Too much to handle
Tony woke up to Peter continuously moving in the bed next to him.
He tried to ignore it and go back to sleep but then Peter was doing his high pitched cry that Peter only did when he was badly hurt or overtired. He turned over and looked at him.
“What’s wrong?”
Peter rubbed at his eyes. “I woke up.”
Tony went to lift up his pyjama shirt to rub at his belly but there was no shirt there. He went to feel for pyjama pants and couldn’t find anything there either. “What happened to your pyjamas?”
Peter looked down at himself, completely confused. “You took them.”
“No I didn’t. I’ve been sleeping this whole time.” Tony turned the lamp on and sat up, finding Peter’s pyjamas thrown at the bottom of the bed. “Did you take them off?”
Peter went back to rubbing at his eyes. “Yeah. I took them off.”
“Let’s get them back on.” Tony grabbed the shirt to put it on Peter but Peter kicked his legs and cried harder which woke Pepper up. “Shhh, Peter.”
Pepper looked over. “What’s wrong, Peter?”
Peter shook his head and attempted to try and go back to sleep but Tony was rolling him onto his back. “Can you sit up and put-”
“Noooo. Why did you wake me up?!”
Tony looked at Pepper for help. “I didn’t wake you up. Who woke you up?”
Peter pointed off to nowhere in particular and cried harder so Tony grabbed his pyjama pants and put them on Peter then picked him up, gently pushing Peter’s head down onto his shoulder. “You don’t have to stay.” He told Pepper. There was no point in her staying up and having both of them tired tomorrow.
Pepper hesitated but Tony told her she should leave so she kissed them both and went to go sleep somewhere else. Tony didn’t necessarily mind Peter waking him up and crying for no reason throughout the night, although it was hard, he’s been through hell and back so nothing would be worse.
He also thought of the time when he used to lay on his bed and beg god for a moment like this, no matter how difficult it was, and now he has that moment so he felt guilty to be frustrated.
He had Peter back so he shouldn’t feel anything but happiness and joy… but it was really hard.
Tony shut the bedroom door and laid down on the bed, pulling Peter against his side. “Shh baby. Why are you crying? Peter?”
Peter rubbed his nose on Tony’s shirt and sighed heavily, still delirious with sleep. “Don’ send me back. Don’. Just… don’.”
“Send you back where?”
Peter sat up and pushed himself away from Tony, crying harder. “Get off the train. I said… not gon’ go.”
By this point Tony knew Peter was having a dream, possibly even sleeping walking… well, sleep talking. Maybe he wasn’t awake like he thought he was. “I’m not sending you anywhere. You’re just dreaming.”
Peter rubbed aggressively at his eyes so Tony stopped him. “Don’t do that. Lie down with me.”
“Nooo. No! Don’t.” Peter screamed and tried to crawl away from Tony, obviously still delirious so Tony pulled him back against his side and guided his thumb up to his mouth.
“Here. Suck on that.” He was surprised it worked so fast, Peter fell face first onto a pillow and gripped onto Tony in his sleep. Tony was glad Peter was sleeping now but he wasn’t tired anymore.
.
.
.
To say it was a long night was an understatement.
Tony kept waiting for the sun to rise so he had an excuse to get up for the day. Peter was a nightmare all night… maybe it was due to the actual nightmares he was having. Either way, Peter was waking up almost twice an hour just to wake Tony up, not that Tony was really sleeping to begin with.
So when they finally got up for the day, Tony chugged two coffees and buttered up a waffle for Peter, sliding the plate over to him.
Peter pushed it back to him but Tony was too tired to say anything.
It was going to be a long day.
Peter was pouting for no apparent reason while Tony was staring at him and drinking coffee. Pepper walked downstairs and made herself a tea. “How did you guys sleep last night?”
Tony chugged the last of his drink and put it in the sink. “Peter woke up about eight times. I didn’t sleep and he barely slept.”
Pepper sighed sadly. “Oh… I’m sorry… and I’m especially sorry to tell you this but I have to go to the tower today for some meetings. I have to leave you here with the kids.”
Tony didn’t show her that that upset him because he could handle it plus he barely worked anymore and knew that Pepper had taken on a huge workload just to cover for him. “That’s fine. When are you coming back?”
Pepper was already dressed and ready to go. Tony didn’t know how he didn’t notice that before, usually he would complement her but he didn’t have the energy to now.
“Later tonight. I have meetings all day and I won’t be out until maybe after dinner.” Pepper grabbed a cup of tea and was already on her way out.
Tony looked at Peter. He already was exhausted just thinking about the day.
It was just him and Peter until Morgan woke up but by then, Peter was in a slightly better mood so the two of them moved to the couch to watch some YouTube videos on Morgan’s iPad while Tony cleaned up the kitchen.
Peter paused the YouTube video to find another one. “I already watched this one last night.”
Morgan pressed play again. “No you didn’t. Plus I didn’t even see it.”
Peter grabbed the iPad from her. “No, I did. How are you gonna say what I didn’t do or watch?” Peter pulled the iPad out of her hands and turned to crawl to the other side of the couch but Morgan pulled the back of his pyjama pants so he couldn’t go anywhere. “Ahhhhh! Let me go!”
Tony walked over to them, a plate in one hand and a dish towel in the other. “Morgan, let go of his pants. Actually, both of you go upstairs and get dressed. We’re going to the store soon so go get dressed.”
Peter threw Morgan’s iPad at her face and went to run up. “Hey! Uh no. Get back over here, Peter, and hand Morgan her iPad.”
Peter froze. He looked at his dad then slowly made his way over to him and chewed on his thumb nail.
Tony said it again. “Pick up the iPad and hand it to your sister. Don’t throw it at her face.” Peter reluctantly listened to his dad and ever so carefully handed the iPad to Morgan then looked at his dad again. “Good. Go get dressed in decent clothes.”
The two of them ran upstairs and went into Morgan’s bedroom. Peter opened up her closet and pulled some of her clothes off the hooks. “I’m gonna pick what you wear then you have to pick my outfits.” Peter grabbed off a blue sweater with red pants for her. “Put it on.”
“No, not until I pick out your clothes.” The ten year old ran into Peter’s bedroom and walked into his closet to pick out his outfit but she made him look ridiculous. “I want you to wear this shirt. It looks funny.”
Peter looked at it. “No, I don’t like this one. Pick a different one.” He dragged a box up so he could stand on it but he lost his balance and swung from the clothes so he didn’t fall. “Ahhh! Look! Look at me!”
Morgan screamed with Peter and stood on the box to help him down. “I’ll lift you down.”
“I don’t need help.” He jumped down by himself. “See?” Peter then sat on the floor to put on some clothes but he couldn’t find anything. “We should go sneak into Harley’s bedroom.”
“No, he’ll get mad.” She stood up. “Let’s go back to my bedroom and find something to wear.” They both made their way into Morgan’s room and crawled into her messy closet that had piles of clothes on the ground.
Peter stripped from his pyjama pants and pulled out a random pair of pants to try and put on. “Do these look good on me?” He asked, attempting to pull them all the way up but they were too tight.
“They don’t fit.” Morgan grabbed a random pair. “Try these.”
Peter crawled further back into her closet and tried to shut the glass sliding door shut. “Close the door so no one can see us.” He kicked a pile of the clothes and sunk down onto them. “And you have to move closer to me.”
Morgan grabbed his ankle to try and put his foot through the pants but Peter screamed. “Nooo! Don’t. I can do it by myself.”
“I wanna help you.” Morgan tried again so Peter kicked her. “Owww! You let daddy help you.”
Peter tried to crawl away from her. “He’s not you. You’re annoying. And ugly.”
Morgan reached forward to grab a top and whip it at him. “Don’t say that! You’re uglier and you cry a lot.”
Peter kicked the closet door but to both their surprises, it was already off the hinges and when Peter kicked it, it fell and they both watched it fall to the ground with a giant bang and it shattered everywhere. Both of them screamed and looked at each other. “Oh no!”
Tony was downstairs with Harley when he heard the giant bang so he dropped everything and raced upstairs, praying for god that he didn’t find his kids under whatever just fell.
He ran into Morgan’s bedroom but stopped when he saw the glass everywhere and both of his kids sitting in her closet. Tony narrowed his eyes at them. “What are you guys doing?”
They were both frozen in fear, both from the closet door breaking and from the fear of getting in trouble. “Why are you guys in the closet when I told you to get dressed? Huh?”
Peter went to stand up but Tony stopped him. “Don’t! Stay where you are so I can get shoes and carry you out. There is glass all over the floor.”
Harley looked in the room. “Woah. You guys are in trouble.”
“Shut up butt head!” Peter screamed, not wanting to get in trouble. It was an accident. He looked at Morgan with watery eyes. “I’m gonna get in trouble.”
Morgan reached out to rub Peter’s thigh. “It’s okay. I’ll say I did it. Don’t cry.”
Tony walked back in with shoes and walked over the glass, hearing it crunch under his feet. He walked over to Peter first and held his arms out for him. “Come here.” He lifted him up and set him on his hip and saw his missing pyjama pants. “What happened to your pyjama pants?”
Peter frowned. “I don’t know.”
Tony walked back and set him on the floor where he made sure there was no glass. “Go get dressed, Peter. Now we have to go shopping for a closet door for Morgan.” He walked back over and grabbed Morgan then shut the bedroom door behind them. “Morgan, go get dressed in mine and mom's room. No more games. Come with me, Peter.”
Peter screamed and pulled away from him. “No! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
“Hey, calm down. I know it was an accident.” Tony didn’t know who did it, he knew it was both of them but he assumed Peter was mostly the one who actually knocked it down. “You just have to be more careful.”
Morgan hit Tony. “Don’t touch him! Petey didn’t do anything.”
Tony turned around to look at her. “Don’t hit me. I told you to go get dressed.” Tony grabbed onto Peter’s hand and walked him into his bedroom then sat on the bed and pulled Peter to stand in front of him. “Stop crying. I’m not mad at you.” Tony wiped the tears off Peter’s face and when he still didn’t stop crying, he picked him up and set him on his lap. “Why are you crying? Did you think I was really mad at you?”
Peter hiccuped against him. “Yeah… I-I- it was an accident.”
Tony rubbed his back. “I know… but you guys have to be careful because what if Morgan or you were under there? You guys would have gotten really hurt.” Tony didn’t even want to think about that.
Peter rubbed at his eyes. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’ll clean it up later, can you get dressed now? We’re gonna go to the store.” Tony lifted Peter off of him but Peter leaned heavily against him.
“I’m too tired to.” Peter whined out, waiting for his dad to do all the work.
Once they were ready to go, Tony walked downstairs with his kids but Harley was grabbing his own car keys. “I’m going out with my friends. I’ll see you before dinner.”
“Since when are you hanging out with your friends? You never told me you were.” Tony was really counting on Harley’s help at the store.
Harley was already making his way out the door. “I just made plans now. Don’t wait up for me.”
Tony rolled his eyes and looked at Peter and Morgan. “I guess it’s just us three. Get in the car.” He locked the door and turned around to see them running in the opposite direction of the car. “Guys! Hurry! This way, let’s go.”
Peter ran to the side of the house and tugged his pants down so Tony walked over to him and shrugged wildly. “What are you doing, Peter?”
“I have to pee badly.”
Tony rolled his eyes, not knowing why Peter didn’t just go when they were inside the house not even a minute ago. “Hurry up.”
“Don’t rush me.” Peter finished up then pulled his pants and underwear up and tucked himself away then ran to the van, jumping into his seat. “Can we get ice cream?”
Tony made sure everyone was in and buckled first. “If you’re good. I need to get some bathroom stuff, I don’t know, mom made a list and we’re gonna get bins for Morgan’s bedroom to clean up that tornado of a closet.”
Peter laughed at that and looked over at Morgan. “Hey, where did you find that?” He spotted a Candy in her hand and reached for it but he was too far away so he took off his seatbelt and got out of his seat to grab it from her.
“Daddy! Petey took my Candy bar!”
Tony quickly looked back to see Peter out of his seat. “Sit down right now, Peter Stark.”
Peter ran to the back seats and sat down there.
Tony had to pull into a parking lot because he was not risking getting into an accident on the roads when Peter wasn’t buckled in. Although Peter was above the height range to be out of a car seat, he was technically still supposed to be in one with his weight but Morgan didn’t need a car seat anymore so Tony and Pepper decided not to make Peter sit in one in the van, he did when he was in Tony’s car, that was a different story.
He got out of the van and opened up the back door, jumping in and pointing at the seat. “You get up here and sit in this seat right now or I will do it and I will not be happy.”
Peter looked at him, the smile falling from his face.
“One… two… three. Okay.” Tony went to reach for Peter but Peter screamed and tried to kick him away.
“Noooo! No! Nooo!” Peter full on sobbed as Tony grabbed him and sat him in the seat.
“You listen to me. When we are driving, you never take off your seatbelt because if we got into an accident, you would get really hurt.” Tony spoke firmly but Peter pushed his finger out of his face. “Hey. Stop. Your car seat is in the trunk. Do I have to get it so you stay in your seat?”
Peter sobbed even harder and shook his head. “Noooo!”
“Then I do not want to see you getting out of your seat until the car is stopped and I say you can.” Tony put Peter’s seatbelt on and shut the door, taking a few calming breaths before getting back into the car.
Morgan covered her hands over her ears at the noise and Tony felt like doing the same thing.
The crying stopped after a few minutes so Tony looked in the rearview mirror and saw Peter calming himself down by sucking on his thumb and the sight made Tony feel incredibly guilty. He had almost no patience today and he snapped at Peter but he hated feeling guilty for doing that.
He knew he was lucky to have his baby back so dad guilt was eating him alive when it came to punishing Peter. He pulled up to the store and parked the van then got out and opened the back door. “I’m sorry I got angry with you. I just want you to stay safe all the time.”
Peter nodded and reached for him with one hand to hug him.
“Let’s go shopping now.” He gently pulled Peter’s thumb out of his mouth and held his hand instead. “Are you gonna help me find the stuff on the list?”
“Uh huh.”
Tony pushed a shopping cart down the aisle with one hand and held onto Peter’s with the other. Pepper did the grocery shopping since she always knew what to get but Tony wanted to get these things for her for the bathroom.
In hindsight, he really shouldn’t have gone by himself with a cranky Peter and zero patience.
“Daddy? Can me and Peter go look at the toys?”
“No, we’re just here for bathroom stuff and bins.”
Peter pulled his hand out of his dad’s. “But I want to. We’ll be quick while you stay here.”
“No, Peter. No is no. No is not yes or maybe, it’s no.”
“Amen.”
Tony looked at the lady who said that and was walking down with a kid on her hip and another kid in the shopping cart. He smiled at her. It was nice to know he wasn’t alone.
“Please. I want to.” Peter tugged on his hands and swung from them.
“Daddy? Daddy? I think mommy wants this here. Can I put it in the shopping cart?” Morgan pointed to the soap bottle so Tony agreed even though he had no idea.
Peter looked at her. “I wanna do it.”
Morgan put it in before Peter could and that was the end of the world to Peter who was running on no sleep and barely any breakfast.
Tony really didn’t want a meltdown in the store so he pointed to another thing on the shelf. “Can you put this one in for me, Peter?”
Peter’s eyes were already watering so he turned to see where his dad was pointing to and put the toothbrush holder in the cart. “Dad, I wanna go look at the toys?”
“No. I said no, Peter. You have to understand what no means.”
Peter apparently didn’t hear the word no but rather he heard ‘start crying and cause a scene in the middle of the store’. He started crying and grabbed onto Tony’s arm so Tony wiped his tears. “Shh, please don’t cry. Let’s just get through this shopping trip.”
Tony pulled Peter along to go to the aisle with the bins, pretty sure he was missing half the stuff on the list but he didn’t care at this point. “Morgan, can you pick out like five bins.”
Peter let go of his hand to help. “I wanna pick one too for you, Morgan.”
“Okay. How about I pick three and you pick two?”
Peter liked that idea.
Tony was happy his kids were getting along well so he was looking at the reusable water bottles that were at the end of the same aisle so he wasn’t aware of what his kids were up to.
Peter climbed into one of the bins and rocked back and forth in it. “Pretend I’m in the ocean.” Peter looked over at Morgan but when he turned his head to see her, he rocked too hard and lost his balance. He fell over and smacked the front of his face on the floor then immediately started crying and held onto his face.
Tony heard the crying and was already over there to make sure Peter was okay. He knew he shouldn’t have gone to the store, he should have trusted his gut and now people were staring at them.
Peter was reaching up for him so Tony lifted Peter onto his feet and bent down to look at his face and make sure no heads were cracked open or any teeth were knocked out.
“That’s what you get for playing in the bins like that.” Tony was so stressed. He tried to put his phone in his pocket to hold Peter with both hands but he missed and his phone smacked onto the floor, just like Peter’s head previously. “Can you grab my phone, Morgan?”
“Pick me up!” Peter cried and desperately tried to reach up for him. “Why aren’t you picking me up?!”
Tony had to lift Peter up and walked over to the shopping cart. He tried to ignore all the people walking past the aisle and staring at them, it made him wonder if they were gonna take a video of it and then it could possibly get into the wrong hands.
Get grabbed Peter’s thumb and brought it up to his mouth then hid Peter’s face in his chest just until he called down a bit.
“Is he hurt?” Morgan asked, trying to get a look at her brother.
Tony patted Peter’s back and bent down to pick up a few bins to put them into the shopping cart. “He’s okay. It just scared him, that’s all.”
After a few minutes, Tony looked at Peter who looked half asleep in his arms. “We’re gonna go now, okay?” Peter nodded so Tony went to put him on his feet but Peter clung onto him and whined. “Yes. You have to walk. We’re gonna be in the car soon.”
He placed Peter on his feet and pulled his thumb out of his mouth and grabbed onto his hand. He expected the crying to start again and it did. He really regretted coming to the store. He didn’t want to just leave empty handed but Peter was causing a scene so Tony had to leave the shopping cart off to the side and left. “Let’s go, Morgan. We’re going home now.”
Morgan ran after him. “But we didn’t get anything.”
“I know. Peter’s not in a good mood so we’ll have to come back another day.” Tony was beyond stressed, he was actually so grateful Morgan was with him so he didn’t feel so alone. Even though she was younger than Peter, she helped Pepper and him out with Peter more than she knew.
Once they made it out of the store, Tony grabbed Peter and lifted him up just to get him to stop crying. “What’s wrong, Peter? Your head is fine.” Peter sighed and laid his head on Tony’s shoulder. “Are you tired? Is that why you’re acting cranky?”
“No. I’m not.”
Tony didn’t say anything. The trip to the store was a waste of time since they were forced to leave empty handed and it just added so much stress onto everyone.
He opened up the back door and sat Peter in his seat. “We’re gonna go home now so you can sleep if you want.” Tony put his seatbelt on and felt around in his pockets. “Oh, Morgan, do you have my phone?”
“Yeah.”
He took it from her and checked the time. It was way earlier than he expected. He still had almost a full day ahead of himself before Pepper got home. He had quickly called some workers to fix Morgan’s bedroom while they were out so he hoped they were done by the time they got home.
It was just Tony’s luck that Peter refused to sleep and fought it until they were turning down their street. He didn’t even want to take Peter out of the car to move him so he parked it in the driveway and turned around to look at Morgan. “I’m gonna stay in here for half an hour so Peter can sleep. Do you wanna stay with us or go inside?”
Morgan looked at Peter. “Uh… I wanna go inside.”
Tony handed her the house keys and watched her go in as he sat in the car for the next thirty minutes and thought about a lot of stuff. He didn’t really think about the fact how Harley was trusted to stay home alone when he was eleven and they even trusted Morgan to spend thirty minutes to an hour home alone but they did not trust Peter one bit.
Both Tony and Pepper knew how he was, as soon as they left the house, assuming he didn't cry at being left alone, he would get into everything he’s not supposed to just because no one could tell him no.
Tony felt bad that his other kids got that freedom and Peter didn’t but it was how he was raised for those seven years… as much as they hated it and as hard as it was, things would always be different for him.
After the thirty minutes were up, Tony opened up the back door and gently shook Peter awake. “Hey, baby. Time to wake up. You had a long enough nap.” He took off Peter’s seatbelt and rubbed his cheek. “Let’s go inside and eat some lunch. Are you hungry?”
Peter got up and melted into Tony’s arms before Tony even realized what he was doing. “M’tired.”
“You slept for thirty minutes. I don’t want you sleeping for too long because then you won’t nap, baby.” Tony locked the car and went inside the house. He pulled off Peter’s shoes and kicked off his, then immediately walked into the bathroom. “Go pee and wash your hands before you do anything else.”
Tony left him there and went to go wash his own hands in the kitchen. He was exhausted and still had a long time to go.
He decided to make something simple so he got out a box of Mac and cheese but while he was doing that, Pepper called him. Hope sparked in him and it made him wonder if she was calling to tell him she was on her way home. “Hey. Please tell me you’re coming home.”
“Actually the opposite. I’m sorry. My meeting is running longer than I thought so I had to push all my other meetings back.”
Tony wasn’t that surprised. “It’s fine. I’m just cooking lunch. We had a very stressful shopping trip and I had to leave the shopping cart there and walk out.”
He heard Pepper sigh on the other end. “I’m sorry. Is Peter being difficult for you right-”
“One second,” Tony looked at Morgan. “What did you say?”
“I said Peter’s sleeping on the toilet.”
Tony rubbed his eyes. “Okay. I gotta go, Pep. Peter fell asleep on the toilet. Please try and come home earlier.” He hung up the phone and walked down the hallway, spotting Peter passed out on the toilet.
He wished he could say it was a first but it wasn’t.
Tony lifted him up and pulled up his pants and underwear then walked into the kitchen and washed his hands at the sink. He got some cold water and splashed it on Peter’s face to wake him up.
“Mmm! Hey. No.” Peter pushed his dad's hands away and gave him a dirty look. “Don’t.”
“Time to wake up.” Tony sat him on the chair and pushed it back. “Lunch is almost ready so don’t go anywhere.”
Peter arched his back and slid off the chair then crawled towards the living room but Tony let him go. He tried to finish lunch as quickly as possible so he could get them to eat but Morgan was walking into the living room and Tony really hoped they didn’t start fighting.
“Morgan, I wanna play Hay Day with you. Grab your iPad.” Peter turned his iPad on but it was almost dead so he groaned. “Let me play on yours. Mines gonna die soon.”
“Then charge it. I’m playing on mine.” She sat down and turned her back to Peter so Peter got up and pushed her down on the couch and tried to take her iPad but she kicked him in the balls and ran into the kitchen. “Daddy! Peter’s trying to get my iPad from me!”
Peter fell onto his knees and collapsed onto the floor from the pain. “Morgan kicked me in my private spot!”
Tony wanted to ignore both of them but he couldn’t. “Play nicely. Morgan, don’t kick your brother in his private spot, and Peter, don’t take her iPad. I’m cooking so go away.”
Peter recovered quickly and ran into the kitchen. “Dad, tell Morgan she has to share.”
“I don’t have to share. You have your own iPad.”
“Mines dead.”
“So what.”
“That’s rude!”
“You’re rude!”
“You’re rude!”
“You’re rude-”
“Guys. Enough. Go play by yourselves.”
Tony pushed both of them away so he could finish cooking the Mac and cheese.
Peter sat down, facing away from his sister but she wasn’t commenting on it so he stood up and slapped her back. “Owww! Daddy! Peter hit me!”
Tony walked into the living room and grabbed Peter’s arm, lifting him onto the sofa and pushing it so it was in the corner. “Stop it. I’m trying to cook and I can’t cook with you two fighting and constantly needing help to come in to stop you.”
Peter tried to kick him as he went to walk away and maybe if Tony wasn’t so exhausted and if he still had some patience left, he would have handled it differently but he didn’t. He picked Peter up and walked into the kitchen.
“No. No! Nooo! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Daddy!” Peter cried, thinking he was going to get punished. Tony and Pepper never hit their kids besides for a slap on the butt when they were bad so he never knew why Peter acted like he was going to get beat every time Tony or Pepper were strict with him. Steve did something to him that Tony still didn’t know of and he was scared to know.
He sat Peter on a chair and pulled it into the kitchen so he could watch him. “You are going to sit here until you can start to listen to me and behave.”
Peter sobbed desperately and reached out for him. “Nooooo! I’m sorry!” He knew Tony wasn’t going to hold him so he rubbed at his eyes and sobbed.
Tony’s heart was breaking. He turned his back to Peter so Peter couldn’t see the pain on his face from having to do that. He needed Peter to understand that there were rules and stop meant stop and no meant no. Peter had no idea what those words meant.
After about a minute, Tony kneeled down in front of Peter. “Can you listen to me?”
Peter nodded quickly.
“Then I want a hug and kiss.” He held his arms out for Peter and received his hug. “Can I have a kiss?” Peter kissed him then wiped his mouth.
“I want- I want to stay with you.”
“Go play in the living room until lunch is ready.”
Peter stomped his foot. “Mm!” He ran off but spotted the car seats by the front door and ran over to them so Morgan followed him. “Let’s pretend to play bus driver.”
Morgan grabbed Peter’s old car seat and dragged it into the living room so Peter took Morgan’s old car seat. “Let’s play mom and baby. I’m the mom because I’m the girl so you have to be my baby.”
“Or I can be the daddy and you can be my baby.” Peter suggested but sat in the car seat anyways. He put his arms through the straps, remembering how his parents used to do it for him when he was younger. “And you have to put on all the straps too.”
Morgan got it secured on him and then tried to move the car seat a bit on the couch. “Okay. Next stop. Daycare. Oh! How old are you now?”
Peter frowned. “Fourteen.”
“No, in the game?”
Peter thought about it. “I’m three now.”
Tony heard that and turned around to watch them. Peter was three when he was kidnapped. Tony couldn’t help but suddenly feel so overwhelmed with joy and sadness at the same time. He wanted to go back and hold his three year old baby so badly but he knew he couldn’t.
He loved Peter but he missed the life he didn’t have watching his kid grow up. That was why he clung onto every bit of innocence and childlike behaviour with Peter.
Peter brought his feet up to the car seat and tried to grab the remote off the couch but he couldn’t reach it. “Pass me the remote.”
Morgan shushed him. “Babies can’t talk yet. I should get you a paci and bottle… oops.”
Peter looked at her and they both just stared at each other.
“Sorry. I’ll be right back.” Morgan ran off so Peter sat there and waited patiently for her to come back. When she did, she had a bag filled with stuff so she dumped it out of the couch. There were pacifiers, clothes for her dolls and Peter’s old pull-ups. “Here,” She placed a pacifier in his mouth but Peter took it out to look at then put it back in, sucking on it.
“I have all this too so I can take you out of the car seat and take care of you.”
Tony was half watching them and half cooking but he saw something in Peter’s mouth and walked over to see what it was. “What are you guys playing?”
“We’re playing baby and mommy.” Morgan responded as she got everything ready.
Tony saw the pacifier in Peter’s mouth and pulled it out. “No pacifier. You guys can play but he’s not actually a baby, Morgan. You can’t give him a pacifier.” Tony didn’t want to start any more bad habits. Especially since they were still trying to stop a bunch.
Peter reached for it so Tony held it out of sight.
“I know. But he’s three now. In all the pictures of Peter, he had his paci.” Morgan paused to look up at him.
Tony and Pepper still had all of Peter’s pacifiers in his baby box that they hadn’t looked at in a long time. Peter was obsessed with them when he was younger and the habit was never broken properly and was encouraged by Steve so it was why Peter probably would take to them so easily again.
“That’s because he was a three year old toddler. That was over ten years ago and now he’s fourteen so he doesn’t need them.” Tony explained to Morgan but mostly Peter who he saw eyeing it in his hand.
“We’re just pretending.”
“I know, you guys can pretend without a pacifier.” Now Tony knew he had to hide all the pacifiers in the house. They were all in Morgan’s bedroom from her dolls but Peter could easily get to them.
Peter watched his dad walk away and looked at Morgan, suddenly not wanting to play anymore. “I want out. I want to eat lunch.”
As if on cue, Tony called them into the kitchen so Morgan went running in, leaving Peter alone and stuck. He screamed and tried to reach out for her but she was already gone so he screamed again.
Tony walked over to go help him. “Hey, calm down, I’m right here.” He swung the dish towel over his shoulder and undid the buckles. “How many times have I done this for you before and here I am doing it again.” Tony reminisced. He loved and despised the car seat phase although they still weren’t quite out of it yet.
He got the last buckle undone for him so Peter grabbed onto his arms to be lifted up. “Help me up.”
“I’m surprised you still fit in that thing, kid.” It scared Tony a bit. Peter was really underweight. “How about we go eat lunch now?”
Peter put his legs straight and left Tony to go into the kitchen and climbed up on the stool next to Morgan. “Mm. Lunch for me. Lunch for me.” He grabbed his fork and stuck it into his Mac and cheese. “Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Dad? Can I have ketchup?” Peter asked, too lazy to move from the stool. He picked up his glass of apple juice. “And-and put my juice in a water bottle.”
“What’s the magic word?”
“Please.”
Tony grabbed the ketchup for him and poured his juice into a water bottle, having zero motivation to tell him no. “Here. I’m gonna go upstairs and check on Morgan’s closet so you guys be good.” Tony had yet to see what the workers had done; he was going to go upstairs quickly just to see.
He would have cleaned it up himself but there was glass everywhere and he had no one to watch Peter and Morgan so he had to hire some workers and they did an amazing job to get all the glass out of the carpet and furniture.
While Tony was gone, Peter took advantage of that and grabbed some ketchup to rub it in Morgan’s hair. “Eww.”
Morgan grabbed her hair away. “Heyyy. Peter. That’s mean.”
Peter grinned. He knew he wouldn’t get in trouble. “I didn’t do it. You did.”
Morgan smacked him. “No I didn’t. Stop being mean to me.”
“Haha. Oh well.” Peter sat up on his knees and reached across the table to grab more ketchup so Morgan grabbed a handful of his Mac and cheese and shoved it down the back of his pants. “Ahh- stop. No!” Peter moved her hand away but it was too late and it felt uncomfortable so he slid off the chair and ran to his dad. “Dad?! Daddy?!”
Tony sighed. He couldn’t even leave for a minute. “Yeah, Peter?”
Peter ran into Morgan’s bedroom and wiped at his dry tears. “Morgan shoved Mac and cheese down my butt.”
Tony wasn’t sure he heard that right. “What?”
“Morgan put Mac and cheese in my pants.” Peter whined and ran on the spot, clearly uncomfortable. “It’s yuckie.”
Tony turned Peter around and pulled the back of his underwear to see, sighing at the mess. “Oh come on, you guys. Why are you shoving food down your pants.”
“I didn’t.” Peter followed his dad into the hallway and to his and Morgan’s bathroom. “Morgan did it. I told her no.”
Tony sat on the toilet seat and grabbed wipes. “Yeah but why did she do that? What did you do to her?” Tony knew Peter did something. He always did; Morgan only fought back if Peter started it. He pulled down his pants and underwear and wiped the Mac and cheese up.
“It’s everywhere.” Tony complained and grabbed more wipes. “Turn around.”
Peter held his shirt up and watched. “Are you going to give Morgan punishment?”
“No. I’m going to talk to her.”
Peter hesitated. “Am I in trouble?”
“No, bud, I just need you guys to behave. I’m really tired, I didn’t sleep well last night.” Tony tossed the wipes in the garbage.
“Why didn’t you sleep well?”
Tony blinked at him. Peter was the reason he never slept. He was always the reason he never slept. When he was a baby he woke up a lot throughout the night to nurse or for Tony to hold him, then when Peter was kidnapped, Tony lost a lot of nights of sleep over Peter and now Peter wasn’t having very good nights of rest and Tony was up a lot with him.
It was definitely true with the saying once you have kids, you’ll never sleep again.
“Because you are a monkey.”
Peter giggled and started pulling his dirty clothes back up.
“Wh-what are you doing? Those are cheesy now.” He stopped him and stood up. “Go put on clean clothes.” He tossed the dirty clothes into the laundry bin and walked into Peter’s bedroom. “What do you want to wear?”
Peter thought about it. “Uhhh…” he fell face first onto the bed and groaned. “No clothes!”
Tony grabbed underwear and track pants. “Put these on then go finish your lunch. Morgan is probably already done.”
Once they got back downstairs, Peter ran over and began eating again just as Morgan was finishing. Tony leaned against the counter. “Morgan, why did you shove the Mac and cheese down your brothers pants.”
Morgan grabbed her hair. “Peter put ketchup in my hair and hit me.”
Tony looked at Peter. “Peter.” He had no idea what to do. He was so exhausted and overworked. He had nothing in him to do anything else so he started cleaning up a bit while Peter ate and then the two of them went to do their own thing until dinner.
Peter and Morgan were behaving and getting along for the most part but then Peter started getting overtired and was taking it out on Morgan. “I’m using it first!”
“Daddy?!” Morgan yelled. Tony ignored her. “Daddy? Tell Peter to stop.”
Peter kicked the blankets off the couch. “Daddy! I’m not even doing anything.”
Tony checked the time. He had no idea when Pepper would be home but he was about to lose it.
Peter ran over to Tony and sat on his thigh. “I’m not doing anything. I just want Morgan to let me use the box first.”
“Morgan, let Peter use the box.”
“But I’m using it first-”
Peter turned around. “No you were using it for five minutes and now it’s my turn.”
Tony pinched the bridge of his nose while the two of them argued and he couldn’t take it anymore so he stood up and went to grab the box. “Now none of you have it. If you can’t get along, none of you will play with it.”
Peter sank to the floor and cried but Tony ignored it, knowing how dramatic he was.
“Can I play with it in five minutes then?” Asked Morgan just as Pepper walked in the door and Tony simply could not take it anymore. He turned and walked towards the front door.
“They are all yours. I can’t take it anymore.” He grabbed his keys and left, not able to take the crying, fighting and demands anymore.
He got into his car and drove around the block, not wanting to go home yet so he drove to a cafe and got a coffee and just sat in his car. He felt incredibly guilty for it.
At home, Pepper watched Tony just walk out, extremely confused. She heard the crying and followed it into the living room, spotting Peter crying on the floor and Morgan peacefully sitting on the couch with the remote in her hand. “Hi guys.”
“Hi mom.”
Peter snapped his head up and ran towards her. “M-Morgan took-took the box but I wanted it!” He cried and grabbed Pepper’s hand to show her.
“Well Peter, Morgan is playing with it right now. You can use it after she’s done.”
Peter cried harder.
“Did you take a nap today? I know you didn’t sleep well last night.” Peter didn’t respond so Pepper asked her daughter who was used to the crying and Peter’s behaviour by now so it didn’t even phase her. “Did Peter nap today, Morgan?”
Morgan shrugged. “Oh yeah. Yeah, he did in the car with dad.”
“Do you know at what time and for how long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Okay. That’s fine. Did you guys eat?” Peter stopped crying and lifted his arms up but remembered Pepper wasn’t Tony so he looked around.
“Where’s dad?”
“He left for a bit.” Pepper walked into the kitchen and saw their dinner plates still on the table so at least they already ate. “Morgan, in ten minutes I want you upstairs to shower and into bed.” Morgan nodded so Pepper took Peter up and stayed with him while he got ready for bed.
Morgan was tucked in and Peter was freshly bathed and in his pyjamas, lying in bed by the time Tony got home a few hours later.
The house was clean and quiet so Tony slowly and quietly walked upstairs to find Peter all cozy and ready for bed but as soon as Peter saw him, he sat up and made a grabby hand with the hand that didn’t have his thumb in his mouth. “Hey, baby.”
The room was dark with only a tv show playing on low volume. “He wanted to wait up for you.” Said Pepper.
Tony nodded and pulled Peter onto his lap. “Yeah? And you got ready for bed without me?”
Peter nodded, about to sleep now that his dad was there.
Tony looked at Pepper. “Thanks. Sorry I walked out. They drove me crazy and… I just feel so incredibly guilty.”
Pepper understood that. It was extremely hard.