Welcome to Day 1 of the 2017 Fanfiction Christmas Countdown! We're doing seven stories, one per day, during the week leading up to Christmas. Here's the first story. Hope it brings a little Christmas cheer.
Christmas with Peter
Tony Stark pulled his money sock out of the top drawer of his dresser and pulled out a wad of $100 bills. He was getting ready to go Christmas shopping at the local mega-mall. Christmas shopping was a job Tony usually left to Pepper Potts, but this year was going to be different—this year he had promised to take Peter Parker Christmas shopping.
Tony hummed a Christmas tune as he stuffed the bills into his wallet and then stuffed his wallet into his pocket. Visions of the happy Christmas memories he would make with Peter filled his mind. The electronic voice of his new FRIDAY A.I. interrupted his happy thoughts.
"Sir, Pepper Potts is here."
"Hi, Tony," said Pepper, entering the room. "I see you're ready to go. Great. I was afraid you didn't get my message."
Tony gulped.
"Uhhh, message?" he said.
"Yes, that we were going Christmas shopping together."
"Oh," said Tony, catching sight of Pepper's purse bulging with coupons. "Uh, look, Pepper, I'm really sorry, but I can't—"
"I thought it was about time we did something fun and romantic," Pepper went on without listening, "now that we're engaged."
Tony had almost forgotten that he was engaged. He didn't really like the word. It sounded so much like commitment.
"Uh, okay," said Tony. He brightened up. "Let's go to the mall," he said. Peter was supposed to meet him there in half an hour. Tony wasn't sure how he was going to pull off shopping dates with two different people at the same time, but he was sure the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist was up to the challenge.
On the way to the mall, Tony tried to work out a strategy. If he tried to take Peter and Pepper shopping together, Pepper would be hurt, and Peter would be bored. Usually Tony used his Iron Man suit as a stand-in when he needed to be in two places at once, but unfortunately he'd already used this trick on both Pepper and Peter, and neither of them were likely to fall for it again.
Possibly for the first time Tony wished he had a super power. If he could run really fast like Quicksilver, he could dash back and forth between Pepper and Peter without either of them noticing. Or if he could manipulate minds like Scarlet Witch, he could make them think he was there even when he wasn't. Or if he could change time like Doctor Strange, he could go shopping twice—once with Peter and once with Pepper.
Wishing for super powers was useless, so he had to use the best powers he had—his incredible intellect and no small amount of charm. He was going to need a full measure of both.
Pepper's first stop at the mall was J.C. Penny to return a Black Friday purchase. One glance at the lengthy return checkout line was enough motivation for Tony to enact phase one of his plan.
"Hey, I'm going to take a look at the men's section," said Tony. "I need a pocket square for the office party tomorrow."
"Okay," said Pepper as Tony dashed off, knocking over displays in his hurry.
Tony reached the main lobby of the mall where he'd arranged to meet Peter. He scanned the crowd and finally spotted a teenager in a graphic tee and hoodie standing near the holiday train kiddie ride that took up the center portion of the vast lobby.
"Hey, Mr. Stark!" shouted Peter, catching sight of Tony. He waved as Tony hurried over to him.
"Sorry I'm late, kid," said Tony.
"That's okay," said Peter. "I had time to buy a present for Aunt May."
"FRIDAY," said Tony, "remind me to buy a present for Peter's aunt."
"You don't have to," began Peter politely, but Tony waved it off.
"So what should we do first, kid?" he asked. "I know: how about a train ride?"
Peter looked dubiously at the small train cars.
"I'm kind of old for that kind of ride," he began, "and anyway, I might not fit…"
Tony wasn't listening. "Two tickets!" he said to the attendant.
A moment later Peter and Tony were uncomfortably ensconced in the train cars, and the little engine was puffing its way around the track while Tony pulled on the bell cord and shouted "Woo wooo!"
"FRIDAY," said Tony, when the ride had ended, "remind me to get one of these trains for Stark Tower."
He turned back to Peter.
"Where should we go next? No, wait, I know—the Lego store!"
"Yeah!" said Peter.
They prowled the aisles of the Lego store, stopping to look at the different exhibits.
"Which one do you want, kid?" asked Tony. "I'll buy you a set for your Christmas present."
"Really, Uncle Stark—I mean, Mr. Stark?" said Peter, his eyes getting wide. "Well, I already have the Death Star. Hey, I know—the bat cave!"
"What?" said Tony. "Who needs Batman? He's not cool."
"Yes, he is," said Peter. "And the bat cave even comes with a batmobile. Look!"
Peter pointed to a display case.
"It's only $129," he added.
"Well, okay," said Tony slowly. "But you'd better be extra good next year."
"I will, Mr. Stark, I promise," said Peter. "And will you help me put it together?"
"Definitely," said Tony, thinking of how much fun it was to finally have a good excuse to do kid stuff. Not that he'd ever needed an excuse, but it was nice to have one.
"Great," said Tony, when he'd paid for the bat cave. "What should we do next?"
A large display in a corner of the mall caught his eye. The sign said, "Santa Land."
"Hey," said Tony, "let's go get our picture taken with Santa!"
"Uh, okay," said Peter.
"Do you know what you want for Christmas, Peter?" asked Tony as they joined the long line waiting to see Santa. "You've got to concentrate really hard and think of what you want most of all, so you can tell Santa."
"Yeah, I know how it works," said Peter.
FRIDAY was buzzing in Tony's ear.
"Sir, Pepper Potts is getting ready to leave the store."
Tony's mind raced as he tried to work out a quick fix for the problem. Then he had an idea.
"Hey, you know what would be really cool?" he said to Peter. "We'll get our picture taken with me in my Iron Man suit. Wait here while I go get it."
"Okay," said Peter as Tony dashed off.
Tony reached J. C. Penny's just as Pepper was coming out.
"Did you find a pocket square?" she asked.
"No," said Tony. "I'll just pick one up at Niemann's. Can we get lunch now? I'm starved."
Peter was still waiting in line when the Iron Man suit glided up and landed next to him.
"This is going to make for an awesome picture," said Tony through the suit.
"Yup, Mr. Stark," agreed Peter politely.
Tony and Pepper stopped at a schawarma joint in the food court and ate lunch.
"Don't eat so fast, Tony," said Pepper. "You'll give yourself heartburn."
"Where are we going next?" asked Tony.
"I want to go to Kohl's and Michael Khor's. Where do you want to go?"
"I already had FRIDAY get presents for most of the people on my list," said Tony. He remembered Aunt May. "What do aunts like?" he asked. "Yankee Candles?"
"What kind of aunts?" asked Pepper.
"Strangely attractive aunts."
"I don't know. What do you have in the Lego store bag?"
"It's just a small employee bonus," said Tony.
"Sir," said FRIDAY, "Peter has just gotten his picture taken with Santa."
"That was awesome, kid," said Tony through the microphone. "Now tell Santa what you want for Christmas."
"That's okay, Mr. Stark," said Peter. "I can't think of what I want right now."
"How about a Lego Millennium Falcon?" said Tony desperately.
"Who are you talking to?" asked Pepper. "I thought you were off work today."
"Hey, that coke made me have to use the bathroom," said Tony. "Be right back!"
"But you didn't have a coke," said Peter, as the Iron Man suit took off.
Tony dashed around a corner and collided with his suit which was coming from the opposite direction. Rubbing a sore spot on his forehead, he hurried around the suit and back to the Santa Land display while the suit zoomed off to find Pepper.
"Hey, that was fast," said Peter when Tony arrived. "Are you ready for lunch?"
"Actually, I'm not hungr—" Tony began. He stopped, remembering that he'd spent the morning repeatedly mentioning how hungry he was. "I'm starved," he finished.
They headed back to the food court. Tony's phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket.
"Tony," said Pepper's voice, "I'll be in Calvin Klein. Come find me when you get out of the bathroom."
"Okay," said Tony.
They ordered pizza. Tony had never had trouble eating before, but two meals in the space of ten minutes is enough to tax the gastronomic powers even of Iron Man. Tony manfully downed two slices and told Peter to eat the rest.
"You know, this has been really fun, Mr. Stark," said Peter between mouthfuls. "I appreciate you taking time from your busy schedule to hang out with me."
"Think of it as a little employer/intern quality time," said Tony.
"Yeah," said Peter, "except I haven't been able to do much recently—stopping crimes and stuff."
"Hey, it's Christmas," said Tony. "Take a break."
"Sir," said FRIDAY in his ear, "Pepper Potts is at the checkout counter."
"I got an idea," said Tony to Peter. "Why don't you go check out the virtual reality stuff in the Apple store while I go get your present?"
"But you already got me the bat cave," said Peter.
"Yeah, but that's not a surprise. You want to be surprised on Christmas, right?"
"Okay, Mr. Stark," said Peter as Tony dashed off again.
Pepper left the checkout counter and approached the store exit, eying suspiciously the Iron Man suit that sat in a chair by the door.
"You can't fool me, Tony," she said. "You've gotten distracted and run off somewhere."
With a faint whine of hydraulics, the Iron Man suit opened up and Tony Stark stepped out. "You sure about that?" he asked.
"Where were you?" asked Pepper.
"I've been sitting here waiting for you the whole time."
"Great, let's go to Kohl's," said Pepper.
Peter was only half interested in the shiny iPhones in the Apple store. It was bothering him that he hadn't been a useful intern lately. He was remembering the time he'd webbed up Captain America's shield when his reverie was interrupted by the sight of a shopper swiping an iPhone from a display.
"Hey!" shouted Peter. "Hey! That guy's stealing a phone!"
The thief was already out of the store and sprinting through the mall. Peter dashed after him. He jumped into a photo booth to pull his Spiderman suit out of his backpack and put it on, then resumed the chase.
The thief dodged through the crowd, Peter doing his best to keep him in sight. Just then Peter heard a whooshing sound and looked up to see the Iron Man suit fly past just a few feet overhead.
"Isn't this cool catching criminals together, Mr. Stark?" said Peter, shooting out webbing and swinging over a second-story catwalk. "It's kind of like last year, right? When we went up against Team Cap!"
"Yeah, it's really fun, kid," said Tony drily, speaking through his mouthpiece while Pepper held up a shirt to see if it would fit him.
"Sir, Peter has left the mall in pursuit of the criminal," said FRIDAY.
"Oh brother," said Tony.
Peter finally caught up to the thief in a back alley and webbed him to the wall for the police to find. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Tony's number on the cracked screen.
"Hey, Mr. Stark, I caught the bad guy!" he said excitedly.
"Nice work, kid," said Tony's voice through the phone. "I'll be right with you."
"Hey, it's getting dark," said Peter. "I guess I'd better be getting home."
"I had one more thing planned for the evening," said Tony.
"Really?" said Peter, getting excited.
"Yeah. I'm taking you to see the Christmas light displays at the Rockefeller Center."
"Oh," said Peter. He was kind of too old for Christmas lights, but hey—he'd be spending time with Mr. Stark. "Great. I'll be right over."
"Hold on, I'm picking you up," said Tony, as the Iron Man suit appeared, driving one of Tony's cars.
Peter hopped into the passenger seat and buckled up as the car sped towards the Rockefeller Center.
"You know, Mr. Stark," said Peter, "this has been an amazing day. In fact, it's the best Christmas I've had since Uncle Ben died."
"I know, but you bought five of them. Give a blue one to Steve and a red one to Wanda."
"What?" said Peter, looking at the suit.
"Not you, kid, I'm talking to Pepper. No, you got Banner the Christmas sweater."
"Oh," said Peter, sliding a little farther down in his seat.
"We're going to a light show?" asked Pepper in disbelief as they stepped out of the car at the Rockefeller Center. "Tony, this is for kids. You said we were going to do something romantic this evening."
"Yup," said Tony. "We're going to have the most romantic evening we've ever had together."
"Really? Because sometimes your ideas are more weird than romantic."
"This one isn't," insisted Tony. He paused. "Well, maybe it is. How would you like to be a mom? Not a real mom, but sort of an honorary, unofficial mom?"
"I think we should wait until we're married before we adopt," said Pepper.
"It's just for the evening," said Tony. "I kind of brought Peter to see the lights."
"You brought Peter?"
"Well, the suit brought Peter."
"Great," said Pepper. "Where is he?"
"Right over there," said Tony. He pointed to a small dejected figure in a hoodie standing in a corner talking to the Iron Man suit.
"You know, Mr. Stark," Peter was saying as they approached, "I really appreciate your taking me to the mall today, and it's okay that you're too busy to spend the whole day with an intern. It's really okay, and I understand, so you can stop pretending to be here now."
"But I am here," said Tony.
Peter spun around.
"Aw, you poor thing," said Pepper, smothering him in a massive hug. "Tony does the same thing to me all the time. Don't feel bad. We're going to have lots of fun looking at the lights. And look! There's Santa!"
"Wow… Santa." said Peter. He wondered whether Tony and Pepper even knew he was in high school.
"Let's get a picture of all of us together," said Pepper. "Get out your phone, Peter."
They posed in front of Santa Claus and Peter snapped a picture on his phone. Tony looked at Peter and Pepper's smiling faces. Against all odds, Iron Man had saved the day again. He glanced a second time at Peter's cracked phone screen and remembered that he'd forgotten to get Peter's surprise present.
"FRIDAY, stop by the Apple store and pick up an iPhone, will you?" he said. "And get it gift wrapped."
THE END
A/N:
For story #2 of the countdown, check out Sixty-Four K's page tomorrow!