So basically I suck at being able to operate as a normal human with a job and also update so it's been a while. Because of that, I'm gonna try and squeeze a shit ton of request and Christmas stuff into a single jam packed one shot full of mostly Christmas fluff. It will probably be the last Christmas one-shot but it will hopefully make up for me being a slow updater and missing most of the season.
Featuring request of a Secret Santa with inside jokes between Steve and Nat, pregnant Nat, Avengers finding out that Romanogers is more than friends, post civil war Christmas, and more shit that I'm going to throw in for the fun of it.
Enjoy :)
It had been nearly three years since the Avengers had celebrated Christmas together.
When the Civil War had happened, they had all sort of gone their separate ways and getting together to celebrate a holiday would have been extremely awkward with the turmoil between Steve and Tony.
Steve, Natasha, Sam, and Wanda had been on the run for two years, Tony had been continuing to work on his suits, Clint had been on house arrest, and Thor and Bruce had been in space.
Now, they were all back in New York and everyone had worked out their differences.
Still, it had been a while since they had all seen one another and there were some things that they were going to need to catch up on.
"How long do you think it'll take them to figure it out?" Steve asked Natasha, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
Natasha shrugged, "If it were anyone else, I'd say probably a day. But we're dealing with some of the least observant people I know so probably a while. Unless Sam opens his mouth about it."
Steve grinned, "Are you sure we shouldn't just tell them?"
Natasha shrugged, "We could, but it would be so much more fun to see how long it takes them to figure it out."
Steve sighed, "You not drinking is gonna throw them off."
"If they notice then it will. But the only one I see noticing that is Clint and he'll be too proud to ask. He'll wanna figure it out for himself."
Steve shook his head, laying down on their bed together, "Does he even know about us?"
Natasha shook her head, "I never told him. He probably suspects it though. He thought we were in love before we even got together."
Steve laughed, "We were."
Natasha smirked, laying her head on Steve's chest, "Yeah but he didn't know that."
Rolling his eyes slightly, Steve leaned down to kiss Natasha and then rested his hands on her stomach. There was no physical change yet but just the thought that a baby was growing inside of her made his heart swell with joy. Especially because neither of them had ever thought that would be possible.
"It'll be weird to have to sneak around again," Steve said, "At least with Sam we had a reason to be sharing a bed every night."
Natasha nodded, "Our rooms at the compound are right next to each other and we're the only ones on our floor. It won't be too hard to not get caught. Jarvis can help with that too."
Steve nodded, "I guess so."
Natasha grinned, "Relax, if they haven't figured out by Christmas Eve, we can tell them."
"Deal," Steve said.
Natasha rested her hand atop Steve's and tilted her head so that she could look him in the eyes, "It'll all work out fine. I promise."
Steve nodded, "I trust you."
Natasha smiled, she never got tired of hearing him say that, "Go to sleep Rogers, tomorrow is probably gonna be hectic. I'm sure Tony has a billion things he wants us all to go do."
"I'm sure. Goodnight Nat, I love you."
Natasha sighed in contentment, "Night Soldier. I love you too."
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The next day, Natasha was proven right when Tony essentially handed them all an itinerary of activities he wanted them all to go do.
They were supposed to decorate the compound, bake cookies and decorate them, watch holiday movies, go ice-skating, and draw names for secret Santa all in one day.
It was only 9 am so they had plenty of time, but as far as Natasha was concerned, that was a lot to do in one day.
She would go along with it though as long as she would still get to spend time with Steve.
Since they had become a couple, the two hadn't really been able to have a real Christmas while on the run, so she had been looking forward to actually celebrating with him this year.
"Alright. First up is decorating the compound. We're going to divide and conquer on this one so that it gets done faster. I'll hang up lights, Clint you'll do outside stuff, Thor and Bruce will decorate the Christmas tree, Natasha will hang up mistletoe everywhere, and Steve will do all the heavy lifting."
Natasha frowned, "Why am I hanging mistletoe? I'm the shortest one here."
"Because you're a spy and you can climb up walls."
Natasha rolled her eyes and glanced over at Steve.
They all began doing their part in the decorations and Natasha slowly began enjoying her task. She focused on hanging the mistletoe in places that she knew her and Steve would go and made sure that he saw her doing it.
"Hey Rogers, you're the one doing all the heavy lifting right?" She asked as he walked by with a box of things.
Steve nodded.
Natasha smirked, "Mind giving me a lift? I need to hang this."
Steve shook his head with a laugh, knowing full well that Natasha could hang it alone if she wanted to, "Anything for you Nat."
He walked over and lifted her up so that she could pin the small plant to the top of the elevator. When he set her down, she scanned the room quickly and then dragged him down for a quick kiss.
"Can't break the mistletoe rules," She teased, walking away from him with a smirk.
Steve only laughed and continued doing his task, wondering just how often Natasha would be using that excuse in the upcoming days.
Once they had all finished decorating, they were supposed to start baking cookies. The only problem was the siez of the kitchen.
It was large all right, but it wasn't quite large enough to fit four normal size people, a super soldier, and a god. Even if one of those people was Natasha, who hardly took up any space at all.
"So how are we gonna do this?" Clint asked.
"Half of us can make cookies while the other half decorates them," Tony suggested.
Bruce raised an eyebrow, "Who is doing each?"
Tony frowned and then pointed at Steve, Bruce, and Natasha. "You three decorate and the three of us will bake the dough."
Natasha wasn't sure that the groups were well thought out, but she was with Steve so she wasn't about to complain.
She sat down at the counter and smiled at Steve when he sat on one side of her.
"You should be good at this, you're an artist," Natasha mused once they had gotten some cookies and were decorating them.
Steve didn't look up from his cookies as he concentrated, "Icing is a little harder to use than a pencil or paint. You're the one with steady hands, so I'd think you'd be good at it too."
Natasha shrugged, "Maybe I would be if I tried."
Steve took a moment to look up at her cookie and laughed when he saw a poorly done drawing of iron man that he knew Tony would hate.
Bruce held up his cookie, it was an ugly green color with what looked like it was supposed to be an avenger's symbol in the middle, "That's not too bad."
Natasha raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.
They continued to decorate the cookies until Natasha had eaten about 10, Bruce had gotten icing everywhere, and Steve had used what was left of his supplies.
"What's next?" Thor asked.
"Movies," Tony asked, "We'll just watch one for now so we have time for everything else."
They all migrated to the couch and Natasha sat down by the edge, waiting for Steve to sit down besides her when she noticed Bruce sitting where she was hoping Steve would.
She frowned. Bruce smiled at her, "Hey. We haven't really talked much since we all got here. I hope there's no hard feelings for what happened between us. I've regretted not leaving with you for years."
Natasha sighed, "There's no hard feelings Bruce."
Bruce moved slightly closer to her and Natasha cast Steve a desperate glance when he walked into the room, "I don't suppose you'd want to give us another try?"
Sighing again, Natasha shook her head, "I'm flattered Bruce. Really, but I've moved on. It's been almost three years."
Bruce frowned, "I understand. I'm sorry again."
Natasha nodded and was instantly relieved when Bruce got up from besides her to sit somewhere else.
Steve reclaimed the seat that had been meant for him and Natasha leaned her head on his shoulder.
"You two are looking awfully cozy over there," Tony teased, turning on A Christmas Story.
Steve rolled his eyes, "It's cold in here."
Natasha nodded, "Steve is like a human body heater, don't blame me until you've experienced it yourself."
Clint raised an eyebrow, "Since when do you call him Steve?"
"Since that's his name dumbass," Natasha replied.
Clint shook his head, "You've never cared about names before. Normally it's Rogers or Soldier."
Natasha rolled her eyes, "We've been on the run for two years together, I think we're now on a first name basis."
Steve chuckled and discreetly gave her hand a soft squeeze.
They watched the movie mostly in silence with few interruptions by Tony and Clint and then all went back to their rooms to get ready to go ice skating.
The second Natasha and Steve arrived on their floor, Natasha pulled him into her room and kissed him passionately.
"I've been wanting to do that all day," She mumbled against his lips.
Steve laughed, kissing her again, "Are you feeling okay? You probably shouldn't be on your feet this long."
Natasha nodded, "I'm fine. I should probably find a way out of ice skating though. As good as I am at it, it's not worth risking his life."
Steve nodded, "His?"
Natasha shrugged, "Call it a hunch."
"I could tell them you got a call from Wanda or something. You could stay here and get some rest."
Natasha shook her head, "I'll come to watch all of you, I just won't skate. I can just say I hurt my ankle or some shit."
Steve nodded, "Okay."
He bent down to kiss her again and wrapped his arms around her waist, "Are you sure we shouldn't just tell them?"
Natasha placed her hand on his cheek, "Just give it another few days. I promise their reaction will be worth it."
Steve nodded half-heartedly, "If you say so."
Natasha grinned, "I do. Now come on, if we don't show up soon they'll get suspicious."
"Alright," Steve said, walking with her to the elevator.
When they got downstairs, Tony piled them all into a single car and had Happy drive them to the ice skating rink.
"Natasha, what size are you?" Tony asked when he was finally getting everyone's skates.
She shook her head, "I'm not skating. I hurt my ankle back when Steve and I had to jump out of a window to get away from Ross' men and I'm not in the mood to fuck it back up again."
Tony frowned, "Lame. How bout you Capsicle?"
Steve sighed and got the ice skates, then walked to sit next to Natasha so she could watch as he struggled to lace them up.
"Need a hand?" She asked, laughing softly.
Steve sighed, "Maybe."
Natasha bent down and helped him finish lacing up the skates before grabbing his hand and helping him stand up.
He wobbled a bit and then took a step, almost falling over in the process.
"I don't think I'm quite graceful enough for this."
Natasha smirked, "Probably not, but I'm gonna enjoy watching you fall. Just don't hurt yourself too badly."
Steve nodded, "Any tips?"
"Don't fall," Natasha teased, walking to the edge of the rink and laughing when Clint tried to step on the rink and ended up on his ass.
Steve sighed and then went to do the same. Like Clint, he hit the ground the second his skates touched the ice.
He pushed himself back to his feet and grabbed onto the railing, looking at Natasha, who looked a little too excited to watch them all fall for several hours.
"Go on Soldier. You can't learn if you hold the guard rail the whole time."
Steve sighed and pushed off the wall, gliding for a moment before once again falling flat out on his back.
He heard Natasha laughed and Tony skated over to him with a smirk, "Need a life alert Rogers?"
Steve frowned, "What's that?"
"I've fallen and I can't get up!" Clint yelled, dramatically flopping down on the ice and laying how Steve was sprawled out.
Steve rolled his eyes, once again forcing himself to his feet.
It took another hour or so, but eventually he sort of got the hang of it. He got bored of doing it though and missed Natasha so he attempted to skate to where she was standing. His intention was to stop right in front of her but he overestimated his skills and flew right into the wall, making a loud thud sound that drew Natasha's attention immediately.
"Careful there, wouldn't want you to break that wall," She teased.
Steve rolled his eyes, "I'm bored. This isn't much fun without you."
Natasha smiled, "Then meet me in the bathrooms and I'll see if I can lift your spirits."
Steve's jaw dropped slightly as he watched Natasha walk away. He skated as quickly as he could to the restrooms and was greeted by a passionate kiss the second he was inside.
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After the ice skating, the group all went back to the tower. Tony's next plan was to draw names for Secret Santa.
Hypothetically, it shouldn't have been an activity that took up more than an hour or so. For most groups, probably less than that.
But this was a group of dysfunctional superheroes who could either fly, shoot with deadly precision, summon lightning, run 30 mph, turn into a big green dude, or kill someone with a roll of wrapping paper.
Nothing would ever simple and quick for them.
Tony's brilliant idea had been to simply draw names from a hat, but when Clint went to draw first and pulled out his own name, the plan instantly failed.
"What if we just put it in an app?" Bruce suggested.
Tony shook his head, "That's too easy to hack. Some of the people in this room--" He looked at Natasha, "--are prone to hacking things when they want to know something they shouldn't."
Natasha shrugged, "You say that as though I wouldn't be able to figure out who drew my name based on body language alone."
Tony rolled his eyes, "Maybe we should do it in private."
"Again, I know how to break into everyone of your rooms and would easily be able to find the slip of paper or whatever you're putting it on."
Steve sighed, "Why don't we all just pick who we want to give a gift to?"
Clint shook his head, "No way. You and Bruce will both give one to Natasha, Thor will give one to Bruce, Tony will give one to himself, Natasha will get you something, and I'll be stuck without a gift."
Natasha grinned, "Sounds like a great plan to me."
Clint glared at her and then looked over at Tony, "Remind me why we aren't doing a normal gict exchange?"
"That's expensive," Tony replied.
Bruce frowned, "You're like a millionaire."
Tony held up his hand, "I don't like labels. I'd prefer, 'you have money'. Plus, it's too much work."
Natasha rolled her eyes, "Give me the hat."
Tony handed it to her. Natasha handed it to Steve and pushed him towards the kitchen, "Go draw a name in there and if you get your own, put it back and don't tell anyone."
Steve did as she said and came back a few moments later.
The rest of them went and did the same and by the time they were all finished, it had been almost two hours.
It was almost ten o'clock now and Tony still wanted to try and watch another Christmas movie.
"Tony we have all week. I'm not watching another movie tonight. I'm going to sleep and if I get woken up by any one of you, I swear to god you'll regret it," Natasha threatened, wanting nothing more than to just go upstairs with Steve.
Steve nodded, "It's late Tony."
"Fine," Tony relented.
Steve raised an eyebrow, "Really? You're not gonna try and argue with us?"
Tony shook his head, "Nope, go ahead."
Steve didn't buy it, but he wasn't about to miss the opportunity to go upstairs with Natasha so they both walked to the elevators.
As soon as the doors shut, Steve went to move closer to Natasha but she gave him a glare that told him he shouldn't.
"What?" He asked.
Natasha shook her head, "Nothing."
He frowned and tilted his head. Natasha glanced up at the elevator camera and Steve realized what was happening. Tony had let them leave to see if they would do anything. Which meant that more than likely, he was catching onto them.
"Oh. I thought you said something. Sorry," Steve lied, trying to cover up his last statement of confusion.
Natasha shrugged, "It's fine."
The elevator opened and Natasha said goodbye to Steve before going into her own room. Steve wasn't sure if there were cameras on the floor so he just went into his own room and pulled out his phone to text her.
She had already sent him a text.
Go on the fire escape.
Steve frowned and walked out onto it. Natasha was standing out on hers a few feet away and smirking at him, "Think you can make the jump?"
Steve laughed and climbed over the railing to jump over to her fire escape.
Once he was inside her apartment, she kissed him softly, "That was a long day."
Steve nodded, "Are you feeling okay?"
Natasha nodded, "My feet are a little sore but that's all."
Steve bent down and lifted her up, "Well, I can help with that."
He laid her down on the bed and walked over to the bathroom. Natasha laughed, "What are you doing?"
He came back with some lotion and smiled at her, "Giving you a foot rub."
Natasha rolled her eyes, "You're ridiculous. They aren't that sore."
"Stop complaining and just let me do this for you."
Natasha laughed and leaned back as Steve began rubbing her feet, "So who did you draw for secret Santa?"
Steve shook his head, "The whole point is that it's a secret Natasha."
Natasha rolled her eyes, "I thought we didn't keep secrets from each other."
Steve glared at her, " Really? That's your argument?"
"Yup."
Steve shook his head, "I'm not telling you who I got."
"Was it me?" She asked, a grin on her face.
Steve shook his head, "No but I'm getting you something anyways."
"Then who is it?"
"I'm not telling."
Natasha sighed, "You're boring but I can't stay mad at you because you're literally giving me a fucking foot massage."
Steve smiled, "That was my plan all along," He teased.
Natasha lifted her foot and kicked him towards where she was laying down.
"Sneaky bastard," She teased, wrapping her arms around his neck and gently kissing him.
Steve gently combed his fingers through her hair, "Are you hungry or anything? I can make us a late dinner."
Natasha shook her head, "No. I just want to go to sleep. There's some bread and deli meat in the fridge though. Go make yourself something and when you're done you can come back and be my heater."
Steve smiled, "Yes ma'am."
He bent down to place a kiss on her forehead and then left the room as Natasha slowly fell asleep.
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Over the next few days, Tony allowed everyone to kind of do their own thing. Everyone needed to go shopping and some of the others -just Clint- had a family to entertain over the holidays as well.
Natasha and Steve had spent the majority of the week either shopping or hanging out with the Barton children, who loved them both.
Natasha was pretty sure that Clint suspected something was going on between them but he hadn't asked her anything about it yet. The rest of them remained blissfully ignorant.
Now it was Christmas Eve and the Secret Santa was going to happen that night. Not to mention, Natasha had promised Steve that they would tell everyone about them that night.
As they were getting ready to go down to the small party Tony was having, Steve brought it up again, "So how are we going to tell them tonight?"
Natasha shrugged, "Don't worry. I've got a plan."
Steve frowned, "What does that mean? Your plans can be a little stressful sometimes Nat."
Natasha grinned, "Are you really going to deny your pregnant girlfriend her fun?"
Steve rolled his eyes, "One of these days that isn't going to work."
Natasha pulled him down to kiss him with a smirk, "Not today though."
She turned around and moved her hair to the side of her shoulder, "Mind zipping me up?"
Steve shook his head and zipped the long red dress up, admiring the way she looked in it. She looked amazing in everything, but this was quite literally taking his breath away.
"Ready to go?" She asked, smiling.
Steve nodded, "You look incredible Nat."
She kissed him again, following the action by rubbing off a smudge of lipstick that had gotten on his lips, "Thank you."
They headed downstairs and were greeted by shouting coming from the kitchen.
"Damn it Thor!" Tony yelled.
Natasha sighed, "What do you think it is this time?"
Steve laughed, "I'm gonna guess that whatever it is means we're having takeout for Christmas Eve dinner."
Natasha walked into the kitchen and coughed, instantly met by smoke, "What the hell happened in here."
Tony stormed out of the kitchen, "Lightning bolt here caught the turkey on fire."
Steve raised an eyebrow, "What?"
Tony pointed at Thor, who came out of the kitchen with a guilty look, "He thought we could save some time cooking the turkey by using a lightning bolt that he summoned but it caught on fire. So now we have to order takeout."
Steve tossed a grin at Natasha, who stifled a laugh.
"I'll call," Bruce volunteered.
Once the takeout arrived, the six sat down on the couches and watched The Grinch...the good one, with Jim Carrey.
After that was over, they threw everything away and started the Secret Santa.
"Who's first?" Steve asked.
"Me." Tony said.
He grabbed a gift with his name on it and shook it before ripping the paper off.
"Ooh! It's new socks!" Tony said, quickly putting them on, "They've got my face on them!"
"Who is that from?" Natasha asked.
"Me!" Clint yelled, "Which means it's my turn!"
He grabbed his gift, which was shaped exactly like a bow...it was a bow.
"Wow! A new bow. I wouldn't have ever expected this. Thanks!" Clint said, being alarmingly unsarcastic.
"That one is from me," Bruce said.
He opened his and found some yoga stuff from Tony, who decided that Thor would go next.
Thor got pop tarts from Steve, which surprised Natasha because she had thought for sure that Steve had her.
Steve went next and couldn't help the grin that spread on his face when he opened the gift she had gotten him.
It was a baby carried that he could strap to his chest along with some art supplies.
"Well what did you get?" Clint asked.
Steve held up the art supplies, "Art supplies."
"No, there's something else in there," Clint said, pointing at the baby carrier.
Steve held it up, "This?"
They all frowned, "What is that?"
Steve scratched behind his ear, "Uh-"
"Hold on a second! That's a baby carrier? Did you get someone pregnant Steve? And who here knew about it?" Clint yelled.
Steve looked towards Natasha, who was sitting with a small smirk on her face.
Tony must have picked up on this because it wasn't another two seconds before he was pointing at the two of them and screaming, "It's you two isn't it!"
Natasha shrugged, "What is?"
Clint raised his eyebrow, "Are you two finally dating?!"
"We have been for a while," Natasha answered simply.
Bruce looked horrified.
Clint took a moment to put two and two together, "Wait. Does that mean you're the one that's pregnant?"
Steve smiled as Natasha took his hand, "Yeah."
Tony, Clint, and Thor all began shouting congratulations and tossing around money. Evidently, they hadn't realized what was going on but there had been a running pool about when the two would get together.
Bruce had bet that they would stay friends, Thor thought that they had been dating back when the Avengers first formed, Clint thought it would be in another year, and Tony had bet another two years because they are, in his own words, "Stubborn bitches who run from love."
Natasha couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with happiness and peace as they all eventually calmed down and put on another holiday movie. Now that their secret was out, Steve and her could stop trying to hide their affection and she could lay across his lap to watch a movie without anyone questioning her.
"Hey Nat, can I talk to you outside for a second?" Steve whispered.
Natasha nodded and held his hand as the two walked onto the balcony.
"What's wrong?" Natasha asked, noticing that he looked nervous.
Steve shook his head, "Nothing. Everything is great. I just wanted to give you this before we get caught up in more Christmas stuff tomorrow. It's not my only gift to you but I don't think I can wait much longer."
Natasha raised an eyebrow, "Okay..."
Steve reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small ring box, simultaneously getting down on one knee.
Natasha couldn't help the quiet surprised gasp that escaped her lips.
"I don't know how to explain the way you make me feel so I'm just going to keep this simple. I love you and I don't think I could live without you. You make me feel like the man behind the shield rather than the man with the shield. We've already started a life together but I wanted this to be our next chapter. Will you marry me Nat?"
Natasha smiled, a small laugh escaping her and she pulled Steve back up to kiss him.
"Yes," She said against his lips, letting him slide the ring on her finger.
Steve grinned ear to ear and kissed her again, only stopping when he heard loud cheers coming from the window.
They both turned to look and saw their teammates jumping up and down while shouting at the two. Tony was filming and Clint was crying.
Natasha laughed and laid her head down on Steve's shoulder as he hugged her closely.
"Merry Christmas Natasha."
Natasha smiled, "Merry Christmas Steve."
Hey guys. I'm so sorry that this one massive chapter was all I was really able to do this season but I hope that the 4500 words sort of made up for it. Consider it my Christmas gift to you guys. If I didn't get around to you're request then I'm sorry but I'll hold onto them for next season!
I hope you all enjoyed this and Merry Christmas!!!
Please comment and vote if you like this chapter :)