an eventful thanksgiving
Peter had his legs tucked beneath him as he pressed his head against the tinted glass of the window. The wheels thundering down the highway made his head bump up and down and when the vibration grew too disrupting, he leant his head back against the leather headrest and sighed. He had definitely stayed out too late the night before to be up this early. Peter let his eyes fall shut against the sights flashing past the window and tried his very best to get some sleep.
After seeing MJ home the previous night, Peter had gone back to the lab and ensured that things were all running according to plan. His weekends back in New York were his only time to be able to check, in person, on how the prototypes were going for the various projects he had in motion. Luckily, nothing had blown up in his absence and everything was running smoothly. He’d spent a couple of hours tweaking various things before getting on to his next important task of the evening.
New York had not seen Spider-Man in two weeks and if Peter didn’t show his face, or mask, soon, then the press would probably start spinning tales of his death. He’d spent a few more hours out and about, clearing up some small skirmishes throughout the city before finally retiring back to the apartment around 2am.
Peter’s legs were beginning to cramp, and his neck was starting to twinge from the odd angle it was at. After a few minutes of trying to fall asleep (it didn’t help that Peter wasn’t all that good at sitting still) he opened his eyes and unfolded his legs, flopping against the back of the seat in defeat. He flicked his phone open and skipped the song he had been listening to. But it seemed like everything in his playlist was annoying him at the minute as he flicked past Rhianna’s Umbrella and Back in Black byAC/DC, eventually giving up and yanking his headphones from his ears.
“Everything ok, Pete?” May asked, pausing the conversation she had been having with Happy in the front seat.
“Yeah fine, just tired that’s all.” Peter muttered, running a hand over his face and sighing.
May gave him a concerned look and he mustered a half-hearted smile.
“That’s more like it, it’s Thanksgiving and you get a break from work!” May said trying to be enthusiastic and giving Happy a look that indicated he should probably follow suit.
Peter watched Happy’s eyes flick to him in the rear-view mirror. “Yeah, your Aunt’s right, you’ll get to catch up with the rest of the team, Morgan will be there.” Happy said supportively and May gave him a smile and a squeeze on the shoulder.
Peter smiled weakly and turned his attention outside. He could tell they were getting close to the compound. A feeling was beginning to settle in Peter’s stomach, and he wasn’t sure he could quite place what it was… dread wasn’t quite right… maybe apprehension?
He loved the compound with all his heart, after all, he had been thoroughly involved in the design and security of the new buildings. After accepting his part time position at Stark Industries, Pepper had brought Peter onto the project for rebuilding the compound. Not only did this give Peter something to do, but it also taught him the process of getting approval and all the levels of order he more or less had to answer to. Back when he had been an intern, he’d just asked Tony if he could start a project, but he’d quickly learnt that there was now a new order to follow.
In the month he had been stuck in his spiralling depression, the rest of the team had cleared the carnage that remained of the compound and were left with a clean slate to start something new.
Bruce, Carol and Nick Fury were heading the task, designing the new compound to fit the new-ish team and making space for anyone who might join them in the future. Peter had spent the better part of the summer break covering the tech side of the new base, ensuring that there were features that would prevent it from falling prey to future attacks.
He’d been under the strict supervision of Nick Fury (who was incredibly specific about what sort of defences the compound needed – Peter had begun to think he was slightly paranoid), Pepper (who had generously provided majority of the funding for the new base, along with a variety of other philanthropists) and Carol Danvers (who had all the otherworldly knowledge that Peter needed to design the best security system possible). Bruce had been in charge of the actual design and had tried to stay as true to the first compound as he could. It had taken around a month of hard work to design everything and a lot of communication with Shuri in Wakanda, who had taught Peter about the shielding software she had designed, before everything was ready to go. Throughout the whole process Peter felt that in many ways he had grown a lot closer to the rest of the team but couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that he still didn’t quite stand on the same footing as them.
“Alrighty, here we go.” Happy said and Peter felt the car slowing as he was drawn out of his thoughts and into the present.
“Are we here?” Peter asked.
“Oh my gosh that’s the first time that you’ve asked during the whole trip, I figured that you’d be saying ‘are we there yet’ every half an hour like you did as a kid.” May cooed and Peter grumbled something about ‘I’m an adult now’ which made May wrinkle her nose as she laughed.
That was when the voices reached Peter’s ears and he instinctively shifted away from the windows, despite their impenetrable tint. The car slowed and Happy pressed his hand on the steering wheel, giving a short beep of the horn to try and get the people ahead to move out of the way.
Peter suddenly wished he had left his headphones in.
“This is absolutely insane.” May said as she peered out the window at the scores of press vans, cameras and reporters lining the fence of the Avengers Compound. Peter hoped they didn’t get too close to set the security systems off. The arrival of a new car to the scene caused great excitement and people ran, shoving each other aside to try and get a view of who was behind the tinted windows.
Peter ground his teeth in frustration as his eyes darted around at the scene playing on outside the window. It was so unnerving to be in front of the camera, even if he knew there was no way they could see him. He could already imagine the headlines now if they figured out it was him in the car. No need to fuel the news’ insistence that he was the new Tony Stark, Peter’s position at Stark Industries was enough to do that on its own.
“I don’t see why Danvers felt the need to tell the public that the Avengers are spending Thanksgiving together.” Happy grumbled as he slowed the car to a near stop, edging it forward slowly. He couldn’t stop entirely otherwise the press would collect around the car and make it impossible to move, as they were currently trying to do. It was a difficult balance and Peter almost hoped that Happy ran over the toes of some of the reporters in the process.
Peter knew why Carol Danvers had felt the need to alert the press to their Thanksgiving plans, the Avengers did need to present a united front. The rest of the world was slowly but surely putting itself back together, order had been restored more or less though there were still some countries in complete disarray. Peter suspected that the Department for Foreign Affairs and Defence Force had banded together to insist the Avengers make some press noise just so the rest of the world could see the arsenal that America had assembled should they think about taking advantage of the fragile international order. Admitting this didn’t make it any easier for Peter to handle the hordes of press awaiting them.
Thanksgiving with the Avengers… what a strange thought? It was kind that Carol had asked for May to be there as well. Peter and his aunt had never really been strictcelebrators of Thanksgiving, but he had to admit that the chance for a big lunch and to do some tinkering at the compound was pretty appealing.
After a few more beeps of his horn Happy finally made it to the front gate and they waited patiently as the gates were opened slowly as whoever was manning the security system in the compound recognised the black sedan. The car lurched forward as they entered the compound, leaving the clamouring press to wait behind. Now that the people were out of the way Happy increased his speed as they pulled up the drive to the compound.
With the press left in the dust behind them, Peter couldn’t help the pride that swelled in his chest at the sight of the complex before him. Over the last few months the compound had become his baby of sorts, after the weeks spent designing a system to protect it Peter had had to leave for university and hadn’t been able to see construction start. He’d monitored it sure, and had visited a few times when he was back in New York, but there was something different about seeing every piece where it was supposed to be as a whole. The compound had only been completed a month ago and Peter had luckily been around for the weekend as the finishing touches were put on.
May made noises of appreciation as they followed the sweeping lawns towards the main building and Peter craned his neck in-between the front seats to try and get a good look.
“Oh my gosh…” May said as she caught sight of the main building, the residential one that most of the Avengers stayed in. “Sweetie… you helped design this?”
“He sure did!” Happy said smiling widely.
“I think you missed your calling in architecture.” May said appreciatively and Peter could kind of understand what she meant, even if he didn’t deserve sole credit in any sense.
“I kinda did more of the stuff you can’t see, but there were a few things I had input on…” Peter said nonchalantly.
The first compound had been made for practicality, ease of use, everything was where it was so that it made it simple for the team to get around. Peter had taken a slightly new spin with it, after clearing his ideas with Pepper, he’d gone to MJ to get her opinion, after all she was the artist.
The new compound was still modern and for all intents and purposes, followed a similar design to the first build. After Wanda Maximoff and the rest of the Avengers had spent two weeks clearing the destruction that Thanos had left behind they had discovered that there were some parts of the original compound that could be recovered, the basement for one. As such, the new base had been built right on top of where its sister had stood. There was still the hanger in the North of the compound and the labs, conference rooms and medical bay in the West wing, but Peter and Pepper had tried to make the main building, the residential part, more homely.
It was still modern, but Peter had added in a few things of his own. The first, which you couldn’t see from the outside, was that the residential building was hollowed out on the inside. Glass cascaded down the inside walls, surrounding a large square at the centre of the building that the kitchen and living space had opened up to. Amongst all the technology and modernity of it all, Peter had decided a garden might be a nice touch. Pepper had loved the idea and had taken control of the project, doing a wonderful job of selecting trees and shrubbery and creating a small stream which ran the span of the courtyard. It seemed she had taken to gardening during the five years after the Decimation.
Peter had asked that they include as much glass (reinforced and bullet proof) as possible so that the compound could take advantage of the sun, given they were already going to be using so much energy to power it. Despite that, Peter was glad to say that the compound was 100% renewable, running on the green energy of the arc reactors in the basement.
And finally, there were the little touches that Peter had decided upon himself. There was symbolism throughout the compound, windows in the shapes of triangles, a roof top patio shaped as an arc reactor. Constant reminders of what it had cost to get them here.
The most prominent of which sat in the centre of the compound, a series of very rare, alien trees. One for Tony, one for Natasha, and the final one for Loki and every other person who had given their life to try and stop Thanos.
Happy pulled into the private car port and switched the car off, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Thanks honey.” May said leaning over and pecking him on the cheek. Peter pretended to crinkle his nose in disgust, but May just smiled at him, which made Peter smile. He was so glad she was happy… even if, oddly enough, it was with Happy of all people.
“Thanks, Hap.” Peter said getting out of the car and slinging his duffle bag over his shoulder, it clinked insistently which reminded Peter of all the work that he still had to do.
As though reading his thoughts May pointed a stern finger at him, “You are not going to get straight to work, you are going to come and talk with everyone first ok? I’m sure they all want to hear about how university is going.”
“I know…” Peter grumbled as they followed Happy to the glass doors which opened to let them in.
May had linked an arm with Happy and was whispering to him about something or other, Peter chose not to listen in – he could never be sure if it was something he actually wanted to hear… but it seemed like she was just as awestruck as Peter had been the first time he had come to the Avengers compound.
In the years since Tony had offered to induct Peter into the Avengers, he had only visited the compound a few times. Despite dedicating most of his Avengers time to Stark Industries before the Snap, Peter’s visits here had always been wonderful and, in some ways, felt like a dream from a very, very long time ago. Sometimes Peter wasn’t quite sure whether it was all real… if any of it had actually happened. Peter could feel his mind floating away and so he glanced around the room, grasping at anything that would ground him to the present and prevent the spiral he could feel himself being drawn into.
Peter could hear chattering from upstairs and so he pulled ahead of May and Happy, who were still whispering to each other, and took the stairs two at a time. Though he didn’t really need it, he grasped the silver railing with one hand and let the cold metal bring him back down to earth a little more.
As he had in the two times he’d been to the completed compound, Peter admired the interior design. It was simple and minimalistic but wasn’t without a few homely touches here and there. Large vintage prints of Steve Rogers from before he went into the ice adorned the walls leading up the staircase, inter woven with smaller frames which held newspaper clippings from the Avengers first mission together in New York. There were photos of the team together smiling, one of them all (besides Peter) in the living room of the first compound looking battered and bruised but still happy. Most of the photos had been taken before everything fell apart after the Sokovia accords and the fight in Germany. There were a few new editions Peter noted, a couple of ones of Tony but Peter let his eyes glaze as he passed them, refusing to look.
As Peter rounded the corner and reached the top of the stairs, he heard the voices becoming clearer and grinned when he heard the high pitch of Morgan’s chattering.
Peter dropped his bag against the wall at the front of the room and walked into the wide-open kitchen/living space. Of all the spaces, this one had stayed most like it’s original. All the permanent residents had agreed that this was the most important room in the house.
“Ayyy there he is.” Sam Wilson said jumping up from the couch and striding over to Peter to give him a hug.
Peter grinned and clapped Sam on the back in return. “Hey, how you going?”
“Good, good.” Sam said keeping a hand on Peter’s shoulder and guiding him into the kitchen, “very glad that we have a permanent base now, you’ve done a pretty great job.” Peter grinned, the two had definitely had a rocky start in Germany, but Sam had always been easy to talk to and get along with. Even if he did tease Peter incessantly, he never treated him like a child.
“Ah nah it wasn’t just me.” Peter said bashfully but smiling anyway. He turned to the rest of the room and as usual, the scope of heroes felt a bit like a kick to the stomach. Honestly, how long was it going to take him to get used to seeing them all here? His teammates… the word seemed strange to describe the odd collection of people before him.
“Peter!” Morgan cried, launching herself from the couch where she had been sat beside Pepper and running up the steps to throw herself into his arms.
Peter smiled and hugged her, letting her take his hand and lead him down to the living area where she began to show Peter a small robotic dog which barked and moved its little legs. As all young children usually do, Morgan had latched onto the idea of getting a dog and it seemed that Pepper had placated her demands with a robot for the time being. Peter wondered how long that would last. Pepper seemed to give him a knowing smile and a slight eye roll as Morgan doted on the robot.
As Morgan played with her toy Peter grinned at Wanda and Vision who were tucked up on the couch, he was glad to see that they were well. Even seeing them was, well, a miracle. From what Peter had heard from Bruce, who was currently busy in the kitchen with Rhodey, Vision had only been fully restored two weeks earlier. Peter couldn’t quite comprehend how they had done it and felt it a bit intrusive to ask. He was pretty sure that Wanda could feel the curiosity emanating from him, at least that’s what her wry smile seemed to tell him.
May and Happy finally reached the top of the stairs and Peter jumped up to go to his aunt’s rescue as the rest of the team emerged from different wings of the house, coalescing into the living room.
Rhodey emerged from the kitchen, removing oven gloves as he did and strode over to Peter to see him.
“Everything good?” Rhodey asked, his tone so serious that it made Peter’s brain scramble as he wondered whether something really was wrong.
“Yes.” Peter said smiling and clasping Jim Rhodes hand in return as the Colonel smiled and clapped Peter on the back.
Carol, Nick and a dark, long haired woman that Peter didn’t recognise had come from one of the other rooms in the house and were deep in discussion. They trailed off as they reached the rest of the group after getting a stern look from Rhodey who seemed to be taking this Thanksgiving business very seriously.
“No work talk in the kitchen, we’re on holiday today.” He said jabbing a wooden spoon at them.
“Peter, it’s good to see you again.” Carol said warmly, smiling at Peter who grinned in return.
“You’re still in one piece? College must be going easy on you…” Nick Fury said sizing Peter up, “we’ve got a lot to talk about.”
“Fury, seriously, Rhodey is right. It’s thanksgiving, can we please give the kid a break?” Carol said, frowning at him.
Peter had never really seen someone talk back to Fury like Carol did, but every time she did it reminded him of the insane power of the tesseract, aka the Space Stone, which coursed through her veins.
“We’ll be talking later.” Fury said glancing sideways at Carol in a way that made Peter’s stomach fill with lead. Already this visit was taking a not so great turn.
“By the way, this is Monica Rambeau.” Carol said indicating the woman standing next to her. “An old friend… more like family I suppose.”
“Spider-Man I assume.” Monica said extending her hand which Peter shook. She had a firm grip and if Peter had to guess he would say she had some form of military training based on the black trousers, combat boots and button-down ensemble she was wearing.
“Yep.” Peter said trying to smile but being called Spider-Man threw him off a little bit. Even though everyone in the room knew his true identity it was still strange to be so out in the open about it. If he was being honest it made him want to suit up immediately, even if just to hide behind his mask. Instead, he retreated a little to stand closer to his aunt who was just looking around the room with raised eyebrows.
She had met most of the Avengers before, whether it was through Pepper, Stark Industries or at Peter’s graduation (long story short, some of his teammates had crashed the ceremony which had significantly distracted the audience from the main event, while giving Peter a last minute popularity boost he hadn’t asked for – but he was nevertheless grateful they had deigned to show up at all). Peter had no doubt that seeing everyone in the same room, the energy of so much raw power, would be overwhelming. Heck, if Peter was overwhelmed then surely May would be too, right?
Instead, she looked extraordinarily relaxed. May’s eyes had followed him throughout his various interactions so far and something between sadness and pride could be seen in them. Peter frowned and decided not to comment on it. Peter edged a little closer to her though as he prepared for the next round of introductions and catching up.
May seemed to have other ideas as, having spotted Pepper and Morgan on the couch, left Happy to explore the kitchen and Peter to fend for himself.
“Parker,” Bucky called from where he was sat at one of the stools by the kitchen island, raised a hand in greeting.
“Hi Mr Bucky, sir.” Peter said waving back with a smile.
“Mr Bucky!” Sam said breaking into cackling laughter and hitting James Barnes roughly on the back which made Bucky shove Sam in defiance. If Sam hadn’t seen the shove coming, he probably would have been thrown onto the couch, but managed to duck it at the last second as he continued to laugh.
“I seriously hope that everyone is hungry, because we have a lotof food.” Rhodey said from the kitchen.
“Wait you made the food?” Peter said in slight disbelief.
“Oh, do you not think I can cook?” Rhodey said indignantly, a wooden spoon in his hand.
“No, no that’s not what I meant.” Peter said throwing his hands up in defence but smiling mischievously, nonetheless.
“That’s totally what he meant.” Bruce said from the other side of the kitchen where had just pulled two enormous turkeys from the oven.
“Hey!” Peter said as Bruce spared no sympathy in throwing him under the bus.
“Oh, he does it all the time, you should have heard the way he was badmouthing my lasagne.” Happy said, pulling said lasagne out of his freezer bag to heat up.
“I was not!” Peter said indignantly, thinking back to their conversation on his eating habits yesterday.
“Ok so Peter is getting none of the lamb.” Rhodey said as he gestured for Sam to start taking plates to the table.
“There’s no winning with you guys.” Peter said throwing his hands up in mock frustration but proceeding to help set the table anyway.
Peter’s leg was bouncing restlessly underneath the table as the dessert was being served. He wasn’t sure why he was so antsy and nervous, perhaps it was the fact that the only other times he had seen the whole team together like this was usually when they were about to die, save a few special occasions like birthdays. May knocked her knee against his and Peter stopped immediately. Perhaps it was because he was expecting someone to blow up at the table.
Sure, they were a team, but everyone had their own personalities and being on the battlefield was very different to sitting down at a lunch as though they were what… a group of friends, a family?
Perhaps it was how empty the table felt without Tony and Natasha. They both had such big personalities that it was almost quiet without them around. It was as though the conversation tried to compensate for the humour that was usually there, that would have been there.
If they were still alive.
Peter swallowed the bitter thought and took a spoonful of strawberries from a dish that was being passed around as Bruce made a terrible pun. Some people laughed but more than not, everyone was engaged in their own conversations. Stephen Strange was deep in discussion with Wanda and the newly resurrected Vision. Carol was in heated debate with Fury and Rhodey while Monica and Bruce appeared to be chatting casually at the other end of the table. Happy and May were talking with Pepper as she struggled to encourage Morgan to eat the food before her.
“Vis and I are going on holiday at the beginning of next month.” Wanda said causing the conversation to die immediately.
“What?” Carol said in surprise, looking as though she couldn’t be sure if she had indeed heard correctly.
“Well…” Wanda began looking to Vision beside her and he smiled a tight-lipped smile back, “things have been a little bit crazy these last few months—”
“Things have been a little bit crazy for everyone.” Monica Rambeau muttered, loudly enough for the whole table to hear and Carol shot her a look that told her to keep her mouth shut. Peter leant back in his chair trying to stay as far out of this conversation as possible.
“We just want some time for ourselves.” Wanda said ignoring Monica’s comment, desperation lacing her voice enough that Peter wondered if there was more to it than she was letting on.
“I didn’t realise the Avengers could take leave whenever they wanted.” Pepper quipped, her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to encourage a stubborn Morgan to take a bite of her lamb and peas.
“That’s why I’m asking now.” Wanda said smiling somewhat painfully. It seemed this wasn’t the reaction she had hoped for.
“We won’t be gone long, 10 days at most.” Vision said, one of the first things that Peter had heard him say so far. Something about him seemed… different. Like he wasn’t quite all there. No one, it seemed, was eager to explain how he was there.
“You can’t just leave; we have things that need to be done here.” Carol said from the other end of the table.
“We really need to. This year… it’s been difficult and we… we need some time for ourselves.” Wanda replied firmly, looking at Vision for help but he was looking down at the plate before him.
“It’s been difficult on everyone.” Bruce said, setting his fork down and looking at Wanda with something like disappointment in his eyes.
“It’s just…” She looked at Vision who gave the slightest shake of his head and she trailed off.
“We’ll cover for you while you’re gone but you need to be back within the 10 days, and next time just ask with a little more time, so we know what’s happening. Both your skills are very much valued here, and we don’t want to be short-handed.” Carol explained, her gaze darting around the table as she spoke as though trying to anticipate if anyone would go against what she had said. It seemed no one was keen to challenge her word.
Sam was scowling but said nothing as he speared a strawberry and put it in his mouth. Wanda looked at him before lowering her gaze to her plate.
It seemed that the mood had turned sour as everyone tried to return to their previous conversations.
“Peter, I hear that you’re getting a new AI for the compound in today?” Carol changed the topic and Peter nodded eagerly.
“Yeah, I mean it’s something Mr Stark developed but I finished the programme and I’ll install her today and maybe do a test run to see how things go.” Peter explained. “She should be able to take care of everything here which leaves Friday to manage Stark Industries.”
“Great,” Carol said before continuing, “if you have the chance could you also check out some of the circuits in the upstairs rooms, the doors have been locking people out even when the house isn’t locked.”
“Yeah I can.” Peter said smiling and taking a bite of a strawberry.
“Not to add to the list, but I’ve been having a few issues with the new suit, I don’t suppose you could tweak a few things, could you?” Sam asked sheepishly and Peter dreaded to think what he meant by ‘issues’.
It was already almost three o’clock said Peter’s watch, but he nodded anyway, he’d make time for it and still be back in New York to go to SI and get some things done. He tried not to think about College. “Yeah I can sort that out too.”
“Any big plans that you’re working on at the moment Peter?” Bruce asked curiously.
“u-uhm…” Peter stuttered, faltering as he thought about Project Chronos. Not quite Thanksgiving lunch material he decided, and he definitely should not mention it to Bruce. “Sort of, just some basic things for Stark Industries and a few things I’m working on for the team.”
“Cool,” Bruce said nodding through a mouthful of food, “and what about the Expo next month, are you presenting anything?”
“The expo?” Peter said swallowing another strawberry quickly, which strained painfully down his throat.
“The Stark Expo…” Bruce said looking between Peter and Pepper.
“The Stark Expo is at the end of December, Peter.” Pepper said, putting down Morgan’s fork.
“Oh right.” Peter said feeling as though his heart had actually stopped for a moment.
Crap… crap, crap, crap. It was fine right? He still had a whole month.
“Did you forget?” Pepper asked concerned.
“No… no of course not.” Peter lied.
“I asked you to present something on the night.” Pepper said sighing tiredly, and Peter tried not to squirm in his seat. How had he forgotten about the Stark Expo?
It was the first time the Expo would have been held in five years, considering the last time they’d had one had been before the Snap. Pepper had approached him a month ago asking if Peter might be up to showing some of the technology he had been developing and he’d been over the moon with excitement. Somewhere along the way though, it had fallen into the backseat of his mind as he was consumed by College, work for the Compound and the Avengers, and Project Chronos.
“I’ll have something ready.”
“So, you’ll be able to send me a brief then? Everything needs to be cleared by the event organisers by Wednesday.” Pepper prompted.
“Yes.” Peter choked out as he ate another strawberry, a million thoughts coursing through his head. He had no brief prepared and hadn’t even thought about what he might present – or the fact that he was going to have to present, in front of a big crowd, at the biggest Stark event of the year. Wednesday was soon, and he had an assignment due next week, plus studying for finals… he would have to find some time to fit it in elsewhere.
“Surely you’ll do something with the new suit tech you developed for me?” Sam asked Peter from where he was sitting by Carol.
“Yeah maybe…” Peter said casting a forlorn look to the table and fidgeting with his fork He couldn’t bear the thought that he had disappointed Pepper after she had put her trust in him. May put a hand over his and squeezed it.
“That was crazy tech, looked like something straight outta’ Tony’s mind.” Sam said his voice tinged with admiration, but the comment was like a shard of glass to Peter’s heart. His breath hitched and he fought to swallow, fist closing on the handle of his utensil.
“I have no doubt that Mr Stark Junior will be able to think something up, Tony was always good at doing things at the last second.” Nick Fury said nonchalantly, throwing the comment out where it landed like a final, thudding blow to Peter’s chest.
Peter dropped his fork, trying not to let it clatter on the table and stood up. His chair screeched back, and Peter kept his eyes trained on the marble floor and the black lines that webbed across it.
“Honey?” May said grabbing the sleeve of his navy sweater as he turned from the table.
“Just getting some air, I’ll be back in a second.” Peter managed to get out, casting his aunt a smile so that she wouldn’t feel the need to follow him.
Every instinct was telling Peter to run from the room as everyone remained quiet and he felt the gazes of their eyes trained on his retreating form. Peter ducked around the corner and followed the first-floor corridor, running a hand over the glass to try and ground himself. He knew the hallways were designed to be this open and he’d purposefully asked for all the glass to let the light in, but somehow it all still managed to feel cramped.
Finally, Peter reached the door to the outside courtyard and Pepper’s meticulously curated garden. As soon as he was out the door, he breathed a deep sigh of relief, his breath shuddering as he did. Walking slowly, Peter made his way over to a bench that was in the middle of the garden. He knew that from here everyone in the kitchen wouldn’t be able to see him and that he could get a little bit of peace out amongst the flowers and the trees.
It was the first time that Peter had gotten to actually enjoy the beauty of the small garden and he marvelled at the calming atmosphere as he felt the tension slowly begin to leach out of him. Peter followed the mossy stone path to a little clearing with a rickety bench that was perched on a path of grass before the little stream that gurgled along happily. He sat and tilted his head back against the sunlight peering down through the compound, a welcome warmth to combat the November chill.
This wasn’t supposed to be happening anymore. He was supposed to be well, to be fixed. He hadn’t had a panic attack in months and yet here he was, the mere mention of Tony setting him off. He figured the rest of the team would be a littlemore considerate, especially considering Morgan and Pepper were there. Peter had half expected someone to make a speech at the beginning of lunch but instead there had just been awkward silence once they had all sat down, no one ready to make the first move or willing, it seemed, to discuss what they were reallythankful for this holiday. It was quiet until Carol had started cutting up one of the turkeys, using her powers to make the skin a little crispier, much to Rhodey’s outrage. Perhaps they had all moved on and Peter was the only one left in the past.
Peter had only just managed to stave the panic off as he sat there, focusing on the sharp jut of the wooden bench in the back of his knees and the way the sun felt against his head and the sound of the bubbling stream, which still managed to flow so eagerly despite it only running the length of the small garden.
How on earth had he forgotten the Stark Expo? The thought was eating relentlessly at his mind and he tried not to freak out. It had been in his calendar for weeks, weeks he should have spent preparing. The Stark Expo wasn’t just a showcase of all the new projects that Stark Industries had coming out in the new year, it was the celebration of technology and ingenuity of the employees – and more importantly, this year it would be a sign of hope for the coming year, a new leaf. The fact that Peter had even been invited to present something was incredible and he was determined not to let Pepper down.
But somehow, he couldn’t help feeling like he already had.