I gotta Elevate

Kiska

It started with Sam’s offhandedly suggestion. 

Or at least that was what it had reminded Natasha of when she had found Peter on the ceiling rocking himself as he looked around the room panicked for the third night that week. 

They had been trying to get him on a normal sleeping and eating schedule and When Natasha and Bucky had started that, they didn’t expect this many nightmares. They expected a few, but they had mostly thought that Peter had been too busy to sleep they didn’t think of the possibility that he could blatantly avoiding it. 

That was just the breaking point.

There were other factors that drove them to this decision as well. Such as the Disassociating (actually that was the main reason why they made this choice in the first place). 

They often found Peter wandering around the tower with nothing to do, hollow look in his eyes. Or when he’d just sit on the couch or at the dinner table staring at nothing, not eating anything or doing anything just staying completely still (and it was creepy sometimes). 

Abby understood better than anyone because she didn’t complain once when He would zone out and sometimes even not answer when they asked him something, like his social battery had just died. 

Sam understood too, but not on a personal level. They were all hitting somewhere around there actually and even though it wasn’t good enough, it was better. 

Still they’d get frustrated when Peter zones out or looked hollow, it was just a reminder of all the work they still had to do with him.

As frustrated as they were though, They weren’t particularly surprised by this behavior, Peter had isolated himself for the better part of a year and half and it was hard to start to socialize again after so long, even with increasingly familiar faces. 

He never brought it up with her or Bucky or Stark, but they all knew he knew what he was doing. Sometimes she could see the effort and strain it took for him to even try to process what other people were saying to him out of the blue. He tried to stay engaged but sometimes he didn’t have the energy to do it. Sometimes he just didn’t want to put in the effort and just let it run its course. Natasha tried to understand like Abby did. Bucky did too, but they just...couldn’t. 

He needed someone stable that understood him.

Then she saw Peter when he was with Lucky the first time.

Lucky was Clint’s golden retriever and he had brought him over with his daughter Lila. They were moving in at the end of the month. Lila would attend a school in New York closer to where her dad worked as would Cassie Lang the daughter of Antman, or Scott Lang. It was a way to keep their families close but also a way for Peter and Abby to better acclimate to their environment. Cassie and Lila were 14 and just starting high school. Shuro came around when T’challa did or when she was working in New York and was Harley and Peters age. They had a good group, but none of them understand Peter either (although, the kid did seem content to mess with them).

But Peter seemed to literally light up when he saw Lucky walk in for the first time; it was like he was a supply for infantile energy. He played with the dog, cuddled with it and talked to it. Blabbered on about nothing and everything And was just so...natural with it. More at ease.

The dog didn’t judge when he zoned out for a second, it just seemed content to be near Peter.

That sparked an idea in her head.

So Natasha brought it up with Bucky and her partner agreed with her idea tenfold.

OoOoO 

Peter got back from his patrol earlier this time. 

Natasha said that they had to do something that morning before he left for patrol and told him to pack it in a little early - as in don’t come back past midnight, but he was getting better with that anyway.

 In the past month, she didn’t ask that of him often. Well, not once actually, she seemed to be grasping the fact that his work as Spiderman was mandatory not only for his adjustment but for his life. Peter was coming home earlier in effort to adapt to the tower. Besides if more people were gonna be here for a while, he should probably come home at a reasonable hour considering they still had school. He graduated but it still wasn’t fair he didn’t need a sleep schedule, he kept that in mind but didn’t live by it. Still his parents appreciated his effort.

She was making such an effort as was Bucky sometimes he felt like he wasn’t even trying. They’d improved so much in the past month and he didn’t see that in himself at all. Well not that much. Not as much as them.

When he got inside the floor and was at the door, he smelled something... off about the inside. He smelled his mother and fathers scents but something else...it almost smelt like a…

He hastily opened the door. And right there with his Mom and a dad on the couch, sleeping on a large dog bed was a brown pile of fur. 

The mutt looked up and cocked her head. Peter’s eyes lit up as he dashed over to the dog without thinking twice. 

“Hewwo! Oh my god aren’t you the cutest! Ah ha! Yes, hello! It’s nice to meet you too!” Peter giggles as the dog licked his face and laughed as she nuzzled her furry large head into his neck and he happily returned the hug. It was a big dog, fluffy and friendly. He didn’t even notice Natasha and Bucky smiling fondly at him from their places on the couch. “What’s your name?” He asked in a ‘puppy voice’ - at least that’s what he called it, Wade said it was a baby voice but Peter hadn’t met many babies in his life...actually he’s met no babies in his life, but he’s seen plenty of puppies - as he reached for her neck but didn’t find a collar “aww who do belong to?” He asked the dog but then glanced up at Natasha who was smirking at him slightly in affection. The dog going under his arm as he looked at his mother, her tail wagging as she painted happily.

“You.” She said and crossed her legs as she sipped her drink. Peter’s mind shorted out for a second and he stopped doing everything - petting, adoring and thinking.

“What?” He asked blankly, unable to say anything else. 

“A therapy dog. Sam suggested it.” Bucky answered next to her “well he said something a while ago, Stark was okay with it.” Bucky said and Peter blinked.

“What?” He said again.

“Her name is Kiska.” Natasha smirked and Peters mind was running on overdrive now. There were too many thoughts and questions. How had they gotten a therapy dog so soon? Was this a recent decision? Did Stark pull some strings? Did he have to take care of it? He didn’t mind but he also didn’t ask for a dog. He didn’t mind her at all. She was sweet. What a good dog. What breed is she? 

“That’s not American.” Was the thing that came out of his mouth.

“No it’s not.” Natasha said idly, seemingly amused. He looked at the dog and the dog looked back. 

“Kiska.” He said and the dog barked and smiled at him. He smiled back. 

Then in a flash he was on his parents in a big hug. 

“благодарю вас!”

OoOoO 

The dog went everywhere with the kid. 

That’s what she was supposed to do but no one could get irritated with him otherwise. It was really cute actually. Whenever Peter wasn’t patrolling or on missions he was with Kiska. 

He seemed more keen on coming back to the tower to be with his awaiting dog who’d actually taken a liking to Abby while the boy was away. The therapy dog really did do it’s job because Abby seemed happier for the presence of her too. 

Tony might just get one for her if it helped with her rapid recovery.

When Natasha has told him that she wanted to get Peter a therapy dog, he was about to flat out decline her. Like no, he was not dealing with fur and dog breath. Then she gave him the scary stare and he was well aware of Barnes on the couch also listening in. Then Sam said that it would be a great idea, seeing as he responded better to a dog than a human, he was guessing Fury could confirm that.

In the end, it really wasn’t his choice. They weren’t asking permission just telling him that they’d have a mop of hairy mutt arriving in the next week and he’d just have to deal with it, being the owner of this tower. 

Assassins, mutants and now dogs. He should make a frat team. 

The thing is, he could the difference between Peter before the mutt and after and it was frankly astonishing. 

The spidering was brighter and more at ease without trying or forcing himself to be. He seemed to bounce ideas off the dog more than him and Banner but he always knew that they were listening. He was more engaged because the dog seemed to be intrigued with everything they were saying to Peter and therefore the kid was engaged. He was more open with his constant companion and the mutt seemed to become his best friend in literally less than an hour.

“That’s just Peter.” Ned has said when Peter came in with the dog and started to talk about nuclear fusion with her instead of engage with his human friends.

“What did you expect?” Michelle scoffed and Tony decided she had a good point. They all knew how Parker acted around other people’s mutts, so of course he’d treat his own like a high power or something. 

 There also seemed to be an air of gratitude around him. Especially with Tony.

He supposed that made sense, Peter never got much growing up. So getting something as big as this is kind of a really big deal for him. tony forgets that sometimes.

Ah, humbler beginnings. 

The dog wasn’t even that bad in the lab. Sure, when Parker had first dragged the dog bed under his work station both he and Bruce had been apprehensive but the dog just lay there for the majority of the time only waking up to nudge Peters foot when it was time to eat. They ate lunch together so if Peter forgot to eat the dog didn’t eat and that wasn’t something Peter would allow. 

It was a sneaky way of keeping him on track with his eating and sleeping, which wasn’t the intended purpose of this but a nice addition to the socializing. But Tony thinks it was Natasha’s evil genius that made them stay in track because of the dog ate then Peter ate and if Peter ate then Tony and Bruce had to take a break by default. How was Tony supposed to maintain an unhealthy diet like this? He suspected Pepper had a hand in this too.

In any case, Tony was just glad this kid was getting better.

He deserved to.

OoOoO 

What Bucky has learned is that Kiska sheds.

A lot.

Fur was helpful when the dog was cuddled, Peter was happy to bury his face into her brown mess and give her belly rubs. Whenever Peter has to leave for a second though, the dog would latch onto the next person and often that was either Bucky or Natasha, as secondary owners it was their privilege. When Kiska snuggled up next to him as he was reading or working he would be content with the warm mass but when the dog left it’s mass amount of fur in her wake that was when Bucky got slightly irked. 

“We need to groom her more often.” Peter has told him when he complained about the issue and Bucky raised a brow and the next day a big dog comb was on his bedside table.

So that’s how Bucky had ended up with the unofficial job of grooming the hairy menace, and said menace was happy for the attention - to be fair she was happy for any and all attention. 

“You did that on purpose.” He grumbled to the dog “you got everyone fooled don’t ya.” He said more fondly as the dog happily wagged her swoopy tail. 

Bucky was already regretting this. 

OoOoO 

“Last I checked your mouth wasn’t near your legs.” 

Natasha watched as Peter gave every other bite of his meatloaf to the dog under the table for the past five minutes and was amused when Peter looked like a deer in headlights. 

“She likes meatloaf.” He said sheepishly with a nervous chuckle and she gives him a pointed stare. 

“Huh, isn’t it convenient that you don’t.” Natasha said with a coy smile and Peter blushed. She took a bite out of her meatloaf, satisfied.

“Wait I thought you weren’t picky.” Bucky asked with afurrowed brow.  

“Apparently He is.” Natasha said in a poise position. 

“It’s just meatloaf...and I don’t do it in front of Abby or baby Nate so it’s not a bad example…” Peter shrugged lamely. Natasha rolled her eyes.

“I never said that was the point.” Natasha said with a smirk. Peter blushed “but I’m glad you’re aware of them. You don’t have to be, but Pepper and Clint appreciate it.” She said and Peter cleared his throat in embarrassment.

“Kiska likes meatloaf more than me!” Peter defended, ignoring that topic and diverting the conversation.

“It’s not bad to have opinions about food.” Bucky said idly, taking a bite out of his food. 

“I don’t…” Peter tried again lamely and sighed in resignation.

“You do, Well now you do. It’s fine.” Natasha said with a gentle smile. She was glad Peter was comfortable enough to have preferences. She knew all too well how the life he used to lead never left too much room for that sort of thing. He hit what he could and didn’t complain because he couldn’t get much. Now he was learning to have basic preferences and Natasha was half for it. It was a step forward.

“Okay…” he mumbled. 

….

“Stop giving the dog your food! You’re gonna make her sick!” Bucky scolded him. 

“Nooo!” Peter complained in a high voice “you said I could have opinions on food!” He said back and Natasha rolled her eyes at their antics.

“You still have to eat the food you don’t like, it’s just for future reference.” Bucky said exasperated. 

“But Kiska is gonna be sad see!” He pointed to the dog who gave puppy eyes to Bucky, because even she knew Natasha was harder to break than him. 

It took 30 seconds for the Winter Soldier to succumb.

“Damn dog.” Bucky grumbled as he gave his meatloaf on his fork to the dog. Who happily ate it up.  Peter laughed as Kiska happily yipped.

Yes, this was a good addition to their little family.