Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 159

"Are you coming back for Christmas, do you know?" Steve asks Laura.

"Of course she is," Tony answers for her, a teasing smile on his face. "Someone has to make dinner."

Laura shakes her head to herself at that and answers, "I don't want to impose..."

"You can't impose on your own husband's second home," Tony tells her. "You don't have to come, but you're always welcome."

Cooper looks up at his mother hopefully. "Can we?" he asks.

"Can we please?" Lila adds, the well-mannered child that she is.

Laura and Clint share an amused look, and Clint answers, "We'll think about it."

The two kids share an excited look, and Tony fights the urge to laugh. He's never been all that good with kids – Harley in Tennessee is the first one who comes to mind – but he certainly does find himself enjoying having these two around. The baby – Nathaniel, Clint had introduced him as – he's rather ambivalent about, but the two older kids are absolutely adorable.

He finds himself wondering how Pepper would feel about having kids one day, but he shoves another forkful of food in his mouth and pushes that thought aside. It's too soon to think about that. They're not even married. They're not even engaged, for god's sake!

Oh, shit.

Hold on.

Is he supposed to propose soon? They've been together for over four years now – not to mention the years and years they knew each other before then. Do most people propose within four years? They do, don't they? Oh, god, is Pepper waiting for him to propose? How does he even go about asking that? He should google this after they eat. Google rarely steers him wrong.

It's only then that he realizes that Wanda's been watching him, an amused smile on her lips that makes him grimace. She's heard every thought in his head, hasn't she? Freakin' telepaths.

Fortunately, she doesn't mention it. Instead, she asks the group, "How do you celebrate Christmas?"

"It's pretty lowkey," Tony tells her. "We did a Secret Santa last year, and that worked out pretty well. And then there's food – cinnamon rolls, cookies, some type of dinner; you know, the basics."

"Hmm," she hums, nodding to herself thoughtfully.

"Do you guys have any Christmas traditions you want us to carry over?" Tony asks. He is – in his mind and Pietro's, at least, though others may not agree – responsible for the death of their parents, destruction of their home, and their entire childhood falling apart. The least he can do is try to let them live out their belated childhood here.

Wanda shakes her head. "We do not celebrate Christmas. We're Jewish."

Tony's brows shoot up.

They're Jewish?

They've lived together for, what, five months? And he's just now learning that they're Jewish?

God, he really does suck, doesn't he?

It's entirely possible that Wanda is still in his head – or that he's incredibly transparent – because she adds, "We couldn't celebrate our holidays with HYDRA. We haven't truly practiced our religion since we were kids."

Tony frowns. Well, that's awful (and once again, also his fault. It was his stupid company that did this to them). He can't really fix that. He can't even really try to fix that. But he can at least do this. "Do you want to celebrate Hanukkah, then? We can get a menorah...?" Just something to make this place feel more like the home they lost years ago.

Wanda smiles at the offer, and it makes him much happier than it probably should. She likes that idea. She wants to reconnect with her home and her roots, and he's helping her do that. He's going to give her back a small part of what his company – and his own carelessness with it – took from her.

But before Wanda can answer, Pietro says, "No, I am not going to celebrate Hanukkah."

Wanda gives him a weird look. "Why not?"

"Because it's ridiculous," he says. "God performs one miracle two thousand years ago, and we're supposed to celebrate it until the end of time?"

Wanda frowns. "Pietro..."

But he ignores her. "Where has He been since then? Where were His miracles when Sokovia was dragged into the midst of a warzone? Innocent people were killed. Our parents were killed. Where were His miracles then?"

Wanda sighs, lowering her head as though to hide her disappointed frown. Now Tony wishes he never brought it up.

Natasha bumps her shoulder against the other girl's and says quietly, "We can still celebrate Hanukkah, if you want."

Wanda looks at her in surprise. "Are you Jewish?"

"Well, no," she says, "but I'm not Christian and that's never stopped me from celebrating Christmas. What's one more holiday I shouldn't be celebrating to the list?"

That gets a small smile out of Wanda. "Thank you."

"'Course," she replies, hitting their shoulders together again playfully. "Someone's gotta teach me how to use a dreidel."

Wanda huffs a laugh. "Is that what you think of when you think of Hanukkah?"

Natasha shrugs. "Yeah, pretty much," she says. "Menorahs and dreidels."

Clint raises his hand. "I want to join the Hanukkah party," he declares. "I want to know what else I'm supposed to think of when I think about Hanukkah."

Wanda's eyes light up. "You do?"

"Of course I do," Clint says. "We'll make a night of it – or eight nights of it. Are there Hanukkah foods? We can have food and light the menorah and play dreidel; a holy thing."

Wanda's smile grows impossibly bigger. "You'll love it," she tells them. "It will be so much fun."

"We played dreidel in school a couple years ago," Lila announces.

Wanda looks at her in surprise. "You did?"

"Mm-hmm," she hums proudly. "We were learning about all the different holidays in December – and I won so much candy."

Wanda raises her brows. "Did you?" she asks, amused.

She nods eagerly. "I shared it with the other kids in my class 'cause I felt bad that I got most of the candy."

"That's really nice of you," she tells her.

"I would have just ate it all myself," Cooper says.

"And that's why people like me more," Lila says teasingly.

"I will join you to eat and play dreidel," Pietro decides, "but only if somebody makes latkes."

"Why don't you make the latkes?" Natasha suggests.

"Because I don't know how," Pietro says. "I have not had latkes since I was ten."

"None of us know how," she reminds him. "If someone has to figure out how to make them, it might as well be you, right?"

Pietro ponders that for a few moments. "I could try," he says cautiously. "They might not taste good."

Natasha just shrugs. "You gotta start somewhere."