"No daycare today," Tony announced when Peter came into his office carrying his backpack.

"What? Why not?"

Tony liked that he seemed to want to go – it spoke well of Ella and the staff, as well as the children Peter played with when he was there.

"Because we need to leave, and go to the mall – and we're going to need as much time as we can get."

"Why?"

"Christmas shopping. I want to have all our shopping done before the weekend." He set Peter up on his desk, and helped him take his backpack off. "I sat down with JARVIS this morning in between meetings, and we figured out your allowance." He handed the boy a VISA card. "This is prepaid and ready to be used to buy the others whatever you think they want."

"Wow."

The boy looked it over, carefully.

"Don't lose it," Tony cautioned. "It has a thousand dollars on it."

Peter's eyes widened.

"A thousand dollars?"

"Yup. Allowance for the last couple of weeks – and for the next several ahead. I decided you needed an advance so you wouldn't have to worry about not being able to get everyone something. Is that alright?"

Stark did everything big, really, and yeah, maybe a thousand dollars was a lot. But it was Peter, and he was who he was, and he had a lot of money and only one Peter Parker, right? Who else would he blow the money on?

"Yeah." Peter looked at the card, again. "Wow."

"Put it in your pocket," Tony told him. "Then let's get going. Remember, we have to wrap everything that we buy."

OOOOOOOO

It was well after Peter's bedtime by the time they returned to the apartment. Tony opened the door, gratefully, and even Peter's boundless energy had taken a hit, but he was still happy and cheerful as he watched the two valet attendants pile the gaily wrapped packages onto the coffee table and the sofa. Tony tipped them both, and they left, and then he turned to Peter.

"Go get ready for bed, buddy. Then come out and help me put these under the tree."

"Okay."

The boy had already taken his coat off, but he carried it into his room with him and Tony smiled as he watched him go.

The mall had been bustling, of course. There were people everywhere, doing the same thing that he and Peter were doing; trying to get everything done before the weekend, when it was a given that the crowds would swell even further for that last rush before Christmas. Tony and Peter had gone from store to store, looking for presents for the others.

Tony wasn't used to doing that. When he handed out gifts – not something that he normally did, really – they were presents that had been bought by an assistant. If not Pepper, then perhaps one of the interns with good taste. And better sense than Tony. Now, though, with Peter's hand firmly in his own as they walked, he found himself trying to decide if Romanoff would be offended by a womanly Christmas present, or if it was safe to get her some jewelry or a sexy dress that he knew she'd be smoking in. And would Rhodey be annoyed if he got him a tie? Or would he like a bottle of rare whiskey, better?

Peter didn't have any problem picking out presents for everyone.

Of course, he was eight, and despite his intelligence, he was still a little kid. The presents that he chose reflected that. Sam was going to receive a spy kit that he found in the toy store. Steve was going to get a basketball – a red, white, and blue one, Peter decided. He could play with it in the gym even when it was raining out. Or snowing. Tony smirked when Peter pointed out a pirate play set and asked if Tony thought Nick would like it.

"He'd love it," Tony assured him, already anticipating Nick's reaction when he opened that particular present on Christmas.

An archery set for Clint was an easy decision, and a bag of little green army men for Rhodey. He watched as Tony examined the dress that he finally decided would probably be inappropriate for Romanoff, and then said that if Tony wasn't going to get it for her, could he? Another smirk of amusement and they were soon at the counter handing it to the salesclerk with Tony's own purchases.

Then, once they had picked out something for everyone – including Pepper, Peter reminded him – they went back to a few of the shops and found extra presents for them – so they'd have a lot of gifts to open. He also picked out a gift for the Tatro's home, allowing Tony to help him find a gift that could be useful for everyone, to avoid making them buy something for each person there.

They stopped for a bite to eat at the food court, and then Tony decided that rather than try to wrap everything themselves, it would save them a lot of time if they had the professional wrappers at the end of the corridor in the mall do it for them.

Even that had been fun for the boy, because he was the one who picked what paper each would be wrapped in. They were careful to keep everything labeled and they had fun spending time together, but Tony was definitely relieved when they pulled into the valet area of the apartment building.

"It's been a long time since I had to put so many presents under a Christmas tree," he told Peter when the boy came out of his room, now dressed in pajamas. Try never, really. Not even when he was little. "How would you suggest we do it? By name? Or color of the package?"

"Big ones in the back is how my mom and dad did it when I was little…"

Tony smiled, but he nodded rather than let Peter think he was being condescending. Because the boy was so old, now.

"You're more flexible," he said, instead. "I'll hand them to you, and you arrange them to your liking."

There were already a few gifts under there; most were for Peter, but one was a coffee mug that the boy had made for Tony as an art project at daycare. He'd been so excited to wrap it and put it under the tree, and had smiled, happily, while the billionaire fondled the package and tried to figure out what was in it. Peter was small enough that he had plenty of room to move around as Tony handed him gifts until the pile was gone from the sofa and table and they were all under the tree.

He sat down with a tired sigh.

"JARVIS, turn on the lights."

The tree came alive with blinking white lights and Peter moved out from beside it, since now there was very little rom under it. The boy went over to sit beside Tony, and Stark put an arm around him, automatically, pulling him up against his side. Peter went willingly, just as automatically, and leaned against him.

"It's pretty."

"It is," Tony agreed. He smiled. "And so domestic. Who'd have thunk?"

"What do you mean?" Peter asked, curiously, looking up at him.

"Nothing. Just being weird." His smile never faded, though. "We'll sit here and admire our handy work for a while, but then bedtime. Yes?"

"Yeah."

He was pretty tired.

Shopping was harder than he thought it'd be.

OOOOOOO

"Tony…?"

The voice was soft, but Stark didn't sleep so soundly that anyone would need to shout in his ear to wake him. And he hadn't gone to bed buzzed or drunk in what seemed like ages. His eyes popped open, sleepily, and he found himself looking at Peter, who was standing beside his bed, head and shoulders barely high enough to be seen.

Peter's eyes were sad – they were, sometimes, Tony knew, but had been a lot more cheerful, lately. Now, though, they held a haunted look that Tony knew well. From his own experiences, not from anything Peter had told him.

"Hey, buddy. You okay?"

"I was wondering… does your suit have a parachute?"

"What?" Tony rubbed his eyes, looking at the time.

It was almost four am.

"Does your suit have a parachute?"

"No."

"What if you fall?"

"I don't fall. JARVIS keeps my systems running, and that includes the boosters."

"What if something happened and JARVIS stopped working?" Peter pressed. "Then what?"

"Well… he'd reboot, and then I'd be able to catch myself and stop falling."

"But if it wasn't in time…?"

Tony sat up.

"You're worried about me falling?"

Peter nodded.

"Yes."

The billionaire patted the space on the bed beside him, and Peter took the invitation, climbing up and settling near at hand, but still looking at him. Those eyes were filled with worry, and even Tony Stark wasn't immune to it.

"Then I'll have JARVIS help me design a parachute. Or some kind of failsafe. Just in case. What do you think?"

Peter leaned into him, feeling a surge of relief that made his eyes sting.

"That would be good."

"Yeah. But nothing too obvious," Tony added, yawning, as he tucked his blankets around Peter and settled into his pillows, again. "Can't look like it's a concern. They'd take away my superhero membership card."

"Is that really a thing?"

Tony chuckled.

"I could make it a thing." He kissed the top of Peter's head. "Go to sleep, alright?"

"Okay."

"And don't pee my bed."

That made the boy smile, as Tony had hoped it would.

"I won't."

He closed his eyes and was asleep again almost immediately, comforted.

Tony lay awake for a while longer. He'd had his own bad dreams, lately, and they didn't have anything to do with him falling. But they did revolve around someone – somehow – taking Peter from him and putting him in a different foster home. He didn't think it could happen, but there was really only one way to make sure it didn't.

He'd talk to Pepper, tomorrow, while Peter was at school. She'd know what he needed to do.

"JARVIS?" he whispered, softly. "Start looking into different prototypes for a parachute – or something similar – to add to my suit."

"Yes, sir."