Most of the team were already gathered in their room when Peter walked in.

"I was wondering if you were going to show up," MJ said by way of greeting.

He smiled, apologetically.

"Sorry. Traffic."

Ned moved over to stand by him.

"Did Tony drive you in?"

"No." He hesitated, but only for a moment. "I took an UBER."

Not exactly the truth, since he'd been patrolling and had been preoccupied with helping a guy change a flat tire in busy traffic, but he didn't want to say that he took the bus or a train, in case someone actually looked and found that none had been delayed by traffic. It wasn't something that he probably had to worry about, but Peter's teammates were geniuses, after all, and that usually meant methodical. Someone might look just because they were bored.

Ned shrugged.

"UBER is good, too."

Not as good as being driven around by Ironman, but what was?

"We're almost ready to start," MJ said, walking to the front of the room where she'd set up the questions for the drill that she wanted to begin their practice with. "I was just going-"

She was interrupted when the door opened, again, and this time it was Flash coming through, also late. He was clearly excited, though, and didn't apologize for being late.

"I just saw Spiderman!"

The others were on their feet, immediately, and didn't notice that Ned and MJ both looked at Peter.

"You did?" Abe asked, looking excited, too. "Where?"

"Down the street. He-"

"Was he wearing the black suit?" one of the girls interrupted. "Or the blue and red one?"

"The black one," Flash said. "He was swinging along, looking awesome."

"Did he say anything?"

Flash shook his head.

"He's too busy to chat – even with someone like me."

Which made Ned roll his eyes.

"Let's focus, everyone," MJ said, her expression amused even though her words were annoyed. "We only have a week before the first meet, and I want us to put on a good showing as a run up to the international competition."

"That isn't until spring," Abe reminded her, even as everyone went to take their places. "We're going to be fine."

"We'll be fine if we buckle down and work hard," she told them. She turned to Peter. "Ready?"

"Yeah."

"Flash?" she said, drawing the other boy's attention. "If you're done fanboying about Spiderman, maybe you can join us, too?"

Ned snorted, cheerfully, loving the fact that he knew Peter was Spiderman and wishing – for the millionth time – that Flash did, as well.

"I'm here," Flash said, annoyed at being called out. "Ask me anything."

OOOOOOO

"Is Shuri coming for Thanksgiving?" Ned asked, once practice was finished and they were all filing out of their study room to head home.

Peter nodded, but he shrugged.

"I think she is, yeah. They don't do Thanksgiving in Wakanda, so she doesn't have to be there. It's just a regular day for them."

MJ smiled.

"She's lucky," she told the boys, as they walked down the hallway toward the exit. "My family is coming from all over, and I have to give my grandma my room."

"You'd rather she slept on the couch?" Peter asked, knowing that wasn't the problem.

"I'd rather my sheets don't smell like Ben-Gay when she leaves."

Ned laughed.

"We're having Thanksgiving at my place," he said. "And we have a lot of people coming." He rolled his eyes and looked at Peter. "They all know that I know Tony Stark and they're all hounding me to introduce them to him. Like I have him on speed dial, or something…"

Peter gestured to the watch on Ned's wrist.

"You sort of do…"

"You know what I mean," he said, opening the door and flooding the hallway with sunlight as they walked outside. "It's not like I can just pull Ironman out of my ass anytime I want to…"

"I'm not sure I want to know the context of this conversation…" a voice from the side drawled, and all three teens looked over to see Tony standing by the door, obviously waiting for Peter, and clearly overhearing the comment.

MJ and Peter grinned, but Ned flushed, hotly.

"Hey…"

"We're talking about Thanksgiving," Peter said, letting Ned off the hook, so to speak. "He has a bunch of relatives coming and they want him to introduce you to them."

"Ah." Tony smiled, mostly amused at Ned's discomfiture. The kid was so much fun. "Do you need me to happen to be in the neighborhood and stop by?"

The boy's eyes widened.

"You'd do that?"

"Why not? Not all day, or anything," he added, quickly. "But Peter and I could happen by to get some of your mom's orange rolls, and-"

"Cinnamon rolls," Peter interrupted, smiling, too.

Tony rolled his eyes at the jab.

"And we could stop long enough to say hi and take a few photos with them."

"Wow. Thanks, that'd be great."

"Don't tell them we're coming, though," Tony said. "I don't want an ambush or anything. We'll let it be a surprise."

"Can I tell my mom?" Ned asked, as they saw her car pull up to the curb next to where Tony had parked, earlier.

"If you don't tell her, how am I going to get my rolls?"

Good point.

"Okay. I'll owe you, big time."

Which wasn't true, of course. Ned was Peter's best friend, and as far as Tony was concerned, he was one of the reasons that his son was so level-headed.

"We'll see." The billionaire turned to MJ. "We're going to be in the city on Thanksgiving," he said to her, his eyes amused. "Would you like us to stop by your place and say hi, too?"

She smiled at being included.

"That would be great."

"Just you two," Tony said, as they all turned to walk toward the cars. MJ's dad drove up just as they turned. "I'm not making the rounds of all the kids on your team."

"Flash saw Spiderman, this afternoon," Ned said, grinning. "He came into the classroom all excited and telling everyone about it."

"Including Peter?" Tony asked, pointedly.

"Yeah," Peter said, knowing why he was asking. "I was already at practice."

"Good. How was practice?"

"Great," MJ told him. "We have a meet, next week."

"Here, though, right?"

"Yes."

"It'll be fun," Ned told him. "The team from Price is good, but they're not us good."

"I'm looking forward to it," Tony assured them, even though he and Pepper weren't going to attend, since they knew that none of the other parents usually did. They'd go to the important ones to remind Peter they were rooting for him and not attend the others to avoid creating a spectacle. "You two stay out of trouble," he added, waving a greeting to Ned's mom and MJ's dad.

They said their goodbyes, and Peter got into the car.

"How were your meetings?" he asked when Tony joined him.

"Ugh."

"That good, huh?"

"I don't know how she does it," the billionaire said, shaking his head. "I have to force myself to keep from falling asleep, and Pepper manages to make it seem like the most interesting thing that she's done all day."

"Because she's better at being an adult than you are."

He didn't even deny it.

"Probably. Anything interesting happen, this afternoon?"

"In practice?"

"As Spiderman."

"Oh. No, not really. A guy got a flat tire. I helped change it."

"Did you see Flash?"

"Nope."

"I don't need to tell you that you shouldn't stop and say hello to him if you do see him, right?"

"No." Peter grinned. "Not that he'd ever be willing to make the connection between me and Spiderman, but I'm not going to make it easy for him."

"Good call." Tony slapped the boy's shoulder. "Let's go home. Mom's going to wait until we get home to have dinner, and I don't want her to be hangry."

OOOOOOOOO

"Hey, Doctor Strange."

"Peter. How was school?"

"It was good. Ned and I are getting ready for an academic competition, so we were quizzing each other all day." The boy smiled at the cloak, and then turned his attention back to the sorcerer supreme. "What did you do, today?"

"Wong and I have been working on something interesting. How long can you stay?"

Peter looked at his watch.

"May expects me home by nine."

"Plenty of time, then." He clapped a hand onto the boy's shoulder. "Come on. I want to see what you can do with this."

"Sounds good."