A Time for Changes
Peter fiddled with the small box in his hands; everything he owned was inside, courtesy of Scott’s Pym particles. He stared out the window of the private jet, watching the clouds pass by as he left New York behind. With it, his aunt and Mr. Stark’s graves; and his best friends, who didn’t even know who he was anymore.
There was a knot in his chest still from that, only growing at the knowledge he could no longer even ‘accidentally’ bump into them. But it was opposed by the warmth that had sprung up when Mr. Lang recognized him, remembered him, offered him a place to stay; a home with someone who knew who he was. San Francisco would be a major change, but it seemed like maybe it was time for changes.
“Hey, Peter, check this out!” Scott said, grinning. He held up a remote, pressed a button, and a tv screen descended to cover half a wall. “Still can’t get used to this.”
“Right?” Peter said, mustering a smile. “Before I met Mr. Stark, we still had a rabbit-eared box TV.”
Scott raised his glass of soda. “To rich father figures,” he said, aiming a grin and a finger gun over at Hank Pym. Peter met the toast with a raise of his own glass, while Hank just raised an eyebrow.
“So, anything in particular you want to watch?”
Peter shook his head. Ned and MJ had put together a list of ‘pop culture Peter’s still oblivious about’, but the thought of watching any of those without his best friends still felt like a punch to the gut.
(There was a thought. Did his email address even exist still to access the shared doc?)
And watching any of his comfort movies without Aunt May there to make popcorn and ruffle his hair…
“Ah, sorry,” he said, realizing he’d zoned out. He wiped at his eyes, and his hand came away wet. “I don’t really have anything specific in mind.”
Scott nodded. “Alright. Let’s start with… Ferris Bueller? No, wait, I was gonna watch that with Cassie, we’ll save it for later.”
“Cassie?”
“My daughter, she’s about your age. She’ll be at my house this week, we’ll have to do a movie night.” He snapped his fingers. “Oh! Ever seen Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure?”
“No?”
“Time travel, high schoolers, Keanu Reeves, you’ll love it.”
He did, in fact, love it, and they watched the second movie as well. Eventually, Peter woke up from a nap he hadn’t realized he’d taken, to Scott nudging him with a foot. “We’re gonna be landing soon, time to buckle back up.”
“Right.” He pressed to the window to watch as the plane lowered over San Francisco, eventually coming down on a private airfield a little way out of the city. As soon as they’d left the plane, Hank pressed a button; it shrank to the size of a kid’s toy, and Hank picked it up and walked off. When he thought about it, Peter wasn’t sure they’d actually said anything to each other, but he figured he’d probably have plenty of time to geek out over technology with the Hank Pym later. He and Scott caught a taxi, and Scott pointed out local landmarks and the like until they arrived at his home. He opened the front door and gestured Peter forward with a grin.
“Welcome to Casa de Lang!”
Peter slipped off his shoes in the entryway, before Scott led him up the carpeted stairs to the second floor, a short distance down a hallway, and swung open a door.
“Okay, this’ll be your room. I’m just down the hall here, and that one’s Cassie’s. Set your stuff on the floor there and I’ll zap it so you can start unpacking.” Peter opened the box and dumped his fairly-meagre possessions onto the hardwood floor, then backed away.
Once his things were resized, Peter took stock of the room – fairly sparse, with blank walls, a twin bed, nightstand, dresser, and a small closet. A bay window looked out over the street, with a grey and white flower-patterned windowseat. He took in a deep breath, then let it out. This, for now, was home.
He unpacked his suitcase, then the boxes of other possessions. He’d recovered all his things from his former home, but he still didn’t have much, so it didn’t take long to put his clothes in the closet, stack some books on the dresser, and put the rest in the drawers or leave it in stacked boxes until he was ready to sort through it more carefully.
He paused, smiling for a moment at the lego minifigure of Emperor Palpatine, then set it atop his dresser and walked downstairs to see if Scott needed help with dinner.