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“Mr Rogers is in the kitchen and boss is with Bruce in Bruce’s lab. Other residents off the upper floors currently include miss Romanova who is on her floor and Mr Barton at the shooting range,’’ FRIDAY’s soft voice rang out through the garage as Peter stepped out of the black Jaguar.
“Thank you,’’ Peter said with a soft smile towards one of her cameras. He swinged his backpack over his shoulder and walked over towards the elevators. The ride up to the Avengers’ communal floor was smooth and quick, thanks to the top-of-the-state elevators. The doors opened into the hallway between the kitchen and the common room, Peter thanking the AI as he walked toward the large kitchen.
“Hi,’’ he said. With a bright smile he walked up to the island. His adoptive father, who seemed to be baking something, turned around and smiled at him.
“Hi Pete, was school good?’’ Peter had to force himself to keep a straight face when he saw the apron. The Avengers (Clint) liked merch very much, and Steve wore one with the print “▢single ▢taken ✓mentally dating Tony Stark’’.
“It was fine. Me and Ned were planning to meet at his tonight, is that okay?’’ he asked, smiling lightly.
“Yeah of course, will you be home by dinner?’’ Steve wondered, turning back towards his baking. Peter took down a bowl and poured cereals into it.
“I think so,’’ he said as he started eating. With his increased metabolism it was a challenge to eat enough, but he had quickly realised that no one paid attention to how much food was spent at the tower.
“Perfect. Oh, I made some muffins earlier, take some with you.’’ Steve went over to the fridge and took out a bag off chocolate chip muffins, placing them next to Peter on the table.
“Thank you so much,’’ Peter smiled as he finished the last of his second bowl, before placing it into the dishwasher. “I’ll see you tonight.’’
<3<3<3
Peter took the elevator up to the Stark-Roger's floor and walked over to his enormous room. His suit was hidden in a bag in the back of his closet, so he took it out and placed the muffins in it, before heading over to the elevator again. FRIDAY took him back down to the garage where he climbed into the Jaguar again, letting the AI drive. Tony helped him work on a new car, made from scratch, but it still had a lot of work left on it before it was finished, so he got to borrow the Jaguar instead.
As FRIDAY drove through the city Peter worked on his essay for geography, only pausing sometimes to look out at the city as it flew by. He was very grateful for Tony and Steve having taken in him after Ben’s death, but also felt a bit overwhelmed with everything that had changed. When May had declined the offer to adopt him he had thought he’d end up with some random foster family. Tony Stark himself stepping forwards and proving he was Peter’s biological father had come as a big surprise, but one that had turned out good. It still felt a bit weird, but not bad.
“Excuse me Peter, but we have reached our destination,’’ FRIDAY interrupted him.
“Oh, thanks FRIDAY,’’ he muttered as he took off his seatbelt, reaching for his bag.
“I will drive and park the car, but please notify me when you want me to come and get you.’’
Peter nodded and thanked the AI again as he stepped out of the car, waving towards one off the many cameras as he walked over to the house. Mrs. Leeds opened the door when he knocked.
“Hi Peter! Ned is in his room. I’ve made some sandwiches for you if you want to take them upstairs?’’
“Thank you so much!’’ Peter smiled back, following her to the kitchen to collect the food.
<3<3<3
“I’ll head out now, then,’’ Peter said when he and Ned had finished the last of their meal.
“Good luck! And be careful!’’ his friend answered, looking away to let Peter change into the suit. He waved goodbye as he opened the window, before swinging himself out through it.
One thing that had not become easier since moving into the Avengers Tower was sneaking out as Spider-Man. The few weeks he had been a vigilante before Ben’s death he’d been able to sneak out from his own room, but the tower had a bunch of security measures in place and on top of that, FRIDAY, who would catch him if he ever tried.
It was kind of ironic – he moved in with superheroes but it prevented him from going out as a superhero himself.
Now he would either tell Steve and Tony that he’d stay after school and go out directly after, or he’d visit Ned and head out from his house.
<3<3<3
After about one hour he had stopped an attempted robbing, helped an old lady carry her groceries home and stopped a car thief. ...okay, he had tried stopping a car thief before realising the person trying to silence the car alarm was the owner of the car. The alarm had started after a cat had jumped onto the hood. Mistakes happen sometimes, okay?
Just as he was debating taking a pause to buy himself a donut he heard a scream from a couple blocks away. The first scream was quickly followed by more and Peter started swinging towards the screams.
He rounded a corner to see a big wave of water, but it didn’t act like any normal wave. Instead it was attacking both pedestrians and cars, together with a couple of cars. But that wasn’t the only thing he saw – the Avengers were also there. That didn’t stop Peter, as he advanced towards the offending wave.
“Keep away,’’ Tony warned, his voice robotic from the filters in the suit. He was flying above the wave, using his repulsors to contain the wave.
“I can help!’’ he protested, shooting a web towards the water. Which okay, maybe not his best choice as it went right through.
Shooting a couple of new webs he was able to get around the wave, to the other side. There he saw someone standing in a completely blue outfit, waving his arms around towards the wave. Okay, so a sorcerer then.
“Wow, nice outfit Mr. Waterguy! Discreet, really!’’ he commented. Steve and Nat were trying to get through the wall of water the sorcerer had built up, and from the arrow that soared through Peter guessed Clint wasn’t far away. Peter tried shooting webs towards the sorcerer’s hands, with the hope of keeping their magic at bay, but the webs had problem sticking onto the wet surfaces.
Steve managed to get through the water and was closely followed by Nat. The sorcerer switched to shooting balls of water, but Steve and Nat seemed to follow their moves without problem. Peter continued shooting webs, hoping to help at least a little.
“Hey, what the fuck?’’ That was Nat’s voice.
“Language,’’ and yes, there Steve followed. Peter looked over to his aunt to see what the problem was. And shit, one of his webs had stuck to a surface. Or rather, had accidentally bound Nat’s hands together.
“Oh I’m so sorry,’’ he started, fumbling for the container containing his web-dissolver. The web-dissolver he hadn’t had the time to make more off. Shit.
Steve had to fight much harder now. Even if Nat wasn’t helpless without her hands, it diminished her fighting significantly. Peter tried to help, now more careful with where he shoots his webs, but for some reason it didn’t seem like the Avengers were that thankful as Tony addressed him again.
“Please keep away and let the professionals do their job.’’ Peter wondered how Steve had managed to get Tony to talk so calmly. Or maybe there was a pre-made recording that Friday played instead.
Right then one of Clint’s arrows found its way into the sorcerer’s leg, which let Steve press him towards the ground quickly. All the water fell to the ground when the magic stopped flowing, which Peter now could see wasn’t all that much water and not enough to do any considerable damage anymore.
Considering how not-at-all happy the Avengers seemed with his help he decided to head away, but not before he saw Tony land next to Nat and use a fine laser beam to cut the web keeping her hands in place.
<3<3<3
It was a wet Spider-Man that swung through Queens towards Ned’s house. Peter really didn’t feel like continuing with a wet suit, so he decided to go home instead.
“Peter! How did it go?’’ Ned asked as he opened the window and crawled inside.
“Pretty good, but then there was this sorcerer that controlled water and I might have accidentally webbed Nat’s hands together?’’ he answered with a sigh.
“...I’m going to pretend I understand how that’s connected, then.’’
Peter started explaining as he changed back into his casual clothes and hung his suit to dry.
<3<3<3
“I should probably head home now,’’ Peter sighed. They had built with Lego for about an hour, but it was a Friday-night which meant movie-night.
“Yeah, will you head out during the weekend?’’ Ned asked as they placed away the Enterprise on one of the shelves.
“Maybe on Sunday, I need to study tomorrow.’’
“Okay, good luck. FYI, the physics essay is hell.’’
“Oh yeah, wasn’t that about the Euthanasia Coaster?’’
“Yeah. I’ve decided that you can make it less deadly by not riding it.’’
<3<3<3
Peter arrived back at the tower and headed up to the communal floor. Steve had texted him that they would be another 30 minutes at SHIELD headquarters before they’d come home, so he decided to eat something while wating.
There was fried rice and tofu left over from the day before, so he helped himself to a large serving off the food before sitting down at the kitchen island, taking pleasure in some alone time at the tower. Even if FRIDAY always was there, she hadn’t yet outed him for his unusual large appetite, so he felt secure that she simply didn’t care.
“Boss asked me to inform you they are on their way back now. ETA 10 minutes.’’ FRIDAY’s voice rang out through the speakers just as Peter had finished his meal.
“Thank you!’’ he smiled, putting away his dishes. He started preparing snacks for the movie-night, popping popcorns and filling bowls with chips. Technically, it was Clint’s turn to choose the movie this week, but Peter asked FRIDAY to get A New Hope ready in the hope that the rest would forget his turn was not for another two weeks.
“Hi underoos! I’m sorry we’re late,’’ Tony’s voice rang out through the floor just after FRIDAY announced the team’s arrival.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got everything set up,’’ he answered as he placed out the bowls of popcorn.
“How did you have it at Ned’s? Did you get any schoolwork done?’’ Steve asked as he walked over and gave a hug to Peter.
“Yeah, some,’’ Peter answered before deflecting the focus from him. “You were called out, I guess?’’
“Hmrph. There was some novice sorcerer which would’ve been routine if it wasn’t for that insect,’’ Nat muttered and Peter looked down a little guilty, even if he hid it well. He did not comment on that spiders aren’t insects.
“Fury said it was some spider-themed vigilante. Spiders aren’t insects,’’ Tony added, but he also sounded quite displeased with how the mission had gone. Oops.
“Hey, it could’ve been worse,’’ Clint said. “I mean, he could’ve fucked up even more and webbed us all up!’’ And okay, Peter knew Clint’s happy-joking voice and this was not it.
Peter did his very best to not look guilty, not wanting to risk any of the super-spies/assassins, the certified geniuses or the super-soldier finding out his secret. Definitely not now. Or ever. Never sounded good.
“Okay okay guys, let’s put work aside and watch a movie now,’’ Bruce said, taking his place at one of the couches. The rest of his team followed suit, everyone seeming to just let if fall behind them. Peter relaxed a little as he sat down in one of the sofas, his fathers taking their place next to him. As Clint sat down he looked towards the large screen and made a unhappy sound.
“Hey! It’s my turn to choose a movie! FRIDAY, put on Spy Kids!’’ Okay, Peter’s plan did not work. This week either. Not that he cared all too much, instead he leaned towards Tony, bowl of chips in his lap. Tony in his turn leaned towards his husband, all three of them relaxing together.
<3<3<3
The next day he slept in a little, waking up when Friday announced that breakfast almost was ready. After dressing he joined his fathers in the kitchen.
“Goodmorning piccolo,’’ Tony smiled as he sat down. “What’s your plans for today?’’
“Study. We have a physics essay and a geography one due next week,’’ he groaned as he poured oat milk over his cereal.
“Anything you want help with?’’ Steve asked, but Peter shook his head.
“Nah, I’m almost done with geo, it was easy. And the physics one isn’t hard, just a lot of research. We’re discussing the Euthanasia Coaster. They want us to improve it.’’ Tony snickered at that, but Steve mostly seemed confused, so Peter explained it. “It’s a rollercoaster made to kill people. It’s smaller and smaller spirals which basically causes the forces to be so extreme that your body stops functioning right and you die.’’ Peter wasn’t sure how much the explanation helped, as Steve seemed more confused now.
“A rollercoaster... to kill you?’’ he asked disbelievingly.
“Hey, science is weird and people are doing even weirder stuff with it,’’ Tony commented. “How are you supposed to improve it, anyways? Make it kill you with less death as a side result?’’
“There’s multiple points to it. We need to redesign the rollercoaster so it’s the same idea but it doesn’t kill you, but we also need to redesign it to kill more effectively. Then they want us to come up with a new idea for a rollercoaster of death. On top of that we need to explain the science behind every step of the way.’’
“Well, there’s a lot that could be done. For one, making the spirals bigger, but that’d be boring. Same for just slowing it down...’’ he started, the two of them launching into a discussion about the pros and cons of different changes to the rollercoaster. Steve tried following along but quickly lost the thread. Instead, he seemed to worry over where humanity had gone that this was what science was used for.
<3<3<3
“Hey FRIDAY, where are Tony and Steve? I’m going to head over to Ned,’’ Peter called out. It was about an hour after breakfast Sunday morning and he had finished the last of his essays.
“Mr Rogers is currently in the gym sparring with Bucky. Boss is in his workshop. Do you want me to pass along a message?’’
“Nah, I’ll go down to the ‘shop, it’s on my way,’’ he said and picked up his bag where he had packed some off the dinner from yesterday – tempeh nuggets and avocado pasta. The elevator took him down to the workshop where he could hear the music blasting even before the doors had opened.
“Hi Tony,’’ he said, FRIDAY lowering the music so he could be heard.
“Oh, hey Pete!’’ Tony smiled from behind the motercycle he was working on.
“I’m heading over to Ned’s, I’ll stay there over lunch.’’
“’kay, have you finished your homework?’’
“Yeah, it’s all finished,’’ Peter promised.
“See you tonight, take care of yourself.’’ Peter said goodbye as well and patted DUM-E on his camera before leaving.
<3<3<3
FRIDAY drove him to Ned’s house where he quickly changed into his suit before heading out. The two friends had decided to eat lunch together, but he wanted to get some patrolling in before. The weather outside was beautiful and the streets were packed with people, so he swung around seeing if there was something for him to do.
It proved to be quite calm, the biggest problem was a dog running away from their owner. The owner thanked Peter warmly and he got a chance to cuddle the animal. As he started to feel hungry, and it neared 1pm he decided to head back to Ned’s after.
He was only a couple of blocks away when he heard a sound he recognized as Iron Man’s repulsors and he sighed, landing on a rooftop as his father flew closer to him.
“Spider-Man, please stand down,’’ the robotic voice said.
“Uh, no thanks?’’ he tried, doing his best to change his voice.
“Two days ago you interrupted a mission and on orders from SHIELD we have been assigned to prevent that from happening again. You have nothing to fear if you work with us, so please stand down.’’ Peter looked around and saw Steve and Nat on the ground nearby. Clint was standing atop a roof two buildings away and Sam flew on the other side from Tony. He wasn’t sure how he’d be able to get away from the situation, but he sure as hell wasn’t about to surrender.
“I think I’ll pass,’’ he shot back, trying to form a strategy.
“This is your last warning. Please stand down or we will use our own methods to get your cooperation. You will still get to keep your secret identity and work on your own if SHIELD sees that fit, we only need you to guarantee you won’t intervene with the Avengers anymore. Please stand down.’’
“As I said, I think I’ll pass.’’ Before he had finished his sentence he shot out a web towards the building next to him, jumping down.
He knew he couldn’t afford Clint getting in a shot so he made sure to keep low and protected by the buildings. Not that it helped very much, as Sam closed in behind him. Shooting a couple of well-placed webs he swung around another building, hoping to be able and chase them off.
“We did warn you.’’ Iron Man’s robotic voice said wryly from somewhere above him at the same time as a repulsor fired up.
"Shit,’’ Peter muttered, letting go of his webs to try to avoid the blast. He shoot a new blast towards a tree on the sidewalk, using his own momentum to shoot himself through the air. A new web stuck to the building next to him, shooting himself a bit upwards again.
A blast from the repulsors hit him over his arm, causing him to lose his grip on the web. The asphalt closed in on him, too quickly to let him shoot a new web.
<3<3<3
The first thing he noticed upon waking up was an awful headache. The second thing was a throbbing pain through-out his left arm.
“Uugh,’’ he groaned as he opened his eyes. His eyesight was unfocused, only showing a white spot for what he assumed was the ceiling. The events from earlier came back to him, which did not help his headache at all.
“Pete?’’ a voice said from his right. He could hear a chair scraping against the floor and felt a hand touching his arm. A darker patch entered his vision, though now his eyes focused and he could see Tony looking down at him. Peter couldn’t quite place the facial expression – it looked a bit worried but that sounded false.
“’ny?’’ His dry mouth and throat didn’t want to cooperate, but as if Tony had read his mind a glass appeared at his lips. Tony’s other hand curled carefully around his head, steadying him so he could drink out of the waterglass.
“Hey, careful now cucciolo,’’ Tony said with a soft voice. He took away the glass when Peter had drained it. “Do you think you’re able to sit up?’’
Peter nodded, but as he started sitting up he felt strong arms around him, helping him into a sitting position. “Thank you’’, he whispered, not looking up. The room was one in the med bay, he had seen them a couple times before when his parents had been hurt on missions. On the other side of the room he spotted Steve in an armchair, seemingly asleep.
“Does it hurt anywhere?’’ Tony asked, drawing his focus back. At first Peter didn’t answer, but when Tony sat down next to him on the bed he nodded.
“...My head and arm,’’ he answered, biting his lip. Tony’s acting confused him, how did he seem so worried when he had to be angry? That was something Peter hated – when people acted a different way than how they felt. He much preferred when they let their feelings out at once, so he didn’t have to wait for the other shoe to drop.
“Hm, I can give you some more meds right now but then we’ll have to wait. Your metabolism seems to be heavily enhanced, but we don’t dare giving you too much before we have it figured out,’’ Tony rambled on as he walked over to a cupboard and took up a syringe. It seemed that the sound was enough to wake Steve up, who had walked over without Peter noticing.
Steve placed a soft hand on Peter’s shoulder and when Peter looked over at him, he could find a soft but worried smile on the man’s face. Steve sat down in silence as Tony came back. Peter eyed the syringe before realising that it was for the IV placed into his arm. He really must be a bit out of it if he hadn’t even noticed an IV in his arm. When Tony had injected the drugs into his bloodstream he sat back down a t the chair next to the bed.
Peter looked back down at his hands, waiting for the angry scolding he knew would come. The silence weighted heavy in the room before Steve started talking.
“What do you remember?’’
“...All of it?’’ Peter answered, his voice thin as air. He took a deep breath before starting an apology. “I’m so sorry, it was stupid of me and I realise there will be consequences-’’ he started before Tony shut him down.
“Nope, none of that. Let the adults speak,’’ he said. Peter quickly closed his mouth. As he was still looking down into his lap, he missed the disapproving look Steve gave Tony.
“Yes, you shouldn’t have kept something like this from us, but we understand why you did it and we’re not angry,’’ Steve said in a much calmer voice. At that Peter glanced up, meeting Steve’s soft smile.
“...You’re not?’’ The words were barely more than a breath, but Steve’s even more softening facial expression showed that Steve had heard them.
“No, of course we’re not,’’ he promised, squeezing Peter’s shoulder in a comforting way.
“But I lied. And I was in your way,’’ he pointed out, unsure off how to proceed.
“Yes, you did, but we’re not angry at you for it,’’ Steve assured.
“We would have preferred if we’d found out under other circumstances, but that doesn’t mean we’re angry with you. Yes, we will need to decide an appropriate way to deal with it, but we’re not angry with you,’’ Tony added. When Peter turned his head to look at him, he saw Tony had the same soft expression as Steve. Not that it actually helped Peter’s confusion. He knew people got angry with him and then they didn’t want him around, so the reaction of his fathers didn’t make much sense. It had always been like that – uncle Ben had taken him in because he had too, but when May could she had sent him away at once.
“...What will happen?’’ he asked uncertainly. Even if he felt a bit scared of the answer, he felt the need to know.
“First you need to heal fully. Dr. Cho said you have a minor concussion and there’s smaller burn marks on your arm, but otherwise there were no injuries. When Cho checked about an hour ago she said it all heals nicely and you’ll be up and about in no time. Tony and Bruce will get to run their tests so we can figure out your metabolism. Cho was a bit worried about your weight so until they’ve got supplements ready you’re going to eat very large portions, okay?’’ Steve said. His face had morphed into a more stern expression, even if he still showed the concern openly. When Peter nodded Steve continued. “We can discuss what we’ll do after when your health is back as it should be.’’
“I was actually thinking off some new designs for a suit,’’ Tony started and pulled out his tablet.
“Or you guys can dive into technology at once,’’ Steve commented with a fond voice.
“Yeah yeah whatever,’’ Tony said with a wave off his hand. “Now, this is just a draft, but I was thinking -’’ he continued, but Peter interrupted him.
“Wait, you’re building me a suit?’’ he asked, disbelieving.
“I was thinking we could build it together, but yeah of course! You can’t go out in that onesie anymore!’’ Tony said without a silver of doubt in his voice.
“You’re a part of the family, get used to it,’’ Steve said, his voice full of love. The short statement was enough to warm Peter from the inside out.
“Y’know, even if you won’t find a more comfortable hospital room, how about we head up to our floor instead? We could order some Thai and watch some movie, if you want to?’’ Tony suggested, squeezing Peter’s hand.
“...Star Wars?’’ Peter suggested, earning a soft laugh from both his fathers.
“Star Wars it is,’’ Tony agreed and took out the IV. “Cho wanted to check over you tomorrow again, but until then you just need to rest and eat. Oh, and Nat told you to get well soon so she can start training you!’’
The family took the elevator up to their own private floor. The food FRIDAY had ordered for them arrived quickly and they all settled onto the large sofa in front of the TV. And if, a little bit into the second movie off the evening and a lot of food and snacks later, Peter feel asleep cuddled between his parents, FRIDAY definitely did not save the footage.
(The protocol was called The Fridge, where FRIDAY saved away all cute footage and information about her family.)