Hunted [1]

~ Eleven ~

"I wanna go back to school," Peter spoke up suddenly, disrupting the usual silence that coated the table during mealtimes.

Nobody had wanted to speak when they'd found out what happened to Bucky. And despite how much Tony didn't like the man, he knew how much Peter cared for him, so he stayed quiet as well.

Having Peter, the one who had originally opted for this silence, speak up all of a sudden shocked them.

"What?" Peter demanded after seeing their shocked reactions. He rolled his eyes. "I get that it's not common for a kid to want to go to school, but am I really a normal kid to you guys?"

"... Peter, we just aren't sure if you're ready yet," Steve said gently, unsure of how Peter would react.

He could be extremely violent, or he could stammer out apologies over and over again. Since Tony had downright refused to let them rest it out after what happened last time, they didn't know which course of action Peter would choose.

(Though, knowing Peter, it would be the apologetic route.)

As Peter looked angry, however, it appeared that wasn't the case - though it could be because they didn't know his secret side. Tony quickly intervened anyway.

"It's not that we don't think you're ready," Tony contradicted Steve's statement entirely, casting the man a sharp glare before turning his gaze back to Peter. "We don't know how your classmates will react."

"Dad, I've been away from school for way too long, and while it may not be my favourite place in the world, if I want to get a good job I need to go there."

Peter's eyes looked too old for his body.

"Aunt Nat, you get it, right? I was gone for about a month, wasn't I? And add on these two weeks of recovering, I think it's time I go back."

"But - Peter," Tony tried again, aware that most of the Avengers were leaving the room other than Natasha and Steve, "your classmates might call you by your last name. Your trigger words are pretty common, so you could have an attack at school. These are precautions, Pete."

"And I can call you, Dad," Peter said, standing up. "I have a phone, if I can't call you myself then I'll get Ned to. I just want to be normal!"

"Look, Peter," Natasha put in, making him look at her in the eye. "We all know that you want to be a normal kid again. It takes a long time to recover from this stuff. We just want you to be ready."

"I get that. I really do," Peter said, pacing the floor. "But I'm never going to be ready. You guys need to admit that. These - these trigger words are always going to affect me. These flashbacks - they're always going to to hurt. And the fact that I was at HYDRA? That's true. That's fact.

"And with you guys trying to shield me all the time, I'm not going to get better instantly. I personally think that I need these experiences, I need Flash to call me that, I need people to say those words. That's the best way to get better."

"And I'm not saying you're wrong, Peter," Tony said, staring at the boy intently, daring him to interrupt, "I'm just saying there's a better way to go around this. Bit by bit, okay?"

"... Steve, help me out here," Peter pleased after a moment.

Steve paused in thought. He gave a small smile when he thought of an agreement that (hopefully) the two would agree on.

"How about we start Peter off slowly first? For instance, he goes to school for an hour a day, for about a week, then two hours, then three, and gradually move up until Tony feels comfortable. How's that sound?"