I'm Just Human

Chapter Seven

It hasn't been easy without Carol around, but Steve's been more than enough to keep everyone on their feet. He cooks on the nights that Carol was supposed to, does Carol's old chores, and his income is about the came as Carol's had been so it's a nice balance.

Tony hasn't exactly kept to his promise, it's easier to have bad days than it is to have good days, so he hasn't kept to his promise of not drinking. He's been doing better now that he's been forced to realize he has a problem, but he hasn't been doing great. He still doesn't see that it's really a problem.

He's just relaxing.

He doesn't see why drinking wine and scotch is really a problem. He never gets drunk, just a little tipsy whenever he pulls out the alcohol.

It hasn't affected the quality of his work or Peter at all, so he doesn't see why it's such a big problem.

He doesn't see why Rhodey's made it such a big deal, going as far as to even try to hide the alcohol from Tony.

Carol left last night from her second visit. The company she works for has been willing to pay for trips to New York every two months from California for her and Tessa.

Peter has the day off school, he was up really late last night hanging out with Aunt Carol and Miss Tessa so Tony called the school so Peter could sleep in. Nobody wanted to deal with a cranky Peter from not sleeping well.

Rhodey's already left for work and Steve's headed out do some groceries for taco night.

Leaving Tony alone.

The itch to grab a glass of wine to rid himself of the knots in his shoulders makes itself known as soon as he kisses Steve goodbye, but he pushes it away. He's in charge of Peter. He's not going to mess it up.

He makes himself comfy on the couch, turning the TV onto a nature channel, Peter's favourite to watch- Tony always makes sure to cover the kid's eyes if there's any gory or scary scenes- and sips at his coffee instead.

Life's a little bit easier when all he has to worry about is fixing cars and his family.

Peter wakes up a few hours later and curls up against his dad's body on the couch wordlessly. He's had a tougher time adjusting to Carol's departure, but he's still the happy kid he's always been. He's just confused as to why she left in the first place.

"Hey, kiddo. How'd you sleep?" Tony says, wrapping his arm tightly around Peter's shoulders and pulling his kid tight against his chest.

"Good. Didn't dream about anything, though," Peter says with a childish frown. "What's for breakfast?"

"Steve is out getting groceries, so he'll pick something up for us to eat," Tony murmurs, pressing a kiss to Peter's forehead and brushing back his mess of curls. "Do you have any homework left?"

"Nope. I finished all Miss Cat's extra work on Saturday night," he says, tucking his head against Tony's collarbone with a content hum. "When's Aunt Carol coming back?"

"In two months, buddy. It's going to be a long wait because she's living really far away with Tessa," Tony explains for the thousandth time. Peter will probably ask him constantly when he'll get to see Carol again, but Tony will continue to be patient. He understands that change is hard for kids to understand. "Daddy has some work to do today. You wanna help me work on a car today? I can teach you how I do it."

Peter immediately perks up, eyes lighting up with excitement. He loves it when Tony teaches him things. They've already made it through most of the grade seven science curriculum recently. Tony's had more time now that he's quit his job at the grocery store, and he's been spending all of it with Peter.