#“WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY’RE CHILD KIDNAPPING CUBBIES”

[metamatronic]

William Discovers How Lizzie Died

william not knowing his robots were built to be murder machines is *so* funny to me.

[cecilsstorycorner]

(Now I changed stuff up I had to work out a new Juno intro whoops. Here’s hoping this one can stay canon oh boy. For context, they’re following music coming from a weird tower-house thing and Sabina is reluctantly going to check if the resident Spirit has kidnapped someone again)

With each floor they climbed, the shapes forming the rooms got less and less consistent, more abstract and folded. The clutter continued throughout, though the images on the torn canvases and twists of clay coated wire became stranger, less grounded in any reality Ollie could recognize. One canvas had what was almost a face, it’s left side torn away, single remaining eye staring straight at him with a depth that didn’t seem quite natural. He shivered, picking up his pace.

At last, they reached a large wooden door, once red paint peeling away, the frame cracked and warped. From the tiny circular window in the cubby beside them, Ollie could see the treetops stretching out below, the lean of the tower giving a stomach twisting angle down.

Sabina stepped up to the door, gripping the ornate brass handle. Without warning, she froze, the smallest frown beginning on her face.

It only took a moment for Ollie to realize why.

“...It’s stopped,” he whispered.

Sabina glanced back, an uncharacteristic uneasiness in her eyes. She pushed down on the latch, all holding their breath.

“Dear gods have you no bloody taste?”

The three jumped as the voice rang out from within. Loud, clear, and deeply irritated. Without another seconds hesitation, Sabina shoved the door open and stormed into the room beyond.

“What the fuck are you doing now?” she demanded.

Two figures looked back at her. One, distinctly inhuman, hunched over an easel, it’s countless eyes fixed on the intruders from their places up and down it's several arms. A long hand was frozen above the canvas, charcoal gripped between bony fingers.

Beside it was a young man, dressed in the distinct reds and golds of the South, rich brown skin to match. His dark hair was pulled back in a small ponytail, several strands floating loose around his incredulous face. In his hands was a lute, polished and intricate, clearly handled with the care of a newborn child. He did not seem terribly pleased at the interruption.

“Well, excuse me,” he said, in the same overly posh voice as they’d heard before. “I’m in the middle of a highly necessary explanation of the arts at the moment and I’d appreciate if I wasn’t so rudely interrupted!”

Sabina stood, completely baffled. This, it seemed, was rather outside her wheelhouse.

“...What?” was all she could think to say.

“I do not need an ‘explanation’!” the Spirit said, voice cracked and raspy as it glared the man down with every single eye. “I am a master! I am creation itself, and I do not need your horrendous squawking while I am making masterpieces!”

The man scoffed. “Oh don’t kid yourself. No master of the arts would have so many discarded pieces, it’s a bloody hazard.”

“I am on the quest for perfection, you insolent worm! Something you’ve clearly never pursued with your wretched crooning!”

“Okay-“ Sabina snapped back into action, stepping forwards and holding up both hands. “-both of you need to shut up.”

The two whipped around, glares now firmly fixed on her. She didn’t flinch.

“Look, Creation,” she said. “Just- let the guy go, and this can be done with.”

“Let him go?” Creation balked. “He will not leave! I have been begging for nothing but peace since I was cursed with this fool's presence!”

Sabina frowned. “What?” She looked to the man, who raised an eyebrow in what was almost a challenge. “He’s not keeping you here?”

“Of course not!” the man said. “I’m simply doing what’s right as a performer- educating those who don’t see the true value of the art!”

“Oh fuckin’ hell,” Sabina muttered.

The man turned to Ollie, who instinctively took a small step back. “You get it, right? Somebody must get it here besides me!”

“I don’t think I want to be a part of this,” Ollie said quickly, as the man’s gaze bore into him. The man threw up his hands in frustration.

“Great!” he said. “I’m working with two uncultured idiots and a coward! Don’t tell me it’s the child who can back me up!”

There was a pause.

The man leaned towards Twig a little. “That’s when you start backing me up,” he said out of the corner of his mouth. Twig took him in.

“You seem kind of annoying,” she said.

The man’s mouth fell open, and he gave the most mortally offended gasp Ollie had ever heard. “Wha- how dare you-“

Sabina stepped forward and grabbed the man’s arm, yanking him to his feet. “Time to go.”

The man tried to pull his arm away, but Sabina’s grip didn’t slip one bit as she stared him down. “Unhand me!” he said.

“No. We’re leaving.”

“Though-“ Creation cut in. “May you perhaps gift me a better muse, Weaver Child, so that I may take back the lost creativity sucked by this talentless sack?”

“Absolutely not,” Sabina said before the man could get in a retort.

“What do you mean by ‘muse’?” Ollie asked, before he could gather the good sense to stop himself.

“Ollie, don’t-“ Sabina started, but Creation had already broken into a wide grin, his mouth stretching off his face as his eyes all widened. He curved over the easel in front of him, long torso twisting and contorting like the tail of a curious cat. He placed a few of his hands down to brace as he stretched out towards Ollie, all the while still remaining in his seat.

“A muse, my dear thing,” he said, voice shuddering with barely contained excitement, “is one as versed as I in the way of creation, who understands the deepest intricacies of creating something from nothing, a power like that of which a god.”

“Oh,” Ollie said, immediately regretting several life decisions. “That’s fun.”

“Leave him be,” Sabina said. “We’re getting the bard out of your hair, isn’t that enough?”

Creation ignored her, only leaning ever closer to Ollie, now backed up against the wall. Twig didn’t seem at all bothered, looking up at Creation with a relaxed curiosity. Ollie did not share her feelings on the situation.

“What about you, strange boy?” Creation asked, lifting up it's front arms to give yet more eyes a better look at their subject. “The bard is a self important fool, the Weaver Child disinterested in the ways of the arts, and the young Spirit not yet ready for such a task. But you, perhaps? Tell me, do you create? Have you crafted with your own hands, understood the endless toil and trails of creation?”

“Uh-“ Ollie looked to Sabina. She gave him the smallest shake of her head. “...No,” he said, in what was probably the least convincing tone he could have possibly come out with.

“Hmm,” said Creation. “Disappointing.”

“Mm. Yeah. So sorry,” Ollie said, beginning to inch his way along the wall away from Creation’s much too close face. Twig stifled a giggle. “Really such a shame, but I guess we can just- get going-“

“Actually,” Creation said. “I don’t think you can.”

Taglist: @oceancold @zielenbloesem @henrike-does-writing-sometimes @dramaticvoiceover @andiwriteunderthemoon @feathered-inkling @piyawrites @halfbloodlycan @kalis-scribbles @swirley-whirley @chayscribbles @ladywithalamp @metanoiamorii @alicewestwater @nsanleyawkward @little-boats-on-a-lake

[sanjuno]

how do you reckon things would change if Obito and Kakashi remembered their past lives as Izuna and Kanna? (And have you given a past incarnation of Rin in the Warring Era?)

… @deverickracoma you mean, like in canon? Huhhhh…

Well first off before Rin was Nohara Rin she was Senju Touka. Which makes this situation super fun because both Izuna and Kanna died before Hashirama strong armed Konoha into existence and Touka only went along with it because Her Stupid Little Cousins Need Some Common Sense. XP

In her lives as both as Touka and as Rin she holds the single (1) braincell for this Disaster Trio.

So Izuna dies via Tobirama’s sword. And then Kanna kinda… revenge rampages with Madara until the critical angst threshold is reached as Kanna just… explodes both theirself and the battlefield. 

There’s a whole lot of background stuff behind the suicide run such as Kanna’s Hatake side suffering from mate-loss depression and their Uchiha side suffering from Makengyou Madness and also Really Bad post-partum depression compounding it and yeah. Unfortunately Madara is just as wrecked from Izuna’s death so he can’t really support Kanna and it all goes to shit because we all know canon is a shitshow.

But anyway Touka is there to see Izuna die and she is well aware that Tobirama has just made a horrible decision driven by unacknowledged jealously and overzealous paranoia. Then Touka barely manages to save Tobirama’s pasty ass from the screaming revenge demon that she later learns was Izuna’s wife. And then Touka stands witness as Hashirama forces peace at sword point.

So Touka is just there like, “Oh for fucks sake we’re all going to die horribly.”

And, of course, Touka was right everything is horrible and everything hurts. 

Only now it’s plot-twist time and Touka, who was investigating certain questionable sources about the ongoing breakdown of social order in Konoha gets killed by Zetsu in order to cause even more tension against the Uchiha in Konoha and hey guess what? Yeah, that’s right Rin remembers the creepy plant-demon thing gloating about stealing Uchiha Madara (aka the only one vaguely strong enough to combat Kaguya at that time given he had naturally manifested the Rinnegan) for his own use before Zetsu killed her in a suspiciously ambiguous manner.

Shit.

Fuck.

Four year old Nohara Rin has a vendetta and the ability to kill a grown man. 

So obviously given that the Plant Demon is trying to kill off the Uchiha using shadowy assassinations and rumour mongering the Plant Demon is afraid of the Uchiha. Ergo the Uchiha are a threat to the Plant Demon otherwise it would confront the Uchiha more openly.

So.

Rin therefore needs to make super-duper ride-or-die best friends forever with at least one (1) Uchiha. And then, on the first day at the Academy, Rin runs into an absolute dork wearing Madara’s face.

Ah. Says Rin, channelling canon!Madara. That One. That’s The One I Need For My Plan To Succeed.

Cue the Rin and Obito Bonding Moment ™ that will repeat as a flashback every time their history is at any point mentioned in the narrative.

As for Obito, well… when he was Izuna he loved his Clan but then when he was reborn he read the Clan Histories from after his death and the public history of Konoha and Obito knows his Clan are a bunch of fucking traitors who stabbed his big brother in the back and that’s why Obito is both disgusted by the Uchiha and overprotective of the Clan’s reputation because Madara still loved their Clan even after they turned on him.

I may include Obito unearthing Madara’s private journals from a hidden cubby in the Naka Shrine that only Izuna would have known to look for. Just for the sake of an extra knife and also so that Obito can find proof of Zetsu’s sabotaging his brother’s mental health. 

Obito is more than a little weepy and sentimental over the fact that Madara honoured Izuna’s last request to the point Madara destroyed himself and his connection to the Clan. Obito can’t blame Madara for giving in when Hashirama forced peace to try and protect the few loyal Clan members who remained. Obito decides to protect Konoha and the Uchiha because he won’t let Madara’s last wish go unfulfilled but he’s going to become the fucking Hokage and tear out all the Senju-inflicted rot infecting his Big Brother’s Dream.

Obito is openly disdainful of the Clan Elders and the only people he even vaguely respects is the Head Family. Mostly because Mikoto is descended from Izuna’s daughter and even though Izayoi married “Tobirama’s student Kagami” she was still his baby girl and Mikoto is his great-grand daughter and he loves her because she’s his family.

Mikoto, Obito, and Shisui are all descendants of Kagami and Izayoi’s kids so they’re second-third cousins. Obito spends a lot of time pondering the overlap of self-care and I-love-my-grandbabies. It’s a fun little exercise in existentialism.

In the meantime Kakashi is still a little shit-disturber of the highest order. Kanna was taught all the fun Uchiha Clan Skills as Izuna’s wife and now Kakashi has learned all the fun Hatake Clan Skills from Sakumo and the little bastard is even more terrifying than canon. Kakashi is more gender-fluid than agender the way Kanna was though which is a fun new flavour of dysphoria-through-reincarnation that I’ll probably enjoy exploring.

Now, this does mean that Kakashi starts wearing his mask before Sakumo gets scapegoated which is a minor yet still significant change from Kakashi’s canon characterization-and-motivations.

So Kakashi blitzes their way through the Academy in like, 6 months because Kakashi has negative chill and an understandably paranoid focus on keeping their dad alive this time around. The only people Kakashi respects are the Military Police and their Dad everyone else can perish. Minato is A Constant Despair because he cannot control this sassy hell child Sakumo-sempai pls tell your son to l i s t e n t o m e.

Sakumo-sempai goes “LOL nope” because Sakumo is also a troll but is better at hiding it than Kakashi is.

So Rin and Obito are BFFs then Kakashi rips through their class like ground lightning and the sparring scene happens but the kickback of Uchiha-memories manifesting as body action means the spar is a familiar dance and so Obito is like “OMG K a n n a” and cue Obito stalking Kakashi like a schoolgirl with an obsessive crush and no concept of personal boundaries.

Enough shenanigans occur to 1. make Team Minato a cohesive and functional thing instead of a train wreck, and 2. keep Sakumo alive because Kakashi recognizes their Dad’s suicidal tendencies for what they are and so they set their ninken up as watchdogs to make sure Sakumo doesn’t do anything stupid. Because Kakashi’s biggest regret is leaving Madara and Izayoi to suffer grief without them and they refuse to let that sort of despair take away anyone they care about again.

So now Team Minato is bonding, and they are friends, and they are all slowly coming to the realization that they all remember their previous lives. So they start to share information and gradually piece together where Zetsu’s influence has been applied as they try to figure out what the Plant Demon’s endgame is.

Which means that Team Minato is 100% more paranoid about mission intelligence than they were in canon and also Rin more than ready to gut the Iwa-nin who tries to kidnap her during the Kannabi Bridge Mission so that’s fun. Team Minato has also made a point system for rooting out moles, spies, and traitors to hand over to T&I. 

Sarutobi had a lovely headache when the knowledge that Sakumo’s mission had been sabotaged “accidentally” got leaked. (Kakashi had given the old man more than enough time to fix the rumour mill so it’s on Sarutobi’s own head that he didn’t take action before Kakashi did.)

Also Team Chaos Gremlins Minato manages to charm Orochimaru over to their camp via one of Obito’s rage fuelled rants about dismantling the hypocritical indoctrination of the institutionalized status quo. Specifically, the fact that the Hokage is supposed to be a public service position voted on by the people who only really has complete executive power during war time. Instead of a unilateral dictator chosen by the previous Hokage’s undisguised bias and favouritism.

Also because they’re all proof of the reincarnation cycle existing. Orochimaru is living his best life especially when Team Minato trash talks the other two Sannin. 

Rin is the Most Offended by Tsunade fucking off and abandoning her responsibilities. Tsunade basically inherited all of Hashirama’s worst traits without any obvious redeeming qualities to balance it out. Because, let’s be honest, the only reason Hashirama got any level of respect is because he was Over Powered to the point of ridiculousness and because Tobirama plus Mito were in charge of his public image.

Kakashi and Obito are both hyper-loyal so having Jiraiya decide to just not come back during wartime and for Tsunade to abandon her responsibilities as a healer and Clan Head has destroyed any possible respect they might have had.

Obviously Orochimaru is the best Sannin so he’s the one they’re going to make friends with. Also they drag Orochimaru back to the Hatake Clan House to commiserate with Sakumo about being the target of a Village wide smear campaign. Which strengthens both Orochimaru and Sakumo’s spirits enough to resist their Bad Endings from canon.

All of this basically allows Team Minato to have the leverage to track down Zetsu’s creeper cave and they find Madara trapped and blinded and leashed to the Gedo Mezo, and Obito nearly has a world-destroying breakdown. Rin stands guard while Obito and Kakashi have a tearful reunion with Madara and there’s a lot of dramatic apologizing and sobbing.

They all know that they can’t leave Madara here with Zetsu, but detaching him means he’s going to die. Eventually Madara makes the decision himself to break the connection because he refuses to be used as a hostage against his little brother. So Madara tells Obito where his eyes are (which means that the Ame trio are going to get kidnapped by Team Minato eventually) plus a run-down of all the subversive plots Zetsu has had a hand in, and then Madara outright smashes the statue.

Normally nothing would be able to destroy the Gedo Mezo given that it’s basically the fossilized corpse of a god but Madara is currently part of it which means that the statue’s defences don’t realize Madara is a threat. So, statue goes boom, the cave starts to collapse, and Team Minato runs away with Madara’s body so they can give him a respectful burial.

Zetsu has approximately ten thousand aneurysms in the space of one (1) second.

From here the kickback really starts to pile up because Obito now makes a habit of dropping in on newborn Uchiha to check and see if Madara’s been reborn yet. Which means that Sasuke has a really invested older cousin hanging around to take Itachi’s place when Itachi make dumb decisions.

Rin is grumpy because basically every Clan who joined Konoha had a bunch of Senju marry into their Clan so finding Hashirama’s reincarnation is basically impossible. (And then, of course, Naruto is born and Rin faceplams 1000 times because of fucking course.)

Kakashi is laughing at both of them. Right up until they take command of Team 7 and notice a hated familiar chakra under the skin of a pink haired little girl. (All three members of Team Minato nearly die laughing because Tobirama is a pink haired little girly girl heeeeee~)

Anyway aside from all the family drama Team Minato also manages to dispose of Danzo and exposes his “plot against the Hokage”, boosting Sakumo’s public image to the point he gets named as the Fourth, fixing the stigma Orochimaru faced despite being the only loyal member of the Sannin, and basically terrorizing Konoha with Political Activism.

Zetsu probably goes a bit around the bend thanks the Team Minato destroying all his hopes and dreams plans. Also they keep putting the pressure on and exposing Zetsu’s schemes and eventually that gains enough momentum that the other Villages are taking a good hard look at shit that’s going down and hey wait w h a t t h e f u c k …

Obito eventually takes over as the Fifth Hokage and tears apart the corrupt government systems like a Tasmanian Devil going through a rotting carcass because Big Brother’s Dream Will Become A Reality B E L I E V E I T !

The End. XP

[themadhatterofficial]

Tony Stark’s Guide to being a Child Star

Continuation from here

Tony is most definitely the protective and nurturing kind of parent, and his upbringing would heighten that.

I can see Tony trying to shield Peter from the paparazzi like he wasn’t. He would prevent Peter from falling down the child star rabbit hole that ultimately drove Tony to drugs and alcohol.

So, no one would really know that Peter exists. Granted, the media gets a hold that the great Tony Stark has a kid and goes nuts. Pepper wrangles the media storm and whenever they go out Tony’s stroller is completely covered and his baby bjorn (because Tony most definitely has a baby bjorn and the baby bjorn most definitely has flames all over it) is set up so little Peter’s face is to his dad’s chest and has a blanket over him to avoid his face being seen. At one point Tony develops a tech blanket that’s yellow and super soft for Peter and made so no one can see in, but Peter can see everything that’s going on.

It goes like this for years. Eventually, the media gives up on learning anything about the infamous Stark baby (even if they did Tony and Pepper catch it before it gets out) and Peter has a relatively normal childhood. He adores his papa more than the world, always hanging on him and trailing after him, watching him in the lab and learning all he can. Tony indulges him with everything, smiling and laughing and tickling Peter until he can’t breathe and they spend late nights spilling over cookbooks trying desperately to figure out how to cook literally anything and ultimately it all results into a gigantic mess and eating french toast with smiley faces made out of fruit and whipped cream on the kitchen floor.

They live primarily in California, flying to New York every other week or so to visit May for around a day before heading home. Tony has his own private stretch of beach and they build sandcastles and Tony teaches him how to fly a kite and how to swim and Pepper and Rhodey love coming with them and May comes over whenever she can get away from work and papa even brings a speaker thingy so Jarvis can talk and spend time with the family and it’s a little different from what’s normal but normal’s overrated and Peter has the best family in the world and he wouldn’t trade it for anything, especially not a mom who dumped him on her sister’s doorstep with a half-assed note and decided that she never wanted anything to do with him.

His papa did want him. The family he had has always wanted everything to do with him, and Peter grew up never doubting this for a second. (Not to say he never questioned about his mother or why he was always hidden. Or that he never got angry. Puberty was fucking rough.)

Peter loves his life and everyone in it. Except for one person. Obi is tall and scary and makes Peter’s stomach feel yucky for some reason. Papa tries to make them spend time together, but Peter starts screaming and crying every time they’re anywhere near each other. Papa tries to keep them apart once he realizes this is something Peter isn’t going to grow out of for a while and Papa tells Obi he can’t drop by their home anymore like he always could because Peter is the most important and for whatever reason he does not like Obadiah Stane so Peter is very happy about that and Obi is very upset.

Life is good for the Stark boys, Peter goes to public school with his full name (“Peter Anthony Stark” because Tony doesn’t want to confuse him on what his name is) and wears big yellow glasses and isn’t very good at making friends, but that’s okay because there’s this kid named Harry who always sticks around Peter and invites him over after school and another boy named Wade that’s a grade higher but he beat up one of the boys who’d been picking on Peter after school at the park so with bloody lips and bruised cheeks they spit on their hands and shook on their friendship, and now they’re always stuck to one others’ hips and always playing cops and robbers at Harry’s home. (His home is huge, but not as big as any of Peter’s. He wisely doesn’t say anything.) Tony puts down his middle name instead of first, - Edward Stark it is then - so no one knows that Peter Stark is the secret child of the biggest billionaire and weapons manufacturer in the world.

Then, when Peter is six papa goes on a business trip like always. He goes on Friday morning after dropping Peter off at school and promises to pick him up from Harry’s on Sunday night. Peter is sad that he won’t see his papa , but excited to spend so much time with Harry and Wade.

But papa doesn’t come on Sunday.

Peter sits outside Harry’s house with his friends when Aunt May and Uncle Ben pull forward. Peter’s excitement at seeing them drowns out his confusion at not seeing his papa and he jumps in the backseat when Aunt May joins him.

Uncle Ben is quiet and Aunt May is crying and suddenly Peter’s heart is beating really hard and his hands are shaking like papa’s does sometimes and he tries to breathe like papa taught him.

They get back to Peter’s home and Aunt May leads him inside. Uncle Ben gets some water and he moves really slow and Aunt May is holding Peter too tight.

Peter doesn’t understand the concept of ‘kidnapping’ or what it means to disappear. Everyone always goes away sometimes but they always come back when they say they will. You can’t break promises. Especially not papa. Papa never breaks promises.

But he understands what it means when someone says no. So when Uncle Ben says that papa wanted to come home, some really bad people said no. And until papa could get away, he couldn’t come home. He couldn’t be with Peter.

Whenever someone said no to Peter, it was so he couldn’t get hurt, or that he needed to learn something. Aunt May made sure he knew that papa didn’t do anything wrong. They weren’t trying to teach him anything. They were just bad.

Peter doesn’t go to school the next day. Or the next. Or the next. He doesn’t go to school for three whole weeks. He spends that time screaming and crying and wanting his papa and spending all day locked in his room, talking to Jarvis who says that he is working very hard to find papa, because the bad people won’t tell anyone where they are. Uncle Rhodey isn’t home a lot because he’s busy looking for papa and for a while Aunt Pepper isn’t either until she shows up one night when he’s having a really bad panic attack and Aunt May and Uncle Ben are trying really hard to help but they don’t know how and Peter gives himself an asthma attack on top of everything but when Aunt Pepper walks in everything slows down and she rubs his back while puffs from his inhaler calm down the young boy and she kisses Peter’s head and she’s crying really hard and Peter is crying even harder and Aunt May is holding on tight to Uncle Ben and they’re both sobbing and Jarvis lights little stars on the ceiling like papa asks him to when neither father nor son can sleep and everyone climbs into the bed that’s much too big for a six-year-old staring up at the mesmerizing pattern of constellations and Peter feels a sense of calm in Aunt Pepper’s arms and falls asleep with his father’s deep and gentle lilt whispering in his ears about planets and galaxies far away and of the gods that have been immortalized within the stars.

A few days into March, Peter goes back to school. Everyone is shocked to see that Peter is still alive and Harry is very mad that Peter never said anything or called his home and Wade sees the redness of his friend’s eyes and cheeks and holds him tighter and tighter and tighter.

They go to the park after school to wait for their families and Peter starts crying on the foot of the slide. He finally tells his friends that his papa is gone and he’s probably never coming home to have smiley face french toast again and will never be able to whisper in his ear about mountains and gods or be there to smile and push his glasses up his nose again and how he just wants to hear his papa say one more thing. How Peter wishes he would have hugged his papa just a little tighter the last time he saw him.

Then it’s May and and his Aunt and Uncle are in New York again and school is almost over and papa won’t be there when Peter graduates kindergarten. He won’t be there when Peter sits next to Harry in his cap and officially becomes a big kid.

Peter doesn’t decorate his cap.

And then during reading, Peter gets called down to the office only an hour into school. The teacher says to grab his things from his cubby because he’s not coming back. He shrugs towards Harry and walks to the office.

Aunt Pepper is there and she’s crying and she takes his hand and they walk very quickly to the long car he barely ever rides in and Happy is there and Peter is kinda scared. The last time someone was crying was because papa was gone.

“Pep?”

Aunt Pepper looks over.

“What’s wrong?”

Aunt Pepper’s eyes go wide and she’s breathing hard before she’s smiling and laughing and crying again, reaching over their seatbelts and hugging him tight like Aunt May did.

“Nothing, Pete.”

“Why are you crying?”

Another loud laugh comes from Aunt Pepper’s chest and it sounds like a sob. “Good crying, Peter.”

“Oh.” Peter swings his legs where they don’t touch the floor. His tiny hands hold loosely onto Aunt Pepper’s forearm braced around Peter’s jawline. Her hand cradles the side of Peter’s head and makes his glasses tilt weirdly in front of his eyes. “Why are you good crying, Pep?”

Aunt Pepper pulls back and giggles, laughing even harder when Peter instinctively pulls his sleeve over his scrawny knuckles to wipe gently at the tear tracks cutting down Pepper’s cheeks.

“We’re going to see papa.”

And suddenly Peter is jumping and screaming and throwing himself into Pepper’s lap to start crying harder than he had in months, and Aunt Pepper is laughing hysterically with tears soaking into Peter’s hair and Peter’s big yellow glasses are wet and foggy and he can’t breathe right he’s so happy.

But that’s okay because twenty minutes later he’s squeezing Aunt Pepper’s hand too tight and she’s squeezing his back too tight too, and Peter starts screaming at the top of his lungs when Uncle Rhodey comes into view, immediately followed by none other than the great Tony Stark, pale and hurt but standing as tall as ever.

All of that strength bleeds out of Tony Stark the moment he sets eyes on his son, his knees stumbling forward and he falls to the pavement when Peter full-body tackles him and his arm and ribs hurt like a motherfucker when he does but it fades instantaneously when Peter is still screaming and crying in his ear and Tony is crying too, big ugly open sobs that he for once doesn’t give a single shit about who sees because he truly believed he would never get the chance to hold his baby ever again, and squeezes him with every ounce of strength in his body. He wants to hug Pepper too, and Obi and May and Ben when they get here, but right now he doesn’t want anyone coming near him and his son. He just wants to feel this moment. Just them.

They go to Burger King. Peter gets a Hershey Pie.

And when they go home, they decorate Peter’s kindergarten graduation cap together.