Part of me
The two of them went into the elevator and made their way upstairs to Peter’s bedroom with Peter vibrating with excitement next to Tony. Tony loved how he always got so excited for things no matter how small.
“It’s in your bedroom so go look.” Tony told him just as they rounded the corner.
Peter walked into his bedroom and spotted a gift bag on his bed. He jumped on his bed and peeked inside but he couldn’t see anything. “Is this for me?”
“Yeah, bud. It’s all yours.” Tony sat down on the bed across from Peter and watched him excitedly open the present.
Peter pulled out the tissue paper and looked inside the bag. He saw something fluffy and at first he thought it was a kitten or something but then he reached in and pulled out a teddy bear.
The teddy bear was super soft and had a little bow tie on it. He smiled at it and brushed his face against the material of it. “Hmm. It’s soft.”
Tony's heart was turning into goo at the adorable sight. He loved having a kid so much. “Yeah. Press his paw.”
Peter pulled the teddy bear away from himself and pressed his paw. Peter immediately heard the sound that was almost silent to Tony’s ears. After a few seconds, Peter’s eyes lit up and he looked up at his dad. “That’s your heartbeat.”
Tony smiled and nodded. “Yeah. That’s where I went today. I got my heartbeat recorded and then they stitched the machine recorder into the bear.”
Peter put his head against the bear and shut his eyes. “I love him. Mmmm.”
“I’m glad you love him. Look what else is in the bag.” Tony pushed the bag closer to Peter so Peter held the bear in his lap and looked inside. He pulled out a nightlight and frowned.
“A nightlight?” Peter held the moon shaped nightlight in his hand and looked up at Tony.
“Yeah. I want it to help you sleep in your own bedroom by yourself-”
Peter threw the nightlight onto his bed and stood up to run out of the room but Tony stood up and grabbed his hand, pulling him back onto the bed. “No. You tricked me! I hate you.”
Tony felt his breath catch in his throat. Peter hadn’t said that to him in months and Tony thought he would never hear that again yet here they were. It hurt a lot.
“I didn’t trick you, Peter. Please.” Tony was sitting on the bed and holding Peter who was half on the bed and half on the floor. His back was arched over the bed and he covered his hands over his face and started crying.
“Yes you did!” Peter smacked Tony on the leg and cried brokenly.
“Peter-”
“No! I didn- didn’t know t-that you were… were only p-p-painting and-and changing my room so I could sleep alone! You’re a liar!” Peter cried out and went to smack Tony again but Tony grabbed his hand and tried to hold it. “No!”
“Peter, you can’t keep sleeping with me every single night. It’s not healthy.” Tony felt like he wanted to cry for some reason. He held it in though.
Peter started crying harder and it hurt Tony so much to hear. “No! I can! You just… hate me!”
Tony rolled his eyes at that. “Stop it. You know that’s not true.”
Peter shook his head and moved his hands away from his face to look at Tony. “Then why can’t I sleep with you?!”
Peter started to cough and Tony knew that if he didn’t calm down then he was going to make himself sick. “Just breathe, Peter. Calm down.”
Peter shook his head and started to cough again so Tony reached forward and handed Peter his new teddy bear. He didn’t know what Peter was going to do with it but he smiled when Peter took it from him and hugged it to his chest, rubbing his face into the bear's stomach.
Tony rubbed Peter’s stomach but Peter rolled away from him so his back was facing him. “You know I love you so much and I know you won’t understand right now but when you’re older, you’re gonna thank me for doing this.”
“No! I won’t thank you cause you’re hurting me.” Peter calmed down a bit and wasn’t crying as hard anymore which was thankfully because of the bear.
“Baby, you’re too… young to understand now but I’m trying to help you.” Tony forced Peter to look at him which Peter didn’t protest. “We can’t keep living like this anymore, Petey. You have really bad separation anxiety from me and it’s not healthy.”
Peter put his fingers into his mouth to chew on them so Tony didn’t take his hand away from his mouth. “No. It’s-it’s not bad. I can-can’t.”
Tony’s hand found Peter’s belly again. “You can’t what, baby?”
Peter scrunched his face up and started to cry again so Tony sighed and put his head in his hand. He didn’t know what to do. He did not expect it to be this bad so he was wondering if he was doing more harm than good.
Maybe he should just let Peter sleep with him every night and wait for him to grow out of it. Surely he won’t be comfortable sleeping with his dad while he fully starts puberty or when he’s much older.
Tony didn’t know how long they stayed there for. Peter continued on crying just as loud as he was before and Tony just sat there with his hand in his hand that wasn’t rubbing Peter’s belly.
After a little bit, Tony grabbed Peter by the underarms and struggled to lift him onto his lap. He positioned Peter so he was in a bridal carry but over his lap. Peter rested his head on Tony’s chest and fisted the front of his shirt.
Tony used his sleeve to wipe away the snot, tears and drool that had come out of Peter. It didn’t gross him out one bit since he had been doing that for months now and it was his kid.
Tony just held him, he didn’t speak and neither did Peter. He didn’t know what he was waiting for, maybe he was waiting for Peter to fall asleep so he could leave him in his bed but he knew that wouldn’t help anything.
Peter had to be okay with sleeping in his own bedroom.
Tony looked down at Peter who was chewing on the tip of his middle finger. “I wanted to paint your room and redecorate it so it would look more livable, Pete. It looked like a spare room before.”
Peter didn’t say anything so Tony grabbed his hand away from his mouth which caused Peter to start whining again but Tony didn’t let go of his hand.
“We can move as slow as you want. There’s no rush as long as we’re working on it.” Tony told him and let go of Peter’s hand once he was sure that Peter wasn’t going to put his hand back in his mouth.
Peter still wasn’t speaking so Tony continued. “How about tonight we both sleep in here together and then tomorrow night… we can both sleep back in my bed. Then the next night I can stay in here until you fall asleep.”
Peter was looking ahead so Tony brushed the curls off his forehead. “Does that sound good?”
“I just want to sleep with you all the time.” Peter said and then his face was scrunching up again and Tony didn’t want to listen to Peter cry again.
“Don’t cry, Pete. Hey, how about I run you a bath with your action figures and some bubbles? Do you want that?” Tony asked and hoped so badly that Peter wanted that.
“Yeah.” Peter agreed and pushed himself off of his dad.
Tony stood up and took Peter into his bedroom. He sat on the bathtub steps and put the plug in so he could start filling up the bath with some bubbles.
“You take off your clothes while I go get a towel, okay?” Tony grabbed Peter’s head to press a kiss.
“Mhm.” Peter nodded his head and began taking off all of his clothes and sitting on the bathtub step until it was at the right temperature. He had to turn the cold water on higher since it was a bit too hot for him.
Peter then sat in the bath and smiled. It’s been so long since he’s had a bubble bath plus it’s super cold out so he liked it.
Tony walked into the bathroom and dumped the basket of Peter’s toys inside and then put the towel and clean pyjamas on the counter.
“Can you stay?” Peter asked.
Tony looked over at Peter and smiled because he may have put a bit too much bubbles since he could barely see Peter’s head. “Sure.”
Tony sat down on the steps leading up to the bath and leaned against his arm.
He was still a bit hurt that Peter said he hated him. He knew that Peter didn’t mean it and that he was just scared and confused about everything but it still hurt a lot.
No one said anything between the two, it was silent besides from the bathroom fan and the water whenever Peter would move.
Usually Peter would be chatting a mile a minute but it was a hard time right now and Tony knew whenever Peter cried like that, it took a lot out of him.
“Dad?” Peter asked, breaking the silence.
“Yeah, bud?” Tony asked.
Peter moved some bubbles away from his face so he could see his dad a bit more. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean it. When… when I said I hated you. I don’t hate you and I didn’t mean it. I don’t mean it.”
Peter started to cry again and tried to wipe his tears away but his hands were wet so it didn’t do much to help. Tony reached forward and cupped Peter’s face with his hands.
“I know you didn’t mean it, baby. I know. It still doesn’t make it right but I know you didn’t mean it.” Tony wiped his thumb under Peter’s eye and left Peter lean his head against his hand.
“I’m sorry. Don’t hate me.” Peter grabbed onto Tony’s arm and tried to hug his arm to his chest but it was an uncomfortable angle for Tony.
“I don’t hate you, Peter. Don’t ever think that, you can tell me you hate me a hundred times everyday and I still won’t ever hate you.” Tony used his other hand to grab the back of Peter’s neck so he could pull him forward to press another kiss to his face.
“O-okay. I’m sorry.” Peter rubbed his face against Tony’s forearm again so Tony tried to pull his arm away.
“Are you tired? How about you finish washing up and then we’ll get our pyjamas on, okay?” Tony suggested. He could see that the last hour completely drained Peter and he could also see that Peter was close to start crying again since he was feeling very emotional.
“Yeah. I want to.” Peter rubbed his snot on Tony’s bare arm and then let him go.
Tony didn’t say anything about the gesture and simply just stuck his arm into the water to rinse it off. He stood up and left the bathroom so Peter could have his privacy. He went into his bedroom and checked his phone one last time for that night because the rest of the night he knew he was going to be giving his full attention to Peter.
Peter finished cleaning himself off and grabbed the bathtub shower hose to rinse himself down and rinse all the bubbles and soap off of him then he pulled the plug and stepped out of the bath.
It was freezing so he made a beeline for his towel, grabbing it and running into his dad’s bedroom.
Tony watched Peter crawl onto the bed so he hoped that he wouldn’t come out of the shower and find Peter under the blankets. “I’m going to go shower and brush my teeth so don’t get comfortable in my bed.”
Peter kicked his leg out at Tony and watched him walk into the bathroom. He waited until he heard the door lock and then he was pulling the blankets back and crawling under them.
Tony walked out of the bathroom after he was done getting ready and wasn’t surprised one bit to see Peter under the blankets. It would have been cute if he wasn’t trying to start Peter off in his own bed tonight.
“Did you brush your teeth?” Tony asked him.
“No.” Peter said from under the blankets.
Tony walked over to his side and pulled the blankets off of Peter. “You’re not sleeping here tonight.”
Peter tried to grab the blankets back and cover himself again but Tony didn’t let him. “I'm sleeping here.” Peter gave up and rolled over to his side, wrapping his towel tighter around himself.
Tony left him and walked into the bathroom to grab Peter’s pyjamas then walked out and put them on the bed. “Put your pyjamas on.”
“No.” Peter said and tucked his legs close to his chest.
Tony stared at him for a few seconds, trying to decide what to do. “You’re making this a lot harder than it has to be, Peter. I know you got some Stark stubbornness in you but you have to work with me.”
“No.”
Tony sighed. “Alright. You’re not sleeping with me tomorrow night either. You’ll sleep in your bedroom all by yourself.”
Peter turned to him with a panicked look on his face. “No! Noooo, please, no.”
“Then put your pyjamas on and let’s go.” Tony reached forward and grabbed Peter’s leg then pulled him towards himself but Peter tried to grab onto his bedside rail.
“No! No! Nooo! I can’t sleep in my bed. I’m gonna fall off! I need my rail up.” Peter rushed out so Tony let go of Peter’s leg.
Tony thought about that but now Peter’s bed was up against the wall so it might be fine. He would have to see. “I’m sleeping with you in there tonight so I’ll see about getting you one for next time.”
Peter whimpered so Tony sighed again and sat down on the bed. “Tell me what’s on your mind.” Tony tugged Peter’s foot closer to him so Peter held onto his towel as he crawled over to his dad and got pulled onto his lap.
Tony cradled Peter in his arms like he did not too long ago. “It’s not so bad, baby. I promise it’ll be okay.”
Peter shook his head. “I don’t want to try. I just… I wanna sleep with you all the time and have happy dreams.”
Tony knew that Peter was prone to nightmares ever since he was a little kid and that he hasn’t been having nightmares since they were always sleeping together. Tony hoped that they wouldn’t start up again.
“You will have happy dreams, you just have to think happy thoughts.” Tony said and ran a hand through Peter’s curls.
“I won’t think happy thoughts if you make me sleep alone, dad.” Peter sighed deeply and reached a hand out of his towel to grab onto the front of Tony’s shirt.
“Oh baby. I’m not gonna make you do anything. I want what’s best for you.” Tony twirled a curl on his finger.
“No. You just want me to grow up so you don’t have to take care of me anymore.” Peter looked away but his head was in the crook of Tony’s arm so he couldn’t look that far.
Tony laughed. “That’s far from the truth. Very far in fact. I never want you to grow up because I want to hold you in my arms like this forever.” Tony lifted his arm up a bit to gesture to his kid.
Peter looked back up at him. “Me too. I’ll stay little forever so we can always be together.”
Tony wished that could happen. “But… I am looking forward to you being older so I can teach you a bunch of things that my father never taught me. And just to have some fun.”
Tony couldn’t wait to take Peter to a race track and race him in a race car. That was still at least ten years in the future because Peter was way too young right now. Both mentally and physically. And legally too.
“Mm-mm. I stay like this forever. No growing up.” Peter grinned up at Tony.
Tony looked down at his kid in his arms and smiled. He wondered if his parents or May ever held Peter in their arms like this, fresh out of the bath and wrapped in a towel. He knows that they must have at some point in his life but he’s glad that he’s the one holding Peter like this now.
“I know one things for sure,” Tony started. “no matter how old you get, you’ll always be my baby.”
Peter smiled. He liked the sound of that.
Tony stood up, hoisting Peter into his arms even more. “Grab your pyjamas.”
Peter reached a hand out to grab his pyjamas off the bed and grabbed his towel before it opened up, not that he cared. “I’m falling!”
“I’m not gonna drop you.” Tony promised him and walked out of his bedroom, down the hallway to Peter’s room and dumped him on the bed.
Peter started laughing but Tony didn’t want him to get too wired up so he sat down on the bed and pulled Peter’s legs towards him. “Get dressed into your pyjamas so we can sleep.”
Peter shook his head with a grin on his face and Tony knew that meant he was in a goofy mood now. Shit.
“If you get your pyjamas on then I’ll tell you a story.” Tony tried and hoped it peaked Peter’s interests.
Peter stopped kicking his legs and looked up at Tony. “A story about what?”
“Um… about me and you.” Tony already knew the story he planned on telling Peter. “But you have to get your pyjamas on first.”
Peter hesitated before sliding off the bed and getting dressed into his pyjamas while Tony pulled the blankets back and got into bed. Peter was jumping on top of him once he was done getting dressed.
“Ow. Get off.” Tony playfully pushed Peter on his side of the bed and then he remembered something. “Oh yeah.” He reached onto the nightstand table and grabbed the nightlight. “This is yours and I’m going to plug it in right here,”
Tony got out of bed and plugged the nightlight into the socket by the bathroom door then he shut the lamp off. It lit up the whole room which was extremely annoying but Tony knew that Peter was scared of the dark.
Peter sat up in bed and looked at it. Tony got back into bed but Peter didn’t say anything about the nightlight, not that Tony expected him to.
Peter grabbed his new bear and hugged it to his chest while he looked over at his dad. Tony laid down and looked at Peter. He reached a hand out to cup his face. “You’re so cute, baby. Look at that handsome face, you’re gonna be so handsome when you’re older.”
“Hey, are you saying I’m not handsome now?” Peter asked jokingly and lifted himself up.
Tony pushed him back down and laughed. “No, you’re very handsome now too.”
Peter hugged his new bear tighter and reached forward to touch his dad's goatee. “And I’m gonna grow hair on my face too. Just like you.”
Tony laughed again. He didn’t think so. He pushed Peter’s hand off of him and reached forward to touch Peter’s upper lip. “Baby smooth. Nothing there. Maybe in five years I’ll teach you how to shave.”
“I want you to teach me now.” Peter gave Tony his best puppy dog eyes.
“But you don’t have anything to shave. Anywhere.” Tony teased him but it was the truth, Peter was like a Sphynx.
Peter shrugged and shifted closer to Tony to wrap his arm around his stomach. “Tell me the story now.”
“Alright. Close your eyes.” Tony waited for Peter to close his eyes before he was talking. “So, this story goes back a long time ago when you were only thirteen and running around in your spandex suit. I remember when I first saw that YouTube video of you and I was very impressed but the first thing I assumed was that you were at least twenty five.”
“And then I saw more videos of you and I was like ‘oh this man is very tiny he must be a bit younger’. So then I did as I always do when I want to know something, I hacked some local cameras to find out more about you.”
Peter smiled. “As one does.”
“Hey, no talking. This is a bedtime story.” Tony reached over and placed a hand in Peter’s hair. “Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, so then I watched this footage from an alleyway where you were changing out of your school clothes and changing into your little suit and my jaw dropped. For the past week I had been thinking that this guy was a man when in fact he was a little child who wore Hulk underwear, isn’t that right, Underoos?”
Peter’s eyes shot open to look at Tony. “Hey, they’re comfortable.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Tony pushed Peter’s face back down and continued. “So then I got FRIDAY to run facial recognition and a school picture of you shows up on my computer and little did I know then that the kid would later become mine.”
Peter hummed and hugged his bear tighter against his chest. Tony continued the story, lowering his voice so that Peter would drift off.
Tony didn’t know if he would count tonight as a win but at least Peter didn’t cry himself to sleep.
.
.
.
“Do you want the crust on or off?” Tony asked Peter, knowing what the answer was going to be.
“Off, dad. Always off.” Peter gave Tony a dry look and then went back to his biochemistry assignment. He finished all of his other homework already.
Tony cut the crust off of Peter’s grilled cheese and placed the plate in front of him along with his fries and juice box.
“Do you think-”
Peter was cut off by a loud alarm ringing through the penthouse. He covered his ears and slid off of the kitchen island stool to make his way over to Tony’s side. “Dad! What is that?”
Tony wrapped an arm around Peter and pulled out his phone. He knew exactly what that alarm was.
“Talk to me, FRIDAY.” Tony said and looked at the situation showing on his phone.
“Dad?” Peter pulled on Tony’s arm to get him to look at him. “What is that?”
“It’s the Avengers alarm. I don’t know what’s going on yet.” Tony told Peter and let go of him to get a better idea of what the situation was. “Shut the alarm off, FRI.”
Ever since Peter came to live with him, he had put Iron Man on hold. The rest of the Avengers were going on all the missions so long as they were small and didn’t need him. He had been having pretty good luck with the severity of the missions since they didn’t ever need him.
He always knew he was going to get called out sooner or later and today was apparently that day. He didn’t have a choice.
“Dad! Why aren’t you telling me?” Peter yelled, his voice shaking.
Tony’s heart dropped once he saw what the threat was. You gotta be kidding me, Tony thought and tapped on his watch. “Suit up, FRI.”
“Dad!” Peter yelled and Tony’s heart broke. He had to leave Peter to go on a mission for the very first time and he knew it was going to be hard for the both of them.
He turned around and kneeled in front of Peter. “Look, bud, I have to go on this mission and you have to stay here.”
Peter shook his head, tears filling his eyes and spilling over. “No. What are you talking about?”
The elevator doors opened and Steve ran out with Natasha. Both Stark’s turned to look at them. “Tony. We have to go. The Quinjet is taking off in five.”
Tony nodded. “Just give me a sec.”
Steve and Natasha saw the scene in front of them so they took off into the elevator. Tony turned back to Peter.
“You’re not a-actually going, are you?” Peter asked, grabbing onto Tony’s shoulders.
“Baby, I have to. You know I do.” Tony felt his own eyes start to burn. Fuck, this was hard.
“I’ll come. I just need to get my suit-”
Tony stood up and grabbed onto Peter’s hand. “No, you have to stay here. It’s too dangerous. This is Avengers level and you are not an Avenger.” And never will be if I have anything to do with it.
“You can’t just leave me here. I can help!” Peter pulled his hand out of Tony’s grasp and wiped away his tears.
Tony didn’t have time. He wanted to stay to make sure that Peter was okay but he had two minutes to get onto the jet. “No, Peter. You are fourteen years old for fucks sake. You stay here.”
Peter grabbed onto Tony’s hand and pulled hard but Tony pulled back so that he was dragging Peter but Peter figured that he wasn’t strong enough so he used his spider powers to hold onto his dad.
“You can’t go. Dad! Please.” Peter begged, tears pouring down his face now.
Tony stopped to glare at Peter. “Let me go, Peter. I’m not playing with you.”
Peter shook his head and let out a sob so Tony activated his gauntlet and pried Peter’s hand off of him, Peter’s eyes going wide. He picked Peter up and walked over to the couch to dump Peter on it.
“I have to go. I love you.” Tony said and then turned and made a beeline for the elevator.
“No! You can’t leave me! Dad!” Peter cried and sank onto the floor. He watched the elevator doors close and then he was standing up to run over to it to get to his dad. “No! Open the doors! No.”
Peter fell onto the floor in front of the elevator and cried. That may have been the last time he was ever going to see his dad and he knew he wouldn’t survive that loss.
Inside the elevator, Tony sighed heavily and put his head in his hands as the elevator brought him up to the landing. He wanted to break down and cry but he had to go fight a mission he felt like he already fought.
He rubbed his eyes and looked up, “FRI, don’t let Peter leave the tower under any circumstances and send Happy over to watch him while I’m gone.”
Tony knew better than to leave Peter fully alone right now and Happy was the only one available.
Tony ran into the quinjet and sat down on one of the chairs, not caring about putting the seatbelt on.
“With only twenty seconds to spare.” Sam said but everyone else sent him death glares. “What?”
“Is Peter okay?” Steve asked, sitting next to Tony and putting a comforting hand on him.
Tony shoved it off and stood up to start pacing. “Let’s talk about this. This is some Whiplash copycat we’re dealing with, right? This guy took after Vanko.”
Natasha nodded and pulled up a screen. “We don’t know who they are but there are two exoskeltons powered by the arc reactor in Queens.”
“These look different.” Tony grabbed the hologram and looked it over. “These look… more complex but smaller.”
“That’s because the materials aren’t homemade.” Steve chimed in. “We traced part of the materials back to some illegal factory.”
Tony listened to Steve and Natasha explain to him what they were about to deal with but his mind was mostly focused on Peter.
Back at the tower, Peter cried on the floor. He didn’t know what the threat was but it was an Avengers level threat and that meant it was dangerous. He didn’t want to think about what could happen to his dad.
He let out a loud sob and kicked on the closed elevator doors. “Open! Open it, FRIDAY!”
“Your father has authorized me to keep you inside the penthouse.” FRIDAY replied and Peter repeatedly kicked at the elevator doors in his frustration. He rolled onto his stomach and cried into his hands.
Peter didn’t know how long he was crying for but when he heard the elevator doors open up, he immediately turned his head to look at who was coming up. As much as he wanted it to be his dad, he knew it wasn’t.
When the doors opened up, Happy appeared and stood there for a few seconds to let his ears adjust to the loud crying and Tony’s son on the floor in some severe emotional pain.
Peter sat up and took his chance to run into the elevator but Happy was grabbing him. “No, Peter. Let’s go sit on the couch.”
“No! I need to go!” Peter struggled against Happy but he was too tired now to use his full force. He went deadweight which caused Happy to groan and get a better grip on Peter.
Happy walked out of the elevator and dropped Peter onto the floor. He didn’t know what Tony was thinking, he was a bodyguard, not a babysitter.
He was horrible with kids, even his boss's kid.
He always liked Peter but he liked him from a distance since he didn’t know how to interact with them.
Happy looked down at Peter who was crying on the floor and looking up at him as if he could fix everything. “Look, kid, you’re dad is going to be okay. Maybe stop… be quiet.”
Peter lifted his hands up to cover his face. He just wanted his dad. He wanted to know that he was okay.
Happy stood there for a few more minutes but he didn’t know what to do. Peter hadn’t calmed down and he was coughing because he was crying so hard which definitely wasn’t a good sign.
He walked into the living room and pulled out his phone to call Tony.
Thankfully, Tony answered on the third ring. “Talk fast because I’m in the middle of a fight here!”
Happy turned his back to Peter in hopes that he wouldn’t hear Peter crying. “Peter’s crying. Maybe you should come back.”
Tony could hear Peter crying on the other end and it broke his heart but he had to focus if he wanted to come home to his kid in one piece. “Can’t. Just… just hold him! I have to go!”
Happy groaned again and threw his phone onto the couch. He looked back over at Peter and went to go walk over to him. He’s glad he doesn’t have kids for this exact reason.
“Peter. I know your dad is okay so stop crying.” Happy cringed. He knew he couldn’t just say that to Peter and expect him to stop crying.
Peter kicked his legs out and looked up at Happy. “Tell him to come b-back to me!”
“I can’t. I know this is really hard for Tony too but maybe you should… stop… crying.” Happy awkwardly suggested. He looked around the room and tried to think of what to do.
He then thought about Pepper and he knew that she was really good with Peter so he walked back over to the couch and picked up his phone to call Pepper who answered right away.
“Are you with Peter? Never mind, I can hear him in the background. I heard what’s going on in Queens.” Pepper sounded busy on the other end but Happy didn’t focus on that.
“Yeah, and Tony left me with his kid. I’m not a babysitter, Pepper. I already have a headache.” Happy walked back over to Peter.
“I would come if I was in New York. Just reassure him that Tony will be okay.” Pepper told him and heard the phone move.
“You talk to him.” Happy said then handed Peter the phone who stopped crying to look at.
“Who is it?” Peter asked. He sniffled and wiped the snot that was going into his mouth. Happy cringed.
“Pepper.” Happy told him.
Peter put the phone to his ear. “H-hello?”
“Hi honey. How are you feeling?” Pepper could hear how awful Peter sounded. She wished she was there to help out.
“Dad went on a-a mission and I don-don’t know why but he left me here and-and I don’t know if he’s o-okay.” Peter rushed out in one breath.
“Can I tell you a little secret, Peter?” Pepper asked the boy.
Peter nodded. “Mhmm.”
“Well, I know that your dad is going to be okay because he always is. He built his suit to protect him and keep him alive and he’s a very smart man, don’t you think?”
“Yeah.” Peter wiped his face again, his eyes felt heavy from how much he was crying in that short amount of time.
“Yeah. So he’s going to be okay, okay?” Pepper knew better than anyone what Peter was feeling right now because she’s been where Peter was so many times.
“O-okay.” Peter sniffled again and wiped his nose then handed Happy his phone back.
He stood up and went into the kitchen to find his water bottle that Tony got him when he was sick because it calmed him down. Peter opened up the cabinet and looked for it but it wasn’t there so he slammed the cabinet and opened up another one but it wasn’t there either.
He was already feeling emotional and any little thing was going to set him off until his dad hit home so this was just one of those things.
Happy didn’t want Peter to start crying like before so he quickly asked him what he wanted. “What do you want, kid?”
Peter wiped at his eyes again. “I don’t know where dad put it.”
“Tell me what and I’ll help you find it.” Happy said slowly, bending down to be more at Peter’s level.
“The- my water bottle with the dots.” Peter would have been embarrassed for crying over not being able to find a water bottle before but he didn’t care right now.
“Alright. Um… FRIDAY? Where’s Peter’s water bottle?” Happy asked, a bit desperately.
“Peter’s water bottle is in the drawer under the utensils.” FRIDAY answered so Happy opened up that drawer, already knowing his way around the kitchen in Tony’s penthouse.
He pulled out a blue water bottle and held it out to Peter. “Is this it?”
“Yeah. Fill it up. With-with apple juice.” Peter demanded and watched impatiently as Happy did just that.
Happy didn’t feel like himself, taking orders from a child. Something he never thought he would ever do. He filled the water bottle up with apple juice and handed it to Peter who grabbed it and immediately took off upstairs.
Happy watched him leave. He wasn’t sure if he should follow him or not but he didn’t have enough time to think since Peter was running back down the stairs with a teddy bear against his chest.
He walked over to the couch and lied down on his stomach with his head on top of the teddy bear. “FRIDAY, put on Craig of the Creek.”
Peter put his water bottle in his mouth and waited for the show to start playing.
Happy sat down on the other couch and occasionally glanced over at Peter and the water bottle that had not left his mouth.
An hour passed and Peter was still awake. Happy hoped that the show would have put Peter to sleep but his eyes were still blinking.
That’s when Happy's phone started buzzing in his pocket so he quickly stood up to leave the room because he didn’t want Peter to hear the phone call.
“Are you guys coming back now?” Happy asked, desperately.
“No. We Uh, we got everything under control but we’re in the Quinjet going to Ithaca to take care of some stuff. How’s Peter?” Tony sounded exhausted on the other end and Happy could hear a lot of commotion in the background.
“He’s… good. He’s watching some cartoon with a water bottle that he’s sucking on and some teddy bear.” Happy spoke quietly from where he was hiding around the corner down the hallway.
“Okay. Put him on. I’m not gonna be back until early morning, maybe three or four but he has school tomorrow so get him showered and ready.” Tony sounded sad and Happy didn’t blame him.
“That long?” Happy didn’t mean to sound like a child but he didn’t like looking after the actual child. “It’s fine. I’ll put him on.”
Happy walked into the living room. “Peter, your dad wants to talk to you. He’s on the phone.”
Peter pulled the water bottle from his mouth and lifted his head up to reach for the phone. “Daddy. Come back. Please. Where are you?”
Tony melted at the name. “Oh Peter. I miss you so much. I’ll be home so soon.”
“Are you okay? Come back now.” Peter sat up fully and pulled his knees to his chest.
“I’m okay but I need to tell you something, I’m gonna be gone until three or four in the morning, okay? We’re going somewhere else for the mission but Happy will stay with you and get you ready for bed-”
“No! Just you can!” Peter started to cry again. He was exhausted and even though it felt really good to hear his dad’s voice, it made it even harder to keep his tears in. “I don’t want Happy here. Come home. Please.”
“Don’t say that about Happy. And be easy on him, okay? He’s trying. I need you to be good.” Tony begged Peter because he knew Happy was struggling with Peter a lot and he also knew that there was no way Happy would manage to get Peter showered and into his pyjamas at a reasonable hour or at all.
Peter mumbled something incoherent into the phone that Tony didn’t understand so he just left it. “Baby, I love you but I gotta go now. I’ll see you when you wake up tomorrow.”
Peter started to cry harder. “No! Come back. I can’t. Who’s gon-gonna kiss me goodnight and hold me? Please, daddy. Come back.”
Tony’s heart was breaking. He couldn’t lose his composure right now. “I’m sorry. I love you.”
Peter heard the phone hang up and then he was throwing it across the room and running over to the elevator to try and leave. “Open it! FRIDAY, please. I need-I need to leave.”
Happy watched Peter bang weakly on the elevator doors and sink to the floor and onto his back. He felt helpless since there was nothing he could possibly do to help Peter.
There was still over twelve hours until Tony would come home and Happy was not ready to deal with this for the next twelve hours.
He sat down on the couch and tried to gain his composure and think about what to do. He then picked up Peter’s bear and his water bottle and went into the kitchen to refill it with some more apple juice before he walked over to the elevator and handed Peter both items.
“Do you want to come back over to the couch to watch your show?” Happy asked, almost sighing in relief once Peter grabbed the water bottle and put it in his mouth because it stopped his ears from ringing.
Peter shook his head and put his bear on the floor to try and listen to his dad’s heartbeat to calm him down and picture a moment when they were together.
That is what made Peter fall asleep and stay asleep until Tony arrived at home a little past 2am. He was home earlier than he thought and the mission went well which was a huge relief but it really hit him thinking if he wanted to continue that part of his life.
He didn’t have time to think about that right now because he had a kid to get to. Tony exited the Quinjet, saying goodbye to everyone and went into the elevator.
He wasn’t sure if Peter was awake or not since it was way past his bedtime but that didn’t mean he would be sleeping.
The elevator doors opened and Tony was greeted with Peter sleeping on the floor by the elevator.
Mostly all the lights had been turned off and there was actual lullaby music playing on the tv. He smiled at his son and kneeled down to take out the water bottle that was still in his mouth.
Happy was walking over to him with a huge look of relief on his face. “Hey. How was it?”
“It was good. We won.” Tony smiled, happy to be back home now. “How long has he been sleeping for?”
“He cried himself to sleep about seven hours ago. I didn’t want to wake him so I just put a blanket over him.” Happy replied, somewhat sad.
Tony brushed the curls out of Peter’s face. “Thanks, Hap. I know you don’t like to be with him one on one.”
It was true, Tony knew that Happy liked Peter but he just wasn’t a fan of kids.
“I just feel bad since I couldn’t help him or anything. I mean I’m not you.” Happy looked down. He felt bad for Tony’s kid while he cried himself to sleep but he couldn’t do anything.
“Don’t feel bad, he has a loud cry and it’s hard for others to calm him down.” Tony reassured Happy and ran his hand over Peter’s face again, trying to wake him up.
Peter’s eyes shot open. He turned his head and when he saw his dad, all the emotions came back so he started to cry happy tears now. He sat up and reached for his dad.
“Hi Peter. I told you I’d be back. Did you give Happy a hard time?” Tony asked, playfully and hugged Peter back who was shaking against him.
Peter nodded his head, knowing that he gave Happy a hard time but he didn’t care. Both adults laughed and then Tony was letting go of Peter so he could stand up.
Peter reached his arms up. “No.”
“Okay, come. I’ll carry you but you have to stand up first.” Tony looked over at Happy and rolled his eyes good naturally.
Peter grabbed his bear with Tony’s heartbeat and his water bottle then stood up and lifted his arm up. He felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders at being back in his dad's arms again.
Tony put his hands under Peter’s butt to support his weight and felt Peter wrap his legs around him and his arms around his neck. The teddy bear was between the two of them and then Peter laid his head to rest on Tony’s shoulder which Tony melted at.
He loved it when Peter did that, as simple as the action was.
“Thanks for everything, Hap, but I got him now.” Tony turned so he could look at Happy and he felt Peter’s head lifting up to look at him as well.
“Bye Peter. Hope you feel better now.” Happy reached forward to ruffle Peter’s hair and then he went into the elevator.
Peter put his head back down on Tony’s shoulder and sighed. “I need to pee.”
Tony was already making his way upstairs as Peter spoke. “Alright. I’m almost in my bedroom, just hold it for a few more seconds.”
Tony could feel the water bottle banging against his back but it didn’t hurt, he just wondered how much juice Happy gave Peter if Peter had it on him all night.
When Tony walked into his bathroom, he set Peter on the ground and grabbed the teddy bear that fell from between them. He loved that Peter loved it.
“Go pee and then get your pyjamas on. You don’t have to shower tonight.” Tony turned around and looked in the mirror. He had a big bruise on his forehead that was going to be really noticeable tomorrow morning. Great.
Peter wiped his eyes and pulled his pants down to go pee while Tony left to grab his pyjamas but Peter stopped him. “Wait! Stay. I’m almost done…”
Tony sat on the bed and waited for Peter to finish. They had just started the sleep separation and Tony already knew that this mission was causing them to take a few steps backwards.
Peter walked out of the bathroom and went to crawl onto the bed with him but Tony stopped him. “Did you wash your hands?”
Peter shook his head. “Mm-mm.”
“Did you flush the toilet?” Tony asked, knowing the answer.
“I forgot.”
“Okay. I need to go shower so do want me to come with you to get your pyjamas first or-”
“Yes. Come.” Peter tugged on Tony’s hand so Tony stood up to walk Peter to his bedroom. He didn’t know why he even asked since he knew what the answer was going to be.
They got to Peter’s bedroom so Tony waited for him to change then Peter grabbed onto Tony’s hand to walk back to his bedroom.
“I’m gonna be really fast so you stay here.” Tony told Peter, letting go of his hand to grab the bear. “Here’s your bear so you can hold.”
“And I’m sleeping here tonight?” Peter said more as a statement but it sounded like a question.
Tony nodded but only because he didn’t have the energy to put Peter in his own bed tonight and he knew that Peter would put up one hell of a fight.
“Yes, baby. And I’ll be right back-”
“No! Stay. Don’t leave me.” Peter grabbed onto Tony’s hand and pulled.
“I have to shower. You get comfortable in bed.” Tony walked around to pull the sheets back with Peter watching him with wide eyes. “I’m just behind that door.”
Peter watched Tony walk away but he didn’t want to not be able to see him. “No. I’ll sit on the toilet seat and wait for you.”
Tony chuckled lightly. “No. I’m pretty sure that is wrong on so many levels.”
“Then leave the door open so I can still see you.” Peter moved towards the edge of the bed and said desperately.
“Peter. Still wrong. I’ll be in and out in less than ten minutes.” Tony disappeared into the bathroom and locked the door because he knew Peter would try and open it to come inside.
Peter whimpered once the bathroom door was shut and stood up to try and open it but it was locked so he sat down by it and waited.
When Tony opened the bathroom door, he almost stepped on Peter. “What’re you doin’ on the floor?”
“Waiting for you.” Peter answered and stood up so Tony grabbed his arm and pushed him into the bathroom.
“You need to brush your teeth. You didn’t last night.”
Peter tried to pull against him. “But I did this morning.”
“You have to brush your teeth twice a day or your teeth are all gonna rot and fall out and the tooth fairy won’t take them.” Tony grabbed Peter’s toothbrush and handed it to him.
“No such thing.” Peter mumbled then wet his toothbrush and put his favourite toothpaste on it. “Stay here.”
“I will.” Tony already knew the drill by now.
After they were both ready for bed, Tony was more than ready to just pass out but he knew that he had to talk to Peter about school tomorrow.
“So, bud, tomorrow is Monday. So we can both sleep in tomorrow but you’re gonna go to school for your two last periods, alright?” Tony was rubbing Peter’s belly as he spoke. It was putting him to sleep as much as it was Peter who was seconds away from passing out.
“No school. I wan’ stay here.” Peter mumbled before he passed out. Tony wasn’t far behind him either.