A New Beginning - Endgame Fixit

Independence Day

Clarification: These oneshot-type scenes happen kind of in the middle of the little epilogue summary thing. I said Steve and Peggy had a baby in the epilogue, but this is when Peggy's just a month pregnant. They're also not necessarily in any specific order, as I write them whenever I get an idea. I figured some of them would want normal houses, so the Starks and the Bartons have the houses they had in Endgame, they've just been teleported to right near the base and connected to the electricity and everything. Steve and Peggy have one too. And specific to this oneshot... in a lot of fanfics I read, most of them hated fireworks because of the triggering memories, but I see it the opposite way: they're mentally disassociating explosions from pain and associating them with joy and victory, which is the RIGHT way to deal with triggers. It's just not a very widespread idea yet. I also wrote this for the 4th but obviously didn't finish in time so...whoops, and I hope you read it anyway.

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"WAKE UP!"

Peter jolted awake to see Harley standing next to his bed, having just yanked the blankets off. A quick glance across the room told him May was already up.

He closed his eyes again and groaned. "Please never do that again."

"Why not?" asked Harley, smirking. "That was fun."

"Startling anyone with enhanced anything is a really dumb idea." Peter rubbed his eyes. "It would be fun to see what Natasha would do to you, though..."

Harley ignored him. "C'mon, sleepyhead. It's a holiday."

"I thought you said holidays were for sleeping in."

"Maybe I did." Harley grabbed his ankle and started pulling him off the bed.

"You make no sense," Peter grumbled as he yanked his foot out of Harley's grasp and got out of bed himself.

"Well, someone woke ME up, so I had to pass along the favor..."

"Who?"

"Tony. Explosion. Again. My room's like, right above his lab."

"Why is he testing fireworks indoors again?"

"He's Tony. Do you really need an explanation?"

"Good point." Peter sighed. "I'm surprised Pepper hasn't handcuffed him permanently to a chair."

"Yeah, but then we wouldn't have any fireworks." Harley threw a shirt at his face.

"We could just...buy them...like...normal people..."

"Says the guy who can stick to walls?"

"That has literally nothing to do with fireworks."

"Whatever. Anyway, we're gonna make a flag cake, and Morgan told me we couldn't start without you."

"You couldn't have mentioned that earlier?" he asked, finally throwing on some clothes and heading out the door.

As irritated as Peter was with Harley's decision to not tell him sooner that Morgan was waiting for them, he felt a little bubble of happiness-- Morgan wanted to bake with him.

As he walked into the kitchen, Morgan was stirring something white and creamy in a large bowl. He'd been expecting Pepper, but it was Peggy who was watching her and explaining how it would turn into ice cream.

"Hey, Morgan," he said as the door swung shut behind him. A second later it opened again and Harley came through, shooting him a glare. Peter hadn't done it on purpose, but whatever.