Tony

After checking in at their hotel, (there wasn't a room ready, but they planned to come back for a breather, and so Peter could try out the pool that afternoon) Tony and Peter walked the short distance to Universal Studios Florida. Somehow Peter had found a boundless well of energy, and he was practically bouncing and vibrating as they walked. It was still early in the day, but there were plenty of holiday crowds, and Tony had to take his arm and carefully guide the kid a few times to keep him from bumping into people, because he kept turning around to talk to Tony while he walked.

"Our tickets let us go in between both parks, but I figured we'd just do a bunch of stuff in the regular Universal Studios before we go over to Islands of Adventure, because it makes sense to save time, since we only have two days. But from what I read, the Express passes we get with our hotel stay make all the difference, and we should be able to do everything we want to, I think, as long as we keep moving. So c' mon Tony, pick up the pace!"

"Seriously, kid, careful. If you spill my espresso"—he held it out of harm's way—"we're going to have to find another one, and that's going to take time from your precious schedule. I absolutely refuse to do this without copious amounts of caffeine."

Peter scoffed, and pulled him towards the entry gate. Thankfully, their tickets worked with zero fuss, and the employee was too busy to do more than flash wide eyes at them when Tony's name probably popped up for him.

"Chop chop, Mr. Stark," Peter said, slipping into old habits in his excitement, as he dragged Tony down the street facade. "Drink it fast! They won't let you on the ride with it!"

A photographer managed to catch Peter's attention, and Tony dutifully posed for a picture with his kid grinning like a maniac next to him in front of a bright yellow nearly-caricature of a taxi cab. "We coulda taken this picture in New York with a lot less fuss," Tony grumbled cheerfully. Peter just stuck out his tongue at him.

"Look, it's the Minion Mayhem one!" Peter said excitedly, obviously intent on riding it. Tony paused at the entrance to read the short description. It was bright and cartoony. How bad could it be?

"Hey, catch," Tony said, tossing a little container to Peter.

The teenager caught it almost without looking, but then seemed confused. "My ear buds? You have these with you?"

"Yeah, I grabbed them before we left. Some of these rides are going to be super loud, and I don't want your senses to get overloaded"

"Oh, thanks! I didn't even think of that!"

With their Express pass, they only waited a few minutes, and soon Tony found himself feeling like he was in the most chaotic experience of his life. Considering his side job, that was saying something. He staggered just a little as they exited with all the other kids and parents. Though most of the other kids were half Peter's height, they had the same expressions on their faces.

"Simulator, huh? Somehow that hits different when they're simulating falling multiple stories with a bunch of yellow things than it does when it's an actual flight simulator," Tony said lightly, digging in his pocket for the motion sickness pills he'd purchased at the hotel shop. "Hold on, Pete. Let me stop and take these."

Peter turned around and hurried to his side. "Oh no, did it make you sick?"

"A little, yeah. Give me just a minute."

"Do you think if I—" he motioned towards Tony's bicep, a question on his face.

"Yeah, I guess it might help with that, too. Doesn't hurt to try."

Peter stepped in closer and put a hand on his arm over his soul mark. "Any better?"

"Yeah, actually." It was a lot better, instantly. He didn't usually get motion sickness, but that theme park simulator was something else. He downed the pills and leaned into Peter's hand for another twenty seconds, then put his best smile on.

"Where to next, kid?"

Peter's gaze turned to focus on an extremely tall orange roller coaster. Great. Well, he'd ridden those before, and some of them weren't that different than flying in the suit. He could probably handle that better than another simulator. And roller coasters had to be easier when you hadn't been drinking, right?

Not necessarily. Yes, his stomach handled them better, but it was mildly terrifying to be moving like that and have zero control over your trajectory. Overall, though, Tony did enjoy it, especially listening to Peter's excited yelling next to him.

"What'd you think, kid?"

"Awesome. A little less exciting than the last time I rode a big coaster, to be honest, compared to… you know—he made a web-firing motion with his hand—but still really fun! Hey, look at that pastry cart!"

The crowds were a bit much, but thanks to Tony's hat and sunglasses, he did mostly blend in. He was glad for the Express pass, which meant they didn't spend too much time waiting in line with the same people, which might give them more time to recognize him. The did the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (another simulator, but the motion sickness pills seemed to be helping, and Peter made it point to lean against his arm during), then Revenge of the Mummy , which was a dark roller coaster Peter had never even seen the source material for, and Fast and Furious Supercharged . Was that a ride? A show? Tony wasn't sure, but he liked it the most, of the things they'd done.

The facades they were walking through were interesting, and Peter dragged him over to ride E.T. (which he had seen) "because it's like one of the original rides, Ned said!").

"Hmm. What'd you think?" Peter asked his mentor when they exited that one.

"Strangely claustrophobic, and underwhelming. But I liked it."

Peter looked at him strangely. "More than the other rides?"

"I think just the nostalgia-factor," Tony said. "The movie was a big deal. Plus, I'm kind of thinking I've been here before, and I'm pretty sure I've been on that one. I remember the big fake forest at the beginning, at least."

Peter stopped, and Tony half-stepped before pausing and turning back to him. "You think you've been here before? Wouldn't you remember?" the boy asked in confusion.

Tony shrugged. "I know I've been to the one in Hollywood once or twice, but not in the last fifteen years. I think I came to this one in the early nineties. There was a conference or something." Peter was still giving him an incredulous look.

"Pete, most of the early nineties was kind of a blur, sad to say. I wouldn't have come anywhere like this unless I was with a group, and if I was with a group, I was probably pretty wasted." Tony winced as he said it, but he tried not to gloss over those years with Peter. He definitely wanted the kid to learn to avoid all that from his own experiences.

Peter looked surprised. "You could be so… out of it… that you wouldn't even remember what you did that day?"

"Sorry to say, yeah. It wasn't a pretty time period. But let's not dwell on it. I'm going to remember every bit of today in detail , I promise," he said, slinging a comforting arm around the kid's shoulder and brushing his soul mark in comfort/distraction.

"Um… my friend told me they have these amazing giant donuts in the Simpsons land, or whatever, and I definitely want to try those! Then maybe we can ride the Simpsons ride?"

"Is it another simulator?"

Peter stared at his map for a minute. "I think so?"

"How about we ride the ride, then eat our weight in giant donuts? Sound like a plan?"

"Sure!"

The donuts were no joke. They were almost the size of his head, but Peter ordered the three he was most interested in (pink frosting, chocolate with some kind of chocolate cereal on top, and maple bacon) and Tony sampled all of them before Peter finished them off. The whole experience was more entertaining to Tony than several of the rides they'd been on.

As soon as they were done, Peter jumped up, nose buried in his map again. "Hey, Mr. Stark!" he said, excitement overrunning the last two weeks of "Tony." "Can we ride the Men in Black Alien Attack ?"

"Of course, kid. Then should we swing over and check out your Harry Potter stuff?" Tony asked, looking at his watch. About one. He also needed to feed his probably-hungry Spiderling, but it was hard to get him to slow down long enough for real food. He followed more slowly behind Peter's near-jog towards the giant concrete building, and typed a quick message to FRIDAY. He'd put her in charge of finding them a place to eat after this.

The Men in Black thing was a little too reminiscent of SHIELD (if it was a laser tag arena with lots of fake aliens), and also a little overstimulating. Peter beat Tony handily, but he noticed the kid rubbing at his forehead a little afterwards like maybe his head hurt.

"We can't all have super-special-spider enhancements," Tony muttered under his breath, as he rubbed Peter's shoulder, and Peter just laughed. It was great to see the kid having so much fun. Tony was about due for another coffee, though, if he wanted to keep up.

"Harry Potter now?" Peter asked eagerly, starry-eyed and nearly bouncing again.

"Food first, before you explore. But FRIDAY said now is a good time to visit the Leaky Cauldron," he said with a wink.

"Awesome!"

Peter's face as they walked into "Diagon Alley" was worth all the crazy crowds and driving and motion sickness in the world.

Peter

It had been such a fantastic day, and it wasn't even over. His older soulmate had really hung in there, but as they finished exploring every inch of the Diagon Alley side of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, he was pretty sure Tony was ready for a break.

"Hey, after this ride," Peter said, gesturing at the giant Gringott's Bank facade, "can we head back to the hotel and check out the pool?"

"Sure! I mean, if you want to," Tony said, looking maybe a little relieved.

Just then the giant white dragon on top of the building started moving, and then roared above them, and Peter jumped about two feet. With his enhanced hearing, the roar had been quite loud if you were right under it.

Tony laughed, but caught him in a quick hug, smoothing his hair, and brushing his soul mark, which actually helped the boy's rapid heartbeat calm down quickly.

"You sure this ride isn't too scary for you?" Tony teased, and Peter glared lightly at him.

"Come on, this is supposed to be one of the best ones. Then after," Peter's eyes flicked to the shop across the way, "ice cream?"

"Of course, kid. Let's do this."

The ride was everything Peter had hoped for, especially all the theming inside, and he'd been especially thankful for his ear buds. Even though he'd told himself they were leaving for Tony's sake, he was feeling ready for some less-peoply areas, too.

He brightened right up as he checked out the menu in the little ice cream parlor—Florean Fortescue's—and tried to decide what he wanted. Tony stuck with Vanilla hardpack in a waffle cone, and after going back and forth for several minutes, Tony ordered him both the Butterbeer ice cream, and the Strawberry & Peanut Butter hardpack, the second in a souvenir glass.

"But Tony, how am I going to do two ?"

"You have two hands, don't you?"

"I… well, I guess so. But only one mouth!"

"Be fast, so they don't melt. Problem solved."

They walked slowly back to the entrance, a big grin on Peter's face as he tried to keep either one from dripping. They were both delicious.

Back at the hotel, they got their luggage out and sent it up with a bellhop, and Peter and Tony cleaned the "snack-trash" out of the rental and got their smaller bags together.

The hotel was amazing. It was like nowhere Peter had ever stayed, even after traveling a few times with Tony before they'd been soulmates. He was thoroughly impressed already, but his jaw dropped when they walked into their suite, where their luggage was already waiting.

"Tony, why is there a piano in our room?"

"Is there?" Tony asked with interest. "I just liked the name: 'the Graceland Suite.'"

"You picked the room because you liked the name?"

Tony shrugged and smiled. "Pretty much. Everything look good for a couple nights?" he asked Peter, glancing quickly over the room.

Peter nodded, walking over to run his fingers lightly over the shiny black instrument. He didn't really know pianos, but he thought it was a grand piano, even, and was definitely the centerpiece of the room.

"So, you ready to swim?" Tony asked lightly, cracking his suitcase open and looking through it briefly for something to change into.

Peter did. Kind of. His gaze was also drawn to the big king-sized bed, though, and he could see the tiredness in his soulmate's shoulders.

"Maybe… tomorrow?"

Tony glanced up, curious. "I thought that's why you wanted to come back."

"Yeah, I did, but it's so quiet in here, and I'm kinda tired. What would you say to a nap, instead? I could use a little togetherness time."

"You don't have to ask me twice," Tony said with a grin, pulling his hoodie off and slipping out of his shoes. "Meet you there in five."

Peter almost dived onto the bed immediately, but then thought better of it, removing his jacket and shoes first, and even washing any lingering theme park grime from his hands, before he grabbed a snack out of his backpack and stretched out on the bed. Heavenly. He must have been moving even more than he thought all day, because once he lay down, it was like his eyes just shut on their own. He turned over on his stomach, and was halfway asleep when he felt his mentor settle next to him and rest his arm along his back. His bond purred happily at the close contact, and he was out within minutes.

When Peter woke, he frowned to find his soulmate not right next to him, but decided to forgive him when he heard Tony in the other room, accepting a room service delivery. The light filtering in from outside was edging into 'golden,' and it seemed that he'd been asleep for several hours.

"Tony?"

"Hey, bud. You awake?" Tony raised his voice slightly from the other room. "Come have some dinner. I think I heard your stomach growling in your sleep," Tony teased.

Peter stumbled into the table where Tony was setting out the food, a giant yawn doing its best to make him more alert. He stopped next to Tony, who did look refreshed, and found himself hesitating before leaning in for a hug. One day of being out in public with other people had popped their new-soulmate-togetherness bubble just a little bit, but Tony wrapped his arms around him enthusiastically. Tony smoothed his sleep-ruffled hair, and pushed him towards a chair, setting a plate in front of him.

The food was all burgers-and-fries deliciousness, and by the time he finished, Peter was ready to head back into the park.

"You sure you don't want to just stay in tonight?" Tony asked. "Watch a movie or something?" Is that what he really wanted? Had all the walking this morning been too much for him? Peter narrowed his eyes briefly, assessing his soulmate, then glanced at the shoes he'd been about to put on, sighing slightly.

"Uh, yeah, Tony, sure. I mean, if that sounds better to you. We have all of tomorrow."

Tony laughed, and Peter glanced back up to see his grinning face. "You are the sweetest kid, I swear. Of course we can go back and wizard it up. I was just teasing."

Peter just stared at him for a moment, his mouth open.

"C'mon kid, we're missing out on prime photo-taking light!"

Peter huffed out a little laugh and jumped up to get ready to go. It took him about three minutes flat, and they were out the door soon after.

They had decided to walk back through all of Universal Studios, and ride the Hogwarts Express between the parks, so they'd come out in the Wizarding World's Hogsmeade on the other side. It was so awesome seeing Diagon Alley again at twilight, and riding the partially real transportation/partially a themed simulation of the train from the books and movies. Peter posed for all the pictures as they entered "the King's Cross" station, and took close-ups of tons of details he wanted to share with Ned.

"Have I said thanks for springing for the Express passes?" Peter asked as they exited into Hogsmeade. "Because that line looked awful."

" Nessum problema, tesoro ," Tony said casually, dodging a family with three whining children.

"But mom, I really, really wanted to ride the big Harry Potter ride!" the oldest kid said, barely holding in tears, it seemed."

"Lucas, your brother and sister aren't up to that line. It's well over an hour. It's been a long, crazy, day, and they're just done!" the mom replied. "Maybe tomorrow, if we try to hit it first thing."

" Thanks for being a pretty cool teenager, and not that age or level of noisy ," Tony said quietly to Peter, still in Italian, just in case he was overheard.

" Aw, they've probably been here all day, and are tired of waiting in lines, " Peter said empathetically. " They looked like pretty good kids for the most part. If you'd made me wait in lines all day, I'd probably be whining, too. "

Tony cocked his head to the side at that, and stopped walking. Peter stopped as well, looking back in confusion.

"Keep up," Tony said, and headed back the direction they'd just come. Peter turned and walked after him, almost catching up as Tony was handing the mother of the family something, and because he was so attuned to Tony's voice, he was able to pick out what he said, even through his noise canceling headphones and the noise around them.

"Do what you want with it, but it sounds like your family might be ready for an early night. You could use the passes to make up for lost time, and ride everything they want to tomorrow."

"But I… we couldn't possibly ! I mean, this is so much, sir! Why would you even—"

Tony took his sunglasses off and tipped his head back a little, with his 'public' smile. The wife focused on his face, with that look people get when they think they know someone, but aren't sure where from. Her husband, however, obviously recognized him, and Tony winked at the couple, then smiled at the kids before putting his shades back on.

"Enjoy the rest of your trip," he said kindly, then turned and grabbed Peter's elbow to hustle him away, before anyone else recognized him or realized what was happening.

"Tony, that was—how much did you give him?" Peter couldn't keep the grin off his face.

"Enough for Express passes for all of them and at least a few extra treats tomorrow," his soulmate said lightly. "Now which ride were you looking forward to over here?

"Um, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ?"

"I'm guessing that's the castle there, looking spooky and cinematic?"

"Yeah. Are you up for it?"

"Of course, Chosen One. Lead the way."

"I knew you were actually paying attention when we watched the movies!"

The rest of the evening was fantastic. Peter felt like he explored every corner of Hogsmeade, loaded up on Harry Potter-themed treats, tried the hot Butterbeer, rode the cute little Hippogriff roller coaster several times, and (hopefully non-creepily) followed some kids around as they used their special magic wands to activate window scenes.

"Do you want to get one of those?" Tony asked, brow wrinkled as tried to figure out what was going on.

"Nah, Ned and I read that they're actually pretty difficult to make work, and I've noticed the kids get frustrated more often than not."

What about those other wands people have? The nicer-looking ones?"

"Those are probably from Ollivander's," Peter said absent-mindedly, still watching. "They're pretty cool."

"Would you like one of those?"

Peter finally turned and smiled at him. "You don't have to buy me stuff, Tony. I mean, other than all this candy," he amended, hefting the bag. A lot of that was for friends, and for May, and stuff, but it was still a lot. "This is great, seriously."

"Hmm." Tony's attention turned to the construction behind them. "What's going on there, do you know?"

"Um, I guess it used to be a roller coaster where two trains went at the same time on different tracks? They were supposed to be like dragons. But some people got hurt or something, and eventually they tore it down and they're building a ride where you're supposed to be on Hagrid's Motorbike. The concept art looks pretty cool."

Tony made a noise of understanding. "What else do you want to do tonight, kiddo? Getting tired yet?"

"A little bit, I guess. I could seriously just hang out here for a while and probably be happy."

"Even with all these people?" Tony asked, wrinkling his nose. He'd long since discarded his sunglasses since it got dark, but still wore his baseball hat pulled low. Between the lighting, the hat, and the over-sized hoodie he'd worn all day, they hadn't gotten much more than a few curious looks. Definitely a win.

"Eh, it would be cooler with less of them, I guess," Peter said with a grin. "But it's still awesome."

"Michelle's meeting us here tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, your driver will drop her at the hotel at like 7:30 tomorrow morning."

"Great. That means I get to sit and drink my coffee tomorrow," Tony said with a wink.

"What? You're not gonna hang out with us?" Peter cried, giving his best wounded look. "There's so much we still haven't done yet, and you have to try—"

"Pete, relax. I might sit down a few times, but I'll hang out with you as much as you want," he reassured.

"Oh. Okay, then," Peter said, calming down. All of this was so much better because he got to do it with Tony. He was excited for MJ to come, too, especially to see all the Harry Potter stuff, but he had really enjoyed doing a full day with just Tony.

"We'll probably go pretty hard tomorrow, since MJ hasn't seen any of this and just has the one day. So yeah, it might be good to go back and get a good night's sleep."

"Fantastic. Let's go!" Tony said enthusiastically.

Peter laughed. "Your age is showing, grandpa."

"Excuse you. Who took the three-hour nap today? It wasn't me , Spiderling."

Peter snorted, but stopped teasing him. That was… valid.

They walked back through the second park, Islands of Adventure, and Peter was looking around wildly, soaking it in and making mental notes for what he wanted to check out the next day.

"I still think it's crazy that they have a superhero section," he said.

"Right? That's one of the more interesting developments; most of this other stuff is based on fictional things, and some of that section is based on old comics and movies, but a lot of it is now 'real life' tie-ins. It does generate a lot of money for our charities." That was so cool.

"I'm excited to check it out tomorrow."

"Yeah. Actually, Disney has recently approached our licensing department about putting in an 'Avenger's Campus' kind of land in their parks in California."

"Not here, though?"

"Universal has the current rights here, with a no-compete clause. But on the west coast, it's currently open."

"That's awesome. But also so weird."

"Agreed."

They were approaching the exit gates now, and Peter started to feel the energy leaching out of him. Why was he still so tired?

"Hey Tony?"

"Yeah, Pete?"

"I feel like I still get tired crazy-fast. Do you think that's normal-ish at this point, or is something maybe wrong?" he asked nervously, punctuating it with a yawn.

"Not sure, kid, but I think it's within the range of normal. There haven't been many studies done on double-soulmate effects, since they're not that common. But anecdotally, lots of people have excessive fatigue as a side effect of a new soul bond, but don't struggle with it as much with a secondary bond. Theories say it has to do with the brain basically re-wiring to accommodate for the soulmate connection."

"Huh. That's super cool. But not if you're dealing with it," Peter said, stumbling a little against Tony.

Tony steadied him, and left an arm around his shoulder. "The good news is, it should stabilize within another week or two. Hopefully sooner, rather than later, since I don't think they have a "nap hour" elective at your school.

Peter rolled his eyes a little, but that's all he had energy for. "It's not funny, Tony. It's a real concern if I can't stay awake during a normal school day!"

Tony squeezed his shoulder, brushing his soul mark. Since he was really sleepy, but still walking, his body seemed to know that a little alertness is what he needed the most, and Tony's touch did perk him up a little bit, and he was walking more solidly. That was such a cool feature of soul marks.

"Let's get you to bed. I'm sure this will be better by the time you go back to school next week."