Chapter 9
Halloween always managed to be the most perfectly cool and cloudless night. As the sun sank down into the skyline, bars of pure orange light shot through the streets and created long dark shadows with the trees and cars and fire hydrants. Children and Littles alike walked with their respective caregivers. Stephen smiled at all the fun costumes, remembering how much he used to look forward to this night as a young boy.
To Stephen’s surprise, Peter did not express any sense of urgency. He seemed content with lazily toddling down the street; one hand holding Tony’s, the other swinging his light-up candy bucket.
Tony and Stephen were not without their own treats. Pepper had made them both travel tumblers of hot chocolate with just the tiniest smidge of Irish cream.
“It’s always busy here because this is the type of neighborhood where people give out full-size candy bars,” Tony said, gesturing to the large packs of ghost, witches and licensed Disney IPs.
“Pretty sure trick-or-treating is against my building’s HOA…”
A group of older kids came bounding down a brownstone; laughter pouring out from the mouth slits of their hideous latex mask as they rushed past the trio.
“Scar-wee,” Peter said in an oddly matter-of-face voice, “Dah-dee, see?”
“I did see,” said Tony, “were you scared, baby?”
“No,” Peter shook his head heartily before looking to Stephen. “Stee-ben scare-ed?”
Stephen clutched his chest with his free hand and widened his eyes.
“Petrified!”
This made Peter roar with laughter.
“It’s alright, little one,” the woman at the still-open front door called, “I have plenty of candy left.”
“Hold my drink,” Tony handed Stephen his tumbler. “Okay, little duck; house number one!”
“Tick-ah-teet!” Peter giggled as he went up the steps.
“You have to wait until we get to the top to say it!”
Stephen watched from below as the woman ooh-ed and ahh-ed (and rightfully so!) at the adorable Spider-Peter. Peter let out a chirruped ‘tick-ah-teet’ followed by a ‘tank-oo’. Tony then led him back down the stairs so he could show Stephen his first treat of the night.
“Oh, wow! Very nice; M&M’s!”
“Meh-Memems!”
“Here you go,” Stephen held up Tony’s tumbler. As Tony moved to take it, Stephen gave his boyfriend a quick peck on the cheek.
“Aw, thanks!” Tony laughed, “Not sure if that was a trick or a treat.”
“Little of both,” Stephen leaned in to give Tony another kiss, this one on his lips.
“Yuckies!” Peter blew a raspberry at the men.
“Yuckies?” Tony laughed, “The spider-baby doth protest too much! Because I know,” he grabbed ahold of Peter and planted a kiss in his hair, “that he loves getting kisses!”
“Dah-dee yucky!”
At the next house, Tony held out hand for one of Peter’s six to take. But the Little instead turned his wide, pleading eyes to Stephen.
“Stee-ben?”
“You want Stee-ben to go with you to then next house?” Tony asked as a smile pushed out the corners of his goatee. “Stephen, did you hear that?”
“Um, yeah,” Stephen said with a shaky laugh. He did not know why the ask surprised him, nor why it filled him with such anxiety. Peter had never been shy about his adoration for the doctor; he thought the world of Stephen. But this felt like a decidedly Tony task – a parental task. Moreso than even feeding and changing Peter.
“Stee-ben tick-ah-teet?” Peter asked again, now taking Stephen’s hand.
“It’s been a long time for me,” Stephen told Peter with a smile. “Think you can show me how?”
“Yeah!”
“Okay, let’s go!”
Peter made happy chirps and stomped his feet up the stairs.
“I wonder what they’ll have,” Stephen thought to ask him. “What’s your favorite candy, Peter?”
“C’hoco-laht!”
“Like chocolate snails?”
“Yeah!”
Peter halted firmly at the front door and pointed.
“Stee-ben, ‘es go,” he then knocked.
“Right,” Stephen nodded, slowly realizing that Peter truly believed he needed to show Stephen how to trick-or-treat.
An older gentleman in a festive sweatshirt answered the door; a bowl of (full-sized) candy bars in hand.
“Hello, Peter,” he said with a laugh, “or should I say, Spider-Peter?”
“Spy-dur-Pet-tah!” Peter giggled before looking to Stephen, “’N’es Stee-ben!”
“Yes, I do see you have a new friend,” the man’s eyes flitted slightly to the space between Stephen and Peter, down to where Tony was standing at the bottom of the steps.
“He’s my boyfriend!” Tony called back up.
“Yeah,” Stephen shrugged sheepishly, “what he said…”
“Stee-ben, tick-ah-teet!” Peter tugged at Stephen’s shirt sleeve. “Tick-ah-teet!”
“Oh! Right,” Stephen cleared his throat, “trick-or-treat.”
“Candee pease!”
“Of course,” the man presented the bowl for Peter to pick from. There did not seem to be any discretion; Peter grabbed the first one on top and handed it to Stephen.
“Stee-ben candee; see?”
“I do see; but how about we put it in your bucket?” Stephen offered, “I think it’ll be much safer there.”
“Yeah,” Peter seemed to agree and placed the Snickers bar with his ‘Meh-Memems’. He then turned back to the man at the door and chirped a ‘Tank-oo’ before turning back towards the stairs.
“Thanks, have a good night – Oh!” Stephen ran to grab Peter’s free hand, “Careful! Don’t run down the stairs; there we go, nice slow steps…”
“Hol’on,” Peter smiled up at Stephen.
“That’s right,” Stephen smiled back, “hold on, Peter.”
The expression on Tony’s face was nothing short of dreamy; hooded eyes and a subtle smile. He greeted Peter in a soft of half-sighing voice and asked the boy if he minded his manners and remembered to say, ‘thank you’.
“Yes he did,” Stephen assured. “And Peter also showed me how to knock on the door and reminded me to say ‘trick-or-treat’.”
“Stee-ben good,” Peter said as he patted Stephen’s arm.
“Thank you, I appreciate your assessment.”
“Well, you don’t get to hog him all night,” Tony then said in a tone of mock annoyance, “I get the next house; right baby?”.
“Dah-dee tick-ah-teet!”
The two men went back and forth escorting Peter up the to various houses that lined the block. But, as the afterglow began to fade, so did Peter’s energy and soon he was rubbing his eyes and dragging his feet.
“G’home…Dah-dee…”
“Yeah,” Tony looked around, “it’s starting to get dark.”
“And the tumblers are empty,” Stephen smirked.
Peter did not want to be carried. Both Tony and Stephen asked more than once, but it appeared that the Little had just enough energy left to walk back to the brownstone…swinging his bucket every step of the way.
Tony’s kitchen was immaculate upon their return; it would be impossible to know that three adults and one messy Little had been enjoying pizza and wine on the white marble counters.
“Wow, I need to get myself a Pepper Potts,” Stephen remarked.
“Good luck! She’s one-of-a-kind,” Tony said as he helped Peter shimmy out of his spider costume.
“I’m sure she is…”
“Pebbah?”
“Pepper’s gone home for tonight,” Tony told his boy.
“’Kay…,” though Peter sounded sad, he seemed accepting of this fact. Pepper came in and out of his life with enough unpredictability that it was hard for him to get upset. As quickly as she left, she would return. So, with his thumb in his mouth, Peter made a toddle over to his play rug in the living room.
“Wonder where she went…,” Stephen mused out loud as he picked up Peter’s discarded candy bucket and set it on the counter.
“Probably has a date,” said Tony, “she always has a date.”
At this, Stephen wrinkled up his nose.
“Who goes on a date on Halloween?”
“Isn’t this a date?” Tony closed the space between them with a slinky walk, slipping an arm around his boyfriend’s waist the moment he was close enough to do so. “Spending time together, laughing, dinner and drinks…”
“Dah-dee!”
Both men turned at the sound of Peter’s needy wail.
“Is that a…?” Stephen began.
“Yes!” Tony barely spat before dashing over to his red-faced boy.
Stephen was not sure why he even asked. Over the last few weeks, he had become very familiar with that particular cry: Peter had made a messy diaper.
“It’s okay, little duck,” Tony got Peter wrapped up in his arms. “Shhh, daddy’s got you…”
“Want me to go run a bath?” Stephen asked, already moving toward the stairs.
“Um, if you can; yeah,” Tony said absently. Understandably, Peter did not react well when he made a messy diaper and often needed some comforting before he was calm enough to be cleaned up and bathed.
“Not a problem; I got it.”
The bathroom that adjoined the nursey was still an unfamiliar space in Tony’s brownstone. Stephen had only been in there once before to help stack some extra boxes of Snuggies diapers Tony had picked up at the East Harlem Costco. But a bathroom was a bathroom. Sure, his own did not have an extra deep tub with an assortment of toys and a cool basketball hoop suctioned to the wall, but essentially it was the same.
Stephen began filling the tub with warm water, making sure to test the temperature against the thin skin of his inner wrist. From the bottles of lotion and soap and salves, he pulled the lavender Little bath water and dumped two capfuls into the water. The scent was wonderfully soothing; just the thing the fussy Peter would need to help him relax.
“Almost there…that’s right…you’re okay…”
Tony’s low voice entered the nursery, followed by a few of Peter’s sniffles.
“Bath’s almost ready,” Stephen said as he came in to meet them. Poor Peter! His face was beet red and covered in tears. Globules of snot had dried on his upper lip. “Anything else I can do?”
“Could you get a hooded towel and some footed jammies?” Tony’s head uncomfortably turned over his shoulder as he steered Peter towards the changing table. “Please and thank you!”
There were no complaints about this task; what could be better than picking out a cute and cozy pair of footed pajamas? And Stephen had plenty to pick from. After some careful thought, he pulled out a soft khaki colored pair that was patterned in cookies and cups of milk. The towel was a bit more in them for the night though as Stephen managed to find a black one with a bat face on the hood.
“Is there anything else you need?” Stephen was surprised to see that Tony had already gotten Peter cleaned up and was now helping him into the tub.
“No, no…,” again Tony’s words were distant, “I think we’re good now; right baby?”
Peter only made a sad coo as he got settled into the water.
“How’s the water?” Stephen asked, “Not too warm?”
“It’s perfect,” Tony smiled back at him, “thank you.”
“Great…well,” Stephen sighed, “I have consultations beginning at ten a.m., so…”
“You can go ahead and go. After this, I’m probably just going to give him his bottle and put him down for the night.”
The way Tony said it, it seemed like such a simple process; like Stephen would not be missing anything worthwhile. But that was not the truth. Stephen now knew how wonderful that last little hour with Peter before bedtime was. How cuddly the boy was, how soft and warm his pajamas were and how his hair would smell like no-tears shampoo. Stephen had come to love Peter’s sleeping sighs around his pacifier as he struggled to stay wake through his bedtime story. And then, at the end of it all, being able to tuck the precious Little into his crib and kiss him good night…
“Yeah,” but Stephen kept all that to himself.
He and Tony and, to an extent, the sleepy Peter exchanged farewells. Once more, Stephen found himself exiting the brownstone against his will. His beautiful penthouse was holding less and less of a lure to him. His heart was aching to rush back inside and fix up a bottle for Peter, just so he could have an excuse to hold him and listen to his hungry snuffles…
Work! You have work in the morning! Patients who need you; have you forgotten about them?
Stephen shook his head.
He had secured all the time off he needed to go to the cabin with Tony and Peter for Christmas. Life as a world-class neurosurgeon did not allow for too much free time. In the past, it never bothered Stephen. The types of relationship he engaged in were…for a lack of a better word, utilitarian. Get in, get what you need and then get out.
Now, it was like his world was flipped. Work felt more like a means to an end, a way to support him while he threw every second of his free time into his relationship. Tony and Peter were his focus now.
And Stephen was beginning to wonder how sustainable this new life might be…