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“You think he’ll look in here?” Aurora asked, sticking her head inside the small room. It was up in the attic of the cabin and was mostly used to hold Christmas decorations. Pepper and Tony never went in there unless it was time to decorate.
Peter hated the thing. It was barely big enough to fit more than two people and when Peter had went in there once to help Tony with decorations, he felt like the walls were closing in on him. That was the first and last time he helped take out the boxes.
But this wasn’t something as intensive as Christmas. They were just looking for places to hide Tony’s birthday present. They just had to stick the box in the room and leave it there until tomorrow.
“We just have to make some room for our gifts. Maybe take a few boxes out.” Aurora was already pulling out a red tub labeled lights.
“Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of hiding it? If he comes up here, then he’ll notice the boxes are out and check what’s in there.” Peter stood back up, rubbing at his knees as he did so. Peter was only 33, but sometimes his body felt like it was 93.
“We’ll put the boxes back in. Just to make some more room and hide these,” Aurora said as she pulled out another box.
“I think you’re thinking way too much into this,” Peter said, eyeing how tiny that closet looked.
Aurora groaned dramatically and continued emptying the closet while Peter watched. She emptied only a few of them from the closet before she stuck her head out and said, “I need your help with this one. It’s too heavy.”
“Okay, okay.” Peter sighed and when she moved out of the way, he held his breath and crawled in. There was room for him to move around slightly. More than enough room to hide the presents in here already, but Aurora wanted to be careful about it. He grabbed the box and tugged on it. For him, it was as light as a feather, but he could also lift 10 tons.
“I’ll help move these out of the way,” Aurora offered and came into the room with him.
Trying to quell his panic, Peter shook his head. “Rory, no! That one is holding it open!”
Unfortunately, she pushed the box out of the way before he finished and the door slammed shut on them. The small closet went pitch black without the light from the attic spilling in. Peter stared at the now shut door, trying to convince himself that that did not just happen.
“Aurora…”
“It’s alright, I’ll get it, Pete,” Aurora said, not worried because she must not remember that this door locked from the outside.
Peter had good night vision thanks to Spider-Man, so he watched as she tried to push the door open, but nothing happened. He could see the fear flash through her eyes before she even said anything.
“Uh...Peter.”
“Locked?”
“I didn’t know it locked behind us!” Aurora tried pushing on the door again, but not surprisingly, it didn’t budge.
Peter groaned, banging his head against the nearest bin. “This is perfect.”
“Where are the kids? Maybe they’ll notice we’re gone and can come up and let us out.” Aurora shifted in her spot.
Peter was already starting to feel cramped in there. “They’re out looking at Christmas decorations with Ned. Won’t be back for a few hours.”
“Oh...um, what about Aunt May?”
“Movie with Happy.”
“Uncle Rhodey?”
“Didn’t get in yet.”
“Mom?”
“Outside by the lake with Dad.”
“So...we’re stuck in here?”
Peter nodded, already feeling like the room was half the size it originally was when he went in here. “Yup.”
Aurora started moving and caused a few boxes to move closer to Peter. He tried to ignore it. He really didn’t want to freak out. If he let himself freak out even the slightest bit, it would just get worse and worse. “I don’t have my phone on me.”
“You don’t have your phone on you? What teenager doesn’t have their phone on them at all times?” Peter heard his voice crack, but he hoped that Aurora wouldn’t notice.
“What about you? You’re always on your phone obsessing over your children--.”
“Anyone can call at any time about them. I need to know they’re safe.” Peter took in a deep breath and let it out.
“Eh, you take it a little too far.” Aurora shrugged her shoulders, barely upset about the fact that they were trapped in the smallest room known to man.
Okay, that was probably an exaggeration, but right now, it didn’t feel like it.
“My baby is barely over a year old and Angelina is still struggling to adjust.” Peter groaned at just the idea of Ned out with all 5 kids at once. Why didn’t Peter offer to help? Maybe then they wouldn’t be trapped in this tiny closet and he wouldn’t be struggling not to panic.
“Hey, Pete...you okay?”
Peter snapped his head back up to look at Aurora. He could just barely see how concerned she looked as she stared at him. “W-What?”
“You’re breathing kinda heavy over there.” She went to move again, but that involve pushing a crate out of her way and that started to push the bins closer to Peter and he was already squished.
“Stop!” He shouted quickly.
She froze immediately. “Peter, what’s wrong?”
“Uh,” Peter said as his chest began to heave up and down. “I don’t have a great past with small spaces. I was trapped under a collapsed warehouse as a kid, and the car accident we got into, and then the time we were kidnapped-- I don’t like to feel pinned down.”
Peter felt so stupid as he admitted that and Aurora went silent. He was Spider-Man. He was Peter Parker. And he was terrified of small spaces (among many other things).
“Hey, hey...it’s okay, Petey,” Aurora said. “You’re okay. You’re not pinned down. There’s no building on you. No car on you. No...person on you.” Aurora’s voice sounded underwater. If they were underwater-- if this place filled with water, they’d be dead within minutes. Another reason to hate small spaces.
“Peter, hey, Pete...what’d you get Dad for his birthday?”
Peter furrowed his brow, thinking about the question. It seemed random during a moment like this. “What?”
“What’s in your box? What’d you get him?”
Peter swallowed around the lump in his throat. He felt seconds away from both crying and throwing up. “The kids made him ducks.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, “They made what?”
“L-Little clay ducklings. All in a row. To put on his desk in the lab.” Peter squeezed his eyes shut to try and think of the ducklings to distract himself from the situation they were in.
“Interesting choice,” Aurora said carefully.
“He’ll love it,” Peter said quickly, feeling defensive of the cheesy gift.
“Oh, yeah...I’m sure.”
“They like to see the ducks. Out on the lake. Dad brings them over and gives them all names after the kids. Now they can go see the ducks even when they’re not outside.” Peter took in a deep shaky breath.
“That is so incredibly corny, but Dad is gonna love it.”
Peter nodded his head, but even the thought of Tony opening up his birthday couldn’t quell his panicking. “I-I know what you’re doing, Rory. But it’s not working. Hard to ignore the fact that we’re trapped in this tiny closet where the walls just keep closing in on me more and more and I can’t--.”
“How’s Angelina?”
“Angelina…” One half of their most recently adopted kids. Ned and Peter had planned on adopting her baby brother, only a few weeks old, but then they realized he had an older sister. She was 9-years-old, the same age as his triplets. Many families left the two of them in the system because the kids had baggage that they didn’t want to deal with. Angelina was abused by her father for years before he was arrested and their mother then signed away all parental rights.
Ned and Peter didn’t let that stop them from adopting the children. They were beautiful and deserved to be loved. Of course, it wasn’t a walk in the park and it was hard for Angelina to adjust to a permanent home with two fathers, neither of which would ever lift their hand to. But she was doing her best and Peter couldn’t be more thankful for her, even on the bad days.
“Angelina is good,” Peter continued, unable to go into any deeper of a conversation. “She wants to have another make-over with you. Her nail polish is almost gone.”
“I’d love to! I have some new face masks we can try out. Maybe this weekend. Ruth can join us, but I know she’s not usually into that stuff. Or staying still longer than 3 minutes.”
Peter was surprised when he let out a small chuckle. “She gets that from her dad.”
“She sure does.” The conversation should have died out there and Peter should have started seriously panicking. But Aurora spoke again, “You excited for fireworks later tonight? Lucas and Kevin told me they were going to set off a few good ones.”
“They’re not going anywhere near them,” Peter said immediately. “Dad and Uncle Rhodey are in charge of them.”
“Can I set one off?”
“Dunno. Ask Dad. You’re his baby, not one of mine.”
“Got enough of your own yet?”
Four 9-year-olds and one 18-month-old? Yeah, Peter and Ned definitely had their hands full. “We’re trying to collect enough to start our own baseball team,” he joked as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. Being stuck in a tiny closet in an attic at the end of May was not fun. He was sweltering.
Aurora laughed, despite her own discomforts. “You’re halfway there.”
Peter nodded his head, wishing they were out in the yard playing baseball now. In the wide open yard. He couldn’t help the small whimper he let out. He clamped his mouth shut, hoping Aurora didn’t hear him. But of course, she did. They were only a few feet away from each other and there were no other sounds to drown it out.
“It’s okay,” Aurora whispered. “They’re gonna come looking for us and we’ll get out of here in no time.”
Peter squeezed his eyes shut and hoped she was right.
No time ended up being a little bit of time. Long enough for Peter to start feeling hungry and to be covered in a layer of sweat. He was doing okay staying calm and only panicked twice and Aurora calmed him down both times relatively quickly.
But when that door finally opened again, Peter felt like all of the panic that he was keeping down was all trying to leave at once. Light streamed in and Peter heard Tony let out a breath of relief. “Baby girl.” Then Aurora was being tugged out of the closet, presumably into his arms. She disappeared from his view after that.
Peter was so close to freedom. He could see the light and hear the voices and feel the breeze. He shoved the boxes in front of him out of the way, hoping that he wasn’t breaking anything. He panted and whined when he couldn’t get a stack of boxes out of his way fast enough.
Then, Tony’s head was in the doorway. “Hey, kiddo. You’re okay.”
Peter shook his head, feeling like a stupid kid all over again. Tony was so close but so far. He just needed him to pull him out. Just like he did for Aurora.
“Just hold on,” Tony said, trying to placate Peter. “Let me move these boxes out of the way and then I’ll come get you.” Tony quickly moved the stack that Peter could keep moving.
He didn’t waste a second before crawling towards the exit. Tony wrapped his arms around him when he was close enough and tugged him out of the small doorway. They both fell backwards on the floor and Peter didn’t care that he was 33-years-old. He stayed there, curled up in Tony’s arms.
“What am I going to do with you two?” Tony rubbed Peter’s back and there was no doubt that he felt the sweat through his shirt. “I couldn’t find you two anywhere and both of your phones were in Aurora’s room. You two never go far without those.”
“We just wanted to hide your presents,” Aurora answered.
Peter glanced over to his side and saw Pepper holding her, but at least, they were both standing up. Unlike Tony and Peter. “We didn’t plan on getting stuck.”
“Yeah. I can tell, bud.”
Peter finally felt himself start to calm down now that they were out of that suffocating room. “I don’t like small spaces.”
“I’ll get rid of the door on that closet,” Tony said immediately. “I’ll get rid of the whole thing.”
Peter chuckled lightly. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Now, let’s go downstairs and get you some water. I don’t need to go to the emergency room for dehydration in my kiddos on my birthday. We have cake and presents waiting.”
Peter rolled his eyes as Tony helped him up to his feet. He glanced back at the mess they made on his way out. Their boxes were strewn around enough to hide Peter and Aurora’s gifts. They should have just done that in the first place.
Tony better appreciate those damn ducks.
He did. He opened the box up later that night with all 5 of Peter’s kids squished around him on the couch. Miguel sat around him and helped him pull off the paper, Ruth stayed behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck, Lucas and Kevin pressed themselves up against either side of him, and Angelina sat on his other leg next to Miguel, but she was content to watch the two of them open the box.
Tony loved it. He loved the line of little clay ducklings, all made and painted by each of the kids. He could tell who made each one and he guessed them all, making each of the kids excited as he did so.
“I’ve got our ducks to keep me company in the lab! This is the cutest thing I’ve ever received,” Tony exclaimed as he signed the words for Angelina before giving a kiss to each of the kids, thanking them profusely.
“Daddy, Grandpa likes it!” Lucas squealed, jumping up and down on the couch.
“No, no, no,” Tony said. “I love it.”
Ruth giggled and tugged on Tony’s sleeve until he looked her way. Then she signed to him, You like mine best, right?
Tony laughed loudly and Ruth smiled widely, taking that as the answer she wanted it to be. He ruffled her hair and stood up from the couch, Miguel still in one arm and Angelina in the other. Peter hurried over to help him out. “I’m picking you up,” he warned Angelina before taking her in his arms.
“Not fair you can hold the kids so easily,” Ned said with a pout as Lucas and Kevin both jumped up and down, begging for him to lift him up. Peter pressed a kiss to Ned’s cheek, silently grateful he was able to hold them at this age too. He didn’t ever want there to be a day when he couldn’t pick his babies up in his arms and hold them.
Ruth, of course, wanted to be held too, so she jumped up on the couch and tried to attach herself to Tony’s back. He turned around before she could and used his free hand to sign as he said, “No way. Go jump on Daddy.”
“I’ve got a better idea,” Rhodey said, ruffling Lucas’ hair as he walked past him. “How about we go outside for some birthday fireworks?”
All the kids screamed and ran after Rhodey, who immediately started to run out of the cabin before one of them knocked him over. Of course, Miguel stayed in Tony’s arms even though he watched his siblings run off and squealed after them. Even Angelina jumped from Peter’s arms and chased after them.
“Might want to go out there and make sure none of your kids try blowing up a hand, Dad,” Tony said with a wink. “Don’t worry, I’ve got the behaved one.” He pressed a kiss to Miguel’s temple and Miguel turned his head, opening up his mouth widely, ready to give Tony a kiss of his own.
None of them blew up anything. Rhodey and Happy handled the fireworks while each kid stayed far enough away. They had blankets spread around on the grass as they all looked up at the sky, watching it light up with colorful fireworks.
Peter was on a blanket with Ned and Miguel, who wasn’t upset by the loud noises at all. Next to them was May, Aurora, Ruth, and Angelina. Ruth stared up at the sky in awe, even though she couldn’t hear the booming. Angelina flinched at some loud blasts, but Aurora kept a secure arm wrapped around her.
On the other side of Peter, Tony was on a blanket with Pepper, Lucas, and Kevin. Tony needed some help keeping those two on the blanket instead of running off to the fireworks. Tony pulled Kevin back against his chest after the last attempt to run off. “I don’t think so, squirt.”
“You want me to take him?” Peter asked, loud enough to be heard over the fireworks.
Tony’s hold tightened on Kevin. “Grandpa’s got him. Don’t you worry.”
“Grandpa. God, you’re so old,” Aurora said with a laugh. Ruth looked up at her when she felt the rumble of Aurora’s laughter. She smiled, knowing Aurora was amused by something.
“Shut up or else you’re waking up in that closet tomorrow,” Tony replied quickly.
“I thought we were getting rid of that,” Peter said.
“Where else am I going to threaten to send my daughter when she misbehaves?”
“How about my room like a normal parent?”
Tony hummed, pretending to think it over. “Nah.” Then he asked Peter, “Are you normal? Do you send your children to their rooms when they misbehave?”
“He told Kevin last week if he didn’t listen, he was going to take him to the zoo and leave him with the monkey family.”
Tony smiled and raised his hand up for a high five. Peter used the hand not holding Miguel to hit it. “That’s my boy.”
“Ugh,” Aurora groaned loudly. “Don’t give him any ideas, Pete.”
“Why not, peanut?” Peter loved how she blushed at the nickname still. “Us dads have to stick together.”
"Sure do, Daddy-io," Tony agreed.