Inheritance of ash

the frosting games

"OKAY," Kate announced, standing on a chair like a game show host in front of a table overflowing with cookies, frosting, sprinkles, icing tubes, edible glitter, and what looked suspiciously like googly eyes. "We've arrived at the crowning jewel of this afternoon: The Great Avengers Cookie Decorating Contest!"

There were groans. There were cheers. There was Yelena slowly turning a peppermint over in her hand like she was considering using it as a weapon.

"I know what you're thinking," Kate continued. "How could we possibly top Christmas bingo?"

"We weren't thinking that," Clint muttered.

"But we can! Because this one's a challenge. And also because there are more prizes. And sugar. But mostly because I made you all pull a name out of a Santa hat, and you have to decorate a cookie as the Avenger you pulled."

Bruce looked down at his slip. "...I don't even know how to make a cookie look like Thor."

"You're a scientist. Improvise," Kate said, winking.

Everyone took their spots at the table or counter. Peter was already nervously picking up a star-shaped cookie, Vicky had three colors of frosting in front of her and was sniffing them like she was judging a wine tasting, and Tony was halfway through loading a piping bag with red gel icing.

"Thirty minutes," Kate declared, starting her phone timer dramatically. "And go!"

⸻

"What the hell," Tony muttered five minutes in. "Who the hell put Ultron in the hat?"

Natasha, not looking up from her very meticulous Steve cookie, said, "I have theories."

Clint, next to her, smirked. "It wasn't me. But I admire them."

"It's a holiday!" Tony snapped, holding up his blank cookie like it had offended him. "I'm supposed to be feeling jolly, not revisiting my AI trauma!"

"Then make him a Santa hat," Clint said. "Holiday trauma."

Steve, surprisingly focused, was methodically trying to make a Natasha cookie out of sugar and concentration. "How do you make a cookie look deadly?" he murmured.

Natasha didn't even look up. "Less pink."

"Right."

Sam was snorting across the table, trying to glue a tiny frosting bow onto his Clint cookie, which just looked like a confused owl so far. "Mine looks like it's about to ask for a manager."

"Accurate," Clint muttered.

Vicky, whose assigned cookie was Kate, was meticulously placing purple sprinkles on her cookie's "hair" and had even found edible glitter to mimic the sparkle in her eyeshadow. Peter peeked over at her creation and blinked.

"Wow."

"You think it's too much?"

"No! No. I just... it kind of actually looks like her."

Vicky grinned. "I have a vision."

Peter looked down at his own cookie - a supposed Vicky, with a green icing bracelet and uneven bangs - and sighed.

"I do not have a vision."

Wanda, to his left, was adding what looked like floating frosting runes around her own Pietro cookie. "It's about confidence," she said. "And magic."

Pietro rolled his eyes from across the table. "Don't make me look weird."

"You literally vibrate when you sit still," she replied sweetly.