A/N: sorry about the delay. Work schedule is wonky right now!

Despite the assistance from Peter and Stephen hanging out in the kitchen tossing wet, wadded up paper towels at Ned and Tony, the dishes eventually were finished and washing in the dishwasher. The counters were cleaned off and ready for the next day. They ignored the interlopers while they were working, intent on getting the dishes done, but as soon as they were done Tony hung a dishtowel over the handle of the huge range and grabbed an unsuspecting Peter, picking him up and draping him over his shoulder in a fireman's carrying, surprising the boy by how easily he did it. Stark was stronger than he looked.

Of course it didn't hurt that Peter was on the scrawny side.

The others were sitting at the table, where they were teaching MJ how to play cribbage, and they all looked up when the two entered the dining room, Peter slung over Tony's shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"What did he do?" Pepper asked, the corner of her mouth turned up in a partial smile.

"He's spending too much time with a certain brain surgeon and is about to be dumped into a snow bank," Tony replied. "Stephen is teaching him all kinds of bad habits."

"Pepper, help me," Peter pleaded, twisting in Stark's grip just enough to look at her, his face a bit red from being upside down. "I was helping in the kitchen and look what it got me…"

"He was throwing wet paper towels at us."

"So you could use them to wipe off the counter."

"Tony, put him down."

"I'm going to. In a snowbank."

Peter wriggled, just a little, fairly certain he wasn't in too much danger of actually going outside without a coat on and being dumped into the snow, but aware that Tony was almost erratic enough to maybe do just that.

"Don't drop him."

"I'm going to. Right into a snowbank. Unless he says he's sorry."

"For helping?" Peter protested.

"For being annoying."

"Then you'd have to toss yourself into that same snowbank," Stephen pointed out, sitting in the chair beside Natasha. "He used to be a nice, sensible boy until you got hold of him. I'd say you're an influence on him."

Tony rolled his eyes and ignored that, turning and walking toward the door.

"Apologize."

Peter struggled – not as much as he could, though. He didn't want to hurt Tony, of course, and he didn't want to make him lose his grip and drop him on his head, either.

"No."

"Ned, get the door."

"You wouldn't!"

"Apologize."

Ned trotted past them and over to the door, his hand on the knob, grinning.

"No."

Tony made a gesture to Ned, and the boy shrugged and opened the door as Tony walked through the little room that held all their coats and boot. Peter didn't have any of that. Just jeans, a t-shirt and tennis shoes. The cold rushed into the room, making them all shiver.

"Last chance."

"No."

Peter could be stubborn when he wanted to be, and he was still fairly sure that it was an empty threat. A good one, but not feasible. Then he felt Tony shift under him as they walked out onto the porch and the Ironman suit activated just as Stark lifted him up over his head and tossed him over the railing of the porch.

Peter landed in a bank of soft snow, unhurt and shocked. Both from the sudden cold and from the realization that he'd just been tossed into a snowbank. He looked up in time to see Ned lean over the rail that protected the porch and deck and snap a couple of pictures, and Tony watching him, the Ironman suit gone, now and just Stark standing there.

"Next time you'll be naked," he promised as he vanished from the railing, taking Ned with him.

Peter grinned and struggled his way out of the snowbank, feeling a ton of the stuff getting under his shirt and into his pants.

OOOOOOOOO

Pepper frowned when Tony and Ned returned alone.

"You didn't really dump him in a snowbank…"

"He did," Ned said, excited. "Turned Ironman and tossed him over the rail like a sack of rice."

"Tony…"

Pepper was instantly in mother mode, but Stark shook his head.

"I made sure it was only snow before I threw him." Which was why he'd gone Ironman in the first place, He didn't need the suit on to throw a skinny kid like Peter around, after all. "He'll be in in a minute."

"He needed the diversion," Strange told Pepper. "He's missing May."

She understood immediately – as did the others around the table.

"Oh. You're sure it was only snow?"

"Yep. Show her the pictures, Ned."

They heard the front door opening as Ned showed Pepper the twenty photos he'd snapped, courtesy of the new camera she'd armed him with. Peter being carried across the deck, Tony's suit engaging, Ironman tossing him over the railing, and finally a surprised looking Peter looking up at him from a snowbank.

She looked up when Peter crossed the living room, looking like a half melted snowman with all the snow in his hair, and she was the first to hold a hand up to stop him from joining them – especially since she saw that one hand was behind his back and there was almost certainly a snowball in that hand.

"No," she told him, smiling and amused by the devious expression on his normally innocent face. "Go to the fire and warm up – and dry off. Then you can join us."

She didn't want a snowball fight at the dining room table. She was dry and wanted to stay that way.

Tony smirked at the boy, and then goaded him just a little by leaning over and kissing her as Peter obeyed and walked across the room to stand on the other side of the sofa. Then he sat down to watch their card game.

"Thank you, dear."

A moment later a snowball hit him in the back of the head, splattering wetly and startling all of them except Romanoff. There was nothing wrong with Peter's aim, and Tony knew it. He closed his eyes, feeling melting snow dribbling down the back of his shirt. Pepper looked over at Peter, who held up two empty hands and had his best innocent look on his face, even though she was too far away to see it.

Natasha smiled. Never turn your back on a ninja. Stark should have remembered that.

OOOOOOOOO

They split up a little for their evening activities. MJ played cards with the others, excited about playing anything with Captain America, Black Widow and Ironman, but trying to hide it. It was a surreal way to end a day that had begun at the Avenger compound and continued with a ride in a super sonic jet and then an afternoon of sledding with the same group of people who were now gathered around the table going out of their way to make her feel included by teasing her and joking with her.

She was glad that Ned was still taking pictures of the evening, because no one would believe it otherwise. She hardly believed it.

Peter and Ned were at the table, as well. Once Peter had dried out from his snowbank adventure, he and Ned had declined inclusion in the 6-person Pinochle game and had pulled out a chess board that they'd found in a closet right off from the living room. There was a plethora of games of all kinds, and plenty of other things to do in case any group staying at the cabin was snowed in by one of the sudden storms that frequented the mountains that time of year.

"Careful, Ned," Tony warned him. "He'll hustle you."

"I'm better at chess than he is," Ned told him, confidently.

Then he proved it, although the game lasted a long time and there were only a few pieces left on either side. They put the chess set aside when they were done in favor of Yahtzee, which they played until the card players finally declared a winner.

"I'm going to bed," Tony said, stretching – and ignoring the way Natasha was preening since she had been the winner of the card game. He looked at the kids. "Don't stay up too late, okay?"

"I'm beat," Ned admitted, gathering up the dice and scorecards from their game. "I'm going to go to bed, too."

That was pretty much the end of the evening. It wasn't extremely late, but it had been a busy day – and an active one – and they were all tired, despite the naps some of them had had before dinner. Everyone said goodnight and left, putting the gate in front of the fireplace – just for safety – and then headed for their rooms.

The next day was probably going to be even more active, after all.