Chapter Text
It was still relatively early when Tony exited his bedroom and made his way towards his own kitchen where he was unsurprised to find Peter sitting at the bar eating a bowl of cereal with Pop-tarts on the side. "Hey, kid. What are you doing up?"
Ignoring his mentor's question, Peter looked up to ask a question of his own. "'Do you know what day it is?"
"Sunday.", Tony readily replied but he already knew where this was going. "...but I'm going to go ahead and assumed you didn't mean what day so much as you meant what date."
"Exactly!", Peter replied with glee as he watched Tony tiredly start up the coffee maker. "...and I'm guessing you know what that means, right, Tony?"
"That you're about to start roping me into a bunch of seasonal plans?", Tony replied with a quirk of his eyebrow. Considering everything that had taken place in October, he'd already resigned himself to a packed full December. If the kid got that worked up over a night of playing dress-up, he was likely to be an absolute mess leading it not the height of the holiday season.
Peter, who's smile had yet to fade, looked at Tony with pure childish excitement. "I was going to say that it means it's almost Christmas but we can go with your answer instead.", he easily replied. Doing things with the man, outside of tech and training had quickly become one of his favorite things.
"Hmm.", Tony replied non-committally but really he was eager to see what the month would bring. It had been a while since he'd been able to enjoy the season. "...and what sort of shenanigans will today's adventure include?"
Cocking his head to the side in thought, Peter eventually shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I hadn't really thought about it.", he said before nearly instantly being struck with the perfect way to start the month. "Wait! I have an idea."
"Fabulous.", Tony replied as if he weren't the least bit interested. "What is it?"
"Can we go to the store, Tony?", Peter asked as he rapidly began to clean up his dishes so that when Tony gave the inevitable okay, he could run off to get ready to go.
For a moment, all Tony could do was look at Peter from across the room. He'd not had near enough coffee yet but he was pretty sure that the kid had just asked to go to the store and that seemed far too tame to be right. "That's it? You want to go to the store?", he asked in disbelief. There had to be more to it.
"Mm-hmm. I want to get one of those chocolate advent calendar things. You know, where you open up a little door every morning and eat the little chocolate inside? It count's down to Christmas. I don't have one yet.", Peter explained, going ahead and assuming that the man wouldn't know what he was talking about.
Laughing lightly, Tony crossed the distance between them and crossed his arms over his chest. "Wait so for the entirety of December, you're going to eat candy with breakfast? Pop-tarts aren't enough for you?"
"It's not the entirety of December, Tony. It's just the first twenty-four days.", Peter replied with mock annoyance. "...and I don't think one tiny piece of chocolate counts as 'eating candy with breakfast'"
"Whatever you say, kid.", Tony replied, reaching out to ruffle the boy's hair.
A few short hours later, Peter was dragging Tony into a large department store where he spotted what he wanted the moment they walked in. "There they are! See, Tony, tiny chocolates.", Peter exclaimed as he held up the artfully decorated cardboard box and pointed towards the small perforated doors. "It's not like I would be pouring a king size bag of m&m's into a bowl milk and calling it a part of a complete breakfast or anything."
Ignoring the kid's snark, Tony glanced down at the price handing on the display and held out his hand in question. "It costs two dollars?", he asked with skepticism.
"Yeah? Is that a problem?", Peter asked in return. He didn't really understand what his mentor was getting at with that question. It wasn't like it was out of his price range. The man had enough money to buy one for every kid in the state... maybe the country if he was so inclined.
"I guess not? ...but twenty-four pieces of chocolate for two dollars seems a bit... unrealistic.", Tony carefully explained. He was pretty sure that even a bag of twenty-four Hershey's Kisses would cost more than that and these were claiming to be 'individually modeled' While Peter seemed undisturbed, he was having trouble with the authenticity of it all. "Are you sure that's real chocolate in there?"
"Of course it's real chocolate.", Peter replied with a laugh before pointing out the words that Tony had read previously yon his own. "It says so on the box. 'Individually Molded Milk chocolatey Treats'"
"Give me that.", he said as he held out his hand to receive the box the kid was holding onto. Once he had it in his hands he began to read through the ingredients, though he didn't have to get far before all of his misgivings were solidified. "Kid, the first three ingredients are Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil and Whey... There's no cocoa butter or chocolate liquor anywhere in it.", he said with his brows knit together. "It's not real chocolate. It's chocolate flavored."
Peter snatched the package back and scrunched up his face as he too read through the list on the back. That, however, didn't seem to help with his confusion. "It has cocoa in it. See?", he stated as he pointed to where the word showed up somewhere towards the bottom of the list.
"That doesn't make it real chocolate, kid.", Tony replied with a laugh before taking the boy by the shoulder and following the red and green signs that lead to the back of the store. "Look, let's go look at the actual Christmas section. I bet we can find something better. If not I'm sure I can order a one. You'll just have to eat two chocolates tomorrow.", he reasoned as Peter walked begrudgingly beside him.
"I always get the cheap one. It's fine.", he grumbled. He wasn't sure why he was so against the idea of looking for a better option. Maybe because the little bits of sub-par chocolate were sort of a tradition at this point. He had them every year.
"Yeah, well, if I'm buying it then it has to contain actual chocolate.", Tony stated with confidence. "Now, let's go. The quicker we pick one out the quicker we can leave. I have stuff to do today and I know you have plans to go... out later.", he added being careful to not say too much about the boy's afternoon activities too loudly.
"Fine.", Peter relented and picked up his pace so that they could get to the back of the store that much more quickly. Once they got there he was kind of surprised to see the variety of advent calendars the store had to offer but then again, he supposed he'd never looked before. What he wanted was nearly always on display by the checkouts. Sighing, he looked along the shelves until he spotted one that was similar to the ones that he normally got and handed it over to Tony who was watching him carefully. "Is this one real chocolate?"
"Does it cost more than two dollars?", the man asked with his eyebrow raised.
"It's five.", Peter replied as he continued to shake the box towards his mentor so that he would take it from him.
Rolling his eyes, Tony took the package and turned it over in his hands. It didn't take long for him to come to his verdict and pass it back with a sigh. "It has vegetable oil in it, kid, so no. Try again.", he uttered before laughing lightly. "Maybe something closer to the double digits."
After shoving the box back onto the shelf, Peter turned around to face his mentor. "You know, I'm the one who'll be eating it. Why does it matter?", he asked with a little more passion than he'd meant to.
Tony chuckled and began to look over the shelves himself. "Maybe I want to get one too? Ever think of that, Smarty Pants?", he asked with humor. He'd actually not thought any such thing but if the kid was going to be all weird about buying a stupid calendar filled with good chocolate then he would happily take the blame for the purchase.
Rolling his eyes, Peter kept his arms crossed over his chest and leaned onto the shelving. "Whatever. You pick then.", he relied not ungratefully. He just wasn't sure what the man was wanting him to pick up. Having him do it himself seemed like the easier way to go about it.
It didn't take terribly long for Tony to spot one that grabbed his attention and he was picking it up to hand it over to Peter. "How about this one?", he laughed. "I really like this one."
Giving the much larger box a good look, Peter's eyes went wide. "It's not even candy, Tony! It's toys", he shouted in something between disbelief and awe.
"It's Avengers toys.", Tony corrected with a smile before tipping his head to the side and clarifying. "Figures. The box says figures, not toys."
"Right. Because that's an important specification.", Peter clipped back with another brief roll of his eyes. Toys, figures, either way, it wasn't candy.
Tony laughed and pretended to glare at the boy across from him. "Says the kid who is perfectly fine with fake chocolate."
"I like fake chocolate.", Peter defended, sticking his chin out in defiance.
"You'll like real chocolate even better. Look here's one.", Tony said as he finally located an advent calendar with some name brand chocolate inside of it.
Peter looked to where the man had taken the box from and practically gasped. "It's almost twenty-three dollars!", he said with absolute horror.
Laughing lightly Tony placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "You know, you had no problem with me spending thirty-six dollars on apples...", he happily pointed out.
"That was different! That was an experience and--", Peter nearly shouted before being cut off by his still laughing mentor.
"--Yeah? Well, this is an experience too.", he quipped before waving his hand vaguely towards the shelves. "Grab another one. I wasn't kidding, I want one too.", he said seriously before pointing to the end of the aisle. "... and grab me one of those Avengers ones while you're at it"
"For you?", Peter asked dubiously because the man had said 'grab me one' and he wasn't sure what he'd meant by that.
"Of course, for me!", Tony instantly replied. "I'll share it with you though. You can have all the ones that aren't me."
"That's so generous of you.", Peter deadpanned. "...and not at all conceited."
"'Tis the season", Tony returned with a shrug of his shoulders, already walking back towards the front of the store, Peter shaking his head behind him.
Once they had checked out and made their way back to the car, Peter was already pulling the calenders out of the bag. "Thank you.", he chirped as he plucked the first chocolate out of the one he'd claimed as his.
"You're welcome.", Tony said with a smile. "...and just so you know. I'm completely and totally looking forward to whatever nonsense you come up with for us to do over the next few weeks.", he added while holding out his hand to receive the candy that had come from his own box.
"Good because I have ideas, Tony.", Peter said with a grin. "So many ideas."
Rolling his eyes, Tony laughed at the boy beside him. "Great. I'll be there with bells on.", he replied, holding back as much amusement as he could.
"Literally?", Peter asked with enthusiasm even though he was pretty sure that was not the case. However, he couldn't stop himself from pictured Tony walking around with bells around his neck, jingling with every step.
"Absolutely not.", Tony replied with disbelief. As if he was going to literally wear bells. The kid was a mess, that was all there was too it. "...but I will be there.", he added softly, realizing exactly what he'd implied.
Knowing what his mentor meant, Peter smiled contentedly. "Thanks, Tony.", he said, matching the man's tone.
"Don't mention it, kid.", Tony replied before starting the car. "Now, open up my first figure. I bet it's me."
Peter rolled his eyes and did just that, laughing hysterically when it was not Iron Man hidden behind the little door but Captian America instead. "He is the first Avenger so maybe it makes sense!", Peter continued to cackle as Tony glared at him.
"You know what. I've changed my mind. I get all the ones that are me and you get none.", Tony replied as if he were annoyed but his smile said otherwise.
Peter rolled his eyes and let out a snort. "Whatever you say, Tony."
"Exactly. Whatever I say. ...and don't forget it.", Tony teased while pointing an accusatory finger so close to Peter's nose that he had to turn his head to the side.
"I would never...", he replied with what sounded like honestly before he began to grin teasingly at the man beside him. "... but I'm keeping the Captain America."