A/N: See another update in the same month, yay! I'm warning you now, this chapter has the inest bit of agnst.
7 Months Later, Mid-January
As can be expected of a kid who spent most of his time with adults, Peter is very mature for his age. Yes he is still a kid, so he runs around, and plays, but in class, his teacher noticed that Peter wouldn't pay attention. To her surprise, Peter already knew everything she was teaching, he could even read. 6 weeks into the school year, Ms. Dawson put in a request to have Peter skip a grade.
Naturally Tony and Steve were very excited about it, but Tony was dead-set against it. Tony knew firsthand what happened to people when they skip ahead, he wanted Peter to have the chance to be a kid.
Since Tony is Tony, naturally his school would have a different policy about grade skipping. Peter would still be in the same class as the kids his age; he would just be doing work from a higher-grade level. All the kids in his class thought it was so cool that he was doing big kid work. Peter was happy that everyone liked him, and he made new friends, namely Harry and a girl named Gwen Stacey.
Every day after school, for the first two months, Tony would go pick up Peter and drive him home. On the way home, Peter would tell stories of what happened that day always energetic, always smiling, and always making Tony smile. Once at home Peter would repeat his entire account to Steve, bring out yet another smile from his dads.
Steve would always ask Peter about his friends, Harry and Gwen. Every time Peter would mention what they did together, he wanted to ask his dads if they could come over, but he knew better.
xxOOxx
"Peter wanna come to my hows on Fwaiday?" Harry asked through slurred speech, it was recess and the boys were playing in the sand box. Gwen hadn't come to school that day.
"I donno, need to ask my dads." Peter answered absent mindedly, focusing on his sand castle, trying to get it not to fall.
"You have two dads?" Harry stated more than asked, surprise on his face.
Peter felt his stomach drop, he's read about what some people do when they find out someone has two dads. He felt stupid for saying it. "Yeah, so?" Peter answered defensively.
"Not'ing, yor to first person I met tat has two dads." Harry responded, a little surprised and sorry that Peter got defensive,
Peter let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Oh, ok." He addressed Harry's comment.
A bell rang, and the two boys got up and ran to the classroom, trying to be the first ones there to get to pick the next story for story time.
xxOOxx
Peter saw the familiar car that's used to pick him up from school. He said bye to Harry and ran to the car, getting in to the back seat. Taking off his backpack, Peter strapped himself into his booster seat.
"How was school Peter?" Steve asked as he drove down the street, turning at the corner.
"Hi papa today was fun. We built a sandcastle at retes. And den -ton let us read for fi-teen minutes. And I go to use my workbooks." Peter started listing things off.
"That's great Peter, did you build the sandcastle with Harry?" Steve asked as he took a glance at Peter through the rear view mirror.
"Yeah, da bell rang before we finis'ed." Peter pouted a little.
"Aw, that's too bad. How about we go for some ice cream?" Steve suggested, hoping to make Peter feel better.
"Really, we can get i-quweem?" Peter's eyes widened at the thought of getting ice cream from Rustle and Leo's Gelato.
YES REALLY. Your dad has some people over the home, but they should be gone by the time we get back." Steve made another turn as he answered Peter.
"Oh." Peter almost whispered, remembering that Harry had asked him to go to his house.
"What's wrong Peter?" Steve asked, tone soft and comforting.
"No-ting." Peter tried to evade, unsuccessfully though.
"Peter, you can tell me. I won't be mad, promise." Steve pledged, using his right hand to imitate the scout's honor sign.
"I don' wanna tell." Peter pouted, head ducked, eyes focusing on the car floor.
"Ok then, but if you don't tell me I won't buy you ice cream." Steve threatened light-heartedly, knowing Peter would cave any minute.
Following Steve's prediction, Peter's head shot up, eyes slightly wide." No papa, I wan i-quweem."
Steve parked the car, and turned back to look at Peter. "If you want ice cream, then tell me."
Peter went back to pouting and looking down. "It silly…"
"The more reason to tell me."
"I… Harry… he axed me if I can go to his house on fwaiday." Peter tried hiding in his booster seat, and failing miserably at it.
"Why do you think it's silly to ask that? It's perfectly fine if you want to go to Harry's house." Steve smiled, reaching back and brushing Peter's too long hair out of his eyes. He made a mental note to take Peter to the barbershop.
This made Peter try and hide more, now he was embarrassed. "I dunno. I know I can't hab fwends over, so I taut I coodn't go to anybody's huws."
"Oh Petey, I'm sorry about that, but it's for your safety." Steve's expression saddened. "But that doesn't mean you can't go to your friend's house. We'll talk to your dad when we get home."
"Kay papa. Can we get I-quweem now?" Peter asked shyly.
"Of course. Come one, you can get two scoops if you want." Steve added with a cheery smile.
Peter's face lit up, and the earlier conversation washed away.
xxOOxx
Meanwhile in Avengers' Tower
"So as you can see, trade with the Greeks has gone down. But were still exporting the same amount of product. This raises the suspicion that some one is embezzling funds and resources." Pepper dictated drawing on a tablet that was connected directly to a display.
"Pepper, of course someone is embezzling funds someone is always embezzling funds. What matters is what we do with them when we find them." Tony said as he adjusted his position on the sofa taking a quick glance at the other business men and women in the room.
"Mr. Stark, with all do respect, I don't believe this is an issue that you should concern yourself with." A tall man in an ash grey suit, balding at the top said.
"Mr. Joseph, Peterson, can I call you Joe.. Joey?" Tony started standing up. He walked to his reopened bar pouring himself a glass of whiskey. Taking a drink he continued "Joe, I'm not the CEO, yeah whatever, but it's still my company, and I won't let some greedy bastard steal from me." Tony gave him a piercing glare.
Joseph physically tensed, jaw getting stiff, "Very well then Mr. Stark. Your company, your choice." He tried readjusting his position on the coach.
"Alright then, Pepper please continue." Tony sat back down in his seat.
"Um… ok." Pepper changed the screen to one with pie chart. "As you can see here our stocks in Greece are being bought up."
xxOOxx
30 Minutes Later
Peter was licking his ice cream cone frantically, chasing after stray drops with his tongue. Steve was holding Peter's backpack, eating his own ice cream cone. There elevator door opened, and it showed the scene of Tony lounging in his seat Pepper still giving her presentation, a few men and women seated, and then Joseph, tense fingers twitching, reaching for something and stopping in mid motion.
"Papa, I don like that man." Peter whispered gripping Steve's jeans with his free hand.
Steve followed his gaze and saw Joseph. "Don't worry Petey, no one likes him."
"Steve, Peter!" Tony called out standing up walking to his family.
"Papa, I really, really don' like him." There was a slight tremble in Peter's voice as he said this, staring at Joseph's hand, watching it move.
"Peter, are you al—" Steve started, but stopped in mid sentence, following Peter's gaze, finding a gun in Joseph's hand. Acting quickly, he pushed Peter down, and lunged for Tony, pushing him down, covering his body with his own.
Joseph shot his gun just as Steve pushed Tony down. Steve got up and practically pounced on Joseph, making him drop the gun as he was slammed into the ground with Steve's full weight. There was a crunch, a cry, and a scream. There were grunts, shouts, and protests as Steve manhandled Joseph so he was face down on the floor, arms painfully bent behind his back.
"Daddy!" Peter got up, tears in his eyes, running to Tony, who had turned over, laying on his back, eyes wide, breathing heavily.
Tony sat up and Peter hugged him, burying his face in his chest, sobbing. Blinking a few times, Tony snapped back into the moment and wrapped his arms around Peter, resting his head on Peter's.
"Shh, shh, I'm ok Petey. I'm ok." Tony soothed Peter, saying calming words, trying to stop his crying.
Pepper, from experience, had already made her way behind a sofa. The other business men and women had just frozen and tried ducking for cover on the floor.
Clint came running down the stairs, bow and arrow in hand; ready to shoot anyone posing a threat. He approached where Steve was holding down Joseph and asked "Steve what happened?"
''Attempted assassination. Tie him up." Steve ordered, taking on his Captain America persona.
"Roger." Clint responded as he pulled out zip-tie handcuffs from his belt, and motioned for Steve to stand. After he cuffed him, Clint led Joseph to the glass wall, and threw him down, forcing him to the floor. "More, and I shoot you in the knee." Was all Clint said.
Peter's cries had softened to whimpers, but he refused to let go of Tony's shirt. Seeing that the situation has been neutralized, Tony stood up with Peter in his arms, and walked to Steve. Without even a moments hesitation Steve wrapped his arms protectively around his family.
"Are you two alright?" Steve asked in a soft voice, tightening his hold on his family.
"I'm alright Steve, I'm alright." Tony answered, "Are you all right Peter?"
He nodded his head in response, still whimpering, and not being able to form words.
Slowly the business men and women came out from their hiding spots now that the coast was clear. Pepper did a half run to Tony, wanting to make sure he was all right with her own two eyes.
"You idiot." Was all Pepper said, tears in her eyes, as she started inspecting Tony, moving his head side to side, checking for blood stains on his white shirt.
Grinning, Tony stopped Peper's searching with his free hand. Taking hold of one of hers. "Pep, I'm alright, see," Tony took a step back. "Not a scratch."
Pepper slapped him on the arm, "Stupid, you were provoking him."
"But Pep," Tony whined, "I was just being me."
Pepper gave a small smile.
"I love these touchy, feely, family fests as much as the next guy, but what do we do with Mr. Smithers?" Clint tilted his head to him.
Tony whispered something to Peter, and the kid nodded his head, letting go of Tony's shirt. He was handed over to Steve, and Tony shifted his focus to his guests.
"I believe this concludes our meeting." Tony said as he strode over to them." Considering one of your reps tried to assassinate me, all deals are off and we're launching an investigation." Tony's voice was level and cool, he didn't stutter, mumble, or slur his words.
He business people scrambled to stand up. One of the women stepped forward and tried to negotiate "Mr. Stark, that is not necessary. The actions of one do not reflect the wants of the many."
"Yeah I know, but when a company has an executive that has tried to assassinate me, that makes me question the integrity of the other employees." Tony practically snapped back.
"What Mr. Stark means to say is," Pepper quickly interjected, trying to save the business deal, "we should talk about negotiations another day."
"I agree." One of the suits answered. "We'll be taking our leave now. I trust you'll find a suitable punishment for Mr. Peterson. Good day Ms. Potts, Mr. Stark." The business people collected their belongings, and exited the room.
Tony relaxed and leaned against one of the sofas, pulling his tie loose, "Well, that went well." He practically sighed out.
"I'll say. Anyway, Stark," Clint started, "I know this was a traumatizing experience and all, but Mr. Smithers is giving me the evil glare. Let's get him over to the authorities."
"Right you do that. You're good friends with the higher ups aren't you Legolas?"
"Fine…" the one syllable Clint said before he lifted Joseph to his feet and pushed him towards the elevator."
As the doors were closing Clint called back "I want ice cream when I get back."
With Joseph gone, Peter wiggled himself free from Steve's hold and ran over to Tony, wrapping his arms around his legs.
"Daddy, aunty Pepper is wight, you were being a dummy." The fabric of Tony's suit muffled Peter's voice.
Tony stooped down to pick up Peter. "Yes, yes I know. What do you always say Steve? About my genius…"
The corner of Steve's mouth pulled up into a smirk "For a genius, Tony, you really can be so clueless at times."
This made Peter laugh, now only sniffling, no more tears or whimpers.
Stealing a quick glance around the living room, Tony saw the ice cream cone on the floor. "Would you like more ice cream Petey? It's been scientifically proven by angsty teenagers to make everything feel better."
Peter nodded his head as it rested on Tony's chest, unintentionally placing his ear right about Tony's heart, making sure that it is actually beating and that Peter isn't hallucinating.
A/N: Ok I lied that was a lot of agnst for this type of fic, I mean this is a family domestic type shit right? What's with all the people dying or getting shot at? Oh God I just reminded myself of Dairanger, and then... and then... BURAIIIIIIIIIII!