Avengers Family

Christmas! (Platonic Avengers)

"Woah, look at those reindeer! They move!" Steve excitedly pointed toward the display in the store's window.

"I can't believe they've had those up since October." Clint scoffed. "My kids begged me to decorate for the holidays and we were only just getting supplies for Halloween."

"It's crazy. You must be shocked at how commercialized the holiday has gotten Steve." Tony glanced around at all the lights and ornaments, the general unhappy expression never leaving his face. He liked Christmas, but department stores were not his forte. He wouldn't be anywhere near the mall if he hadn't agreed to help with the damages caused by the latest round of villains.

"It's not-" Steve's response was cut off by the creaking of metal debris, alerting the heroes of a nearby pile in need of removal. 

By the time the three men finished up, it was late evening. "I'm just going to use the suit to fly back to get some work done, but I can call a car for you two."

"I'm good. Laura is going to pick me up so we can run some errands before getting home."

"Steve?"

"No thanks. I'm good. I've also got some stuff to do."

Tony shrugged. "See you back at the tower."

The men waved goodbye and parted in different directions. Steve went off into the mall and picked up as many Christmas items as he could. He had shopping bags filled with decorations, gift-wrapping supplies, and cookie making ingredients when he returned to his room. While he wasn't anywhere close to as wealthy as Tony, SHEILD paid him well, and Tony covered rent and food, so he had plenty of extra cash to burn.

"Wow. Someone really went to town with the Christmas shopping." Bruce whistled as he passed Steve on his way down to the lab. Steve just smiled.

—————

"Look at all that fresh snow! Let's go outside and make snowmen!" Peter excitedly yelled from his position by the window.

"It's way below freezing and it's windy outside." Sam looked warily outside. "Barring an emergency of apocalyptic proportions, I am not going outside today."

"No way kid." Tony clutched his warm mug of coffee tighter. Bruce shook his head as well.

"I'll join you!" Steve enthusiastically volunteered. The others looked skeptically at his cheer. Natasha raised an eyebrow.

Peter bounded over to the coat rack to grab his things, pulling Steve in the direction of the door. The super solider good-naturedly let himself be pulled into the freezing cold. His metabolism would keep him from freezing, but that didn't mean he wouldn't feel it.

For hours, anytime anyone glanced out the window, they would see Steve and Peter playing in the snow. Steve and Peter laughing as they constructed snowmen. Steve and Peter laying in the snow, making snow angels as they told each other stories. Steve and Peter building a ramp and then using Steve's sled to do tricks on it.

"Steve must really like the winter." The Avengers had only moved in together earlier this year, so they hadn't been around Steve in the winter very much until recently. They just assumed his personality was such that he really enjoyed the season.

—————

"Yeah, so if you just crawl around or whatever it is you usually do on your missions, we can test the clarity of the feedback." Tony tossed a new version of a transmitter to Clint.

"'Crawl around'? Is that really what you think I do? I'm a recognizance specialist. An expert in the field."

"And to test it out you will be?"