First Snowfall
It was a chilly Saturday night when the first flurries of snow were seen fluttering out of the clouded New York sky.
Late Sunday morning, Peter woke up, groggy as usual, only to glance out his window and sober almost immediately. A grin spread across his face as he pushed his hand on the glass and leaned out to gaze at the ground.
On the ground, was a decent blanket of snow covered every surface. New York didn’t usually get a lot of a snow, especially with the first snowfall, but there was definitely enough to make a snowman, which was one of the best snow activities out there.
Peter jumped from his bed, abandoning his pajamas in the process and hurriedly changing into clothes. Finally, when he was dressed in a pair of sweats and a hoodie (and two pairs of socks because his feet were always cold) he flew out of his bedroom.
When Peter bounced into the living room, he saw Morgan sat on the couch watching some kid’s show he was too excited to remember.
“Momo, did you see outside?” the toddler gave Peter a confused glance, slipping off the couch and toddling towards him. Peter scooped the baby up, holding her close as he carried her to the wide window, pointing outside and grinning at her, “look, Momo, it snowed last night!”
“Sno’,” Morgan tilted her head in confusion at him. Peter assumed Morgan had never played in the snow, or at least that she would remember.
“Mhm!” Peter grinned. “After breakfast you ‘n me can go play in the snow, how’s that sound?”
“Sno’ ‘etey! Sno’,” Morgan squealed, grabbing fistfuls of Peter’s hoodie as he carried her into the kitchen. Both Pepper and Tony were there. Tony at the table playing on his phone and Pepper stood at the stove.
The woman was dressed in the clothes she wore to work, so Peter knew she had a meeting today.
Tony, however, was in a lab shirt and a pair of jeans.
“Well, good morning, sleeping beauty,” Tony snorted a laugh, grinning at the teenaged boy. “We thought you were going to be asleep all day.”
“It’s only nine AM,” Peter snorted. “Did you guys see the snow?”
“Yes,” Tony tilted his head, “you mean the same snow we got last year, and the year before that and so on?”
“Why do you sound so upset about it?” Peter frowned lightly, “Momo and I are excited, right, Mo?”
“Sno’ ‘addy!” Morgan beamed, reaching for Tony. The man took her into his arms, cuddling her before looking up at the teenager who sat opposite from him.
“Why don’t you sound upset?”
“What do you mean? Snow’s awesome! Building snowmen, and making snow angels- or, snowball fights! Sledding... C’mon, Tony, don’t tell me you’ve lived under a rock all your life?”
“I think I should be offended?” Tony looked over at Pepper, who snorted a laugh as she flipped a pancake. “I’m sorry, kid, but snow loses its excitement after you have to start shoveling it.”
“Like you’ve ever shoveled now,” Pepper teased.
“You know what? That was rude.” Tony pouted theatrically, getting Morgan to burst into giggles, wiggling happily in the man’s lap.
“We can play in the snow, right, Pepper?” Peter glanced at the woman setting a plate of fluffy pancakes in front of him as Tony put Morgan in her high chair.
“I don’t see why not,” Pepper shrugged, “as long as everyone is dressed appropriately. And I mean all of it, Peter Benjamin. Scarves, hats, mittens- and Morgan needs to be in the snowsuit in the closet. You know the one, Tony.”
“Hey, why do I have to go?” the billionaire pouted as he stole a piece of ripped up pancake from Morgan’s plate.
“It’ll be fun!” Peter grinned, shoving a forkful of syrupy pancake into his mouth, “I’m going to teach Morgan how to make a snow angel! Then we can build a snowman!”
“And where’s this happening?” Tony questioned, now sitting down with his own plateful of pancakes. Pepper sat beside Peter with her own as well.
“In the back,” Peter huffed with a roll of his eyes, the unsaid ‘duh’ being expressed solely by his tone. “There’s a whole parking lot, and those patches of grass- which are perfect for snow angels. No one comes to the tower on weekends anyways.”
“Ugh,” Tony groaned, “okay, fine. We can all go play in the snow after breakfast.”
“Yes!”
----
It was after Pepper left for work, worrying over everyone and their snow clothes. Peter almost scowled as she piled a stack of clothes he had to wear if they were going in the snow- but he couldn’t complain, not when Pepper was making Morgan wear a poofy snowsuit that made her look more like a marshmallow than a baby.
She’d even assigned Tony clothes to wear. Plus, the poor guy got all the rules and reminders to keep track of.
It had taken almost a half an hour to get everyone suited up. Morgan, was apparently not a fan of the snowsuit, which Peter couldn’t help but agree. Not that she wasn’t adorable in it, but he’d be pretty salty in one too.
Tony carried Morgan down, and Peter vibrated where he stood in excitement.
He loved the snow. From watching it late in the evenings as it fluttered gracefully down, to packing it into snowballs to either launch at things or roll into snowmen.
Peter pushed the doors open first, running out onto the snow-covered asphalt. The snow clung to the bottoms of his boots, as he hurried out.
“Look at this Momo,” Peter grinned, reaching down to grab a handful of snow. It was the perfect consistency for a snowman. Tony set Morgan down, and she slowly toddled towards Peter, who held the snowball he’d packed tightly to her.
Peter grinned at Tony as he leaned down to whisper to Morgan. In the next second, the toddler chucked the snowball at the billionaire. The ball exploded when he hit Tony’s jeans clad shin. The billionaire scowled at the teenager just after the snowball made contact with him.
“Good shot!” Peter gave Tony a happy smile as he scooped Morgan into his arms. “Morgan’s gonna be a baseball player, I call it. How can she not, with an arm like that!”
“Yeah, yeah,” Tony huffed as he reached down to collect a handful of snow. He balled it up, but instead of throwing it at Peter, chucked it at a no parking sign screwed to the side of the tower. Morgan squealed, clapping her hands, and Peter had to admit it was a pretty perfect shot.
“Let’s make snow angels!” Peter grinned at Tony, setting Morgan down again and leading her to one of the few grassy spots in the parking lot. Peter sat down in the snow, ignoring how the snow soaked into his sweat pants. “Watch, Mo.”
Morgan stared intently as Peter laid down all the way, flapping his arms along the ground and opening and closing his legs. He did it a couple times before standing up and dusting his hat and butt off. Morgan pointed to the imprint, jumping excitedly and dropping to a sit beside Peter’s snow angel.
“You got it, Morgan!” Peter cheered, leaning over to help the toddler make the imprint in the snow. She didn’t have the best control over her limbs even when she wasn’t constricted by a snowsuit.
"Did it, ‘etey!” Morgan grinned after Peter had picked her up out of her snow angel. Her attention was locked on her snow angel, pointing down at it just in case anyone hadn’t seen it. “’addy turn now!”
“Oh, nono, Daddy doesn’t want to. Sorry, little miss.” Tony gave Morgan a smile. Peter knew before they started that the billionaire wasn’t going to participate in snow angels. A small part of Peter wished he hadn’t either- or that he’d listened to Pepper and worn the ski pants she wanted him to wear. His pants were uncomfortably cold and wet now, but he’d power through.
“How’s about we make a snowman now?”
“Sno’ ‘addy!” Morgan cheered, smiling open mouthed back at Tony, who looked torn between being offended and complimented.
“Sure, let’s make a snow daddy. Wanna help, Tony?” Peter tilted his head, knowing Tony couldn’t say no to both of them.
“Yeah, let’s make a snow daddy then.” The man sighed, flashing Peter a pained expression, but giving Morgan a bright smile.
The trio set to work. Morgan, not quite grasping the concept of packing a snowball but not over squeezing it so the snow crumbled to the ground, was in charge of pushing the snowballs Tony and Peter formed around to gather more snow and grow.
When they’d get too big for her, Peter would help, and then, when it started getting too heavy for him as well, he had Tony help too. The bottom part of the snowman was already taller than Morgan was, which made Peter laugh.
The middle of the snowman was the hardest part of the snowman. They repeated the process from earlier, but this time, when it was formed, they had to get it on top of the bottom of the snowman. They’d made the bottom a smidge too big, so if they wanted a stable snowman, the middle piece needed to be pretty big as well.
It took all of Peter and Tony’s man power to get the stupid thing up. Peter was sweating when then finally managed to get it up there and packed around it with more snow.
The head was Peter’s favorite part to build. He and Morgan rolled it together, but this time, he could get it up on the torso of the snowman without Tony’s help.
“We need sticks,” Peter informed, glancing at Morgan, “snow daddy needs arms, do you think you can find him some?”
Morgan gave a determined nod, grabbing a fistful of the bottom of Tony’s jacket and dragging him towards one of the couple trees standing around in the grassy parts of the parking lots.
While they did that, Peter packed more snow around where the differed parts of the snowman met. He wanted him to be sturdy.
When Morgan and Tony returned, two nice sticks with little branches on one end to resemble fingers, Tony helped Morgan stick them in the sides middle section of the snowman.
“Now we just need a face,” Peter tilted his head at the faceless snowman head, as it sparkled in the soft sunlight.
“I’ve got it,” Tony called, stripping off his glove and digging around in his coat pocket. When he retracted his hand, in his palm was a collection of bolts and one baby carrot.
“You remembered the carrot!” Peter cheered, cupping his hand as Tony dumped his palmful into Peter’s outstretched hand. He’d completely forgotten about the traditional carrot nose of a snowman.
“Of course I did,” Tony snorted as he gathered Morgan into his arms to be at their height.
Peter stuck each of the bolts into the snow, making a smile and giving it eyes.
“Whatcha think, Morgan, wanna give snow daddy his nose?” Morgan grinned, stealing the carrot from Peters fingers and jamming it right in the middle of the snowman’s head, just below its bolt eyes.
“And he’s done!” Peter beamed, “good job, Morgan!”
“’addy, sno’ addy needsa hat,” Morgan tugged on the edge of Tony’s snow hat.
Peter covered his mouth with his hand to keep from laughing as Tony stared at the toddler perched on his hip. With a groan, Tony passed Morgan to Peter, stripping his hat and scarf and putting both on the snowman.
“Sno’ ‘addy!” Morgan grinned, reaching to be transferred back to Tony.
“Yeah, Mo, Daddy gave snow daddy his hat so he’ll be warm.” Peter smiled. He looked back at the snowman, feeling oddly prouder than he probably should at fourteen-years-old. The snowman was cute, and totally the best he’d ever built in all his years of snow playing. And it was even better because the snowman was made with two of his favorite people.
“Mhm,” Tony sighed, giving them both a small smile, “and speaking of, everyone’s cheeks are red, and someone’s pants are completely soaked. Let’s head in before Mommy finds out and tries to kill Daddy for the babies getting sick.”
“I’m not cold,” Peter tried. He deflated with one pointed look from the billionaire, “okay, maybe a bit. They’re a tiny bit wet.”
Tony snorted, rolling his eyes at the teenager, “let’s go. My ears are getting cold.”
“Alright, fine,” Peter laughed. “Thanks for playing with us.”
“Anytime, Kiddo.”