Part 6

Boxing Day

'Where's my favourite female avengers?' Tony asks as he enters the common room the next morning, far too bright and cheerful considering how much was drunk yesterday and how late they went to bed.

Natasha raises an eyebrow at him from where she's nursing a cup of coffee in one of the chairs. 'What have you done now?' she sighs.

'We're seriously the only ones awake?' he moves to get his own mug. 'And why do you assume I've done something?'

'Because you're being overly nice. And yes everyone else is still asleep.'

'Well I can guarantee I haven't done anything bad.'

'Oh yes because that fills me with confidence-'

'Aunty Nat!' she's cut off by the sound of two excitable voices and two small bodies launch themselves on top of where she's sitting. Tony sees her blink in complete shock.

'Cooper? Lila? What are you-'

'Merry Christmas, Nat.' Tony grins as Clint follows his two children into the common area, Laura bringing up the rear with Nathaniel balancing on her hip.

'Clint? Laura?'

'Tony invited us up for Boxing Day,' Laura explains with a smile as the red headed woman goes to greet the newcomers. 'I'll be taking the kids on to my parents tomorrow or the day after, but Clint'll be staying for New Year.'

'You guys want breakfast?' Tony asks them, trying and probably failing miserably to keep the grin off of his face. He'd even managed to keep this a surprise from Steve.

'Please,' Laura smiles as the two assassins start to catch up. 'Luckily the kids slept most of the way, but it was still an early start for us.'

'You know you could have left it on auto-pilot right?'

She laughs. 'Clint did, and slept for some of it, but I'm not used to the jets so didn't get much shut eye.'

'Well you know where your room is so feel free to go get some rest at any point. There's plenty of us to watch the kids.'

Laura smiles in thanks and takes her and Clint's mugs of coffee, leaving him alone again in the kitchenette. He starts making pancakes, humming softly to himself and trying not to feel too happy with himself. A pair of arms sneak their way around his middle when he's making the third pancake and he looks over his shoulder.

'You alright, Agent Romanoff?'

'Thank you,' she says into his shoulder, looking up and giving him a watery smile.

He reaches an arm back and pulls her into a one-armed hug, pressing a quick kiss to the top of her head. 'You are more than welcome.'

Everything is going pretty well so far. Everyone's making a fuss of the Barton children, and Clint's finally meeting Peter properly.

'So you're the one Nat's been telling me about?' he looks the teenager up and down. 'Got to admit you're not what I was expecting.'

'Trust me Clint,' Natasha laughs from the floor where she's playing with Nathaniel and Lila, 'he'd wipe the floor with you.'

'But he's scrawny, and like thirteen!'

Bucky barks out a laugh and Tony hears Peter groan. 'Did you have to say that where he could hear?'

'Hey, what did I miss?'

'Ah,' Tony looks to where Wade has just walked into the room and realises he may have forgotten to mention to Clint about their extra visitor.

'Who are you?' the archer asks.

'Ah… hey Hawkeye. Long time no see,' Wade looks to Tony and then back to Clint.

'Wait… I know that voice,' Tony sees the moment the penny drops on Clint's face and the archer's expression turns dangerous. 'Deadpool,' he growls out.

'Hey I come in peace,' Wade puts his hands up.

Before Tony can intervene Peter's darted in front of the advancing assassin and put himself between him and the mercenary. His arm is out, hand up in the universal gesture for 'stop'. The atmosphere in the room has suddenly gone tense.

'Kid, move,' Clint growls.

Peter scowls and shakes his head. 'He's my friend and he's here at our invitation. Back. Off.'

Tony's sure his eyebrows have disappeared somewhere in his hairline. He's never seen Peter this aggressive; judging from Wade's expression neither has he.

'You have got to be kidding me!'

'Clint, he's good,' Natasha's voice cuts across the argument.

Clint looks between her, the teenager and the mercenary before back to his friend. She nods and his stance relaxes slightly. 'You really think you're going to take me out with that stance, kid?' he says, voice a little easier again. 'You've been learning too much from, Nat. Remind me to show you some proper fighting moves before I go.'

The tension eases in the room and the archer turns on his heel, grinning to respond to Natasha's reply to his comment without another look at Wade. Peter, Tony notices, doesn't relax until the archer has sat down, and still keeps his eye on the man.

'He really thinks a lot of Wade doesn't he?' Steve says, coming up to put an arm around his shoulders.

Tony nods. 'I need to speak with him,' he muses, 'make sure he knows he has my blessing.'

'Wait, what?'

Tony laughs at the look on Steve's face. 'Oh babe, seriously? How have you not realised this about those two? I'd worked it out when I first brought Wade here on Christmas Eve.'

'Tony,' Steve's face is now serious, 'you can't tell me you're going to encourage a relationship between a teenager and a man more than ten years older than him.'

'Considering you're nearly sixty years older than me I don't think you can talk about age gaps, honey.'

'Tony we're both adults, it's slightly different when a teenager is involved.'

He sighs. 'Don't you think I've already had a freak out about this? I spoke to Wade yesterday when we were cleaning up after dinner; he genuinely cares about Pete, I'd go so far as to say he'd to anything to keep him safe. He's been spending time with him on patrol, he knows about both parts of Peter's life and accepts it. And he's not going to do anything over PG13 until Peter's of age.'

'I can't believe you had that conversation with him,' Steve mumbles.

'Oh come on I had to make sure he was good enough for Pete.'

'I'm surprised you think anyone is good enough for Peter.'

Tony smiles and nods. 'Yeah, well. He's not. But he's as close as you'll get to being good enough. And more importantly, honey: he's the one Peter has chosen.'

'You're going to be horrendous to live with for the first month when they start dating aren't you?' Steve sighs.

'So who are you?' Peter looks down into the wide eyes of Lila and tries not to smile at her question.

'I'm Peter.'

'No,' she gives a little huff. 'Who are you as a superhero?'

'Lila what did we say about asking those questions?' Laura chastises her daughter, then looks apologetically at the teenager. 'I'm sorry.'

Peter waves her off. 'It's fine,' he tells her, then looks back down at the young girl. 'I'm Spider-Man.'

Her eyes go even wider. 'Really? Can you really climb walls?'

Peter grins and flips up onto the ceiling, holding his arms out and giving her a salute.

'Show off,' Bucky mutters, Peter just sticks his tongue out at him.

'Wow that's so cool!' Cooper comes to join his sister. 'Can you lift me up?' he jumps up and down, holding his arms up.

'Cooper! Peter is not a climbing frame,' Laura sighs.

Peter just reaches down and takes hold of the young boy's arms, pulling him up against his chest so he can look around the room. 'This is so awesome!' the boy shouts, making Peter wince at the volume.

'Mind the volume, munchkin,' Tony says, 'Pete's got sensitive hearing.'

'Sorry!' Cooper whispers, making Peter laugh.

'No worries,' he says, and starts swinging them backwards and forwards.

'Yay! Swing!' Cooper laughs. 'Higher! Higher!'

'There's only so high I can go,' he laughs in reply, letting the boy fall down so he's swinging him with his hands firmly grasping his chest, meaning he can swing the boy further.

'Throw me!' Cooper giggles. 'Throw me!'

'Not without someone to catch you, you crazy kid!' Peter laughs again. Then he looks to Wade. 'Hey Wade! You gonna catch or what? We've had enough practise!'

Wade huffs a laugh and stands up, holding his arms open for Peter to gently throw Cooper safely into his arms. Underneath him Lila starts jumping up and down wanting her turn as Wade sets her brother down on the ground and he comes running over again.

'Me next! Me next!' she says, as Peter takes hold of her and swings her backwards and forwards a few times before passing her to the mercenary.

'Reminds me of the Walker Street fire,' Peter says with a grin.

Wade blinks a couple of times and shakes his head as he catches Cooper. 'You and I have very different memories of the Walker Street fire.'

'What? I was throwing people to you then too. How is this not the same?'

'Firstly,' Wade says, gently placing Lila on the floor, 'this building is not on fire and I'm not expecting you to fall into a fiery inferno at any second-'

'Way to kill the mood,' he mutters.

'- and secondly, it wasn't the same two children you were throwing. One of those guys nearly broke my back!'

'Oh you are such a baby.'

'You threw someone twice my weight at me and didn't give me any warning!'

'I did! I told you the next person was coming.'

'You didn't tell me it was Father Christmas on his day off.'

'I don't know why you're complaining, it's not like you wouldn't have healed within five minutes.'

'Yeah well you should have been the one catching anyway.'

'We had this discussion at the time. I'm physically stronger so it was better for me to throw.'

'And it doesn't matter how much smoke I inhale, I'll still be fine. You however will not be.'

'The suit filters out smoke, Wade,' Peter says in a tone that clearly states they've had this conversation many times.

'That's not the-'

'Oh my god both of you shut up and get a room!' Wanda interrupts.

'What?!' Peter's so surprised he loses his grip on the ceiling and ends up landing on his head, thankfully missing both of the children. 'Ow,' he grumbles, 'Wanda!'

'You can't blame me for that!' she protests, laughing as he regains his feet and gives chase.

There's been enough snow overnight to warrant a snowball fight. At least as far as Peter is concerned there has been anyway. Laura decides to stay inside with the three kids and May, Mama and Rhodes stay in with them to watch some films and relax. The others all head outside.

'Pairs!' Sam declares when they get outside, all of them wrapped up warmly against the cold.

'I'm with Steve,' Tony says. 'Otherwise we'll end up having both super soldiers on the same team and no one wants that.'

'Fine then I get Bucky,' Sam says.

'I'm with Vis,' Wanda pipes up.

'Clint and I'll wipe the floor with you,' Natasha grins.

'Sorry Mommy Spider,' Peter teases, 'but you're against me and Wade which means you're going down!'

'Oh bring it on!' Wanda shouts and the pairs all split up to find cover in the grounds of the facility.

'You get hit twice and you're out,' Tony shouts out across the snow covered grounds. 'And FRIDAY will be checking and tell you when you're out.'

'We starting or what?' Sam shouts.

'Begin,' FRIDAY says, and all hell breaks loose.

Wade looks over at Peter, grinning with a snowball in each hand. 'Time to make some chimichangas Baby Boy.'

'Race you!' he counters and dives out from behind the tree they've taken shelter behind, managing to catch Sam on the side of the head.

'Hey! Damn it, Pete,' the dark skinned man curses, but Peter's already ducked back behind cover, Wade leaning out the other side and getting Bucky on his arse. The two take off laughing before either of the men can retaliate and they're kept busy by Steve and Tony. Wade tackles him to the ground as two snowballs goes flying over their heads.

'I made Hawkeye miss,' Wade cackles, then drags Peter away behind one of the sheds.

'Sergeant Barnes you are now out of the game,' FRIDAY's voice says.

'Who should we aim for next?' Wade asks as they crouch out of sight.

'Wanda and Vision'll be the main issue, especially if Wanda's using her powers. We're going to have to catch them by surprise to stand any chance.'

'You want to draw their fire or should I?'

'I'm the one with the Spidey senses, I'll be able to dodge them. Regeneration doesn't count in this game,' Peter points out and they head around to where they head round to where they last saw the couple.

'What makes you think I can't dodge snowballs?'

'If it's anything like your dodging of bullets I dread to think.'

Eventually they manage to take out Wanda by Peter waiting on the wall of one of the hangers and pelting her when she comes into view. Vision gets him with one before Wade takes him out of the game. FRIDAY also lets them know that Sam is out of the game too. He drops to the floor and high fives Wade, grinning hugely as they look around for their next targets.

'So, the leader pair or the pair of assassins?' Wade's voice sounds tight and Peter looks at him in concern.

'You alright?' Wade just nods, but there's a strange look in his eyes that Peter can't place. 'Well I'd say whoever we find first. Clint and Natasha are used to working together so they're going to be tough anyway; but Tony and Steve are going to be ridiculous to beat working together.'

'Boss you're out,' FRIDAY says.

'Oh wow. I'm surprised Steve wasn't first,' Peter says.

'Captain Rogers you're out.'

'Never mind. Looks like the spies are our next target,' Peter sighs.

'Think we can do it, Baby Boy?'

'Only one way to find out,' he grins. Then, before he can register what he's doing he's pressed his lips against Wade's again in a quick kiss. He turns and runs before Wade can say anything. 'Come on, we've got some spies to beat!'

He swears he hears Wade mumble before he runs after him: 'You're going to be the death of me, Baby Boy.'

They're in a stand off. Natasha and Clint are hiding behind one of the smaller hangers, and Wade and Peter behind one of the trees. They were all down one hit. It was all to play for.

'What's the plan, Spidey?'

'Err… no idea.'

'Can we do it my way for once?'

'You mean run in all guns blazing?'

Wade shrugs. 'We haven't got any other ideas. And I'm not sure your dear Mommy Spider would be expecting you to let us do that.'

Peter thinks, his head on one side, then turns a grin to Wade. 'Alright let's do it. You got your snowballs ready?'

'Does a bear shit in the woods?'

'Ready?'

'Keep up!' Wade shouts as he leaps to his feet and, yelling, runs towards where the spies are hiding. Peter just laughs and hurries after him. He manages to flip over a couple of snowballs and aims one at Natasha's face, which she manages to dodge. Wade has unleashed both of his at Clint, which have missed, but Peter manages to hit him with his last one.

'Agent Barton you are out,' FRIDAY says.

Clint curses and Peter's about to celebrate when Wade grabs him and pushes him to the ground, wrapping his body around him. Peter's about to question it when he hears the tell tale thunk of a snowball on Wade's back.

'Make a snowball, quick!' he whispers.

'Mr Wilson you are out,' FRIDAY says. Peter hurriedly cobbles together a snowball and holds it ready as Wade slowly stands up. He waits till he hears the crunch of snow from Natasha's boots and then rolls out, throwing the snowball at her and cheering when it hits her square in the face.

'We won!' he shouts, pulling Wade into a hug and laughing as the mercenary spins him around.

'Alright I'll admit I'm impressed,' Natasha says, clearing snow from her hair.

'I'm impressed, never mind you,' Clint says. 'There's not many people who can take us out.'

'Well that's what happens when you take on the dream team,' Peter laughs. When Wade finally sets him down he grins up at the man. 'Tacos or chimichangas?'

'Wait we have them here?'

'Wade we just kicked ass. We always have Mexican when we kick ass. Now come on! I'm hungry.'

When everyone is back inside, changed into warm clothes and sat snuggled up in groups under blankets with hot drinks they decide to let the Barton children choose the next film. Tony isn't surprised when Disney is the pick of the day, and they put Hercules on. Peter ends up threatening to web Wade's mouth shut if he doesn't stop singing, at which point Wanda joins in with Barton's children and he covers his head with a pillow.

He notices Bucky's grin during Meg's song that's directed at Steve and he can't help raising an eyebrow in question. He only gets a shake of the head in response.

'Oh for pity's sake, what do you want to say Buck?' Steve sighs halfway through the song.

Bucky tries to look innocent, but the snigger ruins the image. 'Just thinking that this song basically sums up your love life, Stevie.'

Steve turns bright red and throws a pillow at his friend, scowling at Tony when he joins in the laughter.

'Don't worry Steve,' Wanda says from her spot on the floor. 'I'm pretty sure it sums up Peter's love life too.'

'Wanda!' Peter shouts amidst the girl's laughter, but instead of trying to reach her he gives up and buries his head back in the pillow. 'I hate you,' comes the muffled sound.

'Oh but Peter she is right,' May laughs. 'I mean just look at everything with Liz, and now-'

'May!' Peter may possibly be even brighter red than Steve right now.

'Alright, children let's settle down and watch the film,' Clint rolls his eyes.

Tony watches as Peter lets Wade slip an arm over his shoulders and thinks he should make sure he speaks to the boy soon before "I Won't Say I'm In Love" really does become the soundtrack to his life.

A/N: Merry Christmas Eve everyone! I hope you enjoy the penultimate chapter of this special. There's one more chapter 'New Year's Eve' still to come, which I'll post on Friday. I hope you're still enjoying this story, if you have been enjoying it and haven't read 'Restoration' why not give it a go?

Thank you so much to everyone who is reading this story, who has left reviews. I'm so sorry I haven't got around to replying to reviews yet. Dad's been in hospital for surgery this month, so I've only just been getting the opportunity to write this story. I'm hoping to catch up with all my replies between Christmas and New Year, so keep your eyes peeled for those.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, no matter what faith you follow or where you are in the world. May love, blessings and all the joy in the world find you all.

L x

Sorry there's no sneak peek this time because I've not finished writing the chapter! What I can say though is: Tony and Wade bond, Tony has 'the talk' with Peter, and there's more Spideypool action!