Tony stared.
It was the only reaction he could manage because Peter was a baby. Not in the sense that he and Stephen referred to the boy, but an actual pint-sized human being. He allowed the boy to go on a mission with some of the Avengers after a good amount of begging from the teen, and that was only because Rhodey would be there.
But Peter did not come back the same way he left.
When the group got back, Clint approached him in the common room looking like he was walking to his execution, and held up his hands.
Don't freak out, he had said. Before he could even ask what the archer was talking about, the rest of the group walked in and the billionaire's attention immediately honed in on the toddler at Natasha's waist. Wide, brown doe eyes meet his gaze before a bright smile plasters itself on Peter's face, and the child enthusiastically reaches for him.
"Daddy!"
Tony took the boy without a second thought.
"Pete..."
"Want Mama."
Tony looks over his shoulder at Stephen to find the man still meditating-or projecting, he wasn't sure-and he was rather glad. Once the sorcerer was aware of Peter's current predicament, Mama Bear would come out and that was scary. Hell hath no fury like a protective Stephen Strange.
"He's busy baby." Tony situates him onto a hip and then glares at the others. "What happened?!"
Steve winces. "Alien tech. The effect will wear off in a couple of days."
"It better or you'll wish you were a popsicle again!"
Peter squirms in Tony's arms until the genius finally relents and sets him down, only to regret his decision. The boy quickly makes his way over to Strange and climbs onto crossed legs and everyone watches in nervous apprehension when blue eyes snap open. Stephen silently studies the child in his lap and when realization dawns on the man, he gives the group across the room an icy glare. All but Tony cringe at the intensity.
"Explain." The sorcerer snaps.
"It's temporary babe. I already yelled at them."
Stephen stands with Peter in his arms, making a point to ignore everyone but the child. "Are you hungry Spiderling?"
"Hungry!"
Tony watches the two disappear into the adjoining kitchen before returning his attention to the others. Steve and Clint watch him anxiously, Rhodey was giving him an apologetic look, and Natasha was...expressionless, as per usual. With a heavy sigh, the mechanic waves them away.
"Just...leave before Mama Bear comes out completely. I'll let you know when Peter's back to normal." When the others start to protest, Tony raises an eyebrow. "Unless you want to be tossed in another dimension."
Clint, Steve, and Natasha turn to the elevator without another word but Rhodey looks at him with a frown. "I'm sorry Tones. It was meant for me but Peter took it instead."
That was sadly believable. "Just get some rest Honey Bear."
He didn't really blame the colonel, but he wasn't going to accept the apology until he had his chatterbox teenager back. So with a sigh, Rhodey joins the others in the elevator, and when the doors close, Tony joins Stephen and Peter in the kitchen. If it was physically possible, the scene he walked in on would have had him melting into a puddle of goo. Stephen was sitting at the table with Peter happily munching on a banana on one of the man's thighs, and the man himself was reading a book laid out on the table. Half-asleep Peter had the right idea calling the sorcerer Mom. Stephen certainly acted like one when the kid was involved.
"How long do we have a baby?" Stephen asks as he turns a page.
Tony sits across from him and shrugs. "Capsicle says a couple days. Give or take. Think Peter will remember any of this?"
Peter looks up at the mention if his name and sucks on banana covered fingers until Stephen grabs a napkin and wipes them clean. "It's possible. Why? Do you plan on embarrassing him?"
"I haven't decided yet."
Stephen was tasked with going to the store to get their temporary baby some much needed items since Peter decided that he was going to quite literally stick to the sorcerer. It did make holding him a lot easier for Stephen since his hands couldn't lift much more than a few books, and all he really had to do was hold his arm in a way that it actually looked like he was holding Peter. Like now. At the store, in the middle of the baby aisle.
He honestly never thought he would be in this position. Staring at a huge assortment of diapers, with a small child babbling in his ear about something, but Peter had gotten too excited and actual words turned into nonsense.
He could almost hear Wong laughing. Bastard.
"Stephen?"
Oh god. The sorcerer looks to the end of the aisle and finds Christine staring at him.
"Christine." He replies slowly before turning his attention to the headache inducing diaper collection.
"Sorry...I'm not going to pretend I don't see you in the baby aisle with an actual baby. When did that happen?"
"A year ago?"
Christine gives him a look. "He's older than that."
"Precisely. He's a sixteen-year-old in the body of a two-year-old." Stephen randomly grabs a couple of packages and hopes to whatever deity is listening that they fit.
"Mama! Cup!" Peter reaches out over Stephen's shoulder and the man sighs when his former coworker bursts into laughter.
"Did your cult have a little mishap?"
The sorcerer scowls. "For the last time Christine, it's not a cult. Now stop laughing."
The brunette grabs the cup Peter's pointing at and gives it to the baby with a smile. "Are you going to explain why he calls you Mama?"
"Nope."
"Come on Stephen. I can tell it's a habit. I've got time."
"What teenager calls me Mom?"
"One in a baby's body."
Stephen rolls his eyes and tosses a few more necessary items in his cart. Christine was genuinely curious and would probably tease him a bit, but there really was no harm in telling her. She knew about his relationship with Tony, and that said billionaire adopted an orphan from Queens, just not that said orphan adopted Stephen as his pseudo-mom. Or that the kid was Spiderman.
Which he would have to say something now because he dropped both of his arms without a second thought, and Christine stared as Peter easily clung to Stephen's front.
"Right..." Stephen sighs. "Christine...meet Peter. Or as you may also know him as Spiderman. Who was turned into this during a mission by alien tech."
The identity of Spiderman didn't faze her a bit, and he wasn't surprised considering she thought he joined a cult. "...who calls you Mom."
"Fine! Fine..."
Stephen tells her the story of how Mom started, and surprisingly, she didn't laugh again. She just turned her attention to Peter and cooed at him until he hid his face in Stephen's neck.
"He's cute. You should bring him by when he's back to normal."
"What for?"
"I want to see the face that melted the ice around your heart."
"Watch the news."
Christine scoffs. "For all the hype about your boyfriend adopting a kid, there was never a good look of his face."
"That's a lie. I know for a fact that a decathlon picture was leaked and it was very clear."
"Ok. Fine. I want to meet him."
Stephen sniffs and holds his hand up to Peters back while the boy plays with his iron man cup. "I'll think about it."
"It's nice to see you care about someone other than yourself."
Stephen gives her an offended look. "Obviously the fact that I'm dating Tony means nothing to you."
"You know what I mean."
He did. Stephen never really cared for kids but after meeting Peter, it didn't take long for the teen to wiggle his way into his heart. In fact, the teen simply asked him about his days as a neurosurgeon and Stephen folded. It also helped that he was one of the sweetest kids he ever met and his shenanigans actually made the sorcerer laugh.
"You're going to tell everyone aren't you?"
"No." Christine smiles. "I'm sure he'll embarrass you all by himself."
Wasn't that the truth. "He'll do it on purpose too." Stephen throws one last item into the cart just as Peter starts demanding juice. "As you can see, I now have a thirsty child so I'll be leaving now."
Christine sniggers. "You really are a mom."
"Just for that, I'm not going to even consider coming by the hospital."
"You don't come and I'll name our technique the Palmer-Strange Technique."
"You see what I have to deal with Spiderling? A bunch of sociopaths."
Peter looks up at him with a quizzical look and then holds out the new cup. "Juice?"
Stephen sighs.
Peter clung to Stephen for the majority of the next couple of days, and Tony was absolutely not jealous. Teenage Peter clung to him, and they had their time in the lab, so if Baby Peter wanted Stephen then so be it. His boyfriend seemed to enjoy the one on one time anyway. So did the Cloak which Peter so lovingly called Levi a couple weeks ago. For a piece of cloth, it seemed to adore the boy, and was constantly hovering around Peter ever since he was turned into a baby. Stephen almost had to beat it away because it was being so protective.
Right now, the baby was crawling all over Stephen who was somehow able to meditate through it, and Levi was watching. No doubt prepared to catch the boy if he fell even if the sorcerer was sitting on the ground. Tony was laying on the couch, lazily flipping through channels while keeping one eye on the Spiderling.
Of course it was during this that the alien magic wore off and teenage Peter found himself laying in a startled sorcerer supreme's lap and looking up at the man with the same expression.
"Holy crap! What happened?"
Peter scrambles off of Stephen's lap when the man bursts into laughter and Tony sits up.
"What's the last thing you remember Underoos?"
Peter looks at the laughing sorcerer curiously before turning his attention to Tony. "Uh...some guy was going to shoot Uncle Rhodey so I-" Brown eyes widen almost comically and the teen looks down with a violent blush. "Oh my god...please don't tell me I called you guys...Im going to go jump off the tower now."
Peter stands to do just that and both Tony and Stephen grab him, the latter at the end of his laughter.
"Spiderling, it's not much different than Mom."
Tony grins. "Since you remember, I get to tease you. FRIDAY is making a home video as we speak."
"I'm pretty sure that's child abuse." Peter mutters.
Levi then swoops over to the teen and moves him every which way to check for any injuries, nods it's collar in approval when it finds none, and wraps around the boy so tightly he falls over. Peter clenches his eyes shut as he waits for his head to violently meet the floor, but when his descent slows and it touches something relatively softer he cracks a single eye open and finds Stephen looking down at him.
"You might as well get comfortable. The cloak won't be releasing you any time soon."
"Figures. Dad, change the channel. The news is depressing."
Tony glances up at the T.V. and changes it to one of Peter's favorite shows.
"So how much did you enjoy clinging to Mama Bear?"
Peter groans loudly. "That's it! Levi, let me go. I'm jumping off the roof!"
Levi didn't.