Waiting
Peter thought the omelette Charlie made him was pretty good. Everything else about his day was terrible, but the omelette was nice and fluffy. He thought MJ liked her’s, too. Neither of them had said much since Peter got off the phone with Happy. The man told him to wait there until he could pick him up. Peter had no idea where he would be taken, but decided it didn’t really matter. He just watched any possibility he ever had of having a normal life get completely destroyed less than an hour ago. Nothing truly mattered.
MJ finished her omelette about ten minutes ago and had been on her phone ever sense. Peter still hadn’t taken his phone off airplane mode. He considered leaving it there and never thinking about it again, but figured he probably shouldn’t leave evidence of his time there behind. He stared at MJ. He had no way of knowing for sure what she was doing, but he was pretty sure she was looking up various news sites to see what they were saying. MJ was never one to shy away from an unfortunate truth. She also never refrained from sharing said unfortunate truth with others, which was why MJ’s silence concerned Peter so much. On one hand, he really didn’t want to think about that video. On the other, he knew he needed the information. A small part of him just wanted MJ to force him to accept reality. He wanted the truth. He didn’t want to lie to himself anymore. And yet, she remained silent.
He can only assume MJ’s silence meant the news was worse than they thought. Maybe no one was on Peter’s side. Maybe every single person in New York besides MJ, Happy, Adam, and charlie was on a manhunt for him with pitchforks and everything. Or, maybe, MJ just didn’t think Peter could handle it any bad news. He most likely couldn’t, but having her more or less confirm that hurt a little. Was he really so weak that even MJ felt the need to shield him?
Peter continued down that dark thought spiral until Adam cleared his throat. “Any update on when that guy’s coming?”
“He texted me saying he’d be here in five about two minutes ago,” MJ said, not looking up.
Adam glanced at the clock. “I guess we can extend our time limit a little bit longer.” Peter’s eyes widened. Have we really been here that long? I swear it’s only been 20 minutes max. Adam gave him a sad look and sat next to him. “Do you dissociate like that a lot?”
“No, I…” Peter said. “I wasn’t… That.. I don’t-”
“It’s okay. I’m not judging you or anything.” He patted Peter on the head before walking away and sitting on the couch next to Charlie.
MJ finally put her phone down. “Do you… I know that sometimes physical contact can help ground people, so…” She reached out and grabbed his hand awkwardly. “Is.. Does that help?”
Peter smiled slightly before pulling his hand away. “It’s fine. Thanks.” He stared down at his empty plate. “What were you looking at?”
“Oh, I was texting my mom.”
“Does she know? How’s she taking it?
“Well…” She sighed. “She’s kind of an idiot. Doesn’t think the news can be wrong about anything.”
“Do you…” He looked up again. “Do you need to go home?”
She nodded. “I’m sorry. She’s not gonna take no for an answer. Never does…”
“I can drive you,” Charlie said from the couch. “We’ll leave after Peter gets picked up.”
“I was just gonna take the subway or something.”
Adam looked at her sadly. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She nodded. Why wouldn’t she be able to take the subway? ...Wait…
“MJ, are you-” Knocking cut Peter off.
“I’ll get it.” Charlie hurried over to the door. Happy walked in and the two of them shook hands.
“Thank you for letting Pete stay here. It really helped us a lot,” Happy said.
Charlie smiled. “Don’t worry about it.”
Adam walked over. “They’re both good kids. I hope everything goes well.” Happy nodded before scanning the room for Peter.
“Happy?” Peter got up and hugged him. Happy reluctantly returned the gesture.
“You good, kid?”
He nodded and let go. “Thank you.”
“We should probably go.” He looked at MJ. “You coming?”
“Nah. Charlie’s giving me a ride home.”
“That’s a good call. Place is gonna be crowded as is.”
“Where’s gonna be crowded?” Peter asked.
“Probably best to explain that in the car.” Happy took out a pair of dark sunglasses and handed it to him. “Just to be safe.”
Peter gave MJ a quick hug and thanked Adam and Charlie once again for their generosity before leaving.
Pepper quickly found out that Morgan didn’t like being back at the lakehouse very much. She didn’t either, but the poor girl’s reaction was downright heartbreaking. She hadn’t said a single word since she realized where they were going. Soon after they arrived, Morgan curled up on the couch and stared at the stairs leading to the basement. May sat next to her, trying to get her attention. Pepper considered stepping in herself before realizing May probably needed a distraction until Peter got there. She’s probably better with her anyway. God, I’m terrible at this.
“Cookie?” Sam popped up behind her holding out a pitch black cookie.
Pepper took it and banged it against the table. The cookie remained undamaged. She raised an eyebrow at him. “Steve make this?”
“Bucky helped.”
She rolled her eyes and walked over to the kitchen. She took out a pack of oreos and handed it to him. “I’d make fresh ones for you, but we really need to restock.”
He put the cookies on the table. “Oh, I can go out and get stuff. I don’t know how long we’re gonna be here, but it wouldn’t hurt.”
“I was just going to ask Clint and Wanda to pick stuff up.”
He looked at her skeptically. “Barton and Wanda are coming?”
“I didn’t tell you? They texted me before you got to the penthouse asking what was going on. They’re on a plane now.”
“Well, that’s a surprise.”
Pepper took a cookie. “Didn’t know you thought so little of your teammates.”
“No, it’s just… You know how Wanda is about her trips. Just shocked she’d leave for this.”
She shrugged and walked outside. She scanned the trees before finding Bucky sitting on a high branch overlooking the street. “You don’t need to keep watch. Friday’s monitoring everything.” He nodded but didn’t get down. “Not everything’s a mission, you know? You can relax.”
“This isn’t a mission?”
“Not yet, no. You can at least wait until Peter’s here before playing guarddog, right?” He paused for a second before jumping down. “Come inside. We have cookies.”
“I already ate some of the cookies Steve made on the way here.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Why not?”
“You still have teeth.”
Bucky laughed. “Fair.” He followed her in and took a cookie. Sam had already gone elsewhere in the house. “You know, I don’t like how over-reliant on technology everyone is now. No disrespect to Friday, but systems can make mistakes.”
“And people can’t?” Pepper countered.
“Machines make different kinds of mistakes and can be hacked. It’s a lot harder to hack people.”
Pepper was about to respond when Friday cut her off. “I would like to inform everyone besides Sergeant Barnes that Rhodey will arrive in approximately five minutes.” Bucky gave a dirty look to where he thought a camera was as May walked in holding a sleeping Morgan.
“I don’t know where her room is.” May said.
Pepper pointed down the hallway. “Third door to your right.”
“Thank you.”
“I can take her.” Bucky took Morgan and walked off. The two women stood in silence.
“Any update on Peter?” May asked.
“Happy’s going the long way just to be safe, so I’d say it’s still at least another hour before they get here.”
She nodded. “How’s he doing? So you know?”
“He didn’t say anything about that.” May frowned. “Happy tends to only specify when it’s bad news, so that’s probably a good thing.”
“I know, but there’s no way he’s okay right now.” She looked about ready to break down.
“Do you want to wait outside for Rhodey?” Pepper tried to distract her.
May nodded. “Thank you. You’re… really helping us a lot here.”
“Not a problem.” She led May outside where Rhodey was already getting out of his car. She rushed ahead of May. “What couldn’t you tell me over the phone?” she whispered. May seemingly got the message and stayed a distance away.
Rhodey just shook his head. “Nothing good. We should wait until everyone is here.”
“Right.” The three of them went inside with nothing to do but wait.