Marvel Oneshots

Secret Santa (Brock Rumlow)

Written for the Winter Gift Exchange on Tumblr!

Prompts: Christmas, Giving the Reader the Present She's Always Wanted

Summary: Brock and the reader have been best friends since their SHIELD Academy days, but now that they're both Specialists out in the world, it's a lot harder to spend time together and confront feelings for each other. Fortunately, they're both back in town in time for the annual SHIELD Christmas party, and their fellow agents are tired of watching them dance around each other.

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"Nice Santa hat, Y/N!"

"Thanks!" I called back, smiling and waving at one of my fellow SHIELD agents. After being gone on a mission for almost eight months, I'd wrapped things up and made it back to HQ just in time for our annual Christmas party, one of my favorite parts of the year. It was one of the only times SHIELD agents–and especially the Operations Specialists, like me and most of my friends–got to spend time together without some terrible looming threat. Instead, we could just enjoy ourselves, maybe get a little tipsy, and have fun.

We also always did a massive Secret Santa gift exchange, and I hadn't missed a single year of it since I'd first become an agent. I'm not saying I made a point to wrap up my case in time to still participate, but it might have played a part in expediting the process.

I smiled at other familiar faces I hadn't seen in months as I made my way through the party, getting smiles and waves in return. I'd missed these people, cranky and irritating as they could be sometimes, and seeing them all again felt like home.

Once I'd made my initial rounds and put my Secret Santa gift under the tree, I turned to head for my other favorite part of the SHIELD holiday party: the buffet table. I'd only taken a few steps towards it, however, when I stopped dead in my tracks, my mouth dropping open at the sight of the person before me.

Brock Rumlow, my absolute best friend and long-time crush, stood before me, looking incredibly out of place amidst all the smiling and holiday cheer. Still, he gave me a massive grin as soon as he saw me, and I didn't waste another second before rushing to wrap him in a tight hug.

"You're here!" I cried, absolutely ecstatic. I hadn't seen Brock in almost a year, since he'd had a deep cover mission that started a few months before mine. We hadn't been able to get in touch with each other, and out of all the friends I'd made at SHIELD, he was by far the one I'd missed the most.

"I got in from my Op a week ago," he said, still grinning at me even as we pulled apart. My friends teased me that I was the only one who could actually make him smile, and I always brushed them off, but I secretly took a little pride in the fact that they were right. "You're the one that almost didn't make it here."

"Oh no, you know I'm not talking about you being away on a mission," I said, putting my hands on my hips. "You're here, as in at the party. You've literally never come to one of these things, despite how many times I begged, harassed, threatened, and bribed you to come every single year since we graduated the Academy."

He shrugged, trying to play it cool. "Yeah, well, I knew you'd be here, and I haven't seen you in a year, so... I figured it was worth it."

I grinned, even as Brock continued to try to play his comment off as something casual and not the sweetest thing I'd ever heard.

"Awww, look at you. The big scary SHIELD Specialist has a heart after all."

He rolled his eyes at me. "You're a Specialist too."

"Yeah, but a friendly one. You're the one with the reputation that scares all the new agents."

He smiled at that, and I couldn't help laughing a little. He loved his reputation, and if I was being honest, I did too. It never failed to make me laugh when new agents stared at me like I was insane or magical for being able to talk to and tease Brock like it was nothing.