Chapter Text
The remainder of the afternoon went by like a breeze, with the ocean spray on their skin and the warm sand between their toes. Stephanie was satisfied with sitting underneath a large umbrella, watching them, kept company by her paperback novel. Tony chased the boys around the beach until the sun began to set, the four of them smelling of sea water and sweat all the same.
Later in the evening, the five of them settled down for a nice dinner beside the pool, warmed by the lit torches and full bellies. Red and green lanterns were strung above them, connected to large palm trees covered in fairy lights. On the stage across the way, performers played acoustic holiday songs, donning red and white Santa Claus hats that Stephanie thought were a little tacky (given, she kept that thought to herself).
Halfway through their meal, Stephanie noticed Harley staring up at the stars like he always did, his eyes almost tracing the dots of stars above them, and at her quiet prompting, she asked him what he saw.
His face lit up like the glowing moon above them, and Harley immediately launched into fun facts about the planet of Jupiter just visible in the clear skies and the unique star constellations that they never got to see from New York. Sam hung onto every word, arching his head up to watch the night sky, nearly falling over the back of his seat if Tony wasn’t there to catch him.
“Whoa, there, champ!” Tony yelped, jumping to his feet in order to grab both Sam and his chair before they crashed to the ground. He righted the seat, kneeling beside his son with a hand to his shoulder. “You okay, Sammy?”
“Yeah,” Sam responded shakily, the corners of his mouth turning down in a tell-tale frown. Stephanie felt her heart ache when Sam’s nervous chuckles turned into light sobs, and Tony immediately pulled their youngest into his arms to comfort him.
Peter’s fork scratched across his plate as he grumbled, “Don’t be such a baby, Sam. I do that all the time in class.”
“Give him a break, Pete,” Tony sighed, lightly patting Sam’s back. “He’s five.”
“I got hurt all the time when I was his age and barely complained.”
Harley spooned croutons into his mouth, crunching on them as he jumped into the conversation. “Yeah, but at least Sam’s stopped drinking out of a milk bottle at five, unlike you did.”
Peter’s jaw dropped, his cheeks going red with embarrassment. “Harley, I thought we weren’t going to talk about that anymore!” His head swiveled between Stephanie and Tony when they both started to laugh. “It’s not funny!”
Stephanie covered her mouth with a hand, trying and failing to stifle her laughter. “No, you’re right. It’s not. I’m sorry.” She sobered up, adding as seriously as she could, “I should’ve encouraged you to stop drinking from your bottles a lot sooner.”
Tony cackled and Sam cracked a smile, finally over his crying spell, and Peter all but slammed his head onto the table, covering his ears.
~*~*~*~
The resort held a lantern lighting ceremony to celebrate the beginning of Christmas, with all the guests coming to the beach shore before the stroke of midnight. Sam was awestruck over the fact the lanterns were bigger than him, even on when he stood on his tip-toes, and Harley could just barely see over the top of it when it rested on the ground.
Each family lit their candles, counted down in unison, and lifted the paper lanterns into the dark skies over the water. Cheers and claps erupted across the beach. Stephanie turned her head to watch the wonder that spread over her boys’ faces; the twinkle in Peter’s eye, the joy in Harley’s, and the absolute delight in Sam’s. Tony picked up Sam and placed him on his shoulders while Harley jumped into Steph’s arms, being perched on hip. The two kids started pointing up at the rogue lantern that refused to stay floating with all the others, closer to the crashing waves than the clouds.
“Mommy,” Sam started, “why isn’t that one flying higher?”
“It’s probably just a little bit tired, sweetheart,” Stephanie replied coolly, smiling at her son. She hiked Harley higher on her hip to keep him from slipping, placing a hand to the back of his head when he buried his face against her neck.
“But that one isn’t going up!”
“Yes, it is,” Tony countered.
“No, it’s not, Daddy.” Sam tugged at Tony’s hair, earning a muffled yelp. “It’s not going the way with all the others.”
Tony pointed. “Look, look, it’s catching up!”
“Dad,” Peter said, “no, it’s going to opposite direction. It’s going to hit the waves.”
“Not with that attitude it won’t,” Tony rebutted it, throwing a smirk in his son’s direction. Peter only rolled his eyes in response.
After a few minutes, the other guests began to trek back up to the hotel, the released lanterns just specks of light against the dark night. She looked between Tony and Peter, then, with a question in her eyes. “Ready for bed yet, guys?”
“No,” Harley groaned against Steph, already half-asleep in her embrace. “I wanna stay up longer.”
“Okay, sure, kiddo,” Tony said with a grin as he started making his way up the beach. He raised his arms up, resting his palms flat against Sam’s back to steady the wriggling child. “You can stay up longer.”
Tony, Peter, and Steph slid back into their beach-side cabana with little fuss from the other two boys. Both parents encouraged them all to wash up and change into their sleeping clothes before winding down for the night, and it was no sooner after that that Harley and Sam were passed out cold in their beds.
Harley fell asleep with one of his pop-up outer space books in his grasp, so Stephanie gingerly pried it from his fingers before placing it on his bedside table. Sam, just on the other adjacent bed, looked about ready to fall off the side of it before she carefully rearranged him to lay properly, leaving a pillow beside him and a kiss to his forehead. She shut off the lamp between their beds before turning on her heel, seeing Tony unfolding a second blanket over Peter.
Steph couldn’t help the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Tony kneeled at the side of Peter’s bed, tucking the sheets under their son’s chin. “Still cold?” he asked quietly.
Peter shook his head in reply. “Thanks, Dad.”
“Any time, Pete. Get some rest, okay? Or else Santa won’t give you any presents in the morning,” Tony teased.
“Dad, I know Santa’s not—” Peter cut himself off, craning his head forward to make sure both of his brothers were asleep. He huffed a laugh, snuggling closer to his pillow. From where she stood, Steph saw Peter’s eyelids falling heavier already. “Night, Dad.”
Tony shut off the bedside lamp, saying a quiet, “See you in the morning, Pete.”
Stephanie padded over to Tony silently, slipping her arms around his waist. She smiled into a kiss, feeling his arm fall over her shoulders to pull her closer.
“Do we have any of that wine left?” Tony whispered against her mouth in between kisses.
“Maybe,” Stephanie told him, lifting a hand to pinch her thumb and forefinger together. She detached herself from Tony, grasping his hand and leading him to the master bedroom.
