Work Text:
Day 6: Red Noses
“Man the walls! Fight for your life! Fight for glory!”
“Hit him! Fuck!”
“HEY! I’m on your team, asshole!”
“Oops.”
“Your aim is lousy, what the hell?!”
“I tried something.”
“Yeah and you failed. LEFT, ON YOUR LEFT!”
“Dammit! Stop distracting me!”
“One man down!”
“Gee, thanks, Nat.”
“Anytime.”
She smirks like the cat that got the canary, throws another snowball against the haphazardly built war wall and then sneaks to hide behind Thor while she gathers more tightly packed snowballs, filling up the ammunition.
Thor is out front, along with Steve while Natasha and Sam are the sneaky, hidden attackers. On the other side, Tony has teamed up with Bruce, Clint and Bucky. It’s fair - three superhumans in one team vs one superhuman and one sniper (technically two, but Bucky is out front and having a blast) in the other. Bruce is himself, because he refuses to hulk out for a snowball fight, which is fair enough. The transformations are exhausting, not to mention painful, and no one wants to put him through that unless absolutely necessary.
One might think that he and Tony would fight with science, like they do in the field when things get serious. Truth is, when snowballs are involved, they fight dirty as hell.
Steve turns around just in time to duck away under a snowball. Matrix slow-mo style. Show-off.
“Hey, you lost this!” he throws another snowball back - hard. It hits a tree, shaking it enough for more snow to fall off of it’s branches. Steve laughs when a long string of vulgar curses follows. Clint flips him off from his perch on said tree.
“I have snow in my underwear, Steve! I will fucking end you!”
Roaring laughter erupts from all sides, and a snowball hits Steve square in the back of the head, making pieces of it crumble down the neck of jacket, shirt, pants... - okay, he’s had that one coming.
When it comes down to it, the Avengers on a day off can be like a bunch of children.
All of this starts when everyone is long overdue for a day off.
“Vacation” isn’t a word anyone would have dared to say out loud at that time, until Tony decides that enough is enough. He books three weeks in a luxurious mountain hut and informes everyone, rather than asks, that this is where they would go and promptly falls asleep with his head on a stack of files after delivering this information.
So that settles it.
Everyone is exhausted, and the energy runs low. How long it would have been until somebody hit their breaking point is unclear, but it probably wouldn’t have taken a lot at this point.
Just a little while later, the team finds themselves in their new destination.
The house is beautiful. It looks like it’s made entirely of wood, like a log cabin, but much more spacious. Not a single soul is around - they collected the keys about half an hour away from here, from a very friendly older couple who wished them a good time, and said to call if they’d need anything. After that, they don’t see any other house or person.
There are mountains and forests, covered in glittering snow and the air smells fresh and clean. This is like something straight from a christmas greeting card, and when the team arrives by the house, it takes their breath away for a moment.
Once they’re all settled, they spend the first two days completely lazy - reading books by the fireplace, sleeping, knitting, crochet - everyone finds something to do (or not-do, which is a plan in itself). On day three, they decide to go explore the landscape around the house.
It’s like they walked straight into a winter wonderland - it’s quiet and romantic, such a stark contrast to the quick and busy lives they usually lead. That is, until they start the legendary snowball fight.
Who would have thought that a group of eight grown adults can turn into a bunch of children again, once they’re faced with an opportunity like that.
They return back home wet, cold and with red noses, still laughing and arguing without any heat behind it. Thankfully, there are plenty of bathrooms to shower, change clothes and hang the dripping wet things over the heated towel racks.
Somebody has already started to make a huge pot of hot chocolate, and the scents lures out everyone who is still lingering in the bathroom. But the promise of something hot and sweet to drink is more than enough to get them to hurry up.
Days fade into night, and oftentimes, they will bundle up with blankets on the front porch to watch the stars. This is simply impossible in New York, but here, the sky is dark and clear and they can even recognize star constellations from here.
One night, there is supposed to be a meteor shower, and that means that all eight of them camp out on the front porch.
They’ve spent the evening trading stories, talking about anything and everything, but as soon as the spectacle on the sky starts, everyone falls quiet. It’s mesmerizing, and despite the cold wind around them, there is a warmth that spreads through every fiber of their bodies.
They’ve been a team for years now, been through so much together; horrible and wonderful things alike. It’s unique, and it made them a family.
Soon, they will have to fight monsters, robots or evil scientists again, but for now, they have this. They have each other and a beautiful night sky in the middle of nowhere.
Life can be beautiful sometimes.