Chapter 14
Peter moved with a stiffness as they made their way back to the common room. The tour had been exciting enough to momentarily distract him from his situation, but things were slowly starting to creep back in.
The compound was far to nice for someone housing a murderous alien.
Venom didn't respond, yet his displeasure at Peter's thoughts was clearly felt.
Just like there was nothing to distract himself, there was no longer anything to distract anyone else. They would now have to deal with having to interact with him alone.
He wondered how long their good will would last.
Even his soulmates.
You are depressing me. Stop it. I am enjoying myself.
At least one of them was.
Peter's mind was swirling with all the thoughts about what was going to happen next.
When he had been bouncing around in foster care, he knew his time would run out and he would eventually end up on the streets. Every family he had been with had made that very clear. No one was going to help him. He was an orphan who would continue to be a burden until he was cast out and forced to accept his fate of being forever alone.
But now?
Now everything had been turned upside down again.
He was now somewhere with people who wanted Spider-Man. Spider-Man often fought alongside the Avengers, they wouldn't want someone so helpful to be without a place to live.
But that was Spider-Man and, without the mask, Spider-Man was just Peter Parker.
And Peter Parker wasn't worth much.
Venom growled.
"Peter?"
Jumping, Peter looked up into Pepper's concerned face.
"Are you ok? I called you a few times."
Peter winced.
"I was, I was lost in thought." he answered weakly.
"It's ok." Pepper smiled warmly. "I know it's a lot to take in, but you'll get used to it."
No he wouldn't. He wasn't going to stay around long enough to.
"Do you want to watch a movie, Peter?" Wanda asked.
"Or we could go back to the game room." Pietro grinned.
"Who's gaming?" Clint shooting up from the couch. "If it's you, I'm fully prepared to dish out a beatdown."
Pietro scoffed as Clint grinned at him.
"What do you want to do, Peter?" Pepper interrupted.
Peter swallowed as everyone turned to look at him.
This was it. This was where he would make the wrong choice and having to plan to run away wouldn't be an issue anymore.
"I.....uh...."
"How about we go play a game. You'll get to see Pietro's meltdown when he loses in person." Wanda jumped in, giving him a wink.
Peter felt the anxiety in his chest loosen and a warmth fill the gap as Wanda drew everyone's attention away from him and to her. He watched Clint laughed and Pietro pouted at his sister's "betrayal".
An arm wrapped around his shoulder, causing him to look over.
Pepper didn't look at him, instead watching the scene before her, but her arm tightened around him for a moment, securing him to her. She held him there as Sam joined the group, eager to join in on Pietro's future demise at Clint's gaming skills.
Peter felt a bit of the anxiety begin to creep back in. Watching the small group before him, he felt out of place. His two soulmates were happily joking with the two other Avengers, completely comfortable with where they were. There was no hesitation in Wanda's brush against Sam, or Clint's arm swinging around Pietro's shoulders. Causal touches with no flinches or guilt at showing affection. Even Pepper's warm hold was given without a second thought.
Peter felt an unfamiliar feeling stir inside him.
For a moment, all his worries were pushed to the back of his mind as a since of pure longing pushed forward.
He wanted to be in that group.
He wanted to be able to joke with Clint and Sam about video games.
He wanted to have Wanda and Pietro's attention.
He wanted to have their attention without the fear of messing something up.
Why couldn't they touch him and he accept it just as easily as they gave it?
Why couldn't he have them?
Peter's eyes snapped away as Wanda and Pietro turned to look at him, surprise on their faces.
Of course. The stupid soul bond. There was no way they wouldn't have felt his longing as deep and strong as it had been.
Peter cursed internally at his mistake. He couldn't allow himself to feel that way. Those typed of feelings were dangerous for someone like him. They were also pointless since he was planning to leave.
'Don't look at me like that. It doesn't mean anything. I'm not staying and ruining anyone's life. Spider-Man is gone and no one needs Peter Parker.'
Sensing Peter's distress, Pepper ignored the signs that the twins had felt a connection from Peter prior to it and moved the conversation along.
"Why don't you guys go get things set up. Peter and I will get the snacks."
Peter let out a silent breath and Clint and Sam walked off, Wanda and Pietro trailing reluctantly behind them.
"I won't ask, Peter." Pepper started, leading him towards the kitchen. "Just know that no one here expects anything from you. Take your time, sweetheart."
Peter looked up at Pepper's gentle smile.
This woman planned to adopt him.
He didn't deserve her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Natasha frowned as she looked around the barren room that was Peter's. She knew the boy had only just arrived, but it was still a sad sight to see.
It was clean, contained a soft bed with both sheets and a large warm comforter, and a dresser that was stocked with new clothes. The closet was a little empty, but no doubt Pepper was waiting for Peter to settle in before guiding him to picking out some things he might like.
Still, it was sad to see he still had nothing personal.
Well, she thought there was nothing personal, until she caught sight of something sticking out from under the boy's pillow.
Moving towards the bed, she lifted the pillow, finding a worn photo of a man, woman, and young child.
It was obvious the child was Peter. There was no mistaking the large brown eyes and curls. His face was lit up in a bright smile as he held up a science fair trophy for first place.
The man and woman behind his smiled proudly, each with a hand on his shoulder.
Judging by how old Peter looked, she assumed the two adults where May and Ben Parker, the aunt and uncle Peter had lived with after his parents had died.
God, the kid's file had been a nightmare to get through. She wasn't sure if Steve would recover any time soon.
"Alright, FRIDAY." Natasha said, putting the photo back where she found it. "What were his movements last night?"
"Do to the privacy protocols, I have no audio or video footage to share with you. I can tell you however that Mr. Parker retreated to the bathroom at one point and did not return into the room until daybreak."
"Tony said he heard a thump when he passed the room."
"That was Mr. Parker falling from the ceiling."
"The ceiling?" Natasha asked, raising an eyebrow
"Yes. Boss only assumed he fell out of bed."
"What was he doing on the ceiling?"
"He crawled out of the bathroom that way."
Frowning, Natasha made her way into the bathroom. Everyone knew FRIDAY had to have explicit permission to have access to the bathrooms, and no doubt Peter had not given her that.
Which meant Peter had complete privacy in there.
Still, how had he managed to escape out the bathroom?
Carefully making her way around, examining every inch, she ended up at the window. Looking at it carefully, she placed her hand on the glass.
Peter was a flight risk, so certain precautions had been taken to prevent him from running. Pressure point windows had been one. If Peter had pushed on the glass of the window, then FRIDAY's privacy protocol would have been overrode to alert Pepper and Tony as to what he was doing. It had happened in her and Steve's bathroom when he had first arrived back to the compound.
Humming, she pushed on the glass and waited.
It wasn't long before both Steve and Tony burst into Peter's room and into the bathroom.
"What?" Tony asked, a bewildered look on his face.
"Looks like the alerts are still working."
"Where's Peter?" Steve asked, looking around.
"I'm assuming with Pepper and the twins. Otherwise she would be up here too."
"Ok, so we're having a gathering in the bathroom...why?" Tony asked.
"You're only here because I triggered the alarm. FRIDAY says he came in here last night and didn't come out till morning, meaning he never went to bed. He also crawled out on the ceiling. The thump you heard was him falling off of it."
"Ouch." Tony winced.
"If the window alerts are working, then he couldn't have gotten out that way, right?" Steve frowned, looking at Tony.
"Those alerts are set in place until Peter is settled here and we don't have to worry about him leaving. Doesn't seem like it mattered though. Kid still vanished on us." Tony huffed.
"But he came back." Steve pointed out with a hopeful smile.
"This time." Natasha said, running her hand along the window seams. "It doesn't mean he will if he gets out again."
“Well, this has been educational.” Tony sniffed. “We’re still in the dark as to how he got out.”
“He got out through the window.” Natasha replied with a pointed stare.
“How?” Tony shouted. “FRIDAY didn’t just let him out. There’s no way he got past her!”
“You’ve praised the kid’s brain, Tony.” Steve said, watching Natasha comb over every inch of the window.
“Maybe he figured out a way around her.”
"I'm going to pretend I didn't just hear you say that." Tony scoffed.
"No, he definitely figured out a way around her." Natasha said, her eyebrows furrowing. "It just doesn't make sense the way he managed to do it."
"What do you mean?" Steve asked.
"Somehow, he got this window open without uneven pressure. It's why FRIDAY's sensors weren't tripped. He was able to open the window without uneven pressure and without alerting the sensors that the window even opened. He blocked them."
The three stood in silence as Natasha's words sank in. There was no way Peter could have done that. He didn't have his web shooters to gum up anything, and even that wouldn't have explained the pressure points.
"Pep's gonna adopt this kid." Tony sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Or at least, she's gonna try. She wants him, the twins want him, and after learning about the contents of his file, the rest of us now have a soft spot for him too."
"Please, you had a soft spot before any of us." Natasha said, rolling her eyes. "What's that you always call him? Underroos?"
"He was practically swinging around in a onesie!"
"I believe it was a pair of sweat pants and a sweatshirt under a sleeveless hoodie. Far from a onesie." Steve grinned. "I believe the onesie came from you."
"What is this? Gang up on Tony Stark week or something?"
"99% of the time, you bring this on yourself." Natasha smirked, crossing her arms.
"I can't believe this. In my own home!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pepper frowned as she looked at the notice on her phone.
Peter's bathroom window alert had been tripped, but the boy in question was currently sitting between her and Wanda as Clint, Pietro and Sam yelled at the TV screen and accused each other of cheating.
"I told you." Wanda grinned, looking at Peter. "Pietro can't handle losing."
Peter nodded, not really paying attention. He was having a hard time focusing on anything other than the warmth from where Wanda's thigh touched his. The soul bond reaching out to him like a loving embrace.
This is nice.
Don't get used to it.
I said, this. Is. Nice!
Peter flinched at Venom's harsh response. He had noted the underlying annoyance from the creature all day.
"Hey, Pete! Wanna play?"
Peter startled as Clint's cheerful voice called out to him. He looked up to see the three men looking at him expectantly.
It wasn't necessarily that Peter didn't want to play, it was more so he didn't want to create further ties to anyone here. He couldn't afford to latch on to any of them. It was one thing when all they knew him as was Spider-Man, but this was different. As far as they had known, Spider-Man led a normal life outside the suit, but Peter Parker did not. Peter Parker didn't have much of a life at all.
It wasn't like he deserved one after letting Ben and May down.
"Come on, man." Sam smiled. "You can't be any worse than this one."
"Hey!" Pietro shouted, glaring as Sam laughed.
"I...I think I'd just rather watch." Peter replied, hunching in on himself.
"I'll play." Wanda smiled, standing up and taking the controller from Pietro and giving a subtle nod to spot by Peter she had left. "You sit this one out."
Peter missed the warmth of Wanda as soon as she stood from her seat. Despite his own plans of leaving, he felt a slight sting as she walked away.
The loss didn't last though as Pietro took her place, the familiar warmth enveloping him again.
His emotions were giving him whiplash. He knew he needed to leave, but the bond between soulmates was a strong one. Very few people had ever parted from their fated ones, and it didn't always end well. At least one case he knew of had resulted in the near death of both individuals.
But both of them had been normal humans, and Peter, Wanda and Pietro were far from normal.
They would be fine.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So what's your plan?" Steve asked after Tony left the room.
"Who says I have a plan?"
"You always have a plan."
Natasha chuckled as she moved forward, wrapping her arms around his waist. They weren't as physically affectionate in front of others like most soulmates, but it didn't mean they didn't show they're love in private.
"I'm going to do a steak out. If he's getting out through the bathroom, FRIDAY isn't going to be able to help us."
Steve sighed, returning her embrace.
"I feel for Peter. His file and the condition Tony found him in was disgusting. If he would just allow himself to give living here with us and his soulmates, he might be able to begin to heal."
"Emotional damage runs deep. I do think Wanda and Pietro could help though."
The two stood quietly, both lost in their own thoughts and worries over their newly acquired housemate. Peter was so young for everything he had been through, all while trying to help others.
"I have another concern." Steve frowned. "I know Peter can handle himself, but Fury contacted me about the murders around the city. They're getting worse and more violent. It's looking more like creature attacks than human. If Peter's going out alone at night..."
Natasha listened, her mind filling in the end of Steve's sentence.
"I'm worried this escape attempt might get worse when the trial starts." Natasha sighed.
"There's enough evidence, and several former victims that managed to get out are going to testify, so Peter shouldn't even have to be considered to take the stand..." she trailed off.
"You think they might ask him to?"
"It's possible. He was living with them when they were arrested. He's the most recent victim of abuse."
"I don't think Peter could handle that. He's strong, but he's got so much on his plate right now." Steve said, shaking his head.
"Well, if Pepper has her say, Peter won't be anywhere near the courtroom. Still, that doesn't mean he won't hear about it from the news or anything, if he watches it. I know Spider-Man was following the murder cases. He may still be following them as far as I know."
"I don't suppose you have a tactful way I could approach Peter about the murders, do you? I'd like to know what he knows. If he knows anything."
"I don't know. We might need to handle this on our own until Peter's ready to be out as Spider-Man again."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wanda smiled as she ran her fingers through Peter's hair. He had fallen asleep not even a few minutes after Pepper had said she had something to take care of, and motioned for Wanda to take her place.
Once Pepper was gone, Peter's eyes had started to droop as he settled in between his two soulmates.
"He must have had a restless night." Pietro frowned, resting his hand on Peter's legs where they were stretched over his lap. "He fell asleep so quickly."
"Kid's out like a light." Clint frowned. "At least he looks relaxed."
Everyone looked at Peter's peaceful face. The look of constant uncertainty, fear and sadness was gone, replaced with complete relaxation.
It was nice to see.
"As long as you two are comfortable, let's let him sleep as long as he needs." Sam said, turning back to the game with Clint.
Neither Wanda nor Pietro had any objections. Peter was clearly struggling with the changes that had been rapidly thrown at him. He was struggling but, unlike how things had been going since the death of his last bit of family, he was going to get all the support he needed.
"We need a real plan here." Clint said, not taking his eyes off the screen. "Pepper's adopting him, so that's gonna be a major event for him. Until now he's just been fostered. So, on top of being in shitty homes, he was tossed around as well. This is a permanent thing he's getting into."
"That's not even counting being with all of us full time." Sam added. "Kid's mostly been on his own for a while."
"I have no doubts we can make it work." Wanda smiled. "I mean, it's what we do, right?"
"Yeah. It's what we do." Clint smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Care to explain the alert I got earlier?"
Tony looked up as Pepper entered the lab, looking over the various monitors he had pulled up.
"Nat was trying to figure out how our little spider got out last night. She pushed on the bathroom window."
"So, if the windows are working, then how-"
"No clue." Tony huffed. "I'm scouring FRIDAY's code. Somehow, the kid managed to open the window without making it seem opened."
"How is that possible?" Pepper asked, her eyebrows furrowing.
"Don't know, but I sure as hell plan to find out. Your son got past my coding!"
"Is that a bit of admiration I hear in your voice?" Pepper snickered.
"He got lucky it worked." Tony grunted. "Luck. He managed to exploit something faulty in the window obviously. Maybe the window itself wasn't properly installed."
"Sure, Tony. Sure."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Are you sure about this?" Steve frowned as he followed Natasha outside and under Peter's bathroom window.
"Probably the easiest way to find out how he got out. His Spider-Sense would definitely detect me hiding in his room."
"What if he doesn't leave?"
"All the better. There's a high chance he might not risk it tonight, but I wouldn't count it out either. I have to say, I've got a hell of a lot of respect for that kid." Natasha smirked, crossing her arms and leaning against the building.
"He got past FRIDAY, annoyed Tony, gave us a mystery to solve, and impressed the Black Widow. I'd say he's officially my new hero." Steve laughed.
"Oh please Golden Boy. If Tony hadn't found him first, you'd have been all over him. You can't resist that do-gooder drive and Spider-Man is all about that."
"I won't even deny it." Steve shrugged
"Ok, so, we rotate. He got out once, he will eventually do it again. So, for the next little while, we'll rotate who take watch outside his window. I'll take tonight."
"How long do you really think it'll be before he tries again?"
"I give it a week at the most, another night at the least."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter felt warm and relaxed, more than he had felt in some time. A strange since of safety and peace hung over him, keeping him from crawling back to consciousness. His long abused body desperately making up for lost time.
He was just so tired.
He missed May and Ben.
He missed May's terrible cooking and how Ben always wound up fixing it.
He missed how they would tease him about his crush on MJ, which they refused to admit wasn't returned, despite both of them knowing they weren't soulmates.
He wondered if, in the time he had been gone, Ned and MJ had found their other half.
He would like to meet them if they have.
He missed so much of his long lost life before May and Ben died.
He didn't know if he'd ever really find that kind of life again. One filled with love and happiness.
Although, he couldn't explain why he sort of felt that way right now.
Things just felt.....right.
He wanted to stay wrapped up in this feeling forever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Venom was quiet as he wandered through the dark terrain that was Peter's mind. There was so much hurt and darkness buried there.
Perhaps that was what had called to him to begin with.
A kindred spirit. Someone in need of a companion.
It had taken some time to adjust to Peter's body as he had been far beyond what Venom had thought he would be.
The boy was enhanced.
Strong with interesting abilities.
Abilities Venom had been able to tap into, amplifying them.
The longer Peter spent in the presence of who Venom had learned to be his soulmates, the brighter the dark corners of Peter's mind seemed to come.
Happier memories began to move towards the front of his mind.
It was good that Peter was resting finally since his own health was directly linked to Peter's.
The boy needed to take better care of himself. Which is what made staying where he was all the more important.
Venom continued to move through Peter's mind, going further and further, looking slowly into the darkest memories in Peter's mind.
The memories of Peter's pain gave him power. He could feed off that negativity to increase his own strength and better protect himself and Peter. He had to gather as much as he could before the memories would be buried so deep he would have trouble accessing them.
On top of protecting himself and Peter, he could use this power to continue to rid the streets of filth.
Oh, how delicious the taste of New York’s seedy underbelly could be.
Perhaps he and Peter should venture out again.
Although he didn’t think Peter would be up to it. He hadn’t seemed as excited as Venom had about their activities.
Still, he had faith the Peter would eventually see the effectiveness of his methods.
Besides, they were his criminals, not Spider-Man’s.
He handled them in a way they wouldn’t ever be able to hurt anyone again.
In truth, he felt like Peter should have been proud.
He knew he would have been if it had been Peter doing it. He would have been proud of his companion.
Venom huffed in slight annoyance.
Peter really needed to hurry up on agreeing with him.
Things would be so much better.
Yes. They needed to go out tonight. The more Peter experienced, the better he would understand, no doubt.
Still, there was no reason to rush Peter's sleep. He needed it, and he would be better rested for tonight. Perhaps it was time he allowed Peter more of an awareness to their late night actions. Let him see what was really happening before Venom attacked.
He knew Peter himself would never follow through with the same tactics, but his acceptance alone would be enough.
His willingness to let Venom have control when needed would be enough.
Spider-Man could be a hero of the light, and Venom was perfectly ready to handle the dark.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pepper looked up from where she was seated on the common room couch as Natasha and Steve entered.
"Find anything?"
"Well, we do know he got out the window, but that's it." Steve shrugged.
"We're going to do a stakeout. See if he tries to leave again. What are you looking at? You were frowning when we walked in." Natasha said, sitting down next to Pepper.
"Emails from our lawyers. It's not going to be hard to adopt Peter, but they have requirements."
"Like what?" Steve asked, leaning forward.
"A new agency took Peter's file and with everything going on, they want Peter to be evaluated by one of their therapists.
Apparently, Peter's old adoption agency is coming under investigation as a result of the arrest of the couple of one of their “approved” foster homes.
They're also being brought into question over why home visits weren't be properly conducted, as well as better background checks on the families.
Turns out Peter's not the only 'troubled case' they had.
They're going to face a lot of legal trouble."
"Who's requesting Peter's therapy?"
"They're willing to speed along the process to get Peter settled somewhere before things go to trial. It's probably doesn't hurt that I wasn't afraid to throw my name around." Pepper smirked at her screen.
"Pepper Potts throwing her name around to get what she wants? How very Tony Stark of you." Natasha smirked.
"Well, I've had plenty of experience seeing the method work." Pepper chuckled.
"Well, if it helps Peter, feel free to throw me in the ring as well." Steve smiled. "I'm sure the others would agree."
"The biggest help would be to get Peter out of therapy with the agency. Not that I don't think he would benefit from it, but a normal therapist isn't going to work for him. I really wanted Sam to talk to him. Peter barely speaks to us, and he's known you all for a while now, he's not going to open up to someone he's never met."
Natasha frowned as she read over the email sent to Pepper.
"I don't know what they plan to get out of him this way.
Sexual abuse didn’t happen to Peter, and they made sure none of those kids ever knew what was going to happen once they aged out of the system.
Peter had no idea what they were planning to do with him. His problems come from the verbal abuse and his own self deprecation. How long are they asking for?"
"We’ll, unless I can convince them to let me choose Peter’s therapist, I’m stuck having to agree to it.”
“How long do they want him in?” Steve asked.
“They don’t say. I imagine until the therapist feels comfortable with letting him go.”
“With Peter, that could take a while. Plus, the whole Spider-Man issue could be a problem.” Natasha frowned.
“Sam and I will go with you to talk to the case manager.” Steve nodded.
“We’ll see if we can help you influence them to use Sam as Peter’s therapist instead.”
“So now Captain America and Falcon are gonna throw their names around too?” Natasha smirked.
“I did say to throw my name in.” Steve grinned.
Pepper smiled as the two tossed good natured jabs between them.
It had been made very clear that everyone was willing to do what they could to help Peter.
After so long of being forced into one bad home after another, he was finally going to be somewhere where he would be loved and cared for.
Peter Parker Potts was sounding better and better.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter felt consciousness slowly returning. His eyes were still heavy, and fought opening to wide. He felt so relaxed and comfortable, and his body screamed to enjoy it, since it had been so long without experiencing either.
Still, his hazy mind knew there was some reason he needed to wake up. A reason he couldn't, for the life of him, recall.
A small, content sigh escaped him as he shifted a bit.
Light chuckles filtered through the fog, making him want to smile in return. Outside of the chuckles, there were no words spoken.
The lack of obvious danger gave Peter the chance to slowly come back to, and he began to stretch out his sleep froze limbs.
A hand carded through his hair and another lightly squeezed his ankle.
He felt love and affection.
Cracking his eyes open, he was greeted with the sight of Clint, Sam, and Steve duking it out for first place in Mario Cart. Pepper and Natasha sat off on another couch, talking quietly while Tony sat in a lone chair on a Stark Pad.
It was such a warm and domestic scene of everyone just enjoying being together.
He smiled while enjoying that state between being half awake and half asleep.
It took him a few minutes of waking to realize that two people were missing from the scene. Turning slowly, he looked up into Wanda's soft face as she ran her fingers through his hair again. Looking down towards the other end, he saw Pietro smiling at him. His shoes had been removed and his feet placed in the man's lap, helping him to be able to comfortably stretch out.
He blushed brightly, unable to make himself move despite his embarrassment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pepper and Natasha watch the little trio as subtly as they could, interested in how Peter would react. They were hopeful he wouldn't be as upset as they feared he might be.
They just hoped he didn't jump up and run.
He was still leery of close contact, especially with Wanda and Pietro.
Something they couldn’t figure out.
Everyone was always so happy to find their other half or halves.
Why wasn’t Peter?
Sure, there were obvious signs he wanted to be, but something was holding him back from truly embracing them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter sat up quickly as things fully set in.
How long had he been asleep?
Had they really been trapped there, having to be human pillows for him?
“I-I’m sorry!” Peter apologized, looking down at the floor.
“No need to apologize, Pete.” Pietro grinned. “It wasn’t a hardship for us. “
“You clearly needed the rest.” Wanda agreed.
“Still…”
“Nope. No ‘still’s. We’re perfectly fine with being your pillows.” Pietro hushed him.
He and Wanda had decided the previous night not to directly address Peter as their soulmate until he began to seem more comfortable with them.
Not that that lack of declaration changed the sentiment behind anything they did or would do for him.
Around them, everyone continued to carry on as if they weren’t desperately trying to listen in on what what going on on the couch.
Not that Wanda and Pietro cared.
Peter was still sitting with them, and while a little stiff, he didn’t seem to be making any moves to leave them.
In fact, they would swear he was settling in to his seat more.
Peter had a lot of things to work through, but maybe, just maybe, he’d let them in soon enough to help.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter huffed internally at the smugness he could feel radiating off Venom.
He refused to a knowledge him.
But you are not leaving.
I just woke up.
You don’t want to leave.
Shut up.
Venom didn’t reply, but his smug attitude remained.