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“We are gonna be so damn late.” Bucky groaned, and Tony grinned down at his lover from where he was riding the man slowly, moving his hips in gentle circles.
“I’m sorry, should I stop?” He asked teasingly, and Bucky growled before rearing up, wrapping him in his arms and rolling them both.
Tony let out an ‘oompf’ as his back hit the mattress, glaring up at his lover before tossing his head back and groaning when Bucky thrust his legs wide and started to pound into him.
“Ah! Fuck, yes, Bucky. Oh, God, come on. Yeah, make me cum, please.” He whined, biting off small screams every time Bucky slammed into him.
Bucky groaned and dug his nails into Tony’s thighs, the bite only serving to make the pleasure sharper. Tony reached down to wrap a hand around his cock, pumping in time with Bucky’s furious thrusts. The man’s eyes lingered on the sight of his fist wrapped around the dark flesh and Bucky’s tongue poked out to swipe over his lips quickly.
“Yeah, hell yeah, jack your cock, baby boy. Let me see you cum all over yourself. Come on, sweetheart, get dirty for me.”
The words, and the twist of Bucky’s hips that had his cock slamming directly into Tony’s prostate, set the younger man off, spilling over his stomach with a cry of his lover’s name. Bucky thrust hard a few more times before he stiffened and groaned out an approximation of Tony’s name, his voice so lust-deep it was hard to make out words. He let Tony’s legs fall and braced himself above his lover, panting.
Tony smiled at the curl of warmth in his stomach that had nothing to do with the recent orgasm as he stared up at the man he loved. The past two years had been complete hell, between the rape, Steve and Howard’s relationship coming to light, and rushing to the hospital on Christmas Day the year previous to find a very different version of his father lying in the bed. But everything was fine now, and this holiday season had gone amazing so far.
Tony shoved at Bucky’s firm chest, moving the man off of him and reaching into the bedside table for baby wipes, quickly cleaning himself off. He sat up on the edge of the bed, inhaling deeply before pushing himself up and striding into the bathroom. He cleaned himself off more thoroughly and had just finished shoving the hand towel into the laundry chute when Bucky strode in, pulling on gray sweater two sizes too big for him. Tony turned and easily accepted the man’s kiss, hooking fingers in the belt loops of the beat to shit blue jeans he was wearing. Bucky pushed him away gently with a warning look, tapping his wrist impatiently. Tony rolled his eyes and strode back into the bedroom, yanking on a pair of briefs before wandering to the closet.
“It’s not like we have to go far, Buck. We have to be down in the main family room.”
“Yeah, in two minutes Tony. Let’s move it!” Bucky hollered, clapping his palms together from out in the bedroom.
Tony huffed and yanked on an old MIT sweatshirt of his dad’s, pulling on a faded pair of jeans under it. He skipped merrily out of the closet, before jumping to a stop in front of Bucky, planting his hands on his hips.
“Am I pretty?”
“You’re beautiful, princess. Now let’s go." Bucky said, hooking his arm through Tony’s and using it to drag him from the room.
They quickly made their ways through the halls that were dripping with Christmas decorations, before arriving at the top of the grand staircase, looking down into the foyer that looked like Santa had exploded all over it. Bucky shook his head as they started on their way down, gesturing around with his free hand.
“Is it always like this?”
“Hell no,” Tony laughed, shaking his own head. “No, neither Mom or Dad were really big on Christmas. I think this is all Steve’s doing.”
Bucky nodded as they hit the ground and quickly made their way across the foyer, pulling open the massive double doors that led into the family room. To Tony’s surprise, they were the only ones in there. Bucky let go of his arm and strode over to the bar, pouring himself a glass full of whiskey before using it to gesture around the room.
“I thought your dad and Steve said 8 on the nose.”
“They did,” Tony remarked drily, hearing footsteps pounding down the steps. “Apparently we weren’t the only ones getting into the holiday spirit.”
Bucky groaned, burying his face into his glass as Steve and Howard slunk into view. They were both dressed down in similar outfits to Bucky and Tony’s, except Howard was sporting an accessory to his clothes; a big ass hickey that just barely poked out from the collar of his sweatshirt. Tony stared, as he had for the past year, still not used to his dad’s new look.
Last Christmas, Howard had been rushing home, trying to get there in time for the dinner they’d planned. He’d seen the ice at the intersection, but the other driver had been too drunk to notice it and had T-boned his dad. He’d been rushed to the hospital, where the doctor’s had worked endlessly to try to save him. Tony had sat in a private waiting room along with Bucky and Steve, curled up in his lover’s lap, watching Steve pace a hole in the carpet as they prayed for news. It turns out the doctor’s at the hospital had gotten a hold of something akin to whatever Doctor Erskine had used on Steve. It was experimental, they’d warned, and might not have the effect it had on Steve’s body.
But it was that or trust God and Tony wasn’t too set on the latter option.
It had worked fantastically, speeding up Howard’s recovery by miles, but it had also had some interesting side effects. Notably, spinning back the clock on Howard’s body, de-aging him physically by about fifteen years. They’d said it would continue that way, that he’d physically age just as glacially as Steve was. It had been extremely odd, walking into the hospital room and seeing a thirty-seven year old version of his dad staring back at him.
He’d slowly gotten used to it, but it was odd at times, expecting more age in his father’s face than what there was.
“Sorry, sorry, I know, we’re late.” Steve apologized, striding over to the bar and starting to mix up a couple of drinks.
Tony shook his head and gave his dad a nod, taking a few of the presents the man had in his arms, helping to arrange them under the tree. He and Bucky had already thought to bring theirs down the day before and so Tony just piled the new ones around those. By the time they’d finished, Steve was holding out a glass of eggnog to Tony and a glass of scotch to Howard. They took their respective drinks, Howard going to settle in one of the huge armchairs by the fire, giving a nod to Bucky who was sprawled in the other one.
Steve grabbed his own glass before coming to stand next to Tony, quietly observing the tree. Tony closed his eyes and let the ambience of the room wash over him. Everything seemed sharper with his vision gone for the moment, the quiet murmurings of Bucky and Howard bantering back and forth, the warmth from Steve’s body next to him, the low hum of the electricity running through the Christmas lights, and the smells of the room mixing; alcohol, cigarettes, cinnamon, and the smell of evergreen.
He opened his eyes when Steve nudged him gently, bumping his hip into Tony’s.
“Hey, you alright there?” He asked, his blue eyes glowing in the light from the tree. Tony grinned and nodded, nudging back.
“Yeah, just…happy.”
Steve’s whole face softened and Tony had only a moment to brace himself before Steve pulled him into a hug, burying his face in Tony’s hair. The younger boy laughed and cuddled against the artist, inhaling the scent of Steve and Howard’s colognes mixing. It smelled like home and comfort and safety.
“Hey, you two alright over there?”
Tony lifted his head and peered around Steve’s bulk to see Howard and Bucky twisted around, his dad halfway out of his seat, face twisted in concern. The sudden realization of how far they’d come hit Tony hard, nearly knocking his legs out from under him. When he was a kid, he’d thought Howard was the biggest asshole on the planet. And for the most part, he’d been right. But meeting Steve had changed the man completely, for the better, and now he could legitimately say that he had a good relationship with his father. With that thought, caught in the spirit of the season as he would later claim, he pressed his glass into Steve’s hands and crossed the room, throwing himself into his dad’s arms.
“T-Tony, what in the world—“ Howard stuttered out, but Tony was delighted to see that even in his confusion, Howard’s first reaction was to wrap his arms tight around him.
He buried his head into his dad’s collar, in a way he’d never been able to as a child. Howard still, to this day, smelled like he had when Tony was young; scotch, cigars, Italian Cypress cologne, and, underneath it all, the ozone-metal smell of electricity. Tony huffed out a breath into his father’s shoulder, trying to capture the scent for future reference. Howard dropped his head and whispered to Tony, so soft there was no way anyone else could hear.
“Are you okay, kiddo?”
“Yeah,” Tony whispered back, not moving from where he’d shoved his face. “I’m great. I’m home.”
Howard inhaled sharply before clutching Tony to him tightly, huffing out a breath.
“Yeah. Yeah, you are.”
They finally parted slowly, shifting uncomfortably and coughing, trying to clear the awkward air. Bucky finally snorted, breaking the silence of the moment.
“C’mere, baby boy.” He said, patting his inner thigh, and Tony gratefully complied, moving to sink down between his legs, stacking his arms on one powerful thigh.
He watched as Howard and Steve settled in matching positions, Steve reaching over Howard and Bucky’s thighs to hand Tony’s glass back to him. They sat like that for a long while, just watching the fire and sipping their drinks, Bucky stroking over Tony’s neck rhythmically, much like Howard was absently running one hand through Steve’s hair. Tony set his chin on Bucky’s thigh, looking over to where Steve had stacked his arms on Howard’s and had his head lying on them. He caught Tony’s stare and grinned blindingly at him, winking.
“Do we need to hug again?”
“Ah, no. No I think I’m all hugged out. Buuuut you know, we’ve hugged, I hugged Dad….but Dad and Bucky have never actually hugged each other.”
Steve’s eyes danced in amusement as he looked up at Howard, who was resolutely staring into the fire, sipping his drink.
“You’re right! And what better time than Christmas to have your first time?” Steve questioned, as Tony shot Bucky a look only to see the man copying Howard.
“Not even if he was on fire and I needed to smother it.” Howard grunted.
Bucky didn’t even fire back, simply nodding in acknowledgement and continuing to watch the flames. Steve and Tony traded looks of exasperation before Steve crawled up his dad’s body, balancing on the older man’s knee and whispering something into his ear. Howard’s eyes shuttered as he spoke, tongue flicking out to wet his lips before he offered Steve an incredulous look. Steve nodded with an innocent smile, and Howard snorted before reaching over to the box on the table next to him and drawing out a cigar. He offered it to Bucky and Tony’s eyes widened at the gesture.
Those…those were Howard’s Dunhill Estupendo cigars. He’d seen his dad smoke them maybe a handful of times in his life, and those were only on extremely special occasions. The one picture Tony had kept around of his dad when he was in college, stuffed into his wallet, was of Howard sitting in front of a banner announcing Tony’s birth, a smile on his face and a Dunhill in his hand. Tony had always told himself that Howard smoking the cigar meant he’d at least looked at Tony’s birth as something to be celebrated. He’d never seen his dad offer them to anyone else, and his wide eyes must have told Bucky it was significant because he took the cigar gingerly.
Steve slid back between Howard’s legs as Howard took his own from the box, sliding it from the tubing and lighting it, handing the gold lighter over the Bucky, who copied the older man’s actions. A comfortable silence settled then, both of the men smoking peacefully while Tony and Steve sipped their drinks. It was the most comfortable and safe Tony had felt…in his life, he realized and he sighed, sinking back into the V of Bucky’s legs. After a while, Howard set his cigar and drink down, clapping his hands together and breaking the reverie.
“Alright, let’s open presents, shall we?” He asked and stood, pulling Steve to his feet and striding over to the tree.
Tony followed, watching Bucky set his own cigar down before trotting over, standing behind him and wrapping powerful arms around his waist as they watched Steve kneel in front of the tree and fish out brightly wrapped packages. Once they’d all been sorted, each of them ending with a small pile of gifts of their feet, Tony and Bucky settled onto the carpet, tearing into them.
“Ah, Jesus, what the hell!” Bucky exclaims, before lifting a key out of the small box that lay in pieces. He jingled it in Howard’s direction and Tony stopped tearing his own present apart to watch the interaction.
“I saw you admiring Steve’s bike a few months back, figured it was envy in your eyes. The key’s symbolic, I had no idea what you would want, I assumed you’d want to pick out your own.” Howard said with a shrug, and Bucky’s eyes grew wide as he looked down at the key.
“You…you’re giving me a bike? Damnit, Stark, stop giving me expensive shit!” He growled, shaking a fist in Howard’s direction who laughed at him.
“Accept the gift and stop bitching, Barnes.”
“Eat me, Stark.”
“Enough!” Steve’s voice cut through their light-hearted bickering, the man shaking his head at them before looking to Tony. “Open your present, Tony.”
He arched a suspicious brow before tearing into his own small box, taking out…a key. He held it up and looked to his dad, surely Howard wouldn’t have gotten him and Bucky the same thing, right? Howard shrugged, suddenly looking uncomfortable, and looked to Steve, who pressed a kiss to his father’s temple.
“It’s symbolic too, Tony. It’s the key to Stark Industries CEO office.”
Tony’s mouth fell open as he looked between his father and Steve, flabbergasted. Howard shifted uncomfortably and coughed, avoiding everyone’s gaze.
“Dad?” Tony questioned, bringing Howard’s head up.
“Jesus, I knew we should have just taped the damn thing to your door with a note. Alright, fine, kid, here it is. I got another chance to be young, another chance to spend time with the person that I love, and I’m not too eager to waste it. I still own 60% of the stocks, the company is still mine, but…I don’t want to waste any more time in an office. It’s time for a new era, and you need to be the one to usher it in.”
Silence reigned after Howard’s speech, the older man getting more and more twitchy until he braced a hand on the floor beside him, seemingly ready to bolt. Tony sprang then, throwing himself at his father and sending them both crashing to the floor. Howard cursed as they wrestled with one another, Tony trying to plant a kiss on the older man’s cheek and Howard determined to avoid it at all costs.
“Damnit, Tony, knock it off!“
“No! You let me love you!”
“Love me from a distance, fuck!”
“Let me hug you!”
“No! I’m gonna commit your ass if you don’t move!”
“Do it! I’ll write your name on the walls!!”
“I take it back! Give me the damn key, you can’t be the boss, you’re ignorant!”
“NEVER!”
They stopped their scrapping when two laughs rang out from behind them, looking over to see Steve and Bucky leaning together, shoulders and heads meeting as they clutched at their stomachs, drawing gasping breaths in between guffaws. Tony grinned and scrambled over to plop himself in Bucky’s lap, knocking the older man onto his back.
“So, babe,” Tony said, leaning down to press a kiss to Bucky’s smiling mouth. “How’s it feel to be dating the CEO of the largest company in the world?”
Whatever Bucky was going to say was lost as a foot connected with Tony’s ass, sending him tumbling off the older man. He spun and glared, seeing Howard grinning smugly at him. Tony opened his mouth to fire back at the man when Steve held up a hand.
“Alright! I swear, I’m the only adult here. Can we get on with the present opening now?” He huffed, and everyone nodded, settling once more.
Tony watched eagerly as Bucky opened the small gift from him, unfolding the tissue paper before freezing. He was suddenly worried, maybe he’d made a mistake? Maybe it was too much, too fast?
Bucky suddenly started to laugh, shaking his head and pulling out the ring box.
“You’ve got to be kidding me, right?” He asked, opening it and pulling out the silver band, sliding it onto his ring finger.
“Uhm,” Tony fumbled around, blinking at the older man. “I…Is that a no?”
“Open your present, baby boy.” Bucky replied, and Tony blinked down at the small box.
He tore into it, chuckling as well when he pulled out an identical ring box from inside. Popping it open, he pulled out a gold band with a single ruby inlaid in it and slid it onto his ring finger as well. Once they both had them on, Tony reached out and linked their hands, the metal on Bucky’s finger cool against his heated flesh. A squeal brought their attention to the side, to the highly amusing sight of Steve with one hand clutched in Howard’s shirt and the other stuffed into his mouth to muffle his excited sounds.
“Okay, so we just proposed to each other aaaannnnd Steve is still the gayest one in the room.” Bucky remarked, earning himself a swat to the back of the head by the blonde.
“I’m excited for you two! We both are, right, Howard?”
“Yeah, yay, woo. I was wondering about when you were going to make an honest man out of Barnes, Tony.”
“Oh, don’t you worry about that, Stark. Tony makes an honest man outta me at least once a day.”
“Alright, okay, now it’s you guys’ turns!” Tony said, cutting off whatever barb his dad was going to fire back, twisting to sit thigh to thigh with Bucky, smacking a hand down on the man’s thigh with a reproachful look.
Steve and Howard looked at each other, Howard sweeping out a hand to indicate that Steve should go first. The artist complied, picking up a square gift and shaking it slightly before tearing at the paper. When he finally got it open, his eyes grew wide and Tony internally bounced, clinging to Bucky’s hand.
“It’s a tablet.” Steve said, turning it over and over again in his hands.
“It’s not just a tablet, here, see?” Tony reached over and hit a button, causing a white canvas to appear in the air.
“Oh wow! So do I draw on the screen or…?” Steve looked between the canvas and Tony. The younger boy shook his head, reaching up and squiggling a line onto the canvas.
“Nope, you can draw right in the air. I remember when you sketched me that one time you kept cracking your neck because you were looking up and down from me to the canvas. This makes it so you won’t have to!” Tony explained, and Steve grinned widely, reaching out to pull him and then Bucky into hugs.
“Thank you guys, so much. This is awesome, and it’ll come in so handy, I can’t even explain.”
Tony waved off the thanks with a smile, turning towards his dad who was looking at the package in front of him like it would bite him if he wasn’t careful. He huffed finally, tearing open the package and pulling out a small box, opening it slowly. His face split into a grin that had Tony’s heart climbing back up from where it had dropped into his stomach as he reached in and slowly drew out the pocketwatch.
“It’s just like the one I lost in the crash.” Howard whispered, winding the chain around his fingers and smiling up at them.
Tony grinned back, leaning his head against Bucky’s shoulder.
“I know how much it meant to you, Dad. Never saw you get dressed up without it. Figured you needed something from the past back.”
Howard smiled and nodded, slipping it carefully into his pocket. The room fell quiet for a moment before Bucky broke it, gesturing between the two.
“Well? Aren’t you two gonna exchange too?”
Steve and Howard looked at each other for a long moment before Steve smiled and nudged the massive gift wrapped in silver and blue towards him. Howard picked it up, unwrapping it carefully. When it was finally exposed, just a plain white box, Tony leant forward, eyes straining like he could see through the box by sheer force of will. Bucky pulled him back, popping him lightly on the crown of his head as Howard pulled the box open. Howard’s eyes grew wide and he looked over at Steve, mouth hanging slightly open.
“This is..”
“I promised it to you. I told you one day I would show you what I saw you as Howard.”
Howard set the box gently on the floor before lunging over to pulling Steve into a heated kiss. Tony ignored them, not even making mention of the fact that they were breaking a house rule by making out in front of them, leaning over and gasping at the amazing painting.
It was Howard, lying in what had to be his and Steve’s bed, on his side, papers and his laptop in front of him. He was staring out of the painting, the look in his eyes a mix of amusement and love, and light was glinting off the wedding ring on his hand. In the painting he was the perfect mix of businessman and lover, and even Tony had to admit, though seeing his dad shirtless wasn’t ideal, the picture was a fantastic representation of everything his dad was at his core.
He sat back and snuggled against Bucky, watching with kind eyes as Howard and Steve whispered to one another, Steve rubbing their noses together before finally pulling back. He gazed at Howard with misty eyes before shaking his head and taking a deep breath, clapping his hands together.
“All right, enough mushy stuff. Where’s my present? Gimme, gimme, gimme.”
Howard laughed and climbed to his feet, pressing one last kiss to Steve’s head before striding from the room. Tony turned a questioning stare to Steve, who merely shrugged.
“Maybe he got me a car or something?”
The sound of footsteps brought their heads back around, an odd echo following them. Steve’s brow furrowed and he got to his feet, striding towards the doorway.
“Howard, what in the—Oh my god!”
Tony jumped at Steve’s yelp, seeing the young man drop to his knees, and he and Bucky scrambled over to see what had happened. Tony gasped at the sight, dropping down to reach out and gently touch the puppy that was hopping all over Steve, trying to lick his face off, or so it seemed. Tony looked up at his dad, who stood in the doorway with a smug grin on his face.
“I can’t believe you got him a dog!”
“That ‘dog’ is a champion bred Golden Retriever who’s already house-trained, knows basic on and off leash commands, and has been taught since birth what Steve smells like.”
“So that’s why my shirts and hoodie’s kept disappearing!” Steve exclaimed, sinking his hands into the puppy’s fur and settling it, placing it closer to Tony so they could both love on it.
They all crowded around, Bucky finding the puppy’s thump spot behind its right ear and causing a round of chuckles through the group. Hell, even Howard bent down and patted the dog’s head with a small smile, though he grimaced when it licked his fingers, pulling back to wipe them on his trousers.
“What’re you gonna name it, Steve?”
“He, it’s a boy, Barnes. Are you blind?”
“I don’t make a habit of checking out doggie dick, Stark.”
Tony rolled his eyes, ignoring as his Dad and Bucky began to bicker over his head, the insults getting more and more inventive until he thought he heard Howard ask Bucky if he wanted him to find a knotting dildo, which….no.
“Astro.”
Steve’s voice cut the argument short and Tony could swear his dad almost got tear-eyed before leaning over to pull Steve into a gentle kiss. They kept at it until the puppy grew impatient and hopped up, licking at their chins until Howard started and pulled away with a curse.
“Hey, lookit that! You just bought your own personal cockblock, Stark. Aren’t you proud?”
Steve and Tony shared exasperated looks as the two men began to argue again, Steve reaching out to pull Tony into a hug, pressing their sides together as Astro bounced between the two men, adding in yips and huffs whenever the conversation lulled.
“Good Christmas, Tony?”
“Yeah, pops, best Christmas yet.”