"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" Ty yells, bursting into the room. It's in a dark-wood-style, a big mansion in Malibu that the Stark's own.
"Calm the fuck down, Ty," Tony laughs, hair messy on his head, Sunset passes him sitting on the armchair, ruffles his hair even more. "It's not even Christmas."
Ty laughs, holding the camera in his bouncing hand, "awwww, come on, you Grinch."
"Sunset's the Grinch!"
"Hey! Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Shush, children," Lex drawls, longing over the couch.
They shut up with sour looks.
Ty moves across the room, putting down the camera on the fireplace mantle.
"Okay….since we aren't gonna hang out anywhere near Christmas, we're doing it now. I expect full cooperation. Full levels of holiday cheer."
"It's November," Bruce laughs.
"Now you're the Grinch," Ty accuses, pointing a finger at the dark-haired youth.
"Oh no," he deadpans.
"Guys, guys," Tony cuts in before it can go any further. "Can we get to the present part?"
Everyone pulls out presents, making a big pile on the floor.
"Okay, so we should take turns, one at a time," Whitney instructs.
"Tony, you first. You're the host," Sunset delegates.
He grins suavely, reaches forward into the pile until he finds one with his name. It's Ty's, with cheesy Christmas wrapping paper and an oversized bow.
He unwraps it quickly, grinning with childish beauty, rare on anyone' face, lest his. It's the kind of look that is found only in childhood pictures. You cannot pose for this, you cannot place it on your face. it is real, more real than Tony has maybe felt in a long time
He looks up, something small and white in his hands, "Ty, a fake ID? You shouldn't have."
He laughs, "yeah, I really shouldn't. It's illegal."
"Well —" he checks the ID, "— Antonio Oliver thanks you."
Ty tips his hat, and the circle moves on. Sunset gets a red-leather handbag of some designer origin from Whitney. Bruce gets plane tickets to Hawaii from Tony, with a mocking comment about Gotham and light levels. Lex gets the highly-coveted name of a fabled suit designer from Sunset, something that must have taken a lot of effort, especially considering her less-than-stellar reputation. Whitney gets fuzzy dice, air freshener and a new car seat cover from Bruce.
Then it comes Tony's turn again, he open's Sunset's. It'a a pair of gold-and-ruby cuff links, glittering against the case.
"We match," she says softly.
He looks up, smiling stupidly. "They're wonderful."
They move on, not all of the presents are expensive, or well thought-out, but they all mean something, and to them, it means everything.
The entire day is spent lazing around, taking dips in the pool. They walk down to town and get ice-cream. The paparazzi eventually spot them, of course, but it's worth it just to see Ty piggybacked on Bruce, running full speed away from the flashing cameras, Sunset flipping the bird behind them. They hide behind a diner where Whitney chokes on her ice-cream that miraculously survived the frantic dash, and Lex laughs so hard he might have burst a blood vessel.
That was one of the best Christmases (even if it wasn't Christmas) of his life, and later, he thinks it might have nearly made up for 1991.