Peter sat there quickly trying to finish his homework before he had to go. It wasn't that it was hard, just time consuming. Once it was done though he would be free from school work for almost three weeks.
"Peter! The boxes are ready to go, are you?" May yelled from the kitchen.
"Yeah," he yelled back making a final correction, "Yeah I'm coming Aunt May!"
As he bounded into the kitchen, he pulled his hoodie over his head, and was greeted by the smell of gingerbread cookies. With all the self control he could muster he only shoved one warm cookie in his mouth.
May raised an eyebrow at him and playful batted his hands away from the rest of the cookies.
"Get out of here you endless pit you! These are for my co-workers!" She grabbed a big bag off the table and pushed it into his arms. Inside there was an array of pretty boxes.
"Thanks Aunt May, I couldn't have done this without you!"
"My pleasure dear, but really I just put the finishing touches on, you did all the hard work!"
It was true. He had picked out all the paper and bows, mixed and cut out the dough, and even decorated the finished cookies. But since his fingers stuck mercilessly to the wrapping paper May had happily helped with that.
"OK! I am off! I'll see you tonight when you get off work!" He gave her a big kiss on the cheek and practically bounced out the door.
The train and bus ride from Queens to Hell's kitchen took forever but finally Peter was taking the steps two at a time up to the offices of Nelson & Murdock.
He could hear laughing and smell the alcohol from the hall, but since his senses were heightened, he assumed it was a normal amount of booze, he was just sensitive to it.
With a happy rhythm Peter knocked on the door.
A pretty woman opened the door.
"Hello," she said with a smile, "We are actually closed for a Christmas party. But if you want to leave your name …?"
"I'm sorry to interrupt! Ms. Paige, right? I am actually just here to see Mr. Murdock!"
"Peter!" He heard a happy Matt call from inside. Karen ushered the teen inside. Matt stood with his friend Foggy, a beer in hand. "What brings you all the way over here from Queens?" There was a moment pause and then he broke into a huge grin. "Are those cookies I smell?" He demanded.
Peter had to laugh. Of course, the blind, but super sensitive, vigilante could smell the treats.
"Yes, actually." Peter rooted through his bag and brought out a big red box, topped with a shiny red bow. Matt carefully sat his beer down and took the box. He lifted the top and Peter had to grin at his expression when he picked up one of the cookies and felt the lines of the frosting.
The man actually laughed.
"You made Spider-man cookies," he commented. Foggy and Karen looked in the box. Karen carefully removed another cookie. Her and Foggy shared a glance before eyeing Peter more carefully.
"And little Daredevil cookies," She said slowly.
Matt laughed straight from the belly making Foggy and Karen join him. He pulled Peter into side hug.
"Thanks kiddo," he said, "I love them!"
"Aunt May asked if you would like to join us for Christmas supper? It'll be on Christmas eve at our place! Ms. Paige and Mr. Nelson are welcome as well!" Peter commented.
"That would be nice Peter, tell May I will be there. Guys?" He turned his head to Foggy and Karen.
"Free, homecooked food? I am totally there!" Foggy laughed.
"Yes, that would be great," Karen smiled sweetly.
"Nice! I will let her know! I have some more stops to make so I gotta get going! Have fun!" He called over his shoulder as he headed for the door with his bag of gifts in hand. He had barely reached the hallway when he heard Karen whisper to Matt.
"Who is the kid?"
Peter laughed, he trusted Matt to come up with a story on his own, so he continued on his way.
The train to Grand central from Hell's kitchen took a lot less time then the one from Queen's. Peter jogged across the street whilst pulling out his Stark industries gold access card.
He gave the security guard at the front desk a wave before popping into the special elevator that went up to the Avengers floors.
On a normal day Spiderman entered the tower through the helipad doors at the top of the building, Peter Parker the intern entered through the front lobby elevator.
"Hey FRIDAY!" Peter chimed happily.
"Hello Peter. Nice to see you again!"
"Are Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers in FRIDAY?"
"Yes Peter. They are both in the common room with the rest of the Avengers. They are having their annual Holiday get together."
"Oh," Peter nibbled his lip thoughtfully. Tony, Pepper and Steve knew Peter Parker, the rest of the Avengers did not. He glanced at the presents, even though he was not on speaking terms with the others on the team he felt bad he did not bring them something.
His only hope was the Steve and Pepper might share because Tony definitely would not.
The elevator doors opened, and Peter was stunned into silence. The room was so loud with chatter and laughing that he thought he might go into overload.
For a long moment he didn't move, just trying to get a rein on his senses. Eventually sets of eyes started to turn towards him and Peter fought back the urge to run away.
"Peter!" He heard a booming voice carry over the whole room. Steve Rogers detached himself from his conversation with Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton to come striding over. "Merry Christmas!"
The big man pulled Peter into a side hug and walked him into the room. It was apparent he was aware that Peter was on the verge of a panic attack. Him and Matt had long discussions on how the best way to ground the young superhero when he had these episodes.
Being pinned to the super soldier's side Peter could feel his even breathing and the steady thump of his heart. He used it to count his own breaths. Once they were in the kitchen, a little farther from the noise Steve let him go and gave him a smile.
Peter smiled back, sheepishly.
"Thanks," Peter muttered. "I wasn't expecting all of that."
"That's quite all right Peter. What brings you to the tower today? Shouldn't you be home with May getting ready for the holidays?"
"Well, she actually works today but she has tomorrow off, and we are having a big turkey dinner. She wanted me to invite you and Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts." Peter remembered with his enthusiasm coming back in droves.
"Wow. A full Christmas dinner? That would be amazing Peter!"
"Did I hear Stark industries top young mind made an appearance?" The slick voice of Tony Stark carried over to them. Peter looked over Steve's shoulder to see Tony glide into the room, impeccably dressed per usual, with the exception of the lopsided, cheap Santa hat on his head.
"Hey Mr. Stark," Peter greeted.
"Peter was just telling me that we are invited to the Parker family dinner tomorrow night. Pepper as well."
"Oh? Family dinner eh? How conventional." The Billionaire said.
Peter blushed a deep red, why did he ever think someone like Tony Stark would want to sit and have turkey in their little New York apartment. He didn't see the glare Steve shot over his head and Tony quickly elaborated.
"Not in a bad way. Howard was never a fan of Christmas, so we never did anything but yeah, Pete, dinner would be great! Let's go find Pepper and tell her she gets the turkey and stuffing she has been whining about for weeks!"
Peter smiled widely and followed the man back out to the party floor. Tony spoke to a few people on the way to Pepper, to which Peter just fanboyed and stared. Thor and Bruce Banner were among the chosen few.
"Peter!" Pepper greeted.
She had initially met him soon after Tony and Steve had, seeing as he was going to be interning for her company, at least on paper. Matt had also made her sign another confidentiality agreement since Tony couldn't seem to keep him mouth shut when it came to his significant other. Peter had been petrified of the CEO but soon found her tough business persona melted when dealing with him.
"Hi Ms. Potts, how did your board meeting go?"
Pepper waved the thought off.
"Like talking to a bunch of mindless drones. As long as you assure them, they will make more profit they will just clap and go with what ever I say!"
Peter laughed and allowed his body to relax when Pepper wrapped a him in a motherly hug.
"Happy holidays by the way!" She added.
"You are going to be stoked Pep, the kid actually came over to invite us to dinner tomorrow night. Nice little family get together. Like the one you always want to do but end up with over a hundred people." Tony smirked.
"Well, there is a couple others as well. There will be you and Mr. Stark, Mr. Rogers, and Mr. Murdock with his two guests, May and me of course. Maybe one or two more but pretty small in comparison to your parties I guess." He rattled off excitedly.
"Oh, how wonderful Peter! Of course, we will come." Pepper exclaimed.
Suddenly Peter remembered the bag he was carrying. He dug out a large gold box with red ribbon and handed it to Pepper, to hand to Tony. Then he had a red, white and blue box with stars that he handed to Steve, and finally a bright silver box to Pepper for her to keep.
The adults opened the tops and chuckled heartily. Spider-man cookies along with little Avengers filled their gifts.
Tony promptly removed a little Ironman cookie and popped it in his mouth.
"Mmmm!" He muttered through a full mouth. Steve followed suit and found a Captain America shield and took a bite.
"Delicious!" He muttered.
"Whatcha got there guys?" Clint asked sliding over to Steve's side. Bruce and Natasha came in right behind.
"Ooooo cookies!" Peter heard behind him. He turned to see Thor looking over his head.
"No!" Tony snapped pulling his box away from Rhodey's sneaking hand.
Peter laughed as an epic game of steal the cookie pursued.
He wanted to stay to see who won but he had one more package to deliver and he didn't want to be late getting home.
"See you tomorrow night guys!" Peter called as he headed back for the elevator.
"Bye Peter," Pepper waved completely unfazed, as no one was brave enough to try and steal her cookies.
As he left the tower, he glanced at his phone to make sure he was still on time. His next stop was not the nicest place, and the last thing he wanted to do was walk into 'Sister Margaret's Home for Wayward Girls' after night fall. In fact, he was pretty sure if any of the adults in his life knew where he was planning on going, they would ground him for life.
He had to take the risk though. He hadn't seen Wade for weeks and being alone on Christmas seemed wrong, even for the Merc.
Another hour bus ride took him to North Bronx.
He had only seen the bar once before, and on that occasion, Wade had found him before he had to go inside.
This time though there was no one waiting for him. Peter shifted nervously. He tucked his last present into the inside pocket of his jacket and lifted his hood to try and hide the fact he was a teenage boy walking into a bar of hired killers.
If the alcohol smell at Matt's was strong, the smell of booze, puke, and human excrement at Hellhouse was something else all together. Peter gagged and fought back the urge to throw up before he even stepped foot inside the building.
With a determination that he didn't know he had he forced himself into the bar.
There was a group of biker type men in one corner arguing loudly, a few women of the night sitting at a table close to the door with glasses clasped in their painted claws, a man passed out over the bar, and what looked like a dead guy hunched against the jukebox. Peter suspected he was dead because his intestines were spilt out, over the front of his pants and his eyes were a milky white.
He shuddered and touched his fingers to his web shooters just to reassure himself he was going to be ok.
The bartender was yelling at a thin Indian guy.
"Dopinder. That thing is starting to stick! Get it out of here before the rats come back!" The sleazy looking man sneered, "How do you expect to be a mercenary if you can't get rid of a single dead body!"
Peter didn't look back as the man zipped by him with a hatchet and plastic bag in hand.
This was a mistake, Peter was sure of that, his spidey-sense was blaring ever since he stepped foot in the building. Still, he made it this far and he knew Deadpool had to be close by.
"Well hello there, little jailbait-baby, what is a cute little thing like you doing in my bar?" The man asked eyeing him up and down. Peter was sure Wade had talked about the man before, if he remembered correctly his name was Weasel and he a friend. Well, as close to a friend as someone like this could be.
Peter cleared his throat and approached the bar.
"Weasel is it?" Peter asked.
The man narrowed his eyes at him.
"You're not here to tell me I'm your daddy, are you?" The man demanded. "That transvestite I paid to lose my virginity too swore she wasn't able to have kids!"
Peter visibly recoiled from the statement.
"No!" Peter almost shouted in his haste to put that thought to rest. "I'm looking for Wade."
The man eyed him a little more intently.
"If you have a job for him, you can put that through me," he commented as he leaned forward.
Peter flinch when he heard a wet smacking sound behind him. He wasn't about to turn around to see what was happening to the dead guy.
"It's not a job. I am just looking for him. Is he here?"
"Just left. Want me to message him? Tell him his underage booty call is here?"
This time Peter sighed. He didn't like dealing with these people. If he was in his suit, he would have just webbed them up and phoned the cops but seeing as that wasn't an option Peter swallowed his sarcastic reply.
"Yes, please." He emphasized each word.
Weasel pulled out an old school flip phone dramatically, his eyes never leaving Peter's. The teen was thankful he finally did look away when he tapped out a message.
"There ya go kiddo, Big Daddy Red is on his way back. Did you write a Christmas list for him? Gonna sit on his lap?"
Peter narrowed his eyes at the man, but the youthful roundness of his cheeks prevented him from looking menacing.
A loud plop behind him broke the mood and Peter gagged again as the sound and smell hit him like a wall.
"AH, shit bags, Dopinder! You don't cut them through the middle! That's where all the juices are!"
Peter left, in a hurry. Once outside he threw up in the closest alley and hugged himself tightly.
"Babyboy!" He heard a cheerful greeting behind him. Peter help up a finger for the man to wait a moment, promptly threw up again, then straightened as he wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve.
"Give me your phone number Wade," Peter demanded seriously, "I am not showing up here ever again to find you!"
"Squeeeeee!" Deadpool squeaked as he slapped his hands to his face in stereotypical teenage girl fashion. Peter huffed and held out a hand to the Merc. Deadpool dropped his phone into the boy's hands before hoping up on a concrete wall to hum to himself and watch.
Peter held the phone away and snapped a picture of himself before adding his name and number. He then sent himself a text.
He passed the phone back to the Merc who happily sent him another text with a smiley face sticking his tongue out.
Peter finished adding Wade's information.
"Can we go for a walk please?" Peter asked. He did not want to stick around this place any longer. Wade made a theatrical leap down from the three-foot wall then lifted his arms as if he just landed a difficult gymnastic move.
"Very well Babyboy! Let me walk you home again! It will be getting dark soon!"
"Fine." Peter agreed readily.
Wade made sure to pull his coat closed and pushed his hat down farther, so his red suit didn't draw too much attention. He was a wanted mercenary after all.
"So, what's up buttercup? Had to be something important to bring you all the way down here!" Wade chirped.
Peter remembered the reason he was out and smiled for the first time since he got to the Bronx.
He paused a moment to root through his pockets before he found the small box. It didn't hold as many cookies as the others had but these ones had taken Peter a long time to make.
"For me?" Wade exclaimed taking the box wrapped in a newspaper comic page and red ribbon.
He unwrapped it haphazardly and pulled out two cookies. One was a chibi Deadpool riding a unicorn. The other was a chibi Peter wearing a Deadpool shirt. It had taken him a long time to do the frosting on those cookies but they had made him laugh so he hoped they were enough for the Merc.
Wade had stopped walking and was staring at the cookies very intently.
"Wade?" Peter asked when the normally very chatty man was quiet for several minutes. "What's wrong? Not allergic to cinnamon or something are you? Did I find your secret kryptonite?"
The big man chuckled then looked up at Peter.
"These are so awesome Babyboy. And the fact you came to the bar just to find me to give them to me is beyond nice!" Before Peter knew what was happening his was pulled off the ground into an intense bearhug. "Shut up White, he must like me if he made me cookies!"
Peter was used to Wade talking to himself, so he ignored it.
They took a bus back to Queens where Peter and Wade continued to chat and laugh all the way to his apartment building.
"Merry Christmas Wade!" Peter smiled.
"You too Babyboy! Hope the happy Ho-Ho finds ya! You're definitely not on the naughty list …." He paused and cocked an eyebrow, "Or are you? Don't want to pry but you do seem to have a thing for leather and spandex clad superhero's!"
Peter punched the Merc in the arm.
"I am just a friendly guy!" Peter snapped in mock anger.
"Yeah kid, you are!" Wade ruffled his hair then turned to leave, he gave a little salute over his shoulder.
Peter stood in the kitchen entrance listening to the happy chatter coming from the makeshift dinning room table set up in the living room. Matt and Steve were chatting by the punch bowl. Pepper and Karen were getting along great sitting at the table. May was putting the finishing touches on the turkey in the kitchen while Tony and Foggy engaged in an enthusiastic debate about law and business.
"Peter," He heard his aunt call, "Can you get the turkey? Everything is ready!"
Peter bounced into the kitchen and effortlessly heaved the massive bird.
"Alright everyone! Please take a seat, turkey is on the way!" May announced. The group piled in around the table and smiled as the bowls of potatoes, gravy, stuffing, beans and turkey started to be set out
"Oh, this looks amazing May!" Pepper sighed. "Thank you so much for inviting us!"
"This does smell absolutely delicious!" Matt added.
Matt did the honors of saying grace, and while not everyone at the table was religious, they shared the feeling that this was a happy time and they should be thankful that they were all there to enjoy it.
Peter never had a large family and since this was the first Christmas without Ben, he couldn't be happier to have the most important people in his life there.
He shoved a bite of potatoe in his mouth and was just piling his plate full of the rest of the food when a voice made him choke.
"Ooooo that looks tasty! Room for one more in here Petey-pie?"
Peter whipped around to see Wade standing in the door way.
"Umm," Peter made a quick look to Tony and Steve who were half way to their feet, then to Matt who had suddenly become very tense. "Wade! Yeah, we have enough, right May?" Peter had jumped up to grab a chair and try to cut off any hostilities between the superhero's and the Merc.
May hopped to her feet, she wasn't sure what was going on but if her nephew wanted to add one more, she would make room.
"Of course! Come on in dear! Let me grab you a plate!"
As Peter scooted over for Wade to sit next to him, he nervously cleared his throat.
"So, you know most everyone, right Wade?" Peter asked.
Wade chuckled and leaned forward.
"How's it hanging Ironnuts, and Spangles! Long time no see! Didn't realize Petey had such big friends!"
Matt turned his head towards Peter and raised an eyebrow, clearly asking the teen how the hell he knew Deadpool.
Peter simply looked away and shoved in a massive bite if turkey, so he wouldn't have to speak for awhile.
It was still a great Christmas!