"How come I have to get ready for bed, now?" Peter asked, curiously, looking up at Tony.

"Are you arguing with me?"

"No. Just asking."

When they were done eating dinner – and a dessert of chocolate cake – the others had excused themselves, while Tony had told Peter that they needed to get him cleaned up and dressed in something more comfortable. He'd walked with the boy back to his little room, and had wet down a wash cloth, using it to clear all traces of the chocolate cake from the boy's face – which had made Peter smile, even if Tony wasn't nearly as adept at it as Eric was.

"I want you ready for bed, now, so we don't have to do it, later," Stark explained. "When you're tired or cranky."

"We're still going to watch a movie, though, right?"

"Yeah."

"Together?"

"How else would we watch it?"

"I don't know… You could start it with me, get bored and leave."

The way he said it made Tony certain that it had happened to him, before.

"I'm not going to do that." He couldn't help himself, he reached out and tapped Peter's nose, affectionately, and smiled when the little boy smiled. "Get your pajamas on, okay? And brush your teeth. I'll be back in a minute."

"Okay."

Ten minutes later Tony was back, and Peter was sitting on the bed, clearly waiting for him. The billionaire smiled.

"Is it wrong that I love your pajamas?"

The little boy smiled.

"I love them."

They were red and gold and looked like the Ironman suit from the bottom of the legs all the way to the shoulders, which were segmented to look like armor. To judge by just how worn they were, he had owned them long before they'd met.

"You look great." He couldn't wait for Steve to see them. "Perfect for watching movies." He offered Peter his hand and the youngster hopped off the bed and took it. "Steve set us up in the theater."

"You have a theater here?"

"It's not really a movie theater," Tony explained as they walked. "It's where they show videos of their missions, and the telemetry data from my suit, to do briefings and debriefings. It'll work for watching movies, too. I suppose I should have had him ask what you wanted to see. We assumed cartoons."

He was a brilliant little guy, Tony knew. Maybe he didn't like the fantasy that came with cartoons? Tony realized he still had a lot to learn about him.

Peter nodded, though.

"I like cartoons."

"Good."

They didn't go far, and soon Tony was leading him into a room that was furnished with a sofa that had a blanket draped over the back of it and a couple of fat cushions, as well as a couple of recliners. There was a table that was currently holding a popcorn machine filled with freshly popped popcorn, some empty paper buckets, which were clearly intended to hold the aforementioned popcorn. There were small boxes of candies, sodas, juices and bottles of water. Peter saw a that the furniture was all facing a blank wall, rather than any kind of display or screen.

"Wow."

Tony frowned at all the treats.

"You can't eat all of that," he told the boy, wondering what Steve was thinking putting that much sugar out so late. Of course, Steve had about as much experience with children as Tony – less, even – so he supposed that it wasn't some kind of nefarious plot to mess with Tony by getting the boy wired with sugar and bouncing off the walls. "As much popcorn as you want, but either water and a candy, or just juice or a cola."

Peter walked over to the table and stared in awe for a moment before he reached for a box of m&ms and a bottle of water, then turned and waited while Tony filled a couple of the buckets with popcorn and handed him one.

"Are the others coming?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted, walking with him over to the sofa and sitting down. "They might sneak in while we're watching."

The boy climbed onto the sofa, as well, spilling his popcorn onto Tony's lap and making the billionaire roll his eyes, not even scowling at the fact that the butter almost certainly going to stain the expensive pants he was wearing. He adroitly reached over and took the water, the candy, and the rest of the popcorn and felt a little warm and fuzzy inside when Peter tucked himself right beside him.

Putting the popcorn bucket in the boy's lap and dumping some of his own into it to top off what he'd lost when he'd spilled, Tony then handed him his candy and water.

"Ready?"

Peter's eyes were lit up with happiness. It might not seem like a big deal to Tony, but no one had done anything like this in a long time. Maybe ever, even.

"Yeah."

Stark picked up a remote. An instant later the lights went off, and the entire wall was lit up with a bright opening sequence.

"I hope you like Disney."

The boy just nodded, his eyes now glued on the wall – and the cartoon that started, almost immediately.

OOOOOOOO

"Why are you sitting in the dark?"

Peter turned and looked up at Natasha.

"We're watching a movie," he reminded her.

She frowned, looking at the wall that they normally used for their briefings. It was lit up, but the 'screen' was blue and there wasn't anything playing. She glanced at Tony, who was sprawled on the couch, covered with a blanket, sound asleep.

"Is it an imaginary movie?" she asked, only barely keeping the sarcasm out of her voice.

Peter smiled.

"It ended about an hour ago."

"Why didn't you start another one?"

"Tony's laying on the remote."

Peter knew; he'd looked for it when the movie had ended. He'd known Tony had fallen asleep, but he didn't mind. That wasn't the same as being bored and leaving, and when he'd fallen asleep, he'd had an arm around the boy, companionably, so Peter guessed that he was alright sitting with him. He certainly was fine with it. It had been a long time since someone had been interested in holding him for any period of time. Eric or his wife would hug him, and comfort him with an embrace if he woke after a nightmare and couldn't help the tears that followed, but Tony had pulled the boy against his side and had simply spent time with him.

It was comforting enough that Peter had dozed off, too, only to be woken by the credits of the cartoon playing.

Romanoff smiled and looked at her watch.

"We should get you to bed. It's pretty late."

He didn't argue. And he didn't tell her about how he only slept a couple of hours a night, most of the time. Instead, he nodded, and she surprised him when she held her arms out to him. With a shy smile, Peter stood up on the couch and allowed her to sweep him up into her embrace, one arm under his rear to give him a seat, while the other went around him.

"Jeeze, you're heavy," she complained, hugging him, tightly, to make sure he knew she was only teasing. She smiled when his arms went around her, and his cheek ended up on her shoulder. "Did you like the movie?"

"It was good," Peter told her. "And I didn't see it, before."

"Good. Make sure you tell Steve. He's the one that picked it out."

"What about Tony?" Peter asked, as she carried him to the door.

"I'll come back and send him to bed once I get you settled. That way he knows where to find you."

"Okay."

He closed his eyes, sleepily, secure in her arms and savoring the comfort of even more cuddling. It was the best day ever, really, as far as he was concerned. She felt him start to fall asleep and shook her head. Clint had told her how his children seemed to double their weight when they were asleep and she'd never believed him – up until then.

He did rouse when they reached his room, and he opened his eyes to look up at her when she put him to bed, and pulled the blankets up around him.

"Are you warm enough?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Thank you."

Romanoff smiled and brushed his curls back from his forehead.

"I had fun, today."

Peter's echoing smile was complete agreement.

"Me, too."

"Go to sleep, okay?"

He nodded, and closed his eyes. And felt her brush a kiss against his cheek that made him smile, again. He didn't hear her leave the room; he was already asleep.

OOOOOOOO

Tony didn't wake when she turned the lights on, but when she walked over and brushed her hand against his shoulder, he came awake with a start, looking around as he sat up.

"Looking for someone?" she asked, reaching down and picking up the remote that he'd been sleeping on.

"Where is he?"

"I just put him to bed," she told him, amused at the instant worry. "You can check on him on your way to your bed, but don't even think of waking him."

"Is he okay?"

"Yeah. He's fine." She smirked, watching as he rubbed his face, tiredly. "Wore you out?"

"It's been a long week, but Peter isn't the reason I'm tired."

"He's a fun little guy, isn't he?"

"Yeah." He was sleepy enough that he wasn't even defensive about admitting it. "Is he sleeping, too?"

"He was awake when I came in to check on you guys, but was falling asleep when I covered him up."

"Was he upset?"

"About what?"

"That I fell asleep on him."

She shook her head.

"He looked pretty comfortable."

"Good."

She didn't even ask why he thought the child would be annoyed that Tony fell asleep.

"Go to bed, Tony. If you're lucky, he'll sleep in. Otherwise, you're the one who's going to be chasing him around the compound until the rest of us get up."

"Yeah." Good point. "Thanks."

Romanoff smiled.

"You're welcome."