With a goal in mind for the evening's entertainment, Tony settled on the end of the sofa with some hastily summoned D&D equipment and books, a pad of paper and some dice. Peter finished his oatmeal under Strange's watchful eye, while Natasha flipped through the book that MJ had brought the boy for his birthday. By the time the others started coming into the cabin thinking about warming up for a while and getting some lunch, Peter was asleep on his uninjured side with his head pillowed on Stark's thigh, and Stephen and Natasha were in the kitchen putting together soup and sandwiches for the group. Not wanting to disturb him, they all were a little quiet as they made their way into the dining room to tell each other about their morning activities.
Pepper walked over and quietly sat on the arm of the sofa, kissing Tony who presented a cheek for her attention but only flashed a smile before turning to finish the notes he was writing. She was used to him being focused when he had a project, but hadn't been aware that he had anything pressing at the time.
"What are you working on?" Pepper asked him, softly, reaching down and pulling Peter's blanket up a little and tucking it carefully around him.
"Making a D&D campaign."
"I didn't bring my little metal guy or my dice," she said.
"Stephen fixed that. And mine, his and Natasha's. Peter and Ned actually already have theirs – they did bring them, apparently. Steve, Bruce, Clint and MJ will have to roll new characters, but the campaign I'm making will allow the new creations to stay up with the veterans."
"And Elmer."
Tony nodded, and to his credit, he didn't even scowl.
"And Elmer, yes."
She kissed him again.
"Is Peter alright?"
"Just sore. I think he's sleeping because it just hurts less to sleep than it does to be awake. And we did stay up fairly late last night. He had breakfast a few hours ago."
"Do you need a break?"
Meaning did he want her to play pillow for a while.
"No. I can watch him while I'm doing this. And if he stays asleep, I won't have to worry about him trying to get information about the campaign from me before I'm ready to play it. It's more fun if it's new to the people playing it. Did they get their igloo done?"
She smiled and shook her head.
"I don't know how the natives did it, but the Avengers aren't very good at making curved snow roofs. The middle collapsed when they started working inward."
"Again?"
"Yes. If only we had an engineer here that could try to understand how keystones work in the snow…"
This time he did roll his eyes, and it made her smile, because she knew that he loved solving problems. Even if the one presented was just trying to figure out why the roof wouldn't stay on the igloo.
"If I'm done with this, I'll go out after lunch and see what they're doing wrong."
"That would be fine. Steve and the others are back from looking for bison. They can help."
"Good. Did they find what they were looking for?"
"I haven't seen the pictures, yet, but they sounded pleased. It doesn't hurt to know exactly where to look, I suppose."
"True."
"Are you going to eat?"
"No. I'll wait and eat with Peter."
She nodded, kissed him again and then went to the table to see how everyone was doing.
OOOOOO
The idea of a new D&D campaign for that evening was met with almost universal approval. Elmer had never heard of it, but Ned and MJ's enthusiasm about the whole thing wasn't to be ignored, and after they had all had lunch the Idahoan found himself sitting at one end of the table with a brand-new character sheet, some dice and a book to use for reference. Ned and Steve actually helped him roll the character, once he decided that he was going to make himself an Elvin fighter in the interest of keeping it simple and staying away from the spells of a magic caster or healer.
MJ was on that end of the table, as well. She had surprised them all by admitting that she'd tucked her own D&D things into her bag as well, although she hadn't really expected them to have the time to play. The fact that she didn't have to make herself a character freed her to help Clint and Bruce both make theirs. Clint was making a ranger, and Bruce's druid healer was definitely going to keep him occupied.
While they were preparing, Pepper took care of the dishes, pointing out that there weren't very many and it was hardly a chore to rinse soup bowls, spoons and sandwich plates and put them in the dishwasher. Just as she was finishing, a sleepy looking Peter limped to the end of the table – closest to the kitchen and where Rupp was still rolling out the abilities of his character with Ned's help – and Tony walked into the kitchen to greet her with a smile and a kiss.
"Finished?" she asked, running a soapy hand along his cheek with an impudent smile.
He nodded.
"Did you save us some soup?"
"It's in the microwave. There is sandwich stuff in the fridge." She raised her voice. "Peter? Soup?"
He turned from the sheet that Clint was showing him and looked over his shoulder.
"Yes, please."
"Soda?"
"Yes."
"Sandwich?"
"Yes."
"Tuna? Turkey? Roast beef?"
"Yes."
She rolled her eyes and Stark winked at her.
"He's a growing boy."
"Go feed your growing boy while I finish up in here."
"Yes, dear."
The others shifted enough to give Tony a space to put his lunch – and Peter's – but they hadn't had a lot of time with the boy the last day or so and wanted to check on him. Ned, especially, was animated, telling Peter about all the troubles that they were having getting the top of the igloo to be just right and how it had collapsed on him and MJ that morning, only to have the next try fail just as epically, cascading snow onto Clint and MJ.
"The sides are easy," MJ added. "The top isn't working right."
"I'm going to come out and help you guys when I'm done eating," Stark assured them with the easy manner of a person who was certain they would have the answer that was eluding everyone else.
He probably would, though, and most of them knew it.
"Are you coming, Peter?" Ned asked.
The boy hesitated but shook his head.
"Not yet."
He was not ready for another crippling bout between the cold weather and his injured hip.
"It would probably be alright," Strange told him, understanding the hesitation. "The wound is closed. If you didn't go beyond the porch, a little fresh air wouldn't hurt."
Peter shook his head.
"I'll wait a while. I don't want to risk it."
That lesson was well and truly learned, and he wasn't going to repeat the mistake. A little fresh air could hurt – and he knew it.
The others carefully set their sheets and supplies aside for use after dinner, and then headed for the entrance, bundling up and getting ready to go outside. Peter and Tony sat at the table eating their lunch, with Pepper coming out to keep them company.
"It's probably not going to hurt like it did last time," Strange told him, softly, once the table was empty of everyone but Natasha, Tony and Pepper.
He wanted the boy to be cautious, but not inhibited.
"I'll wait. Just in case."
"Are you sure?" Tony asked. "I could use an assistant out there."
"It looked pretty good, earlier," Natasha pointed out. "No raw edges."
Peter frowned.
"You weren't supposed to be looking."
She smiled and shrugged.
"Couldn't help myself." He blushed, and her smile grew brazen. "Don't worry. I didn't see much. I was looking at the wound. Not the little bit of your butt that-"
"Natasha!"
He was brilliant red, now, and covered his entire face with his hands, knowing that she was doing it on purpose and amused and scandalized in equal measures.
"Peter!" The others smiled but left the conversation to Romanoff. Aware that she was the one to handle him this time. "It's so cute, just the right amount of roundness and-"
"You're killing me," he interrupted, peeking at her through his fingers. Even his ears were a brilliant red by now.
"Come out and play with us or I'll make sure everyone knows about the birthmark on-"
"Fine. Stop. Please?"
"You'll come outside?" She asked.
"Yes. To the porch."
"Good. Thank you."
He closed his fingers again, giving himself a chance to lose the blushes and Romanoff winked at the others and stood up.
"Coming, Stephen?"
"Yes."