Face the Music
"So, did you enjoy your little vacation?" Karen smirked as she looked over to where Peter was cradling Jack.
"It was.....something. I'm guessing it's my last though?"
Karen chuckled, handing Peter a bottle.
"Well, they can't exactly stop you, but they are going to hand it to you for just disappearing without warning."
"Well, in my defense, it wasn't planned."
"There is no defense with these guys, Peter." Karen snorted.
"But I let Matt know!"
"You let him know as you were getting ready to leave, and you didn't tell him where you were going."
Peter looked down, watching Jack take his bottle.
He knew he had made a rash decision to just up and leave the city, but Deadpool's offer had been to good to ignore really. Just the thought of having a moment to gather himself without being surrounded by everything that weighed so heavy on him had been wonderful.
"So, how long do you think I have before they descend for the kill?" Peter grimaced.
"Oh, they better not descend here. Think they Matt's a force, let them make Jack cry and I'll show them a force."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sam ran a hand down his face with a groan. He had been hiding out with Bruce in his room for the past hour.
After learning the true extent of how friendly he had gotten with Peter, the team had been......well, less than happy would be an understatement.
They had completely ignored him the rest of the time they were at SHIELD. That, on top of listening to Fury lay into them over Deadpool escaping, had made for one miserable night.
"They'll get over it........eventually." Bruce winced. "I mean, didn't you say Peter was at least cordial this time? Surely that was something?"
"He was desperate to free Deadpool. It had nothing to do with his feelings towards them." Sam sighed.
"Maybe.....but they let him go at his request. That had to earn them points."
Sam was quiet, running back through the entire encounter from the time they entered Deadpool's containment room to Peter leaving in a familiar car.
A familiar car he had yet to return by the way.
"He also has to return the car at some point." Bruce said, as though he read Sam's mind.
"Yeah. Thinking on it, he did seem generally torn by their actions. He fully expected to have to fight them."
"Them?" Bruce asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, I would like to think I'm beyond that concern." Sam huffed.
"Sorry I wasn't there." Bruce said, turning his back to Sam.
"I see your shoulders shaking with laughter, Banner!" Sam shouted.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"FRI, run back through the footage." Tony said, watching at FRIDAY restarted the recording from when they found Peter in Deadpool's room.
"What are you looking for, Tony?" Steve asked. "It's not like I'm unhappy being able to see a...non-hostile Peter, but I feel like there's more to that."
"He's looking for facial expressions." Bucky said, staring intently at the screen.
"Anything that looks positive towards us, aside from the look he gave Thor when he vouched for Wade's release. The more interesting thing," Bucky said, looking over at Natasha. "Is, why do you keep sniffing your hand?"
The other alphas turned to where Natasha was sitting with a smirk on her face.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." she said, lifting her hand to cover the lower half of her face.
She didn't fight when Thor grabbed her wrist and lifted her hand to his face and took a deep breath. A smile spread across the god's face.
"It smells like our mate."
"What?" Steve asked, moving towards the spy.
"I did get to touch him." she grinned, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "Skin on skin."
She watched as Steve slowly lifted her hand, smiling softly at the scent.
Bucky grumbled as he remembered the fact Peter had been wearing gloves when he touched him.
"Also," she frowned. "His blocker patch on his neck was peeling away. The skin around it was red. They're extremely good, making me curious where he got them, but I don't think he reacts well to them."
"That!" Tony shouted, startling everyone. "That right there!"
"What are you talking about, Tony." Steve sighed in exasperation.
"His scent blocker! I'll make him one better!"
"And just how are you planning on doing that?"
"Easy, I just need to figure out what his skin is reacting to." Tony answered smugly.
"And how do you plan on doing that without Peter here to test it?" Bucky asked, crossing his arms.
Tony was quiet a moment before smirking.
"Brucie Bear! This is how he can make up for his little secret with bird brain number 2. Peter seems on good enough terms with him. Maybe he can get him to come to the tower and run some tests."
"Peter's not gonna come to the tower while we're here, Tony." Steve shook his head.
"He doesn't have to know we're here." Tony replied. "We just won't go wherever he is, which will be Bruce's lab. Bruce can get what we need, and then we can make him a patch that won't hurt him."
"That would be a wonderful thing for our mate!" Thor boomed in agreement.
"It couldn't hurt." Natasha shrugged.
"Great." Tony grinned, clapping his hands together. "Now, time to have a little chat with the traitors."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You're preparing an awful lot of various finger foods."
Gwen said, watching as Peter bustled about his kitchen. He had propped his phone up so he could see her and her see him properly.
"Well, I'm trying to appease the beasts a little." Peter grimaced. "Anything to make this upcoming powwow less painful for me."
"I really don't understand the problem. You have a right to leave the city whenever you want."
"I think they're more so pissed about how long I was gone without checking in." Peter sighed. "They would have been fine with me just taking a break if I had let them know. I'm sure they've heard I was staying at one of Deadpool's places too."
"Maybe we should keep it a secret that he gave you access to all his safe houses then."
"I think that would be a good idea.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"No."
Bruce crossed his arms in defense as the hopeful faces of five alphas looked at him. He couldn't believe what they were asking him to do.
"Come on, Bruce." Tony pleaded. "He needs this!"
"Maybe he does, but I'm not asking him to come here so I can run tests on him!"
"They're not invasive tests! It's like allergy tests!"
"We may see it that way, but that doesn't mean he will."
Tony huffed as Bruce refused to budge.
"What if you went to his place then?"
Bruce looked over as Steve rubbed his chin.
"Can you take what you need?"
"It would be better to do something like that here." Bruce said, shaking his head.
"He's already been here once. As long as he thinks he won't have to see us, maybe he'll come." Bucky shrugged.
"Look, I haven't really known Peter that long." Bruce sighed. "Sam has known him longer than me."
"But he literally said that out of the two of you, you're his favorite!" Tony cried, throwing his hands up.
"Just offer it, Bruce." Natasha said. "Either he will or he won't. Given how his skin looked, I definitely think he needs it."
Bruce bit his lip as he mind whirled.
If Peter was having trouble with his blockers, of course he wanted to help. He considered Peter a friend, and friends helped each other.
That being said, he knew Peter only came to the tower because he knew the others wouldn't be here. How could he ask Peter to come without the guarantee?
Bruce sighed.
"He'll only come if he can be assured none of you will be here. Plus, I'll have to have a few days in order to remove all alpha scent from the labs. I don't want him uncomfortable while he's here."
"Fair enough." Tony shrugged. "I guess I can stay out if it gets Peter here and taken care of."
"Wow." Natasha smirked. "Tony Stark voluntarily locking himself out of his lab?"
"That's just what it's like being a good alpha." Tony smirked.
Bruce rolled his eyes as he started going over ways to approach the topic with Peter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Peter, you have an incoming call from an unknown number."
Peter frowned.
How had someone managed to get his number?
"Can you trace the caller, GWEN?"
"It is not from any of the Avengers if that's your question."
"How would you even know-you know what, never mind. Answer it."
Peter listened as GWEN connected the call and a voice came over the line.
"Peter? It's Scott."
Peter's eyebrows raised as the voice of the X-Men's leader came over his sound system.
"Hey Scott, what's up?"
"We're having a graduation party for some of the kids here at the school, everyone wants you to come."
"Why don't you just tell me that truthfully, everyone just wants to know what I was doing in San Fran, and with my new friend." Peter grinned.
"Honestly Peter, if we wanted to know that, we'd just get Jean or the Professor to pick your brain." Scott's smug smirked could be heard through the phone.
"Smooth Summers." Peter laughed. "Fine. It'll be nice to visit again."
"Great. I'll let everyone know. Of course, we won't have to do something so invasive if you just offer up the details yourself you know."
Peter chuckled. He knew very well that neither Jean or Xavier would take a peak in his mind, but the fact he was able to joke about it with them again was so thrilling, he'd probably let them do it.
"There's not much to tell. So put everyone at ease and let them know I'll spill the secrets."
"They'll be thrilled. Do you need a ride? Logan's coming to the city Friday, so you can pack a bag and stay the night."
"That'll be great! I'll see you guys Friday."
"See you then, Peter."
"Well, that'll be fun." GWEN said after Scott hung up.
"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it."
"Well, I'm glad you have something to look forward to, because your friends are here. Jess looks extremely hostile today."
"She's always hostile." Peter said, squaring his shoulders. "Alright GWEN, let's do this."
Peter made his way to the door and took a breath before opening it.
On the other side stood Jessica, Luke, Danny... and Matt?
"I'm only here to make sure things don't get violent." Matt shrugged, pushing past everyone and into the apartment.
"Make yourself at home." Peter deadpanned.
"We will." Jessica replied, also pushing past him.
"You really should have let us know, Pete." Danny said, patting his shoulder and entering.
"I had to find out with Wilson over the news." Luke grumbled. "Which meant he had to bail and run home to tend to the children."
Peter winced at the mention of the Avengers, which didn't go unnoticed by Luke.
"Come on kid, let's get this over with so this doesn't happen again." Luke said, spinning Peter around and pushing him forward and shutting the door behind them.
"Nice touch laying out a spread." Jessica said, swiping a beer out the fridge.
"How did you even know those were in there?" Peter asked.
"You had food on the table to appease us. You wouldn't put out food without beer." Jessica smirked, waving the bottle at him.
"Fine, you got me." Peter shrugged.
"Look, Pete," Danny started sitting down on the couch. "We know you can handle yourself, but you're a part of the group and we always know when one of us leaves town."
"Especially when it's the one person the Avengers would coming knocking and asking questions about." Luke grumbled, crossing his arms.
"I let Matt know I was leaving the city." Peter tried before asking.
"Don't bring me into this." Matt said, leaning back. "You didn't tell me where you were leaving to."
"Did...did they come looking for me?" Peter asked, a tightening in his stomach.
Maybe their nice guy act when he saved Wade really had been that, just an act, and not an actual attempt at proving themselves.
Which Peter doubted their true motives.
"No. Like I said, we found out on the news. Wilson's quick bail made it clear they were unaware you were missing."
Peter sighed, dropping into a chair.
"I guess Wade was wearing more than my hoodie around town."
"Wade, as in, Deadpool, Wade?" Jessica asked, plopping down next to Matt.
"Yeah. He was apartment sitting while I was gone."
"Of course he would." Jessica snorted. "Sounds exactly like something he'd do. He's always fucking with the Avengers when he's here."
"Where is he anyway?" Danny asked, filling a plate.
"You're not supposed to be eating the food, Rand." Jessica said. "It's a bribe."
"Says the one throwing back bribe beer." Danny snorted, sitting down with his plate.
"Well, hell." Luke said, grabbing his own plate.
"You guys suck."
"Matt? You gonna join in?" Peter asked.
"Karen's cooking. She'll kill me if I fill up here." Matt grinned.
"You didn't answer my question." Danny said.
"He's gone." Peter replied, looking out the window. "If he comes back and the Avengers catch him, he's getting shipped off to a place called The Icebox."
The Defenders all flinched at the name of the mutant prison.
"Wait, how do you know that?" Luke asked, his eyebrows furrowed.
"Well..." Peter said, drawing out the upcoming explanation.
"Spill Jones." Jessica ordered.
"I actually came back when GWEN alerted me to Wade having been captured-"
"Who?" everyone asked.
"Me."
Everyone jumped as a disembodied voice filled the area.
"Did I just hear a voice come from the ceiling?" Luke asked.
"Yeah, that's GWEN. She's an AI I built. She's integrated throughout the apartment, my phone, and my suit."
"And you didn't tell any of us about this?" Jessica exclaimed.
"Well, I tried to, but you decided to be entertaining company." Peter glared.
"Hey, he stopped by, I didn't invite him." Jessica scoffed.
Peter growled. How were they still not getting it? Why wouldn't they just leave his friends alone about him?
"Have you considered talking to one of them?" Danny asked,
"Why would I?" Peter huffed. "I don't owe them anything and they haven't proven anything to me about being trustworthy."
There was a long pause before Luke sighed.
"Look, Pete, we respect your past, we do, but this isn't it. You have a chance to start fresh here, man. You have all of us to help."
Peter looked at the small group gathered in his home, and thought about the ones who weren't there.
It just made everything hurt so much worse.
Even if these Avengers were really the good guys, how was he supposed to just accept that?
Every time he looked at them, memories of his own world would flash through his mind. Every time he looked in the mirror after a shower, his body reminded him of it as well.
He had so many reminders.
Standing up, Peter turned his back to them and pulled his shirt over his head, putting the long gash on his back on display.
The room went quiet as it, along with a few other faded marks, was taken in.
"What the fuck is that?" Jessica yelled, jumping up and running her hands across Peter's back.
"A souvenir." Peter scoffed. "My Avengers thought dropping a building on me would be a good laugh."
"Damn." Luke grimaced.
"Did you know about that, Matt?" Danny asked.
"Yeah. Peter shared with the class first time we met."
"Seeing this would have made things even more clear earlier, Parker." Jessica said, slapping him on the back.
"Anything else you'd like to spring on us?"
"Why Jessica Jones, are you trying to get me naked?" Peter asked over his shoulder, deflecting his feelings with humor.
"Gross. You're family, remember?"
"Well, I've got some marks on my chest and stomach," Peter sighed, turning to face them. "These aren't as bad as my back. This one of the side is kind of rough, but my more impressive ones are on my legs. Taking out the legs was a huge tactic they used."
"Jesus." Danny breathed.
"I'm lucky I have a solid healing factor. I'd look a lot worse if I didn't. Sam had a lot of scars. He couldn't heal like me and Buck." Peter said softly, eyes distant for a moment before focusing.
"Why didn't these heal?" Jessica asked.
"They were to deep or to bad. I can heal a lot, but some wounds can only be helped so much."
"So, GWEN?" Matt asked, giving Peter an out to having to discuss his body more.
"Yes!" Peter smiled gratefully.
"Say hi, GWEN."
"Hello."
"I can't figure out if I should be concerned or jealous." Jessica whistled.
"I heard Stark's AI runs all of Avengers Tower. GWEN run the show here?" Luke asked.
"Of course I do. I'm also way more efficient than that decrepit system."
"GWEN and FRIDAY don't exactly have the best relationship." Peter shrugged.
"How does GWEN know Stark's AI?" Danny frowned.
"Oh....yeah....well, I kind of went to the tower to try and find Wade."
"I'm sorry, you did what now?" Jessica asked raising an eyebrow.
"I came back after getting an alert from Wade. GWEN found out he had been taken by the Avengers for SHIELD. I went to the tower to try and bail him out, but Dr. Banner was the only one there. He loaned me a car and told me where to go to get Wade. GWEN and FRIDAY met then."
"Ok. Obviously the AI's don't see eye to eye." Luke grumbled, trying to put aside his exasperation.
"But more on Deadpool."
"Yeah, they caught Wade and took his to SHIELD to be held until he would be sent to the Ice Box. I went to get him and...." Peter hesitated in finishing his story.
He had tried hard not to think about what the Avengers had done for him by helping him get Wade out and then being upfront and honest about what their actions would be if Wade returned. They hadn't tried to cross any boundaries and their warning about Wade's future was nothing more than them doing their job. Wade was a criminal who the team had been trying to catch long before Peter had arrived.
Everyone knew about it and didn't care.
Hell, Wade didn't care.
"Pete?" Matt's voice cut through his thoughts.
"Y-yeah. I...I went to SHIELD to break Wade out. They had put a collar on his to suppress his powers."
"Ouch." Jessica breathed out. "That couldn't have been good for a man with a dependance on his healing factor."
"You know about his cancer?"
"We all do." Matt shrugged.
"How did the Avengers not know?" Peter shouted. "Wade was literally dying!"
"Because they're not like us." Jessica said, rolling her eyes.
"We've seen Wade a lot." Danny explained.
"He's especially attached to Matt." Luke grinned.
"Shut up." Matt grumbled.
"Point is," Danny continued. "We knew a little more about him than they do. When Wade shows up, he makes it a point not to have to deal with the Avengers. They don't know a whole lot about him outside of the fact he causes a lot of damage when he's here."
"I had to beg them to take the damn thing off." Peter scoffed, unaware of everyone's attention zeroed in on him.
"I got close to them and begged them to let him go. They almost didn't! If Thor hadn't stepped up to help me, Wade might have actually died right there!"
No one spoke as Peter ranted. This was the first interaction Peter had had with the Avengers that didn't result in a physical altercation from how it sounded.
As Peter continued his story, it became clear that the Avengers had actually helped him break Deadpool out.
And Peter was the only one who didn't seem to catch on that it wasn't just Wade's cancer that moved them.
While they may have felt bad sending a dying man to a place like the Ice Box, it was the distress of their omega that had really done it.
"So, they helped you get Wade out?" Danny asked slowly.
"Yeah." Peter huffed in frustration.
"Sounds nice." Jessica said, examining her fingernails.
"I...I guess." Peter replied slowly with furrowed brows.
"They could have kept him. SHIELD's been after him a while. They probably got one hell of a punishment for that." Luke smirked.
Peter looked around the room, an unsettling feeling in his stomach.
They were leading the conversation somewhere he didn't want it to go.
"So Wade's gone for a little while at least!" he shouted, startling everyone.
No one spoke for a bit until Matt sighed and stood up.
"Well, just make sure you give us more information next time you decide to skip town. You're used to New York, but different cities can treat Betas and Omega's differently."
Peter raised an eyebrow at that. He had never even thought about his second gender while he was there. Granted he had the best scent blockers anyone could have curtesy of the X-Men, he still never thought about it.
Maybe he hadn't gotten as used to having a second gender as he thought he was.
Or, maybe knowing the Avengers were nearby made him all to aware.
"You're getting off easy, Jones." Jessica grinned. "I think Wilson punished you enough."
"Har har." Peter deadpanned. "I'm no longer worry for not telling any of you where I went."
"Whatever. I'll just put out an APB for Peter Jones next time."
Peter rolled his eyes as Matt moved towards the door.
"Well, as fun as this is, I have an omega and pup to get back to. Just keep up better aware next time Pete so we can get to you faster if you get in trouble."
"I'll make sure GWEN connects to all of you." Peter nodded.
"We're gonna get an AI on our phone?" Danny asked, his eyes lighting up in excitement.
"Not exactly." Peter winced. "I just meant that GWEN could connect to your phones so she can alert you without me having to do anything."
Danny's face fell.
"What would you even use an AI for?" Luke asked.
"It would just be cool to have!" Danny exclaimed, throwing his hands up.
"Then hire someone to make you one." Jessica said, pushing past him to follow Matt.
"Peter gets all the best shit."
"Peter makes his shit."
"Sorry, Danny." Peter apologized.
"It's fine, Pete." Danny shrugged with a smile. "Maybe one day."
"Maybe I could work something up for you." Peter grinned.
"Maybe not as extensive as GWEN, but something."
"Awesome." Danny grinned, turning towards the others.
"You guys all suck and Peter's my best friend."
"Pretty sure that's my spot." Matt smirked. "I was his first choice to come to for help."
"He's my cousin." Jessica replied haughtily.
"Both your dicks are big. We got it." Luke grumbled, pushing everyone out the door.
"Later, Pete."
"Bye guys." Peter smiled, waving at them as they disappeared around the hallway corner.
"Well, that wasn't bad at all."
GWEN said as he shut the door.
"I feel like they're luring me into a false sense of security and the hammer will be dropped when I least expect it."
"You are such a pessimist Peter."
He could hear the scoff in GWEN's voice.
"You're on everyone's side but mine." Peter pouted.
"Poor baby."
"Why did I make you this way?"
"Because this makes me leagues above Stark and his......ugh! I don't even want to refer to her as an AI."
Peter chuckled as GWEN grumbled about FRIDAY.
Peter paused on his way to the kitchen as a light knocking came from his door. He wasn’t expecting any more company, and no one who came to visit him ever knocked so politely.
Curiously he peeked out the peephole, only to see the back of a strawberry blonde head as the person seemed to slightly glance up and down the hall.
Frowning, Peter slowly opened the door, only to freeze as Virginia “Pepper” Potts turned to smile at him.
“You’re a hard man to track down Mr. Parker, or should I say, Mr. Jones?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bruce stood in his lab, carefully analyzing the makeup of a scent blocker.
He was well aware that whatever Peter was using was much stronger, the alphas made it very clear the couldn't catch even the tiniest hint of his scent, but the chemical components couldn't be to different.
He really wished he had one of Peter's blockers though.
Breaking down each component gave him the ability to possibly identify the exact element that was causing Peter problems.
Still, he would need to be able to test these on Peter's skin, and he was still working on a way to do that.
While he had denied doing it to the others, he liked Peter and wanted to help him if he could.
"You better hope they don't find out you're actually doing this."
Bruce turned as Sam walked into the lab.
"Well, as long as you're the only person that knows, I'll be fine." Bruce smiled, turning back to his desk.
"Clint's coming back tomorrow. You gonna keep it from him too?"
"Yes!" Bruce said, snapping his head around to look at Sam.
"He'd out me immediately just to screw with them!"
Sam laughed as he agreed.
"I can't blame him though." Sam shrugged.
"They make it way to easy."
"Yeah, but I'm gonna have trouble getting Peter here without them knowing it's gonna happen, if it happens."
"He came here once before and was ok." Sam said, raising an eyebrow.
"I've been thinking about that. You never said he reacted to their scents, and they don't wear blockers while here."
"FRIDAY ventilated the area as soon as she sensed him. She activated emergency protocols." Bruce said over his shoulder.
"She had a ventilation protocol?" Sam blinked.
"Tony installed it on the off chance Peter ever came here. After his reaction that one time and Karen warning them about their scents, he created it as soon as he was able to."
"Wow." Sam whistled. "They had some serious high hopes."
"I think it's a good move for them. Every time they do something in hopes of making Peter more comfortable around them, it increases their chances of winning him over."
"Yeah, but I'll be honest Bruce," Sam sighed. "I worry. They're so desperate to connect with him, they may go to far for him. They can't afford to get so distracted they can't do their jobs."
"Yeah, I've thought about that. If they start messing up, that may only fortify Peter's worries they're not the good guys they are."
"I hate to say this, but I wish Pete would give them a chance. I don't want to downplay his trauma, but it might actually be good for him as far as the healing process goes."
"Well," Bruce's eyebrows furrowed. "Maybe if I can make this clear it was their idea, that might help."
"I'll leave that to you, man. After all, you're his favorite apparently." Sam snorted as he walked out the lab to the sounds of Bruce's laughter.