Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers.

Edited by krystal lazuli, as always.

It was December 25th, and six o'clock in the morning. The birds that had decided to stay the winter chirped and sung cheerfully, and all over the city, excitable young children were waking up their parents to celebrate, while sleep deprived teenagers blissfully slept on. In Stark Tower, people were bustling about, full of cheer.

Well, in truth, it was actually just one person who was bustling about like a lunatic, and most of the others just wanted to sleep on. To some, six o'clock was not even morning, but rather the middle of the night.

It was at this time that Thor bustled into Tony's room, accidently breaking down the door, and swooped down next to bed.

"FRIEND TONY! FRIEND TONY! FRIEND TONY! YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST WAKE UP!" Thor yelled right next to Tony's ear. Now, Tony was used to being woken rudely, but this was a bit much. After all, he was but a regular mortal who just had to hear the Thunderer, who was known for being especially loud, yell right into his ear. So really, the reaction he had to it was quite understandable.

"AHHH!" Tony shouted, jerking awake and glancing around wildly. Upon realing what had happened and seeing the broken door, an annoyed look came over his face. He glowered and threw the blankets at Thor. He yelled, "What is WRONG with you?! What kind of a person wakes someone up in the middle of the night by YELLING RIGHT NEXT TO THEIR EAR?!"

Thor looked at him with wide eyes. Why was Tony so mad? It wasn't like he broke the coffee machine again, just Tony's eardrums. He protested, "But-"

Tony wagged a finger at him, "No buts! Honestly, my poor, poor eardrums!" He grimaced, wondering if his poor, poor eardrums would ever be the same again. Honestly, he didn't even listen to music with that sort of volume, and that was saying something.

"Sorry, I didn't realize that I was so loud. Please forgive me?" Thor pleaded with adorable puppy dog eyes, realizing that Tony really was pissed. Still, he was confident that it would work. No one could resist it unless they were heartless, or Loki.

Tony grimaced. How could he say no to those eyes? And who had told Thor about his one weakness anyway? Although, Thor had proven the existence of the Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster, so he supposed he could forgive him this one time. He sighed and said, "Oh, alright."

Thor brightened immediately and yelled out with joy, "YAY!"

Tony grimaced, he had had enough of Thor's yelling to last him a lifetime. Ah, the good old days when he had Stark Tower all to himself. Now though, it was honestly more like Avengers Tower. Unless he was in his lab, he could never find a moment for himself. It was alright most of the time though, and was even fun sometimes, but at times like this? Yeah, he was regretting it. I should just go back to Malibu, but then I'm afraid they're gonna destroy this tower in a heartbeat, he thought mournfully with a sigh.

"Jarvis, I need some coffee," Tony ordered, putting aside that issue for now. "And Thor, why on earth did you wake me up in the dead of the night? I need my beauty sleep."

"Huh? Do you mean that if you don't sleep, you will not be beautiful?" Thor asked, shocked. How intriguing! he thought. I never knew Midgardians had such a curious practice. I guess you learn something new everyday.

Tony gave Thor a look. And there Thor went again, taking everything far too literally. He muttered, "You know what, nevermind…"

"What?" Thor asked, not quite understanding.

"Forget it, Thor. Just tell me why you woke me up in the middle of the night," Tony said impatiently. Hopefully, it's nothing important and I can just go back to sleep, he thought wistfully.

"But Friend Tony, It is not nighttime; it's morning," Thor pointed out, confused.

"Huh?" Tony muttered, and then looked to the window. In fact, there was light faintly streaming through the curtains. Amazingly, apparently at six in the morning it was time for it to be morning. How strange. However, that really didn't change anything at all. Tony frowned and said "Well damn. BUT, that's not the point. JUST TELL ME WHY YOU WOKE ME UP ALREADY!"

"Friend Tony, I thought it was rude to shout?" Thor questioned, his eyebrows furrowed, "Didn't you just say so? But you are shouting now, so is it not rather contradictory? I do not understand."

Tony glared at him. Apparently, Thor just had to be extra difficult this morning. And it was the morning he had been planning on sleeping in too. He then stated with deadly calm, "Thor, if you don't tell me why you woke me up right now, I will take away your poptarts."

Thor blanched. Surely Friend Tony would not be so cruel?! And on such a glorious day, how could he even think that?! Still, it was easy to tell from Tony's grumpy face that he was not impressed. He shouted out, "Not the poptarts! Anything but the poptarts! I'll tell you!"

Tony smirked. Mwahahaha! I know your weakness Thor! He asked, "So?"

"It's Christmas!" Thor announced with a smile. He had learned much about it from the other Avengers in the past few days, and he couldn't wait to start having fun. "I have been told it's a holiday similar to Yuletide when we exchange presents and stuff."

"Oh yeah, It's Christmas! I forgot all about it!" Tony exclaimed, suddenly remembering that it was in fact the holiday. Huh, that would explain Thor's behavior, he supposed.

Thor gasped in dismay asked incredulously, "How can you forget Christmas?! It's such a wonderful holiday."

Tony shrugged. While holidays were good for food and stuff, it wasn't like it was more important than sleep.

A horrible thought occurred to Thor and he questioned, "Does that mean you forgot to get presents as well?"

"Of course not," Tony answered indignantly, then paused. Had he, or had he not? People got so touchy when you didn't give them presents for some reason. He really didn't understand why. It wasn't that big of a deal right? He asked uncertainly, "Right, Jarvis? You- I mean I, got them presents right?"

"Of course, sir. Here comes Dummy with the coffee, sir," Jarvis replied, in a slightly amused tone.

"Whew, dodged a bullet there," Tony muttered, absently taking the coffee from Dummy, who made a curious noise at the broken door. Ah, Tony thought contentedly, whoever invented coffee should be given a prize.

"Come on, Friend Tony, to the living room!" Thor began dragging Tony, eager to get to their destination, and nearly spilling the coffee while he did.

Tony yelped, "Careful! This is currently the most precious thing in existence, you know! How dare you treat it so casually?!"

"Quickly, Friend Tony, we must start exchanging presents!" Thro yapped excitedly, completely ignoring everything Tony had said. He continued, "Nothing's more important than that!"

"I will never understand why people feel the need to get up in the ungodly hours of the morning," Tony muttered crossly, but allowed Thor to drag him away. Because really, it was practically impossible to shake Thor off when he got into one of his moods.

Upon entering the room, though, Tony couldn't help but smirk as he saw that the rest of the team minus Steve were also in their sleepwear clutching coffee. It seemed Thor had given everyone the same treatment. Heh.

"Nice to see I'm not the only one suffering," Tony remarked, then narrowed his eyes. One of these things is not like the other, he thought. He asked, "Although, why is Steve awake at a time like this?"

"Christmas is a fun and wonderful holiday, I really don't understand why you're not more excited," Steve explained, a disapproving expression on his face.

Tony rolled his eyes. It seemed that Thor and Steve were both the same type. Ugh, early morning people, he thought.

"I love Christmas, don't get me wrong, it's just a little hard to appreciate it this early in the morning," Clint mumbled sleepily, holding his mug like a lifeline. Meanwhile, Tony took the moment to finally observe the room and couldn't help but be impressed with what he saw.

"Wow," Tony breathed as he took in the beautifully decorated giant tree in the middle of the room. Lights, ornaments, mini-avengers, and even candy hung from it. Candy. Whoever decorated it, Tony decided, deserved the title of Awesomeness. He asked curiously, "Who decorated it?"

"Oh, that was my brother," Thor answered happily, oblivious to the chaos he would cause by saying those words.

Instantly, everyone jerked awake. Hearing that a supervillain had done your home's decorations did tend to that, after all. In unison, they yelled out, "WHAT?!"

"Hmm? Loki decided to call a truce because it is Christmas," Thor explained cheerily, still oblivious to everything. He continued to smile happily. FInally, he and his brother could enjoy some time together! It was like a dream come true.

"Loki's here?" Clint asked in horror. He still hadn't gotten used to Loki popping up and doing whatever on Thursdays. He shook his head and muttered, "Thor, you're ruining the Christmas spirit here."

"Sorry?" Thor asked with a puzzled frown, not quite comprehending how his brother could ruin anything.

"Wait, so basically, Loki is not gonna do anything today because it's Christmas?" Steve interrupted. That, he thought, might actually be a good thing. We can get a chance to observe him in a unhostile environment. And this also means...

"Yes, I just said that didn't I?" Thor replied, still a little baffled at how slowly the rest of the Avengers were understanding everything. He hadn't realized sleep was so important for MIdgardians to function properly. Curious.

Steve beamed at him, "Excellent! Even Loki understands the importance of Christmas. Guys, you should learn from Loki."

Clint sighed and said in resignation, "This is gonna happen either way, isn't it?"

"If Loki's not gonna cause trouble, I guess it's all right," Tony concluded grudgingly. After all, Loki had given him some quality entertainment these past few weeks, and that was what really mattered. He supposed he could make an exception this one time.

"YAY!" Loki exclaimed as he popped into existence behind Tony and gave him a hug.

"AH! WHAT IS IT WITH YOU ALIENS AND DESTROYING PEOPLE'S EARDRUMS!" Tony screeched, completely ignoring how he too was yelling right now. Seriously though, he supposed that Loki and Thor were brothers for a reason.

Loki looked at him with wide eyes. He knew just what to do to resolve the issue. He said apologetically, "I'm sorry. Have a candy."

Tony paused. This changed things. Candy... To take or not to take? Was it even a question? He took the candy and replied, "You're forgiven."

"Great! Now that that's over, let's exchange gifts!" Hela declared impatiently. She wanted her gifts, and she wanted them now.

Tony blinked. Why were there people here who weren't here before? Damn magic, this was all Loki's fault wasn't it? But Loki had given him candy, so he supposed that he could let it go this time. He took a look at the people there. There was Fenrir and Jormungandr, who was also known affectionately as Nessie, Hela, two young boys who looked suspiciously similar to Loki, and an eight legged horse.

"Who are they?" Natasha asked curiously, not having seen any of them before.

"They're my children, these is my eldest, Sleipnir-" he pointed to the eight legged horse "-my twins Narvi and Vali-" he gestured to the boys who gave a mischievous grin "-my sons Fenrir and Jormungandr in their human forms and whom some of you know already, and my only daughter Hela, who is absolutely precious. They're here to celebrate Christmas with us," Loki introduced them. Everyone waved to each other, like they were the best of friends.

After a pause, Loki continued, "Thor, I invited Odin and Frigga as well. They will visit for dinner." He hadn't really wanted to invite Odin, but he did want to invite Frigga, and Odin and Frigga happened to come in a package. Plus, if Odin pissed him off, he could just prank him. That was the only good point of having him there.

"Okay," Thor said, brightening even more. How nice, he thought contentedly, Brother and Father have finally made up.

For a moment, no one spoke, not quite sure what to make of anything. Most of the Avengers didn't even know who Odin and Frigga were. Steve broke the awkward silence and spoke happily as he praised Loki, "That's great, Loki! I'm so glad you understand the importance of Christmas time and family! Guys, you should learn from Loki. See how he's putting aside any grudges he may have to spend time with his family? This is maturity, right here."

"Yeah!" one of the twins chimed in, grinning. They, after all, knew what was really going on in their father's mind, not that they would ever say so.

"Learn from-"

"-our papa!-"

"-or mama-"

"-depending on-"

"-how you look at it-"

"-or which one-"

"-of us-"

"-you ask. We-"

"-have different-"

"-experiences after all."

Tony stared, then decided he didn't want to know. How would Loki even end up as a mother? Was it like a strange alien custom or something? Pushing aside that issue, he asked, "You two fond of the Weasley twins?"

"Obviously!" They exclaimed in unison, grinning like a bunch of lunatics.

"They're so-"

"-Awesome!"

"They're our-"

"heros."

"I thought you'd say that," Tony said with an amused smile. Had he really expected any different?

"Can we please get on to the present opening part?" Hela asked impatiently, tired of all the talking going on. In her opinion, there should be less talking and more tearing open presents.

"Sure," Tony agreed, heading over to the tree, which was overflowing with presents. They were quite a big group after all. The six Avengers plus Loki and his kids did make for a large group.

Soon everyone was opening their presents. Tony had given the Avengers a check to buy themselves presents, and Thor had given everyone various "trinkets" (a.k.a. gigantic swords and stuff), Steve had given the rest of the team hand knitted sweaters, Bruce had given them tickets to a baseball game, Clint had given them candy because candy was awesome, and Natasha had given them tiny concealable weapons. Loki's kids had apparently pooled their resources and apparently "retrieved" (a.k.a. stole) various ancient scrolls as a present to Loki, and Loki had apparently set-up a super-secret gaming house for them. They had given all of the Avengers cookies and other delicious baked goods.

There was an awkward moment when they realized that the Avengers minus Thor hadn't gotten anything for Loki's group. Tony quickly wrote out some more checks, while Clint grudging took out his secret candy stash and handed out more candy. Bruce liberated the dozens of boxes of ice-cream from Tony's freezer and gave them that. Steve retrieved the extra scarves he knitted just in case and offered those, while Natasha whipped out tickets to the amusement park. She refused to give an explanation for why she had them, and nobody dared to ask. After all, it was Natasha. She was scary.

And besides, she managed to divert their attentions pretty well, though if you asked them, they weren't exactly sure how. All they knew was that one moment they were wondering about the tickets, and the next, they were in an epic snowball fight. It was a free for all, so there were no teams this time.

It was all pretty relaxing and fun, until Thor decided to start a snowstorm with Mjolnir. He shouted with glee, "HOHOHO! Nothing can beat the might of Mjolnir!"

Loki narrowed his eyes. Was he seriously going to allow Thor to just brag like that and walk all over him? Of course, so it was Christmas, and he had agreed to a truce, so maybe he could let it go this one time...

"Oh yeah?! Let's see how it stands up to my special Wintertime Fun Iron Man Suit!" Tony taunted, with a wicked grin on his face. He raised his arms, preparing to fire, and then-

Boom!

Meanwhile Clint and Natasha high-fived each other, smirking as both Tony and Thor got blasted in the sneak attack. What, they were superspies, did you honestly expect any less of them?

Loki sighed. Perhaps if it was only one, he could have allowed it, but he was the god of mischief, this was basically a taunt to his face, there really was no question to what he would do. Because really, in the end, he had no choice.

"Let me show you," he murmured, "Why you shouldn't underestimate the god of mischief!" With a devious smirk, Loki made several clones, which immediately began to bombard the others with gigantic snowballs.

A little off to the side, Steve and Bruce exchanged a glance, predicting what would happen.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Steve asked drily.

"Yup," Bruce confirmed.

Together, they chorused, "Let's bail!" and promptly fled inside to make hot chocolate.

While they did that, Loki's children had come to a silent agreement. If their father/mother was going to cheat and use magic, then they were allowed to do so too!

"Hey, hey, hey!" Hela yelled out. "Don't forget us while you all are having fun!" With a snap of her fingers, undead zombies, residents of Niflheim, also commonly known as Hel's Minions, rose from the ground.

Staring at the zombies that looked to be straight out of a horror movie, Tony summed up what everyone was thinking by saying, "We're screwed."

Hela smirked. Oh yeah, she knew she was awesome.

"Woof!" Fenrir barked, having turned into a giant wolf. Tony wasn't sure how he was supposed to throw snowballs like that, but judging from the way he was eyeing Thor, Tony guessed Fenrir was far more interested in chasing Thor around again.

"Hiss," Jormungandr hissed, having turned into a giant snake. Again, Tony wasn't sure how-

"Hey!" Tony yelped as he hastily ducked to avoid the giant snowball that spewed from Jormungandr mouth. He glared at him, but Jormungandr just stared back innocently.

Meanwhile, Clint and Natasha had tried to launch a dozen snowballs at the twins, but were forced to duck the giant fireball spewing out of the twins mouth.

And then suddenly, everyone yelped as they felt a snowball going down their backs. Yes, even Tony, though it would remain a mystery how that happened considering he was wearing his suit.

"Sleipnir!" Hela snapped furiously, realizing that Sleipnir had used his unmatched speed to attack all of them. "You'll pay for that! Everybody, charge!"

Loki grinned at the chaos, feeling in his element. Yes, he thought contentedly, life is good.

Well, until Odin came along anyways…

Omake: Fallout of Hela

OMG! Can you guys believe these Thor pics?! He's totally gay… O.o I'm scarred for life -_-

Squeal! Thor is so ADORABLE in those dresses! KAWAIII!

Whoa, never would have guessed that he was secretly transgender. Guess you gotta expect the unexpected XD

WAHHH! WHY, THOR?! I WANTED TO MARRY YOU, HOW COULD YOU BETRAY ME LIKE THIS?!

Must… Call… Hospital… Dying… of… Laughter

Tony giggled as he scrolled through the comments. He knew that posting Thor's dress up pics would be popular, but he hadn't realized how much. This was great!

"Tony?" Steve asked as he poked his head into the room. "Do you know what's wrong with Thor? He's refusing to come out of his room."

Tony carefully minimized the window, and smiled innocently. He replied, "How should I know? Maybe it's Loki again."

Steve shrugged, "Just asking. Doesn't really matter. I'll see you later, then."

Tony smirked as Steve disappeared. Yes, he thought contentedly, this was the life.