"Ooh, can I do it?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Pleeeease?!" The eldest Storm sibling rolled her eyes and turned to face her brother, thrusting the plastic golden star into his hands.
"Fine! But I swear Jonathan Storm, if you catch the tree on fire, you're buying us a new one and decorating it yourself." Johnny was already ignited and in the air, ignoring her warning.
"Yeah, sure thing Sue." The Invisible Woman sighed, squeezing the bridge of her nose.
Every year she tried to make Christmas nice for her teammates- a time they could all relax and be together. She'd pull out all the tinsel and garlands and decorations and wreaths. She'd make sure to get one of the tallest, prettiest trees in the store and decorate it with all the lights and ornaments they had. She'd set everything up by herself, give or take a few assists every now and then by Reed. She'd make sure everything was perfect. After all, the Fantastic Four was like a family, and a family was supposed to have a lovely Christmas together. But, as she had come to expect, every year had to have some miniature disaster occur to set everything spinning into pure festive chaos.
Last year Johnny set the tinsel on fire. The year before, Ben broke the fridge and spilled the already prepared dinner all over the kitchen floor. The year before, Reed's newest invention attacked the living room.
Christmas was always a disaster. But every year, she tried just as hard.
Johnny flew to the top of the tree and reached out to put the star in place. As he did, the elevator dinged, alerting Sue to a visitor.
"Hey, just 'cause I'm the strongest don't mean I gotta carry everything!" came Ben's rumbling voice.
"Yes it does." Reed's voice replied. "It's the logical choice, isn't it?"
"Screw logic, just help me!" Ben stumbled through the doorway, carrying a precariously stacked pile of presents in his arms. They were stacked so high that they blocked his vision completely. A few gifts tumbled from the top, and Reed stretched out his arms to catch them.
"I can't, I'm busy saving the presents you're dropping."
"Well, excuse me, Egghead." Ben snorted. He dropped the load of gifts on the floor, turning to face his best friend.
"Uh, hey guys." Sue called, catching the men's attention. "Back from shopping?"
"Finally." The rock man replied.
"That bad?" she asked sympathetically. Reed walked over and pecked her on the cheek. She wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him to stand next to her.
"You have no idea." Ben collapsed into his reinforced chair with a sigh.
"As if lines ain't bad enough, the traffic was even worse, and people were mobbin' us all over the place for autographs."
"Oh please." A familiar voice came from the doorway. "At least you could see where you were going. I was just being yanked around this way and that through all of the crowds!"
"Alicia, baby!" Ben stood up and swept the small woman up into his arms. She giggled, dropping the shopping bags she was carrying. Her laugh was cut short, however, as her nose wrinkled and she sniffed at the air.
"Do you guys smell something burning?"
"Um, yeah," came Johnny's nervous voice. "About that…" Sue spun around just in time to watch the first branch catch aflame.
"JOHNNY!"
"Heheh, sorry...?"
"Ben, get some water." Reed ordered, taking on his leader persona. "I'll try and suffocate the fire."
Ben placed Alicia back down gently, and then hurried to the kitchen, grabbing a bucket from underneath the sink. Reed expanded himself until he resembled a giant human blanket, then settled over the tree. Smoke puffed out from underneath him, but the fire still lived, consuming even more of the evergreen. Ben rushed back with the water and heaved it at the tree. With a hiss and a flurry of black smoke, the flames finally died. However, not only did the water extinguish the flames, it also drenched Mr. Fantastic to the bone. Ben tried to conceal his laughter behind an apology.
"Ooh, sorry there Stretch. Thought you had moved." Reed contracted back to his normal form and landed on the floor. He took stock of the tree's remains and assessed the damage. The fire left smoke, ash, and a tree of scorched skeleton branches in its wake. The ornaments had melted to plastic goo, now solidifying on the carpet. The star had somehow managed to stay mostly intact, and was still perched at the very top.
"Hey, the tree doesn't look half bad." Johnny joked, nudging Sue in the side. She turned, fixing a dark, murderous glare on him. He backed away sheepishly. Slowly, her hand rose to point at the door.
"Tree. Now." Johnny let out a frightened yelp and ignited once more, flying out of the room at breakneck speed.
Minutes later, The Human Torch returned to the top floor apartment of the Baxter Building, with a three foot tall tree in his arms.
"Tada!" He presented the sapling with a beaming grin. "Whaddaya think?" The other four examined the puny thing with mixed reactions.
"It's so...small." Sue said.
"Well, it doesn't have to be huge to qualify as a Christmas tree." Reed reasoned.
"What is this, Charlie Brown's Christmas?!" Ben exclaimed. "Get a real tree!"
"Now Ben," Alicia replied. "I agree with Reed. It's just fine as it is."
"See? At least some of us have common sense." Johnny said, sticking out his tongue at the two naysayers. He carried the miniature Christmas tree to the base of their latest holiday disaster and set it down. "I like the little thing. I mean, think about it- when we put the presents around this one, they'll look twice as big!" Alicia sighed.
"And here I thought Johnny had finally gotten the whole 'appearances don't matter, it the thought that counts' thing." Johnny smirked.
"Nope, I'm just as shallow as before." He turned to Reed. "Mind getting the star? I don't wanna set fire to our tree...again." Reed stretched his arm up and got the sole surviving ornament from the treetop, handing it to Sue. "Hey, I thought-!"
"I think Sue deserves to do it, after all this."
"Thank you Reed." Sue smiled warmly and accepted the star, then stooped to place it on the top of the little tree. They stepped back to admire the pathetic thing in all its Yuletide glory.
"There. Christmas is saved, thanks to me!" Johnny said, crossing his arms. Ben smacked his forehead exasperatedly.
"Hey Matchstick, didja already forget that you were the one that ruined it in the first place?!"
"So?" Johnny shot back. "At least I fixed it!" His looked at the destroyed tree and sighed. "But I do miss our old tree, especially when it was on fire. It was more exciting..." Suddenly, his eyes lit up and his grin widened.
"Ooh, I got an idea!" He raced over to the kitchen, grabbing a Santa hat on the way and plopping it crookedly on his head. Grabbing a few mugs, he turned back to his friends. "Who wants hot chocolate!"
"NO!!!"
Just a simple little oneshot I did for Christmas. Sure, it's late but oh well. Hope you liked it! Review, please?