Let's Begin

Ch. 6

Peter and Pepper spent the day sightseeing. They went to a couple of cathedrals and spent time in the Milan Archaeology Museum before meeting up with Tony in the afternoon. After he joined them, they went to see more cathedrals at Pepper's demand followed by eating at a fancy restaurant at Tony's demand. Peter's demand was for gelato and he ended up with more than he could finish.

"What's the plan for tomorrow?" Tony asked as they walked out of the restaurant.

Already waiting at the curb, Happy opened the car doors for them and they all climbed in the back seat.

"I was thinking we could go sightseeing some more."

After bargaining, the plan was changed to sightseeing in the morning and shopping in the afternoon (gelato was mixed in somewhere, but Peter didn't care as long as he got more). Pepper and Tony were still arguing over the plan when they got to the hotel, but Peter had long since tuned them out.

"We should go swimming!" he exclaimed as they stepped into the lift.

Tony and Pepper both looked down to see him grinning happily.

"Where?" Pepper asked.

"In the hotel pool," Peter said as if it was obvious.

Tony didn't need convincing so five minutes after returning to their suite, they were back in the lift.

Peter was practically bouncing as he watched the numbers change above the elevator doors. When they arrived back on the ground floor where the pool was, he hopped out and bounded down the hall in search of a pool.

"Excuse me, young man!" an employee called out, stopping Peter in his tracks. "You're not allowed to run down these halls shirtless."

"I'm looking for the pool," Peter told him, deciding asking where the pool was would be a good idea. He was pretty sure he was lost anyway and he couldn't see his parents from around the corner.

"The pool is for guests staying at the hotel," the employee said, not unkindly.

"We are guests," Tony said, walking around the corner with Pepper.

The employee nodded. "Alright." Pointing down the hall, he spoke directly to Peter as he said, "Take a right at the next opportunity then it's on your right. Third door down and you'll need your room key."

"Thanks!" Peter said, bouncing down the hall.

With the employee's direction, Peter found the pool easily and waited for his parents to show up with the key card. As soon as they arrived, Pepper unlocked the door and Tony and Peter raced inside. They dove into the pool, causing the previously smooth water to splash and become wavy. Fortunately, the pool was empty aside from them.

When the boys resurfaced, they turned to look for Pepper. She was sitting on a poolside chair, far enough away their jumping wouldn't get her wet. With a shared look, they swam up to the edge as close as they could get to her and splashed a small wave of water across both her and the chair. Pepper scowled at the two boys who grinned innocently at her.

"Come join us, Pep!" Tony called. Pepper shook her head.

"Not after you just splashed me," she replied.

Tony frowned and looked at Peter who was busy blowing bubbles on the surface of the water. Well, he wouldn't be any help like that.

"It'll be fun!" Tony promised. Pepper smiled and shook her head again.

"Maybe later."

Tony huffed and turned to Peter.

Pepper wasn't sure what they began doing, but it looked like some sort of game. While they splashed around, she opened a book and tuned out the sounds of Peter's squeals and Tony's following laughter. Only when it got quiet did she look up.

Neither boy was in the pool. Craning her neck, she looked around the room and spotted them in the hot tub, talking quietly. Peter was playing with the bubbles from the jet, putting them on his face to be Santa Clause and Tony was rolling his eyes.

"Mom! Come in!" Peter said, waving his hand and flicking bubbles onto Tony's face.

Tony scrunched up his face and wiped them off before turning to look at Pepper as well.

"I don't really want to get wet right now, hon," Pepper replied. Peter frowned and lowered himself in the hot tub until just his head was visible.

"Pretty please?" he asked. He was giving her puppy dog eyes and as much as Pepper told herself it didn't work, it often did. Especially when he very sweetly promised, "I won't splash you. Dad won't either."

At a sharp look from Peter, Tony crossed his heart solemnly.

"No splashing," he promised.

With a sigh, Pepper put her book down. Peter cheered, jumping up and splashing Tony as Pepper slid into the hot tub. As the jets made more bubbles and Pepper sat beside Tony in the hot tub, Peter remade his Santa Clause beard.

He grinned and turned to them. "Look!"

Pepper smiled and put some bubbles in his hair to match his face. Frowning, he rubbed the bubbles off. As soon as his hair was free of bubbles though, he grabbed more and put them on Tony's hair, not sure if Pepper would get out if he put them on her.

"Hey, I already said I couldn't be Santa," Tony declared, getting rid of the bubbles in a hurry "I'm too good looking."

Peter scoffed.

"Come on, Dad," he said, "Everyone knows you couldn't be Santa because you're not skinny enough."

Tony's jaw dropped and he looked at Pepper who was giggling quietly.

"Did you just call me fat?" Tony asked in disbelief. Peter's giggling got louder. "You're going down, kid!" Tony exclaimed, jumping on Peter and playfully shoving him under the water. He didn't hold Peter under and when he came back up, Peter jumped on him.

Pepper shrieked as water splashed her, but neither boy let up from their wrestling. When it looked like Tony was going to win, she jumped on his back and helped Peter tackle him. It took a while to get Tony to admit defeat and by the time he had, the hot tub had lost a considerable amount of water.

"We win," Peter said victoriously. Tony grumbled.

"Yeah, whatever," he muttered, pulling himself out of the hot tub. "Let's go see if Italy has any good movies to watch."