"I can do the dishes…" Tony said, somewhat later. "I'm getting pretty good at it."
Pepper nodded.
"I'm sure that you can. But Peter and I can do them, this time. Go sit down."
"You're a guest."
"And you look tired." Pepper gave him a gentle push toward the living room. "Go find us a movie that we can watch together, or something."
Stark gave up, and shrugged his agreement.
"I'll be right there if you need anything."
"I think we can handle the dishes," she said, dryly. "Don't you, Peter?"
The boy nodded.
"Yeah."
Unlike Tony, he'd already been good at doing them. Eric had a dishwasher, luckily, but May had sold hers to get gambling money, so he could even do them by hand if he needed to. Luckily, he and Tony had a nice dishwasher, too.
They stood side by side and watched as the billionaire wandered his way into the living room and seated himself on the sofa. He didn't pick up the remote, either, as he was used to doing everything by voice.
"Find something restful, JARVIS," they heard him say, already leaning back into the soft leather and closing his eyes.
"I bet if we're quiet enough, he'll be asleep before we're done with the dishes," Pepper told her young companion.
"He didn't sleep good, last night," Peter replied, just above a whisper, in response.
"He didn't sleep well," she corrected, brushing her fingers through his hair and smiling down at him to soften the criticism. "He told me that he had some bad dreams."
"About me?"
"About what happened at the school."
"It was pretty scary," Peter said, walking to the table to gather up dishes. "But the tree was scarier."
"Oh?" she was surprised by that and allowed it to show as she took their bowls from him to put into the sink. "Why do you say that?"
"I don't know." He hesitated, looking at her uncertainly. "I didn't want you to get hurt."
Aww.
Pepper couldn't help but smile at that, and she hugged him.
"That's so nice. Thank you."
Peter's smile was pleased.
"And it was scarier having Happy push us down."
"Scarier than being grabbed?"
"Yeah."
"You aren't having bad dreams about the tree, are you?" she asked. "Or about what happened on Friday?"
Peter shook his head, opening the dishwasher and then pulling the step stool over to the sink so he could help rinse the dishes.
"Not too much. It was scary, then, but not now."
"Do you have bad dreams about other things?" she asked, quietly.
"Sometimes. Usually they're not bad, just weird."
"Weird how?"
"I don't know. Just weird."
"Tony mentioned to me that he'd spoken with you about seeing a psychologist."
"I think you're wonderful," she replied, sincerely. "But psychologists aren't for crazy people. They're for anyone. They try to help people talk things over when something is bothering them. Even when they don't know anything is bothering them."
"Nothing's bothering me," Peter assured her. "I'm okay."
"Smart kids have such active imaginations that it sometimes carries over into their sleep," Pepper told him, lightly. "They can have odd dreams. I did, when I was a girl."
"You did?"
"Oh, yes. That was one of the reasons that I mentioned a psychologist to Tony. I saw one when I was only a few years older than you."
Peter looked impressed – and surprised.
"You did? Honest?"
She smiled.
"Yes. Cross my heart."
"Wow."
Pepper couldn't help that she had to reach out and brush her fingers against his cheek. Not the one that had the fading bruise on it, but the other one was fair game.
"Think you'd be willing to try it? I know just the person."
"The same one you saw?"
"No. She's retired, now. But this one is nice. He's a young guy who was pretty smart when he was a little kid, too."
Peter nodded.
"Okay."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Now that he had committed to the idea, Peter peppered her with questions about the person she wanted him to meet. She spent ten minutes telling the boy everything that she knew about him – which wasn't much – and giving him an idea of what a session would be like. By the time the dishes were rinsed and in the dishwasher, and all the kitchen surfaces were wiped clean, Peter had an idea of what to expect, and was more excited than anything else.
"I'll have Tony set it up, Monday," she told Peter as they walked into the living room.
"Set what up?" he asked, only half awake
"The shrink," Peter replied.
"Psychologist," Pepper corrected.
Tony raised an eyebrow at her, and reached for Peter, pulling him up onto the sofa and then into his lap.
"Come here, little man. You're good with seeing a psychologist?"
The boy nodded resting his head on Tony's shoulder, but smiling.
"Yeah. Pepper did."
"She did?"
"I did," she confirmed, settling, lightly, into the space beside the billionaire. "A long time ago."
"A long, long time ago," Peter confirmed. "She was near my age."
Tony smirked, and Pepper rolled her eyes.
"It wasn't that long ago, mister."
The boy grinned, even though he didn't understand what was so funny. It didn't matter to him, really; they were both smiling, and that was what was important. He settled in, not leaving Tony's lap but turning so he could watch the TV screen – and the movie that was playing on it.
"Are you going to stay for dinner?" Tony asked, holding Peter against him with one hand, but freeing the other to touch hers. "We could grill some steaks."
"I'm going to stay until you both fall asleep in front of the TV," she replied, turning her hand up so she could take his. "And then I'm going to go home and take care of my weekend chores."
"We won't fall asleep," Peter said, but she could tell he was already getting comfortable. "So you'll be here all night."
Pepper ignored the amused gleam in Tony's expression, and she pulled the comforter from the back of the couch and covered both of them with it.
"We'll see. Hush and watch the movie."
"Okay."
Her hand returned to Tony's, though, and he squeezed it, lightly, before he turned his attention to the movie, as well.
Not surprising, considering his active morning and lack of sleep, he was asleep almost immediately, warmed by the company and the little body resting on him.
Peter took a little longer, but they were both asleep when she let herself out the front door an hour later.