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Being a Stark [Superfamily]

Chapter 40

It’s the first Christmas with the Starks. Outside, it’s snowing. Children had been playing in the park, building snowmen and throwing snowballs at each other. But nobody at the Stark household has time for that. With May busying herself in the kitchen – she’s the only one who can cook, after all – and Peter and Vision keeping themselves busy with preparing the table, one would think that the roles are pretty well divided.

Of course, that would be the case if Rhodey’s leg-prosthesis didn’t decide to spark out at the last point. Hurrying back towards the lab to fix the problem, they’re already finding themselves two men short despite Happy and Pepper arriving earlier to help out as well.

“It’s snowing outside, and we didn’t want to get stuck in traffic,” they had said when they arrived at the door. Nobody complains about that, of course. They just put their presents underneath the tree, Happy then helps out adding chairs and fetching the tables from the lower floors to add them upstairs.

“FRI, can you ask Dad how much longer he’ll be?” Peter asks after putting down the final plate. He’s counted about twenty plates so far, most of them for the Sousas and the Carters. Then Peter has to add one for Sharon’s surprise date, Pepper and Happy, aunt May, Vision, Wanda, Rhodey, Bruce (and his secret date?), Tony, Harry and then Peter.

There’s still enough place for more tables, but there’s not enough guests. Everybody knows it, but nobody mentions it.

“You shouldn’t celebrate Christmas here. Just have a party at home, and tell us all about it afterwards okay?” Steve had assured him. Everybody hates it, of course, but sentence is sentence. And while it’s not a long one, it’s still one they’ll all have to see through.

So there won’t be any Steve, Natasha, Clint or Sam at the tower tonight. Wanda was let free because of her age. After letting out the sentences, they’ve even made sure she’s got herself her American citizenship and a chance to get back to school. A chance not even Wanda will ignore.

But they’re going to make the best of it. Because the Carters and Sousas will be there! And while Peter might only have seen a few of them once or twice, he’s been in contact with the younger generations sometimes through Facebook.

“Mr. Stark asks me to assure you that he’s just finishing up and that he’ll be there in a few minutes,” FRIDAY says. Peter nods and sighs. When the door suddenly opens, Bruce (holding a large bowl) and another woman walk inside. The woman looks… strong. If anything, it seems like she feels probably a bit out of place, too.

“Guys! This is Brunnhilde! I thought I’d invite her since it’s her first Christmas ever,” Bruce says. He drops the bowl on the table, and Peter jumps up to greet the man. When he gets to the woman, he holds out his hand to shake. She gives it a confused look, turning back to Bruce. When he nods at her, she accepts the shake. Her hold is strong, surprising Peter.

Well, she is kind of muscular, so it’s not that much of a surprise.

“Welcome, I’m Peter,” he introduces himself. Then he points towards the others, mentioning their names. When he says Harry’s name, the boy smiles and waves back.

At first Peter had wondered why Harry isn’t celebrating Christmas with MJ. He just grunted, saying something about ‘Too soon’ and ‘meet the parents’, and never mentioned it again afterwards. Peter doesn’t ask about it.

He’s thought about inviting Wade (why even?) and Yael. They assured him they’re having a little celebration on their own, that they wouldn’t feel completely welcome. Peter knows it’s because the girl rather avoids Tony. That’s an issue to solve in the near future, but not yet.

“Peter! Can you come and prepare the snacks!” May shouts from the kitchenette. Peter nods, excusing himself from the woman Bruce brought along, and then hurrying towards his aunt who presses some bowls into his hands. “Harry, dear, can you take Bruce’s bowl to the kitchen, please?”

“Yes, May!” Harry returns, doing exactly what she’s asking. Peter grins back when Harry throws him a big smile. Thanks to the change in his medication scheme, at least the small panic attacks haven’t occurred again. That’s a small relief.

Tony eventually returns. He hugs Bruce, kisses Pepper on the cheek and squeezes Happy’s shoulder. Then he greets Brunnhilde with a kiss on the fingers, which the woman seems to find a bit strange.

“Tony! Stop messing around! Get the drinks out of the fridge!” Tony holds his hands up in the air in surrender.

“Yeah yeah, I’m on it, May!” he returns. He hurries towards the kitchenette, messing up Peter’s hair on the way – like always – and opens up the fridge where he takes out the non-alcoholic drinks he’d ordered. Peter had suggested to get something, but Tony had just chuckled and shaken his head.

“No, no, not after Switzerland,” he had said, and Peter had frowned and tried to ask what he meant, but never got a straight answer out of him.

Peter decides to help out. He hurries to the kitchenette as well, taking out the glasses they’ve prepared and handing a few to Harry.

“Just give them to the guests,” he says. Harry nods.

“Yes, sir,” he jokes, saluting him before taking the glasses and heading Rhodey’s way. The soldier is talking to Happy, seated on the couch and discussing a few of Tony’s old adventures while at the same time glancing in the direction of the kitchenette. Peter thinks he might try and listen in in a while.

Before that, he hands a glass to Bruce and his friend, Brunnhilde. The woman frowns when she sees the glass.

“This looks fragile,” she says. She has a strong accent on her voice that Peter can’t really place.

“Most things are more fragile on Earth, we’re not as strong as you are,” Bruce clarifies. Brunnhilde just inspects the glass for a bit before Tony arrives with the cooled bottle. When he fills the glass, she smiles.

“Ah, the good stuff!” she exclaims. Bruce then makes an awkward face.

“I’m afraid not, Hilde. Non-alcoholic only,” he explains. Brunnhilde gives him a shocked look, and Tony just chuckles.

“We can order something with alcohol if you really want it, it’s just mostly for my safety that I didn’t,” Tony explains, pointing towards his stomach. “New liver and all, need to take care of it.”

“A new liver? Were your healers unable to repair your previous one?” she suddenly asks. The look on Tony’s face surprises Peter a bit; it looks like… fondness?

“They weren’t,” he says. Brunnhilde makes an unimpressed face.

“They were amateurs,” she says. Tony snorts. After filling up the glass, he hurries towards Rhodey and Happy. Vision and Wanda, who have gotten a glass from Harry as well, are standing by the window. They’re keeping space between them; Peter wonders why they’re being so careful around each other?

When there’s the sound of glass breaking and Tony cursing, everybody turns around.

“It’s alright, it’s alright! Just forgot my strength!” he says, one hand up in the air. Rhodey is looking down in amusement as Tony hurries to get something to clean it up. It must be weird for everybody to see Tony clean up his own messes like that.

“George, Tom and Freddy Sousa are on their way up, Sir,” FRIDAY suddenly reveals. Tony curses again.

“Wait, what about Judith?” Peter asks in confusion. Why would George’s wife not be with them?

“She is not with them. I suggest you ask them after they get here,” FRIDAY offers. Peter rolls his eyes, hurrying back to the kitchen to grab a few more glasses. And a new one for Rhodey, who is still waiting for his drink.

“Dad, I’ll do the drinks, okay?” Peter suggests, taking the bottle from the table. Tony nods. With a little brush, they clean up the shards. Harry, in the meantime, decides to go talking with Wanda and Vision for a while. If they mistrusted Harry at first, at least now they’re not showing it anymore. Though Harry might be getting a few moments where he’s just staring ahead, deep in thought, he’s done nothing more than prove that he’s back to his old self.

Besides, he looks extremely happy with MJ. And while the pair might not celebrate Christmas together, they have plans for New Year. Ned and Peter are joining them, after all. He might even try and ask if the others want to join as well.

The Sousas entrance is mostly describable because of the two ten-year-old children running inside with their arms raised in the air as they search for their uncle Tony and cousin Peter. Remembering them from the funeral, Peter knows immediately that the twins might cause even more destruction than Tony does with the powers he’s still unused with.

As it turns out, George and Judith Sousa are getting a divorce. It’s sad news, but nobody lets it put a damper on the evening. Getting the chance to meet a bunch of superheroes, the twins are even happy. George just takes place on the couch with Happy and Rhodey and ends up in a deep conversation with them. Eventually, even May and Pepper join up again with their own glass. Dinner is as good as prepared, just spending its time in the oven. Knowing May’s culinary talents, he doesn’t know if it’s going to taste fantastic, or if it’s going to be a disaster!

Well, if it fails, they at least still have Bruce’s bowl with whatever he brought along.

Peter talks with the twins, even shows them his room and allows them to mess around on their tablet. He starts a conversation with George, listens in on Harry’s discussion with Vision. After twenty more minutes FRIDAY announces Paul and Betty’s arrival. They’re the children of Lisa Sousa, Aunt Peggy’s granddaughter. They’re both twenty and twenty-one years old, in college for an education Peter can’t really remember. Their mother and her husband, Stuart, are still on their way.

The penthouse slowly starts to get crowded, but that’s alright.

Peter busies himself with refilling the snacks, cleaning up the bits of spilled drinks, and making sure the twins don’t start running things over. He almost wonders if he should distract them with Dum-E, until Tony tells them they can go on the balcony to build a snowman. The twins, of course, yell in excitement and run outside once they’re dressed again. Wanda and Vision join them outside.

Standing somewhere close to the door, Peter and Harry look at the crowded penthouse. Sixteen people inside and they’re still expecting Dr. Cho, Maria Hill and Sharon. To think that Tony even invited Jane, Darcy and Erik… it might be for the best that they decided to do something small. As it turns out, Jane took Thor leaving not too well.

“So, this is what it’s like to have a big family,” Harry says all of the sudden, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a light smile on his face. Then he turns back to Peter. “Is this what you’ve always dreamt of?”

Peter shrugs, unable to hold back his own grin.

“It’s not that I’ve been actively dreaming of it, but I don’t really mind the addition,” he admits. “Of course, it would have been better if the others would have been here.”

“I can understand that,” Harry mutters out. “How much longer have they got?”

“One month,” Peter says. Thinking back of his friends all spending their Christmas in jail. Natasha not even with the others since men and women are separated. It must suck… They might only have had a sentence of two months, but it lasts long enough when you’re waiting for them.

“They’ll be back before you know it,” Harry assures him.

“Miss Sharon Carter is on way up,” FRIDAY announces. Almost everybody then turns their heads towards the elevator.

“Merry Christmas everybody!” Sharon shouts the moment she’s opened the door. Holding presents in one hand, she offers everybody a wide smile, and gives Tony and Peter both a kiss on the cheek before going towards Pepper to hug her in a greeting.

After Dr. Cho and Maria arrive at last, Tony turns towards Peter’s Aunt. “I guess we can start warming up the food, then?” Tony suggests to her, and she nods. Putting down her glass, she heads towards the kitchenette. Ever the gentleman, Rhodey follows her to help her out. Tony then finally stands up, clearing his throat. “Guys, can I just… say something real quick?”

Everybody stops talking. While the twins are still outside, Vision and Wanda, too, listen in at the door. Tony, who is still holding his glass, loosens his tie a little bit before starting.

“I know, uh… things haven’t been the best this year. It was a real rollercoaster, full of good things, but also bad things. And I, uh… I feel like I must thank all of you for helping me, us, through it.” Tony raises his glass. “Thank you all for coming.”

Everybody raises their glass as well. Brunnhilde just copies Bruce and Sharon – it seems like the two women know each other. At least that’s good, right?

“But not everybody’s here yet,” Happy suddenly comments before anybody can drink. Tony lowers his hand again, giving Happy a questioning look.

“The others aren’t coming, Hap, I thought you knew that?” Pepper asks a bit awkwardly. Happy shakes his head.

“No but I mean they’re still on-“

Pepper slaps him on the arm, shushing him. Happy lets out a small cry of pain, and then rubs his arm. When Pepper then gives them an innocent face, Peter quickly realizes there’s something wrong. Tony, too, seems to understand.

“Okay, what’s happening? Please don’t tell me you’ve invited that douche from security? Or the X-men? Because I really don’t think we have much space in here, anymore.”

Tony gestures to everywhere around them. Pepper and Sharon try to shy away by hiding behind their glass without drinking from it. Happy quickly shakes his head.

“No, no, no everything’s fine. I didn’t invite anybody,” he quickly says. His word is proven wrong when there’s a sudden knock on the door.

“What the…?” Tony asks, turning towards Peter who just shrugs. He didn’t invite anybody else. At least nobody that could come.

“FRI?” Tony asks, looking up.

“I think you should see for yourself, sir,” she returns, ever so helpful. Everybody now looks at Tony, wanting to know what he’s going to do. Even May and Rhodey move away from the Kitchenette to find out what the drama is about.

So Ton finally moves. Everybody stays quiet, holding on to the toast as they all seem to realize it might not be over so soon. Impatiently, they wait for Tony to reach the door. Even Peter starts shuffling on his feet, a bit nervous. Harry snorts, next to him, finding his fidgeting amusing.

Tony finally opens the door. There are two figures standing there.

“Sam? Clint?” he asks in a loud shock. The two men smirk at him.

“Surprise!” they exclaim. Slapping Tony lightly on the shoulder, they make their way inside, surprising literally everybody in the room.

“They let us out for good behavior. Isn’t that great?” Clint, who is holding a few small presents in his hands, marches towards the tree as if he’s been living here for a few years as well. Sam stays standing at the door for a moment, making sure that Tony doesn’t get a stroke from the sudden excitement.

“Steve tried everything he could to be here,” he assures him, squeezing his shoulder for a bit. Tony, finally, moves, reaching out for Sam’s shoulder as well. Mirroring the movement, the two give each other a long, calm look before they turn back to the others. Tony opens his mouth to speak up, but suddenly Clint interrupts him.

“It helps that we might have saved the judge’s daughter during the Alien Invasion back in 2012,” he says. Then he takes one of the empty glasses and the bottle of champagne Maria brought along. “Hmm, Champagne. This looks good, man.”

Nobody stops him when he opens the bottle. There’s laughter, and low murmuring. Especially when Clint starts introducing himself to the Sousas while holding his glass in his hand. Peter even notices Brunnhilde moving towards the bottle to fill her glass with actual alcohol this time.

“FRI, better order some more drinks,” Tony mutters out, raising his glass to his mouth at last. Before he can drink, there’s another knock on the door. “Damn it, what is going on?”

Sam heads the others’ way, greeting Bruce and introducing himself to Brunnhilde. Before opening the door, Tony turns to Peter and Harry.

“Boys, would you maybe mind fetching another table from downstairs? You can ask a few of the others if they could help with some chairs.”

The boys nod, heading towards Wanda, Vision, Paul en Betty. Behind them, Tony finally opens the door. A few gasps come up, and it’s immediately clear why.

Because at the door there’s Nat, dressed in a nice dress. Behind her stands James Barnes, also dressed up formally, though looking extremely out of place. Tony just stares for a moment before Natasha walks inside, gently patting his cheek.

“I couldn’t leave him alone on Christmas now, could I?” she asks, as if it’s obvious. Tony stutters out an answer, but nothing really comes out. “C’mon, Tony. He’s not the same guy. You know that, right?”

Tony turns towards Natasha, blinking towards her. The room is silent again, all of them waiting to find out if Tony is going to allow Barnes inside or not. Eventually, Sharon steps his way and puts a hand on his shoulder.

“Tony?” she asks. Tony finally clears his throat and lowers his head. Then he nods with his eyes squeezed shut.

“Yeah, uhm, welcome in, man,” he says. Happy cheers come up, which startles Barnes a bit. Peter can’t help but cheer out as well, especially when he sees Natasha’s proud face. She takes Barnes’ hand into her own and pulls him along. Tony takes a deep breath before closing the door again.

“Uh, Harry, can you ask the guys for the tables and chairs? I just need to say hi for a moment,” he says. Harry nods, continuing to where they were originally headed while Peter turns towards Natasha. Finally having red hair again, she looks more like the woman he remembers. It’s better this way, too.

“Ah, my fellow spider,” Natasha says with a wide smile. She opens up her arms and Peter walks right in them. Feeling her strong embrace around him, he can’t really believe that the evening is turning out this way. He wouldn’t have expected them to be here, and now here they still are! It’s probably the best surprise they could have. “You look great.”

“I feel great, especially now,” Peter says, pulling away from Natasha while the grin on his face stays wide. After that, Peter turns towards Barnes, who is still standing next to Natasha, though a bit awkwardly. “We’ve met before, but I’m Peter.”

Barnes gives him a frown before accepting the handshake Peter is offering. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember you?”

“That’s alright, I’m not going to tell anybody I stopped your metal punch with my bare hands,” he says with a wink. Suddenly, there’s a small slap on his shoulder and Tony is standing next to him.

“I suggest you talk a little louder, Peter, I’m sure the kids outside haven’t heard that,” he mutters towards him a bit jokingly. Despite that, Peter can still feel the tension.

“Relax, Dad, nobody’s listening.” Peter gestures towards the entire room that has started talking to each other. The teenagers head towards the door to help out with the tables and chairs, and Peter decides he should join them. “I’ll be back soon.”

He winks towards Barnes, feeling like the guy might need a little push to feel comfortable. Natasha seems happy that he’s trying like that. Before he leaves the room he can see her slotting her arm in his as she pulls him along.

“That was a bit awkward,” Harry says once they’re all outside. Peter shrugs.

“I think it was alright,” he says. Wanda, too, agrees.

“Indeed, it could have been much worse,” she says. “Imagine Tony would have kicked him out?”

“Mr. Stark would never do that,” Vision counters, a bit insulted at the idea. Wanda assures him that she didn’t mean it by putting a hand on his arm. Paul and Betty ask for a quick update on who exactly that was. Peter gives them the short version of the story.

With a lot of grunting and cursing, they’re all in the elevator with enough tables and chairs – they hope. They might have raided Bruce’s floor to get to it, but they did what was asked of them. Once the elevator announces their arrival, George quickly comes to their aid to open the door. Sam and Happy help out as well, while the others shift the table further into the room to make place. Pepper and May are busy getting the plates, while Natasha starts searching for more glasses.

Everybody does their part. The twins are back inside, sitting in front of the heater while a movie plays on the TV. Paul, Wanda and Vision join them on the couch, trying to watch along. Clint, too, seems to be interested in the movie.

Peter checks on his Dad real quick, just to make sure everything is still alright. Tony assures him that he’s fine. He might have accidentally broken another glass, and Brunnhilde might have thrown hers on the ground yelling for another drink, but other than that everything’s fine.

It’s almost expected when there’s another knock on the door. Sam and Natasha give each other a knowing look, and Barnes, too, seems to look up expectantly. Tony just sighs before putting his glass down again.

But it’s obvious who it’s going to be. Because why would Sam and Clint and Natasha be let out earlier, and he wouldn’t? Why would they keep him in longer when he’s been locked up before them? It wouldn’t be fair, after all.

So Peter isn’t surprised when Tony opens the door and Steve is standing there, in a suit and his hair slicked back. Still unshaven, he looks very much like one of those models nowadays. Peter smiles as he looks at it.

“Steve,” Tony almost whispers out. Steve simply smiles in return, a bag with presents in his hands.

“Sorry I’m late, I had to do some last-minute shopping,” he says holding up the bag.

“But- Sam said-“

“I said he did everything he could to be here. And he did!” Sam shouts in the back. A few of the others laugh. “I’ve never seen such good behavior from anybody! No wonder they let us go!”

“We did save the judge’s daughter, remember?” Clint throws in, repeating what he said earlier. Tony ignores it as he stares at Steve in front of him. Then he jumps up, grabbing Steve by the tie and pulling him towards him. Sharing a strong kiss, literally everybody in the room starts cheering and clapping, even louder than earlier. Especially the members of the Avengers all start making winning noises, while May and Pepper just stand at the sidelines with big smiles on their faces and clapping their hands. The kids look away in disgust.

“Steve Rogers, I love you so fucking much,” Peter hears Tony mutters against Steve’s lips. George protests jokingly that he needs to watch his language around the kids, but nobody listens to it as the pair kisses again and again. The bags with presents is now on the ground, Tony’s arms thrown over Steve’s shoulders while the Super Soldier holds Tony on the hips. Peter decides that it’s enough for now. He runs towards the couple and clears his throat.

“Uhm, hi there?” he tries. Steve pulls away from Tony slightly, grinning the moment he sees Peter standing there. Without fully pulling away from Tony he throws his arm over Peter’s shoulder and pulls him closer.

“Here’s my champ,” he says, kissing him on the head, very much as if Peter’s his own son. And Peter loves every minute of it. He doesn’t even mind when May, who has taken out the camera, makes a picture of them standing there. “I’m so glad to be back.”

“And we’re glad you are,” Peter says. Tony hums in agreement, simply resting his head on Steve’s shoulder with his eyes closed. This is probably the happiest Peter has ever seen Tony. It’s a good sight.

But then suddenly the others are there as well. First it’s Natasha who comes, joining in on the hug. She’s followed by Bruce, Clint, and eventually even Wanda and Sam. Rhodey slowly moves their way as well with Vision behind him to make sure he doesn’t fall. Feeling a bit like he’s squeezed to death in this group hug, Peter couldn’t imagine the night to get any better.

But it does. Because after everybody’s back to their business and May is announcing that the food will be ready in about fifteen minutes, Tony takes Peter apart and holds out his phone.

“We’ll wait until she’s here,” he says. Looking at the phone, Peter frowns.

“Who’s here?” he asks. Tony gives him an unimpressed look.

“You know who,” he says. “And that friend of yours can come, too, as long as he can watch his language around the kids.”

It takes a few more seconds for Peter to catch up. After that he smiles widely, taking the phone and watching his father walk back to Steve. Once the two have their arms wrapped around each other again, Peter dials Yael’s and Wade’s numbers, feeling like everything is finally back to normal.

Ah, well, as normal as it could be in this crazy family.

That’s probably how it is now, being a Stark.

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