It’s not okay
Tony held Peter with one arm in the elevator.
“Has he ever met the Avengers... you know, like this?” Rhodey asked Tony who was once again playing with Peter by poking him in the stomach.
This time Tony actually heard what Rhodey said “Yeah, just Steve, Bucky, Bruce and Natasha”
Rhodey nodded “I think Sam and Clint are here right now as well. So he can meet them too”
Tony nodded but didn’t say anything else. He was too busy making Peter laugh because right now the kid was being adorable. It still amazed Tony how fast Peter could go from sad to happy in the blink of an eye. He guessed that was a good thing for whenever Peter was in a bad mood like he was just a few minutes ago because it was easy for him to be in a better mood, unless it was the other way around and Peter was in a good mood like right now because then he could easily be in a bad mood.
Tony tried to take out Peter’s pacifier so he could talk or at least try to talk but Peter didn’t want it taken out.
Tony didn’t try again because he didn’t want Peter to get in a bad mood.
When the elevator doors opened they both walked out with Tony still holding Peter.
Peter looked around with curious eyes until they got to the living room where Steve, Bucky, Natasha, Sam and Clint were.
They all looked over at Tony and when they eyes landed on Peter all their eyes lit up even Natasha’s did who never shows any sort of excitement.
Clint was the first one up and was making his way over to Tony so he could see Peter. Tony wasn’t surprised that he was the first one up because he had his own kids so he would love to hang out with Peter right now.
“I thought they were joking when they said Peter got de-aged” Clint said like it was cool “He’s so cute and tiny”
“Yeah, he’s just like teenage Peter though, always getting into trouble” Tony said jokingly. Although he wasn’t joking that much because Peter was trouble both as a two year old and as a fifteen year old.
“Hey, Peter,” Clint said “do you know who I am?”
Clint looked up at Tony “Does he remember me?”
Tony was gonna give a sassy answer but he decided not to “He remembers everything from his teen life from what I can tell but sometimes he acts more like a two year old than his teenage self”
Peter was sucking on his pacifier and looking at Clint bored.
“Can I hold him?” Clint asked.
Tony nodded his head and handed Peter over to Clint “Sure”
Peter raised his arms to be handed over to Clint and once Clint hand him he held him at arms length and looked at him before placing him on his hip and going to sit on the ottoman with him. He stood Peter up on his lap and held onto Peter’s hands as Peter giggled and bounced on Clint’s lap.
“Hey, I wanna hold him” Sam said getting up and going to sit next to Clint on the ottoman.
“No, get away, I just got him” Clint said annoyed and then turned back to Peter and smiled.
Tony watched Peter interact with Clint and Sam before turning his attention to the rest of them who weren’t fighting for Peter’s attention.
Steve stood up to give Rhodey a hug since they haven’t seen each other in awhile “How’s it been?”
Tony turned his attention to Steve who asked him the question “You mean Peter?”
Steve nodded “Yeah, the dad life? Taking care of him as a baby?”
Tony didn’t even deny the fact that Steve said the dad life, that’s basically what it was.
“Yeah, I love it” Tony paused “I mean it’s different. And hard, it’s definitely hard and sometimes I wanna rip my hair out but then he goes and does something and I just, it’s really nice”
Tony didn’t want to say that he didn’t want Peter to turn back into a teen. Yeah, it was unfair for Tony to think that because Peter had his own life but Tony really liked taking care of Peter. More than he ever thought he would.
He loved that fact that Peter was so dependent on him and it would be different when Peter got turned back into a teen. Peter wouldn’t be as dependent on him. He would still be really young but not young enough to have to wear diapers or needing help in the bath and washing his hair, Tony would miss all that.
So as much as he hated to admit it, he was gonna miss Peter being a toddler.
Tony suddenly noticed that during his thoughts he was looking at Peter with a fond smile on his face. He was watching as Clint poked Peter on the nose and Peter would giggle and try to reach for Clint’s nose.
“Do you know how much longer he’s gonna be like this for?” Steve asked and Tony had to pull his attention away from Peter to look at Steve.
“Uh, I don’t know” Tony scratched the back of his head and thought “Banner and Cho are uh, working on it”
Steve nodded his head then turned his attention back to Peter.
They were all watching Peter with a fond smile on their face as Clint let Peter bounce on him. It was different having a baby around the tower because they had never had that experience before since non of them except for Clint had any kids. Hence why Clint was the first one to jump on Peter and ask to hold him.
When Peter was a teen he was the youngest out of them all so everyone always felt this constant need to protect the child from harm especially when he went out of Spider-Man but it was different when Peter was fifteen because they couldn’t really pick the kid up and cuddle him on the couch, well, Tony could if he wanted to because they knew Peter loved physical contact and cuddling and they guessed that if any of them did that then it would be fine too but it was just...different.
Peter was an actual baby right now so it was different.
“Daddy!” Peter screamed and tried to reach for Tony who was sitting on the couch looking at Peter with a smile on his face.
Clint lifted Peter up and went to hand him over to Tony but he pulled way which caused Peter to let out a loud whine.
Tony was also not happy about that “Quit teasing him you idiot. Give him”
Clint laughed off the insult but handed Peter over anyways. His kids weren’t this young anymore so he kinda forgot what it was like to be in those terrible twos and how demanding they were.
Tony stood up and grabbed his kid out of Clint’s arms and placed Peter on his hip “Are you hungry, bud? What do you want to eat?”
Tony ignored Clint’s annoyed mumbling about getting Peter snatched from him as he walked into the kitchen to find something for Peter to eat.
Everyone else started talking in the living room but Steve followed him in “Do you need help?”
Tony placed Peter on the kitchen counter and let him babble about something he couldn’t understand so he could talk to Steve.
“He’s probably hungry so I’ll just get him something to eat quickly” Tony said to Steve then turned back to Peter to ask him again “Want some apples?”
“Ba ba!” Peter clapped his hands together and laughed which caused Steve to laugh as well.
“What does he want?” Steve asked Tony who was just staring at Peter and smiling at him.
“Watch him for a sec,” Tony turned and opened up the fridge “and I mean watch him because he runs fast”
Steve stood in front of Peter and went to poke him in the stomach but Peter let out a giggle before he could and blocked his hand from touching his stomach. Peter then tried to stand up with the help from Steve and demanded that he be picked up which Steve did.
“I wan’ baf’!” Peter demanded and kicked his legs in Steve’s arms.
Steve had no idea what Peter was saying so he turned to Tony for some help “What did he say?”
“He wants to go in a bath” Tony said easily not even looking at Steve and Peter. He was trying to find something to go with Peter’s apples but there wasn’t anything on Steve’s floor that he thought Peter would like or could even eat.
“He likes baths?” Steve leaned against the counter still holding Peter and asked. He noticed that Peter was watching Tony with wide and curious eyes as Tony moved around the kitchen to get his lunch ready.
“Pete, you want some blueberries too?” Tony ignored Steve’s question to ask Peter his own question. Peter clapped his hands excitedly for his response so Tony pulled out the container out of the fridge and started washing them as he answered Steve’s question “Yeah, he loves the bath which is kinda surprising because I’m pretty sure he actually hates the water. You know, his usual self”
Steve just nodded his head and watched Tony place the blueberries and cut up apple in a bowl before he wanted to ask Tony a bunch more questions.
Steve followed Tony back into the living room where everyone else was, he let Tony take Peter out of his arms and put him on the couch with the bowl of fruit in front of him.
“Can you watch him for awhile” Tony told Sam and Clint “I gotta go talk to Banner”
“Sure, dude” Clint said. He moved from where he was sitting on the couch to go and sit beside Peter. Before Tony left he put on a cartoon which he knew Peter would love so he wouldn’t notice his absence so soon.
Tony gave one last glance towards Peter making sure that he was happy and content before he quietly slipped out of the room. Steve followed him as well because he had some questions.
When they got into the elevator, Steve decided to start asking “So have you spoken to Bruce since he last checked up on Peter?”
Tony ran his hand through his hair and Steve knew that as a sign that Tony was exhausted “I didn’t exactly have the time to talk to him but I’ve been doing my own research and I couldn’t find anything on how to get him back”
Steve places his hand on Tony’s back which was odd for him since Tony was never one for wanting physical contact but ever since Peter came into their lives he noticed the difference in Tony. How the man would sit closer to them on the couch and not freeze up when one of his team members would touch him.
Steve rubbed his hand on Tony’s upper back smoothly before removing it “Bruce will figure something out, Tony. It’s gonna be okay”
Tony looked up at Steve aggressively “But what if it’s not okay, Steve?! What if after everything we try and it’s not okay and we can’t get him back to a teenager?”
Tony paused and then continued “He has his own life as a teenager with his friends and school and Spider-Man and I can’t help but think this is all my fault! I was supposed to be the one who looks out for him and protects him and now look- he’s a fucking two year old baby!”
Steve nodded along to everything that Tony was saying because if he learned anything from when Tony would have a miniature mental break down like this, well, first it was best if Pepper dealt with it but since Pepper wasn’t here, Steve knew to let Tony let it all out and then help him after he was done talking.
Steve waited for Tony to say more and when he didn’t and Steve was sure he was done talking, he spoke “Tony, what happened to Peter isn’t your fault. Are you saying that you were the one that physically made Peter de-age into a two year old? No, you weren’t so that wasn’t your fault and as for you being there for him and protecting him, aren’t you doing that right now? Isn’t that what you’re doing?”
Steve waited for Tony to nod or say something that told Steve that he was listening and taking it all in and when Tony didn’t say anything Steve just kept going because he did know that Tony was listening to him.
“You’re the one who’s taking care of him now, Tony. His Aunt can’t so you are” Steve said “I know he’s happy with you so you’re doing a good job, you’re changing his diapers and giving him baths. Look, Tony, without you who knows where Peter would be right now. I know his Aunt wouldn’t be able to take care of him so he’d probably be getting babysat by some old creep or something”
Tony bowed his head in his hand and let out a sigh which was actually a good thing because Steve knew he listened and that he knew Steve was right.
“I just don’t want him to have to live a life he already lived if we can’t get him back” Tony admitted.
As much as he loved Peter as a two year old because something about having Peter depend on him for everything made him feel loved and needed and he liked that. He also was really enjoying living the life he was currently living with Peter but as much as he liked it he wasn’t really sure that Peter was enjoying it.
Yeah, sure the kid was happy most of the time but maybe that was just because he was in the mindset of a two year old so Tony wasn’t really sure he could trust Peter’s judgement right now.
Steve saw Tony’s internal struggle “Everything is gonna be okay in the end and work out exactly the way it’s supposed to. It’s gonna be okay, Tony, and I know you’re gonna be there for Peter whatever happens”
Before Tony had the chance to respond the elevator doors were opening up into Bruce’s lab.
Tony and Steve both stepped out and at first they didn’t see Bruce and Tony was starting to get really mad because he is always down in his lab probably more than Tony himself is so why now of all days here’s not here-
“Tony? Steve?” Bruce popped up from under his desk for some reason looking surprised.
Tony let out a breath as he stepped towards Bruce “I thought you weren’t here for a sec, Brucey. Have you been down here since I’ve last seen you?”
Bruce sighed and sat on his stool “Yeah, Tony. I’ve just locked myself down in my lab for over two weeks. No, unlike some people I don’t do that”
Tony held up his hands “Hey, I don’t do that anymore”
Steve stepped forwards and started talking “We're here about Peter”
The smile on Bruce’s face wiped off. “I figured. Well, I’ve done a bunch of samples on his blood that I took from him a few weeks ago trying to find out how he even got de-aged to begin with but I can’t find anything”
Bruce pauses before continuing “Tony, I’ve tried everything and I’ve even talked to Cho and we’ve worked on some samples and tastings together to try and find where it started from but we can’t find anything. I’m waiting for Cho to get back to me because she said she’s gonna have her Colleagues run some tests as well but until then I’m blank”
Tony couldn’t say he was surprised. Hearing what Bruce said caused his heart to drop but he wasn’t expecting anything else.
He had done some tests himself and he still couldn’t find anything. He literally tried everything he could and right now all his hope was on Bruce and Cho to find something to get Peter back.
Tony saw the sadness on Bruce’s face so he patted him on the back, not as gently as Steve did to him in the elevator though, “Thanks for trying, Banner. If you can’t figure it out just know that you tried and it’s not your fault. I’m gonna see what else I can do and who I can contact but keep me updated with Cho”
“Sorry, Tony” Bruce said sadly “How’s Peter anyways?”
Tony smiled despite the situation because Peter tended to make him smile no matter what “He’s good. Well, I hope he’s good. He’s really enjoying his life I guess but I gotta go get him now because I left him with the idiots”
Bruce laughed and let Tony and Steve leave but before they went into the elevator he called out “I’ll let you know when I find out any information”
Tony nodded at him and then the elevator doors closed.
Tony didn’t say anything inside the elevator but Steve decided to speak “It’s not all bad news, Tony”
Tony looked at him like he had two heads “What part of that wasn’t bad news?”
Steve sighed “There’s still hope. Bruce and Cho are working on it”
Just before the elevator doors opened again and letting them out on Steve’s floor, Tony turned to him “There’s always that what if”
As the elevator doors opened and both of the men walked out they were immediately met with the sound of Peter’s loud cry. Tony immediately set into his dad mode and made his way towards the loud cry coming from his kid.
When he made it to the living room he found Peter sitting on the couch in the same spot he left him to go talk to Bruce but his bowl of fruit was on he floor like it was thrown and Peter was crying loudly. Tony then looked at Clint and Sam and they looked clueless as to what happened. He also noticed that Rhodey was gone somewhere but he didn’t care where right now.
Peter laid eyes on Tony and immediately started making desperate grabby hands towards him so Tony crosses the distance between the two and picked Peter up in his arms.
He rubbed Peter’s back gently as he spoke to the two clueless men “What happened?”
“He noticed you were gone and started freaking out” Clint explained. He was all too familiar with the whole separation anxiety thing.
Tony gently rubbed Peter’s back and whispered in his ear “It’s okay, baby. I’m here now”
After a few seconds of that Peter calmed down enough so that he was only sniffling sadly. He wrapped his arms around Tony’s neck and that’s when Tony decided to go back up to his floor now with Peter.
“We’re gonna go up” Tony told everyone “I’ll see you guys whenever”
Tony then held Peter close to him as he made his way in the elevator with Peter.