Back Again
It had been a little over two months since the ‘de-ageing’ scandal. Tony was still little, and the team was getting more and more used it day by day. Which, really, wasn’t Loki’s intention.
Watching from Asgard, Loki scowled every time the sun set and Tony Stark was still as young as he was when the day began. Sincerely, the God of Mischief was getting sick of it. What would it take for his teammates to just ask him how he was feeling? Instead of just... skirting around the topic as if it was a bad bit of cheese.
With a scowl, Loki put down the ‘magic glasses’ he wore. His legs, covered in his favourite pair of black trousers, got up from his seat and took him to the edge of the room he was sat in. He glanced into the reflective surface, making sure he was presentable. With a flick of his long (green and black) cape, Loki started to walk towards the bifrost. He had work to do, after all.
He had a plan. A ‘Peter Parker’ plan. With a blow of magic, he made sure that the teenager was on his way over to the tower (even if he wasn’t sure why).
Hours later...
Tony Stark was sat, looking up at a young teenager. He hadn’t seen this boy before, and from the way the boy looked down at him, he was sure that this teen was equally as concerned. None of the other adults were around... apparently they had ‘business to tend to’.
“Uh, Mr Stark?” The teen questioned, putting his pencil between his lips. He had been working on his high-school homework at the tower, forced into baby-sitting duties that he didn’t even know needed to be done. No wonder his mentor hadn’t contacted him in a while, he had quickly realised. “Um, I mean- Tony. Uh, how are you? Are you hungry?”
“Uh, no!” Tony smiled, crawling up close to the teen. He stared at his face, tilting his head. “Who are you? Uncle Steve said that you’re really smart. Did you know that I’m smart too?”
“My name is, um, Peter. Peter Parker,” the teen, no Peter, replied. Tony was a little scared of him. Just like a spider, however, Tony figured that Peter was more scared of him than he was him. “And, uh, yeah I did know that. You’re so smart, a lot smarter than me.”
Tony’s little brow furrowed, as he looked over the sheet that Peter was writing on. He looked back up at Peter, frowning. “No, I don’t think so. You’re really smart, Mr Parker.”
Peter chuckled, which made Tony confused. He didn’t say anything funny, did he? But Peter looked very happy, so Tony smiled too. What he didn’t know was that Peter missed the older him, and that the older him would always say similar things.
Tony started to get bored, just sitting on the sofa. So, he made a plan. He took Peter’s hand and started to cry, knowing that the boy would fold to his every want to stop the tears from falling.
It worked.
In ten minutes, Peter had Tony Stark in his arms and was stood in the line of an ice cream van. The line was long, for a truck, and Peter was tapping his foot impatiently on the ground beneath him. He was smiling to himself, using his other hand to scroll through his phone. Wow, he was strong. Good at multitasking too.
Tony, however, wasn’t focused on Peter’s phone. Instead, he was looking over the menu. Daddy had only taken him too get ice cream a few times, so he wasn’t sure what to get. Maybe he’d get a simple scoop of vanilla ice cream in a chocolate cone. Yeah, that sounded good.
“Hey, Tony?” Peter asked, as the two of them moved over to a bench. Tony was tucking into his ice cream, eating it a little too protectively. Peter recognised the look in his eyes. He was scared someone was going to take it away. “Um... did you do this sort of thing much?”
Tony bit into the ice cream, wincing when the cold texture hurt his teeth. “Um, no? Not really, Mr Parker.”
“So would you say you were happy at home?” Peter asked, knowing that it was only a secret in between getting his mentor back. “Was your dad nice to you?”
“No,” Tony pouted, “But... I don’t want to talk about that, actually. Can’t you tell me about how to do that maths you were doing instead?”
Peter sighed, finishing off his own ice cream. He looked over at the toddler, before dropping the conversation all together. “Sure. So, here’s how you do it-,”
They went back to the Avengers tower, Tony sat on top of Peter’s shoulders. Peter kept slipping Tony’s dad into conversation, trying his best to get the little one to admit something bad was happening at home. He was just... sure of it that this was the ‘secret’ Tony had been harbouring all these years.
When they got inside, Loki was stood there in the middle of the room. He was bound by the wrists, smiling mischievously as Steve Rogers said something to him.
When the two small Avengers walked in, everyone’s eyes went on them. They pushed Loki aside, but Tony still saw him.
“Mr Loki!” Tony called, “You’re wearing your horns again!”
Steve’s eyes went wide, as well as everyone else’s (but, especially, Steve). They looked furious, as if someone had just personally attacked them.
“Don’t speak to him, Tony,” Natasha warned, taking him off Peter’s shoulders. She tucked him into her side, brushing his hair with a comforting hand. “He’s a bad man, sweetheart.”
“N-No, I met him before! When I went to bed the other night... he was really nice to me!” Tony pouted, trying to push himself away from Natasha’s hands. He locked eyes with Steve, who’s hand was digging into Loki’s arm. “No! Uncle Steve, no! Don’t hurt him, please!”
The rest of the Avengers finally yielded, letting Loki’s hands free. Tony ran to the God, who picked him up (surprising everyone in the room). Loki glared at the team as he talked to Tony, wanting nothing more than to make sure the team knew how good this man was/is.
“Speak to him,” Loki said, coming back from putting Tony in his room. “He shall return to his original form if you figure out his secret,” The God rolled his eyes. “It might help you if you actually question his past you know,” he added, before turning to green dust and leaving.
“I tried today. He might not answer me- as, I’m not good with getting anything out of him. He always hides his feelings from me... Why don’t you all go in... you know, kind of like an intervention?” Peter offered, still in awe of Loki’s magic. His eyes were slightly wide, never being up close to his powers before. “Also, why on earth has nobody called Mr Rhodes? He knows Tony the most!”
Steve was a little taken back, realising that Peter was right. He looked around at the rest of the group, sheepish, and he took his phone out, dialling Rhodey’s phone number. Putting the phone to his ear, the other answered immediately.
“Oh thank god! Steve, is he okay? Tony hasn’t answered any of my calls for two months and I haven’t been able to come over there. Please tell me that he’s not dead?” Rhodey answered, sounding terrified and relieved at the same time. When Steve didn’t reply, Rhodey made a broken noise. “God, he’s dead. He’s dead, isn’t he?”
“No, no- Rhodey, he’s not dead,” Steve replied, quickly pulled out of his thoughts at the urgency in Rhodey’s voice. “There’s just a-a situation...”
“A situation? Come on, Steve. Just tell me,” Rhodey replied, “I’ve been so worried-“
“He’s sort of- uh, been turned into a toddler?” Steve replied, awkwardly biting his bottom lip. He listened to the silence on the other end, sighing harshly. “Uh, I’m not joking. I was just wondering if you’d come over? We- well, Peter, figured that you know him the best and-,”
“I’m on my way.”
Rhodey arrived hours later, walking in with a stressed look on his face. He walked straight to Peter, giving him a warm welcome like he always did. With his arm still around the teenager’s shoulders, he looked at the toddler on the floor with a grimace.
“Oh, Tones,” Rhodey sighed, kneeling down. “Look at you...,”
Tony tilted his head. “Who are you? Are you an army man? My daddy knew a few of those, they were always scary looking. You don’t look scary looking though. Not at all.”
“Still a talker, aren’t you?” Rhodey asked, smiling. “My name’s James Rhodes (people call me Rhodey), little one. I think I know you very well.”
“R-Really? Do you know magic?” Tony asked, eyes wide.
“I do, my boy,” Rhodey smiled. He took the little one’s hand. “Is it okay if I carry you?” When the boy nodded, he picked him up. He walked over to where his bag was. He had brought a photo of Howard with him, which he printed out on the way over. “Do you recognise him, sweetheart?”
“That’s daddy,” Tony nodded. His frown was aggressive, looking at the framed photo as if it was offending him. He looked up at Rhodey, hiding his face into his chest.
“We don’t like him, do we?” Rhodey said.
He knew all about how mean Howard Stark was. Well, he didn’t know the whole extent of it. Howard scared Tony so much, that he had been scared to speak of it even when the man passed away. Tony was staring at it again, eyes wide and distressed. Rhodey pushed the frame down.
“No!” Tony cried. “No, I don’t!”
“Can you tell me why? And don’t be scared, honey. You can tell us anything. You’ll be safe,” He said, holding Tony (and he always knew how to get his best friend to speak).
Tony looked down. He squeezed Rhodey’s arm, tears bubbling up in his eyes. Something inside his little brain was telling him that this man was trustworthy. That this man wouldn’t yell at him. “C-Can I whisper it to you?”
“Of course, little one,” Rhodey told him.
“He hits me, Mr Rhodey,” Tony said, loud enough for everyone to hear him. “He hits me every single day of my life a-and he gets his friends to do it and- he tells me I’m stupid a-and that I’ll never amount to anything. He’d always say that he wished I was never born and that Mr Rogers was better than me..,”
Suddenly, a bright light began to emit from Tony’s body. Rhodey put him down and watched, his breath caught in his throat. They team watched as the little figure began to turn back into an adult, his familiar muscles growing before his eyes. They caught sight of his goatee, his guarded eyes, and everything was back to normal...
Tony stood, blinking, in the under-suit he had been wearing underneath the Iron Man suit when he was first turned into the little toddler.
“Mr Stark!” Peter cried out, flinging his arms around his mentor. “I missed you!”
Tony froze into the hug, until he finally melted into it. He put his chin on his shoulder, cuddling into Peter’s body. He remembered everything that had happened in the last two months, so Peter was the way for him to get out of this. He closed his eyes, stroking the kid’s back as he held onto him.
“Hey, kid,” Tony whispered.
“I should be calling you that, Mr Stark,” Peter smiled. He looked into his eyes as he pulled away, frowning when he recognised the forlorn look in the man’s eyes. “Are you okay?”
Tony looked around at the sympathetic looks in his team’s face. He turned around, walking straight down towards his lab. He ignored the looks of everyone else, shutting himself in his lab.
“Hey, J. I missed you,” he said to the ceiling, “Set the lockdown procedures would you? Only let Pete and Rhodey in, okay?” He said, relaxing into his seat. He stared into the holograms, deciding to catch up on his work. “Fuck,” he whispered to himself, putting his head into his hands.
Stupid Loki. Stupid, stupid, God. He never wanted this secret to get out. He never wanted everyone to look at him like he was a scared, little, boy. He had tried to forget about his dad and everything he did to him. Now... now everything was back. Now Steve was going to treat him like glass. He was going to look at him like he was going to breakdown every second. Would they kick him off the team?
And, god, the things he said. How doting they were to him. He was never going to be able to show his face again.
“Tony?” Rhodey walked in, Peter by his side. He saw the feet of the other teammates, but they couldn’t get into his lab and Tony definitely didn’t want them there. “Buddy...,”
“Don’t look at me like that, please,” Tony begged, “Not you too, kiddo. Please, I’m fine,” Tony said. He gestured for Peter to come and sit in his favourite spot, right on top of Tony’s desk. He took the kid’s hand, threading their fingers together. It grounded him for a second. “Honestly, I got over all of that years ago.”
“B-But... Mr Stark,” Peter pouted, looking down at him. “I hate that he hurt you.”
“I know, bubba,” Tony sighed, patting his lap. He let Peter sit down there, putting his arms around his waist. “I’m okay. Just hate that Loki brought it all up again, that’s all.”
“N-No, Mr Stark, that’s not it...,” Peter shook his head, “You have to talk about it...,”
“The kid’s right, Tones,” Rhodey replied, settling in behind him. He put a hand on the man’s shoulder, waiting for him to look up. “Nobody’s going to look at you any differently.”
“Rhodey...,”
“Seriously, man,” Rhodey stopped him. “This isn’t something you gloss over and pretend as if it never happened. This is something you go and talk about. This is something you NEED to talk about.”
Tony sighed. He stopped himself from swearing, as sweet, innocent, ears were listening. He cuddled into Peter more, his life-line. He hugged his boy and wondered how anyone could do this. How could someone look at a kid and hit them?
He felt himself welling up, but he couldn’t cry. He was strong. He wasn’t the same kid he was... a few minutes ago. What if Rhodey looked at him and dismissed him... as if was a stupid, whimpering, child.
Peter squeezed his hand, putting his head onto his mentor’s shoulder. “I love you guys,” Tony whispered into his chest, “I’ll talk about it soon, okay. Just... give me time.”
“Okay, Mr Stark. I love you more,” Peter replied.
Tony’s heart fluttered. He tightly smiled up at Rhodey, who didn’t look as convinced as Peter did. “I love you most, kiddo,” he whispered, not looking away from Rhodey.
Hours later, after working on a project with Peter and Rhodey...
Tony put Peter onto a sofa in the corner of his lab, as he started to fall asleep. He kissed the boy on the top of the forehead and fished through his pocket to find the Black Widow figure his little self had liked so much. He tucked that into the kid’s pocket. He’d like it a lot more than him.
Tony walked back over to his workbench. “J?” He asked, knowing Rhodey’s eyes were still on him. “Where’s the team?”
“The team is ‘staging an intervention’ outside your lab door. They have been there ever since you returned to us,” The AI’s voice came through the speakers. Tony sighed. “Would you like me to lift the lockdown procedures, sir?”
Tony sighed. Again. If he was going to speak about this shit, it wasn’t going to be in front of his kid. They’d have to do it upstairs. “Fine, J. Do it.”
Tony walked with the team, highly aware of how they stared. He was nervous, but he continued upstairs. He had to.
They were sat in a circle, Tony in the middle like he was a priceless ornament on sale at an auction. He looked down at his feet as nobody said a word. They waited for him to spark the conversation.
“So-,” Steve tried, after everyone exchanged looks for ten minutes.
“No, I can’t,” Tony said, suddenly back up on his feet. His back hit the wall as he tried to step away. He winced, looking around at everyone’s faces. “I’m fine. Please, look, I am fin-,”
Tony was interrupted by Loki appearing again. At the sight of ‘older’ Tony, his grin turned into a genuine smile. “Anthony Stark!” He said, “I see you’re back to normal.”
Tony’s hand worked on his own accord. A gauntlet was formed around his wrist in seconds. He found himself pointing it towards the God, his breathing heavy and erratic.
“Why? Why did you do this to me?” He shouted. Nobody made a move to stop him.
“Stark... I only wanted them to fully understand you. They did not appreciate your kindness and what you did for them. I was only trying to help,” Loki said, a frown on his face. For once he had genuinely thought he was helping the situation...
“It wasn’t your secret to tell! I didn’t want anyone to know that I was beat as a kid, Loki! There was a reason why it was a secret. So, thanks. Thanks a lot,” Tony growled. “Now everyone thinks I’m weak,” he pointed out. “And now- now I can’t stop thinking about it! I’ve spent years trying to forget about that man and-,”
Seeing Peter stood awkwardly in the corridor, Tony immediately calmed down. He dropped the gauntlet, walking over to where his kid was. “Come on, Pete,” he said, “Lets go get some ice cream, my treat.”
“You do owe me,” Peter chuckled, smiling very wide when Tony laughed back.
Tony walked away with Peter, making sure that he wasn’t looking into anyone’s eyes when he did. Peter got him and Pete was his distraction whenever everything got too much, which happened a lot.
The duo sat on the bench. The same bench that Peter took Tony’s toddler self to earlier. They ate ice cream together, in silence, as they talked about everything that wasn’t Howard Stark. Tony kept looking over at him, his kid. His usual distraction method of looking at Pete stopped working. He just saw himself in Peter’s eyes. Just a scared little boy, terrified of his own father and what he could do to him. Peter could tell what was happening, but he didn’t say a word.
“You know that I love you, right?” Tony said, as the sun went down and the heat turned to wind.
What went unspoken, however, was Tony’s insecurity. ‘I’m not like him, am I?” was what Peter knew the man wanted to ask.
“Of course,” Peter admitted, “Mr Stark, you’re the best dad on planet earth.”
And with his words, ‘of course you’re not,’ was his unspoken response.
“Dad, huh?”
“Well, of course!” Peter responded, as if it was the most obvious statement on planet earth.
Tony looked into the horizon, knowing he’d have to talk about this soon. But, for now, he wasn’t alone. Because Peter Parker was by his side, reminding him of the person he knew he was. The person who had shown Howard Stark that he would forever be a better man than he ever was.