They need more than a little celebrating.
They’ve all, deeply, earned it. Millions of times over.
So Carol lets Monica take control of the colors of her suit, knowing exactly what her child is going to do.
Maria stops in her tracks and cackles when she sees it, but Carol just tosses her hair and poses proudly. Which only makes Maria cackle harder.
“Ms. Danvers, uh, Captain Danvers, uh, Captain Marvel? Are we using our made up names, or -”
“Hey, Peter Parker. You’re doing just fine, kid, just breathe, yeah?”
Peter takes a huge gulp of air, because staying in this cabin in Louisiana with the legendary Carol freaking Danvers and her family has been so, so nice - and he knows, for once, that Aunt May can actually enjoy her alone time in their apartment back in Queens because, for once, he’s out of the house and absolutely safe - but today, they’re heading back to New York City, to the reality of it all, for Earth’s first full-out Pride parade in too long, all Carol’s doing, and her suit is entirely rainbow, now, courtesy of Monica, and he wants to hell her she looks great, but without being creepy, don’t be creepy, and -
“Breathing, right, yeah, that helps.”
“You nervous about seeing your friends again, Peter?” Carol asks, because she knows. Of course she knows.
Peter blushes and Monica giggles. “They probably have crushes on you, too, Peter!”
She’s clearly trying to be supportive, but also… Maria and Carol exchange a wide-eyed glance. No no no no no, absolutely not, their daughter will not be developing crushes on any Avengers today… oh, hell. It’s probably too late. She’s already met Shuri and idolizes the young woman to the point of definite crush.
Maria groans into Carol’s chest, and Carol holds her, kisses her, both children next to them but oblivious to the worlds of conversations and comfort about their daughter growing up passing between them.
“So,” Carol bends to kiss Monica’s rainbow head scarf when she recovers somewhat, “Peter and I are going to be in the sky next to you and Mom in the plane, okay? And we’ll see you when we land in New York.”
“Do I have enough glitter on me? I want to have as much glitter as glitteringly possible!” Monica declares.
“More glitter?” Peter asks, scooping the little girl up just as effortlessly as Carol used to (and still does). “I can help with that!”
“Make sure you don’t completely destroy the bathroom!” Maria pleads. She knows it’s to absolutely no avail, and finds that she doesn’t really mind.
The sounds of Peter and Monica giggling and shrieking with laughter over the intense amounts of glittering going on is enough to soothe Maria and Carol’s worst nightmares for at least a couple of days.
“I love you,” Carol murmurs as she holds Maria from behind.
“Yeah?” Maria teases, and Carol laughs, hard.
“Yeah. And god, is Steve Rogers gonna love you, too.”
Because sure enough.
When they get to New York - Carol and Peter windswept from literal wind, Monica and Maria windswept from inside-the-airplane wind and expert barrel rolls that will turn Monica into a pilot for sure - it’s Steve who notices their entourage landing first, and Steve who sprints out to greet them.
He - or Shuri, more likely - has changed the colors of his shield. From red white and blue to pink lavender and blue.
And his eyes are shining with an excitement Carol hasn’t seen on him since… well, possibly ever.
He hugs Carol and he hugs Peter before dropping to his knees in front of Monica. “You look sufficiently glittered and ready for action, young lady,” he greets, winking up at Maria and offering Monica a salute.
“And your shield seems sufficiently bi-ified, Cap,” Monica quips, and if anyone is surprised that she’s utterly pleased but also utterly unphased to meet Captain America, she’d be the first to remind them that her mother is the strongest Avenger, and that’s not even counting Carol.
Steve laughs and stands to hug Maria, guiding all four of them back to where the rest of the squad is… well, assembling.
Bucky’s arm - still not for sale to Rocket - is also decked out in bi colors, and Sam’s wings - “on your left,” he slips up behind Steve, and Carol laughs so deeply that she almost cries - are as rainbow as Carol’s suit.
And when the parade begins in earnest and Peter stops still and grabs Carol’s arm because he sees MJ and Ned, Carol presses a kiss to his messy hair. “Hey, Peter Parker,” she soothes him smoothly. “You got this.”
He nods and nods again and nods a third time before jogging up to his friends and, with no preamble, blurting, “I have a crush on both of you I feel like that part’s pretty obvious but I would really like to date both of you, like the three of us together dating maybe if that’s okay, and I know it’s a bigger conversation than we can have right now but I figured it’s Pride and when’s better to tell people you love them, because I love you both as friends and also as other things, okay?”
Ned’s eyes flood as he pulls Peter in to a long, close hug, and MJ shrugs as they stand to the side with a smirk, chomping into a churro they’d swiped off Ned a few minutes before.
“Are you in or are you out, MJ?” Ned tries to spare Peter some agony.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you knew. I’ve never been in.” MJ’s smirk morphs into a smile, and then it’s the three of them - it’s always going to be the three of them - and behind them, Carol holds Maria close as they watch Peter and his friends-who-might-now-be-more-than-friends, as they watch Sam hold their daughter close and spin with her high above the crowd.
“Kid’s doing well for himself, huh?” Tony grunts, suddenly by Carol’s side.
“Sure is,” Maria smiles as Peter jumps up and down with excitement.
“Did we really ever expect anything else?” Natasha asks, Clint’s youngest propped up on her shoulders, waving the biggest trans flag to ever trans.
“Nah, not really,” Carol grins all around at the celebration she made.
The celebration she’d made with her family, when once - all those years ago -she’d thought she had none.