No More Lonely

Ch. 8

A week had passed since Tony and Pepper had officially adopted Peter and in that time, his room had been completely changed and was now painted blue and red. Tony had helped him find an Iron Man bed spread and an Iron Man lamp as well as a few other toys, but Peter liked the Lego blocks best. That didn't mean he didn't play with the other toys, though. Unless Pepper or Tony reminded him several times to put his toys away, they were usually spread out across the penthouse.

On days when the penthouse was a disaster, Tony liked to time Peter and encourage him to pick up his toys even faster. Today was one of those days. It took Peter several trips between the living room and his room, but he raced as fast as he could to beat the five-minute time limit. When he finally dropped the last toy in his toy chest and ran back out to Tony, he bounced eagerly as he asked how long it had been.

"Sorry, Peter," Tony said. Peter's face dropped. "That took exactly two minutes and seven seconds!"

Tony cheered and Peter's face lit up again. As per usual, the deal had been if he could pick up all his toys in five minutes, they would go to McDonalds to eat.

"Can we go now?" Peter asked excitedly, looking at his shoes by the lift.

As Tony nodded, Peter hurried over to his shoes and tugged them on awkwardly. Tony helped him then grabbed his wallet and followed Peter into the lift.

Getting to McDonald's didn't take very long, but finding a parking space did. After doing a few circles around the lot, Tony squeezed into a spot he wasn't sure was for parking and turned off the car.

"We're here!" he announced, unfastening his seatbelt.

From the backseat, Peter cheered and unfastened his seatbelt as well. Walking around to Peter's door, Tony opened it for him and Peter jumped out to run inside. Peter stopped at the end of the line and Tony joined him shortly after. A few minutes later when it was their turn to order, the cashier was barely able to speak as he stared at Tony.

"Daddy? Can I go play?" Peter asked, tugging on Tony's shirt.

Tony told him to wait as he paid for their food. Grabbing his soda cup, he filled it up at the soda fountain then let Peter run towards the play area. Aside from one other woman, the playroom was empty. Tony could hear what sounded like two kids already playing and apparently Peter did too because he shot over to the play area before Tony could tell him to take off his shoes.

At the sound of Tony's voice, the woman looked up from her phone.

"Tony Stark goes to McDonald's?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as he took a seat at the table.

"What can I say?" Tony replied, "The kid likes french fries."

She laughed and shook her head.

"Does he want friends to play with?" she asked, pointing at the play place. "My two sons are up there and I was getting ready to go, but if he wants playmates we can wait."

"That would be great," Tony said, "Once we get our food I'll call him down."

It wasn't much longer before Tony glanced back and saw their meal waiting. He went out to grab it and when he returned, he saw the woman helping her two sons put their shoes on.

"Peter! Food's here," Tony called, setting the tray on the table.

He heard Peter run through the jungle gym then slide down the slide. A second later, Peter appeared and ran over to Tony, climbing up on a chair beside him. Tony handed him his happy meal as Peter excitedly told him about his two new friends.

"They said they didn't know who Iron Man was, though," Peter said, pulling out his fries and shoving some in his mouth. "But I told them he was a superhero and they thought it was cool."