Work Text:
Peter Parker was sure of very little. One: He had somehow gotten bitten by a radioactive spider and gotten spider powers. Two: Tony-mother freaking-Stark liked him. Three: he was probably going to shit his pants tonight.
He walked through the snow, wrapping his jacker thicker around him. He clutched the poorly wrapped present in his hands and checked his watch for the hundredth time.
He was definitely not nervous as he came up to the compound. The Avengers had decided to do a Secret Santa exchange this year instead of buying everyone presents. They had drawn names at Thanksgiving and were given a month to figure out what present to pick out. Peter had told them a few weeks ago that he wasn't going to make it to the party because college was a bitch and he had to get more work done before the end of the year.
He had phrased it differently.
He had said that he had to get it done before the end of the month, not the year.
But Tony had sounded so upset and disappointed over the phone (no matter how hard he'd tried to hide it) that Peter knew he had to make it to the party. Plus, he really didn't want to risk sending the gift through the mail. It was fragile. And important.
And he'd worked on it for a month straight.
He really wanted to see their reaction.
Plus, it was really fun to surprise the Avengers.
He suddenly had an idea.
After a few more torturous minutes of walking, Peter finally came up to the very secured Avengers compound.
"Merry Christmas, Mr. Parker. I was under the impression you would not be in attendance tonight," Friday's friendly voice greeted him.
"Merry Christmas, Fri! There was a change of plans. Mr. Stark doesn't know yet. Could you do me a favor?"
"Sure thing, Mr. Parker."
Peter grinned. "Could you not tell Mr. Stark I'm here yet? I want to surprise him."
He swore she almost sounded smug when she replied, "Of course, Mr. Parker."
He thanked her and then made his way through the opened gate doors.
Silently, he got into the elevator and instructed Friday to take him to the floor the party was taking place on. She did so silently. The doors opened and before anyone could look, Peter was on the ceiling. The doors slid closed behind him.
The party was small. Only Tony, Rhodey, Natasha, Clint, Bucky, Steve, Bruce, and Sam were there. But that was the way Peter knew they liked it. Just them. Just family.
It made him suddenly unsure if he was really wanted here. They looked like they were having a good time. Maybe the invitation was only a gesture of kindness, not actual desire to invite him.
But it was too late to question it now.
He tucked the present in his jacket pocket and crawled across the ceiling until he was directly above the group. Natasha looked up discreetly. Her eyes widened with surprise when she saw exactly who was stuck to the ceiling, but she quickly erased all emotion from her face. She raised an eyebrow, and Peter grinned back. She rolled her eyes fondly and subtly got her phone out to record.
"Stark," she asked nonchalantly at a break in the conversation. "Where did you say Parker was?"
Tony frowned a bit. But his face softened upon the mention of him, though Peter wasn't too sure why. "Had to work over the holiday. MIT has him up to his knees."
Clint frowned as well. "That's too bad. It would have been fun to have him here. He really brights this place up." He paused. "I swear, if any of you tell him I said that, you're dead."
Seeing this as his cue, Peter slowly lowered himself on a strand of web until he was directly in the middle of the circle.
"Aw, thanks, Mr. Barton. I think you're pretty great too. Still not my favorite Avenger, though."
The reaction was instantaneous. Clint jumped almost three feet in the air from surprise. Steve's head snapped up. Bucky and Natasha weren't fazed. Peter guessed that years of spy training and war had made those two completely immune to surprise. Plus, Nat had seen him before, anyway.
Sam shrieked. Like total, high pitched, loud shriek.
Bruce and Rhodey laughed. Peter dropped to the ground.
"Aw, come on, guys. I'm not that bad looking."
"Peter," a disbelieving voice said quietly.
He barely had time to turn around before he was buried in a hug from Tony.
"Not his kid, my ass," Bucky whispered.
"What the hell are you doing here? I thought you said you had work to do!" He pulled back, putting Peter an arm's distance from him.
Peter shrugged. "Merry Christmas, Mr. Stark."
The smile that split Tony's face was blinding. "Merry Christmas, Underoos."
"Peter, you're here?" Rhodey blinked.
"Oh no, Mr. Rhodes. Do your glasses need fixing again?"
Rhodey grinned. "Maybe they do, Pete. You can hardly blame me. I fly around in a suit saving the world. You can hardly say the same."
"Ohhh roasted!" Sam chanted.
Peter smirked. "I'd say you can't either. You've flown around in a metal suit made by Mr. Stark. What have you done on your own? I was Spider-Man for six months before I got help. And that was involuntary help, too. I rest my case, Mr. Rhodes."
Tony laughed. "Kid, you roast the shit out of us, but still use those formal ass titles. A bit backwards if you ask me."
He turned to the man. "Well no one was asking you, Old Man."
Tony punched him lightly in the face, but the huge grin on his face betrayed his true thoughts on the situation.
Bruce waved a hand. "Can we get back to the part where Peter's actually here? I thought you had work to do?"
Peter grinned. "I did. But I got it done. I've done nothing but get it done for the past month."
Tony put a hand to his heart. "Aww, you kill me, Underoos. Doing all that work for us."
"Hold on," Steve held up a hand, serious look on his face. "How much sleep did you get this past month?"
Peter shifted on his feet. "I got... some."
Tony's whole demeanor changed. He pushed him onto the sofa. "Sit your tiny ass down, kiddo. I don't want to hear it," he added, seeing Peter about the object. "I'm going to get you some hot chocolate."
"But I'm fine!"
"Don't want to hear it!"
Clint bounded over to him. He poked the package in Peter's hands. "Who'd you get? Who'd you get?"
"Kinda defeats the secret part of Secret Santa, doesn't it, Katniss," Nat spoke up lazily from her chair.
"Shut it, Nat," Clint muttered defeatedly.
"We can do presents if you want, now that Peter's here," Steve offered, ever the peace maker of the group.
Tony had returned and handed Peter the cup of hot chocolate. "That's fine with me. What do you say, Pete?"
Peter shrugged. "Sounds good. If that's what everyone wants to do. I'm just glad to be here."
There were nods all around. Presents it was.
"I got Sam," Bucky said, getting straight to the point.
Sam raised a skeptical eyebrow. He took the parcel from Bucky with an air of cautiousness. Unwrapping it took a while because Sam was so nervous. It was a little figurine of an eagle. The words, hand inscribed, read "I'm better."
"Man, fuck you," he grumbled.
Bucky laughed. "Don't worry, Sam. I actually got something for you." He pulled out another parcel and handed it to Sam.
Sam took it just as gingerly. But this one turned out to be the actual present. A new pair of flight goggles. "I don't want to praise you, Buck, but I will. This is definitely not the worst thing you could have gotten me."
"Well who did you get, Wilson?" Bucky asked.
"I got Bucky."
Coincidental.
"Shit," Bucky muttered.
The look on Sam's face was mischievous. He tossed the neatly wrapped package to Bucky carelessly. The super soldier caught it skeptically. He unwrapped it with far less care than Sam. A plaque fell out that read "The big Three: Aliens, androids and Wizards."
Bucky groaned. "It's bullshit, Sam! We've fought things besides that before!"
"Oh yeah, like who?"
"Me!"
Sam stuttered awkwardly. The subject of the winter soldier was still a sore one. But Bucky and Steve seemed unfazed, so everyone else relaxed.
Peter got lost in the excitement. The worry and anxiety over his gift was forgotten after Clint received a pair of underwear with his own face on it. Peter had gotten new chemistry equipment for his web fluid which was much appreciated. Falling flat on his face in the middle of a swing would not be the best way to be Spider-Man.
The excitement settled down after the last person opened their gift (a set of new knives for Nat from Steve). The fear and anxiety hit Peter like a train. He was the last person to give a gift.
He became aware too late that everyone was staring at him. He laughed nervously and stood up, taking the wrapped present out of his pocket.
"I guess that leaves me. I got Mr. Stark."
Tony grinned. "Hand it over, Roo. I want it now. I've waited too long for this."
Peter hesitated. Then he handed it over. Tony took it and unwrapped in painfully slowly, taking care to rip each piece of tape off with care. And there was a lot of tape. Peter wasn't amazing at wrapping gifts.
"You don't have to keep it, Mr. Stark. If you don't like it, I can take it back and get you something else."
Tony glared. "You know me better than that, Roo."
"I know, but I- I don't know. I made it myself. So it's probably not like any other gifts you've probably received."
"Made it? Well that's even better," Tony assured him, pulling at a stubborn piece of tape.
Finally, he had unwrapped the present. It fell into his hand. Peter bit his lip.
"What's this, Pete?"
"Umm... put it where the arc reactor used to be and tap it twice."
Tony did as he was told. Peter held his breath. At the second tap, a metal with liquid like substance began fluidly spreading across Tony's body. The nanites conjoined together and flipped into a helmet. In the span of three seconds, Tony was wearing a fully functional Iron Man suit.
There was a few seconds of stunned silence. Peter clenched his hands to keep them from shaking and displaying his true anxiety.
"Holy shit." Tony's voice was slightly altered by the mechanic voice of the suit. He flipped the face plate up. "How the hell..."
"I ummm..."
"What is this, Peter?"
He mistook the disbelieving tone for one of disappointment. He hung his head.
"It's nano technology. Theoretically, you should be able to make anything you want. Of substance, of course."
A few more seconds of silence.
"How do I take this off," Tony demanded.
Peter's heart sank. He didn't like it. He probably had tons of suits that were better than this one. Peter was just adding to the meaningless collection. "Triple tap the housing unit or ask Friday to take it off for you."
"You put Friday in here?"
He nodded meekly.
The suit melted into the housing unit. Tony took it off and stared at it. Peter stared at his shoes. He was therefore surprised when he was caught in a huge hug.
"Mr. Stark-"
"This is amazing, Pete. You're amazing. How in hell did you do this?"
"You actually like it? You really like it?"
Tony almost looked offended. "You kidding, kid? This is revolutionary science! How did you do this?"
Peter let out a huge sigh of relief. "Oh my god, I thought you hated it!"
"Hated it? Peter, this is insane! Please tell me how you did it!"
He shrugged. "A lot of experiments. The science is pretty theoretical. A lot of smoke, explosions, and time. I'm sure my roommate loved me. But he sucked it up when I told him it was for Iron Man."
Tony laughed.
"Well shit," Sam said suddenly, breaking the rest of their silence. "Wish I got Parker for my Secret Santa."
Peter grinned.
Bucky threw a piece of wrapping paper at Sam. "Be grateful I actually gave you the flight goggles, Wilson. I could have just left it at the statue."
"You wouldn't dare."
"Do you know me at all?"
Tony leaned in close to Peter while the others got in a light argument. "I love it, Peter. Thank you."
"Merry Christmas, Mr. Stark."