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Tony doesn’t have a favorite gift. He barely even celebrates holidays. The only reason he does is just because of Pepper and well, he has a five-year-old now. Having a five-year-old means that everything Morgan gives him is now his “favorite gift”. Tony uses Christmas as the season of giving. What do you get a rich billionaire that has literally everything money can buy under the surface of the sun? Whatever he can’t buy, he can build. In other words, he’s impossible to shop for. Then came Peter.
The idea was super simple, a Secret Santa just between his closest friends and family. Rhodes was in town, so that meant it’d be him, Rhodes, Happy, May, Morgan, Pepper, and Peter to shop for. The other avengers weren’t in town, so that took some of the pressure off of him. Secret Santa meant he only drew one person, but when has he ever been known to follow directions? He got small stuff for everyone, but he ended up drawing Peter. Thank God it wasn’t anyone else. It wouldn’t have been a challenge. It wasn't a challenge anyway, he knows what the boy likes, but getting him to accept it was the real challenge.
The first day, he was drafting ideas when Morgan came in. Steve and the others just happened to be on the grounds in his lab, poking around in his personal space, but he wasn’t super focused on it. Steve was spouting on about something that he wasn’t quite listening to before Morgan came down, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Tony. Tony, there’s a child here.” Natasha sounded tense. Either that or really fucking uncomfortable for some reason. Obviously not because of the fact that it was a 5-year-old around dangerous machinery, but for some weird reason that Tony wasn’t trying to uncover at the moment.
“FRIDAY, please, honey. Just tell me. I promise I won’t tell anyone.” It had been a week since the drawing and he was dying to know who got him. He pleaded with the AI; Jarvis’ teasing undertones lost as Rhodey clapped him on the shoulder with a laugh.
“You know that’s the first sign of insanity? When you talk to an AI like it's your wife. Maybe that playboy side of you never left you little who– wonderful person. Hi, sweetheart!” Morgan tilted her head as Rhodey picked her up with a giggle.
“You say silly words, Uncle Rho.”
“Yeah, he’s a really funk-y guy, isn’t he?” Tony chuckled, picking her up. Rhodey glared at him with his emphasis on funk because it sounded oddly like fuck, but Tony never swore in front of Morguna– he would never.
“Daddy, I need help picking my gift. I got Uncle Happy.” She whispered that last bit into Tony’s ear, but since 5-year-olds can’t whisper worth a damn, Rhodey pretended not to hear. Rhodey got Pepper anyway.
“Okay, honey. Hold on, let me finish this.”
“Since when have you had a daughter?” Steve asked.
“Uh, well, she’s five, so do the math,” Tony didn’t mean to sound so snappy, but there were too many people talking to him at once. “Why don’t you go upstairs with Uncle Rhodey and go start thinking about what you want to get Happy? I have to finish picking my gift for Petey, so I need you to back up.” He kissed her forehead before she broke into a huge grin.
“Daddy, you got Petey?” Shit.
“Fuck.” He immediately covered his mouth, alternating between pinching his nose. 5-year-olds can’t keep shit a secret. It wraps as soon as she steps out of the lab.
“Nice. Great parenting, Stark.” Natasha’s comment made him jump and clutch his chest. He lowkey forgot everyone was still there.
“Hey, don’t tell mommy I said that. That’s her word. She coined it.” Nice save, Tony. Morgan ran out with Rhodey, leaving with the promise of getting Happy a popsicle.
“I know I’m getting him Legos but holy shit, he has basically every single Lego in existence– the tower,” He cut himself off with his own realization, the rest of the people in the lab looking at him in utter confusion.
Peter, on the opposite side of the city, was stuck with a major dilemma: how to get this elaborate plan of his to work. His plan? He managed to find a Lego arc reactor and a few pieces of scrap metal and glass. He built it in about 2 hours, so now he just needed to use the scrap metal, buff it and get it cut so that the glass panes slid in. Now all he needed was the paint. Morgan and Pepper’s handprint would go on the front, Rhodey’s on the side, Happy’s wherever, and then his and May’s wherever it fit. He had pretty big hands.
Tony got Peter a shit ton of stuff. Stocking stuffers and actual gifts, but he picked the avengers’ tower to be his secret Santa gift and everything else would be his actual Christmas gifts. The day finally came, and Tony was confident Peter would like his gift (Peter was actually going to use his Christmas paycheck to buy it). They went around in a circle, starting with Rhodey, who gave his gift to May: Christmas themed pajamas (everyone who knew the woman knew she was a sucker for them), matching slippers, along with her favorite candle that Bath and Body Works discontinued a year before (how he found that information out and how he found the candle was beyond her). May tackled him into a hug in response, before getting her gift to Pepper. They continued to go until it got to Happy. Morgan, who had been squirming in Tony’s lap for 20 minutes, finally got up and ran to her room to go get her gift box of all the stuff he loved. Tony didn’t even know what she got him. He chipped in on one thing, but the rest of it, he had no clue about.
“Is this from Rushman?” Happy stifled a laugh as he looked at his boss.
“Booty Boot Camp.” Was all Tony needed to mouth with a laugh before Pepper pinched him.
It got down to the last two contestants: Peter and Tony.
“No shot we actually drew each other.” Peter face palmed himself.
“You really can’t escape me, no matter how hard you try.”
“Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme– anyway. Do you want to exchange at the same time?” Peter was already nervous, Tony could tell. The boy had been bouncing his leg since he sat down.
Tony exchanged his gift, watching Peter open it like a black mother who swore up and down that her children weren’t getting shit for the 364 days leading up until Christmas. Peter’s eyes lit up and May laughed.
“Holy– woah! This is so cool, thank you, Mr. Stark!” Tony rolled his eyes at the formality. Peter practically shoved his gift into Tony’s lap. It was a perfectly symmetrical cube. He quirked his eyebrow.
“What the hell is this?”
“Just open it.” Tony hesitantly peeled back the wrapping paper, seeing his name on it. Was that the arc reactor?
“I’m confused.”
“Take the paper off.”
When he peeled it back, he took off the whole wrapping paper and sat it on his lap in its entirety. He felt the air leave his lungs; his mouth was open like a fish out of water. He felt the left-over heart that he had beating softly in his chest, but everything else slowed. Peter blushed nervously before whining into his hands, “You hate it.”
“I–” Tony couldn’t gather his brain. How could he with no oxygen? The fact that Peter had taken time to find the arc reactor in Legos and some light in the middle was one thing, but in the middle of it all, was Morgan’s handprint. It was tiny in that pink paint, like any five-year-olds would be. Next to it was Pepper’s, he could tell by her acrylic nail imprint at the top of the painted finger impression in orange. He twisted the box, seeing everyone’s hands; Rhodey’s next to Happy’s, which was next to May’s and Peter’s since May and Happy had gotten married. Everyone’s handprint was there, and it was just clear enough for the reactor to read ‘Proof that Tony Stark has a heart’.
Tony didn’t even realize he was crying. He didn’t even realize he was breathing. The tears weren’t even noticeable to him until they got on the glass, and he hurried to wipe them off. Pepper didn’t rush to correct him, just moved to sit next to him and rested her head on his shoulder, holding his hand. Sometimes Tony doubts if Pepper really loves him since she’s so no-nonsense. Pepper was a breath of fresh air in his otherwise polluted space that he called home.
“Don’t ever doubt who’s in your corner.” With a kiss to the cheek. Tony sniffed and looked up, wiping his nose.
“This is the best gift anyone’s ever gotten for me,” That made Peter look up. That adorable red hue in his face was at his ears, the boy’s buzzcut (that Tony will never admit he likes–he hates it and really does his best to not voice it when Peter’s around but can't help himself) doing nothing to hide it. “I really love it. Thank you.” Curse you Tony and your stupid mask.
Tony keeps it front and center in his lab. Right smack dab next to his coffee machine (the real one– the other machine is just a prop because it makes DUM-E feel useful to his owner). His hand ghosts over Morgan’s handprint with a smile because she really is his. His girl, his baby. The one who makes all of it worth it. But he couldn’t just pick her over everyone. They all were in his corner; they all made the holidays mean something.