Fix Him

Title: Fix Him

Fandom: Avengers

Chapter: 39

Character: Phil/Clint

Word count: 1,441

AN: Look! A chapter that is on time. :P Enjoy all.

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Picking up a large turkey, Phil checked the weight and price before adding it to the cart that Thor was confusedly pushing for him while Natasha debated stuffing with Pepper and Bruce found vegetables for Thanksgiving dinner. “Why do we not slaughter our own fowls? Why must we buy them frozen and hard?” the God of Thunder asked, brow furrowed.

Phil chuckled and picked up another large turkey, adding it to the cart. “Because unless you’re raising several turkeys, plucking and gutting and then prepping them for us, we are going to buy the damn things,” he stated, finding one last bird before leading Thor away from the frozen turkeys and heading for the canned foods, knowing that he would need cans of cranberry sauce. “Just remember to let Natasha and Pepper do the cooking yes? We don’t need what happened at the Easter dinner to happen again.”

“I did not mean to burn the shanks of pig meat,” Thor complained, getting snorted at.

“You were told to let the meat cook at 300 degrees or less. You cooked them at 350 instead,” Phil scolded, getting a sheepish look from the large man. “Are you bringing anyone to the dinner?” he asked, raising an eyebrow and changing the subject.

“No, I am not. Jane has not wanted to come to any Avenger’s nights, much less celebrations,” Thor stated, frowning heavily and shaking his head as Phil hummed and compared prices between the two cans of cranberry jelly’s that he knew was good. Humming softly, he dropped one of the cans into the shopping cart before grabbing three more and adding them to what they had so far. He watched Natasha and Pepper walk past them with their own list, heading for the frozen section by the looks of it while Bruce and Tony walked behind them, walking down the same aisle that Thor and Phil were down, heading for the sauces.

“Come on. We need to go rescue the poor helper from Barton and the alcohol aisle before he buys out the store,” he chuckled softly, shaking his head with a smile on his lips.

“Will there be much ale?” Thor asked curiously, following after his friend, only getting a chuckle from him before shrugging his shoulders.

Phil looked over at Thor before stopping and grabbing a couple bags of flour and yeast from an end display, wanting to make the rolls for the dinner himself, even though he and Clint weren’t going to be there. They had plans to go see Phil’s family, a long standing tradition of his family gathering together every major holiday if they could at his grandparents, now his parents, farm.

And this year he had someone to bring with him.

“Clint, did you get the ale?” Thor asked as they walked up to the archer and the store helper that was helping pushing the three carts that was full of sodas and alcohol.

“I did,” Clint replied, pulling down a few bottles of wine that was on his list, knowing that Pepper and Natasha would gut him if he didn’t. “So, are we almost done?” he asked, raising an eyebrow as the others started to appear near them with their own full baskets. Tony was pushing one filled with the vegetables and fruits along with a few other extras for his own apartment with Pepper while Bruce followed. Natasha and Pepper were laughing and giggling together as they came up with everything else that was needed in two carts.

“We have our stuff,” Phil stated, everyone else agreeing with them. “Wonderful. Pepper, you have the cards I believe?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at the pretty woman, getting a chuckle from her. Everyone had chipped in to a general fund every time they got paid for not only their movie nights but for the special parties that included birthdays and holidays that were celebrated.

Tony’s accountants had created it and watched over it to make sure that taxes were paid on them yearly. What the man wasn’t saying though, was that he covered the taxes himself and just shrugged it off as not wanting to stress the account to much when Pepper had discovered what he was doing.

“I do,” Pepper replied, pulling out the cards and handing them over with a smile. “We’ll meet at the cars in 20?” she asked, getting nods before the group headed to the checkout lines.

“That sounds fine,” Phil replied, nodding his head and dragging Thor towards his own line, Clint and the store worker following after them.

“Clint, tell me, what are you going to do for the Thanksgiving dinner?” Thor asked as he hauled the turkey’s out with ease and placed them on the conveyor belt.

“I’m not going to be there,” Clint replied, helping Phil with the smaller things in his cart. “I have

people I need to go see that day,” he continued, explaining himself at the curious look on his face. “I’ll be baking a few pies and the such beforehand though so you guys have them.”

“I see,” Thor replied, eyebrows drawing together as he placed a separator down onto the belt and moved to help place the turkeys into the basket once they had been scanned. Phil and Clint started to place the bottles and boxes of alcohol onto the conveyor belt with a shared look. “Are you going to be there, Phil?” he asked, turning to the handler with a curious look.

Phil shook his head with a smile. “No, not really. I’m making the bread the day before though seeing as the girls will be doing the rest of the cooking,” he said, paying for the first round of groceries and letting Clint pay for the booze, including the booze that was being delivered to them at the tower. “I have previous plans to. Got a lot to do Thanksgiving,” he continued, helping to push the carts out to the cars and loading up the van that he and Clint had taken to the shopping center.

“My friends, did you know that Phil and Clint will not be coming to our Thanksgiving dinner?” Thor asked as the others worked to load the vans with the bought groceries.

“I didn’t know that,” Pepper replied, frowning at her friend and tilting her head. “Where are you guys going?”

“I have places to visit and people to bother,” Clint drawled, sliding around the question as he placed the bottles of alcohol into boxes with the bubble wrap just in case.

“Pre-planned plans,” Phil stated. That was all he said as he placed turkeys into the back with a shrug. “I can’t wiggle out of it but I’ll be here for Christmas.”

“Same here,” Clint stated, standing up and handing the cart over to the store worker.

“Ahh, that’s not so nice to tease us with what you’re going to do,” Tony stated as he slid on his glasses, Bruce rolling his eyes and closing the trunk of the car that he had come in with Tony.

“If they don’t come, they don’t come,” he said, shaking his head. “It does happen unfortunately so we just need to plan around the fact that these two aren’t coming.” With that said, Bruce dragged Tony to the driver’s side of the car and pointed at it with a raised eyebrow. “Drive. We have stuff that needs to go into the refrigerator.”

“Fine, fine,” Tony huffed, sliding in as Bruce walked around to the other side. Natasha smirked and got into the other van with Pepper and a pouting Steve, knowing that he wasn’t going to be able to save his sanity the coming holiday with the rest of the Avengers. Natasha liked to prod the insanity, Pepper would hide in the kitchen more often than not, Tony would snark them all to death, Thor would get drunk and regale them of tales from a time when Loki had actually been his brother, and Bruce would hide behind whatever electronic item he was using to read the news on.

He whimpered as he slouched in his seat, Pepper reaching over and patting his hand in amusement. She knew that Tony wouldn’t be letting those two get away with their excuses and had a feeling that they would have to donate the turkeys to a food kitchen.

She was proven true when Tony locked himself away with Jarvis and a computer that he had specially designed to let him into any kind of database out there.