Malen'kaya Zemlya [2] [P. Parker]

Christmas Special (AU)

(A/N)

This is an AU, so in summary, Peter and Ashley are together, all the Avengers are still friends, it's Christmas, Louis has a girlfriend named Harper and she's cool and none of the rest of the series depends on this, nor will the end turn out this way. Thank you, and Merry Christmas! (if you don't celebrate, I hope you have/had a really fabulous day)

It was Christmas Eve morning, and I was stressing.

I'd been up since 7 am, trying to glaze and cook a ham, broccoli and cauliflower and a potato bake, and my mum had made it seem a whole heck of a lot easier than it was.

I found her old recipe online and followed that, but it was difficult when I had to run madly to the store and get some of the ingredients in a hurry and the check-out line was miles long.

So, after finally getting back to my apartment, seeing Ryker and Renee outside was both a blessing and a curse.

"Merry Christmas Eve, Ash!" Renee cheered.

"Hey, Merry Christmas Eve, to you guys too, but I gotta get inside and cook my ham," I said in a rush as I squeezed passed them and into my apartment.

"Ham?" Ryker asked. "What for? You're not gonna eat that all on your own, are you?"

"No! I'm not that bad. Peter and May are coming over for Christmas."

"That's so cute!" Renee cooed.

"Yeah, but at this rate, I won't have any food to show for it."

Ryker shrugged from his newfound seat on my couch. "Get takeout. They won't care."

"No!" I pointed at him. "I won't even go near takeout on Christmas. Not happening."

"We're broke college students, Ash. How did you even get a ham?"

I looked at the large leg set on my kitchen bench. "Tony gave me some money. But that's not important. What's important, is that not only are Peter and May coming over, Tony and Pepper are too, so this is a big deal."

"Dude, you should've said that earlier. We'll help. Louis and Harper will be here soon." Ryker was standing up and walking over as the doorbell rang.

Sure enough, it was Louis and Harper, his girlfriend.

"Hey, guys! Merry Christmas!" I cheered, hugging them both before stepping back. "Look, I hate to do this, but I really need some help."

Two hours later, we were knee-deep in glaze, potato peels and cheese sauce, and the ham wasn't going to be cooked in time.

Marina had got there not long after Louis and Harper and had got right into helping us.

I stood back as Ryker slapped the ham.

"Done." he grinned. "How long does it need to be in for?"

"Like, six hours." I groaned, wiping my forehead with the back of my forearm. "It's 12 now, and we need to leave it too for the flavour to absorb. It'll be done around 7, which is not good."

"Hey, chill. Remember," Ryker said, resting his elbow on my shoulder. "You've got the fire guy on your side."

"As always." I beamed. "Thanks, Ryk." I turned to Marina and Renee, who was pouring the cheese sauce over the vegetables. "Almost done?"

"Yup." Marina steadied the pot while using her powers to help move the sauce over all of the vegetables.

"And the potatoes?" I asked Louis.