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Call Peter a child for watching cartoons, he doesn’t mind. And usually he does. It annoys him to be seen as a child, especially knowing what he’s been through. He definitely doesn’t consider himself a child at all.
But in some moments he’s okay with it. With being a kid. Sometimes it feels good, refreshing. To forget all that he’s seen and been through for a while. To escape into a TV show meant for younger audiences. It’s nice to feel little sometimes.
But right now, Peter is in absolute shambles. Sitting on the couch at the lake house next to a sleeping Morgan. Trying his hardest not to absolutely dissolve in his tears.
It was innocently at first. Morgan asking him to put on some cartoons,
“What do you wanna watch, Moo?” He had asked.
“Bluey, please Petey!” She’d said.
So he’d put on Bluey and had walked to the kitchen. Peter had planned to grab a snack (something like fruit because Pepper doesn’t like crumbs) and go back to his room to finish up some homework. He had some presentation to make about who was his hero but hadn’t started it at all and the presentation was supposed to be tomorrow.
Things changed when he made his way back to the living room, on his way to the stairs, and had stopped. The show looked cool. Two little dogs laughing with flower crowns on their heads.
Peter had stood there for a minute. Just watching, before sighing and making his way over to the couch. He’d sat down and popped a green grape in his mouth, offering one to Morgan. She ate it out of his hand and he snorted.
The little dogs on screen, which he had learned, were Bluey and Bingo. Kids on an island which they literally called Rug Island.
The episode played out with them playing as island people, using felt pens as fruit and fish. As well as fire and plates and snakes. It was insanely creative. And it made Peter realize how amazing a child’s mind can be.
A grown up, the two girls’ dad, showed up on the island and they immediately taught him the ways of the island. A small montage of him learning to pick fruit and fish for felt pens. Then, after an egg fiasco that wasn’t actually an egg but instead a ball, the grown ups boat came back.
And the grown up had to go. The scene played out, the grown up saying he had to go back home. Bingo is sad and tells him he can’t have two homes. He’s confused on what to do next and Bingo says he should go. She runs off to get him a gift and when she comes back the grown up offers to take them with him.
She says no, and looks to her sister, and says:
This is my home.
And Peter just about loses it. He glances at Morgan. She’s asleep at his side, small hand clutching the bottom of his T-Shirt.
The grown up leaves with his gift after that. And when he gets to his boat, which is actually just the girls’ mom, she asks him what the gift was and he unwraps it.
What did she give you?
Everything.
It’s just a felt pen. Wrapped up in leaves and a flower. It’s yellow. And to a child it wouldn’t mean much, they can’t help but not see the meaning. But Peter knows that the grown up isn’t just talking about the felt pen, he’s talking about his girls. How they gave him everything.
All bottled up into a yellow felt pen. Tears are in Peter’s eyes. Not just fallen yet but about to.
“Bluey gets you too, huh?” Pepper says from the door way.
“This is supposed to be a kids show,” Peter sobs, voice watery.
Pepper chuckles fondly, shaking her head, “Your dad cries over it too.”
She walks away after kissing his head good night, walking upstairs to her room.
Peter wipes his eyes and lifts Morgan up, he carries her to bed and gives her a good night kiss. She curls into her pillow and he switches off the light, telling Friday to turn them on the moment she wakes up.
He goes back downstairs and grabs a fresh bowl of grapes, Morgan ate his first bowl of them (yes, only from his hand), and walks back to his room.
He opens his laptop and starts a Google slide presentation.
**
The next morning, Peter gets ready for school. He made sure to charge his laptop so it wouldn’t die in the middle of his presentation. And he makes his way downstairs.
He eats breakfast and then hops into the car. Happy drives him to school and if he’s particularly chatty that morning, Happy doesn’t complain. He stopped doing that after Peter was gone for five years. Peter knows Happy missed him, so he makes sure to never filter his chatter.
Peter skips the steps as he climbs up the stairs in the front of the school. Making his way to his locker and walking to first period with Ned.
He walks up to his English teacher, “Can I present first, miss?”
“Well, I was planning on going alphabetically,” She said.
“Please? I really want to present,” He pleaded, milking his desperation just a little bit more than he needed to.
“Oh, alright then, it wouldn’t hurt,” She smiles, shrugging.
Peter thanks her and goes to his desk, he opens his laptop and logs in. Pulling up the slide presentation and his teacher does her beginning greeting.
She calls him up after she gets the presentation introduced. Ned glances at him weirdly, which Peter can’t exactly blame him. Usually Peter hates presenting things, mostly so in English. It being one of his weakest (if you could even call it that, he has straight A’s) subjects.
His slideshow loads up onto the screen in the front of the room. The title page a light blue color.
He introduces it, “So this slideshow is about my hero. Most of you probably chose a Mom or a Dad.”
He ignores the sly comment Flash makes about Peter not having either of those things.
“But I chose my little sister, Morgan,” He clicks on the next slide, a few pictures of him and Morgan appearing on screen.
His favorite photo of them all is the one of him and her asleep on her small bed, Peter’s feet hanging of the end of it.
“I’m gonna be honest, Ms. Johnson, I made this presentation last night. After watching an episode of Bluey called Rug Island. I watched it with my sister. The episode plays out with a story of two girls who live on an island and a grown up washes ashore,” He clicks to the next slide, it shows a picture of Rug Island.
“They guide him through the way of life, using felt pens as pretend food and fire, and they grow close. But by the end of the episode the grown up must go back home, and the small girl, Bingo, gives him a gift before he leaves.” He explains, grinning anxiously as he watches the class. He feels a bit nervous, so he just looks at Ned, who gives him a thumbs up.
“He doesn’t open it until he gets back to his boat,” Peter clicks to the next slide, a picture of the yellow felt pen unwrapped, laying on the leaves, “But it’s a yellow felt pen.”
“His boat, which is actually just Bluey and Bingo’s mom, asks him what Bingo gave him, and he says, Everything.”
Peter takes a deep breath, now confident after finishing the introduction to his presentation, “And at that moment I knew exactly what he meant. He wasn’t talking about the actual pen but the meaning behind it. His daughters gave him everything, so a felt pen may seem like the greatest gift ever to him just because his kid gave it to him.”
“A rock or a leaf Morgan gives me is everything to me. A drawing she makes for me, A valentines day craft she made at school, anything that little girl gives me, is awesome.” Peter smiles, clicking to the next slide, which showcases the drawings, crafts, rocks, leaves, and photos Morgan has given him.
“Morgan is my hero because she gives me everything. And I keep it all. The rock stays on my shelf in my room, I dried out that leaf and pasted it into my journal. Those drawings and crafts hang proudly on my wall. Because that little girl saves me, with watching cartoons and eating grapes straight from my hand,” He chuckles, getting a little choked up.
“I love her. She loves me too, and I think thats the greatest savior anyone could get.”
Peter closes out his slideshow as the class applauds him, his teacher complimenting his performance as he stalks back to his desk. A little bit of embarrassment just from getting teary eyed in front of the class following him as he goes.
The rest of the day goes smoothly. Classes doing easy work after the weekend and Peter feels restless, he just wants to go home. He knows Morgan is out of school. Since she’s only in kindergarten they let the kids out early.
He sighs as he sits down at his lunch table, pulling out his phone, he glances up to Ned and MJ, “You think I could convince my dad to pick me up from school early?”
“Probably,” Ned shrugs, “He thinks you’re super smart anyway, he doesn’t care if you miss.”
MJ rolls her eyes and goes back to her book, Peter shrugs too and opens his messages, texting his dad.
You: Can you pick me up from school early?
Dad: Why? You sick or something?
You: No. I just miss Morgan.
Dad: Valid enough reason for me. I’ll be there in a few.
You: See ya. ❤️ x3,000
Dad: ❤️ x3,000
“Score. I’m leaving early,” Peter grins.
“Awwh! No fair, I didn’t think you were actually going to,” Ned whines, looking betrayed, “How am I supposed to survive Modern World with Mr. Smith now?”
“You’ll be fine, he doesn’t even care anyway, just go on your phone,” Peter snorts, rolling his eyes.
“Okay. But I’m going to spam you with complaints,” Ned replies, biting into a bread stick.
“Yeah yeah, gimme one of those,” Peter says.
He dad picks him up fifteen minutes later, Lunch over with and classes started again. He gets called to the office to sign out and he does so quickly.
I leaves the building with a relieved breath, speed walking to his dad’s car. He hops in and immediately adjusts the air vents towards him.
“Hey, bud. You okay?” Tony greets, starting to drive home.
“M’okay. Just wanted a short day,” Peter hums.
“Okay, well Mom and Morgan are waiting back home, we’ll be there in about fifteen minutes,”
Tony grins, reaching an hand over to Peter and curling his fingers into Peter’s hair. He rests it there as he drives, music playing as Peter leans into the touch.
They arrive at the Tower, (They started staying there during the week after Peter came back and resumed school), and Peter walks up to the penthouse with his Dad. Chatting about his day as the walk out of the elevator.
Peter finds Morgan on the couch and tosses his backpack on one of the other seats in the living room. He grabs the discarded bowl of grapes on the coffee table and sits next to Morgan.
She’s watching Bluey and Peter grabs a grape from the bowl. He holds it out in the palm of his hand, moving it to her.
She takes it from his hand with her mouth and he snorts.