Chapter 15
For someone who grew up in Russia and could literally control fire, you were surprisingly sensitive to the cold. As winter had sprung upon everyone alarmingly quickly, it didn’t take Nat or Wanda too long to notice. You, of course, were too stubborn to admit it; you didn’t need your alphas babying you everywhere you went because you may catch a cold. But alas, you weren’t able to ignore how, although Wanda seemed to be a walking furnace, she’d begun wearing hoodies tied around her waist to conveniently wrap around you in the façade of a hug. You didn’t miss how Natasha, the classic ‘cold? What is that?’ Russian, wrapped an arm around you whenever you were walking down the snow-crusted streets.
It was a pain that you couldn’t feel the warmth of the fire you created until it caught on something around you, let it be wood or whatever you wanted to burn. Hence, unless you wanted to actually start a fire, there was no hope in you being able to use your powers to stay warm outside. You’ve never hated that more than you did now. At least if you could use your powers to keep you warm, Nat and Wanda could get off your ass about it. It was irritating at times, but also kind of endearing that they cared so much. Besides, you felt like if you legitimately told them ‘enough’, that they’ve reached the point where they know you mean it.
On another note, Christmas was just around the corner and God did it feel like the year had flown by. You’d learnt that the Avengers had many traditions – for one, they dressed up as each other on Halloween, using cheap costume-quality get-ups that ensured for some laughs and mockery, especially when Steve found himself stuck in a little kid’s Iron Man costume. Apparently, they had even more traditions around Christmas.
According to Nat, the group usually went to the Barton’s farm for the holiday. Of course, she’d offered that if you’d wanted to stay in the city to be closer to home, she and Wanda would stay with you, but home was slowly becoming less about the where you were and more about the people you were with. Granted, you were used to spending Christmas with Bullet’s pack, but he had assured you that you could catch up with them on New Year’s instead if you wanted to go to the farm with the pack.
You’d been a little hesitant at first, you had to admit, but you’d eventually caved in and agreed to go.
That’s how you ended up here – squished (not unpleasantly) between Natalia and Wanda as you drove down the quiet country roads on the way to the farm.
You nestled closer to Natasha to gain the alpha’s attention. “Are we there yet?” you complained quietly so Steve couldn’t hear. He’d snapped at you last time you’d asked the question for the umpteenth time. You’d probably do the same, in his defence, but still.
“Actually, yeah,” Nat said, sitting up slightly when she realised that she recognised the terrain.
You too, sat up, the movement waking Wanda, who’d been dozing against your side. You brushed some of the hair form her face as she blinked, eyes adjusting to the light.
“Wakey-wakey, sleepy-head,” you chuckled fondly, pressing a kiss to her forehead. Her cheeks coloured slightly at the affection which – admittedly – you’d begun giving out more and more freely as of late.
“Are we here?” she asked, a slight lilt to her voice. It was funny, she only ever seemed to show her accent when she was either sleepy or upset.
“Yep,” Natasha said as the large car, verging on being a minivan, rolled to a stop.
You glanced out the window to see a mixture of familiar and unfamiliar faces standing on the porch of a quaint little house. Carol you knew, same with Clint and Laura. They had two small kids and a baby, who you hadn’t yet met, and beside them stood a tall blonde man wearing some strange outfit. It was going to be a full house by the looks of it. In the car-minivan with you were Tony, Steve, Wanda, Nat, Bruce and Bucky.
The group of you got out of the car, bags and all. You were planning to stay for three nights, and although you, Nat and Bucky had each thought a single duffel bag was sufficient, the others had – by your standards – overpacked to the extreme. You couldn’t say you were surprised though, in all honesty.
The sun was lowering in the sky, giving the house an orange glow as you approached it. You were able to distinguish the blonde man’s scent from the others by crossing out those of the pups and the people you knew. Not dissimilarly to Carol, his scent was off, and between that and his getup, you decided to hazard a guess that he wasn’t human.
“Y/N, this is Thor,” Nat introduced as you got closer. “The Asgardian I was telling you about.”
Ohhh so this was the mighty Thor who broke the microwave by putting a tin can in it.
The blonde man grin, stepping forwards and opening his arms, “New Midgardian, nice to meet you,” he bellowed, coming in for a hug. You quickly darted behind Natalia. Sure, the man was acting like a puppy-dog, but hugs by total strangers still weren’t your thing. Natasha was quick to tell Thor as much, and he seemed to take it well.
Meanwhile, the Barton’s approached. “Nice to see you again, Y/N,” Clint said calmly, clearly trying to counterbalance Thor’s… energetic approach. “These are the kids. That’s Cooper, and Lila, and this tiny one’s Nate.”
You raised a brow. “Did Nat bully you into that name?”
“Something like that,” he chuckled. “The middle name’s after Wanda’s brother though.”
You tilted your head, glancing at the Sokovian, “Pietro, right? He saved you in the fight against that robot that made Sokovia fly.”
“Ultron,” Wanda muttered, disgust laced in her tone. It was clear she didn’t particularly talk about the matter, so you moved on. It wasn’t difficult to do so given that Carol had greeted the others and was now making a beeline to you.
“Hey Carol,” you grinned, hugging the woman briefly. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too, but I’m freezing my ass off out here because not everyone’s wearing snow-fit clothes. So let’s go. Back inside, come on.”
She herded you and the others into the house, and the rest followed along.
The place was nice, quaint. A fire roared in the living room, the warmth spreading throughout the house.
“We don’t have a billion bedrooms, but we’ve moved the kids into Nate’s room – they’ve set up a tent, so they’re content. That gives us two beds in there, the sofa here, and the two spare bedrooms. So Thor’s claimed the couch, Carol’s claimed one of the beds, Steve’s soulmate group can take the room with the bigger bed since there’s more of them, and Nat’s group can stay in the other one, and Y/N if you want it, the spare bed near Carol’s.”
“Nah, I’m good,” you assured him. “I can sleep with these two.”
He smiled. “Just wanted to make sure. Dinner’s in half an hour since we’ve got to get the kids to bed, so until then we’ll leave you lot to settle in.”
Dinner in the Barton household was admittedly a bit chaotic, what with the two tables of different heights connected to each other and a mix-and-match of dining-room chairs and chairs from the porch to ensure everyone had a seat. The food was good. You fell in love with Laura’s potato salad, though judging by the amount of mayo in the thing, it wasn’t really a salad at this point.
Other than that, the evening was filled with laughter, especially from Thor. It was a peaceful sort of chaos though. Even though it was loud in the house, the surrounding neighbourhood was quiet, and as time dug deeper into night, the quietness let itself be known.
Wanda and Nat were sleeping soundly, but you were unable to do the same – not in this unknown environment. You grabbed your coat, slipping out of the house and into the snow. The stars were brighter out of the city, you realised as you looked into the heavens. You hadn’t seen them this prevalent since… well, the Red Room.
You sat of the porch steps, clearing your head in the night. Your attention was grabbed at the sound of a door opening and shutting and you looked over your shoulder to see Carol.
“It’s nice out here, isn’t it?” she asked, settling beside you. In her hands, she held two mugs, one of which she passed to you.
You sniffed the contents. “Hot chocolate?”
“Taste it,” she winked and you gave her a suspicious look as you took a sip.
You chuckled. “Vodka in hot chocolate?”
“The best kind of hot chocolate. I thought you grew up in Russia.”
“I grew up in the Red Room,” you corrected. “The only time I ever got hot chocolate, I was twelve and on a mission, and I wasn’t about to ask the barista to put alcohol in it.”
Carol chuckled. You liked that – that she didn’t go all quiet whenever you brought up the Red Room. It was a nice change of pace.
“I haven’t looked at stars like this since I was a teenager.” You sighed. “You’re right, saying that it’s nice.”
“See that small star next to that group of ones that look like a diamond? That’s the main star of the planet that I remember most of my life on.”
“Hala, right?”
“Yep.”
“I forget how small and insignificant we are sometimes. Then I remember you’ve literally been to other solar systems.”
“Don’t we all? Forget how small we are, that is.”
You hummed softly, nodding. The two of you sat in silence for a few minutes before Carol finished off the dregs of her hot chocolate and stood. “I’m headed back in. You should do the same soon too. We both know Nat probably woke up the moment you left your room, and you don’t want to worry her.”
“You’re right,” you agreed, taking her offered hand. “Night Carol.”
“Night.”
The Avengers and their holiday traditions. There were always more. Apparently, one of these traditions were that they went to a tree farm near the Barton’s home every year, without fail, to find and cut down a tree of their own. Despite easily having enough money to have a tree delivered to his door, Tony Stark had woken everyone up at the crack of dawn, armed with two kids that would happily jump on your bed if you complained.
Wanda was less than amused by the early-morning wake-up call to say the least but Nat didn’t seem to mind too much. Now, she was wandering slightly ahead of the group with a soft smile on her face that you’d learnt to associate with the alpha being relaxed. It was rare that you saw that expression on her face when out and about, though you supposed meandering through a quiet farm with the people she’d consider her family until the end is vastly different from the hustle and bustle of the city.
You watched the kids running ahead fondly as they kicked up snow at Carol, causing the woman to quickly take chase to throw snowballs at them. Clint and Laura watched the interaction from a few metres to your right, amused.
“How about this one?” Bucky asked for what had to be the one-hundredth time.
“Too tall,” Steve said. He seemed to be very picky about the tree you got, because this had to be nearing the fiftieth of Bucky’s offers that he’d declined.
“Do you think they’ll ever agree on one?” you muttered quietly to Wanda leaning your head on her shoulder as you slowed your pace to give you some distance from the others.
“Probably not,” the witch chuckled, adjusted her shawl to include you in its embrace. “That’s why we were out here at the crack of dawn. It always takes hours for them to decide.”
“I thought a tree was a tree. I never really understood the hype.”
Wanda paused, “You’ve never had a real Christmas, have you?” she seemed shocked at the revelation. “Of course not! The Red Room- and then- oh Y/N, I’m sorry. God, I’ve been so ignorant this whole-“
“Wanda,” you chuckled. “I don’t mind. I don’t mind having this many firsts with you and Nat. I’d rather have them here, with you, than in the crappy excuse for a home I grew up-“
“Look out!” you heard Clint’s yell too late to dart away from the spray of snow sent crashing down onto you and Wanda as a tree fell, the boys seemingly finally having decided on one.
If you hadn’t been cold before, you certainly were now, with your hair slowly getting soaked and snow running down the back of your neck and into your boots. Wanda’s powers had managed to direct the tree itself away from you, but no such luck with the snow. She too was covered in the white powder, and upon the sight, you couldn’t help but giggle a little before you got too distracted by how cold you were to find the situation funny anymore.
“Sorry you two!” Thor yelled, jogging into view. He didn’t seem very sorry at all, as he stopped with a grin, placing his hands on his hips to admire the tree he’d cut down. “I was unaware you’d fallen behind.”
You scowled at him as you shivered.
“Thor, you dimwit,” Natasha hissed, lightly batting his arm with the back of her hand as she pushed past him to get to you and Wanda.
She was quick to brush the excess snow off your heads, and you scrunched up your face as some of it fell into your eyes.
“Sorry kitten,” she said, shrugging off her jacket and offering it to you.
You blushed at the pet name that you were used to hearing in Russian. “I’m fine ‘Talia.”
“Your lips are turning blue,” she disagreed. “I know you’re stubborn, but this isn’t an offer. Take the damn jacket. And Wanda, you put on the one around your waist.”
“I’m fine Tasha.”
The assassin pierced her with a glare that quickly had Wanda undoing the knot that held the jumper around her waist, slipping it on with on further complaint.
Natasha turned her attention back to you, pulling the jacket firmly around your shoulders with a look to warn you away from taking it off. You huffed but didn’t make a move to rid yourself of the item.
“We’ll be in the van,” Natasha said to the others. “Get the tree and let’s go home before these two freeze.”
“Geez Nat, relax,” Steve chuckled.
That was clearly the wrong thing to say to the overprotective alpha because she sent a snarl Steve’s way that quickly had him raising his hands in surrender. “Just because you can spend seventy years in ice doesn’t mean they can.”
Natasha, despite both your and Wanda’s complaints, herded the two of you back to the van, sitting you in front of the AC and blasting warm air from the vents onto you.
Suffice to say, Natasha was hovering around you and Wanda for the rest of the day. It was mid-afternoon now, and you and Wanda were curled up on the floor near the fire, Wanda leaning back against the couch as you lay with your head in her lap. The TV was sat above the fire, playing some movie you couldn’t remember the name of when Natasha came to sit down beside you.
In one hand, she had a plate of cookies, and in the other, a blanket. You immediately made a grab for the treats, only to have your hand batted away. Natasha shoved the blanket towards you, and you huffed.
“Nat, we’re gonna overheat if you keep piling blankets and jackets on us,” Wanda complained, the witch’s face already having a pink flush from the warmth.
She rolled her eyes and pushed the blanket towards you. “Naaaatt,” you whined. She narrowed her eyes at you, and you took the blanket reluctantly, “No more blankets. Six is enough.” Even so, you laid it over your lap.
“I don’t want you to catch a cold.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Cookie?” she offered, handing you the plate of still-warm treats. You took one eagerly, biting off a bit only to cough it out in blatant shock.
Wanda sniggered, and Natasha sighed. “That bad, huh?”
“What the- what recipe did you use?” you spluttered. Bad wasn’t even able to describe the horror that was this cookie. It was salty. Like, all salt.
“I mean, I couldn’t find the sugar, so I had to improvise!” Nat exclaimed.
“With what?” you laughed. “Salt?”
“Yeah.”
You did a double take. “Sorry, did you say you substituted salt for sugar in a chocolate chip cookie?”
Natasha grinned sheepishly. “I mean they’re both white and gritty, right? I didn’t think it would make that much of a difference. All the rest of the ingredients were the same.”
You snorted, unable to contain your amusement. “These are a biohazard, Talia.” When Natasha’s expression fell slightly, you became serious once again. “Come on, let’s go make another batch. I’ll show you this brilliant cookie recipe a friend of mine showed me a while ago.”
The alpha brightened up a little as you grabbed her and Wanda’s hands in your own and all but dragged them back into the kitchen.
Baking with Nat and Wanda turned out to be quite the mess. The three of you set up a speaker as you went around gathering ingredients. Turns out, Bucky had done the shopping that week, so everything, and you meant everything, was out of place. You’d found tomato sauce in the cupboard for God’s sake. Only complete and utter psychopaths kept tomato sauce in the cupboard. The sugar had been pushed to the back of the pantry, but Wanda had easily been able to retrieve it with your powers.
The little Barton’s had soon joined you upon realising that you were making cookies, and you smiled as you watched Nat include them. For an alpha, she sure was good with kids. She showed them how to sieve the flour and helped them pick out eggshells when they cracked the eggs messily. Wanda clearly loved seeing maternal Nat too, judging by the look the two of you had shared whilst watching her.
Things had become a little hectic when you’d turned around and run into Wanda, carrying the flour, which she’d then proceeded to drop and spill everywhere, causing the five of you to burst out into laughter when you were covered in a cloud of the powder. The kids found it amazing – they knew it was one of the few times they could be part of a mess and not irritate their parents with it since technically it was your and Wanda’s faults.
You’d been able to clean up enough of it to continue making cookies, albeit only just, and despite Wanda and Nat saying there should only be one cup of chocolate chips in the batch, you poured them all in because – in reality – that’s the only way chocolate chip cookies should be. The little Barton’s agreed with you vehemently, which was probably the only reason Nat acquiesced.
Suffice to say, this batch came out a lot better, and the five of you spent the remainder of the afternoon covered in flour, gorging yourselves on cookies in front of Christmas movies, soon joined by the rest of the ground until the whole living room was filled with people watching a show about a cartoon reindeer.