the strongest avenger

sixty one

After May had picked Peter up, Talia went back to her room to do some cleaning. She listened to some music while putting freshly washed clothes away, vacuuming and dusting. She went over to the kitchen around one in the afternoon, needing a coffee and a snack.

"Merry Christmas to my favorite daughter." Tal grins over at Tony as he struts into the room, wearing sweatpants and an AC/DC shirt.

"Look at you, you're not wearing a suit. Or jeans."

"It's Christmas, the only holiday I deign to be comfy. That and my birthday." He heads over to the Keurig where she was going to make her coffee. "Want some?"

"Yes." The girl heads over to the pantry and grabs some Doritos, going to the counter and sitting on a stool. She glances down at the Doritos and then at Tony. "Doritos remind me of Steve."

"I know." Tony says, averting his eyes.

"You miss him." Tal states, a little shocked at his feelings.

He scoffs and flicks his hand. "No I don't. I mean I guess I miss having everyone all together..."

"Okay," she knows that Tony's too stubborn to say that he misses Spangles. "whatever you say."

"How was your sleepover?" He asks as he places a cup of coffee in front of her.

Talia looks up and freezes.

"What? You thought I wouldn't notice that you had Parker over and that he stayed in your room?"

Talia gulps and goes to the fridge, grabbing milk and then sugar from a cabinet. "We didn't have sex or anything. He slept on the floor."

"Tal, look. I trust you. If you want to have sex, have sex, if you don't, then don't. I'm not gonna hover and tell you what to do. Just...make good decisions, don't be me."

She chuckles at him. "Thanks for...trusting me. But seriously we haven't done anything. I don't even—well I don't even think he likes me like that."

Tony groans. "You are so oblivious Tal. That boy likes you, a lot. I say go for it."

She shakes her head and takes a sip of her coffee.

"Wanna get takeout tonight? Chinese? Italian? We can have a movie night, I know you like those."

She beams at him. "That sounds perfect, let's do Chinese. I'm in the mood for fried rice."

"Okay. Why don't you go look at the tree, your presents are there." Tony smirks into his cup of coffee as he takes a sip.

"Dad, I told you not to get me anything."

"Like I listen. Also, there's a package for you. I just put it under the tree too, I don't know if you ordered something or—"

"I didn't. But we'll see what it is."

Talia takes her coffee and leads the way into the living area where Tony's fake tree stands to the right of the main flat screen TV, decked out in gold and red ornaments. She places her drink on the nearby coffee table and glances down at the small boxes wrapped in red paper, and the other box—a white and black, high tech contraption.

She narrows her eyes but then sits down next to the tree. Pulling the smallest box towards her. She chuckles as she tears the wrapping paper, exposing a new set of colored pencils.

"Perfect, these are the fancy ones too." She murmurs while opening the next.

The other gifts from Tony include a new set of throwing knives, a pair of Nike sneakers, and a new laptop.