It was early Friday afternoon when Tony picked Peter up from school. The SUV was parked out in front of the building, with the motor running and Tony inside, keeping warm. Right up until he saw Peter and Maria walk out of the front door and down the steps. Then he got out and met them at the driver's side door.

"How was it?" he asked, both of them.

The SHIELD agent rolled her eyes.

"Thrilling."

Stark grinned at the sarcasm in her tone.

"Join the super secret spy agency, see the art museum," he quipped.

"It was neat," Peter said, looking much more enthusiastic. "Some of those drawers aren't any better than me."

"They're artists," Tony corrected. "Or painters, I suppose." He pulled the boy's hood up, against the chilly wind. "And I've seen some of those paintings and I would agree with you, whole-heartedly."

Hill snorted.

"You got him?"

"Yes. Thank you. Have a good weekend."

"You, too."

"Bye, Maria."

She smiled.

"Bye, Peter."

Tony ushered the boy into the car an out of the cold breeze.

"Are you hungry?"

"We ate at the museum."

"Good." He buckled the boy into the booster seat and tousled his hair. "We'll have a snack when we get to the compound."

"Okay."

As they drove to the compound, Peter told Tony all about the visit to the art museum, and then asked him about his day in return. The billionaire hadn't done much, really, He was bringing his newest suit, and had made sure that he was going to have everything that he needed in order to test it every way that he had planned. Peter knew that the suit was with them in the car, but he didn't know that the one Tony had made for him was in the car, as well – and Tony had no intention of telling him until the last minute, now.

He was looking forward to seeing the happy surprise on the boy's face.

OOOOOOOOO

Natasha was waiting for them when they pulled up, and Peter was quick to take off his seatbelt and open his door.

"Hey, Natasha," he said, his breath catching in his throat when she swept him up into her arms, immediately.

"Hey, sweetheart." She hugged him, tightly. "I'm so glad to see you."

"Me, too."

He put his arms around her, and hugged her as tight as he could with his bulky coat on.

Tony smiled at the sight of the deadliest woman in the world cuddling his son as he got out of the car.

"Are you glad to see me, too?"

"Of course," she agreed, shifting Peter onto her hip so she could hold him with one arm and turn her attention to the billionaire. "Otherwise Peter would have had to walk out here – and that would have taken him all weekend, which would have cut into our fun time."

He rolled his eyes and opened the back of the SUV.

"Put him down, Natasha. There's too much for me to carry, alone."

Romanoff smirked and let Peter down as the two of them moved to join Tony.

"What all did you bring?" she asked, somewhat surprised at how many cases there were. "I don't see a kitchen sink anywhere."

"My new suit and some hardware for it," he told her. "And a few other odds and ends."

They didn't have any clothes with them, or toiletries. They both had plenty of things in their rooms at the compound, and Peter had toys enough to keep him occupied even if they were snowed in for a full year, Tony was certain. The boy picked up his backpack – which did have a couple of homework assignments in it – and then reached for the biggest of the cases.

"Can I carry your suit?" he asked. "Please?"

"Yup."

It was a good thing that the suit was in a hard-sided protective case. Peter pulled it from the SUV without a problem as far as handling the weight – which Tony knew was considerable – but the case was bulky and it hit the bumper and then the ground with a noisy clunking sound. Tony rolled his eyes, amused, and reached for the smaller case.

"Anything I need to know about?" he asked Natasha, as she closed the hatch.

"A few things, but nothing too serious." She looked at Peter, and then back at his father. "Did he really get in trouble at school for cussing another kid out?"

"He did," Tony confirmed. "And he got in trouble for it, didn't you?"

Peter nodded.

"Yeah. A little."

"What happened?"

"I got mad at William Anderson."

"Why?"

Peter was a pretty easygoing kid, Natasha knew.

"He said I was wrong – and I wasn't – and called me a liar."

"Oh. What did you say?"

She had to know, of course. That was some juicy gossip, if nothing else – and it wasn't a bad thing that they knew Peter actually did have a fuse. It was just incredibly long.

"He told him to fuck off," Tony replied, before Peter could.

Romanoff's eyes widened, and the corner of the billionaire's mouth twitched to see the woman's expression. She was incredibly good at hiding her reactions, and hadn't been able to in this instance.

"Wow. Did you wash his mouth out with soap?"

"I had to write a essay," Peter said as they headed into the building, with him practically dragging the case, although it wasn't heavy for him. "And I missed daycare."

"Huh."

"The punishment fit the crime," Stark assured her.

"What brought that on?"

"I was mad…"

"It's figured out, now," Tony said. "And he's not going to do it, again. Right?"

"Right."

They stopped off at Tony's workroom to get rid of the cases.

"Come on," she said, swinging Peter back up into her arms. "There's someone I want you to meet."

"Who?" Peter asked, grinning.

"Yes," Tony echoed, curiously. "Who?"

"It's a surprise."

There were very few people that Tony would have put up with that response from. Natasha was one of them – although he knew it didn't matter, really, since if she didn't want to tell him who it was, she wouldn't. She smiled, as if she understood what he was thinking, and then turned her attention back to Peter as they walked toward the lounge, asking the boy about the rest of his week, and what he'd been doing since she saw him last.

When they reached the lounge, Peter was still telling her about the trip to the museum, but he trailed off when she carried him through the entrance. The little boy smiled. Steve was there, and Clint, and Sam. They were sitting at one of the tables, talking to another man that Peter didn't know – but who Tony obviously did.

"Bruce…"

The stranger smiled, getting to his feet to meet them halfway.

"Hey, Tony."

Stark offered him his hand, smiling his surprise.

"Why didn't you say something? I didn't know you were coming. When did you get back into the country?"

He'd sent off an email, inviting him to come meet Peter, but hadn't heard back from the man.

"This morning." He shook Tony's hand. "I wanted to surprise you."

"You did."

Banner looked pointedly at the little boy Natasha was holding, before looking back at his friend.

"Are you going to introduce us?"

Getting over his surprise, Tony reached for Peter, taking him from Natasha who willingly handed him over – for the moment, at least.

"This is Peter," he said, introducing them. "Peter? This is my friend Bruce. Bruce Banner."

The little boy went shy, but he didn't hide his face in Tony's neck or shoulder like both Tony and Natasha – and the others watching – expected him to. He smiled.

"Hi."

Bruce's smile was almost as shy.

"Hi, Peter. I've heard a lot about you."

"Everything?" Tony asked, glancing at Natasha, who shook her head.

"Not even close," she replied. "We've been catching up on other things. Although he does know that Peter's last name is Stark and that he's a pretty smart guy. Aren't you, Peter?"

The boy's smile widened, especially when Natasha stole him back from Tony.

"Yeah."

The three moved toward the table, and Steve stood up, clearly planning on mooching Peter from the superspy – but Natasha wasn't ready to give him up, just yet.

"I can't believe you adopted a kid," Bruce said, shaking his head, but looking amazed and not at all condoning.

"Neither can I," Tony said, reaching out and brushing his palm against Peter's cheek before he sat down. "Pretty crazy, huh?"

"Yeah." Bruce turned his attention to Peter, not missing just how easily the boy melted into Natasha's embrace, his cheek now coming to rest on her shoulder while he studied the newcomer. Those brown eyes were adorable, yes, but the scientist could see the intelligence in them as Peter studied Bruce as intently as Bruce was studying him. "What's it like living with Tony, Peter?"

"I like it. Pepper lives with us, too."

Banner's eyebrows rose into his hairline, and he turned to Tony.

"Seriously?"

"Yes. We're officially hooking up." He turned to Peter, tapping his nose. "Don't you dare tell Pepper I called it that."

Peter grinned.

"Okay."

The lack of surprise on the expressions of the others made it clear that they already knew about Pepper moving in, permanently. Which wasn't surprising, of course.

"What else have I missed?" Bruce asked, reaching for the coffee that he'd abandoned when he'd gone to greet Tony. "Did you get a tattoo? Learn to Samba?"

Stark shook his head, amused.

"I made a new suit."

"Just one?"

"Well… several since I've seen you, last. This most recent one is pretty cool – I'm out here to test it out, tomorrow – but the next one is the one that's going to be the deal changer."

Banner was immediately interested. Tony didn't make a statement like that unless it was something extraordinary coming down the pike, after all.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Wait…" Natasha said, interrupting. She looked at the boy she was holding. "Do you already know about the new suit?" she asked Peter.

"It's little robots."

"Are you interested in this conversation? Or are you ready to go play outside with me and Clint?"

Peter looked at Tony, and smiled.

"Go play."

"That's what I thought." She handed her little burden over to Clint as she stood up. "We're going to go play while you guys catch up."

"Bring him back in time for dinner," Tony said.

"Of course."

Steve stayed – mainly because he wanted to find out what was so special about the new suit, too – and hadn't missed Peter's comment about little robots – but Sam stood up to join Clint and Natasha.

"I call dibs on a swing."

Banner and Tony watched as the little group left, and Bruce turned to his friend.

"I just can't leave you unsupervised, can I?"

Stark snorted, amused and pleased at having his friend back in the states.

"I was supervised," he corrected, gesturing toward Steve as an example. "But the little guy wormed his way into things. With a lot of help from my AI."

"Really?"

"Tony was scared of Peter…" Steve said, smirking.

The billionaire rolled his eyes.

"I wasn't scared of him," he said. "I already explained that. Just a little creeped out."

"Why?"

"It's a long story," Tony replied. "Let me get some coffee and I'll tell you."

"Are you going to tell him what Peter can do?" Steve asked.

"Of course."

Banner could be trusted not to tell anyone who shouldn't know. They knew he could keep a secret, after all – didn't they?