Chapter Text
Peter has never had to shovel snow before. Of course, there's a good reason for that: he and his aunt and uncle had never had a house with a sidewalk that they'd needed to shovel after a big snow. They had always lived in apartments as far back as Peter can remember. Now he lives in a cabin in upstate New York with Tony, Pepper, and Morgan–his new family.
He still feels unbelievably lucky to have been adopted by them. They've gone out of their way to make him feel loved and wanted, and more than that, to make him feel like he has always been loved and wanted… always been a part of their family, a first thought, not a second. While he's still Peter Parker at heart, he's also Peter Stark now, and proud to be his parent's son and Morgan's older brother.
Parkers never had to shovel snow, but all Starks do chores, and in the winter, that means shoveling snow each morning from the steps leading up to the covered porch, and the path to the gravel driveway. Peter really doesn't mind, especially because he's almost never charged with shoveling snow alone.
Yesterday Morgan had helped him, even though she'd done more playing and making snow angels than shoveling. The day before that, Pepper had ensured he was bundled up and wearing a thick pair of warm gloves before they'd gone out together to get the job done. Today, Peter and Tony are taking care of it. They'd already shoveled that morning, but it's been snowing all day, and they want to clear the path again before it gets dark out.
Peter half hums a Christmas tune to himself as he works on the path leading to the driveway. Scoop, lift the shovel up, tip it over on the side of the path, repeat. It's monotonous work, but his mind is filled with 'Jingle Bells' and 'Deck The Halls' with Christmas drawing near. There's only three weeks until Christmas, and he's beyond excited. Just a few months ago he'd still been living at the foster home in the city and hoping he'd get to spend Thanksgiving with the Starks. Back then he couldn't have imagined that they'd want to see him for Christmas. Now he knows that he's wanted and welcome, and there's no question that Christmas will be amazing. He doesn't even care if he gets any gifts, he's just glad that he has a family to spend his favorite holiday with.
As Peter moves to scoop up another shovelful of snow, a cascade of snow hits right in front of his feet and splashes out around his snow boots. He looks up towards Tony and blinks in confusion.
"Missed a spot," Tony says with a grin.
Peter grins back. For his dad, or anyone else, shoveling heavy snow can be hard work. For Peter and his enhanced strength, it's just boring. His dad doesn't know what he's asking for in starting a snow war with Peter.
"You sure?" Peter asks, one brow raised.
Tony points at the mess of snow right where he'd thrown it at Peter's feet. "Yep, pretty sure, Roo. Big mess, lots of missed white stuff. I think-" Tony stops abruptly as an overfull shovel load of snow explodes against his pants.
"What was that?" Tony half complains.
"You missed a spot," Peter says, turning back to his work with a smile. Christmas tunes have fled his mind and been replaced with more mischievous thoughts. He's pretty sure that Tony isn't going to let this slide.
"Clearly," Tony says.
Peter can hear him stoop down to scoop up a ball of snow behind him, and Peter does the same. Tony gets his snowball launched at Peter's back before Peter can fully form a good snowball. Still, it's only moments later that Peter hits his dad square in the face with cold snow.
Tony sputters, points at Peter again, and says, "Oh, it's on, buddy. You wanna go, we'll go." It's not just a threat because Tony means it. That's ok, because his dad is grinning as he starts to pack down another snowball. So is Peter.
Peter is so involved in tossing snow at his dad that he loses track of everything else around him. Tony and Peter laugh, launch snowballs at each other, sometimes half formed, and somehow Peter misses the fact that Pepper has stepped out the front door onto the porch to watch. He doesn't even realize that she's there until one of his snowballs misses and goes sailing past Tony's head and hits her in the shoulder.
"Hey! I'm not a part of this!" she protests.
Peter freezes, uncertain if she's upset with him or not. Tony doesn't give him a chance to find out, because without missing a beat, he throws a snowball he already has formed at her.
"Tony!"
"I don't even know what's happening, Pep," he says, already scooping up another handful of snow. "This stuff is just flying through the air. It's weird how that tends to happen in winter, isn't it?"
Pepper does not seem to be pleased with being covered in snow when she's not wearing a coat, so Peter does the only thing he can think of, which is to tackle his dad to make amends. Peter hits him square on and they both go over backwards into the soft snow, Tony with a surprised, "Oompf."
Tony looks up at Peter, who is on top of him, grinning. "You having fun, Roo?"
"Yeah."
"I can't really carry on with a snowball fight if you're on top of me, buddy."
Peter grins as he hears Pepper's boots crunching up behind them in the snow.
"Yeah, that's kind of the point," Peter says.
Tony notices Pepper then, looming up over them both.
"Miscalculation," Tony says, and clenches his eyes shut.
Peter thinks he's talking to himself, but realizes a second later that he's talking to Peter. Pepper doesn't just drop a handful of snow onto Tony's bare face, she also drops a handful down onto the back of Peter's bare neck.
Peter yelps, rolls away, and scrabbles at the back of his neck, trying to get the icy snow off of his skin. "I was trying to help you get payback!" he complains loudly.
Pepper smiles down at him where he lays in the snow next to Tony. "Yes, and it was wonderful, thank you for your help."
She turns and goes back to the porch and into the house, Tony and Peter watching her go.
"Rule number one," Tony says. "Don't underestimate your mom."
"I thought rule number one was, 'Pepper is always right'."
"Let's move that to rule number two."
"I thought rule number two was, 'don't let Morgan have too many juice pops.'"
Tony laughs and sits up, snow sliding off of him. "Come on, help me up. I'm not a young man anymore you know. I'm in my thirties now and-"
Peter scoffs as he climbs to his feet and reaches forward to pull Tony up.
"Did you just scoff at my age? You did not just scoff at my age," he says.
"I dunno what you're talking about," Peter says with a grin.
Later, as Peter sits by the fire drying off, feet nice and toasty in soft, fuzzy socks, he smiles to himself, humming Christmas music again. Morgan has been complaining for ten minutes already about how she missed their snowball fight because she was taking a nap, and his mom and dad are in the kitchen making dinner together, talking softly. He thinks about how Parkers never shovel snow, and about how Starks shovel snow in style. He thinks that Ben would have loved shoveling snow like this… can remember his laugh, and the way May smiled when he and Ben had done something particularly immature.
Christmas is coming, and there's more shoveling to be done, but he has his family both by his side and in his heart to shovel snow with.