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"Daddyyyyyy, when are we gonna make gingerbread cookies?"
"We will once Peter gets here."
"But he's taking forever."
It is the first Christmas since the snap was reversed and everyone cannot be happier.
Sales are at an all-time high, work bonuses have tripled, as have the charitable donations and mall Santas; it truly is a magical time of year.
And just like everywhere else, it is a magical time at the Stark cabin.
Tony and his four-year-old daughter are sitting in the living room watching a Christmas movie, waiting for the man's other kid to get home from school...and Morgan is running out of patience.
The hero chuckles at her dramatics, "It takes a while for him to get here, you know that."
"Make Uncle Happy drive faster, I want cookies." Morgan proceeds to slump into the couch and then slide off of it completely until she's sitting on the floor between said sofa and the coffee table.
While holding back another laugh, Tony rubs his facial hair in mock concentration, "Y'know what I think?"
"What?! Are we gonna make the cookies now?" The girl hurriedly gets back onto the couch and sits in her dad's lap, excitement practically blowing of her ears.
"I was just thinking that when Peter gets here, he might be kinda tired...how 'bout we watch another movie before we make the cookies?"
To Tony's amusement, his daughter whines while smushing her face into her father's shirt, "I'm gonna explode."
The man laughs fully into Morgan’s hair, “He’ll be here in a minute, relax.”
While he’s wrestling with his “cookie monster” of a kid, they hear the front open and an unexpected third voice appears, “Make that a second.”
The two Starks immediately turn around and smile at seeing Peter walk through the kitchen to see them in the living room. Morgan’s face lights up instantly and shouts, “Petey!” before sprinting to him and wrapping her arms around his waist.
Peter drops his backpack and quickly picks her up to return the hug. He can’t help but smile at the exhilaration, “Jeez, somebody missed me.”
Tony speaks up from the couch, “Don’t get a big head, she wants cookies.”
The sixteen-year-old’s eyes brighten with hidden enthusiasm, “We’re baking cookies?”
Morgan squeals right in Peter’s face, making him wince at the outburst, “Yes!” She turns to her father, “Daddy, he’s here, can we make cookies now? Pleeeeease?”
The older man pretends to think again before answering, “Hm...I suppose -”
“Yay!” The kid squirms out of her brother’s grip and rushes into the kitchen when he puts her down.
Tony approaches the teenager and gives him a hug which is immediately reciprocated. When they separate, the older genius exclaims, “Aren’t you done with school yet?”
Peter loudly sighs, “I wish, one more week and I’m done, it’s gonna be the longest week of my life.”
“I swear, school lets you out later and later every year.”
“It definitely feels longer every year. Maybe next year I’ll spend Christmas in the chemistry lab analyzing what actually goes in the canned cranberry sauce.”
Morgan cries out from a barstool in the kitchen, “Why? Is there poison in it?”
His father figure responds as they walk into the kitchen, “Yeah, it’s called ‘sugar.’”
The girl snickers, “Daddy, sugar isn’t poisonous.”
“Eh, you’ll find out soon enough.”
Both kids laugh at that while he gets the cookie dough out of the refrigerator. When Tony places the roll of dough on the counter, he takes a passing glance at his kids and notices that Peter’s smile doesn't actually look all that genuine. Yes, he is smiling, but the expression doesn't quite reach his eyes.
It’s almost as if he’s hiding something.
Tony decides to ignore it for now in favor of finally satisfying his daughter with the highly-anticipated gingerbread cookies.
He then gets the cookie cutters out of the cabinet and while he's doing so, his spiderling says jokingly, "I thought we were gonna be making these from scratch, Mr. Stark."
The older man turns back to them, bag of cookie cutters in hand, "They are made from scratch, Pete...Pillsbury had to make them somehow."
Peter rolls his eyes, "Alright, touche."
Morgan mimics what the other kid said, "'Too shay'? What's that?"
"It means your dad made a good point."
"Ohhhhh, why didn't you just say that?"
"'Cuz that's what he'd expect." Peter then says mischievously, "I like to keep him on his toes."
Morgan erupts into light giggles, making the men's hearts fill with warmth.
Tony turns to the young hero, "You really expect an old man like me to roll out the dough all by myself?"
Peter snorts as he gets up to help him, "Jeez, you retire for five minutes and suddenly you're bedridden. Is your metal arm that heavy?"
"Like a dumbbell's attached to me, I can already use a nap."
Morgan cuts in, taking the banter too seriously, "Can you nap after the cookies?"
Tony turns to the teen in mock disbelief, "Are you seeing this, she doesn't care about me in the slightest."
"Oh, she does, but she cares more about gingerbread men...sorry, Dad."
The mechanic playfully scoffs in mock offense, "I didn't wanna hang out with y'all anyway."
Morgan giggles again and reassures her brother as her dad sits next to her, "He's kidding, he actually can't live without us."
Peter sighs, pretending to be relieved, "Thanks for that, I was worried."
Tony has FRIDAY put on some Christmas music as Peter rolls out the cookie dough on the work surface in front of them. Morgan picks out the cookie cutters and they all cut out their respective festive shapes before putting the finished products on the sheet pan. Peter keeps rerolling the leftover dough until there's nothing left but a small circle to be decorated as an ornament.
Once the pans are in the oven and the timer is set, Morgan sits in front of said appliance and watches the cookies bake through the window. She continues smiling in pure delight as they expand and puff up in tan clouds of deliciousness.
Peter takes his sister's previous spot at the kitchen counter. Tony tells him as he sits down, "Happy could've joined us, I should've made him stay."
"He said something about taking May out when she gets off work, don't worry, he's not offended."
"How're you doing with...them?"
Peter sighs, "I'm getting used to it but it's still kinda weird, not gonna lie."
The older hero smiles at him, "But as long as they're happy, right?"
The web-slinger nods his head, "That's what I keep telling myself. And he treats her well, so that's good...he knows I'll kill him if he doesn't." The teenager smirks at that while his mentor snorts, "Where's Pepper?"
"She was called to an emergency meeting. She told Morgan to make her a candy cane."
There's that smile again.
The boy's face seems happy but his eyes are showing an undertone of sadness.
What the hell is going on with this kid?
Tony puts his hand on his kid's shoulder and gives it a heartfelt squeeze, getting said kid's attention. When the retired hero locks eyes with him, a look of fear filters through the tyke, causing the man to furrow his eyebrows and give him a questioning look. He's seconds away from asking what's wrong.
But then the timer goes off.
Morgan blurts out, "Petey, the cookies are ready!"
Peter hurriedly looks away from his father figure and stands up to get the cookies out of the oven. Morgan scoots out of the way as her brother takes out the pans and puts them on the countertop to cool.
Morgan peeks her head over the top of the counter and asks, "When are we gonna decorate?"
"They have to cool off first, Mo."
She looks up and gives the teen a pouty expression, "We have to wait even more?"
Peter smiles cheekily, "Sorry, but look at it this way: by waiting, the cookies will taste even better."
"But they'll taste good now."
"But if you eat them now, you'll burn your tongue and you'll never be able to taste gingerbread cookies ever again."
Morgan stares up at the older kid with frightened eyes, "Ever?”
“Ever.”
Tony gives the spider-boy a thankful look as his daughter settles down. The teen responds with a quick smirk before he quickly looks away again.
As they migrate into the living room to watch a movie, Tony locks eyes with Peter once more and gives him a split-second look of concern, making said kid give him another look of panic.
Don’t think this ain’t over, kid.
-
The cookies soon cool off and everyone goes back into the kitchen to decorate. In no time, icing, sprinkles, and candy cover the countertop and the four-year-old has a permanent gleeful smile on her face as she decorates a candy cane-shaped cookie for her mom.
But Tony’s other kid stays quiet about the whole time.
Peter doesn’t look upset, he’s actually doing a good job of masking whatever he’s thinking about. He smiles at Morgan at all the right times, seems to enjoy himself while he decorates a snowman and a gingerbread couple...but it’s almost as if he’s getting tired of looking happy and his facade has fallen a bit.
Fallen just enough to make it impossible for Tony to ignore.
The genius tries to think about what could possibly make his child upset during the happiest time of the year: is he still annoyed he has school or fed up with May and Happy’s relationship? Is he thinking about his Uncle Ben or his parents and how he can’t be with them during Christmas?
Tony seriously has no clue and it’s starting to drive him crazy.
But then he sees the spider-boy start working on the circle cookie that was from the last bit of the leftover dough...and he’s mixing and using colors that don’t quite fit with the festive theme.
Morgan seems to notice this from the teen’s other side and says with confusion, “Petey, those colors aren’t Christmassy.”
Peter responds defensively, “Hey, I’ve seen plenty of purple on Christmas tree ornaments, it’s a very underrated color.” He then puts a dot each of blue and red icing in a corner of a cookie sheet and mixes them with a toothpick to make more purple icing. Once he’s done with that, he puts a dot each of white and black icing next to the purple to make the color gray, using the other side of the toothpick to mix them together.
Huh, that’s interesting, Tony thinks, those are the same colors as the asexual flag.
Then it clicks.
He’s feeling insecure about himself again.
Tony continues discreetly watching his teenager decorate the circle to look like the ace flag while he himself decorates a Christmas stocking. Said kid then uses that same toothpick and drags it back and forth through the icing, finishing off the ornament with a bit of a zig-zag design.
The father then says in the hopes to encourage the boy, “That looks really cool, bud.”
Peter, clearly not expecting that statement, turns to his mentor in surprise. He then smiles sheepishly as his cheeks turn to just a few shades lighter than their red icing and whispers, “Thanks.” He then quickly turns away in what looks like embarrassment.
Aw, poor kid.
As far as Tony knows, he and the kid’s friend are the only people who know that Peter is asexual, so what could’ve possibly happened? Did Ned say something, did the tyke overhear something or see something stupid online?
Whatever it is, Detective Tony is on the "case."
Morgan looks at Peter’s ornament as well and her eyes bug out, “That is really cool!” She then grabs a toothpick of her own and starts swirling it through the icing that’s covering a Christmas tree cookie, but unlike her brother, her end result isn’t a design and more of a mess. Nevertheless, it’s still adorable as all shit.
The father-son duo both giggle at how proud Morgan looks of her “creation” and they all finish off the last of the cookies. Then they dig in, with the four-year-old going for her “fancy” tree, Peter with his ace ornament to destroy the “evidence”, and Tony getting the first one he sees, a snowman.
The three of them curl up on the couch and watch another movie while they eat more cookies, leaving the mess in the kitchen to tend to later. Pepper won’t be happy but eh, it’s Christmastime so it’s a “fun” kind of messy, Tony thinks. And it’s not like he’s going to make her clean it up.
About halfway through Home Alone, Morgan gets bored and goes to her room to play with her toys. The second she leaves, the atmosphere in that living room grows tense, putting the two remaining parties on edge.
Tony keeps looking over at Peter, trying to figure out what to say and how to say it without sounding abhorrently cheesy. Instead, he just watches his kid fidget with his fingers in his lap, the movements growing more aggressive the longer they sit.
After a few more minutes of watching the movie, the tyke says in a rush, “Please don’t ask.”
“Y’know I can’t do that.” The man looks back at his kid in concern, “You’ve got me worried sick here, bud.”
“I’m sorry, it’s really not that bad -”
That only worries Tony further, “Not that bad? Peter, what the fuck -”
“It’s nothing, I promise it’s nothing, okay?” The kid starts sounding more and more anxious, “It’s just stupid, it’s stupid because kids are stupid and everything is just stupid, alright?”
The older genius quickly retorts, “Not alright, nothing’s alright if you’re acting like this.” He continues after he calms down, “Okay, something happened...and I can tell from that outburst that you really wanna tell me...so what’s stopping you?”
Peter props his elbow onto the armrest and rests his forehead in his hand, “I told you already, it’s stupid.”
Tony rolls his eyes, “Pete, it’s me, whatever you think is stupid, what I’ve done is stupider.”
To the man’s satisfaction, the teen snickers, head still in his hands, “Stupider?”
His father figure smirks himself, “Yeah, stupider,” his tone turns serious, “Peter, I know it’s an ace thing, you didn’t draw that on your cookie for shits and giggles...my mind’s going to dark places, kiddie -”
Peter jerks his head up and cuts him off, eyes as big as his head, “No! No no no no, nothing like that, I promise it’s nothing like that.” He takes in a breath, puts his forehead back in his hand, and closes his eyes in shame, deciding to just give in, “Flash found out I’m asexual.”
Oh, shit...shit shit shit….
“How? Did Ned say something?”
The young hero opens his eyes but his gaze doesn’t stray from his lap, “No...he broke into my locker during lunch and went through my stuff. I had a coupla ace things in there like this keychain Ned gave me and I know it was stupid to keep them at school but-but I liked having them there and -”
“Don’t blame yourself, he went through your shit, that’s not your fault.” Tony then asks a rhetorical question, “What the fuck possessed him to do that?”
The teenager takes the question literally, “I don’t know, ‘cuz he’s a dick and he’s stupid and an asshole and -”
“Peter, what happened next?”
Good Lord, I’m scared to ask.
Peter proceeds to cover his face with that same hand, but Tony can see the redness in his cheeks between his fingers, coloring now could probably match that red icing. The tyke’s voice comes out muffled but can still be heard, “Him and his friends ran up to us in the lunchroom, showing off the fucking keychain like it was a puppy. He made sure everyone heard him when he asked me if I’m asexual.” He then props his elbows on both of his knees and covers his face with his hands. The mentee damn near whimpers, “It got so quiet.”
Can I ask Santa to kill a teenager instead of giving him coal, ‘cuz coal is way too good of a gift.
Tony’s voice softens, “What did you say, buddy?”
“I...I-I didn’t deny it.”
The mechanic’s eyes widen in shock, “Holy shit -”
“I know...I know.” The tyke takes a couple of deep breaths before he continues, head still in his hands, “So yeah...I said ‘yes.’ Why the fuck I said that I don’t know -”
“‘Cuz you’re not ashamed of who you are. I’m proud of you, kiddo, that was a brave thing to do.”
“I didn’t feel brave when I said it.”
“How did everyone react?”
“Most were kinda indifferent, I guess. Some laughed, especially Flash and his friends, God, they were so fucking loud. Some people gave me weird looks, a lot of people asked questions, a lot of people asked questions, oh my God.” Peter lifts his head from his face and leans back into the couch. Tony notices how watery his kid’s eyes have become and his heart aches.
“Well, asking questions isn’t the worst thing -”
“They weren’t nice questions, Mr. Stark.”
“Oh...shit, kid, I’m sorry you had to go through all of that.”
Peter sniffles, “It just sucks. No one’s gonna look at me the same way anymore.”
“That’s not true -”
“Yeah, it is.”
“No, it’s not, okay, it’s not. Well yeah, next week probably isn’t gonna be fun, but this is all gonna blow over by New Year’s. Kid, I hate that this happened but this couldn’t’ve happened at a better time, honest. Once school starts back, no one’s gonna give a shit.”
Peter doesn’t say anything, his mentor isn’t even sure he heard him. The teen hesitates for a second before asking, “You don’t...you don’t think I’m a freak or a mental-case or anything, right?”
Tony answers with heartfelt meaning, “Never in a million years. Did those little shits tell you that?”
“‘Freak’ was an understatement, you don’t wanna what they said.”
The billionaire scoots to the middle cushion and rests his metal arm atop the couch, behind his kid's head, "Yeah I do. If you had to hear it, I wanna hear it too."
Peter shakes his head and leans into his father figure, prompting the older man to wrap his arm completely around his intern. Said teen then lets out a shaky sigh of security while trying his damndest not to cry, "Let's just say that some people told me they could 'fix it.' I really don't wanna tell you what else."
Tony swears his body temperature just went up ten degrees from how much his blood is boiling. He is forever amazed by how cruel people can be.
Especially when it's this close to Christmas.
He pulls his kid close and gives him a kiss atop his head. Tony pretends he didn’t see his mentee hastily wiping a tear that escaped him and instead soothes him with comforting words, “All of those kids are idiots, you hear me? They’re assholes, they don’t know any better and they’re not worth your time.”
Peter sniffles again, “But I gotta deal with those assholes for the next two years, I’m not gonna make it, Mr. Stark.”
“Yeah you will, you’re gonna kick their asses and wipe the floor with them, you did that before this crap happened, and you’re gonna do it now.”
The teenager shrugs, “I guess.”
“I know. I could go to the school, you know.”
“Mr. Stark -”
“Just say the word. I should’ve done something to that ‘Flash’ brat forever ago but better late than never.”
Peter grunts and puts on a half-smile, to Tony’s relief, “What would you even do?”
“Eh, maybe I’ll just call up his parents and tell them about this wonderful opportunity for their son to switch schools. It’ll be an offer that they just can’t refuse.”
The kid continues chuckling while wiping a few more tears off of his cheeks, “Y’know you can’t do that.”
“Just because I know right from wrong, it doesn’t mean I have to abide by it.”
“You’re just saying all of this to make me feel better.”
“Well...is it working?”
“Kinda. I just gotta tell myself that I’m not freak about a million more times and I’ll be okay.”
“Was that what the cookie thing was about?”
The tyke nods his head, clearly embarrassed, “I know, it was stupid -”
“Nah, it was cute, Morgan certainly liked it.”
“But yeah, um…all day I kept telling myself that they’re wrong but I was kinda losing it, so an ace cookie was totally the answer.”
Tony snorts, “If it helps you, it helps you, there’s no shame in that. Maybe we should make a batch of nothing but those.”
“I mean, I never say 'no' to more cookies.”
The two of them giggle at that. Once they calm down, Tony asks, “You gonna be okay? I wasn’t kidding, I will go down to the school and give everyone a piece of my mind. I mean, I’m gonna do that no matter what you say but I prefer to have your blessing.”
Peter can’t help but smile connivingly, “Just don’t kill ‘em.”
Tony playfully scoffs, “You suck the fun out of everything.” He pauses to hear another wonderful giggle escape his kid, “But you didn’t answer my question.”
The teen nods his head against his mentor’s shirt, “Yeah...yeah, I’m better now. Thank you for not making me feel bad.”
“I wouldn't forgive myself if I did. You’re an amazing kid no matter what you identify as, all those punks are one hundred percent wrong, okay? Try not to let ‘em get in your head, easier said than done, I know."
Peter nods his head, "Can I just not go to school next week? It's not like we're gonna do anything anyway except watch movies and have Christmas parties and I'd rather jump off the Empire State Building with no powers than celebrate Christmas with those pricks."
Tony hums in agreeance, "I can talk to May."
The spiderling tenses instantly, "But she doesn't know."
"Do you want to tell her?"
"Yeah, but...I don't know, she doesn't really understand that stuff."
"You don't know that, maybe she'll surprise you. Or you could just hide out here for a week, I'm sure Morgan will love it. As will I."
Peter's cheeks flush at that, "Can you come with me? When I tell her, I mean?"
His father figure tightens his grip, "Of course, bud, we can start off by giving her one of those cookies."
The teenager snorts, "Works for me."
The two of them stay huddled for so long that FRIDAY automatically plays another movie after the current one ends. They don't know nor do they really care about what's playing, they just appreciate the background noise.
Peter soon gets caught up in the paternal warmth and falls asleep on his father figure's chest, so comfortable and safe and loved that staying awake becomes too much of a chore. Tony dozes off not long after.
And they sleep for who knows how long, absolutely and utterly peaceful.
That is, until Morgan jumps on the pair and scares them awake so that she can ask for yet another cookie.
Ah, the domestic life.
Merry Christmas to me.