Growing Up

17 Years Old

Wednesdays sucked. No matter what, Tony always had an awful Wednesday and even if nothing bad happened, he hated the day. Nothing special happened and there wasn't anything to look forward to like movie night or the end of the week. He hated Wednesdays so much that if there was an anti-Wednesday society, he would join without hesitation. Because Wednesdays were awful.

Today, however, things were particularly awful. Pepper had called—panicking before he'd even answered—to tell him she had forgotten to tell him about a meeting he had. He had ten minutes to get to the 34th floor's conference room, but that was just the beginning.

He had spilt coffee down his shirt in the middle of the meeting and had to finish the meeting with a brown stain across his front. Right as he escaped the meeting, Happy called in sick so Tony had to personally drive (which wasn't the worst thing) Rhodes to the airport. After that, Tony had been called to the Avengers' Compound due to a pipe breaking and flooding his lab. He had spent all afternoon trying to get plumbers to come and fix it but in the end, all his work had been ruined and some of his projects had sustained water damage. To top it all off, he had to fly to New Jersey last minute for yet another meeting and wouldn't be back until late that night.

"Mr. Stark? Are you with us?" the presenter asked. Tony snapped back to attention.

"Yes, always," he said, straightening up and leaning forward. "Continue."

The man did and Tony zoned out again. The only thing he could think about was getting back home. Surely that would make this absolutely horrid day better.

Two hours later, the meeting ended and Tony didn't try very hard to stick around. He disappeared almost as soon as the door opened despite knowing Pepper would want him to spend some time with the presenters. The jet was waiting, though, and Tony was not about to make it wait longer.

As soon as his jet was in the air, Tony relaxed. He checked his phone to make sure he hadn't missed any urgent texts from Peter but he didn't any texts at all. Although it was strange, he was glad he didn't have a million people to reply to.

When Tony touched down, Happy picked him up from the airport and drove him to the Tower in silence. Tony half expected Peter to be asleep on the couch, but he was nowhere in sight. Frowning, Tony walked down the hall and peered into Peter's room. There, fast asleep on his bed was Peter.

Tony walked into his son's room and sat on the bed beside him. At the slight jostle, Peter woke up and squinted at Tony.

"Dad?" he muttered. Tony nodded and Peter rubbed his eyes, sitting up in his bed. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, kiddo."

Peter frowned, not buying it and crawling over to Tony. Despite having grown too much to climb into Tony's lap, Peter was still mostly asleep and determined to at least hug his dad. It seemed to work.

"I just had a bad day," Tony told him quietly, running his fingers through Peter's hair.

"Would candy make it better?" Peter asked, leaning against his dad's chest. Tony chuckled and rubbed Peter's back.

"I don't think so, Pete," Tony replied.

"Okay," Peter replied sleepily.

Tony stayed with Peter for a little while longer before letting Peter lay back down. Still mostly asleep, Peter smiled sloppily at him as Tony tucked him in again.

"Good night, Dad," he mumbled, snuggling into his blankets. "I love you."

"I love you too, kiddo," Tony said, smiling down at a sleeping Peter before leaving the room quietly.