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“It’s permanent.” Stephen deduced, face set with grim defeat. He had just spent the last twenty minutes examining the situation, silent as he cast spell after spell.
Tony had called the wizard immediately when it happened, not sure what else to do in this situation. Was there some sort of protocol for this?
He had been expecting a lot of things, but this he had not even allowed himself to consider. Permanent. Bile rose in the back of his throat. Tony’s mouth flopped open and closed uselessly. “Permanent?!” He spluttered, feeling a bit lightheaded.
Stephen nodded slowly, grimacing. “I’m afraid so.”
Tony’s heart pounded in his chest, eyes darting to where the pint sized version of Peter was happily, obliviously, playing in the corner of Tony’s lab. He was no older than four years old, and he acted like it.
Tony wasn’t even sure what had happened. One minute Peter was his normal seventeen year old self, babbling on while they worked in the lab, and then he was barely more than a toddler. There was no blast of light, no spell, no bang, nothing. Just… Tony had blinked and Peter had shrunk.
He seemed to have his memories… sort of. He knew who Tony was, he knew about the Avengers and Thanos and the Snap, he knew his parents and his aunt and uncle were gone. And yet, he was very much a child with the attention span and emotional maturity of one.
He didn’t seem to be as alarmed about the situation as Tony thought he should be. He wasn’t anywhere near as freaked out as Tony currently felt.
“Daddy, look!” Peter hollered, holding up a finished part of the lego set he was working on.
Tony’s lips parted and a smile curled at the corners of his mouth. “Looking good, buddy.” He replied softly, instinctively.
And then there was that. With Peter’s de-aging, his inhibitions were lowered as well. He didn’t have near as much of a filter as a teenager did, and so… Daddy.
It filled Tony with more joy than he really felt like admitting, and more fear than he wanted to deal with.
It was a familiar feeling. It was the feeling he had when he held his daughter for the first time of many. It was the feeling in his chest when he laid eyes on Peter for the first time in five years. It was familiar and intense and heart wrenching.
His eyes fell onto Peter again, his grin widening as the boy waved excitedly at him when their eyes met.
… Tony was screwed.
“Mommy!” Peter shouted happily, launching himself into Pepper’s arms. Pepper caught him with a grunt, staring at Tony over Peter’s shoulder. Her face was lined with shock and horror and she had paled to an almost alarming degree.
Tony himself was shocked frozen, staring at the both of them like he had never seen them before. Which… fair.
“It’s… he’s staying like this?” Pepper confirmed, biting her lip.
Tony nodded slowly, still stiff as a board. Pepper was slightly worried he might just keel over if he didn’t relax a bit.
After a moment of watching him closely, she looked down, staring at the adorable little boy who had burrowed his face in her neck and was twirling a strand of her hair gently around his finger. Peter, sensing her gaze, peeked up at her with the softest bambi eyes Pepper had ever seen in her life.
“Hi.” He whispered, suddenly looking shy, his chubby cheeks turning pink.
“Hi baby.” She whispered softly. “Did you have a good day today?” She asked, reaching up with one hand to stroke his hair and boop him on the nose.
A sting of high pitched giggles followed the gesture, Peter nodding as his mirth exploded. “Yeah! Daddy and I played with legos! It was so fun! And we saw the wizard!” He told her, blowing a raspberry. “He was veeeerrryyy boring.”
Pepper looked up at Tony for a second, noting the absolutely besotted look on his face, before she looked back down at Peter warmly. “Sounds like you had a very interesting day.” She replied with an indulgent smirk. “You must be pretty hungry after being so busy like that.” She nodded to herself, starting to make her way towards the house.
Peter giggled again. “I wasn’t busy, silly!”
Pepper’s chest warmed with affection. Peter as a teenager was pretty darn adorable but Peter at what looked to be four years old? He was absolutely heart breaking.
She heard Tony hurry to follow after them, running forward and opening the door. “Thank you sweetie.” Pepper thanked him with a small smile and a kiss. “Why don’t you go get Morgan and prepare her for our… situation.”
Tony groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. “Ugh. She’s going to be way too excited about this.”
Pepper grinned. He wasn’t wrong. Morgan would absolutely love having a new ‘baby’ brother.
“Morgy?” Peter murmured curiously, perking up and looking around for the aforementioned girl. He looked very disappointed when he did not find her. Looked like someone else might be just as excited.
“Daddy is getting her.” Pepper said sweetly. “Don’t worry. Go.” She whispered the last part, shooting Tony a look.
Once he had disappeared up the stairs, Pepper made her way into the kitchen, setting Peter to sit on the counter. “Now you don’t move an inch, Mister.” She ordered softly, unable to help pressing a kiss to the top of Peter’s head when the boy nodded earnestly.
“How does mac n cheese sound?” Pepper asked, humming as she rifled through the pantry.
“Well President Maguna and I vote yes on the mac.” Tony’s voice came from the hallway. “What do you say, Itsy Bitsy?”
“Mac n cheese!” Peter cheered and Pepper turned to see Tony picking him up off the counter and setting him on his feet in front of Morgan.
The two children stared at each other for a few seconds, seven year old and nineteen year old turned four year old sizing each other up. The tension in the room built and for a second Pepper was worried the two wouldn’t get along.
She shouldn’t have been.
After a minute or so Morgan squealed, wrapping Peter in a big hug. “Petey!! You’re so small! And cute!” She turned to pout up at Tony. “Can I put him in one of my princess dresses?”
Tony looked like he was going to say no but took one look at the equally excited Peter and sighed. “As long is your brother is okay with it.”
Morgan turned her pout to Peter now.
Peter grinned wide, eyes crinkling. “I wanna be Elsa!”
Pepper barked out a laugh, staring after the two children as they ran back to Morgan’s room to play dress up. “We should’ve expected that.” She said sheepishly, looking up at Tony.
Tony sighed again, rubbing at his temples. “Mhm.”