Bend The Definition Of Fate

Tony got the call from May on Sunday morning.

Rhodey had left late Saturday night because he had to get back to work and although Tony was sad to see his best friend leave he was happy to be alone again so he could wallow in his own sadness.

Tony was in his lab working on something that he doesn’t even know. He was just so tired from everything physically and mentally and it was really killing him.

Tony almost fell off his chair when his phone started vibrating on his metal desk echoing the whole lab.

Tony caught his balance before leaning over to pick the phone up. When he saw it was May who was calling his heart stopped.

Tony had no idea how the conversation was gonna go but he picked it up right away “May?”

May spoke into the phone “Hey, Tony. Look, we need to talk”

Tony nodded. He didn’t know what to say because he was surprised that May was calling him “Uh, yeah. Yeah, of course”

“I don’t wanna do this over the phone so can you come by the apartment in about an hour?” May asked and Tony felt his heart stop. He couldn’t stop the smile that broke out over his face.

“Yeah, of course. I’ll be there at ten” Tony smiled and then hung up.

He had an idea what the conversation was about but he had no idea how it was gonna end but he didn’t care as long as he got to see Peter.

Tony quickly went up to his bathroom to shower and look more presentable. Once he was done he got into the car and started driving to his favourite Queens apartment to see his kid.

Tony was beyond excited. It had been five days since he’s seen Peter and it was really hard but now he was finally gonna be able to see Peter.

After a really long thirty minutes, Tony was pulling up to the Parkers apartment building. He parked his car and got out getting ready to start making his way up to their floor.

Once Tony got to their door he knocked on the door and held his breath. As he waited he couldn’t contain his excitement because in a few seconds he would be able to see Peter.

The door opened to reveal May. She had her hair up in a messy bun and just looked exhausted. There were stains on her top and honestly Tony knew where that came from so he didn’t judge her.

“Thanks for coming so fast” May said “Come in”

Tony walked into the apartment and May shut the door behind him. Tony looked around to try and spot a certain curly haired baby but he didn’t see or hear anything.

“Where’s Peter?” Tony asked as he continued to look around. There were baby toys all over the place and Tony recognized some of them that he got Peter but some of them were also new.

“He’s sleeping right now but he should be awake soon” May said. She motioned for Tony to follow her to sit on the couch and so Tony followed.

He was a bit disappointed that he couldn’t see Peter right now but at least he was still in the same apartment and that he wasn’t with a neighbour or something so Tony could see him soon.

Tony sat down and looked at May’s worried face. She put her head in her hands as she spoke “I fucked up”

Tony wanted to say that ‘yeah, you did’ but he bit his tongue and let May talk.

“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry” May began “I should have never said those things to you or even have threatened you to never see Peter again because the truth is is that he needs you. I know he does. He asks for you almost every hour and I was mad before because I saw that Peter wanted to be with you rather than me and that hurt so I said those things to you and said that you’d never be allowed to see Peter again out of jealousy. I’m so so sorry but now I can see that he needs you and it wasn’t my place to get in the way in the first place”

May paused and then continued “I thought that I was protecting him by keeping him away from you but I now realize that I was actually doing more harm than good”

Tony took in everything May was saying. He honestly felt bad because he never wanted to take Peter away from May like that. That was never his intention. He just wanted to help Peter and be there for him but he fell in love with acting like a parent towards Peter that he never saw how it was affecting May and her feelings.

“I’m sorry, May. I never wanted to take Peter away from you” Tony said. He tried to look in Mays eyes but she was looking away from him.

May shook her head and looked into Tony’s eyes “No, you never took him away from me. You were just giving him what he needed and I got in the way and I’m sorry”

Tony could tell that May wasn’t telling him something so he was silent and waited for her to talk.

May took a breath before explaining “There’s something else”

Tony waited with anxiety filling his veins.

May continued “I lied to Peter. When-when he would ask for you, and it was a lot, I lied to him. I told him that... I told him that you didn’t want to take care of him anymore because you were too busy with other things”

Tony sat back in shock. He did not expect that. Out of all things he thought May was gonna tell him it was not that. He wanted to scream at her for making Peter believe something that wasn’t true when the whole time Tony was dying to take care of Peter.

Tony tried not to lash out “Why did you do that?”

May sighed “I don’t know. I was tried of him constantly asking me when you were coming back to get him”

Tony tried not to get mad but he felt sick. Now he just wanted to hold and hug Peter and tell him that May was lying to him.

“That’s not fair, May. This was your idea” Tony said “you took Peter away from me after you knew how badly I wanted him back”

May looked genuinely sorry “I know and I am so sorry, Tony. I regret everything I did so much. I’m sorry”

Tony nodded. He didn’t forgive May for what she did but she was trying to make things better so he’ll give her that.

“What would he say?” Tony asked.

May looked up at Tony and sadly smiled “He would stick out his bottom lip and pout. He didn’t understand why you left him because you said you loved him”

Tony smiled at that. He still hated May for everything that she put both Peter and himself through this past week but she was trying to fix things.

Just then Tony heard bare feet making its way into the living room. He smiled because he knew exactly who that was.

Tony turned around and what he saw melted his heart. It was Peter waddling his way over to the front of the couch in nothing but a diaper. Tony smiled at the sight because he could tell Peter had just woken up with his hair sticking up everywhere.

Peter hadn’t seen Tony yet so he walked around on May’s side and looked up at her.

Tony was smiling so wide waiting for Peter to notice him. He watched as Peter’s eyes moved over from May to Tony and when they landed on Tony his eyes widened so wide that Tony thought they were gonna fall out.

Peter had something in his mouth that he was sucking on and Peter let out a high pitch scream through it. He raised his arms up making intense grabby hands towards Tony as he ran over to Tony’s legs and jumped up and down demanding to be picked up.

Peter was smiling so hard and Tony was surprised that the thing in his mouth wasn’t falling out.

Tony couldn’t wait any longer so he reached down and picked Peter up hugging him tight to his chest.

Peter wrapped his tiny chubby arms around Tony’s neck and he squeezed him.

It was way too long to be without one another and Tony wanted to hug Peter harder but he didn’t want to hurt him. Tony placed a kiss on Peter’s head and then gave him another one because one just wasn’t enough.

Peter pulled away and looked at Tony’s face with a huge smile on his face. Peter put both of his chubby hands on Tony’s cheeks and smiled at him.

“I missed you so much, Peter” Tony said. He couldn’t even describe how badly he missed Peter and how much it actually physically hurt to not be with him.

“I miss ‘Ony o” Peter said then pushed his head into Tony’s neck. Tony smiled and patted Peter’s diapered bottom. He missed holding his kid so badly.

Tony looked towards May and saw that her smile looked sad yet happy at the same time. Tony caught her eye and gave her a genuine smile which he hasn’t given to anyone in awhile.

May stood up and Tony couldn’t see her for awhile as she disappeared somewhere but he didn’t care because he had Peter right now.

Tony shoved his face into Peter’s hair because he missed his smell so much. Just everything about Peter he missed and it felt so good to have him back.

Peter pulled away and took out the thing in his mouth so he could speak “I miss you”

Peter smiled and put the thing back in his mouth. He put his head on Tony’s shoulder this time as he grabbed the back of Tony’s shirt in his fist.

“I missed you too, Pete. So much” Tony admitted.

Just then May walked out holding the same bag that Tony gave her when she took Peter. She had a sad smile on her face as she stood in front of Tony and held the bag out towards him “Tony, I was wrong from taking Peter from you in the first place. I think that made us both realize the hard way that he is meant to be with you and not me. He needs you, so if you can, do you want to take care of him again?”

Tony stood up and smiled so hard it started to hurt his cheeks. He was still holding Peter in one arm as he grabbed the bag from May with the other arm “Yes. Yes, I can. I will”

Peter peeked his head up with his arms still wrapped tightly around Tony’s neck and watched on obliviously as Tony and May exchanged the bag.

“Thank you, May” Tony said. He really meant it.

“He’s all yours now” May smiled “Take care of my nephew”

“Don’t worry, I will”

Tony held Peter closer to him and put the bag down to dig out some clothes so he could take Peter home in so he wasn’t just in his diaper but he felt that Peter needed a diaper change so he also pulled out a fresh diaper and wipes.

“I’m gonna change him” Tony announced to May who was in the kitchen “Can I change his diaper here?”

May walked over “Yeah, go ahead”

Tony had to pry Peter from his chest so he could lie him down on the couch but Peter refused to let go “I’m just gonna change you”

Peter reluctantly let go and let Tony put him down on his back on the couch.

Tony pulled the tabs off of the diaper and pulled the front down and saw that Peter was all red with a diaper rash “He has a diaper rash”

May walked over and sat down sadly on the couch next to Peter’s head “I know, he put up such a fit when I would try and change him so he sat in his dirty diaper for a lot longer”

Tony nodded. He understood how hard it was for May when Peter didn’t listen or want her to do anything.

Peter smiled and tried to look up at May who was sitting behind his head and reached his arms up towards her.

May smiled at him and leaned down to kiss his forehead, speaking to Peter “I wish you were thus good when I tried to change your dirty butt”

Peter giggled at that and then looked down at Tony who was busy holding Peter’s legs up and wiping his butt.

“You’re really good with him, Tony. He was never like this when I changed him” May admitted sadly.

Tony looked up at her after he was done wiping Peter’s bum and grabbing new wipes to clean the front half now “I’m sure you are good with him too but I guess Peter just didn’t want you to do certain things for him for whatever reason”

May just nodded and then reached over to hand Tony some diaper rash cream “This one works better on his butt because the other one wasn’t working very well but the best way to get rid of a diaper rash is to let the rash breath so when you get back to the tower just take off his diaper and let him run around”

“See, you are good with him” Tony smiled at May taking the cream that she handed to him and opening it up “I never knew any of that”

“You’ll learn” May knew that Tony was good with Peter especially seeing Peter get his diaper changed with not one single tear. From Peter or the person changing his diaper.

Tony put the cream on and then strapped Peter up in a new diaper and went to quickly wash his hands before sitting back down and putting Peter into a onesie. Peter in a onesie was Tony’s new favourite thing because Peter loved it plus he was extra cuddly in it.

“All done” Tony picked Peter up and hugged him to his chest. He was so happy that he finally have his baby back.

“I trust you with him, Tony” May said with a sad smile that Tony noticed that May had on her face since Peter got de-aged into a baby.

Tony looked up at May and gave her a genuine smile because everything was now perfect for him. He had Peter back which was 99% of his happiness and the other 1% was that both Pepper and Rhodey weren’t mad at him anymore now that everything was explained to them.

“You know I’ll do anything for him” Tony smiled at Peter and picked him up into his arms and stood up. And it was true, no matter what Tony used to say to everybody to avoid people seeing how much he cares about Peter, he would have done anything for Peter then and he would do anything for Peter now.

May walked over to the two and held out her arms for Peter requesting to hold him so she could say goodbye. Tony transferred Peter into May’s arms with a little reluctance from Peter.

“I love you so much, baby,” May said as she hugged Peter close “Just know that I’ll always love you even with Tony now taking care of you until you’re big again just know that I will always love you”

“May” Peter said as he smushed May’s cheeks with his chubby baby hands.

May let out a sad laugh and hugged Peter one more time before giving back the happy toddler to Tony which Tony took more than happily in Is arms “You know, May, just because I’m gonna be taking care of Peter doesn’t mean you can’t see him. Whenever you want you come over to the tower and see him”

May nodded. She knew that but it was still hard for her to have to give her nephew back to Tony even if she knew it was the right thing to do. Not just for her and Tony but for Peter too.

“I know. Thank you, Tony”

Tony smiled at May and picked up the bag from the couch throwing it over his shoulder and holding Peter on his hip in the other arm.

Peter put his head on Tony’s shoulder as he smiled at May and waved bye to her “Bye Bye”

Tony laughed at Peter’s cute voice and waved bye to May as well before opening the front door and walking out.

May watched the two leave and then disappear down the hall. Tony leaned down and pressed a kiss to Peter’s soft hair.

He was so happy to finally have his baby back.