6
Waking up in an unfamiliar place wasn’t new to Peter recently, but it still gave him a little bit of a shock each time it happened. He looked around the room, regaining his bearings and remembered what happened the previous night. It had worked, they’d heard him out and believed him. He had expected to be thrown into a jail cell immediately; Peter might not be familiar with the laws of America but he’s pretty sure people don’t take breaking into their houses too kindly. But they heard him out and now the Red Room is finally getting what it deserves.
He didn’t get much longer to lie in bed, pondering over what was to come next, pretty soon after he woke, there was a knock on his door and a few seconds later Tony was poking his head into the room.
“Friday told me you were awake, breakfast is ready,” he smiled, nodding toward the kitchen. Peter hadn’t expected to be fed whilst staying with the team, he had assumed he would be fending for himself. He would much prefer to be doing just that, their giving him food meant that he owed them something and with the mission tomorrow he already felt like he owed them the world, food was adding onto that.
However, with the way Tony looked at him, he felt like he didn’t have a choice but to follow the man and eat their food. Walking into the kitchen, Peter didn’t expect to see an entire platter of different foods covering the dining table, some he had never heard of and the sight of it made his mouth water, he hadn’t realised how hungry he was until the scent reached his nose.
“Take a seat, fill your plate with whatever you want,” Steve smiled, handing over a plate with a set of cutlery.
Sitting beside Romanoff, Peter looked over all the options and decided to start light with some sausages, he’d had them before so he knew he liked them, he didn’t want to grab something new to discover it was awful and look like a fool in front of the team.
He was a little spooked at first, once the conversation picked up. Not in a ‘this is scary’ sort of way, but more like a ‘this is new and I don’t know what to do’ sort of way. He’d had lunch all week in a much rowdier setting than this, but breakfast was a much different scenario. He had spent his entire life eating breakfast alone, locked inside his room with no one to talk to and the only thing to look at, being his wall. To now be in a room full of other people chatting away without the threat of being punished was weird.
Unlike the previous night, the team didn’t speak a word about the mission, instead, they asked Peter questions about himself, questions he didn’t know the answer to. He tried his best to answer the ones he had never thought about but they seemed to take notice of his struggle and swiftly moved on. He didn’t even have a favourite color for crying out loud, now wasn’t that pathetic.
They steered clear of his past and they didn’t look at him in disgust which was not what he had expected at all; though he supposed two members of their team had been in the same boat at some point in their lives, these people probably understand him the best anyone could.
“I’ll sort these out,” Tony said, taking Peter’s dirty dishes, “you go get dressed, we’re gonna go get your stuff,” Peter smiled in thanks before heading back to his room. He still couldn’t get over how beautiful the place was but he didn’t have time to look around. He had a quick shower, making use of the no doubt expensive shower products and got changed into the same clothes he wore for his own mission.
After attaching all of his weapons back onto his body, Peter made his way back to the living room where Stark and Romanoff are waiting by the elevator.
“All ready to go?” Romanoff asked.
“Yes ma’am,” Peter replies, politely.
“None of that, call me Nat,” Nat laughed, entering the elevator, “We never asked by the way, do you prefer Pietro or Peter?”
What do I prefer? he thought. Pietro was his name, he had been Pietro his entire life, the only reason he had been going by Peter was for safety reasons, but surely the tower would have good enough security that it wouldn’t matter what he went by.
“Pietro in private, Peter in public, please,” he settled on. Tony and Nat nodded and the three entered the garage, getting into a discrete-looking car.
“What’s your address?” Tony asked.
He was a little hesitant to give it out, nobody but him and his landlord knew where he lived, but if he was to trust anyone it would be the Avengers. He gave them the address and sat back as the car reversed out of the garage and set off.
The drive wasn’t silent like he expected it to be, the two in the front of the car kept the conversation flowing but Peter wasn’t interested in them. All he could think about was tomorrow and how it could go two completely different ways. They could succeed and the Red Room would officially be gone for good, or they could fail miserably and his life would once again be in danger.
Peter didn’t know they’d arrived until he felt the car stop. They got out and he led them up towards his apartment. For the first time since moving in, he bumped into another person on the way up. He was young and he obviously recognised the heroes behind him which concerned him a little. If the man was undercover, working for the Red Room and had been sent out to keep an eye on him, then they would know where he lives and who he knows, but the fact that his senses hadn’t gone off at all living here gives him a peace of mind. That would be ridiculous anyway.
He unlocked the door and walked into the apartment. Tony and Nat were probably a little concerned about the mess but it wasn’t his fault he’d never learned how to cook and clean, he knew he looked incompetent, just adding to the idea they had in their heads that he couldn’t be alone.
He ran into his room and quickly packed up his minimal belongings, not wanting to give the Avengers in his living room much time to snoop around his space, even if there wasn’t much to look at anyway.
He walked back out to the living room and noticed Tony peering down at his computer, “Did you build this?” he asked. Peter nodded and Tony smiled, impressed.
They don’t stay there for much longer and leave, getting back into the car and driving back to the tower.
———
They arrive back and as instructed, Peter takes his stuff and puts it in the guest room. They had told him to unpack but with no intentions of staying long and not having much, he decided against unpacking and placed his bag in the closet instead.
Leaving his room, he noticed that Steve was the only one waiting for him in the living room. The captain nodded towards the elevator and the two got in, “We’re going down to the gym for some last-minute training, I want to get an exact idea of your skill sets so I know where to send you and who to pair you with,” Steve explained. Peter was glad he decided to wear his mission clothes, he couldn’t imagine how awful training in jeans would be.
They arrived at the gym and Steve gained the attention of the room immediately as he whistled, “Split off into partners, we’re going to spar for an hour or so and then work on Peter’s enhancements,” he ordered. Everyone ran over to Peter like headless chickens, claiming him as their partner. It was a little overwhelming if Peter had to be honest. Back at the Red Room, not a single soul had ever wanted to partner up with him because, and he hated how egotistical it sounded, but they knew they would lose, so he always ended up sparring with their teacher.
“Shotgun,” Nat shouted and the other seemed to deflate, berating themselves for forgetting such an important rule as they walked off.
“Let’s do this,” Nat smirked, beckoning Peter over to the sparring mat.
(enter awesome fight sequence)(I’m awful at writing those, please forgive me. or don’t)
———
“What are all of your powers?” Steve asked, handing Peter a bottle of water. He took his time listing everything he could do, not wanting to miss anything important and by the time he was done, jaws were dropped all around the room.
“You can climb walls and shoot webs? You’re a spider?” Sam asked, shocked.
“I can,” Peter smirked.
“Show us?” Steve smiled.
Peter walked over to the wall and placed his hands against it, making sure he wouldn’t fall and once he was certain, he slowly made his way up the room until he was hanging off the ceiling, looking down at the team.
“That’s the craziest shit I’ve ever seen,” Tony said, grinning from ear to ear.
The next hour went by quickly as they tested out everything Peter could do and once lunch time hit, they squeezed back into the elevator and went back up to the kitchen.
“Pizza?” Tony questioned, throwing himself onto the couch. Everyone cheered and took their seats, switching on the TV to have something to do whilst they waited.
“Have you ever had pizza?” Nat asked as she held the phone.
“Don’t think so,” Peter shrugged.
“You’ll love it, I’ll get you a cheese, just to be safe,” The order was placed and everyone settled in to watch the movie. Movies were another new thing to Peter, well, not completely new, he had been allowed to watch movies produced by Hydra but that was about it, but whatever was on the TV right now had his full attention, he had never seen anything like it before.
He was so focused on the screen that he didn’t notice the amused looks from around the room. Clint was proud that he picked a movie Peter was enjoying. He would be holding that over everyone’s heads for the rest of his life.
“We need to finish planning the last few parts of the mission,” Steve said, as everyone threw away their trash.
They filed out of the living room and made their way to the meeting room where everything was still in place from the previous night of planning.
“There isn’t much to do, we’re just gonna go over who’s going where and who with,” Steve started, taking his place at the head of the table and grabbing a dry-erase marker.
“Stark and Wilson, you’re going to be in the air as usual, Clint and Nat on the south entrance, Wanda and Vision on the east entrance, Sam and I on the north entrance and Bucky and Pietro on the west entrance,” Steve said, writing the names on the dry erase board, “Bruce, I’m not expecting a code green, but if it comes to it I need you to be ready in the jet, if not, have the medical bay prepared because what I am expecting is a few injuries,”
“Got it,” Bruce replies, glad to not have to turn green as of now.
The meeting carried on until everything was mapped out and everything that could go wrong had a solution planned out. They had thought of every possible outcome and had tried their best to plan the next steps. But they’re not psychics, they can’t predict the future. A lot of this mission is going to be a guessing game.
“Now we’re done with that, dinner?” Steve smiles, for the first time since entering the meeting room.
The team finally left the meeting room and threw themselves onto the couch. No one can be bothered to cook except for Steve so he gets started on dinner whilst everyone else continues with the movie. Peter is again, completely enthralled by the entire thing and no one can bring his eyes away from the screen. They had tried, but the boy didn’t react to anything unless it was plastered on the TV.
“Dinner!” Steve shouted, an hour later.
Like an alarm went off, each team member jumped up and ran into the kitchen, acting as if they had been starved their entire life. Peter was no different, he was starving and was one of the first to be sat at the table waiting for Steve to place the bowl of pasta on the dinner table.
As soon as the bowl was down, it was like The Hunger Games as everyone dove in and grabbed spoonfuls, piling their plates high.
“They’re not usually like this, I swear,” Nat grimaces, shaking her head at the sight before them.
“We’re starving Nat, Caps never had us so busy!” Clint clutched his chest, dramatically.
“Get out of here,” Nat smiled, finally getting her turn and grabbing some dinner.
Peter wasn’t even listening anymore, more focused on the pasta that was ten times better than whatever the fuck he had managed to concoct the first time he tried cooking.
“I say we play a game when we’re done,” Sam suggested, talking with his mouth full and ignoring the frown on Steve’s face as he did so.
“What game?” Tony asked.
“Monopoly!” Clint shouted. Peter didn’t know what Monopoly was, but judging by Clint’s excitement it had to be fun, right?
———
Peter was wrong. So, so wrong. This past hour had been the worst of his life, there had been threats of all kinds, insults, shouting, crying, screaming, tantrums. Nobody was friends anymore. Peter wanted to go home.
“This was supposed to be fun guys, to welcome Peter. This-,” Sam pointed at the board, “Has not been fucking fun, I quite literally want to kill all of you,” He cried, shoving his face into a pillow, and screaming.
“We wouldn’t be in this position if you didn’t start whining when you landed at my hotel,” Tony defended. He was the only one enjoying the game and that was only because he was winning. Peter would say that was cheating, considering he owns a company.
“This game is banned from here on out,” Steve announced, grabbing the board and throwing it into the trash.
“Well, that wasn’t how I expected my first board game to go, it was fun!” Peter smiled.
“Games where we don’t stab each other in the back,” Nat glares at Clint, “Are a lot more fun,”
“I don’t see how they could be,” Peter shrugged, still smiling.
“Okay, you little psycho,” Tony smirked, ruffling Peter’s hair.
“Okay, I think it’s time for bed, we need to be up in seven hours,” Steve declared. Peter wondered whether Steve was their boss or their babysitter because as time went on, it was becoming increasingly harder to tell.
As soon as he got to his room, Peter stripped out of his clothes and crawled into bed. He quickly checked his phone after realizing he hadn’t in a while and scolded himself when he saw multiple texts from Ned that he hadn’t seen. He shoots an apology, also letting him know he’ll be gone for the next few days too before plugging it and turning over, falling into a dreamless sleep.