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XXI. Peter Parker's Tasteful Idea

Peter Parker and Peter Quill were hanging out in Avenger's tower together that afternoon. Everyone had just gotten back from a long fight with Santa/Thanos when all of suddenly Santa retreated. So the Avengers went back home.

They were bored. "We should do something," said Peter Quill.

"Like what?" Asked the other Peter.

"Like watching new movies!" Peter Quill. He flopped onto the couch and turned on the TV. Peter Parker sat next to him and stared.

They went through all the channels in an hour. Finally they gave up. "There's nothing interesting on," whined Quill.

Suddenly Spider-Man got a great idea. "Hey do you know how to cook?"

"Very very very very very little. Why?"

"Cause I saw this series called 'Holiday Baking Championship' and it was a group of cooks that competed for a bunch of money by cooking.

Peter Quill bounded to his feet. "That's a great idea! I'll get Gamora to cook! How much are we betting?"

Parker thought for a moment. "Same rules. $15,000 for the last standing cook."

"Yay! Let's run it by the women! And the other Avengers and Guardians. And that robot that tried to destroy the world. And the guy that also tried to destroy…you know what? Let's ask everyone."

"Cooking's my specialty!" Pepper exclaimed.

"Well it's not mine," admitted Jane.

"Can anyone enter?" Asked Ultron. Peter Parker nodded. "Saweet!" Ultron signed himself up.

Gamora looked confused. "You don't eat. Why are you signing up?"

"I may not eat but I can cook!"

Tony shook his was slowly. "Ultron, you're turning more and more into your little brother."

Ultron stopped being happy. He sulked instead. "Now you just ruined my fun."

Eventually the Avengers and Guardians ended up with only eight contestants. While Sam and Rhody went shopping for more ingredients (Quill begged to come along too) Tony and Thor set up the four kitchens. Jane and Vision gathered the utensils.

Tony waited until Sam, Rhody, and Peter Quill returned. "Good news and bad news guys," he announced. "The good news? We have a huge amount of counter space! Bad news, it's not enough for all eight of you. You'll have to split up into teams." Tony motioned to Thor who brought forward a hat. "Gamora, Jennifer, Natasha, Hope. Ladies, you four come to Thor and pick out a name. The names will determine who your partner is."

"Please not Ultron please not Ultron," whispered Hope. She reached into the hat first. "Screw it. Ultron."

"Hey!" Cried Ultron.

Jennifer reached in next. "Pepper! Yay!" The two bounced up and down.

"Girls are weird," said Bucky.

"I am Groot."

Gamora put her hand in next. "Steve. Wait, who's Steve again?" Cap raised his hand timidly. "You better be a good cook. I want those units."

"Um, they…aren't…units," Steve said too quietly to be heard.

Just for the sake of it, Natasha reached into the hat even though she knew exactly who she was going to get. "I got the living humanoid."

"Hey!" Snapped Rocket.

"I am Groot." Natasha sighed and walked over to Groot.

"I am Natasha," she murmured. "Rocket, can you be my translator?"

Before Rocket could answer Star-Lord spoke. "Nah. You'll understand him fine! Besides, you're more intelligent than Drax."

Drax blinked. "I don't understand."

Gamora sighed. "Sorry. He doesn't have a sense of sarcasm or slang."

"You mean slingshot," Drax corrected.

Peter Parker jumped on a chair. "Whatever. Alright people! You have an hour to make something to put in these fillo cups! Wait, Tony. How did you get four stoves?"

"Secrets!" Tony clucked his tongue and winked. He also snapped his fingers and adjusted them to a finger gun in a split second after.

"So basically you have to make half a dozen fillo cups with some yummy filling and the top two will move on. Then you'll be single bakers. Top two from there keep going and then they'll be one person who'll bake better than the others! Is that clear?" Asked Peter.

"Yup!" Said Pepper, Hope, Jennifer and Ultron.

"Yes," said Steve.

"I am Groot."

Gamora and Natasha just nodded.

"Wait what?" Asked Drax.

Peter Parker placed the fillo cup boxes on a table. Then he turned to the eight. "One hour. Time starts…NOW!"

Immediately Natasha and Gamora did some agility to get to the table faster. Ultron, Jennifer and Steve hurried to their cooking stations. Groot thudded over to his assigned station. Hope snagged the full cups off the table and bolted for Ultron. Pepper was the last one to get her cups.

A baking frenzy began. Meanwhile Peter Parker turned to the others. "We need some judges! Since there's so many of us I think we should have five judges."

A bunch of hands went up. Parker put his hands behind his back. "Guess how many fingers I'm holding up. The five closet are the judges. Pietro no cheating."

"Aw!" Whined Pietro. "I'm going with six."

The group shouted out their guesses. "ZERO!" Boomed Thor.

Jane sighed. "Thor. You're insane."

Once everyone casted their votes Peter held his hands in front of him. He was holding up no fingers. "Ha!" Thor gave Jane a gentle shove. Jane grumbled. She had picked 10.

Peter announced the judges. "Obviously Thor, Wanda, Drax (who both guessed 1), Clint (3), and what are the chances? Peter Quill (4)!"

"Yeah!" shouted Star-Lord. The Avengers set up the judges tables and gave them forks.

Meanwhile in the kitchen Natasha learned that Groot was a huge help. She told him what they needed from the ingredients table and he reached over and grabbed it. Heck, he even put stuff in the oven for her! Natasha's job was easy. She couldn't believe her luck! What a partner!

Hope couldn't say the same thing for hers. Ultron was good but he and Hope still had to run around. She wouldn't let him fly because he might do mass destruction. However Hope was pretty happy about Ultron's creativity. That made up for all the other kitchen flaws he had.

Gamora and Steve got along fine. They were quiet and mostly kept to themselves. Yet they almost seemed to be talking to each other telekinetically. Gamora was super fast at cutting and stirring things and Steve was best at gathering ingredients and arranging the food.

And then there was Pepper and Jennifer. They were literally bouncing off the walls in happiness. They were extremely fast and were super creative. The other three teams knew they had to be fierce competitors to even try and survive against the two.

"20 minutes!" Shouted Peter Parker. "20 minutes, Avengers and Guardians!"

Without taking her eyes off the melting chocolate Natasha said "Groot, grab me some fruit and cut it up."

Groot obeyed. He twisted his arm around all the others and grabbed the box of fruit. He carried it back and clenched a knife. "I am Groot."

"Yes you are." Groot carefully sliced the fruit as Natasha started decorating the plate.

To the left of them Steve grabbed the teakettle full of boiling water and poured it on the mixture Gamora had whipped up. Then he grabbed a spoon and stirred vigorously. Gamora was trying to figure out how to use a blender. Realizing she wasn't going to get anywhere quickly Steve took over her job. He threw in the vegetables and grounded it all together while Gamora stirred.

Left of those two was Pepper and Jennifer. "How's the coconut coming?" Sang Pepper.

"Great!" Jennifer answered back. "How about the sugar things?"

"Cooking like they should!" Grinned Pepper.

They were having way too much fun compared to their neighbors on the end of the line up. Hope was combining different kinds of jams. "Ultron go get the lemons."

Ultron obeyed. He returned with them. "What should I do with it?"

"Cut them and put a little chunk in each cup!"

"Okay. You might want to duck." Ultron placed two of the giant knives in on of hands. With the other he threw up the lemons. When they came down he swung the knives wildly. Hope screamed.

When he stopped she peeked over the edge of the counter. Each fillo cup had a nicely sliced piece of lemon wedged on the edge of the cup.

"Don't ever do that again!" Hissed Hope.

"Sorry."

The judges talked to each other as they watched the eight cooks scramble around to make their dessert. Finally Peter stood up again. "Five minutes left!" He shouted. "You heard me, five minutes left!"

The cooks became more rushed. They were putting their treats together and started decorating the plate itself.

Peter Parker counted down the last few minutes. Then he started counting by thirties. Finally he did the last five. "Five…four… (at this point Peter Quill joined in the countdown) three…two…one… Hands up! Step away from the tables!"

"Woot!" Cheered Pepper.

"Victory dance!" Jennifer whooped. She did an Irish Jig.

Natasha held her hand up. "High five, big guy! We did great!" Groot blinked. "Uhhh…" Groot raised his hand and placed it in hers. "Well that's close enough."

Gamora and Steve stared down at their small fillo cups. "I have no idea what we made but I think it's gonna be good," said Steve.

"Yeah," said Gamora.

Ultron and Hope were just staring at their treats. Finally Hope spoke. "Well, we'll have to see if they pass."

"Are you kidding me?" Ultron shouted. "Of course they'll…" he looked at everyone else's cups. "Oh. Yeah. HOPEfully." Hope smacked him.

"Okay!" Said Peter Parker. "Bring your tray up when I call you. Then you tell the judges what kind of fillo cup you made. Finally the judges will try your fillo cups. Let's have…Steve and Gamora come up."

Gamora grabbed the tray and balanced it on three fingers. "Uh, don't you want to hold that a little sturdier?" Asked Steve.

"Nah. It's good." She walked over and placed it in front of the five judges.

Steve stood next to his partner. "Whatcha got there?" Asked Star-Lord. "Cause it's looking mighty fine!"

"They do not look powerful and mighty to me," commented Drax.

"You have no sense of humor!"

"Humor is not one of my senses."

Clint grumbled. "Just tell us what you made."

"A vegetable…" began Steve.

"Xandar pudding cup," finished Gamora.

Everyone looked at the cup. "Why is thee pudding purple?" Thor asked.

"It's something from the galaxies, Thor!" Exclaimed Peter Quill. "Get with the times!"

"Fillo cup times pudding equals yummy?"

Drax was confused too. "Why are you talking multiplication?"

Wanda sighed. She took one of the cups and ate it. Then her eyes bugged out. "Umm, hmmm, it's really… wow!" She grabbed another and gobbled it down.

The others took one. "Yummy yummy!" Peter Quill said happily.

Thor inhaled his. "It is pasty. And thy vegetables do not taste yummy."

"Bang," said Rocket.

The rest finished theirs. But Steve and Gamora knew they did horrible. They left feeling a bit defeated.

Pepper and Jennifer were next. Their decoration weren't super good but their sugar fillo cups made all the judges happy (except Drax who still didn't understand this whole thing).

Ultron and Hope were called up. They presented their lemon meringue fillo cups. The judges made their remarks about the design (they looked like mini pies with lemons stuck to the side) and Drax said "This does not look like pie to me."

The tasting started. "Yum!" Said Star-Lord.

"Ummm…" said Clint and Wanda.

"This tastes like lemons but it does not look sour," commented Drax.

And of course, Thor. "Bleaugh!"

"Thor! Be nice!" Scolded Jane. "Santa's watching!" Thor apologized and waved the two away.

Natasha and Groot took up the end. Natasha brought up her chocolate fruit fillo cups. Groot thudded up to stand besides her. Of course Natasha looked tiny compared to him.

"Groot and I present you fruit fillo cups dipped with chocolate."

"I am Groot."

"Yes, thank you Groot," said Natasha even though she didn't the slightest clue what he meant.

The five judges tasted the food. "Yummy!" Shouted Peter Quill.

"I gotta say, you guys did good," Clint grinned.

"I like the way you dipped the entire outside of the cup in chocolate," Wanda mused. She bit hers. "And it's good too."

"When did Groot learn to cook?" Drax asked.

Thor shrugged. "Who cares? They taste like an Asguardian mini dessert!

Clint nodded. He turned to the two. "Thank you Natasha and Groot."

The judges talked. "Everyone's was DElish!" Shouted Peter Quill.

"I did not like Ultron and Hope's," said Clint bluntly.

"Well I wasn't very fond of Steve and Gamora's," boomedThor.

Wanda spoke next. "All of them were too sweet. Especially Pepper and Jennifer's."

The group turned to Drax. "Any comments?" Asked Peter Parker.

"When did Groot learn to cook? And how did Pepper and Jennifer melt sugar?"

They continued talking. Everyone else was scattered around the room ignoring the whispered of the judges. Finally Peter called back in the contestants.

The eight entered. "We have a winner!" Peter Parker cheered. "And that winner is…Groot and Natasha!"

"Yay!" Squeaked Natasha. She gave Groot a big hug. Not sure what else to do Groot hugged back.

"AWKward!" Hissed Bucky to Bruce.

Peter Parker then looked at the other six. "Steve, Gamora, Pepper, Jennifer, I'm sorry but your streak ends here."

"Awww!" The four turned away dejected.

Now I would love to tell about the next parts of the contest but we're out of time and I need to get writing to the 22nd chapter. :) And the 23rd. And the 24th. Annndd... the 25th... yikes.

I love watching 'Holiday Baking Championship'.

Hope you like-y! Reveiew suggest, blah blah.