All eyes were on Tony. Tony had told them all that he would give them their gifts after all the others were opened. Trust Tony to try and save "the best for last" or so he said. Tony had been talking about how great his gifts were for the past three weeks. By this time, all of them, whether they liked it or not, had thought about what the billionaire planned to give them.

Bruce kind of hoped that Tony would finally replace the lab equipment that he had been struggling with for the past few months. Some of the parts of the MRI scanner had broken, and it was nearly unusable right now.

Steve, on the other hand, had no clue what Tony planned on giving him. Tony had pointed out an animatronic Captain America in a toy store a few days ago. Knowing the playboy, Steve kind of expected Tony to get him that toy for Christmas. It was just something that Tony was bound to do, and Steve wasn't really looking forward to it.

Natasha didn't care much for Christmas. It meant torturing oneself over gifts that no one would ever use. At least, she had never used the pile of Hawkeye action figures that Barton had gotten her. They were really irritating. Especially the new one he got her today that talked. She planned to burn it as soon as she was alone. She was kind of interested in Tony's gift though. Would he pull a prank or would he get something worthwhile like a remote controlled spy helicopter. SHIELD had some stored up in the Helicarrier, but it would be nice to not have to go through the red tape each and every time she needed one.

Clint, speak of the devil, was excited for what Tony was going to give. The hype over the past three weeks had been driving him mad. Tony had his hands in so many high tech ventures that he could really get his hands on anything that he wanted. Clint had no doubt that the gift would be awesome!

Thor wasn't sure what to think about Tony's "gift". They had not celebrated Christmas on Asgard. The entire gift giving process had been chaotic for him. He had been so used to just walking out and getting whatever he wanted. The thought of waiting for people to give him things had been absolutely horrifying. Tony had told Thor that it would be a good idea for him to get used to Stark Phones, but Thor had never taken him up on the advice. Did the Son of Iron plan on giving him one of those Stark Phones?

Tony grinned at his five friends. They had been together ever since the New York catastrophe, and he was glad that they decided to move into Stark Towers with him. It got lonely every once and awhile, and he liked it when there was noise around the building. "I'll be right back. Just wait for me, okay?" Tony got up from his plush chair and walked out of the living room. He hurried down the hallway and down to Thor's room.

Thor's room had been the perfect place to hide the gifts. It wasn't as if Thor knew how to use the electronic safes in the room, so he would never suspect that Tony had hidden something in there. Tony tapped the numbers 148191 into the safe, and the door popped open. Tony opened the large waist-high safe door and slipped the five gifts out. The gifts were small for the most part. They ranged from an envelope to a shoe box, but Tony thought they were the absolute perfect gifts for his friends.

Tony piled the presents up in his arms and kicked the safe shut. He exited Thor's room and gently closed the door before heading back to the living room. "Guess who is back!" Tony said in a sing song voice as he re-entered the room. He walked over to each of the Avengers and handed them the gifts with their names on it. "I hope you guys like them. I spent a lot of time on each of them, so even if you don't like them, just tell me that you do."

Natasha snorted. Typical Tony, acting like everything was a big deal even though it wasn't. Natasha took the rectangular box and put it on her lap. She pulled the tape off before meticulously unwrapping the box. If there was anything that Natasha hated, she hated destroying things unnecessarily. If she could unwrap the box without damaging the wrapping, she would do it.

She tore off the tape that sealed the brown box and looked inside. Natasha's eyes softened as she reached into the box and pulled out her gift. It was a pair of ballet shoes. When had she last practiced ballet anyways? It has been so long ago since her last performance. She had been on the other side back then, but that didn't mean that she didn't enjoy ballet. Natasha stroked the pink material softly as she thought. Maybe it was time to pick up ballet again. She did have some spare time, and she couldn't just waste it. Right?

Clint was the next to open his gift. He looked at both sides of the envelope skeptically before opening up the flap. Tony's gift was so small! What on earth could Tony give him in an envelope anyways? Clint tugged out the letter and flipped it open. That was weird. It looked like the page format used by his billing compa-... It was his billing company! Clint scrunched his face up in confusion before reading down the page.

"Clinton Barton, we are glad to tell you that your account has been cleared of the charge that was presented to us three months ago," Clint read softly. He remembered the accident that he had three months ago. A mission had turned south, and Clint ended up seeing the wrong side of a gun. Clint hadn't expected the injury to be so bad; it had only clipped him after all. That was why he had made his way back to Stark Towers with the intention of treating the injury on his own. Things didn't turn out that way.

He ended up fainting on his way up the elevator. He was told later that Tony had been the one to find him in the elevator. After hearing that, Clint had asked Tony to not tell anyone else about that incident. He would never hear the end of it from Natasha and Steve if they found out he collapsed. To his surprise, Tony had agreed. Tony had told him to be more careful, and then he was off. Clint had been almost sure that the event had vanished from Tony's mind by now. He gripped the letter tightly in his fingers and smiled. Tony really was something else.

By that time, Thor had finally figured out how to open an envelope without ripping the letter inside. He pulled out the letter and opened it curiously. It wasn't anything like what he had expected.

Hey Blondie,

I know you're always moping for that brother of yours, so I thought I could offer my services. I had one of my Stark drones follow him around on Asgard. Don't ask me how I got the drone up there. I used less than legal routes if you know what I mean, so you had better appreciate it.

Loki spends most of his time hiking around the mountains of Asgard, so I advise you take him out there sometime. He also likes reading military history and... he likes white cats. That was unexpected for me too. I had thought he was more of a black cat kind of guy.

I'd advise for you to take him hiking or talk to him about history before you get him a cat though. It might be too sudden if you appear on his doorstep with a cat in tow. He might kick you out if you do that.

Best wishes,
Anthony Stark

Thor was shocked. He hadn't thought that Tony had noticed that he carried that picture of Loki around? He had been so careful to make sure no one noticed that. Thor hadn't wanted to make anyone worry about him just because he missed his brother. Thor smiled. He'd have to thank Tony for this later. He hoped that maybe, just maybe, this would help bridge the gap between him and his brother.

Bruce looked at the other Avengers that were all grinning over their presents and wondered what on earth they got. Bruce looked at the small box that he had received from Tony. He opened it up curiously. There was a small note with a pink and white flower stabbing through it to attack another letter to the note. Bruce pulled the paper out and plucked the flower out. He twisted it between his fingers mindlessly as he read the note.

"Tickets for two to the Bahamas?" Bruce murmured in confusion. He dropped the flower and opened up the envelope and slipped out the two tickets. The first ticket was addressed to his name, Bruce Banner, while the other was addressed to Betty Ross.

A memory flashed in the back of Bruce's mind. The two of them had been up having a late night drink with one another. Bruce had told Tony about his relationship with Betty. He worried that the two of them were growing apart since they were always too busy to see one another. Tony had tried to comfort him, but he had been inconsolable at that point. Had Tony remembered that talk?

"Tony, I think I misjudged you," Bruce whispered under his breath. "You're a much better person than I thought."

Steve was the last person to open his gift. His was the largest gift and was therefore covered in the most tape. Steve spent a good five minutes prying it all over before finally opening the gift. Inside the box was a tape recorder and a yellow file. Steve took out the tape player and set it on the ground before pulling out the file. He tapped the play button on the machine and the tape recorder clicked to life.

"Ah, it should be on now." Steve's head snapped away from the file to stare at the machine. The other Avengers looked at him curiously as Steve stared at the recorder in disbelief. Her voice had changed a bit, but he could still recognize it.

"Peggy?" Steve asked softly.

"You took your sweet time becoming unfrozen, Rogers. You still owe me that dance you know. Just because I'm old and gray doesn't mean I'm going to let you break a promise," Peggy ordered through the tape. "Penelope and I will be waiting for you. Penelope, say something!"

Some shuffling was heard on the tape as another person moved to be closer to the microphone. "Mom, you shouldn't strain yourself too much. But uh... , my name is Penelope. I am Peggy's daughter. She's been really excited to see you ever since she heard you were found in the ice. I hope you come to visit soon. You really do owe my mom that dance you know."

She sounded so much like Peggy when she was younger. Steve could remember the 1940's as if it were yesterday, and hearing Penelope was like a flash to the past. Steve opened up the file and saw Peggy's army retiree file. A red circle surrounded Peggy's newest address, and Steve rubbed his hand against his face. He tried to stop the tears from shedding, but he was just so happy.

Tony walked over to his friend and gave him a comforting hug. He was glad that he had made his friend to happy. "Merry Christmas everyone."

Author's Note: As prompted by TXJ.

I really enjoyed writing this one-shot! Tony really is a kind guy even though he often comes off the wrong way. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! And Merry Christmas to all of you!

You may or may not have noticed this, but... I did remove the first one-shot from the series. :'D It didn't even turn out close to how I wanted it to, so I thought it better to replace it with this one. Sorry about the confusion!