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

[onlyforthedream]

"Jessica," I answer, turning to face her, "thank you. Glad you came."

She looks a little nervous. The Young Avengers recovered relatively quickly from whatever sense of being star struck they had, I would have thought Jess would have by now, as well.

"Feel free to call me Steve."

[notaparker]

"Steve," I say, doubtfully, drawing it out. Probably the way to deal with this is familiarity, to try and think of him less iconically. It helps that he isn't wearing a flag. "My universe's you never really seemed like a Steve to me."

I reflect on that sentence and hastily add, "I mean from seeing him on TV and things."

And honestly I never met him as me (yet, from what I know about my future) and when Peter did it was always kind of in the middle of something. Being yelled at by Captain America for being in the middle of something, usually.

[onlyforthedream]

My eyebrows lift a little in curiosity and I say, "You mean you never worked together?" before I really consider that she might not realize her name and affiliation with Peter would give her away to most of the Avengers I know.

[notaparker]

Stupid other Jessica Drew and her stupid being on the team and being public about her stupid identity with her stupid same name. I could take a shot at dodging, pretending like I'm only a regular high schooler, but, well, it's Captain America. And he's clearly not an idiot.

"...kind of strictly street level stuff," I mumble. "No teams."

[onlyforthedream]

"Sounds familiar," I say quietly, because not everyone present is aware of everyone else's identities. I have no doubt that Jessica and Peter are aware of each other, but not everyone here can say as much.

"Well, maybe you'll get roped into the Avengers some day."

[notaparker]

"It's called the Ultimates where I'm from," I say, sipping thoughtfully on my drink (strictly non-alcoholic). "...Avengers sounds cooler."

[onlyforthedream]

"I'm fond of it. Jan," I say, nodding toward where she's standing across the living room, talking to Peggy, "is the one who chose the name. In my version of things, anyway, I'm not actually sure about hers."

Which is a fairly odd thought.

[notaparker]

"Jan... et van Dyne? The Wasp?" I say, twisting to squint at the woman he's indicated. "She... does not look the same." I think that's the most delicate way to put it. Even said like that, with it being true, I'm worried that's racist. "I don't think she named the Ultimates. Nick Fury, maybe?"

[onlyforthedream]

"The differences can be staggering, can't they?" I say to her.

"Not that I'm complaining," I add, gaze tracking over to Peggy.

[notaparker]

"I question a couple of them, but, yeah, some of them seem like improvements," I say, tracking his gaze to spot... the women's self-defence teacher. Peggy, I think her name is. Then I check out his look and declare, "Captain Steve, do you have a girlfriend?!"

The Captain Steve just slipped out. One of the improvements is that he seems less likely to yell at me for that sort of thing when I forget to be intimidated.

[onlyforthedream]

The enthusiasm of the question earns a smile, not to mention the realization of how obvious I must have been.

"Do you know Peggy? She teaches the women's self defense class."