It's the season? If I'm making an advent calendar, I am doing it properly.

Only the fluff is mine. And also Claire.

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There was a blazing fire in the grate at the Tower, Christmas tunes on the stereo system, and the smells of Christmas dinner cooking in the kitchen. Pepper, who had been informed she was carrying twins, was not only very visibly pregnant, but rather large this time.

She looked happy in her terrible Christmas jumper, though no one knew how Steve, the Bruces and Natasha had managed to convince her to put it on. Tony, who had failed in this same endeavour multiple times in the past, was mischievously jealous of their achievement.

The tree in the corner was at least ten feet high, and it had taken the two supersoldiers to deal with the huge rows of lights, as well as Hawkeye's tricks to put the star in the top. Tony and the children had been in charge of decorations and tinsel. Lots and lots of tinsel.

Rhodey and Sam, as well as the entire Barton family, had joined them as they sat in the sofas in front of the fire, or spread out of the ottomans. Everybody was talking comfortably after dinner amongst themselves, Clint and two of his kids watching a Christmas movie together on a tablet while the Bruces ganged up on Tony about something the majority of the rest of the room assumed to be nuclear physics, but actually had no idea what it actually meant.

Claire was using both her own now official fiance ("I'll happily wear your ring, love, as long as you understand it'll be just the one for a long time, before I am ready to marry you or move") and Steve for pillows while listening to Sam relating a story about the Christmas Spiders. Natasha and Laura cooed over baby clothes, as Pepper and Rhodey were apparently reminiscing about Tony's drunken Christmasses past. There were plenty, to no one's surprise.

It was Christmas Eve, and it was perfect.

It had been a busy day. Tony and Claire had started out in the workshop, Pepper had all sorts of activities to oversee at SI, and Sam and the supersoldiers had been out running first thing in the morning. They had come back to start cooking with Bruce, leaving Steve time to go see Peggy.

Wayne had arrived in the afternoon, quite clearly having just dealt with several minor company conundrums, and bringing his butler and longtime friend with him. Alfred and Jarvis cooperated just well enough for there to be intermittent doomsday jokes about them "teaming up," much to the amusement of everyone remotely sensible or grownup in the room.

As they all digested the delicious dinner, positions started to change. Alfred agreed to a challenge from Lila Barton involving her wii game, and her little brother Marten built a huge railroad on the carpet with assistance from Tony - who hadn't stopped arguing with his science broo and future son-in-law, but could multitask - and the super duo went to get out the Christmas sweets.

Bruce, saying it was on Hulk's suggestion, eventually stopped Tony from arguing further by making him coffee, and his namesake took full advantage of the lull in science to focus on Claire instead. He had a way of toying with her left ring finger, where she obligingly wore the ring he'd taken Tony of all people with him to find, which she found very precious.

He'd had to propose quickly after that decision, because the images of the two billionaire rivals apparently ring shopping were everywhere. Of course, he had planned his timing well for this very reason, choosing a moment with care. Claire still beat him to it, and he rose ín her esteem by merely producing the ring and accepting her offer of a long engagement before they set a date. ("As long as I get to say it, my darling, you can book the wherever-you-want-to-have-it in a decade.")

The newly engaged pair ate truffles and cuddled for some time, before he inevitably lost her to the expanding engineering effort on the carpet. Bruce Banner was the next to cave, and by the time came for Marten to go to bed every grownup in the room except Sam and his mother had joined him at least at some point, most of them taking turns to play also with Lila and Nathaniel, while Natasha monopolised her little girl until Clint stole her. It was proof of her love for him that he got away with his life.

After all the kids were in bed, half of the adults ended up half-drunkenly decorating the tree with Tony's homemade superhero baubles, and the other half laughed at them from the sofas. Interestingly, almost every pair seemed to be split except for Bucky and Steve, who were silly together.

Pepper, Rhodes, Alfred, Laura and the Bruces watched their family from the safety of the sofas and the carpet Wayne hadn't thought to vacate, but they shared in the laughs.