Work Text:
The Gala was long and boring. Predictable too. Full of rich, white, snobs trying to grease each other’s palms, and their gossiping wives. Tony hated it. Always had.
He was good at it, without a doubt, but he hated the fake smiles, fake laughs and how everyone sucked up to him. It wasn’t too bad, when he was younger. Mainly because he didn’t remember much of it, either too drunk, or too high to care about anything other than who he was taking home that night. Now though, as much as he would like to take some girls-or guys, he wasn’t picky-home with him for a good time, he had Peter. Which meant his rule was in place. “No one over unless Peter is at May’s”. And since, as of right now, he was probably giving his babysitter a run for his money in the Stark Tower penthouse, that meant no ‘sleepovers’.
He watched as Pepper Potts sauntered towards him, holding two glasses of champagne. She was wearing a beautiful, floor length, green dress that complimented her figure.
Tony smiled at her, as she handed him a glass of champagne. “How much longer do I have to stay here?”
“Just another hour. Then you can go home to Peter.” Tony groaned quietly, before taking a sip of the bubbley drink.
***
Tony sighed, feeling Peppers hand on his shoulder, as she reached down to take off her five inch high heels. She let out a sigh of relief, once both of the black shoes were in her hand. The elevator dinged, and opened.
Tony, ever the gentleman, held out his arm. “Ladies first” He said, in a posh English accent. Pepper snorted in amusement before sauntering forward. They walked side-by-side through the hall, and towards the double doors that led to the living room. They could hear Peter’s childish giggles, and excitable rambling from the other side of the corridor.
As they reached the doors, an English voice spoke up, seemingly from all around. “If I may sir” JARVIS started, “I would advise being careful where you step, some of the ground is a bit slippy”
Tony and Pepper turned towards each other, tilting their heads simultaneously.
“What? Did Peter spill something, J?”
JARVIS hesitated a moment before speaking again. “In a sense sir. Just, be careful.”
Tony shrugged and opened the door. Peter was running back and forward. and the babysitter, Thomas, was sitting on the sofa, trying to convince him to sit down. He turned to Pepper and shrugged his shoulders again, before walking straight through the doorway-
-and proceeding to fall straight on his ass. Pepper, ever the helpful Personal Assistant, proceeded to crack up, holding her sides as she gasped for breath.
“JARVIS?” Pepper asked, once she had stopped laughing a bit.
“Yes Ms Potts?” The A.I. sounded amused, if that were possible. And, considering he was Tony’s creation, it very well was possible.
“ Please , for the love of Christ, tell me you got that on video.”
“Of course I did. I video all the comings and goings of Stark Tower. For Mr. Stark’s protection, of course.”
Tony rubbed the lower part of his back, where it was still aching, and proceeded to glower at where he knew JARVIS’s cameras were.
“Traitor.” he grumbled.
At this point in time, Peter and Thomas had noticed their entrance, and the six year old had proceeded to make his way over. It was at this present moment that Tony realized Peter hadn’t been walking back and forth, no, he had been sliding back and forth.
The elder Stark watched as the younger expertly slid his way across the floor, as if he was a professional ice skater, and this was his rink.
He stopped beside him, just as JARVIS stated, “Well sir, in my defense, I did tell you to watch where you step.”
Peter looked up towards the ceiling, and then back down to where his father was sitting on the ground. “Daddy? You’re supposed to stay on your feet. Not fall down. Like this.”
Tony breathed out a laugh as he watched this son’s curly, brown hair bounce as he demonstrated how to slip and slide all over the living room. He felt a swell of love from deep inside of him as he watched his son, and wondered, not for the first time, how anyone could love someone this much .
Tony slowly got up, careful to keep his legs spread apart, so as to have plenty of balance. and slowly slid his way over to the arm of the couch, before plonking his ass down.
Peter was still sliding around, and, after looking and seeing no dangerous objects nearby that he could run into and potentially harm himself with, Tony decided to let him at it. If anything it would tire him out before his bedtime, in half an hour.
Pepper made a hand gesture, basically saying, ‘ you have fun, I’m going to take a nice long bath ’, before turning to the hyperactive child. “I’ll see you tomorrow Peter. Don’t let your father do anything silly until I get back.”
Peter turned to her, giving her a wide smile, showing both of his missing front teeth. “Bye Ms Pepper!”
She chortled slightly before mouthing ‘good luck’ at Tony, and walking off.
He turned towards the seventeen year old babysitter.
“I’m so sorry Mr. Stark! I tried to get him to stop, but by the time the popcorn was done, he already had the can emptied all over the floor and was sli-”
Tony cut him off with a raised hand, and a small smile. “Don’t worry about it kid. I know he can be a handful. I’ll transfer the money for the babysitting into your account tonight. Why don’t you head on home?”
Thomas sighed slightly in relief before nodding his head frantically. “Yes sir” He then turned towards Peter, who was watching the exchange with his trademarked wide brown eyes, “I’ll see you later Peter.”
The kid slid over to Thomas and wrapped his small arms around him. He smiled slightly as he ruffled the kid’s curls. “Bye Thomas. Thanks for playing with me today”
He smiled as he stepped away from Peter, ruffling his hair again. “It was no problem Pete, I’ll see you later, yeah?” He watched as the young boy nodded his head, before becoming preoccupied with his makeshift ice rink again.
Tony turned away as the teenager walked out of the house, and looked towards the foot-long aerosol can, lying horizontal on the coffee table.
He picked it up and inspected it, snorting when he realised that the smell he was choking on and the product he had slipped on earlier was Pepper’s hairspray.
“ I’ll buy her a new one tomorrow ” he thought, as he hoisted his now tired-out kid, onto his lap.
He smiled as Peter curled up on his chest, head resting beside the blue light of the arc reactor. He pressed a small kid on the crown of Peter’s head. “You tired kiddo?”
Peter shook his head petulantly, “I don’t get tired” His bold statement was ruined however, by a large yawn creeping out of his throat. Tony laughed slightly, and slid properly down onto the couch, careful not to jostle the kid too much. He smiled impossibly wider as he heard his son’s breaths become longer, until he was fast asleep.
Tony felt his own eyes slide shut, secure in the knowledge that his kid was right there beside him.