It's that time of the year.
The time of hell.

I know, I should be thankful for this beautiful opportunity to spend time with family and all, but it really is most likely impossible to enjoy Christmas when Tony Stark is in charge of it. For unknown reasons, he is like Christmas itself in person and spends, no, wastes a hella lot of money in decorations, food and presents.

"Oh, come on, Tony can't be that bad! I'm sure it'll be fun." Bucky chuckles at my cautious behavior as I keep looking out of the door, making sure a certain brunette billionaire won't spot us.

"Shh! Trust me, he will make Christmas exhausting as hell. We should meet up with Steve soon, then we will just quietly leave the base and go to Brooklyn." I turn to meet his smug grin on his lips, his arms crossed over his chest, signaling that he's definitely mocking me. Closing the door again, I place my hands on his shoulders, squeezing them lightly. "Look, you don't know Tony like I do and I really want your first Christmas since forever to be perfect and relaxing, okay? You deserve the best Christmas ever."

"Alright. And I really appreciate your effort, canary. But as long as I'm with you and Steve, I'm happy." He plants a short but tender kiss to my forehead as his arms snake around my waist. It's not necessary to tell me that Hydra didn't celebrate Christmas with him.

"You... Are you okay?" I ask him worriedly, trying not to think about what he did on December the past seventy years.

"A bit on edge, to be honest. Don't worry, okay?"

"As your wife, I'll always be." I smile slightly and gently caress his cheek, his stubble tickling my palm. Leaning into a kiss, we suddenly get interrupted by a noisy rumble and in the next second, Steve suddenly crashes into our room from the air shaft. My eyes widen in shock and Bucky is startled by our best friend's painful land on the ground.

"Steve!" He shouts and we run towards the blonde but he's already getting up, barely carrying any scratches and only coated by dust.

"Clint told me that was the only way to get to your room without being seen in the corridor. We gotta go now if the train is supposed to leave in five minutes. But first..." He takes a deep breath as he knocks off the dust, then he suddenly pulls us both into a tight hug, "Merry Christmas!"

I let out a laugh into his chest while Bucky's smile grows, his head resting on Steve's shoulder. We almost collapse into the bed but manage to stand somehow, Steve's chest vibrates from his chuckle.

"What was that for?" I grin as he lets us go from the embrace.

"This is our first Christmas together since 1944. Shouldn't we celebrate?" Steve suggests and we nod. "Now let's go to Brooklyn, I wanna see what happened to the old apartment- "

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" Tony shouts through a mic, invading our room with Clint and Natasha. The three of us flinch and my heart almost jumps out of my chest, mentally groaning at our failed attempt. "Ha! Thought you could escape my Christmas terror?"

"Shut up, Tony." I just mutter annoyed and Steve groans.

"Clint! I thought you would help us??"

"I was but... Then Stark somehow managed to catch Nat and me, so I was like 'Why being the only ones who get busted?', you know?" Clint nervously laughs. "I mean, now we are stuck in this nightmare together, right?"

"Jesus, guys, I won't celebrate Christmas like I usually do. You're acting like it was the worst." Tony shakes his head disappointedly and now we are all ears.

"So no more ridiculous Santa visiting in the mall?" Natasha asks with hope in her voice and Clint stares at him in disbelief.

"No more gigantic Christmas tree decorating for seven hours?"

"No more spin the bottle extreme?" The horror is mirrored in Steve's face when he thinks of the last time we played.

"No more toxic Christmas cookies baking?" I remember when we all got food poisoning from Tony's secret cookie receipt.

Bucky scrunches up his face when he hears of our odd Christmas traditions. "What the hell did he make you guys do?"

"No, none of that anymore." Tony confirms to our relief, ignoring Bucky's concern and confusion. "The Christmas tree is already decorated, Wanda and Vision baked the cookies and I've got different plans for today. You'll love it, don't worry. And even if you don't, I don't care, you're still forced to do it. Now come on, follow me."

While he goes ahead, Clint turns to whisper something apparently important to us. "Okay, listen. I have a locker at the bank with the combination 4827 under the name John Smith. If I don't survive this, get the contents and send it to a Kate- "

"You won't die, Barton! Pull yourself together and be a man!" Natasha smacks his head, then she walks out of the room, knowing he won't hesitate to follow her.

"We're all gonna die eventually." I shrug, earning a chuckle from Bucky before the three of us follow the Avengers. In the distance, we already hear the famous Christmas song Let it snow and the melody gets louder the closer we are. Entering the common room, a winter wonderland greets us. Fake snow is lying everywhere on the ground and the lights of the gigantic Christmas tree, even bigger than the Hulk, are shining brightly and drowning in a rainbow of colors.

"Merry Christmas!" Wanda welcomes us with a bright smile as she fixes the big star on the tree with the help of her powers, moving it slightly. Vision hovers towards us with a tray of cookies.

"According to my research, it is a common tradition to eat cookies and decorate the tree on Christmas, also to wish the family and friends a merry Christmas. So, merry Christmas. Cookies?"

"Is the receipt from the internet?" Clint wants to know and only after Vision's nod, he eagerly grabs some, eating them within seconds. "Holy shit, they're good! I want more!"

"If it wasn't for Wanda's cooking skills, they would have been awful." Vision thanks the Sokovian girl and she smiles, walking towards us and pulling me into a hug.

"You, Tony and Vision did all this?" I ask in astonishment as she pulls back.

"Yep! We got up at 7 and then worked the whole time. Thanks to my powers, it went a lot faster."

Raising a brow in the air, I glance at Tony. "Woah, respect. I didn't know you were able to celebrate Christmas like a normal person. Thanks for this effort."

"I felt like Bruce would've liked a tad calmer and quieter Christmas, in case he returned. Guess I was wrong." Tony admits, his voice growing more serious. "And Thor didn't answer my invitation."

My teasing immediately falters and I gently squeeze his shoulder, sending him a compassionate smile and regretting my words. The vulnerability in his eyes turns his face softer, an almost genuine smile lies on his lips at my gesture. "I'm sure that both of them would have loved to be here today."

"Pietro for sure would have. He loved Christmas." Wanda comments slightly sad and Clint places his arm around her, his hand combing reassuringly through her hair.

"C'mon, kid, I'm sure he would've wanted you to enjoy this party."

Wanda smiles and Bucky sighs relieved. "At least the stupid pigeon isn't here- "

Redwing comes flying out of nowhere and races right into Bucky's face, resulting in him falling to the ground with a groan and my eyes widen in shock at the sudden attack. "Bucky!"

"What the hell?!" He mumbles and grabs my helping hand that I offer, standing up. His nose is red as hell, but he's at least not bleeding.

"I am here, dickhead." Sam enters the room as Redwing flies back to his owner. "God, I'm just gone for twenty minutes to get some eggnog and the senior citizen already ruins the whole party. Typical."

"Alright, Wilson, you wanna fight? Let's see how you lose against a grandpa!" Bucky barks and the others groan, trying to separate them before one of them loses their head. As Bucky's wife, I feel obligated to barge in and help him, but right now, I'm too tired of their immature fights.

"Wanna open my gift for you?" Steve has noticed my lack of participation in this fight.

"Sure." I smile, relieved about this change and he hands me a plain bag. Meanwhile, Clint holds back Bucky and Natasha Sam, Tony is panicking about the possible fall of the massive Christmas tree and Wanda and Vision help him to keep it standing still.

"Don't expect too much though, I just thought it'd be a nice gesture which is why, I didn't get anything too big for you." Steve mutters as I look into the bag, my heart making a big jump when I recognize the gift.

"Oh, my god, Stevie..." My smile widens brightly and I take out the Alice in Wonderland book. The feeling of nostalgia overwhelms me and a piece of home returns to me. "I still remember that you and Bucky got this for me on my 16th birthday. Thank you so much, I love it!"

"You're welcome." He pulls me into a tight hug and I close my eyes, being consumed by his familiar warmth and feeling of trust. We remain in the embrace and probably think of the same thing right now. That after everything we've been through, we still managed to stay together and to survive.

"Holy shit- The Christmas tree is on fire!!!"

A/N- First one shot! I hope you all enjoyed this fluff one and have a great Christmas :)