A Slightly Bigger Family
They were discharged later that afternoon.
Some paparazzi had caught wind of the fact that Tony Stark was seen in a hospital, so they were led round the back entrance. Happy had a black car with tinted windows waiting, and Peter hobbled over to the seat.
The midwives had come through to assess one successful feed, and when they were happy that Peter would be able to feed well, Roman had passed the car seat test.
The car seat that Tony had brought in with a white outfit that had little frogs on for Roman to look cute going home in. Peter had secretly shed a tear while he got dressed in the bathroom so that he could leave.
His final assessment had been quick and painless, except for when they palpated his abdomen. He'd had one single tear, and they had stitched that quickly when he'd arrived on the ward. They instructed him to keep it clean and dry as possible "warm water only, no scented soaps or anything like that okay?" He'd signed the discharge papers for both himself and his son, and accepted the little red book he needed for medical records for the next eighteen years of his son's life.
Then, he was suddenly being set loose on the world with a whole human to look after.
He felt like a wrung out cloth, with a baby barely twelve hours old in his seat next to him.
Happy pushed Peter down to the car, and Tony walked ahead carry Roman in his car seat in the proud Granddad walk. People who saw him (no-one, because they had cleared the area- people talk) would have laughed at the absolute pride on Tony's face. It was quite funny to Peter, watching his 'dad' swaggering in front of him.
Tony had hinted at there being a surprise when he got home, but Peter was excited to get into a real bed and sleep.
Happy took the car around the edge of the hospital, and zoomed out and onto the main road. Then, once he had pushed through the traffic and the road widened to a highway back to the tower, the man entered the car pool lane and Peter could have laughed at how attentive the usually abrasive man was with his driving. He turned to look at Peter every other minute to check that the baby was okay.
Tony had played some soothing white noise, and Roman stayed fast asleep. Peter held that tiny hand all the way home, and Happy pulled into the tower's underground parking to keep away from prying cameras.
When they reached the penthouse, Peter was ushered to his bedroom and his jaw dropped.
The bed had been changed to dark bed-sheets (he knew this was May's doing, he was bleeding pretty heavily still) and his duvet had been changed to something thicker and heavier, because again- May knew he needed comfort.
Next to the bed though, there was a bare bassinet, with a single blanket and a monitor attached to the wall it was next to. Where there had been an empty walk in closet (because Tony! Who needs that much space for twelve shirts and two weeks worth of socks?), it had been gutted and turned into a nursery. A rocking chair ready for Peter to cradle his son in for hours on end. There was a smaller wardrobe, filled with tiny baby clothes and draws full of diapers and diaper creams, and wipes and.. and... a changing table and a small bath for Peter to wash his baby in while he was still so small and...and...and. Tony and May and Pepper had done this for him.
Because they cared.
They loved him.
Tony looked at the group of disgruntled humans in front of him.
"Things need to change." He clapped his hands together.
Steve shot up. "Whatever it is we've done, I'm sure we can work it out without violence. Please give us a moment to get ourselves together. Don't kick us out just yet!!" Steve begged.
Tony raised a brow at his actions. "What??"
"I had a dream." Steve said sheepishly. "Thor had eaten one too many of your special Stark Raving Mad Pop Tarts, and you kicked us out without even getting to pack our bags."
Tony stared at him. "Steve. We've been friends for so long, there's no way I'd kick you out over a pop tart. You'd probably have to have killed me for you to be kicked out. That's not an invitation to try everything short of murder Barton. I'm looking at you!!" Tony cleared his throat, ready to speak again, when a harsh wail came from Peter's room.
Thor looked over to the door out to the hallway leading to the bedrooms and cocked his head.
"Man of Iron. Is that a babe?" He questioned, voice at a reasonable level for once.
"Maybe." Tony smirked.
The crying began to grow quieter.
"Did you find a baby?" Natasha asked.
"Better yet. Did you kidnap a baby?" Sam one upped her question.
"Oh my goodness Tony!! Did you kidnap a baby??!!" Steve asked with a harsh gasp.
"Keep it down guys." Tony clapped his hands. Again. He shot Steve a petulant look. "No. I did not kidnap a baby." He scowled. "What do you take me for? Hmmm?" Steve blushed red in shame at being quick to jump to accusations.
"Today I was called to go to Peter's school because he was having a medical emergency. It wasn't any old medical emergency." Tony breathed out. "Peter had a baby in the school changing rooms. And before you say anything. No. He did not know he was pregnant." Natasha's eyes darkened at the underlying rage in Tony's voice.
"Is that a thing?" Steve questioned. "Can men do that in the future?"
Clint jabbed him with his elbow.
"What?" Steve hissed. "They couldn't when I was a boy."
Natasha rolled her eyes. "We'll explain it later."
"Where is he?" She turned and asked Tony.
"In prison. Where he belongs." Tony smirked, knowing exactly what she was asking. "May paid him a visit, too. He won't be hurting anyone ever again."
"I'm sorry. I don't get it." Steve spoke up again.
Sam sighed. "Bad man hurt Peter. Peter made pregnant by bad man. Peter have baby today. May kill bad man." Sam looked at Tony. "Wait. Did May kill bad man?"
Despite the severity of the situation, Tony burst out laughing. "No. May chop bad man's dick off."
Steve spluttered. "Tony!!!!"
"What? It's true. Clutch your pearls. Hold your horses, stop jumping to conclusions. Cap." Tony smirked.
"I called you here as we need to be as supportive as possible. That boy in there, is my son. And he has had a baby born of rape. Say it is as it is. He's been abused for months and none of us noticed, because he hid it too well. Because he was nearly killed the one time he did try to say something. So we need to rally around him now. We need to support him, and his baby. Okay?" Tony panted at the end of his passionate speech.
Bucky, who had been silent in the corner-brooding- the whole time, stood up at Tony's last word. "Petey needs us. So we'll be there for him. No questions asked."
Tony's friends nodded.
"We'll be supportive. Always." Thor held Mjolnir up to the ceiling. "Peter-son shall have us at his back."
Tony smiled. Roman was going to have the most protective family in the whole world, and he wasn't even a day old yet.
After a good nap, and the most painful shower Peter had ever taken- seriously, they never tell you that that the pain doesn't stop after the baby is born!!, Peter sat over Roman's bassinet and watched his precious baby sleep.
"I'm sorry I didn't know about you." He whispered and feathered a light touch over the baby's cheek. His son shifted and turned into the touch, a tiny fist coming up to meet his mouth, before dropping again as he slept on.
"I'm sorry you came into the world this way. But I'm happy you're here. I'm happy you're mine." He smiled. "I'm going to protect you as much as I can. I haven't been here for very long myself, but I'll guide you as much as I can. I'm pretty shit at English though. So maybe we can work on that together." He smiled as his son's blue eyes opened and he yawned. "You are so unbelievably cute." Peter said.
Roman, took that as an invitation to fart very loudly, and burst into tears again. Peter laughed softly.
"You're okay baby." He murmured, and rubbed his son's belly. Roman calmed down at the soothing motion, and Peter picked him up to check his nappy. It was just a fart as the baby was dry, and he giggled some more.
"Shall we go and find Granddad Tony?" Peter asked, and covered Roman with a blanket as he put him on his shoulder. The baby sighed, and Peter smiled as his little head nestled into the crook of his neck, tiny fingers flexing softly as he snuffled quietly to himself.
The living room wasn't quite as empty as Peter thought it would be, but he didn't mind.
"Hey guys." He said, and Tony stood from where he and Natasha were chatting over nursery furniture.
"Petey!!" Tony said at a normal tone, and then winced. "Sorry. Was that too loud?" He whispered.
"You know the midwives said that we shouldn't quiet ourselves. The baby needs to adjust to real life. Plus he's heard it before when he was..." Peter gestured to his abdomen. "Inside."
"Is he asleep still?" Tony asked, and ushered his son to the free spot on the couch.
"No!!" Peter pulled the blanket down, and showed Tony the open eyes blinking curiously.
"Oh he's precious!!" Sam breathed, and tiptoed closer to peer at him.
"If you sit down, I'll let you hold him." Peter offered. Sam gasped, and sat down next to Peter and tapped his knees.
Peter shifted and placed Roman into Sam's waiting arms. The baby blinked slowly, and brought his fist up to suck on it.
"I was wrong." Sam spoke, absolutely beaming down at the baby. "He is adorable, cute, precious, squishy. You name it, and if it means beautiful and amazing- he is it." Sam turned to a smiling Peter. Peter grinned back.
"Thanks you guys!!" Peter stood. "I'm going to go to the kitchen and get a snack. Anyone want anything?" The others shook their heads, all too busy crowding around Sam and Roman to notice him.
Peter hobbled into the kitchen, and Bucky followed him with a thoughtful hum.
"Are you well?" Bucky asked as Peter hissed as he sat down on the breakfast bar stool waiting for the hot chocolate machine to make his drink.
"I'm fine!" Peter smiled at him. "I physically feel like I gave birth to a baby like twelve hours ago, but that's because I gave birth to a baby twelve hours ago." Peter yawned and stood up as the machine pinged. Bucky handed his drink to him, and Peter thanked him with a grin.
"It's also like four in the morning, so no wonder you're sleepy." Bucky muttered, offering a pop tart to Peter. The teen took it, and smiled. "You eat the other one. My stomach is no where near back to being able to eat full meals yet." Peter gestured to the open packet. Bucky sat down on the stool and the two ate in silence.
"I'll always be here for you." The ex-assassin murmured, and then stuffed the last of the pop tart into his mouth before walking out. Peter smiled at the man's back.
Peter grabbed his mug, and hobbled into the living room when he heard his baby start wailing loudly.
"You're okay!!" Peter rubbed Roman's stomach on the way back to his seat, and that did it. The baby quieted almost immediately, and Peter laughed. Nat was holding him now, and Peter grinned as she looked over to him unsure of herself.
"Do you want to take him back?" Natasha offered. Peter shook his head. "He's good. Needs lots of Aunty Nat cuddles." Natasha's cheeks turned a soft red, and Peter turned to Bruce who was holding out a list of board games to him.
"I know first the few days with the baby are hard, so I've written up this list of games we can all play. Tick which ones are your favourite, and I'll make sure that they are available here in the living room at all times."
Peter took the paper, and ticked Cluedo straight away. "I would say twister, but my insides have been twisted so much, I'll cry if I twist any more." Peter giggled.
Tony chuckled, and they settled into a peaceful silence as Roman tolerated being handed around his new family rather well. It was only when he reached Steve, for a second lot of hugs, that he began to cry and would not stop.
"Oh hey!! Hey!!" Peter accepted Roman into his waiting arms as the super soldier practically thrust the baby at him.
Roman would not calm down, and when Peter turned him to the side, he could tell why. He looked up at Steve who was now practically purple with how red he had gone.
"Sorry Steve." Peter winced, staring at the large black stain on Steve's white under shirt.
"This is priceless." Tony laughed, and Clint rolled on the floor with tears streaming down his face with mirth.
"You can come and watch me change this diaper successfully if you like." Peter offered, and Tony helped him stand up, while Steve jogged down to the hall to the stairs to get changed.
The gaggle of Avengers followed Peter like ducklings, and crowded round the changing table as he manoeuvred Roman out of his now spoilt onesie.
"You just had to have a blowout on Uncle Steve huh?" Peter asked when he exposed his belly. Roman's wails quieted down as Peter rubbed his tummy again.
"What is that?!" Steve asked, popping over Peter's shoulder and pointed at the belly button.
"That's the umbilical cord Steve. Did you not have sex ed as a kid?" Tony sighed exasperated.
"You can't say that word!! The baby is right there." Steve sputtered. "And I did, but the belly button didn't look like that in the books." Steve fretted as Peter finished taking off the rest of the outfit and dropped it in the washing basket Tony had made for him.
"When a baby is born, they are connected to the mother by the umbilical cord. This is clamped after birth, and cut. The clamp is the odd thing you see there. The cord will drop off in a few days. And it doesn't hurt him at all. We just need to be gentle with it." Bruce explained.
"Also the baby has a name. Roman. Use it Steve." Peter smirked as he pulled back the tabs of the soiled diaper.
"Oh my god. Is it supposed to look like that??!!" Bucky asked, horrified.
"The midwife at the hospital said it should change colour to brown in the next couple of days." Peter replied., completely unfazed as he set about changing his son.
"That does not look healthy." Clint gagged. Bruce poked him in the shoulder at his comment. "It's actually more of a concern if the stool didn't look like black sticky tar for the first few days." He commented, ever the scientist.
"Now, we get the baby powder!!" Peter explained step-by-step, as he wiped Roman down, and changed the boy into a fresh sleep suit." And then we give him to Uncle Bruce for Science Uncle cuddles!!" Peter dumped the baby into Bruce's shocked arms.
"Are you sure??!!" Bruce asked.
Peter blinked at him, then shook his head, and walked into the bathroom to wash his hands and throw the dirty diaper bag into the bin.
"I think that means 'you're being an idiot, get out of your head, and enjoy time with your nephew!!'" Sam whispered, loudly.
And Peter, staring at his reflection in the mirror as he dried his hands on the towel, smiled. Grateful for his loving and accepting family.
Roman was going to be loved, and cherished- just like he was.