Together (A Loki/Avengers Fanfiction)

XXIV.

It was Christmas morning. Snow covered the landscape around the headquarters and the morning sun shone through the windows. Everything was calm and peaceful...

"MR. LOKI!!", Peter shouted slamming the door open. The god flinched and sat up in his bed, staring at the boy in fear.
"Sorry, I didn't want to scare you. But you have to get up, breakfast's ready! See you in the dining room!" And he was gone.

Down in the dining room dozens of candles lit the room, and the table was loaded with lots of tasty food. There were French toast, pancakes, and a lot of stuff Loki had never seen before.
"Come, brother, sit next to me!", Thor said pointing at the chair next to him.
After everyone sat down they started to eat.

As the black haired man didn't attempt to eat anything Thor sighed and took his plate, put a French toast and a pancake on it, poured some syrup on top of the pancake and gave the plate back to his brother. "Eat something", the older one said, "I don't want you to starve."

The radio was quietly playing in the background and everyone talked and laughed. After half an hour the food had reduced and they all stood up and cleaned the table.

Then they went to the living room, where the Christmas tree was standing. Underneath the tree were lots of colorful presents and everyone except Nat and Loki sat around the tree to unbox their presents. The other two sat on the couch and watched the others. While Nat sat there with crossed arms and a slightly grumpy face Loki was constantly smiling.

"Why so happy, trickster?", she finally asked, but as a reply he only shrugged and continued smiling.

"This one's for Nat!", Peter said and walked over to the couch to hand her the present.

After awhile Loki also got a present. It was an old looking book covered in dark purple leather. A big smile appeared on Loki's face, he jumped up and hugged Thor tight.
"What is this?", Peter asked curious.
"My brother's spell book. It was still in Asgard, so I thought I'd bring it here and give it to him."

Soon the presents had found their new owners, and Peter was about to stand up and unbox his presents as he noticed a little box under the tree. It was wrapped in blue paper and a label on it said "For Midgard's mightiest heroes".
"Uh... Guys? Here's one package left..."
The boy picked it up and walked over to the others so they could see what was inside. As soon as he unwrapped the box a slight glimmer could be seen. The present has to be something glowing.

The Avengers stared at the box as Peter lifted the cover of it.

"Is this...''
"But..."
"This can't be..."
Everyone looked at the little stone in there, as Loki said: "HYDRA might be a bit angry now. I didn't knew what you normally give each other and I didn't had any money... so..."
Stark looked up. "Is this the mind stone?!"
Loki nodded happily. "Yeah. Merry Christmas, y'all!"