Star Dust (A Paladin Adventure)

Calm

It was good that we had holidays to distract us; Odin was still out, Thor and Sif were still missing, and Loki was getting nervous. I actually caught him chewing his nails. We had a lot of parties to attend; there was the campus-wide Christmas party, when there was an open house for everybody's families and one down at the visitor center. For the team, we had Christmas again at my house; it was becoming a tradition. New Years Eve was in the rec room, also as usual. Peter didn't come out this year; he had a party to go to with MJ. I just hoped that he'd stay put at the party instead of running after baddies.

This year I wore a Zac Posen dress, a few years old but who cares? It looked great on me, which was the whole point. Blue and slinky, it had an interesting collar and flirty flares along the hem. We had hors d'oeuvres and drinks, and played with the new jukebox Tony had made. A huge digital library allowed customized playlists, and there was a wrinkle that you could dedicate a song to someone and this would be announced before the song played. So we got a game going where you had to choose a song to describe you and then you had to choose at least two songs for teammates. Everybody made their selections and we stood around waiting for the jukebox to shuffle.

First up, Tony dedicated Panic at the Disco's "Don't Threaten Me With a Good Time" to all of us.  Then Wanda dedicated The Gap Band's "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" to Tony, which got a roar. Natasha had chosen Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" for Bucky, and Tony had chosen Will Smith's "Party Starter" for himself. He started to strut and we ended up having a sort of mosh pit of Avengers. Next up, Natasha had chosen "Black Widow's Eyes' by the Who for herself, followed by Tony's choice of Jimmy Buffett's "Captain America" for Steve. It was meant with affection. Then Sam dedicated Weird Al's "White and Nerdy" to Scott. Jim dedicated"Killer Queen" to Natasha; she laughed and raised her glass to him. Vision had chosen "Cradle of Love" for himself; I'm never quite sure if he has a sense humor. Sam chose "This is How We Do It" by Montell Jordan for the group. My choice of AJR's "I'm Not Famous" came up, and everybody laughed. I dedicated the Mowgli's "I'm Good" to Bucky and popped in Queen's "We Will Rock You" for the team for good measure. Tony had dedicated Meghan Trainor's "Me Too" to me. I flipped my hair and led a dance line around the the room. Then my choice for Scott, "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" came on (it's surprisingly hard to find an insect-related pun without resorting to Adam Ant) and Steve, showing an unexpected familiarity with pop music, chose "Work This Body" by Cage the Elephant for himself. Wanda dedicated "Our Lips Are Sealed" by the Go-Gos for the ladies.  The ultimate Avengers playlist rolled on, and this entertainment kept us going till midnight. I thought it was interesting to see everybody's choices for themselves. Sam had chosen "Lean on Me" by Bill Withers, for example, which was perfect.

At midnight we broke out the champagne and toasted to another year where we all came out of the old one ok. The party broke up shortly after, and like I usually did, I stayed behind and tidied things to make Housekeeping's job easier. I wasn't surprised when Steve stayed to help; the man is incapable of leaving somebody to do the work.

We sat back down on a sofa to finish the last bottle of champagne; when the last of it was divided between our glasses I got up to toss the bottle into recycling and wandered by the jukebox to punch in a few songs. We chatted about nothing as the Clash wondered if they should stay or should they go, and when I finished my glass, I kicked my feet up on the sofa arm and put my head on Steve's lap. He tensed for a moment, then relaxed as I complimented the second design he'd made for my field uniform. It wasn't all that different, but it had a kind of sexy dropped waist and had small mesh panels down the sides, across the upper chest, and across the small of the back, meant for missions in hot weather. Given the other fabrics and the armoring, it might reduce the internal temperature by a degree or two, but it was the thought that counted. His fingers sifted through my hair as we talked. The Barenaked Ladies wondered "Who Needs Sleep?" When "Dangerous Woman" came on, I decided I'd better more direct since he didn't seem to be picking up on the musical cues.