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Sometimes, Tony was ashamed to say that he did things as a father purely because he knew his own father wouldn’t have done them.
Case in point-
The most recent operation prevalent in his mind, Tony had brought Peter to a toy store and had told him he could pick out any toy he wanted. They’d gone into the store, Tony fully expecting Pete to pick up a GI Joe or a Nerf gun or some other piece of buffoonery, and maybe that was where they’d been originally heading, but then Pete had gotten distracted.
“Can we have a baby?” Pete asked, tugging on his hand, and Tony had been hard pressed not to laugh at the question.
“You want a baby doll?” he asked instead, picking Pete up so that he could see the aisle from a better angle.
Peter was examining the shelves carefully, as careful as if he was actually in the process of adopting a baby, and didn’t answer. Tony hipped him, ignoring the stares of one dad and two older women.
Did he care if his son wanted to play with dolls? That was loaded. He didn’t want Pete to be teased; on the other hand, he didn’t want to raise his father’s son. This was his boy. “We should have a baby,” he said suddenly, pressing a kiss to Pete’s ear. “Now that you’re all grown up, I kind of miss having a little one around.”
Pete giggled. “Why are they all girls?” he asked next.
Hmm. “Maybe they’re just boys who haven’t had a haircut in a long long time. That’s why I make you cut your hair, even if you’ve got those beautiful curls.” He stepped closer to the display, examining the dolls. “Maybe aunt May can give them a haircut, like she had to do with you when you got that gum stuck in your hair.”
Pete grinned, fingers fanning Tony’s face now. “That one,” he said, pointing to a brunette baby doll.
“Yeah, he looks like he could be a Stark,” Tony agreed, reaching up and taking the package down.
Now the only problem was that all the clothes in the aisle seemed to be dresses or pink, purple, covered in flowers… “Let’s see, Pete,” he said, settling the kid back down onto the cart, poking his legs through the leg holes carefully. “You going to hold your baby boy?”
“Yeah,” Pete agreed, clutching the box.
“Okay. Well… babies need bottles. And diapers.”
“And a crib,” Pete said leaning forward.
“I know where your bassinet is still,” Tony told him, carding his fingers through Pete’s hair. “Your receiving blankets too. I think… I think we can put your doll into some of your old baby clothes. I’m not seeing a lot of options here.”
Not a lot of viable options, he amended mentally. Pete pointed to a shirt. “We like purple,” he pointed out.
“We do like purple,” Tony agreed, standing on his toes to reach the shirt. Nothing about this store made sense. “Alright, Petey Pie, I think we’re all set to go. May and Ben are going to be waiting for us.”
He pushed the stroller towards the front of the store, expertly dodging errant kids and clueless parents. Pete was talking to him about dinosaurs, but he had one eye on his watch. No matter what he did, he always seemed to be on the run these days…
He clued back in at the checkout counter. “You must be going to a birthday party,” the cashier said to Pete as Tony loaded their items onto the conveyor belt.
His three year old glanced up at him and then at the woman with bright interest. “No, why? Is there a birthday party?”
“Oh, are you getting the doll for your sister?” Tony actually winced at that. “That’s his baby doll,” he said firmly, hoping this meant no more discussion.
Apparently, she didn’t get the memo. She kept talking to his kid and that was kind of irking Tony. He pushed Pete further down the register, trying to wedge himself between her and the cart imperceptibly. “You didn’t want a boy toy?” she asked cheerily, bagging up their stuff.
“He is a boy,” Pete said helpfully. “He just needs a haircut. I’m going to give him a bath when we get home.”
“We’ve got to go,” Tony said, practically pulling the receipt out of her lax fingers, because honestly, if he stayed in the store for one more minute, he was probably going to say something he regretted. “Come on, sweetie. Here’s your boy.”
He pushed the cart away as quickly as he could without making a scene.
Pete was looking up at him with those dark lashes of his, his nose wrinkled in deep thought. “Why…?”
His toddler didn’t have the vocab to verbalize what he was wondering but Tony got the message loud and clear. “Sometimes, when you’re very very old and not very cool,” he said in a stage whisper that made Pete giggle, “you think that only girls have babies.”
“But what about all the daddies?” Pete asked, reluctantly handing his doll back to Tony so that the mechanic could lift him from the cart.
“Well, that’s exactly my point, kiddie. You’re going to be a daddy some day-” The thought made his heart clench a little but he plowed on, determined. “And you’re going to need to know how to take care of a baby. So this is good. You made a good choice. I can help you take care of your baby, if you want.”
He could feel his anger ebbing away now that it was just the two of them; he liked the way Pete chattered just like him. They could babble on and on about anything.
“Part of being a daddy,” he said, settling Pete into his car seat, “is keeping your kid safe. That’s why I buckle you in,” he narrated.
His son was listening to him like he was spilling ancient lore. Tony worked him into the harness, buckling him carefully. “You like whatever you like, Pete,” he said finally. “You’re a smart boy.”
Peter reached out to pet his face and he huffed, letting him. May and Ben would wait a couple of extra minutes. Ducking his head down, he pecked Pete on the lips. “You warm enough, honey?”
“Yeah!”
“Good. Tell me if you aren’t. It’s getting cooler. That’s what happens in September. And it starts getting darker, earlier. See the sun going down?” Pete nodded, following his gaze when he pointed out the front dash where the sun was slowly slipping down. Tony pressed another kiss to the side of his face. “Talking helps your baby grow,” he added. “Helps him learn about the world.”
Shutting the door, he climbed into the driver’s seat, glancing back at Pete through his rearview mirror. Pete was talking to himself and the baby, a quiet babble. He backed out, putting his hand on the back of the passenger seat.
Tony… Tony liked this part of his life more than he’d liked anything before. Years of partying had not prepared him for how he’d feel these days, how much he wanted to stay home and play with his toddler, how he liked the lazy mornings when he couldn’t get up from his bed cause Pete had fallen asleep in some strange position…
“Look who’s waiting for us, Pete,” he said lightly, pulling into the Parker’s driveway and parking in the back. He grinned at his sister. “I know, I know, I’m late. I had a good reason.”
She swatted at him, curling into his side like a cat. “Oh, and what’s that?”
“I wanted to get Pete a toy,” he whispered. They watched Ben ducking into the back of the car, tickling the little kid, making him laugh. His brother in law murmured something they couldn’t hear into Pete’s ear and Petey was laughing.
Ben’s first mistake was lifting the toddler out of the car where he could see the lay of the land better. He brightened, seeing Tony’s sister and reached out his arms, trying to get to her- “May, May-”
“How come you’re never this excited to see me?” Ben teased, lifting Peter so that he shrieked.
“He loves her best,” Tony commented, snagging Pete’s baby doll out of the back of the car. He held it up in front of him, waggling an eyebrow at May. “Think you can cut this boy’s hair?” he asked.
She quirked her head, opening and closing her mouth. “After dinner,” she said.
“Mighty May has spoken,” he whispered to Pete. “Come on, baby. Let’s wash our hands for dinner.”