By the time Pepper was ready to meet them, Tony and Peter had had a chance to spend a little time catching up. The billionaire had examined Peter's hand, carefully, but they already knew that the boy healed quickly, and there wasn't much more than a faint pink area by then.
Tony had made much of it, though, and the report that he'd seen from SHIELD that had given Peter full credit for stopping Pepper in time to keep from having the branch fall on them – even though they didn't have any explanation why he'd stopped her. Tony was going to ask him more about it, but later. Right then, he wanted to just spend time with the boy – and Pepper, since he knew that he definitely owed her for being so amazing with Peter. And being willing to take him in the first place.
That was above and beyond, after all.
"It doesn't hurt?"
"No."
"Wiggle your fingers."
Peter smiled, looking at the hand that Tony was holding. He did as he was told and wiggled his fingers and moved the wrist.
"It's okay."
"Yeah, seems to be." He kissed the top of Peter's head. "Let me know if that changes, though. Yeah?"
"I will."
There was a knock on Tony's office door and Pepper opened it.
"Are we ready?"
"We are," Tony said, picking up Peter's backpack. "Get your coat back on, buddy. Happy's waiting for us."
Peter nodded, excitedly, and did as he was told, and then took his backpack so Tony could pick his jacket up, as well. The billionaire offered his hand to his son and then led Peter and Pepper to the elevator.
"Where are we eating?" Peter asked, as they waited. "The Palace?"
"Nope. Not tonight, buddy." Dinner with Eric and the boys would be the next Tuesday evening, if he had the schedule right – which he usually did. "It's just the three of us, tonight."
"And Happy?"
"He's invited," Stark assured the boy. "But he won't want to eat with us at the restaurant."
"Why not?"
"Because it's Italian," Tony replied when the elevator door dinged and then opened. "He says that no one can look imposing eating spaghetti, so he refuses to do it out in public."
"When he's working," Pepper corrected, looking amused. "He's fine with going out on his own."
"What will he do?"
"He'll find something to keep himself occupied while we're eating. They're already delivering my car to Pepper's apartment, so when we're done, we'll head there, get your things gathered up and then we'll go home. Sound good?"
Peter nodded, smiling. He reached up and took Pepper's hand with his free one, making the woman look down at him.
"You could come home with us," he offered.
Pepper smiled.
"Did Tony tell you to say that?"
"No."
She looked at Stark, who shook his head, giving her his best innocent look.
"Nope. Not me. But you could, of course. I imagine that your place is going to be pretty lonely and quiet, now that Peter's going to be home with me."
"I like it quiet," she reminded him. She smiled, though, at the invitation and at Peter. "But I thoroughly enjoyed your company. Thank you for being willing to hang out with me, instead of going to the compound or somewhere else."
"I had fun," Peter assured her.
He didn't release either of them as they walked out of the elevator and across the lobby and Happy smirked when they exited the building, one holding each hand and the little boy swinging happily between them with every other step.
"Hey, Peter. Dad's home, huh?"
The boy grinned.
"Yeah. And we're going out for dinner."
"I heard." The driver glanced at Tony. "Italian."
"They make other things besides spaghetti," Stark reminded him.
"Nope. I don't care." He opened the back door to the limo. "Do you see this white shirt? I'm not going to get sauce on it."
They piled into the car, and Happy closed the door behind them.
"Buckle up," Tony reminded the boy, automatically, winking at Pepper, who smirked.
Such a dad.
OOOOOOOOOOO
"So your stomach was hurting you…?" Tony asked, curiously. "And then, it just stopped?"
"It didn't hurt like I ate too much," Peter said. "But it felt weird, yeah."
"But then when the branch fell it stopped?" he asked, again.
Peter shrugged, turning his attention to the spaghetti on his plate and the garlic rolls.
"I think so. But I hurt my hand, so maybe I didn't know my stomach was still hurting."
"Huh."
"What are you thinking?" Pepper asked, curiously.
She was eating, as well, but had chosen spinach lasagna – which had made Peter and Tony exchange a look and pretend to be sick. Tony had lasagna, too, but his was meaty. Like it was supposed to be, he told Peter, making the boy giggle when Pepper had given her boss a look.
"I'm just wondering…" he said with a shrug. "Have you ever felt your stomach feel like that, before?"
Peter hesitated.
"Maybe?"
"Recently?"
"When I lived with Eric. Kyle was going to sneak up on me and snap me with a towel, but I felt weird, like I knew it was going to happen and I turned around in time to stop him."
"And then it stopped?"
"Yeah." Peter shoved the roll into his mouth. "I always know when someone is trying to sneak up on me – but my stomach doesn't always hurt."
"Have you always been able to do that?"
"No."
"Since the lab visit?" Pepper guessed.
Peter nodded, chewing the last of the roll. And his eyes widened, suddenly.
"You think it's a superpower?"
He looked so excited that Tony had to smile. He was pleased that they didn't have a lot of people sitting around them to hear the question.
"Maybe. Probably not a lot of ways to test it, though. Unless we start trying to drop trees on Pepper."
The boy giggled, and glanced over at Pepper – who rolled her eyes, amused.
"I'm going to pass," she said.
"Me, too," Peter agreed.
OOOOOOO
The rest of the meal was mostly Peter and Pepper asking Tony about the mission and what the avengers had been doing. Tony gave them a heavily edited version of the events that had led up to the Avengers going to South America, and what they'd done once they arrived. Not because it was a huge secret; it was a little classified, he supposed, but nothing groundbreaking,
Mainly it was edited to keep Peter from knowing just how much danger the billionaire had been in a few times during the time he'd been gone. Peter listened with wide-eyed excitement as Tony told him about flying against rockets being launched against him, and destroying the automatic launchers with rockets of his own. Peter absently finished eating and declined dessert in favor of asking more questions and getting more of a tale out of the man.
"Sounds a bit risky…" Pepper said, while Peter was distracted by one of the waiters who was trying to convince him that it was unAmerican to skip dessert. Especially when they had chocolate cake. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"It wasn't risky at all," he assured her. "Superheroes 101."
She didn't look convinced, but Tony distracted her by pointing out all of the different cake that the restaurant had to offer. She declined any, even as Peter was talked into a piece, but she did ask for a cup of coffee. As did Tony.
"What are your plans the rest of the day?"
"Go home and spend time with Peter."
"He has a project due on Friday."
"You do?" Tony asked.
Peter nodded.
"I have to make a volcano."
"What? Seriously?"
Pepper smiled, and the boy nodded, excitedly.
"He does. And it will probably be messy to get everything exactly right. He's done very little research on what is needed as far as chemicals for the lava, and materials for the volcano, itself. You can work with him on it."
Tony grinned, looking just as pleased as Peter was.
"I can do that." He looked at Peter. "It's going to be great."
Pepper frowned at just how enthusiastic he seemed.
"Not a real one," she reminded her boss. "Just paper mache."
Tony smirked.
"Sure."'
"I was hoping that you'd be home in time to work on it with him," Pepper admitted.
"Because you'd rather we destroyed my workroom at the tower than your apartment?"
She allowed her eyes to widen in innocence – a look he used often, but that she never needed to employ.
"Whaaaaat? Of course not."
"Mr. Anson said it could be a messy project," Peter told Tony, helpfully. "But he wants it to really erupt. So it can't be a digital simulation."
"This is for art class?" Tony asked, recognizing the teacher's name.
"Yeah."
"I thought it'd be for science."
"I'm not taking physical science."
"No. I know…" The billionaire shrugged. "Either way. We'll make sure it's impressive."
"I need a good grade," Peter agreed. "It'll make up for my drawings."
"Guaranteed A," Tony said. "We'll work on it, tomorrow, after school."