Despite his excitement at it being Christmas Eve, Peter slept well. Better than he had in many, many months, really. He was still bubbling over with happiness at being reunited with his father's watch, and the treasure had gone immediately into the envelope in his backpack for safe keeping. With the sadness that having lost it now lifted, and the pure joy of experiencing a real Christmas after what seemed to be forever, Peter managed to sleep through the night.

Unheard of for him, really.

When he woke, he was warm and comfortable, and still surrounded with the peace that had enveloped him the evening before. Which was probably why he'd slept so well, even though Peter was too young to really understand the connection. All he knew was that he felt good when he opened his eyes. He stared up at the ceiling for a long sleepy moment before he sat up with a start.

It was Christmas morning!

And Santa had almost certainly come. He had to have, really. He'd already talked to Nick, after all, and if he knew about his father's watch and had been able to find it, then he had to have some idea how to find Peter. Peter had already been given what he'd asked the mall Santa for, but that didn't mean he wasn't secretly hoping for more amazing presents.

And he could give Tony the presents that he had wrapped under the tree.

"JARVIS?" he whispered, excitedly. "Are you awake?"

There was the slightest of pauses before the AI replied.

"Of course. Merry Christmas, Peter."

The boy smiled.

"Merry Christmas." He hesitated. "Is Tony awake?"

"He's waking up, now."

"Did Santa come?"

"He did," JARVIS assured him. "I'm not allowed to record him, however, so there is no footage."

"You're not?"

"Of course not."

"Oh." Peter tossed his blankets back and went to the bedroom window, looking out. It was still dark, but he could see the faint light that was off in the distance telling him that the day was starting. "How did he get in?" he asked, curiously. "We don't have a chimney."

"I let him in."

"Wow."

OOOOOO

"Peter's awake."

The announcement woke Tony from an interesting dream, and he mumbled, sleepily, for a moment as he allowed himself to wake up. Then he looked at the time.

"He just woke up?"

"Yes."

"Slept all night?"

"Indeed he did."

"Good for him." Tony tossed his blankets aside and headed for the bathroom. "Is he excited?" he asked his AI.

"He asked if Santa had come and I advised he did. Then he asked how he managed to gain entrance without a chimney."

"What did you tell him?"

"That I let him in – but that I'm not allowed to video him, so there isn't any evidence."

"Smart."

"I'm not just a pretty face."

Tony chuckled at that and washed his hands.

"Well, this is going to be an interesting morning, isn't it?"

"It is. Good luck, sir."

"Thanks." He put slippers on, but didn't bother to get dressed. Peter was waiting, after all, and he wasn't a monster. Wearing sweats and a t-shirt, and rubbing his jaw and trying to wake up. "Start some coffee, will you?"

Tony walked to the door to Peter's room and tapped, softly, before opening it and peeking his head inside. The boy was sitting on his bed, still dressed in pajamas, but he was clearly wide awake and excited. He was hugging himself and practically vibrating.

"Hi, Tony."

Stark smiled.

"Merry Christmas, buddy. Santa came. Come take a look."

Peter sprang from the bed as if he'd been shot from a cannon, but he caught Tony's hand rather than run out into the living room like the billionaire expected. The two walked into the living room, and Peter stopped, his eyes wide and reflecting the lights of the Christmas tree.

"Wow…" Tony let his hand go and Peter went over to the robot. "Cool."

"Yeah, it is. Santa must be part engineer, huh?"

"Or maybe his elves?" Peter asked, running a hand along the plastic casing. "Neat."

"Look," Tony said, pointing at the stocking, which was bulging with gifts and candy. "He filled up your stocking, too."

"Wow."

Peter walked over and Tony handed it down to him.

"Why don't you look and see what's in it while I make some coffee and start breakfast?"

"Can I?"

"Sure. Just don't eat any candy, okay? I don't want you spoiling your breakfast."

He brushed his hand along the top of Peter's head when the boy climbed onto the couch, taking the stocking with him, excitedly. Then he went into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee and started making breakfast, smiling and looking toward the living room every time he heard Peter exclaim over something that he'd pulled from the stocking.

Tony knew it was filled little things, mainly. There were several different Hot Wheels that would go well with the racetrack that he'd bought the boy. Legos, of course – a set of DC comic characters, like the Avengers ones, only not anywhere near as cool. Batman didn't hold a candle to Captain America, after all. Even Tony knew that. But one of the gifts under the tree was a Lego Batmobile set and there were plenty of other uses for it. A pen and pencil set. New mittens that would match the new winter coat that was also under the tree in one of the boxes.

And a plethora of brightly wrapped candies of all shapes and sizes.

Eager to go back out to join the boy, Tony whipped together a quick breakfast of sandwiches made with bacon, eggs and cheese, put them on two plates and carried them out to the coffee table rather than make Peter leave his prize to come eat in the kitchen.

"Look, Tony!"

Acting surprised, Stark seated himself and rummaged through the toys and other trinkets while Peter wolfed down his breakfast, washing it down with a glass of milk. Tony ate his breakfast, too, wanting to be a good example, but when Peter finished, the adult set his plate aside, stacking it on Santa's empty one and adding Peter's.

"Ready for some presents?"

The boy nodded, excitedly.

"Can we unwrap the piano?"

"We'll do that one last."

OOOOOOOOO

The next hour was fun. Both for Peter, and for Tony. He watched the boy go under the tree time after time after time, bringing out yet another present. Most of them were for Peter, but occasionally he would get a happy gleam in his eyes when he realized it was something that he'd gotten for Tony. The man was surprised, because he'd never seen many of them.

"When did you get this?" he asked Peter after the third gift was opened to reveal a tie. A nice tie, too, not some cheap one that Tony had to pretend to like. "I love it."

"JARVIS helped me pick it out," Peter said, looking both shy and pleased that his gift was so well received. "One night when I couldn't sleep."

"Let me guess," Tony said. "You had it delivered when we were gone and stashed under the tree?"

Peter smiled and nodded.

"I wanted to make sure you got something you liked."

"Well I love it, thank you."

He loved the coffee mug that Peter made even more, though, and kept it close by as he watched the youngster unwrap the race track, several new boardgames, an adapter kit, a new cell phone, more arts and crafts stuff, and even a football.

"This is a lot of stuff," Peter said, sitting back beside Tony, holding a particularly intricate bow that was bright gold and red.

Tony couldn't help but notice that he sounded a little concerned.

"You like it, though, right?"

"Yeah. It's amazing."

"Then why don't you look as happy as I was hoping that you would?"

"I am happy," Peter assured him.

"But…?"

The boy hesitated.

"I can't fit it all in my backpack."

Tony forced down the ache that he felt for Peter just then, and instead reached out and touched his cheek.

"Interesting that you say that," he said. "I have a solution."

"Bigger backpack?" Peter asked.

"Something like that," was the reply. "Let's go unwrap the piano."