Chapter 20

Peter had dinner with May and Happy the night before Halloween, and watched scary movies with them all night.

The next day he was disappointed he couldn't go trick or treating with May, but he knew Happy was going to stop by to see her for dinner which made Peter feel better. And he would see her when he got home later.

At his dad's house, after school later that evening, Peter was in his room putting his costume on. He looked in the mirror and grinned as he raised his arms.

"What do you think FRIDAY?"

"Very impressive Peter. You look just like boss."

Grinning, Peter pushed the Iron Man helmet up to reveal his face. And he looked over his whole Iron Man costume in pride.

"Thanks FRIDAY."

He was quite proud of this costume. With Pepper's help he was able to get some of his dad's old helmets and parts, and was able to make a mock up of a miniature Iron Man suit. In honour of his dad.

"Do you think...do you think dad will like it?"

"Why wouldn't he?"

Well Peter couldn't argue with that.

Heading downstairs, Peter was adjusting his gauntlets in the hallway when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Peter? You down here?"

"Yeah dad." Peter grinned pulling down the helmet and put up his arm in his best Iron Man pose. For the best reaction.

The footsteps got louder and Peter lifted his head slightly to see him through the eye holes and he gasped. Frozen in shock.

It was...Darth Vader!

Darth Vader was walking towards him, in the full outfit. Black cape, boots, trousers and shoes. The helmet, with the breathing, and even a red light saber.

"Oh. My. God." Was all Peter was able to say.

"Hey it's IRON MAN!" Tony's voice called out, but sounded like Darth Vader. Tony felt tears well up seeing his son dressed up as him, as Iron Man like he had all the years before as a kid. He felt so touched, that he was still his son's hero. He may have missed out on his kids Halloween's before, but he was here now.

"Oh. My. God." Peter repeated, still unable to process what he was seeing.

Tony lifted the front of his helmet and raised an eyebrow at Peter; "Have I overloaded your brain buddy?"

Quickly blinking and coming back to the present, Peter rushed forward and wrapped his arms around his dad in a hug.

Tony flipped the switch to turn the light off his light saber, and hugged Peter.

"You dressed up as Darth Vader for me?"

Chuckling, Tony lifted Peter's helmet to see his face, and the wonder on his face and nodded.

"For you spider baby. And you dressed up as Iron Man for me?"

Peter blushed and nodded stepping back grinning, he held his arms out; "What do you think?"

"Pretty awesome kid. Like the real thing. I'm serious. It looks exactly like my suit."

"Well it sort of is. Mom helped me get some of your old parts and I put it together. I hope that's ok. It doesn't work or anything I promise." Peter said raising his hands at him, knowing his dad would flip out if he built a real Iron Man suit; "Just for show."

"You built this?" Tony looked at the suit again in fascination and pride.

"Is that ok? Are you mad?"

"Mad? No I'm amazed. I knew you were smart but I'm impressed kid."

"Really?"

Tony just smiled and patted his arm; "Of course. Hey maybe we could build you a real suit sometime."

Peter's jaw dropped; "A real...Iron Man suit...for me?"

Tony saw this time he really did overload his brain.

"Well I made one for Pep. It's only fair you have one too. And it might be fun to built one together. I'd love your input."

This time when Peter tackled him into a hug, Tony was unprepared and they tumbled to the stairs.

"I love you dad! You're the best!"

Laughing, Tony grabbed Peter quickly to make sure he didn't get hurt, dropping his light saber in the process. He didn't care. Having his son so happy, it made him happy.

"Love you too bud." Tony said helping them stand up.

Peter picked up the light saber for him and frowned; "This isn't Bruce's? The one he got me for my birthday?"

"Of course not." Tony snorted taking it from Peter; "This is a real collectible I bought. You think I'm going to go out with Bruce's? That thing is radioactive and dangerous! No way am I touching that thing. Nope. It and your other weapon presents are going to stay locked up."

Peter rolled his eyes; "Will you tell me where you hid them atleast?"

"Capital N. Capital O. Buddy. I trust you but I also know you're curious and a little sneaky. I'm not risking you hurting yourself."

He expected an argument but Peter just nodded with a sigh.

"Ok dad."

Tony was proud of his maturity.

"You look great by the way. Where did you get the costume?"

Tony shrugged; "I have connections."

"Wait. Is that the real...?" Peter trailed off gasping.

Tony just winked and kept silent.

"Awesome." Peter chuckled; "So where's mom?"

Tony paused at that; "She not with you?"

Shaking his head, Peter frowned; "No...I thought she was with you."

They shared a look and then suddenly Pepper jumped out at them from the end of the hallway leading to the living room; "TADA!"

Peter and Tony started, but looked wide eyed at her.

She was standing there her hands on her hips, dressed up as Supergirl. With long red boots, the blue top with the S, the red skirt and red cape, and even the blond wig.

Peter smiled; "You look great mom."

"Wow Pep." Tony murmured his eyes running over her and stopping at her legs grinning.

She sent him a look but smiled warmly.

"I didn't know you were a comic book fan?" Peter added.

Pepper shrugged dropping her hands with a small smile; "I'll have you know I was quite the nerd as a kid. I loved comics, I'll have to show my collection at some point."

"That would be awesome!"

"Right. It looks like we're all set to go."

Peter practically skipped as he turned to rush out the door.

Tony turned to Pepper, grabbing her and pulling into a kiss as she passed.

"Nice outfit Supergirl."

"Right back at you Darth Vader." Pepper said chuckling and they kissed again.

"Ugh gross." They heard a voice and turned, Peter was covering his face; "You have no idea how weird it is to see Darth Vader kissing Supergirl."

"You little..." Tony mock glared, pulling him to his side and guiding him out the door.

Peter went to start walking down the street, but Tony just pulled him towards the car.

"Wha..aren't we?" Peter pointed at the street.

"Oh did I forget to mention we're not doing normal trick or treating down the street?"

"No." Peter frowned tilting his head.

"Come on kid, I'm Tony Stark. I never do things the small way."

Peter was curious now as he climbed in the car with his parents. He spent the drive texting Ned, getting some funny texts about how awesome it was to be riding with Darth Vader and Supergirl.

Then they stopped at some random street. Not what Peter expected.

As he got out the car, he was left speechless. There were people and kids dressed up walking around them. But what Peter focused on was that the houses were all decked out, and there were stalls set up too. And some music was playing from somewhere.

"It's a fair." Peter realised chuckling in joy and turned to his dad in shock.

Tony wrapped an arm around Peter; "Yeah I know it's not quite what you were expecting. But we can trick or treat here too. And I thought it might be fun. There's a lot of fun stalls, and a hay maze. My mom took me to a fair like this a couple of times when I was a kid. I was really young but they are some of the best memories I have. I know it may not be what you wanted to do, and we don't have to stay if you don't..."

"No. No yes yes I want to stay." Peter babbled excitedly; "This is amazing dad! I love it! What do we do first?"

"What do you want to do first honey?" Pepper said chuckling taking Tony's hand.

"Can we look at the stalls first?" Peter really wanted to see what was here, and knew that if they went trick or treating now they'd had to carry the candy all around whilst they did the stalls and stuff.

"Of course bud." Tony slung and arm around his shoulder with his free arm and they started walking; "Whatever you want."

A while later, Peter and his parents had decorated some ghost, witch and pumpkin cookies which they quickly ate. They had done some apple bobbing, witnessed a carving competition, and were currently casually walking through the street eating caramel apples.

"Hey awesome costumes!" Some little kids squealed as they rushed past them.

It made Peter grin, braving reaching out to take his dad's free hand that Pepper had let go of to hold her caramel apple with both hands. It shocked Tony, and he looked at Peter in surprise, before smiling fondly, gripping Peter's hand tightly.

This wasn't just about them having fun here, Tony could see it on Peter's face. It was the most relaxed he had been. And it was because they were outside together as father and son and didn't have to worry about who saw them. Even when they had lifted their masks no one really paid any attention. Too busy with the stalls and having fun. Everyone was dressed up as someone else. Tony swore he saw like ten Iron Man, and eight Spider Man rushing about. No one looked twice at them. And Tony was finally happy to be able to spend time with his son in public without panicking about the press finding out. It was nice.

"Oh dad look!" Peter tugged on his hand sometime later, and pointed at the hay maze; "Can we? Can we?"

In that moment, bouncing on the spot, Peter did look like a little kid.

There was no way he could refuse that little puppy face.

"Sure spider baby. Looks like fun."

"Oh no. Not me." Pepper grimaced at the maze; "I don't like things jumping out at me." She finished before looking pointedly at Tony.

Laughing, Tony wrapped an arm around her waist; "Come on Supergirl. I'll protect you."

Chuckling, Pepper swatted at his arm; "Nice try but no thanks. You two have fun though. I'm just going to get another caramel apple."

Tony knew that was actually Pepper's real reason.

"Well looks like it's just you and me buddy." Tony smiled down at Peter; "What do you think? You going to protect me?"

Peter knew his dad was just humouring him, but wanted to go along with it so he nodded firmly; "I'll always have your back dad."

"Good come on." Tony slung an arm over Peter's shoulder and led him into the maze; "No one's going to mess with Iron Man and Darth Vader."

0o0o0oo0SPIDERMAN0o0o00o0o0

"I think we're lost dad."

Peter sighed as they came to another dead end.

After ten minutes, the first five had been zombies and clowns jumping out at them.

The zombies make Peter jump but he laughed at them, but when the clowns jumped out laughing, Peter squealed and instantly turned to bury his head in his dad's side.

"We're not lost. We're just taking a detour." Tony insisted glaring at the dead end. He could tell Peter had finally had enough after the fourth clown covered in blood had jumped out right in front of Peter and he fell back onto his butt screaming.

Tony had to admit though those clowns had been damn scary. He was about ready to get out of here too. He had been trying to find a way out for the last few minutes. With no luck. But he didn't want to worry Peter.

"Pretty sucky detour." Peter murmured under his breath but Tony heard.

Looking at him sympathetically, he saw Peter had crossed his arms and was darting his eyes around fearfully. He reached over to pry a hand from his chest to take it; "I'm not going to let anything happen to you bud ok?"

"I know." Peter sighed and looked down kicking the dirt; "Sorry. It's just. I don't like clowns."

"No one does. And those are pretty damn scary. Kids really shouldn't be allowed in here."

"I used to have nightmares about them."

"Really?" Tony turned to Peter concerned. That was news to him. Shit.

"Yeah right after Ben died. After the Stark Expo. I went to someone's birthday party, and there was a clown. It triggered it I guess. The clown scared me, laughing and waving a balloon, freaked me out. And well I was still struggling with losing Ben." Peter trailed off and Tony squeezed his hand. He knew what it was like dealing with a tragic loss of a loved one, and how that pain never really went away; "They would chase me. In the nightmares. Laughing." Peter shuddered; "Their laughs were really freaky. It would be dark. I would call out for help but no one would come. Then the clown found me."

"What happened when they did?" Tony was afraid to ask.

Peter shrugged; "They would jump out and grab me. I'd scream and wake up covered in sweat. May was pretty freaked. Called it my clown phase." Peter winced; "I hadn't thought about that in a while. That was a rough time for me."

"Oh jeez I'm sorry. Maybe this had been a bad idea." Tony felt instantly terrible. He thought coming here would be fun, but he had no idea the maze would be like this. He thought a few fake animatronics, a scarecrow or something, not scary ass clowns jumping out of nowhere scaring the shit out of them. Damn he'd really messed up.

"No no this has been great." Peter insisted hearing the disappointment in his dad's voice, and he didn't want to worry him. He smiled at his dad to reassure him; "Really. I've had a lot of fun tonight. It's been the best night ever. Minus the clowns." He joked.

"Still sorry bud. I wanted tonight to be perfect for you."

Peter stopped, forcing his dad to stop so he could face him.

"It has been perfect dad. Because I'm with you and mom."

This kid had a way of pulling his heartstrings, he pulled Peter into a hug.

"Come on bud. Let's get the hell out of here and find mom ok?"

"Sounds good."

They made a few more turns, and Tony was beginning to get frustrated at not finding a way out.

"I don't suppose you can use your spider sense to get us out of here?" Tony offered gently.

Peter made a face and shook his head; "Doesn't really work like that." Then he tilted his head; "Couldn't we just ask FRIDAY?" Peter held up his wrist to indicate the wrist band he always wore.

Tony just stared at him and chuckled shaking his hand. How could he be so stupid not to think of that? For a split second Tony had considered using his suit to fly them out. But that would draw too much attention.

"You're a real genius you know that?"

Peter grinned pleased.

"FRIDAY? Be a doll and get us the hell out of here would you?"

"Of course boss. Plotting route now." FRIDAY said aloud, and then after a beeping she said; "Route sent to your phones."

Tony pulled out his phone and smiled at the little map with the red route laid out with just a few turns for them to get out.

"Hey see I was pretty close." Tony showed him the screen and watched as relief formed on Peter's face. It was then his phone lit up with a phone call from Pepper.

"Bet she's wondering why we've been gone so long." Peter murmured.

"Probably thinks I got us lost." Tony scoffed and at Peter's look he rolled his eyes; "Ok fine maybe I did I'm sorry bud."

"Hey Pep." Tony answered smiling already leading Peter and him on the route out, remembering the way; "No I'm not lost."

Peter snorted, and Tony nudged him with a smirk.

"We're on our way out now. Yeah he's ok. See you soon. Love you." Tony hung up and looked back down at the map.

"She ask about me?"

"Yeah wanted to make sure I hadn't lost you or scared you too much. But on the plus there's some caramel apples out there waiting for us."

"Yum."

They turned a corner and Tony sighed in relief.

"Nearly there Underoos."

But then a clown suddenly appeared from out of nowhere brandying a rubber chainsaw covered in fake blood. It screamed and laughed.

Peter literally jumped out of his skin, screaming and turned to run the other way, before Tony could grab him. But Peter barely got a few feet when a zombie ran at him groaning and lashing out at him.

Peter lost it. His heart raced, there was the sound of blood rushing to his ears. Everything was too loud...too bright...his head spun, and he just clapped his hands over his ears and curled in on himself.

Suddenly, someone grabbed him. He yelped, trying to wriggle away petrified it was a clown trying to grab him. Until, his helmet was shoved off, and familiar calloused gently handles were carding through his hair, pulling him into a tight hug.

"Dad." Peter whimpered clinging onto him for dear life, closing his eyes to block everything out.

"KNOCK IT OFF!" Tony finally yelled as he glared daggers at the clown and zombie, covering Peter's head and back, protecting him; "THAT'S ENOUGH! Can't you see he's terrified?"

The zombie instantly stopped and had the decency to look embarrassed.

The clown lowered the chainsaw but shrugged; "Hey man it's our job. If he didn't want to get scared he shouldn't have come in here."

"CLAY! Don't be a jerk!" The zombie murmured rushing over to shove the clown away; "Get lost." And Tony realised it was a girl's voice. Clay the clown grumbled something but walked away. The zombie turned to Tony and Peter, and he eyed her warily, tightening his hold on Peter. Then ignoring her, he quickly pulled out the glasses and earbuds, and hurriedly putting them on Peter's face. He always carried a spare pair on him, just in case. Now he was glad he did.

"It's ok. You're ok. They're gone" Tony murmured softly, combing his hair, and taking his shaking hands in his squeezing them in reassurance; "It's safe. You're safe. Just take some slow deep breaths."

The world went silent, and the only thing Peter knew was his dad was there. All he heard, and felt was his dad. Reassuring him he was safe. It really helped him stop from freaking out. He focused on his dad's breathing, and his heartbeat to steady his own.

Tony waited whilst Peter's breathing steadied out and he stopped shaking.

Still feeling some tears fall from his face, Peter felt utterly embarrassed. Like some stupid little kid. He hadn't meant to react like that, he was just caught by surprise. He hated when these Sensory Overloads hit. They were just like panic attacks and he couldn't stop them.

Ducking his head, Peter mumbled; "M'sorry."

"Oh no come here." Tony murmured pulling him into a tight hug, whispering to him; "You have to stop apologising buddy. It's not your fault. It's ok to be scared. I was too. I'm here for you spider baby."

The woman zombie watched sadly for a moment, before cautiously pulling off her mask revealing a normal college student's face. She grimaced and looked sadly at Peter; "I'm so sorry. Is he ok?"

"He doesn't like clowns." Tony explained gently over Peter's shoulder, feeling him tense up slightly at the stranger's voice. And he rubbed his back to reassure him; "And well damn this is a lot more scary than we thought. How are kids meant to come in here?"

Hearing his dad speak angrily defend him, it made him smile and he pulled back and went to rub his eyes when he remembered the glasses were on and stopped himself. Tony kept an arm around him, keeping him at his side which made Peter feel safe.

"Yeah sorry about that." The woman continued, and Peter now getting a good look at her saw she really was sorry for scaring them; "Our boss went a little too far this year. Usually I hear it's just a normal hay maze, maybe with a couple of zombies walking around groaning, not jumping out at people. And we're meant to also help people get out if they get lost. But then he wanted to make it a scary hay maze, and hired some other college kids to act as clowns and jump out as people. People like Clay took it upon themselves to have a bit of fun with it and took it way too far. I mean jeez the chairsaw," She paled; "I really am so sorry. I had no idea. Are you ok?" She looked sweetly at Peter; "Do you want a drink or anything?"

"Can you get us out of here?" Peter mumbled and Tony smiled down at him.

"Yes of course. Follow me. I'm Jess by the way." She brightened.

"Tony."

"Peter. Nice to meet you Jess."

Jess blushed as she was leading them out; "Nice to meet you too Peter."

Before Tony knew it, Peter and Jess were chatting away like they were old friends. Tony was very interested to learn she was on break from MIT studying astrophysics. And she appeared very smart, judging by the way she and Peter were chatting away. He was impressed.

"Here we are." Jess said waving her arm as they finally found the entrance and walked out.

"Oh thank god." Pepper said rushing forward pulling both Peter and Tony into a hug; "I was so worried. And then FRIDAY informed me you were in distress." She finished cupping Peter's face to search his eyes.

"I'm ok mom." Peter said smiling, already having taken his gasses and earbuds out. Feeling immensely better: "Just a little tired." The Sensory Overloads always wore him out after.

She pulled him into a hug sending a concerned look at Tony, seeing his jaw was hardened and his eyes were full of fire. He was pissed about something, it made her wonder what happened.

"Ok well let's get you home." Pepper said as she looked down at Peter smiling comfortingly.

"No I want to go trick or treating." Peter objected; "We haven't done that yet."

"Are you sure bud?" Tony said furrowing his brow, wanting to get Peter straight home. Or maybe to see Cho.

Peter nodded firmly at his dad; "I want to go trick or treating." It wasn't just that he wanted to go, he didn't want to ruin his parents night by having to go home early. He wasn't a baby like he had been acting a little while ago, he may have been scared before but now he was ok.

Tony ruffled Peter's hair and nodded; "Alright buddy. Why don't you go get a drink with your mom whilst I thank Jess here ok?"

"Ok dad." Peter nodded eagerly and turned with Pepper. Before she left she sent a look at Tony that she was going to tell him what happened later.

When they were walking away, Tony turned to Jess sighing. But she spoke before he could.

"Before you ask, I'm not going to say anything."

"Excuse me?"

Jess looked around before speaking quietly; "You're Tony Stark. You think I'm going to call the press because you're here with a kid? But I'm not going to. You may not believe me. You can have me sign an NDA whatever I don't care. But I'm not that person."

Tony paused tilting his head, suspicious, but finding he believed her; "Why? Why would you do that?"

Jess just smiled and shrugged; "It's none of my business. Besides I've seen the way the press treat people. It sucks and I think it's wrong. And well...I know it's not my place but you seem like a good dad." She murmured shyly; "Not that I'm insinuating anything but well I just wanted to let you know."

Eyes widening slightly he was caught by pure surprise; "Well...thank you."

"Also Clay was a real dick to Peter. I'm still really sorry about that. I don't think you guys should be put through anymore stuff. He seems like a good kid."

"He is."

Jess paused looking around nervously; "So um do you want to sign an NDA or something? Need me to see a lawyer?"

Tony suddenly had a plan; "First, what's your full name?"

"Jess Gregson."

"Ok well my lawyers will be sending you an NDA. It's standard so..." Tony shrugged he needed to make sure, even if he did believe her.

"Sure alright. What's the second?"

Tony looked around; "The owners of these houses must have formed a committee or something right? To organise this."

"Yeah I guess."

"Well I want to speak to them, and your boss. You help me find them and back me up with what happened, and well I'll owe you a favour. Maybe help you get an internship somewhere."

"I'll help you anyway. You don't have to do that for me."

Yeah Tony liked this girl more and more. She'd do good at Stark Industries.

0o0o0oSPIDERMAN00o0o0o

Half an hour later, Tony found his wife and son sitting on a bench eating some caramel apples.

Pepper turned to spot him smiling and gestured as he approached. Peter turned and instantly brightened.

"Dad!" Peter said rushing to hug him.

"Hey bud. Feeling better?"

Peter bobbed his head; "Can we go trick or treating now?"

"Of course yeah come on."

Tony wanted to tell Pepper what happened, and could see she wanted to ask but both knew it wasn't the time with Peter around. He was happier now, talking about it might make him upset again. Tony managed to whisper to her to talk about it later.

The next hour the three of them all cheered up as they went to some houses and got whole bags full of sweets. The best part was seeing how happy Peter was. Maybe tonight wasn't so bad. Just as Tony was beginning to think they could wrap up and head home, Peter tugged on his arm.

"Dad?"

"Yeah bud?"

"Can we make a stop before going home?"

"Where did you want to go?" Tony asked curiously before agreeing.

Peter just smiled shyly.