Chapter Text
Daddy?” The four year old walked toward where his dad was sitting in the front part of the plan with some other men in business suits.
“Peter! You are supposed to be home! How did you even get on the plane?” Tony opened his arms to the four year and kissed his forehead,
“Your babysitter is probably worried sick.”
“No. I asked Friday to cancel the babysitter.” Peter mumbled laying his head against his dad’s shoulder, “I don’t feel so good though.”
“Allergies maybe?” Tony sighed, “Or motion sickness.”
“Don’t know. Just feel bad.” Peter shrugged his little shoulders.
“Tony, we’re supposed to be working. That’s why we took the jet. Can’t you send him home?” Jasper said firmly.
“Yeah, you want me to just open a window and send my toddler out of it while we’re flying above the clouds? I’ll get right on it.” Tony rolled his eyes.
“What?” Peter looked up at him scared.
“Sorry, that was a bad joke.” Tony soothed, “You’re staying right where you are.”
“At least put him somewhere with a movie or something.” Jacob pleaded, “We don’t have time for this.”
“Time for my sick child?” Tony raised an eyebrow, “I always have time for Peter.” Tony stood up and walked to the back of the plan. He grabbed a blanket from one of the chairs. He kept it there in case he had to leave with Peter quickly. He always wanted Peter to have comfort items and they have had to leave locations on the fly to get away from the media before.
Peter took the blanket and rubbed it against his face. His eyes fluttering closed against his dad’s shoulder and his breathing evening out. Tony considered laying him down but he would just wake up scared and that would be more of a distraction than just holding the toddler while they worked.
“Where were we?” Tony asked sitting back down.
“This is insane. You’re coddling him and he should not even be on the plane.” Kyle exclaimed.
Peter shook a bit.
“If you wake my sleeping toddler whose not feeling well—I will make you soothe him back to sleep so I suggest you lower your tone. I also do not take parenting advice from you.” Tony said quietly but firmly as he rubbed a hand up and down Peter back until he was confident the four year old would stay asleep.
Jasper passed over a paper, “Let’s just get back to work.”
~
By the time they landed Tony was grateful. He never wanted to do a business meeting thousands of feet in the air where he couldn’t easily leave ever again. He felt Peter whine at the landing, “It’s okay, Bambino. We’re here.”
“You are not your father.” Jasper shook his head, “Not even close.”
Tony knew he meant it as an insult but Tony smiled, “Thank you.”
“Daddy? My stomach hurts and my head.” Peter cried.
“I know. We’re going to go to the hotel and I’ll order some things to help you feel better. I promise.”
Peter laid his head back down, “Right now? I want Uncle Rhodey.”
Tony laughed, “I’m not enough.”
Peter just wrapped his arms tighter around his neck. Tony could tell Peter wasn’t even sure what he really needed right now. Toddlers weren’t always good at that when they were healthy and it got even worse when they were sick.
Tony checked in and laid Peter who was once again sleeping in bed under the covers after slipping off his shoes. He went to shower himself and was out in five minutes time. He heard someone knock on the door right as he slipped on sweats and a t shirt.
He went to get the bag of supplies. He had ordered some child Tylenol. He doesn’t like to kill fevers unless he has to because they are the body’s defense system at work but he wanted some things on hand just in case. He pulled out the Pedialyte and the cup he had order. he poured in in with some water and set it on the night stand. He would need to wake Peter up to drink some of that at some point. But for now he just shut off the lights and laid down in bed next to Peter who was snoring quietly. What a day.
~
Tony woke up to Peter crying and throwing up in bed. He was up in seconds. He picked up the toddler and held him over the toilet until he had finished emptying the contents of his stomach.
He sent Peter down who whined in disappointment but he ruffled the kids curls, “I’ve got to start a bath for you and call room service for clean bedding.”
“Daddy. I don’t feel so good.” Peter cried.
“I know, Bub. I know. I have some juice that might help. And Uncle Rhodey flies in tomorrow.”
“And Steve?” Peter asked following his dad who was reaching for the phone.
“No, Steve’s not coming.” Tony shook his head.
“Why I miss him. Don’t you miss him?” Peter scrunched up his little face in thought.
Tony smiled at the thought of his boyfriend of nearly a month, “I do miss him.”
“So we should call him?” Peter asked.
Tony glanced at the time, “I actually think that’s a perfect idea. You call Steve on my phone while I finish getting stuff set up for your bath and find you the new pajamas I bought you earlier.”
“Hmm. K.” Peter took his dad’s phone and said, “Friday. Call Steve.”
‘Tony—Babe. You need to sleep.” Steve answered while on his run.
“It’s me.” Peter giggled.
“Petey. You aren’t supposed to be with your daddy.” Steve paused his run, “How’d that happen?”
“I snuck on the plane.” Peter explained, “I don’t need a babysitter.."
“Obviously. Why didn’t I think of that?” Steve rolled his eyes, “Where’s your dad?”
“He’s making a bath because I puked all over the bed.” Peter sighed, “My tummy hurts real bad.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Kiddo. If you were home we could snuggle and watch movies.” Steve told the four year old settling into a walk while he chatted with him.
“Maybe we can watch a movie when we get home?” Peter offered.
“I would love that.”
Peter grinned.
“Peter! Your bath is ready. Say bye to Steve.” Tony yelled from the bathroom.
“Bye Steve. Love you!” Peter blew kisses.
Steve stared at the phone for a second, “Anyone hurts that kid—I hurt them. It’s decided.”
~
Tony was pacing the hotel room with his toddler when he should be getting ready for a business meeting. He wasn’t sure why Peter had snuck on the plane and hadn’t even talked with the child about it. It was a conversation for a time when no one was sick or sleep deprived. He kept glancing at the clock. Finally a knock at the door sounded and he sighed in relief.
Tony opened the door to find Rhodey waiting, “You’re a life saver.”
“I am.” Rhodey grinned and reached for the sleeping toddler, “Go. Get ready. You’re going to be late.”
Tony handed over the sleeping child who thankfully did not wake up in the transition, “Try and get him to drink something from his cup if he wakes up.”
“I’ve got him, Tones. Don’t worry.” Rhodey sat down on the couch pulling Peter’s blanket over him. He laid back against the cushion and closed his eyes. His body wasn’t prepared to change time zones so quickly.
Tony walked out of the bedroom and found his best friend sleeping while holding his toddler safely who was also asleep. He didn’t know how to ever thank Rhodey for all he’d done for him and his son. The day Tony had told Rhodey about Peter—He had jumped on board. He had decided he was going to be the best uncle and he had made good on his word.
He exited the hotel suite quietly so as not to wake anyone. He hoped this meeting was quick. He didn’t want to leave Peter alone too long even if he was in capable hands.
He found the conference room and Pepper was waiting for him there. He walked over and she asked quietly, “How’s Pete?”
“He’s alive. I think it’s a bad stomach bug.” Tony sat down, “You sure we have to do this?”
“Yes, they are potential partners. I’ll try to keep it quick though so you can get back to Peter.” Pepper’s smiled never fell from her face.
“Fine. I hope there is good food at least.”
Jasper walked in and sat down, “No kid today?”
“He’s with family.” Tony wasn’t going to rise to the fight in Jasper’s tone.
“I didn’t think you had any family left. Family on the mother’s side?” Jasper asked.
“Family isn’t always blood.” Pepper said smoothly before passing Tony a notebook and pen.
A women walked in apologizing for running late, “Hello everyone! My name is Rebecca Montgomery with Montgomery Prosthetics. I appreciate everyone arranging to fly here and meet with me. I would normally be on time but I have a newborn and she isn’t quite fond of sharing me yet. I hope we can keep this brief. I know we all have families and loved ones waiting for us to come home to them.”
Tony nodded. He liked her. If she wanted to partner with his company he’d let her. He pulled out his phone a quick second to order some coffee to the conference room before giving the women and her assistant his full attention as they launched into their products and why they thought Stark Industries should help produce them in bulk.
~
Rhodey was going to do something that he knew his friend would want but he also knew it was going to look bad for his company. He carried Peter to the conference room. The kid had been crying for quite some time for his dad. Peter loved his uncle but sometimes kids just need their parents and he was not going to be the one that soothed his nephew this round.
All eyes swung their direction when he walked in. Tony stood up right away and came to gather the toddler in his arms whispering reassurances to him. Peter immediately wrapped his arounds around his dad’s neck and started to calm down.
“This is not appropriate.” Kyle stood up in outrage, “Take that kid somewhere else.”
Jasper glanced at their future investor, “I do apologize. This is not how we run our company, Mrs. Montgomery.”
The woman smiled softly, “I’m sad to hear that.”
“Excuse me?” Jasper asked.
“Kids are the best judges of character. It is clear that Mr. Stark’s son loves him and trusts him. It would lead me to believe that I can trust him with my start up company as well. I believe he’d take good care of my products too. I also know he’s a single parent and you should all be ashamed for making him feel bad for caring for his son. He could easily pass him off to someone else but he’s brought him with him and making sure his needs are met. I think it would be best to reschedule a meeting to another time though because I can tell that sweet baby isn’t feeling well and just needs his dad.”
Tony smiled over at her, “Thank you. I can appreciate that. Maybe we can arrange a time to talk over Zoom? Right now I do need to take care of this little guy. I think he shares your daughter’s opinion on not sharing parents today.”
Peter whimpered and tightened his hold almost to prove his point, “Daddy. I don’t feel good. I wanna go, please!”
“I know, Bambino. We’re going to go.” Tony kissed the top of his curls, “I’ll have Pepper reach out.”
“I look forward to it.”
~
Tony had finally put Peter to sleep in their hotel room and wandered out to sit on the couch next to his best friend, “We can’t fly home like this. It wouldn’t be fair to Pete to ask him to fly in this condition again.”
“It’s just a bug. We’ll wait it out. You can afford the extended stay.” Rhodey teased.
“Yeah.” Tony’s eyes got a little sad, “It’s just that—“
Rhodey waited but his friend didn’t continue, “—Just that?”
“This weekend is Steve and my’s one month of dating and we were supposed to go out.” Tony shrugged, “Stupid to be upset about.”
“No, it’s not.” Rhodey rolled his eyes, “And I’m sorry you’ll have to push it back.”
“Peter comes first.” Tony said firmly, “Always.”
“You’re a good dad, Tones.”
~
“Hey babe.” Tony sat on the balcony of his hotel room while Rhodey kept on eye on Peter.
“Hi. I miss you.”
“I think we’re going to have to push back our date.” Tony hated even bringing it up, “Peter’s just not in a good place to fly home tomorrow and I don’t want to try and force it.”
“No, Peter’s more important. We can plan something for when you get back. Maybe we could take Peter to the Zoo.” Steve offered.
“He would love that.” Tony kicked up his feet on the table in front of him, “Tell me about your day though. I have some time to catch up while Peter is asleep.”
Steve launched into a story about Sam and his run that ended with them chasing down a purse thief.
Tony laughed at all the right moments and just took a minute to enjoy his man’s company. It was a nice reminder that he wasn’t just a parent even though that was his primary role.
The door opened, “Sorry, Tones.”
Tony glanced over and saw Peter rubbing his eyes, “Petey. Want to come say hi to Steve.”
Peter climbed onto his dad’s lap who snuggled him close, “Hi Steve.”
“Hi buddy. I hear you’re still feeling a little gross.”
“Yeah.” Peter nodded, “I miss you and Bucky and Sam.”
Steve smiled, “We all miss you too.”
“When we come home—We can still snuggle and watch a movie?” Peter asked.
“Absolutely. I can’t wait.”
“Me neither.” Peter grinned.