"Happy birthday, Kid."
Summary: His head swung to look directly at Tony. "You didn't!" He gaped but couldn't stop the smile from pulling at his cheeks.
Tony nodded his head, a soft smile gracing his own features. He moved forward and ruffled Peter's hair.
"Happy birthday, Kid."
-
A fic in honour of Peter鈥檚 birthday.
Read on AO3
Birthday's hadn't really been a big deal to Peter. Or, well, his own birthday, that is. Sure, he got excited for it, most people did, but he never expected anything from it. It was nice to get presents, but more often than not, Peter felt almost guilty when being on the receiving end of birthday gifts.聽
It was one thing to give May something for her birthday, or Ned and MJ for theirs. It was something that Peter had struggled with since he was young and had started living with May and Ben. Even as a young child, he had cottoned on to the money troubles they would sometimes have.
They had never gone without, and Peter had always been given birthday gifts, gifts for achievements, and gifts just because May and Ben had wanted to get him something when there had been the extra money after all the necessities had been taken care of.
But Peter had started to become more uncomfortable with it after Ben had died, now a teenager and even more aware of his and May鈥檚 finances thanks to his now superior hearing. He knew when money was tight, he knew when bills started piling up and putting stress on May, and he knew that even when she said they had the extra money for occasional gifts, that his aunt had worked extra shifts just for him.
When Peter would ask her not to overwork herself just to spend money on him, May would simply give him a soft smile and say, "Peter, baby, I want to. You deserve to have things that you like and it's me, your aunt by the way. Hello, hi. If I wanna work to spoil your spidey behind, I will damn well do it, mister!"
And Peter would laugh and relent, but it didn't make his feelings on the matter that much easier to deal with, but he knew that May just cared and he didn't want to hurt her, either, by refusing.
And then came Tony, the man who gave gifts like it was going out of fashion, no matter the price. It had taken a few misunderstandings and unintentionally hurt feelings, but he had understood Peter's desire to not have money spent "uselessly" on him, although in Tony and May's point of view, money spent on their kid was never useless.
Although he still had issues with it, Between May getting a better job, and Tony being the billionaire he was, Peter slowly began to accept gifts that were slightly more pricey.聽
Smaller gifts that came from sentiment and weren't the most expensive thing available were ultimately Peter's favourite, something that Tony had been able to adapt to pretty well considering his history of gift giving. Peter still laughed with Pepper over the gigantic bunny.
For his first birthday since the reversal snap, Tony had given Peter five small gifts, things that he'd saved or gotten Peter during each missed birthday. The first one was a Lego Spider-Man figure on a keychain, a key to the front door of the lake house hanging from it.聽
The next was a t-shirt with a print of Luke Skywalker on the front, the words Big Brother spelled out in the classic Star Wars font across the front of it. There had been a matching onesie for Morgan when she had been a baby that had Leia in place of Luke, along with the words Little Sister. They had since gotten her a t-shirt version so she and Peter could match.
The t-shirt was followed by a holographic light display that projected various Star Wars galaxy systems and their planets across the roof of Peter鈥檚 room. The soft, glowing light aiding in chasing away more nightmares than Peter sometimes wanted to admit.
An old poster promoting the first and only Stark Expo, along with a small signature along the bottom corner of it, gold marker spelling out, "Nice work, Kid!"
The fifth and final one was a slender silver coloured bracelet made out of nanotechnology and cued into Peter's biometrics, which basically was able to transform into almost any tool that he might want or need (take that, Macgyver!) as well as have the capability to set off a taser and a distress beacon.聽
Peter treasured each and every one, regularly wearing the t-shirt with Morgan and making use of the nanotech bracelet as much as he could.
As such, going into his second birthday post-return, he wouldn't have been surprised to receive anything from a piece of clothing to something more techno geared.
But then again, Tony always did love surprises.
~
Peter woke to hushed whispers and his bedroom door creaking as it was pushed open. He mumbled something that was unintelligible even to him and started to roll over, startling when something wriggling was dropped next to his head that proceeded to start snuffling at where his head was peeking out from under his duvet.
The teenager was wide awake in an instant, swiftly but carefully sitting up in bed and staring at the fluffy golden retriever puppy that was currently attempting to scramble up and climb into his lap. Peter picked it up gently and looked towards his door with wide eyes.聽
Tony stood closest to his bed, obviously the one that set the puppy on his bed, while Pepper, Morgan, and May stood behind him. Each one of them was smiling at him.
His head swung to look directly at Tony. "You didn't!" He gaped but couldn't stop the smile from pulling at his cheeks.
Tony nodded his head, a soft smile gracing his own features. He moved forward and ruffled Peter's hair.
"Happy birthday, Kid."
Peter looked back at the puppy, cradling it gently and lifting it until it was at eye level. "Hello, puppy! Hi, woof!" He laughed when it yipped and tried to lick at his face.
"What's its name?" He asked Tony.
"That's for you to decide, Roo. Just don鈥檛 name him anything after Spangles and you can go ham."
Peter grinned and looked back at the puppy. "His name is Anakin." He waited for a moment, and smirked when Tony huffed.
"I don't know why I'm surprised anymore, Kid. You and Star Wars. At least I don't have to hear Chewie being called around the house."
The teen held the puppy up next to his face and pouted. "The Force is strong in him, Mr. Stark."
Tony just laughed and turned back towards the door, stating that there was breakfast downstairs.
Peter cuddled the puppy close to his chest, grinning.
Maybe birthday presents weren't all that bad.
63 notes
路
View notes
Dinner had wrapped up, Steve was sitting on a chair with his sketch book, Tony was pouring coffee, Nat was talking with Clint and Sam, Bucky was doing the dishes when the window panel, specially created for Peter when in his suit opened.
" Oh good! You haven't gone to bed yet! I swung over as fast as I could!"
Tony laughed. " I would of been awake anyway. But its..."
Friday answered " 2:14 am"
" Yeah late. Or early. But for you college kid. Late. "
Peter takes his mask off, sliding his backpack up, unzipping and digging around.
" I know! I tried to get here before midnight but there was a purse snatcher and then a mugging. Here it is. I would of been mad if I left it."
Putting his backpack and mask on the table top. Peter walks over to Bucky and offers him a small box wrapped in newspaper.
The room froze, as Peter doesn't interact with Bucky often. Mainly because Tony is over protective and Bucky thinks he is a danger to the kid.
Bucky blinks at the box, towels his hands off and slowly takes the box.
" What is it?"
" It's your birthday present! Or I guess belated cause it's after midnight now. Sorry about that."
Now the rest of the team blinks and then with growing horror and self disappointment they realized they collectively all forgot Bucky's birthday. He hadn't said anything either. But normally Tony throws parties for these things.
Bucky looks at the box wrapped in newspaper, stroking his fingers across it, glancing up at Peter and then back down. He tares off the wrapping and finds a director cut of The Lors of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies.
" You said you've read the book, but I know you are stilling making it through the list for movies. But you GOT to watch these. Sure, the book is good, and they took a lot of liberties, but it's so good! "
Bucky stares down at the DVD case before offering Peter a bright smile. " How about we do the... what you call binge watching next week?"
" Yes! I mean sure totally! I'll bring some snacks too! "
Peter spins around to face Tony.
" Is it OK that I crash here tonight Mr. Stark? I rather now swing back or have Happy drive me."
" Sure kid. You know where your room is"
" Thanks Mr. Stark! Happy Birthday again Bucky!"
Peter waves at everyone, and he bounds off out of the room. Making his way to Tony's private floor.
Bucky stares off at the hallway entryway before looking back at the DVDs. He smiles again before turning to face the group who are just staring at him.
" What?"
128 notes
路
View notes
Tony had always had big birthday parties. Being a Stark, everyone expected a big event every year. Not wanting to dissappoint anyone, Tony went along with it, even though he only knew half of the people invited most of the time.
When he got together with Peter and his birthday was nearing, Peter said that he would organise the whole party for Tony this time and that he wouldn't have to worry about anything. And so Tony let the boy take care of the organisation, hoping that he wouldn't invite too many people this time.
On the day of his birthday, Peter woke him up with a breakfast in bed and they spent the rest of the morning in bed together. Then they went out for a private lunch and once they were back home in the late afternoon, Peter told Tony to get ready for the special occasion. Tony put on his best suit and then Peter took his hand, leading him to the living room.
Tony expected it to be full of mindless party people as always, but he was surprised when it was only Rhodey, Pepper, Happy and a few other Avengers. He looked at Peter, who was beaming because Tony looked so happy, and let himself be lead into the room. They spent the whole evening chatting, laughing, playing games and watching movies. Later that night, when everyone had left, Tony pulled Peter close, kissed him and told him that this had been the best birthday of his life.
For @starkerfestivals Summer Bingo 2023: Happy Birthday - I have a Bingo 馃挋
133 notes
路
View notes