"Please, Dad. I wouldn't be asking if I didn't have to," Tony pleads. Peter, at only a year old, chokes on a sob, Bambi eyes sending pleading stares to his father who paces the small living room.

Peter's sick. Badly sick from what Tony can tell. Tony doesn't have any health insurance and he doesn't have the money for rent, let alone for doctor's bills right now.

"If you had just gotten rid of the baby, this never would've happened," Howard replies condescendingly over the phone.

"He's my kid. I couldn't just abandon him!"

"He wouldn't have been your responsibility if you hadn't gotten so attached. If you left that whore to take care of him by herself, you never would've ended up with him," he tsks, obviously rolling his eyes.

"She's dead," Tony growls. "Don't call her a whore... I just need a little bit of money. Peter's really sick and I'm worried about this being something bigger than just a cold. It's either I get evicted for not having rent money or Peter suffers. I need the money."

"I have better things to do than listen to you whine about your poor life choices," Howard drawls, shuffling paper on the other end. "It's your fault you're in this situation, so you have to find a way to solve your problems."

"Dad-"

The phone beeps, signalling the end of the phone call before Tony could finish his sentence.

Tony growls in annoyance and throws his cellphone at the chair, watching it bounce harmlessly onto the cushion. Peter whimpers, bottom lip trembling as more tears spill down his pale cheeks.

The teenager scoops his baby up into his arms, running his fingers through Peter's bouncy curls soothingly.

"It's okay, buddy. It's okay. Daddy's got you. Everything's going to be okay. You'll feel better soon," Tony reassures half-heartedly. He doesn't know if that's true. Even if he takes Peter to the doctor, they won't have enough money for rent and they'll get evicted. If he doesn't, Peter's going to continue to suffer through whatever he has, but they'll have a roof over their head.

There's a loud knock on the door and it swings open before Tony can open his mouth.

Carol stalks in, shoulders tense and chin held high. She pushes her blonde hair over her shoulder and drops an envelope onto the table.

"What is that?" Tony says, making sure Peter's head stays against his shoulder as he turns. Peter's tears have slowed now that he's in his dad's arms, but his little shoulders are still trembling.

"Money. It'll cover the next three months of your rent. Take Peter to the doctors," Carol says, anger radiating from behind her eyes.

"I can't take that from you," Tony immediately argues, pressing a kiss to his kid's temple when he lets out a whine from the back of his throat.

"I can't let you suffer like this. You look like you haven't slept in days and you've been skipping your classes in favour of working while Rhodey babysits Peter. You need to take him to the doctors."

"This is a loan?" Tony questions, narrowing his eyes when Carol sighs heavily.

"It's a gift, Tony. I was saving up for a car, but a friend of mine is giving me her old one for super cheap. I don't need the money, you do," Carol says as though she's talking to a child.

"I can't just take this from you," Tony says, but he knows he has to. The collar of his old shirt is damp from Peter's tears and he needs the financial aid.

Carol seems to have realized the same thing and she pushes the envelope toward Tony.

"I just want Peter to be okay. Think of this as a gift to Peter, not to you," she says, shrugging nonchalantly with a half-smile.

"I called my dad," Tony admits, averting his eyes shamefully. "I was so desperate for help that I called my dad and begged for money. He called Mary a whore and then told me it was my fault and that I need to fix my own problems."

Carol huffs angrily, fists clenching. Carol became friends with Rhodey in one of their classes together and Rhodey introduced her to Tony and Peter. She knew this would be permanent immediately and she's been pissed at Tony's poor luck since she found out how bad it was. She's become a very protective mom friend ever since.

"He can go fuck himself. That's why you've got me and Rhodey. I know neither of us is very financially stable either, but we'll always be willing to help you with your rent. There's no way I'm letting you end up on the streets. That's not going to happen. Let's put Peter down for a nap and we'll pop open that shitty wine you have. I'll drive you to the doctor's tomorrow morning."

"You're the best," Tony murmurs, smiling in appreciation. How he got such amazing friends? He'll never know.

"I know. I'll take Peter," she says, gently taking Peter from Tony and balancing the toddler on her hip. She kisses Tony's cheek with a soft smile. "Go find your wine glasses."

*

"Tony! Where the fuck did you put the spatula?" Carol shouts. None of them have a habit of swearing too often, but it's been a little bit high stress lately.

"I didn't touch the spatula!" Tony calls from upstairs.

"It broke!" Rhodey yells from the opposite end of the hall. "It totally shattered last night!"

"You couldn't have told me before I cracked all those eggs?!"

Tony huffs a sigh and heads down the stairs. Peter's playing in the living room, totally oblivious to everything going on around them. All the adults have Sunday's off, but that just means it's a day of house cleaning and indoor working.

"I'll head out and buy a new one. I needed to pick up a part for a car I'm fixing anyways," Tony says, pulling his jacket on.

"Tony!" Rhodey shouts. "Adult meeting! Right now! Get your asses in here!"

Tony visibly flinches at that. Having Rhodey angry at him is never a good thing.

"What is it?" Carol asks once they're all in Rhodey's bedroom.

It's the smallest of the bedroom, the one that used to be an office. Tony felt bad about that, but he needed his bedroom attached to Peter's, the one that used to be a walk-in closet. And Carol dibs the other bedroom and nobody wanted to go against that.

"We're short. Electricity bills are tomorrow and we're short. Where'd that $50 go?" Rhodey demands.

"That's on me," Carol says, wincing a little. "I overspent when I went shopping."

"Why?" Tony demands. He's the one that understands budgeting best. He knows better than they do what's important and what's not. "How did you go over our seventy-five-dollar budget?"

"There's four of us eating here. Seventy-five-dollars a week on groceries isn't easy. That's less than a dollar for each person per meal. That's not going to get us very far," she argues, eyebrows furrowing. "I wanted to eat real food for once in my life."

"We don't have the money for real food. Now we're going to end up without power," Tony exclaims, turning on her. "You can't just- You can't just make decisions like that without consulting someone."

"Tony," Rhodey says, warningly. "There's no need to get angry. We just need a solution."

"I can't just pull fifty dollars out of nowhere!" Tony takes a deep breath to calm his anger. "I can finish up the car tonight and get the money by tomorrow morning. As long as you guys are okay watching Peter all afternoon."

"This is my fault. You don't have to fix my mistakes," Carol says, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It's no worries. I was going to finish it soon anyways. I'll get your spatula." Tony walks out before Carol or Rhodey can argue with him. It's going to take all night to finish the car by the time they need the money for their electricity bills, but after everything Carol has done for him, he might as well pay her back. And she's right, the grocery budget rarely ever lasts the week.

Tony needs to pay Carol back for everything she's done for him when she didn't have to. Even before they were really close, she still helped out whenever she could. She barely knew him and she offered to babysit if Rhodey couldn't. She went out of her way to care for Tony and his life.

Carol and Rhodey are both three years older than Tony, making him feel small in comparison. He was fifteen when he started University and they were both eighteen. They sort of took him under their wing and helped him through the first couple of years before the curveball of a child was thrown in, but he didn't know them too well. He was busy drinking his life away to really get to know them.

He needs to pay them back for everything they've done and everything they continue to do for him, he knows that for sure.

*

Sometime late that evening, he gets a phone call. He's been out in the garage all afternoon, skipping dinner in favour of working on the car. He doesn't tend to sleep a lot anyway, hasn't slept well since before he started University, so staying the night in the garage won't be a big deal.

"Hello?" Tony says, cradling his phone between his ear and his shoulder while he tightens a knob in the car's engine.

"Hi. This is Cat," she says. She sounds a little tired, a little rough around the edges.

"Hey, Cat. What's up?"

"Listen, I know we only went out once, so this wasn't anything serious, but my ex-boyfriend is coming back to town and we want to pick up where we left off," she says, voice higher than normal and a little shaky with obvious nerves. "I'm sorry if you think I was leading you on or something, I had no idea he was going to be coming back until this morning. I totally understand if you're angry-"

"I'm not angry, Cat. It's okay. As you said, we were never anything serious. It was one coffee date. It's no big deal. I'm happy for you, okay?" Tony says.

He knows this isn't really rejection, but it's disheartening. Because of Peter, he's never really had a real relationship. He's had more one-night stands than he can count and he's been on a handful of first dates, but nothing that's really lasted. He's used to it, but he wishes he could have something more.

"This doesn't change anything with Peter, right?" Tony asks. Peter comes first. Peter always comes first. "I don't want things to be awkward because it really is a good school and you seem like a really good teacher."

"Of course not! This doesn't have to change anything with Peter. I wouldn't do that," she says, voice holding a sadness that doesn't quite make sense to Tony.

"Okay. I'm kind of busy actually..." Tony trails off, voice dropping to one of almost boredom to pretend he doesn't care.

"No worries. I'll see you around, I guess," she murmurs. "Bye, Tony."

"Bye, Cat."

"Tony?" It's Carol. She slips in through the garage door leading into the house, a plate in hand. "I know you said no earlier, but you should be eating something."

It's a peanut butter sandwich with a water bottle.

"Peter made it," she says, offering a sad smile.

Tony forces a smile in return, putting down his wrench and phone to take the food.

"I'm sorry about being so mad at you. It was stupid," Tony forces himself to say, hating the way his stomach twists at the apology. When he was young, he was taught to never apologize because Stark's were always right. Because Stark's had nothing to apologize for. Tony doesn't feel like a Stark.

"It's okay. I shouldn't have spent that money... I was just trying to move too fast. I had that paycheck in my hands and I just thought... It's better than I've ever gotten before," she explains. "It's more money than I can remember ever having and I just wanted to feel like I was doing enough to provide for my family."

Tony can't help the way his heart swells. He's been calling them his family for years, but it's still mind-blowing that they think the same of him.

"You don't have to prove yourself to us," Tony says instead of all the other things he could've. He puts the plate down, not feeling hungry and picks up his wrench to continue working.

"I'm sorry about Cat," Carol blurts. "I know it's hard-"

"You have no idea what it's like," he says, hating the bite to his voice. Hating the anger that soars through him. He takes a deep breath, desperately pushing back the emotions. "It's no big deal. Me and Cat had one coffee date."

"I'm still sorry."

Tony hates himself for it, might hate himself forever for it, but there's some part of him that will always wonder what it would have been like if he hadn't met Mary. Will always wonder how different his life would've been if he hadn't had Peter. There's some minuscule part of him that thinks it might've been better if he hadn't, but he knows it's a terrible thought that he buries deep. He loves Peter, but some days, it gets overwhelming.

"Me too," Tony says instead.

"Peter wants you to read him a bedtime story," Carol says. "That's the other reason I came to see you."

"I have to finish this," he mutters, not even turning to look at her.

She sighs quietly. Tony knows she's disappointed in him and he can't bear it, but he can't get himself to change what he's said.

"I'll tell him you'll watch cartoons with him before your shift tomorrow instead."

"I have to drop the car off tomorrow morning before my shift." His tone is heavy with forced nonchalance.

"He's going to miss you," she says. She moves between Tony and the car with a glare. "I thought you said that nothing is more important to you than Peter. I thought you said that you'd do anything for Peter's happiness. Yet you won't even take the time to read him a bedtime story or watch cartoons with him?"

"I'm giving him happiness by making sure we have electricity tomorrow," he hisses, unable to keep the anger out of his voice as he clenches his fist around the wrench.

Carol sighs, knowing there's no way she can convince him to take a break.

"Just make sure you eat your sandwich. Peter worked really hard to make it, believe it or not."

*

Tony slips into the bedroom, rubbing his eyes through his exhaustion. It's nearing three in the morning and he finally got the car done.

He knows he shouldn't be bothering Peter's sleep. For a four-year-old, his sleep schedule was actually decent. He's good with going to bed on time at night, though sometimes they'll stay up late to watch movies on Friday and Saturday nights.

Tony sits on the edge of the small bed with a quiet sigh. He's tired and he feels terrible for skipping out on bedtime stories. He shouldn't have prioritized his work over Peter and he doesn't want his kid to feel like he doesn't care.

He brushes back the wild curls gently, making sure to not disturb Peter's sleep.

"I love you, kiddo. I hope you know that. When I get back from work, we'll go to the park or something. We'll hang out. And when you start school, we'll hang out every afternoon," Tony promises, continuing to card his fingers through his kid's curls.

Peter makes a quiet humming noise as he pushes his head against Tony's hand.

Tony sighs again. Is he really what's best for his kid? He's not good at balancing everything he has to do and it's going to tear him apart. He can't even handle having a relationship while working and Peter. How is he supposed to handle everything else?

"I love you, kid."

____
im so hecking tired wtf ugh 

Lyss