**Request for TazJakir. Peter feels replaced, but not by Tony. This one is more Pepper-centric, and as always, its angsty, its sad, it's happy at the end. It was super fun to write, I love some protective Tony... Enjoy!**

Pepper's heels clicked against the hard tile floors in time with the soft scuffs of Peter's sneakers. They were headed for a conference with the board, something Tony never did. Peter liked to tag along with Pepper, especially when Tony was out of town with the team or working on a particularly time intensive project. It had gotten to the point where Peter was splitting his time in the Tower nearly equally between Pepper and Tony.

"Do we have to do a presentation at this one?" Peter asked.

Pepper shook her head. "No, we're just going to take some notes and hear about the board reports. Why, did you have something to pitch?"

"No," Peter said simply, and the two kept walking.

They headed into the room, but there was someone there Peter didn't recognize. A young woman, about the same age as Wanda, sitting where Pepper normally did. Just as Peter was about to tell her to move, Pepper stepped forward and the young woman smiled brightly.

"Hi, Pep!"

Pepper exchanged pleasantries, nearly forgetting Peter was there. When Peter finally worked up the nerve to say hello, it was shy and quiet, and both Pepper and the girl just kept talking, apparently not hearing the teen at all. Peter fell backwards, watching Pepper with hurt eyes. This was his thing. He loved spending the week with Pepper, going to meetings, shooting sideways glances at her when someone began to ramble on, making Pepper laugh into her hand. He loved watching Pepper get going on a report, he loved it even more when he got to be part of her reports.

Pepper greeted the rest of the board, then looked around. There wasn't going to be enough chairs around the table for all the board members, Pepper, the young woman, and Peter. Pepper put a finger to her lips, her eyes barely narrowing as she thought. 

"Could someone go grab a chair from the office?" she asked the general room. "We can put it over here and-"

Peter waited for her to tell the young woman to move, but instead she said Peter could sit there. By the back. In the corner, like a kid you drag along to meetings, but never let participate in the real deal. Peter hastily got up, his face a little pink, and shook his head.

"No, no, it's okay!" The assistant who had gotten up to get a chair looked over at him, then at Pepper. "It's fine, really, don't make a fuss. I'll sit this one out, Ms. Potts, I can go down to the labs and see what's going on with Mr. Stark."

Pepper looked unhappy, but let it slide. Peter liked the lab more, anyways.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter didn't see Pepper for the rest of the week. It wasn't like he was avoiding her or anything, he just never saw her. She didn't invite him to any more meetings, and every time Peter caught a glimpse of her in the halls, she was talking to the same young woman as before. She wasn't an assistant, clearly, she was more of an equal. More like what Peter was to Tony. What he thought he was to Pepper, too.

Tony noticed. He loved having Peter in the lab more often, but he was worried. The first few times Peter missed a budget meeting or a PR presentation, he just assumed Peter was interested in working on Tony's newest project, but even when they finished that and moved on to the more routine, boring stuff, like checking the Avenger's tech, Peter didn't go with Pepper at all.

"Hey, kid," Tony said one day. "Are you alright? You've been skipping out on your meetings with Pepper."

Peter just shrugged, but Tony knew him too well for that. He was stiff, tense and muscular, and his face was lightly pinked. His eyes seemed to swim for a moment, but the teen squeezed his eyes shut and blinked the tears back down.

"'M fine."

Tony peaked an eyebrow and set his tools down. He sat back in his chair and looked over at Peter. He didn't say anything. Peter would always, without a doubt, talk about things when he was-

"It's nothing, Mr. Stark, really."

"Tony, please."

"Not gonna happen." There was a pause as Peter snarked at his mentor. Then, as though the silence in the lab was a pressure Peter couldn't stand, he began talking again. "Pepper has some new lady she's spending all her time with and taking her to, like, meetings and all that, so I just don't want to- Ugh!"

Peter caught some of his curls in a fist, his face screwed up again as he tried fruitlessly to stop the tears. His cheeks were streaked, and Tony's heart twisted. He moved to pull Peter into a hug.

"Shhh," Tony cooed, soothing the teen in his arms.

"I thought she liked me, and that sounds so stupid and childish, but- but- but I thought- I thought I was learning how to run the Tower." Peter sniffled hard and the disgusting squelching noise made Tony cringe a little.

"You said I would take over for the research and devel- development part of the- of the company. I want to be- be the best, and I- I- I love this job." A sob broke his words. After a few gasping breaths, Peter resumed talking. "I want this job, for you! I want to do this for you and Pepper! And- and- and I want-" Peter let his sobs take over and he just cried, his words dying in his throat. Tony held him tightly, murmuring soft reassurances and tucking the teen further into his shoulder.

When Peter was finally in control of his tears, he sniffled and wiped his sleeve across his nose and looked up at Tony with red-rimmed eyes. "I just thought she cared about me and, like, I'd be able to take over for her, too."

Tony smiled sadly. "She does care about you, bambino. Now, I think you need to nap." Once Peter was asleep on the couch in the lab, and Tony was sure he was tucked in and down for a while, he was off, looking for his fiancee.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pepper had never seen Tony so heated before, nor had she ever been chewed out so completely. She let Tony get it all out, sitting at her desk and shrinking back into her leather seat.

"-And he thinks you don't care," Tony said, his arms waving wildly. "I had FRIDAY bring up the footage of the last meeting, Pep, and I agree! It looks like you don't care at all! You haven't even asked about him, texted him, nothing! You've done nothing!"

Tony's hands fell onto the desk and he leaned in over the wood. "You better go make this right, okay? You make this right, and you make it better with him, because he matters to me. He matters to me."

Tony turned to leave before pausing and turning back to her.

"For the record, you should have talked to me and Pete before finding someone to take over for CEO. We both would have told you that Peter wanted to. He wants to be the best he can for this place, but he-" Tony sighed. "- he wanted to be the best for you, too."

And with that, Tony was gone, leaving Pepper to think about her actions. She didn't know how long she sat there, or how many meetings she missed, but when she got up, it was well passed dinner and she panicked that Peter might have left already.

"FRIDAY, is Peter still in the building?"

"Indeed, he is," FRIDAY responded, but Pepper thought it was a little colder than usual. "He is upstairs with Boss, they started a movie just a few minutes ago."

Pepper pursed her lips and set her shoulders back and prepared herself to go and grovel at Peter's feet.

When she got up to the penthouse, she was surprised to find it dark and quiet. The fading noise of a movie - probably Star Wars or The Princess Bride or any other one of Peter's favorites - was playing, but Pepper picked up the voices of Peter and Tony the loudest.

"-talked to her. She seemed upset."

"I don't want her to feel bad, Mr. Stark. It's fine, really, I was being a baby about the whole thing."

There was a noise, like Tony setting down a glass and the couch poofing under the weight of a person collapsing into it.

"Don't you dare say that, Underoos. You are so important to me, and to Pepper when she isn't being so stupid about things." Peter giggled. "And beyond that, you shouldn't invalidate yourself. There's a reason people feel the way they feel. Even if it is an overreaction, which this isn't, it's still a real feeling, and it comes from something inside. It's real, just like DUM-E is real and gravity is real."

Peter hummed, and Pepper took that opportunity to come out into the living space.

"Hey, boys, do you mind if I join you?" Pepper noticed that ParaNorman was playing on the television and smiled. Leave it to Peter to pick a Halloween movie in July. The teen was tucked into Tony's arms.

"Can I talk to you guys?"

Peter nodded, scooting away from Tony's embrace. Pepper took a seat in one of the arm chairs, not wanting to insert herself too tightly into Peter and Tony's space.

"Peter, I need to apologize. I should have talked to you and Tony before beginning to train Emily, and even then, I shouldn't have treated you the way I did. I'm sorry, even though that doesn't change the pain I caused."

Peter smiled softly, his eyes sparkling despite the redness. "It's okay."

"It's not," Pepper said, mirroring what Tony had said just a few minutes ago. "I shouldn't have acted this way. It's one thing to train someone else for the job, its a whole other thing to not text or talk to you, okay? And, just so you know, I'm going to tell Emily that she won't need to come with me to anymore meetings. I told her that you would be taking over CEO when I retired instead, okay?"

Peter looked up at her, his eyes swimming with new tears. "Ms. Potts, you didn't have to do that. I understand."

"No, no," Pepper said, shaking her head. "You're going to be the best CEO Stark Industries ever has, okay? You're the best person for the job, love, you're..." Pepper looked over at Tony, who had tears in his eyes, too. "You're our son, Pete."

Peter let a few tears fall, smiling brighter now. He launched himself into Pepper's arms, burying his face in her shoulder. "I love you, Pepper."

Tony quickly joined in the hug, wrapping his own arms around both Peter and Pepper and nuzzling his face into their arms.

"Scratchy," Pepper and Peter both said at the same time.

Tony burst into laughter, shaking his head just a little as he did so. His family was the best, even when there was something like this - something painful and confusing and rough - to get through. And they'd always love one another.