Work Text:
Ever since Peter got turned into a two year old, he's had good and bad days. His good days included going to the beach, watching movies, coloring or playing with his toys. All of which included his family. Mostly his Mama (Pepper), his Dada (Tony) and his Aunt May. Sometimes his other Aunts and Uncles would spend time with him too (the Avengers).
He's never really had many bad days. Just bad moments in the good ones. You see, Peter hates being a toddler. He's incapable of doing anything and also...being two years old is embarrassing. Sometimes he lets those thoughts get to him, like today. It was just going to be him and Tony. Pepper was needed at work, as was May. Pepper left early in the morning, remembering to change Peter's diaper.
It's not unusual for Peter to whine about the diaper changes. It's the most embarrassing part about being a baby. But today, it was different. Today was a bad day, so Peter proceeded to cry during the change. Pepper was somewhat glad that she was at work during Baby Peter's bad day.
"Peter, honey, I know you don't like getting your diaper changed, but you have to. Otherwise you'll get a rash, and we don't want that, do we?" Pepper warned. The boy sniffed and whined a little bit more.
Pepper sighed. "Peter, if you don't let me do it, then it will have to be Tony." Peter immediately stilled and let Pepper do her thing.
Once they were finished, she carried him back to their bedroom and placed him back in his crib. Peter whined again and hid his face in his blanket. Pepper walked over to a sleeping Tony and placed a kiss on his lips. The small movement woke the man up.
He groaned and squinted his eyes open, a smile tugging on his lips. "You off, hon?" He whispered.
"Yeah, I'll see you tonight. I also thought you should know that Peter is being really fussy today, so good luck with that." She laughed as the man groaned.
"Yay me." He said, sarcastically. "Have a good day." He said and connected their lips again.
"Bye, Tony." Pepper walked out the room after blowing a kiss to Peter too. Tony laid in bed for a few more minutes before forcing himself up, rubbing a tired hand down his face. He stood up and walked over to Peter's crib, only to see a pouting two year old.
"Morning, baby. What's this about you being fussy today? You feeling okay?" He asked as he picked the toddler up.
"Hmph." Was the sound that Peter made as he looked away from his Dad.
"Oh, I get it. You're just being stubborn." Tony said, walking out of the room with a squirming Peter in his arms.
"Down!" Peter complained. Tony sighed as they walked into the kitchen.
"Alright, fine." He said, then placed Peter into his high chair. "There you go."
Peter crossed his arms and pouted more.
"Wipe that pout off your face, Peter. You know I don't like it." Tony sighed, grabbing the boy's breakfast. Peter huffed and kicked his legs back and forth.
Tony made Peter's porridge pretty quickly, placing the bowl in front of the boy.
"Eat up, kid." He smiled, taking a seat. Peter all but glared at the spoon. Tony sighed and picked up the spoon for him.
"Come on, open up." Tony held up a spoonful of porridge to Peter's lips, to which the boy opened his mouth, begrudgingly.
Tony spoke to the boy as he ate. "I was thinking today could just be a chill day. Maybe we could just play with your toys or watch a movie? Maybe color to calm you down a bit?"
Peter furrowed his eyebrows in anger. He didn't need to be calmed down, he needed Bruce to finish with the antidote!
Peter shoved the bowl of porridge away with a whine and it landed on the floor, contents spilling everywhere. Peter realized it was a silly thing to do, but he was way too stubborn to admit that. So he just crossed his arms and looked away from his Dad.
"Peter!" Tony exclaimed, voice raising louder. Peter flinched at the loud voice and his stubborn act crumbled. "Why are you being so difficult today, huh? God, it's all over the floor!" He snapped, crouching down to clean it up. Peter sniffed, trying not to cry at being yelled at.
Tony took a second to calm himself down. He didn't want to shout at Peter, he hated seeing him upset. He cleaned up the floor and walked back over to the boy. Peter was staring at his high chair, tears in his eyes.
"Hey." Tony said softly, lifting the two year old's head up. "I know this is really hard for you, Pete. And Bruce is making that antidote as quick as he can. But in the meantime, you're going to have to work with me, alright?" He said, picking Peter up from the high chair.
"O'tay..." Peter whimpered. Tony sighed before kissing Peter's head. He placed him down on the carpet in the living room.
"I have to work for a bit. Will you be a good boy and play with your blocks? I can put on the tv while you do?" Tony asked as he got out Peter's favorite building blocks. Peter nodded as Tony placed them in front of him, and he started building a tower with them. Tony sighed with content as he sat down on the couch, StarkPad in hand. He turned on the tv and flipped to Peter's favorite cartoon. The Amazing World of Gumball started playing and the boy smiled excitedly.
Of course, Peter's obedience only lasted twenty minutes. He soon became bored. He just wanted to swing around the city, or go to school, or hang out with Ned and MJ. He stood himself up and wandered over to Tony.
"Dada." He whined as he tugged on the man's leg.
"What is it, baby?" Tony asked, not looking up from his StarkPad. Peter wanted to scream and cry. He just wanted to be fifteen again. And now he wanted his Dad's attention, which he wasn't getting.
"Play with me!" Peter cried. Tony smiled slightly. He wanted nothing more than to play with his son, especially in moments like these when Peter accepted his toddler headspace.
"I would love to, Pete, but I've got work to do. Just give me half an hour and I'm all yours, yeah?" He said, looking down at the little boy. Peter whined and sat on the floor with a sniff. He watched the tv for another ten minutes before getting restless.
"Dada, p'wease!"
Tony sighed. "Peter, you have to learn to be patient, buddy. Just another twenty minutes, that's all."
Peter pouted again, just about ready to cry before he had an idea. Tony was being a meanie, so Peter was going to do whatever he wanted. He waited until Tony was lost in his work again before wandering out of the room. He waddled down the hallway until he reached his playroom. Luckily the door was already open, so he slipped into the room with ease and dug around until he found his crayons. He smiled and got to work.
"Boss."
"Yes, FRIDAY?"
"Peter appears to have left the room. He is currently in the playroom."
Tony instantly whips his head up and scans the room. Yep, the two year old wasn't there. He cursed and put his StarkPad down, rushing out of the room to get to Peter. He got to the playroom and stepped in. His eyes widened as they fell onto the boy. He had scribbled all over the paper in the room with crayons, as well as his building blocks, and even on the wall.
Tony felt anger rise in him when he realized that Peter didn't even look sorry.
"Peter Benjamin Parker!" He yelled, walking up to him and confiscating the crayons. "What has gotten into you?!" He slammed the crayons down on the arts and crafts table.
"Shut up!" Peter snapped, crossing his arms. Tony blinked, slightly taken back by Peter's rudeness.
"Excuse me?! What did you just say, young man?" Tony asked, crouching down in front of Peter. The boy got even more angry. He wasn't young! He was fifteen!
"Hmph!" Peter whined again, turning around.
"No, no, no!" Tony snapped, turning the boy back around. "Repeat what you just said, Peter."
"Go away!" Peter cried, trying to push the man away but failing.
"I'm giving you to the count of three to apologize." Tony warned.
"One."
Peter stayed silent, crossing his arms with furrowed eyebrows.
"Two."
The boy started getting nervous about what Tony might do, but still remained quiet.
"Three." Tony waited a few more seconds to see if Peter was going to say anything, but nada.
"Right, that's it." Tony mumbled and yanked the boy up. Peter cried out as he was manhandled into Tony's arms and carried out of the room. The man took Peter back into their bedroom and he placed the boy in his crib before lifting the bars up higher than usual. Peter looked around frantically, suddenly very frightened.
"You'll stay in here and think about what you've done. I'll come get you in a few minutes." Tony stated. He made sure Peter couldn't get out before turning to leave the room. Peter quickly stood up with wobbly legs and reached out to his Dad through the bars.
"W-Wait!" He said, with his tiny voice. Tony stopped in his tracks and turned back around, heart instantly breaking at the sight of Peter desperately reaching out to him, wearing a scared and upset expression. The man walked back over to the boy, allowing him to wrap his tiny hand around his finger. Peter sniffed as tears spilled down his face, not wanting Tony to leave him in the room, trapped in his crib.
Tony wanted so badly to wipe his son's tears and comfort him, but he couldn't. He stood up straight again and left the room, trying his best to ignore Peter's loud sobs.
The two year old buried his head into his blankets, practically losing breath from how hard he was crying. It was just so scary. Earlier, he just wanted to be stubborn, tired of being a toddler when he wasn't. All he wanted was to annoy Tony until he somehow sped up the antidote process. But now, all he wanted was to get out of the crib and cuddle with his Dad.
So he decided to listen to what Tony said, and actually thought about what he did. He realized how mean and rude it was to tell his Dad to shut up and to go away. He was only trying to take care of Peter, and he acted so ungratefully towards him. He also ruined all the nice toys that Tony bought for him with his own money, just to make Peter happy. Peter suddenly felt like the meanie, not Tony.
Fifteen minutes passed before Tony walked back into the room, but it felt like hours in toddler time. Peter cried even more when he noticed his Dad walking up to his crib and he shot up, reaching for the man again.
"Oh, Peter. Shh, it's okay, I'm here now." Tony soothed, taking the bars down and picking the crying boy up.
"'M...'m so'wwy!" He cried, clinging onto his Dad. "I was...a big meanie!" Tony bounced Peter up and down slightly, trying to calm him down.
"Shh, it's okay...thank you for apologizing, baby." Tony rocked the boy until they got back to the living room, where he sat down on the couch with his son in his arms.
"'M so'wwy, Dada." Peter whimpered again.
"Hey, hey, hey. It's okay, I forgive you, it's alright, buddy." He kissed the boy's head, cheek and nose, earning a little giggle from Peter. The man smiled and kissed his nose again, causing the boy to giggle more.
"There's my happy boy." He cooed, tickling Peter's sides. The boy suddenly forgot all about crying and started laughing instead, trying desperately to push his Dad's hands away.
"No, Dada! Stop!" Peter giggled, and to his surprise, Tony actually did.
"Hey, who's my favorite boy?" The man asked the two year old. Peter blushed and looked away.
"I dunno." He mumbled shyly.
"Oh, c'mon, bud. I think you do." Tony smiled, tickling under Peter's chin slightly, making Peter giggle and lift his head back up. "Who's my favorite little guy?"
"I am..." Peter mumbled, face bright red. Tony beamed and lifted Peter up so he was sitting in his lap.
"That's right, you are!" He kissed Peter's head and turned the tv on. "What you thinking of watching?"
"Star Wars!" He exclaimed excitedly.
Tony chuckled. "How did I know?" He turned it on regardless.
Tony always knew how to cheer Peter up, because now the boy had completely forgotten about their silly incident earlier.
Peter was always going to be grateful that Tony was there to help him with his bad days. When he was fifteen and when he was two.