Back At The Tower
Six hours earlier
Peter hummed to himself as he walked down one of the many corridors of the Avengers tower. So far he'd narrowed his list of possible cookie thieves to Wanda and Clint. On his second observations, Peter realized that Vision couldn't have stolen Natasha's cookies because he was too innocent.
The young webslinger knew that Clint and Wanda were close like Peter and Natasha were and they were sometimes fond of playing tricks on her as a father/daughter team, but they only did so on special times every year, but Peter couldn't remember why.
"I know I'm missing something. Ugh, I'm so close that I can smell it! What would be a good reason for stealing Natasha's cookies?"
Peter sighed and walked into the kitchen and sat on a stool in annoyance. He was very good at this investigating thing, but it was frustrating when you feel like you almost have something right, save for it being just out of reach of your hands.
He tapped his chin and the countertop, frowning when he felt something under his fingers. "What's this? A grocery list?" The boy picked up the piece of paper and read the items that were listed on the white sheet. He was a fast reader, so it didn't take him long before he finally got to item number ten.
Get more Lorna Doone's before Nat kills you
Wait, what? Someone in the tower had written this? Peter swiveled his head from side to side, curious if his spider senses were going to go off. He expected one of the team members to jump up, run over and snatch the paper from him, but nothing happened.
"Find something interesting," said a feminine voice in his ear and Peter nearly jumped onto the ceiling in fright.
Once he got his breathing under control, he turned to look at Wanda, backing up a few steps. No wonder he hadn't sensed anything. She was one of the very few people who he actually couldn't get a read on. The mind bending and almost magical powers she possessed had put Peter off at first and he was unsure of how he felt whenever she was around.
Of course she'd never hurt him, but she was kind of scary and he wasn't scared of many people - then again, he was an Avenger, so nothing much should scare him. Wanda was the wild card, though, because he never knew what she was up to. "Uh, no. Not at all." He grinned and crumbled the piece of paper in his hand.
"You know...Natasha may be your mother, but you haven't adopted her good skill at lying." The brunette raised an eyebrow at him.
Peter hesitated for a moment, not sure what Wanda was playing at, but he was certain that he'd get the answers he was looking for if he just went along with whatever was going on. He placed the piece of paper in Wanda's already outstretched hand. "Why are you buying more Lorna Doone's? Were they eaten?"
"Yes, but not by me."
"Well...who then?"
"Scott. He was doing an experiment and he got a little hungry."
"What kind of experiment?"
Wanda's lips curved into a smile and she picked up the paper, stuffing it in the pocket of her jeans. Then she looped her arm through Peter's and motioned for him to start walking. "Let's just go down to the lab so Scott can explain."
Once they were in the lab, Wanda walked over to the long metal counter in the center of the room and stared down at it, as if she were looking for someone. "Scott. Where are you? Don't worry. The coast is clear. You can enlarge yourself now."
A few seconds later, Scott grew back to his normal size again and he took of his Ant Man helmet. "Um, the coast is definitely not clear. Pete's in the room."
"No, don't worry, Scott. I won't tell mom what's going on here. I just want want to know why her cookies were stolen."
"Oh, well. If that's all..." Scott scratched his head and chuckled ruefully. "Well, Tony and I had been working on my suit until very late, giving it some alterations and what-not. We'd been up for a while and Tony called it a night, but I was a little hungry. So I went to the kitchen to find a snack when I saw Lorna Doone's on the counter."
"And you took them even though you knew who they belonged to?" Peter almost sounded like Steve as he crossed his arms and gave Scott a disparaging look.
"Hey, it's not like I did it on purpose to piss her off or anything. I know better than to mess with Natasha's snacks and normally, I would never touch them, but that day had been a long one. I only had two burritos and that was at noon, so yeah. I was hungry and tired and I was't thinking when I ate the cookies."
Peter shook his head. Adults. They really had their moments. "Okay, okay. I got it. But why did Wanda bring me down here for this experiment you and Tony are doing? What are you guys trying to keep secret?"
Wanda and Scott just looked at each other and Wanda spoke. "Well, Tony isn't here at the moment, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind if we showed you..." She then gave Scott a nod.
In response, Scott picked up a large sheet and spread it on the metal counter, then he placed a single Lorna Doone's cookie on the sheet. He took out one of the circular metal disks with the blue center and tossed it at the cookie.
And suddenly, the tiny piece of shortbread was no longer small, but now, as large as a cake. Peter's eyes widened in surprise and he stared at the enlarged cookie. "No way. How did you do that?"
"We'll tell you while we're out shopping," said a voice behind them and Scott, Wanda and Peter turned to see Bucky walk into the room with a smirk on his face.
"Oh. Shopping for the items on the list that I found?"
"Eh, those among a few other things. We've got a big surprise for Natasha in store and everyone is a part of it."
"But how did all of you manage to keep a big secret like this from her?"
"Steve was a big help to us with that," Wanda replied. "He's been keeping her so focused on their relationship so she hasn't had the time to notice anything we've been doing. We had a few close calls, though."
Peter opened his mouth to ask what Wanda meant by that, but Bucky put his arm around the boy's shoulder and patted his back. "Kid, it's pointless to ask questions. Just come with us on our little shopping spree and all will be revealed on the way."
"...I can do that."
"Good. Let's go."