Little blue Smurf
Today was going to be a big day.
Morgan was going back to school full time and Peter was going to be having an age appropriate test to see how intelligent he was and where he was mentally.
After speaking with a few parents of the dusted kids that came back and making a few phone calls, Tony learned that not everyone who was dusted and came back ten years younger was acting their age.
Maybe it was taking a little bit longer for a few people to fully regress to their new age but either way, Peter had to do some tests today.
Morgan typically loved school.
She was extremely intelligent, loved being in a learning environment and loved hanging out with her friends but things were different now. Things were very different now.
Tony wasn’t sure how she would react to starting school again after having a long break. Both kids had slept with the two of them last night and as much as Tony loved it, it meant he either woke up to a butt in his face or cold feet in his face.
This morning, it was a butt. Peter’s butt to be exact.
It was still dark out and it was also starting to get cold which meant the jackets were coming out.
He carefully got out of bed so as to not wake anyone up and went into the bathroom to go pee and brush his teeth before making his way downstairs for a well needed coffee.
Today was either going to be easy or extremely hard.
He wasn’t even downstairs for ten minutes when Pepper was walking down the stairs, wrapped in a blanket. “It’s freezing in here. Did the heater stop working or something?”
Tony took a sip of his coffee. “We didn’t put it on. So we have to leave here at seven thirty so should we wake them up at the same time and get them ready together or get Morgan ready first so it’s not so crazy?”
Pepper thought about it but then a smile was spreading across her face. “Can you believe this? We have two kids. Two, Tony.”
“And we have a son.” When Tony was younger, he never thought he would ever have kids. He was too scared to mess them up like Howard did to him but then he met Pepper and he thought that maybe they would have kids together and it would be a boy because he definitely couldn’t be a girl dad.
Then Peter came along and he was so happy. So unbelievably happy and when he lost Peter, he didn’t want to ever have kids again.
Funny how things always work out in the end.
“Yeah. He makes us complete.” It was true, Peter was the missing puzzle piece to their family.
Pepper made herself a tea and pressed a quick kiss to Tony’s lips. “I’m gonna pack Morgan’s bag then we’ll go wake them up.”
Tony was already making his way upstairs to finish his coffee up there while watching his babies sleep. He never thought he would ever find joy watching someone sleep until he had children.
Now, it was one of his favourite things to do since his kids were safe in bed with him watching over them.
Before he even knew it, Pepper walked into the bedroom. “Everythings all ready downstairs.” She walked over to Tony and sat herself down next to him. “I don’t wanna wake them up. They look so comfortable and content.”
It was going to be hard getting back into the routine of things. Especially because their old routine wasn’t going to look anything like their new routine.
“Me neither. Maybe we can try this all again tomorrow.” Tony didn’t want to send one of his kids back to school and the thought of Peter going to school soon was way too scary for him.
“C’mon, Mr. Stark. I’ll get Morgan ready and you can get Peter ready.” She stood up, leaving Tony’s left side cold.
Morgan was hard to wake up. Actually, both of his kids were.
“Morgan, baby. Wake up. It’s time for school.” Pepper knew better than to uncover Morgan from the warm blankets since she would scream and freak out. That was up to her to do. “Wake up, Morgan.”
Morgan groaned, rolling onto her back and covering the blankets over her head. Pepper rubbed at her back. “You have five more minutes and then I want to see you going into your bedroom to get dressed.”
Tony shook his head at Pepper since they were back to this now. They used to have a lamp that helped them to wake Morgan up by herself but they put it away after all the dusted came back… maybe they had to bring it out again.
“I’ll wake up baby monster.” He put his coffee on the dresser and approached the bed. Peter had already kicked all the blankets off of him and had his thumb hanging out of his mouth. “Wake up, Petey. Sleep time is over now.”
Peter rolled onto his back and did a big stretch before opening his eyes. A smile was spreading across his face and it made Tony smile. How someone could wake up and be so happy already was behind him. He was so in love with his baby.
“Hey, baby. The sun is waking up with you.” Tony rubbed at his bare stomach since Peter was only sleeping in his pull-up.
Peter sat up to look out the window. “The suns waking up too?”
“Yeah. How about we get you changed and dressed so we can say good morning to it?” The billionaire suggested, missing having a five year old so much.
He loved Morgan’s age as well but he missed having a younger kid. Now, he got the best of both worlds.
Peter crawled towards the edge of the bed. “Then breakfast too?”
“Yep. Lie down.” Tony grabbed the wipes and made quick work of taking Peter’s pull-up off and wiping him clean before grabbing his underwear and clothes for the day. It was going to be a really big day for the family.
After they all ate breakfast, they headed outside and got into the car. Peter demanded that he take his teddy bear with him and then Morgan was demanding that she take one of her Barbie dolls in her backpack which resulted in a car full of toys that Tony was going to have to carry back into the house later tonight.
Peter kicked the back of Tony’s seat. “Daddy, where’s Morgan going today?”
Morgan answered before Tony could. “I’m going back to school.”
Peter’s jaw dropped as he looked over at Morgan. “You’re goin’ to school?”
Morgan nodded. “Uh huh. After you and everyone else that got dusted before came back, the world got put on pause, right dad?”
Tony didn’t know what Peter understood about everything going on in the world and that he was technically supposed to be fifteen. He wasn’t sure if him and Pepper should be sitting him down to explain everything to him so he really didn’t want to talk about this right now but Morgan was putting him on the spot.
“Kinda. Until everything could get a little bit more settled, school went online for a little bit but now it’s time for Morgan to go back.” Tony simply explained and hoped to drop the subject but Morgan was continuing.
“Do you remember school before, Petey? You were in high school.” Morgan asked her younger brother but Peter was shrugging.
“I don’ go to school. I’m too little.”
Tony cooed from the front seat. He quickly glanced over at Pepper who had that soft look on her face that was only saved for her kids.
“Maybe we can go to school together. You’d be in kindergarten though. That’s where the younger kids like you go.” The ten year old explained to Peter who wasn’t interested in the conversation anymore.
“Morgan, we’re almost at school. Are you excited?” Pepper asked her to get the conversation off of Peter and his life before the dusting that they weren’t sure if he remembered it fully or not yet.
Morgan shrugged. “I guess. I miss my friends but I’ll miss Peter so much while I’m gone. Then after I come home we can play together.”
Peter kicked his legs excitedly. “Yeah! Then me and Morgan can build a fort and eat cheese.”
Tony chucked at that random idea that popped into Peter’s head. He looked in the rearview mirror to look at Peter’s beautiful face before arriving at the school pulling into the kiss and ride lane.
He was usually the ones that would do school drop offs and pick ups and then he would be alone. He usually drove back home in silence but sometimes he didn’t even make it home without breaking down in the car and having to pull over because his tears would blur his vision.
He always got flashbacks to dropping Peter off at school and getting to see his innocent smile as he waved bye. Tony always thought of his kid and prayed for him back but he never thought his prayers would be answered.
Now, after he drops Morgan off, he still gets to be with his baby.
Morgan took her seatbelt off and reached over to hug Peter in his car seat. “Bye, baby brother. I’ll miss you so much. I’ll see you after school at three.”
Peter hugged Morgan back. “At three.” He repeated even though Tony knew he had no idea how to tell time.
Morgan opened the back door and squealed. “Miss. Miller! Hi!” She jumped out of the USV and ran to hug her favorite teacher.
“Hi Morgan. How are you? I missed you.” The teacher hugged Morgan back but Morgan was tugging her towards the car.
“I have a baby brother now! Look! His name is Peter and he’s mine now.” Morgan pointed in the car at Peter who was grinning in his car seat.
“Hello, Peter. It’s nice to meet you.” Miss. Miller waved at Peter who shyly tried to hide himself in his car seat.
Tony turned his head to wave hi to the familiar face. “It’s nice to see you again, Miss. Miller. Morgan’s excited to be back.”
“It’s nice to see you too, Mr. Stark. I’m so glad to have her back.”
“I love you, Morgan. Be good and we’ll see you after school.” Tony waved bye to his oldest and then the door was being shut and they were on their way.
They had to drive to a building in the city so Peter could take his knowledge test. Tony knew Peter was a genius as a teenager and he was incredibly smart as a five year old but he was still only five. He still needed his butt wiped and didn’t know how to say certain words properly.
Tony also wanted to pay attention to the time since he didn’t know if Peter would need his nap if they were late for it or missed it. They didn’t bring any pull-ups so Tony didn’t want any accidents in the car.
He checked the time as they pulled into the parking lot of the building. It was 9:45am. Peter was talking a mile a minute for the hour hour and a bit it took to get there.
Tony was only half listening to him, knowing Peter liked to talk about anything and everything at all times.
He shut the car off and got out to take Peter out. Tony didn’t want to get in the habit of carrying Peter around everywhere but he couldn’t help himself sometimes. It was obvious to Tony that he had some sort of ptsd from what happened to him, him grieving the loss of his son for ten years.
Now, having his son back with him, helped tremendously with that but the damage was already done. Tony was terrified of losing Peter again. He wouldn’t survive losing him again so he held him in his arms to keep himself calm and reassure himself that Peter was in fact okay and alive.
When they entered the building, Tony read the board that showed them where they had to go and it suddenly dawned on him that all the kids in the room were going to be kids that were dusted.
It was impossible to tell who the dusted people were and who wasn’t unless they specifically told you. Now, it was going to be every child they see in this building.
Tony put Peter on his feet and grabbed onto his hand so they could speak to the receptionist. The Stark’s quickly got Peter sighed in and went to go take their seats but when they opened the door, they were met with a room full of children.
Tony obviously knew that he wasn’t the only one who lost his child. He knew that there were millions of families all over the world who were grieving the loss of their babies not even a month ago and now, here they were.
Peter whined and lifted his arms up to be back in his dad’s arms so Tony lifted him back up and walked to go take a seat until their name got called hopefully soon.
Tony sat with Peter on his lap and looked around the room. There were children of all ages from about five to sixteen.
It was so weird to think that the five year olds in this room went through the exact same thing that Peter did.
Tony watched the little boy who was sitting across from them and staring at Peter. Tony looked down at his kid who was staring right back at the boy and chuckled. Kids were strange, he couldn’t imagine doing that with an adult. It would be incredibly creepy but it was cute when two five year olds did it.
“Say hi to him, Pete.” Tony bounced his leg a bit to get Peter’s attention.
Peter gave a little wave to the boy. “Hi.”
The little boy was crossing his arms and turning away from Peter. Tony didn’t expect that. “Oh. Maybe he’s not in the mood.”
Peter sat up to shift himself on his dad’s lap so he was facing him with both legs on either side. “Maybe when his mommy daddy said no.”
Tony nodded. He didn’t know what Peter meant but he thought it was cute how Peter always said mommy and daddy as one word.
“We’ll get called in soon, baby. Then you can take your test.” Tony explained to him. They previously explained what the plan was to Peter the night before but it wasn’t like Peter was even listening.
The rest wasn’t going to be an actual written test, considering Peter couldn’t even read or write yet but it would include a few questions to both Peter and his parents.
As if on cue, Peter’s name was being called. “Peter Stark. Age five.”
The family stood up, Tony shifting Peter onto his hip and followed the lady into a small room. There was one desk designed for a tiny person with a larger desk in front of it and a few seats in the corner.
Tony didn’t exactly know how this was going to play out but he hoped it all worked out fine. Peter was shy and he was only five so the examiners couldn’t expect a five year old to answer any questions on the spot like this.
“Peter, could you please sit in the chair. Your parents will be right there if you need them.” The lady pulled out some papers and sat down across from the desk as Tony put Peter on his feet and led him to take a seat.
“How are you, Peter?” The lady asked.
Peter sat up on his knees. “Good.”
“My name is Rebecca and I’m going to be asking you a few questions.” She began and slid a paper in front of him. “Can you tell me what this shape is?”
Peter pointed to the triangle with a grin. “Triangle!”
“Very well.” The same thing continued for the next couple of minutes with the examiner asking Peter simple questions at his age level and writing a few notes down.
Peter got every question right which made both parents extremely proud of him.
It was when she began moving onto the next level that had Tony worrying a bit.
“For this next part, I’m going to be asking him questions that he should have known when he was fifteen.” Rebecca explained.
“Wait,” Tony didn’t like the sounds of this. “he’s only five. When he was fifteen he was learning elements and compounds composed of atoms and molecules and stoichiometry. You can’t expect him to know all that now.”
“Mr. Stark, all of the people that have gotten dusted have appeared to lose all memories from their previous life a few days after being brought back. Since the research is still undergoing, we don’t know for sure but as of right now it is believed that that is not the case. Peter may not have the mentality of a fifteen year old but that doesn’t mean all his memories are gone.”
Tony tried to understand. He assumed that Peter lost all his memories from when he was a teen before the snap since he never asked about May or Ned or anything but Peter also still remembered him in the beginning and Pepper.
If he really did lose all his memories, wouldn’t Peter have forgotten who he was?
Tony wasn’t sure and he didn’t know how to feel about that.
He had another second chance at life with his daughter and his son and he wanted to raise Peter and make new memories with him.
Tony didn’t know how he felt about this new information.
“So,” Tony started. “you’re saying that he could potentially have all his memories hidden away or something?”
“Possibly. It’s different for everyone and it also depends a lot on the age they were before the dusting. Say for example you got dusted, you would still have all your memories but in Peter’s case it is very different.” Tony nodded, showing he understood but then Rebecca was saying something that would forever be his biggest fear. “Even if Peter was a few years younger, he would have never come back from the dusting.”
Tony felt his breath hitch.
That was completely unnecessary.
“Well… he didn’t. He’s here so… we should Uh, let’s get back to it. We have a busy day.” Tony felt Pepper squeeze his hand which helped comfort him and calm him down.
Although the only thing that worked to calm him down nowadays was holding Peter in his arms. Mainly because the reason he needed calming down was because he had thoughts of losing Peter.
“Of course. Let’s get back to it.” Rebecca focused back on Peter and continued. “Can you tell me how old you were before the snap, Peter?”
Peter leaned against the table as he thought about it. “Uh… I’m five.” He held up five fingers to prove his point.
“Yes you are. But how old were you before the snap? Do you remember?” She asked again and Peter thought harder.
“Uh… before when I was only four years old.” Peter held up four fingers to show the lady so she wrote something down and moved on.
“Can you tell me who your friends are and how old they are?”
Peter turned to point at Tony. “Daddy. I don’ know how old he is. Maybe hundred.”
Everyone laughed at that, including Tony who basically got called old by his favourite boy in the world.
“Close enough, buddy.”
For the next hour of the session, Rebecca continued to ask Peter questions to determine if he was ready to start school. Tony had mixed feelings about it. He didn’t want to be the parent that holds their child back in fear of them growing up too fast but he wasn’t ready to let Peter go back to school just yet.
It was scary for him.
.
.
.
Tony finished wiping down Peter’s booster seat at the kitchen table while Pepper handed Peter his sippy cup and got his face and hands wiped.
Peter was going to go down for his nap and then they would pick Morgan up from school. Tony wanted to get used to that schedule but after the examination, they were told that Peter passed and can start school as soon as possible and now Tony was pouting.
He didn’t want Peter to leave him. He wasn’t ready for that just yet. Or ever.
Peter walked up to Tony and tapped on his leg, pulling Tony from his thoughts. “Can I watch Paw Patrol?”
“Nope. It’s time for your nap so you aren’t cranky.” Tony lifted Peter up and set him on his hip. “Let’s go.”
“I’m not cranky. You’re cranky.” The five year old held his sippy cup spout in his mouth so he could cross his arms over his chest. In that moment, Tony could see Morgan at his age in Peter’s eyes.
Tony wondered if Peter was already picking up on their mannerisms.
“Not now, baby boy, but soon and that’s why,” Tony laid Peter on the bed. “you have nap times.”
Peter began giggling and tried to roll over on the bed but Tony was quick to pin him down, making sure not to hold onto him as hard as he would Morgan when they play fought occasionally. Peter was only five after all.
He quickly helped Peter into his pull-up and his comfy clothes for nap time then pulled back the blankets of his bed.
Pepper’s words ran through his head, telling him that they had to move Peter into his own bed but Tony didn’t want to so he brushed her off every time. He didn’t see why they had to, Peter was happy and Tony slept better too knowing his kid was safe in his bed at arms reach if need be.
He wasn’t ready to put Peter into his own bed yet and neither was Peter so it was a win-win.
Peter crawled over to the middle of the bed and lifted his arm above his head and one went into his mouth to suck on his thumb. Tony laid down next to him and pressed a kiss to his forehead.
“Sleep well, baby. I’ll see you after your nap.” Tony was planning on leaving after that but he couldn’t bring himself to actually leave.
Peter fell asleep in a matter of just a few minutes and Tony stayed there with him. Just for his own sanity.
Pepper ended up quietly walking into the room and sitting at the edge of the bed with a fond smile on her face, looking at her two boys. “Did he fall asleep quickly?”
Tony nodded, looking down at Peter’s sleeping form. “Yeah. He was so tired but I couldn’t leave him. I didn’t want to.”
Pepper laid down on her stomach and reached out to rub Tony’s leg. “We have to get him used to his own bed soon, Tony. It’s all set up and ready for him.”
“He doesn’t need to. We have a whole life with him now, Pep. We don’t need to rush into anything.” Tony looked away from Peter so Pepper could see how serious he was. “I just… I’m not ready. And I think that’s okay. I lost my kid for ten years, not knowing if Peter was ever coming back to me so yeah, I’m just not ready yet.”
Even though Pepper loved Peter before he was dusted, she hadn’t gotten the chance to be as close to him as Tony was. Peter was then ripped away from them way too quickly and Tony was left in shattered pieces, only being put back together after he was able to hold Peter in his arms again.
“Alright. We won’t rush into anything then. He can sleep with us.” Pepper sat up and leaned forward to press a kiss to Tony’s lips. “It’ll be okay. He’s back now.”
Tony nodded. “I know. I know that… I’m just, what that lady said today really got me thinking, what if… what if there’s things we don’t know about the dusted? And we have no way of knowing until it’s too late?”
“What do you mean?” Pepper asked, confused.
“Just…” Tony didn’t want to say it because he didn’t want to have to worry about it but he did and that terrified him. “What if it’s like a temporary thing. Like after ten years we lose all the dusted again and I lose…” He couldn’t say it. He couldn’t lose Peter. Not again.
“That won’t happen. I know there’s no really no way of knowing but… Thanos is dead. He’s home and Strange destroyed the Stones. It’s okay now. You don’t need to worry.”
That was easier said than done but Tony couldn’t worry about that since Pepper was right, there was no way of knowing and he had to put his full attention onto Peter.
Pepper kissed him again. “It’s okay. I'm gonna clean the house a bit before we have to go pick Morgan up.”
“Alright. I’m gonna stay with him.”
.
.
.
“Turn it up!” Peter yelled from his car seat.
Tony’s ears were already ringing. The music couldn’t go any louder than this. “It’s loud enough, kid.”
“Louder!” The five year old demanded again.
Tony winced at his high pitch voice. “If I turn it any louder, I won’t be able to hear myself think.”
That got Peter giggling.
Tony pulled up to the elementary school and waited in the Kiss and Ride for Morgan to spot the car. Peter was the first one to spot her because he started squealing in his excitement and kicking his tiny legs out.
Morgan opened up the car door and jumped in. “Petey! I missed you. Today was so much fun.” Morgan hugged her younger brother and then got into her car seat and put her seatbelt on.
“I’m so glad, Morg. What did you do?” Tony asked, putting the SUV in drive and driving onto the main road.
“I told all my friends that weren’t at my birthday party about Peter and how he’s my baby brother. Also, Mandy has a little brother that came back too. From the dusting. My teacher says that some of the new kids in class are from the dusting so we can’t talk about it since it’s hard for some of them. One boy peed his pants and his dad had to help him in the bathroom.” Morgan explained in one breath.
“A lot of children and trying to cope with it so your teacher is right, Morg.” Pepper had said to her.
Morgan reached over to hold onto Peter’s hand. “But Petey's okay. Right dad?”
Tony looked at her in the rearview mirror. “Yeah. That’s right.”
Morgan thought about it. “Oh. Is that why he still wears pull-ups to bed? Because he’s affected by it?”
Tony didn’t think that was the reason. He had no way of knowing if Peter had to wear them the last time he was five years old. May was dead so he couldn’t ask her. He assumed that Peter did before since May had said Peter was hard to potty train and even after he wore underwear he still had trouble a lot. But he didn’t know.
“I don’t know, to be honest. It could be but I think it’s just the way his body works.” Tony looked over at Pepper for some help.
“Everyone is different, Morgan. Peter’s a different person than you were at five and will be when he’s ten years old as well.” Pepper explained the best she could then looked over at Peter who was picking his nose while staring at her.
She laughed fondly at him, missing the phase where they had no modesty whatsoever.
Once they arrived at home, both kids were running off upstairs to go play and as much as Tony wanted to join them, he decided to let them play by themselves for now.
Morgan laid out a dress for Peter. “I’ll help you put it on so you can be the princess. I’m the queen.”
Peter shook his head and pointed to the explorer outfit. “I wan’ where that one.” He lifted up his arms for her to help him take his shirt off so Morgan did but grabbed the dress. “No! Not that one. That one there.”
“Stop. I get to pick because I’m older.” Morgan went to force the puffy dress onto Peter’s head but he began crying so she quickly stopped. “Okay. Don’t cry. I won’t do it then.”
Peter wiped at his dry eyes and stood up with a smile. “I wan’ where that.”
With a sigh, Morgan grabbed the explorer outfit and helped Peter take off the rest of his clothes so she could put it on him.
Once Peter had it on, he clapped his hands and went to run out of her bedroom and down the hallway into his bedroom. He jumped onto his bed and pointed towards the animals on his walls. “Look! Elephant!”
Morgan went to open his closet but a can of baby blue paint was rolling out. “Look, water for the animals.”
Peter jumped off the bed and squatted down to see it. “Yeah. And-and I drink it.”
“Let’s open it.” Morgan grabbed one of Peter’s toys to force the kid off but then she was giggling mischievously. “I dare you to dump it out.”
Peter thought about it. “But then it’ll make a big mess.”
“So? We’re in the jungle and we’re animals and animals need to drink water.” Morgan encouraged her little brother so Peter grinned then dumped the full bucket of blue paint onto the floor. He began giggling when it poured out everywhere.
Morgan stepped into it then the both of them began laughing.
“Step in it, Peter. I dare you.” Morgan giggled evilly.
Peter, of course, listened to his big sister and carefully stepped into the paint and then started to stomp around in it. He went to turn around but he slipped and fell on his butt, getting covered in paint.
Morgan gasped. “Oh no. Your explorer outfit.”
Peter looked down at himself and gasped as well. “Oh no. My explorer outfit.”
“I’ll help you take it off.” The ten years old helped Peter stand up and then helped him take the paint soaked outfit off and tossed it to the side. Once it was all off, Peter rubbed the paint over his belly and giggled.
“Now I have it on my tummy.” He sat down on the paint and rubbed it on his legs while Morgan laughed at him.
“I dare you to pretend to swim in it.” She giggled.
Peter tried to stand up but he slipped. “I don’ know how to swim.”
“Just pretend.” Morgan couldn’t stop laughing and started laughing even harder when Peter pretended to swim in the paint.
She grabbed some and put it in his hair which encouraged Peter to do the same in his hair as well.
By the time they were done, Peter was covered head to toe in paint and so were the floors in his bedroom and the hallway but the two of them were having the time of their lives.
Downstairs, Tony was sitting at the dining room table and signing some documents Morgan brought home when he had a strange feeling. It was suddenly too quiet upstairs and that was never a good sign.
“Morgan? Peter?” He called out but he didn’t hear any response so he stood up. “Pep, I’m gonna go check in the kids. It’s too quiet.”
He walked up the stairs and tried to listen. He heard giggling which was a good sign so he went towards it and as he turned the corner, his heart dropped.
He could see a huge pile of paint slowly making its way out of Peter’s bedroom and down the hallway.
He quickly ran towards it and the scene he was met with was sure to knock a couple years off his life. “Oh god. What happened?”
He couldn’t believe his eyes. Both kids stopped to stare up at him. Peter was naked and covered head to toe in paint and Morgan only had it on her hands and on her feet.
“Pepper! Get up here!” He called down to her but he didn’t even know what to do.
“What?! Is Peter okay?” Pepper ran out the stairs and down the hallways, gasping at the scene in front of her. “Oh my god. What is this?”
Peter smacked his hands in the paint more, not understanding that his parents were not happy. “We’re exploring.”
Tony looked over Peter’s blue body. He couldn’t see one spot of pale skin on him. “Peter. No. That’s not good.” He looked over at Pepper, trying to decide how to clean it up and where to start.
Peter sat back down in the paint and began crawling more into the room. “No. Stop moving. Just… okay. I’ll carry Morgan into the bathroom then I’ll carry Peter in ours.”
Pepper was too shocked to even move. Peter was basically a smurf.
“Walk to be Morgan.” Tony knew Morgan knew she was in trouble because she wasn’t saying anything. He picked her up holding her awkwardly because he doesn’t carry Morgan anymore, she was too old for that, and because he didn’t want to get paint on him.
He carried her into her bathroom and put her in the shower. “Take all your clothes off and throw them out here. Call your mom if you need help.”
After that, he left her, knowing she was old enough to clean herself up. Peter was going to need his help and Pepper’s help. He didn’t even know where to start for Peter.
He walked back to his room and saw that Peter was still playing in the paint. Tony cringed.
“Come here, Peter. Don’t touch anything.” Tony held his arms out for Peter and when Peter lifted his arms up, Tony picked him up and held him out in front of him. “How did this happen?”
Peter giggled. “We’re playin’, daddy.”
Tony carried him into his and Peppers bedroom and then into the bathroom. Tony wanted to get the paint off so it didn’t start to burn Peter’s sensitive skin.
He placed Peter in the shower and looked back at Pepper. “I’m just gonna go in there with him because this is not gonna come off easily.”
She grabbed a bunch of towels and the extra bottles of baby soap they bought after Peter came back. “Yeah, that’ll be easier. Let’s get it out of his hair and face first then work our way down.”
Tony turned on the shower, setting it to the proper temperature then got in with Peter. He soaked down Peter’s body first and poured a lot of soap into his hand to start rubbing it into his blue boy's hair.
“Morgan should know better.” Tony said. “I’m not surprised if Peter would have done this on his own but Morgan was there. She’s old enough to stop him.”
Pepper agreed. “I know. And we’re gonna talk to her after Peter doesn’t have paint in his butt.”
Peter laughed at that and as much as Tony was stressed over the situation, he couldn’t help but laugh as well. Peter was literally a smurf. It was hilarious.
It took almost an hour in the shower for them to get all the blue paint off of Peter and the fact that Morgan didn’t come in, made both parents know that she knew she was in huge trouble.
Pepper wrapped a fluffy towel around Peter and grabbed his cream off the bathroom counter. “I’m gonna put his cream on. Are you gonna go talk to Morgan?”
Tony rubbed at his eyes. He didn’t want to but he had to. He also wasn’t sure if they should punish Peter. What he did was wrong but he was also only five and basically still a baby. He didn’t know yet.
He knocked on Morgan’s bedroom door before walking in. When he did, Morgan was sitting on her floor and playing with her dolls so Tony grabbed them out of her hand and took a seat in her desk chair.
“How old are you?” He asked.
She looked up at him. “Ten, dad.”
“That’s what I thought. So I want to know why you encouraged your little brother to strip naked and roll in paint?” He sat back in the chair and crossed his arms, wanting to know what her answer was.
Morgan looked down. “Because it was funny. And when I dared him to, he did it.”
“You dared him to roll in the paint?”
“I dared him to dump the paint.” Morgan admitted quietly.
Tony was glad she wasn’t lying to him but he still wasn’t happy with her. “You took advantage of your brother. He’s five years old, Morgan. You’re ten. He doesn’t understand and you have to teach him what’s wrong and what’s right.”
“I don’t care. It was funny.”
“Watch your attitude. You’re staying in your bedroom until dinner and straight after dinner you’ll come back up.” Tony stood up but paused. “I’m very disappointed in you. I thought I could trust you to look out for Peter and help him. Not encourage him to dump paint and then roll in it. Think about what you did.”
Tony saw the dirty look Morgan was giving him before he shut her door and left.
When he walked back into his bedroom, Pepper was holding a fully dressed and clean Peter on her hip and pointing out the window.
She turned around when she saw him walk in. “How did it go?”
He shook his head. “She’s staying in her room all night. She’s old enough to understand. Come, Peter, I want to talk to you.”
Pepper placed Peter on his feet so he walked over to Tony and lifted his arm up. “I’m not picking you up. What you did was really bad. Do you understand that?”
Peter pointed to the window him and Pepper were just looking out. “And-and mommy said she sawed the deer out a different time.”
Tony nodded. “Yeah, can you listen to my words, Peter?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t like how you poured the paint out and rolled in it. You made a big mess.” Tony didn’t know how much Peter was understanding but he had to try.
Peter nodded. “Yeah.”
“Yeah, so I don’t want you doing that again.” Tony thought that Peter didn’t seem to care or really comprehend it.
Peter looked towards the window again. “When’s mommy gin’ see baby deer?”
“Peter, daddy’s talking to you. You have to listen with your listening ears.” Pepper grabbed onto his arm so he focused on her. “Listen.”
“Morgan tolded me to dump all the paint.” Peter lifted his arms up to show his parents what he meant. “And she’d dared me to swim in it too. It was funny.”
“Well it wasn’t nice. Say sorry to mommy and daddy because we have to clean it up now.”
Peter stuck out his bottom lip and lifted his arms up again to be lifted into his dad’s arms. “I sorry. Daddy, I sorry.”
“And mommy.” Tony said, rubbing Peter’s back.
“And mommy.” Peter repeated and held his arms out for her then laid his head on her chest and stuck his thumb in his mouth.
“It’s okay. Don’t do it again.” Tony stood up and looked in the hallway, seeing the paint. “I’ll clean it up. You go watch him so he doesn’t get into anything else.”
It was going to be a long night.