Unreal
As much as he would never admit it, Rhodey was surprised when, while staring out the window, Sam put a hand on his shoulder out of nowhere. “Hope you aren’t taking after Bucky, now,” Sam said. Sure enough, the sergeant was back in his tree, eyes trained on the road. “If you keep staring, I might start to think you have a little crush.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s just you projecting.” He turned around and leaned against the window. “I’m just waiting for Clint and Wanda, like everyone else.”
“It’s getting pretty late. I just talked to Pepper and we agreed to just wait until the morning to come up with a game plan.”
“We can’t afford to wait that long.”
Sam sighed. “Listen, I like you. I like you a lot. But the thing is, you can’t keep important things from us. It’s obvious something’s up. If you know something we don’t, if you think we’re in danger, you need to tell us.”
Rhodey thought for a moment before responding. “I think we’re safe here, but it’s not like we have forever to figure this out.”
“I know, but I’m pretty sure we have enough time to let everyone show up and give Peter time sleep. Lord knows the kid needs it.”
He was about to respond when Friday cut him off. “Wanda and Clint will be here in approximately 2 minutes.”
“2 minutes? You gave us 5 when everyone else showed up,” Sam said.
“I did not think the matter was urgent and thought it best to not interrupt until now.”
“We weren’t exactly- Hey!”
Rhodey was already making his way outside when Sam caught up. Bucky looked down at them. “Hey. They’re almost here.”
“Yeah, we heard.” Rhodey said. Bucky jumped down and the three of them stood there until a rental car showed up. The two of them got out.
“Look at that. We’ve got a welcoming party,” Clint walked over to the trunk. “Any of you wanna help with the bags?”
All three went over. Sam grabbed a bag. “What took you guys so long? It’s almost midnight and we were expecting you at eight.”
Wanda reached past them and grabbed the last bag. “We would have been on time, but we had to take back roads to avoid government vehicles.”
“Yeah. I don’t know if you saw, but Wanda more or less directly told a reporter we were helping hide Peter, so we had to be careful.”
“Yeah, we know.” Bucky slammed the trunk shut. “I don’t blame you though. Nothing you said was wrong.”
They all made it inside and started putting stuff away. “Almost everyone is trying to get some shuteye for tomorrow,” Sam said. “We should all do the same. And yes, I do mean all of us.” He glared at Bucky.
“Does this place have enough rooms for all of us?” Clint asked.
“He only had specific rooms for me, Morgan, and him and Pepper,” Rhodey said. “Then there are four guest rooms.”
“Only four?” Wanda raised an eyebrow. “It’s more than most people, but less than I would have predicted for Stark.”
“Well, this place was supposed to just be for him, Pepper, and Morgan. He… wanted some peace.” He shook his head. “Anyway, May and Peter are sleeping in one of the guest rooms, Happy’s in another one, and Pepper is in Morgan’s room.”
Wanda put the last of the food in the fridge. “If Pepper’s not using her room, I’ll take it.” Everyone nodded. She walked away.
“Alright, then. Two rooms. Three of you… Good luck.” Rhodey took off for his room.
Clint sighed. “So, we pulling straws, or-”
“I’ll stay on the couch,” Bucky volunteered, already walking over.
“Oh, thank god.” Clint went down the hallway.
Sam went over to the couch. “I don’t want you sneaking out to keep watch, alright? Friday’s already on it.” Friday helpfully projected surveillance footage in front of them. “I’m tempted to ask her to not let you leave until sunrise.” A look of terror flashed across Bucky’s face but was quickly suppressed. “I won’t, don’t worry. Sorry, bad joke. It’s just… I know how you get on missions.”
“I’ll try to sleep. Promise.”
Sam nodded and walked away. He stopped right before entering the hallway. “Come get me if you need anything, got it.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Peter was both surprised and grateful to find May laying next to him when he woke up the next morning. He completely acknowledged the fact that most teenage boys would hate sharing a bed with their guardian, but he needed the comfort. He wished he didn’t, but he did.
“Good morning, Peter,” Friday said quietly. “The time is 6:34 AM. Pepper, Morgan, Happy, and Sam are all awake. Rhodey, Clint, Wanda and Bucky are here but asleep.”
“Thanks, Friday.” He rolled out of bed as quietly as possible to avoid waking his aunt before going to greet the others. He left his room and spied from the hallway. Pepper was making breakfast in the kitchen with Happy and Sam while Morgan stared at the counter. Bucky slept on the couch completely unaffected by the noise around him.
He still struggled to believe that everyone would come to help him like this. Sure, he knew all of them and stuff, not this well. When he saw the broadcast, everything seemed so hopeless. Everyone joining forces like this to support him felt too good to be true. It was unreal.
Unreal
None of this could be real
If it seems too good to be true, it probably is
Illusions
Mysterio
I’m fooling myself
None of this is real
Help
My fault
Train
Not good enough
I’m seeing things
Beck
If I were good enough
“PETER!” He snapped out of it. He wasn’t in the hallway anymore. It was a bedroom, but not his guest room. His eyes jolted around but couldn’t focus on anything. His breaths came out unevenly and strained. “Breath with me. Please.”
“W-Wanda?” Her face was right in front of his.
“That’s good. You are doing good.” She tried to smile.
“Tell me… something...” There wasn’t nearly enough air in his lungs to force the rest of the words out.
“Something only I would know?” she guessed. He nodded. How did she know that? “About two months after we all came back to life, you broke into the compound to find Stark’s old lab. I walked in and talked for a while. You didn’t say anything at first, just stared at the tools, but that was alright. It was good to have someone to talk to. You only started talking when I brought up-”
Peter cut her off with a hug. “Thank you…”
She hugged back. “It was no problem, Peter.” They stood like that until his thoughts calmed down enough for them to leave.
After a few more hours, everyone was awake and eating breakfast. Peter sat in between May and Happy. May spent the entire meal scrolling through twitter and occasionally showing Peter examples of people giving him support. He was very excited to find out what P2DF stood for and that it was trending. Once they were all done eating, Pepper lead Morgan away to watch cartoons in her room. They all gathered in the living room. “Okay. I know none of us want to talk about this, but we need to figure out what we’re doing,” Pepper said.
“Wait,” Happy interrupted. “I promised Peter’s girlfriend I would call her before we started making plans. If that’s okay with him, of course.” Peter nodded. “Alright.” He pulled out his phone.
“I’m sorry, we’re bringing more high schoolers into this now?” Rhodey asked.
“To be fair, Peter’s classmates have been doing a lot of good PR work on Twitter,” Sam pointed out.
“And I want to see her,” Peter said. “If that’s okay.”
“Sure thing.” Pepper smiled. “Call her up, Happy.”
Soon enough, a projection of MJ in her room appeared on the wall. “You’re all really lucky I wake up early.” Snoring could be heard in the background. “Oh, give me a sec.” She threw a pillow on the ground next to her.
“Ow!” Ned said.
“Ned’s there?” Peter asked.
He took a second to get up and sit next to MJ on the bed. “Hey, Peter… Woah!” He noticed everyone else. “That’s so cool!”
MJ hit him on the arm. “Save it for later.”
“I’m starting to think this was a bad idea…” Bucky mumbled. He didn’t truly mean that, though. Peter looked happier now than he had since he got there.
“Okay, then,” Pepper said. “Let’s begin.”