Chapter Text
“You know we’re going to have to tell them eventually, right? Honestly, I’m surprised we haven’t been caught yet,”
“It’s been two years. If anyone knew, they’d have told us. Besides, I like having you to myself, babe,”
It’s one of his official internship days, so he’s in Mr Stark’s lab when the topic comes up. He’s been putting it off for at least an hour now, but he can feel Mr Stark sending him concerned looks every few minutes.
“Hey, Mr Stark?” Peter asks, putting his web shooters down and glancing up at his mentor. He rolls his eyes when Tony hums, barely taking his attention off his suit. “Are you doing anything on Saturday evening?”
“Don’t think so, kid. Why?”
“I was wondering if you’d be able to babysit for me?” This gets Tony’s complete attention. He puts his wrench down and spins around on his chair to face the teen.
“That’s what you’ve been worrying about asking me all day?” He asks, lips quirking. “I thought you were going to tell me something terrible, kid. Course I can,”
“Thanks, man,” Peter smiles and picks his web shooters up again. He’s just picked up the screwdriver when Tony talks again.
“You going to tell me why you need a babysitter, or am I going to have to guess?” Peter glances up, rolling his eyes at Tony’s smirk and raised eyebrow.
“Cindy is having the AcaDec team around hers after the competition, you know. A bit of a celebration?” Peter tells him. Tony smiles.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Peter returns the grin. “Well, hopefully a celebration. Might be a commiserations thing but you know. A few movies, a takeaway, boring stuff, you know,” Tony hums, turning back towards his suit.
“Who’s going?”
“Oh, you know.” Peter mutters, lifting his shooters up and examining them closely. He frowns slightly. “Ned, MJ, Harley. Flash will probably be there. Just the team, I guess,”
“I didn’t think Harley was on the team?”
“He’s not, officially. MJ gave him honorary membership because he sits in practices sometimes and waits for me when I’m coming here.” He groans a bit when he shoots his web across the room, the adjustments he’s made not working. “He should be on the team. He knows all the stuff. He could take Flash’s place permanently; it would be great.”
“Ah. You know how he is about clubs and groups,” Tony laughs, taking the screwdriver off Peter’s station. “Well, anyway, we’ll be happy to have Leia for you.” He smiles, but it drops when he hears Peter sigh. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s stupid.”
“Maybe.” Tony shrugs. “Tell me anyway.”
“I just,” Peter sighs heavily, putting his shoots back down on the table. “I feel bad leaving her. I don’t want people to think that I’m palming her off.”
“You’re allowed to have a break, Peter.” Tony tells him patiently. He turns to watch him carefully. “Every parent needs a break. It doesn’t make you a bad father for wanting one night without her.”
“I’ve just,” Tony waits as Peter sighs again, running his hand through his hair roughly. “I’ve only not been with her at night when we were in Germany. And even then, May was with her, and she was still in the hospital, you know? She didn’t even know I was there. It’s scary…leaving her at night. And I know it doesn’t sound like a lot. Like, I’m not with her all day every day but, this is…different? I don’t know how to explain it.”
“Obviously, I don’t have first-hand experience of this, but I think it’s natural to feel like that.” Tony wheels his chair over to Peter’s work bench, sitting opposite him, the table between them. He waits for Peter to look up at him before continuing. “She’s a part of you. But you shouldn’t feel guilty for wanting to spend a night with your friends, Pete. She’s safe here. Have a night to yourself, spend some time with your friends and then you can either come back here or spend the night at your place in Queens. We’ll only be a phone call away, you know.”
“Yeah.” Peter smiles. It’s tight, but it’s still a smile. “Yeah, thanks, man.”
“Are you coming back here, or will you be crashing with Pete?” Tony asks Harley while Peter sets Leia up in her room.
“I’ll probably stay in Queens.” Harley shrugs one shoulder, leaning the other against the wall. “Unless Peter comes back here.”
“Peter, does your place even have a spare room?” Pepper calls through. Leia appears from her bedroom and runs towards her.
“Don’t worry, Pep,” Harley grins. “I’ll take Peter’s bed. He can crash on the couch,”
“You can take the floor and you’ll be grateful for it, man,” Peter laughs, coming into the room. “If you’re nice to my friends, I’ll even throw in a blanket for you.”
“Aw!” Harley coos sarcastically, holding a hand on his chest. “Such a generous host. I’m giving you five stars on trip advisor. You’ll have the place booked up in no time!”
“Harley is no longer invited into my home.” Peter tells Tony seriously. The man snickers. “Someone should probably pick him up, so he doesn’t end up spending the night on the streets.”
“You’re so mean.” Harley pouts
“Uh huh,” Peter says as he checks his phone. “Are you ready?”
“Waiting on you, sweet cheeks,”
“Right, come here you,” Peter sighs as he crouches down. Leia runs into his arms. “You’ll be good, yeah?”
“Yeah, Daddy,” She mumbles into his skin.
“Good. You need anything, I’m just a phone call away. Anything at all.”
“Uh huh,” She nods. She giggles when he starts pressing little kisses all over her face.
“Good. I love you,”
“Love you, Daddy,”
“Come on, kid. We wanna spend some time with her,” Tony teases, ruffling Peter’s hair. He laughs when Peter scowls. He gives Leia one more kiss before standing up. Pepper picks Leia up, settling her on her hip, following Peter and Harley to the lift.
“Have fun, yeah?” He tells her, pinching Leia’s cheek softly. “I’ll see you tomorrow,”
“Bye, Daddy!” She giggles, waving a hand. “Bye, Harls,”
“Smell you later, trouble,” Harley grins.
“Thank you,” Peter smiles at the adults. “If you need-”
“Go, kid,” Tony laughs. “We’ll be fine. Go and have a good night. You won, celebrate!” Is the last thing they hear before the lift doors close. Harley smiles softly when Peter sighs and leans back against the wall.
“You know we can open the doors back up? We can grab her, and she can come with us, we can still have a good time.”
“No,” Peter laughs, closing his eyes. Harley smiles at the sound. “Mr Stark is right. We’re celebrating. And we’re doing it properly. I can spend one night away from her,” Harley steps forwards as the doors open in the car park.
“Let’s go celebrate then.”
“Right then,” Tony smiles when the lift doors close. He turns towards the other two in the room. “What shall we do?” Pepper is just about to answer when her phone goes off. “Ignore it. You should ignore that.” Tony tells her. Pepper sighs and hands Leia over to Tony.
“I can’t ignore it, Tony,” She smiles apologetically. “As much as I want to. Have fun. And don’t let anything explode,” She adds before answering the call, sending a pointed look over at her husband. He holds the hand not supporting Leia up in defence.
“I would never.” Pepper just rolls her eyes before leaving the room, leaving her husband and the toddler alone. “You wanna start with a nap?” He asks when Leia yawns into his chest.
“Bearbear?” Her voice is muffled when she asks for her bear. She’s nearly asleep by the time Tony has walked to her bedroom and picked the teddy up off the bed. She takes it out of his hand and tucks it under her chin before letting her eyes close.
“Go to sleep, baby,” Tony tells her, lifting a hand to her hair and gently running his fingers through it. When he’s sure that she’s asleep, he makes his way down to his lab. He asks FRIDAY to play his music quieter than normal, enough so that it won’t wake Leia up, and settles her down on the couch. He finds a jumper that Peter has left lying around and folds it to use as a makeshift pillow and uses the blanket that is screwed up at the end of the couch to cover her up. He smiles softly when she burrows herself under the blanket.
He spends the next an hour and a half fiddling with a prototype for an improved version of Clint’s arrows. He’s trying to get them so they create a small, controlled fire when they denotate, but not immediately after they’ve hit the target, and he’s so close to a breakthrough when he hears shuffling across the room. He looks up at the sound, panicking slightly when he doesn’t see a bundle of blankets on the couch where he expects there to be, but he sighs in relief when he sees a little body crawling across the floor. Leia makes her way over to Tony, and he smiles down at her when she pulls herself up, using the fabric of his trousers.
“Hey, sweetheart,” He murmurs, bending down and lifting her up. He sits her down on the workbench, smiling when she blinks up at him, one little fist rubbing at her sleepy eyes, the other wrapped tightly around the arm of Bearbear. He hands a soft foam ball to her. “I’m nearly finished with this. Do you think you could keep DUM-E company for me? I think he wanted play and he was a bit sad when I told him you needed to rest.” Leia squeezes the ball before she lets it fall to the floor, giggling quietly when DUM-E beeps happily and rolls after it. Tony turns back to the arrows, finishes attaching a small clip to the shaft of one of them. “Cover your ears for me, precious,” He turns and tells Leia, and once she has, he throws the arrow across the room. He smiles when it attaches itself to the surface of the table and, exactly forty-five seconds later, detonates. As soon as the table bursts into flames, DUM-E lets out a string of anxious-sounding beeps, wheels over and put the fire out. He rolls back over to Tony when the table is covered in white foam, all the flames smothered. “Good job, buddy. Maybe you’re not totally useless, after all,” The bot beeps happily when Tony pats him on the head, and wheels back over to Leia, handing her the foam ball again. She giggles and throws it across the room.
“Done?” She looks up at Tony with a small smile which Tony returns.
“Yeah, sweetheart,” He ruffles her hair. “Shall we go and see how Aunt Pepper is doing?” Tony asks, picking her up when she nods and reaches up for him. He balances her on his hip, wrapping the blanket back around her body. He smiles down at her when she tangles her fingers through the hair on his face. “Let’s not tell her about the fire, though, yeah?”
“Mm’kay,” She mumbles around a yawn, resting her head on his shoulder. She keeps quiet while Tony walks up to Pepper’s office, listening as Tony talks to her, letting her eyes close.
“Hey,” Tony whispers to her, poking her side. “You can’t go back to sleep, babe. You won’t sleep tonight if you do,”
“M’tired,”
“I know,” He coos as he pushes the door to Pepper’s office open. “I know. But we don’t want you all grumpy tomorrow, do we? Daddy’ll be wanting to see his princess, and he might not let us hang out again if I give him back a grump,”
“Not a grump,” She pouts, poking her finger into Tony’s cheek. She looks up when she hears Pepper laugh quietly from behind her laptop.
“Hi, baby,” She smiles when Leia starts struggling in Tony’s arms. He places her down on the floor, letting her crawl her way over to Pepper, who picks her up when she’s close enough. “You have a nice nap?”
“Tired,” Leia yawns again, wrapping herself around Pepper. Pepper sighs happily and rests her head on Leia’s.
“Everything alright?” Tony asks her, gesturing to the phone which is ringing again.
“Yes. But, no shop talk,” She answers, pressing the button to send the call to voicemail. “This is family time now,” She stands up, rearranging Leia slightly so she’s more comfortable, and picks up the blazer she’s placed over the back of her chair. Tony watches with a smile on his face as Pepper walks over to the door. She turns around to face him, raising an eyebrow. “You coming, Tony? Or are you staying here?”
Tony rolls his eyes before he follows them up to the penthouse. Leia wakes up more on the way up, still yawning a little, but responding to what Pepper is telling her about. By the time they’re in their living room, Leia is awake enough that when Pepper lowers her down that she walks over to the soft mat rather than crawls.
“What do you want to do, Princess?” Tony asks, sitting down on the mat next to her. Pepper sits down on the couch. When Leia just shrugs, Tony continues, “You wanna build something?”
“Legos?” She asks, grinning. She nods when Tony does. Tony smiles at her, pushing himself up and moves towards the room where they’ve taken to keeping most of Leia’s toys. He comes back not even a minute later with the large box of lego pieces, pushing it across the room and stops in front of the mat.
“Okay,” Tony breathes out as he sits down on the floor with Leia again. “Remember what we have to do before we build stuff?”
“Gotta design,” She mumbles. “So it doesn’t explode,”
“Good. It’s less good that you sound disappointed, but with Pete as your main role model, I’m not surprised,” Tony muses. He snorts gently when Pepper nudges him with her foot. “One day, you’ll be old enough to make things explode in a lab,”
“Don’t encourage her, Tony,” Pepper tells him with a frown. She hands him a pile of paper and a pack of Leia’s crayons, which he smiles gratefully for. “Right, I’ll go and start on dinner. What do you fancy, honey?”
“Chick nuggets?” Leia asks, looking up at Pepper with wide eyes. “Please?”
“Okay, sweetie,” She smiles as she stands up. “With smilies?” She ruffles her hair when she nods happily.
“Hey,” Tony grabs her hand as she moves past him, stopping her. “You want me to do that?” She smiles down at him and shakes her head softly.
“No, honey. You stay and build.”
Tony’s never actually done Leia’s night-time routine, but he’s seen Peter do it enough times to know what order to do things in. He knows Leia is getting to the age where she wants to do everything for herself, so he knows to let her get as far as she can without helping her. He watches as she picks out her own pyjamas, puts them on with only minimal help, and carries on. She uses the step by the sink in the bathroom to reach her toothbrush and paste, brushes her teeth and washes her face. The only time she asks for help is with brushing her hair when she hands Tony her brush.
“You need help with this bit?” He asks, taking the brush out of her hand.
“Daddy always does this part,” She tells him, walking away to stand back on the stool in the bathroom, in front of the mirror. Tony follows her into the smaller room.
“Does Daddy put anything in your hair?” He asks, wrapping a ringlet of hair around one of his fingers. He nods when Leia shakes her head and smiles at him. He’s gentle when he drags the brush through her hair, careful to detangle it but not pull on it. He kisses the crown of her head when he’s finished and lifts her off the stool. “You ready for a story?”
“Can we read the one about the tiger?”
“The one who came for tea?” She nods happily as she crawls into her bed, reaching for Bearbear and tucking herself into a ball. Tony tucks her in gently, picking up the book she wants from the shelf. “Ready?” He asks, settling down on the bed, turned so Leia can see the pictures. “Once there was a little girl called Sophie…”
“…And they also bought a tin of tiger food, in case the tiger should come to tea again.” Tony closes the book when he finishes reading. He looks up at Leia’s face, expecting her to at least have her eyes closed, but each time her eyes droop, she stubbornly blinks them open again. “You okay, kid?”
“Yeah,” She mumbles, eyes flitting across to Tony’s. He frowns when he sees how tired she is.
“Why’re you holding on, baby?” He asks, brushing the hair off her forehead. “Your eyes are all sleepy. Why aren’t you letting them rest?” Leia mumbles something into Bearbear’s fur. “Hmm?”
“Miss Daddy,” She says. Tony frowns for a moment, looking out the open door to Peter’s room across the hallway.
“Do you want to sleep in Daddy’s room tonight?” He offers. She blinks her eyes again, a few times, and looks up at him hopefully.
“Daddy’s room?” Tony smiles and nods. When Leia nods as well, he picks her up gently, making sure she’s holding Bearbear tightly, and picks up her blanket and one of her pillows. She rests her head on his shoulder as they make their way across the hallway. The movement gains Pepper’s attention, who comes and stands in the doorway as she watches Tony lower Leia into Peter’s bed. Her eyes are closed now, but she’s still awake, as she settles into her father’s bed. She rearranges herself, burrowing into Peter’s pillow, before she blinks up owlishly at Tony.
“’Nother story?” She asks, yawning. “Cat’pill’?”
“Okay, honey,” He says. “But after that, you have to sleep, yeah?”
“Promise.” She untangles one of her hands from the blankets, offering up her pinkie finger. Tony hooks his own around it.
She falls asleep halfway through the book, Tony and Pepper both perched on the edge of Peter’s bed. She dreams of ducks and the park and her father.
Leia shoots up from Tony’s knees when she hears laughter coming from down the hall. She’s still in her pyjamas, socked little feet slipping on the floor as she runs towards the teens.
“Oof,” She groans lightly when she crashes into a pair of legs.
“Hey, Princess,” Peter coos down at her, running a hand over her head. She grins up at him. “You have fun?”
“Daddy, Uncle Tony read about the tiger and tea with me and he did all the voices and then he read hungry cat’pillar and he got Aunt Pepper to join in! And we did colouring and he let me play wi’ robots in his lab and he made a fire!”
“Oh,” Pepper scowls playfully at Tony as Peter and Harley reach the sitting area. Peter sits down, pulling Leia onto his knees. Harley falls face first into the other chair. “Did he, now?”
“It was so cool!” Leia laughs, kneels on Peter, grin on her face. “He put it out though,” She pouts. Peter laughs at her, kissing the top of her head.
“I’m glad you had fun, pumpkin,”
“What about you two?” Tony asks, glancing at Harley’s slumped body. “Good night?”
“There was so many of them,” Harley groans, eyes closed, face mushed into the fabric of the seat. “I swear, the whole school was there.”
“Aw,” Tony laughs when Harley scowls at him. “Too much social interaction, country boy?”
“I had to be nice to all of them. I had to pretend to not want to punch Flash Thompson in the face. It was exhausting,” Pepper rolls her eyes lovingly before turning back to Peter.
“What about you, honey?” She asks Peter. “Did you have fun?”
“Oh,” Peter smiles, resting his cheek on Leia’s head. He glances towards Harley. “I had a great time.”