Before Steve even got the door fully open, he could hear loud clattering, followed by some imaginative cursing. Afraid to look, he slowly pushed the door, closing his eyes briefly before taking in the scene in front of him.
"Uh, Tony?"
Tony looked up, startled, his right arm halfway inside of a giant turkey.
"What are you doing?"
"Oh, hey. I didn't think you'd be back so soon" Tony answered, trying to sound nonchalant.
"I wasn't finding anything I was interested in at the stores, so I just gave up. Figured I'd give it another go some other day when things are less crazy" Steve said, still eyeing him suspiciously.
"Yeah, but with the parade and everything, I thought maybe you'd get held up, stop to take in some of the scenery…whatever."
"Uh huh" Steve said, dropping his back and walking into the kitchen. As he rounded the corner, he got a better view of the carnage strewn about the room. Flour covered nearly ever surface, vegetables lay half-chopped, and there was smoke starting to seep from the oven.
"Should you get that?" Steve asked, nodding toward whatever it was that was burning.
"Uh yeah, if you could maybe just shut that off?" Tony asked distractedly, still fiddling with whatever was inside the turkey's cavity.
"Sure. You want to tell me what all this is about?" Steve said, walking over to shut the oven off and open a window to help clear the air. "I thought you said we'd just have a quiet day off together?"
"I just thought I'd surprise you" Tony said, looking a little bashful. "It's our first Thanksgiving together, your first Thanksgiving since…everything, I just thought it would be nice to celebrate the occasion."
"You could have told me and I could have helped you, you know" Steve said, exasperated yet touched by Tony's plan. He always had to do things himself when it would usually be so much easier if he shared the burden. Steve knew it was just Tony being Tony.
"I was pretty sure I could handle it. I mean, people cook Thanksgiving dinner by themselves all the time." Tony had the decency to sound a little unsure of his statement at that particular moment as they both gave another look to what he'd done to the kitchen.
"Those are usually people who cook other things, anything really, every other day of the year too" Steve chided him gently. "So what can I do to help?"
"I think I've got this thing almost stuffed. Can you check that recipe and see how long it has to cook?"
"About four hours, maybe more, since it's stuffed."
"Four!" Tony exclaimed, looking panicked. "I told everyone 2 o'clock. What are we going to do for two hours while the bird finishes."
"Everyone who?"
"Oh, well that's part two of the surprise. I figure that for the real Thanksgiving experience, we need a full table. Nat, Bruce, Clint, Phil, maybe Thor. I asked him, but who knows what he has going on."
"And they all know that you were the one cooking?"
"Yes" Tony said, sounding slightly insulted. "And I'll have you know that none of them made any insinuations about my abilities, unlike some ungrateful people I know." He stuck his lower lip out in an exaggerated pout.
"Aw, I'm sorry. I really do appreciate it. This was a very sweet surprise" Steve said, laughing at Tony's dramatics, but also feeling guilty. He walked over and wrapped his arms around Tony, pulling him in for a quick kiss.
"I guess that gives us two hours to whip this whole thing in to shape then, huh?"
Try as they might, two hours later found them with a turkey only half-cooked, pies burnt beyond any help, some passable biscuits and can of cranberry sauce. They looked around the kitchen in dismay.
"What now?" Steve asked, checking the time and seeing that their guests were due any minute. At the least the table was set and there were drinks cooling in the fridge, but if anyone came hungry, they were bound to be let down.
"Uh, pizza?" Tony said with a meek shrug.
Just then there was a knock at the door. Tony quickly turned back to cleaning what was left of the mess, leaving Steve to greet their guests and break the bad news.
"Hi" Steve said, swinging open the door.
"Happy Thanksgiving, Cap" Clint greeted him. Natasha stood behind him, holding a covered dish in each arm.
"When we heard that Tony was doing the cooking, we figured we'd better bring some back-up food" Clint laughed, taking one of the dishes from Nat. "We made stuffing and mashed potatoes" he said, handing the food off to Steve, who took it gratefully.
"Well, when I say 'we' made it, I definitely mean 'I' made it…" Clint stage whispered to Steve as he passed, ignoring the glare Natasha shot back at him.
"Thanks guys, really. We definitely need the help."
As he dropped the dishes off to Tony in the kitchen, the doorbell rang and he jogged over to answer it. There stood Bruce, also with an armful of food. Steve smiled as Tony came over greet Bruce as well.
"Oh, c'mon guys!" he exclaimed, seeing that Bruce had doubted him as well. "No one has any faith in me."
"Should we?" Natasha called from the living room. "How long until your food is ready?"
Tony just grumbled under his breath, taking Bruce's dishes and returning to the kitchen.
"So what'd you make?" Steve asked, taking Bruce's coat and accompanying him to the living room. They both ignored the slamming of cabinets they heard behind them.
"Sweet potatoes and some green bean casserole. And I heard from Phil, he should be along any minute."
Steve got everyone drinks and coaxed Tony out of the kitchen to mingle with the group. They sat around together for a few minutes sharing stories of Thanksgivings past and a short while later, they heard a loud banging at the door.
Hurrying over to answer it, Steve saw that it was Phil, kicking at the door since his hands were full.
"Sorry" he apologized, "I wanted to be earlier, but this took a little longer than I thought."
"We know how that goes" Steve said, trying in vain to hold back his laughter. As he took Phil's burden from him, Tony came over to see what was so funny.
"Really?!" he shouted in exasperation when Steve turned and Tony saw the tray carrying a fully-cooked turkey.
Phil followed the couple into the kitchen where he peeked into the over and saw the turkey still roasting. Turning to Tony, he just raised an eyebrow in question.
"Shut up."
"Tony" Steve admonished. Turning to Phil, he said "Thank you. As you can see, someone underestimated how long a turkey needs to cook."
"Ok everybody" he called out, waiting for everyone to gather around the table. "I think that thanks to our generous guests, we're ready to eat."
They all loaded up their plates and claimed a place at the table. As they dug in, praising each other on how good everything was, Steve got everyone's attention.
"I know it's cheesy, but why don't we go around and say what we're thankful for" he suggested. "Tony, why don't you go first? I know you have a lot to be thankful for today."
Tony looked up from his plate to see everyone waiting with smiles on their faces. He rolled his eyes, knowing that this Thanksgiving was one he'd never live down.