After a week, Tony decided to enroll Peter to a Pre-kindergarten just near their home. He established that since his kid is also a genius, that's a reason to nurture his gift even more. The more advanced the better. He also hired a nanny for Peter and is only there when he was away on meetings and overseas for work projects and conferences. He wanted to be a hands-on father as much as possible but since he's the owner and now CEO of his company, it can't be helped. Not all of his work can be handled by Pepper and Obadiah. He also hired a Chef that cook in the mornings for three meals every day, Pepper insisted this, cause the kid won't grow on takeout's and cereals alone.
A press release was also launched to the media that Tony Stark has a son and gave only basic information about Peter. He asked the press to give their family complete privacy of their private and personal lives. And just like that, the whole world knows, Tony has an heir to the Throne.
"Good Morning, young master Peter." said JARVIS in an enthusiastic and respectable British tone. Peter usually woke up by 6:30 to 7 everyday. It has already been seven months since Peter moved in with his Father and everything has been smooth sailing ever since.
They developed a routine where Peter goes to school in the mornings and only have half-day classes. In the afternoon, a piano teacher comes once a week to teach Peter piano. Tony found Peter one day sitting and playing his Mother's piano in unrecognizable notes. So he figured he'll teach him the basics.
"You know bud, your grandmother would've loved to see you play." Tony said with melancholic eyes.
"This is her Piano right? I wish I could've met her."
"Yeah, she's very patient with teaching me back then. Very motherly. I'm sure she'll be ecstatic and proud to see you easily learning this."
Peter cupped Tony face then hugged him afterwards. "I'm sure she'll be proud of you too, Dad."
A gymnastics teacher goes twice a week since Peter has been agile and light-footed since Tony met him, and a martial arts teacher also goes twice a week. Happy teaches him self-defense along with Tony. He figured since the public already knows his son, in case he's not there to protect him he wants to make sure that his son can protect himself. While during the weekends, Peter spends all of his time with his father on his lab watching him work.
"Good Morning JARVIS, where's Dad?"
"He's downstairs Peter, already waiting for you for breakfast."
"Thanks, JARVIS."
Peter remembered his father saying "If you have any questions, or if you want something and you can't find me in the house, you can ask JARVIS okay? He knows."
He headed downstairs wearing a color red and gold silk pajamas and he saw his Father sipping a cup of coffee sitting at the dining room. It's a bright sunny morning, the sun hitting the bright ocean in view.
"Good Morning Daddy!" beamed Peter with a smile and jumped on to Tony's lap and gave him a small hug and kiss on the cheek and Tony kissed him on the forehead.
"Good Morning Petey-pie."
Laid on the breakfast table are croissants, egg breakfast muffins, peanut butter waffles, quinoa and chia porridge. Just then the chef arrived to bring in scrambled and sunnyside up eggs and toast.
"Good morning chef Paul." greeted Peter.
"Good morning to you too Peter."
"Breakfast is already complete and served Mr. Stark. Bon appétit."
"Très bien. Merci chef." Tony smiled and Chef Paul nodded and headed back to the kitchen as they started eating.
"You can speak French Dad?"
"Yeah, i didn't mention it. did I? Started learning at an early age. Maybe we should teach you too."
"What languages do you speak? Are you fluent in them?"
"Let's see, hmm. There's French, Japanese, and Russian, basic Italian and some Arabic."
"WOW… That's so cool!" Peter literally had his mouth opened in awe. His Dad's really a genius, he can do anything! "You really are the best Dad! That's so many!"
Tony just smiled and ruffled his hair, "So what do want to do today bud? It's the weekend and I want to spend time with you before I head out later. Mrs. Eleanor will be here to keep an eye on you."
"Huh? Why? Where are you going?"
"There's an award ceremony again tonight and I have work to do tomorrow in DC."
Peter's face fell "Can you not go? It's your birthday's tomorrow; I want to spend time with you."
"I'll try to head back tomorrow as fast as I can Pete, I tried to dodge this one but Pepper insisted and you know sometimes she scares me. Evidently, she said, I've missed more award ceremonies and meetings in the past that can't excuse me no more."
Cheer up bud, you've got me till 4pm. That's plenty of time." Tony winked and patted Peter's shoulders.
Peter and Tony made use of their time in the morning by updating Dum-E. The robot has been with Tony since he first created it in his father's workshop. Every once in a while he updates the robot as his assistant in doing small chores, mostly cleaning up the lab. While they tinker, they listened to "Sugar We're Goin Down" by Fall Out Boy where Tony danced head-banging shacking his shoulders and hips, Peter also followed suit afterwards like they were in a rock band and laughing afterwards.
"Pete, let's go swimming later. What'd you think?" Tony said stretching as he felt his muscles tensed from working and meetings the week before. Going swimming might relax him a bit.
"Can you teach me Dad? Um, I don't know how." Peter asked embarrassed.
"Yeah bud, Of course!" Tony said sliding his arm to Peter's shoulders as they go upstairs to eat lunch.
After having some rest, they went to the pool overlooking the ocean. Peter's wearing arm floaters so he can stay afloat on the water. "Okay bud, first, when swimming you relax okay? Don't let the water scare you. You control the water." Tony said as he carries Peter in his arms and dipped in the pool.
To keep your head floating, you tread the water, flutter kick your feet circular back and forth like this while moving your arms horizontally at the same time, capiche?"
Peter nodded, eyes with determination. "Capiche!"
"Okay, you try, I'll get over there and you come to me okay?"
"Okay Daddy."
Slowly Tony kept a distance and let his son do it on his own. Peter did what he told and struggled at first to reach him but eventually crossed the distance between them. Tony laughed as Peter reached his arm and Peter giggled triumphantly.
"Good job buddy!"
Now you want to try without the arm floaties?" Peter gulped, "Okay." Tony removed the arm floaters then let go of Peter, going at a far end of the pool.
Peter struggled to swim to him still smiling and doing all the things his father said but slowly panicking, when he thought he's about to give up, in a small voice he called "Daddy, help, help Peter."
Tony snorted and laughed inside his head by the way Peter said his name in the third person and with such cuteness in his voice. Tony got nearer reaching his arms "Okay bud, you can do it, come on let's go." Peter's head is still floating from the water so he's not worried he's going to drown. "You can do it, sweetheart."
Daddy laughed and with a more encouraging tone he said "C'mon, you can do it!"
Just an inch between them and finally Tony held his son close in his arms. "Alright! You did it buddy! You did it! Good job!" Tony kissed his forehead and Peter finally laughed and giggled.
After mastering floating in the water, Tony then taught his son how to do freestyle and backstroke and even butterfly. They clean up after themselves afterwards after two hours in the pool.
"Thanks for today Daddy." Peter said sitting on his lap and as his head laid down Tony's chest. The sound of his Daddy's hearbeat relaxing him. They are on the sofa on the living room just watching the TV.
"Always no problem, you enjoyed today huh?" Tony said smiling as he plant a kiss on his son's forehead and smelled his hair – the baby scent relaxing his senses.
Peter then looked at him and said "I did! I know now how to swim!"
"You did a good job there bud, you take care till tomorrow okay?
"I'm gonna miss you Dad. Can I come with you instead?"
"I wish you could Petey but I'm afraid children are not supposed to be there."
"Hmm. Take care also daddy okay?
"Sure bud."
Peter slowly drifted off to sleep as his Daddy kissed Peter's forehead once again and bid him goodbye. Mrs. Eleanor came after and Tony took off.
It was already dark when Peter woke-up on the sofa. He immediately saw Mrs. Eleanor sitting at a couch near him making a crochet while the TV was humming on a low volume creating white noise. He misses his Daddy already.
"Hi Mrs. Eleanor."
"Hi Peter, how was your sleep honey?"
"It was okay." He sits up on the sofa and stared into the TV.
"Are you okay Peter?"
"Yeah. I just miss my Dad"
"Oh your dad's going to be fine, honey. C'mon, let's get you some stuff to fill that tummy."
Peter was at the middle of his dinner when they heard the front door opened and footsteps coming in. Peter got scared for a second but when he saw a familiar figure he relaxed.
"Uncle James!" Peter run up to Rhodey and carried him up "Hey champ! How are you? Wow, you're getting heavier now." Peter met his Uncle James a week after they came to Malibu. Rhodes visited to check up on Tony and meet Peter. He gave Peter a vintage Nintendo Classic as a welcoming gift since Tony mentioned Peter's a geeky kid. The rest of the day, they spent quality time together playing the game and watching Movies.
"You're here!" and Pepper!" Rhodey put him down then Peter hugged Pepper.
"What are you both doing here?" Peter asked amused, it's been a long time since he had seen his Daddy's bestfriend while he just saw Pepper last week.
"We want to see you baby." Pepper pinched Peter's nose.
"And we have a birthday party to plan for tomorrow." Rhodey said and winked at him.
Tony went to an award ceremony hosted by Forbes Magazine awarding his company for being once again the most advanced and number one company in the world. Different kinds of people he doesn't know giving him birthday greetings. Afterwards, he prepared a presentation of his new weapons to the big guys in the military which really isn't Disneyland. All throughout, he can only think about is how he misses his son and now he's celebrating his birthday without him. Even Pepper's not even here, the only consolation is that at least Happy's here. He headed back on the jet immediately after a long day and managed to get some sleep before landing. Peter must already been sleeping now and it's school day tomorrow so he better should be.
The lights are out and he had a hunch that there might be a surprise behind the door but then once he entered the sudden POP of the confetti made his body flinched and almost made his heart jump from his chest.
"OH SHIT.. Fuckin. JEEZ!" Tony said his hands to his chest then started laughing. "You're gonna give me a heart attack!" He was welcomed with Pepper and Rhodey laughing and hugging him with a happy birthday, then a beautiful boy came into view running towards him "Daddy!" with open arms he hugged the little boy and carried him "Happy Birthday Daddy!"
The house was filled with balloons with pictures hanging on its loose ends, pictures of Tony smiling with his friends and family, and most especially Peter. While a candlelit dinner is set in a gorgeous table setting for five people. They went there and Pepper held the birthday cake in front of him while all of them including Happy started singing the Happy Birthday song.
"Happy Birthday, happy birthday, Happy Birthday Tony/Daddy!" Tony closed his eyes, made a wish, and together with Peter blow out the candles. A tear already formed in Tony's eyes which he brushed away.
"Thank you, Wow! for all this, well I had a feeling, but I was still pretty much shocked back there!" and laughter was heard across the room. "Thank you guys for being here and making this more special when it is really indeed special because I have this boy with me." Thank you kid." Tony kissed Peter's forehead. It's his first birthday celebrating with his son and the surprise gesture just made his heart swell with happiness.
They had dinner after and Peter's gift to his father is playing a piano piece in front of them. He started playing "The Entertainer" that made his Dad smile very proudly; his son already plays like an expert when he just barely started six months ago!
After playing the piece, Peter ran back to him and hugged him, him pressing his nose into Peter's hair. "I hope you liked it Dad."
"Oh you don't know how proud I am of you Pete."
Pepper's gift is a video montage of Tony and Peter, and it played on the hologram screen in front of them. Short messages greetings from all of them and everyone close to him played then videos of him and Peter started playing with beautiful transitions and a background music of "Rubik's Cube" by Athlete, it was the video of the first night he got Peter hugging him while they sleep, when he was feeding him waffles, when he was teaching Peter piano, when they were in the boxing room with Happy playing and teaching the kid self-defense, when they're eating breakfast outside the terrace, on the living room with Rhodey watching movies, Tony, Peter and Pepper laughing while eating ice-cream on the kitchen stand, when he was teaching Peter how to swim, and more videos of Peter sleeping on Tony's chest with Peter saying "I love you Daddy" at the end.
The video was so genuine, Tony was shedding up little tears when the video ended. There are no words; the video is filled with emotions. He stood, hugged and thanked Pepper immediately afterwards.
"How did all of you managed to do all that Pete?" asked Tony while he tucks Peter to bed.
"Pepper and Uncle James came yesterday and we planned it out Dad. Happy's with us through video call. It's mostly Pepper who prepared everything, she's amazing Dad. I also didn't know about the video."
"Yeah, she is kid. She certainly is." Tony just grows more grateful for Pepper each day. That woman is just something out of this world.
Peter was so excited the whole time imagining what his Father's reaction might be, and truly it exceeded his expectations. His Dad's so happy he even cried, Peter hugged his father so tight he didn't want the day to end but soon after slipping into sleep. Tony sniffs his baby powder scented hair and let himself relax off to sleep, what he wished are more happy days and memories like this with his loved ones and most importantly his son by his side.
Author's Note:
A chapter full of fluff yup. LOL I hope you guys like it as much as I do. This is my first time writing a story chap by chap so feedback is very much appreciated. Thank you to everyone who reads, favorites, follows, and reviews this story.