Shadowplay | Tony Stark

FORTY EIGHT - THE AFTERPARTY

"Hey Tris, I have another surprise for you, come over here."

Surrounded by a mountain of wrapping paper and endless new toys, books and clothes that Tony had bought for him, Tristan did as he was told and made his way through the mess over to where his father was sat on the couch.

Tony picked up Tristan and sat him down on his knee, leaning forward and resting his phone upright against the cardboard box that had been housing a Superman action figure a couple of hours earlier.

"Peter!"

"Hey man! Happy birthday! Sorry I can't be there, have you had a good day?"

Mila immediately felt her mind lighten when she heard Peter's voice coming through the phone. She had been busy making a start on the tidying process while Tony played with Tristan after all the party guests eventually left, though she soon enough lost all interest in making her home look presentable when she heard Peter talk.

There had been a huge underlying sense of guilt Mila had felt about Peter when she'd made her decision to move back home. Their relationship had strengthened day by day and after the loss of his aunt, Mila and Peter found themselves spending more time with each other than they had done before, taking comfort in their company.

Mila helped Peter with his school work and college applications, taught him how to cook and watched him learn on his own what it meant to be a big brother. She had never formed such an easy relationship in her life, feeling a natural connection with Peter that made it feel as though their paths were destined to cross just as much as her's and Tony's were.

"Sounds amazing! Is Mommy around?"

Mila perched on the arm of the couch, leaning into view of the FaceTime with a smile on her face that reached her eyes, happiness clear from the colour in the apples of her cheeks.

"Hey Peter, how are you? How is school going?"

Peter's eyes also seemed to light up when he saw Mila again, a warmth settling over him as he felt the kindness and care she had for him reach him even though the phone, a reminder of the love he'd perhaps forgotten about a little since their family had split down the middle.

"I'm good! School is going great actually, I had a-"

"Peter come and look at my toys!"

His answer was quickly interrupted by Tristan wriggling off Tony's lap and grabbing the phone, running over to the other side of the room with it, eager to show his older brother all the wonderful gifts he'd unwrapped that day.

After realising that there was going to be little chance of anyone else getting a word in edgeways with Peter while Tristan was around, Mila returned to her cleaning while Tony watched over the child, helping pick up burst balloons and plastic cups from behind chairs and under tables.

By the time Tristan was asleep, the house was looking a lot less like a warzone than it had done a few hours before. The floor was now visible instead of being a sea of wrapping paper and all of Tristan's toys had been neatly piled up on the dining table, his cards arranged on the windowsill.

Although the living room was clean and tidy, Mila had yet to tackle the kitchen properly. She began working on cleaning glasses and mugs and throwing empty beer and champagne bottles into plastic bags while Tony put Tristan to bed.

The two of them had been upstairs for a while, though Mila wasn't sure whether that was because Tristan was being difficult on that particular evening, or because they were just happy spending time together. Either way, she was incredibly grateful for the extra pair of hands that night, not knowing where she'd have found the time to do everything before tomorrow evening when her mother was due to arrive.