Believer

4. Progress

"A little progress each day adds up to big results."

When Peter woke up, he first thought he was alone. He was on his stomach, his face turned towards the window of the med-bay, where the late-afternoon sun barely breached the tops of the skyscrapers in the city. He hadn't been out long, he concluded. That was, of course, if it was still Sunday.

Peter thought he was alone because he could see no one, and his body wasn't responding to him enough yet to turn his head to the chairs by the door. Of course, he should've known no one is ever alone in the Avengers compound.

Finally moving, Peter looked to his other side, only to blink in surprise. On either side of the door, piled into chairs, were nearly all the Avengers. Clint, Scott and Sam were on one side slumped in three very uncomfortable looking chairs, snoring, and Vision and Wanda were on the bench opposite, watching television with their backs to Peter. Doctor Strange was in the corner, either meditating or dead in a cross-legged position.

Natasha was closest to him, half asleep, her hand on the bed as if it had recently falling from Peter's hair.

Vision was the first to notice Peter was awake, alerting Wanda who smiled broadly and jumped up.

"Peter!" She exclaimed, running over and shaking Natasha. Black Widow shot up bleerily. "I wasn't asleep!" She protested, before seeing Peter slowly sitting up with bright eyes. "Pete!" She blurted happily, grinning. Peter was surprised by the nickname, but it was more endearing than unwelcome. It reminded him of his Aunt May.

"Hey, kid, you're awake!" Sam yawned, purposefully elbowing Scott in the face, who jumped awake. Clint sat up, half asleep, and started mumbling in another language. Nat responded in the same language, and Clint seemed to snap back to reality.

"Hi there, spiderboy!" Was the first thing understandable out of the Archer's mouth. Peter resisted the urge to face-palm as he smiled. "It's Spiderman." He corrected, and Clint rolled his eyes. "Sure it is, stringbean." That nickname was less endearing.

Feeling a sudden chill, Peter realized he was no longer wearing the upper half of his costume. He looked at his bare torso in confusion. "I... I don't have a shirt." He noted. That seemed to finally knock Dr. Strange out of whatever trance he was in, and he floated to a standing position. "Right, we'll have to find you one." He commented, startling everyone at his sudden prescence. He had an uncanny knack of disappearing even when he was right there.

Before Strange could say anything else, his cape flew off his shoulders and attacked Peter. "Who, hey, ah!" Peter yelped, suddenly wrapped in the red cloth. "No! Bad cape!" Strange rebuked, striding forwards. "He needs a shirt, not a cape!" Nat hissed, trying to grab for the fabric as it sat comfortabley on Peter's shoulders.

"So... your cape just moves on its own." Sam stated. "And you're all cool with that."

"Uh... nice cape?" Peter stroked the fabric, looking at Strange helplessly. Wanda couldn't help herself. She and Clint shared a look before they both burst out laughing.

oOo

Tony startled awake when a hand shook his shoulder. "Who, what, where?!" He flailed his arms, stopping dead when he heard the surprised yelp from Peter. "Peter?" He mumbled, running a hand down his face to get rid of the lingering sleep in his eyes. "Yeah, its me." Peter announced, lowering himself from the ceiling where he'd jumped to evade Mr. Stark's waving hands.