Dinner was a bit more boisterous. Not necessarily because there had been wine, earlier, but the company was good and the Avengers could let their hair down, so to speak, and show their true personalities. It wasn't something that they often did, but it was enjoyable for all of them – and Pepper – and Peter smiled most of the meal. He didn't eat much, despite the meal being good. He was too excited about what came, next.

"Presents, next," Steve said, taking charge when the meal was finished and everyone had even had dessert. "We can't stay too late, and there are a lot to open."

The boy looked at Tony, his expression a mixture of hopefulness and excitement, and the billionaire nodded his agreement.

"Just the ones from these guys, though," Tony reminded him. "And the ones that we got for them. The rest are for Christmas morning."

"And we can't open anything until this mess is cleaned up," Pepper added, gesturing to the table, and smiling when Sam and Steve both groaned in exaggerated dismay at being forced to wait to open presents.

Peter was more than willing to help clean, but he was sent to the tree, instead. While the adults all pitched in to clear the table, the little boy pulled packages out from everywhere they had been stashed under the festive tree, piling them off to the side.

Natasha joined him, first, making suggestions as she settled on the floor by the tree with him, and then Sam, Rhodey, and the rest as there was less and less to do to be helpful in the kitchen.

"Are we ready?" Tony asked, coming into the living room with a garbage can in his hand. Peter nodded, excitedly.

"How do we want to do this, Tony?" Natasha asked.

"Not orderly," was the reply. "Everyone sit down, and Peter will put all of your presents in front of you."

The boy did just that, jumping to his feet and sorting out the presents. Soon, everyone had a pile in front of them, wherever they were sitting, and Peter's own pile was gratifyingly huge. The boy leaned against the giant gift that Nick had brought for him, watching Tony, excitedly.

"Are we ready?" Tony asked, enjoying how happy Peter looked.

There were assorted murmurs of agreement.

"Get on with it, Tony," Nick said. "I'm too old to enjoy anticipation like I used to."

"Go!"

The room was suddenly filled with the sound of tearing paper and the air was alive with ribbons, bows and entire swaths of bright paper being tossed aside.

The gifts were as varied as the people that they were purchased (or made) for but all were declared to be perfect.

"Wow…"

Peter was thrilled with all of them. From the bicycle that Steve bought him to the giant Jenga game from Nick, they were all exciting to him and Tony thought that his face was probably killing him from smiling so much. He'd open a present, admire it and hug the person who had given it to him, admire it some more and then neatly stack it to the side, so he had room to open the rest.

"I thought you were getting him a ball pit?" Tony asked Sam, looking at the model jet fighter that Peter had unwrapped and handed to Tony to admire.

"I did," he replied, shrugging.

"We all pitched in on one," Natasha added. She smiled at Peter, whose eyes were wide. "It's at the compound, though. There's more room for it there."

"And it gives Tony a reason to bring you back for more frequent visits," Sam added. "That way he doesn't hog you to himself all the time."

Peter hugged himself, making all of them smile.

"Thanks."

"And you wanted to try it out…" Tony guessed.

"Whaaat?" Sam and Steve both looked as innocent as they could, and Peter giggled at the high-pitched innocence in Wilson's tone. "Of course, not."

"Did you?"

"We had to make sure it was safe," Steve pointed out. "Didn't want Peter hitting his little head on something."

Tony shook his head, but he didn't say anything.

"That's all the presents?" Pepper asked, admiring the bracelet that Tony had bought her – and the matching ring that had come from Peter.

"One more," Nick said, sitting up a little in the recliner that he'd commandeered as his own. "Come here, little man."

The boy walked over, curiously, and Nick picked him up, settling him in his lap.

"You remember me telling you about how some of my SHIELD agents and I met Santa? Back when we were in the North Pole?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I saw him, yesterday… when I was out doing some secret spy things."

Peter's eyes were wide, again.

"Really? The real one?"

"Yes. He came looking for me, really. He said that he had a special present for you, and he knew that I was going to be seeing you So, he asked me to give it to you, in case it fell out of his sleigh, or something, over the ocean, tonight while he's flying around."

"He did?"

"Yup." Nick fished the small box out of his pocket. "He's still coming here, tonight," he assured the boy. "But he told me to tell you that you don't have to wait until tomorrow to open this."

"What is it?" Peter asked, curiously.

Nick shrugged.

"He didn't say."

"It must be special if he came looking for someone to hand it over, personally," Natasha said. She smiled. "Open it and let's see."

Peter unwrapped the small package, carefully. It was a present from Santa, after all, and was special. He saw a white box, and worried it open with his fingers, and then gasped, feeling his heart pounding and a surge of happiness go through him that left him almost breathless.

"What is it?" Tony asked, not missing the boy's reaction, and glad that the others were there to see it, too.

Peter was too excited to sit still. He held it up and slid off of Nick's lap.

"It's my dad's watch!" he shouted. "It's really it! He found it!"

The boy ran to Tony, first, and showed him, brandishing it so quickly that all Stark saw was a flash of metal.

"The one that was stolen?" Tony asked, catching Peter around the waist to hold him still to get a look at it. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Peter looked down at it, and looked back up at Tony, his expression awed. "I wonder how he found it."

"It's Santa," Tony said, glancing at Natasha and feeling smug that he was definitely right about her needing to see the child's reaction. "He probably has a network of bad-ass black ops people who looked for it for him."

Peter flung his arms around Tony, exuberantly, and he heard a muffled sob.

"Yeah."

Stark looked at Natasha, again, and saw that she wasn't the only one smiling, despite the tears. He picked Peter up and gathered him onto his lap, rocking him, slightly, as he cried, completely overwhelmed as Tony had suspected that he would be.

"We should watch a movie," he told the others.

Steve hesitated, mainly because a movie was another two hours, and that would put them on the road later than he wanted. With the long drive back to the compound, still – especially on wet, snowy roads filled with people doing their own visits – he didn't really want to commit to that.

"How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a personal favorite of mine," Fury said. "Do you have that?"

"I have everything," Tony replied, smugly. "JARVIS?"

The display came on above the fireplace, and the lights dimmed. Watch still firmly in his hand, Peter turned his head enough to be able to see the cartoon, but he didn't let go of Tony.

"I'll make popcorn," Pepper offered, sliding her hand through Peter's curls as she stood up.

Awww.