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“Dum-E, knock it off.”
Peter looks over at Tony, squinting a little, but Tony hasn’t looked up at Dum-E and is still focusing on something he’s been tinkering with for the last hour. “Dum-E. You know what you did. Go back in the corner.”
Peter looks over at Bruce, but Bruce is on the other side of the lab, sitting cross-legged in the middle of something he told Peter to stay away from because it was a surprise, so he’d gone to bother Tony instead. Dum-E knocks something off the table, so Peter clambers to his feet, hands in little fists at his hips, and says, “Dum-E, knock it off.”
Tony chokes, sparks fly, and then he’s laughing hysterically, trying to get loose and back away. “Bruce!”
Peter smiles and keeps going, “Go back in the corner. You know what you did.”
“Bruce!”
Tony slides off his chair, clutching his sides and doubling over, and Peter just beams from where he’s standing on the desk. Bruce comes over, looking a little worried, sees Tony laughing on the floor, and just smiles at Peter. “What did you do to dad?”
“I’m funny!” Peter exclaims, and Tony drops all the way onto the ground, groaning.
“Dear god,” he mumbles when he finally settles and Bruce is back out of Peter’s line of sight.
“Sir,” Jarvis chimes in, “I believe it is time for Peter’s nap.”
“Jarvis,” Peter whines loudly, flopping down on to the desk even as Tony gets up, “Meanie pants.”
“We gotta teach you some new insults, kid,” Tony says before lifting Peter off the desk and heading out of the lab with him. When he’s got him all settled down for his nap, he goes back upstairs, heads over to Bruce, and says, “Jarvis, call Happy.”
“Happy?” Bruce repeats, looking up at him.
“What, do you want to ask Rogers? He’d just put on his pity voice, and Pepper would never actually get around to answering the question. Happy’s fine,” Tony says, sitting across from him, “How’s it coming?”
“It’s getting there,” Bruce says, “Only just started, though, considering you’ve got me putting together everything else.”
“Hey, you told me to distract pintsize because you know I have no patience for—Happy!”
“Great, what do you want?” Happy grumbles.
“Oh, come on, who says I want anything?”
“You always want something. If this is about coming back to work for you again, the answer is still no. I am head of security, Tony. I need to watch after Pepper.”
“And you are doing a fabulous job. Listen, what did you do as a kid for Christmas?”
“You know, the usual.”
“Yeah, I’ve got no idea what that means. Never had a real Christmas before, Hap—give me something.”
Happy sighs before launching into an explanation, and, by the time he’s done, Tony is feeling forlorn at the amount they still have to do, and Christmas is tomorrow. “Okay, you know what,” he says after they’ve hung up with Happy, “You stay here with Peter, keep tinkering, and I’ll go get—Christmas things.”
“Christmas things?”
“It’ll be awesome, no worries. I love you, you’re wonderful, I’ll be back soon,” he says before kissing Bruce and getting to his feet. He heads for the elevator as Bruce calls his goodbye across the lab, and then it’s just him and Jarvis. He finds a pair of shoes in the garage and a leather jacket over the plaid button-up Bruce bought him on a whim while he was out doing the shopping one day and he fell in love with for that very reason, and then he’s off, chatting with Jarvis and making a mental list of things that need to get done.
When he finally gets home, it’s six o’clock, and he can practically smell Bruce’s cooking from the garage. “Lock down the elevator after I’m upstairs, Jarvis, and do not let Peter convince you into an override. I know you’ve got a soft spot for him—harden up, be a man.”
“Of course, sir. Duly noted.”
He gets upstairs just as Bruce is setting the island. Peter is on the sofa in the living room, curled up with Ollie watching the Charlie Brown special, so Tony comes over and scoops him up, smiling when Peter giggles and squirms. “Dad!” he exclaims when Tony snuggles him close and kisses him on the temple.
“How is my favorite little spider?” Tony asks, settling him on one hip.
“Excited!” Peter shouts, squeezing Ollie to him, “Are you excited?”
“I’m very excited,” Tony says solemnly, and then Peter’s off giggling again when he makes a face at him. They eat dinner with a very fidgety Peter, and bedtime is quite the affair. Peter fights against his bath only briefly, though he’s still so revved up that he splashes through it and plays with the bubbles until Tony is sopping wet. He tries to be stern with him, but he’s so adorable, giggling and chattering incessantly about tomorrow that he can’t help but laugh at him. When they finally get him dressed and in bed, he keeps interrupting his bedtime story until Bruce resorts to tickling him, and then they’re up for another half hour, explaining to him why he has to go to bed and sleep. After that, he finally agrees to try to sleep, and they leave him whispering with Ollie about presents.
“Did you get everything?” Bruce asks as they go into their room, knowing Peter will be listening for their door, especially tonight.
“Yeah, I figured we’d wait an hour or so until he was definitely asleep, and then start setting up.”
“Sounds good. I’m going to take a shower, then, if you’d like to join me.”
“Oh, indeed I would,” Tony says with a grin, already moving forward to kiss him.
Afterward, when they’ve checked that Peter is asleep, they head downstairs to the garage and get to work. They get to sleep around two, and Peter’s up by seven, bouncing into their room and clambering up onto their bed, jumping around until they wake up, laughing. “Did you go in the living room yet?” Bruce asks tiredly, and Peter looks at him with wide eyes before vaulting off the bed. He runs from the room, Ollie swinging from one hand, and Tony laughs as he starts shrieking seconds later.
“Daddies, daddies, daddies!” he screams as he hurtles headlong back into their room, “Santa Claus came! He was here! Come on!” He starts tugging at their duvet, so they get out of bed and allow him to clutch at their hands, tugging them from their room and out into the living room. A large pine tree sits next to the TV, decorations strung over and through it, presents strewn out beneath it, some already put together, some sitting neatly wrapped beneath the tree. A stocking sits on the wall with Peter’s name on it, and Bruce directs him there first, helping him get it down, and then he’s plopping down on the floor as soon as he gets it, digging in.
Tony pulls Bruce over to the sofa, tucking his feet under Bruce’s thighs and leaning his head on his shoulder while they watch Peter gasp and giggle and screech at his presents, moving on from the stocking to the wrapped ones, pausing with every one to look it over carefully. He remembers breakfast halfway through and starts singing about how he wants pancakes, so Bruce just laughs, kisses Tony, and goes to make breakfast. All in all, they decide, it ends up being a pretty damn good first Christmas for all of them.