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Tony had to, once again, go to a meeting with the other Avengers and Nick Fury. Other than being hella boring they also took forever to finish, Rogers not helping by asking a ton of questions and needing to repeat everything twice. That wasn’t the worst thing about them though, the worst part was that Tony had to be away from his 3 year old son, Peter.
Of course Tony went to lots of meetings, generally SI related, but he always came late and made sure to cut them short. Ever since the time with Ultron, Peter had suffered from separation anxiety, and even though Tony hated to admit it he probably did too. So as you might guess, he tried to always be close to Peter and never be away for more than a few hours.
At times where he had to be away for a longer period of time he did everything he could so Peter wouldn’t miss him. That contained making sure he would be gone during nap time so that would take some of the time, leave him with someone he knew well, in this case Happy, and make sure he has his dearest teddy bear, Mr Bear.
When all that was taken care of he kissed Peter, who was luckily occupied by playing with his Legos, on the head followed by a goodbye, and then quickly left the penthouse to go to the meeting before Peter would realize he was leaving and beg him to stay using his not so secret secret weapon, his puppy eyes, which, unfortunately for Tony, almost always worked.
Tony despised leaving Peter like that especially because he knows it will end in cries later when he realizes, but it had to be done. He hated to admit it but they had important things to go through at the meeting, and it would partially make up for Tony almost never attending any team bonding activities.
He was only 10 minutes late which for Tony was an achievement, but still earned him the usual “witty” comment of how nice it was for him to finally join them. He then sat down at the nearest seat and fought back the urge to plop his legs up on the table, deciding to give it an hour before doing so.
Back at the penthouse living room Peter was still playing happily with his toys. That lasted for maybe 45 minutes before he got hungry. He looked around for his dad to ask for something to eat, and almost started crying when he couldn’t find him. Before he had the chance Happy walked out of the bathroom right that moment and saw the look on Peter's face.
“Oh no, you’re not going to cry on my watch. What’s wrong kiddo?” Happy asked him.
“M’ hungry and I wan’ my dad” Peter answered with sad eyes.
“Well then let’s go find something to eat. Maybe you’ll even get some ice cream for dessert.” The thought of ice cream helped cheer Peter up a bit, and so they went to the kitchen.
After he had eaten and Happy had put on his favorite movie cars Peter forgot about missing his dad.
It was a different case for Tony. The first hour went great, he didn’t miss Peter and no one had started arguing yet. But now he started checking his phone every so often to see if Happy had texted him about Peter. Two hours in, his leg started bouncing up and down, and not long after that his hands started playing with each other.
_- * - _
The movie had just ended, Happy fast asleep on the couch, and Peter once again aware that his dad wasn’t present. This time Peter did start crying when he couldn’t find him anywhere.
“Jarvis, where’s daddy?” He asked, holding Mr Bear close.
“Boss is currently in a meeting on the 67th floor. Do you want me to bring you to him?”
“Yes pwease” and so Peter stepped into the elevator, Jarvis bringing him to the right floor.
He walked down a long hallway, luckily not meeting anyone on his way, when finally Jarvis told him to go through the next door and that his dad would be in there.
He slowly opened the door only peeking inside before opening it fully and walking all the way in. He had stopped crying at the thought of seeing his dad, but started again when he couldn’t see him.
_ - * - _
All the Avengers except Tony, who was busy with his phone, looked towards the door when they could hear it open. They were shocked to see a small child walking in through the door, especially because the whole floor was supposed to be closed off to anyone else.
Then his lip started wobbling and the water works set off, and they all looked frantically at each other not knowing what to do.
“Where’s daddy?” The boy asked. At that Tony was fast to turn around. He knew that voice.
“Dad!” Peter yelled through his tears running toward him, crying harder when his dad caught him and pulled him in for a hug.
All the avengers had surprised expressions on their faces even Natasha though not as clear.
They all sat for a bit before Steve asked “Uhm Tony, who’s that?” Finally Tony looked up acknowledging the people sat around him.
“This is my son Peter,” said child gave a small wave while still hugging his dad, the movement causing him to drop his teddy bear.
Clint, who sat right beside Tony, was quick to pick it up.
“What’s its name?” He asked kindly, handing it over.
“Mr Bear” Peter whispered shyly, and then hid his face in the crook of Tony’s neck.
“Dare to explain further?” Natasha this time.
“Let’s finish this first, Petey here won’t care” and so they continued. Clint tried getting Peter's attention a few times successfully making him giggle once.
An hour in the little boy fell asleep on his dad, he hadn’t had his afternoon nap yet after all.
When the meeting finished they all went to the penthouse living room to get an explanation. Tony didn’t want the world to know he had a child and was waiting for the right moment to tell them.
“Birdbrain!” Peter yelled at one point waving at Clint after he had gotten more comfortable with the group. Clint got red in the face while the rest started laughing (Sam the loudest which he would later regret)
“That’s my boy! I taught you well buddy” at that Peter joined the laughing too and soon enough also Clint who couldn’t be mad at the little munchkin.