A/N: So, here's chapter one of my Christmas story! There are probably going to be two or three chapters. :)

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything in any of my stories.

Clint wanders aimlessly along the street, peering in shop windows and watching people buy their Christmas presents. Ah. Christmas. The most wonderful time of the year. He would never admit it to anyone, but he loves how happy and cheerful everyone is. That's not the kind of thing assassins go around telling everybody. Not when they want to remain threatening in combat.

Clint takes a deep breath through his nose, feeling the cold New York air. It hurts his nostrils, but he doesn't care. It smells like Christmas. Christmas smells like snow, pine needles, and sugar cookies. These are the smells Clint loves most.

There are several reasons why Clint loves Christmas so much. One of which being that he doesn't have to work during the Christmas season. No, that doesn't mean that S.H.I.E.L.D. closes down during the holidays. It just means that they aren't trying to kill everyone, so they don't need full staff. If someone is needed, they are on call. They don't have to go into work every day.

Another thing Clint loves about the holiday season is the snow. He loves snow. Snowball fights, snowmen, snow forts, snow angels. Pretty much everything to do with snow. The one thing he doesn't like about snow is how hard it is to drive when it's snowing or the road is coated in snow. Clint is a man who likes to go places, so he doesn't like being told that he can't drive. It didn't bode well last year, when all of New York was coated in a freezing, white blanket of snow.

Clint jumps when Loki's voice whispers right in his ear, "Enjoying the scenery, Barton?"

Clint can hear the smirk in the other man's words. He turns around to face Loki. The dark haired god is wearing a black coat, grey gloves, and a dark green scarf. His hair isn't slicked back as it usually is. Instead, black curls dance around his shoulders. His nose, cheeks, and ears are pink from the cold. His green eyes seem to sparkle with amusement and happiness. His arms are laden with bulging shopping bags from various stores.

Clint raises an eyebrow and says, "Well, you're all decked out. What have you been up to?"

Loki holds up the bags, smiling. "Christmas shopping. It's rather obvious, I think."

Clint laughs. He asks, "Tony told you about the party, I assume?"

Loki looks confused. He opens his mouth to answer, but someone barrels into him.

"Whoa, sorry, Rudolf! I've been trying to text you for, like, two days! Why didn't you answer your phone?" Tony doesn't wait for an answer before he digs around in his pocket and pulls out his own cell phone. He slides his finger across the screen quickly and types in his password. He taps a few more times and lifts it up to his ear.

"Yeah. I finally found him. The guy's elusive, I'll give him that. Yeah, he's coming. You're coming, right, Loki? Yeah, he's coming. So make that, um…..four, no, five more. Yep. Okay. Love you, bye!"

Loki is standing there, his mouth open, staring at Tony as the billionaire taps his phone again and slides it into his coat pocket. He flashes Clint and Loki his trademark grin.
"So. Merry Christmas."

Clint busts out laughing as Loki blinks, still a bit dazed. He recovers after a moment and shifts his stance. He clears his throat and shifts again. Tony still grins, an expectant expression on his bearded face.

"Well, then. Uh… Well… I guess I have more shopping to do!" Loki says with a smile.

Tony impulsively leans forward and brings Loki into a big hug. "Awww, you're so sweet!"

Loki stands there awkwardly as Tony squirms while he hugs him. Clint is still laughing. Several people give them funny looks as they pass. One little girl just keeps staring. As she and her mother walk on, Loki can hear the mother say, "Come on, dear. Don't look at them."

Tony finally pulls away from the ex-villain and smoothes out the other's coat. He gives him a smile and says, "Well, I'd better be on my way. Bring your whole family, too. They're all welcome."

He turns and jogs away, calling over his shoulder, "And wear something festive!"

Natasha walks through the same mall that she and Clint took Loki's kids to a couple months back. She, like many other people this time of year, is Christmas shopping. So far, she has the newest Avengers comic for Clint, a pair of nice shoes for Pepper, a pair of sunglasses that fit over regular glasses for Bruce, a Technology for Dummies book for Thor, a picture of Peggy in a locket for Steve, a silver necklace for Sigyn, a box of all the original Disney movies and some of the new ones for Hela, Vali, and Narfi, a gold ring for Loki, a book on Norse mythology for Jane, and a scarf and beanie for Darcy.

Clint's present was the easiest. Probably because she spends the most time with him. It might also be due to the fact that he has been begging for the comic since it came out.

Pepper's present took a little more time to get. She had the idea, but she had to get Tony to find out what size shoe Pepper wore. This isn't easy when she hides all her shoes away somewhere.

Bruce's present was fairly easy. He had been squinting in the sun more and more often. He had tried on some regular sunglasses, but that hadn't worked too well. His eyesight had gotten worse since Loki's attempt to take over the world, and he crashed into something after taking off his glasses once.

Thor's present wasn't very difficult, either. After a few trashed televisions and a toaster that is now, well, toast, the other Avengers were sick of Thor breaking things. The gift will provide peace for the others. It will also help Thor. If he's going to date a scientist, then he has to know how to act around some tech.

Steve's present was a bit iffy. She knew that she didn't want to give him some patriotic gift. He may like it, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't want other stuff sometimes. His entire room is filled with red, white, and blue stuff. So eventually Natasha settled on something a little sweeter. She borrowed one of Steve's pictures of Peggy, took it to a photo shop and got a miniature picture printed out. She then went to a jewelry store and found a locket shaped like a dog tag. She didn't want to get anything that looked too girly, so the dog tag worked perfectly. She fitted in the picture, set the locket in a nice little gift box, and she was done.

Sigyn was a little difficult, since Natasha doesn't really know her all that well. She has noticed, however, that the other woman wears different necklaces. She was either always wearing a different one, or none at all. Natasha doesn't recall ever seeing her in the same necklace. So getting her another one wouldn't hurt. It would give her even more variety.

The gifts for the kids weren't hard, either. They had certainly loved the Disney movies when Natasha and Clint had to babysit them. So it makes sense to give them some more. She made sure that they were okay with Sigyn, though. She didn't want to give them anything that they wouldn't be able to watch.

Loki was the hardest to buy for. She actually had to go to Thor to see what she should give him after days of trying to find something right. The blonde god had told her to give him something to do with magic. She had explained that she didn't know anything about magic. Then Thor got her to bring him a ring. She picked out a nice gold one inlaid with emeralds. Thor had taken it up to Asgard and gotten a witch up there to put some magic over it so that it would hold extra energy for spellcasting. Loki was always running out of energy because he used his magic so often. This ring would help with that.

Natasha found it fairly easy to get Jane a good present. It wasn't as easy as Clint's, but it wasn't hard, either. Jane had been doing lots of research on Norse mythology lately, so a huge book on it made the perfect gift. She even had Darcy go through Jane's stuff to make sure that she didn't already have it.

Getting Darcy a present was even easier. The brunette is always running around in a beanie when it's cold. She occasionally wore a scarf, too. So Natasha got her a matching beanie, scarf, and glove set. They are a deep, royal purple and extremely soft.

Natasha only has three more gifts to buy. She doesn't know what she's supposed to get, either. Phil is like a father to her, so she can't not get him something. If that even makes sense. Maria's kinda special, too. She calls in every now and then, just to make sure that everything's going well. You have to give her credit for her perseverance. Most are just glad when they don't have to deal with Natasha and Clint anymore. And Fury. What in the world is she supposed to give Fury?

As she walks through the mall, she gets an awesome idea. A smile spreads across her face and she hurries to a decal shop.

Bruce sits back on the couch, sipping his hot cocoa. It was such a good idea to get his shopping done early. It's no fun to go shopping on Christmas Eve. None of the other residents of Avengers Tower seem to have thought of that. That's why they're all out shopping right now.

He rarely gets time alone, so he doesn't really mind having the tower to himself. He can watch whatever he wants on TV without having everyone fuss at him to change the channel. He can listen to whatever music he wants to without having someone change the radio station. He can take a nap without having anyone wake him up.

Bruce's eyes droop a bit. He had a rough night, having been up all night coughing and fighting off nausea. Somehow that all went away when he woke up. He still doesn't know how it happened, but somehow it did. He wasn't sick at all this morning. But that didn't mean that he wasn't tired from last night's ordeals.

Bruce allows himself to drop off to sleep just as Steve comes in the room, his arms filled with brightly wrapped presents. The soldier smiles when he sees Bruce napping on the couch. He had heard his friend the night before, and knows that he had been sick. He's glad to see that the scientist is getting some rest.

Steve goes over to the huge Christmas tree and slides his presents down under the branches. He positions them so that the largest are in the back and the smallest in the front. The more oddly shaped gifts, like Clint's, are set on top of the large ones. Steve smiles when he puts Darcy's present in the tree. It's the smallest of all the presents. It was also the hardest to wrap. He had gotten Pepper's help wrapping it because it was so small.

Once all of the presents are settled around the tree, Steve backs out from under the pine. The needles get stuck in his hair and all over his shirt, and he has to brush himself off. By the time he has all of the needles off, the floor is more or less covered in them. Honestly, he doesn't know how the tree can still have so many if it looks like someone killed it on the floor. He shakes his head and walks into the kitchen to get the broom.

Sigyn sits on her and Loki's shared bed, helping the kids wrap their presents. She is also holding the newest member of the family, Dagna. The baby girl watches with wide, soft blue eyes. She stays close to Sigyn's breast, though, holding onto her shirt with chubby little hands. She really is adorable.

Hela and the twins are trying to choose which paper to wrap Natasha's present with. They had to pick a single present to give her, because Loki still hasn't found a steady job and it's illegal to make money with magic. The kids didn't mind, though. They thought it would be better for them to all work together to pick presents for their babysitters.

"I think she'll like this!" Hela declares, holding up a roll of pink wrapping paper. Her brothers don't seem to agree.

"It's too girly, Helsie. She isn't very girly."

Hela sticks out her tongue and turns to Sigyn. "What do you think, Mama?"

Sigyn smiles slightly and says, "You know her more than I do. You three choose."

Hela grumbles and limps back to the papers to find a new one. She is bent on picking some that her brothers like, too. She pulls out a roll of paper that is striped like a candy cane.

"How 'bout this?"
The boys nod, grinning. They exclaim, "Yeah! That's perfect!"

Hela smiles and goes over to her mother. "Can you wrap it with this, Mama?"

Sigyn nods, smiling. She gently takes the wrapping paper and begins the long process of wrapping a gift with one hand while holding a baby in the other.

A/N: Hope you like it! The next chapter/s will be up after Christmas, because I'll be with my family tomorrow and the big day itself. :)

Merry Christmas, everybody! Stay safe. :)