A/N

I originally wanted this to be a full poem, but I only liked the first stanza, so I kept that and just let it be background.

Poetry is not my strong suit, alright?

***

'Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the Tower
All the Avengers were still awake
Even at this ungodly hour.

"What did I say about food in your rooms?" Tony snapped.

"It is not your room!" Carson protested.

"We do what we want!" Olivia added.

The pair had been trying to sneak a bag of Doritos up to their floor, Carson holding the open bag behind him, Olivia eating chips out of it as she was behind him. Of course, 'sneak' is probably the wrong word; they both had chips in their mouths, and chips being crunchy, they made a lot of noise.

"I don't care if it's your room, my room, or Steve's room, it'll make a mess and cheese powder will get everywhere." Tony said.

"Stark, chill. I can clean rooms in five seconds. You're just upset that we're behind on the holiday festivities because of our Russia mission." Olivia said, biting a chip.

"Well, no one asked you. Besides, we wouldn't be in this position if your boyfriend had just sucked it up and treated all of us and not just you." Tony huffed.

"Stark, we all caught colds. I mean, if you had been immune to cold and not gotten sick, would you want to heal others besides Pepper?" Carson defended. Tony opened his mouth to argue, but seeing Carson's point, he shut it. "Besides, we were all mad at Fury for not giving us a greater warning

"Who's setting up the tree?" Olivia asked.

"Wanda's putting up the higher up parts. Everyone else has the lower parts covered." Tony said.

Avengers holiday seasons were pretty generalized. They didn't put the religious emphasis on it for a few reasons, so it was mostly a tree and gifts in the morning with pancakes and waffles with eggs and bacon made by Steve.

Because this year there was such a time crunch, a Secret Santa was suggested. The team drew names from a hat and spent the earlier part of that day searching for gifts. Of course, in the chaos they accidentally left the tree decorating for the last minute. Thus, at 11:45 PM, it was a mad dash to get the tree up in time.

"Maybe we should go and help the rest of the team." Olivia said, shoving another chip into her mouth.

"Too late, we're done." Pietro announced when he came into the room.

"Damn it." Carson said as the four of them walked to the lounge area. The tree was really tall with multi-colored lights and assorted ornaments, mostly colored orbs, but because of the love of the random Hallmark ornaments, a few of those adorned the branches as well.

"Wow! It looks amazing!" Olivia said.

"No thanks to you." Clint said.

"Shut it, Barton."

"Does everyone have their Secret Santa gifts wrapped?" Steve asked. Unanimous affirmatives came from the team. "Great. Go grab the gifts and place them under the tree. Everyone nodded, then went to the various hiding spots where the gifts they were giving were being held. All in all, after everyone placed their gifts under the tree, there were a total of fifteen.

Some were wrapped better than others, so one could maybe figure out which was a gift from Thor versus a gift from Wanda. They came in varying sizes as well. Some were small, others long and thin.

"Alright. I'm sure someone is gonna wake us up early tomorrow, so get your butts to bed, alright?" Tony said, directing his gaze at Peter, Pietro, and Clint respectively. Clint rolled his eyes and started trudging up the stairs to his room, followed by the others.

***

6:30 AM, Christmas Morning

"Wake up, losers!!" Pietro yelled as he sped down the hallways where the team was asleep. Olivia groaned and put an arm over her face. She heard a faint woosh from her left side.

"I swear to Valhalla I'm going to murder someone." She grunted.

"It'll make it worse if you stay." Loki pointed out. Olivia groaned again as she literally rolled out of bed. Even on Christmas morning when she felt even the slightest bit more compelled to wake up, she was NOT a morning person. Standing up, she yawned and left her room, Loki close behind her.

About half of the team was downstairs already with a varying range of expressions from Peter's more excited face to Natasha's murder face reflective of Olivia's. It was also the rare day where everyone was seen in their pyjamas. Most of the Avengers wore things like old T-Shirts and shorts that either belonged to them or someone else. An example would be Wanda wearing a baggy shirt stolen from her brother and sweatpants with holes in the knees or Olivia wearing shorts and one of Loki's nightshirts.

Eventually, the whole team assembled in the lounge, Carson and Bruce being the closest to falling back to sleep.

"Alright, everyone find the gift with your name on it." Tony said. There was a scramble by a few of the Avengers to get their's first. The others hung back and waited.

"Who wants to go first?" Olivia asked, a mid sized and slightly squishy gift in blue paper on her lap.

"I will!" Maya said excitedly. Her gift was an average sized box about a foot on all dimensions. The paper was gold with a red ribbon carefully wrapped and tied off. Pulling out an Exact-O knife, she cut the ribbon and removed the paper. She opened the lid...

...And got a cream pie to the face, splattering all over the walls.

She shrieked as a few suppressed giggles (and bursts of laughter courtesy of Tony and Clint) met the reaction. Wiping the cream off her face so she could see, she collected the residue in her hand and flung it at Loki.

"And so the war continues." She said, putting the box aside.

"Okay, okay, you got me. But look under the pie dish." Loki said, wiping the cream off his face. Rolling her eyes, Maya lifted the pan carefully. All she saw was a nice black pen with gold accents. Taking it out, she took off the cap cautiously.

A katana unfolded to her shock.

"And it'll always return to your pocket if you lose it." Loki added.

"You gave a teenager a pen sword?" Tony asked. Maya put the cap on the end of the katana and it shrank back down to it's unnassuming pen state.

"If you want lessons, let me know." Valkyrie said.

"Epic!" She said. "Wanda, you next."

"So you got me the gift? Sounds fun!" Wanda said, peeling away the red paper.

Inside was a licenced Gryffindor scarf Maya ordered a few days prior. She was planning on getting it for Wanda anyways even before the Secret Santa was announced. Drawing her name was just the icing on the cake.

"It's amazing, Maya! Thank you!" Wanda praised, wrapping the scarf around her neck.

"Don't mention it. Who did you give your gift to?" Maya asked.

"Carson. It's in a similar vein." Wanda replied. She turned to her Hydra base buddy excitedly as Carson (albeit a little sleepy still) unwrapped something yellow. Wanda was right because she just so happened to buy Carson a Hufflepuff sweater.

"I love it!" Carson said, turning to look at Steve, who's name Carson had drawn. Opening it, Steve found a history book about some other famous wars starting with World War I. When it came to learning about history, past his freezing date, Steve was like an AP US History student. Smart, but still needing to learn more. Maybe sans the test afterwards.

"Thanks, Car. Buck, you next. Tony told me this would be something you'd like because of your 'facination with the flying car.'" Steve said. Bucky's box was long and heavy. Unwrapping it, he saw a box with an image of a dark blue contraption on two wheels.

"Hoverboard?" Bucky asked.

"It'll take some practice, but you'll get the hang of it." Tony said.

"If you say so. Barton, your turn." Bucky said. Clint went all in for his gift, tearing away the green paper. He stopped short once he realized what exactly Bucky had gotten him. Tony, Bucky, Pietro, and Carson all started wheezing when Clint pulled out a Nerf Rebelle bow with a scowl on his face.

"Maybe you can use that in the halls rather than your normal one." Pietro said.

"You're so dead once I get this out." Clint said, ripping at the cardboard viciously. After a moment, he growled before Maya handed him her Exact-O knife. "Parker, you go next while I get this thing out."

"Okay!" Peter said enthusiastically before opening his box. Inside was one of those kids science kits with things like Orbeez and grow snow.

"Dude, you know Peter's a kid science genius, right?" Bucky said.

"No, no! I like it! Aunt May used to buy me these when I was little. I loved them! Thanks! Bruce, you next!" Peter said brightly.

The gift in Bruce's hands was oddly shaped. A thin rectangle with something spherical jutting out on top. Bruce opened the gift slowly, opting for the 'pull at the seams' method over the 'Clint' method.

Inside was a new journal and a red stress ball with the angry emoji painted on one side. Truth be told, Bruce was extremely touched by the gift.

"Thanks, kiddo." He said. "Tony next."

"Awesome!" Tony said, ripping the paper to reveal a nice new welding kit. "Thanks, big guy. The Mark 58 was getting a little dicey."

"Don't mention it." Bruce said, smiling warmly.

"Alright, Khaleesi, you go." Tony goaded. Olivia rolled her eyes.

"I can only imagine what you could possibly gift me." She said, peeling the paper back. To her shock, inside was a plush green dragon with yellow accents.

"I did say you are Khaleesi." Tony said. "It's like a micro dragon Loki."

"I love it." Olivia replied. "Val, you next."

Valkyrie opened her gift. It was flimsy and thin with white and gold paper. She pulled out a nice new blue cape branded with the symbol of an Asgardian warrior (three interlocking triangles).

"Yours was looking a little worse for wear, so I fashioned one myself with a protection enchantment." Olivia explained.

"Can it be penetrated by my Dragonfang?" Val asked.

"Nope. Complete back protection." Olivia said.

"Then it's perfect." Val said. "Natasha?"

"It's small, but heavy." Nat said, trying to assess what Val could have gifted her. Finally, Nat tore off the paper to find newly fashioned Widow's Bites gauntlets similar to her old ones.

"I had Stark help with the putting together, but the tips are fashioned from Asgardian steel off an old sword I found in the new armory we built. But use them in moderation." Val explained.

"Fantastic!" Nat said, her features lighting up. "Alright, Thor. You next."

Thor's gift was small, but he seemed excited when he opened it. Inside was a regular hammer one could find at the hardware store. Tony snickered, but Thor seemed to genuinely enjoy the gift.

"She's not Mjolnir, but it's nice to have a hammer again." Thor said.

"Yeah, but don't go supercharging it or anything." Nat said good naturedly.

"Noted. Speedster comes next."

"Finally!" Pietro said. He tore open his gift to reveal new running shoes. They were bright blue with white accents.

"I was always saying yours were needing to be replaced. I'm shocked yours lasted for as long as they did." Wanda commented.

"They're very nice!" Pietro said.

"I suppose that means I'm last." Loki said, looking at the gift in his hand in question. It was a little bigger than the size of his hand and it was once again an oddly shaped one. Pietro tried to suppress a snicker as Loki peeled the paper off. When he looked inside, his face remained placid. Glancing up at Pietro, his lips contorted to resemble when one eats a lemon.

"Show us what it is, then." Olivia said. Sighing, Loki held up a small plastic horse as he rolled his eyes.

Tony and Maya were the loudest, but nearly everyone was laughing. Pietro fist bumped Tony as Tony clutched his gut.

"That wins everything!" Bucky said, wiping his eyes.

"Ha ha." Loki said sarcastically.

"It's missing a few legs." Tony said.

"Yeah, well I doubt they mass produde those." Peter cut in.

"And THAT is karma!" Maya said.

Then, a pink and purple suction cup arrow bounced off of Bucky's forehead. Everyone stopped laughing as Clint waved while smirking, the finally freed bow in his hand.

"Car, hold my hoverboard." Bucky said.

"Kick his ass, baby, I got your hoverboard." Carson said, quoting a meme Maya had showed him earlier. Clint shot off the ground and started running around the room, Bucky hot on his tail. The laughing shifted to Clint's misfortune as Peter filmed the chaos on his phone. Maya leaned her head on Peter's shoulder as she cried laughing. Olivia leaned back into Loki's chest as he wrapped his arms around her. Carson just looked on as Bucky chased Clint around, amused and blushing at the chase.

After a while, Clint slowed down and Bucky tackled him to the ground. He didn't hurt Clint, but his screaming might prove otherwise.

"Alright, show's over." Steve said, standing up. "Who's ready for breakfast?"

"PANCAKE TIME!" Maya said.

The festivities mostly died down after that. There was a ham dinner that was made by Pepper and Tony which was also a tradition. And of course a few last minute gifts were given towards the end of the night.

Peter gave Maya a specially made pair of bracelets that can attach to Peter's Iron Spider suit much easier when she has to hold onto him while he swings around the city. In return, she gave him a nice jacket from their high school.

New pistols from SHIELD were given to Carson by Bucky, along with a new belt. Carson was always saying he wanted his old ones replaced because they came from HYDRA. He never got around to it because they really were nice quality. Bucky recieved a picture frame with a photo of him and Carson eating pizza at Joe's one day.

Olivia was always trying to get away with wearing Loki's helmet because she loved it so much. So Loki fashioned her one that looked just like his, but to fit her head (Ragnarok Style one) for battles and missions. In return, she took all of Loki's books and made them look like new. She fixed covers and fixed ripped pages. Though, Olivia managed to keep the notes Loki had written in the margins through the years untouched.

All in all, it was quite the enjoyable Christmas.

***