It's Not Over Yet

Ch. 12

By the end of the week, Peter was all moved in and Ned and Michelle had come over two more times.  Peter's room was covered in posters and just as messy as his place at May's.  The only difference was that the room was much bigger and all his tech was much more advanced.  Ned regularly geeked out whenever he saw Peter's new laptop and phone.  He would spend hours just looking at it then watching videos so he could marvel at the quality of the images.  Peter and Michelle would spend that time talking on Peter's bed.  Every now and then they would watch videos with Ned, but Ned tended to watch even the most boring things just to admire how clear and crisp everything was.  Peter had to admit it was all pretty cool, but at this point he was used to Tony's impressive tech.  It's hard to spend a year working in the lab with the man and not get use to all the advanced tech around him.  Besides, Shuri had shown him just a few of the things she had created and those were even more impressive.  Ned had passed out when Peter had shown him the Kimoyo beads and demonstrated how they worked.

Over the weekend, Tony, Pepper, and Peter went to the Compound to stay with the rest of the Avengers.  Clint and his family had come up for the weekend so they would be having a very relaxed get together.  Even though the Compound was big, Clint's family all camped out in his room and Pepper willingly stayed in Tony's room.  Peter had his own room right next to Tony's, so everyone was comfortable in their own rooms or with people they felt comfortable enough sleeping with.  Steve made sure everyone knew they would be going on a hike Saturday afternoon much to Clint's family's delight and Tony's chagrin.

"I just think he should have thought about everyone when he planned this,"  Tony complained to Pepper.  She rolled her eyes and smiled at Peter who stood in the doorway.  He smiled back and Tony turned around to look at him.  "Don't you think this hike is a bad idea?" 

"I like hikes,"  Peter said.  Tony glared at him and grabbed his phone.

"Of course the enhanced ones like hikes,"  Tony muttered.  Peter chuckled and followed Tony out to the front door where Steve and Clint's family were waiting.  Soon Sam, Bucky, Natasha, Vision, and Wanda all joined them.  They loaded up into multiple suburbans and Steve led their procession out of New York City and towards their hiking destination.  Peter was thrilled to find out he would be in the same car as Steve, Bucky, and Sam.  Tony was less thrilled and Pepper didn't seem to know what she had gotten herself into.  Of course, for the entire ride Sam and Bucky argued.  Tony fell asleep half way through the trip and Peter talked to Steve excitedly.  Pepper just listened quietly from the back as Tony slept on her shoulder.

When they finally arrived at their destination an hour later, everyone tumbled out of the car and Steve sent Sam to walk around the parking lot.  Tony—after taking a nap the way there and being woken up—was in a much less enthusiastic mood than before.  He muttered to himself about how much he hated hikes and Pepper elbowed him occasionally.  Once everyone else arrived, Steve led them on their way up the hill.  Peter walked beside Steve the entire way, leaving Pepper to deal with a grouchy Tony.  Bucky and Sam annoyed each other until Natasha threatened to shoot them both.  They stopped for five minutes than started back up again.  Natasha jogged up the rest of the way and just waited for them at the top.

"Whoa,"  Peter gasped when they reached the top.  He could see across New York and almost as far as the city.  Even once Sam and Bucky got to the top, they stopped arguing to look out.  Bucky smiled and turned to Steve.

"It's a little different than a 100 years ago,"  he said.  Steve nodded.  Once the last person had seen the view, they headed back down.  Of course, Sam and Bucky raced each other and they didn't see them until the bottom where Pepper was bandaging up knees and elbows that had been skinned from the multiple falls they had both taken.  The rest of them took their time.

"I see you decided not to go,"  Steve said to Tony.  Tony looked up from where he had been watching Pepper.  Steve repeated his comment.

"Well, not everyone's a super soldier,"  Tony pointed out.  Clint walked past them with Nathaniel on his shoulders and Lila and Cooper beside him.

"My kids did fine,"  he said.  Tony rolled his eyes.  "It wouldn't have killed you."

"Whatever, Katniss,"  Tony replied.  Once Bucky and Sam were both patched up, everyone climbed back into their suburbans and headed back to the Compound for a bbq, courtesy of Steve and Clint.