Always Be My Baby

Tony opened the back door and unbuckled Peter from his car seat, lifting him out of it, but being careful not to wake him up. 

Peter slept a total of three hours last night and Tony slept even less. 

It got so bad that Tony was debating on driving back but he couldn’t handle the crying in the cry for forty minutes so he decided to stay there. Although Peter didn’t cry with the pacifier in his mouth, he did refuse to sleep and whined. A lot. 

Pepper came out to join them and grab the bag for him. “Hi. How is he?” 

“Asleep. So great.” Tony carried him inside the house and everyone was quiet due to Tony’s earlier threat that whoever wakes the beast up will be responsible for putting him back to sleep. 

So everyone stayed silent. 

Tony pressed a kiss to Pepper’s forehead. “I’m gonna try and get some sleep with him. My eyes are burning.” Tony in fact got no sleep with him since Peter insisted on waking up as soon as Tony laid him down. 

“No. Shh, I’m going to sleep too. Close your eyes.” He forced Peter’s eyes closed but Peter pushed his hand away and sat up, looking around. Tony just sat there, defeated. “Come to sleep.” 

Peter shook his head but Tony couldn’t stay awake any longer. He needed sleep. Even a two hour power nap would help him. 

“Come here.” He lifted Peter into his arms and carried him downstairs where everyone else was. He deposited Peter onto the couch beside Pepper. “Can you stay with him. I need to sleep and he says he doesn’t want to.” 

Pepper wrapped an arm around Peter. “Of course. You go rest. We’ll be here.” 

Tony pressed a kiss to Peter’s face and turned to leave but Peter screamed upon seeing that Tony was leaving him. “Noooo! Stay with me!” 

“No, daddy’s gonna go sleep.” 

“I’ll come.” 

Tony just wanted to sleep. “You said you didn’t want to sleep.” 

“Just go, Tony. I got him.” 

Peter arched his back, screaming as he watched his dad walk away so Pepper tried to pull him onto her lap but he pushed back. “Stop screaming. Daddy’s tired. Did you keep him up all night?” 

“Yeah!” Peter cried out, chewing on the pacifier in his mouth. 

“See? Now he needs to rest. Do you want to try and rest too?” 

“No.” Peter was over tired and if his dad didn’t want to be with him then he didn’t want to be with him either. Peter looked towards the back door and saw Morgan playing outside so he stood up and went to go join her. Pepper and Alice joined them, not wanting a repeat of the drowning incident or anything else. 

Morgan grinned at him. “Hi Petey. Play with me. I’m making mud pies.” 

Peter sat next to her, taking the bucket from her hands. “Mine.” 

“Heyyy. Mom.” 

“Peter, give that back to her and ask if you can use it.” 

The boy turned to give his mom a dirty look then he tossed the bucket at Morgan. “Can I use it?” 

“No.” 

That sent Peter over the edge. 

He crawled away, crying. 

“Peter. Can you come and talk to me instead of crying.” Pepper walked over to him, kneeling down in front of him so Peter threw himself down and cried into the grass. “What’s wrong? Did you have a good time on your boys trip? I saw that you took a bath with Harley.” 

“No. I didn't!” 

Pepper laid down on the grass with him, feeling the hot sun shining down on them but she knew they couldn’t lie there for a while because Peter was only in a diaper and a shirt so he would definitely be getting burnt. “Do you want to talk about what’s upsetting you?” 

Peter just wanted his dad to hold him. He rolled onto his stomach and tried to pull down his mom's top but Pepper pulled his hands away. “I-I had a dream.” 

“What was it about?” 

Peter shrugged. He didn’t want to talk about it. 

“I don’t remember.” 

Pepper knew he did but he just didn’t want to say it and she didn’t want to force him to talk about it if he wasn’t ready. “Alright. That’s okay but if you ever want to talk about it, honey, you know you can always come to me and your father?” 

Peter nodded. He knew that but it didn’t mean he wanted to. He just wanted to forget everything that happened and pretend that he wasn’t kidnapped. Sometimes he looked at Harley or Morgan and wished it was them instead. Why did it have to be him? 

He looked over at Morgan sitting on the edge of the pool, kicking her feet in it so Peter stood up and walked over to her, tapping her head. “Jump in.” 

“I’m drying off.” 

Peter grabbed the life jacket on the floor, getting it on himself then jumping in. “Just swim with me. Please. You have to.” 

“Peter, take off your diaper. C’mon.” Pepper put her hands on her hips, looking at Peter but she already knew he would refuse to. “It’s garbage now and it’s just going to weigh you down.” 

Peter didn’t care. He swam to the edge of the pool and held his hands out for Morgan to jump in with him. “Jump! Jump!” 

“Fine.” She stood up and jumped in, jumping over Peter and landing on the other side of him. “Woah! Did you see that?” 

Peter clapped his hands. “I saw! Good job!” He swam over to the deep end and grabbed onto the diving board, bringing his legs up to hang on like a koala bear. 

Morgan swam over and poked his diaper that was filled with water. “Squishy.” 

“Mom! Morgan touched my private part!” Peter dropped down in the water, pushing Morgan away from him. Morgan then grabbed his life jacket and dragged it forward, causing Peter’s head to tip under the water, so Pepper walked to the edge of the pool before the two of them could get too rough with each other and accidentally drown. 

“Hey! Both of you get out of the pool right now! I do not like what I am seeing.” Pepper pointed towards the pool chairs for them to go sit over there. Morgan got out of the pool but Peter didn’t. “Peter Stark. Get out of the pool right now.” 

“No! I didn’t do anything!” He swam to the middle of the pool so no one could get him. 

Tony walked out of the house at the yelling. “What’s going on?” He tried to sleep and after almost an hour of tossing and turning, he gave up and went to make himself a coffee instead but then he heard yelling outside. 

“They were fighting in the pool and Morgan pushed Peter’s head under.” Explained Pepper. 

Tony looked over at Morgan, curled into a ball on the chair and Peter in the pool. “What did Peter do?” 

“He pushed her.” 

Pepper grabbed the pool net cleaner and grabbed Peter’s life jacket with it, bringing him to the edge of the pool. “Can you lift him out, Tony?” 

Tony reached down and grabbed the life jacket hook, pulling him out of the pool, despite Peter screaming and thrashing around. 

“Noooo! Noooo! I didn’t do anything! I didn’t! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” Peter threw himself onto the ground and sobbed. “I didn’t do anything!” 

Geez. Tony looked at Pepper. “Did you see what happened?” 

“Yes. Peter was hanging on the diving board and Morgan swam over and poked his diaper, Peter didn’t like that and pushed her then Morgan grabbed his life jacket and Peter’s face went into the water.” 

Tony didn’t see how Peter did anything wrong. “I’ll talk to him. You talk to Morgan.” 

“I’ll talk to Peter-” 

“No. Let me.” 

Tony kneeled onto the ground and rubbed Peter’s belly through the bottom of the life jacket. “Hey. Let’s just talk. You aren’t in trouble. I just want to talk to you.” 

Peter pushed his hands away, kicking and screaming. Essentially throwing a massive temper tantrum. 

Tony lifted him up and carried him over to the grass so he wouldn’t hurt himself then he started undoing Peter’s life jacket but Peter grabbed his arm, biting it. “Ow. Peter. Do not bite.” 

“Don’t!” He cried. 

Tony sighed and decided to just sit down on the grass and wait for him to finish his temper tantrum. 

Peter rubbed his eyes then looked over at Tony, making eye contact with him and letting out a loud scream. Tony was grateful the neighbors weren’t right next door like at home. 

He just sat there, staying close if Peter needed him but giving Peter the space to cry. 

After about ten minutes of crying, Peter pushed himself up onto his knees and rubbed his eyes, completely hyperventilating. “N-n-need b-baba!” 

“Shh, calm down now, Peter. You’re going to make yourself sick.” Tony grabbed his life jacket. “Can I take this off you now?” He didn’t know if Peter said yes since he was sobbing and saying something so Tony took it as a yes then removed his bursting diaper and brought him into his arms. “Shh shhh. You’re okay. How about you calm down and tell me what happened then we can talk about it? Yeah?” 

Peter grabbed at his face. “Baba. Daddy.” 

“Do you wanna paci instead?” 

It took a second for Peter to think about it. Tony already had one in his back pocket from this morning. He took it out and put it in his mouth, looking into Peter’s eyes while he sucked on it, occasionally taking it out to take a big breath of air, clearly out of breath from crying so hard. 

His eyes were red, making his eye lashes long and wet and Tony’s heart broke looking at him. 

After a few minutes of Peter calming down, Tony started speaking. “Tell me what happened, baby. I’m not mad and you aren’t in trouble.” 

Peter went to fist Tony’s shirt but Tony wasn’t wearing one so his hand settled on Tony’s chest. “Mmm.” 

“Did Morgan upset you?” 

Peter nodded. 

“What did she do? Can you tell me?” 

Peter took the pacifier out of his mouth, squeezing it. “She touched my privates. I didn’t like it.” 

“Did she touch your diaper or inside your diaper?” 

“My diaper. It’s mine.” 

Tony knew Peter was over exaggerating but he would never tell him that. “That wasn’t very nice of her to do. I can understand why that upset you. But you need to tell mom or me. Not push her.” 

“I did. I says she touched my privates.” 

Tony caressed his cheek. “Okay. What did mom say?” 

Peter stuck the pacifier back into his mouth. “I want milk.” 

“Can you tell me what happened first?” 

Peter rolled off his lap and started crawling away. “No! I already did!” 

Tony sighed, laying down in the grass. He was so exhausted. “Peter. Please. I’ll give you milk if you come back here. Peter.” 

Peter crawled back over, laying his head on Tony’s chest. “What?” 

“I know what happened upset you. But you can’t be pushing or biting people.” 

Peter lifted his head up. “I didn’t bite her.” 

“You bit me. I have the marks to prove it.” 

Peter looked at it. “Sorry. Are you still going to give me milk?” 

“Did I say I was?” 

“You did.” 

“Then I will. I always keep my word.” 

Peter laid his head back on his chest. “Tell me I can keep my bottle.” 

Tony’s heart broke into two. He ran his fingers through Peter’s curls. “Oh baby.” 

They sat in silence, Tony laying on the grass with Peter lying on his chest, both lost in thought. Tony would give anything to be able to know what Peter was thinking. 

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They had quite a busy day working with a lot of strong emotions from Peter and Morgan. 

Tony was grateful for the extra help from Pepper’s parents otherwise he didn’t think he would have made it to bedtime. 

Peter refused to leave Tony’s arms, not even to shower and instead of Tony carrying him into the shower, he decided to skip bathing tonight and simply put Peter down for bed. 

Pepper walked up with a bottle and handed it to Tony who handed it to Peter. “Better?” 

Peter hummed. Tony could see how tired he was but Peter was fighting it so Tony laid down completely and watched Peter, taking comfort from knowing his baby was right by his side. He reached out to touch him, needing that extra bit of comfort himself. 

Tony fell asleep with his hand on Peter’s stomach, feeling it rise and fall with each breath he took. 

He wasn’t worried when he woke up throughout the night and didn’t feel Peter beneath his hand. It wasn’t uncommon for Peter to not stay in the same position all night, in fact, he moved around so much that he often woke himself up from it. 

So Tony rolled onto his other side and began feeling around on the bed but he didn’t feel him so he opened his eyes, sitting up in bed and looking for him. There was a mess of blankets everywhere. Pepper was asleep but Tony didn’t see Peter so he got out of bed and looked on the floor, thinking he fell off but didn’t wake up. 

Still nothing. 

Tony checked the bathroom then left the bedroom to go look in Morgan’s bedroom, not finding him in there either. Tony had flashbacks to the pool drowning so he ran down the stairs and ran straight for the pool, finding it empty. “Peter? Peter?” 

He looked around but it was too dark to see anything anyways and now he was starting to panic. 

Running back up to the house, Tony didn’t care who he woke up. “Peter? Peter?!” Tony ran upstairs and shook Pepper awake. “Wake up. I can’t find Peter. Pepper. I can’t find Peter.” 

Pepper was confused when she woke up. 

“What?” 

“Peter. He’s not here.” 

She got out of bed and immediately started looking in all the same places Tony just looked in but she went into her parent’s bedroom, expecting to find him cuddled between them but he wasn’t. “Mom. Dad. Wake up. We can’t find Peter.” 

“Virginia? What’s going on?” Mike got out of bed first, looking around and getting his slippers on. “What’s wrong with Peter?” 

“We can’t find him.” 

Tony ran downstairs and began looking everywhere, trying to think where Peter would have gone in the middle of the night. “Peter?! Where are you? Peter?!” 

He ran his hand through his messy hair, feeling a panic attack coming on if he didn’t lay his eyes on his son in the next minute. 

He reached for the phone, calling the police. 

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Peter was walking down the sidewalk, towards the park. 

He was sleepwalking and wasn’t aware of what he was doing or where he was going. 

He turned and stared at the car driving towards him then continued walking towards the field. 

“Kid. Hey! Kid.” 

Peter kept walking. 

The police officer pulled their car over, turning their lights on and they got out. They happened to be in the right place at the right time because if someone with bad intentions happened to find Peter first, that wouldn’t end well. 

The first man walked towards the child, shining a flashlight in his face that Peter looked away from. “Hey. What are you doing out here?” 

Peter continued walking so the two of them followed him, not wanting to touch him if they didn’t have to. “Kid. What’s your name? Where are your parents?” 

The police officer looked at his partner. “He looks like he’s sleep walking.” He stood in front of Peter to stop him from walking any further. “Hey. Kid. What’s your name? How old are you?” 

He grabbed Peter’s arm, turning it over to check for any bruising or cuts then did the same with his other arm. “Do you think he’s drugged? Kid?” Snapping his fingers in Peter’s face, Peter didn’t even budge, just looking at them. 

“Shit. I’m calling it in.” He pressed the radio on his shoulder. “Dispatch 435. I’ve got a child alone here. Male, around eleven or twelve. He’s wearing nothing but a shirt and pyjama shorts. He’s not responding to us. Possibly drugged.” 

The police officer holding onto Peter’s arm was still trying to get his attention. 

He gently slapped his cheek. “Kid. Can you hear me?” The man lifted up Peter’s shirt, checking for any signs of abuse but finding none. “He looks healthy.” He said to his partner. “Kid? What’s your name? Can you hear me?” 

The other man lifted Peter’s top up again, tugging on the ruffles sticking out of his pyjama shorts. “He’s wearing a diaper.” 

“What does dispatch say?” 

Peter tried to walk away from them. “He’s coming. Have to hide.” 

“Wait. Who’s coming? Kid? Did someone kidnap you?” 

Peter continued to try and weakly get away. “He’ll be here soon. I have to run.” 

“Who kidnapped you? Kid?” The man snapped his fingers in front of Peter’s face and it snapped him out of his sleeping walking state. Peter’s eyes focused on the strangers in front of him and started breathing heavily, looking around with wide terrified eyes. 

Dark. Cold. Raining. 

Peter began screaming. 

He yanked himself out of the man’s hands and went to run away but someone else was grabbing him so he grabbed their hand and bit him as hard as he could until he was dropped then he was grabbed again, held from the back so he couldn’t move. 

“Nooo! Nooo! Let me go! Please! Help! Help!” 

“Kid, you’re okay. We’re here to help you. Look, we're the police.” 

Peter was let go but just so he could see their badges. He fell to his knees and started sobbing, looking around him for his dad or any familiar faces. “Where’s my dad?! I want my dad!” 

“Hey. Just talk to us. What’s your name?” He kneeled down in front of the boy, trying to appear as little intimidating as possible. 

Peter looked around wildly, still shaking like a leaf on a windy day. “P-Peter. Peter Stark.” 

They both looked at each other. They knew that name. 

“No way.” 

One of the police officers pulled out his phone to look up the name, pulling up a picture that he recognized. “It’s him. I was on his case eleven years ago the day he went missing in Manhattan, New York.” 

“I heard of that case.” 

Peter was too scared to listen to anything they were saying. He just wanted his dad. “Come here, Peter. Let’s get you to your parents.” He stood up, lifting the boy into his arms and walking back to their car, speaking into his radio. “The child’s name is Peter Stark. His parents are going to come looking for him soon.” 

“Copy that. We already got the call. We’ll update them now.” 

The police officer sat in the passenger seat with Peter on his lap, trying to distract the scared child. “So how old are you now, Peter?” 

“Fourteen.” Peter responded in a quiet voice. 

“Wow. So what do you like to do?” 

Peter just wanted his dad. “Build… Legos. Where’s my dad?” 

“He’ll be here soon. Did you run away?” 

Peter shrugged. He didn’t know how he got here. “I… I don’t know. I… I-I-I was just s-sleeping with my dad. Then… I’m here.” 

Sleepwalking the police officer noted. 

“Alright. Well how about we let your dad know.” He held him for a few more minutes, not saying anything then he pointed to the buttons there. “Have you ever been in a police car before?” Peter nodded. “Do you know what these buttons do?” 

Peter didn’t care. He shook his head blankly. 

It didn’t take long after that for a black pickup truck to pull up and for Tony to run out, looking around wildly. “Where is he?” 

The police officer in the car stood up so the father could see his son and Tony was immediately at Peter’s side, taking him into his arms. “Oh. Oh my baby. What happened? I was so worried. Oh my god. Peter.” 

Tony held him tightly, feeling Peter shaking and trembling against him. He was so worried. Literally worried sick to his stomach. He just couldn’t take this anymore… his heart was going to fucking give out. 

“Mr. Stark, we found your son walking down the sidewalk. He seemed to be in a dazed state and we later found out he was sleep walking. Has your son ever exhibited any of these behaviours before?” 

Tony was holding Peter so tightly. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, um, he has. Never this badly. Oh god, Peter.” Tony had no fucking idea how he got so far. He had to drive at least ten minutes to get here. Speeding. 

“Tonight could have ended very differently if someone else found him first. Please make sure your doors are locked at night with child safety locks. Have a good night.” 

Tony thanked them and got Peter into the truck. He was shaking so badly though. He was just so terrified. How the fuck did this happen? How? He made sure the alarm in the house was on. How? 

The drive back home was silent. 

Peter and him were both trying to calm down the best they could, clinging onto each other like their life depended on it. Tony was so scared. So freaking scared that his heart still hadn’t stopped beating so quickly. 

It was like his body went into shock whenever something happened to Peter. 

It was probably PTSD. 

It was definitely PTSD. 

He just didn’t know what to do about it. 

Eventually, they got home and Tony carried Peter upstairs, not bothering to let anyone else see or hold or hold him. He needed Peter right now and Peter needed him. 

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Tony eventually had to let go of Peter. 

And Peter seemed ready for him to let him go because he was wiggling in his arms and wanting to be set free. If it were up to Tony, he would have held him for the whole day. And longer. 

He stood up after seeing that Peter was playing nicely with his toys on the floor. 

In the kitchen, Pepper was washing some bottles and plastic bowls. “Hey. How are you feeling?” 

Tony grabbed a bowl of fruit from the fridge and started eating it, just needed something sweet to eat. “I’m fine.” 

“Are you though? Last night you didn’t go back to sleep.” 

“Yeah because,” Tony turned to make sure Peter was still out of ear shot then lowered his voice. “I was terrified of him leaving again. He was sleep walking. He rarely ever does that. And when he does he fucking walks so fucking far. Why the fuck did it take me so long to wake up and notice. What if those police officers didn’t find him? What if some creep did?” 

Pepper looked at him, turning off the tap and facing him. “But the police did find him. He’s okay. The alarm didn’t go off because it wasn’t turned on. My parents don’t put the alarm on every night. They must have forgotten last night. But we should have checked. That’s on both of us. But now we know.” 

Tony didn’t know how he forgot. “I’m just so tired. My mind isn’t thinking straight at the end of the day. I-I didn’t think of it.” 

“Don’t beat yourself up over it. Peter’s okay. Please don’t let this eat you up. We learned. Let’s fix our mistakes and let it go now.” 

Tony placed the bowl on the counter and put his head in his hands. He was still on edge and feeling like this was all his fault. Because it was. 

He felt something touching his side and he thought it was Pepper but when he opened his eyes and looked down, it was Peter and he automatically smiled. “Hey.” 

“Hi. Can you play with me?” 

Tony was happy he asked. “Yeah, baby. Let’s go play.” 

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Peter was bored of playing with Morgan. 

He sat on the kitchen island, watching his mom cook some dinner for them but he was beyond bored. His dad got mad at him for biting his sister and separated them but it didn’t even matter because he didn’t want to play with Morgan anymore anyways. 

Peter sighed, getting his mom’s attention. “What’s wrong?”

“I want a bottle.” 

“No. Not right now. You can have one before bed. Dad changed your diaper three times in the last hour. No more milk.” Pepper dumped the corn into the pot, stirring it. “Hop off the counter because I’m going to start cutting and I don’t need you sticking your fingers here.” 

Peter jumped off, pouting and stomping his way upstairs. 

He was going to go into Morgan’s room but passed by it instead and went into the laundry room, sniffing the good smelling air. “Mmm. It smells good.” 

He looked around for some comfier clothes to put on but he couldn’t find any and found a box of candies instead. Grabbing a stool to reach the glass jar, Peter climbed up onto it and opened the lid, grabbing two out. 

He knew it wasn’t like the ones at home for the laundry because this one came in a glass jar and it even smelt like a lollipop. 

So Peter sat down and took a bite of one of them, finding it tough to break the seal of plastic but when he did, the disgusting liquid poured into his mouth. 

Peter tried to spit it out but the awful taste was still there so he began crying. 

Tony was downstairs talking with Mike when he heard the distant crying coming from upstairs. He knew that was Peter’s cry but he had no idea why he was crying so he stood up and ran upstairs. 

Following the sound of the cries, Tony pushed open the laundry room door and found Peter sitting on the floor, a laundry ball in his hand and another in his mouth, dripping down his chin. 

“Peter. Oh my god.” Tony picked Peter up and turned to the sink, turning it on and rinsing his mouth under the water when Pepper walked in. 

“What happened?” 

“He ate a fu- a laundry detergent ball!” Tony tried to wipe Peter’s face the best he could but he had no idea if he swallowed any. “Stop moving your head, I have to rinse your mouth. Spit.” 

“What?” Pepper saw the mess on the floor and walked in to look at Peter, clearly uncomfortable and distraught. “The whole thing?” 

“I don’t know!” Tony rinsed Peter’s mouth again. “Spit.” Peter clearly hated him doing this but Tony didn’t care. “How much did you eat, Peter? Did you eat the whole thing?” 

Peter was still crying and trying to turn his head away. 

“What’s going on? Is Peter okay?” Alice pushed into the room to see, looking at the mess on the floor. “What happened?” 

“Peter ate laundry detergent, mom. That’s what happened.” Pepper looked at the glass jar on the laundry machine that was out in the open for one, and did look extremely inviting for someone like Peter who put everything he saw in his mouth. “Why is this out in the open?” 

“So I can do laundry, Virginia. I didn’t know he would come in and eat it.” She turned to Tony. “Is he okay?” 

“I don’t know how much he ate.” Tony turned Peter to put him on his hip and left the room, bringing him into the bedroom to change both their shirts. He needed to know how much Peter ate. “Peter, stop crying. You’re okay now. You need to tell me if you swallowed any? Did you?” 

Peter rubbed his eyes. 

“Did you just bite it? Or did you eat some?” 

“I… it was yucky. I-I just wanted to try it. I think it was candy…” 

Tony caressed his face. “Did you swallow any?” 

Peter shook his head, rubbing it into Tony’s chest. “No. It was too yucky. I didn’t like it.” He pulled back to look up at his father. “Are-are you mad at me?”

“I’m not mad at you. But you scared me. You can’t be putting things in your mouth if you don’t know what they are. Did you swallow any?” He asked again, having to take Peter’s word for it. Peter shook his head again. “Why were you in there?” 

“Cause… it smelt good.” 

Tony lifted Peter off the bed and walked downstairs with him. He wanted to keep him in his sight for the rest of the day now. “Can you play nicely here? No going anywhere else.” 

Peter didn’t want to leave his fathers lap anyways. 

“… because that’s what he does, mom.” Pepper argued, walking into the living room with her mom. 

“Well I didn’t know.” 

“I told you to lock up these kinds of stuff. We have so many locked doors and drawers at home because he gets into everything.” 

Peter sat up to listen to them and Tony didn’t want him hearing that. 

“Pepper, Alice, he’s okay. Just let it go. He didn’t swallow any.” 

Pepper turned to see Peter watching her with wide eyes. It scared her that Peter acted this way, they couldn’t have eyes on him at all times so it was difficult to let him go, knowing he was going to get himself into some kind of trouble. 

“Peter, honey. You can’t do those things.” 

“I didn’t.” 

“But you did.” 

Peter stuck his thumb in his mouth then leaned up to whisper in Tony’s ear. “I want paci.” 

Tony looked at Pepper to see if she heard but it didn’t look like she did. “He wants a pacifier.” 

Pepper sat back on the couch, knowing what Tony was going to do anyways. “You decide.” 

Peter was looking at him so hopefully so Tony stood up, carrying Peter with him. “Why do you want one so badly, baby?” 

“Cause… I like it.” 

Tony knew the sucking motions brought him comfort but he found that Peter was asking for it more often lately and Tony didn’t know if that meant Peter was struggling more or needed more comfort. 

“Better than your bottle?” 

Peter didn’t know. He loved both. Although if he had to pick, he would pick his bottle because he liked drinking milk. “I dunno.” 

“That’s okay. You can have your soother until you feel ready to give it back to me.” Tony opened up the nightstand table drawer and grabbed it, holding it up to Peter’s mouth then Peter was wrapping his arms around Tony’s neck and sighing in contentment. 

Tony felt guilty for giving it to him but the comfort Peter was receiving was totally worth it.