It's About Time

Ch. 21

Peter spent the next three hours at the Compound in the living room.  The team refused to let him go back to his room and be alone even though that was all he wanted to do.  Instead, they made him stay with them in the living room.  Peter had spent the whole time laying in the couch with his head in Natasha's lap.  Neither of them had moved for hours.  Peter didn't feel like he had the energy and Natasha didn't want to disrupt whatever was going on in his head.  He had only cried for about half an hour during the entire three hour period, so they figured at this point he was busy thinking about how to fix things.  They weren't wrong.

"Does anyone want cookies?"  Bucky asked, walking into the living room with a frilly pink apron on.  Peter didn't even blink.  Steve smiled and Bucky set a plate of chocolate chip cookies on the coffee table.  Once the smell reached Peter, it was only a matter of time before he was sitting up.  He reached for a cookie and nibbled on it.  He didn't talk, but when Bucky returned with a glass of milk, he gave him a small smile.

Ten minutes after Bucky had brought in the cookies, they were gone.  Peter had eaten all but two; Natasha and Steve had each grabbed one before Peter could eat them all.  When Peter realised they were gone, he frowned.  He got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen where Bucky was putting in another pan of cookies while more cooled.  Bucky turned around and was surprised to see Peter, but he grinned nonetheless.

"I made snicker doodle, too,"  he said.  He pointed to the oven.  "I just put them in.  They'll be done in about twenty minutes."  Peter nodded and sat on a stool at the counter.  He reached for more of the chocolate chip cookies Bucky had just made and happily ate them.  "FRIDAY, can you tell everyone there's cookies in the kitchen?"  Bucky asked.  He pulled the plate away from Peter who frowned.  "You can't eat them all."

"But they're good and I'm upset,"  Peter reminded him.  Bucky gave him a look.  "If you want me to be upset forever and ever, then feel free to take the cookies."  Bucky rolled his eyes.  If Peter could make remarks like that, he was on his way to being himself again.  Which was good because a minute later, the kitchen was full of super humans all fighting for cookies.

"Snicker doodle are in the oven,"  Bucky told them.  He set the plate of chocolate chip back in front of Peter and everyone swarmed it.  "You're welcome,"  Bucky mumbled.  Everyone thanked him, mouths full of cookies, though, so it wasn't very understandable.

"Hey!  How come snot face over here gets them all?"  Sam asked.  Peter had four cookies he was protecting from the onslaught of heroes and Sam seemed to be the first to notice.

"Because I'm sad and this is comfort food,"  Peter replied.  Sam scoffed and tried to snatch one of his cookies.  Peter whacked his hand and Sam back up.

"Oh no, this kid is fine,"  Sam announced to everyone.  "He's fighting me for cookies."  No one paid much attention to them and Sam was left to grab the last remaining chocolate chip cookie.  He glared at Peter who grinned innocently back.  Once the cookies were gone, things calmed down while the heroes enjoyed their snack.  As soon as the oven beeped, though, everyone raced to be the closest to Bucky and the cookies.

"Hey!  Back up or no one gets any!"  Bucky yelled.  Everyone left the kitchen and stood behind the counter, watching as Bucky took the snicker doodles out of the oven and set them to cool.  He dumped the cookies that had been cooling earlier onto the counter and stepped back, watching everyone dive for the cookies.

"You have three!  That's not fair!"  Clint yelled at Natasha.  She just bit into each one then offered one to him.  He took it anyway and she tackled him.

"I don't understand what the rush is,"  Vision said, staying far from the counter.  Wanda carried seven cookies over to him with a victorious grin.

"Bucky made cookies and they're the best,"  Wanda told him, biting into her first cookie.  If Vision thought she was going to give him some, he was very wrong.  He realised this when she had eaten all seven cookies then asked him where his were.

"I thought you were getting me one,"  Vision said.  Wanda looked guilty for only a split second.  She used her magic to grab a cookie off the cooling rack and gave it to Vision.  He tried it and the next time Bucky set cookies on the counter, he was pushing his way to the front as well.

* * *

Pepper pulled up to the Compound and stopped the car.  Tony still looked miserable, but he wasn't crying anymore.  He slowly unbuckled his seat belt and opened his door.  Pepper offered him her hand and he latched onto it tightly.  She led them up to the Compound doors and knocked twice.  She didn't wait for answer.  She pushed the door open and led Tony inside, looking around for the team.  She heard a lot of noise coming from the kitchen and rounded the corner to see everyone fighting over something on the counter.  Bucky was pulling a tray from the oven and it looked like cookies were cooling to the side.

"What?  No cookies for us?"  Pepper asked, drawing everyone's attention.  The cookies were forgotten as everyone looked up to see Pepper and Tony.  Peter stared at his dad, realising how awful he looked.  Pepper spotted Peter and smiled at him.  "Peter, can we talk real quick?"  she asked.  Peter nodded and grabbed three cookies before following his mom and dad down the hall the his room.