It's About Time

Ch. 11

"What happened to you?" Clint asked the moment he saw Peter. Peter didn't have a ready made excuse, but apparently Natasha did.

"Ned accidentally slammed his locker into his face," she said. Clint chuckled. "Then he got hit in the face with a soccer ball. Again."

"Tough luck, kid," Clint said. Peter nodded and gave him a small smile. He spotted Wanda and Vision in the living room and lit up.

"Wanda!" he yelled, running over to them. Wanda grinned and hugged Peter. The two were close so it wasn't a surprise he was so excited to see her. Natasha wandered off to her room before Clint could ask anymore questions. Steve nodded at him then went to find Sam and Bucky.

When Tony came up from his lab and saw Peter's busted face, he was less than thrilled. Unlike Clint, he didn't believe what Natasha said and pushed for answers. Natasha quickly got tired of it and told him to shut up, she had it handled. Tony stayed quiet but it was obvious he wasn't happy someone was keeping something about his kid from him. Peter just shrugged and said Natasha was telling the truth. Of course, Tony still didn't entirely believe them but he figured if Steve wasn't telling him, then Natasha must really have it handled. Besides, if anything had happened to Peter, Tony had no doubt Natasha would mess them up.

"Let's just eat dinner," Steve suggested. Everyone swarmed the table as soon as he took the bags off the Chinese takeout. Pepper was gone on a business trip which meant Tony was in charge of food. That translated to mean Steve was in charge of food and that meant Chinese takeout.

"Who has the noodles?" Peter asked. He saw Sam look up guiltily then try to sneak off, but Peter caught him and managed to grab some noodles. Everyone fought over the fortune cookies and somehow Natasha ended up with two. After serving themselves, everyone went to the living room to sit down and eat.

"So Peter, how's high school?" Clint asked. He took a bite of his teriyaki chicken. "Is it great?" Steve gave him a look for speaking with his mouth full but Clint either didn't notice or didn't care.

"It's great!" Peter said. He glanced at Natasha who was busy with her noodles while Steve took a drink of water and turned to Sam. Peter told them how he had every class with Peter and how they were going on their first field trip in a week.

"Where are you going?" Wanda asked. She was immediately distracted by something Vision said telepathically and turned to help him. She still looked up for Peter's answer, though, and accidentally dumped teriyaki chicken into her lap. She cursed in Sokovian and Natasha's eyes widened.

"I don't actually know," Peter shrugged. "They're telling us on Monday."

"I hope it's fun," Wanda said. She sent Vision to get a napkin and continued to curse in her mother tongue, quieter so Natasha didn't grimace every time.

"It should be," Peter said. He took a bite of noodles then continued speaking. "It's in essential life skills, ELS, and we're currently learning about getting jobs and working. Apparently we're going to be going to a different type of work place every day next week."

"Sounds cool," Clint said. Peter nodded.

"And all of our other classes are excused so it means no homework," Peter grinned. Clint chuckled and returned to his food. They finished dinner an hour later, everyone talking happily among themselves. Peter offered to clean up and Wanda went to help him. Natasha joined them and so it was the three of them in the kitchen while the boys all stayed in the living room and talked.

"Peter, come with me," Wanda said once they had finished. Peter looked at her suspiciously but followed her nonetheless. She hurried down the hall and walked into Peter's bedroom. He would have asked why they were going to his bedroom, but she shushed him.

"Wanda, just tell me what you're doing," he whispered. Wanda nodded and walked over to a backpack Peter was certain didn't belong to him. He frowned and watched her pick it up. She plopped down on his bed with it in her lap and pulled out an air horn, a megaphone, and a siren light. She grinned widely up at him and it only took Peter a couple seconds to figure out what was going on. Wanda nodded excitedly.

"Natasha's in on it too so we don't get killed," Wanda said. They heard a knock on the door and Wanda rushed to hide the supplies. They relaxed when it was just Natasha who was at the door.

"Three hours after they all go to bed," Natasha whispered. Wanda and Peter nodded. "I'll come get you."

"Okay," Wanda said. Natasha smiled and shut the door, going back into the living room while Wanda and Peter grinned down at their supplies.

"I want the siren light," Peter said. He reached out and clutched it to his chest.

"Fine, I wanted the air horn anyway," Wanda said. They glanced at the megaphone that was left for Natasha. "I don't think she'll mind that." Peter agreed. Natasha liked yelling things out at her teammates, so the megaphone was perfect for her.

"Should we go back out?" Peter asked. Wanda nodded. She put everything back in the backpack and shoved it under Peter's bed. They walked back into the living room together, Wanda going back to Vision while Peter sat on the floor near the coffee table and started on his homework. It took him three hours instead of one thanks to the Avengers and their "help", but eventually he got it done. Once he had finally finished, he put everything back in his backpack and joined in the conversation. He had insisted on being left out after Sam had distracted him for the third time. To be fair, the others had done their fair share of distracting him as well.

It was around 10:30pm when Tony sent Peter to bed. He was reluctant at first, but then caught Wanda's eye and nodded. He brushed his teeth and changed into sweatpants to sleep in. He pushed open his window just a bit so he could have cool air in his room then flopped down on his bed. He had just plugged in his phone to charge when his dad knocked on the door. He walked inside and smiled at Peter. He sat down on the edge of his bed and Peter grinned at him.

"How's school been?" Tony asked. Peter shrugged.

"I like it a lot," he answered. He was suddenly glad he still had on his shirt so his dad couldn't see the bruises on his chest. He would have to remember to keep his shirt on until those went away. "Ned and Michelle are really helpful."

"That's good," Tony said. "You know you can tell me anything, right?" Peter nodded and Tony gave him a soft smile. "I love you, Peter."

"I love you too, Dad," Peter replied. Tony kissed Peter's forehead then got up and left, leaving Peter alone in his room. A few minutes later, right when Peter was about to ask FRIDAY to turned off the lights when another knock came to his door. Peter frowned and called for the person to come in. It was Natasha.

"Hey, I didn't want to say anything earlier to draw attention, but I want to make sure you didn't break any ribs or anything," she said softly, shutting the door behind her. Peter nodded and sat up on his bed. He knew Natasha was good at medical work and he was glad. He really didn't want to go to the Stark medical wing and tell them to keep his visit a secret; he knew that wouldn't work out too well.