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What do you gift a man who already has everything?
That was Peter's problem. It was three weeks until Christmas and he had managed to get everyone a present with the little money that he had.
Everyone except Tony.
It was completely ridiculous. He was the closest with Tony out of all the Avengers. The man had done so much for him over the past few years, and Peter couldn't even buy him a present for Christmas? He was stressing more than he thought he would be.
"He'll love anything that you buy him, Peter. Stop worrying so much." Yeah, like that was helpful. Thanks a lot Aunt May.
"You don't understand! I can't find anything!" Peter whined, laying on the couch in his apartment.
That's how he ended up pestering every Avenger he could find, asking them for help.
First, it was Steve. He saw him first, so naturally, he asked him first.
"Mr. Captain Rogers sir!" He called to him, racing down the hallways. Steve turned around, a smile on his face.
"It's Steve, kid. What's up?" He asked, leaning against the wall.
"Right, uh...so Christmas is coming up a-and...do you have um...what are you getting Mr. Stark?" Peter asked, feeling kinda awkward.
Steve chuckled. "I actually haven't bought any presents yet. I was going to do it this weekend. Why?"
Peter groaned. Mission Steve unsuccessful. "Don't worry about it...uh, I'll see you later. Bye Mr. Captain Rogers sir! Merry Christmas!" He shouted as he ran away.
Day 2.
Next was Nat. She was lounging on the couch when Peter found her.
"Miss. Romanoff! I need your help!" He exclaimed, jumping over the couch and sitting down.
"Hey, Pete." She replied, nonchalant as she scrolled through her phone.
Peter blinked. "Right...uh, I don't exactly know what to get Mr. Stark for Christmas." He confessed, fiddling with the hem of the couch cushion.
Nat dropped her phone and stared at Peter with a deadpan expression. "I was literally going to tell you the same thing."
Peter let out a laugh. "It's so hard! He literally has everything!"
"Exactly my problem! He's super specific about the things he likes too, it's really stressful." She muttered as she picked up her phone again.
Peter sighed. Mission Natasha Unsuccessful. "So I'm guessing you can't help me with this one."
"Not this time, sorry, Peter. I'm sure you'll find something eventually. Besides, he loves you more than anything in the world. He won't even care if you get him something from the dollar store." Nat replied, making Peter's face heat up.
"R-Right..."
"Why don't you go ask Pepper or Rhodey? They should know better than anyone."
Peter's face lit up. Why hadn't he thought of that before? "That's a great idea! Thank you Miss. Romanoff!" He exclaimed, jumping off the couch.
Natasha rolled her eyes. "It's Nat, kid."
Day 3.
It was getting closer to Christmas with every hour that passed, and Peter was stressing out more and more with each day. He was in the elevator, jumping on the balls of his feet with nervousness.
The doors opened, and he instantly walked into the kitchen, extremely hungry after a long day at school.
Thankfully, he came face to face with Rhodey.
"Mr. Colonel Rhodes!" He exclaimed, "Thank God you're here."
"Dude, how many times do I need to tell you? It's Rhodey, alright?" He reminded the boy, a smile on his face.
"Right, yeah yeah, sorry. So, Mr. - I mean, Rhodey. Um, I don't know what to get Mr. Stark for Christmas and it's kinda stressing me out."
Rhodey chuckled at the panicked expression on Peter's face. "You need to calm down. This is Tony we're talking about, he'll love anything you get him."
Peter groaned. "That's not helpful, sir."
Rhodey sighed, deciding not to bother about the whole name thing. If the kid still doesn't call Tony by his name, then there's no chance that it would be different for him. "Look, I honestly don't know what to tell you, kid."
"Well...have you bought him something yet?"
"Yep."
"What is it?"
"Nope."
"Oh, c'mon! Just tell me!"
"Nope. Not doing it. I don't need you stealing my ideas." He said, patting Peter on the shoulder as he walked past him. Peter turned around in desperation.
"But I really need the help! You don't understand! He has done so much for me and I just want to get him something in return but I-I just...I can't think!"
Rhodey's expression softened. He started realizing that this problem was about more than just a gift.
"Alright, kid. I get it." The man sighed. "Just...get him something meaningful. Something creative. He'll appreciate it much more if it came from your heart and hard work."
"But everyone says that-"
"No, kid. Trust me, he will. Sure, everyone appreciates a gift that clearly took a lot of time to make, but I'm talking about how Tony feels about you, Pete. He'll love it much more if it came from his kid's heart." The man finished, pointing at Peter as he walked out of the room.
Peter stood there for a moment, taking in what Rhodey just said.
His kid.
Peter smiled. He had an idea.
"U-Uh, thank you!" He stuttered out, hoping the colonel had heard it.
Mission Rhodey successful (??)
Day 4.
"Peter? Is everything okay?" Pepper asked, as she stood up from the couch. FRIDAY told her that he needed her help, and she had been on the edge of her seat ever since.
"Y-Yeah...I just need a little help with Mr. Stark's Christmas present. I-It's totally cool if you can't! I know you're busy-"
Pepper gave the boy a soft smile. "Of course I'll help, what do you need?"
"Thank you." Peter smiled. "Uh, I need any photos that you've taken of me and Mr. Stark together." He said. The smile on Pepper's face grew, having an idea of what the present was.
"Of course. Do you want me to send them to your phone?"
"Yes please, if that's okay."
Pepper nodded, her smile never leaving her face.
"I also need your opinion on a lot of things."
Pepper grinned. "Well, we better get to work."
Peter ended up inviting May to the compound, so they could have her input too. It took a good few hours, but the present was finally completed.
"Phew. I think you did a good job, Pete." May said with a smile.
"It wasn't only me! You guys helped as well."
"You came up with all the ideas and the planning. We only helped you execute them." Pepper added.
Suddenly, Peter was feeling extremely anxious. He shifted around from where he was kneeling on the floor. "Do you think he'll like it?" He asked, shyly.
"Oh, Peter. There's no doubt in my mind that he will." May reassured her nephew, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. Peter leaned into her touch.
"Yeah, no. You're probably right. I just...I dunno. I'm nervous."
"It's okay to be nervous. But I know Tony. And he'll love it so much that I bet you, he'll even cry." Pepper said in hopes of comforting Peter.
The boy smiled. "Well...I don't think we should go that far."
Christmas Day.
Peter jumped out of bed and rushed to May’s room, beaming brightly. “May! May wake up!”
She groaned and hid her face in her pillow, so Peter jumped on the bed and shook her. “Wake uuuuppp! Come on!”
”What time is it?” She asked, groggily.
”The time doesn’t matter! It’s Christmas Day!”
”Peter…what time is it?”
The boy hesitated. “Seven am.”
May groaned again. “Let me sleep,”
”No, we need to open presents and celebrate…uh…Jesus?”
May snorted and slowly sat up. She rubbed at her eyes and smiled at Peter.
Peter smiled back and moved to get off the bed. “I’ll call Happy! He can give us a lift to the compound!”
And that’s exactly what Peter did. Luckily, the man was awake at this hour. He grumpily agreed to go pick up the Parkers and told them to be ready in half an hour, then hung up. But not before Peter said a quick “merry Christmas Happy!” to him.
”Pete, before we leave, I wanna give you your present.” May said with a warm smile. May could only ever afford one present every year, and always felt terrible for it. Peter understood, and made sure to reassure her that it was okay. That’s why when Tony asked if both of them wanted to join them for Christmas, May immediately accepted the invitation. She always wanted Peter to have a good Christmas, and this year, he finally could. She passed Peter a medium sized wrapped present and Peter gratefully accepted it.
”It’s squishy. It feels like clothes.” Peter guessed.
”How about instead of feeling it, you open it?”
Peter giggled (a very manly giggle, of course), and ripped it open.
It was a navy-blue scarf. Peter recognized it instantly and his eyes filled with hot tears.
”Is this…Uncle Ben’s scarf?”
May nodded, tears also making an appearance on her face. “I dug it up a few weeks ago. I thought you would like to have it.”
Ben wore his blue scarf constantly. Peter was pretty sure he couldn’t remember a time when he wasn’t wearing it (apart from in the summer).
He held the scarf closer. Holidays were hard without Ben. This was their second Christmas without him. Last year had been a train wreck. Loads of tears and words of attempted comfort or reassurance.
That’s why the scarf meant a lot to Peter. It was all the comfort and reassurance from Ben that he needed.
”Thank you so much, May.” He thanked, tears falling down his face as he hugged his Aunt.
”You’re welcome, Pete. I-I’m sorry, I’m sure you wanted something more o-or something that I actually bought but-”
”No, no. It’s perfect, I promise. Thank you.” Peter quickly reassured.
May smiled warmly at him again. “You’re welcome.”
”Peter, I love you, but only the devil makes me wake up this early.” Tony grumbled as the Parkers arrived at the compound.
Peter smiled. “Merry Christmas to you too, Mr. Stark!”
Tony scoffed, his grumpy demeanor falling instantly. “Merry Christmas, Pete.” He said, hugging his kid.
May made a coughing noise for some recognition.
”Of course, you as well.” Tony chuckled, kissing May on the cheek.
May laughed. “Merry Christmas, Tony.”
Soon, they were all gathered around the tree. The Avengers, plus the Parkers. They had begun opening presents (“Mr. Stark! You really didn’t need to get me that many presents!” “Nonsense. Stop complaining.”).
They took turns opening them, being extremely grateful for whatever they got (even when Peter got a stuffed spider toy. Thanks Sam).
It was soon Peter’s turn to give Tony his present, and the boy instantly started panicking at the sight of everyone’s eyes on him.
”A-Actually, can I give it to you later?” He asked timidly.
”Why? Is it bad? Do you need to swap it out?” Tony teased.
”What? N-No! It’s just…I want it to be…private.” Peter winced at how weird that sounded.
But Tony smiled, unknowingly easing Peter’s nerves. “Alright. Later it is.”
Later came quicker than Peter liked. No matter how many times Pepper and May tried to reassure him, he still felt like Tony wouldn’t like it.
It’s stupid. The gift is stupid. It’s a silly, stupid gift that Tony is going to hate and-
“Kid, you okay?”
Peter jumped and looked at Tony, who was sat on the couch. They were finally alone in the living area. Everyone else was in the kitchen or in the game room, waiting for the Christmas Dinner to cook.
Right. He needed to give Tony the present.
The stupid present-
Stop worrying so much, Parker.
”Yep. All good. Uh…here you go. Merry Christmas.” Peter said, quickly handing Tony the gift before he could change his mind. Tony took the wrapped gift, a suspicious look on his face as he started to open it.
Peter started to sweat.
The man finally got all the wrapping paper off and stared at a...book. It had no title, no writing at all on the front cover. It was just a mix of colors. Red, gold and blue.
"Open it." Peter urged when Tony stared at it for too long.
Tony did, and his mouth fell open. There were pictures of him and Peter, stuck to the pages with notes around them. The first one was their fake internship photo of them giving each other bunny ears. The next was them in the lab, working on an old project together. The photos were in timeline order, their relationship growing with each turn of a page. There were photos of them at home, covered in blankets on the couch. Them outside at some fancy event, dressed up and standing close to one another. There were candid pictures of them together, at Peter's apartment, and the compound, at times square, at the park, at Peter's school. It went on and on and on.
Hundreds and hundreds of pages of just them.
Peter stepped forward and turned to the very last page. He had written Tony a paragraph that he knew he needed to read.
'Merry Christmas, Mr. Stark. You are the best mentor I could ever ask for. I have always looked up to you, even at three years old, and always will. I know you don't think you deserve it, or that you're not the ideal person for me to look up to, but it's true. You've always been there for me, at times when I needed it and even at times when I didn't. After I lost my Dad and then my Uncle, I thought that maybe father figures weren't in the cards for me. But then you came along! :) and I wouldn't have it any other way. I love you like you're my Dad, and have for a very long time. I love you so much, Tony. Love from, Peter <3'
Peter watched as Tony read the message, getting more and more anxious as the seconds ticked by. After a while, he could tell that he had already read all of it. But he still continued to stare at it.
Maybe he didn't like it. Maybe he thought Peter was weird now. Maybe he doesn't want him to think of him as his Dad. Maybe-
Suddenly, hands grabbed Peter's arm and pulled him towards the couch. He was instantly being crushed in a hug, which he gratefully returned. He let out a relieved breath, glad that Tony didn't hate him.
"Do you like it?" He still had to ask, in a tiny wobbling voice. Tony chuckled, then sniffed. Peter's eyes widened when he realized the man was crying.
"You're such a good kid, Pete." He replied, then kissed his head. "Of course I like it. I love it." He said, pulling away to look Peter in the eyes. "I love you."
Great, Now Peter was crying.
"You've always been my son, Peter. Always." He pulled Peter into another hug. "Thank you for the book. It's now my prized possession."
Peter laughed. "Pepper was right."
"Hm?"
"She said you would cry."
Tony scoffed. "Whatever. These are very manly tears."
"Mhm." Peter smirked, letting his eyes close as his head rested on Tony's chest.
He was excited to spend the rest of Christmas with his Dad and his Aunt.