Summary: Tony will swear on his grave that the whole Thanksgiving Dinner with the Team was Pepper's idea. It's just that he gets really upset when criminals have to mess up very important team bonding plans, okay?

What had originally been planned as a simple, team get together after the whole Chitauri alien debacle was now a full-fledged dinner party. Well, as full-fledged as Pepper would allow it to be (not that Tony really wanted a bunch of strangers in his Tower for Thanksgiving).

Neither Tony nor Pepper would admit who thought of the idea first, but after realising they'd get no answer, the team quit asking. If Pepper wanted them there, they would be there. It didn't matter if the whole thing may have been Tony's idea first. Pepper would make sure Thanksgiving dinner went well.

That's why, after weeks of planning and a couple of hours of decorating, Tony was within his rights to be downright furious when they were called away on a mission two hours before the meal. He wasn't the only one who was grumpy about it, but he was definitely one of the grumpiest (aside from Hulk maybe). Besides, if aliens were gonna invade a small town on the outskirts of Pennsylvania, they could at least familiarise themselves with the local holidays and customs.

"If I get home and the food's cold, this will officially be the worst dinner party you've thrown, Stark," Clint snapped over the comms before shooting an exploding arrow and taking out three of the aliens at once.

If Tony hadn't been about to do the same with his repulsor from above, he would have been more excited about seeing his tech in action. As it was, Clint was ahead of him in alien body count and it was a little irritating a bow and arrow was beating him.

"You're officially uninvited," Tony said before shooting off to chase down some of the unwelcome creatures by Steve.

All in all, they were done with the rogue Chitauri aliens within two hours and were back on a quinjet to the Tower. That didn't stop Clint from grumbling about being hungry or Tony from calling Pepper to make sure she had more food than originally planned. She promised she had made enough extra for post-battle hunger plus the regular team hunger. Feeding superhumans was an art and goddammit it, Pepper was going to excel at that just like everything else she did.

"I do expect complete showers and a clothing change before food, though," Pepper demanded, making sure Tony knew to tell the rest of the team. If even one of them slipped down without a shower, she'd make everyone wait until the last person had showered and changed. The team wasn't too thrilled to hear that, but once told it was a demand from Pepper, they agreed.

It was a whole four hours after the planned time when Tony was wandering into his dining room to find Pepper finishing up the food. Natasha was looking suspicious by the stuffing, but Tony wasn't about to do anything about that. The last thing he wanted was a hangry assassin killing him because he kept her from snacking. How she managed to beat the rest of the team (even military shower Rogers) would forever remain a mystery to him though.

"Are we ready?" Tony asked.

He'd figured the others were waiting for an official invite up to the penthouse. At least Natasha felt comfortable enough to break in at will; maybe one day the others would too. Of course, Natasha was also friends with Pepper, but the others had only met her a few months ago after the first Chitauri invasion.

"Clint says he's glad for the invite, but he has other plans," Natasha said, more to Pepper than Tony.

Pepper nodded at the news and handed Natasha a bowl of mixed nuts to set on the table. Instead of setting it down, Natasha grabbed a handful and tossed them into her mouth. Pepper didn't even blink.

"JARVIS, let everyone know we're ready to eat," Tony instructed, taking a seat at the head of the table.

The others soon arrived and joined him at the table, all freshly showered and wearing new clothes. Bruce and Steve both politely thanked Pepper for the dinner while Thor grinned widely and boasted about never attending such a marvellous Midguardian feast before.

"Thank you, Thor," Pepper said before sitting between Tony and Natasha.

Tony was the first to reach for food, though Natasha was just as quick.

From further down the table, Steve explained the concept of Thanksgiving to Thor who looked more than excited about trying all the food in front of him. They all dove into their own conversations as they ate and by the time dessert was ready, everyone was relaxed and almost stuffed. Of course, Pepper had almost as much dessert as she'd had for the real dinner but that didn't stop everyone from eating it all. After the last piece of pie was gone, they moved into the living room.

It was Steve who suggested a board game and Tony who brought out Monopoly. Thor was the first to lose, asking and believing every bit of advice Tony gave him. Bruce was out next and soon Steve. After two more hours of very few changes to the game, Thor got bored and shoved the game off the coffee table.

Tony whined about how he'd been about to win while Pepper and Natasha shared a look before disappearing while Tony and Thor cleaned up. When they came back, there was fresh cider steaming from a mug in each of their hands and the boys didn't hesitate to go grab some themselves.

"This was nice, Pepper," Natasha said, glancing from the window to Pepper. She smiled and turned to see Tony fighting over who got to use which mug in the kitchen.

"You all needed a team bonding event, I just made the food," Pepper told her. Still, that was an impressive feat and Natasha made sure she knew it. "Don't tell anyone, but it was Tony's idea and JARVIS did all the shopping."

If Natasha was going to declare she'd won the bet right then and there, she was interrupted by a loud crash followed by angry Italian cursing. Both women refused to glance in the direction of the kitchen because honestly, the less they knew the better.