It's Been A Long Long Time

Bonus Christmas Chapter 🎄

guys wattpad is being a little bitch and messing with my formatting so I ended up having to delete all of my stories and republish. Honestly, I'm really not happy with how cringe my earlier books are but my loving boyfriend of all people encouraged me to repost them because they "still make people smile despite or maybe because of the cringe" so ya know what here's an old draft I've dusted off as a final farewell to my marvel fanfiction phase 😘❤️

"Alright that's the last of it", Tony huffed, setting a large plastic bin filled with Christmas lights on the coffee table next to the boxes of ornaments and various Christmas decorations. Pepper usually handled the decorations at the tower but after Stark corporations had absorbed the failed thinktank, AIM, she's had way too much on her plate to worry about hiring the holiday decorating team.

This of course meant that Tony was left in charge of bringing holiday spirits to the tower; and he was doing a damn good job of it if he had to admit it. The billionaire took a quick glance around the bustling room. Cap and Bruce were on cookie duty, Clint busy detangling the Christmas tree lights, Thor was in charge of organizing all the extension cords and replacing the dead bulbs (somehow he had discovered that he could bring dead bulbs back to life with a little twist and zap of electricity). Nat was sorting tree decorations and Tony had Loki and Peter working on a special project. 

Clint walked over to the bin Tony had just brought in and began rifling through it, "Remind me again why we're doing this on November first?" 

"We don't do thanksgiving anymore" Bruce answered, carrying a plate of fresh oatmeal raisin cookies that definitely were not cooked by Steve. Clint swiped a cookie off the tray without looking up from the bin. 

"Yeah ever since the whole turkey in the dishwasher incident" Tony shot a knowing look at Natasha. 

Clint took a big bite of the cookie and instant regret covered his features. Seeing all of their stockings laid out nearby, he grabbed the one on top labeled "Tony" and hurriedly stuffed the rest of the cookie deep inside. Maybe it will lose some of its expo markery-ness over time. 

She rolled her eyes, "What? That one was definitely Steve's fault."

"My fault??" The super soldier asked incredulously. 

  "-You never should've left me in charge with such vague instructions." She mumbled, shooting a glare at Clint who had just dumped a pile of ornaments in front of her, messing up her whole system. A small elf looking doll fell out last, landing on top. 

"Oh hey I remember that thing! Laura insisted we get one for the kids" Clint picked up the Elf on the Shelf doll and straightened its little hat. 

"What's that now?" Thor inquired, reaching for yet another one of Bruce's sweater lint and Redbull tasting cookies. 

"Hm?" Tony asked absent-mindedly, replying to Peter on his phone, "Oh that uh it's a magical relic that's always listening to what we say and at night it comes to life and watches us sleep....for Santa clause or something." 

Tony turned back to his phone. Thor's eyes widened. 

"Sohe is real!" He whispered to himself happily before turning back to the Christmas lights. 

"Hey guys look" Clint snuck up on Nat and put a rice cooker lid on her head, "It's a thot in a pot." 

Cap's eyes went wide, fearing for Clint's life. Bruce stiffened a laugh. 

Nat laughed sweetly, "Oh that's really cute."

"really?" Clint opened his eyes and relaxed his shoulders. 

"Yeah really!  ... hey I've got one for you" Nat stood up, still laughing, her eyes turning menacingly dark, "Have you ever heard of bitch in a ditch CUZ THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE GONNA BE" 

Clint let out a scream as the black widow dove at him. He tripped over the plate of nopemeal raisin cookies that had someone had discreetly hidden halfway under the couch but managed to outrun Nat for the moment. 

Meanwhile, in Tony's lab

"Alright Mr.Loki, one more and we should be all finished!" Peter yelled over the extremely loud Christmas music blasting from all three of Tony's record players. Loki nodded, anxious to be done and escape the horrid sounds of Mariah Carrey on repeat. 

Tossing a string of lights at the wall, Loki ducked out of the way just as Peter shot a volley of webs, pinning the lights in place. The two stepped back to admire their work and grinned. 

"I think we're finished here, spiderling." Loki cheerily said, about to make for the door. 

"Wait one last thing!" Peter called out. The god of mischief spun around just in time to get smacked in the face with a Christmas hat. 

"OH MY GOSH I'M SO SORRY I MEANT FOR IT TO LAND ON YOUR HEAD" Peter gasped. 

"You really expect me to believe that" Loki chuckled lowly, murder tingeing the edge of his voice. 

"I'm so so sorry really it was an accid-" 

"Sorry to interrupt Mr.Parker, but you  had requested I warn you when Mr.Stark was on his way." JARVIS spoke up. 

"Quick hide!" Peter whispered, diving behind a random toolbox that definitely did nothing to conceal him. Loki rolled his eyes and calmly shifted into a shelf of tools. 

Tony opened the glass doors to his workshop, "Um Pete? Ya down here bud?"

His foot hit the trip wire, which knocked over a hammer that his a bowling ball, which rolled over to DUM E  who got the signal and plugged in the power cord that powered all the lights, queuing JARVIS to blast an AC/DC cover of jingle bells and release the silver and gold confetti. The lights all turned on, lighting up an ironman suit that had been decorated like a Christmas tree, complete with ornaments and a star on top. 

"What in the world-" Tony took another step forward and DUM E let go of the string he was holding which released a pully and dropped a teeny tiny Santa hat on Tony's head. 

-----------

"Cap on a map!" 

"Bruce on a moose" 

"Clint on a mint" 

"Thor in the door....way?" 

Everyone was now rushing around trying to come up with as many puns as possible. 

"Bucky getting lucky" Nat smirked, walking towards the shy winter soldier with mistletoe in her hand. He ran to the tree and hid underneath like a present. "James is not playing games." 

Clint grabbed Cap's hand and stuck it on Nat's head. "STEVE ON A WEAVE- AHHHHHHH" 

Nat bolted at him, knocking over a picture of Rhodey someone had placed on a bag of popcorn for "colonel on a kernel" 

Thor lifted the couch up, trying to see if there were any cookies he had somehow missed, "THOR NEEDS MORE" 

Tony and Peter walked into the room, followed by Loki who took one look, assed the situation, and vanished in a cloud of smoke. 

Clint stepped on one of the many extension cords lying around and tripped the lights. Suddenly everything went silent as everyone's gaze was drawn to the giant windows and the beautiful NYC skyline. A few snowflakes fell gently from the dark clouds, lit up by the streetlights below. 

Somewhere in the pitch-black room, everyone heard Clint's muffled scream. 

Peter then spoke up, "..........stark in the dark?"