Peter wasn't crying by the time they reached their quarters. He was still clinging to Tony fairly tightly, though, and it took a bit of doing to get him undressed and into the bathtub. With him naked, the two had a chance to look for any kind of injury from the fall – both of them – that Peter had taken into the puddle, and they didn't see anything. He was just muddy and a little chilled.

"We can have him checked out, though," Tony suggested as he sat on the edge of the tub and watched Pepper bathe the boy. "Just to make sure."

Being good-natured like he was, Peter wasn't upset long, and he played in the water, happily, several Ironman toys and some floating animals and a Captain America submarine there to keep him occupied while Pepper and Tony traded off watching him so each could go change into comfortable, dry, clothes. He went willing into Pepper's arms when she held the towel out for him after they'd given him plenty of time to play, and she carried him over to the bed to dry him.

"These pajamas?" Tony asked, bringing a one-piece, footed and hooded Ironman outfit over. It was warm, and fuzzy and was comfortable enough looking that Stark almost wanted a pair for himself. "Or two pieces?"

"Those are fine," Pepper assured him, reaching for a pull-up. "I'll finish here, if you want to go find him a treat…"

"Ice cream…" Peter reminded him, his brown eyes happy and eager.

Stark smiled, leaning over to kiss him.

"Not cake?"

"Cake!"

Pepper rolled her eyes, amused.

"Meet in the lounge?"

"Yeah. Be good for mommy, Peter."

He left and she finished dressing him, pulling the hood of the pajamas over his head and smiling when he pulled it off.

"You look so handsome."

Peter smiled and cuddled himself against her, his lips pressing against her neck. Pepper picked him up and headed for the lounge. They'd feed him a snack – not ice cream or cake if they could avoid something so sugary this late in the evening – and then read him a story and put him to bed.

OOOOOO

Tony was sitting at the corner table when they arrived. Even better – as far as Pepper was concerned – he was sitting with Stephen and Natasha. They all looked over as Pepper walked up to the table, Peter tucked into her arms, and Peter turned himself upside down in her arms to greet them, proving that the fall into the puddle had done nothing to inhibit him from being squirmy.

"Tony told me that Peter fell," Strange said, holding his hands out to Peter, who cocked his head and then accepted the offer and let the doctor take him from Pepper.

"He dropped him," Pepper corrected. "Right on his head into a mudpuddle."

"He jumped," Tony told them. "He was wet, and my grip slipped."

"Let me take a look," Strange said. "Just to make sure."

The doctor smiled at the boy he was holding, and set him into his lap. He unzipped the pajamas to pull them off Peter's shoulders and bare his stomach and chest and then started running his hands along the boy, searching for any sign of swelling, bruising or heat that might indicate an injury. The boy giggled and squirmed, which made Stephen smile, again.

"Is he alright?" Pepper asked, also smiling.

"He's fine."

Strange put the pajamas back on, zipping them up, but they suddenly went from being Ironman pajamas to looking like an exact representation of the outfit that Strange or Wong would wear. There was a cloak, as well – although it wasn't separate from the pajamas, it was just added into the fabric. Peter didn't notice the change – although he did cock his head again at the use of magic – but Tony rolled his eyes and the two women both smiled. When Stephen tried to hand him back to Pepper, though, Peter shook his head and clung tight to the doctor's shirt, wrinkling his normally superbly pressed clothing.

"Ice cream."

Strange looked over at Tony, who shrugged.

"This one's on Pepper."

"It's a little late for ice cream," Strange said, looking down at the boy he was holding. "You'll never get to sleep."

Peter's face fell.

"Ice cream..."

"How about a cracker?" the magician offered, holding up a cracker that had suddenly appeared in his hand.

The toddler shook his head, looking hopeful.

"Ice cream, Ste'en."

Natasha snorted, softly, watching the battle of wills play out in front of them. That earned her a look from Strange, who set the cracker down, and tapped Peter's nose, softly, in admonishment. He wasn't used to so much pushback, really. Certainly not from a child. Of course, he didn't deal with children on a regular basis – or ever.

"No."

The toddler's eyes filled, and the lower lip quivered and stuck out, which the doctor thought was absolutely adorable – if not for the fact that he recognized it as an indication of a potential outburst.

"Aw, it's just ice cream," Natasha said, her heart breaking as alligator tears rolled slowly down Peter's cheeks. "Let him have some."

"You guys are going to spoil him, Natasha," Strange pointed out. "He doesn't need ice cream this late at night. The sugar will keep him awake and he'll be grumpy in the morning."

Peter buried his face in Strange's shirt, sobbing, softly, as all the woes of the world came crashing down on his tiny little shoulders. Strange rolled his eyes at the others and brushed the back of Peter's head, feeling just a little guilty – but unwilling to back down and lose the argument.

"Ice cream…" Peter mumbled, brokenly, sniffling into the front of the doctor's shirt.

"Just a bite, maybe?" Pepper suggested. "I did promise him some…"

The toddler looked over at her, brown eyes bright with tears, but he kept his hold on Strange, who sighed and looked down at him. As if aware of his scrutiny, Peter turned his head up to look at Stephen, who found himself caught in that hopeful gaze, and he sighed.

"One bite."

The boy nodded, solemnly.

A spoon appeared in Strange's hand, and it had a dollop of ice cream on it. Peter reached for it, eagerly, but the doctor pulled it away. There was no way he was going to give something so potentially messy to the boy when he was sitting in his lap.

"Open up."

Peter's mouth opened and his eyes lit up when the magician spooned the ice cream into his mouth. He made several loud smacking noises of appreciation, clearly enjoying the flavor (and his victory, Strange decided, privately – even though the toddler almost certainly didn't look at it that way).

"You old softy," Stark said, amused at the way the doctor was no more immune to Peter's big, brown eyes than the rest of them were.

"It wasn't worth the effort of arguing, Tony," Strange pointed out.

Not to mention the boy was in his present form just then because of some relic at the sanctum. Which made it somewhat Strange's fault he couldn't just go get his own ice cream. Peter reached for the cracker that the doctor had offered him before and started to gnaw on it, still leaning against Strange, content, now, to simply be held, and once again assured that all was well in his world and that he was loved.

"Well, since he's settled for now, and you're taking a break," Natasha said – amused and not hiding it. "Why don't we play cards?"

The others agreed quickly enough, and a deck of cards and a scorepad appeared on the table, which made Peter look over for just a moment before turning his head to put his face against Strange's chest, almost certainly listening to the man's heartbeat. Eventually, he fell asleep while they played on around him, and the gnawed on cracker fell to the floor.

Natasha smiled over at him when she realized what was going on, but Strange didn't even roll his eyes like he normally would have. He just shrugged and smiled down at the boy in his lap.

"Spoiled?" she asked, softly.

Which made Tony and Pepper smile, too.

"He's just indulged," Tony said.