Leaving It All Behind. {Peter Parker Leaves The Avengers}

{5} he was going to change the world

Road Trip

DRIVING HAD ALWAYS BEEN A DISTANT THOUGHT IN THE BACK OF PETER'S MIND.

Aunt May had always insisted that he should learn, that it was a handy skill to have even if he never owned a car himself but Peter had always put it off- he could swing anywhere he wanted and it was always quicker than the commute of a car. But watching Wanda behind the wheel as she zoomed down the road made him deeply wish that he had learned just so he could have had the excuse to get her out from behind the wheel and the car at a safer speed.

"Do you even know how to drive this thing?!" Peter shouted, clinging to the dashboard. The car bounced over a pot-hole in the road and the dashboard creaked under his fingers.

The car in question was what Tony would have called 'a literal rust bucket' and Peter was inclined to agree since the vehicle was older than him and Wanda combined. It was also held together by sheer will-power alone as if it was on a quest to become the oldest car on the planet.

"I would lie and say yes-" Peter's eyes widened comically as he shot Wanda a panicked look, "- but considering I just almost crashed I'm going to assume you know the answer."

"You- you were speeding. I just thought you missed the sign!"

"Oh, please." Wanda waved her hand dismissively before Peter pushed it back onto the wheel; she snorted at his expression. "I just didn't acknowledge it- they're like suggestions."

There was a beat of silence that followed her statement; Peter may not have known much about driving but he knew you adhered to the speed limit- Uncle Ben would be rolling in his grave. As the quiet stretched between them, Wanda took the opportunity and rolled the windows down with a smirk on her lips; she could sense Peter's growing hysterics and found them highly entertaining. He blinked a few times and nodded to himself, taking in a few breaths before he double checked his seatbelt and muttered, "We're going to die-"

Offended, Wanda shot him an incredulous look. "We are not!" Peter whirled round in his seat.

"You're going 30 miles over the suggested speed limit!"

Wanda shot him an unimpressed glare for the sarcasm before she promptly turned on the radio in a half-hearted attempt to drown out his complaints. She thought she was an excellent driver. Efficient.

"Wanda, I swear to Thor's dad or whatever-"

"It's an empty road!" She defended, gesturing to the lack of surrounding traffic as they drove along at a break-neck speed. Peter spluttered beside Wanda before she turned up the volume and grinned at him in triumph. It was an 80s radio station that Wanda had no qualms with singing along to; Peter scowled at her in an attempt to hide his growing smile, but all it took was for her to belt out the words to have Peter singing along too, effectively distracting him when she upped the speed another 10.

The breeze from the windows made both of their hair whip around as they screamed out the lyrics- even if they were far from correct- and barrelled down the road. Only a few days had passed since they left the tower, but they both felt freer than they ever had as they drove out of state and created a significant distance between them and the Avengers.

-

Bruce

The lab felt strangely empty when Tony drew up the courage to face it again a few days later.

Even the bots had gone quiet, as if sensing that something was wrong when Tony had dropped onto his worktable, his eyes fixed onto the one across the room. It looked as if Peter had only just stepped out to grab something to eat with the way a dismantled Roomba sat; parts spread out over the top after he had spent weeks begging Tony to let him take it apart.