Iron-Hawk Short Stories

Christmas

AN: tis the Christmas season. So you shall get a Christmas chapter.

It was his greatest nightmare. His house was decked with Christmas decorations. It seemed that Stark has outdone himself once again with the decorations this year. He shut the door behind him and stared at the Christmas tree in the living area. It was brightly lit and various ornaments dangled from the tree.

There were already gifts under the tree. He walked over and crouched down to check the labels on the gifts. They were all addressed to Stark from various companies that he worked with. He wasn't sure why Stark outdid himself every year, he wasn't impressing anybody but himself.

Clint Barton sighed and rubbed the nape of his neck. He ventured deeper into the house hold in search for Stark. He could have sworn the house was normal yesterday, so Stark would have still been busy doing the decorations.

"Tony!" He called out. There was no response, he climbed up the stairs to the second floor. He saw Stark sprawled on the ground asleep. Clint smiled and crouched down once again. He picked Stark up in one motion and laid him down on the couch nearby. Stark continued to sleep.

He turned and saw the boxes of decorations on the floor. The room wasn't finished yet, he moaned softly and wondered if he should help. On one hand it would have pleased Stark but on the other hand he had business to deal with. Alright that was a lie, he would just rather do anything else than hang up Christmas decorations.

But Stark looked so peaceful and he owed him for last Thursday. Barton groaned and decided to help hang the decorations.

By the time Stark woke up, he was greeted with decorations over the fireplace and a smaller Christmas tree beside it with ornaments. Barton was sat across him on an arm chair with his phone in hand. The two made eye contact and the blonde turned off his phone.

"Did you do this?" Stark asked as he rubbed his heavy eyes. Barton just gave him a simple nod. "I thought you hated Christmas."

"I have never said I hated Christmas" Barton retorted and sat up in the chair.

"You once said. I'd rather set myself on fire than to live through carols and bright lights" Stark made quotation marks with his fingers.

"Yeah but I never said I hated Christmas" The younger man smirked and tapped his fingers on his knee.

"Oh yeah. The guys are coming over for dinner next week"

"The guys?"

"Yeah. The guys."

"I thought they'd all be busy."

"They are. I planned this a while back." Tony looked pleased with himself. "And I already cleared your calendar for you too."

Clint sighed as he realised there wasn't a way to stop Stark at this rate.

[5 DAYS LATER]

"There's my favourite doofus." Natasha Romanoff grinned as Barton opened the door for the guests. He just smiled and hugged her, it truly had been too long. She held gifts in her hand, he took it from her and thanked her graciously. "How have you been?"

"Busy. How about yourself?" He laughed a little as he moved back so the other guest could come in as well. "Captain."

"You know I dropped that title a long time ago" Steve Rogers chuckled as he stepped into the household, handing over gifts himself. They gave each other a quick hug and Barton shut the door behind him. "Banner here yet?"

"He said he was dropping by a little late." Barton explained as he led them into the household.

"Where's my little nephew?" Natasha grinned, Clint just smiled back and pointed at the crate near the Christmas tree.