To Build A Home

Tony reached out and ran a gentle hand over Peter’s cheek that wasn’t squished into the mattress.

He wanted so badly to hold Peter in his arms and never let go.

Peter was sleeping so peacefully. For a minute, they could pretend that they were a normal family and not a family that had their baby ripped away from them, not knowing if they would ever see him again.

Harley dropped to his knees at the edge of the bed and leaned against the frame. Pepper ran a comforting hand through Harley's hair and then reached over to rub Peter’s arm but that caused him to start whining and roll onto his side.

All three of them held their breath while they waited for Peter to wake up but thankfully that never happened.

Tony ran another hand through his hair and smiled over at Pepper when Peter leaned into the touch even in his sleep.

“I’m gonna stay with him for a bit.” Tony whispered to them because he didn’t think he could leave Peter right now. Maybe not ever.

“Get some sleep, Harley.” Pepper told him. “Morgan will go over to Cassidy’s house tomorrow because Natasha is coming so we’re not going to send you away as well but it’s your choice whether you want to stay or not.”

Harley stood up and wiped at his cheeks. “I’m staying.”

Tony laid down on the bed so that he was facing Peter. He heard Harley leave the room but he could still see Pepper on the corner of his eye, watching over them.

Tony brushed the curls off of Peter’s face. “What do you think he’s dreaming of?”

“I don’t know. I hope something happy.” Pepper whispered then walked away to go into the bathroom and picked up Peter’s dirty clothes that he had put into a pile on the floor.

She made sure they weren’t inside out anymore and pulled his underwear from off his pants, smiling at how Peter still does that. Harley stopped doing it but Morgan still did it and now she had another kid to untangle underwear from.

Pepper flipped the underwear around so it wasn’t inside out anymore and covered her mouth so she wouldn’t let a cry escape. They were lego man underwear that she had brought for Harley when he was Peter’s age. The exact same make.

Pepper walked into the bedroom with the material in her hand and placed them in front of Tony. “Harley used to wear these kinds.”

Tony held up the underwear and a small smile appeared on his face. He had missed so much of Peter’s life but in a way, Peter and Harley had stayed connected during this time even if it was something as simple as Harley's old underwear now being the same make that Peter wore years later.

“We missed so much of his life.” Tony admitted out loud and turned back to look at Peter. “I don’t want anything from that man’s house. Throw these out.”

Pepper didn’t blame her husband. She wanted the clothes that Peter came in with, gone. She didn’t want anything that reminded them of that man.

That man who had stolen Peter’s life from him. They would be lucky if he ever trusted anyone ever again. It was going to be a long recovery for them.

Tony handed the underwear to Pepper and ran another hand through Peter’s hair. “I’m gonna stay here and hopefully he doesn’t wake up so I can watch over him for a bit.”

Pepper didn’t say anything, she left the room, leaving Tony with his kid.

Tony continued to examine Peter’s face. He looked so old yet so young at the same time.

The last time Tony had seen him, he had been a happy three year old toddler who was constantly laughing and demanding to be held by his daddy.

Him and Pepper always laid awake at night, thinking about their baby. They always wondered if Peter was crying for them. Now he wondered when Peter had stopped crying for them. When had he started to believe the lie that was being told to him was his life.

Tony didn’t know if he wanted to know the answer to that question. He had so many other questions that maybe better left unanswered.

Rogers had potty trained Peter. Had most likely already taught him how to ride a bike, tie his shoes, how to swim and so much more. There were so many firsts that Tony had missed with his baby boy.

The truth was that the boy lying next to him was a complete stranger. Tony didn’t know anything about him. Rogers had known Peter longer than he had known his own son and Tony hated that fact.

Tony didn’t even know if Peter knew how to ride a bike or swim. He didn’t know if he preferred to have his crust cut off or left on. He didn’t know if Peter had his first girlfriend or kiss yet but he hoped not. His baby was way too young for that and he wouldn’t allow it.

The sad truth was that Peter was a stranger to him as much as they were to Peter.

With that thought in Tony’s mind, Peter started to shake his head from side to side and started to make tiny whimpering noises.

Tony carefully reached over to rub at Peter’s back which caused Peter to let out a low whine and right as Tony thought Peter was going to wake up and start freaking out that he was in the same bed as him, Peter lifted his head up and moved closer to Tony to lay his head on top of his chest.

Tony froze.

It was the closest thing to comfort that Tony had gotten from him since they got him back. Tony placed his hand over Peter’s back, feeling his weight on top of him which made Tony start to silently cry.

This was real.

He had Peter back. So many days and nights that went by where he pictured this moment where he finally had his boy back and now here he was, with Peter back in his arms where he always belonged.

Just as suddenly as Peter placed his head on his chest, he was sitting up on his knees and swaying a bit before falling face first onto a pillow.

The whole thing was rather cute, even though Tony missed the heavy weight on his chest.

He thought that Peter must be a reckless sleeper. It could also be the fact that he’s under a lot of stress from the day but he’s pretty sure it has to do with both things.

Pepper appeared next to him then crawled onto the other side so Peter was between them. Tony hoped he didn’t wake up but he didn’t think he would.

“He put his head on my chest for like a minute.” Tony whispered which caused Pepper to gasp silently. “Yeah, he started whining in his sleep so I rubbed his back and then he put his head on my chest.”

Tony could make out a smile spreading across Pepper’s face. He smiled too then looked back at Peter.

“He’s so handsome. Such a beautiful face.” Tony observed and glanced back up at Pepper. “We made him.”

It was an extremely emotional day for them so that caused the tears to start falling again for Pepper. “I know. We did.”

Tony sat up because he knew if he stayed then he would be falling asleep and he didn’t want to take Peter’s trust from him.

“I’m Uh, I’m gonna go order some stuff for him to the house. So uh, so he can have some clothes to change into tomorrow.” Tony got off the bed but he ran a hand through Peter’s still soft baby curls one more time before he left.

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The next time Peter woke up, it was to the sun shining brightly on his face.

He rolled over to face the other way so the sun was no longer assaulting his eyes and then all of the memories from the day before came rushing back to him.

He laid there motionless and feeling numb.

The need to cry was not there. He felt nothing and maybe that was worse than feeling anything at all.

Peter rubbed at his eyes and looked at the bedroom door that was still open. On the wall across the hallway, he could make out a family picture that looked recent.

He obviously wasn’t in it but for some reason, that made him feel weird. He didn’t know how to explain it but he didn’t like the feeling.

Peter pushed himself up on the bed and looked at the nightstand table. His eyes grew wide once he saw the picture. He now knew it was him as a baby.

He picked it up and saw that he had the same button nose with big brown eyes and curly hair. He ran a finger across his face and smiled a bit but then there was a voice at the door that startled him.

“That’s you.” Tony said from the doorway. He gave Peter a smile and walked into the room, not knowing how Peter would feel this morning.

Peter sat up a bit and put the picture frame on his lap.

“Is it okay if I sit down?” Tony asked, hesitating by the edge of the bed and when Peter gave the smallest nod, he sat down and turned his body towards Peter. “You were two years old when I took this picture.”

Peter was staring at the picture and trying to analyze every detail.

“I remember that day because it was so hot outside and all you wanted to do was go to the park so that’s where we went. Just you and me.” Tony explained to Peter. It was one of his favourite days with Peter, considering that he doesn’t have many days to go off of.

In the picture, Peter was sitting at the bottom of a red slide and smiling up at whoever was behind the camera with the widest smile. Now Peter knew that it was Tony behind the camera.

“Why didn’t um, anyone else go?” Peter asked, curious to know the answer.

“Because it was just our day. You loved all of my attention so we spent a lot of time together.” Tony thought about all the times where he would have to leave and Peter would scream bloody murder until he got back. Now Peter didn’t even want to look at him.

Peter ran his fingers over his face once again then put the picture back on the nightstand table and rubbed at his eyes.

Tony stood up. “Are you hungry? Mo- um, Pepper is cooking some breakfast whenever you’re ready. Natasha is coming over in an hour.”

Now that Tony mentioned food, Peter realized how hungry he was and he was excited that Natasha was coming so he could beg her to take him back to his dad.

“I Uh, I got some clothes for you to put on. I hope I got the size right.” Tony grabbed a pile of clothes and put it on the bed in front of him. Peter didn’t even see him walk in with anything. “Oh and I hope you aren’t scared of dogs.”

With that, Tony left. Peter’s interest was immediately peeked. He slid out of bed and grabbed the clothes that Tony brought for him and went into the bathroom to go pee and change into the lego man underwear, dark blue track pants and white long sleeved shirt.

The material was extremely comfortable and fit perfectly. He wondered how they knew his side so perfectly since he had always been hard to shop for because his age not matching his tiny size.

Tony wasn’t small, he was really muscular and seemed extremely fit so he didn’t know where he got his small size from. Maybe Pepper? Even though she wasn’t that small either.

After he was done, he left the bedroom, now feeling incredibly uncomfortable and lonely. He felt like he was at a friend's house and counting the hours until he could go home. Although now, he wasn’t sure when he would be able to go home.

He got to the bottom of the stairs and sat on one of the steps, too uncomfortable to walk down and join everyone but he didn’t even know where the kitchen was since the house was massive.

Harley walked out from the room beside the stairs and smiled down at him. “Hey. Are you hungry? Did you sleep well, Peter?”

Peter looked up at Harley through his eye lashes and then looked away and nodded his head, curling more into himself.

“Well that’s good cause-”

Harley didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence because there was the sound of paws making its way towards them so Peter snapped his head in that direction and saw a dog walking over to him and sniffing his wet nose all over his hands and face.

Peter started laughing but moved his head away anyways. He felt all the worries and stress leave his body for just a few seconds as the dog licked his face.

“His name is Asier. We got him a year ago after, well, yeah.” Harley trailed off sadly towards the end and then patted his thighs which caused Asier to sit down.

Peter continued on with the laughing fit for a few seconds longer but then he stopped and the sadness washed over him once again.

“Do you want to take him into the kitchen? It’s time for his breakfast as well.” Harley told him so Peter stood up and grabbed onto Asier’s collar so he could follow Harley down the hallway and into the kitchen.

Everyone stopped to stare at them so Peter looked down at the dog to try and stop the overwhelming feeling.

“I see you met Asier, Pete.” Tony said as he was filling up his third cup of coffee of the morning.

“Yeah. He’s cute.” Peter said quietly then looked up to see Pepper sitting at the kitchen island with Morgan who was sitting next to her and staring at him. Peter looked away.

“Don’t let his cuteness fool you, he will eat your shoes and food when you aren’t looking.” Tony joked playfully and held a finger up at the dog. Peter laughed softly.

“And when you are looking.” Harley added then walked over to grab Asier’s food which caused the dog to leave Peter’s side.

“Come sit down, honey. I made pancakes with some bacon and fruit.” Pepper pointed to the seat across from them but Peter shook his head and moved so he could hide half behind the wall.

He didn’t know these people. He just wanted his dad.

Tony took a sip of his coffee and sat down next to Peter’s spot with his own plate. “You have to eat before Natasha comes.”

Peter hesitated. He looked over at Asier then walked into the kitchen and took a seat next to Tony and looked at his plate. “I don’t like bacon. I’m sorry.”

Both Tony and Pepper looked at each other with a knowing smile. “That’s okay. You eat whatever you want to eat and if you’re still hungry after then I will make something else for you.”

Peter nodded at Pepper and stared at her for a little bit longer. He was looking at his mom. The person who gave birth to him and the person he wanted to meet more than anything in his life but he knew he never would yet here she was.

He weakly smiled at her when she smiled at him then he began eating.

Morgan was staring at him the whole time. “Do you want to play with my dolls with me later?”

Peter shook his head. He wasn’t going to be here later and he didn’t want to play with dolls.

Morgan frowned and it matched Peter’s almost exactly. “Why not?”

Peter just shrugged his shoulders and ripped off a piece of pancake to shove in his mouth. He gripped onto the table so he could sit on his knees and grabbed his glass that was placed in front of him.

Tony and Pepper were watching Peter secretly the whole time. They wanted to see if he ate the blueberries that were put out for him because they knew that three year old Peter hated it so now they wanted to know if ten year old Peter hated it as well.

Peter ate almost everything but his blueberries and bacon. Tony looked over at Pepper and smiled but as simple as it was, he was so happy because it meant that they still knew Peter. He wasn’t a complete stranger to them.

Peter drank the rest of his apple juice but his throat was so dry so he turned on his chair to look at Tony who was putting dishes in the sink. “Um, can I have more please?”

“Of course you can.” Tony grabbed the cup from Peter, cringing at how slimy it was but he ignored it and got him some more juice then looked at his shirt which had red spills all down the front. Tony didn’t know how that was possible from one strawberry.

When Peter had his back to him, Tony motioned for Pepper to look at his shirt. She looked then covered up her smile and turned to Morgan. “Go get your shoes on because you’re going over to the neighbours until six tonight.”

Morgan looked away from Peter then threw her head back in annoyance but got off the stool anyways to go do what her mom told her with Harley going to follow her without having to be asked to walk her over to the neighbours house.

Peter put his hands in his lap and looked at the counter top. “Um… when is Natasha coming?”

Tony gave Pepper a sad look without Peter seeing them finished putting the dishes into the sink. “She’s coming at nine so about ten minutes.”

Peter nodded his head and started counting down the minutes until she arrived so he could beg her to take him back to his dad that he missed so freaking much it was crazy.

A long ten minutes later, the doorbell rang so Peter willingly followed Tony to the front door and stood by the stairwell railing as he watched them greet and Natasha walk inside.

“Hi Peter. How are you?” Natasha asked him but he just shrugged and she didn’t seem phased about it.

He stood up when they walked back into the kitchen and followed them. Natasha turned to him. “Do you want to go into the living room to talk with me?” Peter nodded his head and waited for her to lead the way after she turned to Pepper and Tony. “I’m going to talk to him for a few minutes then I’ll talk to you guys.”

When they both agreed, Natasha led Peter down the hallway and into one of the living rooms since she knew her way around the house after being in it so many times.

She sat down on a couch but before Peter was even sitting down, he was speaking. “When can I see my dad?”

Natasha looked sad. “Peter. You have to understand what the man who you believe is your father, he kidnapped you from your real father and your whole family.”

Peter pulled his legs to his chest on the couch. “Yeah but… he’s still my dad and I want to go back to him and you’re here to take me back.”

Natasha didn’t say anything but she still had the same look on her face. “Do you understand what I’m saying to you, Peter?”

“Do you understand what I’m saying to you? I want to go back to my dad. Tony isn’t my dad. I don’t-I don’t know him.” Peter put his legs down and stared at Natasha.

Since she was used to working with children, she didn’t feel phased by Peter’s attitude towards her. “I know it may feel that way because they are strangers to you but they are your real parents, Peter. They love you and they never ever stopped looking for you but they are your real mom and dad.”

Peter didn’t want to believe it. He wanted to go back to a day ago where he was happy with his life and having no idea about the potential amazing life that he missed out on with a mom and siblings.

He didn’t want to think about the fact that Steve took him away from all of that.

“I just…” Peter pulled his legs back to his chest and sighed. “I just want to go back home. To my dad.”

“I know you do and I am so sorry but I can’t make that happen.”

Peter broke down in tears and fell onto his side so he was curled into a ball on the couch. He didn’t know what was going to happen with him but Natasha wasn’t going to fix anything so he wanted her to leave.

“Would you like me to grab Tony or Pepper?” She asked, nicely but Peter shook his head and kicked his legs out.

“No! I want you to leave!” He screamed and broke down even more, knowing that she was not going to take him back to Steve.

Natasha didn’t move. “The only way that you can move on is for you to understand what was done to you was wrong. You were stolen from your life and I am so so sorry that that happened to you, Peter, but you have to understand that.”

Peter didn’t want to. He covered his ears and turned his face into the couch so he could just forget about everything.

Natasha watched him for a few seconds before getting up and walking back into the kitchen where Pepper and Tony were standing, having heard the whole conversation and Peter crying.

“I was going to ask how things were going but I can see that things are not going well which is completely expected.” Natasha took a seat at the dining room table but Tony and Pepper didn’t move.

Natasha pulled out some papers. “I didn’t expect this to be easy. It’s a massive adjustment for all of you and him but in your case, you knew he existed. He just found out about you guys less than a day ago so it’ll take some time.”

“I don’t know why we always expected our reunion to be filled with love and hugs and kisses.” Pepper laughed dryly. She grabbed a Kleenex to wipe her tears.

Tony stayed silent. He didn’t know what he expected. There were so many possible outcomes with the scariest being that Peter was dead and never coming back. Another scary thought was that Peter was sold into something that he didn’t even want to think about.

Tony could hear him crying in the next room and it took everything in him to not go and comfort his kid. He knew that he would just get rejected anyways but maybe it was important for Peter to know that he cared.

“At least you have him back. Now you can focus on the healing process and getting into a routine for him.” Natasha told them. Tony was half listening but more focused on the crying. “He was in school so I think right now, you need to get his name legally changed back and get all of his legal documents figured out. Then you need to talk to him about school and that this is a permanent thing. There will be no going back to Steve.”

Tony hated that name. He hated that man who stole everything from them.

“I’m sorry. I can’t sit here and talk as if he’s not crying in the other room.” Tony uncrossed his arms and walked into the other room where he saw Peter lying on his stomach and his knees pulled to his chest, much like how he was sleeping the night before.

He squatted down in front of the couch and hesitantly reached out to rub Peter’s back. “Hey, buddy. It’s gonna be okay.”

Peter flinched and lifted his head up to look at Tony. “Go away!”

Tony didn’t care. Peter could call him every rude name in the book but he wasn’t going to leave him. Never again.

He got comfortable with his back up against the coffee table so he could stay with Peter and be there for him without actually getting to hold and comfort him.

Peter sucked in a shaky breath and turned his head the other way. He slowly slid off the couch so he was kneeling in front of it but with his face still pressed into the fabric so he could listen to the conversation going on in the kitchen.

He lifted his head up when he saw Natasha hugging Pepper which meant that she was going to be leaving so Peter stood up and walked over to the door cautiously.

“I’ll be back in three days so I’ll see you then, okay?” Peter shook his head because he was not okay with that. He wanted her to take him with him and bring him back to his life.

“I want my dad. Bring me back to him.” Peter begged desperately and grabbed onto her hand so he could lead her towards the door.

“What did we talk about, Peter. I can’t do that and I’m sorry.” Natasha held onto Peter’s hands but he pulled himself away from her and tried to open the door.

“No! Please! Please. I wanna go home.” Peter cried and wished she would take him but he knew that that was not going to happen.

Tony watched on with his heart shattering in his chest. To hear his own child cry for another dad was beyond heartbreaking.

Natasha left after that. She looked at Pepper and nodded her head, a silent encouragement that they could do this.

Peter grabbed onto the doorknob and collapsed onto the floor while he cried for what his life had become.