Chapter Text
He didn’t want to be here.
Awkwardly Tony stood in the middle of the shopping aisle. Dressed in an oversized sweater, baseball cap and dark shades in his desperation to hide himself from the world. God forbid the tabloids got hold of a photo of him like this. Stomach swollen like a blimp with his child, and his overprotective, teenage alpha holding his hand through it all.
Well, he would be if Tony hadn’t managed to silently ditch him as he was looking at the toy section for anything and everything for their newborn girl, who was expected any day now.
Instead he wheeled the cart over to look at the baby swings, hoping to find something to help stifle the sleepless nights ahead, and keep their baby happy and fast asleep. Unfortunately, it proved to be a harder task than he initially thought. Every swing was different, with an endless combination of features and advantages. It left his head spinning more than when he started.
Reaching up to rest his hand over the heart he hadn’t realized was racing, he noticed his own breathing becoming labored and heavy as well.
Great. An anxiety attack in the middle of a Babies“R”Us, just what he needed.
“Tony! I told you not to wander off.” Huffed a familiar voice. Peter pouted, quickly walking down the aisle towards his mate, lugging along with him some kind of giant, pink, bunny monstrosity with him.
“Look, look! I found this weird bunny caterpillar sort of thing. It’s hideous and somehow adorable, and our daughter absolutely needs it.” Peter laughed. Placing a gentle hand on Tony’s hip, as he leaned in to toss the massive plushie into Tony’s cart he immediately noticed the stressed look on the older man’s face.
“Whoa- Hey- What’s wrong?” Peter asked urgently. Somehow managing to keep his voice calm and collected despite the fear and worry now wrecking his body. That was one of the reasons he was meant for Tony, being able to just cast this aura of comfort over him when these sorts of things happened was something only Peter could do.
“I can’t do this. Let’s just go-” Tony insisted suddenly. Already releasing his death grip on the cart and preparing to no less bolt towards the exit. Peter never let things be that easy though, as the young alpha reached out pulling Tony back to him. Tony stumbled from the kid’s super strength now currently keeping him upright.
“Hey, you’re ok. We’re ok. Let’s just sit down a minute.” Peter suggested. Luckily finding a seat wasn’t difficult as on the other side of the aisle was a row of various rocking chairs out on display. Peter lead Tony over to one, using the matching foot rest as a seat for himself.
Tony wasn’t having any of it. Feeling as if the walls were closing in around him, and the oxygen left in the world was suddenly next to none. He hated it. He wanted to go home.
“Peter, please.” He pleaded. Peter didn’t respond immediately, instead pulling the man closer till his forehead was resting on the boy’s shoulder. Peter just silently rubbed the man’s back in routine patterns as he worked to calm his mate down.
“Shh. We can leave when you catch your breath.” Peter reasoned. Tony groaned and squirmed at the answer, practically beating his head against his stubborn alpha’s shoulder now. He tried not to think about the amount of people giving them weird looks as they walk pass, or about anything that had set him off, instead focusing on just matching Peter’s breaths. He’d be lying if he said the aroma of Peter’s pheromones didn’t help ease the tension in his chest.
Now he understood why some omegas were so hung up on their alphas, they were like giant bags of weed with the near immediate ability to make everything feel better.
Soon Tony was able to see straight again, and Peter pulled back to begin their gazes together again.
“You ok now?” Peter smiled shyly, still a bit on edge worrying over his omega’s condition. Tony just sighed, letting out with it any remaining stress before answering.
“Better. Thanks.” He confirmed. Despite feeling much better he still had no more of a desire to be straight forward with the kid.
“What happened, Tony?”
“Nothing. It’s nothin-”
“It’s not nothing. Something upset you, I want to know what.” Peter pleaded desperately. It made Tony feel sick knowing he was putting the boy through the ringer for something so silly, and in the end that’s what broke him.
“I just can’t do this.”
“Go shopping for Maria?” Peter asked. Reaching a hand up to comb his fingers through the older man’s hair, mostly for his own comfort then Tony’s honestly.
“For a baby.” Tony clarified, looking down as his fingers fiddled together in his lap. “How can I be a good dad if I can’t even pick out the right swing from our baby.”
“That’s what upset you? A swing?” Peter just looked baffled at the idea that a baby swing could somehow bring the Iron-Man down to his knees. “Tony I just spent the last twenty minutes looking at just the plushies for our daughter.”
Peter snorted at the realization.
“And I still picked something that might just end up giving her nightmares… I’m new and bad at this too but that doesn’t mean either of us are going to be bad dads— Mediocre dads maybe, but not bad.”
Now was Tony’s turn to laugh. Daring to look up at his mate, he was welcomed with the same goofy grin as the day they met.
“I’m too old for this.” Tony snickered, shaking his head at his situation. Peter just rolled his eyes at the man’s comment. Tony leaned forward to cup the kid’s cheek lovingly before he could object though. It was the kind of affection Tony was reluctant to ever show, especially in public, and he could feel the boy’s breath hitch at the movement. “You just had to keep me waiting all those years, didn’t you?”
Peter bit his lip as he smiled shamelessly, leaning into the man’s touch.
“I was worth it.”
Peter wasted no time placing a downpour of smooches on the older man’s cheeks, and Tony did his best to look disgusted with them.
He failed.