writing-and-procrastinating

[writing-and-procrastinating]

“I bet Tony Stark brushes his teeth”

So... I wrote a fanfic! I got this idea a long time ago, but only just got around to writing it a few days ago! Thanks to @fandomsficsandfeels for betaing!

Summary: Aunt May doesn’t always know how to make little Peter do the things she asks him to, but she soon figures out a way! (The timeline here doesn’t really add up with canon, but who cares? It’s fanfiction)

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“Peter?” Aunt May’s voice rang through the small Queens apartment, “Peter where are you? You have to go to bed now. You can play again tomorrow.”

“No!” The answer sounded like it came from somewhere near the living room.

“Peter, come on,” May said with a small smile, “you can’t stay up all night. You have to sleep.”

“I don’t want to…” Peter answered, “I’m doing something.”

May sighed and walked the short distance from her bedroom to the living room. Peter was sitting on the floor with his Iron Man plushie in one hand and some sort of plastic dragon in the other. She sat down beside him.

“What’s that?” She asked, “is Iron Man fighting a dragon?”

“M-hm.” Peter lifted the dragon high up in the air, followed closely by Iron Man. “And Mr. Stark’s winning,” he turned around so he faced May, “did you know he always wins?”

“He does?” May made an excited face at Peter. Life hadn’t been easy on the kid, and somehow Tony Stark in his metal suit of armour was what made Peter feel safe, and May was not about to take that from him if she could help it. “That’s awesome!”

Peter nodded in agreement. “He’s important. That’s what Miss Lily says.”

“Oh, so Miss Lily says that?” May smiled at Peter, he always talked about his teachers, especially Miss Lily. She had a small suspicion that Miss Lily was Peter’s favourite; maybe it was because she always let him go on about Mr. Stark without interrupting, but who was to say? “But she doesn’t say anything about bedtime?”

Peter looked like he was thinking for a few seconds. “It’s more important to fight a dragon.”

“Yeah?” May said softly, “and why is it that that’s important?”

“‘Cause if it’s an evil dragon it can hurt people,” Peter said, sounding much more serious than a six year old usually would. “This one’s very evil,” he showed May the dragon in his hand, “he wants to eat the princess. But it’s important to ask the dragon if it’s evil. If the dragon’s nice you have to be nice to it too.”

“That’s right sweetheart,” May whispered, “that’s right.” She didn’t know what she had done to deserve Peter. He was just so good. He had his ideas and small quirks; one of her favourite things about him was how he always talked about what was important with the utmost conviction.

It was important to be nice. It was important to remember to kiss goodbye. It was important to sleep with his Iron Man plushie. Hugs were important. Aunt May was important. Tony Stark was important, Iron Man as well, but somehow, in little Peter’s mind, Tony Stark was still just a little bit more important than his ironclad alter ego. ‘And…’ May thought with a smile, ‘it was important to ask dragons if they were evil.’

May sat beside him while he continued playing around with his dragon, making small noises to go along with what was happening. At one point Peter dropped his Iron Man and exclaimed a soft “oh no.” But it was Iron Man, and Iron Man never stayed down for long, so Peter picked up a toy screwdriver, and did some of what May assumed was supposed to be an emergency repair. In no time Iron Man was ready to hurry after the dragon once again.

“Come on Peter, we have to go to sleep now.” She had been silent for a few minutes, thinking Peter would be done with his playing soon, but it was really getting too late. She could already tell that she wouldn’t have the energy to get a cranky and tired Peter up and ready for another day with Miss Lily tomorrow morning.

“But I’m playing,” came the answer from the little boy beside her.

“I know, sweetie, but don’t you think Iron Man’s getting a bit tired too? After all that dragon fighting?”

Peter nodded and muttered something in response. He stood up, discarding the dragon on the carpeted floor and hugging the plushie close to his chest.

***

“Peter, you have to hurry up We’re going to be late again,” May called, “we don’t have time for this.”

She waited for some time, but when no answer came, she looked for Peter. First checking if he was in the bathroom, then his room. May could hear noise coming from the television in the living room, so Peter had to be there.

And Peter was there, sitting happily on the couch, eyes glued to the screen, where some programme that had to do with Tony Stark was playing. She sat down beside Peter.

“Peter, we really have to go now. Have you brushed your teeth yet?” May asked.

“No,” Peter answered shortly.

“You have to go brush them then.”

“I’m busy.”

May turned her wrist to look at her watch, they had to get going within the next few minutes, otherwise both Peter and May would end up being late. She got an idea, remembering when Peter was playing with his toys last night, not wanting to go to bed.

“You know, Peter,” May said with a smile, “I bet Tony Stark always brushes his teeth.”

Peter looked at her for a second before darting out of the room. May had walked after him and could see him wetting his toothbrush before sticking it in his mouth. She was surprised at how quickly it had worked.

“Aunt May,” Peter asked, “could you please put Iron Man in my backpack? Miss Lily says it’s okay to bring one toy.”

“Of course.”