Work Text:
Day 2: Festive Lights
“Move, get out of the way! I can’t see where I’m walking!”
The call comes from a stack of cardboard boxes with legs sticking out on the bottom and a voice that sounds a lot like Tony. Steve steps aside, one eyebrow raised in amusement at the sudden command.
“Do you need help over there?” he offers, and takes the upper two boxes, revealing his teammates face behind them.
“Perfect, thanks. Just put them over there.” He nods his head over to a table, where some time in the last few minutes, even more boxes have appeared.
“What’s up with that stuff?” Steve asks, and is met with a bright grin.
“Christmas decorations!”
“Uh… It’s still November?”
“So? Thanksgiving is over, that means it’s christmas time! Festive lights! Cookies! Shove a pine tree up your ass! All of that good stuff.”
“I’ll pass on the tree part, thanks.”
“Spoilsport.”
The grin that Tony shoots him is blinding though - he is clearly excited, and as always, his good mood is highly contagious. Steve can’t help but smile back, even when he is handed a lump of knotted up lights.
“You just don’t want to untangle this mess on your own.” he accuses, but there is no heat behind it and he is already searching for an end.
“Guilty as charged. Humor me.”
Once they start decorating, it’s like the rest of the team is magically summoned to the common area. They appear one by one, as if materializing out of thin air. It’s as if they drop down from the ceiling, grow out of the ground and crawl out of the wall. Just a bit.
Tony figures, that’s what he gets for living with two ex-SHIELD agents, amongst others. He is standing on Steve’s shoulders to reach under the ceiling, where a string of icicle fairy lights makes its way halfway around the room, when suddenly, Clint says right next to them,
“The fuck, did I miss the start of December?!”
He sounds confused and slightly panicked - who knows when was the last time he slept.
“Nope, we’re just early.”
“Don’t startle me like that. I didn’t have enough caffeine…”
“Not enough sleep, you mean.” Steve shoots him a look - like he thought, the archer looks disheveled and the bags under his eyes are slowly turning darker and darker. Clint shrugs.
“Same thing. You guys need a hand?”
It doesn’t take long for more people to show up. Natasha is next, who is probably on the search for Clint. She arrives in the living room, finding her best friend using one of his arrows - lord knows where he stored that, no one saw - to tighten a neat row of screws on the wall to hang up glittery garlands.
Tony is still standing on their Captains broad shoulders, hanging up lights, and Natasha doesn’t question any of it. Life is much easier that way. She simply asks the same question everyone else has asked to far:
“Do you want any help?”
And they happily assign her another task.
Soon after, Bruce walks in with Thor in tow. Both of them are in an animated conversation and Thor interrupts himself to exclaim,
“Your decor for the Yule festivities are a bit early, but truly magnificent, my friends!”
With the whole team there, it doesn’t take very long until the common floor looks like christmas exploded all over it. Countless lights are wrapped around the entire room, around table legs and even in the houseplants. Glitter, fake snow, stars, pine cones - they’ve thought of everything. Or rather, Tony thought of everything.
Many years have passed since he last used the decor, but he is happy to see it all out there. Most of all, he is happy to be able to share this with his friends. It’s the first holiday season that they spend together as a team, and it means a lot.
Tony is aware that he is probably overdoing it, like he always does but fuck it.
He knows that most of them don’t have many happy memories of this time of year, himself included. But they’re a lot less alone now that they have each other and Tony wants this season to be to as nice as humanly possible. He wants the team happy and the tower to look like a winter wonderland has thrown up all over it, damn it.
He doesn’t vocalize any of this. Instead, he spreads lights and glitter all over the floor and engages in the happy chatter.
Truth been told, it’s been a long time since he’s looked forward to the holidays. But this year, he does.
A quiet spark of happiness floats through his entire body and he can’t stop smiling the whole time.
The true beauty of their work is revealed when nighttime hits. The sky outside is dark, even though it is still pretty early. Winter time.
Millions of lights from the outside are reflecting in the windows, and then they dim the lights inside. The room is half dark, only illuminated by countless tiny light bulbs and a huge, crackling candle on the coffee table.
A heavenly scent of Lasagna wafts out of the open kitchen door, making everyone hungry. While they wait for the oven timer to go off with watering mouths, the team is sprawled across the spacious couch.
All of them hold mugs with hot drinks, ranging from coffee to tea to hot chocolate. The room is warm, thanks to JARVIS temperature control and the electric fire in the corner.
One of the many perks of living here is the fact that the couch is big enough for 6 grown adults, including a Demigod and a Supersoldier to sprawl out on. They bump into each other and tangle limbs, but they fit on it with no problem.
Tony leans back into the cushions, one hand scratching the soft fur of the dog-butt that ended up on his lap while Lucky has his head buried in Clint and a thick blanket, enjoying the pets from both sides.
That dog is living the best life ever, he thinks, and smiles a little.
All around them, the world grows dark and quiet, only illuminated by the festive lights they hung up in a team effort. Maybe, hopefully, this year they can all make good christmas memories to replace the old and painful ones.