Notes: So it turns out Captain America is, in fact, Catholic. I've edited the previous chapter to reflect that. Thanks to those who pointed it out. After all these years persuading myself that my characters don't all have to be Canadian, left-handed, or Catholic, it finally came back to bite me!

Also, Tony and my dad have a Christmas ritual in common. Best way to wake on Christmas morning EVER, I assure you.

Also, sorry this one took so long- it's been a pretty full week.

Warnings: Christmas seems to be getting the most attention in this story, for which I apologize- it's the holiday I'm most used to, but no disrespect to any of the others is intended. Also, gift-giving can be a little fraught, so we can expect Loki to worry about it. Well, of course he does!

Chapter Thirteen

It was still mostly dark outside the next morning when Loki, Annie, and their pets were jolted awake by orchestral music, ringing church bells, and an exultant tenor voice singing,

"Joy to the World , the Lord has come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing!"

Annie shrieked and sat bolt upright clutching a pillow, Loki was so startled he nearly fell out of bed, and the animals all rocketed off to hide inside the open wardrobe. It was difficult to hear anything at all over the sound of the music- not even JARVIS responded when Loki called out- so Loki slid out of bed, grabbed the first robe he touched (the green-and-grey one) and went out into the hall to see if he could determine what was happening.

Agent Coulson, also clad in robe and pajamas but considerably less ruffled than Loki, and Natasha, barefoot and wrapped in a black silk kimono, were also stepping out of rooms along this hallway. Above their heads, the voice- Loki had to admit, startling as it had been, the voice was beautiful- now proclaimed, "...while fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains/ Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy-" and Loki had almost to shout to make himself heard:

"What is this?"

Coulson, without raising his voice and yet perfectly audibly, replied, "Mario Lanza. Tony did say he was saving that record for this morning."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "I certainly hope Steve is enjoying it."

Coulson's mouth curved into a smile. "I know my mother will be. This is exactly how my father always used to wake us all up on Christmas morning, too. I wonder if Tony's dad did?" He turned to Loki. "Is Annie awake? I think this is probably our signal to gather downstairs."

"I'm awake," Annie said, appearing at Loki's side. Annie's new-found ability to sleep a little was one of the pleasanter side-effects of her recent painful confrontations with her past. She responded to Coulson's greeting and added, "I'll have to tell Tony, that was enough to wake the dead. He'll be so pleased with himself."

"There'll be no living with him," Coulson agreed, and started for the stairs.

"Wait," Loki protested, "should we not dress first?"

"If I know Tony," Coulson replied, "he'll be much happier if we all show up in our pajamas." He glanced at, but not through, the open door to Natasha's room and added calmly, "Barton, you should probably put on some pajamas. Or something."

"On it, Boss," Clint's voice came from inside the room, as the voice above them sang about the wonders of His love.

Natasha sighed. "We'll be right behind you," she said, went into her room, and closed the door.

Loki and Annie followed Agent Coulson. The song ended when they were halfway down to the first landing, and JARVIS spoke up to ask that everyone gather in the formal living room.

"Mr. Stark has requested that you retain your nightclothes, as long as they meet legal standards of decency for public wear, and reminds you there are extremely conservative robes in your rooms, for your convenience and the sake of everyone else's eyesight." Pause. "I should add, that was a direct quotation." As JARVIS's speech ended, Mario Lanza, at a rather lower volume, began to sing "O Christmas Tree."

"I'm going to look out of place," Annie sighed.

"My bathrobe is in the wardrobe in our room," Loki told her. "You are welcome to borrow it, if you wish to wear it over your other clothing."

Annie blinked. "That's a great idea. Thank you," she said, and vanished.

When everyone had gathered in the living room, the plaid guests robes were much in evidence. About half of those present- including Mitchell- wore them over what looked more like workout clothing than sleepwear. Extrapolating from what he knew about Mitchell's habits, Loki drew his own conclusions about the customary nightwear of the others. He wondered briefly how many years he would have to spend in his current circumstances before he got over the instinct to ensure he would at least be fully clothed when he was dragged from his bed by enemies.

And then he caught Jane's eye as she sat beside Thor, hair in a messy ponytail and slippers shaped like white rabbits peeking from under the hem of her oversized robe. He found himself smiling at both the picture she made, and the reminder there were, quite definitely, no enemies here.

Tony and Pepper were the last to arrive, from the direction of the kitchen. Somewhat to Loki's surprise, Pepper had not "cheated" by brushing her hair or applying makeup, and Tony's hair was sticking up all over his head in a manner that made him look very much like a sleepy and excited child. They were each carrying a tray of steaming mugs, and handed them out to the others. Loki was familiar with the chocolatey drink of this realm, which could be made by adding hot water to a small quantity of brown powder. Knowing the drink was easy to make did not reduce his pleasure in Tony's gesture.

The pleasure began to turn to trepidation as Loki's thoughts turned to the brightly-wrapped packages under the tree. He had in the past not had much luck on those occasions calling for the exchange of gifts. Now that he had read mythology, he realized matters could have been a great deal worse- he had at least never had his mouth sewn shut over a gift he offered- but no matter what care he had taken in his choices, back in Asgard, he had somehow never managed to experience the moment of startled, "how did you ever guess?" delight he used to imagine on the faces of his loved ones when they saw what he had given them. It was not that any gift had seemed unwelcome, just that there always seemed to be something in the way- another gift more pleasing, or given by someone more beloved. Whatever the reason, Loki had always built up these ridiculous edifices of hope, and they always crashed down under him.

He was now aware his disappointment was at least partly the natural result of investing far too many expectations in the effect of one perfectly-chosen item, one gift that would make another understand he loved them, and so make them love him in return. He preferred not to think of the details at the moment, but it occurred to Loki that he had apparently always been addicted to the grand gesture. And of course, the fact he had at the time been unable to realize he was already loved in the first place had made everything worse, imbued it with a sense of desperation to finally, finally get it right.

Well, things were different now. He no longer placed any such exaggerated expectations on the presents he was about to offer. Tangible proofs of his affection were no longer needed to persuade anyone to love him: he and his housemates had never found it necessary to exchange gifts, and everyone here was either his friend already, or at least very kind to him, and seemed to know he was fond of them in return. There was no need to try to find a gift to prove it.

Still, he hoped what he had chosen would be pleasing. And he very much wanted to know what was in all the other packages. He pushed the unhappy memories from his mind, encouraging their replacement with a far more agreeable sense of pleasurable curiosity.

When everyone had their hot drink and the tea trays were set aside, Tony looked around. He was rubbing his hands in a parody of fiendish glee, but Loki found himself with the impression that Tony was at least a little anxious, himself. Perhaps Tony also placed too much emphasis on the role of gifts in expressing his affections. Perhaps he was experiencing the same kind of apprehension Loki used to, with the same underlying belief that it would all end in disappointment yet again, when the reaction evoked was not the one so ardently yet secretly hoped for.

And then, before Tony could speak, Pepper reached into a bulging pocket of her robe and pulled out a red-and-white Father Christmas hat.

"Here," she said, handing it to Tony, "you be Santa."

As Tony put the hat on, Mrs. Coulson put on an unyielding face and said firmly, "Oh, but I think we should all have breakfast before we start opening gifts!"

Tony turned to her, mouth agape, an expression mirrored by nearly everyone in the room. "You have got to be kidding."

Mrs. Coulson held her stern expression for a full count of three before she smiled. "Of course I am. I just didn't want to disappoint Phil by not saying it." Somewhere off to his left, Loki could hear Agent Coulson muttering, "Every year."

Tony rejected Clint's suggestion that the others should take turns to sit on his knee- although he made a sidelong remark to Pepper that caused her to push his hat over his eyes- but otherwise entered into the spirit of Father Christmas with a willing heart.

"Okay, we'll start here," he said, and picked up a small stack of envelopes decorated with brightly festive stickers. Loki's heart gave a little bump as Tony looked at the first envelope: "To Agent Coulson, from Loki."

Coulson looked surprised as he leaned forward to accept the envelope. "Thank you, Loki."

"It is… only a small thing," Loki mumbled, suddenly embarrassed, and torn between wishing he had not thought such a gift would be funny, and hoping the others would be amused. Well, it was too late to take it back, short of casting a spell to compel the others to return the envelopes and another to wipe three minutes from their memories, which did seem rather drastic.

Tony flipped through the envelopes, distributing them appropriately, with Loki now suffering a small agony of worry that he had forgotten a guest. (He had not.) Everyone appeared puzzled, but when Tony tore his open, the whole group followed his lead.

"Oh, hey, cool!" Tony exclaimed, as two brightly-striped bracelets- one red and gold, the other green and silver- fell out of the envelope into his hand.

"Nice," said Steve, examining the red-white-and-blue and black-and-yellow strips he had received.

"Friendship bracelets!" Pepper exclaimed, looking at her own red-and-gold and yellow-and-pink ornaments. "I haven't seen these in years!"

"I used to make them when I was in primary school," said Jane, whose bracelets were blue-and-bronze, and a sort of midnight blue and silver.

"I understand it is a popular pastime among little girls," Loki agreed.

"So what did you do? Shanghai a bunch of them into a chain gang?" asked Clint.

Loki by now knew better than to be troubled by Clint's exaggerated talk. "I did not understand a word of that utterance," he announced.

"He wants to know if you made them yourself," translated Agent Hill.

"Yes," Loki replied recklessly. Then, with greater honesty, he added, "At least, I tried to. But it would have taken more time than I had, and so I placed a spell on the threads to cause them to knot themselves into patterns. I know it was cheating, but-"

"Cheating," snickered Bruce, exchanging glances with Jane, who was already tying on her first bracelet.

"Seriously," Jane giggled, holding her wrist up for Thor to admire. She looked at Loki, eyes bright. "So when you say you made the threads knot themselves, does that mean if we'd been there we'd have seen- "

"Coloured threads weaving themselves together," Mitchell spoke up.

"Took up the whole kitchen table," said George, tying on his own blue and bronze bracelet.

"It was very Sorcerer's Apprentice," Annie added. "All those little coloured shapes wriggling about."

"Loki is hardly an apprentice," Thor objected.

Agent Hill was looking at her purple-and-blue and green-and-silver bracelets, frowning thoughtfully. "Is there any significance to the colours?" she asked. "I notice some of us have the same."

Loki squirmed a little. "Well, some of them are simply made to be cheerful, but..."

Natasha looked around at everyone, and an enlightened expression dawning on her face. "One of them is our Hogwarts colours."

Agent Hill blinked. "Our what?"

"The colours that represent our Houses at Hogwarts," Natasha explained patiently. "We Sorted ourselves last Thanksgiving. That's right, you weren't there."

"No, I was in Chicago. And what House am I- ?" Hill began, holding up her bracelets.

"Slytherin," came a chorus of replies.

"I thought, since most of your colleagues- " Loki began, nervously.

"That's the sneaky, untrustworthy house, right?" asked Hill. Natasha nodded. "Oh, good," said Hill.

"I don't get why I have a Gryffindor and a Slytherin one," Tony remarked, studying his.

"One is the colours of your suit, and the other of your House," Loki explained the obvious.

Clint held up his bracelets (black-and-purple and red-and-gold) and protested, "Hey, I tried the Sorting Hat again, and this time it put me in Slytherin. So I think I should- "

"Cheating," Bruce repeated himself in a singsong tone.

Loki was conscious of the eye of his housemates and his brother upon him: he had confessed to Thor exactly how many tries it had taken him to achieve his own black-and-yellow colours, and his housemates had been compelled to live with him through the process. Loki was hypocritical, but certainly not to the extent of denying Clint the same leeway he had applied to himself. He cleared his throat.

"Which is perfectly legitimate," he announced, without looking at the others. He held out his hand to Clint. "Let me fix that for you."

Clint handed over the red and gold bracelet with an alacrity that Harry Potter might have found offensive. Loki closed both hands around it and concentrated, feeling the gold bleed into silver, and the red slide around to green. A moment later he was handing back a green-and-silver bracelet, while Jane and Bruce looked on with expressions indicating they would love to connect his brain to machines, or at least peer inside his ears with… ear-peering devices, such as doctors used on television.

"How about you, Tony?" Mitchell prompted. "Did you try the Hat again?"

Tony, who had also originally professed himself offended by his House assignment, grinned. "Nah. Ambitious, a little mad with power, won't follow the rules? I guess I'm okay with Slytherin."

"And besides, the company's good," murmured Coulson, as he examined his own Slytherin bracelet, and its black-and-white companion (in making the second bracelets, Loki had tried to choose attractive, or at least bright, colour combinations, but Agent Coulson had defeated him.) Coulson looked up with a smile. "Thank you, Loki. This was a fun idea."

"Yes, thank you," echoed Mrs. Coulson, admiring her own Gryffindor bracelet (as with Agent Hill, Loki had been guessing, but he felt one would need to be most intrepid to cope with Agent Coulson and his career.) There were some other murmurs of thanks and pleasure, as the others tied their bracelets around their wrists or dropped them in their pockets, according to their wont. Loki received the impression his companions, except perhaps for Jane and Bruce who were taken with the idea of magical manufacture, viewed the gifts as amusing trinkets, a small token of friendliness, something that would soon be put away, but when found again would make the recipient smile.

It was exactly the reaction he had been hoping for. Satisfied, Loki smiled, too, and turned his attention back to the rest of the gifts.