Peter was sitting upright on the sofa in his living room when Pepper walked into his quarters with Tony. The 3-D chessboard had been returned to its box and was sitting on the floor, leaning against the coffee table and there was a large brown shipping box on the coffee table. The boy was watching a TV program when she arrived, but he turned it off when he looked over at her arrival. He saw that she must have stopped by her rooms before coming to see him. That morning she'd been dressed for business, and now her clothing of choice was a pair of slacks and a sweater, with her hair back in a ponytail.

"Hi, Pepper."

"Hi, sweetheart." She sat down beside him, careful to chose the uninjured side since he had a blanket draped over his lap and she couldn't see where his hip was, precisely. "How was your day?"

"It was good. I-"

"Don't act all innocent, young man," Tony told him, leaning over the back of the sofa and putting his arms around Peter, pulling him back toward him and hugging him – despite the harshness of his words. "I've already told her how you hustled me."

That was the whole point of meeting her in the garage and getting to her before Peter and his big, innocent, puppy dog eyes could hypnotize her into believing everything the boy said.

"I don't know what you mean," Peter said with a smile, looking up at Tony, first, and then smiling at Pepper. "Did he tell you about the Mona Lisa?"

Pepper frowned, looking over at Stark with a raised eyebrow. Tony's innocent look was not even close to being as convincing as Peter's was.

"No. He told me about the field trip he has to give your friends."

Peter shook his head.

"I tried to tell him that we didn't need to wager. It's just as much fun playing without betting on the outcome."

"Yeah. After he let me win a couple of games to get my guard down," Tony said. "That is the whole definition of hustling, you know…"

Pepper shook her head.

"Did you hustle him?"

"I tried to make it something that he really wouldn't want to do, but he insisted. That's not my fault."

"No. I agree." She looked over at the shipping package. "What's in the box?"

Peter grinned, and Tony let him go so that he could show Pepper the camera that Elmer's wife had sent. She was properly impressed and admired it, pointing out that he might be able to use the night lens to get shots of the deer that came out to graze on the compound field. He'd taken some pictures of them with his phone, but the camera would certainly prove capable of taking much better images.

"Good idea," he approved, putting the camera back in its case and then changing the subject to what her day had entailed.

Tony came around to the sofa as well and settled on the other side of Peter while they talked, and he smiled at Pepper, who put her arm around the back of Peter and rested her hand behind the boy's head, where Tony could catch it with his without interrupting their conversation. While Pepper told them about finishing up the merger with the VR company that had sent them their prototypes to try out, Stark considered – again – just how different his life was now, compared to even two years before.

The change in his relationship with Pepper and the inclusion of Peter into their lives was somewhat profound, really, and he had to admit, even if it was just to himself, that he was as content as he'd ever been. And more than his younger self would have ever thought possible.

He was brought out of his reverie when Pepper asked him what they'd had for lunch and if they were ready for dinner. He dutifully reported that he'd fed Peter burgers for lunch and both of them were definitely ready and willing to eat whenever she was.

"Peter's still confined to his rooms," Tony told her, letting her hand go. "I can go get us something – maybe even make a request if there's something in particular you're hungry for."

"I'll have some of Peter's pie from last night and whatever's on the menu."

"That would be difficult," Stark said. "Not the menu part, but the pie."

"You guys ate it all?"

"It was pretty good pie," Peter pointed out, his expression guileless.

"See?" Tony asked, pointing at Peter, but looking at Pepper. "That's the hustle look."

Pepper laughed.

"Go get us some dinner, Tony. I'm hungry."

OOOOOO

They spent the evening on the couch in Peter's room. They played Scrabble, first, and Pepper once more proved to the men in her life that she was pretty smart. Not like they didn't both know it. When the game ended, Peter was putting the tiles back in their bag and a sudden change in air pressure outside the walls of his room drew his attention.

Tony watched him, realizing from the barely audible rumble that also reverberated through the building that the boy was aware of the moment that the Quinjet took off and he couldn't miss the disappointment in Peter's expression at being left behind.

"Let's watch a movie," he suggested, drawing Peter's attention from the missed flight.

The boy nodded, and handed the remote to Pepper, silently telling her that she could choose what they watched. She won the Scrabble game, after all. It was only fair. Then he settled on the couch, laying down and putting his head on her leg rather than leaning against her side. Pepper tucked his blanket around him and then winked at Tony and found the chickiest chick flick that she could – which made him roll his eyes, amused. Stark asked Karen to turn off the lights, found a blanket for him and Pepper to share and drew her head down to his chest and the three settled in for the night.

If anyone needed him, they knew where to find him, Tony knew.

OOOOOO

He roused when he felt someone picking him up.

"Shhh…" it was Tony. "I'm going to put you to bed, okay?"

"I'm not tired."

He heard Pepper's amused chuckle, and reached up, unerringly finding Stark's jaw.

"Well, I am. And Pepper won't let me go to bed until you're tucked in and settled. She doesn't want you rolling off the sofa and hurting yourself."

"That's a mom thing, huh?" Peter asked him, sleepily.

"Yeah," he agreed, carrying him into his room. "Dads would just duct tape you to the sofa."

Peter nodded his agreement, much more asleep or awake and pretty much agreeing to whatever Tony was saying, even if it didn't make sense. He never opened his eyes as he felt his blankets covering him and Tony leaning over him, the scruff of his facial hair brushing against Peter's cheek.

"Do you need anything?"

"I have everything I need," Peter replied, already going back to sleep.

Tony smiled. He hoped so, He certainly was trying. His hand brushed Peter's cheek as he straightened up.

"I'll see you in the morning."