You heal me
Tony was sweating by the time he woke up,
Peter kept bringing all the blankets on him and since Peter was sleeping so close to Tony all night, both the heat that was radiating off of Peter’s tiny body and the heat from the blankets was making Tony sweat profusely.
He laid awake for close to an hour, content to enjoy the peace and quiet and go over a mental list in his head of everything they had to do over the next few weeks. Tony didn’t want to rush Peter’s process with Rose but he also didn’t want to not have her come and potentially set them back to the beginning again, not that they made that much progress to begin with.
Peter began waking up. He stretched his legs out and tried to pull the blankets back on him but Tony kicked them to the bottom of the bed so Peter couldn’t get to them.
Peter rubbed at his eyes and opened them, looking up at the ceiling briefly then stretching some more and looking over at Tony. He grinned at him and Tony wanted to freeze time, he loved seeing that adorable grin first thing in the morning and he especially loved how he was the one to make Peter grin like that.
He brushed the curls off Peter’s forehead and sat up a bit. “Do you feel better? You look a lot better?” Tony guessed that Peter was feeling a lot better since he woke up in a good mood, unlike yesterday.
Peter pulled his knees to his chest to stretch his legs out. Tony fully sat up and patted Peter’s butt. “Yeah, I know you’re feeling better. Let’s go eat some breakfast.”
“I wanna go get ice cream after breakfast.” Said Peter, sitting up to move closer to Tony.
“Wow. And not for breakfast?”
Peter thought about that. “If I’m allowed.” He fell face first onto the bed and stood up so he was bent in half then tried to get his legs up on the bed frame. “Watch.”
“I’m watching.” Tony got out of the bed and went into the closet to change his shirt while still watching Peter. “Go pee then we’ll go downstairs.”
Peter fell onto his butt. “I don’t need to go.”
With a sigh, Tony looked at Peter. “Peter.” He sighed again. “Fine. Let’s just go downstairs.”
Peter slid off the bed and walked over to his dad. He was feeling a lot better but he still felt a bit tired and weak so he didn’t have the energy to race Tony downstairs.
Tony looked down at Peter. He noticed that he didn’t have a pale face with red rosy cheeks to go with it. “I’m glad you’re feeling better. One more day and you’ll be back to normal I think.”
Peter frowned. He hated being sick but he got away with a lot and he knew, no matter what, his dad wouldn’t leave him and now he didn’t have that safety net anymore and it sucked.
“No. I’m still sick. I don’t feel good.”
“No you don’t. I can tell.” Tony opened up the fridge and grabbed the milk and then some cereal. He really didn’t feel like cooking. “What kind of cereal do you want?”
Peter shrugged. He pointed to the milk Tony had in his hand so his dad poured him a cup that he grabbed and took to the living room. Tony watched Peter, not even bothering to get him back into the kitchen so he put the milk away, made himself a quick coffee and walked over to Peter.
“You’re not hungry?”
“No. I just want milk.”
“So drink your milk. I just want coffee.” He took a sip of the burning hot liquid. “Yum.”
Peter turned to face him. “And now you’re gonna have energy.”
“Exactly.” Tony took another sip, exaggerating it and making Peter laugh. “I’m gonna need a lot of energy to chase after you all day.”
Peter walked over to him and sat on his knee. “Then I need a sip too so I have energy to run away from you.”
“Uh no. Absolutely not. You have built in extra energy that is already too much for me to handle.” He held the hot coffee away from Peter so Peter didn’t knock his hand and spilled it but while he was focused on that, Peter’s milk spilt over and landed on his thigh.
Peter laughed. “Oops.” He tried to rub at the spot on his dad’s pants to make it better but it was no use.
Tony didn’t react to it. He should have known he was going to get something spilt on him and it wasn’t even nine in the morning yet.
Peter took another sip of his milk then leaned over to place it on the side table and leaned against his dad’s chest with a consent sigh. “Are you still sleepy?”
Peter shook his head. “No. You’re just comfy and I like to sleep on you.”
Tony patted his butt. “I like you sleeping on me too but guess what? This,” He gestured to Peter’s pull-up. “has to come off now.” Peter shoved his face into Tony’s chest with a pout. “Yes. It has to.”
“No.”
Tony wasn’t going to argue with Peter. “We’re going up in ten minutes and it’s coming off.” He took another sip of his coffee, mentally pausing for himself. He knew Peter was going to make it a big deal for some reason and he didn’t want to deal with that until his coffee kicked in.
Peter lifted his head up and gave his dad his best puppy dog eyes. “I don’t need to. I-I just wanna stay with you.”
“I’m still gonna stay with you, baby.”
“No.” Peter insisted. He knew that if he put on underwear then his dad wouldn’t need to stay with him at all times anymore. After he got injured, he knew that his dad was going to be there when he woke up to when he fell asleep and everything in between so now, he didn’t have that safety net for his dad to stay with him.
He could leave at any second and Peter didn’t want that.
Tony pulled him back so he could look at his face. “I’m not leaving you. Sometimes I’m gonna have to leave for work but you know I’ll always come back.”
Peter didn’t like that. “Just… I don’t wanna go upstairs. I wanna stay down here.”
Tony knew why Peter didn’t want to go upstairs but they still had to go so he tried to think of a reason to bring Peter downstairs after. “How about we go upstairs and after we’re done, we can come down here and make play dough? Wanna do that?”
A smile broke out across Peter’s face. He nodded aggressively. “But how do we make play dough? We just have to buy it.” He shrugged, not having the slightest idea as to how to make it.
“Are you telling me you’ve never made play dough before?” Tony was surprised, he was an adult and he made play dough in the past ten years. “In your whole fourteen years of life, you’ve never made play dough?”
Peter shyly smiled and turned so he was leaning on the couch and placed his legs up on the coffee table. “No. I’m not fourteen.”
“Oh? Then how old are you?” Tony pretended to be confused and played along.
Peter thought about it. “Uh… forty five, no, I’m fifty.”
Tony gasped. “Fifty? Oh god, you’re older than me. I guess that means you have to take care of me then.”
“No! Actually… actually I’m not fifty.” Peter laughed and shook his head, standing up only to sit down on the edge of the couch. “I’m actually five years old. So you have to take care of me.”
Tony bursted out laughing. He pulled Peter closer. “No, I like my fourteen year old Peter.” Tony would love to spend a day with five year old Peter but he was in love with Peter’s age now. He loved watching him grow into his own little person more and more each day.
Peter swung his leg over his knee. “No. I’m not. I’m just five.”
“No, you’re fourteen, don’t be silly.” He brushed the curls off his forehead. “Can we go upstairs now? We’ll be so quick.”
“No.”
Tony supposed he shouldn’t have asked Peter if that’s what he wanted to do. “We can’t make play dough unless we get dressed into proper clothes.”
“I still can. I’ll show you how.” Peter slid off his dad's knee and looked towards the kitchen, debating if he should make a mad dash towards it but he looked up at Tony who was giving him one of his firm looks. Peter pointed towards it, not saying anything.
“Upstairs first. Then you can.” Tony watched Peter, waiting for him to make the first move but he knew Peter wouldn’t.
Peter moved to sit on his feet. “No. I-I know we can try to make play dough now and go upstairs after. After play dough cause I really want to.”
Tony stood up and slid his feet out from under Peter. “Let’s go up.”
“No.”
Tony sighed. “Peter, now.”
“No!”
“If you don’t stand up and walk, I’ll carry you up and I won’t be happy.”
Peter turned his back to him so Tony walked over and yanked Peter up, holding him against his side to carry him upstairs. Peter immediately started crying so Tony paused to cover his hand over his mouth. “Nope. I don’t wanna hear it.” Peter stopped but a frown appeared on his face.
Once Tony got upstairs, he placed Peter on his feet and grabbed onto his hand to drag him into his bedroom and shut the door so Peter couldn’t escape.
Peter ran over to the bed and climbed up onto it, borrowing his way under the blankets. “I wanna sleep.”
“No. We just woke up.” Tony grabbed clean underwear and wipes. He dug in the laundry basket for a pair of Iron Man ones, grinning to himself even though Peter was having a temper tantrum behind him. “Look what I have.”
Peter peeked an eye out and saw the underwear in his hands and acted like it was a gun. “No! No no no! I don’t want to!”
Tony sat on the bed and tugged the blankets off Peter, pulling his legs closer to him even though Peter kicked him to get away. “Stop. Ow, stop. Come here,” He managed to pick Peter up but Peter flopped back down. “Peter, why are you so against wearing underwear? What’s wrong with them?”
“No!” Peter tried to push his hands away. “Cause then you’ll go away.”
“Go away where?”
Peter looked down at his stomach. “Just… away. Somewhere I’m not. Like-like to work or on a plane or Iron Man.”
It was sad. Tony knew how hard Peter struggled with him leaving but the scary thing about it was that Peter came to associate wearing pull-ups with him staying and that’s why Peter wasn’t giving them up and was putting up such a fight about them.
“I know sometimes I have to leave but just because you’re wearing pull-ups, that’s not gonna make me stay or leave any less. It doesn’t change.”
Peter rubbed at his eyes. “But… but before you stayed all the time.”
Tony tried to think of what Peter was referring to. “Do you mean when you got hurt?” Peter nodded. “Oh baby, that’s because you were so so hurt. You were…” Tony didn’t want to talk about that. “You were hurt. And you’re not anymore. I will always try to stay but sometimes I will have to leave for work or other things but I always, always come back.” He poked Peter in the stomach to emphasize his point.
Peter giggled at the touch but then the frown appeared on his face and he pointed down at the box of pull-ups. “That one?”
Tony felt bad, he did, but he didn’t want to give in. “No, I’m sorry.” He grabbed the sides of the pull-up Peter had on and tried to take it off but Peter pushed his hands away and screamed.
“No! Don’t! I don’t want you too!” Peter tried to kick and push him away but he couldn’t.
“You’re gonna get a rash, bud.” Tony took it off and dropped it onto the floor for now. “I’m sorry, buddy.”
Peter cried in defeat as it was taken off, he rubbed aggressively at his eyes and looked up at Tony before crying harder. Tony grabbed the wipes and made quick progress, hoping Peter didn’t kick him in the face.
He grabbed the underwear but as soon as Peter saw it again, he screamed louder. “It’s uncomfortable! Nooo!”
“This is uncomfortable but that isn’t?” He didn’t understand. He grabbed onto Peter’s ankles again, feeling really bad but he had to. He got them onto Peter and got him situated then picked him up. “Shh. No more crying. We can go downstairs now. You wanna do that?”
He carried Peter out of the room anyways, ignoring the arm Peter shot back into the bedroom, reaching for nothing in particular.
Once Tony got him downstairs, he filled up his water bottle and handed it to him. “You’re okay. Drink some water and take some deep breaths.”
Peter did as he was told, drinking the water which calmed his sore throat from all the crying. He then wiped at his eyes and looked around the kitchen, remembering that the plan was to make play dough so a smile appeared on his face even when his cheeks were still rosy and his eyes were still red and his eyelashes were still wet.
“I wanna make the play dough now.”
Tony sat a happy Peter on the kitchen island. He had absolutely no idea how Peter went from screaming bloody murder to happy in less than a minute. It amazed him.
He wondered if all kids had that ability or just Peter.
“Let’s get started then.” Tony grabbed the food colouring out of the cabinet. “What colour do you wanna make?”
Peter examined the colours. “I wanna do all of them. Then we can even- then we can even mix them together and make a rainbow. Although it would probably just look like poopy bum.”
Tony laughed at Peter’s comment as he pulled up the recipe on the kitchen StarkPad. “We need a lot of salt.” He grabbed all the ingredients out and laid them on the counter. “Do you know how to take the measurements or do you want me to?”
Peter was already picking up the cup. “No. I’m doing it. I don’t want you to help.”
Tony stood back and told Peter what to add into the bowl and it was going pretty well so far but Peter was about to add in the wrong measurement so he stopped him. “No, it says one tablespoon. That’s a teaspoon-”
“Noo!” Peter screamed and then the powder was spilling onto the countertop so Peter screamed again in frustration. He was doing it right by himself. “Stop! You ruined it!”
“What?” Tony held his hands up in surrender. He didn’t know what he did or why Peter was freaking out about it so much. “I don’t understand what happened, buddy. We can clean it up.” He grabbed a cloth to clean it up but Peter pushed his hands away and cried out.
“No. No no noo! You're ruining it! I-I wanted-”
“Hey, relax, kid.” Tony was scared. He was scared to say or touch anything and make Peter freak out. “It’s just some flour. We can clean it up and try again. Stop crying.”
Peter wiped the tears off his face and sat up straighter. “Don’t look at me.” Tony continued to look at him, not even sure what to do so Peter waved his arm out to try and hit him. “Stop! I don’t want you looking at me!”
Tony blinked. “Okay… well I’m not putting a blindfold on so you can forget about that. Stop whining.”
“I’m not.” He crossed his arms over his chest and moved away. “You’re being… poop.”
“Peter,” Tony sighed. He was trying to do something fun but Peter was being difficult. “stop, that’s silly talk.”
“You’re silly talk.”
Tony looked at Peter and bit his tongue to not say anything. He didn’t want to encourage Peter to act like this and he wasn’t in the mood to be firm with Peter and have to deal with the crying so he took a few breaths and placed another bowl on the counter. “Now we both have a bowl so you don’t need to cry.”
Peter looked inside his dad's bowl and saw that it was empty so he placed some of his ingredients inside his bowl. “For you.”
“Thanks, buddy.”
They got to work after that, Tony trying to show Peter what to do but Peter telling him to stop and doing what he wanted anyways.
Peter sat on his knees on the counter and hadn’t once complained about his underwear. Tony made the mistake of bringing it up. “See, your underwear’s are perfectly fine.”
The smile fell from Peter’s face and it was as if someone had said action. Peter tugged down the front of his underwear. “Nooo, it not. I want it off-”
Tony regretted bringing it up. He pretended to spill the water all over the counter. “Oh no. Oops. Help me clean it up.”
Peter grabbed the dish towel and wiped up the mess. “It got on your shirt. Oh no.” He giggled. He cleaned most of it up and went back to what he was doing before.
Tony was mainly watching Peter since he didn’t have much interest in playing with play dough, he was an adult but it was more interesting to watch his kid anyways. The way Peter stuck his tongue out in concentration when adding in the ingredients then sneaking a lick of it when he didn’t think Tony was watching him.
He let it go the first few times but it was getting too much so Tony stopped it. “No more eating it. It’s not food, buddy.”
Peter licked it anyways. “I’m not eating it.”
“Yeah but you’re licking it. Stop. It’s not healthy and you’ll get sick again.”
Peter shook his head. “But I’m still sick. I can’t get sick again if I never stopped being sick.”
Tony fondly rolled his eyes at Peter. “You’re too cute. What am I gonna do with you, huh?”
“Uh… you can let me have ice cream for breakfast everyday.”
“I don’t think so.” Tony wiped down the counter and placed the two balls of play dough they made so Peter could play with that while he cleaned up. He didn’t want to have to do it later. “Can you take those into the kitchen- I mean the living room. Go play in there. I’ll come after I clean up.”
Peter turned to climb off the counter. “I’ll help you.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll be quick. Go play.” He knew if Peter helped, it would take twice as long and the mess would be twice as big for him to clean up later. “Go.”
Peter grabbed his play doughs off the counter. “Then can you play with me?”
“Yes. I will in five minutes.” He watched Peter run into the living room, cringing when he started playing with it on the couch since he knew it would be a disaster to clean up later but he was used to the messes that came with having a son.
Peter smashed the play dough against the table and made sure it was flat. He looked into the kitchen to make sure his dad wasn’t looking at him then licked it, liking the salty taste.
“I saw that.” Tony called over to him. Peter had no idea how he saw, it was like he had eyes on the back of his head.
Peter didn’t respond. He turned his back towards Tony and continued playing until Tony finished in the kitchen and sat on the couch. “Come sit over here with me.”
Peter shook his head. “No. I’m playing here.” He patted the spot next to him. “You can come sit here.”
Tony stood up and sat down on the carpet, his back aching a bit. He looked over at Peter and wondered how that was even comfortable for him. “Can I make something too or do I just have to watch?”
“You can play too.” Peter moved and sat on his knee, bending Tony’s leg and making it even more uncomfortable for him.
“Oh great. Now I get to be your chair too.”
“You can use this one. It got dirty and I don’t want it. But don’t put it here,” He pointed to the table. “since I have mine there already.”
Tony nodded. “Great.” He awkwardly played with the play dough in the tiny space that he was given while Peter slid down so he was sitting more comfortably in his lap. “Why don’t you move over a bit, Pete? I can’t see what I’m doing.”
Peter shook his head. “You don’t need to.” He insisted. “Only I need to.”
Peter turned on Tony’s lap and lifted his shirt up. “Hey, what’re you doing?” Peter started to smack the play dough against Tony’s chest.
“Giving you boobies.”
Tony barked out a laugh at that answer but he pulled his shirt down so Peter couldn’t. “No more. How about you clean up and then you can sleep some more.”
Peter ignored him and smacked the play dough on the table. “I want the tracers to play with.”
“No, you’re gonna sleep some more.”
“Nooo.”
“Yeah, cause you need to rest so you get better.” Peter shook his head and tried to crawl away so Tony grabbed him. “Just a quick nap. Then you’ll wake up and we’ll eat lunch.”
Peter kicked his legs out at his dad, not in the mood anymore. “I said no. I’m not tired.”
Tony stood up, lifting Peter up with him. “You’re gonna be tired if you don’t sleep now. Then you’ll be over tired and you won’t sleep. Your body is still trying to get better so you need rest.”
Peter didn’t think so. He tried to wiggle his way out of his dad’s arms and was placed on his feet so he made a run for it. Tony sat down on the couch and grabbed the box of pull-ups. “Come stand in front of me.”
Reluctantly, Peter listened and stood in front of his dad. “Am I gonna wear one for nap time?”
Tony pulled down his underwear and went to pull one out of the box but it was empty. “There’s no more in here.”
“Oh no. Are you gonna buy more?”
Tony grabbed the other box but he didn’t feel like opening up a whole new one. “Not now… let’s go get the ones upstairs so you can wear it.”
Peter skipped upstairs, not in the mood to sleep but he was excited to go up there anyways. He climbed up on the bed and kicked his feet out. “When will we get ice cream?”
“Not today.” Tony reached into the box and sat down on the bed, holding it out for Peter to step into it. “Come stand in front of me.”
Peter did as he was told and used his dad’s shoulder for support. “Will we get ice cream tomorrow?”
“Maybe.” Tony pulled the blankets back and pulled Peter’s shirt off. “Arms up.”
Peter listened but didn’t understand why. “Why?”
“Because this shirt isn’t comfy to sleep in.” It had thick material on the front and definitely not a shirt for sleeping. “Want no shirt or your blue pyjama shirt?”
“Blue pyjama shirt. Why am I sleeping?”
Tony placed it over Peter’s head for him to do the rest. “I told you. Because your body needs the rest. Hopefully after this nap, you won’t need anymore.” Tony shut the lights off and laid down. He pulled Peter to lie down too but Peter grabbed onto anything he could to not be pulled down. “Let go, you have to sleep.”
Peter was dragged to the middle of the bed so he arched his back and screamed, his face turned red and tears began falling down his cheeks.
Tony had a feeling he was putting a negative outlook on taking naps but he didn’t know what else to do. He grabbed his phone and connected it to the speakers in his room and played a random lullaby song.
“Shh shh, listen. Do you hear that?”
Peter stopped crying to listen. “What?”
“It’s just some music. Come lie down with me.” Peter sat up and crawled on top of his dad, putting his head on his chest and each leg on either side of him. “Yeah, close your eyes.”
Peter calmed down pretty much immediately. He took a calming breath and shut his eyes, occasionally opening them to prevent himself from falling asleep but he quickly lost that battle.
.
.
.
After their nap that both of them so desperately needed, they simply had a chill day at home, not doing much.
Tony was worried that Peter wouldn’t want to sleep at bedtime, that he wouldn’t be tired from his nap but he was.
Thankfully.
At least he wasn’t fighting bedtime that much.
Peter sat on the bed on his knees and looked at his dad. He wanted to wear his pull-ups tonight and he needed to show Tony he needed them so he concentrated and started to pee.
Tony was talking to Peter as he plugged his phone in but he looked over and noticed that Peter became randomly silent and he knew exactly what he was doing. “Nope.” He picked him up and carried him into the bathroom. “No no no. You’re not peeing the bed on purpose.” He placed Peter in the shower, not making it to the toilet in time. “Why did you do that?”
Peter looked down at himself. “It’s an accident-”
“No. You knew what you were doing. I’m not happy about that.” Peter just looked at him so Tony grabbed the shower handle off. “Take off those pants. They’re dirty now.”
Peter took them off and placed them in the corner of the shower then lifted up his shirt so Tony could rinse him down. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Yes you did.” Tony turned the water off once he was done and handed Peter a towel. “You’re old enough to know that we don’t do things like that. Do you want attention from me? Is that it? Because I’ll give you more attention.” Tony didn’t know how it was possible to give Peter more attention, he was already giving him everything.
Peter followed him out of the bathroom and stood there, kicking the towel away. “No.”
Tony patted the blankets to see if they were wet. “Then why did you do that? I know you know that was really unnecessary and on purpose.” He turned and sat on the edge of the bed, looking at Peter and waiting for an answer.
Peter shrugged. He bent down and grabbed a pull-up from the box. “I need one.”
“No. No more.” He stood up and grabbed a clean towel from the bathroom then laid it over the middle of the bed, knowing it wasn’t going to help because Peter slept everywhere, including on him. “You will sleep on this tonight. Just in case.”
“No! That’s scratchy!” Peter fell face first onto the floor and kicked his legs out, trying to get under the bed.
Tony grabbed his ankles and dragged him out, holding him in his arms. “Hey. Stop. You don’t need these,” He took the pull-up out of Peter’s hand, earning a scream near his ear. “not for tonight. I have pyjamas for you.”
“No! If-if- now if I pee, you’ll hate me.” Peter cried.
“Peter, I will never hate you. If you accidentally pee the bed one hundred times, I won’t hate you. I just don’t want you doing it on purpose. Because that’s not good.”
Peter rubbed his eyes. He looked longingly towards the box of pull-ups. “I’m tired.”
Tony nodded. He was tired too and he wanted to go to bed but he hoped it wasn’t hard to get Peter to sleep now. “Then let’s go to sleep. Do you want me to pick out your pyjamas or do you want to?”
“Um…” Peter thought about it. He rubbed at his eyes some more and leaned heavily against his dad. “I want… you to.”
“Okay.” Tony stood up and grabbed a random pair of clean pyjamas that ironically had Iron Man on the top and bottoms. “Are these good? Do you want to put these on?”
Peter laid there and looked at them, trying to decide if that was what he wanted to wear. He walked his feet up his dad’s legs and up to his chest. “Yeah… and you have to wear pyjamas too.”
Tony looked down at himself. “I am. These are my pyjamas.” In all honesty, he used to sleep naked or in boxers but then Peter started sleeping over and he didn’t feel comfortable doing that anymore so he had to get used to wearing decent clothes to bed but now he’s grateful for that since Peter sleeps with him every night.
Peter laughed but it was followed by a yawn. “Those aren’t pyjamas, dad. It’s just… a tank top and track pants.”
“It’s good enough.” He dangled the pyjamas above Peter. “Want me to do all the work?”
Peter nodded happily. “And tickle my back after.”
“Yes boss. Anything else?”
Peter lifted his hips to get his pyjama pants on properly. “My top. I’m gonna put it on by myself. I don’t want you to help me.” He took the shirt from his dad and sat up, quickly putting it on and standing up on the bed, running to the edge then falling back. “Time to sleep. I’m gonna sleep right here. I’m not even gonna put my head on the pillow.”
Tony laid down but didn’t even bother to shut the lamp off. “Can you come lie down over here? I don’t want your stinky feet in my face all night.”
Peter sat up and pushed his feet closer to his dad. “My feet aren’t stinky. You can put your head on this side with me.”
“That’s not comfortable. Come over here.” He patted the spot next to him but Peter didn’t move. Instead, Peter stood up on his head and tried to place his feet up on the foot board. “You’re gonna fall and hurt yourself. Stop it.” He warned him.
Peter laughed but didn’t listen and continued doing it. He lifted his foot up but he lost his balance and fell over to the other side of the bed, scraping his back along the side of the bed and immediately began crying.
Tony sat up. “You’re okay. Come here.” He knew that was going to happen.
Peter stood up and walked around the bed to get comfort from his dad while holding his back that was hurting him now. He should have listened. “Let me see. Did you hurt your back?” Peter nodded and cried harder so Tony lifted up the back of his shirt and saw that the skin was red and scraped a bit but it wasn’t bleeding. “Aw, I’ll put some Vaseline on it. That’s why you don’t do things like that, baby. Because now you’re hurt.”
“Mm!” Peter closed his eyes and lifted his leg over his dad’s knee. “I don’t like your bed. It’s bum!”
“Okay.” Tony grabbed the Vaseline on his nightstand and opened it up but Peter shook his head.
“No, I don’t need it in my bum.” Peter tried to push it away, not liking that feeling.
Tony stuck his finger into the container. “I’m not. I just said I was putting it on your back.” He rubbed it in quickly and wiped his finger on his pants. “All better.”
Peter squirmed at the slimy feeling on his back. “It’s slimy. And now I can’t sleep on my back.”
Tony rolled his eyes at Peter being dramatic. “It’s not that slimy. It’ll go away soon. Sleep on your stomach then, you do anyways.”
Peter sat up. “Only sometimes. I like to sleep on my back in the middle of the night but when I’m faking asleep I like to sleep on you.”
“Believe me, I know all about your sleeping patterns.” Tony sat on the edge of the bed and pushed Peter’s legs to his chest to lean over him. “It’s time to sleep now. Don’t worry about your slimy back.”
Peter squirmed onto his stomach. “Will you sleep with me?”
“Yes, Pete. That’s why I’m getting into bed. Unless you don’t want me to-”
“No!” Peter reached out to grab onto his hand. “I want you to.”
Tony grabbed him so he could kiss his face. “I love you so freaking much.” He wanted to swear to get his point across but he couldn’t in front of Peter.
Peter grinned. “Why?”
“Why? Where to begin.” Tony honestly didn’t know. He got into bed and laid down, caressing Peter’s baby face in his hands. He loved Peter for a billion reasons that he couldn’t even explain. He loved how Peter was his mostly. “I love watching you grow and learn and I love watching you turn into the most beautiful little boy. I’m so lucky to be your dad and I love raising you sooo much, baby boy.”
Peter rubbed his cheek against his dad’s chest and it was just the simple little things like that that made Tony love Peter even more. He was so lucky to have Peter as his son and to know that he was his and no one else’s.
“I love you too and I’m glad you’re my dad cause I like the sound of your heartbeat and no one else’s. Plus you always smell super good and it makes me want to lick you.”
Tony expected an answer like that. “You have licked me multiple times before.”
Peter grinned. “Can I lick you again?”
“No-”
Peter didn’t take no for any answer and licked Tony’s face. “Mmm. Yummy. Now a kiss,” Peter puckered just lips and tried to kiss Tony so Tony laughed and pushed him away. “Muah! I got you!”
Tony sat up. “You’re too silly, how are we ever gonna get to sleep?”
Peter shrugged and kissed his dad again. “I’m not. I just like kissing you because I love you!”
“I love you too, baby, but no more kissing. Let’s try and sleep.” Tony covered a hand over Peter’s lips and pushed him down so he was lying down. “I’ll pat your bum. Lie on your stomach.”
Peter loved falling asleep to getting his bum pat so he rolled onto his stomach and turned his head to face his dad. “And then my hair after too.”
It didn’t take long for Tony to put Peter to sleep, he was an expert at it now.
.
.
.
Tony opened up the package that came up to their floor and saw that it was the special gift he bought for Peter. He grabbed the items and walked over to the living room, spotting Peter eating something but he didn’t remember giving him anything. “What’s in your mouth?”
Peter looked at him alarmed. “Nothin’.”
Tony grabbed Peter’s face and squeezed his jaw. “Open. Is that lego… Peter, open your mouth.”
Peter found it funny but opened his mouth anyways, spitting out a chocolate covered plastic water bottle lid.
Tony looked at the item in his palm, trying to figure out what it was. “Ew. That’s disgusting. Is that…”
“A water bottle lid. I found it under the couch and there was chocolate on it.” Peter told his dad with a nonchalant shrug.
“Don’t eat things that are under the couch. That’s… gross.” Tony didn’t think he would ever have to tell anyone that before, he thought it was common knowledge but apparently not. “I have a surprise for you.”
Peter wiped at his mouth and grabbed Tony’s hand, standing up. “Is it a donut?”
“No, follow me.” Tony led Peter upstairs and into his bedroom. He sat on the bed and pulled Peter to stand in front of him. “I got you these,” He held up three balls. “these are bath bombs and once they fizzle up, there’s a toy inside for you.” Tony held up plastic little hammers. “And you can break them open with these if you want too.”
Peter bounced on his heels. “Yeah! I can go in the bath now?”
“Yeah, I’ll go run it for you. You can pick what colour you want to use first.” Tony walked in the bathroom and turned the water on. He checked the temperature to make sure it wasn’t too hot, knowing the exact temperature Peter liked his baths at. Peter stripped from his clothes and ran in, leaning over the tub. “What colour do you want first?”
Peter looked at the options. “Ummmm…” He knew he could have them all now but he didn’t know what one he wanted first. “Umm… I want… um, I think I want the…”
Tony knew this could go on all day so he bud in. “Choose a number between one and three.”
Peter stomped his feet in excitement. “Ummm… two!”
“Blue it is.” Tony held up the blue for Peter. “You have to go in first.”
“But-but then I can break them?” Tony nodded. “And-but then I can break the other ones too?”
Yeah, kid. Get in.”
Peter excitedly hopped in and held his hands out for the bath bomb and the tools. He carefully placed it into the water, screaming in excitement when it started fizzing in his hands. “It feels funny! I’m gonna break it open.” He placed it on the ledge and started hitting it open with the little plastic hammer. “Look! I see something.”
Peter grabbed it to break it open with his hands, dropping the extra bath bomb into the water. He opened up the container and found a squishy toy inside. “Woah, it’s funny feeling. Feel it.”
“Woah, yeah, that feels weird. What is that?” Tony asked, looking at the toy that game out.
Peter examined it harder. “It’s… a cat toy.” He bit it just to see what it felt like then dropped it into the water and sat up on his knees to grab the next one.
Tony’s phone rang in his pocket so he pulled it out and was about to decline the call but it was Pepper FaceTiming him so he hit answer. “Hey.”
“Hi Tony. I have some free time today so I decided to give you a call.” Pepper’s face came back, smiling brightly at him.
Peter stood up and tried to lean over so he could see. “I wanna see, dad. Let me see.”
Tony turned the phone around so Peter could see. “Hi Peter. Are you having fun in the bath?”
Peter chewed on the plastic hammer, looking at her. Since he wasn’t answering, Tony spoke up. “Yeah, I got these bath bomb things with little toys inside so he’s just playing with those now.”
“That sounds fun.”
Tony showed her the bath bombs and tried to reach into the water to find the toy they already found. “Yeah, we already got a toy… where did it go, Pete?”
Peter squatted down to hit the bathtub with his hammer. “I don’t know. He’s swimming. I wanna open another one.”
Tony flipped the camera around. “Okay. I gotta go then. I’ll see you… soon?”
“Yeah, maybe I’ll fly down this weekend. I’ll try to.”
Tony hoped so. He liked it when Peter and Pepper were together. “Okay. Let me know.” He flipped the camera. “Say bye Pepper, Peter.”
Peter wasn’t even looking at the camera, he was too busy playing with the hammer. “Bye Pepper, dad? I want to bring my other toys in here too. Dad?”
“One second, bud. Okay, I gotta go-”
“Dad? Dad?”
“One second, talk to you later, Pep.” Tony hung up the phone and looked at Peter. “I just needed one second. What do you want?”
Peter pointed to the cabinet and whined.
“I don’t know what that means.” Tony did know but he wanted Peter to say it.
“My toys. I want them in the bath too. Get them.” Peter sat up on the seat in the bath and his hand automatically went to reach out for the toys.
Tony looked at him. “What’s the magic word?”
“Please!”
“Good.” He grabbed two toys and handed them to Peter.
Peter grabbed the toys and dumped them into the bath water, reaching for the next toy after that. “Did you wanna break one open?” He offered Tony the hammer, wanting him to join in the fun as well.
“You’re so sweet, bud, but you do it. I’m fine just watching.” Tony handed him a pink bath bomb this time. “What colour do you think the bath is gonna turn this time?”
Peter looked down at the water. “Um… maybe… purple kinda. Or… I don’t know. I don’t know colours.”
“You’re right. It’ll make purple.”
Peter frowned. “I don’t want it to turn purple. Why can’t it turn blue? I want it to stay blue.”
“It won’t, if you add in the pink, it’ll turn purple, kid. That’s how it works.” Tony didn’t see what the big deal was but he was talking to Peter here, who thought a grape touching him wrong was a big deal. “You don’t have to add the other bath bomb. You can save it for another day.”
“What day?”
“Any day you want.”
Peter thought about it some more then handed his dad the hammer. “I want to do it again the day I want to do it so the bath will be blue.” He stood up and swung his leg over the side of the tub.
“Yeah, but then it’ll be pink or green because that’s the only colours left.”
Peter looked at the balls to see for himself. He then gasped dramatically and looked at his dad. “Oh no. That’s okay, I can have different colour baths on different days.” He got out of the bath and snatched his towel then booked it into the bedroom, laying down and making himself comfortable. “Can I watch tv in our bed?”
Tony pulled the plug and walked into the bedroom, dumping the laundry basket on the bed to fold some clothes. “Yeah, I recorded Craig of the creek for you to watch. Then what do you wanna do for dinner?” Peter didn’t answer him so Tony tossed underwear at him. “What do you wanna do for dinner?”
“Uh…” Peter chewed on the edge of the towel as he put his show on. “I wanna go to the restaurant with chicken fingers with cheese inside.”
Tony tried to think. “McDonald’s cheese stick?”
Peter shook his head. “No. The-the place with um… with the fish that say hi in the front.”
“I don’t know what you mean, Pete.” Tony continued folding clothes but Peter threw the underwear back at him in frustration. “I can’t read your mind. Tell me what you mean.”
Peter threw his towel across the room and kicked his legs out. “I don’t know! The restaurant that I’m talking about is what I mean. With-with-with the um… the bathroom with the black space floors.”
“Ohh! French Bulls Ring. We can go there.” Tony checked the time on his watch then tossed the underwear back at Peter. “And put these on.”
Peter ignored him. “Peter, put them on. I don’t want to look at your bum.” Peter ignored him again. “Peter.”
“Then don’t look.”
“Well, it’s kinda hard when you’re lying there like we’re on a European beach.”
Peter gave Tony a dirty look. “I don’t even know what that means.”
“It means,” Tony reached over to grab Peter’s legs and pull him to the edge of the bed. “put your underwear on and we can go eat tonight.”
Peter found it funny so he started laughing and crawling up the bed. “You’re being funny bunny.”
Tony gave up. He began folding the clothes again, trying not to freak out and yell at Peter who was really testing his patience recently, or always actually. “Fine. Run around like that. I don’t care. Actually, go to your room and grab me the towels in your bathroom. You don’t use them so I’m gonna wash them and put them away.”
“I am in my room.”
“Your other room then.” Tony snapped his fingers. “Go. Run fast, hurry.”
Peter ran out of his bedroom so Tony continued folding clothes, noticing there wasn’t any underwear for Peter since he rarely wore it anymore.
When Peter walked back in, Tony grabbed his arm and the underwear. “Do you want to put it on?” Peter screamed and tried to get away so Tony lifted him onto the bed. “If you wanna eat dinner out, you have to wear underwear.”
Peter tried to hit him but Tony was holding his arms against his side. “Let go of me!”
Tony let go and sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for Peter to make his decision. “I want you to get dressed. Then we can go.”
Peter looked at him but didn’t make any move to get dressed. “Then I can wear my pyjamas.”
“You can’t wear your pyjamas out in public, kid.” Tony knew this was going to take awhile and he really didn’t want to fight with him. “How about you wear track pants and a comfy sweater?”
“Yeah! And I wanna wear my bathing suit under it.” Peter raced into Tony’s closet and grabbed one of his bathing suit briefs and put it on, wiggling his butt when Tony walked in.
“You do you.” Tony wasn’t going to fight him. He didn’t understand how a bathing suit was comfier than underwear but he’d take it, it was a typical Peter thing to do.
Peter got ready and stood in front of the mirror to admire his outfit. “I like it.”
Tony thought he looked adorable. He had on a matching Roots tracksuit and looked extra cuddly and adorable in it. He bent down then pulled Peter against his chest and hugged him from behind. “You’re so adorable. Look at your cute little face.”
Tony pinched Peter’s cheek a bit, not able to get over the fact that this child was his and no one else’s.