The tree glistened with its many colorful lights, each one reflecting off of delicate ornaments which hung on branches. Stacked below the tree were neatly wrapped boxes that contained unopened gifts. Steve was the only person in the living room who was able to witness the festive decorations and their beauty, as he set more presents under the tree. For Peter's sake, he'd taken it upon himself to act as Santa Claus, just in case his son got curious. His red hat kept falling to the side and the white beard he wore was scratchy, but it was worth it.

"Well, hello there, beautiful. Got a gig to get to after this?" A voice behind him purred, accompanied by that secured themselves around his waist and a body pressing up against his.

Steve hummed contentedly, straightening up and leaning back into the warmth of his husband. "What are you doing awake? You know, only naughty children are up this late," he murmured evenly.

The arms around him squeezed his midsection tightly for a moment before withdrawing completely, allowing Steve the freedom to turn around. Tony's face was scrunched into a pout in front of him, despite the fact that his dark eyes were alight with mirth. "I tried to sleep, but it's actually really hard for me to rest when my husband isn't with me. Instead of keeping me warm on a cold Christmas Eve, he's walking around dressed as Santa Claus for our son, Peter. Crazy, right? I think he should just come to bed already."

Santa!Steve scratched at his beard in thought, his gaze traveling from the man in front of him to the gifts he'd set underneath the tree back to Tony. "I think I'm done here. What do you say we make up for lost time, eh?" he suggests with a playful twitch of an eyebrow.

"Better start making it up to me right away, or I'll add tax—mmmph…" Tony was cut off as Steve tugged his beard down around his neck and surged forward, their lips connecting in a sweet kiss. Tension bleeds out of the smaller man's body almost immediately and Steve holds him close, almost like he's fragile, but oh so precious. The kiss lasted longer than most, both participants simply enjoying the connection, and they were hesitant to pull apart.

When they finally did, they didn't go far, their foreheads touching, half-lidded gazes meeting. Tony licked his lips, sweeping up the lingering taste of peppermint with his tongue. He didn't like mint or candy canes, but damn, he found Steve delicious, especially after he'd drank his special peppermint hot chocolate. Then again, as long as it's Steve, he hardly cared about anything else.

Said-man broke the comfortable silence between them, almost worried by Tony's stillness. "Tony…"

The brunet grunted before shaking himself out of a daze. "So, since you're done out here… how about we get you out of these ridiculous clothes?"

Steve smiled wholeheartedly, taking one of Tony's hands and clutching it tightly in his own. "I thought you'd never ask."

XOX

"This is the part where you –ugh—tell me you're sorry for taking so long," Tony gasped as he writhed on the bed, sheets pooled around his ankles leaving pillows as the only acceptable objects for clenching his fists around. The reply he got came in the form of a muffled 'mmm' that sent shivers throughout his entire body. That wasn't an acceptable answer, but he was pretty sure exceptions could be made along the way; especially when Steve was a little busy using his tongue to do better things than talk. Things that caused Tony to whine and moan, that caused his toes to curl almost painfully as his muscles tensed and his back arched. God, the stories he could write about that tongue.

Sadly, the tongue stopped prodding when Steve pulled away, sitting up and looking utterly debauched. Though, Tony had defiled the virgin in him years ago. At this point, he was willing to do practically anything if he knew Tony would like it. Lucky for him, rimming happened to be one of those things.

"Hey, no, don't stop. That was a great apology, Steve. I feel like we really had something going there for a sec, you know? And I—wow, yeah, ok. That's good too," Tony sucked in a quick breath as a lubed finger slipped inside of him, massaging the tender skin gentle enough to send his eyes rolling back into his head.

While his fingers were busy at work, he occupied his mouth by kissing the expanses of Tony's inner thighs, the pale, unmarked skin begging for attention. Plus, he knew the area was a main erogenous zone of his, more sensitive than even his neck area. With every touch of his lips and every graze of his teeth, Tony bucked even more, his moans turning into near sobs of pleasure. Teasing wasn't something he always enjoyed doing, but Steve had figured out pretty quickly that prep work was not always the most pleasant thing in the world, and so he used distractions that were super effective.

Steve built all the way up to three fingers, spreading them apart and poking around. Tony panted heavily, guttural noises slipping out of his throat as Steve brushed the stiffness that was his prostate. Too much, not enough, and all he could do was lay there and take it.

"I forgive you, okay? Just, ah, just get in me already, Jesus fuck," Tony babbled almost incoherently, his head rolling restlessly from side to side.

His fingers were quickly withdrawn, brining the billionaire momentary relief, before Steve was back, having added a condom and more lube to the equation, wasting no time pushing himself inside. Tony's face twisted up painfully at the slow slide, though his face relaxed some after Steve was fully seated.

The blond held himself still for the most part, ignoring his body's tremors in favor of leaning over and cupping Tony's cheek. "Tony, honey, look at me."

Look he did, opening a single brown eye, eyebrow rising along with it, and he received a rather unimpressed glare at the use of the pet name. His reaction only brought a grin to stretch across Steve's face before he leaned down for a kiss.

Unlike the kiss they'd shared in the family room, this one was filthy and set them both off. While lips crashed and teeth clattered, Steve began to thrust, slowly at first, but picking up speed by the second. Tony was nothing if not encouraging, hooking his legs around his waist so that his heels dug into the small of Steve's back. At the same time, he drove his nails into his shoulder blades, flexing them against the sweat-slicked skin. With every push and pull, his voice grew louder. The more he ground and squeezed, the faster Steve moved. It was close to beautiful, the way their bodies danced, feeding off of each other along the way.

Tony was first to come, finally able to relieve his overwhelming ache and coming close to passing out in the process. Steve was right behind him, pushing in one last time before tucking his face into the juncture of Tony's neck before letting go.

After coming down from their high and Steve moving away briefly to get rid of the condom, they found themselves tangled together in a mess of limbs. Steve's hand found its way to Tony's coarse hair and his fingers wove through the short locks, scrubbing lightly against his scalp in the process. Tony sighed happily in response, the calming motions putting him to sleep.

In the darkness of their bedroom and on the verge of sleep, Steve thought few things. Like boy, Tony was so warm against him, or, he couldn't wait to see what Peter thought of the childproof chemistry set he'd bought him. Most importantly, as he allowed his eyes to close, he thought and he knew that there was no place else he'd rather.