Signatures and Sighs
After the meeting ended the boys both packed their papers in their backpacks and headed out of the room with everyone else. Neither of them knew how to feel about everything, but they were moving against the clock at this point.
"So, what's your plan?" MJ asked the two of them as they walked down the hallway toward the door.
"I don't know..." Peter said looking toward Billy, who looked even more lost than Peter. "We'll figure it out, I'm sure." He tagged at the end trying to sound persuasive to help Billy relax, but deep down they both knew this was probably going to suck.
"Maybe mom will let us wipe their minds when they leave." Billy said hopefully, knowing full well that would NOT be happening. His mom had been funny about not messing with free will ever since Westview.
MJ turned to Billy sharply. "You are NOT touching my mind, sparkles."
Billy backed up a step. He might be a powerful sorcerer mutant that can harness the essence of reality, but MJ could be pretty intimidating when she tried. She gave him a smirk.
"You're overreacting. We're gonna go and see some science stuff and then everyone will go home and we'll live happily ever after. You guys are acting as if we're touring your bedrooms." She said with a roll of her eyes.
Peter looked at Billy with a shrug. She wasn't wrong per say. They were probably going to tour the museum, the labs, and maybe some of the offices. Peter could handle that. That would be fine. It'll be fine. The attempt at convincing himself it wasn't going to be terrible wasn't working. Not with having Flash and his posse in the building. People didn't even believe he had an internship. All it would take was one wrong move by Flash while someone was eavesdropping and the Avengers would have a murder case on their hands. No one needed that. He had things under control.
Peter soon realized that the black car had pulled up to the school so he motioned to Billy that they needed to get going.
They said their goodbyes and headed to the car.
They hadn't even gotten in before Peter felt the feeling of someone in his mind. "Do not let Tommy know. You know he would make things 10x worse." The voice said. He knew it was Billy, but he would never get used to this type of message.
"Of course I wont. I'm not an idiot." Peter replied as he buckled his seatbelt.
He saw Billy facepalm before he heard Happy, but he realized what he did immediately.
"What was that?" Happy said from the front.
"Uhhh..." Peter stumbled. "Nothing!"
Happy gave them both a long look through the mirror, but eventually just sighed and began to pull away from the school. It was just starting.
Happy pulled into the private parking garage under the building and both boys began unbuckling. It was a routine at this point. They thanked Happy for the ride and headed to the door that led to the private entrance. They both pulled out their cards to scan at the door and each held them out. After a moment the door opened and they entered, greeted by a warm voice.
"Welcome home boys. The whole team is having dinner together tonight. It'll be ready within the hour." FRIDAY said. The building is run by AI, but the private areas of the building are run by FRIDAY specifically. It was always comforting to hear her voice after a long day.
"Thanks, Friday." Billy smiled as he put his card back in his backpack. Once in the building FRIDAY used biometric data for all residents so they only needed the card outside.
Peter finished zipping his bag back up right as the elevators arrived. Peter was planning to stop by the lab before going to dinner so he moved to get in the second elevator. "Best of luck, my friend." He said with a sarcastic smile.
"Godspeed, Peter." Billy laughed. He got into the elevator and told Friday he wanted to go home. He knew Peter was joking, but he felt like he might need all the luck he could get on this one. He didn't have much time to think before he heard Friday announce they had arrived and the doors opened.
It didn't take more than 30 seconds before his mom was running in the room to greet him.
"Hey baby, welcome home!" Wanda said with a smile as she moved to hug Billy. She never let either of them leave or arrive without a hug and secretly, neither of them were complaining.
"Hey mom," He replied. "How was your day?" He put down his backpack and began taking off his shoes and jacket.
"It was alright. Nothing much happened. How about you? How was your day? Did Friday tell you we're having a big family dinner?"
"Yeah she told us when we got home." He said with a smile, but he knew his mom knew something was wrong.
Her smile immediately dropped. "What? What happened? What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong!" He said a little too enthusiastically. He was overcompensating and he knew it.
"William Maximoff. Tell me right now."
He sighed and threw himself on the couch. He knew it would be fast, but this might be a record. He was never good at keeping secrets from her.
"Okay, fine, but it's really no big deal." He prefaced trying to prepare for the worst. "You know how we won the Academic Decathlon nationals?"
She sad down on the couch across from him, legs crossed, and nodded.
They sat like that for a moment while Billy tried to plan his next move.
"You're going on a field trip to your own house?" Tommy laughed as he suddenly threw himself on the couch between them.
Billy was stunned. "What? How did you..."
"It's all over social media, bro. The school even tweeted about it, which honestly I feel is a bit overkill." He said looking at his phone.
Wanda looked between the two boys. "You're going on a fieldtrip?"
Billy just nodded, suddenly exhausted. "Yup."
A little smile tugged at the corner of Wanda's mouth. "To here?" She added.
"MOM." Billy said exasperatedly.
“Hey May?” Peter called into the apartment as he put his stuff down.
When Tony had extended the offer to have Peter move into the tower, May was originally against it. Tony had made certain that they knew the offer was for both of them, but there was nothing wrong with where they were and May was certain that they didn’t need any kind of hand out. That was until a villain leveled their entire apartment complex in a nearby heist gone wrong. It just made sense at that point. Plus, they had their own little wing with a little private living area and kitchen. It was nothing like what they had up on the main floors, but it turned out to be perfect for what they needed.
“Yeah?” May called from her room.
Peter headed toward her, trying to plan out what he was gonna say. He stopped and ran back over to his backpack to grab the papers. His hope was that at least May might be on board with keeping it hush hush from the rest of the building.
“Heyyyy….” He said as he entered the room.
May was sitting on her bed watching tv. “Heyyyy?” She laughed.
“I need you to sign some stuff.” Peter said quickly as he shoved the papers at her.
“Sign stuff? Did you get in trouble or something? What do I have to sign?” She questioned.
Peter just shoved the papers into her hands along with a pen he had grabbed from his bag. “JUST READ THEM.” He said a little too loudly.
“Fine. Okay. I’ll read…” May started before looking down at the papers and immediately bursting into laughter.
“May, it’s not funny!” Peter said.
May tried to collect herself for a brief moment before bursting into laughter again. She quickly flipped through the pages and signed everywhere necessary before putting them down on the bed and wiping away tears of laughter that had begun forming.
“You didn’t even read them.” He said dryly.
May took a deep breath to calm her laughter. “What do I need to read? The NDA? Hey Peter, don’t tell people Tony’s deepest darkest secrets. Done. Easy. I saved myself a good three minutes right there.” She said with a smile.
Peter let out a deep and dramatic sigh before collapsing beside her on the bed. “May I can’t go. I’m sick.”
“The field trip is next week. I think you’ll be fine.” She giggled. “Plus I think it will be good for you to tour the building with a bunch of normal people. The novelty has worn off for you. We gotta fix that somehow before you get too bored and start complaining there’s nothing to do.”
Peter just let out another dramatic sigh in response as he dragged himself off the bed and headed out the bedroom door.
“If it makes you feel any better, Pete, this has the potential to be the best field trip you’ve gone on with your class.” She called before breaking into giggles again.
“I ALMOST DIED, MAY. THAT IS AN UNFAIR COMPARISON.” He yelled back.
It had taken a lot of time and some superhero therapy before those types of jokes were able to be made about his Spider-Man exploits, but things had gotten better since moving into the tower. May rested easier knowing that Peter had everything a superhero could need available at home if he ever got into trouble. It also helped that their apartment was conveniently situated one floor away from the medbay.
He sat down on the couch and pulled out his phone. At this point he was starving and just waiting for dinner. After a couple minutes May came out of the room in her work uniform and threw the papers at him.
“You left something.” She said with a smile.
Peter just rolled his eyes and grabbed the papers.
“Are you not staying for dinner?” He said noticing that she was getting ready to leave.
“No, I had to cover a shift tonight so I’m headed out. I’m sure there will be something leftover. There always is with the way they cook.” She said putting her shoes on.
“We superheroes are a hungry people!” He said in mock hurt.
May just smiled and patted him on the cheek. “Okay I’m off. I’ll see you tomorrow. No late night lab time. You know the drill. It’s a school night.”
“I know. I know. Karen’s a snitch.” He said.
She smiled and gave him a kiss on the head before leaving. “Love you! Have a good night!”
“Love you too, May!” He called after her.
Now for dinner... and the others.