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When Tony first brought Peter home, he didn’t know what to expect. How was he supposed to know?
Peter Parker, his kid, had recently lost his parents in a plane crash. Tony vaguely remembered Mary Parker from their meeting a few years ago, and really, he should’ve considered the possibility that she might… have a kid. It was just easier to ignore it. Simply not think about it and just focus on other things.
But when Tony found out Mary and her husband were both dead, leaving Peter - his son - on his own, the reality was suddenly impossible to avoid.
And of course, there was no way Tony could leave Peter to the system. He might not be particularly qualified for the role of a dad but he could at least give the kid a stable home.
The whole ‘not being qualified’ part became glaringly obvious when Tony brought Peter home. The kid had a backpack with him, filled with a couple of his favourite toys, and nothing else. Tony had made a room up for him, nothing too detailed, just something simple, he figured he and Peter could have some fun decorating it some more together later on.
Peter was quiet, subdued, listened well and kept his room clean. He didn’t seem incredibly outgoing, but Tony couldn’t really blame him for that. He figured it would take a little time for the kid to come out of his shell, and Tony was determined to be there for him the whole way.
It was a quiet morning, the world outside covered in a thick blanket of soft white snow. Tony was in the kitchen, doing his best to flip a pancake without destroying it in the process. It worked, kinda.
Peter shuffled into the room, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he climbed up onto his chair. Tony turned at the sound of his footsteps and smiled at the kid, quickly plating some pancakes and very nearly drowning them in syrup before setting the plate down in front of Peter.
“Morning, kiddo,” he said, ruffling his hair, making him smile ever so slightly, “You sleep okay?”
Tony got a nod in response, and he nodded too, “Good, that’s good. Eat up, big day ahead.”
Okay so maybe that had been a bit of a lie, it’s not as though Tony had anything specific planned, but Peter didn’t question it and tucked into the pancakes, looking as though they actually tasted good, although that might’ve been the ridiculous amount of maple syrup.
Tony still pat himself on the back for not screwing them up.
He plated a few for himself and leaned against the counter as he ate, glancing at Peter occasionally who seemed to be awfully distracted by something outside, but when Tony looked to try and figure out what had grabbed Peter’s attention, he didn’t see anything all that amazing.
“What’re you lookin’ at, kiddo?” He asked after a moment. Peter glanced at him, then looked back outside and pointed.
“It snowed,” he said and it all clicked for Tony.
“It did snow,” he confirmed, nodding and taking a bite of his pancakes, chewing for a second before speaking again, “you wanna go out today? Have some fun in the snow?”
Peter’s eyes seemed to light up at the suggestion and he nodded quickly, dropping his fork onto the plate and looking at Tony, “Can we build a snowman?”
“Of course, bud,” Tony said with a grin, his heart doing cartwheels when he saw Peter smile brightly. A proper, big smile. “But hey-” he nodded at the forgotten pancakes on Peter’s plate, “-breakfast first.”
Peter picked the fork back up almost immediately and got back to eating, this time with a lot more gusto. Tony watched him fondly for a few seconds, then got back to his own pancakes.
An hour later, both Peter and Tony were wrapped up warmly in thick jackets and scarves. With hats, mittens and three pairs of socks each as well, just to be safe. Tony hadn’t originally intended to be so well protected against the cold, more concerned with Peter, but the kid had insisted and well, who was Tony to deny him?
As soon as Tony opened the front door, Peter was dashing past him, arms outstretched and laughing as he charged for the snow. Tony thought his heart might leap out of his chest when Peter jumped and threw himself into the snow, quickly sinking into the white mass and flailing around.
“Look!” He called, “Look, snow angel!”
Tony jogged up to where Peter was lying in the snow, unable to help his chuckle. Although Peter was in the right position to make a snow angel, he’d kind of messed up all the snow around him with the earlier flailing, making a strange, misshapen snow-creature instead of an angel.
“It looks great, bud,” he said none the less with a smile on his face, scooping up a handful of snow and sprinkling it on Peter, making him scrunch his nose up and giggle.
“You said something about a snowman earlier,” Tony reminded, picking Peter up and setting him upright, “you wanna give me the rundown? How’re we going about this?”
Peter thought for a moment, nibbling on his lip, “Uhmm…” he hummed, then grinned, “I want him to be super big!” He said, raising his arms up high and standing up on his toes to demonstrate, “and he needs to have six arms!”
Tony whistled, “Six arms, huh? We’re gonna need a bunch of sticks for that,” he said, “think you can find some nice strong ones? I’ll start making the super big body, sound good?” Peter nodded enthusiastically and jogged off, digging around in the snow in search of sticks whilst Tony got to rolling the first part of the body.
By the time Peter got back with an armful of various sized sticks, Tony had done a sizable amounts, the kid’s eyes were wide, “How’d you do that?” He asked, sounding in awe as he stared at the giant snowball Tony had rolled.
Tony chuckled, “Drop the sticks somewhere and I’ll show you, you can make the next part,” he said. Peter opened his arms, letting the sticks fall to the ground, then stepped over them to stand next to Tony.
“Right, kiddo,” Tony crouched, and Peter did the same, listening intently, “you start off with a small snowball-” he demonstrated, getting a handful of snow and pressing it tightly into a snowball. Peter followed along and made his own, “-then you start rolling it around, it’ll pick up the snow and start growing, see?”
Peter nodded carefully, watching closely as Tony started rolling, before rolling his own snowball. A delighted grin grew on his face as he saw it slowly grow and Tony’s heart did cartwheels once again.
After maybe ten minutes of rolling the snowballs around, Peter was struggling to keep his going and was pushing against it in a fruitless attempt to roll it once again. Tony chuckled, carrying over his own sizable snowball and carefully dropping it beside the first one, then he walked over to Peter and crouched down beside him, “I think you’re done with it now, bud, it looks perfect!” He said.
“It does?” Peter asked, looking at his snowball, then the first, then his own one over and over again for a couple of seconds before nodding, “now it goes on top?” He asked, trying to lift the snowball.
“Hey- let me,” Tony said quickly, picking it up carefully and carrying it over to the first one and gently placing it on top, patting it down slightly to make sure it wouldn’t fall off. Peter trailed behind him and gasped,
“It’s so tall now!” He said, sounding pleased at the fact.
“The tallest,” Tony agreed with a nod, then pointed at the sticks Peter had dropped earlier, “think you can bring those over, kiddo? Snowman here needs some arms.”
Peter nodded and went to fetch the sticks, and Tony used to brief moment he was gone to lift the head of the snowman up and get it into place, making Peter gasp again when he laid eyes on it.
“I can’t reach him!” Peter said, realising that the snowman was, in fact, way too tall for him to reach anywhere near his head.
“Not to worry,” Tony assured him, swiftly picking Peter up, making it so that he was now at a comfortable height to decorate the snowman’s midsection. “You wanna start off with the arms, bud?”
Ten minutes and a few close calls later, the snowman had six, amazing arms. Now they had to decorate the face, so Tony swung Peter up a little higher, making him giggle in the process, and got him settled on his shoulders.
Tony, having been prepared, pulled a small bag filled with pebbles out of his pocket, along with a carrot, both of which he handed up to Peter.
And Tony might have gotten a few pebbles dropped on his head, but it was totally worth it because the snowman looked fantastic. Peter looked very proud of his handiwork, then, to add a final touch, he tugged Tony’s hat off and secured it to the top of the snowman’s head.
Tony made a noise of protest, but Peter was already too busy celebrating the completion of his very impressive snowman, and Tony couldn’t help but join in.
“Alright, kiddo,” he said eventually, lifting Peter off his shoulders but not setting him down just yet, swinging him back and forth gently instead, noticing his red cheeks and nose for the first time, “what’s next? A movie? Hot chocolate?”
Peter thought for a second, “both?” He asked, “and marshmallows?”
Tony grinned and nodded, settling Peter on his hip and turning to go back inside, “Sounds great, Pete.”
His heart did those cartwheels once again when Peter cheered. It was the happiest Tony had seen him in- well, it was really the first time he’d seen him so happy, and if he was honest, it was the greatest thing he’d witnessed in a long time.
Tony was determined to make every day one that would bring such a bright smile to Peter’s face.