A Very Merry Marvel Thanksgiving

[wasafreak]

Thanksgiving hadn't been something Teddy anticipated celebrating, and even now that he's here, it feels odd. Not just the fact that his jaw is wired shut and he's got a brace on his leg, but the fact that he was invited to Captain America's house and arrived to find the original Cap and Bucky and alternate universe Peggy Carter setting up a pretty impressive Thanksgiving buffet is just so surreal. Steve greets them at the door with a genuine smile and pats Billy on the shoulder and ushers them in to get drinks, and Teddy tells himself he's paranoid and Bucky isn't shooting him and Billy a sideways look warning them off of getting caught making out in any more closets, and then reminds himself that this is real life.

Kind of.

Instead of agonizing over what an appropriate tropical island equivalent of 'nice Holiday sweater' was, he let Billy dress him (also literally, see again: brace) and thinks they made the right call- the house is all warm wood craftsman, and the three heroes already there are dressed casually but nicely, and there are old photos and some pretty incredible drawings hanging up, which distract Teddy and Billy to the point of rudeness, except Steve seems all too glad to tell them stories and answer questions. Bucky chimes in to remind him of details and it's... it's maybe the coolest thing that has ever happened, other than discovering his connection to the Avengers.

It relaxes him, and Teddy types up short phrases and sentences on his iPad when he feels really compelled to contribute, keeps "Happy Thanksgiving" on his clipboard to copy and paste it when new people arrive. It doesn't take more than an hour for a pretty respectable number of people to show up, the chatter growing in volume, and even though it's been a pretty crappy couple of months, and a pretty rough couple of years, Teddy finds himself feeling pretty good.

Comments

[thebettermen]

"Happy Thanksgiving, Rogue," Charles replies with a pleasant smile. He owes her his life; the very least he can do is wish her a happy holiday.

"You look lovely tonight."

[un_gloved]

"Awe shucks, Chuck," she said, absently shaking her hair off of her shoulders, in a faintly dismissive way, "I look the same as always."

She paused, then smiled more and tilted her chin down to tuck it against her shoulder. Shrugging off compliments wasn't who she wanted to be just then, so she pivoted to flirtation, instead.

"So thank you. You're lookin' better yuhself." If she could go a few months without anyone going crazy, getting amnesia, or hurting themselves, she'd be grateful for the break. Between Logan, Erik, Jamie and Charles, her odds weren't so great.

[thebettermen]

"You're too kind," says Charles, under no delusions regarding his own appearance. His gait is oddly stiff from keeping his shoulder at a comfortable angle and he's lost his colour from needing to stay indoors more often than not. He hasn't been able to run in weeks.

"And besides, I should be thanking you, my dear. I owe you my life."

[un_gloved]

She blinked at that, twice, before smiling a little and shifting her weight.

"Ah'd hardly say so. Just did th'only thing there was to do."

[thebettermen]

"Which coincidently involved making sure I didn't bleed out in the middle of the jungle," says Charles, not wishing to make a scene, but feeling it necessary to show his sincerity in full.

"Now," he adds, canting his head to the side, "I can't actually buy you a drink, but please, have one on me, anyway."

[un_gloved]

"Reckon I will, then," she laughed, glancing briefly down before leaning over and planting a quick kiss to his cheek.

"Whatcha drinkin', Charlie, I'll grab you a refill."

[thebettermen]

He watches her as she pulls back, knowing she means nothing at all by the kiss, but just tipsy enough to wish that she did, cheeks warm from the wine.

"Just water, please, love," he says after a moment's deliberation, tilting his empty wine glass to the side. "I've got to be able to walk back home when this is all over."

[un_gloved]

"Need an escort?" she asked, pouring some water from a tall glass bottle into a glass and pouring herself a glass of wine. Rogue had absolutely no plans to maintain anything resembling sobriety, but she'd steadily become a more capable drunk over the course of the last year.

Almost a year.

"You're lookin' steady enough on your feet, but Ah'd feel better."

[thebettermen]

"I think I can manage," Charles says with a wry quirk of his lips, accepting the water. "But thank you all the same."

[un_gloved]

"Well," she said, "we'll see," and tipped their glasses gently together before sipping at the dark, dry wine. It was good, even if she didn't normally drink it, usually opted for drinks that would cool her off instead of warm her up.

[thebettermen]

"That sounds ominous," he replies, brows raised even as he lifts his glass to take a long and much-needed sip of water. "Suppose I wanted to escort you home instead."

Never mind that she's easily the more physically capable of the two of them, he just doesn't need another reminder that his recovery continues to stretch on.

[un_gloved]

That earned a laugh and another cheers motion, and Rogue shrugged a little,smiling wide.

"Well, Ah won't rule it out. I handle brown liquor better'n Ah do wine, as a rule. But'm also a notorious rule breaker," she said with a wink that was clearly more mockingly self aware than anything else.

[thebettermen]

"I can only imagine," says Charles, eying that smile with light suspicion. "It's very good wine. It's amazing, really, what we've managed to make here, given the less than ideal circumstances."

It's likewise as amazing what they've chosen to make here, and telling that the one thing they would have perfected is the alcohol.