Together till the end of time
The first thing Tony did when they arrived at the underground parking at the hotel was scan the area for anyone.
Nowadays, even someone looking unsuspicious could still be a threat so he wasn’t going to take any chances.
Once he saw that everything was okay, he got out of the car with Peter and grabbed onto his hand. “Are you feeling tired?”
Peter rubbed at his eyes even as he shook his head, confirming for Tony that Peter was in fact tired. He couldn’t imagine how exhausted Peter was, he knew Peter couldn’t sleep without either of his parents being close by and he was away from them for four days. He had no idea if Peter managed to get a proper night's sleep in that time.
He didn’t think so.
Tony looked over at Pepper. She was staring at Peter with sad eyes that said everything they needed to. Harley was avoiding making eye contact with either him or Peter and Morgan wouldn’t leave Pepper’s side.
If Steve hadn’t already died, Tony would have killed the man.
It still didn’t make any sense how he managed to get out of the mental institution. Him and Barnes were locked away on separate sides of the country but somehow they managed to end up together, only to escape later on.
There was still something missing from all of this. Some important factors that they were missing out on.
Tony didn’t know but he had to focus on Peter right now. He pulled Peter along and walked into the elevator with the rest of his family following behind them. They had no clothes or anything for the night so Tony might have to leave to get a few things.
They passed by two men in the hallway which had Peter leaning into Tony’s side more so Tony pulled him closer. He wanted to know what was going on in Peter’s head.
“These two rooms are ours.” Pepper unlocked one of the hotel doors for their family to walk inside. She booked two rooms since Pepper wasn’t sure where Peter wanted to sleep but both parents wanted him in the same room and it only had two beds so Morgan and Harley would sleep in the next room together.
Tony quickly ushered Peter in and locked the door behind them once everyone was inside. “Go take a shower, Peter, I’m gonna go get some things in the lobby.”
Peter quickly grabbed onto Tony’s hand again. “No! You can’t. I-I mean… just, stay. Please. I don’t want you to go anywhere.”
He looked around the room and slowly let go of Tony’s hand to walk over to the beds and look under it, just making sure no one was there and this wasn’t a set up.
When he stood back up, his family was staring at him so he awkwardly rubbed at his arm and looked away from them. “Um… you-you can go, dad. It’s fine.”
Tony hesitated. Peter was trying to put a brave face on and Tony hated that. “You’re allowed to feel scared or anxious.”
Peter nodded then shook his head and walked towards the bathroom. “No, yeah, it’s fine. I’m fine. I’m gonna um… I’m gonna shower, okay?”
Both Tony and Pepper nodded, waiting for Peter to step into the bathroom but he didn't. It’s like he’s waiting for someone to help him but then his eyes went wide and he quickly went inside the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.
“Call me if you need me. I’m gonna pick up a few things for us for tonight.” Tony pulled out his wallet to make sure he had his card. He doesn’t want to leave but he doesn’t want to send anyone else so he was going to go.
Inside the bathroom, Peter sat on the toilet seat and stared down at his hands. He didn’t know how he got like this. He didn’t know how just four simple days could erase years of progress and recovery.
He was ruined now. There was no coming back from this.
Peter noticed that his thumb had entered his mouth so he quickly pulled it out and sat on his hands, remembering a time when he had that problem at ten years old.
Morgan was ten. She was the same age as he was when he found out his whole life was a lie and her life is so much more different than his.
Their parents don’t help her with her baths or washing her hair, they don’t help her fall asleep and she definitely doesn’t sleep with their parents and hadn’t in a long time. Peter still does… did?
He groaned in frustration and stood up to turn the shower on. He was back to the beginning now only this time, this time he knew that he should and could get dressed and undressed by himself but he doesn’t necessarily want to.
He wants to want to. But he doesn’t. Instead, he stood there, fully dressed and stared at the running water.
Peter didn’t know how long he stood there for. No one knocked on the door which he took as a good sign since he didn’t want anyone thinking he was anything but okay… he knew that wasn’t the truth though.
Peter looked down at himself and then started stripping from his clothes until he was naked. He then stepped into the shower but as soon as the water hit his skin, he broke down, curling into a ball on the shower floor.
The last time he took a shower and not bathed in a bath by Steve, his life was normal and now it wasn’t. He hated Steve so much.
He hated himself for not fighting harder when he was kidnapped at his school.
He hated his dad for not finding him sooner and he hated himself even more for hating his dad.
Life was so unfair. Harley always used to say that to him, that Peter was dealt a bad hand and Peter always used to think Harley was crazy because he was lucky that he had a mom and a dad and two siblings and a dog but now… now he was thinking Harley was right.
Peter released a sob and tried to bite his finger to be quiet. He didn’t want to annoy his family anymore since he put them through too much already.
It wasn’t fair to them.
Suddenly, there’s a hand on his shoulder so Peter snapped his head up and saw Tony kneeling there, looking at him with such heartbreak. Peter moved away from him. “I-I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t say sorry. It’s okay, Peter. You’re gonna be okay. We’re gonna be okay.”
Peter tried to hold onto those words. He let out another sob. “I’m just- I just… I hate him. I hate him so much ‘cause-‘cause I was fine. And now I’m not!”
Tony doesn’t care about getting wet, he leaned into the shower and turned off the way too cold water and grabbed onto Peter’s arm. “You’re allowed to hate him and not feel guilty about that. He took you away from your life. From me.”
Peter looked at his dad and completely sobbed.
He hated how much he missed Tony while he was gone and how he felt sick without the man, like he couldn’t even function.
Tony pulled Peter against his chest, not caring that Peter was soaking wet. “Shh, I’m here now. I got you. I got you.”
Peter shut his eyes and tried to soak in his dad’s scent. He went way too long without him and he felt sick without him. He shut his eyes and gripped his T-shirt, whimpering.
“I-I don’t want you to leave, okay? Just stay. Just stay with me.” Peter wanted his dad to promise that. He didn’t want to go back to school or sleep in his own bed or even leave the house without his dad. He wanted him to stay.
“Okay. Okay, I promise.” Tony already planned on never leaving Peter.
Peter nodded and gripped onto his dad tightly. “I wanna go home. Can we go home now?”
“We will tomorrow. Just one more night.” Tony pulled away from Peter for a second, hearing the whine that escaped Peter. “I’m just grabbing a towel so you can dry off. I have pyjamas for you.”
Tony grabbed a towel and wrapped it around Peter, helping him stand up after.
He felt like he didn’t know what to do, like he didn’t know how exactly to help his kid or how to comfort him.
Before, he knew exactly what to do because he knew what Peter wanted or what he was thinking just by looking at him. Now, Tony was at a loss.
He rubbed Peter’s arm through the towel and tried to read his face. He got nothing from him. “I can bring your pyjamas in the bathroom for you if you want?”
Peter chewed on the corner of the towel as he thought about it. “Uh… where’s-where’s everyone else?”
“They’re in the room. Just out that door.” Tony waited for Peter to say something and when he didn’t, Tony spoke again. “Do you want to put your pyjamas on and go see them?”
“Yeah. Yeah, but… I need help. Okay?” Peter turned to look at his dad, looking undecided about something.
“But you don’t, Peter.” The father whispered, caressing Peter’s cheek. “You don’t need help anymore. Remember?”
Peter wanted to do it by himself but he couldn’t. He knew how but… he didn’t want to. Steve was in his mind already and he wasn’t going anywhere this time. Peter chewed on his towel, waiting for Tony to help him but then there was a knock on the door.
“Yeah?” Tony asked, looking towards the door to watch Pepper walk in and close the door behind her.
“How’s it going in here?” She shared a look with Tony that went unnoticed by Peter.
Tony decided on what to say in front of Peter but he wasn’t going to sugarcoat anything. “Peter wants me to help him put his pyjamas on but he can do it by himself, right, Pep?”
Pepper pulled Peter against his side to give him a half hug that Peter melted into. He realized that his dad won’t help him so he turned to his mom. “You help me then.”
“Aw, baby. But you can do it by yourself. You’ve gotten dressed so many times before. I know you can do it by yourself.” She tried to encourage Peter but he still wasn’t making any move.
Peter shook his head aggressively. “No. Please. I need help. Now I do.”
Tony gave in. “Okay.” He grabbed Peter’s pyjamas and held the pants out for Peter to step into.
Pepper left the bathroom to wait for them in the room. Harley was lying on the bed watching the same cartoon as Morgan was watching, both of them looking incredibly exhausted. “Your dad is just helping Peter get his pyjamas on then he’ll be out for you guys to say goodnight to him.”
Harley looked over at her. “Dad’s helping Peter again?”
Pepper didn’t answer him but that was answer enough.
Everyone turned to look at Peter when Tony and him walked out. Peter scanned the room and crawled onto the bed that his siblings were on. He missed them.
He laid down next to Morgan. “What’re you watchin’?”
Morgan stared at him. “Um… just Franklin. It’s all that’s on.”
Peter used to love watching Franklin when he was younger but not so much anymore. Although he did take some comfort in it.
Before he even realized what he was doing, his thumb was going into his mouth.
Tony patted Peter’s leg, silently telling him it was okay to continue with what he was doing. Tony knew it comforted him and who was he to take that comfort away right now.
“I’m gonna bring you guys to your room to get you tucked in, so let’s go.” He began walking out of the room with Morgan and Harley in tow but Peter was sitting up and yanking his thumb from his mouth.
“Wait, where are you going?” He asked, starting to feel anxious that everyone was leaving without him.
“I’ll be right back. Your brother and sister will sleep in a different room but you stay here with your mom, baby.”
Peter watched everyone leave and as soon as they were gone, he saw Pepper getting into the opposite bed so he climbed into it after her.
He attempted to pull the blankets down to crawl under but it was tucked under the bed too tightly which had him whimpering.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Pepper asked, rubbing Peter’s back.
Peter threw himself face first into the bed and let out a frustrating scream although it was muffled by the blankets. “I want-I want my milk. I can’t sleep without it.”
Pepper knew her baby was drugged countless of times and the drugs were still working it’s way out of Peter’s system. “Okay. We have some milk. Do you want me to get you some?”
“Yes!” Peter nodded aggressively then stuck his thumb in his mouth to offer some comfort before he could go to sleep. He watched his mom move around the room, pouring him a glass of milk but when Peter saw it, he freaked out, not daring to even look at it. “No! No no, that’s all wrong. You don’t understand!”
“What? What don’t I understand, Peter. Tell me.” Pepper placed the glass of milk on the nightstand table and took a seat on the bed. Peter crawled closer to her and laid on his back, thumb still in his mouth as he cried at the ceiling.
Tony walked into the room shortly after that. He knew he wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight since Peter would keep them up but he didn’t mind one bit because Peter was safe now.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Tony asked, taking a seat on the bed. Peter crawled over to him and cried harder. “Let’s take your thumb out of your mouth so you can tell us what’s wrong.”
Peter sat up and looked around the room. He was so tired but he needed help falling asleep. “I need my milk. Not in that.” He pointed an offending finger at the glass then turned to his dad.
“I don’t understand, Peter.” Tony looked at Pepper who clearly didn’t understand either. Peter cried harder, frustrated that no one understood his needs.
Peter rolled onto his stomach and pulled his knees up to his chest, waiting impatiently for someone to understand that he was tired and he needed help to fall asleep by himself now.
Tony rubbed at his back. “Tell us what you want, Peter.”
“I-I want…” Peter thought about it. He never had to ask what he wanted with Steve since it was always shoved in his mouth. “I want my bottle.”
Both parents turned to look at each other. They didn’t want to give into that request. It wasn’t something they should encourage. Pepper reached over to rub at Peter’s back. “You don’t need that anymore. You can drink your milk in a glass.”
Peter sat up to look at the glass, crying harder. He couldn’t fall asleep without the bottle. It just wasn’t going to happen and he was so tired. He turned to Tony. “Daddy! Please. I-I want it.”
Tony was going to give in. He knew he was but Pepper wasn’t going to let him. “No, Tony. He’s fourteen now. If Peter wants milk, he can drink it from a cup like he has been before.”
Peter shook his head aggressively, turning to look at his dad who he had wrapped around his little finger. “Bottle? I need it to fall asleep.” Peter sat up and rubbed at his eyes. “Please?”
“Try to fall asleep without it, baby. You don’t need it.” Tony didn’t know what to do. He was trying but Peter was in need of something to help him sleep and Tony didn’t want to take that away from him.
He looked at Pepper while Peter cried miserably into the blankets so he stood up and grabbed his wallet. “I’ll go get it. I’ll be back.”
Peter was grateful. He let out a tired sigh and turned onto his back to watch the door, waiting for his dad to reappear again. He felt a bit bad for acting the way he was but he couldn’t help it, it’s like he forgot how to act.
By the time Tony walked back into the hotel room, Peter was about to fall asleep but was holding on just until he got his bottle of milk. He sat up to watch Tony wash the bottle out and pour the glass of milk into the cup.
He was then handing it to Peter who examined the spout, making sure it was the right one before sticking it in his mouth and laying down. One hand went to his head to twirl his fingers around his hair while the other held the bottle to his lips.
“Let’s get you comfortable under the blankets.” Tony pushed Peter’s legs to his chest to pull the blankets out from under him and tuck him in. “Do you need to go pee first?”
Peter only looked at him so Tony didn’t ask again. He laid down over the blankets and shut the lamp off, making the room go almost pitch black besides for the light on Pepper’s side.
Both parents watched and waited for Peter’s eyes to close. The bottle would fall from his hand then it would jerk him awake so he would start sucking more and open his eyes. The process repeated about five times before Peter was actually asleep.
“I’m scared to move.” Tony whispered. Peter wasn’t sleeping on him but he didn’t want to risk waking Peter up. Pepper sat up and put her head in his hands, her body shaking. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Everything… everything we did the past four years is gone in just four days.” Pepper sat up straighter and rubbed at her eyes. “That monster took all of Peter’s process away. Everything we did to help him recover and become independent and now-now… it’s back to normal only when he was ten, we weren’t giving him a fu- a bottle.”
Pepper grabbed the bottle that Peter still had in his hands and stood up, throwing it in the garbage. Tony got up after her and took it out, knowing Peter was going to need it later. “Pepper,” He placed the bottle on the counter and grabbed her hands. “I know this is gonna be hard, okay, but once we get back home and into a routine, it’ll be okay again soon.”
Tony didn’t know that. He had no idea how it was going to be but Peter knew who they were this time, it wasn’t going to be like last time. Hopefully not.
Pepper wiped at her eyes and fixed herself in the mirror. “I know. I know.” She turned back towards the bed, looking at Peter’s sleeping form. “Do you think he’ll wet the bed? We could put a towel under him maybe.”
“No. He didn’t in the hospital. He’ll be fine.” I hope so.
Pepper got into bed with Peter, holding him close while Tony went into the bathroom to have a quick shower. It was his first real one in days and he felt like a whole new person after.
When he got out, he kept the lamp on just in case Peter woke up which Tony expected to happen quite a few times. He laid on his side and focused on Peter’s chest rising and falling.
Tony tried to fall asleep but he couldn’t. Every time he shut his eyes, he thought of someone walking into their room and taking Peter from them. So, he stayed awake.
He stayed awake, doing nothing but watch Peter so when Peter started to move around, Tony knew he was waking up.
Peter sat up in bed and looked around the room so Tony gently pushed him back down on his pillow. “Go back to sleep, baby.”
Peter stuck his thumb in his mouth and mumbled something that Tony couldn’t understand then Peter was out.
Another hour passed and there was the sound of the keycard opening the door. Tony felt his heart drop as he got out of the bed and went to walk towards the door but then Morgan was walking in, surprised to see him. Tony let out a huge sigh of relief. “Oh god. You guys scared me.”
Harley shut the door and locked it behind him. “Sorry. Morgan Uh, she wanted to check on Peter.”
Tony moved aside so they could see Peter. “He’s sleeping. Thank god. Don’t wake him up please, it was hell getting him to sleep.”
Morgan crawled onto the bed, careful not to touch her big brother as she cuddled up next to him, beside Pepper. “I left space so you could still sleep next to Peter, dad.”
Tony appreciated that although he wasn’t going to get much sleep. “Thanks.” He turned to Harley. “Did you sleep at all?”
“Yeah. Yeah, a bit.” Harley lied. He stared at the ceiling for the past three hours. He pulled back the blankets on the opposite bed and got in with a sigh. “I’ll try to sleep now. I know you aren’t going to sleep.”
Tony chuckled lowly. That was true.
After everyone fell asleep, Tony was the only one awake. He looked over at Morgan who had her hand in Peter’s and his heart melted a little bit.
The past week had been such a hard week for everyone. Beyond hard, there weren't any words to describe how difficult it was. To have their family ripped apart so brutally.
Peter woke up four more times throughout the night, each time Tony was there to help him go back to sleep. The fifth time he woke up, he was up for good.
Tony had already gotten dressed and ready for the day once it hit 6am. Peter was awake shortly after that, far too early for Tony’s liking. “Hey, buddy. Did you sleep good?” Tony knew he didn’t, he was there the whole time.
“Yeah.” Peter said and looked over at his family in the bed with him and Harley in the opposite bed. He looked around for something but he didn’t know what.
“Can you go pee? It’s been awhile.” Tony was surprised that the bed stayed dry all night. He continued to check throughout the night, extremely grateful that Peter had no accidents.
Peter rubbed at his eyes but slid out of bed anyways and made his way into the bathroom. He left the door open but Tony refused to go in, knowing Peter wanted him to follow him in.
“Dad?” Peter asked from the bathroom. Tony leaned against the bed, waiting for Peter to come out.
“Yeah?”
“Um… where are you?”
“I’m here, buddy.”
Peter groaned. His dad should already know what he wanted from him. “But I can’t see you.”
Tony shook his head fondly, despite the current situation. “I’m right here. Are you done yet?” Tony heard a loud sigh and then Peter was walking out of the bathroom and pulling his pyjama pants up.
“When are we going home?” Peter craved his bed. He craved his home and the old routine of everything.
Tony took a seat on the edge of the bed, smiling when Peter stood between his legs and leaned heavily against him. “Hmm, when everyone wakes up we can get going.”
Peter leaned against his dad’s chest and stuck his thumb in his mouth but quickly took it out, blushing shyly. “Oops. Sometimes I don’t mean to do that.”
“It’s okay.” Tony ran his fingers through Peter’s curls. “You can if you want to but I want you to be aware of when you’re doing it and think of alternatives to comfort yourself. Remember like last time?”
“Uh huh.” Peter nodded against him and sighed, pulling away to look at Morgan. “Can I wake her up? I wanna play with Morgan.”
Tony checked the time. It was still extremely early, too early to have all three kids awake. “Not yet. How about we do something together? Just you and me.”
“Yeah. Can we go swimming? Maybe they have a pool here.”
Tony felt bad for turning down Peter’s suggestion but it was too dangerous to leave the hotel room right now. Not after everything that happened. “I was thinking something inside the room. We could watch some tv if you want? While we wait for everyone to wake up.”
Tony could tell Peter didn’t really want to do that but he agreed anyways. The two of them watched two episodes of some animal cartoon that Tony hasn’t seen before but Peter seemed to enjoy it.
The father was trying to convince Peter to get dressed on his own when Harley walked into the bathroom, eyeing Peter sprawled out on the floor without a care in the world.
“Hi Harley.” Peter gave his older brother a tiny wave but didn’t make any move to get up.
Harley rubbed at his eyes. It was way too early to be seeing this right now. “Hi. I need to use the bathroom so…”
Tony was already standing up and pulling Peter to his feet, taking the rest of his clothes into the room and hoping no one was awake yet. Peter tried to swing from his arms and it worked. Tony was holding onto Peter’s wrists, carrying him out while Peter lifted his legs up, acting like he was on a monkey bar.
“Finish getting dressed. I’m not doing it for you.” Tony sat back down on the floor and waited for Peter to make a move. The two had a stare off for about a minute but Peter broke it and laid down, lifting his legs up on the bed frame and being loud.
That woke Pepper up but Tony was somewhat grateful for it since he needed some help.
She looked surprised to see Peter like that first thing in the morning but then she put her hair up in a ponytail and got out of bed. “Peter, what’s going on?”
Peter looked up at her and started laughing. “Just waiting.”
Tony shook his head at her. “I’ve been trying to get him to get dressed for almost an hour. Also some people are in the lobby to talk to us whenever you’re ready.”
“Alright. Peter, get dressed so we can go home.” Pepper leaned down and patted his head just as Harley walked out of the bathroom.
“Dad, can I talk to you for a second?”
“Not right now, Harley. I’m busy with Peter.” Tony was too busy to notice that Harley needed his father right now. He was too focused on Peter.
“Ba ba ba!” Peter yelled and went to crawl under the bed but Morgan was waking up so Tony gave in. Peter wasn’t going to get dressed so he grabbed Peter’s underwear, putting his ankles through it and pulling them up while Peter laid there, just like he did when he was ten. The next thing was his pants and it was the same process.
Tony lifted him off the floor and put Peter on the bed, sighing in defeat.
“Hi Peter. I slept with you last night.” Morgan said, rubbing at her eyes and a tiny smile breaking out across her face.
Peter chewed on the corner of the blankets but Tony stopped him. “Oh. I woke up and saw you there.”
“Harley, your mom and I need to go down to the lobby for about thirty minutes so we need you to watch your little siblings.” Tony told his oldest son who was texting someone on his phone. “Hey, I’m talking to you.”
“Yes. I will.” Harley snapped. He was frustrated because it was impossible to talk to his dad with Peter in the same room. All of Tony’s attention went onto his little brother and it frustrated him at times like this.
“Alright. Thank you.” Tony turned and took a seat on the bed with his two youngest. “Mom and I have to leave for a few minutes but we’ll be back and Harley will watch you guys.”
“Okay.” Said Morgan but Peter wasn’t okay with that.
“No. Stay here.” The fourteen year old crawled across the bed over to his dad. “Please. I want you to stay with me.”
“I’ll be back before you know it. You and Morgan get all your energy out by jumping on the bed or doing whatever you want and mom and I will be back soon.” He pressed a kiss to Peter’s face and left with Pepper.
Harley laid back down on the bed but put his phone into his pocket. “It’s fine, Peter. Dad will be back soon.”
Peter nodded. He knew that. “Yeah. I know. He just said so.”
Harley stood up and stretched. He was going to be a long car ride home, especially since he most likely had to sit in between his two siblings who were crazy together.
He spotted the half filled bottle on the dresser for the first time and picked it up, holding it out to Peter. “Is this yours?”
Peter sat up to reach for it. “Yeah. Give it.”
“No. You’re fourteen, Peter.” Harley hated this. He hated what was done to his little brother. Again.
Peter crossed his arms. “I’m allowed. You can’t say I’m not because you’re not mom or dad and they let me have it.”
Harley placed the bottle on the dresser. “No. I don’t care. I’m in charge of you and I’m saying no.”
That got Peter angry. He stood up on the bed and narrowed his eyes at Harley. “Stop. You can’t say that. Give it.”
“The milk is warm now anyways.” Harley opened up the lid and went into the bathroom to dump it down the sink while Peter jumped off the bed and ran after him, smacking him on the arm.
“Stupid idiot!” Peter yelled, eyes tearing up.
“You don’t need a bottle, Peter. Bottles are for babies. Relax.” Harley knew what happened to Peter only days ago and for seven years straight but it frustrated him beyond belief.
“You’re a stupid face!” Peter yelled back.
Morgan ran into the bathroom and smacked Harley for Peter. “Don’t talk to my brother that way, you ugly fat meanie!”
“What, he’s my brother too. I’ve known him longer than you, Morgan.”
Morgan pinched Harley's arm. “So? I’m his best friend and I’ll break your ugly face if you don’t let Petey have his bottle! Ugly butt!”
Peter crossed his arms and waited for Harley to give it back.
“You guys are ridiculous.” He pushed past them and started getting his shoes on. “Morgan, Peter’s fourteen. Don’t encourage his behaviour like mom and dad do.”
Neither Peter or Morgan understood what Harley meant by that. Peter grabbed Harley's jacket and threw it across the room. “Where’re you goin’?”
“You are so childish, Pete.” Harley felt bad but he was angry. At everything.
Peter leaned against the bed. “I don’t care. You’re ugly and poo.”
Morgan stood by Peter’s side, sticking her tongue out at her older brother. “Poop!”
Harley swung his jacket on and grabbed his dad’s car keys. “I Uh, I left my phone at the hospital. I’ll be back soon. Stay in the room and be good.”
He slammed the door behind him, leaving both Peter and Morgan alone.