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Tony was in the middle of a board meeting when his phone rang. A board meeting that he was forced to attend on pain of death, he might add. So, when a sweet respite was offered to him, you could bet your ass he was going to take it.
Pepper's glare followed him all the way out of the boardroom. She couldn't technically kill him if he already attended whole twenty-two minutes of a two-hour board meeting, right. Twenty-two excruciatingly long minutes of listening to some pompous asshole one after another talking about god knew what.
He wasn't listening.
He accepted the call of his 'Savior from Boring Meetings' only to end up surprised when a little voice answered him. It was the same cute and innocent voice of one 'Damn it, Peter Rogers'. Tony grinned, just thinking about that conversation.
"Mr. Tony Stak! Guess who am I?"
They weren't at the stage where the kid could pronounce his name correctly.
"Hmm," he pretended to think before letting out an excited, "Oh, it's Peter Rogers!"
"Nope."
"No?"
"It's 'Damn it, Peter Rogers!', silly!"
Tony snorted. He felt pity toward the kiddie's daddy.
"I still think it's not your name, kiddie."
"It is! I told you last time!"
Peter sounded slightly angry. Tony didn't want an angry toddler on his hands.
"My mistake. I apologize. "
"It's ok." Forgiveness was reluctantly given. But he got it.
"So, does your daddy know that you are calling me?"
That was a relevant question. He couldn't imagine Peter's father being alright with his baby calling random dudes.
"No!" Peter whisper-shouted. "Daddy is talking on the laptop, and I am in a time-out. I'm not 'pposed to talk. I am sad."
"Ahh, I see. Why are you sad and in a time-out?"
A deep sigh that shouldn't escape any tiny four year old's body was expelled loudly on the other end before Peter explained his sad situation.
"He wants me to clean my room!"
It was as if Peter was told to rob a bank by his father with how betrayed and hurt he sounded.
Tony snorted.
"You should listen to your daddy."
Listen to him giving good advice! Pepper and Rhodes would be so proud.
"But, but my toys don't like it when I put them in the box. It's dark in the toy box."
The kid was whining.
"Maybe don't close the lid of the box then?" Tony offered his wise advice.
"No, Mr. Tony! Ellie, don't sleep without dark. But Lily and Lukey hate dark. And kitty don't like being in the box, and and aallll my toys hate it. But daddy don't understand!"
The small voice sounded serious as Peter explained his woes.
"Who?"
"Ellie, my elephant. And, and Lily and Lukey are my dinos! Kitty is, my kitty!"
"Alright..."
A pause. Then, the kid exclaimed happily. As if a switch had been flipped on his emotions.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, Mr. Stak, me and Daddy saw you on tv!"
He wished he could meet the kid. There weren't many people who sounded that happy or excited to see him anymore.
"Is that so?"
"Yep, and Daddy said you were cute! Uh-oh Lily and Lukey are fighting! Lukey likes Lily's friend more than Lily but -"
"Your daddy said what now?"
"Mr. Tony, it's very rude to interrupt." Peter huffed on the other end. He sounded so disappointed in Tony that he rivaled even Tony's father. But Tony had other important matters to focus on! Peter's father thought Tony was cute?!
"I apologize deeply, Mr. Rogers. Now, will you please backtrack?"
"What's a backtack?"
"It's called 'backtrack', kiddie. It means to repeat what you last said."
"Ohhh.."
"So will you repeat what you said?"
"I said 'ohhh'."
"No, not that. Before that, what you said?"
"I said, 'Mr. Tony, it's very rude to interrupt."
Tony smacked his forehead, a fond sort of exasperation building within him.
"Did your daddy say I was cute?"
"Uh-oh, I think Lily is beating Lukey for having a-a fair! I gotta go and save him!"
"What?! Where do you even learn about 'affairs', anyway?"
"Damn it, Peter Rogers, you were supposed to be in a time-out. Who are you talking to?"
Peter's father, who thought Tony was cute, sounded on the other line. If the man seriously wanted Peter to stop introducing himself as 'Damn it, Peter Rogers' to the world, then he should stop calling his kid that.
But he couldn't blame or judge the guy. Peter seemed a handful.
"It's just, Mr. Tony, Daddy!"
"What?!"
"Daddy, I said it's -"
"No, I heard you. Give me the phone."
"It's rude to interrupt, Daddy." Peter was beginning to sound like a college professor who everybody thought should have retired yesterday, but who never did. The one who had to scold different students for committing the same crime.
Interrupting someone was indeed a serious crime in the kiddie's book. Go figure...
Tony snorted. He didn't know this father-kiddie duo. But he was beginning to enjoy these phone calls. A lot.
"Peter.."
"Uh-oh. Daddy is doing that thing where he closes his eyes and shakes his neck. Uncle Buck says it makes Daddy look like a hundred year old grandma!"
Tony was laughing by that point.
"Damn it, Peter Rogers! Just clean your room. You are in time-out once you are done with that."
"See, I told you 'Damn it' is my first name and 'Peter' is my second, and 'Rogers' is my last name! It's what my daddy calls me. Daddy talk to Tony."
A wounded sound that only made Tony laugh harder was heard from the other line.
"Peter..." A pained voice of the kid's father followed that noise. "For the love of god, your name is only 'Peter Rogers!"
"Nope."
Peter declined it swiftly and cheerfully .
A shuffle sounded on the other side, Tony assumed it was the noise of the phone passing from hand to hand.
"My name is Steve Rogers. I am Peter's father. I apologize for my son calling you and disturbing you. Again. He won't call you anymore."
It was a very nice and deep voice. It was also deeply embarrassed. Tony chuckled softly.
"It isn't a bother. He can call me whenever he likes."
Oddly enough, it was the truth. Tony liked the kid and his father even without knowing them. He liked hearing from Peter. The thought of never hearing from the kid again, just made him sad.
"You sure?" Steve asked suspiciously.
"Yes."
There was an awkward pause that never came when he was talking with the kid. It was broken a moment later by Peter's yelling, though.
"Daddy, I think I spilled my juice!"
He definitely did it. There was no thinking about it. Tony knew it.
"I gotta go." Steve sighed, just as deeply as Peter did.
But before he could hang up, Tony couldn't resist offering a word of advice.
"Remember not to call him, 'Damn it, Peter Rogers' again."
The call ended. Tony stood there stupidly smiling down at his phone for a long moment. His stress from the meeting, investors, finances, and stock markets magically disappearing.
It was time to do a research of his own on that little family that was quickly burrowing a tiny space for itself in Tony's heart.