Chapter Text
The thud made May jump and she quickly went to Peter’s room. The teen was on the floor with the Spider-Man mask still on, staring blankly up the ceiling.
“Peter?” May called out worriedly.
“Ow,” Peter replied and raised a hand. “Hi May.”
“Are you okay, sweetie?” May asked, looking at Peter on the ground.
“Think so, just, uh, just a weirdly-dressed dude hitting me with sparkles.” Peter yanked his mask off, squinting at his light. “Lost him because of the lights. Not going to lie, though, I kind of feel funny.”
“Funny-I-should-call-Tony or funny-I’m-going-to-puke?”
“Um…” Peter tilted his head slightly as he considered his predicament. “Funny-a-nap-would-really-help.” May just laughed at that.
“Well, then, hit the showers first, you smell terrible,” she said. “You have school and I have work. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Yup. G’night, May.”
Neither of them gave another thought of ‘the dude with sparkles’, May going straight to bed while Peter showered before going to sleep. She was more than a little surprised when Peter was still in bed the next morning.
“Peter?” she called out, knocking on his door. A quiet whimper answered and May opened the door.
She froze.
“Oh my god, Peter!”
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Tony was in the middle of having his coffee with Pepper when his phone rang. Spotting it was from May he swiped and put it on speaker.
“Hi, May, what’s—”
“Tony, get your a— butt down here right now!” May screeched into the phone, panic lacing her voice. Without even thinking Tony shot out of his seat and towards the patio, already getting his suit ready. “And have Pepper come with the car!” He paused at that, raising an eyebrow as he turned to give a confused look at an equally confused Pepper.
“May, what’s—”
“Just get over here now! Door’s unlocked for you!”
“Just go,” Pepper said, waving at Tony. “I’ll get Happy to drive me over.” Tony nodded before his suit formed around him, and he took off towards Queens. Worry gnawed at him, wondering what could have set May off like this.
He landed on the roof and quickly walked towards the door, suit melting away.
(Oh, how he wanted to run, but the neighbors were still there and running would cause attention.)
“May, what’s going on?” Tony finally managed to ask as he walked into the apartment.
“Tony!” a tiny voice cried and Tony froze as a tiny teary Peter, held by May, waved his arms towards Tony. “’M sorry, Tony, I din’ mean to!” May walked over and Peter practically threw himself into Tony’s arms, crying and apologizing into his neck.
“What the fuck?” Tony said then cringed at the glare May gave him. “I mean, uh, heck?”
“I have no idea, and neither does Peter,” she bit out. “I woke up to him like this.” May wrung her hands with a worried expression.
“’M sorry, Tony, I don’ know what happen,” Peter whimpered out as he pulled away from the crook of Tony’s neck. “I wake up an’ I’m like this.”
“It’s okay, kid, we, uh, we can figure this out,” Tony quickly reassured. Peter’s teary eyes and red face nearly made the man pull him back into his arms and cuddle him.
“But schoo’! An’ work!” Peter exclaimed, looking at May.
“I called him out sick for today and tomorrow, but I can’t keep him out indefinitely,” May explained, “and I can’t take off work, I’m working doubles this week, and— oh shoot, I’m going to be late!”
“Happy will take you,” Tony automatically said, running his hand through Peter’s hair and smiling down at the kid in his arm. Peter sniffled but wasn’t crying anymore, turning to hug Tony around the neck. “I can keep an eye on the kid. I’ll have Helen run a scan, see what we can do.”
“It was the sparkle man,” Peter said, his voice muffled. He pulled back, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands and looking miserable.
(Holy shit, mini-Peter was fucking adorable. Tony seriously wanted to just cuddle the kid, maybe kiss his cheeks, definitely spoil him.)
“May?” Pepper called out as she entered the apartment with a worried look. “What’s goin—”
“Mommy!” Peter cried out, waving his arms towards her for a hug. Tony blinked, Pepper froze, and May nearly died holding back her laughter, judging by the loud snort she gave. Peter blinked then his face went red and he looked down. “’M sorry, Peppa, I din’ mean to say that.”
“I kind of liked that, honestly,” Tony said, a grin slowly forming.
“You would,” May choked out between fits of giggles. “Shi—oot, I have to get to work.”
“Right, uh,” Tony stuttered and let Peter down when the boy squirmed in his arms. Peter quickly ran into his room and came right back with his Spider-Man suit, along with an old stuffed gray owl that looked like it had seen better days.
“Is that Hedwig?” May asked, a laughing tone in her voice. Peter hugged the owl closer and Tony grinned at just how absolutely fucking adorable Peter was being as he took the Spider-Man suit. “Okay, be good to Tony and Pepper, okay?” Peter nodded, letting the engineer scoop him up as Pepper took the Spider-Man suit from him, hiding it in a bag.
“Thanks for taking me to work,” May quickly said as they left the apartment and she locked the door. “And, uh, taking care of Peter. I don’t have anything for him though, do you mind if—”
“Nope, don’t mind at all,” Tony interrupted, grinning as he pressed a kiss against Peter’s cheek. The boy giggled at that, turning to give Tony a kiss on the cheek. May blinked then gave Pepper a worried expression. Pepper just sighed.
“I will do my best to reign him in,” Pepper promised although she looked just as worried.
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The look of intense concentration on a four-year-old’s face was, suffice to say, fucking adorable.
(God damn it, he was a genius, there were other words to describe Peter other than fucking adorable, but everything mini-Peter did the only words Tony could think of was fucking adorable.
Where did Peter even get the fucking adorable genes? It had to be from Mary, Tony Stark did not do fucking adorable.)
(Pepper would beg to differ – Tony had his fucking adorable moments. It usually happened when he pouted, and judging by the way Peter pouted, Peter had inherited his father’s fucking adorable genes.)
The current situation was Peter trying to find the best pajama to wear. He was stuck between the Iron Man one, the Hulk one and the Hawkeye one, the last one most likely due to the events a few months ago.
“Peter, kid, I can buy you all three,” Tony reminded in amusement.
“Tony,” Pepper started with a warning tone. Tony ignored it.
“Jus’ need one,” Peter replied with a frown. “Not stayin’ young fo’ long.”
“Well, it might take a while until we find a way to turn you back to normal.” Peter’s face changed to a hesitant expression and Tony pressed the opportunity. “Besides, I’m sure if you got the Iron Man PJs, Hulk and Hawkeye would get lonely.”
“Tony,” Pepper growled. Tony ignored it.
“War Machine, too?” Peter asked, eyeing the War Machine PJs.
“War Machine too,” Tony agreed, grabbing all four. Pepper sighed, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. Peter still looked hesitant, but want seem to be winning out. “Uncle Rhodey will be happy if you showed him the War Machine PJs.”
“Okay!” Peter said with a fucking adorable smile.
“Great, now let’s you some clothes.” More Team Iron Man shirts were chosen, along with some Hulk and Hawkeye theme shirts, and soon Tony was striding out of the store with Peter in one arm and a few bags in the other. Pepper and Happy trailed after them, the latter with a few more bags in his arms and looking more than a little annoyed.
Peter was chattering happily to Tony then suddenly stopped, eyes glued to something. The three adults looked over to what caught the kid’s attention.
There, before them, stood the Legos Store.
“Oh no,” Pepper said faintly, a hand rubbing her forehead.
“Oh yes,” Tony said gleefully and gave Peter a kiss on the cheek, earning a giggle.
“Oh boy,” Happy said with a sigh and rolled his eyes.
.
.
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The funny thing about four-year-old Peter Parker was the fact that he had absolutely no willpower whatsoever. When teenage Peter was around he always held himself back.
(“Peter, I’m a billionaire, I’m sure I can buy you all the Haagen-Daaz Mint Chip you want.”
“Um, I’m fine with just a pint of Beyer’s.” Tony rolled his eyes, both for Peter’s frugalness and his questionable taste in ice-cream.)
Four-year-old Peter, on the other hand, had no problem saying what he wanted. When he got it though, Peter would realize what he had done and begin to apologize.
And, damn it, it was one of the most fucking adorable things Tony had seen.
(“Do we really have to figure out how to turn him back to normal?” Tony asked as he pulled Pepper aside, watching the kid happily play with his Legos. “He’s way too cute like this. Can we just, you know, tell May we couldn’t find the cure?”
“No, Tony,” Pepper replied, rolling her eyes, “but you’re allowed to spoil him rotten before we turn him back to normal.”
She realized in that moment it was the wrong thing to say to Tony, taking in his delighted grin.
“Oh no,” Pepper said, horrified and aiming to stop Tony.
“Oh yes,” Tony said, intent on spoiling his son like crazy during his second childhood.
“Oh boy!” Peter chirped, oblivious to the two adults as he finished the first X-Wing Lego set.)
Eventually Pepper managed to chase Tony away from Peter and down to his lab long enough to review footage from last night. With a heavy sigh Tony pulled up the video and began to watch. It was when the strange dark-skinned man in weird clothing showed up that Tony paused the video.
“FRIDAY, run facial scans,” Tony ordered, absently picking up a screwdriver and twirling it around.
“Yes Boss.” Tony pulled up another display, smiling as he watched Peter building another X-Wing.
And then Peter looked up just as FRIDAY announced “Intruder Alert.” Tony shot out of his seat and raced towards the elevator, gauntlets primed and ready while swearing up a storm. The moment the doors opened Tony barreled into the common room, hands out and searching the room.
Peter was in the arms of a weirdly-dressed man who had a damn good-looking goatee and surrounded by glowing lights.
“Get your hands off my kid,” Tony snarled, hands up and repulsors whining in his ears. Peter turned to look at Tony, his eyes huge while the stranger just hummed.
“Well, save your medical tests, Stark, your kid is stuck like this for a couple weeks,” the stranger intoned, raising an eyebrow as Peter squirmed in his arm, the glowing lights disappearing.
“Don’ hurt ‘im, Tony,” Peter blurted out. “He good person.”
“Yeah, well, I’d feel a lot better if you’d come over here right now, Peter,” Tony growled. Peter looked scared and turned to look at the stranger.
“Sorry,” he whispered and the stranger’s lips quirked upward slightly as he let Peter down.
“Well, now that’s done, I’ll be on my way,” the stranger said as Peter toddled quickly over to Tony. Tony scooped up Peter, one hand still trained on the stranger before uttering a curse as a portal appeared. “I apologize for getting your boy mixed up in my business.”
And then the stranger stepped through the portal and disappeared.
Tony blinked, shared a look with Peter then looked back at the space where the stranger was.
“Right, so.” Tony let out a sight as the repulsor whined down. “How are we going to explain your disappearance for the next two weeks?”