Chapter 5
Fifty minutes later, MJ had started the timer ten minutes into waiting, Ava and Ms. Gaites still hadn't come back from the medical room. Peter was contemplating going to get them when the elevator dinged again.
Ms. Gaites seemed to have calmed down a bit, but she was still visibly shaken. Ava just looked tired, like she wanted to sleep for a thousand years. She probably did.
Ava stood in front of the class and thanked them for coming to the tower before Ms. Gaites counted everyone up and led them out of the building.
“By Ned, by MJ, see ya around,” Harley called after them.
“I’ll see you tomorrow to build that set,” Ned called to Peter, “it was nice meeting you Harley.”
“Bye, baby,” MJ called as she waved to Shuri.
Then, only Peter, Shuri, Morgan, and Harley were left.
Ava stared at the glass doors for a moment, bleary-eyed and exhausted.
"Are you okay, Ava?" Peter asked gently, putting a hand on her shoulder.
She looked at him with dead eyes for a moment before she said in a monotone voice, "I'm going to get my stuff, then I’m going home to sleep for the rest of my life. Thanks for making this the worst field trip I've ever led," she then turned and walked off.
"Blame that asshole Flash for that," Harley yelled after her, earning the middle finger from Ava.
"So, Shuri, is MJ coming back to hang out with us over the break?" Harley asked. Harley, like everyone else, thought that MJ was Peter’s coolest friend, even if he also liked Ned and Shuri.
"Yeah, her mom and her are coming over for dinner on Christmas Eve, ohh, but don't tell Tony, he's the only one that doesn't know yet." Shuri smiled devilishly, she loved doing things that Tony didn't know about. Harley did too, now that he thought about it.
"Cool, I’m going upstairs,” Peter said, eager to leave the lobby and begin the process of forgetting about the field trip.
"Yeah, I want to go play with my friends," Morgan exclaimed, pulling on Harley and Shuri’s hands.
"Upstairs it is then.”
Up in the residential level, people were sitting around the festively decorated living room. The couches and chairs had been piled high with blankets and pillows with symbols of all the different winter holidays that everyone in the Avengers celebrated. The majority of them may have been celebrating Christmas, but they didn’t want to exclude anyone.
As they entered, different Avengers yelled at them to come over and everyone migrated off to the person calling to them. Shuri and Harley went over to the kitchen where Tony, Steve, and T’Challa were standing, and Morgan ran over to Clint's kids to play. Peter, on the other hand, decided to go to Natasha.
She was snuggled up on the couch, under a pile of blankets with a steaming cup of hot cocoa nested in her hands. Bucky was sitting next to her with a similar cup in his hands and the two were speaking cheerfully in Russian.
Peter plopped down between them. “Nat, can we please talk,” he asked.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Bucky said in English as he stood from the couch. He whispered something to Natasha in Russian that made her laugh before walking off.
"Want some?" she asked, holding her cup out to him.
"No, I want to know why you feel the need to wreak havoc on my life every chance you get," Peter replied, pushing her cup back towards her.
"Why, Peter, I have no idea what you're talking about. I would never wreak havoc on you, I like you too much for that.” She smiled an impossibly sweet smile at him and pulled him closer to her in a half hug. She smelled like cinnamon.
Peter didn’t pull away from her. “Why don't I start by reminding you that you acted like you were my mom in front of my class who was definitely recording it. I can't wait for the videos to pop up all over the internet: ‘Iron Man and Black Widow had a kid together?!’” She just kept smiling at him, like the true sower of discord she was.
"What, so I'm not allowed to care about you? I have to be your mom to ask if you're okay? What has this world come to?”
“Plus, I think it might have made me seem weak. The kids at school already think I’m a pussy, and after everything with Flash I didn’t want anymore people to think I was weak,” Peter said softly. He stared at the carpet ahead of the couch, but he could feel the shift on Natasha’s face. She squeezed him tighter.
“Yeah, Tony told me what happened. I’m really sorry that that happened. And...I’m sorry if I made it worse. I love you so much Peter.” Peter leaned his head against her shoulder and relaxed into her. He drew his eyes up and finally noticed that there was a cheesy hallmark movie on that he could barely hear over the deafening Christmas music playing over the speakers. But the subtitles were on. And the main cast was full of young, attractive people, so Peter kept watching it.
“Thanks, aunt Nat.”
“And that kid is lucky your friend MJ was there and I wasn’t. I would have beaten him up too, but I wouldn’t have been so easily stopped.”
Peter giggled, fully relaxing into her side as he felt her chest shake a little with her own laughter. They stayed there on the couch to watch the movie for a little while longer.
“Natasha, you gotta help me beat Uncle Clint in a knife throwing contest,” Morgan said as she jumped onto the couch into Natasha’s lap.
“A knife throwing contest? Who said you could do that?” Nat replied with a disbelieving smile.
“That is where I take my leave,” Peter said with a grin, “good luck with your illegitimate child headlines.”
"I love you too," Nat called after him as he walked towards Wanda and the gaming set up in the corner of the living room.
Wanda was playing Mario Kart on a Nintendo switch and losing against Valkyrie. He waited, cheering Val on all the while, for them to be done. Wanda ended up both losing and cussing out the game in Slovakian.
Peter was laughing along with the rest of them as Scott sat down for the next game and Wanda stalked towards the kitchen, probably to get some spiked eggnog.
“Hey, Peter Parker,” Carol called out to him, gesturing for him to come sit down on the couch near her. She was sitting there next to Valkyrie who was still the dominating champ at Mario Kart.
“What’s up?”
“I heard about what happened with that kid. I’m really sorry, honey. I have been called slurs plenty of times in my life and it really sucks. But I hope you don’t let it get to you too much. There really isn’t anything wrong with you, plus, you and Harley are really cute together.” She said very earnestly.
“Yeah, fuck that kid, I hate him and his little homophobic ass. Don’t let him fuck up your happiness,” Val slurred.
“Well, she’s very drunk already, but she is right,” Carol said with a laugh.
“Thanks you guys, I really love you both,” Peter said with the biggest smile he could muster.
Carol pulled him into a hug and Valkyrie blindly reached a hand out to pat his arm while still beating Clint at rainbow road.
“Alrighty, cookies are ready!” Tony yelled to the rest of the room. Placing a platter of candy cane shaped cookies on the dining room table that was already heavy with food.
Peter checked his phone quickly and replied saying that he was doing fine to a concerned text from Ned asking if he was okay. Then he went over to the cookies, realizing that he was super hungry.
Sam and Bucky were already there when he went to grab a cookie.
“Hey, Peter. That guy was a piece of shit. As a gay guy, you seriously just need to ignore him,” Sam said.
“Or beat his ass, that works, also coming from a gay man,” Bucky cut in, stepping in front of Sam to talk to Peter.
“Shut up, you aren’t even fully gay, idiot. Get your bisexual ass outta here,” Sam cut in, shoving Bucky out of the way.
“You aren’t fully gay either, bitch. You and your asexual ass need to get out of here,” Bucky replied.
“Man, you are such a child. I was just tryna say something nice to the kid and you had to make it all about you.”
“I’m such a child? You’re such a child. Oh, ‘just don’t let them bother you’, Peter needs to realize his full power. Beat up homophobes for sure,” Bucky turned to Peter at the end.
“You’re an idiot. You can’t just go around beating people up. You can be powerful while still being peaceful,” Sam said, also turning to Peter.
Peter just stared at them.
“Well now you scared him,” Bucky said, hitting Sam in the chest with the back of his hand.
“I scared him? You scared him dummy, you’re the scary one here,” Sam said, pushing Bucky’s hand away.
“Shut up-”
“You shut up-”
Their squabbling was cut off by Peter laughing. They both stopped and stared at him for a moment as Peter laughed louder and louder. He didn’t know why, but two grown men arguing about how gay they were was what made him feel better about the whole day.
“You two are so funny. I really appreciate you both,” Peter said through his laughter.
“Thanks, Peter,” Sam said with a smile.
“Yeah, all that I’m trying to say is that you should remember that you have power over your life. You shouldn’t let idiots push you around because you’re a total badass,” Bucky said.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that story about how you lifted that building,” Sam said.
“And Steve told me that you were able to wield Mjolnir during the battle against Thanos, which is only possible if you’re worthy of the hammer. Are you gonna let an asshole get you down. You are literally worthy of wielding Thor’s hammer kid,” Bucky added on.
That actually made Peter feel really good. “Thanks guys,” he said, voice cracking slightly with appreciative tears.
Bucky, seeing that Peter was about to cry, pulled him in for a hug, one that was quickly joined by Sam. It was a really nice hug. And it was so nicely absurd for Sam and Bucky to be in the same group hug.
He pulled away eventually, sniffing and wiping away some tears. Bucky and Sam both gave him winning smiles before Bucky turned to grab another cookie and walk to the kitchen to find Steve. Sam walked in the other direction towards the living room. Peter glanced around and located Harley in the kitchen with Tony and Steve.
Peter joined Bucky in his journey to the kitchen.
"Hey Harles," Peter said, wrapping his arm around Harley's waist as he slid in next to him. Harley didn't respond, just turned and gave him a peck on the mouth. Peter reminded himself that none of the Avengers were going to call him a slur.
Tony greeted him with a "Hey Pete" as he took a sip of his eggnog.
Thor had also made his way into the kitchen by that time, holding a giant mug of what Peter assumed was beer, or ale and a smaller mug of eggnog. “Young Spider, you have had a hard day, correct?” Peter nodded his head, “here you are then, Merry Yule,” he said with a kind, giant smile as he handed the mug full of eggnog to Peter. Peter stared back at him with wide eyes and a dopey smile on his face as he held onto the cup.
“Thank you, Uncle Thor,” he said excitedly. Thor nodded at him and walked away, calling for Bruce- Peter didn’t know when he had arrived- to save him a seat.
“Hold on there, buddy,” Steve said loudly, stopping him from taking a sip of the eggnog. Steve walked up to him, exchanging Peter’s mug for a mug of hot chocolate. “You can have this, Peter,” he said kindly and firmly. Then Steve pulled him into a one-armed hug, Peter untangling himself from Harley to hug back. "Hey kid, happy holidays. Sorry today was hard. And I’m sorry that your 'friends' are like that," Steve said.
‘Friends’ Bucky mouthed to himself, bending his fingers into mock quotation marks a second after Steve said it.
"It's okay, most of those people aren't really my friends. My real friends are good people. Including you guys," Peter replied, smiling up at Steve as he pulled away.
Steve grasped Peter on the shoulders firmly and nodded in agreement as if to say that was good before he migrated over to the couch with Bucky in tow. The assassin reached out and ruffled Peter’s hair with the arm that Steve wasn't holding onto as he walked past him, sending the boy a small smile.
Peter turned to face the rest of the room as they left. He took a sip of his hot coco and melted into Harley as he came up behind Peter and wrapped his arms around his waist, head resting on his shoulder as he too watched the room.
Peter could hear Harley softly humming along to the festive music filtering through the room. His voice may not have been the best, but at that moment, it was perfect.
Tony was about to leave the kitchen before his attention was caught by Peter turning around to ask Harley a question. "Hey, where are you sleeping while you're staying here?"
"In your room with you, duh," Harley replied before he was interrupted by Tony.
"No, no, no, you two are not sleeping in the same room. I was a teenager, I know what teenagers do when left alone in bedrooms and I can not condone that in my household."
Peter felt his face go red as he and Harley realized what Tony was insinuating at the same time. They faced each other and then Tony with equal expressions of mortification.
"Oh my God," Peter whispered, hiding his face in Harley's chest.
"Come on, old man, we're not gonna...have sex," Harley said, hissing at the 'have sex' part. “Just because you are a slut does not mean that we are.”
Tony blushed bright red. Trying and failing for a few moments to say something before settling on, "alright, because you succeeded in making this the most awkward conversation I've ever had, I'm gonna leave it alone and let you do whatever. But if you two do anything, Harley's sleeping in a guest room,” he said indignantly. He walked off very quickly to sit next to Pepper who was sitting next to Shuri on the biggest couch in the living room. She had somehow convinced both Sam and Bucky to get their nails painted. Sam’s were already a bright green that he seemed very taken by, and Bucky’s were rapidly becoming a bright crimson red. It was a good look for the both of them. Tony pointed out that their colors were matching and they both recoiled in disgust.
Peter giggled as Sam stuck his tongue out at Bucky and Bucky smacked him on the side of the head with his flesh arm. Shuri yelled at Bucky to stay still and Sam repeated the sentiment in a much more mocking tone.
"Well, all-in-all, today has been a complete win for me. I've only been embarrassed like fifty times. I only want to jump off the top of a very tall building a little bit," Peter said, once again facing away to watch the room. Harley chuckled from behind him, spinning Peter around to face him.
"Well, at least I'm here. And as we both know, I always make your day better," Harley said, kissing Peter deeply before pulling him over to the food table. They grabbed some food and decided to help May and Happy set up the tree.
Later that night, when everyone had retired to their rooms and Harley was reading to Morgan, Peter took the elevator to Tony's lab.
He found Tony there, working on the more detailed parts of two little flying boots, probably for Morgan. "Hey Dad," Peter called out to him as he entered.
"Hi, Pete, what brings you here?" he replied, glancing up for a moment before looking back down.
"Harley and Morgan banished me from my own room while they read. I also wanted to talk to you...I figured that you would be here."
"I'm always here, Pete. I hope I didn't ruin your field trip too much," Tony replied, taking a break from his project to give his full attention to Peter.
"Nah, I'm more worried about all the YouTube videos that are bound to pop up. By the way, after you left the lab, Aunt Nat walked up to me and pretended to be my mom, so there might be a few questions about whether or not you fathered an illegitimate child with The Black Widow. Just a heads up," Peter replied, grabbing a screwdriver and screwing in a screw that was sticking out of the boots.
"Yeah, this whole situation is going to be a PR nightmare. Don't say I never did anything for you kid," Tony said, rubbing his face with a sigh.
"I would never," Peter replied, his uncontrollable smile stretching all the way up to his ears.
Peter started helping Tony working on the jet pack boots that were very similar to Iron Mans actual boots. “Cutting it pretty close with Morgan’s Christmas gifts, eh dad?” Peter said with a chuckle.
“Who do I look like, Steve?” Tony replied, “I swear, that guy always has his gifts ready in October.” Tony was laughing and shaking his head in disbelief.
“Well, I had my gift for Morgan ready last January, so…” Peter said with mock seriousness.
“Funny,” Tony replied.
Peter helped him finish and then wrap the boots. With Peter’s help, and the fact that the boots only had a few things to finish, they were done within the hour.
“I’ll take the package down to the tree on my way to my room,” Peter said, grabbing the boots.
“You’re a good kid, but I’m going down to my room too, so I’ll get it.” Tony went to grab the package from him.
Peter jumped back, “not so fast, Mr. Stark, I’m the one here with super strength.” Peter started moving towards the elevator.
"I’m the adult here, Peter. I can put my own daughters present under a tree,” Tony said as he chased after Peter.
They fought over the present for a second when they both reached the elevator. Peter scanned his card and hit the button for the residential floor.
“Give me the package, old man,” Peter said, pulling it away from him.
Tony gasped, trying to hide the smile on his face, “that is too far, Peter. I need to limit your time with Harley. He has had too much influence on you,” Tony said. He moved to pull the package back but Peter wouldn’t budge.
Tony managed to grab the package when Peter was distracted by the elevator dinging on the residential floor. Peter chased after him over to the tree.
He managed to catch him and grab onto the package, both of them trying to hold back their laughter.
“Alright, Pete, I’ll cut you a deal. We both hold the present and put it down at the same time,” Tony said with a confident grin.
“You’re on, old man,” Peter said, hands on the other side of the present.
They both leaned down at the same time, hands firmly on the present, eyes locked onto each other, mouths twitching with the desire to smile. They both pulled away at the same time, finally dropping the overly serious act and bursting out in laughter.
They both walked towards Peter’s room to find Harley there, still reading the kids book with a sleeping Morgan against his chest.
“Let me-” Tony began in his normal voice before being shushed by Harley as he gestured to her. He continued in a whisper, “I will take Morgan to her room.”
Peter picked Morgan up and walked her to the door, passing her to her father and closing the door behind the two.
Harley had gone back to reading the children's book in the meantime. The guy was smart enough to be a rocket scientist and he read picture books in his free time. "Hey," Peter said as he jumped onto the bed from across the room.
"Look out here comes the Spider-Man," Harley murmured, not even looking up from his book as Peter very gracefully fell onto the bed.
Peter laughed giddily at Harley, scrambling under the covers and into Harley's side as he started to read the picture book aloud. "I do not like them in a house. I do not like them with a mouse. I do not like them here or there. I do not like them anywhere. I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am.” Classic Dr. Seuss.
Peter and Harley both slept better than they had in months that night.
A few days later, on Christmas Eve, Peter was helping May and Carol set the table when MJ and her mom arrived. He excused himself to go and greet her. The two had been brought up by Shuri who was being more respectful than Peter had ever seen her.
MJ was dressed in a black sweater with a few bursts of bright color strung across it in the form of Christmas lights.
Her mom was dressed in a crimson dress, short hair adorned with a poinsettia hair clip.
Shuri grabbed both of their coats and Peter went to greet them as she moved towards the living rooms coat rack.
"Hey, MJ, hi Ms. Jones," he said, hugging MJ and then her mom for a second. “I love your hair, and MJ, your sweater is really cool.”
“You’re a real friend, Peter,” MJ replied as her mother told her to hush and thanked Peter for the compliment.
“By the way, MJ, what happened with your punishment for the Flash thing?” Peter asked, hoping that it wasn’t a taboo subject with her mom.
MJ rolled her eyes and sighed, but she had a small comforting smile on her face. “Well, his parents were pissed so I was gonna be expelled. But after me and Ms. Gaites explained the slur thing, which our school has a zero tolerance policy for, it was reduced to three weeks of detention.” Peter went to apologize but she stopped him before he could, “don’t, Parker, I would do it again.” Peter’s smile hurt his cheeks.
Bucky was jogging over to see them as they entered the dining room. "Hi, MJ is this your mother? It's very nice to meet you, Ms. Jones, MJ’s told me so much about you," Bucky said. He didn't look like an assassin at all in his too bright Christmas sweater with his hair pulled up into a clean ponytail, huge smile on his face, non-metal hand held out for Ms. Jones to shake.
"Who is this, Michelle? He doesn't go to high school with you, does he?" MJ's mother replied after she shook his held out hand.
"No, this is my friend James Buchanan Barnes-Rogers, he lives at the tower. He's very cool, one of me and Shuri's best friends," MJ replied.
“You can call me Bucky, Ms. Jones. That’s what everyone else calls me,” he said nervously.
"It's not weird at all for one of your best friends to be an over a hundred-year-old ex-assassin," Peter mumbled under his breath, earning a glare from MJ and a gasp from her mother. Peter was quick to walk away when Ms. Jones started interrogating Bucky.
Peter located his boyfriends head of dark blond hair quickly. Harley was walking next to Pepper and Morgan, snatching pieces of food from the plate Morgan was carrying. Pepper noticed and slapped his hand away softly, chiding him playfully for ‘ruining his appetite’.
A fake hurt expression crossed his face as he stopped following the girls. Peter decided to run up behind him and jump on his back, putting his Spider-Man skills to the test.
Harley easily caught him despite being caught totally unaware.
Peter rested his hands over Harley's eyes and asked him who he thought it was.
"Hmm, it's either a small monkey or my small boyfriend," he replied, getting a scoff from Peter. Peter took his hands away from Harley's eyes and whacked him on the side of the head softly in retaliation, except, because of his super strength it was a bit harder than he intended. "Oww!" Harley exclaimed.
"Oh my God, I'm so so sorry, babe. I didn't mean to," Peter replied. He jumped down from Harley’s back and turned so they were facing each other. He ran a hand over the hurt part of Harley’s head gently.
"Don't worry too much, I forgive you. But you may have to nurse me back to health," Harley gave Peter a fake pout.
Peter laughed, rolling his eyes before leaning in to kiss Harley when he puckered his lips.
"Hey, love birds," May called, "come eat."
Peter turned to see that everyone was already at the table. Harley scooped him up bridal style and ran towards the table, prompting laughs from everyone. He dropped him in a chair softly and scrambled to sit down too, heaping some of the nearest food onto his plate.
The food was great. Everyone who had helped make it had done a great job. Peter didn't know exactly who all had helped because he had been busy at the children's hospital all day. Peter had spent the last few days visiting all the sick kids and hospitals in New York to spread a little Christmas magic. Harley had gone with him, posing as his 'agent'. Peter knew that he had really just wanted to get out of cooking.
After dinner they all piled into the living room.
Peter and Harley had managed to snag an armchair, Harley sitting on the chair and Peter lying almost on top of him.
Shuri and MJ were cuddled together leaning against the main couch on the side where Steve, Bucky, and MJ’s mom were sitting. Bucky was chit chatting with Ms. Jones and they seemed to be getting along famously.
Everyone else was scattered around the room, cuddling with their significant others and talking loudly with their friends. Morgan was sitting in between her parents asking them if she could open a Christmas Eve present.
Tony let Morgan open one small Christmas Eve present, and then Cassie got to open one too. Everyone paid close attention to the girls as they opened a custom Barbie doll and a manicure set respectively.
As the girls were fawning over their presents, Tony decided that a hallmark movie that Peter didn't catch the name of was the perfect addition to the ambiance of the living room. Peter was trying to pay attention to the movie, but Harley was too distracting. He kept poking Peter's nose and cheeks, fawning over how cute he was.
"Harley, if you poke me again I am going to dangle you out the window," Peter said, not looking away from the movie but not really watching it as Harley poked his cheek again because he was his "cute little schmookie."
"I'm not scared of you because I know that that is an empty threat and you would never drop me." He gave Peter an obnoxious kiss on the cheek, "try harder next time, Cutie Pie."
"I hate you, and I’m going to get a manicure from Cassie,” Peter said as he untangled himself from Harley and went to sit on the floor in front of Cassie.
“You know you love me,” Harley called after him. “Hey Morgan, come show me your doll.” Harley sent him a pointed look when Morgan started explaining her present to him, but Peter didn’t care, his fingers were already soaking in a bowl of warm water.
"Don't stay up too late you two," Tony called as he and Pepper left the room a few hours later. About halfway through the movie, Peter had returned to Harley after Morgan had fallen asleep in her mom's lap and Peter had bubblegum pink nails. But now, everyone had gone home or up to their rooms, and the teens were the last two people in the living room. They were half-heartedly watched the terrible late night movie that was on as they slowly got drowsier.
"Hey, Peter," Harley whispered as Peter was about to fall asleep, "goodnight, I love you."
"Merry Christmas, Harley. I love you too," Peter whispered back.