Chapter Text
Peter wasn’t sure when he first noticed it, but Tony always seemed to be prepared when it came to him. It was all very surreal, especially considering how in depth everything was I regards to him and his Well-being. In addition to making sure that Peter was on top with the latest Stark Phone, he also had his own personal A.I. In his suit. Not to mention, the cool expensive looking watch that Tony had made for him. It had a gps tracker in it, and it was connected to JARVIS. Which meant that at any given time, Tony could get an update on his vitals.
Peter wasn’t sure whether to feel embarrassed or flattered that someone(especially someone he thought of as a father) was so in tune with him and his needs. He simply chose to ignore it, and not think on it too much. Some people might think it was too invasive but surprisingly even May had thought the watch was a great idea, so there was nothing he could do, the watch had to stay on. The leather strap it was on, felt like a second skin so he didn’t have any problems keeping it on as sometimes he could forget he was even wearing it.
Peter shook his head, because his thoughts had gone off on another tangent and he nearly lost his current train of thought. Where was he, oh yes, Mr. Stark really cared about him, and he was very grateful for it. He shook his head again, because he had gotten another dizzy spell. He was thankful that school was over and he just needed to make it to the car. It was Friday, which meant it was lab day, and he had all weekend to spend with Tony.
Though to be fair, he honestly couldn’t wait to get into the car as he felt that if he didn’t sit down soon he would pass out. He took a deep breath aware of the watch on his wrist. If he passed out, Tony would know something was wrong and that was a whole other level of embarrassment. He was happy(no pun intended) to see Happy was already sitting there ad waiting for him.
Peter made his way to him and carefully got in, somehow shutting the door behind him. He leaned his head back on the seat as he willed his heart to slow down. He closed his eyes briefly for a moment, only to feel a pair of eyes on him. He cracked his eyes open to find Happy staring at him, and was that a look of concern on the man’s face? “What?” He mumbled out, it was taking too much effort to even talk.
“I need you to put your seatbelt on, and then tell me what’s the matter. I don’t care in what order you do that,” Happy said out in a serious tone.
Peter grabbed the seatbelt, trying to ignore the way his hands were shaking, as he somehow managed to click it up. He slumped back in his seat, feeling like the seatbelt was the only thing keeping him completely upright. “I…I need food,” he breathed out heavily.
“I know, here you go kid,” Happy said out quickly as he handed back the bag of cheeseburgers and fries to the child. “There is a milkshake in the fridge for you, it has a few shots of protein powder in it. Tony said to drink it first,” he added out.
He was glad he had learned early on to trust his boss, as the request to get Peter food before he went to pick him up was a bit out of the ordinary but he had done it. And he was grateful he did, the kid looked ready to pass out. He wasn’t even going to try to talk to the child, as he wanted him to focus on eating, besides he could ask Tony about it later.
Peter raised his eyebrows in response to that, as he grabbed the food bag. He stuffed a couple of fries in his mouth before he went to grab the shake to drink first like he was instructed too. He grimaced a bit as he drank the shake, not at the taste as it was delicious, but because that meant that he hadn’t been as stealthy as he had initially thought. He didn’t dwell on it though, and simply chose to focus on his shake, and then eventually his cheeseburgers and fries.
By the time they arrived at Tony’s tower a half hour later, Peter had finished his shake and all 5 cheeseburgers and fries, and was feeling a lot better. He unbuckled his seatbelt, and got out of the car surprised to find Tony in the garage by the elevator.
“Hey Mr. Stark, what are you doing down here?” Peter chirped out, the food had done wonders for him, he felt good as new.
“Making sure you’re okay, kiddo you know you can’t miss any meals. Why did you skip lunch today?” Tony said out in concern.
He had been in the middle of a meeting when the baby monitor had gone off, alerting him that his kid’s vitals were plummeting by the hour. He had lost track of how many times he had informed the child just why he couldn’t skip meals like the other kids.
Peter rubbed his neck in embarrassment at Tony’s tone, because it was full of concern. And as much as he wanted to lie to him, he couldn’t, the man didn’t deserve that. He sighed softly, toeing his scuffed shoe on the ground.
“My free lunch ran out,” he admitted out shamefully.
Tony wrinkled his eyebrows in confusion. “I’m not sure I follow, how does free lunch run out? Did they not have enough for you at school?”
“No, they had enough I just forgot to give the form to May to fill out for this semester and now its too late to sign up for it,” Peter explained out in an embarrassed tone.
“I see, and when did they inform you of that?” Tony asked out carefully.
“When I went through the lunch line to get my food, the lunch lady made me put everything back, and what I had already touched like my roll and fruit cup I had to throw it away,” Peter said out glumly. He still didn’t understand that, why hadn’t he just been allowed to eat it? Apparently he wasn’t alone with that thought.
“They made you throw away perfectly good food because you’re free lunch ran out?” Tony asked out in disbelief.
“Yeah she said, once I had touched it, they couldn’t serve it to someone else,” Peter explained out glumly.
“Okay, so why didn’t she allow you to eat it?” Tony wanted to know, super confused at this point, it just didn’t add up.
“She said if she were to let me eat it, she would lose her job,” Peter said with a grimace and he hadn’t wanted the woman to lose her job.
“That is unacceptable, throwing away perfectly good food and allowing children to go hungry,” Tony said out tightly, getting rightfully angry. “So you didn’t eat anything all day?” He asked out softly, feeling terrible on his kids behalf, not to mention a little guilty. He should have had JARVIS communicate what was happening to Peter via the watch to him, or just texted the boy himself.
“Ned gave me half his lunch and the lunch lady gave me a sandwich after lunch was over and everyone left the cafeteria,” Peter told his father truthfully. “She said even though she wasn’t supposed to, she couldn’t not give me food, it didn’t sit right with her,” he added out.
“Okay, I need her name, I want to make sure she doesn’t get in any trouble, and I’ll take care of lunch for you. This will never happen again kiddo,” Tony told the little boy sincerely.
“We call her lunch lady Edna, I don’t know her last name,” Peter said out honestly.
“Thank you Kiddo, come on lets get you some fruit and then we can head to the lab if you’re done with all your homework,” Tony said out easily, his mind going over how he was going to approach this.
“Kay,” Peter chirped out as he followed his mentor to the elevator. And because Tony never made promises he couldn’t keep, Peter believed him, and wasn’t worried at all.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
On Monday when Peter returned to school, he got the shock of his life when he was pulled over by Edna, who gave him a wide smile and told him that he was able to get as much as he wanted, as his father had topped up his account to $1500 and had toggled auto reload. Peter was so shocked that he didn’t even correct her about Tony not being his father, because he kind of thought of the man like a dad.
After eating the biggest lunch he had ever eaten at school, Peter headed to the rest of his afternoon classes, eager to learn. His stomach was actually full for the first time in a long time and he could actually focus on all of his classes and it was noticeable if his teachers were to be believed.
As he skipped his way out of the school once the bell rang to dismiss them, he said goodbye to Ned before he moved to start walking home, only to freeze as he saw the car. What was Happy doing here? He made his way over to the car and knocked on the passenger door intending to ask him just that, only to have his mouth drop wide open as the window rolled down but it wasn’t Happy who was behind the wheel.
“Mr. Stark?” Peter said out, having the good sense to whisper it and not shout it like he nearly had.
“Hey kiddo, get in the car,” Tony said out easily.
“What are you doing here?” Peter asked out Curiously as he obediently opened the door and got into the car.
“I wanted to see how your day went, and how lunch was,” Tony said out honestly as he drove away from the school.
“My day was great, it was amazing and at lunch they had this yummy Mac and cheese, and I ate as much as I wanted,” Peter gushed out eagerly.
“Good, so you ate until you were full?” Tony asked the child, you could never know with Peter.
“Yup, and my afternoon teachers said I was extremely focused today, so I think I must have been hungry all the other times and just hadn’t known it,” Peter admitted out shyly.
“I think so too kiddo, but you don’t ever have to worry about not having enough food again, alright?” Tony told the child seriously.
“Kay,” Peter said out happily, only for his face to blush red as his stomach let out a loud growl.Tony chuckled and lifted up the center console with his right hand.
“Like I said, you don’t have to worry about food any longer,” he repeated out as he pulled out a sandwich and juice box.
“There’s more snacks in here if you need them,” he added out. Peter grinned brightly, quickly unwrapping his sandwich and taking a big bite before Tony could glance over and see how pleased he was at the man’s words.
“Thanks,” he murmured out softly.
“I got you kiddo,” Tony promised him and meant it. That was the day, when he started keeping snacks in his cars for his kid. He meant what he said, his kid wasn’t going to go hungry, ever again.