Hold me til I’m okay
It was game night.
It was Pepper’s idea since they hadn’t had a family game night in quite some time so she brought up the Game Of Life and set it up on the coffee table in the living room.
Peter grabbed his water bottle and chewed on the spout as he walked into the living room to help his mom set it up. “Can I pick my colour car first?”
“Yeah but not yet. We have to wait until the game is set up.” Pepper was trying to be quick. She got everything set up as the rest of the family made their way into the room, one by one.
“I don’t know how to play this game.” Said Morgan. She sat on the floor with everyone else, sitting across from Peter who was sitting right in front of the tv stand. “I’m gonna lose this game.”
Peter sat up to pat her back like his dad does to him. “It’s okay. I can teach you how.”
Tony made eye contact with Pepper, making sure she saw the cute interaction between the two of them but neither of them commented on it.
“Let’s get started. You pick your car first, Peter.” Pepper instructed and handed him the selection of cars for Peter to choose the red one. “Good choice. Spin first.”
The game started out really well. The family was bonding and laughing together and having a great time but Peter was beating Morgan and kept passing her car which was making her irritated.
“I pass you again.” Said Peter, happy that he wasn’t in last place.
Morgan groaned and threw Peter’s car off the map, causing all the little people in his car to fall out. “Hey! That’s mean!” Peter crawled across the floor to pick up all his little people and put them back into his car.
“Morgan, play nicely or you won’t play at all.” Pepper gave her a warning so she uncrossed her arms and sat up on her knees to continue playing.
Peter put his car back on the board and gently moved Morgan’s car over. “Don’t do that.”
He spun again and went even further than Morgan’s car so when it was her turn, she only moved two spaces and screamed through her teeth. Morgan picked up a soccer ball that was lying behind her and she threw it at Peter’s head, smacking him in the face and causing the back of his head to smack against the tv stand behind him.
Peter bursted into tears and sobs at the sudden pain that he wasn’t expecting. He reached up to grab the back of his head where it hurt the most.
“Oh no.” Tony stood up and walked over to Peter, kneeling down to feel the back of his head. “You’re okay, Peter. You’re okay.”
“Morgan.” Pepper stood up and pointed at Morgan firmly. “You do not hurt your brother. That was unacceptable.”
Tony lifted Peter off the floor when Peter wouldn’t stop making grabby hands for him. He felt the back of his head again and felt a bump starting to form already so he walked into the kitchen to grab him an ice pack.
He looked over at Morgan who was hiding under a blanket on the couch but he ignored her for now. He had no idea where that outrage came from but it didn’t totally surprise Tony. Morgan often hurt Peter without meaning to. Like when she pushed him down at the park the other day.
“It-it hurts!” Peter cried out. He tried to feel the back of his head. “Is-is it bleeding?”
“No, you’re not bleeding.” Tony reassured Peter. He opened the freezer and grabbed an ice pack but Peter was still crying like his head was cracked open so Tony sat him on the counter and grabbed his hands. “Shh. Just breathe, Peter. You’re okay. It’s just a little bump. You’re okay.”
Peter tried to calm down but he couldn’t so he brought his thumb up to his mouth and reached out for Tony again. “Mm!”
Tony lifted him back up to apply the ice pack to the back of Peter’s head. He walked with him into the living room and found Morgan still hiding under the blankets so he pulled them off and sat down. He turned Peter on his lap so they could face each other. “What do you have to say to Peter?”
Morgan wiped at her eyes. “I’m sorry, Petey. I was just mad cause you’re beating me.”
Peter didn’t respond.
Tony patted Morgan’s back. “You have to be more gentle. This is the second time you’ve hurt Peter in just a few days and made him cry. If you’re not careful, you could make him end up in the hospital.”
Morgan gasped. She reached out to hold Peter’s hand. “I’m sorry. I’ll be careful. I’m really sorry.”
Peter turned his head so he wasn’t looking at Morgan so Tony moved the ice pack into place again.
Pepper kneeled down in front of Tony and Peter. She reached out to feel the bump, sighing when she felt it. “That’s a big bump.” She commented then pulled out her computer to search it up.
“It’ll go down. What’re you doing?” Asked Tony, re applying the ice pack when Peter moved his head again.
“Just searching if it’s serious. Maybe I should call his paediatrician?” Pepper reached out to feel the bump again. If it were anywhere else it wouldn’t be so serious but the head was a fragile thing. Both parents were also overprotective when it came to Peter.
“Maybe we should just wait-”
Pepper stood up, not listening to Tony. “I’ll call quickly.”
Tony nodded. He felt better that she was calling anyways. Just to be sure.
He sat on the couch, holding Peter on top of him still and feeling him sadly hiccup against him as he tried to calm down. Pepper walked back into the living room with the phone tucked against her ear and shoulder, speaking into it.
“Yeah, it’s about the size of my palm. It’s kinda big.” Pepper spoke into the phone, moving the ice pack to feel Peter’s head one more time. “I don’t know. No, he seems fine. Yeah, he is. Okay. Thank you. We will.” She hung up the phone and sat down. “She said he’s fine but just to keep a close eye on him.”
“Like we don’t already do that.” Tony said, holding Peter even closer.
Harley walked back into the living room with a bowl of grapes. “I guess we’re not finishing our game tonight then.”
Tony looked towards Morgan and he knew she felt guilty but she didn’t look like she was in the mood to play and neither did Peter. He assumed that Peter was going to go to sleep pretty soon anyways. “Not tonight. I think we’re all gonna go to bed early anyways.”
Peter didn’t protest to that. He actually liked the idea of going up to bed a bit early since he was tired but he wanted to at least try to finish the game since he felt a bit bad for Morgan. He slid off his dad’s lap and walked over to the board game. “We can finish. I’m okay.”
Tony let him get off his lap and watched Peter sit back down. Peter yawned and began rubbing at his eyes, swaying a bit and that was the telltale sign that Peter was ready for bed. Tony stood up. “We can try and play again another time. Let’s go up to bed.”
Of course, Peter wasn’t going to go that easily. He gave Tony a dirty look. “No. I want to stay and finish the game.”
Tony kneeled down next to his son. “Peter, if you do not come up to bed now, tomorrow night you will go to bed at six. It’s up to you?”
Peter frowned. He didn’t like that option so he stood up and stomped his way towards the stairs but stopped just before he stepped up. “Is everyone going to bed?”
“Morgan is and so is your mom and I. Harley will probably stay up for a few hours.” Tony answered, pushing Peter’s bum to keep him walking up the stairs some more.
Peter turned around to give him a dirty look and whined. “Nooo. Don’t touch my bum.”
Tony fondly rolled his eyes. “I’m allowed to touch your bum. Keep on going.”
“Noo.” Peter turned to sit on the stairs but Tony walked over him, knowing Peter was simply looking for the extra attention from him. Once Peter realized he wasn’t getting the attention, he stood up and made his way up the stairs, walking into his parent’s bedroom.
He spotted his pyjamas that had been laid out for him on the bed so he walked over and collapsed onto them, lifting his legs up. Tony chuckled and stood in front of Peter. “You do it yourself, lazy bum.”
Peter rolled onto his stomach and crawled on the bed. “I don’t wanna shower though. I just want to sleep.”
Pepper walked in with fresh towels to put in the bathroom, having not heard the conversation. “Time to shower, Peter. I have some clean towels for you and I washed your pyjamas.”
Peter looked at his dad. “I don’t wanna shower tonight.” He fell face first onto the bed. “I wanna sleep now.”
Tony didn’t mind. It wasn’t like Peter was playing in dirt all day or he smelt, he didn’t actually think Peter ever smelt, he loved his scent so much, besides for when he was still in diapers and went poop but besides that, Tony wanted to embed Peter’s natural scent in his mind forever.
It was something he craved and missed when Peter was kidnapped.
He could remember Peter’s scent but he couldn’t remember exactly how he smelt, as weird as it was, he wanted to smell his boy. Something about parents smelling their newborn babies, that’s all it was.
Now he could smell Peter whenever he wanted to. He grabbed Peter and pressed a tone of kisses to his face and neck. “Mmm. You smell yummy. You don’t need to shower.”
Peter giggled and tried to push him away. “Dad, it tickles!”
Tony stopped just so he didn’t get Peter riled up before bedtime. “Okay.” He patted his bum. “Put your pyjamas on and climb into bed.” Peter shimmied out of his clothes and tossed them on the floor, reaching over the bed for his pyjamas before getting them on and then pulling back the blankets to climb in. “You stay here. I’m gonna shower quickly.” Tony pressed a quick kiss to Peter’s forehead and clicked on the tv for him.
He was surprised Peter didn’t ask him for a bottle yet.
They were still going about their nighttime routine so he was prepared for Peter to ask him after he got out of the shower but he never did.
Tony didn’t bring it up either, he sat at the edge of the bed and plugged in his phone, making sure it was turned off since he didn’t have to wake up early tomorrow, Pepper was tasked with that.
Mainly because Tony was the one who had to wake up in the middle of the night if Peter did.
Pepper went into the bathroom next and Tony waited for Peter to ask him for his bottle but he didn’t. Tony didn’t want to get excited and think that Peter was done with it and their technique worked but he was really thinking it did work.
He kept his mouth shut though, not daring to mention the bottle around Peter and possibly remind him of it.
Peter sighed and tugged on his arm. “Can you lie down? You’re taking so long.”
Tony laid down, pulling Peter closer. “Oh yeah?”
“I just wanted to sleep and I even had to wait for you in the bathroom the whole time.” Peter rubbed his cheek against his fathers chest and stuck his thumb in his mouth. “Are you gonna sleep here tomorrow?”
Tony smiled. Peter was delirious with sleep. “Yeah, I’ll be here tomorrow too. Will you?”
Peter nodded. “Mm.”
Pepper walked out of the bathroom and quietly shut the lights off. She looked at both nightstand tables and on the bed, whispering. “No bottle tonight?”
“No bottle.” Tony clarified. “He didn’t ask for it.”
Both parents went to bed that night feeling like they were on top of the world.
.
.
.
Tony and Peter both slept in extremely late.
Peter woke up at around 4am and was up for almost an hour. At one point, Tony was ready to give up since he didn’t know why Peter wasn’t going back to bed.
He knew Peter was fighting sleep and for some reason got bursts of energy throughout the night but it was exhausting. So when Peter finally fell asleep, Tony did too and Pepper shut the bedroom door to let them sleep for as long as possible once she woke up.
After they woke up, they went downstairs just as Pepper was leaving with Harley, leaving Tony alone with the two trouble makers.
Morgan put her iPad away and walked over to sit near Peter. “I’m bored. You slept all day.”
Peter opened his apple pouch and drank it on his way into the living room to watch YouTube on his iPad. “Cause I was tired.” He sat on the couch and pulled his iPad onto his lap. “Did you know I was up last night.”
Morgan stood in front of him. “I don’t care. I waited all day for you to wake up.” Morgan realized Peter wasn’t going to give her any attention so she grabbed his iPad from him and ran away but Peter wasn’t in the mood for that so he screamed at the top of his lungs and sank off the couch.
In the kitchen, Tony almost dropped a plate. He quickly ran into the living room to see what was wrong because it sounded like Peter got his finger chopped off or something. “What? What’s wrong?”
Peter pointed at nothing in particular. “Morgan took my iPad!” He cried out and wiped dramatically at his tears.
Tony just woke up and was too tired to deal with this but it was his responsibility. He saw Morgan standing in the hallway so he pointed at her. “Get over here and give Peter back his iPad and say sorry.”
Morgan stomped over and threw it at Peter. “Sorry!”
Peter wiped the tears off his cheeks and sat back on the couch, getting comfortable.
“I just wanna play with you-”
Peter kicked Morgan in the arm and went to do it again but Tony grabbed his legs. “Hey! Both of you, stop.” Peter stuck his tongue out at Morgan.
“Daddy! He stuck his tongue out at me.”
Tony picked Peter up and sat him on the sofa couch then placed a pillow on the floor. “No one crosses this pillow. If I see either of you crossing it, you’ll go to your room for the rest of the day.”
Peter nodded his head, barely listening to him and Morgan had to be sassy about it. “What if we need to pee and have to cross the pillow? Then can we go?”
Tony blinked at her. “Yes. If it’s an emergency, you can cross the pillow. Leave your brother alone, I’m watching you.”
Peter watched some YouTube and ate his breakfast but after that, he got bored so he looked over at Morgan who was sitting on the other side of the pillow. He picked up a couch pillow and tossed it at her face. “You’re ugly.”
Morgan gave him a dirty look. “You’re fat.”
“Nana! You’re smelly! You smell like rotten poo.” Peter giggled and crawled along the couch so he was closer to Morgan but not crossing the pillow. “I dare you to cross the pillow.”
“No, you do it.”
Peter looked over at his dad and saw that he wasn’t looking so he briefly crossed over the pillow then jumped back onto his side. “Your turn. Or are you a baby?”
“I’m not the baby. You are.”
Peter grabbed onto Morgan's hair and pulled it, wanting to hurt her but she was used to it so she punched him back and he wanted to get her in trouble so he pretended to cry which got the attention of their dad.
Tony walked over to them. “Peter, stop fake crying. Are you guys ready to play nicely?”
“Can we paint a picture?” Asked Morgan.
“Yeah! Let’s go get the paints in the basement.” Peter wiped the forced tears off his cheeks and stood up. “Open the door, dad.”
Tony ran a hand through his hair. “Okay… I have to do the laundry so how bout you guys wait for me-”
“No!” Peter grabbed onto his hands and tried to pull him in the direction of the basement door. “We don’t wanna wait for you. We’ll go down first.”
Tony would prefer for his kids to wait for him but he honestly didn’t want to deal with the whining so he agreed and opened the door. “Bring the paint colours you want back up here and wait for me. I’ll grab the papers after.”
Peter went down first, grabbing onto the railing and making sure Morgan was following behind him.
They walked into the art room and decided that they wanted to bring all the paints up so they tried to carry it.
Peter walked up the basement stairs with Morgan and placed the box of paint supplies on the floor. “There’s still one more box.”
Morgan looked around. “Oh. Let’s go get it.”
The two of them started walking back down the stairs, Peter going ahead of Morgan but the basement light started flickering and then went off, leaving them in the dark, besides for the light coming from upstairs. “Ahh. It’s dark. Let’s go back up.” Peter turned and began running up the stairs.
Morgan beat him to the top and turned around to wait for Peter to climb up but the wind from the back door that was open, slammed the basement door shut, leaving Peter alone on the other side, in the darkness which was his biggest fear.
Peter ran the rest of the way up and tried to open the door. “No. Open it! Open it!” He banged on the door, trying to get it open but he felt like he couldn’t breathe and before he knew it, he was crying and screaming. “Open the door! Help me!”
Morgan began to panic when she couldn’t get the door open and Peter was screaming on the other end. “It’s stuck! I can’t!”
Peter banged harder. He hadn’t even realized that he was peeing his pants in his fear. All he knew was that it was dark and scary and he was alone and wanted out. So he banged harder and screamed louder.
Morgan started banging on the door as well, trying and failing to get it open since it somehow locked. “Peter! I can’t! Help! Help! Daddy! Help, Peter’s stuck! He’s scared! Help him!”
Tony was upstairs putting away the laundry when he heard the blood curdling screams. His heart fell into his stomach, thinking the worst was happening. He ran downstairs, skipping down steps to get to his kids faster.
He followed the screams down the hallway and towards the basement door. At first he was expecting to see blood everywhere but once he heard Peter screaming on the other side of the basement door, he expected a broken finger jammed into the door.
Morgan looked up at him, tears pouring down her face. “It’s locked! He’s stuck!”
Tony quickly pushed her out of the way. “Move. Move. I’m here, Peter. One second.” Tony’s hands were shaking so he struggled to get the lock open and open the door. It all happened so quickly but it felt like a lifetime until Peter was in his arms and he already had to wait what felt like a lifetime for Peter.
As soon as he got the door opened, he yanked Peter into his arms, feeling Peter shake and tremble in them. Peter was crying and screaming into his ear, still trying to calm down at how scared he was. Tony lifted Peter up, noticing that his hand was wet when he touched Peter’s bottom but he didn’t care.
“You’re okay. You’re safe now. It’s okay.” Tony reassured him. He shut the basement door and walked outside in the backyard to get some fresh air so hopefully Peter calmed down a bit. “Shhh, look, you’re okay. Nothing’s wrong.”
Peter sobbed loudly against him, trying to calm down but he still couldn’t.
Tony walked around the backyard and sat down on the steps, holding Peter closely still. He turned to look up at Morgan who was also crying next to him, having been so scared for her brother. “Morgan, can you bring out his water bottle?”
Morgan ran inside to do that, trying to be helpful.
“Peter, you’re okay. Look, nothing’s wrong now. I know it was super scary but you’re not in the basement anymore.” Tony stood back up and walked around a bit. When Morgan came back out with his water bottle, Tony took it from her and tried to offer it to Peter. “Thank you, Morgan. Here, Peter, drink a bit to calm down.”
Peter lifted his head up to take a few sips but he was crying so much that he choked on the water and sip it out at Tony but the father didn’t mind it. “I-I can’t.”
Tony walked back inside the house and patted Peter’s back, hoping he calmed down soon but the only way he would be was by Tony holding him and waiting it out. “You’re okay, Peter.”
Peter calmed down a bit once they went back inside the house. His crying was reduced to sad hiccups and Morgan had also stopped crying but followed Tony around and held onto Peter’s foot.
The front door was being opened and in walked Pepper and Harley so Morgan ran up to them. “Peter’s crying! He got locked in the basement!”
The smile dropped from Pepper’s face. She dropped all the bags and rushed into the living room to see Peter in her husband’s arms. “What happened? Is he okay?”
Tony turned so Pepper could see Peter’s face. “Yeah… the basement door locked on him and he just got really scared.”
“Awww, poor baby.” Pepper rubbed Peter’s back and he turned his face into Tony’s chest then held his arms out for Pepper. “I can’t carry you, Peter.” Peter lowered his arms sadly. Pepper could lift Peter up if she had to but it would be difficult for her to carry Peter with ease like Tony could.
Tony walked towards the stairs. “I’m gonna bring him up to change his pants because he peed himself in the basement. We’ll be back.”
Pepper offered a sad smile. “Stay down here, Morgan. Daddy and Peter will be back soon.”
Tony left with Peter, wishing he stayed with them instead of getting the laundry out of the way. He felt extremely guilty but it was a lot of work, him and Pepper were way outnumbered, and Peter and Morgan together were like a tornado. Tony was struggling to keep his head above water and now Peter’s accident was the cause of it.
He walked into the bathroom and turned the light on then looked at Peter and wiped the stray tears off his cheeks. “You’re okay, Pete. Don’t be sad.”
“I was scared.” He spoke around his thumb and went back to laying his head on his dad’s shoulder. “Mm. Don’t put me down.”
Tony hesitated. “Buddy, I have to put you on the floor for a second, you gotta change out of your pants now.”
“But… but… after I still wanna paint.” Peter insisted as he was placed on the floor. He was uncomfortable now that he really thought about it so he moved to stand in front of his dad, wanting to change into clean pants as soon as possible after he stripped from the wet ones.
Tony opened the package of wipes and wiped down Peter’s legs, trying to be quick but thorough. “You can paint after if you still want to. Maybe you guys can do it outside to get some fresh air.”
Peter rubbed at his eyes, feeling really drained from having been locked in the basement and having to scream for his life it felt like. He nodded slightly but his dad wasn’t even looking at his face so he voiced it. “Uh huh. And you’ll come?”
Tony threw out the used wipes and placed the wet pants into the laundry hamper. “Yeah, of course. Come out here.” He led Peter into the room and dug in the laundry basket for some pants but Peter grabbed pyjama pants.
“I wanna wear these.” He already began putting them on then crawled onto the bed and lifted his arms out towards his dad. “Carry me downstairs. You have to.”
“Can’t argue with that.” Tony lifted Peter into his arms and walked downstairs. He wanted to put aside what just happened and have a good rest of the day and he could already tell that Peter was so tired. “Morg, bring the paints into the backyard, you guys can paint out there.”
Morgan ran over to grab all the paint supplies they brought up while Tony tried to put Peter in his feet but Peter clung onto him. “Stand. I can’t carry you everywhere.”
Peter giggled against his neck. “Yes you can. You are right now.” He clung on tighter. “Just carry me outside and put me down there.”
Pepper grabbed a roll of paper that they bought and forgot to use so she laid it out on the concrete in the backyard and put weights on the ends to keep it down. “Paint me a pretty picture.”
“I will. I’m gonna paint…” Peter squatted down once Tony placed him on his feet. He thought back to the time they went to Bali and surfed so he decided to draw that. “I’m gonna paint us in Bali surfing the waves.”
“Me too.”
Peter gave his sister a dirty look. “No. Just I am. Paint something else cause I don’t want you to copy me.”
“You guys can paint whatever you want.” Pepper sat down on the ground, across from Tony and Peter and prepared to sit there for the rest of the day while Peter and Morgan painted.