Love Finds A Spider

Chapter 6 - Misunderstanding Each Other

Chapter 6          ... misunderstandings ...

Peter lay in his bed, finally settling into a relaxed state. He was thinking not only how the mission had gone, but also how their return to Stark Tower had transpired as well. And he was also thinking about her...

Earlier:

Even though he woke up somewhat refreshed from dozing in the quinjet during its flight back to the Stark tower, Peter still felt exhausted. First, they had to perform cleaning and maintenance on their gear and then they had to place it all in their armory. Second, after a half hour to freshen up and change, it was into the conference room for the mission debriefing and after-action review. While Peter appreciated the compliments he received for his actions from Tony, Steve and Clint, he could not help but notice Natasha looking at him from time to time with disapproving looks. Peter tried to process the praise he was getting from the men versus the apparent disapproval he was getting from Natasha. "I guess I'll just have to try tried harder" Peter thought to himself.

Unknown to Peter, Clint had been observing Natasha's face as well, At one point, he got Natasha's attention, cut his eyes quickly toward Peter and then looked back at Natasha and simply mouthed "WHAT?" at her. Natasha looked back at Clint and mouthed "YOU KNOW!" back at him. Clint's eyebrows raised and he gave Natasha a look that said "NOT A CLUE!" Natasha cut her eyes toward Peter, looked back at Clint and mouthed "he's a kid!" Again, Clint's eyebrows went up and then he mouthed back "AND?" Natasha rolled her eyes and then looked back at Clint and mouthed "HE ... IS ... A ... KID!" Realization hit Clint as he then understood that Natasha did not approve of Peter being on the mission because of his being, in her opinion, too young. And knowing Natasha's background of being a child agent and being made into an assassin, he realized that she wanted Peter to have a normal kid's life experiences. Not being made into some type of child soldier. Seeing that Clint had realized her concern, Natasha exhaled sharply to rid herself of her building frustration with Clint.

"Everything okay Natasha?" Steve asked.

Startled, Natasha looked back at Steve and replied "I'm good!" "Thanks" she added.

Glancing over at Clint, Steve then said "Okay then ... I think we're done here."

"Thank gosh!" Peter thought. He wanted nothing more than to head to his apartment and get some sleep.

But that was not meant to be, for after the meeting, Tony insisted that they all have dinner together.

While the food was very good and being with the other Avengers made for an evening other people would go to extremes to participate in, Peter simply was not enjoying himself. He just could not deal with the disapproval vibe he was getting from Natasha. That along with the rush of being on the mission had disappeared, Peter decided he wanted to have some distance between him and Natasha as well as catch up on his rest.

With a small 'ahem', Peter made eye contact with Tony and then Steve. "Excuse me please ..." looking for their attention, but getting everyone else's as well, "may I be excused?"

Tony's eyebrows shot up and he gave a smile that seemed to say "you have got to be putting me on!"

Tony then said "Yes, of course you may be excused." Everyone else had stopped talking and was looking at Peter with looks ranging from amusement to concern.

"Thank you" Peter said and as he stood up he added "I'll just be turning in."

Peter stood and started to clear his dinner space, Tony said "Hey Pete, don't worry about it. You go on to bed."