I’ll be by your side
Tony had tried to find the time to talk to Pepper about the phone call he had with May and what he was going to do about it but Peter wouldn’t leave his side.
He had been extra clingy the past couple of hours and refused to let Tony leave his sight which was cute at first but now it was getting frustrating because Tony couldn’t stop worrying about May.
“I’m gonna go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” Tony said to Pepper who was sitting on the love seat on her computer. Tony stood up and tried to walk around the couch without Peter noticing but once he was up, Peter’s head snapped to look up at him.
“Come.” Peter held out his hand for Tony to grab.
“I’ll be right back, bud.” Tony said and began to walk more towards the hallway but Peter was up and running after him.
“Daddy, I come!” Peter grabbed onto Tony’s pant leg as they walked together.
“Pete, daddy’s just going pee and then I’ll be right back.” Tony grabbed onto Peter’s hand to pull him away from himself so he could walk into the bathroom and shut the door behind him.
As soon as the door was shut, Tony heard Peter start crying loudly on the other end and then there was banging on the bathroom door.
Tony shook his head. He couldn’t even go to the bathroom in peace.
The banging on the door got more intense and then Tony heard the doorknob being jiggled with. Peter was too small to reach it, right?
“Pete, just give me a sec.” Tony said in a panic. He tried to hurry up but before he could the door was being opened and Peter was walking in.
“Peter, no. Pepper! Pepper, come get Peter!” Tony said in a panic. He turned away so Peter wouldn’t see anything but Peter was walking towards him.
“Daddy, I come to you.” Peter said then waddled over to the toilet and tried to look inside.
“Daddy’s busy right now, Pete. Go back to Pepper.” Tony rushed out but Peter shook his head. If it was anyone else then Tony would have found it funny but this was just weird.
Thankfully Pepper walked into the bathroom but her tense face immediately relaxed when she saw what was going on and she started laughing.
“It’s not funny. Get him out of here.” Tony clearly didn’t see what was so funny about this whole situation.
“It is funny. Alright, come on, Peter.” Pepper grabbed Peter’s arm but when he didn’t move, she picked up the toddler. “Did he see anything?”
Tony shook his head. “No. Thank god, just… leave.”
Pepper continued laughing but Peter wasn’t having it. He kept screaming and kicking his legs out since he didn’t want to leave Tony.
Pepper carried him out of the bathroom and shut the door. “Daddy’s coming back, Peter. You can’t go into the bathroom like that.”
“Wan’ daddy!” Peter cried out as if he was being taken away from Tony forever.
“You’ll see him soon, baby. Let’s go back to the living room.” Pepper carried Peter into the living room and sat him on the floor where he immediately went to take off in the direction of the bathroom but she grabbed his arm and placed him on her hip. “Shh, it’s okay.”
Peter tossed his head back. “No! Wan’ daddy.”
“I’m here, Pete. I told you I’d be back.” Tony held out his arms for Peter and took the wiggling child out of Peppers arms.
Tony held Peter on his hip and walked into the kitchen with him to get Peter a bottle of juice. Peter held onto the back of Tony’s shirt and was now only hiccuping sadly but Tony knew that Peter was fine and was doing it for attention.
Usually he wouldn’t give in to Peter’s fake sad hiccuping but he wanted to distract Peter so he could talk to Pepper without the kid listening in on them.
“Do you want apple juice or grape juice?” Tony asked Peter after he grabbed one of his bottles.
“Apple.” Peter pointed to the juice container in the fridge and Tony should have known that. Peter loved his apple juice even when he was a teenager. That part of him didn’t disappear.
Tony used one hand to pour Peter his apple juice into his bottle. He was getting pretty good at doing things one handed. A skill all parents probably mastered.
After that, Tony walked back to the living room and set Peter on the floor where he was surrounded by his toys and play mats. He handed Peter his bottle and turned on the tv so some Disney cartoon show started playing and Peter was immediately distracted.
Tony gestured for Pepper to follow him so he led her down the hall where Peter couldn’t hear or see them but Tony could still have his eyes on his kid.
“I’m guessing the call didn’t go well.” Pepper asked, curiously and worried.
Tony sighed. “You guessed right.”
“How bad was it?” She asked Tony.
“Well, she wants to co-parent Peter with me by starting off with having him on weekends and then eventually moving to one week off and one week on.” Tony explained and then remembered how the call ended.
“Are you gonna let that happen?” Pepper asked seriously and Tony looked at her offended.
“Obviously not. Pete’s mine and I don’t care if she’s his Aunt, she can’t take care of him, Pep. She’d be sending him off to a babysitter during the day or night while she’s at work when I’m perfectly capable of taking care of him day or night at any time.” Tony knew he would have to get someone to watch Peter down the road every once and awhile because he would eventually have to go back to work, not full time though.
“Tell her that.”
“She doesn’t listen, Pep. It’s ridiculous.” Tony sighed again. He had no idea what to do.
They stayed silent for a few long seconds. Both of them were thinking about what to do and how to go about the situation when Pepper spoke up. “You should call her back and let her take Peter for a few hours, just to see how hard it is.”
“Are you crazy? You know, I know I can have some crazy stupid ideas but I think you just beat me on that one, Pep.” Tony could tell Pepper was being serious but there was no way he was letting Peter go with May.
She held up her hand to silence him. “Just listen to me. She’s never been with Peter without you here so it was easy for her to forget about how hard it is to care for a toddler. Let her take him for a few hours to realize that.”
“And if she still wants him after that?”
“Then fight for him. But she has to see him, Tony, and she’s not gonna stop until she does so this way you can kill two birds with one stone.” Pepper sadly explained as if she knew how physically painful it was for Tony to hear.
“I don’t want to send him away.” Tony admitted quietly.
It was Peppers turn to sigh. “I know. But it’s necessary. Plus as hard as it is to believe right now, May loves Peter and wouldn’t hurt him.”
“She dropped him, Pep. Or did you forget about that part?” Pepper glared at Tony so he sighed and ran a hand down his face. “I’m sorry.”
“I know. And I know you hate this idea but it’ll be okay.” Pepper rested her hand on Tony’s arm gently.
“I guess I should call her back to set a date.” He said while looking at Peter peacefully watching his cartoons and drinking his juice.
“It’ll be okay. Just get it over with.” With that, Pepper left him and walked into the living room, sitting down next to Peter who immediately crawled onto her lap.
Tony stayed where he was. He stood in the hallway and watched his son interact with Pepper and he felt his heart swell. He wanted this life so badly with Peter but May was trying to ruin that and take it away from him.
He knew Pepper was right. He had to let May see Peter so she'd leave him alone but also so she could realize that she couldn’t take care of him.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and pressed call. He began walking down towards his office when May answered. “Hello?”
“Look, May,” Tony began. “I was thinking about what you said and you’re partly right. You should be allowed to see Peter considering he is your nephew but he is my kid.”
May didn’t say anything on the other side so Tony continued. “I talked about it with Pepper and we decided to let you take Peter for a few hours.”
“Alright. Thank you for thinking it over but I want him for a day and a night like I said before.” May demanded and Tony wanted to hang up on her and take back everything he said but he didn’t.
“Okay. That’s it. No calling me and asking to have him for another night or any of that shit.” Tony hated this. He hated it so much but he knew May wasn’t going to stop.
“Alright. I’m off tomorrow and the day after so can I take him then?” May asked with reluctance.
That was so soon. Tony wanted to have time to prepare but he also didn’t want to keep worrying about Peter leaving. Getting it over with would be the best thing to do. “Alright. I’ll drop him off tomorrow at two and then I’m picking him up the next day at ten in the morning.”
“Okay. Thank you, Tony. I really miss him.” May sounded like she had been crying but Tony didn’t care. She was taking his baby away from him.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Tony said and then hung up the phone. He didn’t want to have to deal with the phone call anymore.
He took a few moments to let himself calm down but after that wasn’t going to happen, Tony needed to see Peter so he made his way to the living room and found Peter dancing to the music on the tv.
Tony smiled at the scene in front of him, despite the phone call he just had.
He crossed the distance between them and sat down next to Pepper, only to have Peter spot him and throw himself onto his lap. “Daddy! I sing!”
“I can see that, baby. Show me your dance moves.” Tony patted Peter’s diapered butt and then watched Peter show him his dance moves. By dancing, Peter meant bending his knees up and down but it was adorable regardless.
The rest of the day went by pretty much the same way.
Tony only told Pepper that May was taking Peter tomorrow at two until ten the next day after she asked a bunch of times.
Then it was dinner, bath time and bedtime but Tony refused to put Peter in his crib so Peter ended up falling asleep laying on his daddy’s chest on the rocking chair.
Even after Peter was fast asleep, Tony continued to rock him.
It took until his butt was numb for Tony to actually put Peter into his crib and go to bed himself but even then, he barely slept at all.
The next day Peter woke up at 6am and was crying for Tony.
Tony quickly went to his kids bedroom and lifted him out of the crib. “What’s wrong, baby?”
“I wan’ you.” Peter explained and buried his head into Tony’s neck as he sucked on his pacifier and held RoRo in his arms.
“You have me, Petey.” Tony pressed a kiss to Peter’s cheek and then grabbed a clean diaper and the wipes then laid Peter on the floor to change his diaper.
It was nice to not have Peter’s teenage things in his room anymore but it also sucked because his bed was Tony’s favourite place to change Peter. He didn’t like the changing table as much as Pepper did so the floor was the next best place.
Tony laid Peter on his back and looked down at him. His eyes were red rimmed and he looked really sad. He pulled off Peter’s pyjama shirt and blew raspberries on his chubby tummy that made Peter start giggling loudly.
“Daddy don’ eat Pe’er!” Peter laughed out and tried to roll onto his stomach but Tony stopped him from doing that.
“I can’t help myself. Num num num.” Tony blew more raspberries onto Peter’s tummy, trying to enjoy the sounds of Peter’s laughter before he leaves.
“Okay, daddy’s full now and so is your diaper.” Tony pulled Peter’s pyjama pants off and undid the front of Peter’s diaper and pulled the front down.
Tony pulled the dirty diaper out from under him, wiped Peter clean and then tossed the diaper in the diaper disposal. He decided to take a chance and let Peter air dry down there before he puts another diaper on him.
He put Peter in an Iron Man top just because he felt like it and then walked into the kitchen with Peter.
“Good morning, Peter. How did you sleep?” Pepper asked from the kitchen island. She was drinking a cup of coffee so Tony knew that meant she had a meeting to go to.
Peter didn’t answer as always and lifted his arms up for Tony to place him in his high chair which Tony did. He strapped Peter in and put the table in place then got to working on breakfast.
“What do you wanna eat, Pete?” Tony asked, looking in the fridge. He had to go grocery shopping for some things.
“I eat daddy.” Peter giggled.
“If you eat me then there’ll be nothing left.” Tony joked as he grabbed some bananas and bread. He put the toast in the toaster and started cutting up the bananas in small pieces.
“‘Nanas!” Peter slapped his high chair table and watched Tony with eager eyes.
“Here you go.” Tony slid the chopped up bananas onto the high chair for Peter to eat then put peanut butter on Peter’s toast.
By the end of breakfast, Peter was covered in sticky food so Tony grabbed a dish cloth and picked Peter up out of his high chair to wipe him down and right as Peter was on his feet, he started to pee.
“He’s peeing, Tony.” Pepper said as she watched Peter pee onto the floor but there was nothing she could do about it. “I would help you clean it up but I have to go. I’ll be back before two though.”
“Yeah yeah. It’s fine, go.” Tony waved her off and waited for Peter to finish peeing before he cleaned the mess up.
Once Peter was done he made a dash for the living room. “Wait! Peter!” Tony groaned as he wiped the floor down and then disinfected the area.
He walked into the living room and found Peter trying to climb over the back of the couch. He saw that Tony was getting closer to him so he started screaming louder and jumping more aggressively to get over the couch but he was too small for that so Tony caught him.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Tony picked Peter up and held him in front of him.
Peter giggled and was squirming to get out of Tony’s arms. “Let go, daddy!”
“I don’t think so. Are you gonna run off again if I put you down?” Tony asked as he was already walking towards Peter’s bedroom to get a diaper on him and get him dressed.
Peter stopped squirming and grinned up at him. “No. I don’”
“I think I’d rather hold my baby.” Tony cradled Peter closer to his chest. He walked into the toddlers bedroom and sighed. He had to pack a bag and leave Peter for the night.
He sat down and laid Peter on the floor in front of him but Peter was still in a playful mood even if all Tony wanted to do was hold his kid and never let him go.
Peter rolled onto his stomach and started crawling away from him so he sighed and just sat there. Peter expected Tony to chase him because once he got to his animal corner, he turned around to look at Tony.
Peter immediately stopped laughing once he saw Tony’s face. Tony didn’t even realize that he wasn’t smiling and that he in fact had tears in his eyes so he quickly blinked them away and tried to force a fake smile out but Peter already saw him.
“Daddy wha’ wron’?” Peter asked as he stood up and waddled over to Tony, sitting himself on Tony’s knee and looking up at him.
“I’m just sad, baby.” Tony had to tell Peter where he was going to be spending the night and he hated it so much. Peter had used to everything at the tower, his crib, his bedroom and Tony’s bedroom and bath and now he was going to be going with May to a whole different environment.
Peter had always been so loving and compassionate for others. Even when he was a teenager he would see that someone was sad or crying and he would be all up in their face to try and figure out what was wrong and help them.
Nothing changed with that.
The compassionate toddler that Peter was, he was poking his finger almost in Tony’s eye as he looked at him concerned. “Why sad, dada?”
“I’m sad because I don’t want you to go anywhere, baby.” Tony started with how he was going to tell Peter he was going to his Aunt's house for the night.
Peter titled his head like a confused puppy dog. “Whe’e go, daddy?”
“Well your Aunt misses you so much and she really wants to see you so you’re going to spend the night with her.” Tony waited for Peter’s reaction but he just continued to stare at him. “Do you understand what I’m saying, bud?”
Peter nodded his head and then got off of Tony’s lap and walked over to his corner of stuffed animals and picked one out then walked back over to Tony and placed it in front of him.
“What’s this?” Tony asked.
“Put di’per on.” Peter squatted down and pointed to the elephant he laid on the carpet.
Tony sighed. What he just said to Peter seemed to go straight over his head. “Petey. Baby, do you know where you’re going tonight?”
Peter looked up at him. “Whe’e go daddy?”
“You’re going to your Aunts house.” Tony said again.
Peter shook his head. “No. Don’ wanna. Put di’per on, daddy.”
“Okay.” Tony said with another sigh. Peter wasn’t processing what was going to happen or maybe he actually just didn’t care and wanted to go. That stung a bit but Tony wasn’t going to show that he was jealous.
“Can you grab me two diapers, please?” Tony asked. He needed to put one on Peter anyways but here he was putting a diaper on a stuffed animal.
Peter stood up and grabbed two diapers then walked back over to Tony and handed him both.
“I help.” Peter said and grabbed the animals legs to lift them up just like how Tony does with him and Tony couldn’t stop the smile that came to his face despite wanting to cry since his baby was leaving him in only a few hours.
Tony quickly put the diaper on the animal and turned to Peter. “Your turn.”
Peter laid down next to his stuffed animal and smiled at the elephant as Tony quickly put a diaper on Peter and put some track pants on him. “All done.”
“All done.” Peter repeated.
“I have to pack your bag, baby. Do you want to play with your toys while I do it?” Tony hated this so much. He was tempted to call May and cancel the plans but he knew he couldn’t do that.
Peter answered him by running into his corner and playing with his stuffed animals which were currently Peter’s favourite toys to play with. Tony wondered what age the LEGO phase would start at.
It was time for Tony to do the thing that he had been dreading since the phone call with May; he had to pack Peter’s overnight bag but this time it wasn’t to Peppers friends house where they were going to be going together.
Tony grabbed Peter’s overnight bag and began packing. He had no idea what May already had for Peter but he wanted to make sure Peter had everything he needed for when he was there so he decided to pack it all.
He packed multiple outfits, onesies, tops, track pants and jeans, extra socks, a sweater and two packs of wipes as well as his pacifier. He had a box of diapers that were unopened so he decided to just bring the whole thing since he wasn’t actually sure how much Peter would need a diaper change.
“What toys do you want to bring with you, Pete?” Tony asked and Peter looked over all his options before grabbing the diapered elephant and then grabbing an alligator.
Tony put them in the bag, not forgetting about his RoRo as well. The rest of the things he had to pack were Peter’s bottles and just hope that May had milk and baby snacks at her house for Peter.
.
.
.
“Did you tell him?” Pepper asked Tony once she got home. Tony was finishing up with putting the bottles into the bag and zipping it up.
“Yeah.” Tony said dryly. He hated this.
“What did he say?” Pepper asked.
“Uh, nothing really. I don’t know, maybe he wants to go with her.” Tony had been thinking about that all day. After he finished packing, him and Peter spent the rest of the time in the living room just playing and watching tv until Peter went down for his nap an hour early but Tony couldn’t stop thinking about the what if’s.
“It’ll be okay, Tony. It’s just for a day and a night.” Pepper tried to comfort him but Tony pushed her off and walked into the living room to get Peter.
It was 1:30pm so they had to start driving to Queens. “You ready to go, bud?”
Peter looked up from his trucks and nodded. Tony had already dressed him in his running shoes which were absolutely adorable on him. He was wearing a thick fluffy, black sweater with his grey track pants and his white running shoes. He looked adorable and if it was under any other circumstances, Tony would have taken a picture of his kid looking adorable but he didn’t want to remember this day.
Peter stood and reached his hand up for Tony’s so Tony grabbed Peter’s small chubby hand in his and began walking into the elevator with Pepper who was carrying the box of diapers since Tony had the overnight bag.
They made their way down to the garage and over to one of Tony’s Audi’s. “I can take that.” Pepper said and reached for the overnight bag to put in the trunk.
Tony picked Peter up and put him into his car seat while Peter was mumbling something to himself and then laughing at it. He shut the door before he took Peter out of the car and carried him back upstairs since doing this was killing him.
The ride into Queens was spent with Peter happily singing to himself while Pepper occasionally spoke to him but other than that it was silent.
If Tony could travel in time he would travel to ten the next morning so he could be with his kid again and this whole thing would all just be a really bad memory.
He parked the car right outside of the apartment and sat there for a few seconds as he tried to gather his thoughts. Peter was leaving him. Peter was leaving. His baby was leaving him.
Pepper placed her hand on his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. “It’s going to be okay, Tony.”
Tony looked at her but didn’t say anything. He opened the car door and then opened Peter’s door. “Hi daddy. I see you in m-mi-mi’or.”
Tony smiled weakly. “Yeah, baby.”
He undid the buckles and lifted Peter into his arms, holding him on his hip. He then helped Pepper by carrying the box of diapers while she carried up the overnight bag.
Tony still felt unsure about how Peter was going to react to this since he didn’t seem to understand when he explained it to the toddler. It kinda just went over his head.
Peter was looking around the apartment elevator and hallways with wide eyes and Tony could tell that Peter was trying to figure out where they were but he couldn’t quite remember.
They got to the apartment and Tony took a breath before he turned to Pepper. It wasn’t too late to turn around and run. May wouldn’t know they were there and they could take Peter and fly out of the country. Tony wanted to do that so badly but he couldn’t.
He knocked on the door and held Peter closer to himself.
The door was opening less than five seconds later and Tony thought that May must have been standing right behind the door and waiting for them.
May opened the door and smiled at Tony. “Thank you for coming. Come in.”
Peter looked over at May and Tony felt him try to hold on tighter to him and move even closer if that was possible.
They stepped into the apartment and Tony looked around. He didn’t see any baby things lying around. No high chair, no play mats, no toys. Nothing.
“Hi Peter.” May cooed at him and when Peter buried his face into Tony’s neck and shoved his thumb into his mouth, Tony knew that Peter had no idea they were coming here and that Peter was going to hate it.