AN: This is slightly related to my other fanfic "The Spirit of Halloween." Enjoy and have a Merry Christmas. Reviews are greatly appreciated and for those that are interested, I will most likely write one for New's Eve and Valentine's Day.
Bruce was nervous to say the least. For years now, he had never really spent Christmas with a family besides Alfred of course and now he was not only going to be spending it with his boyfriend but the all of the Avengers as well. If the fact that this would be his first time meeting them wasn't scary enough, Tony had slept with most of them as well which was sure to be awkward.
Bruce knew that Tony had slept with Pepper, but he didn't mind that as much now since he had gotten to know her pretty well now. However, Tony had also slept with Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, and Loki. He knew as well that Tony had also made several passes at Thor, Clint Barton, and Natasha Romanov but Bruce's boyfriend had never gotten into their pants thank god.
Apparently though, after taking a turn for the better, Loki and Bruce Banner had gotten together now and Steve Rogers apparently had a girlfriend so hopefully that would make the whole thing a little less weird.
Of course, it would also be strange since everyone knew each others identities as well among the Avengers and Tony would be the only one there that would know he was Batman. Bruce really wished that he had gotten a chance to meet the Avengers before Christmas of all times.
And, since he didn't know them but was still going to spend Christmas with them, for about a month Bruce was panicing about what to get for each of them. Thankfully, Tony said he'd just make it were they simply gave each of Tony's friends a gift from both of them.
Now of course, the day had finally arrived and in a few hours Bruce would be heading to Stark Tower. Currently, he was at work, finishing up a bit of buisness, and Tony had already gone over to Stark Tower to help decorate the place up a bit. They had then planned that Tony would come back at about 1.00 and pick Bruce up.
Fox, who was with him, was probably wishing he had put off the work for another day as Bruce went on and on about what could go wrong this Christmas. "I mean, what if they don't simply like me or I make a fool out of myself? Or what if Tony gets to drunk and says something so embarrasing no one can look at me for the rest of the evening? What if-"
"Mr. Wayne," interrupted Fox with a sigh, "I'm sure there's nothing that you need to worry about. If the Avengers can accept Mr. Stark as a friend I'm sure they'll accept you as well."
"Are you trying to hint at something Mr. Fox?"
"Not at all Mr. Wayne," replied Fox with a smile.
They continued on the bit of work they had to do and just as they were finishing it, Tony called.
"Hey Brucie-bear I'm here so come on down!"
"Tony have you been drinking already?" asked Bruce with a sigh as he said a quick good-bye to Fox and began to leave the building.
"Of course not! What makes you think that?"
"Well for starters you're talking much louder than need be and you called me Brucie-bear."
"What's wrong with that? I've called you Brucie-bear before," argued Tony.
"Yes but only when you were drunk."
"Oh shut up and get in the car," replied Tony, hanging up as Bruce walked out of Wayne Enterprise. Once Bruce was sitting next to Tony in the car, Tony added, "Here, smell my breath if you want to make sure."
"No thank you," replied Bruce politely as he rolled his eyes.
Tony laughed and then began to drive towards what would hopefully be a merry Christmas. For most of the time, music played in the background and neither Tony or Bruce did much talking. When they finally arrivied, Tony turned towards Bruce and put a hand comfortingly on his shoulder. "Before you say anything, don't worry. I'm positive they'll love you."
"If you say so."
"I do say so now come, It's time for some Christmas cheer."
"Hopefully not to much cheer," muttered Bruce with a sigh as he followed Tony into the first floor of Stark Tower. They then preceeded to take the elevator up until they reached the top level where the party would occur. The place had lights around the entire place and a large Christmas tree stood in the corner where the couches in the room were.
Natasha, was there already, seeing as she was one of those people to always be right on time, and Bruce Banner was already there as well seeing as he currrently lived at Stark Tower along with Steve Rogers. Steve was supposed to be arriving any minute, finishing up lunch with his girlfriend, and Thor and Loki were supposed to arrive at any moment along with Clint as well.
"Nat, Bruce, meet Bruce Wayne," said Tony with a smile as he quickly walked over to were the two Avengers were standing.
Bruce followed a bit slower behind, giving a smile and taking the out stretched hand of Natasha. "It's lovely to finally meet you. Both of you. Tony has told me a lot about you."
"Hopefully only good things," replied Banner as he shook Bruce's hand next.
Tony shook his head at their politeness as he said, "You sound like you're talking to a new employer! Good lord! Come on, get a little bit more friendly. Talk books, movies, likes, dislikes, something while I go check to see if all the foods ready."
Dashing off to the kitchen area, Bruce sighed as he said, "I would apologize for how my boyfriend's acting but something tells me you're use to it."
"Very much so and do not worry, Mr. Wayne, we won't bite," Natasha said with a smile.
"Well, in light of this situation, how about you call me Bruce? Though it could get a bit confusing," he said, Banner laughing with him.
At that moment, Jarvis spoke out saying, "Mr. Rogers and Mr. Barton are coming up the elevator now Mr. Stark."
"Great," replied Tony as he came out of the kitchen area and towards the elevator right as it opened. "Steve, Clint, great of you to come! I'll just put your gifts by the tree."
"Alright, just don't peek in them," Steve said.
"Now, would I ever do such a thing?"
"I'm positive you would," Steve replied causing everyone, including Bruce, to laugh. Steve's eyes then moved to him, walking towards the three people, Clint following as well.
"Bruce Wayne isn't it? Tony's been talking about you non-stop since you got together," Clint said.
Trying not to, but pretty much failing miserbly, Bruce tried to hide the blush that was creeping up his neck. "Oh, I doubt he's been talking about me non-stop."
"No," replied Steve, "believe me. Everytime I seem to see Tony he mentions something about you. I'm still surprised that it took us this long to meet."
"Same here. I'm actually still surprised that this is my first time meeting any of the Avengers though work will do that to you sometimes."
"I understand what you mean," put in Clint. "I was pretty shocked when Fury actually gave me and Nat the time off to come here though I guess everyone has to have a break at some point."
"That's right, you work for S.H.I.E.L.D correct?"
"Yep, it keeps me busy as I'm sure your work does though I'm almost positive that our work days are fairly different."
"I would imagine so," replied Bruce with a small laugh.
Suddenly, lighting flashed across the sky making Bruce jump slightly while everyone rolled their eyes and Jarvis just said, "Making an entrance as always Thor."
"Friends!" cried out Thor, Loki in tow as well. Thor was smiling hugely when he spotted Bruce. Quickly, he ran over to him, enveloping him into an air crushing hug. "Ah, Tony's partner! It is excellent to meet you!"
"Nice . . . to meet . . . you to," Bruce finally got out as he was suddnely put down, Thor moving on to more victims.
"You must excuse my brother. He still hasn't quite gotten down Midgardian customs yet," Loki said, moving forward. "I take it you're Tony's boyfriend?"
"Yes."
"Well, it's nice to finally meet you," Loki replied, shaking his hand. "I can tell you look a bit nervous but you really shouldn't worry. This is mine and my brother's first Christmas ever and I honestly have no idea what to expect."
"If Tony does anything close to what most people traditionally do, then we'll probably have dinner first, open presents, hang out for a bit and that's probably it."
"Dinner!" Thor's voice boomed out. "Did you bring poptarts?"
"Don't worry big guy, we got poptarts," replied Clint.
"Poptarts?"
"Don't ask," Banner said with a sigh. "Thor has certainly some . . . strange eating habits."
Bruce simply nodded, finally easing up at this moment when of course Tony had to do something stupid.
"Oh Brucie-bear!"
Closing his eyes for a few seconds while clenching his fists, he turned towards Tony and said, "Tony is that really appropiate for this moment?"
"Oh come on Brucie-bear-"
"Call me that one more time and I'll throw the closest object I can reach."
"But Brucie-" Tony had to quickly stop talking as a small vase was grabbed and thrown at his head. It shattered on the wall right behind his head. Bruce then proceeded to walk out of the room as quickly as possible and onto the balcony, ignoring everyone's stares.
"Tony you really shouldn't have done that," said Clint with a sigh.
"Do what? I honestly do not understand what I did wrong?"
"You were making him feel uncomfortable Tony, that's what you were doing wrong," replied Natasha with a sigh. "Now, go fix it."
"Fix what-Ow ow! Okay okay!" yelled out Tony as Natahsa grabbed him by the ear and drug him to the door that led to the balcony.
"Go!'
"Okay," muttered Tony, smoothing his cloths as he shook his head and moved outside to where Bruce was now sitting. However, before he could even say a word, Bruce beat him to it.
"Tony if you ever do that to me again I'll throw something harder at you next time and I won't miss."
"It really made you that mad?"
Bruce nodded with a sigh as he rubbed his face. "Tony whether you realize it or not, that was embarrasing."
"Okay, maybe I shouldn't have done it but let's go inside now. It's getting cold."
"Not until you say sorry."
"What! Why? I already admitted what I did might've been wrong-"
"Say it."
"Alright! I. Am. Sorry. Happy now?"
"Hold on," Bruce said and then, with a swift and quick strike, hit Tony in the back of the head. "Yep, I'm happy now."
Tony pouted but didn't say anything, deciding that letting it go was probably the best idea and because he didn't want another hit in the head. That had hurt.
When Bruce walked back in, Banner immiediatly went to him and said, "If it makes you feel any better Tony's embarrased each and everyone of us here at least once. He can certainly be a pain sometimes but he's a good guy."
"I know," Bruce replied with a sigh, "though sometimes I wish I could just hit him."
"Well it seemed to me that you threw an excellent punch earlier and that was a great throw with the vase. Do you work out often?" asked Natahsa.
"Yes actually, and I know several different types of martial arts."
"Maybe we could work out sometime."
"Yeah, that sounds like it would be interesting actually."
Natasha seemed to give Bruce a real genuine smile as she said, "I'm surprised you didn't try to put me down because I'm woman."
"I've learned that women are just as capable as men at pretty much anything. Besides, Tony said you also go by the Black Window and anything named that I would defintly not underestimate."
The whole room laughed at that and once again Bruce felt slightly more at ease. The night once again began to go smoother especially when the group had dinner, Bruce getting to see first hand just how strange Thor's diet was. When almost everyone was finished, Tony took it upon himself to begin playing some traditional Christmas music. Or at least what he considered traditional.
"Tony," said Banner with a sigh, "traditional is like Carol of the Bells or White Christmas not What's This from the Nightmare Before Christmas."
"It is in my book. Come on who wants to dance?"
"I'm pretty sure only you do," replied Bruce.
"Ah, none of you are any fun," muttered Tony though he was still smiling. "Come on then. If we're not going to dance let's open our presents at least."
The group went on to open up presents, everyone seeming pleased in what they go though Loki seemed to have quite a time with the wrapping paper trying to figure out how to get it off. Bruce, as everyone did open their presents, talked more and got a little more involved with everyone. Clint and Natasha had already set up times for working out, all three looking forward to that. Also, once he got past Thor's hugeness, Bruce found him to be a delight to talk to.
When it had gotten really late, Bruce got up, looking like he might be heading to the elevator when Tony got up and said, "Don't worry about going home. There's already a room set up for us."
"I have to go to work in the morning Tony."
"Oh don't worry you'll get there in time," replied Tony with a wave of his hand.
Bruce sighed, shaking his head as he went back over to talk and listen to Christmas music with everyone. It was certianly enjoyable and a good bit different than what he was use to around Christmas time. When the clock was close to reaching ten, most everyone decided it was about time to go to bed. Of course, Tony was perfectly fine with staying up all night but with a little help from Natasha, Bruce was able to drag him to bed.
When Tony was finally calmed down and lying next to Bruce, Tony asked, "Now that was that bad was it?"
"No but if you ever call me Brucie-bear again, especially in public, and I think I might just get Natasha to help me make you wish you had never been born."
Tony groaned as he said, "I never should've introduced you two."
"Well you have and now we're friends so I would watch out from now on."
"Maybe I should start sleeping in my suit."
"If you did that I wouldn't be able to do this," Bruce replied as he turned and gave Tony a kiss.
"I'll take it I'm fully forgiven?"
"We'll see," replied Bruce with another kiss. "Merry Christmas Tony."
"Happy Christmas Bruce."
