"What is that?" Steve finally asked Tony, pointing to his shirt. "It's a skull- duh!" Clint called from the couch. Tony scoffed. "How could you two be so... un-cultured! This is Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King!"
Natasha groaned. "Oh god, isn't that from Nightmare..." "On Elm Street?" Clint finished hopefully. "But as far as I was aware," Thor frowned, "The Nightmare that took place on the street of Elm contained a man named after a donut!" Bruce chuckled, shaking his head. "It's Kruger, Thor, not Cruller."
"Regardless, I'm not talking about Freddy Kruger, Freddy Cruller, or Elm Street. I'm taking about... The Nightmare Before Christmas!" Tony's announcement was received with blank stares. "You guys serious?! Come on! Tim Burton?" "Who?" Loki asked, and the billionaire turned. "When the hell did you come out here?" Loki shrugged, sitting down in the chair he had deemed his own.
"Wait, really, who is Tim Burton, though?" Steve asked, and Tony pinched the bridge of his nose. "I can't even believe I'm associated with you. You guys have no lives, do you realize that?" "Just tell us." "Everyone knows who he is." "TELL US!" Loki shouted irritably, and Tony rolled his eyes.
"He does all these, like, cool, crazy, dark stop motion movies, like The Corpse Bride, uh, Frankenweenie is a newer one, Paranorman, and a live action one called-" "Beetlejuice," Natasha cut in, smiling, "I remember some of those. They were actually pretty good."
"Why would one insist on watching a film about the juice of a beetle?" Thor asked, and while Loki would normally take this opportunity to ridicule him for his stupidity, he too, looked honestly confused.
"It's not actually about that," Tony told them, "It's about this guy who helps these people haunt their house." "Oh!" Clint said, "Tim Burton! I know him! Man, his stuff is really weird..." "In a cool way," Tony added, and Clint shrugged. "I guess, if you consider getting nightmares from the freaky stuff that goes on cool, then yeah."
Steve gulped. "You said, 'Paranorman,' was the title of one?" he confirmed nervously, "Is that, in any way, associated with the Paranormal Activity series?" Bruce laughed. "Tony, for Steve's sake, I think we should watch a few of these." The billionaire grinned. "A fine idea, Brucey."
"You didn't answer my question," Steve said meekly, and Natasha patted his shoulder. "Steve, if you get more scared by Paranorman than HYDRA, I will personally discharge you. Trust me, it's not that scary." "Key word being that," Clint grinned, and they all gathered around the TV.
As they skipped through the Tim Burton section of Tony's digital movie collection, Loki raised a finger at one. "What is that?" "Coraline?" "The buttons on her eyes intrigue me." "Oh, it's about a girl who wishes for a different family, so she gets it, but her new family's really wack-o, and they have button eyes and stuff."
Loki frowned, and Bruce leaned in. "It never sounds as good when Tony explains it." "Eat me, Bruce!" "Love you too, Tony."
So they settled for Coraline first, and JARVIS dimmed the lights for them.
When it was over, Loki seemed impressed, and Steve asked if they could watch another one. They chose the one that got them into this whole fiasco in the first place: The Nightmare Before Christmas. During the part where Jack was lamenting over his burden-inflicting title of Pumpkin King, Loki growled. "At least you're the king of something," he spat at the TV, and Thor chuckled.
Clint found himself singing along with some of the songs, since they were so easy to catch on to, and when the movie was done, they all admitted that they loved it.
"If we were in that, who would we be?" Clint asked, "Natasha's Sally... Bruce, you can be the mayor, cause he has two sides, Tony, you're like, one of those weird monsters, maybe the Clown with the Tear-Away Face, Thor's Santa, and Loki's the Oogie Boogie." "What about the King of Pumpkins?" Thor asked. "Steve," Bruce said, and the soldier blushed. "I suppose so... I do like to spread happiness." Tony gagged, and they went on to start Beetlejuice.
Steve added active commentary throughout, whether it was wanted or not.
"What?! They DIED?!" "Yes." "But-" "No buts, Steve, now clam up."
"You know, he actually reminds me of Tony," Bruce said thoughtfully, looking at Beetlejuice. "Hmmm... you're right," Natasha agreed, cracking a smile.
After Beetlejuice came Frankenweenie.
When they got to the part with the car hitting the dog, Steve teared up a little, and Thor literally started bawling. "WHY?! The poor Midgardian animal was so small and amiable! TWAS NOT HIS TIME!" Tony frowned.
Later in the movie, when the boy, Victor, was doing the reincarnation, Bruce felt it necessary to voice his strong opinions on the notion. "That's virtually impossible!" he cried at the screen in protest, "After butchering science, would you like to take it out again and step on it?!" Tony calmed him down. "Bruce, it would make for a very dumb, pointless movie and a very annoying, unhappy Thor if the dog just died and it was over, so exercise suspension of disbelief, and watch." Bruce reluctantly nodded.
When they were done watching, Clint scratched his head. "Was this based off of something? Because it seems really familiar." "Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley," Natasha informed him. "Ooh, right. Tim Burton should make one for Dracula... Dracu-Fido!" Natasha blinked. "This is why you're an assassin and not a writer." Clint looked offended.
"Hey, I'm convinced lots of people would go see it!" "Only the largest idiots in the world would go see that," Loki grumbled. Thor put an arm around the archer to make him feel better. "I would go see it, my friend." Loki snorted. "I rest my case."
They went on to the Corpse Bride, which Steve was quite horrified by, but they all enjoyed it, nonetheless. They also watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. "OOOmigod, that chocolate looks so good," Clint said. "I agree," Thor boomed. "Loki, you're the little girl who falls down the garbage chute," Tony joked, and Loki was not impressed.
"So, what about 'Paranorman,'" Steve asked at the end, putting air quotes around the title. It was starting to get dark outside as the day ended, and Tony nodded. "Okay."
They put that one on, and Loki gestured to the TV about a little bit into the film. "This Norman... I see myself in him." Thor narrowed his eyes at him. "You witness dead people, brother?" he asked, but Loki rolled his eyes. "No, you fool, I mean I never had any friends when I was young."
"That is not true!" Thor argued, "What of the Warriors Three and myself?" Loki clenched his jaw. "Yes, you bunch would have sleepovers without me, and laugh in my face whenever I asked to attend!" Tony choked back a laugh, and Bruce patted the god's arm. "Well, you have friends now, Loki," he smiled. "Even though you tried to, you know, take over the world and stuff." Loki's lips formed a straight line, trying not to let the warmth of their words get to him.
"Alright. Let's watch the end!"
They flicked it back on, and everyone became very tense when the zombies and the witch were closing in on Norman at the end. "Gosh, I'd take fighting HYDRA over this any day!" Steve whimpered. "Oh, that's too bad, Steve, cause we elected you leader of our apocalyptic survival team when you weren't looking," Tony smirked, and Steve scowled back at him.
"What is an apocalyptic survival team?" Thor asked, and Natasha giggled. "World War Z another time, Thor."
When their movie was over, they all smiled, happy with how the day had played out.
"Well," Clint exhaled, "That sure was way more fun than working a mission!" They all mumbled in agreement, and Natasha paled. "Wait- oh god, Fury told me he wanted to see us about one at 7:00 PM sharp!" "JARVIS?" Bruce called, "Time?" "8:03 PM, Dr. Banner," the A.I. replied, and they cringed, jumping up and running out to the quinjet.
Once they arrived at SHIELD HQ, they went up to Fury's office. "Nice of you all to drop in," he said sarcastically, and turned around in his chair. He sent them a pointed look with his eye. "What in the hell took you so long?!"
"Well," Clint said, grinning slightly, "You could say we were, 'Making Christmas,' sir," he said, quoting one of the Nightmare Before Christmas songs. Fury frowned. "Excuse me?" "Making Christmas, making Christmas, it's so fine!" Clint sang, and the others joined in. "It's ours this time, and won't the children be surprised?" "It's ours this time!" Thor baritoned, and the group laughed.
Fury squinted at them, shaking his head. "What have I done, putting these people together?" he asked the picture of his granddaddy on his desk, and Tony interjected. "What have I done, what have I done, how I... be so blind?" "Stark, so help me if you make another Tim Burton reference-" "What's this? What's this? There's white things everywhere!" Steve joked, picking up things in the office. "Rogers-" "Trick or Treat, til' the neighbors gonna die of fright!" Clint laughed, and Fury sat down, holding his head in his hands.
"I knew this day would come. They've lost it. Stark, I should fire you for showing them those movies." "How'd you know it was me?" "Oh, I know it was you." Tony gulped. "Heh... you can't fire the Clown with the Tear-away face!" "GET OUT."