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“Tony!” Hugo called from across the tree lot. “This one’s a big one!”
Tony Stark looked over at his girlfriend, Hermione, who was still unloading her oldest daughter, Rose, from the car.
“Go with him,” she said, “we’ll catch up.”
“Remind me,” Tony said. “How big is too big?”
She laughed. “The ceilings in the house are eight feet, so eight feet would be a safe bet at being too big.”
“We need a taller house,” Tony said, heading toward where Hugo was guarding a tree.
Tony and Hermione had been dating for a year, ever since he had crash landed near her house after his suit had malfunctioned. He had immediately taken to her kids, and fallen in love with her family. Once he had taken care of some Iron Man business, he had come back and moved in. And for the last year, he had reveled in domestic bliss. And his heart would melt any time one of the kids would slip up and call him dad. It was mostly Hugo who would call him that. The newly five year old didn’t really know his father, and Tony was the first real father figure for the kid. Hugo was the kid he was closest to between the two.
“Let’s see what you picked out,” Tony said, as he arrived where the boy was standing.
The tree wasn’t as big as he thought, but to a five year old it was probably the largest tree in the world. Still, it was a six foot tree. In their house, it would look impressive.
“What do you say, Hugo, should we cut the strings off and see if this one has any bald spots?” he asked.
“Yes!” Hugo said. “If it doesn’t have any bald spots, can this be the tree? Is it too big?”
“No, love, I don’t think it would be too big,” Hermione said as she and Rose approached.
Tony cut the strings and the branches of the tree fell down, and he shook it so the gaps would fill in. The tree was full, and didn’t have any spots lacking in branches.
“Oh, mummy, it’s perfect!” Rose cried. “Hugo, you picked a good one!”
“And on the first try!” Hugo exclaimed, jumping up and down with excitement.
“Will it fit on the car?” Tony asked. “Oh, shoot, we didn’t grab any ropes!”
“Tony, I don’t think we’ll need to worry about ropes,” Hermione said, laughing at him.
Tony laughed. Of course. Even a year later, he still forgot she was a witch, and she could do magic. Even though they both worked from home, she translating rare texts and he developing tech for Stark Industries.
“Okay, children, let’s go buy this tree, and we can go home and decorate it!” Tony said.
The children cheered, and the small family moved to buy the tree and take it home.
Several hours later, Hermione was shutting the door to Hugo’s room, as he was the last to crash out. They had spent the evening singing Christmas Carols, decorating the tree and drinking hot chocolate. Tony couldn’t think of a better way to spend Christmastime. Hell, last Christmas he was on a freighter fighting The Mandarin and preventing the destruction of the world. This was definitely a step up.
“Are they asleep?” Tony asked from his spot on the couch.
She nodded and joined him. He put his arm around her and she moved to lean in on him. “Yes, finally. Too much excitement for one day. If we’re lucky, they’ll sleep in in the morning.”
“One can only hope,” Tony said.
The two sat together on the couch, the lights dimmed, the room illuminated by only the Christmas tree. Hermione pulled out her wand, and waved it.
“Silencio,” she murmured, pointing her wand down the hallway, before putting her wand away and then pulling out a piece of paper from her pocket instead, handing it to Tony. “This came today,” she said. “Via owl.”
Tony frowned. Usually when she handed him a piece of paper that had come from an owl, it was not good news. Her ex was being a giant asshole, and refusing to sign any divorce papers, even though he had walked out on her and wanted nothing to do with the children. He still refused to sign anything their lawyer sent to him. One agreement even had him signing away all parental rights to the kids so he wouldn’t be on the hook for child support, but he still didn’t want to sign it. “Weasleys don’t divorce” was what he kept sending back to her. Meanwhile, he refused to set up any kind of visitation with the kids, stating that his girlfriend didn’t want anything to do with them. It had been a very long year.
He pulled his arm from around Hermione and opened up the paper, and just about had a heart attack. The bastard had signed the papers.
“What the hell changed?” Tony asked? “All we did was send him the same set as last time.”
Hermione shook her head. “I have no bloody idea. But does it matter? He signed them. Not only am I no longer married, the children no longer have a father, at least on paper. He ended the marriage and terminated his rights as a parent. He’s officially out of our lives, for good.”
Tony couldn’t help the enormous grin that spread across his face. He turned to Hermione and let out a whoop of joy before wrapping her up in his arms, and kissing her. She immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. He pulled back and rested his forehead against hers.
“Wait here,” he said, before pulling back and getting up from the couch. “Don’t move a single muscle, I’ll only be a second.”
He ran from the living room and down the hall to the room he used as a lab, he quickly moved to his desk and opened the second drawer and pulled out a small little package wrapped in silver paper with little bow on it. He had been planning to save this for Christmas, but he just couldn’t wait anymore. Now was the perfect time.
He returned to the living room and approached where Hermione was sitting on the couch, and fell to one knee. Hermione brought her hands up to her mouth.
“Hermione,” Tony started, holding up the little silver box. “We met in the most unconventional of ways, and have lived a most unconventional year, so it was important to me to do this in the most conventional way possible. I love you. And I love your kids. You three have given me the family I’ve always wanted and never knew I needed. You’re it for me. And now that the bastard has finally set you free, I want you to have this,” Tony handed the little box over to Hermione, who accepted it with shaking hand. She carefully unwrapped the silver paper, and lifted the lid of the box to reveal a simple ring. Tony knew she wouldn’t want anything too fancy, same as him mom. That’s why her ring was in that box.
“Hermione, would you do me the honor of agreeing to be my wife?” Tony asked. “I promise to be a million times the husband you deserve to have.”
Hermione nodded. “Yes, I’ll marry you,” she whispered around the lump that was forming in her throat.
Tony smiled and moved forward removing the ring from the box and placing it on her finger. She threw her arms around his neck, and pulled him against her tightly.
“I love you so much,” she whispered into his ear. “Hugo, Rose, and I are so lucky to have you in our lives. You’ve made the last year so amazing. The kids are going to be so happy that we’re getting married. Rose just asked me the other day if we were ever going to get married. I think she wants to plan the wedding.”
Tony laughed. “Well, she can definitely helped. I was, uh, actually going to ask them their own question tomorrow, but I wanted to run it by you first.”
Hermione pulled back. “What question?:
Tony took a deep breath. “I was actually wondering if it would be something you all would like if I were to adopt the children. I know they just officially became fatherless, but I already think of the kids as mine, I can’t help it. And so, if you’re okay with it, and the kids are okay with it, I want to adopt them. Make everything official.”
Hermione was quiet for a long time, at least it seemed like a long time to Tony. And then she launched herself back into his arms, squeezing him tightly. He could feel her shaking with sobs.
“Are you okay?” he asked quietly, rubbing her back.
He felt her nod against his shoulder. A few minutes later, her sobs subsided, and she pulled back, wiping the tears from under her eyes.
“How did we ever come to deserve someone like you, Tony Stark?” she said, her voice raw with emotion. “Three years ago, we were at our lowest. I was trying so hard to keep the kids happy, and give them the life they deserved, all while they would cry at night, asking why their father didn’t love them anymore. We moved here and things were getting better, and we were almost normal when you came literally crashing into our lives. And now, this last year has been amazing. The kids are happier than they have been in a long time. And that’s because of you. You who plays with them, who helps them with their homework, who just listens to them when they talk. And I’m happier than I’ve been in a long, long time. I love you, Tony Stark, and I would be honored if you would be willing to adopt my children, most men wouldn’t want to adopt the children of another man.”
“See, I don’t think of them as someone else’s kids. Those kids were mine the second I stepped through this door after you found me trudging in that snow.”
Hermione smiled at him. “Let’s go to bed, Mr. Stark.”
“Lead the way, future Mrs. Stark.”