If They Knew All About You

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To say that Pete had dreaded February 25th would have been the understatement of the century.

Well, maybe not the century. But it was up there.

He could practically feel Tony get more and more agitated as the date got closer. Honestly, in the morning when he left his room for breakfast, he had almost expected Tony to make him blow off school altogether.

Instead, both he and Pepper sat there at the breakfast table, their eyes a little tired, faces a strange mix of tense apprehension and giddy impatience. Pepper got up as soon as Pete stepped into the room. The smile on her face was wide even if it seemed a little shaky. She wrapped her arms around him tightly and he was quick to do the same.

"Happy Birthday, sweetheart." She pressed a kiss on his hair and added a quiet "I love you."

Squinting past her, he could see Tony still sitting at the table, his head bowed low over his clasped hands.

Just as Pepper let go of him, Tony slowly rose to his feet. His hands were by his sides, fingers drumming against his thigh. He seemed uncertain, lost in a way that Pete hadn't seen in him before. Stepping from one foot to the other, Pete squinted at Pepper. She gave him a smile, not hiding the way her eyes were shining with unshed tears.

He felt a little better when he stumbled into his dad's arms. They were quickly locked tightly around him, his hold steady despite the elevated beat of his heart. They stood in silence for a moment, a long moment. Long enough for him to wonder if Tony would let go in his own time or just hug him close for as long as Pete would let him.

With a quick kiss to the top of his head, Tony ruffled his hair, then stepped back just enough for their eyes to meet.

"Look at you." There was a smile on his lips now as well. A tired one, cautious one. "14 years old. My, my," he mumbled, his lips twitching like they wanted to widen the smile and drop it at the same time.

It was weird. Weirder than usual, because Pete had been here before. Could remember it quite clearly. Ben sitting across from him at the table, May right next to him in that little Thai place they used to go to. That desert with a big 1 and 4 and three small sparklers on top of it.

Pete didn't say anything though. It would be unkind and Tony... his dad... He had been nothing but kind. It wouldn't be fair to him or to Pepper.

His eye flickered up at Tony, the smile on his face was wiped away at last. It was like he could read his mind. Pete ducked past him towards the table. Maybe the pancakes would be enough to change the tone.

"Those look great." Pete tried to put a good amount of ease into his tone. "Oh, and you bought the palm oil free hazelnut spread!"

"Happy had a lot of fun looking for it." The chuckle from Tony sounded real. "But there are only so many breakfast lectures I can handle."

MJ had stayed at the Tower for the first time the past weekend. Tony had taken them to the National History Museum after hours. Ned too, of course. With no other visitors around and not even one security guard in sight, they had been wandering through the exhibition, Ned constantly giggling beside him. Pepper had waited for them with dinner back at the Tower and they had stayed up long after Tony and Pepper had gone to bed. Hyped up on soda and chocolate, Pete had barely been able to control his Spidey-impulses around MJ, but he had promised Tony not to tell anyone else. Not for now, anyway.

It had been the best weekend, maybe ever. He couldn't even remember the last time he had just hung out with his friends like that, without any existential worries creeping up in the back of his mind every other moment.