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Steve woke up. At first he wasn’t sure why. Then the cry came over the baby monitor again, “Papa!” That small cry had Steve urgently waking Tony and running for the nursery. The couple had only had Peter for a few months, but he already had them wrapped around his little finger.
Tony got there first somehow, Steve wasn’t even going to ask. Peter was standing up in the crib, looking anxiously at the door, as if he had been waiting for them. His big brown eyes just full of tears. Tony went to pick him up, but Peter ducked, again crying out for papa.
Again? Usually Peter wanted Tony, so Steve found this odd. Tony looked back at Steve as he approached the crib. Steve looked over at Tony after picking Peter up. They were both thinking the same thing, but didn’t dare say anything in front of Peter. There had to be something wrong. Both parents knew Peter came from a troubled home, but had assumed that since he was a baby, he wouldn’t remember much. The social worker had come to the same conclusion, as when they adopted him, Peter seemed like a normal child.
Steve tried bouncing Peter in an attempt to get him back to sleep, “What’s the matter Petey? Huh baby? Can you tell Papa what’s wrong?”
Peter obviously couldn’t just tell Steve or Tony what was wrong. But boy, did they ever wish he could.
Tony was the one Peter saw more, seeing as Steve split his time between the Avengers and SHIELD. Tony also split his time, but both of his jobs kept him in tower. Most of the time, he was in the workshop. When they had adopted Peter, Tony had taken a step back from the Avengers. He was still part of the team, just not an active duty member. He made the tech that kept everyone else alive. Also, Pepper had convinced him to finally become the CFO of R&D. It worked out really well for the most part. They had put in a pseudo nursery in the shop, far away from anything that could hurt Peter. Steve was home Tuesdays, Thursdays, and the weekends, provided he wasn’t on a mission of some sort.
Peter started whining and whimpering again. Steve was holding him, Tony was rubbing his back, and both were whispering words of comfort to try to soothe the boy. If the continuous whining and whimpering were anything to go by, it wasn’t working. Something was seriously wrong with their little boy, and both were completely at a loss as to what and why.
“Maybe he’s hungry?” suggested Tony softly.
Steve sighed, “Maybe, but we fed him before bed and that’s only been a few hours.” He paused and sniffed, “It’s definitely not a diaper change. He doesn’t feel overly warm or cold either, so I don’t think he’s sick.”
Tony looked up at Steve, looking about ready to start crying himself, “I don’t understand. Not that I don’t love that he wanted you, but he didn’t want me and he’s not sick, I just don’t understand what’s wrong.”
Steve pulled Tony into a hug, holding Peter in the opposite arm, “I don’t know either sweetheart, but we’ll figure it out,” he tilted Tony’s chin so they were looking at each other, “we always do.”
Peter let out a yawn and a soft, “Dada?”
Tony continued to rub his back, “I’m right here sweetheart, Daddy’s right here. I wish you could tell us what’s wrong baby, Daddy and Papa are getting really concerned.”
Peter just yawned again, snuggling back against Steve with more whimpers.
“It seems like he’s in pain, but he’s not sick and I don’t see any injuries right now, so I just don’t understand what’s going on.” Steve continued gently bouncing Peter while kissing his head every so often.
“JARVIS?”
“Yes Sir?”
“Can you run a scan on Peter? Just to see if there’s something we’re missing?”
“Of course Sir. The results will be directed to your phone momentarily.”
Tony shrugged, looking at Steve, “At least we’ll know if it’s something physical. I’d almost feel better if it was, because then we could at least fix it.” He ran his hands through his hair, “If it’s not, I-I,”
Steve leaned down to give Tony a kiss, “I know sweetheart, I know.”
.
The scans showed up a few minutes later, and then the answer was obvious.
“Of course he’s teething!” Tony threw his hands up in the air, “Why didn’t I think of that before? It’s the obvious answer!”
Steve chuckled before answering, “Tony, you can’t be too hard on yourself. Neither of us have done this before, and it’s not like Petey could tell us what was wrong.” He turned to tickle Peter just a bit, “Isn’t that right baby? You just didn’t know how to tell us what was wrong, huh?”
.
.
After a late night run for some Orajel and teething rings, Peter was settling down rather nicely. JARVIS had told them that putting whisky on teething gums often worked, which Steve was surprisingly okay with, but Tony was adamantly against the idea. So he went to get the supplies, while Steve tried to comfort Peter as best he could.
Eventually though, Peter fell back asleep. Which let his parents get some much needed rest. Well, not that either of them required that much sleep to function, but after a night like this one, they both needed it.