Flower Child (Peter Parker, MCU)

A Gala and a Harry

Canyon Moon - Harry Styles

November

Thanksgiving came quickly that year. The week leading up to it had been unforgiving, with New York's signature freezing rain, harsh winds, and bone-deep cold settling in just before a light snowfall on Thanksgiving Day. Families across the country tuned in to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which held traditional floats and performances along with a special tribute to those who fought to restore the people thought to be gone from the world. Front and center was Iron Man, sending spectators into a frenzy down the parade's two-and-a-half-mile journey in Manhattan. Those who knew Tony personally smiled softly, almost able to hear the bragging that would've lasted the entire day.

For those who experienced their first Thanksgiving in five years, the day felt almost like a break. A break from easing back into a life they had no idea they lost. Case and point, the Landry family had worked tirelessly over the last three months to restore a sense of calm over the chaos they'd inherited. Both Ted and Lila spent countless hours at Landry's Flowers, doing their best to handle the workload they'd been given. Sophie had done too good of a job managing Ted's company, for she had upgraded a number of things to further the company's success in a time of struggle and doubt.

So both Ted and Sophie spend a good amount of time together around the city in the different stores. Sophie was a natural leader, she'd handled the transition smoothly and patiently, teaching Ted all about the advancements his shops made in the five years he missed. She even helped Ted with the staffing issues that had popped up due to people coming back from the Blip, and got everything back to normal.

Lila wasn't as mobile, she stayed in Queens and dutifully worked on the restoration of her mother's greenhouse. When Sophie showed her what it had become, a piece of her heart broke off. It was the first time Lila had truly believed she was gone for so long, for her greenhouse wouldn't have essentially died otherwise. Sophie was beyond apologetic, she admitted that while she tried to keep it alive, she was never as good as Lila was at taking care of them, and the thought made her grief double. Lila couldn't even try to make herself angry, she felt so sorry for her friend.

In the middle of scrapping the remnants of the old plants and soil, and moving spare items in and out of the greenhouse, an idea struck her. In the time that the Landrys were gone, Sophie upgraded every store's computer network, courtesy of Stark Industries, which had remained loyal customers since Tony and Pepper were married. The old computer, which Lila had picked out with Peter, had been moved to the greenhouse since Sophie put it there. She'd really only stashed it as a temporary dump site, but Lila asked her if she could keep it. No questions asked, Sophie agreed and left her to the greenhouse.

Lila was bursting at the seams with excitement as she practically dragged Peter and Ned up the stairs to the greenhouse. When she opened the door, she was able to ignore the clutter that she'd grown used to, her friends were not. They'd heard about what a mess it had become, but didn't necessarily believe it until they saw it with their own eyes. But Lila's giddy voice called them over to the corner she was standing in. And so, by weaving through boxes and dusty plant crates, they made their way to her.

"Okay," Lila said apprehensively, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "S-So I was going through some stuff, and - and I found all of this." She gestured to a bunch of familiar-looking crates and technology. She opened one of them and showed the boys vials of web fluid that had collected dust over the years and stared at them like she was showing them buried treasure.

Peter, however, was a little confused. "Oh. Um, do you want me to take those back? I can - I can put them in my room. May won't mind-"

"No," Lila laughed lightly. "I was thinking... what if we k-kept it here? In the - the greenhouse? I - uh - I can keep people out of here, but I thought, wh-what if Spider-Man needed an in-between place while he was out, you know? That way y-you wouldn't have to - to go all the way home if you needed something.