It's December 16th on Wednesday. Everything was fine before then. Peter and Clint had their snowball fight a few days ago, Tony and him would work in the lab, everyone would watch movies and eat together, his friends would come over to do their homework and he's been going to his check ups with Cho.
But today...everyone seems quiet and Peter doesn't know what to do. May left for work, Happy is working downstairs, Pepper is up in her office going over paperwork, Tony is locked up in his lab, Bucky is locked up in his room and everyone else is either in the comms or at the training room.
Yelena is really the only one who isn't quiet like everyone else but she's been in the training room with Nat. Clint is quietly playing video games, surprisingly. Steve has been trying to talk to Bucky through the door and then paces around the comms. Sam has been on his cracked phone but it seems like he's just staring at it. While Rhodey has been trying to get Tony out of the lab or at least have him let Rhodey in.
Peter has been bored and lonely. He doesn't like to be alone for a large amount of time but it's seriously so awkward every time he tries to make conversation or just sit in the comms so he's in his room.
"Honeybear wants you outside of Boss's lab" Friday announces.
"Did he say why?" Peter wonders.
"No but it has something to do with Boss that I cannot disclose to you" Friday claims.
"Ok...well tell him I'm on my way" Peter agrees, getting up from his bed and making his way to the lab.
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"Hey Rhodey!" Peter greets as Rhodey walks towards him, away from the lab door.
"Hey Pete! I need a favor" Rhodey goes straight to the point, talking in a low voice to make Peter do the same.
"Only if I get a favor in return" Peter bargains making Rhodey stop in his tracks.
"You spend too much time with certain people" Rhodey comments but Peter just shrugs it off. "I need you to try and talk to Tony. Try to let him in the lab or just have him talk back to you."
"Did something happen? I would like to know, this is the favor" Peter states.
"It's not my thing to say" Rhodey shuts down.
"Is it...is it about him and Bucky? He's been locked up in his room all day. Everyone is actually a bit tense and very quiet" Peter tries to connect the dots.
"Maybe, maybe not. I'll leave you to talk to him through the door. He's just upset and maybe you could help him. Pepper and Happy both tried earlier before they went to go work and I need to go pick up some presents. He won't answer me anyways but he'll maybe answer you" Rhodey rambles a bit.
"Yeah, of course I'll try. Don't worry about it" Peter assures.
"Thanks Pete, knew I could relay on you" Rhodey thanks.
"No problem! Bye Rhodey!" Peter waves while Rhodey says bye and leaves.
Peter takes a deep breath as he walks closer to the lab door. He knows Tony most likely won't open it but he sits down in front of the door.
"Hey Tony, it's Peter! Rhodey left to go do his Christmas shopping! Wonder what he's getting everybody...anyways! I was thinking we could build an elf cause of the Christmas spirit but I'm not really too sure about that. You know, Mj, Ned, Flash and I don't have a ton of schoolwork left which is great! It's mainly because we've been doing so much of it to try and get it done quicker and it actually seems like it's working! Plus, teachers are starting to relax a bit because of the holidays coming so near" Peter stops when he hears a beep in the lab.
"I'll kick you out too Dum-E if you don't stop" Tony threatens.
"Beep! Beep boop!" Dum-E protests.
"I'll accept your apology if you leave me be" Tony claims.
Dum-E doesn't say anything, probably doing what Tony asked him too. Peter wants to do the same to not add more stress but Rhodey said this may help him unlock the lab.
"Oh! I've been on Twitter a lot recently! I've been checking out the Spider-Man stuff and I can't lie, I miss going out as him. I mean I'm physically recovered besides the food part so I was thinking of a surprise for the people in the city! Now, I'm not telling you the surprise so you'll just have to wait and find out. I do hope you don't get mad at me but I know you won't for it. It's nothing bad, I promise" Peter promises as he takes another deep breath.
He looks at the door but no surprise there, it doesn't open. He starts to fidget with his shirt before running his hand through his hair.
"I'm sorry for whatever you're upset about. No one will tell me but at the same time, I haven't really asked. I think I can connect the dots and I'm almost to it but if you don't want me to know, I can stop my brain from thinking about it. When I'm upset, I don't like being alone. It's like my thoughts takes over and it's never ending especially because it's mainly not good thoughts. I'll stop talking now if you want me too but I'll be right outside the door" Peter claims before going silent.
Peter moves to lean against the wall by the door and sits down there instead. He wonders what Tony is doing. If he's tinkering or just in his thoughts. It's a good thing Pepper got rid of all the alcohol just incase and Peters glad he can't smell any.
'Let's see though...it's been a year or so since Germany. Nonononono brain stop. If he doesn't want to me to know then I can't let myself know. Wait it's been like a year since Germany and that happened because the accords but mainly because...oh god. Is today his parents death anniversary?!'
Peter feels a chill run up his spine.
He eyes the door.
No one should be alone on a death anniversary, he should know.
"Hey...ummm...I'm sorry about today Tony but no one should be alone when dealing with this. Trust me, I should know. I'm sure you know this but I'll say it anyways. It doesn't ever get any easier but it doesn't get truly harder either. You'll always remember them but they'd want you to keep going about your day and not be sad. I can't really claim that since whenever my uncles day comes around, I get sad but I try to move forward. I'm not forgetting him or anything like that but he'd rather see me happy than upset and I'm sure your parents will feel the same. They've probably made mistakes and they've probably did bad things but they'd want you to remember the good stuff. I can't say much since mine are gone and then with Uncle Ben...and now I have May. You just have to look in your corner and see who you have. You have Pepper, Happy, Rhodey and...and me... if you want me to be there for you that is but just because they're...not here, doesn't mean that there isn't people here for you. I'm here for you and I know everyone else is too" Peter weakly smiles at the door.
He sits there in silence, not knowing what else to say but be there for Tony by being at the other side of the door. He can hear rustling around in the lab but nothing else.
That is, until the door opens.
Peter quickly stands up and looks into the doorway to see Tony wearing shaded sunglasses, a dirty AC/DC shirt and sweatpants. He's looking down at the floor instead of meeting Peters eyes so Peter decides to act first.
He slowly approaches Tony making the man look up when Peter is close to him and without warning, Peter wraps him into a hug. Tony doesn't hug back immediately but slowly puts his arms around Peter.
"Here I am acting like a child when you've been through hell" Tony sarcastically laughs.
"To be fair, I acted like a child when they died. With my parents, I wouldn't eat. I kept yelling at Uncle Ben and Aunt May to tell me where they are and to stop lying. I finally gave up as it sunk into me that they were truly gone and then with Uncle Ben, I tried to protect myself from May. I would lock myself up in my room only to feel bad when I know May is crying over her husband so I had to stop doing that but I kept secrets from her. Not just me being Spider-Man but that it was my fault. I'm not the one who did that to him but it's still easy to blame ourselves right? Or easy to blame the person who did it. You don't ever have to forgive him but just know, it's not his fault like it wasn't my fault about Uncle Bens. He already blames himself for all of those deaths but it's really Hydras fault. You know, I should also be giving this pep talk to Nat and Yelena" Peter thinks out loud making Tony let out a chuckle.
"Oh yeah?" Tony responds.
"Yeah, it was whoever ran the Red Rooms fault. Even though it was them who was doing it, they were forced. Not exactly the same way as Bucky...well I don't think so but it's the same concept. They were forced to kill and he was forced to kill" Peter shrugs against Tony's chest.
"Is Barnes really up in his room?" Tony can't help but ask.
"Yes and he won't talk like you. Won't even let Steve in" Peter claims.
"He'll let him in eventually like how I did. For now, how about you come in my lab and we can work on something like that elf idea you were rambling about" Tony recalls.
"Oh, I honestly didn't really mean it unless you wanna build it but I did that cause I didn't know what else to say" Peter explains, unraveling from the hug.
"Ok kid well I still want you in my lab. You said so yourself, I shouldn't be alone and everyone else is busy" Tony reminds him while he starts to lead Peter more into the room.
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It's December 19th on Saturday. Things had cooled down since the sixteenth but there has been little tension left in Tony and Bucky that nobody dares to voice.
Anyways, everyone is telling Peter how someone's coming over but no one will tell him who, not even May, Flash, Ned and Mj who already knows! Peter hates being left out but if the surprise is good, he'll forgive them.
Everyone is in the comms when Friday announced the quinjets arrival. Tony, Rhodey, Happy and Pepper went to go greet whoever was in the quinjet while everyone else was made to stay.
That's when they came into the comms with a random guy.
"No need for introductions when you know everyone so I'll be introducing you to Spider-Man! Peter this is Scott Lang who is Ant-Man and Lang, this is Peter Parker who is Spider-Man" Tony introduces.
"Hey, sorry about the airport. Didn't mean to hit you with my hand" Scott apologizes.
"That's ok! It was really cool how you got so big though! Do you have any ant friends?" Peter wonders.
"And they already get along" Rhodey chuckles which makes everyone else besides the two chuckle.
"I have a ton of ant friends! My best friend and favorite, don't tell the other ants, is Antony. What about you and spider friends?" Scott asks.
"I can't talk to spiders but that's really cool to have ant friends!" Peter claims.
"I can teach you how to talk with spiders if you want. It's all about taking control and letting them know you are one of them" Scott explains.
"I don't want any spiders in our apartment Peter" May quickly cuts in.
"Or the tower and no ants either" Tony lays the rule down.
"That'd be very cool but-" Peter starts to find an excuse.
"He's scared of them" Mj interrupts.
"Mj!!!" Peter whines.
"There was one in my house and he jumped onto the ceiling. Bad idea because that spider did the same and then he tried to make me grab it and put it outside cause he insisted not to kill it but at the same time to get it away from him. It would not stop following him" Mj explains the story as everyone bursts out laughing.
"There was another time in class when a spider was on our desk! Peter screamed and fell back on his chair!" Ned says through laughter.
"And there was this other time during AcaDec practice when a spider landed on Peter. He kept trying to fling the spider off while freaking out. This girl named Cindy had to get it off of him!" Flash laughs.
"Ok! Ok! Stop!" Peter groans in annoyance.
"I didn't even get to say the embarrassing story about you and spiders!" May complains.
"No! You are not saying that story!" Peter shuts down.
"I wanna hear it!" Sam shouts.
"Me too!" Clint agrees.
"Me three!" Tony urges.
"I have embarrassing stories about all of you that I could easily say right now" Peter threatens.
"Did we just get threaten by a twelve year old?" Sam questions.
"Peter Parker is fifteen not twelve according to his birthdate" Vision corrects.
"Yeah, thanks Vis" Wanda thanks with a chuckle.
"Wait this whole time I thought you were fourteen!" Yelena gasps.
"I hate you all" Peter rolls his eyes as he sits down back in his original spot in between Mj and Flash with Ned next to Flash.
"I'm getting pretty hungry. Do you guys want dinner?" Steve wonders which makes everyone agree.
"What are you making?" Bucky questions.
"What do you all want?" Steve asks only to have everyone shout different answers.
"Just make whatever" Happy settles.
"Don't listen to Ha-" Tony tries to argue.
"You can do whatever you feel like making, thank you" Pepper thanks.
"Just make something good" Nat agrees.
"And put hot sauce" Yelena adds.
"You can add the hot sauce onto your own dish" Steve suggests instead.
"Dude hot sauce is like so hot! How do you like that on your food?" Scott asks bewildered.
"I put it on all my foods. Have you ever tried Mac n cheese with hot sauce? It's to die for" Yelena claims.
"Ew" Scott grimaces.
"Don't say ew until you try it Lang" Yelena points out.
"Who's up for some Mario Kart?" Clint switches the topic which has Sam, Yelena, Peter, Ned, Flash and Scott agree. Thank god for it being up to eight players but that leaves one more player in its place since Mj rather sketch everyone who looks like they're in a crisis every time they play.
"Bucky, why don't you play with us?" Peter invites him.
"No" Bucky denies.
"It'll be fun plus you always say no" Peter keeps trying.
"Yeah! Come on Buck! I wanna beat your ass!" Sam claims.
"You aren't allowed to call me Buck, only Steve and I'll beat your ass" Bucky corrects him, grabbing the extra remote from Peters hand.
"Sure you will! I have years of experience" Sam gloats.
"Then let's put it to the test" Bucky glares at Sam.
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The scoreboard lights up to reveal everyone who is playing, placements. Everyone who wasn't playing, were in the kitchen either helping Steve cook or just sitting down.
First place is Peter, second is Clint, third is Scott, fourth is Ned, fifth is Yelena, sixth is Flash, seventh is Bucky and eighth is Sam.
"WHAT?! HOW DID YOU BEAT ME?! THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME PLAYING!! YOU CHEATED!!" Sam screams.
Peter flinches but luckily for him, no one seemed to notice. He hates that he flinches now when people scream but it makes sense. He was screamed at everyday for months rather it was taunts, threats or just anger.
"I DID NOT! How would I cheat? You just suck!" Bucky protests.
"NO YOU CHEATED!!" Sam accuses.
"You guys are acting like grown toddlers" Mj interrupts their yelling.
"He started" Bucky points his flesh finger at Sam.
"YOU STARTED BY CHEATING!!" Sam states.
"Even though this is fun and all to watch will you stop screaming? It's annoying! You are acting like an old married couple!" Yelena tries to break them up.
"WE ARE NOT A MARRIED COUPLE!!" Sam and Bucky both yell in union which makes Peter flinch a little harder.
Mjs eyes go wide as she watches and feels Peter flinch besides her. She quickly makes her expression go back to plain and normal before standing up and walking over to the grown toddlers.
"Stop yelling. If you two are going to act like toddlers, then we will all treat you as such and put you in time out but because Sam started, only him will go sit in the corner and face it" Mj corrects herself as she sees Bucky go stiff by the mention of time out when she catches Sam about to argue. "Don't argue with me. I saw, Bucky didn't cheat. You just suck at the game and to be fair, I don't think Bucky even knows how to cheat in this game. Grow up already. No one wants to listen to your yelling. Now both of you apologize." Sam and Bucky both look at each other but don't say a word. "Apologize. I won't ask again."
"Sorry" both men say.
"Doesn't seem like you're sorry" Mj replies to that.
"I'm sorry" both men say in union again.
"One at a time and explain what for" Mj doesn't let her facade drop.
"I'm sorry for accusing you of cheating and yelling" Sam starts.
"And I'm sorry for yelling back at you and beating you" Bucky adds a tease.
"Good now sit down and act like grownups compared to toddlers or else I'll have Friday disable the game" Mj threatens.
"You can't do that" Sam argues.
"What did I say before? Don't argue back with me Wilson. Sit your ass down and when you play the game, don't be screaming and crying that you lost" Mj states before turning around and retreating back to her seat next to Peter.
"Thank you" Peter whispers in her ear but Bucky catches it due to his enhanced hearing though he doesn't say anything.
"Ok so...Mario Kart?" Scott hesitantly asks.
"Mario Kart" Clint nods as he goes to start the next match.
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Steve had made a casserole, bread, salad and cheese pasta for the teens who can't have a large serving of the casserole due to still bringing up their metabolisms.
All of the adults had heard the fight going on earlier but didn't bring it up. Everyone knows Sam and Bucky are friends but act like they hate each other which is apart of their relationship and they always yell at each other. They didn't think they took it too far because it was a regular occurrence but it had just clicked to them that the teens have never really heard either of them having a yelling argument opposed to a talking argument.
"How come the tower isn't decorated?" Scott wonders over dinner.
"We do that on Christmas Eve though all the other levels are decked out by the interns and the outside of the tower that has that Santa sled with reindeers, icicle lights, snowflakes on the windows and a Santa hat on the logo" Pepper starts to list.
"Ok that's enough. That's because it was a tradition but if you all want to break it, we can decorate the penthouse tomorrow" Tony suggests which makes everyone talk and agree in excitement.
"What about those Christmas cookies with Santa and those reindeers faces on them? I wanna try those" Yelena brings up.
"We should go to the store tomorrow to buy all of that! I'll go with you" Peter excitedly agrees.
"You guys can go to the store on Thursday and we can bake whatever on Friday" Pepper claims.
"Ok so me, Parker, Barton and Lang will be going to the store" Yelena declares. "Jones, Leeds and Thompson, wanna come?"
"Yes!" Flash and Ned agrees.
"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye out on the children" Mj assures.
"That was offensive and rude" Yelena gasps.
"Make sure they don't get into any trouble" Pepper goes along.
"If you need to, send them back to the car" Nat tells her.
"You can put a leash on Peter if he tries to run away. I almost had to do that a zillion times" May jokes.
"Ned runs away too!" Peter tattles.
"Then I'll have two leashes for the both of you" Mj settles making Peter and Ned whine in protest.
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The days are passing by pretty quickly. The entire penthouse is already decorated with all the Christmas decorations that were in storage. They had spent the entire day on Tuesday blasting Christmas music and decorating. It's already Thursday, December 23rd and Yelena, Clint, Scott, Peter, Ned, Flash and Mj are going to the store.
"We have to get these!" Peter claims as he holds up a box ice cream snowmen with six in each.
"Put a couple in the cart!" Clint agrees.
"I got the whip creams!" Scott announces.
"And I have toppings!" Ned claims, placing the toppings in the cart.
"I got all the Christmas cookies!" Yelena shouts as she runs out of the other aisle.
"I got the candy canes!" Flash yells, following after Yelena.
"I really should've gotten those leashes" Mj rolls her eyes.
"Guys! Look! I found the candy that is now Christmas themed! I got m&ms-" Peter tries to list them.
"When did you even leave this aisle?" Mj interrupts.
"Uhhh when Flash and Yelena came back" Peter answers.
"That was like ten seconds ago!" Mj stares at him.
"I ran" Peter shrugs as he places down the candy in the cart.
"Oh my god" Mj sighs.
"Ok do we have everything? We got ice cream, cookies, candy, candy canes, whip cream, toppings but we-" Clint begins.
"We have the ingredients for the cookies!" Scott claims as he and Yelena runs over with the ingredients before throwing it in the cart.
"We have every thing then!" Clint exclaims while he throws his hands up in celebration.
"Let's go and pay then because we are currently causing a scene" Mj informs.
"Party pooper" Yelena scoffs.
"No, no, she's right. People keep staring" Peter defends.
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"We're back from the store!!" Yelena announces while they all walk out of the elevator.
"It was a disaster" Mj claims.
"No it wasn't!" Clint protests.
"It was like they were on a sugar rush" Mj explains.
"I at least wasn't" Flash slightly lies.
"You were better than them but still on a rush" Mj corrects.
"Hehehehehehe" the goblin chuckles.
Peter whips his head around but doesn't see anything.
His senses aren't warning him of everything.
Peter takes a deep breath in and out before realizing he was already at the kitchen with Yelena, putting everything away.
"We really weren't that bad, she's exaggerating!" Scott lies.
"Am I?" Mj questions.
"Dude, you never want Mj questioning you like that" Ned tells Scott with wide eyes.
"My bad" Scott winces.
"You good?" Yelena whispers to Peter.
"Huh? Oh yeah, sorry!" Peter apologizes. He then turns around to see that they already finished putting everything away and looks sheepishly at Yelena. "Sorry."
Before Yelena could do anything, Peter had already walked back to the others with Yelena following behind.
"Did you guys have fun here? Missed us?" Clint wonders.
"No" Nat denies leaving Clint with a gaping mouth.
"We were planning on watching movies" Tony tells them.
"But first, you kiddies got homework" Sam brags.
"And then we have to have dinner" Steve adds.
"And then May will be here and we can watch the movies" Rhodey finishes the plan for the day.
"And then I'm the one who has to drive you back home" Happy mopes.
"Happy, we know you care about them" Pepper rolls her eyes.
"No, they annoy the crap outta me" Happy protests.
"Do we really annoy you?" Peter asks, looking at Happy with an upset expression.
"Don't do that to me. It only works on Tony" Happy claims.
"No it doesn't!" Tony lies.
"It does" Nat agrees.
"It works on all of you guys too! Heck, even Barnes!" Tony protests.
"It doesn't" Bucky argues.
"His puppy dog eyes are really hard to resist" Scott nods his head.
"You should see him at school. Teachers easily lets things slide because of that" Flash tattles jokingly.
"And here I thought you were a goody too shoes" Yelena scoffs.
"I just ask them if I can get an extension! I don't even do anything like threaten or beg or anything!" Peter defends.
"Extensions? When do you ever need an extension? May made it a rule to do your homework before spider-manning" Tony looks at him suspiciously.
"And I do! That was more when she didn't know and there was no internship" Peter claims.
"Whatever you say" Tony hums.
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"I can't believe you are getting these pets. Did Tony even agree to have them at the tower?" May questions as her, Happy and Peter are walking back to the car with Nat and Buckys presents.
"I'm not involved" Happy immediately states.
"I didn't ask so it's basically a surprise for him too plus they'll most likely stay in their own rooms with Nat and Bucky.
"This is a disaster waiting to happen and I won't defend you. Like I said, I'm not involved" Happy lays out.
"In that case, I don't want to be apart of this either" May sighs.
Happy unlocks the car doors and everyone gets in with the special presents in the back with Peter.
"I'll have them stay in my room though I'm very terrified of that spider. I feel like it's eyeing me with those eight eyes! If that thing gets loose, Nat will be getting her present early" Peter explains.
"And that's why it's in the back with you" Happy snaps back.
"Meow" Buckys cat meows.
"I think she agreed" May giggles.
"Haha. She's just happy he's not out of his cage but she's kinda stuck in her own cage" Peter trails off.
"This is gonna be some Christmas" Happy mutters.
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