Dada and son
Tony was a surprisingly light sleeper, so when in the middle of the night peter started crying he was the first to wake up. Pepper was still asleep, and when he looked at the bundle between them, he found the toddler thrashing, seemingly asleep. Peter was mumbling incoherently. Tony froze for a second, he knew peter got nightmares, it seemed it came with the territory of being a superhero.
After two seconds he was back in action. Untangling peter from the blanket he took him in his arms. Peter's eyes flew open and he launched himself at tony. He was again mumbling something but this time tony could make out dada and scared.
Hearing peter say dada brought a warm feeling to his chest. He thought it was only a one time thing and peter would start calling him tony again but hearing peter say it again brought immense joy to tony. And peter called pepper mama which was just the cherry on the top.
Rationally, tony knew that May was Peter's guardian and true parent but they both had come to see him as their son and they both got this only chance to show him how much he mattered to them and hell if wasn't going to take full advantage of this chance.
Back at the matter on hand, while tony was involved in his musings peter had curled on his chest and was not screaming but silent tears were still cascading down his little face.
When tony looked at pepper, she was still asleep, you would think that with years of living with tony stark she would be used to getting up at ungodly hours but she was still a very deep sleeper.
So as not to wake pepper up, because for a fact he knew she was tired after all the buisness meetings, tony took peter out of the room and to the common room floor.
He suddenly remembered that peter Didn't eat anything since he was hit with Loki's spell.
Feeling guilty beyond belief he went to the common floor's kitchen figuring peter could some fruits until tomorrows,when they could buy all the baby stuff. He cut up small pieces of apple because for a fact he knew peter liked apples, that boy liked anything and everything if Tony's observations was anything to go by.
Anyway, he sat with peter on the couch and started feeding him bit by bit.
"Look at me, not even a full day yet and i am already screwing things up"
He knew peter could understand what he was saying but the poor boy was so tired and hungry he didn't even look up.
" we all screw things up with kids, I would know" said a voice behind him, hank was leaning on the door frame with his arms crossed and a small smile playing at his lips.
"I thought you went home" tony Said while countinuing feeding peter.
"Nah, figured will stay for a couple of days" after the civil war and before the rouge avengers came back, hope and hank were in full support of the accords and indirectly with tony.
Tony nodded.
"So how is becoming a dad suiting you ?" Asked hank a small smirk on his lips
On any another occasion tony would snap back with a retort but right now he was feeling more vulnerable and scared than he would care to admit.
"I am 99% sure that I am going to screw things up and I don't exactly have a role model to look up to for this kind of thing" tony said bitterly
"Ah Howard, he cared about you, loved you, you know he was just not able to show it to you. We were best friends before our feud and he was very proud of you and also very scared that he wouldn't be able to do right by you. You both are alike in ways you both don't know, don't let the fear of doing something wrong hold you back from loving peter like it did for Howard." With this he turned back letting tony ponder over his words.
It wasn't like tony didn't know Howard loved him and cared for him, it was just , he still thought about how his father didn't show him when that when he was here.
Tony didn't realise that in between hank's lecture he had stopped feeding peter whose little hands had fisted in the lapels of Tony's shirt and was sleeping with a contended smile on his lips. When he looked down at the boy he now thought of as his son he couldn't stop the small smile forming on his lips
The lingering fear was still there but tony vowed that he would not make the same mistakes as his dad did. He would love his son and would try to show him that whenever he can.