroom with a pile of clean clothes in his arms. “Hey hey hey, don’t touch your hair. I just gelled it.” 

Peter slowly lowered his hand. “But it’s hard.” 

Tony nodded. “Yeah… it’s gel. Your curls were a tad too crazy.” Tony checked the time once more. They had to be at the university in an hour so he hoped they made it in time. 

He agreed to give a lecture at a university and it was going to be the first one in over a year. He used to give one almost once a month but he hadn’t since he had Peter and now he agreed to do another lecture and Peter was going to come. 

The problem was that his lectures were three hours long and Peter’s attention span was barely twenty minutes at a time. 

He was looking forward to it either way. He enjoyed it mostly since the students didn’t care that he was The Tony Stark and Iron Man, the students cared and were interested because he was a genius and was a good public speaker who could teach them things that their professors couldn’t. 

Peter grabbed his phone off the nightstand table so Tony grabbed it from him. “Focus up. Do you want to wear the blue top or the black?” 

Peter stood up and crawled onto the bed to look at the jeans laid out for him. “I wanna wear track pants.” 

“No because you have to look somewhat decent.” Tony picked the black top himself and put it over Peter’s head. “You do the rest. I still have to get ready.” 

Peter put his shirt on and rolled onto his stomach to sleep. “Why are you talking to the people?” 

Tony put his suit jacket on as he answered Peter. “It’s called a lecture. In universities, the professors give lectures to the students. It’s about three hours long each, they don’t have those in high school, probably because the attention spans are so short.” Tony was referring to Peter who changed the conversation every two minutes. 

Peter shrugged. “Why can't the teacher teach it? They don’t know how to teach?” 

“It’s a professor.” Tony did up his tie, not even having to look in a mirror since he was so used to doing them by now. “And they can, I’m just a guest speaker.” 

“Like Professor Iris?” Peter asked. 

Tony had no idea who he was talking about. “Who’s that?” 

“From a scary tv show.” 

Tony didn’t know. “Okay. Can you put your pants on?” 

Peter shook his head and stared at the black tv screen. “I want to wear jeans that match my underwear.” 

Tony looked at his blue underwear. “No one is gonna be looking at your underwear so who cares.” He grabbed Peter’s ankles and pulled him closer, dragging Peter on his stomach. He then put his pants on him and stood him up, lifting them jeans up and lifting Peter off the floor in the process. “There. Are you ready to go? I’m gonna bring your iPad so you can play on it while I’m speaking.” 

Peter got himself situated and followed his dad downstairs and into the car where Happy was waiting. “Happy, are you talking there too?” 

Happy grumbled and got into the driver's seat but to Peter’s surprise, Tony sat in the back with him so Peter sat himself in the middle seat to be close to his father. “Now you can look at me instead of the road.” 

Tony squeezed Peter’s cheeks together. “You’re so adorable. How am I ever gonna focus on my lecture when I look into the audience and see your cute face.” 

Peter felt himself blush. “Then you’ll start talking about poo poo pee pee.” 

Happy chuckled in the driver's seat at their conversation and pretty soon they were arriving at the university and were greeted by Tony’s two other bodyguards. 

Peter immediately clung onto his dad. “Why are they scary looking like that?” 

Tony gathered his things before getting out of the car. “Uh… who? My bodyguards? They aren’t scary. They’re actually nice and they’ll be staying with you.” 

Peter didn’t want that. He didn’t know them. He remembered he had bodyguards follow him around when he was in Malibu at the play place but he ran away from them. He stuck out his bottom lip. “No. I want you too.” 

“I’ll be at the front but you’ll still be able to see me, bud. Let’s go.” Tony got out of the car and pulled Peter out, grabbing his hand to lead him into the university building. 

Peter stayed close, looking around with wide eyes at everything but surprisingly there were no people. 

They stopped by a door and Tony handed Happy a bag. “Peter’s iPad is in there. I don’t expect him to sit through the whole thing so you can take him around here when he gets bored and agitated.” Tony expected to see Peter get like that after about twenty minutes. 

He leaned down so he was at Peter’s height level. “Be good. Ask Happy if you need anything. I love you.” He pressed a quick kiss to his cheek and stood up straight. 

“I love you too.” Peter responded and watched his dad open the doors and walk out into a giant room. He heard a bunch of people clapping and cheering but he couldn’t see anything after the doors shut. He looked up at Happy and grabbed his hand. “Are we gonna stay here?” 

Happy awkwardly held Peter’s hand even though he was really uncomfortable. “No, we’re gonna go sit down and watch your dad talk.” 

All four of them went into the lecture hall and Happy led them over to a bench at the back and set Peter’s bag down. “Sit here.” 

Peter looked up at the other two bodyguards and chewed on the tip of his finger. He saw his dad greet them both and shake their hands when he got out of the car but Peter didn’t know them so he felt uncomfortable with them there although he didn’t know anyone in the entire room. 

He looked at the room. It was massive. And he thought his classrooms at his old high school were big. This room had rows like a movie theatre that all aimed at the centre of the stage, Tony. 

Peter didn’t understand how his dad wasn’t nervous up there in front of all those eyes watching him. 

From the stage, Tony could see Peter at the back but didn’t want to draw any attention to him if he didn’t have to even though he scanned the room and saw a few people spot him already. He began some light talk before going into his speech all while keeping an eye on Peter. 

At about twenty minutes in, like Tony predicted, Peter was getting restless. Tony could see it. 

Peter refused to go on his iPad but he was getting bored. He laid on the bench he was sitting on and looked up at Happy. “Are you bored?” 

Happy shook his head. “I’m listening to your dad speak.” 

Peter stood up on the bench and saw that he caught his dad’s eye. “I can see him better if I stand up. Try it, Happy?” 

“I’m fine here. Come down, Peter.” Happy picked Peter up and put him on his feet but Peter was climbing back up, laughing so hard that a few people turned around to look back so Tony spoke up. 

“Sorry for that, my kid is at the back making all that noise.” Tony had to say, seeing a lot of people turn around to look for the source of the child-like laughter. “Back to what I was saying,” 

Peter toned his father out and tugged on Happy’s suit jacket. “I need to pee. Can you take me? I don’t wanna go alone.” 

Happy nodded. “Yes. Let’s go fast.” 

Peter jumped off the bench and started walking but he turned and saw one of the bodyguards following so he tugged on Happy hand to hold. “Why is he coming?” 

“It’s for security reasons, Peter.” Happy simply explained as he searched for a bathroom and led Peter down the hallway all while Peter chewed on his finger and kept his eyes glued onto the bodyguard walking behind him. “Here we are.” 

Peter turned and walked into the bathroom, looking around at how clean it was. The bathrooms in high school usually had pee on the walls or even poop in the corners, that was just once and the school had an assembly about it even. 

“It’s so clean.” Peter observed. Happy pulled him towards a urinal but Peter pulled away. “No. Not this. These are too hard to use.” Peter looked for the stalls and pushed one open then pulled his pants and underwear down so Happy turned around to give him some privacy. 

“Okay then…” 

Peter sat down and swung his legs. “What’s the bodyguards names? Are you friends with them?” 

“Their names are Vance and Bobby. I don’t really know them, I just work with them occasionally.” Peter grabbed the toilet paper and started pulling it out. “I thought you said you just need to pee?” 

“I do.” 

“Then why are you grabbing toilet paper?” 

Peter stopped grabbing it. “I dunno.” 

Happy rubbed his eyes. “I’m not getting paid enough for this.” He mumbled. 

Peter gasped. “You’re getting paid?!” 

“Yeah… I’m working. This is my job.” 

Peter scrunched his nose up. “But… why are you working?” 

“I work for your dad. Your dad pays me.” Happy said like it was obvious. 

Peter knew that but… he didn’t know exactly what Happy did. “Oh… why is he paying you?” 

“To watch you. So maybe you can pull your pants up now.” Happy had been staring at the sinks the whole time, trying to give Peter some privacy but Peter clearly didn’t want or need it. 

Peter still didn’t go yet so he waited. “How much money do you get paid?” 

Happy grumbled. “How much would you guess?” 

“Uhhh… one hundred dollars.” 

“Little bit more than that. Are you done?” 

Peter finished peeing and stood up and walked out of the stall, tugging his underwear up. “Can you help me put the button on? Dad did it before, I didn’t cause it’s on the inside.” 

Happy turned around and looked down, waiting for Peter to get himself situated then he helped him with his pants. “Is that fine?” 

Peter went to wash his hands next. “Uh huh.” He dried them on his pants and opened the door to hold it open for Happy. “I’m holding it open for you.” 

“Thanks, kid. Let’s go back now.” 

Peter ran ahead but he couldn’t remember where he was going so he ran past the doors and had to turn around. He then got to the doors before Happy could and ran inside the lecture hall, running past his bench and over to the stairs. “I’m gonna go down!” 

Tony looked over at Peter who interrupted him but he couldn’t be mad and just went back to his lecture. Peter ran back over to Happy and climbed up on the bench then jumped to the man, knowing Happy was gonna catch him. “Weeeee!” 

Peter laid down on the bench once he was put on his feet and sighed. “I’m tired. I wish I was in bed so I could sleep.” 

Happy grabbed Peter’s water bottle from the bag and once Peter saw it, he made grabby hands for it. “Thank you. Mmmmm.” He drank his water while twirling a curl in his hair then rolled onto his stomach and sat on his knees. He could see his dad looking at him so he waved to him and grinned when he got a wave back. 

Tony spoke into the microphone. “Do you wanna come down here, Pete? Let’s see if you can do this question I put up.” 

Peter looked at the board for the first time and saw that his dad was teaching physics. He was pretty good at it but he hadn’t been to school in a very long time so he wasn’t sure if he still had it. 

Tony gestured for Peter to come down and Peter really wanted to be close to his dad. “Come down.” 

Happy walked down with Peter and lifted him onto the stage so Tony walked over to him and covered his hand over his mic so only Peter could hear him talk. “Do you wanna come up here?” 

Peter nodded and followed his dad over to the board. He looked out to all the students and couldn’t believe that his dad was talking to them as if he wasn’t the centre of attention for all these eyes. It made his legs shake a bit. 

Another student was already attempting to complete the question so Peter stood behind Tony a bit. 

“Hi Peter. How are you?” The man asked Peter, leaning down a bit to look at him but Peter just stared so Tony ruffled his hair. 

“He’s shy.” Tony pulled Peter against his side and grabbed a marker for him to write. “I’ll take this.” He gestured to Peter’s water bottle so Peter handed it to him and in return gave him the marker. “Do you wanna try answering this question?” 

Peter nodded and looked at the question to try and figure it out. He went to reach but he couldn’t so Tony kicked a step stool up for him to stand on. “Is it… x here?” 

Tony nodded. “Yeah… but what do you put after that? What’s T equal?” 

Peter didn’t know. He didn’t like the pressure. “Um… two thousand.” 

Tony was astonished. Peter got the right answer just by looking at it and the university student who was studying this couldn’t even figure it out yet, not that Tony was comparing. “Yeah. Yes, that’s right. How did you get that so fast?” He asked and covered his mic so no one heard him. 

“I dunno. I’m tired.” Peter rubbed at his eyes and grabbed onto his dad’s shoulders so he could go into his arms and sleep. “I wanna go home.” 

Tony knew it was late. It was a later class and Peter was bored but he still wanted to bring him. “I know. Soon. Go with Happy for now.” Tony lifted him off the stool and walked him over to the edge of the stage for Happy to take him. “Here.” He handed Peter his water bottle and lifted him down, into Happy's arms. 

“No!” Peter tried to reach up for his dad but it was too late because he was already being carried away. He was overtired and moody now so he rubbed at his eyes and couldn’t stop the crying that started. He just wanted to go home and sleep with his dad. 

Tony felt bad. He knew Peter was tired, it wasn’t even eight thirty yet but Peter usually got tired at this time so he could understand how Peter was feeling although he felt a bit bad for putting Happy on babysitting duty. 

Peter sat on the bench but he was irritated and wanted to sleep in his own bed so he threw himself off the bench and screamed through his teeth so Happy gathered his things and grabbed his arm. “Be quiet. We’re gonna wait in the car.” 

Peter wiped at his tears and let Happy lead him outside and to their car where Peter immediately climbed into his seat and laid down, drinking his water bottle to help put himself to sleep. 

He was out within minutes. 

Tony finished up his lecture and spoke to a few of the students after but he was itching to leave and go see Peter. He equally hoped Peter was sleeping so he wasn’t in a bad mood and cranky but he also hoped Peter was awake since he really wanted to cuddle him. 

He left the building and made his way over to the car, already knowing that Peter was asleep since Happy was leaning up against the car, not looking stressed at all. 

Tony patted Happy on the back and opened the back door, finding Peter passed out along the back seats. “Was he difficult?” 

“No. He fell asleep about five minutes after he laid down.” 

Tony was surprised Peter fell asleep without him. He was relieved though. “That’s good.” He got into the car and debated on letting Peter sleep but he didn’t want to risk anything happening so he lifted Peter up and sat him into a seated position, waking him up in the process. “Shh, go back to sleep.” 

Peter rubbed at his eyes but laid his head on Tony’s shoulder and went to sleep anyways. 

.

.

.

Tony needed to kill a few hours before Pepper arrived and he didn’t know what to do with Peter so he decided to take him out in the hot tub that they hadn’t used in a few weeks. 

“Pete, do you wanna go swimming in the hot tub?” Tony sat on the edge of the bed and pulled the blankets off him. They woke up an hour ago but were too lazy to get out of bed. 

“Yeah!” Peter pulled off his pyjama shirt and slid off the bed. “I wanna swim in my life jacket bathing suit. Where is it?” 

Tony grabbed his arm so he couldn’t go anywhere. “No, I’ll be right there so you don’t need it. Just put on a different bathing suit.” 

Peter shook his head. “Nooo, I need to wear that one. I don’t wanna get water up my nose.” 

“If you say so,” Tony stood up to go look for it in his closet, not having the slightest idea of where it was but he thankfully spotted it in a pile of clothes. “Found it.” Tony handed it to him and waited for Peter to change into it before changing himself. 

Peter sat on his butt once he realized what he did. “Oops. I accidentally put my feet through the same hole.” He flopped his legs like a mermaid and laughed. “Look.” 

“I can see, Pete.” Tony bent down to pull it off both his feet and held it out for him. “Do you wanna bring some of your bath toys in? Pepper’s gonna be here soon so we’ll stay in there until she gets here.” 

Peter stood up and pulled his life jacket bathing suit on him fully. “I’m gonna go get them. And I want Pepper to swim with us too. Is she coming now?” 

Tony wasn’t exactly sure what time she was coming at. “Soon I hope. I told her to meet us on the balcony.” 

Peter quickly grabbed the toys he wanted to bring out with them but it was basically all of them so Tony had to help him carry them down after changing into his bathing suit. “Wait for me before you go in.” Tony pulled the cover off the top and felt the water first. He would like it to be hotter but he had it set a bit cooler so it didn’t burn Peter. 

Peter ran on the spot, waiting for his dad to give him permission to jump in. “Okay… you can go.” 

“Yay!” He climbed over the edge and jumped into the middle where he knew he wouldn’t go under but he still doggy paddled towards a seat. 

Tony got in, turning the heat up just a bit since it felt like a warm pool and not a hot tub. Peter saw an open seat and swam over to him, attempting to sit on his lap but he kept floating up. “Hold me down.” Tony wrapped an arm around his belly and held his thigh so he stopped floating up. 

“Don’t you wanna swim around?” Asked Tony, moving Peter off of him but Peter swam back over. “I took you out here to play and swim and you’re just sitting on my lap.” 

“I like your lap.” Peter insisted as he played with one of his action figures. “We should sleep in here tonight. It’ll be fun.” 

“I think it’ll be fun until we actually fall asleep and drown.” Tony pulled Peter against his chest, content to just hold him there but the bathing suit was a bit annoying since he kept floating up. “Take this off. You don’t need it if I’m here.” 

“I like it on. I’ll take it off later. And we won’t. We’ll just float. Like this,” Peter demonstrated by floating up in the middle of the tub. He spun around and swam back over to his dad after. “You try.” 

“I don’t have that cool bathing suit of yours.” 

Peter stood up on the seat with each foot on Tony’s sides. “I’ll let you try mine on.” 

Tony picked Peter up so all his stuff wasn’t in his face. “Your bathing suit wouldn’t even make it past my knees.” 

Peter sat back on his knee. “Then you can get one in your size.” 

“I’m almost certain they don’t make those things any bigger than the one you have on. It’s just for kids, Pete.” Tony could already picture Peter ten years from now coming to visit him and he’s looking at that exact bathing suit he has on and it’s extremely tiny to look at, both of them will wonder how Peter even fit in it one time. 

Tony wanted to get as many pictures as possible. He reached onto the ledge beside him and grabbed his camera. “Let’s take a picture together.” 

Peter gasped and reached for the phone. “I wanna take a selfie together. I’ll take it.” He grabbed the phone and flipped the camera then sat up a bit to lean his head against his dads and pulled a funny face. 

Tony already loved these pictures. He took the phone from Peter to put it up on a ledge so they could put the self timer since Pepper wasn’t there to take their pictures yet. “Should we do a three second timer or ten?” 

“Ten!” 

Ten seemed long but Tony did it anyways. He got the phone set up then grabbed Peter and held him close. They posed in front of the camera for what was way too long before the picture actually took. “I think we should change that to three seconds.” 

Peter did that for Tony then went back to pose with his dad. Tony stood in the middle of the hot tub and picked Peter up with one hand between his legs and another behind his back, basically holding him up like a trophy. 

Peter giggled at the position, really wanting to check out the pictures they took later that night but he couldn’t now since Pepper walked out, already dressed in a bikini. Tony almost dropped Peter when he saw her. “Woah… you look… wow.” 

Pepper climbed into the hot tub and walked over to press a kiss to Tony’s cheek. “Thank you. I saw you guys out here so I quickly got changed.” 

Peter held his arms out for her. “Your turn to carry me now.” 

“Oh. Hi Peter. How are you?” Pepper held Peter but not as gracious as Tony does. 

Peter wrapped an arm around her neck. “I even brought my toys. Only some of them.” 

“Pepper asked you how you are, bud.” Tony sat down in one of the seats, watching his two favourite people. He felt so complete and happy with both of them together. He just loved watching the two of them so much. 

“Oh. I’m good. And look, I can float if you don’t hold me.” Peter wrapped his legs around her. “But I don’t wanna let go so don’t put me in the water. I was just telling you.” 

“Alright. Well I like your bathing suit. It looks… it kinda looks like the one I saw before. Is it?” 

Peter shrugged. 

“Yeah, you’ve seen it.” Tony answered her. 

“Well I got a new bikini. Do you boys like it?” Pepper turned to show Tony mostly since Peter was already pulling on the strings. 

Tony loved it even though Peter was blocking most of it. “I love it. Blue suits you.” 

Peter grabbed a string and pulled the front off but Pepper was quick to cover herself up. “Oops. What’s this do?” 

“Peter,” Tony stood up to grab Peter now although the situation was funny and he couldn’t help but laugh. “let go. Let go of it.” He pulled Peter away but that only caused Pepper's bikini top to fall into the hot tub so Tony faced Peter the other way and tried to help her with one hand. “Pete and your grabby hands.” 

“I didn’t do nothing!” Peter tried to get out of his dad’s arms so Tony let him go once Pepper got her bathing suit on property. “Is Pepper gonna stay over with us?” 

Tony sat back down. “Why don’t you ask her yourself.” 

Peter swam over to Pepper and sat himself down in her lap. Tony was so grateful that they were so comfortable around each other, especially Peter. He knew how shy his kid could be so it really did feel good that Peter didn’t feel that way around Pepper. 

“Are you sleeping over tonight?” Peter asked, going back to playing with her bathing suit strings. 

Pepper tried to get him to let go but he didn’t. “Yeah, I’m gonna sleep over tonight and tomorrow night and then maybe I can stay longer.” 

Tony hadn't heard any of that. “Oh really? You should stay for the whole week. I mean, we got room.” 

Pepper laughed. “I’d love to but work, Tony. Who has to take care of your company.” 

“I will.” Peter turned to look at his dad. “I’m gonna go to a meeting and then I’ll talk with all the people.” 

Tony would love to see that. He already knew how that would play out, Peter would stare at everyone and ignore all their questions then hide under the table until he felt ready to come out, which would be never. 

“Maybe one day. Not yet, you can’t grow up too fast, kid.” Tony thought that Pepper was being a Peter hog now and he wanted his kid back so he got up to go take Peter from her. “Come.” 

To his surprise, Peter shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “No. I’m sitting with Pepper.” He wrapped Pepper in a hug then sat down facing her. “We can watch a movie tonight and dad can bring us candy and chocolate.” 

“That sounds like a fun idea.” Pepper brushed the curls off Peter’s forehead. “You have such a handsome face.” 

“Just like daddy.” Peter grinned over at Tony then laid his head on Pepper’s chest but lifted his head back up. “Dad’s chest is so hairy. Mines not but you can’t see it because I have a bathing suit on. And yours isn’t either!” 

Tony didn’t know who raised Peter to be so weird but then he remembered that he did… “Peter, you’re gonna scare Pepper away. How about you come sit with me?” 

Peter gasped. “I need to poop. I need to go poo.” 

Tony was already standing up to take him but Peter grabbed Pepper’s hand. “I want you to take me.” 

“Oh, maybe your father should-” 

“No! You can. Come.” Peter got off her lap and swam towards the steps then turned around to make sure she was following him. 

“I can go, Pep. Are you sure?” Tony was getting a bit anxious, knowing how Peter was. It wasn’t just going to be a trip to the bathroom and back. If he knew Peter, Peter was going to be walking back out in a new bathing suit, a new toy from upstairs and food or a drink. 

Pepper fondly rolled her eyes at him. “I’ve got him, Tony. We’ll see you soon.” 

Peter walked inside the penthouse and shut the door behind him. “It’s cold when we’re not in the hot tub.” He started walking towards the kitchen for something to eat but Pepper walked down the hallway to a bathroom. 

“This way, Peter.” She looked over at him. 

Peter stopped. He would go back to the kitchen so he walked towards Pepper and peeled off his bathing suit, pulling it down until it was all rolled up by his ankles then sat on the toilet and almost fell in. “Woah… it’s slippy.” 

Pepper stood by the door awkwardly to give Peter some privacy. “Be careful.” 

Peter almost fell in again. “Woah! It’s cause I’m all drippy wet from the hot tub.” He pulled on a curl. “Even my hair is still drippy.” 

“Okay… well, you go.” 

Peter looked at Pepper briefly and looked down at his lap but as he waited, he realized he never even needed to go so he stood up. “I don’t need to go anymore. I need to change my bathing suit because this one is all wet.” 

Pepper watched him scurry out of the bathroom, confused. “But… didn’t you just need to go?” Peter shook his head so Pepper followed behind him towards the kitchen. “Your bathing suit is wet because we were just swimming. Put it back on and we can go into the hot tub again.” 

“Noooo. It’s cold.” Peter hurried towards the kitchen but he slipped and fell onto his butt. “Owww.” 

“Oh Peter. Are you okay?” Pepper raced over to him and helped him up but she was glad he didn’t smack his head. “You have to be careful.” 

Peter whimpered. “Yeah… I just need my Apple pouch and a new bathing suit.” 

He opened the fridge and grabbed an apple pouch then scurried over to the stairs. “I’ll be right back.” He kicked his current bathing suit off his ankles and raced upstairs to look for a bathing suit but he found one of his life jackets and put that on instead. He then raced back downstairs and approached Pepper. “I’m all ready! I’ll race you outside again.” 

He ran towards the back door and tried to open it but it was locked. “It’s stuck.” 

Pepper was one of the only people that knew the password to get out so she typed it in and opened it, letting Peter run out first. “Dad! Look! My bathing suit was wet so I changed. I can still float.” 

Peter walked into the hot tub and swam over to his dad. “I love it. How was your poop?” 

Peter turned on his lap to sit facing him. “I didn’t go.” 

Tony wasn’t surprised. He looked over at Pepper. “Nothing?” 

She got in herself and sat down. “Nope. And he fell while walking to the kitchen.” 

Peter sucked on his juice pouch. “On accident. The floor was randomly slippy.” 

“Yeah, I wonder why.” Tony sarcastically said and rolled his eyes then grabbed Peter to sit back on him. “I’m getting hot in here, do you wanna get out and we can go for a drive somewhere maybe?” 

“With Pepper?” 

“Of course. She’ll come too.” 

Peter turned to look at her. “And you can sit in the back seat with me.” 

Tony wanted Pepper in the front with him but he would let Peter have her if he wanted. Pepper gave Peter a warm smile. “Yeah, are we leaving right now?” 

“It’ll take about thirty minutes to actually leave so Pete and I are going to go up right now but you can stay in here. We’ll be awhile.” Tony stood up and grabbed onto the life jacket strap to pull Peter up. “Let’s go, bud.” 

Peter held his arms out as if he were flying like an airplane. “Weeee! Do it higher!” 

Tony was glad Peter was light. He got out of the hot tub and held Peter out then carried him inside like that. “We gotta get dressed so we can go. Are you hungry?” 

Peter pretended like he was swimming through the air as Tony held him to go upstairs. “Fish!” 

“You don’t like fish.” 

“I want to eat fish cause I’m a shark.” Peter joked and was placed on the ground then he started crawling to his dad’s bedroom. 

“Sharks don’t crawl. They swim.” Tony walked behind him, laughing at Peter but he wanted to save that image in his head forever. 

“I’m an imposter shark.” 

Tony grabbed the strap at the back again and lifted him into the closet then pulled out thin cotton pants and held them up. “I like these. Put these on and I’ll grab a top. Take off your life jacket and go hang it in the bathroom please.” 

Peter went to do that and grabbed onto his dad’s axe. “Dad? Can I spray you?” 

Tony grabbed it out of his hands. “No. Put clothes on. I picked this top for you. Hurry because Pepper is going to be waiting for us.” 

Peter tried to climb into Tony’s basket of clothes while Tony was grabbing his own clothes. “Try and find me.” 

Tony tipped the basket with his foot but he saw that Peter was going to hit his head so he quickly reached down to block him. “Woah. Okay, get out. I want you to get dressed so we can go.” 

“Did-was I gonna hit my head?” 

“Yeah.” 

“But you tipped me.” 

Tony grabbed Peter by his arm to stand him up but Peter flopped back down onto the floor. “Stand up. Get dressed. We have to go before the restaurant closes.” 

Peter gasped and grabbed his underwear. “What time does it close?” 

“Do you even know what time it is right now?” Peter shook his head. “Do you even know what day it is?” Peter giggled and shook his head again. “Thought so. Get. Dressed. Now.” He threw the pants at him. “Hurry up.” 

“If you rush me I’ll only go even slower. Don’t rush me, dad.” 

Pepper walked in dressed in a simple blouse along with black pants and her hair done up in a ponytail. Tony felt the butterflies in his stomach even just from looking at her. 

“You guys still aren’t dressed yet.” She looked down at Peter. “I thought you guys would be ready to go by now.” 

Tony rolled his eyes. “Because I have this one here.” 

Peter turned to look up at Pepper but he didn’t say anything to her. “Peter, you better get dressed or we’re gonna get to the restaurant and it’ll be closed.” 

Peter turned back to look at his dad so Tony nodded. “See? I told you, Pete.” He grabbed the underwear and held it out. “Put your feet through.” Peter thought it was funny so he turned on his stomach to crawl away but Tony grabbed his ankle and pulled him back. “Nope. Feet through.” 

He flipped Peter back over and got him to stay still long enough for Peter to actually get dressed. 

“There’s this new place I heard of, it has a jungle gym in there for kids to play in.” Pepper said and pulled out her phone to show Tony. 

“Uh… you mean McDonald’s?” Tony grabbed his own clothes to go change in the bathroom but Pepper showed him the picture. 

“No. Not McDonald’s. Rainforest jungle.” 

Tony saw the picture but he didn’t recognize it. “So do the kids play after they eat and all throw up in there.” 

Pepper rolled her eyes at him. “No, Tony. They order then go play until their food arrives.” 

“Show Pete the pictures. I’m gonna change.” 

Peter pulled Pepper’s arms down so he could see. “Woah. That’s cool. Are we going there?” 

“We can.” 

“Yay! I want to play in there.” 

Once they were ready to go, they got into the car and were on their way there. Tony wanted Peter to stay with him like at a normal restaurant but he didn’t want to say no to him having fun. 

The jungle gym was way bigger than Tony expected. He had no idea how he was supposed to find Peter in there once the dinner was ready. He looked around and there were all eyes on them immediately so Tony asked to have a seat at the back. 

Peter was looking wide eyed at the play structure so Tony reluctantly let him go. “Don’t talk to strangers. Unless they’re your age. And come back down in twenty minutes.” 

Peter nodded excitedly. “I wanna go now, how do I get in?” 

Tony lifted Peter up and over the foam gates. “Go play. Wait. Give me your shoes. Peter. Take off your shoes first.” 

Peter quickly took them off and ran back to hand them to his dad then he walked cautiously towards the play area to decide where he wanted to go first. It reminded him of when he went to Malibu and he made that friend. He hoped he would make a new friend. 

Tony didn’t want to be overbearing, he wanted to give Peter that space to play but he was paranoid because there were a lot of fucked up people in the world who would snatch a kid up. And being the son of Tony Stark painted a target at the back of Peter’s head. 

“I’m just gonna switch seats with you so I can face this way.” Tony sat down and had a conversation with Pepper but most of his attention was on something else. 

She grabbed his hands. “Tony. Just look at me. He’s fine. Relax. Let him be a kid and play by himself. Or with other kids.” 

“No. I will never relax when it comes to Peter. I am on edge all the time when he’s not with me.” 

“Maybe you should talk to someone about that. It’s normal for parents… and I understand because you’re you and everything that happened before… I understand why but maybe it could help to talk to someone.” 

Tony shrugged it off. He was fine. He had Peter with him all the time so it was fine. “No. I’m good. He’s good. He has Rose who actually is supposed to come in a few days so we are good.” 

Pepper sighed. “I don’t want you to be stressed over this-” 

“Pepper? Pepper Potts?” 

Tony cringed. He turned to the voices and saw two unfamiliar faces but Pepper swore under her breath as she got up to greet them. “Hi Nancy. How are you? It’s been… what, two years?” 

Nancy hugged Pepper back. “Just about.” She turned to Tony and stuck her hand out to greet him. “Hi Tony Stark. Wow, it’s so nice to meet you.” 

Tony put on his fake persona. “It’s nice to meet you. How do you know, Pepper?” 

Tony was already getting bad vibes from this lady. He just wanted to spend some time with Pepper but then she spoke and he knew why he didn’t like her. 

“Pepper hasn’t told you? Well, she used to date Mason who is now my husband.” 

Tony looked at Pepper. He did not know that. He of course knew Pepper dated men before him, and he of course… had sex with a lot of woman before her, most he couldn’t even remember their names even if he wanted to. 

“Oh yeah? When was this?” He didn’t want to get jealous but he couldn’t help it. He was overly possessive and protective of the people he loved the most; Pepper and Peter. 

It was why Pepper left him in the first place, well, at least one of the reasons why. 

She looked uncomfortable, he could tell. “We dated for barely six months a long time ago. It was nothing.” 

Tony wanted to hear more about that later. 

Nancy was laughing and it sounded so fake. Tony cringed. He heard a lot of fake laughs but this one was by far the worst. “Mason! Come, it’s Tony and Pepper.” 

Tony didn’t want to see this guy. He didn’t have a choice since Peppers apparent ex boyfriend was making his way over so Tony gave him a firm handshake. “Hey, I’m Tony.” 

“Oh I know how you are, billionaire Tony Stark, huh. I heard you had a son around our kids' age,” Mason put his arm around Nancy. “how old is the little bugger?” 

“He’s fourteen.” 

“Our son is eleven but he’ll be twelve in a week. Close enough. Where is he? How about they go play together while we all catch up?” 

Tony wouldn’t hate that more but he wanted Peter to make a new potential friend so he faked a smile. “I just sent him into the jungle so I’ll try and get his attention.” Tony walked towards the gate and opened it up, trying to find Peter but he had no idea how he was supposed to spot him in the giant play structure. 

“Peter?” Tony called out, thankful for Peter’s hearing abilities and hoping he heard him. 

It wasn’t even a minute later when Peter was running up to him. “Hi dad. Come inside with me. There’s a slide that leads to a ball pit.” 

“You can go play again soon but there’s some kid Pep and I want you to play with.” Tony led Peter out back to their table, a bit annoyed that the couple had joined them. He spotted another boy sitting at the table so he introduced Peter. “Hey, kid. What’s your name?” Said Tony. 

The boy put his cup down and looked at Peter, a grin spreading across his face. “My names Ryder.” 

Peter smiled at him, too shy to introduce himself so Tony did. “His name is Peter. How about you guys go play until the food comes.” 

Ryder grabbed onto Peter’s hand and ran with him into the jungle gym again. Peter pulled his hand out of Ryders and looked at him. He looked nice but he barely knew him so he definitely didn’t want to hold his hand. “Wanna go see the slide?” 

“Yeah… have you been here before?” 

Peter rolled over the rollers. “Just today. Just now before now.” 

Ryder followed him over. “What do you mean?” 

“Do you wanna go back down and sit on the animal swings?” Peter suggested. He spotted them before but forgot about them until now. 

“Yeah. And I’m hungry.” 

Peter went down the foam stairs. He was hungry too but he was having a good time so he’d rather wait so he could play some more. He spotted a small ball pit and ran over to it, crawling in the tiny hole to get in. He turned around to make sure the boy was following him still. “Uh… what’s your name again? I can’t remember.” 

“Ryder.” The boy said and Peter thought it was an odd name he’s never heard before. 

“Okay.” Let’s go down here together.” 

Ryder grabbed onto Peter’s hand. “We should slide down while holding hands.” Peter pulled his hand out of Ryders. 

“But we won’t fit. I’ll go first and catch you at the bottom.” Peter suggested and went to go down first but Ryder's eyes were tearing up so Peter stopped and crawled over to him. “Why are you sad?” 

Ryder wiped at his eyes. “You don’t wanna hold my hand.” 

Peter felt bad. He patted his hand and reached out to grab his hand. “Okay. I’ll hold your hand and we can go down the slide together.” 

Ryder wiped at his tears and Peter felt proud that he got him to stop crying although he didn’t know why he was crying at something so simple and silly. Peter didn’t realize that he did that everyday with his dad and that Tony always thought the same thing. 

Once they got called down for dinner, the two boys made their way to the table. Peter spotted his dad and crawled over his lap to sit between him and Pepper. “Did you boys have fun?” Peter nodded and looked at the food on the table. 

Ryder sat between his parents and began eating his food so Mason directed his attention onto Peter. “So, Peter, what are you studying in school?” 

Peter shrugged and stuffed a chicken finger in his mouth so Tony answered for him, lying a bit since it was none of these peoples business what they got up to daily. “He’s in grade nine so he’s taking all those fun classes.” Tony answered, still wanting this dinner to be over with. He felt like he got sucked into this. 

The dinner was painfully long, both because Pepper dated the man and Tony couldn’t stop thinking about it and because he doesn’t like meeting people since they were always fake and wanted his money or attention. 

Peter went to go play for a few more minutes with Ryder in the jungle so Tony was just counting down the minutes until they could leave. He wanted to go home and be done with this. 

He wasn’t really focused on the conversation but he heard his kids name so he looked at Mason who was looking at him. “What?” 

“Peter is small for his age.” Said mason. “He’s fourteen and he’s the same weight as my eleven year old and just a bit taller.” 

“Ever consider that maybe your kid is big for his age?” He scuffed. “They come in all shapes and sizes.” 

Mason didn’t have anything to say to that so Tony looked back over at Peter, watching him sitting on some foam steps and playing some hand game with Ryder. He wanted them to be done but he didn’t want to rush them. 

Tony saw a man walk up to both boys and start talking to them and Tony was having none of that so he stood up and walked over to them. “No. You can go.” He said to the man who immediately backed away. 

“Oh. Sorry, dude.” 

Tony smiled. “Yeah. Just go.” 

The man looked at Peter again then put away his phone and left. Tony knew how people were, approaching celebrities' kids when their parents weren’t around to try and talk to them. It was frustrating because Tony didn’t want that for Peter but that was his life now. 

He let the two boys play for a little bit longer until Ryder's parents announced that they had to go. Tony was relieved. Pepper was having a good time and so was Peter so he sucked it up for them but now he was just glad that it was over and they could go home. 

.

.

.

Getting Petet ready for bed was hard. 

Tony didn’t have the energy and wasn’t in the mood but no one else was there to do it and Peter refused to do it alone. 

Once he was in bed, Tony patted Peter’s bum, trying to get him to fall asleep. He was grateful that Peter was tired since he had no energy to fight him to sleep. He was already feeling like a bad dad tonight because he didn’t feel 100% present with Peter after they got back from the dinner. 

He peeked over to make sure Peter was asleep then he slowly stopped patting his bum just as Pepper walked into his room. He didn’t acknowledge her so she sighed. 

“Are you mad?” 

Tony was so tired but he couldn’t sleep without knowing everything. “I’m not mad… I just don’t understand why you took us to that restaurant. Did you know they’d be there?” He whispered. 

Pepper crossed her arms over her chest, giving him a look that he hadn’t seen in a long time. “Are you serious? No. Okay, no, I did not know they would be there, Tony. How would I know? I haven’t seen them in years.” 

Tony sat up so they could walk out of the bedroom and not wake Peter up. He shut the door quietly behind them. “Well I don't know. We show up and two minutes later your ex boyfriend is showing up.” 

Pepper threw her arms up in the air and walked away from him. “You’re ridiculous.” 

Tony followed her downstairs, able to talk loudly now and not whisper. “I just want to know. I mean you dated the guy for six months.” 

Pepper turned to look at him, not impressed and not saying anything. 

“Did you sleep with him?” Tony almost knew what the answer was. He really hoped he was wrong. 

Pepper was taken back. “What?” 

“Did you have sex with Mason?” He asked again. “You guys dated for six months. We started having sex after barely a month of dating. We’re having sex now and we’re not even dating so I want to know.” 

Pepper rolled her eyes at his jealousy. “No. We didn’t sleep together.” 

Tony scuffed. “Oh please. I know you did. You guys dated for six months, just tell me. When did you guys first do it? How many times? Where?” 

Pepper walked away from him. “You can’t be serious. You need to talk to someone, Tony. This is why I left you in the first place. You can’t control people like this. I’m my own person.” 

“I know but I can’t…” Tony sat on the edge of the couch. “I can’t picture you with anyone else without feeling sick. I just want to know. Tell me.” 

With a sigh, Pepper walked towards Tony. “Mason and I did not have sex. Yes, we dated for six months but I was always away for work and when we were together, we were either fighting or going on group dates. I’m actually surprised we lasted so long. Happy?” 

Tony felt a bit better at that but he still had other questions. “Did you guys do anything else?” 

Pepper was so done with him. She sat on the couch and put her head in her hands. “Tony. I’m an adult. I have lived on my own since I was twenty. Let me make my own decisions without feeling like I have to ask you for permission first.” 

“I love you and the thought of you with anyone else makes me sick.” Tony admitted although it was no secret. “Are you sleeping with anyone else? When you go to Malibu, what are you doing there?” 

Pepper looked at him and stood up. “I’m done. I’m leaving. I’m going to a hotel for the night and I’m flying out tomorrow.” 

Tony stood up to grab her arm. “No no. Wait. Just wait. I’m sorry. Okay… I just… I don’t wanna lose you but I can’t… I can’t just turn it off. You know, we broke up for these reasons,” 

“And Iron Man.” Pepper added. 

“Yes. And I tried to stop. I tried to be okay with the idea of you with someone else but I can’t so just… it’s who I am.” 

Pepper turned to him. “You are controlling. You are overprotective. You are jealous. You need to dial all that down a whole lot. I see how controlling you are with Peter… he doesn’t notice now but one day he will and he’ll resent you for it and push away from you. If you’re not careful, you’ll ruin your relationship with him.” 

Tony shook his head in denial. He didn’t want to think about that. “He’s fourteen. He doesn’t know any better. I’m not gonna ruin our relationship. We get closer and closer everyday and yeah, I’m overprotective with him but he’s my kid so I’m always gonna be overprotective over him. I won’t change that.” 

“What happens when he gets a girlfriend. Or boyfriend. I don’t know. He probably doesn’t even know. I’m just saying, one day he’s gonna tell you he has a little crush and bring a girl home, are you really gonna tell him he’s not allowed.” 

Tony hated that thought. Peter was too young. He didn’t even want to think about that. “Well, he’s still sleeping with me every night, wets the bed every other night, cries if he doesn’t get his way and is naked about ninety-five percent of the time so no, I know he’s not gonna be bringing home any girl anytime soon. Never if it were up to me.” 

Pepper shook her head at that. “So you won’t let him?” 

“No.” Tony was being serious. He had rules and he thought they were reasonable. “Peter isn’t allowed to date. He’s too young. Reasonably, he’s not allowed to date until after college and I’ll be telling him that when the time comes.” He said seriously. “Unrealistically, if it were up to me, I’d freeze time right now forever and never have him grow up but I know that’s impossible so I’m gonna go with the no dating until after college thing.” 

“Tony. Why?” 

“Because I slept around with a ton of girls and did a lot of inappropriate sexual stuff at a really young age and look how I turned out. I’m not having that for Peter.” 

Pepper grabbed his hand, knowing how hard it was for Tony to think about that time in his past. “Peter didn’t grow up like you. He didn’t have your father, Tony.” 

Tony pulled away from her. “Yeah. He had it so much worse. His parents died when he was two. He doesn’t even know them. That alone is cause for some early drinking. Then his Uncle died and just a few months ago his Aunt died. Now I’m his dad. He has severe separation anxiety. Sometimes I think a five year old has possessed his body so yeah, I’m extremely petrified that he’s gonna start drinking, having random sex and doing drugs just to numb the memories of his childhood.” 

Pepper nodded, understanding a bit more from Tony’s point of view and she felt bad. Tony was right. Peter had a hard life and she knew that but never really took it into consideration. “Do you ever think that Peter acts younger because you missed out on so much of his childhood so he unconsciously doesn’t want to let that go?” 

“I don’t mind it.” Tony admitted, a bit shamelessly. “I missed out on so much. So I’m okay with him acting the way he does. Even though I’m exhausted and want to pull my hair out half the time. But the other half of the time is what makes it worth it.” 

Pepper squeezed his hand. “Just be careful. I don’t want you to keep him on a tight leash and protect him from too much. He has to grow and learn on his own sometimes.” 

Tony shook his head. “I do let him but we’re going through a lot. I’m not gonna ruin our relationship. I’m just overprotective and I have reasons to be.” 

“I know. And I’m sorry. I know you’re an amazing dad. Peter is so lucky to have you as a dad and I know you’re doing everything you can to make sure he doesn’t end up doing drugs and all that.” 

It was hard but he was trying. “I just don’t want him to make wrong choices. I know every teenager does but I don’t want him to make the choices that I made when I was twenty.” 

Pepper pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I know. And you’re doing a fantastic job. And I love you too. I’m not sleeping with anyone else. I just don’t want a relationship with you right now. You don’t have time for that and I understand. Peter comes first for you. I understand that. You just can’t get jealous over my past. I’ve dated guys. You’ve dated girls. I know that and you know that and you have to accept that. It was before us.” 

Tony pulled her closer. “I know. I can’t change the way I am but I’ll try not to freak out again. Although I better not see any of your boyfriends again. Unless I’m looking in the mirror.” He joked. 

“Yeah yeah.” Pepper laughed and hugged him briefly. “Get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

“So you’re saying you’re staying?” 

“Yes. I’m staying.” 

Tony was happy about that. He said goodnight to Pepper and made his way upstairs to go to bed. Finally. 

He went into the bathroom to get ready and changed into pyjamas then laid down on the bed, practically melting into the mattress and ready to fall asleep. 

Tony fell asleep with his hand placed on Peter’s belly. He didn’t know how he was going to sleep without him when he eventually puts Peter into his own bed since he couldn’t sleep without Peter but for now, he was going to soak up these moments. 

He didn’t remember falling asleep so maybe that was why he woke up so suddenly and confused. 

Tony reached over on the bed to feel for Peter and he didn’t immediately feel him but he wasn’t surprised since it was a big bed and Peter was small and often rolled into the corner or even at the bottom of the bed. 

He tried to reach out again but he still couldn’t feel for Peter so he sat up and turned the lamp on and didn’t see him. 

So he stood up and walked into Peter’s bedroom to find him but instead of finding Peter’s bed in there, it was an open field with a small coffin in front of him. Tony walked in and the bedroom door shut behind him but when he turned around to look at it, it was gone and he was suddenly in the middle of a giant field that would have been peaceful if he wasn’t walking up to a small coffin. 

Tony braced himself and started making his way towards the coffin but as he got closer, he was overwhelmed with such an intense feeling of sadness and overwhelming grief that he started crying before he even opened up the coffin. 

When he opened up the lid, he looked down at his son’s resting face and reached inside to try and wake him up but it was like he couldn’t touch him. “Peter, no. Peter. Wake up. Wake up. Peter, my baby. Wake up.” 

He grabbed desperately at him but he couldn’t get to him and then he was sitting up in bed, his heart beating so loudly he could hear it and his body soaked with sweat. 

Tony grabbed desperately at his chest and looked over in the bed to see Peter asleep next to him but all Tony could see was Peter lying in that coffin so he reached over and picked Peter up, cradling him in his arms. 

At that moment, he didn’t care or even think about the fact that he was waking Peter up. 

He stood up and looked down at his sleeping son's face, trying to bounce him a bit to wake him up. “Hey, Peter. Wake up.” 

Peter tried to arch his back to stretch and rubbed at his eyes, blinking slowly at Tony. “Mm.” 

“Hey, I didn’t mean to wake you… I…” Tony did mean to wake him up. He didn’t know why he said that. “I just wanted to see your eyes.” 

Peter woke up a bit more and looked around in the dimly lit room. “Mm, morning?” 

“No, baby. It’s still nighttime.” Tony knew he was being selfish by waking Peter up but he needed him. Tony was an adult. He didn’t think he would ever depend on someone so much yet here he was, it was painfully obvious that he couldn’t live without Peter. He wouldn’t. 

He was glad that Peter depended on him so much. 

“Just go to sleep again.” Peter looked towards the bed when Tony said that but Tony wanted to hold him in his arms so he lifted Peter up so he could lay his head on his shoulder. “Shh. Close your eyes and sleep.” 

Tony sat on the edge of the bed and was going to lay down but he really didn’t wanna sleep anymore. 

He knew he shouldn’t have woken Peter up but he needed to calm down and the only way to do that would have been to wake Peter up so he could see his eyes. 

Tony was a mess.