Hello and welcome to my Christmas-Avengers special! Featuring all characters :) Each chapter will be the title of one of the songs in Michael Bublé's 'Christmas' Album which you should all go and buy because Bublé that's why.
First chapter featuring our favourite couple :) Well my favourite couple. Tony and Pepper! Enjoy and please review my darlings :) Feel free to send prompts as well.
1- It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Pepper was having an awful day.
Seriously bad, she felt like someone was out to get her. Loki probably since he was the God of Mischief and everything, but Thor assured her he was still imprisoned on Asgard.
It had started when she'd woken up that morning. She'd gone to bed to previous night lying safe and secure in Tony's arms, and had woken up on her own with a sore throat and a thumping headache. On getting out of bed, she'd stubbed her toe on the dresser and tripped and hit her head on the wall. As it turned out, Tony had apparently had a eureka moment at 3 in the morning and had been working in the lab since then, giving her a barely audible grunt when she'd come downstairs to say goodbye to him before taking the lift to her office, too absorbed in his work to even notice there was anyone there.
So that hadn't helped.
December just isn't going to be my month, she decided to herself when the elevator broke down and an engineer had to come out and fix it, leaving her stuck in there playing Tetris on her BlackBerry for an hour. On reaching her office, she'd missed the very important meeting with the legal team and had spilt a cup of scalding hot coffee down her blouse, burning her chest.
By lunchtime, when she'd also got her hand stuck in the drawer, stabbed herself with a pencil, thrown-up her breakfast, got fed up because the phone would not stop ringing she felt about ready to cry.
By the end of the day, when she took the lift back to the penthouse and threw herself into the shower (slipping on the tiled floor and bumping her knee, then knocking off the toothbrush cup so that fell on her foot) she did cry, allowing the tears to flow freely down her face as she washed the remains of the worst day ever off her body, rubbing the burn mark the coffee had left on her skin.
On exiting the shower, she dropped her towel on the floor and when she bent down to get it she slipped again and banged her head on the sink. Swallowing the tears that threatened to resurface, Pepper dressed in her comfiest clothes (well, Tony's comfiest clothes, his faded jogging bottoms and MIT sweatshirt) and tied her hair into a loose ponytail, aching and hurting all over, bruises forming all over her skin and the burn on her chest throbbing.
Making her way to the kitchen, JARVIS informed her that the whole team had gone out and she was alone in the penthouse. Normally, Pepper would have breathed a sigh of relief and stretched out on the sofa with a book, but after slamming the cupboard door on her fingers and stubbing her toe on one of the bar stools, she simply burst into tears again, wishing for some company.
Company arrived 10 minutes later in the form of a red-faced out of breath Tony Stark, clutching a shopping bag to his chest and racing into their bedroom to find her sat in the middle of their bed watching TV, eyes still red and puffy.
On seeing him looking frantically around the room for her and the concerned expression on his face when he noticed how bedraggled and upset she looked, Pepper started crying again, burying her head on her knees and feeling like an idiot.
Tony didn't say anything. She heard the sound of the shopping bag dropping to the floor with a thump and then he was climbing into bed beside her, pulling her into his arms where she buried her face in his jumper and howled, the stress of the day coming out in one huge gush of tears.
Tony hugged her and lightly pressed a kiss to the top of her head, rubbing her back soothingly and letting her cry until she had no tears left and was hiccupping pathetically.
'I'm sorry,' Tony said softly.
Pepper sniffed and closed her eyes, breathing in his cologne and trying to relax. 'For what?' she said quietly, wiping her face with the sleeve of his sweatshirt.
'For being a complete ass to you this morning,' Tony replied, bending his head to kiss her cheek. 'I shouldn't have left you, and I shouldn't have ignored you.'
Pepper smiled in his arms, Tony apologising was a rare thing. Tony apologising to her was even rarer.
'I'm used to that,' she said softly. 'And it's not completely your fault, nothing has gone right today.'
Tony tilted her chin up so she was looking into his concern-filled brown eyes. 'But you shouldn't be used to it,' he said. 'I'm going to treat you better, Pepper. I swear. And I was wondering why you had an egg-sized lump forming on her forehead. What happened?'
'I hit it on the wall and the sink, stubbed my toes, hit my knee, got stuck in the lift for an hour this morning, trapped my fingers in the cupboard, stabbed myself with a pencil, caught my hand in a drawer, threw-up my breakfast and split scalding hot coffee down my blouse.'
Tony winched and lifted her bruised hand to kiss it and her swollen fingers better. He then wiggled down the bed and lifted up her sweatshirt to kiss the angry burn on her stomach.
Pepper couldn't help but smile and when he pulled himself back up the bed and bent his head to kiss her she eagerly wrapped her arms around his neck and climbed into his lap, wrapping her legs around his waist and losing herself in him.
When they were both left breathless, Tony pulled her back onto the bed, planting kisses along her neck and Pepper laid her head in her favourite cuddling spot, just underneath his chin next to the Arc Reactor and closing her eyes.
'I thought you'd gone out,' she said, sleepily.
'JARVIS called me, he said you were upset,' Tony replied, playing with her hair absentmindedly.
Pepper looked up at him and frowned. 'So you came all the way back to Park Avenue?' she asked, eyebrow raised.
Tony gave her a look. 'My girlfriend was upset, and I was a complete dick to her this morning, and I hate it when you get upset cause you look like a sad kitten which is the saddest thing ever and I missed you.'
Pepper smiled and lay back down on his chest, spotting the bag on the floor out of the corner of one eye.
'So what's in the bag?' she asked.
In response, Tony eagerly stretched his arm out to reach it, one arm remaining wrapped around Pepper, keeping her on his chest. Once he'd grabbed it, he handed it to her, kissing the top of her head.
'It's an apology present,' he said. 'A bit silly, but they were playing Christmas songs in the shop and all the Christmas lights have been turned on, so I got a bit sentimental.'
Pepper opened the bag and pulled out a small toy bear wearing a red jumper that said 'To My Best Girl at Christmas,' a gold ribbon tied around its neck, she could instantly see why Tony had liked it.
Pepper smiled and reached up to kiss Tony on the lips, feeling him tighten his hold around her waist. 'I'm your best girl?' she said, smiling at him.
Tony kissed her forehead. 'You've always been my best girl,' he replied. 'The others aren't going to be back for a few hours, why don't we get a head start on the tree?'
The day before, the seven of them had gone out to buy a Christmas tree and ridiculous amounts of decorations. Thor had acted like a five year old, excited by absolutely everything and racing around the shops like a lunatic, attracting a lot of attention from curious children and confused shoppers.
'Sounds like a plan,' Pepper replied, kissing him one last time and climbing off his lap, swinging her legs off the bed and squeaking when Tony suddenly lifted her up and started carrying her to the living room.
'Tony!' she protested.
'I like your body the way it is,' Tony replied seriously. 'I don't want you damaging yourself any more then you already have.'
Pepper smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, enjoying the ride.
When the remaining Avengers got back that evening, they found a half-decorated living room, ridiculous amounts of tinsel strewn across the floor (from an earlier tinsel fight which had ended in a make-out session) empty pizza boxes on the table and one fast asleep and exhausted looking Pepper Potts using her boyfriend as a pillow as Elf played quietly in the background. Five pair of eyes were immediately drawn to the bruise blossoming on her forehead and Tony waved nonchalantly at them, combing his fingers soothingly through his girlfriend's hair. 'Don't ask,' he said.
They didn't, instead choosing to dump their bags on the floor and arrange themselves over various pieces of furniture, restarting the movie and allowing themselves to relax.
When Pepper woke up, she was lying safe and warm in their bed, Tony's arms wrapped tightly around her and her bear propped up against the headboard. Pepper grabbed it and cuddled it, pushing her body further into Tony's, causing him to subconsciously tighten his hold on her and drifted off to sleep.
People who don't review break my heart! :(