Chapter Text
Peter didn’t know what to get Mr. Stark for Christmas. I mean, what do you get for someone who has everything and then a little extra just in case? Peter walked the mall but didn’t see anything that he thought Mr. Stark would like. He sighed and pulled out his phone. It was time to call in reinforcements.
He waited until the other person answered, “Pepper? I need your help!”
It wasn’t long before Pepper and Happy showed up to help Peter. They walked the mall until
Pepper finally stopped him and pointed in a window, “THAT’S IT!”
Peter frowned, “Are you sure? You don’t think he’ll think it’s weird…I mean I don’t want him to hate his Christmas gift…”
“He’ll love it, Peter!” Happy and Pepper both assured.
Peter decided that they knew best and bought the item.
~
Peter waved goodbye to Happy and Pepper as he walked into his apartment. The fire alarm was going off and Peter figured May had tried cooking again. Peter cracked a window despite the chill in the air. It would help to get rid of the smoke that hung heavy in the air.
“I was trying to bake cookies. I just want you to have a normal Christmas.” May explained.
“We’re spending Christmas at Avengers Tower. I don’t think anything about this is normal, Aunt May.”
“You’re not mad that I picked up an extra shift tonight?” May asked.
“No. I already told you it was fine. I want to spend Christmas Eve and day with you, but it’s okay if you work tonight.” Peter said grabbing a granola bar from the box on the counter.
Peter took a bite and then looked at the packaging, “Dates? Who puts dates in granola bars?”
“They are supposed to be healthy!” May explained.
“I’m going to ask Mr. Stark to buy normal unhealthy granola bars…” Peter muttered as he walked away.
“I heard that!” May yelled after him.
“Wasn’t trying to hide it…I’m going to pack my bag and then we can go?” Peter asked. He was excited to get to the tower and wrap Mr. Stark’s gifts.
~
Peter came to a skidding stop in front of Mr. Stark and stopped just short of running into the man which is good because he was drinking coffee and Peter had to believe it was hot.
“Merry Christmas Eve Eve!” Peter said loudly.
“Yeah. Okay? Are you going to be on this energy level all day, kid?” Tony asked.
Peter took a good look at Mr Stark and realized something was very wrong. It was late afternoon and Mr. Stark still wore sweatpants and a t-shirt. He was also squinting his eyes against the bright lights. Add in the sensitivity to the loud noise of Peter’s greeting and Peter knew what was wrong, “You have a migraine?”
“I’m fine, kid.” Tony assured the teenager even though he didn’t feel fine. He’d rather be in bed, but when May had asked him to let Peter come over a day earlier than planned he couldn’t tell her no.
“Well you know what? I’ve had a long day and I’m not feeling the best, so maybe we just take it easy on the couch with some Christmas movies rather than lab time.” Peter suggested.
Tony reached out and felt the kid’s forehead, “You don’t feel warm…”
“Maybe I’m just tired then.” Peter said. He knew Mr. Stark would never admit to needing to take it easy but if Peter needed it then he’d agree easily.
“Well then you’d better make some popcorn and get some extra blankets from the hall.” Tony settled against the pillow on the couch where he’d been laying before Friday had alerted him to Peter entering the Tower.
Peter came back in the living room with extra blankets and popcorn. He set the bowl of popcorn on the end table next to where he’d sit and then took one of the blankets and covered the already sleeping adult on the couch with it. He settled onto the couch to watch Elf.
~
The movie was finishing when Friday alerted him to Pepper arriving. She came into the living room and smiled at the sight of her favorite guys on the couch watching a Christmas movies. She saw that Tony was fast asleep though and went around the couch to feel his forehead.
“He’s not warm?” She asked Peter.
“He says he’s fine.” Peter explained quietly.
“But?” Pepper asked.
“Migraine.”
“How’d you get him to rest? He always fights me on taking it easy.” Pepper said sitting next to Peter and stealing some popcorn.
“Told him I needed to take it easy today.”
“Not a bad idea.” Pepper commended.
“Prep and Landing?” Peter asked.
“That is such a tinsel idea!” Pepper said.
Peter grinned and requested that Friday turn on the movie.
~
Tony woke up in the middle of the second Prep and Landing movie and said, “I’m going to bed.”
Pepper leaned over and kissed him goodnight, “Love you!”
“Love you too!”
“Night, Underoos. Merry Christmas Eve, Eve.” Tony said.
“Night, Mr. Stark!” Peter said.
Tony climbed into bed feeling a ton better but knowing that his body needed to rest more if he was going to be ready for the Christmas celebration to begin the following day. He fell asleep to the sounds of Peter and Pepper laughing with the Christmas movie playing on the TV. Migraine aside…He couldn’t remember a better Christmas Eve Eve.
~
Peter woke up early Christmas Eve and quickly wrapped Mr. Stark’s gift with Pepper promising to distract him if he woke up and tried to head in the direction of Peter’s room. He finished and frowned at it. It wasn’t the best wrapping job, but it’s the thought that counts, right?
Peter put it under the tree with the other gifts sitting there.
“You’re not trying to figure out what your gifts are, right?” Mr. Stark asked from behind him.
“No. I can wait until tomorrow.” Peter said.
“I mean I was going to let you choose one to open tonight, but if you feel like you should wait then who am I to argue?” Mr. Stark said as he started to walk toward the lab.
“WAIT. Mr. Stark! I think you were right!” Peter said as he followed the man into the lab.
“I do love the sound of that.” Tony said.
“SO?”
“Alright. You can open one gift tonight before Santa comes.” Tony said.
Peter kept his face natural. He was going to believe in Santa forever if it meant extra presents. “Right…!”
~
May walked into the Tower close to 6pm. She had worked an extra shift on top of her extra night shift and she was exhausted. She sat down at the dinner table and noticed Peter was avoiding her gaze.
“Peter?” She asked after she had exchanged pleasantries with Tony and Pepper.
He just kept eating the food on his plate.
Tony kicked him under the table and Peter looked up at him glaring.
“Don’t even act like that hurt you. Find a way to be respectful to your aunt. You can still be put on the naughty list.” Tony warned.
“She promised she’d spend Christmas Eve with me and it’s almost over.” Peter said.
“Peter. I’m sorry. One of the nurses called in. She had a sick three year. I couldn’t say no.” May explained.
Peter just took another bite of his cheeseburger.
“Okay. So you’re going to stay mad at me for the rest of Christmas Eve then?” May asked.
Peter shrugged.
“I’ll take his presents back if he does that.” Tony warned.
“It’s okay, Tony. He gets the right to his feelings. I did break a promise. It was wrong and I should have called.” May said.
“Right because it’s not like I wouldn’t have understood why you needed to stay at work. But you didn’t even call to wish me a Merry Christmas Eve.” Peter said.
“Right. I should have said this a lot sooner.” May reached over to hug her still brooding nephew….”Merry Christmas Eve, I larb you.”
Peter tried to hold back his smile, but couldn’t. “I larb you too.”
~
Peter sat on the couch and waiting for Tony to pass him one of the gifts. Rhodey had arrived minutes before and also sat with a gift.
Tony passed one to everyone until everyone had a package in hand. “Okay. Go ahead and open!”
Everyone pulled out new matching Christmas pajamas. Peter jumped up, “I’m so excited!”
“I’m glad someone is.” Rhodey mumbled quietly.
“WE HAVE TO TAKE A PICTURE!” Peter said before he ran down the hall to change.
“You’d better have a pair of matching pajamas somewhere too, Tony.” May threatened.
“Oh. I do.” Tony promised.
“He was just as excited as Peter about this.” Pepper said.
“WELL my childhood was dysfunctional and I never got to do fun stuff like this!” Tony explained.
May smiled. It seemed this relationship was good for both Peter and Tony.
~
After Peter had gone to sleep. Tony and Pepper picked up the living room and May pulled out gifts from ‘Santa’ from the hall closest.
Tony ate the milk and cookies as they arranged all of the gifts.
“The kid doesn’t really believe in Santa, does he?” Rhodey asked.
“Don’t make him feel bad for it and don’t tell him the truth.” Tony warned glaring at his best friend from across the room.
Rhodey held up his hands in surrender.
~
Christmas morning dawn and Peter ran into May’s room to wake her and once he saw her starting to wake up. He ran to the guest room and yelled at Rhodey, “WAKE UP! IT’S CHRISTMAS!”
“Where’s the coffee?” Rhodey mumbled burying himself deeper into the blankets on his bed.
Peter ran into Tony and Pepper’s room, “IT’S CHRISTMAS. WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP!”
“We’re up.” Tony mumbled.
Peter ran to the living room and could hardly contain his joy. It wasn’t because of the overwhelming number of gifts with his name on them. No. It was because he’d never celebrated Christmas with this many people he considered family before.
Peter sat on the couch and pulled the blanket sitting there around his shoulders. The adults wandered into the living room after getting a cup of coffee.
“Alright…Go to town, Kid.” Tony said sitting down and starting to sip coffee slowly.
Peter jumped up and started to open gifts. Clothes, gift cards, shoes, a new winter jacket, books, video games, lego sets…So many lego sets. Peter felt grateful and blessed and he thanked all of the adults many times.
Peter passed out his gifts to the adults.
Rhodey opened his first. Rhodey laughed. It was a t-shirt that said, '#1 Uncle.' “I love it, Pete. Thank you!”
He had gotten May a new scarf and a set of mittens because she was always losing hers. She hugged him tight and kissed his forehead, “Thanks, Pete! It’s the best gift ever.”
Pepper opened her’s and smiled. She blinked back the tears in her eyes a bit. Peter had snuck a picture of Pepper and Tony one morning. They were both still in pajamas and were obviously laughing about something in the picture. They looked so happy. “I love it, Peter. It’s going on my desk at work.”
Tony opened his, and paused. He didn’t even stop the tear that leaked out onto his cheek. It would seem that he didn’t need to second guess himself all of the time. He quickly put on the shirt that said, “#1 Dad.”
“It’s okay?” Peter asked worried.
“It’s more than okay. It’s great. I love it, Underoos!” Tony said.
They spent the rest of Christmas being lazy, and just enjoying each other’s company. Tony helped Peter build a couple of lego sets and Pepper and May were working on a puzzle. Rhodey challenged Peter to a game of Mario Kart and Tony wasn’t going to let them play without him and quickly joined in.
~
Peter was laying down in bed in the tower that Christmas night.
Tony sat on the edge of the bed, “Good Christmas, bud?”
“The best…” Peter said right before he drifted to sleep.
Tony pulled the covers over the sleeping teenager. It had been the best Christmas ever.