Chapter 18

"You stink," Pepper wrinkled her nose up at Tony's smell as she walked over to where he was sitting next to Peter. He had been sitting there for almost a day straight, refusing to move even for food, only moving to use the toilet for thirty seconds. "He's resting, take a shower."

"I can't leave him," Tony whispered, not wanting to wake the kid up. "I don't want him to wake up alone."

"He won't," Pepper smiled. "I'll take the next shift. Go wash and get a few hours sleep, you'll feel better."

"I can sleep in here," Tony protested stubbornly. He was not letting his little spider leave his sight. The last couple of days had been hell. He had never been that scared before, not even when he had been kidnapped and tortured. He wished that he had been able to do something, anything, to switch places with Peter. The kid was the last person on Earth that deserved to be tortured.

"Tony," Pepper arched her brow at him and he sighed, knowing that she would keep pestering and moaning at him until he did.

"Just for a couple of hours," He compromised. "But I'm sleeping on one of these beds in the med bay so if he needs anything, I'm right there." Pepper nodded, knowing that Tony wouldn't concede on that. He wanted to be there for his kid.

"I put some new clothes out in the bathroom for you," She added. "Just chuck your clothes on the floor and I'll clear it up later."

"Thanks Pep," Tony smiled, standing up slowly, his back tight from sitting hunched up over Peter's bed for so long. "I don't know what I would do without you."

"Obadiah would've killed you if it weren't for me," She reminded him and he chuckled slightly. "Now go." She told him, giving him a small push and he gave him a quick peck on the lips before leaving. Pepper sat down in the now empty seat. She smiled softly at the sight of Peter asleep in front of her.

Now that the immediate threat of his death was gone, she could stop worrying and be there for him. It was weird, when they had first asked Peter to come and live with them, she assumed that Peter would just hang out with Tony, but she had found themselves chatting and connecting too. It wasn't until Peter was taken that she realised how much she cared for the kid. They had become family. She hadn't been there when Peter had died, but just thinking about how close they had come to losing him bought tears to her eyes. She didn't know what she would have done if she had lost him.

She watched as he curled up, nestling into the blankets. He shifted so that she could see the pyjama top he was wearing and smiled as he saw it was one that Tony had brought for him. It had a picture of iron man on it. Honestly, she had never met anyone that was as egotistic as Tony. She loved him anyway because somehow under his selfish exterior there was a softer, selfless side. He would've done anything to stop Thanos.

She quickly began to gently shake him awake when he started wriggling and shouting in his sleep. Beads of sweat ran down his face as she pulled him from his nightmare and he sat up, looking around in panic, still half living in his nightmare.

"Peter," Pepper said, her voice full of worry. "Hey, it's Pepper. You're okay. You're safe." She relaxed his breathing got slower and he looked at her.

"Where's Tony?" He asked, his voice sounding panicky.

"He's gone to have a shower," She replied quickly, realising that he must've had some dream where Tony died. "He's fine." Peter nodded, quickly wiping a tear that had fallen down his cheek. "You okay?" She asked, wanting to give him the opportunity to talk about his nightmare. It was always Tony that he spoke to about them, and even then it was difficult to get him to talk, so she didn't think he would. To her surprise he began speaking.

"He died," He croaked. "I couldn't stop the bullet this time. It hit him in the head and he died. It was my fault."

"He didn't die and it wasn't your fault," Pepper reminded him gently, moving so that she was sitting on the side of his bed. She pulled him into a tight hug and smiled down into his hair, fondling it slightly as she felt his skinny arms around her.

"He was only there because of me," He argued. "He shouldn't have come, I'm not worth it." Pepper sighed.

"You are our kid," She told him. "A really bright kid that can be really dumb." She added smiling slightly. "We don't leave family behind. Tony was worried sick when he found out what happened. We weren't going to just leave you there."

"But I'm a burden," Peter said, pulling away from Pepper and looking down at the blankets on him.

"No," Pepper lifted his chin up so he was making eye contact with her. "You are not and I'm sorry that we ever made you feel that way."

"I saw them when I died," Peter said, changing the subject, not wanting to continue that conversation. "My parents... my aunt and uncle, Ned, MJ. They were all there." Pepper had never heard the name MJ before but she guessed that he was a friend, probably that girl that he had a photo of in his room. She'd never asked him about it before. "They- they gave me a choice." Peter stammered before continuing. "I could have gone with them or..."

"Lived," Pepper finished and Peter nodded. "And you feel guilty?" She asked and Peter shrugged.

"They were happy when I chose not to stay with them," Peter admitted. "I don't regret it." He added quickly. "It just seems unfair that I got a choice and they didn't."

"I know," Pepper told him. "Tony's having a shower but he'll be back soon."

"Did he stay here the whole time?" Peter asked and Pepper nodded sighing.

"He refused to leave your bed until I made him have a shower because he was going to kill everyone from his stench," She explained and Peter snorted slightly.

"Can I get some food?" Peter asked, his stomach rumbling slightly. Pepper smiled at how Peter's thoughts always turned to food.

"What do you want?" She asked.

"Pizza?" He asked hopefully. Pepper looked at him and knew that she couldn't say no to the puppy eyes. She nodded.

"I'll get Natasha to bring one," She told him, not wanting to leave the kid herself. "Fri, tell Nat to stick a pepperoni pizza in the oven and bring it through when it's done."

"Of course," F.R.I.D.A.Y replied immediately. "Nat said that she's only doing it if it's for her 'spider brother'." Pepper laughed at her nickname for Peter and Peter blushed slightly, but had to smile slightly at the fact that Nat thought of him as family.

"It is," Pepper confirmed.

"One pizza delivery," Nat yelled, holding a plate of pizza and a second one with garlic bread a while later.

"No need to yell so loud," Tony complained before glaring at Pepper. "Some people are trying to sleep."

"It's not my fault that you refuse to have a proper sleep pattern," Pepper replied, folding her arms and arching her eyebrow at him. Tony rolled his eyes before flopping back into bed.

"Just wear ear plugs," Nat told Tony before passing the food to Peter who grinned when he saw the garlic bread.

"Thanks Nat," He said, already ripping into the pizza. Nat smiled in reply.

"You spoil him," Pepper laughed.

"I only did the garlic bread because I wanted some," Natasha laughed, winking at him before swiping a slice of Peter's plate. Peter narrowed his eyes at her for a few seconds before deciding that he wouldn't win.

"I'm gonna allow that," He said as Nat took an obnoxiously large bite. As Peter began devouring his food, Nat turned to Pepper.

"We need to talk about Ross," She murmured quietly. "Not in front of the kid." Pepper nodded.

"We'll go get you some water," Pepper said quickly, knowing that Peter would be alright for a couple of minutes.

"Thanks," He grinned, not really paying attention to the two women. They walked out of the room, heading towards the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"What's happened?" Pepper asked, her voice filled with concern.

"We've got him," Natasha grinned. "Tony knocked him out with a blast after he shot Peter and the team we sent in after, got him."

"Why couldn't you and take him then?" Pepper asked confused.

"We weren't allowed to be there," Natasha explained. "The-"

"Accords," Pepper finished nodding. "So they needed to send someone legitimate to make the arrests."

"Yeah," Natasha replied. "He's gonna go away for a long time, but there's an issue."

"What?" Pepper asked, wishing that this could all be over.

"He still knows about Peter's identity," Natasha explained. "His people that were there don't know why Ross were torturing Peter, so we don't need to worry about them. But apparently some guy called Toomes knows about the kid. I did some research on the guy and app-" Pepper cut in though.

"We know who Toomes is," She sighed. "Peter's the one that got him locked up. When the snap happened and things in prisons got out of hand, loads of deals were being made and Toomes made one with Ross."

"I'm thinking we make another deal with Toomes. Arrest him, shake him up a bit. Make him think that he's going back inside then make him sign something that says if he reveals Peter's identity to anyone else, he's not seeing the light of day again." Pepper nods.

"It does feel a bit hypocritical making him sign something to stop Peter from being forced to sign something," She admitted but Natasha shrugged. Nothing that bad would happen to Toomes as long as he didn't reveal Peter's identity.

"Happy!" Peter sat up in bed excitedly. Finally! Something interesting. He had been stuck in bed forever. Tony wouldn't even let him walk to the toilet alone. Tony always carried him and stood outside waiting for him to finish before carrying him back. He just wanted to get out of this room.

"Hey kiddo," He smiled, handing him a box. "Pepper told me you were going bored out of your mind."

"For me?" Peter asked, staring at the huge box in his hands.

"To keep your mind distracted from this boring room," Happy told him. "I'll get a table to put next to your bed to for you to do it on."

"Awesome," Peter breathed happily, looking down at the Avengers Lego set that he was holding. "Your the best Happy."

"I know," Happy chuckled slightly as he got a fold up table and set it beside Peter so he could start the Lego.

"Can you speak to Tony about letting me move around a bit?" Peter asked, opening the box. Happy smiled at Peter's attempts to break out of the med bay early.

"The doc says you're supposed to be on bed rest," Happy reminded him. "You're still healing."

"But I'm so boooooooored," Peter complained.

"We can get a TV in here," Happy suggested. "We could sit and binge watch Downton Abbey together." Peter's eyes widened in fear.

"No way," He said immediately. He was not watching that rubbish. Never. He'd rather die. Again. "We could watch Star Wars though." He suggested hopefully. Happy smiled at his puppy eyes, knowing that he wouldn't be able to say no.

"Why don't you make a start on this," He said, nodding to the Lego. "And I'll get Pepper to organise a TV being brought in here."

"Take it slowly," Tony told Peter a couple of days later as he helped him out of bed.

"I'm fine Tony," Peter tried to push away Tony's arm so he was walking unsupported, but Tony refused to budge it. "I was shot, it's not like my legs were injured."

"I don't want to take any risks," Tony objected. "And I'm your legal guardian so you have to do what I say."

"Pepper," Peter looked across the room with wide eyes. She sighed slightly.

"Maybe take a step back Tony," She said eventually. "But hover just in case." Tony rolled his eyes as Peter grinned.

"Thanks," He leapt towards the door happily.

"Woah kiddo," Tony chased after him quickly. "Slowly."

"Fine," Peter rolled his eyes, slowing slightly. "But if you're not letting me do flips by Christmas, I'm not getting you a present.

"But it's only a week until Christmas," Tony argued. "The doctor says not to do anything too strenuous."

"Webbing my way across the city would be strenuous," Peter argued. "Flipping is nothing."

"Peter," Pepper sighed. "Let's just keep it small for now. You may feel better, but your body is still healing inside. Maybe we could go for a walk on Christmas day instead." She suggested, knowing that Peter was frustrated and Tony probably was being too overprotective.

"Fine," Both Peter and Tony conceded, knowing that there was no arguing with Pepper. She always had the final say.

"Good," Pepper smirked at the both of them. "But if you won't let him jump around, you'll have to be lift him to put the star on the tree."

"You guys haven't decorated yet?" Peter asked. "But it's nearly Christmas. You can't have not put the decorations up."

"We were waiting for you kiddo," Tony smiled, ruffling his hair slightly. "But I don't want you overexerting yourself. If you feel at all tired or dizzy, you need to tell me. No running around the place though. I don't want you getting hurt."

"Yes," Peter sighed, rolling his eyes, though he was secretly excited that Pepper and Tony had waited to decorate. He figured that they would probably be spending Christmas at the Avengers compound. Since he had been rescued, he had been living in the med bay at the compound. He doubted that Tony would let him go back to their house for Christmas considering that he was only just being allowed to walk.

"The tree's up," Pepper explained, walking over to the two of them. "But we still need to decorate." The three of them stepped into the elevator.

"Fri, take us to the common room," Tony ordered. "Let's just hope that Nat has stopped Rhodey and Steve from decorating."

"We're decorating with the others?" Peter asked, sounding even more excited. "Awesome."

"You mean decorating with me isn't exciting enough?" Tony asked, sounding offended. "I could just put you on bed rest again." He smirked at Peter's scowl and Pepper laughed.

"Don't worry kid," She smiled, catching Tony's eye. "I say you can move around as long as you don't overexert yourself."

"Thanks," Peter beamed as Tony walked out of the elevator.

"Finally," Rhodey yelled, getting up as Christmas music began pounding out of the speakers.

"I was going to have to knock him out if you took any longer," Natasha smirked and Steve laughed.

"I noticed a certain theme going on with the colours," He said, pointing to the boxes of red and gold baubles. Rhodey and Tony smirked at that. Last Christmas, they had started a tradition of having the Avengers together for the day, but both Steve and Natasha had been on the run so they hadn't seen the decorations that Tony had got.

"I had to persuade him not to get specific Iron Man baubles," Pepper laughed, as they all began grabbing baubles.

"Hey!" Peter protested as Natasha took the bauble he was about to pick up. "I was gonna do that one."

"Too slow маленький паук," She smirked, flicking him playfully, though she did put it back and took a different one.

"If I had done that, I wouldn't have got the bauble," Tony pouted and Peter stuck his tongue out in response.

"You're not my маленький паук like Peter is," Natasha smirked, shrugging slightly. "You're an idiot."

"I'm not even going to ask what that means," Tony responded, sticking his leg out to trip Natasha up, but she hopped over it easily.

"Little spider," Peter told him.

"How do you even know that?" Tony asked, wrinkling his nose before yelping slightly as Natasha hit him playfully on the back of his head. Peter shrugged, knowing that not knowing would annoy Tony.

"I told him," Natasha laughed. "Your kid might be smart, but he's not fluent in Russian."

"I keep telling him he should learn a language more useful than Spanish," Tony said.

"No you don't," Pepper argued. "You keep saying that he should learn more coding languages." The others all laughed at this.

"Everywhere speaks English, no point in learning any languages," Rhodey joked.

"Just the star left," Steve said a few minutes later, putting the final piece of tinsel on the tree.

"Well seeing as some one," Here Peter glared at Tony. "Won't let me jump up on the ceiling to put it on, I'll need a lift to get up." He smirked at Tony then the 7 foot tree he was standing in front of.

"Woah," Rhodey looked across at Tony. "Last year, you said that I could put the star on the tree if you did it last year." At hearing this, Peter glared at Tony.

"You said that I could do it though," He protested. Rhodey and Peter looked at each other, narrowing their eyes before turning back to Tony.

"Thanks for offering to give Peter a lift so you both can put the star on the tree," Tony suggested. Peter beamed at this suggestion.

"You owe me one," Rhodey relented, not wanting to wipe the smile from Peter's face after everything he had been through. "I'm gonna need my suit to lift him though." Tony was about to make a comment about how Peter was as light as a feather when he realised Rhodey couldn't lift him because of his legs.

"You can have one of mine," Tony offered, tapping his watch, to bring one into the room. Peter grinned as he was lifted from the ground and he put the star on top.

"Urgh," Peter groaned as the scissors got stuck on the sellotape for the billionth time.

"You okay kid?" Pepper asked, popping the head round his door, having heard the frustration in Peter's tone.

"Don't look!" He yelled throwing his blanket off the bed onto the floor in front of him. "Sorry presents." He said, laughing at Pepper's expression.

"You didn't need to get us anything," She smiled.

"I wanted to," Peter argued. "But May and I never normally didn't bother wrapping stuff. We just shoved it in a plastic bag and exchanged it like that."

"I can help if you want," Pepper offered, walking further into the room.

"Turn around," Peter ordered. "So you don't see your present." Pepper nodded, smiling. As she turned to face the door, he opened his desk drawer and shoved her gift in it. "You can look now," She turned back around and sat cross legged on the floor next to him. She picked up the mug that he had been trying to wrap and smiled at it.

He had got an iron man mug with 'Iron dad' written on it in bold text. "He'll love it," She told him, before looking aghast at the amount of wrapping paper he was using to wrap it.

"How many forests did you chop down in your attempts to wrap that?" She asked, raising her eyebrow as he laughed sheepishly.

"I told you I'm not good at wrapping," He replied defensively. "Leave me alone."

"I'll show you," She smirked, putting the mug on the wrapping paper and rolled it up, cutting off the unused paper.

"You make it look so easy," Peter complained. "The wrapping paper just goes everywhere when I try to do it." Pepper laughed slightly.

"It just takes practise," She told him, holding the two edges of wrapping paper together and giving it to Peter so she could cut the sellotape.

"Fri, are they awake yet?" Peter asked for the hundredth time, staring up at the ceiling in boredom.

"No Peter," F.R.I.D.A.Y sighed, sounding slightly annoyed about the amount of times that Peter had asked her about Tony and Pepper. "Are you sure you wouldn't like me to wake them up?"

"Yes," Peter said, sitting up. "Can you put on Love Actually for me?" He asked, deciding that he wasn't going to get back to sleep and Tony and Pepper clearly weren't going to wake up any time soon. He knew that both of them hadn't got much sleep since he had been shot and didn't want to wake them up just because it was Christmas.

"Of course," F.R.I.D.A.Y's tone sounded relieved that he seemed to have given up waiting for people to wake up. Peter settled down watching the TV from his bed, trying not to think about his last Christmas when Aunt May had still been alive. They had been invited around Ned's family and had Christmas dinner with them. He should probably have checked if Ned's parents were still alive, he had never really thought about it before. They used to be his second family.

"Merry Christmas Spiderling," Tony grinned as he and Pepper came into Peter's room, Morgan in Pepper's arms.

"Finally," Peter leapt up from his bed. "I've been awake for hours." Pepper and Tony chuckled at his impatience. "Can we do presents now?" He asked excitedly.

"How about breakfast first?" Pepper suggested as Peter's stomach rumbled loudly. "Nat's been making pancakes so we can all eat and then do presents together."

"Fine," Peter sighed. "I'll be ready in ten." Pepper and Tony smiled and exchanged looks at his enthusiasm over opening his Christmas presents.

"Are you sure he'll like it?" Pepper asked Tony as they walked from Peter's room to the one that they were using whilst at the compound.

"Of course," Tony smirked. "Kid's a genius, what more can he want than his own lab?"

"I know," She smiled, giving Tony a quick kiss. "I just worry too much." And Tony laughs.

"You worry for the both of us," He told her, squeezing her hand softly as she laughed. "How annoyed do you think the spider will be if I take as long as possible to eat breakfast?" Pepper laughed this time, before swatting his arm lightly.

"You're so cruel," She smiled. "That kid deserves a happy Christmas."

"I know," Tony's smile faded as he remembered all that he had been through in the last year. He wished that everyone who had been dusted was there, especially Peter's Aunt May, but he also knew that they would tell him to have a good time for him. There was no way he wasn't going to make sure his kid had a great time.

A loud cry from Pepper's eyes interrupted the moment and Tony immediately looked down at his daughter. "Hey little one," He smiled, taking from Pepper before realising what the problem was when he held her close to him. "Ooof that's a bad one, Pep, wanna sort it?" Pepper raised her eyebrow at her husband.

"You took her off me," She smirked. "You deal with it." Tony narrowed his eyes as the wailing got louder.

"Fine," He huffed, though they both knew that it was jokingly. "If Peter comes through, just go down, I'll catch you up."

"They won't let me open presents until after breakfast," Peter complained to Natasha,slumping down on one of the stools, slightly grumpily. Natasha chuckled, ruffling his hair slightly before smiling at Pepper and Tony.

"Don't worry," She said, passing him the first plate of pancakes. "Aunty Nat's got your back don't worry." She said, slipping him a small wrapped package.

"Thanks," Peter grinned perking up immediately, both at the present and the food. She grinned, passing the rest of plates of pancakes down the breakfast table.

"Thanks," Peter trailed off, grinning at his gift, shoving the wrapping paper to one side. He held the t-shirt that he had just unwrapped. It had writing that said 'I had to make these bad chemistry jokes because all the good ones Argon' which made him snort slightly.

"You know I should confiscate those because I said no presents before breakfast," Tony said from behind Peter.

"You wouldn't," Peter said, hugging the t-shirt to his chest to protect it.

"Don't worry маленький паук," Natasha smirked, leaning over to steal one of the chocolate chips from Tony's plate. "He knows he'd have to get through me first." Peter stuck his tongue out, glaring jokingly at Tony. "And he's too scared of me to do that."

"Am not," Tony folded his arms, glaring at Natasha.

"Tony," Pepper sighed slightly. "Just eat your breakfast before you end up getting beaten up." Both Natasha and Peter laughed at that.

"Personally I think Tony should be on washing up," Rhodey piped up. "For wanting to confiscate the kid's present."

"I second that," Peter added quickly, ducking quickly to avoid a joking swat aimed at his head from Tony.

"I cooked so I'm not doing it," Natasha shrugged.

"Besides, he was the last one down," Steve put in.

"It's not my fault someone tricked me into changing Morgan's nappy for them," Tony said, looking across at his wife.

"You're the one that took her from me," Pepper shrugged.

"Finally," Peter sat in front of the tree impatiently waiting for everyone else to sit on the various chairs and sofas around the tree.

"You know what I think we should go for a walk before we do presents," Steve laughed, winking at Natasha who smirked evilly.

"Yeah, I think you're right," She agreed. "We should walk off that breakfast." Peter sighed loudly, glaring as the two of them cracked up.

"Alright kiddo, dive straight in," Tony told him as he sat on the chair next to Peter. Peter grinned happily before diving into his pile of presents, which was at least ten times bigger than all the other piles.

"Thanks Rhodes," Peter grinned holding up the War Machine pyjamas that he had just unwrapped. Rhodey smiled at him.

"Couldn't have you continue inflating Tony's already too large ego by wearing Iron Man ones," He shrugged.

"You wear Iron Man pyjamas?" Natasha asked in disgust and Peter blushed slightly.

"Why do you say that as if it's a bad thing?" Tony asked, glaring across.

"Because it is," She smirked as Tony narrowed his eyes at her.

"Did you get Pepper to wrap this?" Tony asked a few minutes later holding up the present that was from Peter.

"Well... I tried to wrap it myself," Peter told him, smiling slightly. "But I wasn't very good so Pepper gave me some help." Tony smiled back before unwrapping it.

"I love it," He smiled down at the mug, ruffling his hair. "Hey Pep can you make me a coffee?" He asked, holding it up.

"You had one with your breakfast, you do not need another one," Pepper told him.

"But that one won't taste as good as this one will," He argued as Pepper laughed slightly. "This one will be drunk from my favourite mug." Peter smiled at this and Pepper rolled her eyes.

"Fine, but it's a decaf one," She said. "And since I'm making it, next time Morgan wakes us up in the night, you're sorting her out."

"Done," Tony smirked, winking at Peter, who was relieved that Tony liked the gift. "So Peter, I hope you can forgive us, but you won't be getting your present til we return home." Peter frowned slightly at that. "Hey! It's not my fault that I got you such a big present that I couldn't wrap it up and bring it here."

"What is it?" Peter asked, narrowing his eyes as if he was going to decide whether to forgive him based off the gift.

"Your own lab in a room off mine that you can use when you want, unsupervised," Tony explained and was slightly startled as the teen rammed into him, wrapping his arms around him. Tony smiled as he returned the hug, it was weird to think that not that long ago he would have shied away from the kid hugging him. He literally did pull away from the kid when he'd tried to hug him when he had taken him back from Germany.

"I can really use it whenever I want?" Peter asked, looking up at him hopefully. Tony smiled, ruffling his hair slightly.

"There are some restrictions on it. F.R.I.D.A.Y won't let you in it from 10pm to 8am so you don't have any all nighters in there," He told him. "But apart from that, if you need any equipment or anything, just check with me so I know what you're doing is safe and ask F.R.I.D.A.Y to order it."

"You're the best," Peter smiled, making Tony's heart melt as he watched the kid return to his spot amongst the ripped up wrapping paper.

I tried to get this out on Christmas, but it ended up turning into a kind of mega long chapter so it took a lot longer than I expected, so late Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed, and please let me know what you think :)