Chapter Text
“Absolutely not.”
“Tony you’re being unreasonable, as usual .”
Peter’s head hit the heavy wood of the dining table with a low thunk and he groaned. The argument his parents were having about the upcoming Oscorp field trip had been going on for almost the entire two weeks since Peter had first mentioned it – his mom wanted him to go for the experience with his friends, while his dad had adopted an ‘over my dead body’ position on the matter. Pepper and Peter had repeatedly argued that he would be careful - he knew there was a reason his father hated Oscorp as they were shady in ways that his dad would never allow Stark Industries to be - but at the end of the day the field trip was for a lecture on genetic biology and would take at most three hours.
Tony ignored his son’s display of protest at the ongoing discussion. “Norman Osborne can’t be trusted with the safety of his own employees, you think I’m going to let our kid walk in there?” Gesticulating with his fork he pointed it at Pepper and waved it for embellishment as he punctuated his words. “Not. Happening.”
Pepper rolled her eyes, pulling the fork out of Tony’s hand from across the table. He gave an indignant yelp as she placed it down on the surface of the table. Glancing at their teenager, she shook her head fondly before placing a hand on top of his messy dark hair and gently scratching his scalp.
“What do you want, baby?” she asked softly, lifting her hand as he raised his head to sit up. “Do you want to go? I know Ned is going, and if you want to go,” she shot a glare at Tony, “we don’t want you to miss out.”
Peter’s eyebrows knitted together in concentration and Pepper smiled at the expression, one of the many that Peter had that really showed how similar he was to his father. She and Tony sat waiting for the boy to speak, with Pepper giving Tony a subtle kick under the table when it looked like he was going to open his mouth (although Tony himself would make it known that there was never anything ‘subtle’ about her kicking him in five-inch stiletto heels).
“I think,” Peter began cautiously, looking at Tony apprehensively, “I think I’d like to go.”
“That’s absolutely fine, I’ll sign your permission slip after dinner.” Pepper brought an end to any further debate with an immediate clearing of the table, ignoring the sigh that came from her husband. Peter rose to his feet to help his mom clear the table while his dad went to go and check on Morgan, the seven-year old having been put to bed just before dinner. The two walked through to the kitchen, and Pepper stacked the dishes into a pile beside the sink before leaning against the counter as she waited for Peter to deposit the glasses in the sink. When his hands were free she took one of his into her own, leading him back past the dining table to the open living room to sit on the large L-shaped sofa. The clattering coming from the kitchen signalled that Tony had seen to it that Morgan was still asleep; the slightly raised volume of the cleaning process gave Pepper the confirmation that the Oscorp discussion was far from over and his sulking would no doubt be her problem to deal with later. For now she knew he wouldn’t say anything else on the matter after the look of hopefulness Peter had given him when he said he wanted to go.
The time after dinner and before Peter went to bed was some of Pepper’s most valued time in the day. After school and before dinner Peter always spent time with Tony in his lab, either doing his homework or – if he didn’t have any – helping Tony with whatever project he was able. Sometimes Morgan would ‘assist’ the two of them (usually meaning she sat on the couch Tony had put in just before Peter was born and color with Dum-E), but it was all but officially Peter’s time with Tony. However, after dinner was the time when Pepper would sit with her son in the living room. Sometimes they would sit quietly, each with their own book, sometimes they watched a movie, and sometimes they would just sit and talk. Pepper knew that her days of Peter voluntarily hanging out with his parents were numbered, he would be fifteen in a matter of months, and so she was making the most of it while she could.
“Want to finish Chef’s Table ?” Peter asked, reaching forward to pick up the remote from the coffee table. He’d assumed his usual sprawling position across the charcoal fabric of the sofa with his legs spread out over his mom’s after she’d toed her shoes off and buried her feet in the fluffy carpet beneath the coffee table.
“Sure.” Pepper placed a gentle hand on her son’s calf, cocking her head back towards the kitchen to call out to her husband. “Honey, could you please boil the kettle?”
A half-hearted grumble came in response but the tell-tale clinks of mugs being brought out of the cabinet confirmed that he’d registered the request. Tony came in a few minutes later with two mugs of herbal tea, depositing one on each of the end tables bookmarking the sofa before dropping a kiss on Pepper’s head and ghosting a hand over Peter’s messy hair. He retreated to the garage, as was his habit after dinner, and Pepper and Peter sat in comfortable silence with the show playing quietly in the background. Pepper reached out for the discarding chemistry text book on the coffee table, extracting the crumpled permission slip and filling it in. Once she had she slipped it back inside, ensuring the top of it was poking out from between the pages so that Peter wouldn’t forget to hand it in. Leaning back and picking up her mug, her focus returned to the show and the companionable silence continued.
“Is he mad that I want to go?”
The unforeseen interruption from her son had Pepper looking away from the TV to face the teenager who was studiously staring at the mug of tea in his hands rather than meeting her gaze. Pepper placed her mug on the floor beside her feet and shifted Peter’s legs off of her, repositioning to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with him.
“Baby,” she murmured, running a hand softly through his hair that was beginning to get long enough to fall into his eyes, “your dad is stubborn and can be ignorant about a lot of things...other people’s feelings included.” The last comment elicited the soft chuckle she’d hoped to get from her kid and she dropped her hand to his shoulder. “He’s not mad at you, but you know what he’s like and how overprotective he can be.”
“That’s an understatement,” Peter muttered, putting his mug back on the table.
“Is it without reason?”
A sigh. “I guess not.” Peter lifted his head, gaze casting briefly to the tv before turning to his mother as his expression brightened. “Is Cooper still coming that weekend, after the field trip?”
“Yes, he is,” Pepper confirmed with a smile, “have you thought about what you guys want to do?”
“There’s a new exhibition at the Natural History Museum, it looks so cool!” With that the subject was changed, Peter excitedly reciting the description of the exhibition he planned on going to with Clint’s son as Pepper gave him her full attention. As she watched him try to muffle his third yawn she proclaimed it was time for him to go to bed, and he pressed a kiss to her cheek before he sleepily wandered to his room.
“Turn the TV off please, Jarvis,” Pepper requested quietly as she stood up and straightened out the pillows on the couch before collecting the two tea mugs and padding down the hall in her socks to the kitchen. She placed them in the dishwasher and retrieved a glass, filling it with water. Making her way through the kitchen she climbed the stairs and walked to Morgan’s room. Easing the door open, with the warm glow of the little girl’s night light casting a shadow over the sleeping girl, Pepper tread lightly to kneel beside the bed, ghosting her lips over Morgan’s red hair. She readjusted the purple comforter to cover her daughter fully before she retreated to the master bedroom to get ready for bed.
Pepper had just fallen asleep when she felt Tony climb into bed beside her, feeling his lips against her shoulder.
“I put Pete’s chemistry book in his backpack,” he murmured softly, “along with the permission slip.”
“He’s going,” she muttered, still half-asleep with her eyes closed.
“Yeah, I know. Doesn’t mean I can’t worry about it for the next week until it’s come and gone.”
“Just try to be less vocal with your worrying, please?”
“I make no promises.”
Pepper scoffed tiredly, reaching out clumsily to turn off the light on her nightstand. She felt the strong arm of her husband reach across her to do it, gently kissing her cheek as he leant back onto his own pillow and said goodnight. Feeling herself falling back to sleep Pepper reflected on how lucky she was to have found a man so invested in the happiness and well being of his children, even if he was a little reckless with his own.
-x-
The alarm sounding the following morning came, as always, too early for Pepper’s liking. Tony groaned in protest, dragging the heavy comforter over his head. Pepper responded in kind by yanking it off of him, gently nudging his shin with her foot.
“You want the teenager or the second grader?” she asked with a yawn, stretching her arms up in front of her and arching her back.
Tony reluctantly rolled to face her, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “I’ll take the teenager this morning, you get Little Miss Sunshine.”
The two got up and dressed before heading off to their respective destinations - as Pepper knocked gently on Morgan’s door to wake their daughter up she could hear Tony banging around in Peter’s room to make as much noise as possible while Peter yelled at him and threatened to call child services. She rolled her eyes as she helped Morgan stumble out of bed and pick out an outfit, only leaving the room when she was satisfied that the girl was actually getting dressed rather than falling back into bed.
Pepper made her way downstairs while finger-combing her hair into a low ponytail at the nape of her neck. Her presence triggered the motion-sensor lighting that illuminated the kitchen in a warm white light, and the timer on the coffee maker had meant she was greeted as always with a pot of freshly-brewed coffee. Stretching up on her toes to reach the mugs in the cabinet she pulled down three of the normal ones as well as one of the travel mugs and then moved over to the next cabinet to get some cereal bowls and distribute them on the breakfast bar. While she was retrieving the milk from the fridge Tony and Morgan arrived into the kitchen, Tony heading immediately for the coffee pot while Morgan went to the pantry and got out her cereal which she then took to the counter. Watching as Tony downed one cup of coffee, pouring himself another the moment he was done, and Morgan ate breakfast Pepper leaned back against the kitchen island.
“Morgan, remember that Auntie Nat is picking you up from school today for ballet,” she reminded as she caught sight of the pink gym bag beside Morgan’s backpack.
“I know, mommy,” Morgan replied matter-of-factly, and Pepper rolled her eyes while Tony smirked into his mug. She cast a quick glance over towards the direction of the stares before looking at her husband with a quirked brow.
“Chance of an appearance before James gets here?”
“Absolutely none, I’m pretty sure he’s still asleep.”
“Tony!”
Tony threw his hands up in submission. “Alright, alright! J, tell Peter if he isn’t down here in five minutes I’m activating the sprinklers.”
There was a pause while the message was relayed before Jarvis responded. “Master Peter acknowledges this and replied using words that have been deemed inappropriate to use in the presence of his sister.”
Tony snorted as he heard Morgan questioning “what words, mommy?”, but thankfully Pepper was spared having to think on her feet that early in the morning by the arrival of Peter’s ride to school.
“Uncle Rhodey!” Morgan’s announcement of their visitor was a squeal of excitement and she threw herself down off of the barstool she was sat on to launch herself into her uncle’s arms. He caught her with a grunt, leaning down to set her back on the ground.
“How’s my favorite niece?” he asked, kneeling down to be at her eye level.
Pepper saw Morgan’s brow crinkle at that as she thought his statement through.
“Uncle Rhodey,” she replied critically, “I’m your only niece. That doesn’t mean anything!”
Rhodey stood up and shook his head. “She’s definitely yours, alright.”
“The thirty seven hours in labor didn’t prove that?”
Rhodey laughed, bringing Pepper in for a quick hug. He raised a hand in greeting to Tony before looking around the room and noticing an absence.
“If you tell me the kid’s still asleep he’s finding his own ride to school.”
A grumpy voice from the hallway cut into the conversation. “The kid is here and awake because someone scared him into early heart failure this morning.”
Tony pointed at him in disbelief. “But it worked, didn’t it? Here you are, up and dressed and not destined to be the proud owner of another tardy slip!”
“Whatever,” Peter muttered, grabbing his backpack from the floor by the fridge.
Tony frowned. “Hey,” he called out, stopping the teenager in his tracks. Peter turned with reluctance as Tony looked at him expectantly.
“Sorry,” he sighed.
Tony nodded. “Better,” he accepted, before tossing a granola bar to him.
“Here, sweetie,” Pepper brought over the travel mug of coffee she’d prepared. Whether or not Peter had been allowed to have coffee had served as one of the few seriously argumentative parenting moments Pepper and Tony had experienced but it was one that had ultimately been decided by his school having an open (and free) coffee bar in the quad.
Offering his mom a smile in gratitude he took the mug, pocketing the breakfast bar from his dad, and he headed towards the elevator with his uncle in tow.
Tony exhaled. “One down, one to go.” He said that every single morning they were successfully able to get one kid out of the door before the other, as opposed to having to deal with two at once in a scenario that always resulted in everyone being late. He turned to face Morgan who had taken her bowl over to the sink and was finished her glass of water. “You ready, princess?”
“Yeah!”
Tony picked up the other backpack that had been discarded by the fridge the previous day and shouldered it, guiding Morgan out in the same direction Rhodey and Peter had left in.
“Bye mom,” he called over his shoulder, a sentiment Morgan immediately echoed at twice the volume. Pepper laughed and waved at the pair.
With the penthouse to herself she took a moment to breathe and examined the state of the kitchen post-breakfast before deciding that it wasn’t too much for Tony to handle when he got back. She slipped on the shoes she’d chosen for the day, picked up her bag and headed out the door herself. Once she was in the car with Happy she sent a quick text to Peter as a thought popped into her mind.
[Mom ♥️ 07:34]
Don’t forget to hand in your permission slip! x
[Peter 🎧 07:35]
afhsdjkhfs i would’ve forgotten 100% thanks mom