Chapter 2
As the elevator doors opened, Peter found his arms full and a mop of brown hair pressed into his midsection.
"Petey!" Morgan exclaimed.
Peter ruffled his little sister's hair, "Hey Morgan, how are you doing? This is awfully friendly for a Thursday afternoon."
Morgan tilted her face back to pout at Peter, arms still wrapped around him. The teen took the look to mean: 'What? Can't I be happy to see my brother?'. His expression dissolved into a smile. Peter picked Morgan up and sat her on his hip. She dissolved into giggles as Peter did so and the two made their way into the living area, both with grins stretched across their faces. On the TV was the latest episode of animated Transformers and there was the sounds of Steve pottering about in the kitchen. The kitchen, living and dining room were deliberately open plan so that the adults could monitor the kids from anywhere in the space.
Peter spied Clint asleep on the couch with Nate tucked under arm, also asleep. Lila and Cooper were riveted to the TV, not paying Peter and Morgan any mind.
"Hey Steve!" Peter called as he dumped Morgan on the couch next to the other kids. After doing so he moved back to the entrance way to dump is shoes in the literal shoe mountain that had already been left there.
Steve turned from where he was monitoring a large pot sat on the stove top, "Hey Pete, how was school today?"
The teen meandered over to the kitchen bench, plopping into the one of the stools that had already been pulled out from the bench. "You know what? Not too bad. The only vaguely shitty thing that happened today was that I got news that I can't go on some secret ass field trip for AcaDec. Happy remined me that it's the week that Harls is up though, so no skin off there. Everything was as per usual, classes are still boring and lunch is still the best part of the day."
Steve offered him a little smile, "That's good at least Peter."
The elder moved to the fridge, pulling out one of the many pre-made meals and sticking it in the microwave. "Although I have to ask, why can't you go on the field trip? What's the reason?"
Curse Steve and his responsible adult response, Peter thought, "Apparently to many days missed, and before you get to it, don't give me that - 'Peter, what have I told you' - look. I'll probably get enough of that later from Mum."
At that Steve gave a little huff and shook his head good naturedly. He returned to the microwave to grab the food as the bell went off. The elder slid it across the bench to Peter along with a fork. The teen then promptly inhaled the offered food, super metabolisms could really be a pain.
"I'll tell Mum and Dad at dinner. Do you know where the others are at the moment, there's usually more people hanging around at this time of the afternoon?"
"Bucky and Tasha were here a second ago, they said something about a match so I expect they're on one of the training floors. Your dad is probably where he usually is if Pepper hasn't dragged him off to some meeting. I honestly don't know where Bruce is, you'd have to ask FRIDAY, and you know were here when Thor left for New Asgard this morning. Anyone else, the same as Bruce, no idea."
Peter could have just asked FRIDAY on the way up but this was part of the ritual afternoon banter with Steve, they had settled on this routine a while ago and it had stuck. Peter jumps up, depositing his dishes in the sink and giving the elder a quick thanks. He ruffled Morgan's hair on his way past and headed down the private stairs a few floors until he reached his personal lab. He grimaced as he walked in, the lab was a mess.
"Well then, I'd better clean this up, don't want to start another fire."
Peter had a habit, read a bad habit, of letting the mess pile up in his lab until there wasn't a clear table top left in sight not to mention the various things that littered the floor. Whether it was chemicals, tools, papers or other bits and pieces from projects, they just seemed to accumulate. Leaving his bag, which he had honestly forgotten was still on his back, at the door, Peter set about cleaning the mess back into its rightful place. What felt like only an hour later FRIDAY's voice interrupted his cleaning haze.
"Peter, Steve would like to let you know that dinner is ready and to grab Boss on your way up."
The teen looked out the window to see the last light of the setting sun and the lights of New York illuminating the evening.
"Sure FRI," Peter replied, "I'll be done in a second." He replaced the chemicals in his hands to their allocated places in the bright yellow chemical cupboard and shuffled out of the lab. Peter made his way up the stair to the next floor where his dad's lab was located.
Music hit his enhanced sense like a tidal wave when FRIDAY opened the door for him. Tony was sitting at a bench hunched over a magnifier, absorbed in fiddling with some fine piece of wiring. A certainly bad, but definitely entertaining idea crept into Peter's mind. The teen walked up the wall, and then onto the ceiling. He then scuttled, as quietly as possible, across the roof until he was just above his dad. Reaching down, Peter ran his fingers through Tony's hair.
Tony reacted like he'd been shot with a taser, giving a shriek and a jolt before whipping around, only to find empty air behind him.
Peter couldn't help but let out a bark of laughter at his father's reaction. Tony's head turned upwards to find his spider child attached to the ceiling and the tension that had jumped into his shoulders melted away.
"Jesus kid, you are going to you old man a heart attack," Tony sighed.
"If your heart was going to give out that easy," Peter quipped, "it would have happened years ago. Plus it would be shame if you missed dinner."
That made Tony snort, "Your probably right about that kiddo. But you know FRI could have told me that dinner was ready."
Peter gave Tony a critical look, one eyebrow raised for good measure.
"Okay, okay. I'm coming," Tony mumbled, "you're getting more and more like Pepper every day."
Tony switched off the light attached to the magnifier as Peter detached from the ceiling. The father-son duo made their way to the common room where there was a buzz of activity as people took their seats around the table and food was set out. Morgan, who was sat next to Pepper, looked at Peter expectantly, patting the other seat next to her. Peter sat down next to Morgan and Tony sat on the other side of Peter, sandwiching the two kids between their parents. The last dish was sat on the table and suddenly it was a free-for-all as people filled their plates. Down the table Peter could hear the Barton's discussing the events that had occurred during Lila and Copper's day. Across from the Starks, Natasha, Steve, Bucky and Sam were already engaged in a deep conversation discussing the difference between surviving and actually living, what brought this up Peter really didn't want to know. The voices then blended into some kind of mish-mash soundscape, it was honestly a little overwhelming. A hand on Peter's back anchored him and the teen looked up to see Tony giving him a concerned look.
"You alright Pete? Pep asked you a question."
Peter gave his dad a little nod to the first question, now a little more grounded, he turned to look at his mum as signal to re-ask the question.
"How was your day Peter? Anything special?" Pepper asked.
Peter answered like any typical teenager would in having to give the daily report, short and sweet, "Yeah, okay. I'm missing out on the AcaDec field trip though."
As Peter served himself a plate of pasta Tony followed up on Peters statement, genuine concern in his voice, "Why would you miss out on the field trip kiddo? You love field trips."
"To many missed days."
Understanding crossed the faces of both Pepper and Tony. Peter's senses were hard at times to live with, meaning that the teen would occasionally have major cases of sensory overload even though there were preventative measures in place. On the occasions that it happened the two had decided it would be best for Peter to stay home from school to prevent further stimulation, giving the boy a chance to recover.
"That's pretty shit but I suppose we should have seen it coming," was the response from Tony. That earned him a glare from Steve across the table, but his dad just shrugged it off.
"Do you have to go to school that day Petey?" Morgan asked, mouth full of food and eyes hopeful.
Peter smiled and finished the bite in his own mouth before saying, "Nope, so you're going to be stuck with me aaaall day."
Morgan let out a little whoop, wrapping Peter in a quick hug before returning to her food. With that news out of the way, the conversation flowed freely for the rest of dinner. Soon the meal was over and Natasha, Clint and Bruce began collecting dishes as it was their round on cleaning up duty, meaning that Peter was free to go on patrol a little early. As the teen moved towards his room to change into his suit Pepper yelled after him.
"Remember to be back by twelve, it’s a school night!"
"Yes mum!" he called back over his shoulder.
After getting changed, the teen opened his window, crawled onto the side of the building and closed it behind him. For a second Peter enjoyed the view of New York, still bustling even though the sun had set. Then he swung off to do his part in protecting the city that never slept.