GROW (BUCKY BARNES x OC)

24

They celebrated Thanksgiving together with a large feast that was a team effort. Mostly. Vision was still banned from cooking and Thor had a tendency to accidentally set things on fire. Wanda was assigned the duty of keeping both men out of the kitchen while everyone else worked. In the end they had prepared a very nice meal though, confirmed by Thor, and even though Vision couldn't eat, he said it looked "delicious" and "precisely prepared".

The group spent the majority of November just falling into a casual but nice and content routine. Bucky and Aurora felt closer to each other more than ever, despite neither officially confessing their feeling yet. Things were a bit different though. Aurora had continued to give him a few more cheek kisses whenever she felt so much affection for him that she was unable to completely suppress her feelings anymore, and Bucky began to kiss her forehead.

She didn't tell him, or anyone, but those forehead kisses absolutely melted her. The first one had taken her by surprise. She had felt so joyful in that moment she worried her heart might give out from how fast it was beating. Actually, it seemed that was a common worry of hers these days, particularly whenever Bucky was around.

It was nice for the family to experience some "normal" time though, without birthdays or holidays or school events. Despite how much fun those were, it was refreshing to settle into routine every now and then. Their "normal" was still far from the common definition of "normal" but it was normal for them. Regular. Routine. Simple.

Then December arrived with a flourish and with it, Natasha's birthday on the 3rd of the month. Natasha had maintained a strict "no Christmas until after my birthday" rule, as she had been doing each year since moving into the Tower. Tony complained it wasn't fair because all of December belonged to Christmas, but she was relentless. Tony eventually gave up, though he set an alarm and at exactly the first few seconds past midnight after the day they had celebrated her birthday, he hung up a candy cane on her doorknob. It became a little trading of his, to annoy her and also be a bit petty with the exact timing difference. It was technically not her birthday anymore once the clock struck twelve.

Natasha knew about his stupid tradition, but chose to ignore it. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of her acknowledging his childishness. She'd learned long ago that sometimes it was just simple better go ignore Tony.

Christmas decorating was an entertaining affair and Olivia was excited because Clint was finally getting to bring us kids up to the Tower to introduce them over winter break.

They celebrated Bruce's birthday on the 18th and school break started for Olivia not long after that.

The morning that Clint was set to arrive back with his family, Olivia made Aurora sit with her as she changed her outfit several times before she deemed it appropriate for meeting the older kids. She was also excited to see little Nathaniel because she'd never gotten the chance to spend time with children younger than her. The closest she'd come was when her class passed by the kindergarteners in the hallway at school. But Nathaniel wasn't a year younger than her. He was a baby.

Clint arrived at the floor with his wife, Laura, and three kids, all holding their luggage with the exception of Nathaniel who could easier fit inside his little suitcase than pull it. He was walking, something that both shocked and delighted Olivia. Clint introduced his family to Aurora and Olivia and they quickly got to know each other.

Laura was very sweet and warm, allowing Aurora to feel comfortable around her quickly. Cooper was trying his best to act like a moody teenager despite the fact he had one more year to go, but Lila would play games with Olivia, despite their four year age gap.

They began a game of soccer on a floor with various sports "fields". After a while of watching them miserably, but pretending to be bored, Cooper finally gave up and joined them. The two Barton's quickly formed a sibling like relationship with Olivia. Lila was delighted with this because she'd always wanted a sister, and Cooper claimed that "sisters were so annoying", but he was sweet to Olivia. His tough guy facade faded quickly whenever they were around each other.