Sticks and Stones

7

Happy watched Peter for two days until just Tony returned. "Where daddy?" He asked as Tony came and sat next to him.

"He'll be back in a few days, buddy."

"Oh, okay."

"So, what did you two do?"

"Why don't you tell him, Peter?"

"We wen' 'oo the park!"

"Oh, boy! That sounds like it was fun." Tony put on a happy face for him.

He nodded. "An' we watched S'aw Wahs!"

"I'm sure you loved that, huh?"

"We play ligh'sabers, too!"

"Who was the good guy?" Tony smirked.

"Who do you think? The kid practically idolizes you, of course he wanted to be the good guy." Happy grinned, ruffling Peters hair.

—Three Years Later—

Peter was five years old. Everything was okay. He was in first grade and had made a few friends, but he didn't see much of Tony or Steve anymore.

On Monday's, he stayed after school for speech classes (the impediment was still sticking around).

"How was school today, Pete?" Happy asked, coming to pick him up from his speech class. Peter took his hand and skipped along next to him.

"Fun! Me and Ned played S'ar Wars!"

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah! And I made a new friend! Her name is MJ!"

"That's great!"

"Are my daddies home yet?"

"No, I'm sorry, buddy."

"When they gonna be home again?" He sighed.

"I... don't know."

Peter let Happy buckle him into his car seat. "They no' love me anymore?"

"Of course they love you, they're just busy. But this weekend I'm taking you out to the facility to see everyone. I know you missed them."

"I saw 'em at Christmas, but that was a while ago." He said, looking out the window as they drove.

"Yeah, a few months, huh? How about you get a few days off of school and I take you there early?"

"Really?" Peter asked, leaning forward in his car seat.

"Yeah."

"Happy?"

"What's up?"

"How come neither of my daddies were here for my birthday?"

Happy stopped and thought for a moment. It had been over a month since the poor kid had seen either of his parents. The last time he had, it was February 3rd, and it was now March 15th. "They're... just really busy."

"You sure they s'ill love me?"

"I know they do. But hey, we had fun on your birthday, right? Auntie Tasha and Wanda and uncle Sam visited, and we had cake and ice cream."

Peter sighed again, and found a Cheerio in his cup holder. He flicked it out the window.

Even though everyone couldn't come, they'd all still gotten him gifts-except for Steve and Tony. He didn't care about the gifts, though- sure, he was grateful for them. But he wanted to see his dads.

—

That night, Happy helped him pack a bag to take with him for the week at the facility. He packed a few outfits and a few toys, as well as a few books.

At the dinner table, Peter was silent as he ate his macaroni. "You okay, Peter?" Happy asked.

He nodded, but pushed away the rest of his food- he barely touched it. He had barely been eating lately. "M'not hungry."

"You don't want what happened last year to happen again, do you?"

The previous year, Peter refused to eat for a week in protest of Steve and Tony never being there, and ended up in the hospital for three days with two IVs. He shook his head, panicked, and quickly ate the rest of his food.

Happy tucked him in at eight o'clock, and Peter barely even protested like he usually did.

His room needed to be picked up-he had a few toys scattered around on the rug that had all of the planets on it. His bedspread was black had stars and planets on it, as did the pillowcases. The sheets were Avengers, with the symbol patterned all over it.

The walls were forest green and had posters of the Avengers. He was very supportive of his family. He also had Star Wars posters up- one of them was signed by Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill. That was one of his favorites.

With a sigh, he rolled over and hugged his teddy bear close to his chest.

Happy frowned- he normally got a goodnight hug. Tonight- nothing. "'Night, Peter."

"Mhm."

—

By the next morning, he was back to energized, bouncing-off-the-walls, excited, happy Peter.

"Alright, you got your toothbrush, your books, your toys, your clothes... I think you're all good." Happy listed.

"My teddy!" He protested, and rushed over to put it in the small suitcase.

"Of course, how could I have forgotten?" He said. "Alright, you grab your backpack, I'll carry your suitcase."

The two walked out to the hangar bay, to Tony's private jet. Happy got Peter buckled into a seat, then sat across from him.

As the jet took off, Peter immersed himself in a book. It was called The Candymakers, by Wendy Mass.

After half an hour, he looked up. "How much longer?"

"Another ten, fifteen minutes."

"Mmkay." He went back to his book.

—

Peter ended up falling asleep, and Happy woke him up when they arrived. "C'mon, we're here."

He perked up immediately. "Yay!"

He shoved his book in his backpack and pulled it on, running to the door and jumping the good five or six feet to the ground. He stumbled a bit when he landed, but continued his journey to reach inside first.

Just as he was about to go inside, Happy called for him to stop. He pouted, but waited for him to catch up. "Let me go in first, okay, buddy?"

"Kay!"

He went in first and made sure Steve and Tony weren't arguing. If they were and Peter found out, he'd be devastated. Luckily, they weren't even there.

"Hey, Happy. What are you doing here?" Sam asked.

"Natasha asked me to bring Peter out for the week, so here we are."

Peter came in behind him. "Uncle Sammy!" He cheered, wrapping his arms around Sam's legs.

"Hey, little buddy. How are you?"

"Good! Guess what?"

"What?"

"I'm be'er at pro-prounce- saying 't'."

"I can hear that, good job."

Peter beamed proudly.