You've got the wrong number

16 - Bucky Barnes has a baking problem

"Where are you going?" May asked as I stuffed clothes and books into my backpack.

"I'm going to stay at Ned's or Kate's." I stated.

"Who's Kate?" She asked.

"A friend of mine. See? This is part of the problem. You are never around. You don't know anything about me or how I'm doing. For all you know I could have killed myself two weeks ago and you'd only be finding out today because you're never home."

"Peter-"

"I will tell you where I am when I figure that out. I will go to school and do all my homework. I will not be home."

"Peter please don't do this. It's so sudden."

"Sudden?" I gasp sarcastically. "Oh no I've been considering this for a while. I just didn't have the guts to do it until now."

"Peter, honey, no-"

"Goodbye May."

"Peter Benjamin Park-" She yelled. I didn't hear the rest, the door was already closed.

I walked down the street, trying to consider my options. Ned lives in Queens too but is a little far to walk, and too short to take the subway. MJ is in The Bronx, which is way too far to spidey, let alone walk. I could take the subway, but honestly I don't know if I even have money on my card. Kate is in downtown Manhattan, which I could definitely spider-man to. Kate it is, I guess. Also Clint wouldn't call May. Both MJ and Ned's parents would.

I slip into an alleyway and quickly put on the spider-man suit before swinging over Queens, Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Bridge before realizing I should probably call Kate and tell her I'm coming. I stop at the top of the bridge and pull out my phone.

"Hey Peter." She says. "What's up?"

"Can I stay over tonight?"

"Of course. Did something happen?"

"I'll tell you when I get there."

"Okay. Do you want Clint or someone to pick you up? Tony is a very good driver and he's still got Happy. There are plenty of people who could pick you up if you need it."

"I'm okay. I've got the spider suit and I'm already at the Brooklyn Bridge. I just wanted to ask before I showed up."

"Yeah, I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Okay." I say shakily and hang up. I take a deep breath before I jump off the bridge and spidey over the river. I really hope I don't run into any petty crimes, I'm really not in the right headspace right now.

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I land on the launchpad of Avengers Tower and Kate, Clint, Dr Stark, and a couple other people run out.

"Hey what happened?" Kate asks. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I wanna hear what happened but only if you want to share." Clint adds.

"May and I had a fight and I basically threatened to call CPS on her for child neglect."

"Oh my god I'm so sorry." Kate says.

"Don't be. It's not your fault."

Clint puts an arm around my shoulder. "We've got a room that you can stay in. C'mon." He leads me inside.

"Bring him to the room with all the NASA prints." Dr Stark says. "I'll have FRIDAY create a profile."

"Okay." Clint says. "How are you feeling? Do you need anything?"

"I'm fine." I mumble.

"That's bullshit." I hear someone say.

"Language."

"Shut it, both of you."

"Sorry."

Clint leads me through all of the communal rooms, and they just keep going. "Here." He says. "I think you've met FRIDAY before but she can get you anything you need, do anything for you, I believe she's already calibrated to your voice but you might have to introduce yourself the first couple times."

"Okay."

"This is probably really overwhelming right?" he asked and I nodded. "Would a hug or something help right now?" I shook my head. "Do you want me to leave?" I shrugged. "Okay." He said, getting up. "Let me know if I can do anything for you."

"Okay." I mumbled.

"We're here for anything you need, Peter." He said before closing the door. Only about a minute later did it open again except it wasn't Clint this time.

"Hey Peter?" Bucky says, poking his head into my room.

"Hey."

"I know people keep asking you this but I felt like I needed to check in too. Are you okay?"

"I honestly don't even know." I say, looking at the picture of the solar system on the wall.

"I know that when I feel horrible I usually bake something. It grounds me while simultaneously distracting me. And you get rewarded with delicious treats too." He smiles. "I was going to make some brownies, you're welcome to join me if you would like to."

"Sure." I say, getting up.

"Exactly." Bucky says and I follow him into the kitchen. "Can you measure out a cup of flour?" He passes me the bag and a measuring cup.

"Sure."

"Is there anything you wanna talk about? It can be anything."

"Not really." I say. "Can I ask you a question though?"

"Of course." He says.

"Why do you like baking so much? Kate talks about it a lot."

"Well I grew up with four sisters, so my mom would make them bake and cook. I mostly learned this sort of stuff from Sarah."

"Sarah?"

"Steve's mom." He clarifies. "She had to work a lot to provide for her and Steve, especially with his medical bills, but somehow she always made time to teach us something. Bekah, my oldest sister, was shocked when she found out."

"That's fun. I remember making a chocolate cake with my mom once. I was probably four because she didn't like immediately die after that. I mostly remember being done with the cake and it taking so long to cool down enough too eat that when my mom finally let me have some, I devoured it in nearly one bite and got chocolate all over me. I know there's a photo of it somewhere, but I don't know exactly where. Uncle Ben was kinda in charge of keeping the memories of my parents."

"Ah of course." Bucky laughs. "Was your Uncle Ben related to your parents?"

"Yeah." I say. "Dad's brother. He made sure I still celebrated Chanukah every year and let me take the day off of school for Rosh Hashanah."

"You're Jewish?" Bucky says in surprise. "I didn't know that."

"Well kinda. Both of my parents were raised Jewish and for the first five years of my life I was too, but then I moved in with May and Ben. May's technically Christian but she didn't really go to church much, and therefore Ben kinda lost his motivation to go to Temple. He continued to have me be semi-Jewish because he knew that's what my parents would have wanted. I haven't celebrated anything since he died though."

"Well, you're always going to be welcome to celebrate it with Wanda, Pietro, the boys, and I. We have a couple silly little traditions that we made up and also a couple different things that Wanda and Pietro would do in Sokovia."

"Thank you."

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tbh i've lost motivation to write anything so i've been churning out chapters really slowly so sorry about that

thanks for still reading

frankie