Chapter Text
“You’re going to be late!” Pepper told him as he grabbed his car keys.
“I know, but you were late getting back here so how was I supposed to leave?” Tony raised a brow.
“My meeting ran late!” Pepper said.
“Arguing doesn’t solve this. LOVE YOU!” Tony ran out the door and prayed traffic would give him a break. He was going to be late. Peter would be pissed. How was he failing so miserably at this already? Peter had asked for one thing this week. He wanted Tony to come to a school event as a chaperon. It wasn’t really Tony’s thing, but he was trying so he had agreed. Now the field trip was going to leave without him.
Tony pulled up and thankfully the bus was still there. Maybe Peter wouldn’t notice how late he was. He walked over and Peter gave him a look that he couldn’t quite make out. Nope. Nope. Nope. He had definitely noticed how late Tony was. He was going to hear about this later.
~
On the drive home from school Peter was quiet and staring out the window. Tony knew he had something to say and was just holding back, “Go ahead. I know you’re mad.”
Peter glanced over, “Not mad.”
“Pete…It’s okay. I messed up. You get to be mad.”
“I’m not mad.” Peter repeated.
Tony just sighed. He wasn’t confident that Peter was telling the truth but he didn’t want to make him even more upset by continuing to pry. He pulled into the drive way and Peter was out of the car before he had even had a chance to turn the car off completely.
Pepper stopped Peter before he could head up the stairs to his room, “How was the field trip?”
“Fine. We went to a bakery and got to have a contest to see what team could make the best cupcake.” Peter sat down at the table next to her.
“Did you win?” Pepper asked the excited thirteen year old.
“No. Our cupcake didn’t rise. We may have forgotten an ingredient or two in our rush.” Peter laughed.
“As long as you had fun I suppose.” Pepper smiled.
“PETEY!” Morgan yelled coming down the stairs. Morgan had stayed home due to a teacher learning day and was excited that her brother was finally home.
“Mo. Did you miss me?” Peter asked accepting a hug from the six year old.
“SOO much! Mommy would not play pirates the right way!” Morgan told him.
“HEY!” Pepper said in defense of herself.
“It’s okay, Mo Mo. We can play after dinner if you want.” Peter promised.
Morgan jumped up and down with glee, “THANK YOU, PETEY!”
“Both of you go wash your hands. Dinner is almost done.” Pepper said as she walked by on her way into the kitchen.
During dinner Peter told his family about his day at school and Morgan interrupted only a few times to talk about her day. Peter would just let her talk until she paused and then continue. Dinner continued in peace and Tony just kept waiting for the explosion he knew was coming.
After Morgan was in bed Peter went downstairs to get a glass of water. Pepper and Tony were in the living room.
“You okay, honey?” Pepper asked.
“Yeah. I’m just working on some homework and I needed some water.” Peter walked to the kitchen and was surprised when he turned around and found his dad standing by him.
“Look. You can’t just be cool about what happened. It just doesn’t make sense to me. You have to be mad.” Tony told him.
“Dad. I don’t know how to tell you this any differently than I already have. I’m not mad.” Peter said walking past him to go finish his homework.
“PETER! JUST GET MAD SO I CAN APOLOGIZE!” Tony yelled after him.
Pepper glanced at Peter as he was heading up the stairs, “He’ll be apologizing to me if he wakes up your sister with that yelling.”
Peter laughed, “I think he’d be relieved that someone was angry at least.”
“Maybe you should get mad so he’d feel better.” Pepper winked.
~
Peter was stuck on his homework. He sighed as he glanced the clock. It was getting late and he was going to have to go to sleep soon even if the homework wasn’t done. It wasn’t like it was due tomorrow or anything. Peter just hated to wait on it and he wanted to got to Ned’s on the weekend so he’d rather all of his homework be done.
Peter grabbed his textbook and carried it downstairs. Pepper had come to say goodnight earlier so he knew she was asleep but he figured his dad was still awake and sure enough he found him sitting in the dining room working on something on his Stark Tablet.
“Dad…I’m stuck on this math problem. Can you help?” Peter asked sitting down by him.
“Sure, bud. Let’s figure it out.” Tony agreed easily. Peter rarely asked for help with homework any more so he tried to make sure to give him his attention when he did. They spent the next thirty minutes finishing homework together. Tony shooed Peter upstairs to go to bed when he saw him yawning too many times.
“Night, Dad. Love you!” Peter wrapped his arms around his dad in a hug.
“Night, Spider-Baby. I love you.” Tony said.
Peter turned to walk away when he heard, “Even if you won’t admit you’re mad at me.”
“Not…MAD…Dad.” Peter answered as he walked upstairs to go to sleep.
~
Peter was at lunch the next day when a text came through,
Dad, “PLEASE. I’M DYING. I’M SORRY. JUST STOP BEING MAD AT ME.”
Peter, “Still not mad.”
Dad, “Peter.”
Peter, “Dad…”
The bell rang and Peter had to hurry to class. Peter turned his phone off and gave his teacher his attention. The last thing he needed after being suspended was to get in trouble the week after coming back to school.
By the time school ended Peter booked it out of school as quickly as possible and found an alley to change into his suit in and was soon swinging though the streets of New York. He’d stopped a person from stealing a car, helped a lost kid find their mom, and got a cat down from a tree by the time Karen was alerting him to his dad calling him.
“Peter Stark. You keep saying you’re not mad, but then you’ve ignored my calls and messages and I had to go through Karen to reach you.” Tony told him.
“I didn’t ignore anything.” Peter answered as he landed on a roof top.
“Yes. You did. You probably have like 12 missed calls from me.”
Peter’s eyes got wide, “I mean that may have to do with the fact that my phone is in my backpack in some random alley…”
“Your brand new Stark phone is in your backpack in some random alley.” Tony repeated.
“Yep. Good news though…I’m still not mad!” Peter said cheerfully.
“You’d better hope that backpack is still there.” Tony told him.
“Why?”
“Or I know someone who might be mad if it isn’t.” Tony said before disconnecting.
~
Peter got home backpack in hand and held it up for his dad to see, “Don’t worry. You don’t have to buy backpack #64 yet.”
“I’m so relieved.” Tony knew his reply dripped with sarcasm but the fact that he’d replaced 63 backpacks boggled his mind.
“Can we work on my suit for a bit tonight?” Peter asked.
“After you shower and after I get Morgan to sleep.” Tony agreed. They’d gotten better at their new routine of having some time at night for Peter to be able to spend time with his parents without his younger sister underfoot.
“Awesome! Thanks!” Peter ran up the stairs to go shower.
Peter made it to the lab first and got to work on some simple updates that he didn’t really need his dad’s help for anymore.
His dad joined him about 15 minutes later, “Sorry. She didn’t like the idea of bedtime tonight.”
“She never does.” Peter answered without looking up.
Tony and Peter worked together in silence only breaking that level of concentration to give a suggestion here or there. They were discussing a new suit in the future when they heard a quiet,
“Daddy.”
Tony turned to find his five year old awake again. He sighed and put down the Stark Tablet he was working on, “Little miss. You are supposed to be sleeping.”
“Why does Petey get to be awake then?” Morgan pouted.
“I’m older.” Peter told her.
“No. If Petey is awake then I’m going to be awake too.” Morgan stomped her foot.
Tony picked her up, “Nope. I’m taking you back up to bed right now.”
Peter heard Morgan protest the whole way out of the lab. He got back to work figuring his dad would be back momentarily. It wasn’t his dad who came down though after a while. It was Pepper.
“He fell asleep putting Morgan to bed.” Pepper ruffled his hair as she broke the bad news.
“I guess I’ll just finish what I can by myself before I go to sleep then.” Peter shrugged.
“Mad?” Pepper asked.
“Nope.”
“It’s okay to be mad, Pete.” Pepper told him.
“You know why I’m not mad?” Peter finally put down the tools he was using to give his mom his attention.
“Why?” Pepper sat down next to him.
“I never asked for perfect. I just just wanted you and dad to try and you’ve been doing that and so has dad so there is nothing to be angry about.” Peter explained.
“I’m glad you’re not asking for perfect.” Pepper kissed his cheeks and got up to go upstairs to bed. “Don’t stay up too late.”
“I won’t. Love you!” Peter said going back to his project.
“Love you more!” Pepper responded.
~
Peter woke up late the next morning because his alarm hadn’t gone off and he’d gone to sleep way too late so his body didn’t think to wake him up on it’s own in time. He rushed to get dressed and booked it downstairs.
Tony handed him a few granola bars and an apple, “Ready?”
“No. I’m stressed, Dad. My hair is a mess. I didn’t study enough for a test this afternoon. I’m just plain overwhelmed.” Peter said as he ran a hand through his curls to try and calm them.
“Pete. Pause.” Tony said calmly.
“WE don’t have time!” Peter told him.
“We do. I’ll sign you in late. It’ll be fine. This is important though.”
“Fine. What is it?” Peter asked.
“You need a hug. A full sixty second hug.” Tony opened his arms.
Peter rolled his eyes but did step into the hug. After about 20 seconds Peter started to tighten his grip because his dad represented safety and security. He soon rested his head against his dad. He asked at 45 seconds, “Why sixty seconds?”
Tony paused before responding, “So my heart can talk to yours.”