Son of the Storm

Christmas Considering

It was 7 o'clock on Christmas day and Harry woke up with a smile on his face. He was spending Christmas with his family.

Even the mere thought of that… well, elation wasn't quite the word. Somehow, it was better than that. His gaze dropped to the end of his bed and the pile of presents. He blinked. It was… well, a large pile would be understating it.

"Good morning, Mr Thorson," JARVIS said, making Harry jump. "I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas."

"Thanks JARVIS. Merry Christmas to you too," Harry said, grinning, giggling slightly as Hedwig fluttered over to his shoulder and nipped his ear affectionately, hooting softly.

"Thank you, sir," JARVIS said gravely. "Mr Stark, Miss Potts, your Uncle, Miss Romanov and Mr Barton are awake, though Mr Stark and Miss Potts are still in bed."

Harry frowned. "Why?"

There was a slight pause. "I believe Miss Potts is in a particularly good mood this morning, sir," JARVIS said eventually.

"Of course she is, it's Christmas!" Harry cried. "But what's the real reason?"

This elicited a longer pause. "I believe that Mr Stark is giving Miss Potts a personal Christmas gift, sir," JARVIS said.

"Oh, okay," Harry said, shrugging. He smirked. "I was joking, JARVIS."

"If I may say so, sir, you take after your uncle."

"Really?"

"Yes, sir. Your father is a terrible liar."

Harry frowned. "Hang on… don't you believe me? Or do you just think that I was good at hiding my joke?"

"I could not possibly make a personal comment, sir. After all, I am merely an Artificial Intelligence, here to assist you," JARVIS said, contriving to sound innocent.

Harry blinked. "I just got psyched out by a computer," he mumbled. Then he shrugged. Considering who had built said computer, this wasn't surprising.

Then he scrambled over to his presents, dislodging Hedwig. He was still a child after all.

OoOoO

Tony also woke up with a smile, and snuggled up to Pepper in a manner that was so ridiculously cute that anyone who thought they knew him would have scoffed at the very suggestion. Anyone who actually knew him, however, would know that Tony had a softer side.

"Good morning Mister Stark," Pepper said softly, tone warm and teasing like it always was. It was one of the things about her that had made him fall in love with her.

He savoured the way her chest rises and falls as she speaks, then said, "Good morning, Miss Potts," in his own warm tone.

As he met her cornflower blue gaze, he realised, once again, that he was an extremely lucky man. Not because of the money or the tech or even his friends, super or otherwise (though they are pretty good and he is lucky to have them). But because of her. He had the love of a brave, beautiful and brilliant woman, who somehow, for some unaccountable reason, loved him back. Loved him back so much, he thought with a slight thrill in his heart, that she wanted to have his child, maybe even children.

Tony Stark is not normally a man of great introspection, nor is he normally prone to dissecting the meaning of each personal revelation. He just accepted things and moved on. But the fact that she wanted to carry his child, to have her biological legacy on this Earth be his as well, to have a baby with him… that just blew even his incredible mind.

While Tony Stark was not a man of great introspection, he was aware, at least intellectually, that he had severe issues. One of them being insecurity. The belief that he was never good enough, that he never deserved what he had, that, in fact, he was worth nothing to anybody.