Growing Up

5 Years Old

Waking up from his nap, Peter rubbed his eyes and sat up in his bed. Blinking around his room, he saw that his bedroom door was cracked, but he couldn't hear Pepper in the kitchen. Frowning and still groggy from his nap, he slipped off his bed and stumbled down the hall.

A quick investigation of the kitchen revealed that Pepper was nowhere to be seen. When he checked the living room and still didn't find her, Peter began to get worried. He ran down the hall to his dad and Pepper's bedroom, but it was empty like all the other rooms. Pepper wasn't in the closet or under the bed (he had checked despite the monsters), so she had to be gone.

Rubbing his now teary eyes, Peter ran to the lift and pushed the button.

"May I ask where you are going?" JARVIS asked, opening the lift doors and letting Peter in.

"I want to go to Daddy," Peter told him. "I'm scared."

Once the doors closed, the lift began to drop slowly. Clinging tightly to the handle, Peter waited anxiously until the lift stopped and the doors opened.

"Mr. Stark is down the hall, third door on the left," JARVIS told him.

Peter nodded and raced off the lift, not noticing the office workers watch him run by. When he found the room JARVIS had mentioned, Peter reached up and pushed on the heavy door handle. It took all of his strength to get it open but as soon as it was wide enough for him, Peter raced into the room in search of his dad.

One of Tony's board members was in the middle of his presentation when the door was slowly pushed open. Stopping in the middle of his sentence, the presenter and the rest of the room turned to see who had entered. Tony could only make out a small head of curls over the tabletop, but Tony already knew it was Peter. It was Peter in his Iron Man onesie with tears in his eyes.

"Hey, buddy," Tony said, drawing Peter's attention away from the board members.

As soon as Peter's eyes landed on his dad, he shot towards him. Tony stepped away from the conference table and Peter buried his face in his legs as soon as he reached his side. Picking Peter up, Tony sat back down in his chair and settled Peter on his lap before asking what was wrong.

"I woke up from my nap all 'lone," Peter told him. Tony frowned. Where was Pepper? "It was scary."

"Yeah, I bet," Tony replied quietly, rubbing his back. "If you're really quiet, you can stay here until I'm done, okay?"

Peter nodded, burying his face in Tony's chest and Tony wrapped his arms around him. When he turned back to the board members, he met with several looks of confusion.

"You were saying?" he asked, looking pointedly at the man that had been previously speaking.

The man nodded and started again. "As I was saying—"

This time, he was interrupted by the door opening and a very panicked Pepper rushing in.

"Tony, I can't find Peter," she said, ignoring the board members.

At his name, Peter lifted his head from Tony's chest and Pepper let out a relieved breath. She walked over to where Peter was happily curled up on Tony's lap and picked him up.

"Baby, you can't just leave like that," she told him, pressing a kiss to his temple.

"You weren't there and it was scary," Peter said. Pepper sighed.

"I was in the bathroom," she told him. Peter let out a small 'oh' and Pepper nodded. Turning to the board members, she said, "Sorry for interrupting. Please, continue."

With Peter in her arms, Pepper turned and left the room, leaving Tony to continue with his meeting while she and Peter watched a movie.