You Can Let Go Now Daddy

Babysitting

"We can't take him to the court house Tony, it's not fair. I'll see if I can find a babysitter.." Pepper sighed as she read over the letter they'd received about the court case.
"He's a minor. He doesn't need to testify, my testimonial will be good enough." Tony agreed.
They had already put Peter to sleep, though Tony didn't expect it to last long. It'd been 4 days since they'd had the kid and he always somehow ended up in their bed. Not that either adult minded, having Peter close made Tony more comfortable and Pepper would be lying if she said she didn't think the sight of the two curled up together was adorable.
"As for babysitter..." Tony came back out from the bathroom eyebrows raised in a silent question. Pepper knew what he was going to ask without him actually vocalizing it.
"Absolutely not. Tony, he's skittish with us as it is and having all of them around... Thor is so loud, the poor kid would be terrified." She tried to reason with him but Tony wasn't having it.
"He was perfectly fine at the meeting. He loved Clint! It'll only be for a few hours and it's at night so Peter might even be sleeping for most of it. Come on... We won't even have to pay them!" He shot back, crawling into bed beside her. Pepper sighed.
Tony was right, the Avengers wouldn't mind babysitting Peter without pay. Most of them had been begging to get to know the young boy better ever since they first saw him and she couldn't argue that Clint and Natasha would likely keep the rest in check.
"Alright. Only if Peter is comfortable. I'm not leaving him in the care of people he barely knows if he doesn't feel comfortable with it." She sighed. Tony smirked, shutting off he light and pulling her close.
"Of course. But like I said, I'm sure he'll be fine."
Pepper hoped so.

"Hey, Peter." Pepper approached the boy the next morning. Their meeting started at 5pm and she'd already called the Avengers to let them know.

Peter looked up from the piece of scrap metal he'd stolen from Tony, smiling brightly.
She sighed taking it from him and placing it on the counter, Tony really needed to be more careful where he left his spare parts now.
"Tony and I have to go out later... So Tony's friends from the meeting will be coming over to take care of you. Just for a few hours... Is that okay?" She asked, watching Peter's thoughtful face.
He opened his mouth then paused, tilting his head. "Cwint." He said matter of factly and Pepper nodded, remembering Tony telling her what had happened earlier in the week.
"Okay." Peter stood, making his way to the pile of toys sitting in the living room by the TV. Pepper blinked.
That was easy.

"Okay. Don't feed him too much or he might get sick. He has a fragile stomach." Pepper told the group of superheroes seated on her couch.
"And if he wants a bed time story, make sure it's the one about the puppies sitting on his bedside table or he might not fall asleep." Tony added, pointing accusingly at Thor. The God shrugged.
"No loud noises or he might get scared and if he can't sleep, just sit with him until we get back. We'll take him to bed with us when we get home." Pepper reminded them.

Clint laughed. "I'm pretty sure we'll be fine. You two should go or you're going to be late." He pointed to the clock. Tony gasped.
"Okay. Remember what I said!" He grabbed Peppers hand, ruffling Peter's hair as they turned to leave.
"Be good Peter." Pepper added, waving as the elevator came. Peter nodded and waved back, watching them climb in and disappear. Once they were gone, Peter turned to the adults.
The adults stared at the child and he stared back, raising his eyebrows when he realized they weren't moving.

"Dinner." He decided to give them a prompt. The Avengers shared a look.
"Uh, what does Tony usually make for dinner." Natasha asked, not used to being thrust into such a random position.
Peter tapped his chin thoughtfully. He could really tell them anything and they'd believe him, but he didn't want to make Pepper or Tony mad.
"Pizza." He finally agreed with himself. Steve shrugged.
"That's easy enough, I'll order... Can you guys watch him while I talk to the delivery place?" He asked, standing up. The rest agreed and Peter smiled, making his way across the room to Thor.

"Play." He held up the toys for the man and Thor took one gently, watching Peter's face to see if what he was doing was correct. Peter was satisfied and he moved on to the others handing them toys too, soon he was creating his own game with the toys, the adults following along as best they could.

When Steve returned from the kitchen, he found himself watching what was virtually a sitcom but with toys and, as much as he didn't want to admit it, it was pretty entertaining. The group played like that until the pizza arrived, at which point Bruce cut it and handed it out to everyone, including the 5 year old who eagerly took it.
"Thank you, Bwuce!" He chirped, happily.

After dinner, the group had to decide who would bathe Peter, as Tony had instructed he needed a bath before bed. Natasha eventually agreed to do it when they tried to get Steve to and Peter had ran from the bathroom naked, giggling as the adults chased him.
Thor passed Natasha the pyjamas and towel and she slowly dried him, pulling his onesie on.
"Thank you, Tasha and For." He smiled up at them.

Steve and Clint were put on story duty and they read the book as animatedly as possible, which Peter loved, clapping his little hands until his eyes became droopy and he slowly drifted off.
"Thank you, Steve and Cwint." He sighed sleepily.
The Avengers assembled in the living room, Peter asleep. They were all exhausted themselves, taking care of Peter, even as a group of 5, was no walk in the park.
An hour after Peter had been put to sleep, the boy came padding back down the stairs.
Bruce looked up from what he was working on at the table, everyone else had fallen asleep on the couch but he'd decided to stay up to let Tony and Pepper know how the night had gone.

"You should be in bed, Spiderman." He noted and Peter shrugged.
"Bad dream. When is Stark home?" He asked and Bruce shrugged as well, not actually knowing exactly when they were supposed to come home.
"Want to stay up with me until they do? I'll show you how to tinker with some of this stuff." He looked at the scrap pieces across the table, moving anything with sharp edges out of Peter's grasp and picking the boy up, setting him in his lap.

When Tony and Pepper came back an hour later, exhausted from the court battle but glad from the outcome, little Peter zoomed into their arms, holding up a Rubix cube Bruce had been trying to teach him to solve.
"How was he?" Pepper asked worriedly but Bruce smiled.
"Perfect." He winked at Peter who giggled and nodded. Tony raised his eyebrows but didn't push it, if the exhausted Avengers were anything to go by, Peter had had quite the night.
"Up to bed, Spiderman." He declared and Pepper took Peter from him, walking off up the stairs.
"You sure he was fine?" Tony asked concerned and Bruce chuckled.
"Of course. He's an angel. We'd all love to come back another time."
Tony chuckled. At least he always had the Avengers to count on for babysitting.