"I'm so sorry Peter." Came MJ's voice from over the phone, distorted and stuffy.
"It's okay. It's more important that you rest and get better. Do you need me to bring anything over? Meds? Soup? Blankets? Heat pads? Chocolate?" While he was disappointed, his girlfriend was more important. "Anything else?"
"That's alright, mum's here and fussing over me. Go hang out with Ned and Betty." She told him.
"Okay. Feel better later."
"I'll try." She chuckled.
"I love you."
"Love you too, loser." He laughed as she hung up.
He trudged out into the main room and flopped down on the sofa, startling half the inhabitants. Maria smiled gently at him.
"You okay?" He looked at her and crawled over and buried his head in her stomach. "I'll take that as a no. What's wrong Pete? Aren't you meant to be getting ready for a dance?" While she did receive a verbal response this time, she had no idea what he had said as it was so muffled. Sam, Steve and Scott all laughed from their places around the room. "What was that?" Peter finally lifted his head, tears in his eyes.
"MJ can't go to the dance." He answered solemnly.
"Oh?"
"And I don't want to go alone and be a third wheel to Ned and his girlfriend because that was really awkward before MJ and I got together. And I'm sure people will tease me for not having a date - teenagers are like that." He'd gotten good at hiding the fact he was bullied from his family - benefits of spy training. "And so I don't want to go."
"Why can't Michelle go?" The older woman started to gently run her fingers through his curls as he settled his head back onto her lap, facing her stomach but not buried in it this time.
"She caught the flu so she has to stay in bed. Do I have to go?" The boy wined.
"We aren't going to force you to go if you don't want to." Maria answered solemnly, he had really wanted to go just this morning and she wanted him to go out and enjoy himself.
"Ned will be upset if I don't go though."
"So what're you going to do? Go and be miserable, alone and bored; or stay, disappoint your friend who won't be alone and watch a movie with us?" Maria offered, Wanda walked in just then.
"What's going on?" She asked as she lifted Peter's feet, sat on the sofa, and put his feet on her lap.
"MJ can't make it to the dance so he doesn't want to go, but he doesn't want to let Ned down." Steve summed up quickly.
"Get dressed." Wanda ordered as she stood back up.
"What?"
"You aren't missing out because your girlfriend can't go, get up, get dressed and get your butt in a car." She pulled him off the couch and walked away. Confused, he looked over to Maria who shrugged and nodded towards the door. He scrambled up and ran to his room - one big no-no in the compound is ignoring Wanda, because she will just make you do it anyway.
Ten minutes later he was tripping out his room again to the common area. Maria was still sat where she had been before but now Natasha was sat beside her, having gotten home from walking Tro, and was being caught up with everything.
"I still don't know how to tie my tie." Peter huffed as he hopped into the room, pulling on his shoe. Maria, Sam and Scott all burst out with laughter at his situation - they couldn't help it. His top button and tie were undone, his blazer was on one arm, he had one shoe on and was hopping around to get the other on. His belt was undone and his hair a mess. Natasha stood and helped him quickly, she straightened his shirt and did up the top button, pulling his blazer around so he could get his arm in it and tied the tie to an eldridge knot. He sat down and did up his shoes after thanking her. Once he was dressed properly she stepped back and looked him over.
"Looking fresh kid." Sam laughed. Peter smiled nervously.
Soon Wanda came walking in, dressed in a floor length, navy blue, sparkly, strapless dress. She had black heels, straight hair and dangling earrings to match. The room stood still, jaws dropped and barely breathing. Natasha snapped out of her awed stupor first.
"Sweetheart, you look gorgeous." The statement made Maria and Steve come to attention.
"You are absolutely stunning." Maria smiled gently.
"Ain't you a swell bird?" Steve uttered. "You look beautiful doll." Wanda was blushing the whole time, gentle smile on her face.
"Wow." Peter uttered. Natasha and Maria chuckled while Wanda let out a nervous giggle.
"Good wow or bad wow?" The witch anxiously asked.
"Uh, good. You look amazing! Wanda, you are so beautiful. Good thing I'm Spider-Man, I don't think there'd be another way to keep the guys - and the girls honestly - away from you. I would say you've never looked so beautiful but I'd be lying. You're always pretty." He rambled.
"I'm already going with you, you don't need to shower me in compliments." The cheeky comment made the adults chuckle heartedly.
"You deserve it. Where's Vis? He's going to loose his shit when he sees you!" Before anyone could berate him for his language, he shot off like a rocket in search of the red man.
"Peter, we have to go or we'll be late!" The hero called after him, he had reached the end of the long corridor already. He spun and ran back.
"Yeah, you're right, he'll see you later. Let's go!" Natasha insisted on taking a picture of the two of them, while hiding her tears. Sam teased her about going soft to which she threw a knife noone had previously seen at him, pinning him to the nearby dart board, dead centre.
"God, you've grown up so much." She muttered to herself, Maria wrapped an arm around the redhead's waist in comfort. They sent the kids down to Happy and turned to each other. Natasha had a look of proud sadness on her face while Maria tried to comfort her through her expressions.
After a ride in one of Tony's many fancy cars - filled with teasing, blushing and laughing - Peter stepped out and reached back in to help his sister out. Gratefully, she took his hand and used it to guide herself out the black vehicle. They thanked Happy (who had begrudgingly dropped them off) and turned to walk into the hall.
"You really do look amazing Wanda." The boy told her earnestly as they walked, noticing that she was nervously fiddling with one of her rings.
"I swear Spider's can't read minds." She nudged him, smirk in place.
"Spider's can't, but little brothers know how to read their sister's behaviour. You're breathtaking, all the girls will be jealous."
"You have to say that, you're my brother and I'm helping you out." Peter loved hearing his sister laugh, but now was not the time.
"I don't have to say that, you aren't controlling me. Believe me." The two stared at each other for a while before the witch surged forward to hug the now slightly shorter boy. It was a perfect moment - one of those bonding moments a sibling hood needs to thrive - until Flash showed up.
"Oi Penis! Cheating on MJ?" The other boy was dressed in a black tux, hair slicked back and shoes that looked a size bigger than his usual. Wanda let go of Peter and spun to look at Flash. "Woah, Penis, how did you score this hottie?"
"Flash." Peter said warningly. "Don't."
"Don't what? Show her a better option?" He smirked, Peter turned to Wanda as she turned to speak.
"What did you call him?" She questioned threateningly.
"Wands, it's nothing. He's just messing about, let's just go inside and enjoy the evening." The chestnut haired boy tugged on his sister's arm but she held her ground.
"I called him what he is. A penis." Flash responded daringly. Peter was surprised he was still standing.
"How long has this been going on Pete?" He mumbled an incoherent sprout of words as an answer, her eyes flashed red making him spill the beans.
"For, like, five years." The boy revealed.
"Why didn't you tell me? I'm your big sister, I'm meant to look out for you." She was ignoring Flash now, who got bored and headed inside.
"You've had a lot on your plate - what with Pietro and then your relationship with Vis and me going missing. I just, I didn't want to uh worry you. Or anyone else."
"Peter, I'll never not have time for you. Don't ever think that just because I have shit going on means that you can't talk to me. That's just stupid, I'll always make time for you."
"I know, it's just- Mama's always been going off on missions, Maria works a good twenty five hours a day-"
"Impossible but carry on."
"And you've been so busy with training and your own personal stuff. I guess I just learnt to keep this stuff out the way." Wanda wrapped her arm around her brother's shoulder and held him close in a side hug as she dragged him inside.
"Never, ever, ever think that any one of us won't cancel our plans to help you deal with your stuff. We never doubt that you'll be there for us and you shouldn't either. We love you and want to protect you, and you should always feel comfortable coming to us when you need to. Now, come on, we came to party."
The two siblings danced together, laughed together, and made fun of Ned together - he was too amazed that the Scarlet Witch was present to do much but stare in awe (Betty, luckily, didn't mind). Peter twirled Wanda about the dance floor - having taken dance lessons at Shield Academy in case he needed it to blend in - while she occasionally stepped on his toes but mostly danced with grace. Flash made a few attempts to flirt with her - as did most the guys and a couple girls present. For kicks she flirted back at the guys Peter seemed to get on with, but turned everyone else away. Peter was a little weirded out by it, but knew his older sister was just messing around and would never cheat on Vision.
When they returned home, Natasha and Maria were waiting for them. Tro ran up to get an excited cuddle making the siblings giggle.
"How was it?" Maria asked, helping Peter undo his tie.
"It was awesome! We danced and ate so many party rings! Oooh and someone spiked the punch a load and Flash got really drunk and fell off the stage. It was amazing! Ned got it on camera." Peter rambled.
"Is Flash a new friend of yours?" Natasha asked, hopefully - for such a social person, Peter sure was bad at interacting with people his own age.
"No, Flash is his bully." Wanda snitched, pulling off her heels and rubbing her feet. "It was amazing watching him face plant."
"Bully?" The two adults asked in unison. Before Peter could explain any, Wanda continued to dob him in.
"Yup, bullied him since the start of high school. Peter didn't want to bother us so didn't tell anyone. Thought we wouldn't care."
"That's- that's not what I said." Peter defended himself quickly. "I said I didn't want to worry you because you've had a lot on your plate. Mama, it's not even a big deal."
"It is a big deal Peter. Of course we would help you. All three of us would drop anything and everything to help you. That's what family is, Pete."
"I-I know, I just - it wasn't even that big a deal at first. Just name calling or whatever. He thinks - I mean they all think - I'm some poor orphan boy. And so he picks on me for a half truth so it didn't even bother me."
"Does it now?"
"Well, yeah, no. I don't know. It annoys me more than anything."
"We'll get it sorted out." Maria said, fluffing up his hair.
Peter sighed. He loved his sister and his mothers more than anything, but he sometimes wished they let him deal with his own stuff.