"I got you a present, Pepper."

Pepper smiled, reaching for the stack of gifts that she'd handed Tony.

"I got one for you, as well."

Peter's brown eyes lit up, happily, and she couldn't help but decide that the haphazardly drawn goatee made him look adorable. Of course, she wasn't the one who had to get it off by the end of Christmas break, was she?

"Tony said we can open them, tonight."

"Just the ones from you and the others," Stark corrected. "None of the ones from me. That way there are more for him to open, tomorrow."

"Tyrant." She tapped Peter's nose, though, and handed him the gifts. "Put those where you can find them, later."

The boy did as he was told, and Tony took Pepper's jacket and handed it down to the boy.

"I need to check dinner, so you can keep Peter company."

She looked at the wrapped piano.

"You got a piano?"

"It's a clarinet," Tony told her.

"Until we unwrap it and it turns out to be a piano," Peter added from under the tree where he was happily stashing presents.

She didn't bother to try to understand what was obviously an inside joke.

"I'm sure it'll be lovely."

"Come sit down, Pepper," Peter said, taking her hand while Tony went into the kitchen. The apartment smelled wonderful. They'd all offered to bring something to add to the meal, like they had at Thanksgiving, but Tony had declined, telling them that it wasn't going to be a really fancy meal – or a difficult one – and that he and Peter could handle things. "We made a tray of food to snack on."

She did as she was told, allowing him to lead her over to the couch. The TV display was on and was showing a Christmas Carol, and the fire was going in the fireplace. The place was homier than Pepper could ever remember it being.

Certainly happier and brighter.

Peter pointed out a bowl of chips, and a plate with vegetables and dip. There was another, chilled, plate that held meats and cheeses and a sampling of crackers.

"This all looks amazing," she told him, speaking loudly enough for Tony to hear, as well.

"We made them," he told her, walking back into the living room just as JARVIS announced there was company at the door. "Get that, Peter," Tony told him, smiling at Pepper in anticipation of the reaction for whoever it was at the door.

He wasn't disappointed.

Natasha Romanoff walked in and immediately scooped him up into her arms, and then almost dropped him when she saw the drawn facial hair on his face.

"Did Tony do that to you?" she asked the little boy, eyes alive with amusement at the sight.

"He tried to help me get it off," Peter replied.

"That's all on him," Stark interjected. "I was working on salad while he was supposed to be getting ready for company."

"Well, that's one way to do it, Cheese Pizza," Rhodey said, his smile broad as he sluffed his coat and handed it to Tony.

"I didn't think about it not coming off," Peter admitted, putting his head on Natasha's shoulder for a moment, clearly happy to see her and the others.

"You understand we're going to be forced to take a million pictures of you, right?" Sam asked. "Because that's some cute shit, right there, and no one would-"

"Language," Nick said before Steve could, reminding Wilson that he wasn't hanging out with his SHIELD agent buddies, at the moment. He handed his jacket to Tony and the bag of brightly wrapped gifts to Sam, and then offered his arms to Peter. "Come here."

Peter transferred over, willingly, although Romanoff scowled at losing her handsome little man (especially since she thought the facial hair thing was adorable).

"What have you used to try to get rid of it?" Rhodey asked Tony. "Let me guess; nothing, because you secretly love the idea of your mini-me looking even more like you…"

"What?" Tony's expression was innocence personified. "No. Of course not."

"Did you use a Sharpie?" Nick asked Peter.

"Yeah."

Fury looked at Stark.

"You gave him a Sharpie?"

"Yeah."

"And left him unattended with it?"

Tony rolled his eyes.

"He has a lot of things in his room, Nick. I leave him unattended with all of them every night when he goes to bed. This one just came back and bit us on the ass, is all."

"Poor guy…" Nick chuckled, though, looking at Peter. "You got the jawline a little off, though."

"It was hard to do looking in the mirror," Peter admitted.

"Where do we put the presents?" Sam asked, holding up the bundle of gifts he was carrying.

"Next to the clarinet," Tony replied, gesturing to the piano.

Wilson rolled his eyes.

"Right…"

"I got you something too big to go under the tree, Peter," Nick told him, turning back to the door with Peter still in his arms. "Steve?"

Rogers had handed Tony his jacket, and now he opened the door, again, walked into the hall and a moment later returned with a brightly wrapped present in his arms. It was green and gold and had little Christmas trees on it. It was also the size of a refrigerator box – although Steve was handling it, easily.

"Wow!" Peter said, eyes widening. "What is it?"

"Have to unwrap it and see," Nick told him, smugly.

"But not until later," Tony reminded them both. "Put it by the tree, Steve, will you?"

"Thanks, Nick," Peter said, excitedly. He squirmed to get down, and then scurried over to follow Steve, already trying to figure out what it was.

"That's the giant JENGA game?" Tony asked, softly, as they walked into the kitchen, leaving Peter talking excitedly to Pepper, Rhodes and Steve.

"It certainly isn't a refrigerator," Fury assured him.

Natasha looked over at Peter, making sure he was occupied, and then handed Tony a small box that was wrapped in silver and gold, with a fancy bow on it. There was a tag that read simply 'From Santa'.

"Here," she said, just as softly as Tony. "That should go under the tree sometime after he goes to bed, tonight."

Tony knew what it was, of course, but he raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you think you should give it to him?"

"It's from Santa," she reminded him.

"But you're the one who tracked it down," he argued. "It's only right that you see his reaction when he opens it."

Besides, he had other things that would occupy Peter on Christmas morning, and he didn't want Peter to be too overwhelmed. The watch might be more than the child could handle. She shrugged her acceptance, and he handed it back to her.

"When are we eating, Tony?" Sam asked, walking over with Peter, and holding up a boardgame. To Peter's delight, he was holding just high enough that the boy couldn't reach it – even by jumping. "Do I have time to teach Peter how to play Hungry-Hungry Hippos?"

Tony frowned, looking at them.

"Where did you get that?"

Peter smiled.

"Sam gave it to me."

"For Christmas?"

"Yeah."

"No," Wilson corrected. "Christmas presents come wrapped in bright wrapping paper and ribbons and bows. I just happened to see this game on the shelf the other day when I was looking for a gift for Steve and Clint and I thought to myself 'self? You know who might like this game?' and myself asked me 'who?' and I said 'Peter…'" He shrugged, "So I bought it."

Tony rolled his eyes, but Peter giggled. The billionaire waved the two of them away.

"If I step on any marbles in the morning, I'm not going to be happy…"

"You won't."

"It has marbles?" Peter asked, still trying to reach the game.

"Come on," Sam said. "I'll show you. Coming, Nick?"

"Of course."

Since Romanoff had the watch, Tony let her decide when the best moment would be to present it to Peter – and how best to do it. She didn't show any indication of having it as some of them played boardgames with Peter, while others played cards at the table, drinking wine and simply enjoying the fact that the world didn't seem to need saving, lately. It was a pleasant reprieve for them.