Avenging Santa Claus
Got this prompt some time ago, that I was really rushing to get written before Christmas. I hope you like it!
Original prompt: here
There are Alphas and Omegas, but there is NO gender oppression whatsoever. Children call their Omega parent Mom/Mother/Mommy, and their Alpha parent Dad/Father/Pops, you get it.
Avenging Santa Claus
The shopping mall was a bad place to be at the 21 of December. Christmas songs that were sure to get stuck in your head for hours on end, were blaring everywhere; stressed people were running around in a perpetual sour mood, to get the last of their gift shopping done; the smell of gingerbread was inescapable, and it was crowded enough to make anyone feel claustrophobic.
One had to be absolutely mad to be in such a place, at such a time.
Or married to the most wonderful Omega in the world, who had given him the most precious son in the world, who had used all his four years of experience in being cute, to convince his parents to take him to the mall to see Santa.
Tony and Peter Stark, together with their little son Ben, had been standing in line for a full 45 minutes now. Any attempts made by the billionaire to bribe their way forward, had been met with a reprimanding glare from his husband, and so Tony had grudgingly stopped reaching for his wallet, and instead joined Peter's efforts to answer all of their overly excited son's questions.
“Do you think Santa's sleigh is invisible? I didn't see it in the parking lot. Oh no! What if another car drives into it because they can't see it?!”
“I'm pretty sure he parked his sleigh on the roof, buddy. More space for Rudolph and his friends up there.”
“Those two elves with Santa are so tall, I thought elves were s'pposed to be smaller.”
“Scott lent them some of his tech so that they can help Santa better while they are here.”
“Can Santa's sleigh go faster than you, Daddy?”
“Pft. As if some magical reindeer could-” cue Peter's pointed elbow jabbing him in the ribs. “hrmh, I mean, his reindeer are magic, right? And Santa has to make it all around the world in only one night. So his sleigh could probably out fly Iron Man.”
“How does he get all over the world in one night?”
“Google maps and stardust propulsion.”
“We don't have a chimney! How will Santa get in, Mommy?”
“Don't worry. He has magic portals.”
“Like Dr. Wizard?”
“Yeah, exactly like those. Just that Santa's portals look like snow and ice crystals, instead of Stephen's gold ones.”
“How does Santa know if I have been good? Is he a super spy like auntie Nat?”
“He is the one who trained auntie Nat.”
“Whoa!”
Finally it was Ben's turn, and the four year old didn't hesitate for a second to run up to the sitting Santa Claus and scramble into his lap. Peter and Tony, like all the parents before, waited patiently at the side, as they watched their son tell the bearded man all about every item on his list.
Tony was just happy that they would be out of the place soon, when he caught the deepening frown on Peter's handsome face.
“Something the matter, sweetheart?”
“Ben is reciting his entire wish list.”
“Yeah, so? Isn't that what kids are supposed to do when they meet Chris Kringle?”
But Peter shook his head.
“He said he was gonna tell Santa his super secret Christmas wish first, to make sure he would put it on the top of his list. I was hoping to listen in, so we could get it for him. Unless it's a pony.”
“I mean, it's not like we don't have the space-”
“He is not getting a pony, Tony.”
“Oh my god, that rhymed. I'm gonna have that stuck in my head for the rest of the day now. Pony Tony, Tony pony.”
Peter muffled a laugh, and Tony pat himself on the back for having managed to relax his husband a little bit. While Tony was definitely annoyed by all the smells and noise of the mall, he couldn't imagine how much worse it was on Peter's enhanced senses. The omegan superhero had incredible control over his abilities, but maintaining that in such a stressful environment could not be easy, and even Peter slipped now and then.
He took the shorter man's hand and brought it up to his lips to press a loving kiss to his knuckles.
“You good, Pete?”
“I'm good,” Peter gave him a quick peck to the corner of his lips, then suddenly smirked up at him, “Tony Pony.”
The Alpha smirked right back.
“If this becomes a pet name, I expect you to ride me every time you use it.”
It was astounding, that after 8 years of being in a relationship, 5 of which they have been married, and having a child together, Peter still blushed so prettily whenever Tony mentioned their sex life.
The swift whack to his chest in reprimand was worth seeing his husband so flustered.
“Insatiable.”
Tony smirked wider and winked at the omega.
“You love it. So, how's eavesdropping on our son and the Coca Cola mascot going? I bet Benny wants a cool Iron Man suit like his dad.”
Peter shook his head, eyes locked on their son.
“He hasn't said anything so far that we didn't know about and haven't already gotten him. For the record, I still think you went overboard. No four year old needs that many toys.”
“Ah, come one. I'm allowed to spoil you and Ben on Christmas. It was in our vows.”
This earned him a sweet kiss on his cheek.
“You spoil us all the time.”
The billionaire looked down into the beloved, brown eyes.
“Not nearly enough.”
Tony had never thought of himself as someone so disgustingly mushy and besotted, but Peter just brought it out in him. Peter and Ben. The two most precious people in his life.
God, he was a sap.
He was just about to lean down and give his omega a deep, toe curling kiss, when Ben jumped off Santa's lap and came running up to them.
“Mommy, Daddy, quick, come quick, this way!”
The little boy grabbed both his parents hands and pulled them with him as fast as his short legs could carry him. More than a little surprised, Tony and Peter stumbled along.
“Whoa there, what's up, buddy?”
“Ben, is something wrong?”
When the four year old had dragged his parents a sufficient distance away from the winter wonder land, he released his grip on their hands and turned around to stare at them with big, frantic eyes.
“That Santa has a fake beard, and he doesn't smell like milk and chocolate cookies like he's s'pposed to! He is an inpo.. interpolter... imposter! He must have kidnapped the real Santa! But there won't be Christmas without the real Santa! Quick! You have to call the other Avengers and assemble and save Santa!”
As the two super heroes looked first into the gleaming with unshed tears eyes of their son, and then at each other, only one thought ran through their minds.
Oh boy.
--
"I'm sorry, you want us to what?"
Tony rolled his eyes heavenward. One would think from Sam's incredulous tone and expression that he was asking something completely ridiculous from his friends.
"Could you please not be so dramatic? All I'm asking is that you all get into gear, get out to the north pole, stage a battle against some kind of evil scoundrel, save Santa Claus in the process, and watch your language while doing it, because Benny will be watching via Friday's live stream. I don't see which part of this you have a problem with."
Unbelievably, this earned him even more disbelieving stares from everyone currently in the living room. (Which was Steve, Sam, Bucky, Natasha, Clint, Scott, Bruce Rhodey and Hope. Thor was currently traveling with the Guardians of the galaxy, but had promised to be back by the 25th.)
Steve sighed and rubbed his eyes, as if he was dealing with someone unreasonable... which was just uncalled for.
"Tony, you know we love Ben. But don't you think it would be better to tell him the truth, instead of all these theatrics?"
"Sure I do. But unless you manage to convince Peter of that, we are going to the freaking north pole and save Santa."
Hope's eyes widened in surprise.
"Wait. This is Peter's idea?"
Peter was usually the one to reign in Tony, whenever the genius came up with something completely ridiculous. But Tony only nodded solemnly.
"He said, and I quote: 'My baby is going to believe in the magic that is Christmas and all it encompasses for as long as super-humanly possible. And anyone who so much as breathes a word that might destroy his beliefs before he is ready to let go of them, will find themselves in a web cocoon hanging outside the tower.' End quote. Ben being in a constant state of almost crying ever since he discovered the 'fake' Santa, until Peter finally got him into bed with the promise that the Avengers would free the 'real' Santa as soon as we found out where he is being held captive, certainly didn't help. After that, Pete told me to get you all up to speed, and left for the Sanctum, to see if he could convince Wong and Stephen to help."
This left everyone in a little bit of shock, but far more willing to go along with Tony's request. There were few things scarier than Mama bear Peter.
Rhodey just shook his head, bemoaning the fact that he had chosen to get to the tower early, instead of on Christmas eve, as he had the previous years.
Bucky got up, grumbling about finding warm socks to go play make believe in the fucking arctic.
Scott grinned, trying to entice Hope into building a snow castle and taking pictures for Cassie while they were there.
Clint asked if his kids (the oldest of which was 8 and didn't believe in Santa Claus anymore, but would play along for the younger children's sakes), could watch the stream with Ben, because saving Santa Claus two days before Christmas was sure to get him 'Best Father of the Year' award.
Bruce was questioning whether the Hulk would even be needed for this, which Tony quickly shut down "You know Hulk is Ben's favorite, Brucie. He can't not be there to give Santa's kidnapper hell."
Steve sighed the sigh of the beaten, and went to inform Fury of tomorrows 'mission'. Sam followed as moral support.
Natasha, unflappable super spy that she was, just nodded.
"Well, I guess it's not the worst mission I have been on. I'm in."
Tony crossed his arms over his chest, a self satisfied smile on his lips.
"You better be in. Ben would be very disappointed if his auntie Nat didn't come to her super-spy teacher's rescue."
"... my What?!"
--
The next day, after Peter had distracted Ben long enough from his worry about Santa to get some breakfast into the boy, Natasha came striding into the room to inform them that they had found the whereabouts of Santa and his kidnapper. Ben gave her a big hug for being the best super-spy (after Santa), in the world. She was smug about it.
Clint followed shortly after with his pregnant wife, fellow four year old daughter and eight year old son. The kids and Laura would join Ben in watching the life stream of the Avengers heroically saving Santa Claus. Lilah was just as anxious as Ben was, Cooper, who had been told about what was going on, just smirked as he watched all the grown ups running around to get ready for their mission.
Scott and Hope had roped teenaged Cassie in to help the highly pregnant Laura keep an eye on the three younger kids (though Cooper would loudly disagree that he needed a babysitter), and help sell the whole thing to Ben and Lilah. (Neither May nor Pepper had been able to change their working schedules on this short notice to lend a helping hand, and Happy had taken his first vacation in forever and fled the cold weather to spend two weeks on a tropical beach)
Both Stephen and Wong (though the older monk would already be waiting for them at the destination) had thankfully been scared into agreed to help the Avengers with their mission, which made getting to the north pole a lot easier.
When Stephen arrived through one of his portals, everyone was fully suited up and ready to go. All the adults quickly hugged the children (Steve even saluted them, the dork), and to the encouraging shouts of "Kick evil butt and save Santa!" (and the barely repressed snickers from Laura, Cooper and Cassie), earth's mightiest heroes stepped through the magical portal into the blazing cold of the north pole.
Antman wrapped his arms around himself immediately.
"Why exactly isn't Santa being held captive in Florida?"
Iron Man and Spiderman quickly looked at each other, a little stunned.
"Oops."
--
The rescue mission had, unsurprisingly, been a complete success. Wong and Stephen had created some truly fantastical illusions of shadow creatures for the Avengers to fight, and Hulk to smash. (Nothing too scary looking though. Peter would web them up if Ben came out of this with nightmares about dark, red eyed monsters)
Spiderman and Iron Man had then taken on the evil kidnapper himself (One of Stephen's clones, that had been transformed to look like that Pitch Black dude from that pixar movie Ben couldn't get enough of)
It was Natasha who had broken Santa Claus (a magically disguised Wong), from his iron cage not far from the battle field. She had even bowed to her former 'teacher', and teased him about eating too many cookies and losing his edge in his old days. 'Santa' had shook the hands of all of the Avengers and then waved into Iron Man's suit camera to the kids at home, and promised to deliver all their presents on time. He thanked Ben especially, for figuring out his fake doppelganger. Back in the tower's penthouse in New York, little Ben was screeching with joy.
--
It was six a.m. on the 25th of December, and Tony and Peter Stark were enjoying what would surely be the last few minutes of peace and quiet they would have that day. The team and their assorted friends and family were scheduled to come to the penthouse for Christmas brunch and gift exchanges in a few hours, and Ben was sure to wake up any minute now. Rather than have their overly excited son jump onto their bed to wake them up because "It's Christmas, it's Christmas, wake up wake up wake up!", the two had gotten up a little earlier, had made each other their favorite coffee (dark roast for Tony, and a latte for Peter), and cuddled up together on the couch.
The room was dimly lit, most of the light coming from the brightly and colorfully decorated Christmas tree in the center. It was rather beautiful, and even the early hour couldn't mar the contentment the couple felt right then, lying in each others arms.
"How much time do you think we have left?" Peter asked, taking a sip from his cup.
Tony squeezed the arm he had wound around his husband a bit, and planted a soft kiss on Peter's temple.
"Probably not much longer. I'm actually surprised Ben hasn't-" Which was the exact moment that a joyfully shrill, childish scream echoed through the floor. Tony chuckled. "-woken up yet. You ready, sweetheart."
Peter looked up at his husband with a smile.
"Merry Christmas, Tony."
"Merry Christmas, Peter."
They shared a sweet kiss, just before their little bundle of joy came running into the room.
"Mommy, Daddy, look, look! Santa brought me my super secret wish, even though I didn't get to tell him! Look, look!"
And right there, cradled clumsily in his arms, Ben was holding a little puppy. An actual, life, puppy. As in, tail wagging, tongue lolling, alive. Peter was just able to hide his surprise and pull his son plus wiggling puppy dog into a warm hug.
"That's great, Benny. Do you have a name for him?"
Ben nodded with so much enthusiasm, that the brunette worried for a moment he would get dizzy.
"Imma call him Ninja. Cause Santa got him for me, and Santa taught auntie Nat how to be a super-spy. And Ninja's are like the greatest super-spies."
Tony grinned and scooped up both the four year old and puppy to give Ben a loving hug and ruffle his hair.
"That's a great name, bud. How about you and Ninja take a look at all the gifts lying under the tree, while your mom and I make some breakfast and find something for your dog to eat."
Ben couldn't shimmy out of his father's lap fast enough, and as soon as his feet hit the ground, he sat down the puppy and the both of them ran to the large Christmas tree.
"Remember that you can only open one before breakfast, young man."
"Okay!"
Then the two adults quickly got up and walked into the adjacent kitchen. Peter pinned Tony with a scolding look.
"I thought we had decided that Ben is too young for a dog."
Tony scoffed.
"Yes, we did. So why did you get him one?"
Peter faltered.
"I didn't... I thought you did."
But Tony shook his head.
"Not me... Wait. If you didn't get him a dog, and I didn't get him a dog..."
Peter's eyes widened.
"Friday, show us the footage of Ben's room. Who brought in the puppy?"
A small holographic window appeared before the couple, showing Ben sleeping in his bed. Then it looked like little ice crystals glittered in the air, and formed the shape of a tall, slightly round, person. When the glitter disappeared, a man in a red coat, with a white, but rather short beard, and likewise short and white hair was standing before little Ben's bed. He did not have the figure of the classic Santa Claus from the story books. No big, round belly, for one. The clothes fit, and he certainly looked old enough, but he was wearing big sun glasses? (Actually, the man reminded Tony of Hugh Hefner) In his hands was a sleeping little puppy (Ninja), that he carefully deposited next to the sleeping boy. Then the man stepped back from the bed, and closer to the camera in the corner of the ceiling, and looked right into it.
"Thank you, Peter and Tony, for everything you have done for the people of this world. And for working so hard to keep your son's faith alive for a little longer. You know, my friends call me Stan. Merry Christmas."
Then the man (Santa? Stan?) was enveloped in the little ice crystals again, and vanished in the next second. The hologram continued showing a sleeping Ben and an equally sleeping puppy.
Peter gaped.
"Was... was that..."
"Friday? Why the hell didn't you wake us when some stranger entered our son's room?"
"My sensors have not detected any foreign presence in the young masters room. I'm afraid I don't know what you are talking about, boss."
Now Tony was gaping.
The sound of their son's happy exclamation when he unpacked one of his many gifts brought both parent's out of their stupor, and they looked first back to Ben, then at each other, still not quite willing to believe what they had just seen.
"... So, Stan, huh? Do you think that puppy is magical?"
Peter couldn't help it, he burst out laughing. Tony joined in soon after.
God how he loved them. His husband and his son. And his (possibly magical) puppy.
____________________________________________________________
The End
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
(Okay, I know it's still quite a few days until Christmas, but I hope you will all have a wonderful and magical time with all your loved ones!)