"So you're alright?"
Peter nodded, answering Pepper, but looking at all of them, since they were all just as uncertain as Tony had been – and for the same reason.
"Yeah. I'm fine. No bruises, or blood, and I'm not even tired."
"He's fine, Pep," Tony assured her, smiling. "And so is Pete."
"You're sure he's back where he belongs?" Natasha asked.
"We all saw him," the billionaire confirmed. "The mind stone showed us a… vision, I guess you'd say. He looked happy and he wouldn't be that happy if he'd ended up in the wrong Sanctum with the wrong Stephen Strange."
Peter nodded, again, wondering if there was any way that he could convince the mind stone to show the others what he and Tony had seen, and there was a an almost silent snort of amusement in his mind as everyone around the table suddenly froze, clearly distracted.
"It's a good thing you don't have any nefarious intentions," Alec told him.
"Why?"
"Because the mind stone is powerful, and seems more than willing to do whatever you want it to do."
"What?"
"The mind stone is showing them all what Pete is doing, right now."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Is he alright?"
"He's sitting around the table with Strange, Wong, and May."
"Still?"
"They probably have a lot to talk about," Alec pointed out. "And some serious catching up to do."
"Good point."
Pleased that none of them looked worried, now, he started to say something, but was interrupted when his phone beeped at him. Looking down at the display, the boy smiled, cheerfully, and looked at Tony, who had glanced over at him, curiously.
"What's up?" he asked.
"MJ just sent me her pumpkin chucker design."
Stark nodded.
"Excellent. We'll work on it, tomorrow."
"Before or after dinner?" Pepper asked, pointedly.
Good point.
"Before," Tony decided. "I'm not going to be able to move after we eat."
He was looking forward to Thanksgiving, and not just because of the food. It was a coming together of everyone that he loved – and liked – and even Pepper had the entire weekend off to spend it with them. Not to mention, it was their first Thanksgiving with Peter as their own, and that was going to make it special.
"Are you sure you don't want to go to the Macy parade?" Steve asked, looking hopeful.
Which made them all smile. Captain America had to make an appearance, because there was a new giant balloon, and it was in his image. The man was an American icon, of course, and as soon as the parade planners had announced the new balloon they'd started making calls, hoping for him to be there – and had offered to make him parade marshal. Steve had tried to decline, but he was far more polite than Tony, who was very good at saying no to pretty much anyone. Which meant that he was going to be in the city the next morning, riding on a float in front of his balloon when it went down the road, waving at people and spending his Thanksgiving morning with millions of his closest friends.
"Not a chance," Tony replied. "I'm going to spend my morning sleeping in late and then building MJ's chucker."
Steve looked at the boy sitting beside him.
"Peter?"
"Peter's helping me," Tony told him.
Rogers wasn't going to give up that easily.
"I'll make sure they let you ride in the float," he promised.
"He's not going to fall for-"
"Really?"
Steve nodded.
"Of course."
Of course, if Peter was out and about in a crowd that large and someone happened to recognize him, there was no way he'd be anywhere but right beside Steve, really.
Peter looked at Tony, hopefully, and Stark rolled his eyes, good-naturedly.
"Fine. Go to the parade with Steve. But he has to be back in time to help set the table."
"We'll back in plenty of time," Steve promised. "I'm not going to stick around once the float finishes the parade route."
"And I'll be there to pick them up," Carol told him and Pepper. "That way we don't have to wait around for the event staff, and extra interviews."
And she would be there in case anything happened.
Steve looked at Natasha, knowing that if Peter was going to come, she might want to, now.
"Coming?"
She smirked and shook her head.
"I'll have Nick send in some extra SHIELD people for security, but no. If Tony trusts you to watch Peter, then so do I."
She didn't want to be a spectacle, and knew that if she was on the float, that would put her much more in the public eye than she really wanted to be, and she didn't feel like skulking around such a large crowd as the one that would be lining the parade route in the city.
The boy grinned, cheerfully, and got to his feet.
"Where are you going?" Tony asked.
"Making some calls," Peter told him. "Ned wanted me to tell him when Pete went home, and I want to tell him about the parade."
"See if he wants to come to the parade," Steve said.
"But he doesn't tell anyone," Romanoff reminded the boy. "Even if he doesn't go, he doesn't post anything on social media about you going."
"He knows," Peter assured her. At the look that she gave him, he smiled. "But I'll remind him."
"You do that."
The boy left at a cheerful trot, and Pepper turned to Steve.
"Are you sure you want to have to watch him, tomorrow?" He was going to be dealing with the press and the crowds, and watching an excitable teenager wasn't always fun. "I can make Tony go, too."
Stark rolled his eyes at that, but Steve just smiled.
"It's fine. I like his company, or I wouldn't have invited him."
"Besides," Carol added. "Peter will give him a good excuse to not stick around, right? Then we can be home in time to eat."
Pepper smiled.
"Smart."
"I'm not just a pretty face," Steve told them, all, looking smug – which wasn't something he normally displayed.
Tony forced down his automatic sarcastic comment and just nodded his agreement.
OOOOOOOO
"You got my file?"
Peter nodded.
"Yeah. Tony said he'll start building it tomorrow morning."
MJ looked excited.
"Are you going to help him?"
"Maybe." Peter leaned back against the sofa, pleased that he had his phone and his television set together so he could see MJ on the TV instead of the much smaller screen on his phone. He'd planned on calling Ned, first, but MJ had called him while he was walking to his quarters, and that was fine with him. "He works faster if he's doing it, himself."
"Why?"
"Because he likes to make sure that he includes me in what he's doing," Peter told her. "And I like that – of course – but then he doesn't get everything done as quickly. Besides, I have other plans, tomorrow morning."
"Are you hanging out with Benjamin?"
"No. He went home, this morning."
She made a face.
"Too bad."
"Yeah. But he was hoping to go home before Thanksgiving to spend it with his family."
"What are you doing, then?"
"Hanging out with Steve."
"Really? What are you doing?"
"Going to the parade. But you can't post it," he added, knowing that she normally didn't post his activities, anyway. It was one of those things that he was just used to reminding his friends. "They have a Captain America balloon, now, and they're going to unveil it, tomorrow. Steve asked if I wanted to go – and I get to ride on the float."
She smiled at that.
"Sounds fun. Is everyone else going?"
"I don't know. Carol is. Natasha isn't. Tony is going to work on your pumpkin chucker, so I know he isn't. Pepper might, but she might just want to sleep in and relax, too. How are things there?"
MJ rolled her eyes.
"Family drama," she said. "It's fun, though."
"You're still going to be back for Friday morning?"
"Mom and my sister are going Black Friday shopping, so yeah. They'll drop me at home on their way, and I'll be ready when you guys come to get me."
"I'll let Tony know."
"Thanks." She looked off to the side and then turned back to Peter. "I need to go. Have fun, tomorrow."
"Yeah." He smiled. "I'll see you Friday."
"I'll watch the parade and look for you."
Peter blushed.
"I'll probably fall off the float, or something."
MJ chuckled.
"Flash would never let you hear the end of it."
"Right?"
OOOOOOOOO
A/N: So I lost the timeline, really, but since I haven't written Peter and Tony and the group having Thanksgiving and Christmas, together, I'm going to make this their first one. That way I get to write that if I decide that I want to do so. (And we will definitely see more of Pete – although I'm not going to give him his own story) Thanks!