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Tony sat up from a nap only to find that the baby he'd put to bed in the crib had grown. He was still tiny, but he looked less fragile a bit more chubby. "Hey, Pete." Tony smiled.
Peter was holding the side of his crib, bouncing up and down as if excited for the day. "Da!" He squealed happily. He lifted a pudgy little hand and waved. "Da!"
"Hi, Peter." Tony grinned. "Good morning, Bambino." He approached the crib and Peter lifted his hands and made grabbing motions. "Of course. I've got you." Tony hoisted the baby up and kissed his cheek. "You're getting big, little guy. What's on the agenda today huh?"
"Sir," JARVIS' voice spoke from above and Tony smiled at it. "Today is Little Sir's first birthday."
"Is it? We'll then we'll have such a big day for my little man, won't we?" Tony kissed his cheek. "After a change though." Tony laughed. There wasn't any real good side to diapers, especially since it obscured that lovely smell that baby Peter had. The strange thing, though, is that there were hints of this smell still in adult Peter, or maybe Tony imagined it. He couldn't quite remember. "Change first, and then you're going to party."
Tony turned and saw Titania in the doorway.
"You're dreaming. You know that, don't you?"
"Yes." Tony nodded.
"Good. Pepper says hello, by the way. She and Mrs. Parker are becoming good friends."
"I feel like that's dangerous." Tony sighed carrying Peter to the changing table. "He hasn't walked yet...isn't that abnormal? I read the books on the shelf, shouldn't he be trying to walk?"
"That's for you to find out. He's fine, all babies are different. Plus, he's got other things going on. Don't you, Petey-Pie?" She cooed.
Peter grinned and clapped his hands together.
"What do you mean by that?" Tony asked.
"Just watch, you'll see. Be back tomorrow you two." Titania waved and vanished.
"I don't think you can have cake for breakfast, plus I don’t have any. What do you want for breakfast, Peter Pan?" Tony asked after he got Peter cleaned up and in a onesie that Tony picked out because it was both true and something the older Peter would laugh at. It was green with white print and said: I'm acute baby. with a lovely acute angle on it. "Come here, bub. What do you wanna eat?"
Peter looked up at him with wide eyes, as if pondering.
"You can have anything you want." Tony said, carrying the babe to the kitchen. "Your limits are only everything you can't chew, which...is quite a bit. But sky's still the limit." He kissed Peter's cheek.
Once in the kitchen Peter's head turned. "Ban!"
"Ban?"
"Yewo." Peter pointed to the bowl with bananas. "Yewo ban!"
"Yes, the bananas are yellow. Do you want to eat a banana for breakfast?"
"Bana." Peter said.
Tony walked up and picked one up. "Banana?"
Peter giggled and clapped his hands.
"I'll take that as a yes." Tony reluctantly put the birthday boy down in his chair before he went to cut the banana into more manageable pieces. Then he paused. Peter hadn't said that much before. "Is it normal for a one year old to be so talkative?"
"One or two words are normal for a child of Peter's age." JARVIS answered.
"That's for sure three." Between Da, ban, and yewo, Peter seemed to understand exactly what he was saying too. Tony grabbed a red apple and the bowl of banana pieces, walking up to Peter. "Banana?" Tony offered the apple to Peter.
Peter looked at Tony, almost confused. "Ban?" He asked, pointing to the bowl. "Ban?" He made grabby hands.
"Of course, you can have all the bananas, bambino." Tony kissed his soft curls. "Love you, birthday boy." He put the bananas down and looked at Peter, taking in every last detail. Peter's dark blue eyes were more brown now, closer to the coffee color he'd have when he was older. "My beautiful baby." Tony smiled and kissed his head again.
Tony got Peter bundled up after breakfast. Peter had liked driving in the car, funnily it seemed to calm him, so Tony drove out to a store, surprise the dream had that much to it. They went in and Tony walked him down the toy aisle. "Alright, baby. It's your birthday. You can have anything you want."
Peter looked up at him as if he had no clue what was said to him.
"Birthday is a new one, huh?" Tony grinned and kissed his forehead. "It's okay. Want a toy?" That was simpler and got a grin out of Peter.
"Da!" He squealed and kicked his feet against Tony's side.
"Yup, any toy you want. I'll buy the whole store if that's what it takes." He grinned. Then he slowly began to walk down the aisle, stopping any time Peter made a noise of interest or giggled at a bright color. Peter liked blocks, especially the wooden ones they had at home and he'd started play with puzzles. Tony wondered if he'd get him more of those.
Peter let out a shriek that would have terrified Tony if he didn't know it as a shriek of excitement.
"Cosa c'è, bambino? What is it, baby?" Tony said both. He wondered if this dream would linger, if his Peter would speak any Italian after all this. It was second nature to Tony to speak both languages to his baby. His mother, though she'd grown more absent as he'd aged, had spoken to him a lot in Italian as he'd grown up.
"P-p-" The poor boy was so excited he couldn't speak.
"Easy, Peter. What is it?" Tony asked.
"Pooh!" Peter pointed and kicked his feet, grinning at the stuffed animal on the wire rack five feet down the aisle.
"Pooh? That's your choice, huh? I guess I got you the wrong stuffed animal in the real world, huh, bambino?" Tony felt the stab of it a little bit. Of course getting his son his own favorite wouldn't mean the boy liked that character best. Tony shook his head. Now wasn't the time to focus on the mistakes of the past, now was the time to make sure his baby was happy, healthy, safe, and loved. So loved. "Pooh it is." He walked forward. "Wanna grab him?"
Peter reached out and grabbed the stuffed bear, then hugged him close in the most adorable display of affection, ever.
"Buon compleanno, tesoro. Happy birthday, baby." Tony kissed him again then rounded the corner. "Cake time? I'll get you an adorable little cake. Maybe you'll like it. You certainly like sweet things later on." He giggled. God, he loved his son. He felt so much lighter, having him in his life. He stopped dead in his tracks at the display in the next aisle. Legos. Peter loved Legos. Peter'd told him he'd played with his Uncle Ben growing up. Tony reached out his hand to grab them, then paused. No. He wasn't going to get his son Legos, even though he knew he loved them. For the same reason that he wouldn't take Peter to get Thai food when he got older. Those were May and Ben things. That wasn't his space to tread on. Peter and Tony would have different memories because of this, but he wasn't going to take away from the wonderful people who'd cared for Peter before he had the chance too. They deserved to be honored. Tony stepped away from the big infant-sized building blocks.
Instead, he grabbed a puzzle. One of the blocky ones with letters on them. Peter was too distracted by Pooh to notice, but Peter liked his block puzzle, so maybe a puzzle puzzle was the next step up. Who knew? "Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh." Tony sang.
As usual, Peter kicked his feet as if to dance and laughed at Tony's voice.
"Chubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff." Tony tickled Peter's side just to hear him laugh again. "He's Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh. Willy nilly silly old bear."
"Gaha!" Peter laughed and hugged Pooh tighter.
Later, Peter was covered in cake and happily playing with Pooh as The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh played on the TV.
Tony wished he could take photos in this dream. Instead, he stared, putting the moment to memory.
-
Peter, in some ways was behind the curve, but in so many others, ahead of it. The fact that he seemed to understand simple sentences, even responding to some with 'yes' and 'no' was amazing. Tony's new favorite was when Peter'd sit on the floor and look at Tony, hold up his hands and say 'Su, papa.' or 'Up, Da.' It seemed Peter was picking up on some of the Italian, after all. Peter was wicked smart, and jabbering all the time, much like his older self. While he only had about fifty real words under his belt, his jabbered sentences almost made sense. He put puzzles together, could point out any color you named. And even traced over letters with his fingers, as if recognizing that they had sensible patterns. It was adorable and scary.
But every time Tony closed his eyes, Peter aged and grew a little bigger, but still wasn't walking. He was a little worried about it, tried to encourage it by holding Peter's hands and having him stand. But Peter never bothered with it. He usually got bored of standing, let go of Tony's fingers and raced around on all fours instead.
Tony let it go though. He still wasn't too far off. He carried his baby to his crib and kept Pooh in sight for him, because the stuffed animal had quickly become a security blanket to the baby.
Tony'd then gone to his own room and slept again.
-
The next waking moments. Tony found himself working to make Peter lunch. It was so dream like, going to sleep and waking to already doing something. It really did help to keep him focused on the fact that it was a dream, not real life.
"Up, Da!" Peter called.
Tony turned and looked at Peter. The infant was on the carpet in the living room, a half-finished shape puzzle in front of him. "No, Peter. I'm finishing your food, give me a moment."
"Su, Papa!" That was Peter's put out voice.
Tony needed to diffuse the situation, he didn't want a full on tantrum on his hands. "Not now, Peter. Finish your puzzle. I'm making lunch."
Peter made a discontent noise that wasn't quiet a cry. Tony glanced over his shoulder to see Peter standing, gripping the edge of the sofa for balance, his other hand making grippy motions as he pouted.
"I can't reach you from all the way over here." Tony said. "That pout's adorable though."
Peter let go of the sofa and Tony nearly dropped the butter knife in his hand when Peter took a shaky step. He put the utensil down, turned, and looked at his kid. Peter looked scared, worried, a little uneven on his footing. Tony knelt down and held out his hands. "Come here, Peter. Dad's here. I've got you. Come here. You can do it."
The gentle encouragement seemed to be all Peter needed, because he booked it (as much as a babe could) for his dad.
"Da! Up. Up!" Peter crossed the space and collided with Tony, demanding his ups.
Tony hoisted him up and whirled him around, kissing him. "You did it! Look at you walking around. I'm so proud of you."
"Up!"
"You already are up, underoos." Tony smiled and pulled his baby close. "You did so good, Peter. Daddy's so proud."
"Bana!" Peter pointed over Tony's shoulder. Having walked for the first time didn't seem to matter to the baby. He had his dad in his grasp and food in front of him. That's all the kid seemed to care about, not even about the milestone he'd just crossed. "Me have bana?"
"Yes, Peter. You can have the banana. Sono fiero di te. I'm proud of you, you amazing boy." Tears ran down Tony's cheeks. His baby boy was growing up, so fast.
"Da?"
Tony leaned back.
Peter patted Tony's cheek, as if trying to wipe away Tony's tears the way Tony wiped Peter's tears away.
"Oh, baby. I'm not sad. It's okay." God, Peter had really always been this pure, this loving. This was something Peter would never grow out of, this kindness and heart that was all him. It was just so Peter and it made Tony want to cry harder. How did something so precious come from him? He'd try not to ruin it. "I'm just so happy. You make me so happy. I love you, bambino."
"Looo you."
Tony choked on his tears, bananas temporarily forgotten as he held his child. "Love you too, baby. More than you will ever know, but I will do my best to show you."