A/N: Here it is! My Thanksgiving story! I know it's a little late, but I was doing stuff with my family on Thanksgiving, and we put up Christmas decorations the day after.
Disclaimer: I still don't own the Avengers. Nor do I own the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade or Santa Claus.
Thor wanders through Avengers Tower, peering in every door and stuffing Pop Tarts into his mouth. He is bored. It's generally pretty easy to find something to keep the thunder god busy, but he doesn't want to do anything that he has already done, and no one has given him any ideas. As he finishes off the last pastry, he frowns and looks down into the box. Empty. He'll have to find more.
As he passes a trashcan, he drops the empty box into it. When he first came down to Midgard, he just left his trash wherever he wanted. This had made Steve very upset and the actions were soon corrected. Now Thor can proudly say that he no longer throws his trash on the floor.
He goes into the room that all of the Avengers gravitate to. The common room. This room is in the very middle of the tower, so it's the easiest to get to from anywhere in the tower. It's furnished with black leather furniture which is somehow soft. The floors are made of black marble. There are floor to ceiling windows on the walls. The best part of these windows is that they can be dimmed so that no one can see what the room's occupants are doing, but they can still see outside and light can still come through. Pretty awesome.
Thor sinks into the couch and stretches out. He has to put his feet on the armrest because he is too long. He folds his hands on his chest and closes his eyes, trying to nap. Everything is just right. After a moment, he realizes that he wants a blanket. It's not that it's overly cold in the tower, but Thor has never been able to sleep without a blanket.
Thor slides off of the couch and pads over to the elevator. Normally he'd take the stairs, but since his recent argument with Loki, they turn into a slide at random spots while someone is walking. He pushes the button shaped like an arrow pointing down and smiles. He can do this part. This part is easy. When the doors open, Thor steps inside. This is where it gets hard. He can never remember which button to press after that. Usually someone else is with him, so they do it for him. But now he's alone. Thor stands there, staring at the buttons and chewing on his nails. Which one? He finally resorts to pushing them all. He knows that he needs to go down, so he starts at the top of the tower shaped button arrangement and runs his hand down all of them. Once they're all glowing, Thor steps to the middle of the elevator to wait. He knows it might be a while before he gets to the right floor.
Natasha stands by the elevator, waiting for it to come down. She really wishes that the stairs were still in use. It would make things so much easier. But, as it is, she doesn't feel like sliding on her backside all the way to the bottom of the tower.
When the elevator finally gets to her level, she has just enough time to get in before the doors shut. She finds Thor curled up in a corner, fast asleep. Natasha raises an eyebrow and turns to the buttons. Oh, goodness. All of them except for the first five are glowing. This is going to be a long ride.
It was a long ride. And by the time they get to the bottom, Natasha was nearly asleep as well. She shakes Thor awake.
"Thor. Thor, we're down at the bottom."
The god opens his eyes and rubs them. He smiles up at her and stands. He still looks pretty tired. Natasha wonders what he was up to last night. They were the only two of them there, so he might have just watched TV all night.
Thor pats her shoulder and walks out past her before realizing that it isn't the right floor. He turns and asks, "What level have we reached?"
Natasha's eyebrows knit together. "We're in the basement. With the training rooms."
Thor nods. He steps out even though he knows he is on the wrong floor. Oh well. He'll just have to go up the steps. Or try, at least. It's only one floor. He can remember that. His room is one floor above the training rooms.
Natasha watches him, amusement in her eyes. She knows that this must not be the room he was looking for. Thor never goes down to the training rooms unless he has already agreed to work with someone, and this is the first time she has seen him all day. She follows him out of the elevator and watches as he walks over to the door that leads to the staircase.
As soon as Thor opens the door, the stairs turn into a slide. His shoulders slump. Oh well. He'll have to ride the elevator again.
Just as Thor turns around, whoops and calls of, "Yeah!" come from the slide. Tony and Clint shoot through the door, riding in a huge cardboard box. Thor jumps out of their way as they slide to a halt at the bottom of the slide. The box leans forward for a moment and it looks like they might just make it without falling over when the box tips slowly. Both men let out a long, slow, "Whoooooooaaaaaaaa!"
Then they fall forward all the way and land on their faces. They turn their heads so that they are looking at one another and burst into laughter. Thor looks confused. Natasha looks annoyed. Tony and Clint look overjoyed.
The slide turns back into stairs as the two climb out of the box and help each other up. Then they turn to Thor and Natasha and bellow, "HAPPY THANKSGIVING!"
Natasha's eyes widen. "Oh my gosh! That's today? I can't believe I forgot! I was supposed to help Pepper get the turkey done. Has she already started?"
Tony shakes his head slowly. "No, she's gone. Her mom wanted her to go home for Thanksgiving. That's where she is now. I guess you'll have to do it on your own."
Natasha freezes. Do it on her own? She can barely make scrambled eggs! How on Earth is she supposed to make a turkey on her own? She runs her memories through her mind, trying to find one of Thanksgiving. There isn't a happy one there. There are lonely Thanksgivings. There are sad Thanksgivings. But Natasha doesn't recall a single turkey in any of them. She doesn't know what it's supposed to taste like, let alone how to prepare one!
Clint pokes her shoulder, shaking her out of her thoughts. "Uh, Nat? You okay?"
Natasha nods slowly. Thor claps a hand on her other shoulder, knocking the wind out of her and making her take a step forward. When she looks up at him, he beams down at her.
"You will make a wonderful turkey, Lady Natasha! And even if you do not, I will eat it!"
Natasha gives him a weak smile. "Thanks."
After riding back up in the elevator, the group went to one of the computers - Tony has many, being a billionaire and all - and got JARVIS to search for the best way to cook a turkey. He comes up with loads of different ways, but Natasha picks one that has the nicest looking picture to go with the recipe. They print it out and take it into the kitchen.
Natasha starts to call out things she will need and the others get it out of the cabinets for her. She's grateful for the hugeness of Tony's kitchen. There's enough room for them to all move around without bumping into each other. That's nice.
Once everything is laid out, Natasha pulls the turkey out of the refrigerator. She's extremely glad that Pepper had pulled it out of the freezer, because she knows that there wouldn't be nearly enough time for it to thaw. Especially since it takes a few hours for it to cook afterward. Natasha also finds that the stuffing is done. This is going to be easier than she thought.
She follows the directions perfectly, and the others watch, amazed. This can't be the same Natasha who said that she couldn't cook anything. Not this woman who navigates the kitchen with such ease and grace. When she slides the turkey into the oven and turns to them, wiping her hands on her pants, they're all staring at her with open mouths.
"What?"
Clint says in a dreamlike tone, "You're amazing."
Natasha just rolls her eyes. "I followed some directions. Any of you could have done that."
She sweeps by them and grabs a sheet of paper from the counter. She holds it out to Tony and says, "Here. You guys do this part. It's even easier than the turkey."
The boys stare after her as she walks out of the kitchen.
It turns out that the pie isn't at all easier than the turkey. It's harder. Much harder. By the time they're done, they have a disgusting looking pumpkin pie and a messy kitchen. Not the ideal turnout, but at least nobody got hurt.
Bruce comes into the kitchen as Thor, Tony, and Clint stare at their creation. He looks for a minute, trying to decide what it is. When he gives up figuring it out, he tries to find a nice way to ask what it is. None is forthcoming, so he settles for something simple.
"What's that?"
Clint turns to him, face red, hands clutched into fists at his sides, and shouts, "It's a pie!"
Bruce puts his hands up in defence. "Okay, okay. Sorry. I just woke up, and I don't have my glasses on. I can see that it's a pie."
Clint nods in satisfaction, his arms crossed. He looks over at Tony, who still looks mighty pleased with himself. He doesn't seem to realize that the pie is hideous. Thor at least knows that pies aren't supposed to look like that. He is at a loss for what to do about it, though.
Bruce turns as they hear light footsteps. Natasha. No one else can step that lightly. She smiles at them. She could smell the pie from her spot by the window. Being in Manhattan, she's able to watch the parade go right by the windows.
"Hey, guys. Is it done?"
Clint gives her a strange look. It looks as if he wants to tell her that the pie is done, but that he is afraid of what she'll say when she sees it. Tony nods and points to the misshapen pie.
"Yeah, it's done. You wanna try it?"
When Natasha sees the pie, she pulls her head back slightly, biting her lip. "Um…wow. That looks really…delicious. But, uh, I'd rather wait to try it later, when it's meal time."
Clint glares at her and Tony seems a little let down, but Thor looks appeased. She smiles faintly, trying to make up for it. She knows that Clint can see straight through her little lie, but she's hoping that it will be enough for Tony. It was certainly enough for Thor.
Bruce breaks the uncomfortable silence by clearing his throat and asking, "What can I do? I feel terrible. You have all been working hard in here, and I've just slept in all this time."
The other three boys point to the sink wordlessly. It's piled high with dirty dishes. Bruce rolls up his sleeves and sets to work determinedly.
An hour later, while they are all watching the parade go by, a terrible smell comes from the kitchen. Then the smoke alarm goes off. Natasha runs into the kitchen and the men can hear her gasp. Clint hurries in after her, followed by the others. Natasha wrenches open the oven and pulls on some oven mitts. Tony tells JARVIS to turn off the smoke alarm. Thor and Clint stand by, looking lost.
When Natasha pulls the turkey out of the oven, it is obvious that it is no longer edible. The whole thing is burnt to a blackened lump. She slides the pan onto the top of the oven and steps back. She doesn't understand how this happened. She checks the temperature setting to make sure that she had it on the right setting. Yes, that's right. She knows that it hasn't been in for too long. It has only been an hour or two. Even going over a little bit wouldn't turn the turkey completely black, as it is now.
She feels tears prick the corners of her eyes. She messed it up. She complete messed up their meal. Sure, the pie looked a little - okay, a lot - funny, but at least it is still edible! This is just horrible. This has to be the ugliest turkey that anyone has ever seen.
Clint sees the look on her face and walks over to her. He puts an arm around her shoulders in a comforting way. He smiles at her and says, "Don't worry about it, Nat. We can just order one. Or we can run up to the store and get a quick turkey meal or something. It's okay."
Natasha shakes her head. No, it's not okay. She knows that it isn't okay. It's not okay to her, and it's not okay to the others. It's not okay to anyone.
Steve's voice makes them all turn around. "We can always do a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Dinner."
Tony grins. "Dude, that's awesome."
Clint nods, smiling. A smile crawls onto Natasha's lips, too. Steve has easily cheered her up.
They go to the computer again to look up what exactly is in the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Dinner. They are pleased to find that they already have everything that they will need. They gather it all together, and are even happier to find that they don't have to cook anything. The cooking-est thing they have to do is toast some bread.
After everything is pulled together and ready, the group goes to finish watching the parade just in time to see Santa Claus. Clint is the happiest to see Santa, which isn't really all that surprising, since he's still pretty much a kid inside. Thor positively beams. He likes this plump, happy, bearded man.
Thor calls to invite Loki when it's time for dinner, but he is spending Thanksgiving with his family. Thor argues that he is his family, but accepts that Loki wants to spend time with his wife and children. Thor decides after that that the residents of Avengers Tower are close enough to his family, and his grin is once again plastered onto his face.
When they settle down for dinner, Tony can't help but laugh. The meal set on the table before them is very different from the tradition Thanksgiving dinner. Popcorn, toast, jellybeans, and pretzel sticks are placed around the table. It is definitely not what he was expecting for his Thanksgiving dinner.
After Steve leads the blessing, the Avengers all dig into their meal. More popcorn is passed around. Pretzel sticks are made into stick men on plates. Jellybeans are choked on. All in all, they have a good time.
When they're done eating, the go to Tony's own indoor, miniature football field and play their own game of football, since Steve said that it was a tradition. Thor squarely beats them, even though he has never even seen a game of football in his life. Bruce decides not to play, but he sits back and watches. He's still in his pajamas.
Once they finish their game, the go back to the kitchen and snag some ugly pumpkin pie. They're amazed when they find out that it tastes delicious. It's the complete opposite of the appearance. It's a good thing it is, too, because if it wasn't, they probably wouldn't be able to stomach it.
After the pie, the Avengers settle down and watch a replay of the parade, since they missed most of it while they were trying to get the turkey out of the oven and looking for the Charlie Brown dinner. Thor gets excited when Pikachu flies by. Clint likes the floats best. He points out something about every one that goes by. He gets really worked up about Santa, even though he already saw him. Tony enjoys the performers going down the streets. He has always been amazed by the rope jumpers in particular. Bruce likes watching the bands. Steve loves it all.
After the replay of the parade, they head out to the top of Avengers Tower. Tony get JARVIS to amplify their voices and they bellow, "HAPPY THANKSGIVING!"
Their voices ring a long way through the city. A little boy pokes his head out of the window of the building next to the tower, and he waves up at them.
"You too!"
When they go back inside, they settle down for bed. The excitement of the day has worn them out. They peel off to their separate floors, using the elevator. Natasha shows Thor which button to press for his floor so he doesn't get stuck in the elevator again. She gives him a hug goodnight before stepping out of the elevator onto the floor she shares with Clint.
Thor changes into his pajamas when he gets to his room. He climbs into bed, thinking that he really likes this Thanksgiving holiday.
A/N: I hope you all liked it!
Please leave a review! If you liked it, tell me what made it good. If you didn't like it, please tell me why! I like getting all kinds of feedback!