Okay. I know, I know. I'ts been a month since I posted. I'm really sorry.

The first part of this chapter took me forever to wright. Seriously. I would type it up, delete it, and retype it again and again. I don't really like how it turned out, but I have to post something eventually. I'm sorry.

Also, thank you all for the lovely comments you have left on here, as well as talking with me on Tumblr, I really appreciate it!

This story is constantly evolving and I have some BIG plans for this! Hopefully I will get into a good grove and be able to update once a week, if not bi-weekly.

To say that the following day was difficult was an understatement. Tony had been thrusted into this situation, and while he had some time to collect himself and his thoughts, he still wasn't ready to deal with a child...or all the children for that matter.

Tony had decided to camp out in the wing with all of the younger children. He had retrieved his tablet and settled down for a day of looking after Peter and getting some work done while Pepper took care of some legal business. As soon as the children woke up, though, it was harder to focus on work.

The youngest girl was the first to wake up. Her high pitched cries cut through the quietness of the room and made Tony jump in surprise. At the same time, Peter's eyes popped open and he looked around in distress and confusion as the girl continued to cry. The boy's wide eyes circled around the room, not focusing on anything, as the boy's chest heaved up and down.

It was clear to Tony that the boy didn't know where he was, and the man leaned forward to give Peter reassurance. But before he could do that, the child sat up and slapped both of his hands against his head, covering his ears as tears began to fall down his cheeks.

"Stop," Peter whined in between hiccuped breaths as he clenched his eyes closed and dipped his head towards his stomach. "Stop, please," he cried loudly over and over again as the girl continued to cry. And soon after the other boy had joined into the chorus of screams.

The loud screaming was really starting to bother Tony. And if it was bothering him, he couldn't imagine how Peter was feeling with his enhanced hearing.

It didn't take long, but soon a tired looking Dr. Lucas entered the room, followed by a few nurses. They began tending to the other children but Peter continued to cry and repeat the same words over and over.

"Peter. Hey bud," Tony heasiantly said as he reached a hand forward and set it on Peter's shaking frame. The boy's eyes quickly re-opened and he gave Tony a sideways glance but continued to cry. "It's okay Peter. You're here with me, remember? Everything's okay," Tony said, not really sure if he was saying the right things. Peter was quiet for a moment, but then spoke.

"Hurts," he sniffed as he straightened up, still not taking his hands off his ears.

"I'm sure it does buddy," Tony soothed as he lowered his hand to Peter's back where he began to rub it up and down. The inventor then turned to get a nurses attention, but Rita was standing next to him.

"Is there anything I can get for you Mr. Stark?" she asked, though her brow was creased and she was looking at Peter with concern.

"Find us some noise canceling earmuffs would you? We should have some in the shooting range," Tony said as he looked up at Rita in desperation. "Please."

"Yeah, of course," Rita said with a nod before leaving the room.

By the time she had returned only the small girl was crying, but Peter still had his hands over his ears. The only difference was that Tony had maneuvered himself so that he was sitting on the bed (careful not to move the IV attached to Peter) while the child leaned against Tony's chest. Even though the boy had woken up only minutes ago, he looked absolutely exhausted.

"Here you go Mr. Stark," Rita said as she presented the ear protection to Tony. The man mouthed a "thanks" before taking the headphones and silently slipping them over Peter's ears that were still covered by his hands. Slowly the man wrapped his hand around Peter's wrist and pulled his hand away, letting the earmuffs fall into place before he did the same on the other side.

Both Tony and Rita waited in silence as Peter reached up to feel what was on his ears before tilting his head up to look at Tony.

"Can you still hear me Peter?" He asked, curious to how well the earmuffs worked. The little boy blinked up a few times at the man before he nodded.

"Yeah," his small voice wobbled. "But it's better." With that Peter just shifted more into Tony's chest before closing his eyes like he was going to try and go back to sleep. Tony just looked at Rita in bewilderment. This kid was going to kill him, he was sure of it. Peter didn't seem to be moving any time soon, but Tony was starting to feel his back aching.

Rita was kind enough to re adjust the bed, and in a few minutes Tony found himself sitting upright against the propped up hospital bed, looking at his tablet while Peter snoozed on his chest.

At first Tony tried to focus on Stark Industries work, but the longer he sat there, the more he was distracted by the files that he had retrieved from the HYDRA base. Within an hour, Tony was completely invested in the files he had uploaded to the server.

There were thousands of hours of recorded video on all of the "Subjects" that had been in the base. Experiments on the mothers and children, as well as notes on each that were recorded by the doctors. Of course Tony only spent time looking at Peter's file.

Peter's file was probably the most extensive. He had over four hundred videos, and that fact alone made Tony's head spin. After Rita brought him some headphones, the inventor began to skim through the files. Each video was a recording of all the experiments, or assessments, they had done with Peter.

Each video was a different day and contained hours of Peter sitting in a chair in a brightly lit room while the doctors practically shoveled information down the kids throat. Peter had learned to read a little over a year after he was born. From there the doctors were having him literally read encyclopedias and dictionaries. He knew how to multiply and divide, the periodic table of elements, and other random facts, as well as rudimentary knowledge of Spanish and Russian. And all of that had been in the first few videos he had went through. There was no telling what all Peter knew.

In was clear that these men were grooming Peter to be as knowledgeable as possible and Tony feared that if Peter never would have been found, he probably would have been a deadly weapon for HYDRA. Peter had been grilled so hard when it came to learning, and right then and there, Tony swore that Peter would never skip grades or advance past where a child his age should be. Not unless Peter wanted that himself. Peter deserved a chance to be a kid. He would never keep that from him.

Right as Tony was about to move on, though, he found a video at the bottom of the folder. The icon was unmistakably Mary Parker, and Tony felt his breath catch in his throat. His eyes flickered over to the name of the file and it simply said: "Motivation". Tony had no idea what the hell that meant but he felt sick. Whatever this was, what ever message she had for Peter, or whatever footage this was, they were going to use it against Peter.

Tony's eyes flickered down to the sleeping boy that was a few inches away from his face and he quickly closed out of the file. This was something he would look at when he was alone.

"Mr. Stark," a voice called out, and Tony looked up to see Dr. Lucas accompanied by a woman. Tony quickly pulled out a single headphone and offered a bitter smile. "Mr. Stark, this is Doctor Mackenzie Graves, she's the pediatrician that I mentioned last night," Dr. Lucas said as the tall blonde woman extended a hand. Tony set this tablet down and took the woman's hand, a little surprised by how firm it was.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Stark," Dr. Graves said as a genuine smile spread across her face. "Dr. Lucas called me yesterday and told me about the children. I was eager to get here as soon as possible," She said as her eyes fell onto Peter. "Is this your son?"

Tony felt his heart skip a beat at the question and he did his best to hide the blush that was creeping up his neck as he looked down at Peter.

"Yeah, this is him," Tony hummed quietly as he gently patted Peter on the back. "Hey bud," he sighed as he pulled the earmuffs off of Peter's head. The little boy sleepily opened his eyes and looked around for a moment before his eyes landed on Tony. The boy had a perplexed expression on his face and the inventor just laughed quietly in the back of his throat as his patts turned into circles as he rubbed Peter's back.

"I have some nice people I want you to meet," Tony explained as he turned slightly to face the doctors. "You know Dr. Lucas," Tony began. "and this is our friend, Dr. Graves. She is a special doctor who makes sure little boys and girls like you stay healthy." Tony said as Peter began to push his face into his shoulder.

"I don't like doctors," Peter whimpered. "They give me shots, and yell and me, and make me feel bad," Peter said as he looked back at the two doctors with weary eyes. Before anyone could say anything, Dr. Graves squatted down so that she was eye level with Peter.

"I know some doctors were mean to you Peter, and it can be a little scary, but I'm a good doctor. I just want you to feel better. If I do anything to you that you don't like, you can tell me and we'll figure something else out okay? Plus you have your daddy here with you so if you get scared, just hold on to him, okay?" She said with a kind smile.

At the mention of the word "daddy" Peter's eyes lit up and a small smile spread across his face. Those big brown eyes shifted up and looked at Tony, who was clearly taken back, and all the man could do with timidly nod and return the smile. A light giggle erupted from Peter and he looked back at Dr. Graves with a little more confidence.

"Okay," He said as his eyes shifted to the small red, white, and blue lump that was resting at the foot of the bed. "But only if I can hold little Mr. America. He keeps me safe too."

Everyone could practically hear Tony's eyes rolling.

The time spent with Dr. Graves started out a bit rocky, but some progress was made. She gave Peter a full assessment and then prescribed some medicine for him to take till he was fully healthy. Thankfully there was no shots to be given. From there she made a weekly plan of what foods Peter should eat, how much, and a good target weight to aim for. Each week would be different, and she would changed it based on how well Peter did. She also gave the "okay" for Peter to be released from the medical ward, and from there she moved on to the other children.

Unfortunately Tony didn't have much of a break, though, because as soon as Dr. Graves left, the optometrist arrived. Peter honestly tried to put on a brave face, but when the doctor brought out a rather large machine and tried to get Peter to look into it...well, he lost it. There as a lot of screaming, and a lot of Peter trying to wriggle out of Tony's grasp, but the man as firm. After about an hour of going back and forth, Peter finally gave in and looked into the device.

The small boy was definitely in need of some glasses and the optometrist left a book of different styles and colors of glasses that Peter could choose from. Tony and Peter looked through the book for a long while before Peter decided on some hot-rod red glasses and a black pair. They would be delivered the next day.

As Dr. Lucas was taking out Peter's IV, Pepper walked into the room with a wide smile. She quickly locked eyes with Peter, and all the little boy could do was stare up at her in wonder.

"Hi Peter," Pepper said sweetly as she stood in front of the awestruck boy. "I'm a friend of your dad's. He has a big company and I run it all so that he can do important things, like be with you," She said as her smile grew.

"You're really pretty," was all Peter said as he gawked up at the red-head. Pepper lifted her eyebrows in surprise as she took in what Peter had said, but she just let out a warm laugh.

"Thank you Peter," She said, leaning forward to ruffle the boy's long and slightly tangled curls. "Anyways, you can just call me Aunt Pepper, okay? I'm going to be around a lot, so I'm sure we'll be good friends." She hummed.

"You were here with daddy last night, weren't you," Peter said as he looked between Pepper and Tony. The inventor kept his mouth shut as his eyes were trained on the bed as the redness began to creep up the man's neck again. But Pepper just nodded.

"Yeah, I was. I hope that was okay,' She said, not sure on how Peter felt about her yet.

"Yeah," Peter hummed, pulling his cap doll close to his body. "You were keeping daddy company, so that's okay." Peter explained before offering the woman a toothy grin.

"That's good to hear," Pepper said as her eyes flickered over to Tony. "Anyways, I'm here because I got a room ready for Peter," She explained. "FRIDAY said that Peter was cleared from here and I figured we could go see the room, and maybe the rest of the compound." Before Tony could even respond, Pepper turned her attention back to Peter. "And then maybe I could give you a haircut and you could get a bath?"

"That actually sounds like a great idea," Tony said with a smile before he tilted his head down to look at Peter who as still sitting in his lap. "What do you think bud?"

"Who is FRIDAY?" Peter suddenly asked. It was clear that Peter hadn't been following a word of what Pepper and Tony were saying. Tony pressed his lips together and hummed as he looked at the ceiling before looking down at Peter.

"Want to introduce yourself Fri?" Tony asked. There was a small lull of silence before the AI began speaking from almost out of nowhere.

"Hi there Peter," FRIDAY said, causing Peter to jump slightly in Tony's arms. His head snapped up and he looked at the ceiling in confusion. "My name is FRIDAY. I am an Artificial Intelligence, and I help Mr. Stark with all of his needs, as well as any that you might have. All you have to do is ask," The voice explained.

"Where is she?" The little boy asked, his eyes still searching the area around him.

"FRIDAY isn't a real person," Tony explained. "She's like a robot. A really really smart robot. This entire building is her home. She lives in the walls and the ceiling, and she sees everything. She is here to help us and keep us safe."

Peter just blinked back at Tony in bewilderment for a moment before looking back up at the ceiling. "So she's just a robot?" the little boy asked.

"That's right," Tony said with a nod.

"And she's not real?"

"Yep."

"Did you make her?" Peter asked.

"I sure did. I use to have one named JARVIS but...he moved away," Tony said, trying to think of a simple explanation to what had happened.

"And I can ask her anything?" Peter replied.

"Sure, any time, anywhere." With that, Peter paused for a moment before speaking again.

"What is the atomic number for potassium?" Peter suddenly asked, to which FRIDAY was quick to respond.

"The atomic number for potassium is 19. Do you have any other questions Peter?" The AI asked.

"How many legs does a spider have?"

"Eight."

"What planet has the shortest day in the solar system?"

"That would be Jupiter"

"Okay Regis Philbin, you can ask her the million dollar question later," Tony chuckled as he scooped Peter into his arms before carefully getting off of the bed.

"Wow," Peter whispered under his breath as he looked up at the ceiling. "She's amazing!"

"Not as amazing as JARVIS...but I guess she's pretty cool," Tony said as he readjusted Peter so he was resting on his hip. "

The three made their way out of the medical ward, but not before Peter said goodbye to the other children in the room. He made a promise to both of them that he would see them again, but the kids just stared back at him.

The first stop was the front lobby that seperated the medical bay from the business, to the living quarters. It was a large room with white walls and large glass windows and all Peter could do was stare at the windows quietly as they walked along.

"This is the main lobby. You can come in here if you want, but there are a lot of strangers that come through here, so we probably should stay away. Or only come in here with your daddy or me, okay?" Pepper said as she led the way. She waited for a response but didn't get one. The woman turned to see if Peter had heard her but the little boy was just looking around the room in almost shock. Even Tony had stopped to look at the boy.

"Is Everything okay Peter?" Tony asked, wondering if the boy was going to have some sort of panic attack.

"I-" Peter began hesitantly. "I've never seen outside…" Peter whispered as he eyed the large yard, lined with trees that was in front of him. "Only pictures. It's...green."

Everything Peter had been saying was another blow to him, and this one was definitely taking its toll. He couldn't imagine this kid never seeing the outside world. It explained why he was so scared when they were going from the labe to the jet, but he never fully understood the extent to Peter's captivity. It made sense...he just didn't think about it. In the end, maybe he just didn't want to think about it.

"It's green most of the time. In the winter it turns brown, and when it snows, it's white," Tony explained. "There are a bunch of windows here, so you can look out them all you like," the inventor said as he gave an unsure glance to Pepper. The look she gave didn't help him much.

"Does my room have windows?" Peter asked hopefully as he eyes suddenly moved back onto Tony.

"We'll just have to go up and find out, won't we," Tony prompted as he began to step forward.

From there they moved into the living area. The first room they entered was the common area with the attached kitchen. Once the doors were closed behind them from the lobby, Tony set Peter down so he could walk. Peter didn't try to cling on to the inventor, but he did hold his hand as soon as he was placed on the ground.

"You can come here anytime you want. There is a TV so we can watch movies and shows. And we can even pull out the Wii and play games," Tony said heasently. Peter just continued to hold on to the man's hand as he held his cap plush close to his chest. "And the couches are a great place to take naps. I'm sure we could do that soon. God knows I need one," Tony muttered as he took his freehand and ran it through his hair.

From there, Tony led Peter to the kitchen side of the room as Pepper trailed behind. "This is where we eat. There is food in here, and you can have any of it, but you need to ask first, okay?" Tony said, squeezing Peter's hand gently.

"Why?" The little boy asked innocently, his head tilting upward to look at the man.

"Because there are some dangerous things here. The stove could burn you, and there are sharp objects here, and you could fall if you tried to climb up to the cabinets. So if you want anything, you have to ask an adult to help you. That could be me, or Pepper."

"Or Mr. America?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, sure. If Mr. America stays around, even he can help you. Just don't do anything by yourself," Tony warned. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"Okay," Peter said simply as he began to look the kitchen over. - Once Peter was done observing all the kitchen appliances, they moved down the hall to the bedrooms. Peter seemed to stall a little at the threshold but he slowly made his way down the hall. Tony didn't think much about it at first, but they more they ventured down the hall, the more he began to realize that it looked a lot like the hallway to the cells that the children had been kept in. They would need to brighten it up a little...maybe put some art or pictures up on the wall.

"See that door at the very end of the hall?" Tony asked.

"Yeah," Peter said as he was practically walking on top of Tony.

"That is my room. That is where I sleep, and if you need anything at all, that is where you go to find me, okay?" Tony said as he stopped to look down at Peter. "You can come in the middle of the night. And if I'm not there, you just ask FRIDAY and she will tell you."

"Okay." Peter said with a small nod. "But where will I stay?" Peter asked, his big eyes now scanning the other closed doors that were nearby.

"You're right here, next to Tony," Pepper said as she moved past the boys to the door that was to the left of Tony's room. With that Pepper pushed open the doors and flipped on the lights. Peter hesantly stood in place, almost looking at Tony for permission to go inside. The inventor gave a slight nod and gave Peter a smile before he began to move. Once at the threshold of the door, he just stood there, looking at the room in what Tony assumed was shock.

It was huge, especially for a boy Peter's size. It was clear that it was designed for a large bed, but that bed had been moved out and replaced with a toddler bed. It had a striped gray and navy blue comforter on top of it, with matching pillows and a stuffed shark sitting at the edge of the bed. It seemed a little tall for Peter to crawl into, but some wooden steps were at the end of the bed so that Peter could easily crawl inside. A small dresser and empty bookcase were to the right of the bed along the wall, while a night stand sat to the left with a lamp on it. And the wall opposite was simply a large window. Besides that the room was fairly empty.

"I don't know what kinds of things you like," Pepper said as she watched Peter. I didn't want to get things you didn't like...so I thought maybe we could pick things out together. Maybe a few posters and toys." Pepper suggested

"Yeah, okay," Peter nodded before he made his way fully into the room. His first stop was the bed. He ran his small hand over the comforter for a moment before he leaned his entire body against the bed, resting his head on the mattress.

"It's soft," Peter said as he smushed his cheeks harder into the mattress before bypassing everything else to stop in front of the window. The little boy now pressed his face up against the pane, along with his hands, and looked down at the outside world round him before simply lowering himself onto the carpeted floor. "Even your floor is soft!" Peter proclaimed and he began to roll around on the floor. At first he seemed to be doing it as just something to be doing, but soon giggles began to erupt from the little boy as he rolled around the entire room, flinging the plush around with him.

"You think he likes it?" Pepper asked as she and Tony watched the small boy.

"Just look at him," Tony said with a small smile as he leaned against the wall. "He's so happy he can't contain himself. Or he's just doing whatever kids do. What do I know," Tony said with a small shrug, though his eyes never left Peter.

"Tony-" Pepper began but the man cut her off as he positioned himself to look at the woman.

"You did good Pep. It looks great, he's obviously happy. It's good for a last minute set up," Tony said, giving her a smile. "I really appreciate it," Tony said and before Pepper could respond, the older man walked over to Peter (who was still gleefully rolling on the floor) and leaned down to pick him up.

"Okay monkey, that's enough. You can do this another time," Tony said as he caught the giggling boy between his hands and pulled him up into his arms.

"Daaaaaad," Peter called in between giggles. Peter acted like he didn't want to stop, but the fact that he tucked himself into Tony said otherwise.

"Let's get a bath, okay? I'm sure you're filthy," Tony said as he moved towards a pair of doors in the corner of the room.

"What's in there?" Peter asked curiously as they got closer and closer.

"That's your bathroom. Just for you," Tony said as he pushed open the door. To be honest, Tony had been expecting a few basic furnishings for the bathroom. A towel here, a bottle of shampoo there, and maybe some soap. What he saw, though, was completely different. Pepper had really outdone herself.

The walls were a red and the lights gave off a soft glow, giving the room a warm feel to it. Red and white towels hung on the walls next to the bathtub, and around the sides were shampoo and conditioner bottles, kids body wash, a few washcloths, and then a small toy boat and a rubber ducky. Besides that there was a training seat next to the toilet, along with a stepping stool, and another stepping stool that lead up to the skink. Sitting on the sink edge was a bottle of blue foam soap, a small toothbrush,and some toothpaste. In a large cabinet towards the back of the room, Tony saw a door had been left open and there were a few pull-ups and diapers, along with wipes.

Both Tony and Peter gawked at the room for a long moment before Tony turned around to thank Pepper. Unfortunately the woman had left, leaving Tony and Peter alone. The larger man tried to ignore the lump of emotion that was building his his chest and instead put Peter down before moving to the bathtub to begin filling it up.

"What are you doing?" Peter asked as he moved next to Tony, looking down at the tub that was now filling up with water.

"I'm filling the tub with water so you can take a bath," Tony explained, thinking it was a little weird that Peter would ask a question like that.

"Is that how people normally get clean?" Peter asked, his brows knitting together.

"What do you mean?" Tony asked as he turned to look at his son. Peter's face turned a red as he realised that maybe he said something wrong and he looked down at his feet, not saying a word. "Peter?" Tony pressed but the boy was silent for a while before speaking.

"When they wanted to clean us...they would just spray cold water on us with a hose," Peter explained, still not looking at Tony.

The man stilled, his blood running cold as he listened to Peter's words, and in that moment, he wished he would have been there with Steve to kill the bastards that had been keeping Peter.

"Well," Tony said carefully as he looked over at Peter. "We're going to do things a little different. I'm going to fill this tub with warm water and you're going to get it and then we'll wash all the dirt off of you," Tony said as he leaned forward and grabbed the boat, holding it up to show Peter. "You can even play in here for a little bit if you want," Tony said, pressing a smile.

Peter eyed him as if he were insane. It was like the thing Tony was proposing was crazy, and Peter looked at him for a long while before he pressed his lips together and looked back at the tub that was more than halfway full. "Okay," Peter said with a shrug, as if to say: "I don't know about this, but I'll do it anyways."

"You'll like it, don't worry," Tony insisted as he turned off the water before reaching Peter. The first thing he did was took the small hospital gown off of him. From there, Tony went to remove the diaper Peter was wearing. It seemed heavy, but when Tony removed it, it was only urine. Letting out a sigh of relief, Tony absently tossed the diaper in the trash before turning back to Peter. "Ready to get in?" he asked.

"I guess," Peter said with a shrug as he nervously looked at the water.

"You'll be okay," Tony said as he picked Peter up and gently held him above the water. Ever so slowly he dipped the little boy's feet in.

"Hot!" Peter yelped as he clung onto Tony's shirt, but the man continued to lower the boy into the water.

"It's okay. It's not that hot, you'll get used to it," Tony insisted, and Tony was right. Peter didn't protest about the temperature after that. Soon Peter was fully sitting in the tub, the water going up to his chest. "You doing okay?" Tony asked, as Peter began to move his arms around in the water, making small waves and splashes.

"Yeah," the little voice called out, still hesitant as he moved around. All fear that Peter might not be able to handle a bath melted away, though, and soon the boy was splashing in the bath and playing with the boat and duck that Pepper had left for him. Even Tony was getting in on the action. The two had just finished a rather intense splashing contest when Tony decided to take off his now soaked t-shirt, leaving him in a white undershirt.

From there Tony calmed down Peter and began to wash the little boy's hair. As he was doing so, though, Peter leaned forward and grabbed ahold of the collar of Tony's undershirt, pulling it down.

"Who hurt you?" Peter asked, breaking the comfortable silence. Tony stilled instantly, knowing that Peter must have seen the scar that had been left by the removal of his arc reactor.

A thousand different responses ran through Tony's head and the man curled Peter's hair so it was sitting in a sudsy lump on his head before he pulled back to look at the little boy. Peter was still holding on to Tony's shirt and was looking at the spot with great concern.

"A long time ago, before you were born, some bad men captured me. I...I stayed with them for a for a while...but I got hurt during that time," Tony said carefully. This was a dangerous subject to be talking about. Tony didn't want to put Peter into a panic attack, much less himself.

"Just like me," Peter said as he pulled himself to his knees and reached out to touch the scar with his tiny hand.

Tony jerked back slightly, his heart hammering in his ears. That area was always a touchy place for him, ever since Afghanistan. Even with the arc reactor, only Pepper and Steve had ever touched that spot. One could even say that Tony was even more reserve, now that that arc reactor was gone, because all that was left was an ugly scar.

"Y-yeah. I guess so," Tony said as as he took one of his hands and layed it over Peter's, pushing it against his chest. "I guess we have that in common, huh?" Tony said, giving Peter a small smile. He had never thought of it like that.

"It's big," Peter commented as he pulled his hand from under Tony's, only to trace the outline of the scar with as single finger. "Were you scared?" Peter then asked, his brown eyes flicking up to Tony's.

"Of course," Tony said with a nervous laugh as he watched his son. "But it's okay to be afraid."

"Do you have nightmares?"

"All the time," Tony said, looking away from Peter.

"I have nightmares all the time too," Peter said as his hand stopped in the middle of the scar again. "If...If you get scared, you can always come to me...okay?" Peter said.

Tony locked eyes with Peter, and even though the boy was young, Tony knew he was being sincere.

"That sounds like a good plan Peter-Pan," Tony said as he took Peter's small hand into his own, squeezing it tightly. "But that means if you get scared, you come to me, okay? I'll keep you safe from all those bad thoughts," Tony said as he took his other hand and cupped the little boy's damp face.

"Promise?"

"Promise."