Chapter 71
Christmas morning, Harry awoke to snow falling peacefully outside his bedroom window.
Excitement built in his chest, the way it always did on Christmas morning. Except, this year, he knew for a fact that he had people surrounding him that loved him.
At his feet, Lucy stirred and raised her head, ready to be of assistance at any moment.
The digital clock on his nightstand read 7:18 a.m., so Harry knew that by the time he got dressed, most everyone would be awake and in the common room.
With a soft groan, he stretched out, feeling his back protest after the several hours of lying in the same position. Lucy pressed her nose into the palm of his hand as he winced, and he glanced down at her with a small smile.
"Happy Christmas Lucy," he murmured, scratching her head as he sat up.
Harry climbed out of bed, shivering briefly as the covers fell away from him. He made his way into his closet, and laughed when he saw a box sitting on the floor. By the way the package was wrapped, he had no doubt in his mind that it was from Peter.
A note was scrawled on a piece of paper that had been haphazardly taped to the top of the present, and Harry carefully peeled it from the box.
Even though most of our day will be spent apart, I figured we could twin. Merry Christmas. -Love, Peter
Harry's heart fluttered at the signature, just like it did whenever Peter said that he loved him. Setting the note carefully aside, Harry tore the paper away from the box and opened it.
Harry couldn't help but laugh to himself as he pulled out the ugly Christmas sweater inside the box. The red sweater had a white selburose pattern, with a large green T-Rex wearing a Christmas sweater with excessively long sleeves stitched in the center. The sweater was one that Harry could picture Peter wearing, and the thought made him smile.
Quickly, he got dressed and finished getting ready. As always, his hair refused to lay flat, and Harry knew that it was a hopeless case.
He opened up the door to his room and padded down the hallway with Lucy at his heels. She was even donning a Christmas vest that Clint had gotten for her the last time they had been out shopping. Harry rolled his eyes at the thought of how much the archer spoiled his pets.
As he entered the living room, Harry wasn't surprised to see his parents already sitting on the couch drinking coffee, his mom's legs draped across his dad's lap as they chatted. Steve and Bucky were awake too, though Harry gathered Steve was more awake than Bucky as the Captain was working on a sketch, and Bucky was holding on to his coffee as if it were the most important thing in the world.
Natasha and Bruce were in the kitchen chatting, Bruce putting a kettle on the stove for his tea. Clint, presumably, was still asleep.
"Hey, good morning! Merry Christmas!" Tony called as he saw Harry enter.
"Good morning. Merry Christmas," Harry echoed, smiling at everyone.
"Nice sweater," Bucky grinned, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Nice pajamas," Harry quipped back, motioning to Bucky's snowflake covered pajama pants.
"Winter is kind of his thing," Natasha teased, entering the living room and somehow managing to plop down into a couch without sloshing the hot contents of her mug.
"Shut up, all of ya," Bucky grumbled, going back to holding his mug defensively. Steve's free hand absentmindedly found its way to Bucky's good shoulder and began to trace light circles over the fabric of his shirt, causing Bucky to immediately relax.
"Harry, would you like some tea or hot chocolate?" Bruce asked, pulling the now whistling kettle from the stove.
"I'd love some hot chocolate, thank you," Harry responded as he made his way to the couch besides his parents.
"I think Santa came," Tony winked at his son as he pointed to the pile of gifts beneath the tree. Harry rolled his eyes, but a smile crept on to his face.
Even though he had experienced a few nice Christmases with the Weasley family, never had there been a time that he felt so relaxed on Christmas morning, or as loved as he did now.
"I've got some gifts in my room, let me go grab them," Harry rose to his feet, and Bucky stood as well.
"I'll give you a hand," Bucky offered before spinning around to Tony and saying, "don't you dare make a joke."
Tony held up his hands in mock-defense. "Hey now, it's Christmas. I was going to hold my tongue-- consider it a present just for you."
Bucky rolled his eyes before turning back and following Harry back down the hallway towards his room.
As they entered the bedroom, Harry knelt down and began pulling gifts from the chest at the end of his bed.
"I got a bit excited this year, shopping for everyone. I always really liked getting gifts for my friends, but my shopping options were limited. But there are so many stores here, and online shopping is incredible," Harry commented excitedly as he pulled the last of the gifts from the chest.
Bucky smiled wearily, and Harry's face fell a bit as he noticed the slight look of apprehension on Bucky's face.
"Are you alright this morning? I can imagine holidays are a bit hard for you as well, right?" Harry took a seat on top of the now-closed cedar chest and motioned for Bucky to sit beside him.
The ex-assassin let out a resigned sigh and took a seat, placing a hand on Harry's knee and giving it a light squeeze.
"Holidays were always a big to-do when I was little, even though my family didn't have much money. My parents always made sure my sisters and I had presents, even if it meant giving up certain luxuries for themselves for a while. Hell, they even made sure Steve received a gift from them every year."
He let out a deep breath and his shoulders sagged a bit.
"When I was with Hydra, I missed those holidays the most, when I could remember them. The memories eventually faded out, and I became the mechanical monster that I still have nightmares about. But when I started remembering again, the Christmas mornings were some of the strongest ones to come back to me. It's hard, now, remembering. I have Steve, but everyone else-- my Ma and Pa, my sisters-- they're all gone."
Bucky looked down at his hands, and Harry could tell that opening up had been hard for him. Bucky always seemed to be so nonchalant and open about everything he had gone through with Hydra in the S.H.I.E.L.D group, but when it came to his private life, he was reserved and kept to himself.
"Bucky, I'm really sorry about your family. I understand what it's like to miss your family, but I can't even imagine what it's like to have them one day and wake up the next with no recollection of how 70 years had passed. But what I do know is that you've got a family in the Avengers. They've taken you in as one of their own, just like they have with me. It'll never be a replacement of what you lost, and I hope that they never try to be, but they're your family. Our family," Harry placed his hand on Bucky's and squeezed.
Bucky slung his arm around Harry and pulled him into a careful hug, resting his chin on top of the teen's head.
"Thank you, Harry," he spoke, surprised to hear his own voice a bit hoarse with emotion.
The two stayed with their bodies embracing one another for a moment longer before Bucky cleared his throat and rose to his feet, picking up four of the gifts.
"First one to the living room gets to go wake Clint up with the water gun?" Bucky grinned, winking at Harry whose face broke into a wide grin.
"Oh you're on."
*
"I still don't understand why it had to be cold water," Clint grumbled as he stumbled into the living room, followed by a giggling Harry and Bucky, the former carrying a water gun. Bucky admitted to having let him win, but the Harry wasn't going to argue. It gave him a chance to do some target practice that Natasha had been urging him to do.
"Because warm water is supposed to make you piss yourself," Natasha offered, laughing as the archer dramatically plopped down beside her on the couch.
"Are you all about ready to open gifts? I have been awake for almost two hours now, and I have not touched a single present. I'm chomping at the bit here!" Tony exclaimed as he watched the interaction. Beside him, Pepper rolled her eyes.
"You really are a big man-child," Clint commented.
"Says the one wearing Frosty the Snowman pants."
"Hey, you leave my pants alone!"
"Alright!" Harry interrupted, holding up a gift. "This one is to Tony, from Bruce."
He handed the gift to his dad, smiling as he watched the man tear into the beautifully wrapped gift like a child would.
Tony began beaming as he pulled out a new Metallica t-shirt, autographed by lead singer James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich.
"This is getting framed and hung in the garage," Tony exclaimed, and Bruce smiled.
"Thank you," Tony stood and gave Bruce a brief hug before reclaiming his seat. Harry picked up another gift, this time to Steve from the Natasha, and the cycle continued.
Since he was playing Santa, Harry's pile of gifts continually accumulated by his seat on the couch until finally, all of the presents from beneath the tree had been distributed.
"Go ahead, kiddo, open your gifts," Tony encouraged him as his son took a seat on the floor next to Lucy, whose tail thumped excitedly.
"You all can finish up, it's alright. I'll just watch. I really like watching everyone open theirs," Harry smiled, looking around at everyone's happy and relaxed faces.
Tony was about to protest when Pepper gave his arm a small squeeze. She could tell that watching everyone open their gifts was important to Harry, and the last thing she wanted to do was make him uncomfortable by unnecessarily forcing him into something that he didn't want to do.
"Well alright. In that case, Clint, what on earth is under that wrapping paper?" Tony redirected his attention to the large, oddly shaped package.
Clint tore into the paper, letting pieces of it fall to the floor. Harry smiled to himself as he watched the archer unwrap the present, and look up with an expression of awe and excitement upon revealing the hand carved bow.
"Harry," Clint ran his hand over the wood. "This is beautiful. It looks exactly like-"
"Your first bow," Harry finished, grinning shyly. "After you told me about how you got into archery, I had to have one made for you. I know how much you loved that bow."
Clint rose, letting the rest of the paper fall to the floor. Harry stood, allowing Clint to wrap his arms around him in a rare gesture of genuine sincerity.
"Thank you," Clint murmured as he pulled away and retook his seat on the couch beside Natasha. Harry gave a nod of acknowledgement and cleared his throat.
"The rest of you can open your gifts too," he encouraged, excited to see the reactions of others as they opened their presents.
There was a cacophony of noise that rose in the living room as everyone ripped into their presents and pulled tissue paper out of the bags. Voices mingled with the sounds of excitement and laughter. The room was loud, but not unpleasant, as the sounds were joyous and reminded Harry that he was right where he belonged.
The excitement finally died down after everyone gave their thanks and embraced one another before finally turning to Harry.
"Hold on, I need to go grab something," Pepper announced, getting up and hurrying out of the room. Harry gave Tony a questioning look, but Pepper returned before he could ask any questions.
Held in her hand was a large manila envelope, and she suddenly appeared more nervous than she had before she left. Tony extended a hand to her and she accepted it as she retook her seat beside him, handing the envelope to Harry.
"Open it," Tony spoke, voice sounding oddly choked.
Harry's face contorted into one of confusion and slight concern. He couldn't imagine what was contained inside this envelope that had his parents so freaked out. Logically, he knew it wasn't anything bad, otherwise they would have waited until after Christmas to give it to him. But his mind was whirling, coming up with a million different scenarios that all ended with him knocking at Peter's door looking for a place to stay.
With shaking hands, Harry folded the brads that sealed the envelope, and pulled the flap up. Seven pairs of eyes all watched him expectantly as he slid the papers out.
Report of Adoption
The words at the top of the paper made Harry's breath catch in his lungs.
"I know that we've all known for several months that Pepper and I have legal custody of you, but nothing had ever been made official that stated that you were our son. There were some last minute legal details that needed cleared up, but it's finally time. That is, if you... if you still want it to be?"
Tony finished the sentence as a question, his voice the most uncertain and unconfident that Harry had ever heard it.
But Harry knew his answer. He had known his answer from the very first time Tony had asked if he would want to be adopted. He had known that the Avengers, every single one of them, were his family, and that he never wanted to leave them. Blood and biology be damned, this was his family.
This was where he belonged.
His heart soared in his chest, and tears pricked at his eyes as he flung himself forward, wrapping his arms around his parents.
"My answer is yes," he whispered. "My answer will always be yes."
Both Tony and Pepper seemed to let out a breath that they had been holding since presenting the papers to Harry.
"We love you, Harry," Pepper gave him one last squeeze before pulling away, revealing the tears that caused her green eyes to shine even brighter.
"I love you too, mom," Harry replied, the word so familiar yet so foreign on his tongue.
"Can we join in yet?" Clint asked, swiping a tear away from his eyes. With a laugh and a joking roll of his eyes, Harry waved everyone else over, smiling as pair after pair of arms were wrapped around him and his parents.
A family hug.
A family.
It was by far the best Christmas present Harry had ever received.