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Peter was a surprisingly easy child to take care of considering he was only two years old.
All he really required was food, water, diaper changes, snuggles from his Dad, and Squishy - his favorite stuffed octopus.
So when the toddler came down with a horrible cold, the only thing he wanted was to cuddle with both his Dad and Squishy. Unfortunately for both him and Tony, Squishy was currently MIA.
Tony had been looking high and low, in every corner, crease, and divot of the penthouse for the past hour, and still has yet to find the stupid little octopus.
Peter decided that until he had both of his comforts with him to cuddle, that he was going to scream and wail his head off; which also didn’t help with his stuffed-up nose and overall discomfort.
“Dada. Squishy.” Peter wails in Tony’s arms as the older man walks back out of his bedroom after looking all over it for the fourth time.
“I know, Bubba, I know you want your squishy, but Dada can’t find him,” Tony stresses, practically pulling his hair out as he twirls around in a circle in the living room, trying to look it all over at once. He felt like he was losing his mind; this is what hell is, Tony was sure of it.
Tony finally came to the conclusion that the stuffy was not on his floor and began to take the elevator down to the common floor to begin his hunt there. Thankfully Peter’s cries began to dim down, although they didn’t stop, because the last thing Tony wanted was to assault the Avengers with Peter’s piercing cries.
Or maybe he did. Maybe hearing how pitiful the toddler sounded and how desperate Tony sounded would help cohere the team into helping him find the octopus.
Thankfully, at least Natasha was sitting on the couch, so Tony could at least start somewhere.
“Nat, please tell me you know where Squishy is.” Tony practically begs as he walks out of the elevator.
“What the hell is a 'squishy'?” Nat questions, only getting a half-hearted glare in response. Tony didn’t have the energy to give a full-hearted glare
“Peter’s stuffed octopus, have you seen him?” Tony corrects his previous question.
“When’s the last time you slept?” Nat says in lieu of an answer.
“Damn it, Nat, have you seen his octopus or not?” Tony snaps, only slightly feeling afraid at the scowl he got.
“I haven’t, but you might want to ask Clint just in case; he’s down here more than I am anyway.” Nat finally answers, making Tony huff and begin to turn around.
“Wait!” Nat calls out, making Tony impatiently turning around. “Give Peter to me. You’re upset and it’s only making him even more upset. I’ll try to calm him down as best as I can, you just find his stuffed animal and calm down also.” Natasha says, holding her arms out expectantly for the baby.
Figuring it couldn’t hurt, and would probably help him clear his mind enough to continue looking for the stuffed animal, Tony gently placed a still sobbing peter into Nat’s arms, placing a kiss on the toddler’s burning forehead to try and soothe him a bit.
“I will be back in a bit,” Tony promises before dashing out of the room. “JARVIS, where’s Clint?” Tony asks once the elevator doors close shut.
‘ Mister Barton appears to be in the shooting range.’ JARVIS replies, already descending the elevator to the floor the range is located on.
As soon as the elevator doors opened back up, Tony ran out and barged into the room, not quite caring that he startled Clint into shooting an arrow into the ceiling.
“What the fuck, Stark? Don’t you know better than to startle someone with a weapon?” Clint shouts although Tony couldn’t really bring himself to care.
“Have you seen Squishy?” Tony repeated the same question from before.
“What the hell is a 'squishy'?” Clint also unintentionally repeats, Tony practically growling at the answer. “Woah, dude, what is wrong with you?” Clint asks, putting his hands up to show that he didn’t mean any harm with his answer.
“Peter’s stuffed octopus. Do you know where it is?” Tony snarls, not even trying to remain cordial anymore. He was exhausted and had a sick baby who was crying his little eyes out upstairs.
“Oh, that raggedy thing? I’m pretty sure Steve found it and-” Clint begins to say, Tony not even bothering to stay for whatever else Clint was trying to say.
“JARVIS.” Was all Tony had to say, the elevator automatically moving up to Steve’s floor as soon as he got inside it.
“Rogers!” Tony shouts once the elevators doors opened and revealed Steve’s floor to him. Thankfully, the soldier must have heard the urgency in Tony’s tone because he instantly rounded a corner and greeted Tony.
“Oh, Tony, I’m actually glad you’re here. I found Peter’s Squishy in the common room earlier and it was looking a bit dirty so I decided to wash it for you. I know the little guy is sick so I figured it would be easier on you.” Steve greets, holding the beloved stuffed octopus out for Tony to take.
“You have Squishy?” Tony whispers, not quite being able to believe his eyes.
“Yeah. Sorry if it caused you trouble but-” Steve began to sheepishly dismiss it all, the rest of his words getting lodge firmly into his throat when Tony quickly grabbed Steve’s shirt and pulled him into a kiss.
“You’re a fucking lifesaver, Steve, and I am so making it up to you. But later.” Tony says, grabbing the stuffed animal and quickly making his exit, leaving a completely stunned Steve standing stupidly in his living room.
Too tired to actually realize what he did, Tony rushed back down to the common room where Natasha was, all the wind rushing out of his lungs defeatedly when he saw Peter sleeping peacefully in Nat’s arms.
“What- How- He’s-” Tony stutters, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. “You know... I can't even bring myself to care.” Tony sighs, flopping onto the couch in defeat.
“Well, look on the bright side; not only is your sick son finally asleep, but you have his comfort item ready to go for when he wakes up and a date waiting for you when he’s all better,” Nat says, making Tony sit right back up.
“A date?!”
“Yeah, I was watching the surveillance feed of you running all around and watched you kiss Steve,” Nat says as if it was nothing and as if Tony was actually coherent for that.
“I did what now?!”