Always Be My Baby

Peter kicked the back of Tony’s seat for the fifth time and it was starting to annoy Tony. Usually he always got a bit of anxiety whenever he dropped Peter off at school but right now, he was a bit too excited about getting some child free hours without anyone calling ‘dad’ every minute and someone getting too touchy with him, both were mainly Peter. 

Either way, he was excited to go home and do nothing but watch tv or go on his phone. 

Pepper was at work. The only one at home was Aiser and he would probably hang out in the backyard or sleep so Tony got some time to himself. 

“Stop kicking the back of my seat or I’m gonna move your seat back so you can’t reach.” 

“I wanna sit in the back where Harley sits.” 

“No, Peter.” 

“Why not?” 

“Because it’s too hard to get you buckled in from back there.” He turned into the school. “You’re fine where you are. Okay, we’re here. Be good today. I’ll pick you up at one.” 

Peter arched his back to try and get out quicker so Tony pushed him back down to unbuckle him. “Look!” 

Tony turned to see where Peter was pointing to but didn’t see anything. “What?” 

“That’s my teacher.” Peter tried to see past Tony to get a better look so Tony turned and saw a woman getting out of a car a few empty parking spaces away from them and gave a wave that felt awkward, he had no idea who that was. 

“What teacher is she?” Asked Tony as he undid the last buckle. 

“Hi Peter. How are you?” 

Peter climbed out of the car. “It was raining in the morning.” 

“Yeah, it was. I’ll see you later.” She smiled at Tony then walked towards the school so Tony grabbed his backpack out and swung it around his shoulder and grabbed onto Peter’s hand to walk across the parking lot. 

“Who was she, Pete? What does she teach you?” He asked again, curious to know. 

“Uhhh…” He jumped over a puddle. “She’s my teacher. She teaches English!” 

“Wow. Do you like her? Is she nice?” 

“Yeah.” 

Tony was glad to hear that. He knew all his kids had teachers they didn’t like and it sucked because they had to see that person everyday. 

He held the door open for Peter and walked into the office to sign him in. He was late dropping Peter off every day on purpose because the rushed drop off was too much for both of them to handle right now. 

“Good morning, Peter. Same time again today, Mr. Stark?” 

Tony nodded and signed Peter in. “Yeah. Here, Pete.” 

“Are we getting ice cream after you pick me up?” 

“Yeah, after we pick your sister up.” 

Peter nodded then stood on his tippy toes to say goodbye to Tony. “I love you, Pete. Be good.” 

“I will. Bye.” 

As Tony watched Peter walk away, he thought of how far he’s come. Yeah, it was a simple thing to do but to them, it was a big deal. When Peter first went back to school after the second kidnapping, it was very difficult for either of them to say their goodbyes. 

He walked back to his car, feeling happy to be going home, knowing Peter was going to have a good time at school today and then they were going to get some ice cream after. It was going to be a good day. 

.

.

.

A woman stood outside Peter’s school. 

She hesitated on walking inside but after a few moments of standing there, she walked up to the school, opened the doors and walked inside, heading straight onto the office. 

The receptionist looked up from her desk. “Can I help you, ma’am?” 

“Um… yes. I’m here to pick up Peter Rogers. I mean… Peter Stark. Yeah.” She stepped side to side nervously and cleared her throat. 

“Alright. One second.” The receptionist pulled up Peter’s file on the computer. “Can I have your name please?” 

“Hannah. Hannah Spencer.” She looked around the office briefly. 

“Huh. I’m not seeing your name on his pick up list. I’m sorry. But I can’t hand him over to you without clearance from his parents.” She explained. “If you get in contact with his father and have him call us, we can approve you to pick Peter up.” 

She looked around a bit hesitant and it brought a bit of attention to her. “No. No. That’s okay.” 

The receptionist looked at her for a few moments and then she seemed to reluctantly leave the office and head back outside. She picked up the phone and dialed Tony’s number. 

“Hello?” 

“Hi Mr. Stark, I’m calling from Peter’s school. A woman walked into the office a few minutes ago and was asking to pick Peter up. She’s not on the list so I’m just calling to let you know.” 

Tony was already out the door. “Okay. I’m coming now. Don’t let him go with anybody.” Tony hung up the phone and raced to the school, both scared of this random person trying to take his son home and both confused as to who this woman was. 

When he arrived, he saw a blonde woman sitting outside the school but paid her no mind as he walked in and walked into the office. “Can you have Peter come down. I’m gonna take him with me.” 

“Yeah, I’ll call up to his class.” He waited for her to do that, feeling his heart beating a bit too fast at what was happening. “Would you like me to call the police?” 

“… no. Where is she? Is she still here?” He wanted to see what she wanted. 

“She’s sitting outside on the bench.” 

Tony turned to walk outside. He was dying to know what she wanted. 

He walked outside and saw the same woman he made eye contact with before. She looked pretty young, around late twenties to early thirties. She had blonde hair and a kind looking face, not that it mattered. Tony didn’t recognize her and he knew Peter had a whole life without him. He stood in front of her. “Why are you standing outside of my son's school?” 

She stood up. “Oh. I’m-I’m sorry, Mr. Stark.” 

“So you know who I am. How about you tell me who the hell you are.” 

She looked towards the school again, looking like she wanted to say something but she didn’t. 

“Fine. Get the hell away from him. Leave before I call the police and have you arrested.” He left with that, walking back into the school just as Peter was walking down the hallway. He tried to put a smile on his face even though he was freaking out on the inside. 

“Dad!” He crossed the distance between them and ran into Tony’s arms. “You came early.” 

“Yeah, baby.” He lifted him up to hold him tightly, pressing a kiss against his cheek and refusing to put him down even when Peter straightened his legs to be put down. “Did you have a good day today?” 

Peter nodded. “My teacher gave us all muffins. Chocolate chip muffins. It was yummy.” 

“Wow. Are you still hungry for ice cream?” He asked as he walked into the office to sign him out. 

“Chocolate ice cream. With gummy worms on top.” 

“Sounds good to me.” He thanked the receptionists and then left, placing Peter on his feet before they walked out. He looked to see if the woman was still there but thankfully she was gone. 

He thought everything was okay but then he heard her. 

“Peter?” 

Both Tony and Peter turned around at the same time. Tony was about to tell her to stay the hell away from his kid but Peter was letting go of his hand and making his way towards her. 

“Hannah?!” 

“Yeah! It’s me.” 

To Tony’s complete and utter surprise, Peter ran towards her and ran into her arms, just like he’d done to him a few minutes ago. Tony was equally concerned and confused. He walked towards them and placed his hand on Peter’s arm, pulling him away from her. “Who is this, Peter?” 

Peter was bouncing with excitement. “Hannah!” 

Tony got that part. “How do you know her?” 

Peter was smiling up at her as if she was handing him the world. Tony felt jealous but he didn’t know why. Who the hell was this woman?

“She’s my friend!” 

That didn’t explain much. He looked at her for an explanation. 

She was having trouble making eye contact with Tony. “I’m-I used to be his babysitter.” 

Tony looked away from her. So she knew Steve. She knew Peter during that time and probably had no idea what was happening and the fact that she was babysitting a kidnapped child. “So what are you doing here?” 

“I-I’m sorry. I… I wanted to see him.” She looked down at Peter and the smile that Peter brought to her face looked genuine. Tony hated that. He didn’t like her but Peter seemed to. “I heard about what happened on the news. A few months ago-” 

“Okay. I got it.” Tony didn’t want to talk about this in front of Peter but he wanted to know. 

Peter grabbed onto Tony’s hand. “Can she come for ice cream with us? Please please? I missed her.” Tony wanted to say no. Peter had never once mentioned anyone named Hannah before. Why the hell not? 

He looked at Hannah and back at Peter. He wanted to say no so badly but he wanted some answers so he reluctantly agreed to it. “Alright. Do you have a car?”

She pointed to a gray car parked on the side. “…yeah. Can I meet you guys there?” 

“Yeah.” He gave her the address of the ice cream shop and pulled Peter towards their van. “Come on.” 

“Is she coming with us? I want her to come over and see my room.” 

Tony scuffed. “She’s not coming into our house.” 

Peter pouted. “Why not? She’s my friend.” 

“Because I don’t know her. And you didn’t seem to know her until today, Peter.” He lifted him into his car seat and got his arms through the buckles. 

“Well… I forgot about her until today but now I remember she’s my friend.” Peter insisted, allowing Tony to manhandle him into his car seat. “It’s too tight!” 

“It’s like this everyday, Peter.” 

“No! Today it’s too tight.” 

Tony sighed. It was fine so he shut the back door and pulled out his phone to call Pepper again. He called her about five times but she didn’t answer. “Pepper. Answer your goddamn phone. The woman at Peter’s school is supposedly his old babysitter and Peter is insisting she’s his friend. We’re going to talk at the ice cream shop. Call me.” 

He hung up and called Natasha. “Nat, a woman came to Peter’s school trying to take him home. I came here and Peter’s eyes lit up when he saw her. Supposedly she’s his old babysitter. We’re going to the ice cream shop on fifth street. Meet us there.” 

“Alright. I’m on my way.” 

He hung up the call and got into the van, starting it and pulling away. 

“Who were you on the phone with?” Asked Peter. 

“Your mom.” 

“Who was the other person?” 

Tony looked in the rearview mirror. “What?” 

“I saw you make two calls.” 

Tony shook his head. “I called your mom twice. She’s in a meeting and isn’t answering.” 

“Oh.” 

Tony looked back at him. “Peter? When did you meet Hannah?” 

“Uh… before.” 

“Before? Like… with Steve?” 

Peter nodded and looked out the window. 

“Was she Steve’s friend?” 

Peter nodded. “And she’s my friend.” 

“Why was she your friend?” 

“Cause she used to play with me. And we used to bake together cause I wasn’t allowed outside.” He explained, kicking off his boots. “I don’t want to wear these anymore.” 

“How often did you guys play together?” Tony asked but he knew he wouldn’t be able to get that many answers out of him. 

Peter tried to undo his car seat buckles but he couldn’t so he gave up. “Ummm… five days.” 

“Five days a week?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Seven days a week?” 

“Yeah.” 

Tony sighed. Peter didn’t even know what he was talking about. 

He pulled up to the ice cream shop and parked next to Hannah’s car, in the only parking space available. He didn’t know how he felt about this, it wasn’t a good feeling meeting someone unexpected from Peter’s past but Tony understood that it was bound to happen. He had seven years without him. 

Tony opened up the back door but Peter pushed his hands away. “I want Hannah to.” 

“No, I am.” He quickly unbuckled him and held him uncomfortably against his side so he could grab his shoes instead. 

“Do you need help?” Hannah asked. 

Tony resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “No. I’m good.” 

He placed Peter’s shoes on the ground and stood him on them so he could easily slip them on then grabbed his hand and the three of them walked inside. 

Tony wanted to have a chat with her first before he let her talk to Peter. He wanted to know their history together and why she was now making an appearance in his life. He spotted Natasha walk in so Tony waved her over. “Natashas here, Pete. You’re gonna go with her for a little bit while I talk to Hannah.” 

Peter shook his head. He wanted to stay with his dad and his old friend. “No, let’s just get ice cream.” 

“Natasha will get you ice cream and I’ll get you another one after. You go with her.” 

“Nooo-” 

“What flavour do you want?” Asked Natasha, pulling him away from Tony. 

Peter sighed. “Chocolate. With gummy worms on top. Not mixed in the ice cream.” He pouted. 

“Can we talk.” Tony wasn’t asking. If she wanted to talk to Peter, she had to talk to him first. They stepped outside of the ice cream parlour and began walking around the building. “So you were my son’s babysitter?” 

“Yeah. I was.” 

“So you knew Steve then? The man who kidnapped my child from me.” 

Hannah looked down. “Yes. And I promise you I had no idea that he… was a kidnapper. That-that the child I took care of belonged to another family. I had no idea.” 

“How did you find out then?” 

“I found out on the news four years ago. And I didn’t believe it was true. I tried to reach out to Steve and Bucky but I didn’t hear anything. I had no idea where Peter went, just that he went back to his real family. And I eventually heard on the news recently about Steve taking him again. Then I sort of… found out where he went to school. I just wanted to see him. It’s been so long.” She looked towards the building with a smile then looked up at Tony and her smile faded. “I didn’t mean to cause so much chaos.” 

“So you had no idea the whole time you were babysitting my son?” 

“No. No, I had no reason to. His mom- I was told his mom died in a house fire when he was three and that’s why she wasn’t around and they had no pictures from that time. It sounded… legit. At the time. I’m sorry.” 

Tony didn’t blame her. There was no way she could have known. He wished she did, but she didn’t. He couldn’t change that. 

“How old was Peter when you started to babysit for him?” 

“He was five.” 

“How often did you take care of him?” 

“Umm… his dad… I’m so sorry. Steve. He um, he worked from home once and awhile so I came to keep Peter busy, make him lunch and put him down for a nap, I think it was three days a week for a few hours. Sometimes less.” She explained. “Steve, he was home a lot. And if he wasn’t, Bucky watched Peter. I kinda got the vibes that Steve was very protective over Peter.” 

“Why do you say that?” 

“Well, because Peter wasn’t allowed to hang out with a lot of friends. I get he was young, he wasn’t even potty trained yet. Steve didn’t want to until he was ready but Peter wasn’t allowed into school until he was.” 

Tony knew that. Well, he assumed Steve never bothered to properly potty train Peter. Considering all the accidents he had when he was younger and even now, that was all because of Steve. 

“Now you know it was because he was keeping a secret.” Tony wanted her to know that. He wanted her to know that he was Peter’s father. Not that bastard. “Do you know that Steve died?” 

Hannah looked down. “… yeah. I saw on the news. He didn’t make it. Do you-do you know if Bucky is still alive?” 

Tony didn’t know if he should tell her. He obviously didn’t fully trust her. “He’s in a mental institution in another country.” 

She nodded. “Okay. Peter, is he-does he have any… side effects? Like trauma from everything?” 

Tony couldn’t help but scuff. What kind of question was that. “Of course he does. You know his story. I'm not going to tell you anymore but just know that he’s happy. He’s an amazing kid and he’s going to be okay. He seems to like you so I’ll let you talk to him because he wants to.” He didn’t know why he was being so rude to her. He guessed it was because this random person knew more of his own son’s childhood than he did to some extent. He hated that. 

“I appreciate that. I missed him. I thought about him a lot, wondering where he was and how he’s doing. But I’m glad that he’s with you. You seem like you’re really protective of him.” 

That was an understatement. Tony didn’t elaborate on that but instead he walked back into the ice cream parlour with her and over to the booth they were at. 

Peter already had ice cream all over his face and down his shirt. He smiled at Hannah. “Hi. Where did you go before?” 

She nervously sat down next to Natasha. “Oh. I was just talking to your dad outside.” 

Peter licked his ice cream. “No, I meant before. Where did you go?” 

She looked at Tony briefly. “I um… I just didn’t know where you went. After everything. I missed you though. You grew up so much since the last time I saw you.” 

Peter grinned. “Cause I’m not ten.” 

Tony chuckled. Peter was funny. He wrapped an arm around his chair. 

“What’s your favourite subject in school?” 

Peter thought about it. “Um… chemistry. We went on vacation last week.” 

“Oh wow. Where did you go?” 

“To the ocean.” 

“We went to Bali.” Tony supplied. 

“Wow. Only for a week?” 

Peter shook his head and held up two fingers. “Two weeks.” 

“We went for almost a month. It was nice to get away.” 

Hannah didn’t know how to talk to Peter with an elephant in the room. She didn’t want to bring up Steve or their past life together but that was all she knew how to talk about with him. “What do you like to do now, Peter?” 

Peter turned to his dad. “Ummmm… what do I like to do?” 

“You tell us.” He brushed the curls off his face that Peter leaned into then moved closer to him. 

“I forget.” 

Tony didn’t want to be there anymore. Hannah was a part of Peter’s past and he didn’t even remember her until today, perhaps it was the trauma blocking out some of those memories but if that was the case, what else was Peter blocking out? 

He brushed the curls off his face. “I think it’s time we go.” 

Peter shyly nodded and stood up with his dad. He was tired and wanted to go home and fall asleep in Tony’s arms. He was happy to see Hannah today but she reminded him of his life with Steve and he didn’t need anymore reminders of that. 

“I am glad we got to meet you, Hannah.” Tony stuck his hand out for her to shake. She looked a bit sad that they were leaving so soon but she didn’t say anything about it. 

“Me too. He looks really happy. I’m glad you have him now. Bye, Peter. I hope we see each other again some day.” 

Peter waved bye to her, offering a tiny smile. 

He was glad to be going home now. 

.

.

.

Tony watched Peter closely while he played in the living room with Morgan. 

He was chopping up fruits and waiting for Pepper to come home but he realized that he was chopping up the fruits way too aggressively. He was upset. Of course he was. Someone from Peter’s past made their way into his life again and it was difficult for everyone, if she was really such a good babysitter to Peter, then why didn’t he remember her? 

Sure, trauma was something they were all too familiar with but Tony still didn’t understand that. 

“Dad?” 

Peter pulled him from his thoughts. “Yeah, baby?” 

“I wanna go to the park.” Peter’s cheeks were still flushed red from the crying fit he just had over not getting to watch his show. Tony wouldn’t mind letting them run wild at the park for an hour or so. 

“Sure. We can go. Can you go pee before we go then.” He went to rinse his hands but Peter shook his head at his request. “Okay. Let me rephrase that. Go pee or we aren’t going.” 

“I don’t need to go.” Peter insisted. 

Tony honestly didn’t care. He led Peter to the hallway bathroom and placed the frog toilet seat cover on it. “You need to try. I don’t want to get to the park and you say you need to go.” 

Reluctantly, Peter pulled down his pants and underwear and sat on the seat, waiting for the pee to come out which Tony was proud of. He pointed a finger at him. “You stay here until you go. Got it?” 

“Yeah.” 

While he was doing that, Tony grabbed Aisers leash and got him ready. They all needed to get some air, they had been in the house for a bit too long and everyone was going a bit crazy so Tony wanted to get them out to run around and burn some energy off. “Morgan, come get your shoes and jacket on?” 

“Can I wear my sweater? It’s too hot.” 

Tony had zero patience for a fight in him so he agreed. It was warm out anyways. “Yeah. Did you need to go pee before we go?” 

“I just went. I wanna hold Aisers leash.” 

Tony didn’t respond to her. He got his shoes and coat on then walked over to the bathroom. “Did you go yet?” He could already tell that Peter didn’t go, if he did, he would have gotten off the toilet. 

“I’m trying.” 

“It’s fine, Pete. You don’t need to go then.” He explained. “Just come off the toilet and we can go to the park. Come.” He waited for Peter to slide off the toilet and pull his underwear and pants up, getting himself situated then running out of the bathroom to join Morgan at the front door. 

“I didn’t need to go pee.” He told Harley, who had come down to see what was going on. “My bladders empty.” 

“That’s a first.” Harley replied as he leaned against the railing. He turned to their dad for an answer since he knew Peter wouldn’t give him a straightforward one. “Where are you going?” 

“To the park.” Tony answered then placed Peter’s shoes in front of him to help him get them on. “Wanna come? I’m gonna let these two burn off some energy because they’re way too hyper.” He explained at the same time as he helped Peter get his coat on next. 

Harley grabbed his own jacket and shoes. “Sure. It’s raining out, right?” 

“It was. There’s probably a lot of puddles.” That made him think of the mess Peter, Morgan and Aiser were going to get into but he honestly didn’t care. He was in a good mood, he was just tired and a little on edge from today’s events and from Peter keeping him up all night then his temper tantrum he had just a bit ago. 

They were out the door and began walking down the street. Tony kept a close eye on Peter, like he always did but especially today. He was feeling a bit overwhelmed and wanted to talk to Pepper but she wasn’t picking up the phone. 

“Daddy. Look. A worm.” Peter squatted down to look at the slimy thing on the sidewalk. 

Tony would ignore anything on the ground or anywhere before he had Peter but Peter, even from a young age, was always noticing these things and pointing them out to anyone who would listen. 

“Wow, baby boy. I can see that. Let’s keep walking through because there’s a lot of them on the ground.” He was really saying that if they stopped for every worm, they’d never get to the park. 

When they got to the lights just before the park, Peter stopped and held his hand out for Tony’s, knowing the family rule by now that he must hold an adult's hand when crossing the road. 

“Can I run now?” Peter asked Tony after they got across the road. Tony looked towards the park, it was busier than he expected with only a few kids there but he liked it when they were the only ones there. 

“Yeah. But stay where I can see you.” 

“I will! Come, Morgan!” 

Tony sighed as he watched his two youngest run down the pathway to the park. They were growing up way too fast and he wasn’t ready for it. He wished Peter could have been here when Morgan was a toddler. Tony couldn’t even imagine having a four year old and a newborn but he would have loved to experience that. 

But the chance was stolen from him. Along with seven years of Peter’s childhood. 

He tried not to think about that but today’s events weren’t helping that. 

Tony took a seat on a bench and followed Peter with his eyes, watching him climb onto the stairs. He didn’t see Morgan but he didn’t feel panicked if he couldn’t spot her immediately. He always knew she was close by. 

Harley yawned loudly next to him. “I’m gonna go out with my friends tonight for dinner. So around five.” 

Tony was okay with that. “Okay. What time will you be home?” 

“I don’t know. Seven maybe.” 

“That’s fine.” He saw Peter digging at something in the sand and about to put it in his mouth so he stood up to see what he was doing. “Peter. Don’t put that in your mouth. That’s dirty.” 

Peter held up a piece of candy. “It’s candy.” 

“No. Put it down.” 

“Okay!” He stood up, brushed the sand off his pants and stood at the bottom of the slide. “Morgan! Morgan! Come down this way!” 

“Go to the bigger slide!” She yelled down to him so Peter went to go do that. He walked over to a climber that took a lot of balance to climb up, especially because it was wet. He was about half way up but there was a kid blocking him at the top. 

“Hey. Move out of my way.” 

The boy at the top crossed his arms over his chest. “Never!” 

“You have to! You can’t just stand up there and block my way!” Peter climbed closer to the top and went to go reach for the bars but the boy pushed his hands away. “Hey! Let me get up!” 

“No!” When Peter went to stand up, the boy pushed him and Peter lost his balance, falling off the play structure and landing on the hard sand. 

He lifted his head up and let out a loud, pained wail. 

Tony heard a thump and already recognized that cry before he even turned around but when he did, he saw Peter lying on the ground so he rushed over to him and lifted him up. “What happened, Peter?” 

Peter was in hysterics. He pointed at the boy standing at the top of the slide who must have been around twelve years old although he was bigger than Peter. “He push me off!” Peter sobbed. 

“Oh, buddy.” Tony rocked Peter side to side, holding onto him tightly and checking his head for anything. He looked up at the boy on the top, he wouldn’t discipline any other person’s child but he wanted this kid's parents to come and do that. “Where are your parents?” 

The boy stuck his tongue out at Tony. “None of your business!” 

Tony walked away from that. He wouldn’t discipline a random child but he was going to comfort his baby. “Are you okay? That was scary, huh?” 

Peter cried against him. “I want milk!” 

“Shh shh. I don’t have any.” 

“I need some! Go-go home to get some!” Peter demanded but Tony wasn’t going to do that. 

“Hey. Hey. Just breathe. Take a breath. I understand you want milk, but I don’t have any to give you so let’s calm down together.” He placed Peter on his feet and kneeled down in front of him but Peter threw himself to the ground and screamed. 

“I want milk!” He cried and tried to calm down but he couldn’t without his bottle. “Go get it! Now!” 

“No, Peter.” Tony lifted him back up and brushed the hair out of his face. They needed to work on this. Maybe they encouraged Peter that the only way to calm down was a bottle of milk. He wanted to drop that but he didn’t know how. 

After a few moments, Peter had stuck his thumb in his mouth and was sucking on it as if his life depended on it. Maybe he felt like it did in the moment. When Tony turned around, Harley was video taping them on his phone. 

“What’re you doing?” 

“Recording his temper tantrum. I’m gonna show him when he’s my age and show him what he was like at this age. It’ll be funny.” 

Tony rolled his eyes. “That’s rude.” 

Harley laughed and put the camera in Peter’s face. “So, Peter, do you want to say anything to your future self? How are you feeling?” 

Peter lifted his head off of his dad's shoulder and whipped the phone. “Mmmm!” 

“Okay, turn it off, Harley. He doesn’t like it.” Tony defended Peter, knowing he was struggling to self-regulate right now. 

“Let’s see if you still have our dad wrapped around your baby finger when you’re my age as well.” He said into the camera before stopping the video and grinning at Tony. “Just for the record, I think he will.” 

Tony was okay with that. “Oh really now?” 

“Yep. I think he’s gonna sleep between you and mom until he’s… twenty two but he probably won’t be wetting the bed still.” 

Tony walked over to the open field. “Huh. I like your input but I guess we’ll have to see.” 

Harley put his phone in his pocket and lost the goofy smile on his face. “Do you actually think he’ll be better by then? Like… not… like this.” He gestured to Peter gripping onto Tony like his life depended on it. 

Tony sighed. He couldn’t know that. “I don’t know. We’ll see.” He pressed a kiss to Peter’s head and placed him onto his feet. “You’re okay now. Go play. Okay?” 

Peter kept his thumb in his mouth and didn’t let go of his dad. He pointed towards the play structure. “Mm.” 

“Let’s take this out of your mouth so you can talk.” He said as he gently pulled Peter’s thumb out of his mouth. 

“Morgan.” 

“What about her?” 

“I wanna play with her.” 

“Okay.” He spotted her hanging upside down on the monkey bars so he pulled Peter towards her. “Morgan. Can you come play with your brother? He wants to play with you.” 

“Okay! Come join me!” 

Peter wrapped his arms around Tony. “No. I wanna build a sand castle with you.” 

“Can you come join him, Morg? He’s a bit upset.” 

She spun over and dropped onto her feet. “Why? What happened, Petey?” 

Peter pointed to nowhere in particular. “He pushed me off the top.” 

“Who did?” 

Tony led them over to the sand box with shovels and buckets there. “It’s okay now. You guys go play.” 

Peter grabbed a bucket and happily sat down in the sand. “Let’s build… a castle from the show we watched last night. Pair of Kings.” 

Tony felt relieved that they were happy now and playing nicely together. He did not like wild children like that. He didn’t understand how that kid's parents could have possibly seen that and not do anything about it. It was crazy. 

He stood off to the distance so he could still see his kids but let them have their space. 

While they were busy, Tony pulled out his phone to try calling Pepper one more time. He was surprised that she answered. Finally. “Hi. I called you before but you didn’t answer.”  

“Sorry. I got stuck in a very stressful meeting. You need to come to the tower tomorrow now, Tony. You need to go over some stuff for the company to finalize a few things.” 

Tony groaned. He really didn’t want to do that. “What time?” 

“After we drop the kids off at school until… I don’t know, early afternoon.” 

Tony really didn’t want to do that. “Okay, well, I have no one to watch Peter then. I’m picking him up from school at twelve.” 

“We’ll work it out. I’m coming home now.” 

“I need to talk to you about something later.” 

Pepper paused for a few moments. “Oh. Is everything okay?” 

“Yeah… just… we’ll talk.” He watched Peter dump the bucket of sand on Morgan’s foot and laugh. “We’re at the park right now. We’ll be home in about thirty minutes.” 

After he hung up the phone, Tony sat back down and watched the same boy from before walk up to Peter and take his shovel right out of his hands. Tony was curious to see what Peter was going to do. 

Peter was very outspoken, especially when someone took his toys. 

“I’m using that.” Peter crawled over to the boy and tried to grab it back but the boy held the shovel protectively. “Give it back.” 

“Nooo!” 

Peter tried to grab it again but he couldn’t. “Give it back or I’m gonna bite you!” 

That’s when Tony had to get involved because he didn’t want his kid to be biting random kids. He stood up and walked over to the sandbox. “Peter. No biting.” 

“He takes my shovel!” 

“He took it.” Tony corrected him. 

“Yeah.” 

“Tell him you’re using it.” 

Peter turned to him. “I’m using it.” 

The boy stuck his tongue out at him and Peter looked up at Tony, both confused and annoyed. Tony wanted to laugh. This was actually kinda funny but not for Peter. 

“Hey, kid. What’s your name?” Tony kneeled down and asked but the boy ignored him. “Where are your parents? How about I go talk to them.” 

“Noooooooo!” He screamed and whipped the shovel at Peter. 

At least that was solved but geez, and he thought Peter had to work on his emotions. This kid was going through it. 

He stood up fully. “Okay then. Don’t let anyone take your toys, Peter. If they do, you tell them you’re using it.” 

Peter nodded in return and went back to playing but it wasn’t long before someone came and stepped on his sand castle. Tony sighed but didn’t intervene. 

“I’m sorry!” The kid said and bent down to help Peter fix it. Tony was at least grateful for that but he found it interesting to watch how Peter interacted with other kids outside of Morgan and their home. 

“It’s okay.” Peter flattened out the area and grabbed his shovel to fill the bucket back up. “Wanna build a taller tower with me?” 

The new kid sat down next to Peter and went to pick up a bucket but the same boy from before ran over and grabbed the bucket from him, dumping it on his head, causing the other kid to scream as he tried to brush the sand out of his eyes. 

The boy’s mother ran over to help him brush the sand out of her son's eyes as Tony walked over. Clearly this boy was running wild and it wasn’t safe here. 

“Pete. Let’s go.” 

The mother looked up at Tony. “Is that your son?!” She asked, ready to rip his head off if he said yes. 

Tony looked at the boy filling up another bucket of sand. “No. These two are mine. This kid has been attacking my son this whole time. I don’t know where his parents are.” 

Before Tony could stop him, the boy pulled back Peter’s pants and dumped the bucket of sand down them, causing Peter to start crying. Again. 

“Okay. Come here.” He lifted Peter up by his arm and gestured to Morgan. “Come, Morgan. We’re leaving now.” 

“Oh my god.” The mother of the boy said. “Where’s that kid's parents? This is unacceptable.” 

Tony didn’t care to know anymore. He felt bad for Peter. They came to the park to have fun and got picked on by some brat child. Tony pulled down Peter’s pants and underwear a bit to brush the sand off his butt but he’d need a shower when they get home. “It’s fine, Pete, hey hey. Stop crying. It’s okay. It’s just sand.” 

Peter wiggled his butt. “It’s icky.” 

“We’re going home now.” He called Aiser over and hooked the leash back onto him. “Look at you, Aiser, you’re covered in mud.” 

Peter tapped their dogs head. “And I’m covered in sand.” 

“Yeah. Both of you are going straight into the shower once we get home.” 

As they got closer to the house, Tony was glad to see that Pepper was already home because he was going to need some help with the kids. Before they approached the door, Tony grabbed Peter’s arm so he couldn’t run inside. “You two are staying out here.” 

Peter looked confused but listened and went to walk over to the grass but Tony grabbed his arm. “No. Just stay here for a second. I’m carrying you both upstairs because Aiser has mud all over him and you’re covered in sand.” 

“Oh. What happened here?” Pepper asked, laughing at the sight she opened up the door to. 

“Aiser rolled in mud and some kid shoved sand down Peter’s pants.” Tony easily explained and pulled off Peter’s pants and underwear. “Step out, Pete.” 

“Yay.” Peter cheered once he was free of the tight  clothing then he jumped off the steps and over the brushes then started running on the grass. 

Tony didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Peter! Come back here.” It wasn’t necessarily cold out but it was way too cold to be running half naked. “Peter!” 

Now Aiser was running with Peter, both of them thinking that it’s a game so Tony managed to grab Peter’s shirt and scoop him into his arms then pointed his finger at their dog. “Hey! Sit, Aiser!” 

“Yeah! You bad dog!” Peter added, pointing his finger at Aiser as well. 

Tony easily lifted Aiser into his arms and carried the two of them into their house with Pepper unable to compose herself as she was laughing so hard. Tony couldn’t help but laugh with her. “How is it possible that our dog is heavier than our child.” 

The arm he was carrying Aiser with was slightly more strained than the arm he was carrying Peter with. Maybe it was because he was so used to carrying Peter, or the fact that he was incredibly small. Either way, Tony wanted to get them upstairs and into the shower. 

“Wait, wait.” Pepper laughed. “I need to take a picture of this.” She pulled out her phone and snapped a few pictures, sending one off to her parents. “Oh my gosh. I can’t stop laughing.” 

Peter kicked his legs. He was being carried uncomfortably. “I want down.” 

“Let’s go into the bathroom first. Come up.” He walked upstairs and straight into his bathroom then placed Aiser inside the shower. “You’re gonna shower with your little friend here, that okay?” 

“Yeah!” As soon as he was placed on his feet, he walked into the shower with his dog and turned the water on, screaming when it was too cold so he crawled onto the ledge. “Daddy! Cold! Make it hot! Like a hot tub!” 

“How bout I set it to your normal shower temperature.” 

Tony thought bathing one child was difficult but bathing a child and a dog at the same time was next level difficult. Tony gave up five minutes into the shower and just got in with them, clothes and all. 

He finished with Peter then used the dog shampoo to get all the mud and dirt off of Aiser. It was a lot of work. Peter stood on the shower bench for the fifth time. “Peter. Get down. I’m not gonna tell you again.” 

Peter pouted and sat back down on it. “I’m bored in here. I wanna go play with Morgan.” 

“After I’m done here. Can you give me five more minutes. I just have to rinse Aiser.” He took the shower handle off the hook and quickly finished up. 

Peter ran into the bedroom as if Tony had been keeping him hostage in there for hours. He fondly rolled his eyes and tossed a towel at him. “I need to go get something downstairs. I’ll be back.” 

“Mhmm.” 

Tony took this opportunity to go talk to Pepper about today. It wasn’t that big of a deal but it was definitely bugging him a bit and he couldn’t get it out of his mind. “Peter is showered and is lying on our bed. Aiser is showered and is lying on the floor upstairs. Harleys out with friends until seven. Where’s Morgan?” 

“I told her to go in the shower as well. She told me some boy at the park was being a brat.” 

Tony chuckled. He told them that so she was repeating him. “Yeah… that kid pushed Peter off the top of the climber. Then he stole Peter’s shovel, dumped sand on another kids head and sand down Peter’s pants. Who knows what else he’s getting up to there.” 

“He’s the menace of the park.” Both of them laughed but Tony wanted to talk to her about something serious now. 

“So um… you didn’t answer your phone today.” Pepper nodded, waiting for him to continue. “And Peter’s school called me saying that a woman there was asking to take him from the school.” Pepper gasped. “So… I went and I picked up Peter and when I did, Peter saw the woman and his eyes lit up. He was so happy to see her and knew that her name was Hannah.” 

“Hannah? What? Who’s Hannah? What the hell, Tony.” 

“I tried to call you. Supposedly she was his old babysitter.” 

“What? So then why didn’t Peter tell us about her before?” 

Tony sighed and leaned against the counter. “I don’t know. Trauma? He forgot? I don’t know. When I asked Pete about it, he said she’s nice and his friend. So I called Natasha and we all went to an ice cream shop to talk.” 

“You what?!” 

“Okay. I can see you’re getting mad.” He raised his hand up in surrender. “But I called you. Multiple times. So I made the decision for our kid and what would be best for him.” 

“But this is a pretty big decision about his past, Tony. I should have been involved in this.” She argued but Tony didn’t want to start this now. 

“You didn’t answer your phone! I called you about twenty times and left about ten messages.” 

“You should have called my secretary. She would have put me through to you.” 

Tony started drying random bottles to keep himself busy. “If it was an actual emergency, I would. But it wasn’t. I had Peter. He was okay. So can we not fight about this.” 

“Okay. Okay. I’m sorry. Okay.” She placed her head in her hands. This was hard. All these reminders coming up when they were trying to heal. 

Tony understood that more than anyone. “I know it’s hard and we want to forget about this but we can’t just pretend like it didn’t happen. We’ll talk to Karen about it this weekend.” 

Pepper nodded at those words so Tony pressed a kiss to her lips and went upstairs to see what Peter was up to. He was honestly surprised to find him lying in bed still but he wasn’t surprised to see that he hadn’t gotten dressed yet. “What’re you doing?” 

Peter shrugged. “Chillin and grillin.” 

Tony bursted out laughing. “What does that even mean?” 

Peter shrugged again and stretched his legs out. “I don’t know. It just sounds funny.” 

“You’re too silly. I love you so much.” He leaned over to press a kiss against his cheek and then grabbed clean pyjamas out of the laundry hamper and placed it on the bed. “Okay. You get that on then we’re gonna eat some dinner.” 

Peter rolled onto his stomach then slid off the bed and grabbed a diaper out of the box. “You forgot this.” 

“It’s not even seven yet. I’ll put it on you right before we get into bed tonight.” Tony could see that Peter didn’t like that but Pepper was right, they were encouraging Peter to use it when he had it on. “Pete, I know you want to wear one now but you need to pee in the toilet like a big boy. You’re not a baby.” 

Peter flopped backwards onto the bed. “I do pee in the toilet. I’m not a baby.” 

Tony took a seat next to him. “Pete, I know you want to where one but-” 

“Noooo. No buts.” Peter lifted his head up and laughed. “Hey! Butt! Butts! My butt.” He lifted his legs up, pointing at it and Tony couldn’t help but laugh. He was going to miss these random moments one day when his kids were too embarrassed to show him their butts so proudly. He sighed. 

“I can see that. You’ve got a cute butt so how about we put some pyjama pants on instead?” 

“No.” 

Tony tried something else. “Do you want to put pyjama pants on by yourself or with my help?” 

“I wanna wear a diaper.” 

Tony sighed once again. That didn’t work and he didn’t want to fight with Peter so he grabbed a diaper out of the box and tapped it on Peter’s stomach. “I want this staying dry until bedtime. If you go pee in it, I’m not changing it and you’ll be uncomfortable all night long. Understood?” 

Peter nodded happily. “I’ll go pee in the big toilet cause I’m not a baby.” 

Tony did up the sides and handed him his shirt. “Exactly. So we gotta work on that.” 

Once Peter got his shirt on, the two of them went downstairs together. Tony walked into the kitchen to see how dinner was getting on but the pasta was still boiling so at least another twenty minutes. “I’m starving. When’s dinner ready?” 

Tony turned to Harley. “Oh. I thought you weren’t coming back until 7.” 

“It’s 6:50. Basically seven.” He placed a bag on the counter and opened up the fridge to grab some water. “Also, my car is making a funny noise in the front. Can you check it out later?” 

Tony made a mental reminder to do that. “What kind of noise? Is your engine light on?” 

“Like a ticking sound. And it was. Then it turned off.” 

“Well, did you take it in?” 

Harley groaned. “No. I didn’t. I forgot. And before you say anything, I don’t want any lectures about it. I just… I got busy.” 

“We’re all busy, Harley. Your car is a responsibility that you have. Wait until you have a wife and kids and a house to run.” He didn’t want to give him a lecture about his car… again, but he couldn’t help it. Harley tried to act like he was mature but he wasn’t. It was frustrating. 

Peter ran up to Tony and tapped on his stomach. “Dad. Daddy. I need to go pee.” 

“Okay. Good job, buddy. You go.” He looked down at him when he didn’t move. “What?” 

“I just went a bit now.” He explained, looking between his legs just as Pepper walked in. Great. Now he was going to get a lecture. 

“Tony.” 

Tony heard the tone in her voice. “Do you wanna have that fight with him. The kids like a monster when he wants something.” 

“Tony.” Pepper said more slowly and stood at the end of the kitchen island to narrow her eyes at him. Tony remembered the first time she looked at him like that. It was one of the many reasons he fell in love with her, she could get him to do something when no one else could. Although now he wasn’t liking that look too much. 

“What do you want me to say? That I’m encouraging it. Okay. I admit it. I am.” He held his hands up. “But I do not want to have that fight tonight. Tomorrow night, you try it.” 

“I think I’m gonna switch to pull-ups again so he can be pulling them down to use the toilet. This is too much, Tony.” 

Tony didn’t understand that. “Okay… then that’s going to defeat the whole purpose.” 

“I mean, so he’ll only wear it at nights. Like he’s supposed to.” She pulled a pile of plates out. “He’s wearing diapers more than he is underwear. I don’t like that.” 

Tony didn’t know what to say about that. “Okay. Change it to pull-ups then. He’ll only wear it at nights for now on.” 

“And I’m doing bedtime routine with him tomorrow. All night. You need some sleep because you look exhausted.” She patted him on the cheek and went to go set the table so he couldn’t protest it. 

Instead, Tony walked towards the bathroom and saw Peter sitting on the toilet with his diaper still on. “Are you serious?” 

Peter looked down. “Oh. I forget.” 

“You forgot.” He didn’t want to bother with that so he grabbed Harleys car keys. “Harley. Come into the garage with me. I’ll show you what’s making that sound.” 

Peter got off the toilet and flushed it then quickly washed his hands, not bothering to use any soap. Next, he walked into the living room and went to go grab his iPad and join Morgan on the couch but he spotted the bag that Harley brought in so he made his way over to the kitchen counter and grabbed it off, sitting on the floor and opening the bag. 

Inside was a white takeaway container. He opened that up and sniffed the food that was inside. It felt greasy. He picked up the butterfly looking pastry and took a bite. “Mmmm. Yummy.” Peter ate two more and then stood up to grab some water. 

His throat felt a bit weird. Like there was food still stuck in it or something so Peter went to pull up the stool to grab a cup for some water but it was as if he couldn’t catch his breath. 

He grabbed onto his throat and walked into the dining room where his mom was, looking at her with desperate eyes. “Can… breathe…” 

Pepper dropped the plates onto the table and raced around to him. “Oh my god. Come here.” She looked around for Tony but he wasn’t here. He was with Peter every second of the day. Why not now. “Tony! Tony! Help! Tony!” 

Morgan ran over to see what was going on. “Mommy?! What’s wrong with Petey?!” 

“Get his EpiPen! Morgan! Give me his EpiPen! He can’t breathe.” Pepper helped Peter lie down when he tumbled over but Morgan was frozen still. 

Tony had heard his name being yelled so both him and Harley raced inside. Tony already knew what was happening when he saw Peter lying on the ground. He raced over to the cabinet where they kept his EpiPen, pulled it out and kneeled down to stab it into Peter’s thigh. 

Almost instantly, Peter took a breath which was followed by crying. Tony didn’t care. He wanted to hear that crying. “Come here. Come here, baby. You’re okay now. Just breathe.” 

Tony lifted him up and held him close but made sure not to hold him too tightly. “We gotta go to the hospital. Pepper.” He looked at her still sitting on the floor, frozen in place. Tony remembered that she hadn’t seen what happened the first time at school. She only saw the aftermath when Peter was okay. “Pepper. I gotta take him to the hospital.” 

Pepper nodded and stood up, bracing herself against the counter. “Okay. Okay. Can-can you…” 

“Okay. I’ll take him. You stay here with Morgan then.” He walked to the front door and grabbed his car keys and jacket. “Harley. Can you come?” 

“Yeah. Yeah.” 

Tony slipped his shoes on and left the house. He didn’t know why Pepper wasn’t pulling herself together, she was usually more under control than him in these kinds of situations. He felt bad for thinking that but what if he wasn’t there to step in? Would Pepper have been able to help their boy? 

He opened up the back door of the van and got into the backseat with Peter, moving to sit in the back row where there no car seats. “Harley. Are you able to drive?” 

“Yes. Yeah, I can drive. Is Peter okay?” Harley asked as he started the van and backed out of the driveway. “Like… he’s not gonna stop breathing again? Right?” 

Tony didn’t know. This only happened one other time. He tried to calm Peter down on his lap, continuing to hold him and bounce his leg although Tony was doing that more out of nerves. 

“No. I don’t know. Just drive safely because we aren’t wearing seatbelts.” 

Peter sucked in a shaky breath. “Mmm. Daddy.” 

“Shh shh. I’m here. I’m here.” He pressed a ton of kisses against his face and wiped the curls out of his eyes, trying to keep Peter awake and focusing on his breathing.