Spot was waiting for them when they pulled up the lane and into the driveway in front of the neat farmhouse. The Irish Setter had been on the porch but gave a loud bark of welcome when the truck stopped, first, with the gleaming Pontiac right behind it. Not surprising anyone, the dog went to Peter's door, tail wagging, cheerfully, and nose already telling him who was coming for a visit.
"Spot!" The door to the farmhouse opened and Jack came out, with Gina right behind him. Both of them looked as if they'd been up for hours – and being country folk, it was entirely possible that they had. "Back up, buddy," Jack told his dog. "Let him get out of the car."
Rather than go greet Peter, first, both of them walked over to the truck. Tony had called ahead the evening before to make sure they hadn't forgotten that they were coming and had then called on the way there to advise they were bringing a few more people than initially anticipated. Including the king of Wakanda. Jack hadn't batted an eye. Of course, he knew more about Wakanda than many did, since he had had both Shuri and Azoru at his farm for a visit and had simply told Tony that they'd bring out the good paper plates.
"Jack," Tony said, opening the truck. "Good to see you, again."
The older man shook Tony's hand.
"You, too." He smiled at the others as they got out of the vehicle, taking in the spear that Okoye carried and the stern glances as she looked around but not being offended, at all. He was an ex military man, after all, and recognized that the King of a nation would certainly need bodyguards. "Welcome."
Shuri smiled as she and Peter joined them, with the two other security people staying in the background simply watching. Peter didn't say anything, even as he handed T'Choinker over to Tony, making Gina smile when she saw the piglet.
"Jack Lee, this is T'Challa. King of Wakanda and big brother to Shuri, who I know you've already met. T'Challa? This is Jack Lee, and his wife Gina. They're old friends."
As host, Jack offered the young king his hand.
"It's an honor to meet you, your Majesty. Shuri has told me a lot about you."
"Please, just call me T'Challa," was the reply as he shook hands with the ex Marine. "I have heard much about you, as well. And your wife." He turned to Gina, and took her hand, brushing a kiss against the top before turning to Tony who handed over the piglet. "My mother sends her own salutations and an offering."
"Not for the stewpot," Tony added, as T'Challa handed the piglet over to Gina, who smiled, widely. "He has a name, so you can't eat him."
"He's adorable," Gina said, clearly pleased. "Thank you."
Then Tony introduced the others to Jack and Gina.
"Steve's coming with Ned and MJ," he told the man. "But they aren't too far out."
"Why don't we go in the house and out of the cold?" Jack suggested, gesturing toward the front door. "We just made coffee, and Gina's rolls are fresh out of the oven."
"Sounds perfect," Tony agreed.
Peter smiled, crouching down, now, to love up on Spot, whose tail threatened to fly right off, it was wagging so hard.
"Hey, Spot," he said, cheerfully. Like Jack, himself, the dog was a link to Peter's past. Someone who had actually known his mom and dad. "How are you doing, huh?"
Shuri smiled and rubbed the dog's ears, too, but then shivered in the chill, despite the warm clothing she was wearing.
"Let's see if we can go look around," she suggested, putting her arm through Peter's. "We can go see where we're going to be tossing pumpkins."
"Yeah."
OOOOOOOOO
They weren't out in the field more than a few minutes when Spot barked, warning them even before Peter's spider senses could, that someone was coming. The two looked around and saw Ned and MJ both walking toward them.
"Hey Shuri," Ned said, grinning. "How was your Thanksgiving?"
"It was fine, thank you," she told him, cheerfully.
She didn't – technically – have thanksgiving, but she still had Thursdays, right?
MJ greeted Peter and the princess, as well, looking excited.
"Did you have a good thanksgiving?" Peter asked her, knowing that she had since he'd spoken to her on the phone the evening before.
"Yes." She grinned, looking around at all of the pumpkins that were on the ground. "There are a lot…"
"Jack said that they sold a ton of them and that these are the rejects," Ned said, before Peter could reply. "He said that we're doing him a favor, getting them broken up for him like we are."
"We should start stacking them," Shuri said, also looking around. "So they will be easy to access when we start throwing him."
"Tony's going to bring the chuckers out in the truck, soon," Ned told Peter and Shuri. "And a table."
"And some hand warmers," MJ added. She looked pleased – and just a little smug. "He showed me my tosser and it's exactly what I wanted it to look like."
"Did you expect anything less?" Peter asked her, pointedly.
"No. I suppose not."
"This is going to be great," Ned said, touching a half-frozen pumpkin with the toe of his shoe. Before any of them could do more than nod their agreement, Tony interrupted with a call on Peter's watch.
"Are you out in the field?"
"Yeah."
"We're on our way."
Sure enough, he looked back toward the farmhouse and saw not only Tony's truck but also one that he didn't recognize – which meant it was probably Jack's. Okoye, T'Challa, Pepper, and Stephen were in the truck with Tony, while Steve was riding with Jack. The back of Jack's truck had been loaded with a table, some folding chairs and a portable propane warmer. Peter and the others walked over to where both trucks were being backed into the area.
"Where's Gina?" the boy asked, noticing she wasn't with them.
Jack smiled.
"She's settling in T'Choinker." He didn't notice the wry look T'Challa gave at the mention of the name, but Shuri did, and she smirked at her brother. "That little piglet is going to be spoiled. You have no idea."
Pepper arched an eyebrow, glancing at Tony.
"I have a fair idea," she assured him, brushing her hand on Tony's arm.
He smiled, but then headed for the truck with the tables in the back.
"Come on, guys," he said, taking charge since it had been his idea in the first place. "Let's get this set up."
While some of them (with Tony supervising) set up the tables and then set the pumpkin chuckers on them, Peter and MJ were sent with small wooden sticks that had distance markers on the tops of them to set up the course. Strange watched with interest when the devices were lined up. Most were small enough to share the table with the others – Tony had set size limitations on the contest – but Shuri's was a little taller than the others and didn't need to sit on the table.
"What do we do, now?" Peter asked Tony.
He was the one in charge of it all, right?"
The billionaire grinned, putting his hand on his own device.
"Go get us some pumpkins, kids. Let's see what these things can do."