Steve was chopping up vegetables for dinner, wondering when Peter would be home. His question was quickly answered as Peter slipped in, coming from the direction of his bedroom. 

Smiling, Steve glanced up at him. 

"Hey Pete, I didn't know you were home. What're you doing?"

"Oh I was uh, kinda hungry. Got any carrots?" 

Steve furrowed his eyebrows and glanced up once again. "Carrots?" He repeated, wondering why on earth Peter would want a vegetable, when he always managed to sneak nutella on toast into his bedroom every afternoon.

"Yeah I'm going on a bit of a health kick. Apples would work too." 

"They're in the fridge." Steve told him, wondering why on earth Peter thought he needed a health kick- he had the fastest metabolism in the tower, and abs for gods sake. 

As Peter left with the entire bag of carrots, Steve caught his arm, making sure to look him in the eyes. 

"Peter, I just want you to know, you don't need to go on a health kick. You're a very healthy boy and you don't need to worry about those sorts of things- okay?"

Peter nodded. "I know. Good for your eyes though, you know?"

"Didn't you tell me last week that that fact is a myth? Something about being made up in World War One to trick the nazis or something?" 

"Uhhhhhh, yeah? I must've not checked my facts or something. Oh look at the time! I have a heap of homework to do- bye!" Peter slipped into his room, and Steve went back to cooking, shaking his head. 

Peter breathed a sigh of relief as he closed his bedroom door after him. "That was a close one Tater Trot. Almost got caught again. You hungry boy?" Peter pulled out a carrot and fed it to the large, brown horse taking up most of the room in the bedroom. 

"Can you imagine what would happen if dad found out early? You're supposed to be a birthday present, and it wouldn't be a surprise if he found out too early. Don't worry, it's only a week." 

****

So far, Peter was doing rather well at hiding the horse in his room. He hid it in his bathroom most days, so his room wouldn't smell of horse poo constantly. He fed it a diet of carrot and apple, as well as some horse feed he bought on the way home from school about a day after he had brought it home. 

Everyone else just thought he was having a growth spurt with the amount of food he was eating, and they didn't really bother him since he told them he was doing homework and studying in his room. Tony normally came in to tell him it was dinner time or to say goodnight, but Peter told him he was preparing him a birthday present and made him pinky promise not to go in his room, as to not ruin the surprise. 

Peter knew nobody would ever dare break a pinky promise, so he wasn't worried about Tater Trots being found out about. What he was worried about was Steve. 

Ever since he had began his 'health kick' Steve had been keeping an annoyingly close eye on Peter. At first he thought he was suspicious, but then he found out he was actually just worried about him. 

Why? 

Because next thing he knew Steve had given him a book about mental health and teenagehood.  

He had even began to corner Peter and give him hugs, telling him that he loved him and he was there if he needed to talk. 

Eventually, as Peter sat on his bed reading, Tater Trots eating an apple, Peter heard a knock on the door. 

"Peter? It's me, Steve. Can I come in?" 

Peter dropped the book and stood up in panic. 

"Hold on, I'm uh- I'm naked!" Peter took the reigns around Tater Trots and started tugging him into the bathroom. 

But it seemed Tater Trots didn't want to go into the bathroom, and dug it's hooves into the carpet, tugging in the opposite direction. 

'Come on Tater Trots!' Peter whispered quietly. 

Tater Trots obviously didn't want to move, so Peter grabbed the last apple, waving it in front of Tater Trots, who immediately started moving. It trotted into the bathroom so quickly it knocked something over loudly. 

"Peter? Is everything okay in there?" Steve asked, sounding concerned. 

"Yep! I uh- I fell!" Peter yelled, pushing the horse further into the bathroom and locking the door after it. 

He rushed over to the door and opened it, smiling over-exaggeratedly. "How can I help you?" 

"I've er, noticed you've been spending quite a lot of time in your bedroom and you've been on this health kick. Is anything going on Peter? Are you being bullied? Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine mum, I've just had a lot of homework to do, that's all. And carrots really help your eye sight, so I thought eating a lot of them would help with the tests." Peter said, improvising on the spot. 

Steve looked at his face for a few seconds, trying to detect if he was lying or not. "Alright," he sighed. "But I'm hear if you need to talk, okay?" 

Peter nodded quickly, and Steve quickly pulled him into a tight hug. 

A loud crashing noise was heard from the bathroom, making Peter wince. He had been so close!

"What was that?" Steve asked, suddenly suspicious. 

"Nothing!" Peter yelled too quickly, moving to stop Steve from walking in. He squirmed under Steve's scrutinising stare. "It's just, uh, dad's birthday present, that's all." 

"It's not anything live, is it?" Steve asked, still wanting to go inside. 

"What? Pff, no. It's not like I'd be able to fit a horse in here or something." 

"Well of course not, a horse would be way too big, besides, you'd have to feed it and everything. What is it?"

"It's a, uh," Peter wracked his brain for a few seconds. "It's a robot. Not finished yet though, I need to tweak a few things." 

Steve nodded, relaxing. 

"Just uh, don't tell anyone. Especially Auntie Nat and Uncle Bucky." 

"Why?" Steve asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. 

"Because they might tell dad, you know he knows their favourite ice cream flavours." 

"Wouldn't Thor or Clint be more likely to give in to bribery?" 

"Actually, er, yeah don't tell them either. Don't tell anyone- pinky promise?" 

Steve sighed, linking his pinky with Peter's smaller one. 

"Fine," he said. "But if it's anything live then you're grounded." 

"It's not!" Peter replied, voice going high. He watched as Steve left, making sure he was a safe enough distance away before closing the door, locking it, and letting the horse out. 

"That was another close one," Peter whispered. "Try to be quiet." 

******

Tony walked out into the kitchen on his birthday, hardly remembering it was his birthday. He drowsily poured himself a cup of coffee, eyes scanning the room boredly. 

He saw Peter, a horse... wait what?

Tony blinked and did a double take- there stood Peter, with a horse by his side. 

"Happy birthday dad!" Peter yelled, then grimaced slightly when Tony started choking on his coffee, the steaming hot liquid spilling everywhere. 

"What the f*ck Peter?!" Tony yelled, after wiping his mouth. 

"It's your birthday present!" Peter told him quickly. "His name's Tater Trots." 

"How long have you had that?!" 

Peter smiled sheepishly. "About a week?" 

"You- PETER- how did you- it's massive-" 

At that moment Steve came in, arriving home from his jog. He took one look at Peter and the horse, then turned around and left the room without a word. It was his way of saying 'I'm done with life'. 

******

Everyone sat in the lounge room, most drowsy from being awoken so early for a family meeting. Peter sat beside the horse, looking rather sheepish. 

Natasha was in shock at how she didn't realise he was hiding a freaking horse in his bedroom, and Bucky and Clint were fawning over it, petting it's large head and feeding it treats. 

Steve was fuming, and Wanda had the giggles from the whole situation. Vision had absolutely no idea what was going on, and Sam was still recovering from trying to keep up with Steve for the whole run that morning. Thor was sitting on the horse, telling stories about his first horse back in Asgard. 

Pepper had a hand over her mouth to hide her smile, and Tony was conflicted with his emotions. He wanted to tell Peter off for hiding a horse in his room (which he had found on the street) but he also wanted to thank Peter- he had done it for him after all. 

"You know what, I don't even know," Tony sighed eventually. "It's too early for this sh*t. Can we just take a picture, cut the cake, go do something? We'll sell the horse or find the owners or something. Next time don't hide animals in your room for anyone, okay Peter? I thought we had been through this from that dog before."

Peter pouted. "We're not keeping it?" 

"It'll just get neglected Peter. The only place we have room for it is upstate, and we only go there every so often. It won't be able to excercise, and it won't get much love. I'm sorry." 

Peter pouted, making Tony feel bad. "Come on, let's go get some cake." 

Peter immediately perked up. 

"Cake? I love cake!" 

They might not have gotten to keep the horse, but at least they got cake. 

"Ugh! Who made this?" 

"I did." Vision told them. 

Nevermind. 

"Friday remind me to send Vision to cooking classes. Maybe Gordon Ramsay will knock some sense into him. Would he give him lessons if I asked?" 

A/N Ok so I had this idea to do 12 days of christmas. Basically 12 days of christmas chapters with the last day being Christmas Eve. Gonna do a vote, cos I know some people don't celebrate Christmas and I'm sorry. Results will be at the end of tomorrow's chapter (the 11 of December 2018)

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Thanks! Happy reading, have a nice day. :)