Hey Guys! I know it's not Christmas, but I got a request for this story, and I thought it would be a cool one to write about. I hope you like this chapter. Please read and review. Love you guys!
The next day, Christmas Eve, the team really got to work. They woke early that morning, wanting to finish decorations as soon as possible. After about two hours everyone was done, and the house looked splendid. Dancing reindeer, white lights, and inflatable Santas adorned the lawn; the inside lights sparkled and shined with different colors, casting everyone into a colorful glow; and Luke and Sam's cookies filled the house with the scent of ginger and cinnamon.
They all stood back for a moment, peering through the windows and through the house. It looked wonderful. Santa might have even mistook it for his own house. Even Sam had to admit it was the best decorated house in town. The five superheroes sat together and admired their hard work.
Peter stood up. "Only one thing left to do!" He opened a cabinet and brought out a ton sparkly white paper. With the other hand he groped around until he was able to stumble upon some scissors. "Snowflakes!" He cried merrily, tossing handfuls of paper in the air.
Everyone laughed. It was so rare to see their leader take off the mantle of responsibility he seemed to be married to, and allow himself to be silly. Ava bent down and collected the pieces of paper Peter had strewn about the floor. When the pile was once more positioned in a nice stack, they began to cut and fold.
Luke grabbed a piece of paper. "How many points on the star? Do you want 4, 6, or 8?"
Peter thought for a minute. "Let's do 6 and 8! That way they will all be different."
The team had been cutting and folding for a while, before they noticed Danny sitting uncomfortably near the end of the table. He was awkwardly holding a piece of paper a pair of scissors.
Sam frowned. "What's up Fortune Cookie?"
Danny's cheeks flushed a light crimson. "I am not familiar with this Christmas practice. We never used these in K'un-Lun; no one wanted to decorate with fake snow when the real thing was so plentiful outside."
Sam nodded his head in sympathy. "Yeah, I never understood why we put paper snow on the inside of our house either. I mean, talk about crazy."
Luke scooted his chair over. "Here man, you're holding the scissors like they're a weapon, just cut."
Sam walked over to Danny's chair. "Here, I'll show you. I used to do this all the time with my little sister."
Ava smiled. "Yeah, me and my dad used to make cat shaped snowflakes and put them on the windows."
Luke laughed. "I can one-up you all. My mom and dad used to mix compounds to make foam ones. I used to pour the beakers together and think it was magic when foam snowflakes boiled over."
Danny got into the spirit too. "Before my brother Scorpion became evil, we used to engrave large ones into the mountains." Danny held out his hands. "We would make them large enough for a whole house."
Peter grinned at his friends. "I once tried to make snowflake crystallizer so I could keep my frozen snowflakes, but when I tested it I blew Uncle Ben's eyebrows off. Does that count?"
They continued like that until they had finished the ream of paper Peter had provided. They hung them all over the house; everywhere from the windows to the already decorated Christmas tree. It was a winter wonderland.
Peter sighed sadly. "I always love the way it looks when we're done decorating, but decorating is my favorite part of Christmas."
Ava shoulder butted him. "Cheer up Parker, we'll do something fun!" She went to the oven and checked on Luke and Sam's cookies. "The cookies only have two minutes left. We should put on a movie and eat them."
Her proposition was met with unanimous consent. Danny went to go choose a movie, Peter went to go grab bean bags, Ava set out trays, and the remaining two boys took the cookies out of the oven and poured glasses of milk. They all settled on the couch. Danny had picked A Christmas Story claiming that the humorous child on the front compelled him to select it.
Peter suspected it was just because he had never seen it. The team laughed and giggled throughout the movie, not caring how silly or ridiculous they looked. They were enjoying not only the movie, but the feeling of togetherness that most of them had been missing in their lives for so long. When the movie ended, they were all hit with an unreasonable sense of melancholy.
Ava sighed. "I miss my dad so much. Every time Christmas comes, I can't help but remember him." She folded her hands in her lap as Luke spoke.
"Yeah, my parents used to always take me to this really nerdy, geek fest that I always pretended to hate, but I really loved it. They would make cool Christmas decorations out of sciency stuff, and always let me keep it."
Danny sighed. "My parents owned a large business, and never got to spend time with me, so Scorpion and I used to always leave K'un-Lun to go watch outsider movies."
Sam smiled sadly too. "Before I became Nova, this was my sister's favorite Christmas movie. Every time someone said, 'You'll shoot your eye out kid.' She would collapse in hysterics."
Peter understood. "Yeah, when Uncle Ben was still alive, we used to always go sledding whenever it snowed. He used to always pretend to let me steer, and shoot fake bad guys out of the way. We crashed a lot." Peter frowned. "Now I guess I do the real thing."
Ava smiled. "It's okay, you still crash now too."
Peter smirked. "May I remind you of Operation Flying Kitty?"
Ava shrugged. "Point taken."
They continued recounting Christmases of the past, and joking until late into the night. Aunt May would be back just in time for Christmas, and everyone was super excited. Right before they went to bed Ava had given Peter a very heartfelt and completely unexpected compliment. "Peter, I think this really will be the best Christmas ever." And with that pronouncement, she and the others had gone to bed. Peter stayed downstairs for a while, feeling a warm spot growing in his heart.
