You bring me home
“But I wan’ daddy!” Peter cried out to May who had been watching her nephew who didn’t seem to want her while Tony made a quick phone call. Peter was crying and pointing to the elevator where his daddy went in.
“I know, Peter” May said sadly. She tried to pick Peter up but every time she put her hands under his armpits to life him into her arms, he would kick and cry even louder so she stopped trying. “He’ll be here soon”
May was sitting on the couch while Peter stood in front of her with a pleading look on his face. She wished that Peter was crying for her so she could comfort him but that didn’t seem to be the case and she’d be lying if May didn’t say that it hurt her that her baby was crying for someone other than herself.
Peter tapped on her leg and looked up at her with his puppy dog eyes that looked the same as his teenage face. “I wan’ daddy. Pwease.”
“Tony’s gonna come soon, Peter. Remember he had to take the phone call?” Mays heart was breaking to see her boy so sad.
Peter shook his head. “No. Wan’ daddy”
“Yes, Peter. I just said that Tony’s gonna be here soon” May was now getting a little bit annoyed with Peter and him not listening to her. What she was saying was going right in one ear and right out the other ear.
Peter threw his head back and let out a loud sob as he flung his arms and fell onto the ground. “No! Wan’ daddy! Daddy! Daddy!”
May ran her hand threw her hair as she stressfully watched her nephew have a tantrum on the floor in front of her. She and Ben had gotten Peter when he was three, almost four so even though she’s experienced Peter at two years old, she’s never had to really experience Peter at two years old.
She was always with Ben or Peter’s mom and dad. Not this. Not dealing with him by herself and she was feeling very helpless in this situation. She remembered when she took Peter away from Tony for that brief time but Peter was never this bad. At the time, Peter cried for Tony a lot but it was never like this.
May felt like joining Peter on that floor and crying with him until Tony gets back but then May smelt something bad.
She looked closer to Peter and realized that he pooped in his diaper and needed a diaper change quickly before he got a rash.
May wanted to wait for Tony to come back so Peter would let Tony change him but she had no idea when he was coming back. It could be another hour and she would not let Peter sit in his dirty diaper for that long.
There was a box of diapers next to the love seat couch as well as a package of baby wipes next to Peter’s head so she got up to grab a clean diaper out of the box and the package of wipes before sitting in front of Peter.
Peter was too busy crying to notice what was about to happen so when May grabbed his legs to pull off his pants, Peter suddenly stopped crying and looked down to see what May was doing.
It took a few seconds for Peter to put the pieces together but once he did, he started crying louder and kicking out his legs so May couldn’t get to his body suit to undo the buttons.
“No! No! Stop! Don’ wanna!” Peter used all his baby strength to roll onto his stomach so he could crawl away from May but it was no use considering Peter was two years old and May was a grown woman.
“Peter, please stop. I’m just gonna change your diaper then I’ll leave you alone” May begged. She couldn’t believe that she was begging to change a poopy diaper.
“No! Go ‘way!”
Just as May got the buttons of the bodysuit undone, the elevator doors opened up, revealing Tony. May sighed in relief as Peter looked over and spotted Tony so he stood up and ran over to Tony with shaky legs.
“Daddy daddy daddy daddy” Peter cried out the whole time he was running over to Tony.
Tony felt his heart melt at the sight of Peter running up to him so he bent down and held his arms out so he could scoop his kid up. Peter threw himself into Tony’s arms then the man stood up and hugged Peter close to his chest.
“Hi baby-oh god! What’s that-” Tony patted Peter’s diaper and didn’t even need to look inside to know that he needed a change and judging by the way he had his pants off and his bodysuit unbuttoned, May had already tried but then he walked in. “You smell. You need a change”
Tony held Peter with one arm as he walked into the living room where May was still sitting on the floor with a package of wipes laid out and a clean diaper.
She looked up at Tony. “I tried to change him but…”
May didn’t need to finish her sentence for Tony to know what happened. He nodded his head as he sat down next to May and laid Peter out in front of him.
“It’s fine. He doesn’t like it when other people try to change his diaper” Tony thought back to when Pepper tried to change him just a few hours ago. “I’ll just do it now quickly”
May nodded and sat back up on the couch. Peter had put his thumb in his mouth and was sucking on it quietly as he watched Tony with red rimmed eyes.
Tony pulled up his bodysuit so he didn’t get any poop on it then he held his breath and tried to move his head away, preparing for the smell to hit his nose as he undid the diaper straps and pulled the front of Peter’s diaper down.
May decided that now was the perfect time to talk to Tony while he was holding his breath. “He really loves you, you know? I can tell and if this whole situation says anything, it’s that he loves you”
Tony wanted to say anything but all he could do was nod his head. He was one his fifth wipe but the poop just wouldn’t stop coming off of Peter’s butt and now on his legs.
May took the clue that Tony couldn’t exactly talk right now so she kept quiet until he was done with changing Peter.
It took another five minutes for Tony to get Peter cleaned up and in a fresh diaper. He grabbed the dirty one and went to go throw it in the trash and wash his hands but when he started walking towards the kitchen, Peter whined and ran after him.
“Daddy!” Peter called out in distress.
Tony looked down at his kid. “Daddy needs to wash his hands so give me a sec”
Peter sat on Tony’s foot and wrapped his arms and legs around the man’s leg while Tony washed his hands. He laughed at Peter’s tactics then picked him up and walked back over to May with Peter on his hip.
“He looks bigger” May said randomly to which Tony had to stop and process what she said but he didn’t understand.
“He what?” Tony asked confused. Sitting down next to May, Tony placed Peter on the floor so he could go play with his toys.
“He just looks… bigger. I don’t know” May explained.
Tony didn’t understand what May was talking about but he didn’t have time to think about it because the elevator door was opening up once again only this time Pepper walked out.
The sound of heels hitting the floor was heard as Pepper walked over to the living room. “Hi May. It’s so nice to see you again”
“Oh Pepper! Yeah, it’s really nice to see you. How are you?” May asked then sat back down after hugging Pepper.
Pepper sat down next to Tony on the other side of the couch. “Tired. This little monkey had a bad morning”
“Bah” Peter popped his head up and said. All adults laughed lovingly at him but Peter didn’t really care about that because he wanted to be picked up by Pepper. “Up! Up!”
“Come here” Pepper cooed as she leaned down and settled Peter on her lap. Peter only stayed there for a few seconds before he was crawling over to Peppers legs and the couch so that he was on Tony’s lap now.
“Daddy go pa’k?” Peter looked up at Tony with his big brown eyes to ask. Tony couldn’t help but grab Peter’s face gently in his hands and look at his chubby face.
“We already went to the park, Peter” Tony explained. May was visiting and Pepper just got back from a meeting so Tony didn’t really want to go to the park right this instant.
Peter nodded his head, completely ignoring what Tony just said. “Daddy go pa’k?”
“No, Peter. No park today”
Peter threw his head back and let out a loud cry so Tony had to quickly grab his head so he didn’t snap his neck in his temper tantrum.
“Wan’ go pa’k! You bad daddy!” Peter used his small chubby hands to smack Tony on the chest as both May and Pepper watched.
Tony had very little patience left today because of Peter’s mood swings that were coming out of nowhere and it was giving Tony whiplash.
“Peter, stop hitting me” Tony warned. Peter either didn’t stop because he refused to listen to Tony or he didn’t hear him because he was crying so loud so Tony grabbed him with one arm and stood up. “I’m gonna go put him in his crib so I’ll be right back”
Tony left with a screaming toddler in his arms while he tried to hold Peter so he wouldn’t fall with all his kicking and squirming.
Tony placed Peter into his crib but Peter was grabbing onto the front of Tony’s shirt so he couldn’t stand up straight.
“Peter, let go of me” Tony managed to pry Peter’s Hans off of him but that only caused Peter to cry louder.
“No! No! Daddy, wan’ up!” Peter cried out and jumped in his crib but Tony only shook his head.
“No, Pete. You’re staying here because you can’t behave out there right now” Tony has no idea what he was doing was the right thing but he just needed Peter to hopefully tire himself out.
Peter shook his head which only resulted in Tony feeling ten times worse than he already did for leaving his kid. He left the room and shut the door for a second time that day and walked back out to where May and Pepper were talking.
Tony sat down on the couch and sighed.
“Terrible twos seem to be going well” May joked.
Tony laughed weakly and sat up. “He’s usually fine but today’s he’s just… terrible twos”
May was silent for a few seconds before speaking. “Have you found out how to change him back yet or-or are you still working on it? I just really miss my Peter”
Tony didn’t know what to think about that. The thought of Peter aging back up to a teenager and going back to live with May and leaving him scared Tony shitless.
Sure, he obviously cared for Peter when he was a teenager and missed him a lot. Especially at times like this but that would also mean not seeing Peter every single day or taking care of him like how he does.
That would mean that May would take his kid and it would go back to Tony seeing him every other day or even less than that and Tony wasn’t so sure he was okay with that.
Truth is, Tony’s done all the research he could. He tried to find out how to get Peter back into a teenager but nothing he tested worked. It all failed.
Part of Tony wanted to try harder but he was terrified of both outcomes.
One outcome would work and be a success meaning Peter goes back to live with May and leave Tony.
The other outcome would be a fail and in that case, Tony doesn’t know what would happen.
So to Tony, he was scared of both outcomes but he also hasn’t really had time to work on it too much.
Tony has had Bruce taking a look at things to see if he could figure something out as well as Helen Cho but he knew they were busy with their own things as well as the fact that it seemed nearly impossible to come up with anything to help get Peter back to his proper age.
As much as Tony hated to admit it because he felt so bad for thinking it, he wanted it to take as long as possible for Bruce and Cho to do the research but he was also terrified of the longer Peter’s in this age for, the harder it might be to get him back. Tony had no idea but he was scared that was a possibility.
He shook his head to get rid of his thoughts as he focused back on Mays question. He didn’t want to tell her that the reason he had to run out of the room earlier was because Bruce called for the first time in weeks with an update but if he didn’t tell May it wouldn’t be fair to her so he decided to tell her what he knows.
“I’ve tried myself to figure out a way to get him back to fifteen but I couldn’t find anything” Tony paused. “I asked Bruce and one of the doctors that worked with me a few times named Helen Cho to see if they’d have better luck and after weeks of nothing, Bruce just called me with an update. That’s why I had to leave the room earlier.”
May had a desperate look on her face while Pepper looked… sad. May spoke. “Well… what did he say?”
Tony continued. “Uh, he said he’s got an idea on how to get Peter back but he’s not sure for sure and needs to run more tests”
A smile spread across Mays face. “That’s good news, right? It’s gonna work and Peter can come back home with me and start his life again”
Tony looked down at his hands sadly. That’s what he was afraid of. May taking his kid away from him, he didn’t care what age Peter is, he’s his.
Pepper knew that Tony was upset by what May said so she placed her hand on Tony’s knee and squeezed it gently.
“Yeah, well… we’ll see what happens I guess” Tony turned towards where Peter’s bedroom was and suddenly really wanted to go hold him.
May stood up with a smile still on her face. “This is good news, Tony. I’m gonna go now after I say bye to Peter but can you call me if anything else happens?”
Tony stood up as well. “Yep. I’ll definitely call but let me go get him so just wait here”
Tony quickly walked into Peter’s bedroom and he didn’t hear anymore crying coming from his bedroom so he hoped Peter didn’t fall asleep like he was wishing Peter would do before.
He opened the bedroom door and saw Peter sitting down in his crib with his pacifier in his mouth. Peter looked over at the door when it opened up and raised his arms up to Tony as he got closer to him.
Peter let out a whine and Tony lifted him up into his arms feeling horrible for putting him in his crib in the first place.
Tony made a mental note to buy a playpen for Peter. If Bruce couldn’t figure out how to change him back, although Tony tried not to think about that right now.
He would need some place to put Peter when he behaves like this but his crib just wasn’t working out because he felt bad for his kid when he left Peter in his room by himself. Even if he was holding back from hitting Peter on his butt.
He held Peter on his hip and bounced him lightly to get Peter to smile as he walked back out into the living room where May was standing there waiting to see her nephew.
Tony was extremely grateful for the fact that May hasn’t decided to take Peter back home with her this time. He has no idea what he would do if that was the reason for Mays visit.
Tony doesn’t want to think so but he thinks he’d go absolutely mental without Peter here with him.
Peter rested his head on Tony’s shoulder as they walked towards May. Tony already knew that Peter didn’t want to leave his arms so if May reached her arms out for Peter then Peter would start crying and Tony did not want that today.
Today was supposed to be a fun day with his kid, nowhere near how it’s been so far.
“There’s my baby boy,” May said and reached her arms out to hold Peter. Tony tried not to let the fact that May called Peter her baby boy because technically he was, it’s just that Tony hates that and he wants Peter to be his. “Come here”
Tony went to reluctantly hand Peter to May but Peter let out a loud whine as he was being moved. “He’s still really tired.” Tony lied.
As soon as Peter was in Mays arms, he started to cry resulting in his pacifier falling out of his mouth and onto the floor. He kicked and tried to reach out for Tony again while Tony was struggling to hold his arms at his side and not reach out for his kid as May held him.
“Peter. Why are you so sad, baby? It’s okay. It’s okay” May bounced Peter on her hip but nothing was working since all Peter had eyes on were Tony who was standing right in front of him but still out of reach. May sighed. “Alright. Somebody’s not in a very good mood today and I have to go now, Pete. I’ll try to see you soon, okay”
May pressed a quick kiss to Peter’s forehead and handed him off to Tony who took him in his arms happily. Peter continued to cry but was settling down a little bit as soon as he was in his daddy’s arms.
He continued to cry and look at Tony with tears running down his face. Tony leaned down and picked up his pacifier to walk over to the sink and rinse it off so he could plop it back in Peter’s mouth while Pepper waved May goodbye.
Tony didn’t understand why he felt so much hate towards May for no reason. He didn’t like how he was thinking that May came and ruined the mood of his perfect family just hanging out when in reality, Peter was already in a bad mood before his Aunt even came.
Tony gently pushed his kids head down on his shoulder and he patted Peter’s diapered butt to calm him down.
Pepper walked into the kitchen and laid her head on Tony’s other shoulder.
Tony felt at peace.
Peter lifted his head up from Tony’s shoulder then lifted his hand up to take his pacifier out of his mouth. Tony grabbed the pacifier from him before he threw it on the ground.
Peter pointed towards the elevator. “Bad”
Both Tony and Pepper eyed Peter confused. “What’s bad, Pete?” Pepper asked.
Peter pointed again. “May bad”
Tony turned to look at Pepper then back at Peter. “Why is she bad, Pete?”
“She bad. Take Pe’er ‘way from daddy” Peter did his best to explain in his broken English but Tony understood immediately and totally agreed.
He didn’t answer, instead Tony turned to look at Pepper who was looking at Peter with a worried expression on her face. Tony turned back to Peter.
“She’s not gonna take you again, Peter. I’ll make sure of that” Tony pressed a kiss to Peter’s hair. “What do you want to do today, baby? Wanna watch your cartoons?”
Peter shook his head and glared at Tony. “No, wan’ go pa’k, daddy!”
Tony looked towards Pepper and she just smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “Okay then! The park here we come!”
“Yay! Daddy go pa’k!” Peter clapped his chubby hands together while Tony walked with him to go get a diaper bag ready. He walked into Peter’s room and placed him on the floor.
Tony watched Peter toddle off to his corner of toys and sat himself down on a teddy bear while he stuck his thumb in his mouth and watched Tony grab everything they would need.
After Tony grabbed some diapers, diaper rash cream, baby wipes and a change of clothes just in case they needed to change Peter while they were gone. He shoved it all in the bag then walked over to his dresser to grab another outfit for Peter to take him to the park in.
Tony pulled black jeans and a long sleeve grey top that had a fish on the front and sat down on the floor. “Lie down in front of me so I can change you”
Peter stood up and ran to grab a diaper from the box, thinking that Tony meant change his diaper and not his outfit.
Tony raised his eyebrows at him. “Do you need me to change your diaper?”
Peter slowly walked over to Tony so Tony tugged Peter’s pants down then Peter sat down so Tony pulled his legs forward so he fell back then undid the buttons on his one suit and pulled it off of him in one motion.
Peter giggled at the action and tried to crawl away but Tony grabbed his legs before he could go anywhere. He pulled the front of Peter’s diaper back to see if he needed a change and luckily he didn’t so Tony began dressing Peter into his clothes.
Peter was changed into new clothes quickly and then Tony was standing up and holding his hand out for Peter to grab.
Once Peter latched onto his daddy’s hand, the two boys walked out of the bedroom and into the living room where Pepper was waiting for them.
“Are you boys ready to go?” Pepper asked, standing up.
Peter was the one who nodded his head and that reminded Tony if his teenage self. Tony didn’t know how to feel about that.
They went into the elevator with Peter still holding onto Tony’s hand. Tony looked down to see Peter with his thumb in his mouth so he learned down to take it out but Peter moves his hand away and let out a whine so Tony stopped in fear of Peter crying.
Peter wobbled over to the car and lifted his arms up to be placed into his car seat. Tony quickly buckled him in and then got into the driver's seat, started the car and pulled out of the garage.
About ten minutes into the car ride Peter called out for Tony. “Daddy? Wan’ baba”
“Hang on a sec, bud. Daddy’s driving right now” Tony knew that Peter was asking for his bottle but it’s not like he can just pull the car over and get Peter his bottle in the middle of the road.
“No! Wan’ baba!” Peter kicked his feet on his car seat. Tony looked at Peter in the rearview mirror and saw him about to throw a tantrum. Tony had no idea why Peter was in this mood today, he missed his all around happy toddler but now that he thinks of it, that never existed.
Peter had always had quick mood changes ever since he was de-aged and that’s just something Tony has to deal with.
“Peter.” Tony said in warning. “Stop. You’ll get your bottle when I stop the car”
Pepper turned around in the passenger seat to watch as Peter crosses his arms and stuck out his bottom lip in a pout. She turned to Tony. “Where’s his bottle? I can give it to him”
Tony shook his head. “No. Let him wait. He can’t get whatever he wants just because he starts crying for it”
Pepper hummed in amusement. “Oh look at you! Stepping up like a real dad to him.” Tony rolled his eyes but didn’t argue so Pepper continued. “No, you’re right though. He needs to understand that he can’t get whatever he wants all the time just because he’s crying for it. Unless he’s crying for you right? Then he can have you”
Tony nodded in confirmation, not saying anything else as they pulled into the park parking lot. There weren’t any cars or people around just because the time of day they were going at. Tony guessed everyone was either at work or school.
He parked the car then opened the back door to pull Peter out. As he held Peter on his hip, Peter smacked his chubby hands on Tony’s face. “Baba! Wan’ baba!”
“Ow Peter! Stop. If you continue to act this way you’re not getting your bottle and I’m leaving you at the park” As soon as Tony said that he regretted it instantly because not only did Peter start balling his eyes out but Pepper walked forward to smack him on the arm. And hard. “Ow! You too? Okay. Okay. Pete, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have said that. I’d never leave you at the park. I’d leave Pep though”
Peter shook his head and cried louder as he pointed to Pepper. Tony sighed. “Okay. I’d never leave her either. Here’s your bottle, wanna go play now?”
Tony was desperate for Peter to stop crying and for Pepper to stop looking at him like she wants to smack his arm again. Peter nodded his head and stopped crying just like that. He reached for his bottle and Tony placed the nip in his mouth without waiting for Peter to grab it first.
It still amazed Tony how Peter could go from sad to happy in a matter of seconds.
As they started walking towards the park, Pepper started lecturing Tony. “You can’t say those things to him, Tony. He doesn’t know your joking. He’s only two”
Tony rolled his eyes. “Pep, Peter wouldn’t know I was joking if I said that to him as a teen. Actually I did say that to him when he was fifteen at the grocery store and he started silently crying for ten minutes before I even noticed. He’s just sensitive. Not that that’s a bad thing, I think it’s a good thing but that’s just Pete for you”
Peter sat on Tony’s hip drinking his milk, totally oblivious to the talk about him going on between the two adults.
Pepper sighed. “If you knew he’s sensitive then why did you say it? It was rude and scary for him”
Tony shrugged. “I don’t know, he was just making me want to bash my head on the car door”
Pepper glared at him. “Tony! Stop.”
Peter used his hand that wasn’t holding the bottle to his mouth and smacked Tony on the face again. “Peter, that’s not nice. If you do that again then… you’re gonna sit and watch while Pep and I play. Do you want that?”
Peter took the bottle out of his mouth with a pop sound and shook his head. “No. I sowwy, daddy. Pe’er bad”
“No. No, baby.” Tony hated hearing his kid say that about himself. “You’re such a good boy, Peter and daddy loves you so much”
“‘Kay. I go p’ay now” Peter tried to place his bottle in Tony’s mouth so Tony grabbed it from Peter before he got baby slobber all over him.
Tony placed Peter on the ground after Peter started kicking his legs. He watched Peter run off towards the park as he went to go walk with Pepper to the picnic bench.
When Tony looked back at Peter after taking his eyes off of him for all of two seconds, Peter was sitting on the sand and was eating something so Tony quickly rushed over to his kid and leaned down in front of him.
“What are you eating?” Tony grabbed Peter’s hand and saw that he was holding a bunch of sand so he wiped the sand off of Peter’s hand then looked at his kids face and saw his cheeky grin. “Spit it out”
Peter went to crawl away from Tony so Tony held him with one hand and used his other hand to stick his finger in Peter’s mouth to try and get all the sand out.
Peter ended up biting Tony’s index finger and hard. “Ow Peter. Let go”
Tony managed to free his finger from the toddlers mouth and didn’t try to grab him as he tried to run away this time.
Tony walked around to the other side of the playground and saw Peter with his mouth now on the hand rail. “Peter. No. Dirty. Stop putting your mouth on things”
The toddler only shook his head and ran over to the swings then lifted his arms up for Tony to pick him up. Tony happily put Peter in the swing so he wouldn’t have to worry about Peter running around and putting things in his mouth.
“Daddy!” Peter giggled every time Tony pushed him. He was screaming something through his giggles that Tony didn’t understand so he ignored them as he laughed along.
Pepper walked up behind Tony and it scared him for a second since Tony forgot that Pepper was with them. He was so happy being with Peter that it slipped his mind.
“You know,” Pepper began. “Earlier today when I was trying to change his diaper he kept asking for his daddy and when I explained to him that Tony was coming soon he would shake his head and saw he wanted his daddy so I think that he maybe forgot or doesn’t know that you’re Tony”
Tony didn’t know how Peter could just forget that he’s Tony but it was really interesting. And kinda scary. “So he doesn’t know I’m Tony anymore? I’m just daddy to him?”
Pepper shrugged then stopped Peter from swinging so she could ask him.
“‘Gin daddy ‘gin!” Peter giggled out but Pepper grabbed his attention.
“Peter, look at me. Who’s this?” Pepper pointed to Tony and Peter clapped his hands.
“Daddy!”
“Where’s Tony, Peter?” Pepper asked. Tony waited for Peter to answer curiously.
Peter looked behind Tony as if he was waiting for someone else to pop up. Peter didn’t answer.
“Peter,” Tony leaned in front of Peter’s face. “Who am I?”
Peter reached out for him. “Daddy daddy daddy!”
“Yeah I’m your daddy, Pete” Tony couldn’t help but pull the swing forward and press a kiss to Peter’s nose.
Pepper pulled out her phone just in time to get a picture of the father and son duo.
Tony thought it was a little bit, a lot, concerning how Peter didn’t know he was Tony and that he was just daddy to him but he tried not to worry about it too much.
Their park trip lasted another hour before Peter was yawning so Tony picked him up in his arms and felt that Peter needed a diaper change before they left.
Pepper was already putting the bag in the car so Tony stopped her. “I need to change him before we leave”
Tony grabbed the wipes and a clean diaper out of the bag, the cream could wait until after Peter’s bath. He laid Peter down on the driver's seat and began taking off his pants so he could do a quick change then head back home.
“I can take that” Pepper pointed to Peter’s dirty diaper so Tony handed it to her just as he finished up with cleaning Peter’s butt. He decided to just keep Peter in a diaper now anyways since right after they get home it’s bath time then bed time.
The car ride back to the tower was spent in silence since Peter had fallen asleep and Pepper looked close to sleeping as well.
The sound of the car shutting off was what woke Peter up and he let out a little whimper which Tony knew was soon going to be followed by a loud cry if he didn’t appear in Peter’s eye sight in less than five seconds so Tony quickly got out of the car and opened up the back door.
He quickly unbuckled Peter’s car seat and lifted his baby into his arms.
Tony wished that his life would stay like this forever but he knew he never got what he wanted.