A/N: Yeah, Peter's abilities will be coming out here and there. He doesn't understand them to be superpowers, really, so it'll be subtle, sometimes. They're still in the identifying it stages. Hope you're keeping interested! Lots more fluff to go.

OOOOOOO

"You guys look tired…"

Peter smiled at Natasha, but didn't deny it. He felt tired, even though he'd slept through the night. When he'd woken the next morning, it had been because Tony was shaking his shoulder, gently, and telling him that they needed to get up and get him fed so he'd be ready when whoever it was that was coming for him got there.

He actually found himself wanting to go back to sleep, and Tony had chuckled at the sleepiness, and cajoled him, gently, until Peter had finally rolled out of his warm, comfortable bed and gone to get changed.

"I'm exhausted," Tony confirmed, rubbing his face, tiredly. "I stayed up too late, last night – and then got up too early this morning."

"You're supposed to be taking better care of yourself, Stark," she chided. "You're a poppa, now."

Peter smiled at that, especially when she winked at him as she said it.

"I'm working on it," Tony assured her.

"Did he eat?"

"Cereal and a banana. Make sure he eats a big lunch. And call if he needs anything."

Natasha picked up Peter's backpack, and then scooped the little boy up into her arms, cheerfully.

"If he needs anything, then we'll get it for him. No sense in bothering the old man, now is there?"

Tony rolled his eyes, amused and secretly loving the various ways she was referring to him as Peter's dad. It was exactly what he wanted. Hopefully it would get Peter used to the idea. And maybe help Tony get used to it, too.

"What old man?" Peter asked, curiously, resting his cheek on Natasha's shoulder.

"I'll explain on the way to the compound," she promised. "Do you have everything you need?"

He nodded, and turned to Tony.

"You're coming, tonight?"

"As soon as I'm done at the tower, I'll suit up and be there before you even notice I was gone."

"Okay."

Tony put his hand on Peter's head.

"Have fun."

"I will."

"He will, Tony," Romanoff assured him. "We tricked the gym out, just for him."

"Keep him out of trouble."

"Will do," He watched them head for the elevator and then closed the door and went to get a shower.

OOOOOOOO

"Is there really a ball pit at the compound?" Peter asked, excitedly.

Natasha nodded, looking at the little boy who was sitting in the seat beside her. Like Tony's sportscar, Natasha's car was only two seats, so putting him in the back wasn't an option. She'd looked up how to make sure a small guy like Peter was as safe as he could be, and had made sure that he buckled into the booster seat that she'd bought specifically for him only the day before. Then they'd left the apartment building.

"Sam got you one, but when he and Steve put it together, it turned out to be a piece of junk, so Nick suggested that we get you a different one. A bigger one."

"Wow."

She smiled at that.

"Are you hungry? Do I need to stop anywhere and get you something more filling for breakfast?"

"I'm okay."

He was silent, then, watching the buildings as they drove through the busy streets. Natasha turned up the heat in the car to make sure that he was comfortable.

"Tell me about Christmas," she said. "How did Tony bring up the adoption thing with you?"

Peter had an excellent memory, and it had been important to him, so she heard everything as they drove out of the city and onto the highway that went north to the compound. From Tony asking him, to the trip to the judge's office to sign the papers. Peter even told her about Tony mentioning that they might go to Disneyland, or something. She listened, making appropriate noises at all the right times, and smiled at the mention of the trip.

"That would be fun. Have you ever been?"

"No. have you?"

"Nope. I know Clint has been, but it's one of those places that you don't really go as an adult – unless you have a little kid to take with you."

"Why?"

"Because it's for kids, really. The adults have fun watching the kids have fun."

"That doesn't sound fair." He was silent for a few miles. "Maybe we could go someplace that Tony will like, too."

"I bet he'd have a good time watching you at Disney."

"We could go someplace he'd enjoy," Peter said, stubbornly. "Then I could watch him have fun."

Since the boy was much too young to be in a strip club, Romanoff wisely didn't reply to that. Instead she smiled.

"That sounds like something the two of you will need to discuss a bit," she told him, amused.

"Yeah."

Peter turned the tables on her, then, and started asking her what kind of places she would like, and then began interrogating her about what she and the others had done for Christmas day. It was a good way to spend a normally boring drive, and by the time she pulled her car up to the compound, Peter knew everything she could think of to tell him about their day.

OOOOOOOOO

With the roads being wet, although they weren't slick, she hadn't driven even close to as fast as she might normally have, but a call ahead made sure that there was someone at the entrance to meet them when they stopped at the main entrance.

"Peter!" Clint was the one to open his door, but it was Sam who unbuckled his seatbelt and pulled him out of the car. "How are you doing?"

"Good." The boy grinned at being handled like a bag of flour, and he smiled at Barton. "Hi, Clint."

"Hey. Did you have a good Christmas?"

"It was great."

"Tell them why," Natasha suggested, getting out from behind the wheel and closing her door.

"Tony adopted me," Peter told both men, his arm around Sam's neck, but his body turned so he could see their reactions.

"No!" Sam's eyes went wider, and Natasha was forced to suppress her amusement at the slightly over the top reaction. "He did?"

"Wait. Adopted?" Clint echoed, genuinely surprised. "It already happened?"

"Yesterday," Romanoff confirmed. "Keep up, Clint. You're talking to Peter Stark."

"You're going to take Stark's name?" Sam asked.

Peter nodded.

"He said I can."

"Of course you can," Natasha told him, opening the back of her car and pulling out Peter's backpack. "Before you know it, it'll feel like second nature to be called that."

"Whoa."

"C'mon, Peter," Natasha said, amused at the men's reactions. "We're going to put you in the same room that you stayed in last time."

"Okay."

He followed Natasha, who was leading them into the building, but Sam and Clint stayed at either side of him.

"We're going to make it your official room," Sam told him, looking cheerful. "So you have a place near Tony when you guys are out here."

"Which better be often," Romanoff said, looking over her shoulder at him.

"I hope so."

He was hurrying to keep up with the pace that she was setting, so he couldn't hug himself, but he was so excited to be back there. And the idea that he might be there more than just a couple times was almost enough to take his breath away. Clint reached down and swept him up into his strong arms.

"Nat, slow down. Peter can't keep up, you long-legged freak."

Of course, the archer hadn't missed that Peter was falling behind.

She rolled her eyes, but did slow up, a little, and reached out and tweaked Peter's nose, making him giggle.

"Sorry."

"I like your legs," he assured her.

"Ugh," the assassin complained. "If only you were twenty or thirty years older…"

The two men chuckled, but Peter frowned.

"Why?"