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Pepper was nervous.
She had no real reason to be. Tony was great with Peter, the best, in fact. He was the only person who could put the hyperactive child to sleep in under an hour most nights, and can he even has the ability to calm the most emotional tantrums.
But the last time she left, she came back to Peter with his nose as good as broken.
Which wasn’t Tony’s fault. And she knew that. The child has tripped over a toy and smashed his face against the coffee table.
But that didn’t make Pepper any less nervous to leave the boys for four days.
She was right.
On her third day, she got a text.
‘Where did you leave the Tylenol?’
A pang of worry struck her chest as she text back.
‘Kid’s Tylenol is in the the cabinet in Peter’s bathroom’
She felt her heart skip a beat when the next text came through.
‘No, the adult one.’
Pepper immediately called him.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, cutting directly to the chase.
“Nothing,” Tony reassured her, “I’m fine, I’ve just got a bit of a headache, and Friday says that I’m running a low grade fever, so I’m getting on top of it now before anything bad happens.”
Pepper sighed. “I can come home-“
“Absolutely not.” Tony insisted, “Peter’s already down for the night, and you’ll be home tomorrow afternoon anyways. I feel fine, but I’m gonna go sleep it off anyways.”
“If you’re sure-“
“Pepper, honestly, everything’s going to be fine, get on your flight tomorrow and relax, don’t worry about us,” Tony smiled down the phone. “I love you, see you tomorrow.”
“I love you too, get some rest.”
“Will do.”
Despite being told not to worry, Pepper still managed to get herself on an earlier flight, getting herself home a couple of hours earlier than she had originally planned.
When the elevators opened she rushed over to see Tony sprawled out, dozing on the sofa in his pyjama bottoms and undershirt, pale faced and sweaty. He lay on his back with a pyjama-clad Peter tucked under his arm, the sleeping child’s head nestled into his shoulder as he lay pressed between his father and the back of the sofa.
Pepper silently sidestepped the empty mop bucket beside the sofa, carefully eyeing up the two bottles of regular and children’s Tylenol, and the multiple water bottles on the coffee table. She slowly picked up the remote, turning down the volume of the episode of ‘How Its Made’ droning on in the background.
Pepper crouched down beside the pair, placing a hand gently on Tony’s forehead, sighing at his fever. Tony blinked blearily up at her.
“Hi,” she breathed.
“Hi,” he answered, “what time is it?”
“A little after noon, I got an earlier flight,” she smiled sympathetically, “and it looks like I was right to do it.”
Tony smiled sheepishly, as he rested a hand on his aching abdomen. “Yeah, it’s been kinda a rough night.”
“Yeah?” Pepper questioned softly, gently pushing his sweaty hair off of his forehead.
“I’ve been on the toilet pretty much all night,” he admitted, rubbing his upset stomach absently. “Petey woke up around 5ish? I think? He had a small fever but it’s been getting higher. I’ve been pushing liquids as much as I can.”
Pepper cooed as the young boy shifted in his father’s grasp, sucking his thumb comfortingly.
“He was complaining that his tummy hurt but so far nothing’s happened,” Tony said, voice strained as his stomach cramped. “Neither of us has thrown up yet but,” he swallowed harshly, “there’s been a couple of close calls.”
Pepper smiled sympathetically at him again as he shifted uncomfortably. “Can you- uh- keep an eye on him while I- uh, yeah-“ Tony stumbled, sliding out from underneath Peter, who whined at being moved.
Tony stiffly headed towards the bathroom as Peter whimpered and buried his face into the sofa before releasing a desperate sob, pushing himself up onto his knees with teary eyes.
“Hiya, sweetie,” Pepper hummed, opening her arms for the boy to be comforted, however he scrambled away from her and curled up in a ball at the other end of the sofa with a whimper.
Pepper frowned. Peter was always clingy when he was sick, to the point where it was borderline impossible to get anything done with the child constantly on your hip. He’s only ever not clingy when-
Oh.
Pepper lunged for the bucket beside the sofa and brought it to the child’s mouth just in time for him to cough a mouthful of vomit into it. Pepper felt a moment of pride at being able to read the boy so well before he retched again, coughing painfully as more vomit was forced into the bucket.
Pepper rubbed the child’s back, whispering reassurances as he retched and whimpered, until she looked up to see Tony stood in the doorway, watching the pair as his stomach turned.
There was a beat of silence as Tony’s hand hovered over his mouth and Peter crouched on the sofa, both lying in wait of what was to come.
Pepper eyed both of the boys nervously until the silence was broken by Peter giving a harsh retch which led Tony to gag and rush back towards the bathroom. Pepper winced as she heard a loud heave from down the hall.
Pepper stuck with the five year old on the sofa, more intent on getting him settled before leaving to check on Tony.
Peter seemed to feel that he was finished soon after, as he slowly crawled towards her, climbing into her lap and shoving his thumb in his mouth with a whimper.
Pepper pressed a kiss into his curls as she rocked him comfortingly back and forth.
“It’s alright, sweetie, you’re okay,” she hummed, letting the boy catch his breath before she made her next move.
“My tummy ‘urts,” he mumbled quietly, burying his head in her chest.
“How about we go take a nap?” Pepper hummed into his hair. “We can cuddle up with Teddy and watch the stars.”
Peter nodded silently and Pepper took that as her opportunity to move. She stood up, holding the child to her chest, humming comfortingly as he clutched at her desperately. “You’re alright, sweetheart,” she reassured him.
As they made their way towards Peter’s bedroom, Pepper clutched the child closer at the sounds of Tony’s harsh retches coming from the bathroom.
“We’re gonna take a nice nap,” Pepper hummed, desperate to distract the boy, “And we’re gonna feel a lot better when we wake up.”
Pepper set the child down on the bed, hushing him as he whimpered and reached for her again. “It’s okay, sweetie, find Teddy for me while I get everything set up,” she said, moving towards the bathroom, returning quickly with the sick bucket and a bottle of Tylenol.
“Now, sweetheart, we’re gonna take some medicine and then we’re gonna take a nap,” she cooed, smiling warmly at the child as he opened his mouth for the spoonful of medicine, swallowing hard and pushing the curls out of his face with his open hand.
“I wan’ see the sky,” he insisted, holding his stuffed bear up to his face and looking up at the ceiling with wide eyes.
In the back of Pepper’s mind, she knew that she should check on Tony, but she also knew that Tony would send her right back in to take care of Peter. So she climbed onto the child’s bed and lay down, pulling the feverish boy close and waiting for him to get comfortable, smiling as his little fingers clutched her shirt tightly.
“Friday, show us the sky,” she said softly, and suddenly the lights dimmed and there was a soft whirr as the projector came to life, showing a real time projection of the stars across the walls and ceiling.
Pepper could feel Peter already begin to relax as Friday began to play a soft, instrumental lullaby, so gentle it needed the entire room to still for it to be heard.
Peter was asleep in less than five minutes.
Giving him another few minutes to ensure that he had settled, Pepper slowly inched away from the child until she could stand up, tiptoeing out of the room as quietly as possible.
Once outside, she took note of the open bathroom door and headed towards her own bedroom, unsurprised to find Tony sprawled out on the large bed in fresh pyjamas, pale and sweaty.
“Hey,” he mumbled as she crossed the room towards him. “Where’s Peter?”
“Asleep, like you should be,” she smirked. Tony raised his eyebrows in surprise, “You got him to sleep that fast? Did you drug him or something?”
“Nothing more than Tylenol,” she laughed. “But he’s sick and sleepy, so I wouldn’t get used to it being that quick. I just turned on the stars for him and gave him a cuddle and he conked right out.”
Tony smiled as she lay down beside him. “How are you feeling?” she asked, running a cool hand over his forehead.
“Better, after getting it all up, I think,” he murmured, scooting closer to her. “I think I could use one of those cuddles to get me to sleep, though,” he suggested with a lazy smirk.
“Oh yeah? Well, I don’t know, that’s only reserved for my well behaved patients,” she smiled, kissing his sweaty forehead and tucking the blankets up higher on the sleepy man.
“Well I’m nothing if not well behaved, as you can see I’ve taken my medicine, and I got all my puke in the toilet to help with the cleanup,” he said sleepily.
“Very well behaved,” she said softly, tucking herself into the crook of his arm.
“Feel better soon,” she added, despite knowing that he was already asleep.