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“How excited are you?”
“Million billion!”
Tony laughs over his shoulder, still gripping his toothbrush. “You’re more excited than that! C’mon! Spell it out!”
Peter lets out a big shriek. “Billion million hugest of all time most ever skating on Saturn’s rings with ice skates! With butterfly kite attached to my back making me bounce from star to star—”
Tony bends over, bracing his hand on the counter and squeezing his eyes shut tight. He spits out the toothpaste and nearly dies laughing.
“—and all the way back to earth millionest most gigantic big bear polar bear time most excited!”
Tony can hear him jumping up and down in his bedroom.
“And where did the polar bear come from, Petey pie?”
“He has always been here!”
Tony keeps chuckling, rinsing his mouth out, and he walks out into the hallway and turns into Peter’s room. His kid is standing in the middle of his moon carpet, eyes closed, and he’s bopping back and forth like he’s on a dance floor.
Tony is always happy to see him dancing, but he’s especially happy to see him dancing after all the bullshit with his ankle. That happened at the beginning of October, and it’s days away from Christmas now, and he’s finally completely over it. Halloween was the saddest. His little pirate with the little eyepatch and stuffed parrot on his shoulder, hobbling along with crutches. It was bad enough that May and Ben couldn’t make it out, despite Rhodey’s matching costume attempt.
And that’s why Peanut’s so happy, right now. Ben and May have only made the flight once, for a weekend back at the beginning of November, and they missed Thanksgiving, too. But now they’re coming for Christmas. They’ll be here all the way two days past New Year’s, which is more than Tony could have expected, and they’re also getting to go to the gala with him, Pete, Pepper and Rhodey. Tony had always wanted to do a big thing when he was at home, but he only managed to do little parties here and there, but this is the real deal—silent auctions, samplings of the restaurants he picked out from around California, live music, no goddamn shop talk, just—Christmas. Everybody together. Dressed up, fancy fun.
no weapons no legacy he’s got enough shit lined up all the way through summer that howard would salivate over, this is just nice, something nice and fun for peter that he’s been looking forward to
“You like my moves?” Peter yells, snapping Tony out of his reverie. “I can dance now! Again like before! No more crutches I threw them in the trash!”
Tony snorts, leaning against the doorway. “You did not, we returned them to the hospital.”
Peter hops up and down, which still scares Tony after all the shit, but he doesn’t say anything. “And then I went back there in the darkest part of the night and I took them and I threw them in the trash!”
“That’s destruction of property,” Tony says. “But I’ll keep your secret.”
“Thanks!” Peter says, grinning at him. He rushes over and hugs Tony, pressing his ear to Tony’s stomach.
God he’s getting so tall.
“I do not want to go to school.”
“You do,” Tony says, cupping the back of Peter’s head. “You love learning. Today you’re doing the maps. The state song and all the continents.”
“I know that stuff already,” Peter says. “I know the capitals and big cities too when everybody else doesn’t. So I don’t need to go, I need to go to the airport.”
Tony snorts again, and Peter tips his face up, resting his chin on Tony’s stomach now. “Don’t try to convince me,” Tony says.
“I wanna see them when they come in when they arrive when they walk down the hallway and then we see them and run and hug!” He gives him that watery-eyed look, but Tony has to be strong.
“Monkey, their flight comes in right in the middle of your school day,” he says. “I know you’re excited.”
“I am excited,” Peter says, nodding. “You sure? You sure you can’t change your mind? You totally and completely sure that you can’t?”
Tony nods at him too, drawing forward all of his strength. He’s extremely susceptible to letting Peter do whatever the hell he wants. Especially when he gives that look. But school is important. And soon enough Peter’s gonna get to skip a grade if he keeps on the track he’s on. Which he should, he needs to. He runs circles around all his classmates and gets his best information from his tutor that he sees Mondays and Wednesdays. But he’s gotta keep up a good attendance record if he wants to do that, and they already had that hiccup at the beginning of the year.
“I’m sorry that I’m sure,” Tony says, brushing his hair back.
Peter sighs, blinking up at him.
“They’ll be here at home when you get picked up,” Tony says. “And that’ll be even more exciting. That you can come home to them already here!”
Peter raises his eyebrows at him. “I guess so.” He huffs into Tony’s stomach and then he walks away, still packing his backpack. “Elf hat.”
“Yes, your elf hat is coming,” Tony says. “It’s been ordered. It’s on the way. Should be here any day now and then you can wear it every day if you want to.”
“O-kay kay kay.”
“And then the gala this weekend!” Tony yells.
Peter grins over his shoulder at him, and looks back at his work. “Yes yes yes yes yes. Can’t wait. We’re all gonna be there and it’s gonna be the best.”
“Yes yes!” Tony repeats. He taps his hands on the doorway. “Chocolate chip pancakes?”
“Yes!” Peter says again. “But let Uncle Ben cook the entire time he’s here please and thank you.” He grins over his shoulder again.
Tony narrows his eyes. “Heartbreaker.”
~
Tony stands there with Pepper, shifting back and forth as the people come streaming out from the most recent flights. He sighs, glancing at her.
“It was on time?”
“You know it was. We just looked.”
Tony sighs again. He sees people noticing him and some of them stop and stare or converse with whoever they’re with, and he thinks he might hear Peter’s name. He tries to remind himself that other people are named Peter, but his Peter is the most important Peter so it still perks his ears up whenever he hears the name, and brings to mind that precious little face.
“There they are,” May’s voice says, from somewhere.
Tony looks up and sees the two of them emerging from the crowd, and his heart lifts and he starts striding towards them before he even realizes he’s doing it.
“Don’t even ask how the flight was, because it was—it was not good,” May says, when she’s finally in front of him. She looks like she’s gonna give him a hug, but she acquiesces to Ben, who’s beaming at him brilliantly.
“Hopefully not a seat kicker,” Tony says, opening his arms, and Ben gives him a huge bear hug that, frankly, Tony needed. “Hey buddy.”
“Hey Tony.” Ben pulls back, patting his cheek and still grinning at him, and Tony catches the tail end of May’s hug with Pepper. “Looking good,” Ben says.
“You too, as always, big—strapping man.”
“Not too strapping,” Ben says, patting his own stomach.
They switch, and Ben hugs Pepper, while May gives Tony that little look she always gives him now. Pinched mouth, raised eyebrow, unforgiving. But it passes, as if she makes it pass, and she gives him a big hug too.
“How’s little boy?” she asks, rubbing his back before she pulls away. “It’s so much better now that the crutches are gone. You’re still not having him wear the brace, right?”
“He told us last week Peter put the brace under his mattress and said it wasn’t coming back out,” Ben says, taking her bag from her.
She gives him a look too, and they all start to absent-mindedly follow Pepper when she leads them towards baggage claim.
“Yes, but I figured his father might have taken it out of there if he needed it.”
“I feel like he might have told us that, if it was the case,” Ben says, in that tone he uses when he speaks to May, as if they’re on thin ice and he can’t make a wrong step.
May just scoffs at him.
“Lemme hold one of the bags,” Tony says, reaching behind her towards Ben.
“I’ve got it.”
“C’mon,” Tony says, as they get onto the escalator.
“I’ve got it,” Ben says, winking at him.
Tony rolls his eyes, smiling. God, he hates himself sometimes, because he misses them so much, despite the fact that they talk and video call nearly every day. But he has to see this through. Despite this morning’s attitude, Peter loves his school here, and he’s making friends. And Tony plans to go back to New York eventually. Eventually, at the right time.
But he misses them. And he’s—really fucking happy right now. Just like the last time they visited, but that went too fast and everybody was kinda irritated with the short amount of time they had, and Pete was still hobbling a bit, then. This visit, they’ve got plenty of time and the kid’s tip top. And it’s Christmas.
“Monkey brain is good,” Tony says, glancing at May. “Like I said on Wednesday, ankle’s fine, he was dancing up a storm this morning thinking about you guys being here. He didn’t even wanna go to school, he wanted to come with me here to pick you up.”
May’s face crumples at that. “Sweet baby.”
Tony clicks his tongue. “Which is why I thought it would be fun if we dropped your stuff off at the house and surprised him with you guys when we pick him up. All of us, then go get lunch or something. I told him you’d be at home when we got there, so he won’t be expecting this.”
He knew neither one of them were going to question it, but they both nod enthusiastically, glancing at each other and grinning.
“Yes,” May says, still nodding. “Let’s hope these bags don’t take an age to come around.”
~
They don’t take an age, but May is just about to start hollering once more than five minutes pass. But they finally arrive and Happy gets them the hell out of there. Tony puts the bags inside the house on his own, insisting this time, mostly because he can’t really deal with the way May looks around like it’s too big and too lush and too everything, because he’s gonna have to deal with that later so why the hell deal with it now, too? He just wants to live in Peter’s surprise and happiness, and usually May is calmer in the house when Peter is there with her.
So she and Ben shove into the back of the van, as to not spoil the surprise through the windows.
“Are you getting ready to take pictures?” Happy laughs, looking at Pepper.
“Yes,” Pepper says. “Don’t harass me.”
Tony grins to himself, glancing back at May and Ben. They look cute, huddled up back there, and Tony clicks his tongue as Happy rolls up alongside the school. The kids are already coming out, and Tony sits up a bit, looking for Peter.
“I can’t wait to see him in his little glasses,” May says. “Barely got to last time.”
“Because he’s all shy about it,” Ben says.
Tony sighs. “He’s too much. Cutest kid in the world and always doubting it. But he’s got lots of reading over break to do so, you’ll see a good lot of them.”
“He’ll probably get all of it done within the first few days, knowing him,” Ben says.
“Diligent!” Pepper calls back. “Unlike his father.”
“I am when I need to be,” Tony says, holding his chin high.
“Uh huh. Which is never.”
May snorts.
“Which is when Peter is concerned,” Ben says.
“At least one person is on my side,” Tony adds, looking back at him. It’s true. Peter is priority number one.
“I concur with that,” Happy says.
“Only the women are against you, so you know who’s right and who’s wrong,” May says, clearing her throat. “But you do love Petey. So I suppose I can relent on that.”
Tony hears Ben whispering something to her, and he tries to come up with a good response when he sees Peter emerging from the crowd. He’s running, well, more like speed-walking, since he’s been more cautious lately, but Tony’s heart leaps into his throat regardless.
“Here he comes!” Tony yells. He glances over his shoulder. “Alright, alright, shove into the corner there so he can see you when he opens the door—”
“They understand the mechanics of it, Tony—” Pepper starts.
“You think he’ll be able to see us?”
“He’ll probably have to peek inside, but—”
“Here he comes, here he comes,” Tony says. He realizes that he usually gets out and greets him and opens the door for him, but it’s too late for him to correct his error, because Peter is already bounding over, a big smile on his face as he pulls the back door open.
“Ah!” Peter yells, with the exertion of yanking open the sliding door. “You bring out the big minivan today! Because we’re gonna go get them, right? From home and then go do something and go somewhere?”
“Well,” Tony says, like an idiot, but he isn’t able to finish whatever idiot phrase that was about to come out of his mouth and spoil everything, because Peter takes one peek inside the van and around the corner and his whole face changes.
Tony hears the snap of Pepper’s camera and Ben and May’s laughter. But he’s just staring at Peter.
“Hi, honey!” May says, and Tony can hear the smile in her voice.
“Surprise, muffin man!” Ben says.
Peter stares at them for a moment in disbelief, almost like he didn’t know they were coming to California at all, and his face contorts into a smile which then twists into crumpled, desperate tears.
Tony’s heart once again nearly drops into his ass, and he starts rushing for him. “No, no, monkey—”
“Petey—great, now we’re trapped back here,” May says, and Tony glances back on his way out of the car to see them both shifting around.
“No, no,” Peter sobs, rushing forward. “I’m coming. I’m coming in. Don’t get out the car I’m coming on—on my way—”
He stumbles into the car before Tony can get out and go to him, and he’s sniffling and crying and hiccupping. He tosses his backpack to the floor, and everybody is laughing and awing now. He puts his hands on the back of the seat, and Tony grabs him around the middle and guides him into their arms.
“There he is,” Ben says, helping him into the back with them. “No crying. No crying. Just a small surprise. Little one.”
“Wasn’t expecting,” Peter sobs, and he shoves himself in between them, grabbing at both of their arms. “So happy. Oh gosh.”
Tony snorts, rubbing at his own eyes as he scoots over and pulls the door closed. He shares a smile with Pepper, and she takes a couple more pictures over her shoulder. Tony twists, and watches them too, as he pulls his seatbelt on.
“Missed you,” May says, kissing his head, clutching at his cheek. “Missed you missed you missed you.”
Peter giggles, his eyes all closed and squinty with joy. He’s still crying and gasping but now he’s laughing too and smiling through it, and Ben reaches down and swipes away his tears.
“Geez, baby,” Tony says, as Happy starts up the car. “I didn’t think that would be tear-inducing. I thought it would be good!”
“It is good really good,” Peter says, clutching at May’s wrist and Ben’s arm. “Best and best and best. Now it’s really Christmas time.”
~
“Lights outside look real nice,” Ben says, shoulder to shoulder with Tony in the kitchen. “Don’t know if I said it enough.”
“You did,” Tony laughs, raising his eyebrows at him. “Making up for May’s silence, yeah? Maybe I should tell her Peter did it all by himself.” Peter did help put the lights up outside, and he also picked out the snowmen decorations that line the front path. But he wasn’t really focused on talking about the decorations, because he was too busy telling his story about his social studies class and the rat that fell out of the ceiling. Not Tony’s favorite story, considering, but Peter loves telling it.
He and May are in the living room reading, and Tony can hear Peter’s little voice carrying down the hall.
Ben clicks his tongue, glancing at the water that’s yet to boil on the stove top. “She’s still, uh. Well. You know.”
“Pissed,” Tony says, leaning against the counter and crossing his arms over his chest.
“Not exactly,” Ben says. “She’s—Uh, well. Adjusting.” He looks up fast before Tony can say anything in response to that. “But this is Christmas. And she knows you’re trying and doing better, and she knows this big gala is gonna be special and you made sure we could be included and well, she’s trying. She could be much worse, you know that. You and I both know that.” He clears his throat and glances over his shoulder, like he thinks she can hear him, but she doesn’t appear to come and rip his head off.
Tony nods, and feels waves of explanations coming forward—fears and apologies, potential solutions they haven’t discussed, anything, everything—
“Hey,” Ben says, stepping closer to him, and he’s got that kind look in his eyes that’s always there, that’s enunciated sometimes and underlined, that gets straight to Tony’s heart and makes him want to cry on the spot. Who is he to deserve that look? That kindness? Who is he to deserve any kind of family?
Ben reaches out and knocks him in the arm lightly. “You’re doing what you need to do. You’re taking the right steps for you and for Pete and that’s all that matters.”
Tony laughs a little bit. “Am I?” he asks, stupidly.
“Yes,” Ben says, definitively, more definitive than Tony’s felt in months. “Now c’mon, this pasta ain’t gonna make itself, and we’ve gotta redeem you in the eyes of Mr. Monkey. He’s got some very interesting stories about your cooking.”
“I’d call him a traitor, but he’s correct,” Tony says.
The water finally starts to boil, and they get to work.
“She’s real excited, though,” Ben says, holding onto the fridge door and searching for the right cheese. “About the gala.”
“I hope so,” Tony says. “You guys are gonna have the best of everything. Best food, best seats, and Pete’s outfit—”
Ben snorts. “I think that’s what she’s most excited about.”
Tony grins. He can’t wait for all the pictures. He walks over to the freezer, clearing his throat, and glances up at Ben again. “I’m glad you’re here though. For Christmas. I mean, I’m always glad when I get to see you guys, and Peter obviously had a massive breakdown about it, but Christmas, is, uh—Christmas is—”
“Well, who’s a Hallmark card,” Ben says, grabbing the Parmesan and the butter. “Look at you.”
“Alright, alright,” Tony says, giving him a look.
“Nah, I getcha,” Ben says, grinning. “And I brought all my mistletoe. So I’m prepared.”
Tony scoffs. “Great.”