"Why aren't you eating leftover turkey?"

Peter smiled at the server – one of the two regulars who handled the occupants of the private room they used when they were having brunch. She was friendly and helpful (even beyond her work requirements) and well over the fact that she spent an hour or two almost every Sunday in the company of Tony Stark and whoever else was with him that day.

"We don't have any," he told her.

"There were two teenaged boys at the table, Martha," Pepper said, also comfortable enough with her to have a regular conversation. "They ate everything."

"And then made us go buy another turkey and cook that one, too," Tony added, willing to join the banter, since they were teasing Peter and Ned and he knew the boys didn't mind – and even liked it. "And don't even get me started on the desserts."

Peter rolled his eyes and Ned smirked.

"It wasn't that bad," he assured her.

"And the turkey wasn't that big," Ned added.

They continued chatting with her as the two boys got up and headed back to the buffet to get more food, and Tony leaned back in his chair, slightly, looking and feeling pleased with himself.

"He goes back to school, soon?" Strange asked, also amused by the conversation he'd listened in on.

"Not tomorrow, but the Monday after," Pepper confirmed. "I have to admit I'm going to miss having him at the tower with me."

"We could always have the school burn down, or something," Tony suggested. He rolled his eyes at the look she gave him. "Not with the kids in it, of course. Just sometime in the middle of the night, or something. On a weekend."

"And then you'll have Ned, MJ, and Peter all hanging out with you at the tower," Natasha said, amused. "Because they won't have any place else to go."

"Ugh."

"That wouldn't be so bad, Pep," Tony said. "They're good company."

"Yes, but they would keep me from working. Which would keep me from making you money."

"Which means you'd have to go to the tower, too," Stephen pointed out.

"Ugh." He shrugged. "Fine, we don't burn down the school."

"Did you just mention burning down the school?" Peter asked, frowning as he walked back into the little room just in time to hear that.

"Of course not." Stark's expression was wide-eyed innocence. "I thought you were getting more food."

His son gave him a sidelong glance and shrugged.

"I forgot my phone."

He went over and picked it up, and then left, again, and Pepper smiled.

"Smooth."

"Right?"

OOOOOOOOO

"You look exhausted…"

May smiled, leaning back into her comfortable recliner and nodding.

"I've been shopping, Stephen. Of course I'm tired."

"I never understood the Black Friday thing," Wong said, shaking his head. "Why risk the insane crowds just to save a few dollars, when you can wait until the day after Christmas and take advantage of all of the clearance sales…?"

"You don't understand it because you've never raised a child," she told the sorcerer. "What would you put under the Christmas tree?"

He thought about it, understanding her point.

"An IOU?"

Strange snorted.

"That might work with Peter," he conceded. "But not most kids, I'm certain. Did you manage to convince him to keep the money for himself?"

"No." She scowled, prettily. "He's determined that since it was given to him to use for me, then it's something that I should have."

Wong shook his head.

"Given to him by Tony Stark… how crazy."

"Ten thousand wouldn't be anything for a guy like Stark," Strange said. "But it's impossible to believe that in another reality I'm actually friends with the man."

"His best man at his wedding," May added, smiling. "That's saying something since I would have thought that he'd have chosen Captain America, or something…"

"So would I."

"Peter doesn't have any reason to make it up," Wong told them. "Or the fact that he was staying at their compound while he was in their reality."

"Spider-man and the Avengers…" May said, shaking her head. "Crazy."

"Have they ever approached you, May?" Stephen asked, curiously. "About Peter's abilities, I mean?"

"No." another frown. "But now he wants to approach them, he says. Not that he wants to be an Avenger," she added, looking at Stephen. "He wants to be Sorcerer Supreme when you're done with the title, but he wants to make sure that they know he's available if something came up and they needed whatever skills he has."

"A sorcerer helping the Avengers?" Now Wong look scandalized. "We have better things to worry about than helping them with HYDRA."

"What's HYDRA?" May asked, curiously.

He shrugged.

"Nothing serious. An Avenger problem, not a sorcerer problem."

"It's a sorcerer problem if Peter is determined to align himself with them," Strange said, thoughtfully. "We all know how stubborn he can be."

"He's a lot like his father that way." She looked at Stephen. "What do I tell him?"

"Nothing you can do to stop him if he decides that he wants to talk to them," Strange told her. "But I doubt Tony Stark would give him the time of day – even knowing that he's Spider-man. He's just too far below the man's radar."

She shrugged.

"I don't know. He-"

The sound of someone stumping down the staircase next to the room they were in told them all that Peter was coming, and they fell silent. Not because they wanted to keep their conversation from the boy, but because at the moment, they were all three determined to keep the day a light-hearted one. Thanksgiving had been much brighter than they'd assumed it was going to be; the return of the boy they all loved making sure of it. They'd eaten good food and had listened to some of the stories of Peter's adventures while he was away. Stories that none of them would believe if not for some photos that the boy had brought back on his phone.

And ten thousand dollars, of course.

Then they'd watched A Christmas Story, since it was one of Peter's favorites and they were all so relieved to have him back that none were willing to say no when he'd suggested it. The day had been relaxing and filled with exactly what it was supposed to be about; Thanksgiving.

The next morning May had left to go shopping – with Peter in tow, despite the fact that he definitely would have preferred to sleep in, instead. He had enjoyed himself, though, watching as his beloved aunt spent money that he'd brought home with him. Then she'd shooed him away in a department store telling him that she wanted to buy him something and she didn't want to see what it was. The large package in her bags when they met up for lunch much later was mute testimony that she'd found something, but only smirked when he tried to wheedle a clue or two about what it was.

To his surprise, when they'd returned to the sanctum with Peter loaded down shopping bags, May had taken the bags from him and had handed him the package and told him that he could open it, but only if he agreed that he'd put it on and model it for her and the others.

"To check the fit," she'd said, and had kept her expression innocent and excited – although she could see there was a little suspicion in his expression. Understandably, of course. "Because I'm so happy you're home," she'd added, which had pretty much forced him to agree.

Her nephew had vanished up the great staircase, and May had retired to the nearest comfortable chair with a great fire roaring in the fireplace where Stephen and Wong had joined her only a few minutes later.

Now all three of them looked over at the boy as he arrived and she snorted.

"What the hell is that?" Wong asked, his eyes alive with humor.

Peter was dressed in a giant pink bunny suit, exactly like the one Ralphie had worn in the movie from the day before. The boy rolled his eyes at their amusement but he was also amused.

"May thinks she's funny."

"I'm hilarious," she told them all, pulling out her phone and snapping several pictures of her nephew.

"Yes, you are."