New chapter! Yay! Read all about the craziness that happens to "Pee" and Steve in the conclusion of Peter's babysitting gig.
5 Avengers and a Baby - Chapter 10
Peter paces across the floor, running his fingers through his hair, while he glances at Steve who is still sitting in the middle of the floor in Tony's bedroom, crying his little, blue eyes out.
"Hey, Kid," he finally takes action and kneels in front of him and Steve sniffs and looks at his unwanted babysitter. "What can I do to cheer you up, huh?"
"Oh-ny," Steve hiccups.
"Tony's out with Pepper tonight," Peter tries to explain, but Steve's eyes start to well up again when all he hears is that Tony's gone. "But hey, he'll be back later. We can have fun until he gets back. Are these your legos?"
"Yegos," Steve sniffs.
"You want to help me build something?" Peter hands Steve a lego, but Steve just throws the lego in the air. Peter thinks fast and shoots his web shooter at the airborne lego, webbing it to the ceiling. He looks down to Steve to see if he's successfully distracted the upset kid.
"Yego?" Steve looks up at the lego stuck to the ceiling before looking at Peter curiously.
"Wanna stick some more legos to the room, Steve?" Peter cautiously hands the teary toddler another lego. Steve slowly takes the lego offering and studies it. After looking at Peter once more he grins a little and Peter sighs in relief that the kid seems to have accepted him. "Throw the lego, Steve," Peter smiles and raises his hand to take aim. Steve throws the lego into the air again and Peter takes aim and webs it to the wall. Steve laughs and grins at Peter. "See? I'm not so bad, Kid. Lets stick the rest of them to the room," Peter hands Steve the stack of legos and they finish sticking them all over the bedroom.
"Want to go in the living room and play in there?" Peter asks once they finish sticking all of the legos. He starts to walk into the living area and Steve pauses for a moment, looking around the room one last time for Tony before deciding to follow Peter.
"What's that?" Peter squeaks when he sees Bucky run by in his hamster ball.
"Bucky!" Steve grins and picks up the little hamster.
"Ugh, it's a hamster," Peter cringes and looks at his buggy eyes and squeaky nose. Steve sets Bucky back down and Peter jumps out of the way as Steve chases after the little rodent.
"Steve!" Peter runs when Bucky suddenly does a U-turn and comes back toward him. "Steve! Pick up the hamster! Pick it up, Steve!"
Steve just laughs at the funny noises and faces Peter makes and watches Bucky chase him around the room. Peter finally ends up on top of the sofa while the hamster circles around on the floor.
Once the hamster finally moves on and Peter climbs down off the sofa, Steve shows Peter his shield, farm animals, and 'Bee' the giant teddy bear. After he shows Peter all of his favorite toys, Steve sighs and looks around the room again for Tony to see if he's back yet. Peter understands what Steve is thinking and immediately starts to think of ways to distract the Toddler before he starts to get sad again.
"Hey, Steve," Peter shoots two long strings of web from the ceiling. "Want to swing?"
"Fwing?" Steve grins and nods emphatically and Peter lifts him up and sets him in the hammock-like web swing and pushes him. Steve giggles and squeals as Peter swings him higher.
"Want to go higher?" Peter smiles.
"Hi! Hi!" Steve shouts and laughs.
Peter pulls the swing with back and pushes the swing, launching him with an underdog push. He quickly realizes that the underdog push may have been a little too overzealous when he turns around to see Steve swinging back, still laughing, before the swing launches forward and Steve flies out of the swing.
"Oh, crap," Peter runs to catch the airborne toddler, but trips and lands on his stomach. Everything slows down as he watches the kid tumble toward the floor. A million thoughts race through Peter's mind, but the main one he's thinking of is that Tony is going to kill him.
Everything shifts back into regular motion when Peter's speedy reflexes kick in and he fires his web shooters creating a big web-net across one end of the living room. Steve lands heavily in the net, bouncing up into the air a couple times. Peter rushes over to the net when he hears what he thinks is Steve crying.
"Oh my God, I broke him. I broke Tony's kid," Peter skids across the floor as he quickly inspects the toddler who is still laying in the net. Steve looks at him, his blue eyes squint up as he laughs and laughs. "Oh, thank God," Peter sighs.
"Gain! Gain!" Steve wiggles out of the net and plops onto the floor.
"Again?" Peter picks Steve up off the floor and Steve nods.
"Gain!" Steve grins.
Peter swings Steve again, gentler this time around, and Steve laughs and giggles. Peter's gaze is pulled away from Steve when a cloud of smoke rising from the street below catches his eye. He walks over to the floor to ceiling window and peers down to the city streets.
"Oh no," Peter sees a car with smoke pouring out of the hood that's crashed into a lightpost. Peter looks back at Steve and back to the car and back to Steve as he tries to figure out how to watch him and save the driver below. "Steve, want to go for a ride?"
"Ri?" Steve nods excitedly.
Peter pulls his Spider Man uniform out of his backpack. He pulls on his mask and turns to pick up Steve, but the kid whimpers and pulls away. "Steve, it's me. Peter." Steve shakes his head and crawls away, hiding behind the sofa.
"Steve," Peter kneels next to the sofa and tries to pick up the Kid.
"No!" Steve cries and scoots further behind the sofa.
"It's okay, Steve," Peter pulls off his mask to show Steve his face.
"Pee?" Steve frowns and Peter sighs at his new nickname.
"Yeah, it's Pee," Steve finally lets Peter pick him up and Steve stares at Peter's uniform. "See? It's just a mask." Peter hands Steve the Spider Man mask. Steve looks at the mask and looks at Peter.
"Oh-ny. I-man?" Steve points to his Iron Man plushie on the floor. "Pee?" he holds the mask up to Peter.
"Right, Kiddo," Peter nods, impressed with how smart Steve is. "Tony is Iron Man like I'm Spider Man." Peter takes the mask from Steve and puts it back on.
"Pie-Man," Steve points at him and grins. "Pee."
"Great, now I'm Pie-Man and Pee," Peter sighs. "Tony's going to love that."
Peter quickly puts a coat on Steve and makes a backpack-like carrier for the Kid out of webbing and carries him on his back. He runs out onto the balcony of the Tower and glances at Steve over his shoulder. "Ready to go for a ride, Kid?"
"Ya!" Steve cheers.
"Alright. Hang on," Peter stands on the ledge of the balcony and jumps, firing a web to swing down to the street. Steve laughs the whole way down, holding onto Peter tightly. They land heavily on the street and Peter runs up to the car. The hood that was once only smoking has now burst into flames while the driver frantically pounds on the window, trying to escape.
"Stand back," Spider Man orders and the crowd of people and the few people who were trying to help the driver back away. "Cover your face!" He directs the woman in the car and she obeys. Peter pulls his fist back and punches the window out and reaches in to pull the driver out of the smoking car. A firetruck screeches to a stop and the firemen quickly start hooking up hoses to hydrants to put the fire out. Spider-Man helps the woman sit on the curb, a safe distance away from the car when he hears Steve coughing from his seat on his back.
"Got a little smokey, huh Kid?" Peter pulls Steve around so the backpack is sitting on his chest and Steve coughs and his eyes water. "Steve?" Peter kneels on the ground, panic starting to well in his stomach when Steve keeps coughing and starts wheezing. "Steve! Hey, can I get a little help over here?" Peter rushes over to the firemen and kneels down to set Steve on the ground. The Toddler sits on the sidewalk and his wheezing and coughing are getting worse. The firefighters take one look at Steve and one of them rushes over with an oxygen tank and a pediatric inhaler.
"What's his name?" The firefighter asks as he returns to Peter.
"Steve," Peter answers as he watches the firefighter he hold the oxygen mask to Steve's face.
"How old?"
"Um, I'm not sure. A year and a half?" Peter stammers.
"Hey, Steve," The firefighter kneels down to Steve's level so he can see him. "My name is Brian. I need you to help me and take a really deep breath when I tell you to, okay?" Steve nods. "Can you practice with me?" Steve nods again and takes a deep breath when Brian takes a deep breath. "Good guy," Brian smiles. "One more time, Steve," Brian switches the oxygen mask for the asthma inhaler and Steve takes a deep breath again, copying him. "Great job," he smiles and replaces the oxygen.
"Is he going to be okay?" Peter asks.
"Yeah," Brian nods. "Just a minor asthma attack. You'll be okay, won't you Steve?"
The kid nods and grins at his new friend. "Bwian," Steve grins at the man from behind the oxygen and hi-fives him when Brian holds his hand up to him.
"Here," Brian tosses Peter the inhaler. "Keep that handy just in case he needs it again."
"Thanks," Peter nods.
"Hey, Kid," Brian reaches into the pocket on his yellow firemen's jacket. "Do you want a sticker for being such a brave guy?"
"Ticker?" Steve looks at the shiny sticker in the shape of a firemen's badge.
"You are officially an honorary firefighter, Steve," Brian takes away the oxygen, confident that Steve is okay, and sticks the sticker to Steve's jacket and sets his helmet on his head. The helmet is entirely too big and slips down over his eyes.
"Say 'thank you', Steve," Peter instructs.
"Fay you," Steve pushes the helmet up out of his eyes as he wobbles a few steps and gives Brian a hug.
"No problem, Kid," Brian stands and Steve hands him his helmet back. "Do you know where he came from? I can see if I can find his parents if you'd like," Brian offers.
"It's all good," Peter picks Steve up. "I know where he came from. I'll find them." Brian nods and turns to leave. Peter fires web to the top of a nearby building and quickly disappears away from the scene before anyone can ask anymore questions. "Time to go back home, Steve," Peter slips Steve back into his makeshift harness and pulls the straps over his shoulders.
"Ri?" Steve grins, hopeful that they can swing like before.
"You want to go for another ride?" Peter glances at the kid over his shoulder.
"Ya!" Steve cheers.
"You're the boss. Here we go!" Peter runs off the roof and web slings through the buildings. "Ready, set, swing!"
"Fwing!" Steve yells and laughs as they plummet down from the roof and swing high up into the air.
"Uh-oh," Peter swings and lands on the side of a building. "Looks like there's trouble down there, Steve."
"Puble?" Steve looks down at the two people in the alley below.
"Yep. Puble," Peter watches the scene play out as a man holds a gun to a woman, demanding that she give him her purse.
"Should we help, Steve?"
"Ya," Steve nods. "Halp."
Peter jumps down to the alley, landing behind the man with the gun.
"Hey!" Peter yells. "Leave the lady alone."
"Who the hell are y-…" the man turns to face who would be dumb enough to try to stop him, but stops mid-sentence when he sees Spider-Man standing behind him.
"Leave the lady alone. I'm not going to tell you again," Peter clenches his fists together, but the man doesn't listen. He quickly grabs the woman by the arm and uses her as a shield, holding the gun to her head.
"Just keep walking, Hero," the robber orders.
"I'll keep walking after you leave," Peter does his best intimidating voice from the shadows. He takes a threatening step forward and the robber looks legitimately worried for a moment.
"No! Vee baa!" Steve shouts as he peeks over Peters's shoulder and glares at the man.
"You have a kid with you?" The man asks incredulously when he sees Steve's face from the nose up frowning at him.
"Yeah, and you heard him. You're very bad, so let her go."
The man starts to slowly back away before he pushes the lady and runs with her purse.
"Hey! Stop!" Peter runs after him when his phone rings. He sends the call through to his communicator in his mask when he sees that it's Tony's number. "Hello?" Peter answers as calmly as he can while he chases the man down the alley.
"Hey Pete," Tony's voice greets over the communicator. "I just wanted to check in and see how Steve is doing."
"Oh, he's doing great."
"Is everything okay? You sound like you're winded."
"Oh, we were just running around. Guess I'm a little out of shape, but we're having a great time."
"Really? That's awesome. Let me talk to Steve."
"Uh," Peter skids around a corner and Steve laughs.
"I can hear him laughing. He must have warmed up to you."
"Yeah, we're buddies now aren't we Steve?"
"Pee!" Steve laughs. Peter ducks behind a dumpster just as the fleeing robber turns and fires at Peter.
"Were those gun shots?" Tony shouts and Peter can hear Pepper in the background yell 'what?'
"Uh, the TV is on?"
"Peter," Tony demands.
"Alright. There was a fire down on the street by the Tower and someone was trapped so Steve and I went and helped her…" Peter starts to explain as he shoots a web to a street light and swings into the robber, tackling him to the ground.
"You took Steve near a car fire?" Tony shouts.
"Well, yeah…we saved the lady and after the firefighter was done treating Steve we were leaving to go back to the Tower…," Peter struggles to keep the robber's hands behind his back as he tries to subdue him while talking to Tony.
"Why was Steve being treated by a firefighter?!"
"Um, well, he inhaled a little smoke and had a mild asthma attack. He gave me an inhaler and…Hey! Would you stop wiggling!?" Peter yells at the robber.
"No wiggol!" Steve orders.
"Where exactly did the gunshots come into the picture?"
"We were on our way back home when saw a lady being robbed and Steve thought we should help them." Peter loses the man's hands and he starts to fight him.
"Steve is a baby! Do you always do what the baby tells you to do?"
"Well, no, but there were people in danger," Peter takes a punch to the face and the robber takes off again. "Ow."
"I don't care!" Tony shouts.
"Tony," Peter doesn't believe him for a second.
"Ok, I do care. Is Steve okay?"
"He's good," Peter pants as he chase after the wily robber again. "I just got punched, thanks for asking, but Steve is peachy."
"Why did you get punched? Are you still chasing after the robber?!"
"Um, well…." Peter shoots a web at the man and nails him in the back. He grabs onto the string of webbing and stops the man dead in his tracks and pulls him onto his back. The man flips onto this stomach and fires the gun again and Peter takes cover behind a wall.
"Why are there still gun shots?!"
"Don't worry. We have this under control. Just enjoy your date, Tony," Peter fires his web shooter at the gun and rips it out of the robber's hand. He charges after him and punches him before webbing his hands behind his back.
"Dammit, Parker. Get Steve out of there!"
"Don't worry, Tony. Situation is under control and the robber is in custody. What do you think, Kid? Can you tell Tony what you think about this guy?"
"Ba! Vee baa!" Steve scolds the man while Peter hauls him up from the ground.
"You heard him, Tony. He's very bad. You know where very bad, naughty people go?"
"Naw-nee!" Steve shouts again.
"Jail," Peter pushes the man down the alley and returns the woman's purse to her. He webs the man to the wall and instructs the woman to call the police before he and Steve leave the scene.
"Ugh," Tony sighs on the other end of the line. "Pepper and I finished dinner. We're on our way home."
"Tony, don't cut your date short because of us. Steve's fine and we're on our way back to the Tower."
"You're going straight back to the Tower?" Tony asks.
"Yes."
"No detours or extra stops?"
"None. We'll go straight back. I promise."
"Fine. We'll be home in an hour. Straight home, Peter," Tony orders and ends the call.
Peter follows his orders and web slings back to the Tower. He's about to land on the balcony when a large, industrial air conditioner comes careening toward them, nearly dropping him and Steve out of the sky. Peter releases the web he was swinging on and he instantly drops, just narrowly avoiding being hit by the air conditioner. The big, metal contraption lodges itself into the side of a building and Peter shoots a web to another building before launching himself up to the top of the Tower, landing roughly on the roof.
"You okay, Steve?" Peter looks over his shoulder at Steve who has his arms wrapped around Peter's neck tightly. Steve nods and Peter looks up to see who is throwing things at them.
"Magneto," Peter frowns.
"Hello, Spider-Man," Magneto greets as he hovers in front of Peter. "I was waiting for Iron Man to return home, but then you came swinging in and I saw that you're the one that I have been waiting for."
"Aw, I'm flattered," Peter mocks.
Don't be," Magneto glares. "Your passenger is the one I want." Magneto leans to the side to eye the kid peeking over Peter's shoulder from his seat in the harness on Peter's back.
"The kid?" Peter frowns. "What do you want with him?" Peter shifts so Steve is out of Magneto's line of sight.
"I've been picking up strange energy readings in the area and with much work and effort, I have been able to track them to the Tower and I believe they are coming from your small friend. If these readings indicate what I think they do, then that child is coming with me."
"Sorry, Bucket Head. It's getting close to his bedtime, so he can't play tonight. Maybe some other time." Peter swings away from the Tower and Magneto flies after him, pulling metal beams from buildings as he goes. The hall of buildings begins to collapse around Peter as he desperately tries to stay ahead of the crashing and twisting metal.
"Hang on, Steve!" Peter yells.
"Pee!" Steve buries his face into the middle of Peter's back as he hangs onto him tightly.
Peter shoots a web to his left and takes a sharp turn, just narrowly escaping the collapsing buildings. Once they are out of the path of destruction, Peter lands on a rooftop and skids across the gravel, shifting his weight and spinning around to face their attacker.
"I'd be careful about messing with the Kid," Peter warns. "He belongs to Stark and he doesn't like it when people mess with his stuff. I made the mistake of messing up one of his experiments and I'm pretty sure he's still mad at me. But he doesn't really have any reason to be that mad with me. Dr. Banner, on the other hand, has every right to be mad at me. But he's fine. I'm pretty sure his eyebrows grew back eventually…."
"Do you ever stop talking?" Magneto growls and throws a motorcycle at the chatty hero.
"No. I've got a lot to say. No one really ever listens to me though," Peter continues to chat as he dodges the projectile flying at him. "Point is, Tony actually likes me, which is more than I can say about how he feels about you, and he's still mad at me. If you're dumb enough to mess with the kid, Tony's going to be pissed and he's going to be pissed at you. Trust me, that's bad news bears for you."
"I'll keep that in mind," Magneto smirks and raises a hand to lift a huge, metal water tower off of the building Peter is standing on. With one motion of his hand, the water tower comes crashing down toward Peter. He quickly sprints toward the edge of the building and leaps off as the water tower crashes down and breaks open, sending water raining down to the ground below.
"That was close," Peter sighs when he grabs onto the side of a building.
"Coze," Steve replies, still holding onto Peter tightly.
"Time to go on the offensive," Peter sets his mind to it and fires a web net at Magneto. The webbing wraps around his arms and Peter keeps of firing until the man is wrapped up.
"No!" Magneto growls and tries to break through the strong webbing. Peter fires a wide web behind the man before he swings at him. Magneto falls back and lands in the large web and is thoroughly stuck.
"Time to go," Peter quickly swings away and ducks into a dark alley.
"Peter!" Tony's angry voice comes over his comm again. "What the hell is going on?"
"We went straight back to the Tower…," Peter starts to explain.
"Then why the hell am I watching you fight Magneto on the news right now?"
"You're watching the news on your date?" Peter whispers as he ducks into the shadows of the alley when Magneto, after freeing himself from the web, flies by searching for them.
"Hmmm," Steve whimpers and shrinks behind Peter to hide.
"Shhhh, Steve," Peter holds his finger to his lips and Steve does his best to stay quiet.
"We were walking to the park when I got a notice on my phone that there was an attack going on near the Tower. We pulled up the news and saw you fighting Magneto."
"He attacked us on our way back to the Tower. Says he's been picking up weird energy readings from the tower and he thinks they're coming from the Kid. Do you know what he's talking about? Why would Steve give off weird energy readings?"
"Where are you right now?" Tony sounds worried and that worries Peter.
"Hiding in an alley with Steve. Why does he want him? What's going on, Tony?"
"Look, Steve isn't just a normal kid I'm watching," Tony confesses. Peter can hear the sound of armor assembling over the line as he continues to explain. "Something happened a week ago that…kind of…well… it's complicated."
"Just spill it, Tony," Peter shouts. "I need to know what I'm into here. I've got a magnetic psycho hunting us right now with a kid strapped to my back that could be radioactive for all I know. What is going on?"
"Ever heard of the Time Stone?"
"It's one of the Infinity Gems, but no one knows where those are. They were lost ages ago."
"Well, Cap found one," Tony gives the hint, but Peter doesn't entirely follow right away.
"Cap found a Time Stone? What did you do with it? Maybe that's what's giving off the — ohhh my God!" Peter suddenly puts two and two together. "Steve is Steve? I mean, Steve is Cap? Captain America is Steve?" Peter swings Steve around off of his back and looks at the baby in his hands.
"Pee," Steve grins.
"Ohhh Crap," Peter stares at the baby.
"Just keep him safe until I get there. I'll be there in two minutes."
"Hey Cap," Peter grins awkwardly at the once leader of the Avengers he's now holding.
"Cap," Steve grins and Peter slips him back onto his back just as Magneto returns.
"Hiding in the shadows like scared children," Magneto hovers above them, staring ominously at them. "Pathetic."
"Back off, Bucket Head," Peter glares and jumps up onto the rooftop, keeping himself between the villain and Steve.
Magneto holds out a hand and lands in front of Peter. "I have no use with you. Just give me the child and you may leave."
"Not a chance," Peter shakes his head.
"So be it," Magneto takes his open hand and crushes it into a fist. The rooftop below Peter collapses into itself like his fist. Peter barely jumps out of the way before being caught up in the twisted metal. He stumbles to his feet and slowly backs away from the advancing villain. "You should have handed him over when you had the chance."
"He knows that he would have to answer to me if he did that," Tony announces as he rockets in and uses all of his forward momentum to check Magneto into the street. "And I'm much scarier than you are."
"It's true," Peter agrees.
"Oh-ny!" Steve shouts and wiggles to try to get to his friend.
"Get the Kid out of here, Spider-Man," Tony orders and Peter immediately obliges. "Alright. Just you and me magnet brains."
"Stark," Magneto practically spits. "I'm so glad you decided to come, but tell me, how do you expect to defeat me with your iron armor?" Magneto gestures with his hand, but is confused when Tony's armor isn't crushed.
"Oh yeah. The name, Iron Man, it confuses a lot of people. It's actually not actually iron," Tony taps the armor on his chest. "It's made up of a top secret titanium alloy, not magnetic, that allows for extreme durability, but, at the same time, is light and…."
"Shut up, Stark," Magneto is getting annoyed and he picks up a dumpster and throws it at the Iron Avenger. Tony simply fires his repulser and diverts the attack away from him.
"Someone is getting a little frustrated," Tony smirks and watches the dumpster crash down to the empty street. He looks up just in time to see Magneto charging him. He tackles Tony and slams him into the side of a building. He holds him there when metal supports in the walls of the building break through the brick and wrap around Tony.
"Your armor may not be magnetic, but these rebar supports are," Magneto grins and waves his hand as the metal rods tighten around Tony. Alarms and warnings flash on Tony's hud as his armor begins to give way under the pressure. Magneto hovers in front of Tony and grins. "I can still crush you this way."
"Oh-ny!" Steve's little voice echoes through the empty city block from where Peter was hiding with him.
"Why are you still here!?" Tony shouts at Peter as he struggles against the metal restraints.
"Steve wouldn't leave without you," Peter shouts from the rooftop behind Magneto.
"Once again, Steve is a baby! You don't HAVE to do what he says!"
"I'm so glad you're still here," Magneto turns his attention to the child. "Stark. What is that I'm sensing in your little friend? It looks like he's got something metal in him. A coin perhaps?"
"Spider-Man! Run!" Tony orders when he realizes what Magneto is talking about.
"Stay right where you are," Magneto orders. "One move and the child will have that metal coin forcibly removed," Magneto threatens and waves his hand.
"Steve," Peter pulls him off his back when Steve starts to cry. "Hey kid, you okay? What's wrong?"
"Tummy," Steve frowns.
"Stop it!" Tony shouts. "I swear to God, you crazy son of a bitch, if you hurt him I'll…"
"Bring the child to me and no harm will come to him," Magneto orders, unimpressed by Tony's threats.
Peter looks up at Tony, trying to find some kind of direction on what he should do. He sees the Arc Reactor on his chest flash slightly and he gets the hint.
"Alright. I'll bring him up to you." Peter swings over to the building Tony is trapped in and lands on the roof above him. Once Peter is out of the line of fire Tony fires up his Arc Reactor.
"Eat Uni-beam, you bastard," Tony sneers and fires his Arc Reactor with everything he's got. The blast hits Magneto dead on. He falls to the street, hard, and doesn't get up. "That was for Steve," Tony breaks free of the metal restraints and immediately flies up to Peter on the roof above him. "Is he okay?"
"Oh-ny," Steve leans over into Tony's arms and he hugs the kid tight.
"Steve, I want you to stay with Peter, okay?" Tony hands Steve over to Pete and Steve nods.
Tony jumps down to where Magneto landed and keeps him covered until SHIELD authorities arrive and take him into custody. Once everything is cleared, Peter lands next to Tony with Steve sleeping in the harness on Peter's back.
"Can we go home now?" Peter asks.
"Yes. A thousand times, yes," Tony sighs and checks on Steve. His little face is smooshed into the back of Peter's shoulder while he sleeps soundly after his exciting and exhausting day.
They decide to catch a ride in one of the SHIELD quintets back to the Tower so they could avoid waking Steve up. Once they land on the tower, Tony dismantles his armor and they move inside and Pepper is there to greet them.
"Thank God you're all safe," Pepper rushes over and kisses Tony and hugs Peter. "Is he okay?"
Tony shifts Steve from the harness on Peter's back and into his arms.
"Oh-ny," Steve whimpers when he wakes up when his nap is disturbed.
"Seems fine," Tony bounces the tired kid around to try to get him to settle back to sleep again. "Is Bruce here?"
"I think he's on his way home. I called the others and let them know what was going on."
"Tummy," Steve sniffs and rubs his belly.
"Here, hold him like this," Pepper instructs Tony and has him lay Steve across his forearm on his belly like you would with a colicy baby. Steve snuggles in, his tummy already feeling better, and Tony sways gently with him.
"We'll have Bruce check him out when he gets here," Tony frowns.
"Tony," Peter starts. "I'm so sorry. I…"
"It's okay, Pete," Tony interrupts and turns to face the Kid. "You did great tonight."
"I did?" Peter is thoroughly surprised and confused.
"Yeah. You kept him safe when there were a lot of things thrown at you tonight…literally and figuratively. Honestly, I should be apologizing to you."
Peter just stares at Tony, unsure of what to even say to the man. He's totally caught off guard. He was completely expecting to get nailed for everything that happened tonight.
"I should have told you everything that was going on. I was wrong to not trust you with the situation and that put you both in danger and, for that, I am very sorry."
Peter just continues to stare in shock with his mouth hanging open.
"Peter," Tony shakes his head. "You're going to start to catch flies."
Peter snaps his mouth closed and finally manages to speak. "Thank you, Tony. It means a lot to hear you say that you trust me."
"Well, you earned it," Tony looks down at the sleeping baby in his arms, thankful that he's safe after a night full of danger. "It's getting late. You're more than welcome to stay here tonight if you'd like."
"Thanks, but I should get home," Peter grabs his backpack. "Aunt May will worry if I don't make it back."
"Thanks again, Pete," Tony shakes his hand.
"Bye, Steve," Peter whispers quietly.
"Bye, Pie-Man," Steve sighs, still half asleep.
"Pie-Man?" Tony laughs.
"Pie-Man," Steve yawns and settles back into Tony's arms.
"That's right. I'm 'Pee' and 'Pie-Man," Peter stands a little taller. "Jealous?" He gives Tony a smug look and walks toward the elevator and Tony just laughs.
Tony walks down the hall with Steve as he shrugs off his tie. He freezes when he walks into the bedroom.
"PETER!" Tony shouts and Peter's face drops when he realizes why Tony is yelling.
"Crap," Peter hits the button on the elevator frantically when Tony yells again.
"Why the hell are there legos webbed all over my bedroom?! Pee!"
"Sorry! Bye, Tony!" Peter waves as the doors to the elevator close just as Tony rushes back into the living room.
"Oh, there will be repercussions for this, Pie-Man!" Tony shouts, although there is little heat in his words, Peter doesn't stick around to find out how mad he actually is.