Work Text:
Saturday, February 22nd, 2025
"Boss?" FRIDAY's voice interrupted the lazy post coital cuddles Tony was enjoying with Pepper, the pair of them sprawled in a tangled mess on the bed, top sheet askew. It was late, but not yet midnight, and both kids were long sleeping. It was nice to have some adult time, Tony mused, kissing Pepper's shoulder lazily.
"Mm," Tony hummed to his AI, still focused on drawing patterns with soft kisses, following the freckles across Pepper's clavicle.
"Spidey Time Warp has been activated." A pause, followed by, "Adult Peter is currently in the process of breaking into your workshop."
There was a moment of lazy stillness, before Tony and Pepper both startled, sitting up, flailing against one another as they rearranged themselves, Pepper pulling the sheet lazily up to cover herself while Tony almost fell off the bed.
"Shit. Yes. Then let him do what he wants. Bring up the video feed, please."
The tablet Tony had left on his bedside table lit up, and he grabbed it, setting it on his lap where both he and Pepper could peer down, his heart stuttering in his chest as he got his first (but not really) look at the young man the toddler in the other room would become… Had been.
"Oh," Pepper breathed, the sound heartbroken. The young man on the screen was slim, looking younger than Tony would guess him to be, and he had an air about him of deep sadness - but also a stubborn and determined set to his young shoulders. They were slumped, with the weight of the world clearly weighing down on them.
They watched in silence as the young man input passwords that Tony genuinely hadn't even realised were in FRIDAY's system; FRIDAY's quiet comments to Tony as Peter worked added to their confusion; even FRIDAY hadn't been aware of the codes before Peter had input them, hidden deeply within her data-banks. He made a mental note to look into that later.
"The magic Stephen used was thorough," Pepper said, her voice low, almost emotions in a way that told Tony she wasn't sure yet which ones she wanted to express, but there was that burning rage under them if one knew to listen for it. Tony knew. He hummed softly in agreement.
"We'll fix it." Even magic wasn't infallible, especially magic that had been cast with heightened emotions, and no shortage of stress. Tony had experience with work created in such circumstances, and it was always a shoddy first draft. Mark I, anyone?
It was Pepper's turn to hum in agreement; most of her attention was focused on the young man that was also presently her two year old son.
"Dumbledore had offered to undo this situation," Tony murmured slowly, watching as Peter darted around his workshop, setting up the time machine, "But…"
Pepper glanced at him, then back at the screen of the tablet. "You don't think he would have?"
"I think he wanted to fix the timeline." Tony said, watching as Peter climbed into the special suit, and seemed to be taking a few deep breaths before continuing to the input screen. "And once that Peter gets sent back to us-"
"It will synch the events," Pepper said softly.
"Exactly."
They both turned their attention back to the screen as Friday split it, as per the Spidey Time Warp protocol, with the secondary focused on the input, where they got to see the spider topple onto the input, and thanks to the suit hooking up with Friday, they heard Peter's exhausted, resigned swear.
Tony gave a bark of laughter, while Pepper shook her head, smiling wistfully. They stared in silence at the empty space Peter had occupied just moments before.
"Save all files, Friday, and lock down the workshop. Tomorrow we'll decommission the bloody thing and make sure no one can use it."
"Yes sir." A short pause, "Peter is awake."
"Thank you, Friday." Pepper said, slipping from their bed and pulling on her pyjamas. As she left the room, Tony climbed from the bed himself and dressed in his night clothes, smiling softly when his wife returned with their son.
"Hey Kiddo."
"Daddy." Peter whimpered, just about throwing himself from Pepper's arms and into Tony's surprised hands. He pressed a kiss to the toddlers head and settled himself back into bed, Peter curled against his chest as Pepper climbed in beside them.
"Bad dream?" Tony asked gently, rubbing his hand lightly up and down the child's back. Peter nodded, pouting and sucking on a thumb.
The child was fascinating; he was restricted to expressing himself as fit his new age, his vocabulary was perhaps above average for a two year old, but Tony couldn't really remember the parenting books he'd read, and Morgan's younger years were buried in a dark haze of depression that Tony hadn't understood until recently.
Regardless, in some ways, Peter was as two year old in behaviour as any toddler. In other ways, Tony was sure he could see a literal lifetime hiding behind the things Peter was trying to express, and the boy had thrown more than one tantrum when he'd been unable to express himself; his stutter did nothing to help the situation, either.
It was a learning curve for all of them, no doubt. None of that had stopped Tony from bursting into tears the first time the little boy had called him Daddy. Which had conveniently been shortly after telling Pepper he'd made the decision for both of them in adopting the boy.
Calling her mommy had sealed the deal, but Tony had still gotten the cold shoulder for about a week. It wasn't that Pepper disagreed with the decision, it was that she hadn't been consulted at all. Tony understood that, and respected it, but he'd also been frustrated. What was he supposed to have done? Phoned her while the two year old boy's twenty year old spirit floated beside him?
Regardless.
Then they had had to deal with Little Miss. The only issue there had been explaining that they couldn't go to the zoo like they had promised. Tony was surprised he hadn't expired from the outraged glare he'd been subjected to. Thanos could learn something from Tony's preschooler. Or maybe the child spent too much time around Nebula?
They hadn't gone to the zoo. They had also pulled Morgan from school, allowing the staff to draw their own conclusions about the girl being withdrawn so soon after she'd been returned following her depression. But they couldn't risk word getting out about the tiny Peter yet. They needed adult Peter to act without influence. They couldn't risk upsetting what had become of things. They couldn't risk losing him, again.
They had even requested Dr. Strange visit them a couple of weeks later, wanting him to do his magic to speak to Peter, but the man had refused, feeding Tony all kinds of excuses that the genius had not believed. Getting those details out of a two year old had sparked most of Peter's tantrums.
Now, though.
"Well, Little Bug, you're stuck with us now," Tony smiled, jostling the little boy, who grumbled sleepily. Tony huffed and glanced at Pepper.
"You're going to have FRIDAY implement the papers?" Pepper asked, lifting her gaze from her tablet to study Tony's features. Tony peered over, curious, to see what she'd been doing on it, but she jerked it away with a playful smirk. Tony rolled his eyes.
"Yes. Any objections? Speak up now or forever hold your peace."
Pepper laughed. "No. This is one fire I will enjoy watching burn."
"Hah! I always knew you were secretly a minion of chaos. All gingers are."
Tony grunted when Pepper elbowed him playfully.
"Alright FRIDAY! Release the spider baby!"
"Yes sir," FRIDAY chirped cheerfully, and set about altering data across various areas of the Internet; FRIDAY added official documentation for Peter's birth, up to and including gossip columns that speculated about Pepper being pregnant. By morning, all the information was out there, for anyone that went looking for it.
With Peter asleep on his chest, Tony leaned back against the headboard, adjusting the pillow behind him, and smirked.
"FRIDAY, call Honeybear. It's time he learned about his nephew."