Christmas at the Lang's: Book Four

12

Within the next five minutes, things were going great, with the twelve of them laughing and joking and having a friendly snowball fight on the back garden.

No, not really. They were screaming and running for their lives before they were murdered with snow.

On Mount Everest.

So Stephen had said he wanted to make things more exciting, as, on the back garden, there wasn't nearly enough snow for a wizard, god, superheroes, several superhero accomplices and a cloak to be satisfied. So, naturally, without warning, he opened a portal under their feet and dropped them all in Mount Everest.

And so it was a good thing they were to be running around, because it was totally freezing here. And just to rub it in, Loki wasn't even shivering, and even went as far to say it was quite warm. Scott was just glad Stephen had the decency to shiver.

And then, to really take the piss, and make sure Scott and the others got some real exercise, Loki and Stephen decided to team up and use their magic to give them an advantage.

"You guys are evil," Scott complained, pouting and crossing his arms as Stephen dumped a whole skip's worth of snow straight onto his head. He shivered most of it off, but he might as well just been covered in white dye. "It's going to take ages to get warm again."

"We'll just drop you in hell," Loki smirked, from where he was by his and Stephen's barricade, chucking snowballs at everyone with deadly accuracy. "Hey, that's not a bad idea. We can pay Mephisto a Christmas visit."

"No, I only saw him last week," Scott said, shaking like a dog. "Don't wanna go see him again just yet."

"Well, we have to go soon," Loki said, slightly disappointed. "I can't stand the thought of him alone at Christmas time."

"Could you be any more sarcastic?" Scott asked, sarcastically. Cassie hit him in the back of his head with a snowball from behind, and, just like that, he plunged himself right back into the fight.

The air was thick with flying snowballs, most of Scott's hitting their targets, most of Loki's hitting Scott smack in the face, and all of Stephen's taking people by surprise, as he just liked to dump tons of snow on unsuspecting victims via portals. It kept everyone on their toes anyway.

Eventually everyone just decided to team up against Stephen and Loki, who were definitely the biggest threat. Ten vs two. And yet they still didn't stand a chance. It just meant bigger portals and more snow, and Loki's throws were too accurate and too fast to avoid. Though Scott noticed he was purposely not hitting anyone else in the face, just him. Nice.

Scott honestly lost track of time. How long had they been on the mountain for? Half an hour? Two hours? Whatever the case, he was soaked, freezing, craving a warm cup of hot chocolate, and it looked like everyone else might be too.

So, bravely, Scott stood up, away from the not-really-shelter of the barricade (it didn't do much to stop either Loki or Stephen's attacks – Stephen's went from above and Loki's snowballs still managed to hit them even when they were hiding under the barricade) and was immediately attacked by another round of snowballs.

He spat out the snow that got in his mouth and shouted, "Stop! Stop! I call for a ceasefire!"

"Wait, why?" Loki asked, looking disappointed. "This is fun!"

"Because I'm basically frozen and it's dark and it's also late," Scott said, finding his watch under his coat. "Oh damn, it is as well. Nearly five. We've been here two and a half hours."

"Wow," Stephen said, looking surprised. "I didn't realise that."

Luis emerged from the snow barricade, realising it might be safe now. "Damn, this reminds me of that time a few Christmases ago. You know, Scotty, when we all went to that special place where there was a bunch of snow in New York? It was like a famous place," he said, thinking.

"Central Park," Scott sighed. "It's not that special."

"That was it!" Luis said, clapping. "Well, remember how we had to defrost ourselves by curling up in a bunch of blankets together? That was awkward-"

"Thanks Luis, let's not have another life story," Scott interrupted before he made things weird. Because Luis always made stuff like that weird.

"Nah, nah, don't worry Scotty, that was it," Luis assured him. Scott raised an eyebrow.

Hope clapped her hands to get their attention. "If we're going, lets go soon, yeah? I need hot chocolate."

Stephen saluted. "Yes boss, I'm on it," he said, then started to make a portal, when suddenly he was covered in a whole truckload of snow that came from nowhere. The look on his face was too much. "Who just did that?" he asked in a very high and squeaky voice.

He instinctively turned to Loki, but for a change it wasn't him. Stephen hadn't realised his cloak had been collecting as much snow as possible on itself and dropped it all over him. As soon as he realised, both Scott and Loki erupted into laughter. Stephen started going crazy, throwing snowballs at the cloak and missing every time. He was not nearly as good at this thing as Loki was.

Loki immediately took advantage of Stephen being distracted and grabbed a snowball and dropped it on his head. In his crazy state, Stephen thought it was still the cloak and started shouting at it. Scott nearly choked on his laughter.

The others had mixed expressions too. Hope, Maggie and Hank were looking totally confused as hell, whereas the others were all laughing their asses off like he was. It took a while for Stephen to calm down, then he immediately went bright pink. "Right. Portal."

Stephen made a portal to Scott's hallway, and they all went into the warmth, strangely enough, the cloak going first, as though it needed the warmth more. It was a tight squeeze, but everyone managed to fit. The only one of them that wasn't thanking the gods for the warmth was Loki, who was just rolling his eyes at everyone else's reactions. Scott didn't think he realised what the cold actually felt like, because he'd never had to experience it. He couldn't help thinking how sick that would be, to never be cold.

"Oh my God," Cassie said, teeth chattering. "It was so cold out there and now it's like we've just gone into a sauna."

"I know right?" Luis said. "It reminds me of that time Scotty..."

Scott left their conversation and let his daughter put up with Luis. Well, they got along, so she'd be fine. He turned to Stephen and Loki instead. "You guys know a heat spell?"

They shook their heads. "I mean, I know a fire spell, so if you want your house on fire, I can help with that," Loki shrugged. "If you wanted ice I could help with that."

"No thanks," Scott said. "I'm cold enough."

"We'll make the hot chocolate if you want?" Stephen offered. "I'd like to think I'm pretty good at that."

Naturally, Scott was all too happy to accept the offer. Within the next ten minutes, everyone had downed at least two mugs of magically-made hot chocolate (four in Scott and Loki's case) and gone back to their regular temperatures. Luis, Kurt and Dave decided to leave, but promised they would be back the next day. Scott didn't want to say he was glad, but it was a little cramped in the house, and if Luis was there, no one else would get a word in.

He also decided to conveniently forget Top Trumps. He'd had enough games already, and now Scott wanted nothing more than to sit back and have a laugh before dinner (lunch?). So of course, he had a great idea involving using the others as his entertainment.

"Hey, so, Cassie and Stephen," he started, and everyone was already quiet so they all listened in. "You two want to do your Just Dance thing?"

Cassie's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah! But only if Mr Stephen's OK with that."

"I'm fine with that," Stephen said, oblivious to everyone else's stares. So oblivious to what he was signing himself up for. "I say let's do this thing!"

Scott met Loki's eye. Loki mouthed, "He's doomed, isn't he?" Scott nodded.